THE IRISH AND THE TUDORS.--ELIZABETH.--THE UNDAUNTED NOBILITY.--
THE SUFFERING CHURCH.
On January 12, 1559, in the second year of the reign of
Elizabeth, a Parliament was convened in Dublin to pass the Act
of Supremacy; that is to say, to establish Lutheranism in
Ireland, as had already been done in England, under the garb of
Episcopalianism.
But the attempt was fated to encounter a more determined
opposition in Dublin than it had in London.
Sir James Ware says, in reference to it: "At the very beginning
of this Parliament, her Majestie's well-wishers found that most
of the nobility and Commons--they were all English by blood or
birth--were divided in opinion about the ecclesiastical
government, which caused the Earl of Sussex (Lord Deputy) to
dissolve them, and to go over to England to confer with her
Majesty about the affairs of this kingdom.
"These differences were occasioned by the several alterations
which had happened in ecclesiastical matters within the compass
of twelve years.
"1. King Henry VIII. held the ecclesiastical supremacy with the
first-fruits and tenths, maintaining the seven sacraments, with
obits and mass for the living and the dead.
"2. King Edward abolished the mass, authorizing the book of
common prayers, and the consecration of the bread and wine in
the English tongue, and establishing only two sacraments.
"3. Queen Mary, after King Edward's decease, brought all back
again to the Church of Rome, and the papal obedience.
"4. Queen Elizabeth, on her first Parliament in England, took
away the Pope's supremacy, reserving the tenths and first-fruits
to her heirs and successors. She put down the mass, and, for a
general uniformity of worship in her dominions, as well in
England as in Ireland, she established the book of common
prayers, and forbade the use of popish ceremonies."
Such is the very lucid sketch furnished by Ware of the changes
which had taken place in religion in England within the brief
space of twelve years.
The members of the Irish Parliament, although of English descent,
could not so easily reconcile themselves to these rapid changes
as their fellows in England had done; in fact, they laid claim
to a conscience--a thing seemingly unknown to the English
members, or, if known at all, of an exceedingly elastic and
slippery nature. Here lay the difficulty: how was it to be
overcome? The conversation between Elizabeth and Sussex must
have been of a very interesting character.
Returning with private instructions from the queen, the Earl of
Sussex again convened the Parliament, which only consisted of
the so called representatives of ten counties--Dublin, Meath,
West Meath, Louth, Kildare, Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford,
Tipperary, and Wexford. We see that the almost total extinction
of the Kildare branch of the Geraldines had extended the English
Pale. The other deputies were citizens and burgesses of those
towns in which the royal authority predominated. "With such an
assembly," says Leland, "it is little wonder that, in despite of
clamor and opposition, in a session of a few weeks, the whole
ecclesiastical system of Queen Mary was entirely reversed." It
is needless to remark that the people had nothing whatever to do
with this reversal; it merely looked on, or was already
organizing for resistance.
Nevertheless, even in that assembly the queen's agents were
obliged to have recourse to fraud and deception, in order to
carry her measures, and it cannot be said that they obtained a
majority.
"The proceedings," according to Mr. Haverty, "are involved in
mystery, and the principal measures are believed to have been
carried by means fraudulent and clandestine." And, in a note, he
adds: "It is said that the Earl of Sussex, to calm the protests
which were made in Parliament, when it was found that the law
had been passed by a few members assembled privately, pledged
himself solemnly that this statute would not be enforced
generally on laymen during the reign of Elizabeth."1 (1 Dr.
Curry, in his "Civil Wars," has collected some curious facts in
illustration of this point.)
Whatever the means adopted to introduce and carry out the new
policy, it was certainly enacted that "the queen was the head of
the Church of Ireland, the reformed worship was reestablished as
under Edward VI., and the book of common prayers, with further
alterations, was reintroduced. A fine of twelve pence was
imposed on every person who should not attend the new service,
for each offence; bishops were to be appointed only by the queen,
and consecrated at her bidding. All officers and ministers,
ecclesiastical or lay, were bound to take the oath of supremacy,
under pain of forfeiture or incapacity; and any one who
maintained the spiritual supremacy of the Pope was to forfeit,
for his first offence, all his estates, real and personal, or be
imprisoned for one year, if not worth twenty pounds; for the
second offence, to be liable to praemunire; and for the third,
to be guilty of high-treason."
It was understood that those laws would be strictly enforced
against all priests and friars, though left generally
inoperative for lay people; and, with certain exceptions,
mentioned by Dr. Curry, such was the rule observed. Thus, the
reign of Elizabeth, which was such a cruel one for ecclesiastics,
produced few martyrs among the laity in Ireland. And, for this
reason, Sir James Ware is able to boast that, in all the
"rebellions" of the Irish against Elizabeth; they falsely
complained that their freedom of worship was curtailed, as
though they could worship without either priests or churches.
But the law was passed which made it "high-treason" to assert,
three times in succession, the spiritual supremacy of the Pope;
and, henceforth, whoever should suffer in defence of that
Catholic dogma, was to be a traitor and not a martyr.
The woman, seated on the English throne, speedily discovered
that it was not so easy a matter to change the religion of the
Irish as it had been to subvert completely that of her own
people.
Deprived of religious houses and means of instruction, deprived
of priests and churches, no communication with Rome save by
stealth, the Irish still showed their oppressors that their
consciences were free, and that no acts of Parliament or
sentences of iniquitous tribunals could prevent their remaining
Catholics.
By promising to deal as lightly with the laity as severely with
the clergy, Elizabeth felt confident that the Catholic religion
would soon perish in Ireland, and that, with the disappearance
of the priests, the churches, sacraments, instruction, and open
communion with Rome, would also disappear. To all seeming, her
surmises were correct; but the people were silently gathering
and uniting together as they had never done before.
The whole of Elizabeth's Irish policy may be comprised under two
headings: 1. Her policy toward the nobles, apparently one of
compromise and toleration, but really one of destruction, and so
rightly did they understand it that they rose and called in
foreign aid to their assistance; 2. Her church policy, one of
blood and total overthrow, which priests and people, now united
forever in the same great cause, resisted from the outset, and
finally defeated; and the decrees of high-treason, which were
carried out with frightful barbarity, only served to confirm the
Irish people in that unanimity which the wily dealings of Henry
VIII. had originated.
I. With the nobility Elizabeth hoped to succeed by flattery,
cunning, deceit, finally by treachery, and sowing dissension
among them; but all her efforts only served to knit them more
firmly one to another, and to revive among them the true spirit
of nationality and patriotism.
She did not state to them that her great object was to destroy
the Catholic Church; neverthless they should have felt and
resented it from the beginning; above all, ought they to have
given expression to the contempt they entertained for the bait
held out to them that the "laws" would not be executed against
them, but against Churchmen only. Had they been truly animated
by the feelings which already possessed the hearts of the people,
they would have scornfuly rejected the compromise proposed.
