ESSEX IN IRELAND, 1599.
[Sidenote: Position of Essex.]
Sir Henry Wotton, who was a good judge and who had special means of
observation in this case, was of opinion that Essex wore out the
Queen's patience by his petulance. He has recorded that a wise and, as
it turned out, prophetic adviser warned the Earl that, though he might
sometimes carry a point by sulking at Wanstead, at Greenwich, or in
his own chamber, yet in the long run such conduct would lead to ruin.
'Such courses as those were like hot waters, which help at a pang, but
if they be too often used will spoil the stomach.' The advice was not
taken, and Essex continued to treat every check as a personal insult.
The natural effect followed, and by the year 1598 'his humours grew
tart, as being now in the lees of favour.'[300]
[Sidenote: He offends the Queen]
[Sidenote: by his petulance.]
Burghley died a few days before the disaster at Blackwater, and Philip
II. not many days after. The policy of Spain was not much affected,
though the change might be thought like that from Solomon to Rehoboam;
but England missed the wise and kindly hand which had often held Essex
straight. Bagenal's overthrow brought into sudden prominence that
thorny problem with which the impetuous favourite was of all men the
least fit to cope. Patience, steadiness, organising power, knowledge of
men, were the qualities needed in Ireland then, as now, and Essex was
conspicuously deficient in them all. 'I will tell you,' said a great
court official, 'I know but one friend and one enemy my lord hath: and
that one friend is the Queen, and that one enemy is himself.' It seemed
as if no misconduct could permanently alienate Elizabeth, and yet he
tried her forbearance very hardly. A few days or weeks before the old
Lord Treasurer's death, she had proposed to send Sir William Knollys,
Essex's uncle, to govern Ireland. The Earl favoured the appointment
of Sir George Carew, who was certainly much fitter for the work than
himself, and whom he was thought to be anxious to remove from the
court. The Queen insisting, he turned his back on her with a gesture of
contempt. Raleigh--who was, however, his enemy--says he exclaimed that
'her conditions were as crooked as her carcase.' She in turn lost her
temper, and gave him a box on the ear. He laid his hand on his sword,
swearing that he would not have endured such an indignity from Henry
VIII. himself, and immediately departed to Wanstead.
'Your Majesty hath,' he afterwards wrote to Elizabeth, 'by the
intolerable wrong you have done both me and yourself, not only broken
all laws of affection, but done against the honour of your sex. I
think all places better than that where I am, and all dangers well
undertaken, so I might retire myself from the memory of my false,
inconstant, and beguiling pleasures.' Of course it was very undignified
of the Queen to strike anyone, but many things may be urged in excuse.
She was old enough to be her favourite's grandmother. She had known
him from early youth, and she had every reason to look upon him still
in the light of a spoiled child. No one with any sense of humour would
resent a blow from a woman as from a man, and Essex might very well
have treated it all as a joke. But what is to be said for a man who
insults a lady well stricken in years, who is his sovereign, and who
has heaped upon him honours and benefits far beyond his deserts?[301]
[Sidenote: Essex determines to be Viceroy.]
Norris and Bingham being dead, the appointment of a Lord Deputy
became a matter of pressing necessity. The Queen thought of Mountjoy,
who, as the event proved, was, of all men, fittest for the arduous
task. But Essex objected to him, much upon the same grounds as Iago
objected to Michael Cassio. He had indeed some experience in the field,
but only in subordinate posts; and he was 'too much drowned in book
learning.' Another argument was that he was a man of small estate and
few followers, and that 'some prime man of the nobility' should be sent
into Ireland. Everyone understood that he had come to want the place
himself, and that he would oppose every possible candidate.
During the autumn of 1598 and far into the winter, the affair hung
fire, more perhaps from the difficulty of satisfying his demands for
extraordinary powers than from any wish to refuse him the dangerous
honour. Indeed, if we may believe Camden, his enemies foresaw his
failure, and were only too anxious to help him to the viceroyalty on
any terms. About the new year his appointment seemed to be certain,
and by the first week in March everything was settled. 'I have beaten
Knollys and Mountjoy in the Council,' Essex wrote in great exultation,
'and by God I will beat Tyr-Owen in the field; for nothing worthy her
Majesty's honour hath yet been achieved.' It is not in such boastful
mood that great men are wont to put on their armour. And besides all
this, Knollys was his uncle and Mountjoy his familiar friend.[302]
[Sidenote: His uneasy ambition.]