But she appeared to allow them perfect freedom in religious
matters; she subjected them to no oath, as in England; the new
laws were a dead letter as far as regarded the native lords, who
lived under other laws and remained silent, as with the lords of
the Pale. Yet nothing was of such importance in her eyes as the
enforcement of those decrees; consequently, she could only
accomplish her designs by deceit. George Browne, the first
Protestant Archbishop of Dublin, had predicted that the old
Irish race and the Anglo-Irish chieftains would unite and
combine with Continental powers in order to establish their
independence. The whole policy of Elizabeth's reign would give
us reason to believe that she rightly understood the deep remark
of the worldly heretic. Hence, although (or, rather, because)
the north, Ulster, was at that time the stronghold of Catholic
feeling, and the O'Neills and O'Donnells its leaders, she
flatters them, has them brought to her court, pardons several
"rebellions" of Shane the Proud, and afterward loads with her
favors the young Hugh of Tyrone, whom she kept at her own court.
She would dazzle them by the splendor of that court, by the
royal presents she so royally lavishes upon them, and by the
prospect of greater favors still to come. Meanwhile on the south
she turns a stern eye, and makes up her mind to destroy what is
left of the Geraldine family. This was to be the beginning of
the war of extermination, and the nobility which at the time was
disunited became firmly consolidated shortly after.
It is needless to go into the glorious and romantic history of
the Geraldine family. Elizabeth chose them for the first object
of her attack, because they, as Anglo-Irish Catholics, were more
odious in her eye than the pure Irish.
She knew that the then Earl of Desmond had escaped almost by
miracle from the island with his younger brother John, when the
rest of the noble stock had been butchered at Tyburn. She knew
that Gerald, after many wanderings, had finally reached Rome,
been educated under the care of his kinsman, Cardinal Pole,
cherished as a dear son by the reigning Pontiff, had
subsequently appeared at the Tuscan court of Cosmo de Medici;
that consequently, since his return to Ireland, he might be
considered the chief of the Catholic party there, although, to
save himself from attainder and hold possession of his immense
wealth in Munster, he displayed the greatest reserve in all his
actions, appeared to respect the orders of the queen in all
things, even in her external policy against the Church; so that
if priests were entertained in his castles, it was always by
stealth, and they were compelled to lead a life of total
retirement.
But, despite all this outward show, Elizabeth knew that Gerald
was really a sincere Catholic, that he considered himself a
sovereign prince, and would consequently have small scruple
about entering into a league against her, not only with the
northern Irish chieftains, but even with the Catholic princes of
the Continent. She resolved, therefore, to destroy him.
Sidney was sent to Ireland as lord-lieutenant. He travelled
first through all Munster, and complained bitterly that the
Irish chieftains were destroying the country by their divisions,
though perfectly conscious that those divisions were secretly
encouraged by England. He appeared to listen to the people, when
they complained of their lords, and yet at the holding of
assizes he hanged this same people on the flimsiest pretexts,
and had them executed wholesale. In one of his dispatches to the
home government, he makes complacent allusion to the countless
executions which accompanied his triumphant progress through
Munster: "I wrote not," he says, "the name of each particular
varlet that has died since I arrived, as well by the ordinary
course of the law, and the martial law, as flat fighting with
them, when they would take food without the good-will of the
giver; for I think it is no stuff worthy the loading of my
letters with; but I do assure you, the number of them is great,
and some of the best, and the rest tremble. For the most part
they fight for their dinner, and many of them lose their heads
before they are served with supper. Down they go in every corner,
and down they shall go, God willing."--(Sidney's Dispatches, Br. M.)
This was the man who announced himself as the avenger of the
people on their rulers. He complained chiefly of Gerald of
Desmond, and, without any pretext, summoned him with his brother
John, carried them prisoners to Dublin, and afterward sent them
to the Tower of London. The shanachy of the family relates that
then, and then only, Gerald sent a private message to his
kinsmen and retainers, appointing his cousin James, son of
Maurice, known as James Fitzmaurice, the head and leader in his
family during his own absence.
"For James," says the shanachy, "was well known for his
attachment to the ancient faith, no less than for his valor and
chivalry, and gladly did the people of old Desmond receive these
commands, and inviolable was their attachment to him who was now
their appointed chieftain."
James began directly to organize the memorable "Geraldine League,
" upon the fortunes of which, for years, the attention of
Christendom was fixed.
This, the first open treaty of Irish lords with the Pope, as a
sovereign prince, and with the King of Spain, calls for a few
remarks on the right of the Irish to declare open war with
England, and choose their own friends and allies, without being
rebels.
The English were at this very time so conscious of the weakness
of their title to the sovereignty of Ireland, that they were
continually striving to prop up their claims by the most absurd
pretensions.
In the posthumous act of attainder against Shane O'Neill in the
Irish Parliament of 1569, Elizabeth's ministers affected to
trace her title to the realm of Ireland back to a period
anterior to the Milesian race of kings. They invented a
ridiculous story of a "King Gurmondus," son to the noble King
Belan of Great Britain, who was lord of Bayon in Spain--they
probably meant Bayonne in France--as were many of his successors
down to the time of Henry II., who possessed the island after
the "comeing of Irishmen into the same lande."--(Haverty, Irish
Statutes, 2 Eliz., sess. 3, cap. i.)
These learned men who flourished in the golden reign of
Elizabeth must have thought the Irish very easily imposed upon
if they imagined they could give ear to such a fabrication, at a
time when each great family had its own chronicler to trace its
pedigree back to the very source of the race of Miledh.
The title of conquest, at that time a valid one in all countries,
had no value with the Irish who never had been and never
admitted themselves to have been conquered. Had they not
preserved their own laws, customs, language, local governments?
Had the English ever even attempted to subject them to their
laws? They had openly refused to grant their pretended benefits
to those few "degenerate Irishmen" who in sheer despair had
applied for them. This policy of separation was adopted by
England with the view of "rooting out" the Irish. The English
Government could therefore only accept the natural consequence
of such a system--that the Irish race should be left to itself,
in the full enjoyment of its own laws and local governments.
The very policy of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth, as displayed in
their attempt to break down the clans by favoring "well-disposed
Irishmen" and setting them up, by fraudulent elections, as
chiefs of the various septs, proves that the English themselves
admitted the clans to be real nation--_nationes_--as they were
called at the time by Irish chroniclers and by English writers
even. It was an acknowledgment of the plain fact that the
natives possessed and exercised their own laws of succession and
election, their own government and autonomy.
The disappearance of the Ard-Righ, who had held the titular
power over the whole country, is no proof that the Irish
possessed no government: for they themselves had refused for
several centuries to acknowledge his power. The island was split
up into several small independent states, each with the right of
levying war, and making peace and alliance. Gillapatrick, of
Ossory, dispatched his ambassador to Henry VIII. to announce
that if he, the English king, did not prevent his deputy, Rufus
Pierce, of Dublin, from annoying the clans of Ossory,
Gillapatrick would, in self-defence, declare war against the
King of England. And the imperious Henry Tudor, instead of
laughing at the threat of the chieftain; was shrewd enough to
recognize its significance, and prevented it being carried into
execution by admitting the cause as valid, and submitting the
conduct of his deputy to an investigation.
Moreover, the principles by which Christendom had been ruled for
centuries, were just then being broken up by the advent of
Protestantism; and novel theories were being introduced for the
government of modern nations. What were the old principles, and
what the new; and how stood Ireland with respect to each?
In the old organization of Christendom, the key-stone of the
whole political edifice was the papacy. Up to the sixteenth
century, the Sovereign Pontiff had been acknowledged by all
Christian nations as supreme arbiter in international questions,
and if England did possess any shadow of authority over Ireland,
it was owing to former decisions of popes, who, being
misinformed, had allowed the Anglo-Norman kings to establish
their power in the island. Whatever may be thought of the bull
of Adrian IV., this much is certain: we do not pretend to solve
that vexed historical problem.
But, by rebelling against Rome, by rejecting the title of the
Pope, England threw away even that claim, and by the bull of
excommunication, issued against Elizabeth, the Irish were
released from their allegiance to her, supposing that such
allegiance had existed, solely built upon this claim.
So well was this understood at the time, that the Roman Pontiffs,
as rulers of the Papal States, the Emperors of Germany, as
heads of the German Empire, and the Kings of Spain and France,
always covertly and sometimes openly received the envoys of
O'Neill, Desmond, and O'Donnell, and openly dispatched troops
and fleets to assist the Irish in their struggle for their de
facto independence.
All this was in perfect accordance, not merely with the
authority which Catholic powers still recognized in the
Sovereign Pontiff, but even with the new order of things which
Protestantism had introduced into Western Europe, and which
England, as henceforth a leading Protestant power, had accepted
and eagerly embraced. By the rejection of the supreme
arbitration of the Popes, on the part of the new heretics,
Europe lost its unity as Christendom, and naturally formed
itself into two leagues, the Catholic and the Protestant. An
oppressed Catholic nationality, above all a weak and powerless
one, had therefore the right of appeal to the great Catholic
powers for help against oppression. And the pretension of
England to the possession of Ireland was the very essence of
oppression and tyranny in itself, doubly aggravated by the fact
of an apostate and vicious king or queen making it treason for a
people, utterly separate and distinct from theirs, to hold fast
to its ancient and revered religion.
Who can say, then, that Gregory XIII. was guilty of injustice
and of abetting rebellion when, in 1578, he furnished James
Fitzmaurice, the great Geraldine, with a fleet and army to fight
against Elizabeth? The authority greatest in Catholic eyes, and
most worthy of respect in the eyes of all impartial men--the
Pope-- thus endorsed the patent fact that Ireland was an
independent nation, and could wage war against her oppressors.
Here we have a stand-point from which to argue the question for
future times.
The rash or, perhaps, treacherous share taken by a few Irish
chieftains, in the schismatical and heretical as well as
unpatriotic decrees of the Parliament of 1541, and in the
subsequent ones of 1549, could compromise the Irish nation in
nowise, inasmuch as the people, being still even in legal
enjoyment of their own government, their chieftains possessed no
authority to decide on such questions without the full
concurrence of their clans, and these had already pronounced,
clearly enough and unmistakably, on the return of their lords
from their title-hunting expedition in England.
All the chroniclers of the time agree that "the people" was
invariably sound in faith, siding with the chieftains wherever
they rose in opposition to oppressive decrees, abandoning them
when they showed signs of wavering, even; but, above all, when
they ranged themselves with the oppressors of the Church. The
English Protestant writers of the period confirm this honorable
testimony of the Irish bards, by constantly accusing the natives
of a "rebellious" spirit.
The history of the Geraldine struggle is known to all readers of
Irish history, and does not enter into the scope of these pages.
We have, however, to consider the foreign aid which the
chieftains received, from Spain chiefly, and the causes of these
failures, which at first would seem to argue a lack of firmness
on the part of the Irish themselves. During the Geraldine wars,
and later on in what is called the rebellion of Hugh O'Neill and
Hugh O'Donnell, the King of Spain sent vessels and troops to the
assistance of the Irish. All these expeditions failed, and the
destruction of the natives was far greater than it might
otherwise have been, in consequence of the greater number of
English troops sent to Ireland to face the expected Spanish
invasion.
The same ill success attended the French fleet and army
dispatched to Limerick by Louis XIV. to assist James II., and,
later still, the large fleet and well-appointed troops sent by
the French Convention to the aid of the "United Irishmen," in
1798.
In like manner, the Vendeans, on the other side, those French
"rebels" against the Convention itself, received their death-
blow in consequence of the English who were sent to their succor
at Quiberon.
It seems, indeed, a universal historic law that, when a nation
or a party in a nation struggles against another, the almost
invariable consequence of foreign aid is failure; but no
conclusion can be deduced from that fact of lack of bravery,
steadfastness, even ultimate success, on the part of those who
rise in arms against oppression. Of the many causes which may be
assigned to that apparently strange law of history, the chief
are:
1. The difficulty of effecting a joint and simultaneous effort
between the insurgent forces and the distant friendly power.
Help comes either too soon or too late, or lands on a point of
the coast where aid is worse than useless, and where it only
throws confusion into the ranks of the struggling native forces,
whose plans are thus all disarranged, disconcerted, and thrown
into confusion. Add to this the dangers of the sea, the possibly
insufficient knowledge of the soundings and of the nature of the
coast, the differences of spirit, customs, and language, of the
two coalescing forces, and it may be easily concluded that the
chances of success, as opposed to those of failure, are but
scanty.
2. The forces against which the coalition is made are always
immeasurably increased for the very purpose of meeting it, its
purport being always known beforehand. In the case under
consideration, it were easy to show that Elizabeth was prompted
by the fear of Spain to be speedy in crushing the attempted
"rebellions" in the south and north. Historians have made a
computation of the troops dispatched from England by the queen,
and of the treasure spent in these expeditions during her reign,
and the result is astonishing for the times. In fact, the whole
strength of England was brought into requisition for the purpose
of overpowering Ireland.
In our own days, the successful insurrection of Greece against
Turkey seems at variance with these considerations. But the
independence of the Greeks was brought about rather by the
unanimous voice of Europe coercing Turkey than by the few troops
sent from France, or by the few English or Poles who volunteered
their aid to the insurgents.
The remarks we have made may be further corroborated by the
reflection that the successful risings of oppressed
nationalities, recorded in modern history, were wholly effected
by the unaided forces of the insurgents. Thus, the seven cantons
of Switzerland succeeded against Austria, the Venetian Republic
against the barbarians of the North, the Portuguese in the
Braganza revolution against Spain, and the United Provinces of
the Low Countries against Spain and Germany.
The only historical instance which may contravene this general
rule is found in the Revolution of the United States of America,
where the French cooperation was timely and of real use, chiefly
because the foreign aid was placed entirely under the control
and at the command of the supreme head of the colonists, General
Washington.
These few words suffice for our purpose.
The policy of Elizabeth toward the Irish nobility is well known
to our readers. The fate of the house of Desmond was, in her
mind, sealed from the beginning. It is now an ascertained fact
that she drove the great earl into rebellion, who, for a long
time, refused openly to avow his approbation of the
confederates' schemes, and even seemed at first to cooperate
with the queen's forces, in opposition to them. It was only
after his cousin Fitzmaurice and his brother John had been
almost ruined that, convinced of the determination of the
English Government to seize and occupy Munster with his five or
six millions of acres, he boldly stood up for his faith and his
country, and perished in the attempt.