It is, perhaps, hardly necessary to inquire how Essex came to desire
such a thankless office as the government of Ireland. His ambition was
not of an ignoble cast; but it is certain that he grasped greedily
at every important command, and that he could scarcely brook a
superior, or even a colleague. This was clearly shown in his ridiculous
quarrel with the Lord Admiral about precedence, no less than in more
important matters. He probably saw the Irish difficulty well enough,
but any hesitation about incurring the risk of failure was more than
counterbalanced by the fear of someone else gaining great glory.
[Sidenote: Bacon's excuses.]
Bacon had advised him to remain at Court, but to take Irish affairs
under his special protection there, to consult with men who knew the
country, to fill places with his own friends, and to patronise others
who were likely to be useful. In short, he was urged to make what the
newspapers now call political capital out of Ireland, but not to risk
himself and his reputation there. While giving this counsel, Bacon had
expressed a fear that the Earl was not the man to play such a game
skilfully. And so it fell out. By the beginning of the year 1599 Essex
saw that he would have to go. Years afterwards, when Elizabeth was
gone, Bacon found that an inconvenient cloud hung over him on account
of the part he had played. He then tried to persuade others, and
possibly succeeded in persuading himself, that he had really 'used all
means he could devise' to prevent Essex from venturing into Ireland.
The fact seems to be that he kept quiet as long as the thing could have
been prevented, and did not try to make Essex reconsider the matter
when he decided to go. He afterwards said that he 'did plainly see
his overthrow chained as it were by destiny to that journey'; but at
the time he did no more than warn him against possible failure from
defects of temper, while he enlarged upon the great glory which would
follow success. A comparison of extant letters shows that Essex himself
was far more impressed than Bacon with the danger and difficulties of
the Irish problem, though, when he was on the eve of setting out, his
impulsive nature allowed him to brag of the great things that he was
going to do.[303]
[Sidenote: Opinions of Wotton and Bacon.]
'I have heard him say,' writes Wotton of Essex, 'and not upon any
flashes or fumes of melancholy, or traverses of discontent, but in a
serene and quiet mood, that he could very well have bent his mind to
a retired course.' This is confirmed by other authorities, and indeed
Essex, though he had a soldier's courage, was by nature a student
and a dreamer rather than a man of action. Circumstances brought him
forward, and his character made him uncomfortable in any place except
the highest. Bacon wished him to stay at court with a white staff, as
Leicester had done, but the work was uncongenial. If he could have
succeeded Burghley, perhaps he might have accepted the position; as it
was Ireland offered him the kind of power which he most coveted, and
though he was not blind to the danger of leaving a Hanno behind him,
he fancied that he was fit to play the part of Hannibal. Just as he
was starting Bacon wrote him a long letter of advice, reminding him
that the Irish rebels were active and their country difficult, but
reminding him also that 'the justest triumphs that the Romans in their
greatness did obtain, and that whereof the emperors in their styles
took addition and denomination, were of such an enemy as this... such
were the Germans and the Ancient Britons, and divers others. Upon which
kind of people, whether the victory were a conquest, or a reconquest
upon a rebellion or a revolt, it made no difference that ever I could
find in honour.' Years afterwards Bacon pleaded that he had done
what he could to stop Essex, on the ground that the expedition would
certainly fall short of public expectation and 'would mightily diminish
his reputation.' Again he mentions the Germans and Britons, the woods
and the bogs, the hardness of the Irishmen's bodies, so that there can
be no doubt about what he alludes to. We have the original letter,
and Bacon stands convicted of misrepresentation, the grosser because
careless observers might so easily confound it with the reality.[304]
[Sidenote: Difficulties and delays.]
About the beginning of December the number of Essex's army was fixed at
14,000. Then there was talk of a smaller establishment, and the affair
went through the usual hot and cold phases of all suits at Elizabeth's
court. Spenser had experienced the miseries of hope deferred, and
Shakespeare saw the spurns which patient merit of the unworthy takes.
'Into Ireland I go,' writes the Earl on New Year's day; 'the Queen
hath irrevocably decreed it, the Council do passionately urge it,
and I am tied in my own reputation to use no tergiversation.' He had
many misgivings, but had decided in his own mind that he was bound to
go. 'The Court,' he admitted, 'is the centre, but methinks it is the
fairer choice to command armies than humours.' In the meanwhile the
humour changed daily. Essex was not patient, and the whole wrangle must
have been inexpressibly distasteful to him. On Twelfth-day the Queen
danced with him, and it was decided that he should start in March.