It was then that "Protestant plantations" began in Ireland. The
confiscated estates of Desmond--which, in reality, did not
belong to him but to his tribe--were handed over to companies of
"planters out of Devonshire, Dorsetshire, and Somersetshire, out
of Lancashire and Cheshire, organized for defence and to be
supported by standing forces."--(Prendergast.)
Then the work set on foot by Henry II. in favor of Strongbow, De
Lacy, De Courcy, and others, was resumed, after an interval of
four hundred years, to be carried through to the end; that is to
say, to the complete pauperizing of the native race.
Among the "undertakers" and "planters" introduced into Munster
by Elizabeth, a word may not be out of place on Edmund Spenser
and Walter Raleigh, the first a great poet, the second a great
warrior and courtier. They both united in advocating the
extermination of the native race, a policy which Henry VIII. was
too high-minded to accept, and Elizabeth too great a despiser of
"the people" to notice. To Henry and Elizabeth Tudor the people
was nothing; the nobility every thing. Spenser, Raleigh, and
other Englishmen of note, who came into daily contact with the
nation, saw very well that account should be taken of it, and
thought, as Sir John Davies had thought before them, that it
ought to be "rooted out." That great question of the Irish
people was assuming vaster proportions every day; the people was
soon to show itself in all its strength and reality, to be
crushed out apparently by Cromwell, but really to be preserved
by Providence for a future age, now at hand to-day.
Spenser and Raleigh, being gifted with keener foresight than
most of their countrymen, were for the entire destruction of the
people, thinking, as did many French revolutionists of our own
days, that "only the dead never come back."
The author of the "Faerie Queene," who had taken an active part
in the horrible butcheries of the Geraldine war, when all the
Irish of Munster were indiscriminately slaughtered, insisted
that a similar policy should be adopted for the whole island. In
his work "On the State of Ireland," he asks for "large masses of
troops to tread down all that standeth before them on foot, and
lay on the ground all the stiff-necked people of that land." He
urges that the war be carried on not only in the summer but in
the winter; "for then, the trees are bare and naked, which use
both to hold and house the kerne; the ground is cold and wet,
which useth to be his bedding; the air is sharp and bitter, to
blow through his naked sides and legs; the kine are barren and
without milk, which useth to be his food, besides being all with
calf (for the most part), they will through much chasing and
driving cast all their calf, and lose all their milk, which
should relieve him in the next summer."
Spenser here employs his splendid imagination to present
gloatingly such details as the most effective means for the
destruction of the hated race. All he demands is, that "the end
should be very short," and he gives us an example of the
effectiveness and beauty of his system "in the late wars in
Munster." For, "notwithstanding that the same" (Munster) "was a
most rich and plentiful country, full of corne and cattle, . . .
yet ere one yeare and a half they" (the Irish) "were brought to
such wretchednesse as that any stony heart would have rued the
same. Out of every corner of woods and glynnes, they came
creeping forthe upon their hands, for their legges could not
beare them; they looked like anatomies of death; they spoke like
ghosts crying out of their graves . . . . that in short space
there were none almost left, and a most populous and plentiful
country suddenly left void of man and beast."
Such is a picture, horribly graphic, of the state to which
Munster had been reduced by the policy of England as carried out
by a Gilbert, a Peter Carew, and a Cosby; and to this pass the
"gentle" Spenser would have wished to see the whole country come.
Even Mr. Froude is compelled to denounce in scathing terms the
monsters employed by the queen, and his facts are all derived,
he tells us, from existing "state papers."
Writing of the end of the Geraldine war, he says: "The English
nation was at that time shuddering over the atrocities of the
Duke of Alva. The children in the nurseries were being inflamed
to patriotic rage and madness by the tales of Spanish tyranny.
Yet, Alva's bloody sword never touched the young, defenceless,
or those whose sex even dogs can recognize and respect.
"Sir Peter Carew has been seen murdering women and children, and
babies that had scarcely left the breast; but Sir Peter Carew
was not called on to answer for his conduct, and remained in
favor with the deputy. Gilbert, who was left in command at
Kilnallock, was illustrating yet more signally the same tendency.
" Nor "was Gilbert a bad man. As time went on, he passed for a
brave and chivalrous gentleman, not the least distinguished in
that high band of adventurers who carried the English flag into
the western hemisphere . . . . above all, a man of 'special
piety.' He regarded himself as dealing rather with savage beasts
than with human beings (in Ireland), and, when he tracked them
to their dens, he strangled the cubs, and rooted out the entire
brood.
"The Gilbert method of treatment has this disadvantage, that it
must be carried out to the last extremity, or it ought not to be
tried at all. The dead do not come back; and if the mothers and
babies are slaughtered with the men, the race gives no further
trouble; but the work must be done thoroughly; partial and
fitful cruelty lays up only a long debt of deserved and ever-
deepening hate.
"In justice to the English soldiers, however, it must be said
that it was no fault of theirs if any Irish child of that
generation was allowed to live to manhood."--(Hist. of Engl.,
vol. x., p. 507.)
These Munster horrors occurred directly after the defeat of the
Irish at Kinsale. Cromwell, therefore, in the atrocities which
will come under our notice, only followed out the policy of the
"Virgin Queen." And it is but too evident that the English of
1598 were the fathers or grandfathers of those of 1650. Both
were inaugurating a system of warfare which had never been
adopted before, even among pagans, unless by the Tartar troops
under Genghis Khan; a system which in future ages should shape
the policy, which was followed, for a short time, by the French
Convention in la Vendee.
Raleigh, as well as Spenser, seems to have been a vigorous
advocate of this system. It is true that his sole appearance on
the scene was on the occasion of the surrender of Smerwick by
the Spanish garrison; but the Saxon spirit of the man was
displayed in his execution of Lord Grey's orders, who, after,
according to all the Irish accounts, promising their lives to
the Spaniards, had them executed; and Raleigh appears to have
directed that execution, whereby eight hundred prisoners of war
were cruelly butchered and flung over the rocks in the sea. From
that time out the phrase "Grey's faith" (Graia fides) became a
proverb with the Irish.
After having succeeded in crushing Desmond and "planting "
Munster, the attention of Elizabeth was directed to the 0'Neills
and O'Donnells of Ulster. That thrilling history is well known.
It is enough to say that O'Donnell from his youth was designedly
exasperated by ill-treatment and imprisonment; and that as soon
as O'Neill, who had been treated with the greatest apparent
kindness by the queen, that he might become a queen's man,
showed that he was still an Irishman and a lover of his country,
he was marked out as a victim, and all the troops and treasures
of England were poured out lavishly to crush him and destroy the
royal races of the north.
In that gigantic struggle one feature is remarkable--that,
whenever the English Government felt obliged to come to terms
with the last asserters of Irish independence, the first
condition invariably laid down by O'Neill and O'Donnell was the
free exercise of the Catholic religion. For we must not lose
sight of the well-ascertained fact that the English queen, who
at the very commencement of her reign had had her spiritual
supremacy acknowledged by the Irish Parliament under pain of
forfeiture, praemunire, and high-treason, insisted all along on
the binding obligation of this title; and though at first she
had secretly promised that this law should not be enforced
against the laity, she showed by all her measures that its
observance was of paramount importance in her eyes.
Had the Irish followed the English as a nation, and accepted
Protestantism, Elizabeth would scarcely have made war upon them,
nor introduced her "plantations." All along the Irish were
"traitors" and "rebels" simply because they chose to remain
Catholics, and McGeoghegan has well remarked that, "not-
withstanding the severe laws enacted by Henry VIII., Edward VI.,
and Elizabeth, down to James I., it is a well-established truth
that, during that period, the number of Irishmen who embraced
the 'reformed religion' did not amount to sixty in a country
which at the time contained two millions of souls." And
McGeoghegan might have added that, of these sixty, not one
belonged to the people; they were all native chieftains who sold
their religion in order to hold their estates or receive favors
from the queen.
Sir James Ware is bold enough to say that, in all her dealings
with the Irish nobility, Elizabeth never mentioned religion, and
their right of practising it as they wished never came into the
question. She certainly never subjected them to any oath, as was
the case in England. Technically speaking, this statement seems
correct. Yet it is undeniable that Elizabeth allowed no Catholic
bishops or priests to remain in the island; permitted the Irish
to have none but Protestant school-teachers for their children;
bestowed all their churches on heretical ministers; closed, one
by one, all the buildings which Catholics used for their worship,
as soon as their existence became known to the police; in fact
obliged them to practise Protestantism or no religion at all.
In the eyes of Elizabeth a Catholic was a "rebel." Whoever was
executed for religion during her reign was executed for
"rebellion." The Roman emperors who persecuted the Church during
the first three centuries, might have advanced the same
pretences And indeed the early Christians were said to be
tortured and executed for their "violation of the laws of the
empire."
This point will come more clearly before us in considering the
second phase of the policy of Elizabeth, her direct interference
with the Church.
II. If the policy of England's queen had been one of treachery
and deceit toward the nobility, toward the Church it was
avowedly one of blood and destruction.
Well-intentioned and otherwise well-informed writers, among them
Mr. Prendergast, seem to consider that the main object of the
atrocious proceedings we now proceed to glance at was "greed,"
and that the English Government merely connived at the covetous
desires of adventurers and undertakers, who wished to destroy
the Irish and occupy their lands; for, as Spenser says "Sure it
was a most beautiful and sweete country as any under heaven,
being stored throughout with many goodly rivers, replenished
with all sorts of fish most abundantly; sprinkled with many very
sweete islands, and goodly lakes like little inland seas;
adorned with goodly woods; also full of very good ports and
havens opening upon England as inviting us to come into them."
Such, according to those writers, was the policy of England from
the first landing of Strongbow on the shores of Erin, and even
during the preceding four centuries, when both races were
Catholic, and the conversion of the natives to Protestantism
could not enter the thoughts of the invaders.
This, to a certain extent, is true. Still, it seems very
doubtful to us that Elizabeth should have undertaken so many
wars in Ireland, which lasted through her whole reign, and on
which she employed all the strength and resources of England,
merely to please a certain number of nobles who wished to find
foreign estates whereon to settle their numerous offspring.
The chief importance, in her eyes, of the conquest was clearly
to establish her spiritual superiority in that part of her
dominions. She would have left the native nobles at peace, and
even conferred on them her choicest favors, had they only
consented, as English subjects, to break with Rome. Rome had
excommunicated her; Pius V. had released her subjects from their
allegiance because of her heresy, and Ireland did not reject the
bull of the Pope. This in her eyes constituted the great and
unpardonable offence of the Irish. And that, for her, the whole
question bore a religious character, will appear more clearly
from her conduct toward the Catholic Church throughout her reign.
Into this part of our subject the examination of the step taken
by Pius V. naturally enters, and, in examining it, we shall see
whether, and how far, the Irish can be called rebels and
"traitors."
In his history of the Reformation, Dr. Heylin says of Elizae's
supremacy could not stand together, and she could not possibly
maintain the one without discarding the other." This is
perfectly true, and furnishes us with the key to all her church
measures.
She pretended to be a Catholic during Mary's reign; but it was
merely pretence. To persevere in Catholicity required of her the
sacrifice of her political aspirations; for the Church could not
admit of her legitimacy, and consequently her title to the crown
of England. Hence, upon the death of Mary Tudor, the Queen of
Scots immediately assumed the title of Queen of England; and
although the Pope, then Pius IV., did not immediately declare
himself in favor of Mary Stuart, but reserved his decision for a
future period, nevertheless, the view of the case adopted by the
Pontiff could not be mistaken. Elizabeth's legitimacy, or, as
Heylin has it, "legitimation and the Pope's supremacy could not
stand together." No course was left open to her, then, than to
reject the pontifical authority, and establish her own in her
dominions, as she did not possess faith enough to set her soul
above a crown; and the success of her father, Henry VIII., and
of her half-brother, Edward VI., encouraged her in this step.
This fully explains her policy. It became a principle with her
that, to accept the Pope's supremacy in spirituals, was to deny
her legitimacy, and consequently to be guilty of treason against
her. This made the position of Catholics in England and Ireland
a most trying one. But their moral duty was clear enough, and
every other obligation had to give way before that. In the
persecution which followed they were certainly martyrs to their
duty and their religion.
That the question of the succession in England was an open one,
must be admitted by every candid man. Who was the legitimate
Queen of England at the death of Mary Tudor? The Queen of Scots
assumed the title, and, as the legitimate offspring of the
sister of Henry VIII., she had the right to it as the nearest
direct descendant in the event of Elizabeth's pretensions not
being admitted by the nation. The nation at the time was in fact,
though not in right, the nobles, who enriched themselves at the
expense of the Church, and were therefore deeply interested in
the exclusion of Catholic principles. A Parliament composed of
the nobles had already acknowledged Elizabeth to the exclusion
of the Queen of Scots, and the former decision was reaffirmed as
against a "female pretender" supported by a foreign power,
namely, France.
England, that is to say, the corrupt nobility of the kingdom, by
taking upon itself that decision, refused to submit the question
to the arbitration of the Pope; and thus, for the first time,
the principles which had guided Christendom for eight hundred
years, were discarded. Yet, under Mary, the Catholic Church had
been declared the Church of the state; at her death, no change
took place; the mass of the people was still Catholic. It took
Elizabeth her whole reign to make the English a thoroughly
Protestant people. The great mass of the nation came
consequently then, even legally, under the law of mediaeval
times, which surrendered the decision of such cases into the
hands of the Roman Pontiff.
Again, when we reflect that our preset object is the
consideration of who was the legitimate Queen of Ireland, the
question becomes clearer and simpler still. The supremacy of
Henry VIII. had never been acknowledged in the island, even by
those who had subscribed to the decrees of the Parliament of
1541 and 1569. The Irish chieftains had not only never assented,
but had always preserved their independence in all, save the
suzerainty of the English monarchs, and they were at the time,
without exception, Catholics. For them, therefore, the Pope was
the expounder of the law of succession to the throne, as, up to
that time, he had been generally recognized in Europe. Elizabeth,
consequently, as an acknowledged illegitimate child, could not
become a legitimate queen without a positive declaration and
election by the true representatives of the people, approved by
the Pope. Her assumption, then, of the supreme government was a
mere usurpation. The theory of governments de facto being obeyed
as quasi-legitimate had not yet been mooted among lawyers and
theologians. With respect to the whole question, there can be no
doubt as to the conclusion at which any able constitutional
jurist of our days would arrive.