Three weeks later there were fresh difficulties about the excessive
number of gentlemen whom he proposed to take with him. As late as
March 1, it seemed doubtful whether the Queen's irrevocable decree
would not after all be altered. Mountjoy, who had a much cooler head,
had earnestly advised his friend to leave nothing to chance, to his
enemies' pleasure, or to official promises, and it is to the Earl's
consciousness that this advice was sound, that the delays must be
chiefly attributed. On March 6 letters patent were passed, releasing
him from the arrears of his father's debts incurred in the same
thankless Irish service, and six days later he was formally appointed
Lord Lieutenant. That title had not been granted since the return of
Sussex thirty-seven years before.[305]
[Sidenote: Departure of Essex.]
On March 27 Essex took horse at Seething Lane, accompanied by a
brilliant suite. Prayers were offered in the churches for his success
against the imitators of Korah and Absalom, in whose cases God had
manifested to the world his hatred of all rebellion against His
divine ordinance, and foreshadowing His probable care for an anointed
queen. 'Do not,' said the Anglican divines, 'punish our misdeeds by
strengthening the hands of such as despise the truth.' Through Cornhill
and Cheapside, and for more than four miles out of town, the people
thronged about their favourite, with such cries as 'God bless your
lordship! God preserve your honour!' The day was very fine at starting,
but ere Islington was passed there came a black north-easter with
thunder, hail, and rain; and some held it for a bad omen. Nor did the
popular hero travel as though he loved the work or believed in himself.
On April 1 he was at Bromley, bitterly complaining that the Queen would
not make Sir Christopher Blount a councillor, and announcing that he
had sent him back. 'I shall,' he wrote, 'have no such necessary use
of his hands, as, being barred the use of his head, I would carry
him to his own disadvantage, and the disgrace of the place he should
serve in.' The place was that of Marshal of the army, which Blount did
actually fill, and there is no reason to suppose that he would have
been any useful addition to the Council. Such virtues as he had, and
they were not many, were those of the camp. On the 3rd, Essex was at
Tamworth, and on the 5th at Helbry, the island off the Dee which Sir
Henry Sidney had found so wearisome. The wind did not serve, and there
was a delay of a week before he sailed from Beaumaris, having ridden
over Penmaen Mawr, 'the worst way and in the extremest wet that I have
endured.' After a bad passage Dublin was reached on the 15th. William,
13th Earl of Kildare, 'with eighteen of the chiefs of Meath and Fingal'
set out to follow in the Lord Lieutenant's wake. The vessel, built for
speed and probably overpressed with canvas, foundered in mid-Channel,
and all on board perished.[306]
[Sidenote: Great expectations,]
[Sidenote: which cool observers do not share.]
The public expectation from the mission of Essex was such that
Shakespeare ventured to suggest a possible comparison between him and
the victor of Agincourt. Had he succeeded he would have been the hero
of the Elizabethan age, greater in the eyes of his contemporaries than
Norris or Raleigh, greater even than Drake. His task was, indeed, no
light one, for the rebels in arms were estimated at very nearly 20,000
men, of which less than half were in Ulster. In the south and west the
chief towns and many detached strongholds were held for the Queen, but
in the northern province her power was confined to Carrickfergus and
Newry, Carlingford, Greencastle, and Narrow Water, all on the coast,
and to one castle in the inland county of Cavan. The preparations
were on a scale suitable to the emergency, for 16,000 foot and 1,400
horse far exceeded the usual proportions of a viceregal army. Nor
was it composed wholly of raw levies, for Essex insisted on having
Sir Henry Docwra, with 2,000 veterans, from Holland; his plan being
so to distribute them that some seasoned soldiers should be present
everywhere. But there had always been corruption in the Irish service,
and cool observers thought it necessary to make allowance for false
musters and cooked returns. A crowd of adventurous young gentlemen
accompanied Essex, among whom was John Harrington, the Queen's godson,
and by her much admired for his wit. Harrington was advised, by a
friend at court, to keep a secret journal in Ireland, for future use in
case of disaster. 'Observe,' says the letter, 'the man who commandeth,
and yet is commanded himself. He goeth not forth to serve the Queen's
realm, but to humour his own revenge.' There were spies about him,
'and when a man hath so many shewing friends, and so many unshewing
enemies, who learneth his end here below?' Cecil cautioned Secretary
Fenton that the new Lord Lieutenant thought ill of him because of his
friendship with Sir John Norris. Justice Golde of Munster, who knew his
country well, hoped Essex's 'famous victory in mighty Spain would not
be subject to receive blemish in miserable Ireland.' It did not require
the penetration of a Bacon to see that the expedition was likely to
end in failure, and in the ruin of the chief actor.[307]
[Sidenote: Powers given to Essex.]