Could usurped rights such as these invest Elizabeth with
authority to declare herself paramount not only in political but
also in religious matters? And, because she was called queen,
can it be considered treason for an Irishman to believe in the
spiritual supremacy of the Pope? Yet, unless we look upon as
martyrs those who died on the rack and the gibbet in Ireland
during her reign, because they refused to admit in a woman the
title of Vicar of Christ, to such decision must we come.
The policy of the English queen toward Catholic bishops, priests,
and monks, presents the question in a still stronger light. Its
chief feature will now come before us, and will show how all of
these suffered for Christ. We say all, because not only those
are included in the category who held aloof from politics and
confined themselves to the exercise of their spiritual functions,
but those also who, at the bidding of the Pope, or following
the natural promptings of their own inclinations, favored the so-
called rebellion of the Geraldine and of the Ulster chieftains.
The lives and death of both are now well known, and to both we
award the title of heroes and Christian martyrs.
As it would be too long to present here a complete picture of
those events, and trace the biography of many of those who
suffered persecution at that time, we content ourselves with two
faithful representatives of the classes above mentioned--Richard
Creagh, Archbishop of Armagh, and Dr. Hurley, Archbishop of
Cashel. The case of the great Oliver Plunkett, who suffered
under Charles II., and who was the victim of the entire English
nation, is beyond our present discussion.
The biography of the first of these has been written by several
authors, who, agreeing as to the main facts of his history,
differ only in their chronology. Dr. Roothe's account is the
longest of all and is intricate, and subject to some confusion
with regard to dates; but a sketch of that life, which appeared
in the Rambler of April, 1853, is the most consistent and easily
reconciled with the well-known facts of the general history of
the period, and therefore we follow it:
Richard Creagh, proposed for the See of Armagh by the nuncio,
David Wolfe, arrived at Limerick in the August of 1560, at the
very beginning of the reign of Elizabeth. Pius IV., who was then
Pontiff, had not come to any conclusion respecting the
sovereignty of England, and did not openly declare himself in
favor of the right of Mary Stuart to the crown. The Pope, not
having given any positive injunctions to Archbishop Creagh, with
regard to his political conduct, the latter was left free to
follow the dictates of his conscience. He came only with a
letter, to Shane O'Neill, who, at the time, was almost
independent in Ulster.
Not only did the archbishop not take any part in the political
measures of the Ulster chieftain, who was often at war with
Elizabeth, but he soon came to a disagreement with him on purely
conscientious grounds, and finally excommunicated him. In the
midst of the many difficulties which surrounded him, he resolved
to inculcate peace and loyalty to Elizabeth throughout Ulster,
asking of Shane only one favor, that of founding colleges and
schools, and thinking that, by remaining loyal to the queen, he
might obtain her assistance in founding a university. The good
prelate little knew the character of the woman with whom he had
to deal, imagining probably that the decree of her spiritual
supremacy would remain a dead letter for the priesthood, as had
been falsely promised to the laity.
But he was not left long to indulge in these delusions; for, in
the act of celebrating mass in a monastery of his diocese, he
was betrayed by some informer, and was arrested by a troop of
soldiers, who conducted him before the government authorities,
by whom he was sent to London and confined in the Tower on
January 18,1565. He was there several times interrogated by
Cecil and the Recorder of London, who could easily ascertain
that the prelate was altogether guiltless of political intrigue.
He escaped miraculously, passed through Louvain, went to Spain,
at the time at peace with England, and, wishing to return to
Ireland, wrote, through the Spanish ambassador, to Leicester,
then all-powerful with the queen, to protest beforehand that, if
the Pope should order him to return to his diocese, he intended
only to render to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is
God's. Even then, after his prison experience of several months,
he thought that, if he could persuade Elizabeth that he was
truly loyal to her, she would forgive him his Catholicity.
Receiving no answer, he set sail for his country, where he
landed in August, 1566, and shortly after wrote to Sir Henry
Sidney, then lord-deputy, in the very terms he had used with
Leicester, and proposing in addition to use his efforts in
inducing Shane O'Neill to conclude peace.
What Sidney and his masters in London, Cecil and Leicester, must
have thought of the simplicity of this good man, it is
impossible to say. They condescended to return no answer to his
more than straightforward communication, save the short verbal
reply concerning O'Neill: "We have given forth speach of his
extermination by war."
The good prelate, after having so clearly defined his position,
thought he might safely follow the dictates of his conscience,
and govern his flock in peace; but he was soon taken prisoner,
in April, 1567, by O'Shaughnessy, who received a special letter
of thanks from Elizabeth for his services on this occasion.
Bv order of the queen, he was tried in Dublin; but, so clear was
the case before them, that even a Protestant jury could not
convict him. The honest Dublin jurors were therefore cast into
prison and heavily fined, while the prelate was once again
transferred to London, whence he a second time escaped by the
connivance of his jailor.
Retaken in 1567, he was handed over to the queen's officers,
under a pledge that his life would be spared. And, in
consequence of this pledge alone, was he never brought to trial,
but kept a close prisoner in the Tower for eighteen years, until
in 1585 he was, according to all reliable accounts, deliberately
poisoned.
This simple narrative certainly proves that in Elizabeth's eyes,
the mere sustaining the Pope's spiritual supremacy was treason,
and every Catholic consequently, because Catholic, a traitor
deserving death. True, the Irish prelates, monks, and people,
might have imitated the majority of the English nobles and
people in accepting the new dogma. In that case, they would have
become truly loyal and dutiful subjects, and been admitted to
all the rights of citizenship; the nobles would have retained
possession of their estates, the gentry obtained seats in the
Irish Parliament; while the common people, renouncing clanship,
absurd old traditions, the memory of their ancestors, together
with their obedience to the See of Rome, would not have been
excluded from the benefits of education; would have been allowed
to engage in trades and manufactures; would have been permitted
to keep their land, or hold it by long leases; would have
enjoyed the privilege of dwelling in walled towns and cities, if
they felt no inclination for agriculture. They would have become
no doubt "a highly-prosperous" nation, as the English and Scotch
of our days have become, partakers of all the advantages of the
glorious British Constitution, cultivating the fields of their
ancestors, and converting their beautiful island into a paradise
more enchanting than the rich meadows and wheat-fields of
England itself.
On the other hand, they would have obtained all those temporal
advantages at the expense of their faith, which no one had a
right to take from them; in their opinion, and in that of
millions of their fellow-Catholics, they would have forfeited
their right to heaven, and the Irish have always been
unreasonable enough to prefer heaven to earth. They have
preferred, as the holy men of old of whom St. Paul speaks, "to
be stoned, cut asunder, tempted, put to death by the sword, to
wander about in sheep-skins, in oat-skins; being in want,
distressed, afflicted, of whom the word was not worthy;
wandering in deserts, in mountains, in dens, and in the caves of
the earth, being approved by the testimony of faith:" that is to
say, having the testimony of their conscience and the approval
of God, and considering this better than worldly prosperity and
earthly happiness.
Turning now to those prelates, monks, and priests, who during
Elizabeth's reign took part in Irish politics against the queen,
can we on that account deny them the title of martyrs to their
faith?
Dr. Hurley, Archbishop of Cashel, whose memoirs were published
by Miles O'Reilly, may be taken as a type of this class. Suppose,
as well grounded, although never proved, the suspicion of the
English Government with regard to his political mission.
Prelates and priests, generally speaking, were put to death
under Elizabeth, or confined to dungeons on mere suspicion, and,
as we have seen in the case of the Archbishop of Armagh, even
clear proofs of their innocence would not save them.
On his father's side, Dr. Hurley was naturally in the interest
of James Geraldine, Earl of Desmond; and, on his mother's, he
belonged to the royal family of O' Briens of Munster.
Consecrated Archbishop of Cashel at Rome in 1550, under Gregory
XIII., during the Geraldine rebellion, he was compelled to use
the utmost precaution in entering Ireland. The police of
Elizabeth was particularly active at that time in hunting up
priests and monks throughout the whole island, but particularly
in the south.
The archbishop escaped all these dangers, and he avoided the
certain denunciation of Walter Baal, the Mayor of Dublin
probably, who was then actually persecuting his mother, Dame
Eleanor Birmingham; he fled to the castle of Thomas Fleming, who
concealed him in a secret chamber in his house and treated him
as a friend. But when everybody thought the danger past, and
that it was no longer imprudent for him to mix in the society of
the castle, he was suspected by an Anglo-Irishman of the name of
Dillon, denounced by him, and finally surrendered by Thomas
Fleming, and conveyed to Dublin, where proceedings were set on
foot against him by the Irish Council and the queen's ministers
in England.
His imprisonment was coincident with the suppression of the
rising in Munster, and the Earl of Desmond was beginning that
frightful outlaw-life which only ended with his miserable death.
The object of the archbishop's accusers was to connect him with
the designs of Rome and the Munster insurrection; and the state
papers preserved in London have disclosed to us the
correspondence between Adam Loftus, the Protestant Archbishop of
Dublin, on the one side, and Walsingham and Cecil on the other.
The only proofs of the Archbishop's having joined the southern
confederacy were: 1. Suspicions, as he was consecrated in Rome
about the time of the sailing of the expedition under James
Fitzmaurice; 2. The information of a certain Christopher
Barnwell, then in jail, who was promised his life if he could
furnish proofs enough to convict the prelate. The value of the
testimony of an "informer" under such circumstances is
proverbial; yet all Barnwell could allege was, that "he was
present at a conversation in Rome between Dr. Hurley and
Cardinal Comensis, the Pope's secretary, and, the result of the
whole conversation was, "that the doctor did not know nor
believe that the Earl of Kildare had joined the rebellion of
Fitzmaurice and Desmond, and he was rebuked by the cardinal for
not believing it."
This was considered overwhelming proof against him, in spite of
his positive denial. Torture was applied, but the most awful
sufferings could not wring from him the acknowledgment of having
taken part in the conspiracy. Yet Loftus and Wallop were of
opinion that he was a "rebel" and ought to be put to death. The
only difficulty which presented itself to the "Lords Justices"
of Ireland was, that there was no statute in Ireland against
"traitors" who had plotted beyond the seas, and they asked that
the archbishop should either be sent to be tried in England, or
tried in Ireland by martial law, which would screen them from
responsibility.
This last favor was granted them; and the holy archbishop was
taken from prison at early dawn, on a Friday, either in May or
June, 1584. He was barbarously hanged in a withey (withe)
calling on God, and forgiving his torturers with all his heart.
Our purpose is not to inveigh against this judicial murder, and,
by further details, increase the horror which every honest man
must feel at the narrative of such atrocious proceedings. We
will suppose, on the contrary, that the cooperation of the
Archbishop of Cashel with Fitzmaurice and Desmond, and even with
the Pope and King of Spain, had been clearly proved--as it is
certain that, if not in this case, at least in some others,
during the reign of Elizabeth, the bishops or priests accused
had really taken part in the attempt of the Irish to free
themselves from such tyranny--and insist that, even then, the
murdered Catholic ecclesiastics really died for their religion,
and could be called "rebels" in no sense whatever.
First, the question might arise as to how far the Irish were
subject to the English crown. We have seen how, a few years
before, Gillapatrick, of Ossory, asserted his right of making
war on England, when he felt sufficient provocation. Under
Elizabeth the case was still clearer, at least for Catholics,
after the excommunication of the queen by Pius V. As we have
seen, the chief title of England to Ireland rested on two
pretended papal bulls: another Pope could and did recall the
grant, which had been founded on misrepresentation. Up to that
time, there had been no real subjection by conquest, outside of
the Pale, which formed but an insignificant part of the island.
Under such circumstances, it must at least be admitted that a
radically and clearly unjust law, imposed by a foreign though
perhaps suzerain power, could be justly resisted by force of
arms. And such was the case in Ireland. The Queen of England--
the Irish Parliament of 1539 had no other authority than that of
the queen, and represented no part of the people--had made it
rebellion for the Irish to remain faithful to their religion.
What could prevent the Irish from resisting such pretension,
even at the cost of effusion of blood? The early Christians,
under the Roman Empire, it is true, never rose in arms against
the bloody edicts of the Caesars or the Antonines; but the cases
are not parallel.
Suppose that Greece or Asia Minor had never succumbed to the
Roman power, and had become entirely Christian: no one would
refuse to admit their right to offer armed resistance to the
extension of the edicts of persecution into their territory. On
the contrary, it would have been their duty to do so: and every
one of their inhabitants, who was taken and executed as a rebel,
would have been crowned with the martyr's crown.
At this point, indeed, comes in the consideration of the special
motive which animated each belligerent, even when fighting on
the right side. We are far from saying that all the Irishmen,
particularly the leaders and chieftains who at that time ranged
themselves under the banners of the Desmonds or the O'Neills,
fought purely for Christ and religion. Many of them, no doubt,
engaged in the contest from mere worldly motives, perhaps even
for purposes unworthy of Christians; and in this case, those who
fell in the struggle were in no sense soldiers of Christ.
But how many such are to be found among the bishops, priests, or
monks, who perished under Elizabeth? May it not be said of them
that, to a man, they fell for the sake of religion? We may even
be bold enough to say that the majority of the common Irish
people who lost their lives in those wars may be placed in the
same category as their spiritual rulers, being in reality the
upholders of right and the champions of Catholicity.
Let it be remembered that, at the period of which we speak, the
only real question involved in the contest was gradually
assuming more and more a religious character. Henry VIII. and
his deputy, St. Leger, had struck a fatal blow at clanship and
Irish institutions in general, by bestowing on and compelling
the chieftains to accept English titles, and by investing them
with new deeds of their lands under feudal tenure. By Elizabeth,
the same policy was steadily and successfully pursued, her court
being always graced by the presence of young Irish lords,
educated under her own eyes, and loaded with all her royal
favors. All she asked of them in return was that they should
become Queen's men. The repugnance once felt by Irishmen for
that gilded slavery was each day becoming less marked. But,
while every thing was seemingly working so well for the
attainment of Elizabeth's object at the commencement of her
reign, a new feature suddenly shows itself, and grows rapidly
into prominence --the attachment of the Irish to their religion,
and the violent opposition to the change always kept foremost in
view by the queen, namely the substitution of her spiritual
supremacy for that of the Pope.
Thus we find the Irish leaders, when proclaiming their
grievances, either on the eve of war, or the signing of a treaty
of peace, always giving their religious convictions the first
place on the list. The religious question, then, was becoming
more and more the question, and, notwithstanding all her fine
assurances that she would not infringe upon the religious
predilections of the laity, Elizabeth's great purpose, in
Ireland and in England, was to destroy Catholicity, by
destroying the priesthood, root and-branch.
The nobles showed how fully convinced they were of this, when
they carne to adopt a system of concealment, even of duplicity,
to which Irishmen ought never to have been weak enough to submit.
Not only were the practices of their religion confined to
places where no Englishman or Protestant could penetrate, but
gradually they allowed their houses--those sanctuaries of
freedom--to be invaded by the pursuivants of the queen,
searching for priests or monks "lately arrived from Rome."
Secret apartments were constructed by skilful architects in
noblemen's manors; recesses were artfully contrived under the
roofs, in roomy staircases, or even in basements and cellars.
There the unfortunate minister of religion was confined for
weeks and months, creeping forth only at night, to breathe the
fresh air at the top of the house or in the thick shrubbery of
the adjoining park. All the means of evading the law used by the
Christians of the first centuries were reproduced and resorted
to in Catholic Ireland by chieftains who possessed the "secret
promise" of the queen that their religion should not be
interfered with, and that her supremacy should not be enforced
against them.
Not thus did the people act: their keen sense of injustice took
in at once all the circumstances of the case. It was a religious
persecution, nothing else; and this the nobles also felt in
their inmost souls. The people saw the ministers of religion
hunted down, seized, dragged to prison, tried, convicted,
barbarously executed; they recognized it in its reality as a
sheer attempt to destroy Catholicity, and as such they opposed
it by every means in their power. They beheld the monks and
friars treated as though they had been wild beasts; the soldiers
falling on them wherever they met them, and putting them to
death with every circumstance of cruelty and insult, without
trial, without even the identification required for outlaws. Mr.
Miles O'Reilly's book, "Irish Martyrs," is full of cases of this
kind. Hence the people frequently offered open resistance to the
execution of the law; the soldiers had to disperse the mob; but
the real mob was the very troop commanded by English officers.
When at length the Irish lords no longer dared offer asylum to
the outlawed priesthood in their manors and castles, the hut of
the peasant lay open to them still. The greater the quantity of
blood poured out by the executors of the barbarous laws, the
greater the determination of the people to protect the oppressed
and save the Lord's anointed.
Then opened a scene which had never been witnessed, even under
the most cruel persecutions of the tyrants of old Rome. The
whole strength of the English kingdom had been called into play
to crush the Irish nobility during the wars of Ulster and
Munster; the whole police of the same kingdom was now put in
requisition for the apprehension and destruction of church-men.
Nay, from this very occupation, the great police system which
since that time has flourished in most European states, arose,
being invented or at least perfected for the purpose.
Then, for the first time in modern history, numbers of "spies"
and "informers" were paid for the service of English ministers
of state. Not only did the cities of England and Ireland, harbor
cities chiefly, swarm with them, but they covered the whole
country; they were to be found everywhere: around the humble
dwelling of the peasant and the artisan, in the streets and on
the highways, inspecting every stranger who might be a friar or
monk in disguise. They spread through the whole European
Continent--along the coast and in the interior of France and
Belgium, Italy and Spain, in the churches, convents, and
colleges, even in the courts of princes, and, as we have seen in
the case of Dr. Hurley, in the very halls of the Vatican. The
English state papers have disclosed their secret, and the whole
history is now before us.
To support this army of spies and informers, the soldiers of
that other army of England, who were employed either in keeping
England under the yoke or in crushing freedom and religion out
of Ireland, did not disdain to execute the orders which
converted them into policemen and sbirri. And it may be said, to
their credit, that they executed those orders with a ferocious
alacrity unequalled in the annals of military life in other
countries. If, during the most fearful commotions in France, the
army has been employed for a similar purpose, it must be
acknowledged that, as far as the troops were concerned, they
performed their unwelcome task with reluctance, and softened
down, at least, their execution, by considerate manners and
respectful demeanor. But these soldiers of Elizabeth showed
themselves, from first to last, full of ferocity. They generally
went far beyond the letter of their orders; they took an inhuman
delight in adding insult to injury, uniting in their persons the
double character of preservers of public order and ruffianly
executioners of innocent victims. Many and many a record of
their barbarity is kept to this day. We add a few, only to
justify our necessarily severe language:
"The Rev. Thaddeus Donald and John Hanly received their martyr's
crown on the 10th of August, 1580. They had long labored among
the suffering faithful along the southwestern coast of Ireland.
When the convent of Bantry was seized by the English troops,
these holy men received their wished-for crown of martyrdom.
Being conducted to a high rock impending over the sea, they were
tied back to back, and precipitated into the waves beneath."
"In the convent of Enniscorthy, Thaddeus O'Meran, father-
guardian of the convent, Felix O'Hara, and Henry Layhode, under
the government of Henry Wallop, Viceroy of Ireland, were taken
prisoners by the soldiers, for five days tortured in various
ways, and then slain."
"Rev. Donatus O'Riedy, of Connaught, and parish priest of
Coolrah, when the soldiers of Elizabeth rushed into the village,
sought refuge in the church; but in vain, for he was there
hanged near the high altar, and afterward pierced with swords,
12th of June, 1582."
"While Drury was lord-deputy, about 1577, Fergal Ward, a
Franciscan, . . . fell into the hands of the soldiery, and,
being scourged with great barbarity, was hanged from the
branches of a tree with the cincture of his own religious habit."
In order to find a parallel to atrocities such as these, we must
go back to the record of some of the sufferings of the early
martyrs--St. Ignatius of Antioch, for instance, who wrote of the
guards appointed to conduct him to Italy: "From Syria as far as
Rome, I had to fight with wild beasts, on sea and on land, tied
night and day to a pack of ten leopards, that is to say, ten
soldiers who kept me, and were the more ferocious the more I
tried to be kind to them."
Instances of such extreme cruelty are rare, even in the Acts of
the early martyrs, but they meet us every moment in the memoirs
of the days of Elizabeth. Both the police-spies and the soldier-
police were animated with the rage and fury which must have
possessed the soul of the queen herself; for, after all, the
cruelty practised in her reign, and mostly under her orders, was
not necessary in order to secure her throne to her, during life;
and, as she could hope for no posterity of her own, it was not
the desire of retaining the crown to her children which could
excuse so much bloodshed and suffering. She evidently followed
the promptings of a cruel heart in those atrocious measures
which constitute the feature of the home policy of her reign.
The persecution which raged incessantly throughout her long
career, in Ireland and England, is surely one of the most bloody
in the annals of the Catholic Church.