The Lord Lieutenant's commission was of the most ample kind. He was
authorised to lease the land of rebels generally, and more particularly
to give or grant property affected by the attainder of Tyrone and
others in Tyrone, Tyrconnell, Fermanagh, Leitrim, and the Route,
exceptions being made in favour of O'Dogherty and Sir Arthur O'Neill,
as rebels by compulsion rather than through disloyalty. Officers not
holding by patent he was empowered to dismiss, and even patentees might
be suspended. He might grant pardons for all treasons, but in Tyrone's
case he was only to pardon for life, and not for lands, and to exact
some guarantee before giving even life and liberty to one who had 'so
vilely abused her mercy.' That 'capital traitor' was in no case to be
spared without due submission first made in all lowly and reverend
form. The power of making knights had usually been granted to viceroys,
and had been sometimes abused by them. This touched Elizabeth in her
tenderest point, for it was by not letting it become too cheap that she
had made knighthood a real defence of the nation. Essex was charged
to 'confer that title upon none that shall not deserve it by some
notorious service, or have not in possession or reversion sufficient
living to maintain their degree and calling.'[308]
[Sidenote: Sir Arthur Chichester.]
Among the officers serving under Essex in Ireland was Sir Arthur
Chichester, whose value he had learned during the Cadiz expedition.
In his capacity of Earl Marshal he directed Chichester to take a
muster of 2,600 at Chester; but it was to Cecil that the latter owed
his appointment to command a regiment of 1,200 men, and it was to him
that he applied for the pay due to his brother John when slain at
Carrickfergus, remarking at the same time that he was a 'better soldier
than suitor.' Cecil had protested against so able a man being wasted in
the command of a mere company. Chichester landed at Dublin; and went to
Drogheda, which Essex visited on purpose to review a regiment of which
he had heard so much. The veterans, who came straight from the strict
school of the Ostend siege, made an imposing show on parade, and the
Lord Lieutenant thoughtlessly charged them with his mounted staff. The
pikemen did not quite see the joke, and stood so firm that Essex had to
pull his horse back on its haunches, and 'a saucy fellow with his pike
pricked his Lordship (saving your reverence) in the rump and made him
bleed.' Chichester was sent to his brother's old post at Carrickfergus,
and there he was generally quartered till the end of the war and of the
reign.[309]
[Sidenote: Essex postpones his departure for Ulster.]
'This noble and worthy gentleman our lord and master,' said Wotton, who
was one of his secretaries, 'took the sword and sway of this unsettled
kingdom into his hands 15th instant,' adding that the Bishop of Meath
preached a grave, wise, and learned sermon on the occasion. Essex was
instructed to inform himself by conference with the Council, and the
result of several meetings was a resolution not to attack Tyrone and
O'Donnell, but rather to plague those Leinster allies who had lately
taken a solemn oath of allegiance to them in Holy Cross Abbey. Want of
forage, involving lean cattle and weak draught-horses, was the reason
given for inaction; but it is proverbial that a council of war never
fights, and the Lord Lieutenant was but too ready to adopt a dilatory
policy. 'A present prosecution in Leinster, being the heart of the
whole kingdom,' was what the Council advised, and if that plan had
been adhered to, there was a good deal to be said in its favour. About
30,000 rebels were reported to be in arms altogether; and of these the
home province contained 3,000 natives, besides 800 mercenaries from
Ulster. The mountains of Wicklow and Dublin had not been quieted by the
death of Feagh MacHugh; his sons, with other O'Byrnes and O'Tooles,
still carried on the war, while the bastard Geraldines and a remnant of
the Eustaces were out in Kildare. Carlow and Wexford were terrorised by
Donell Spaniagh and his Kavanaghs. Owen MacRory commanded a powerful
band of O'Mores in Queen's County, and in King's County there were
still many unsubdued O'Connors. Lord Mountgarret and the O'Carrolls
were also reckoned as rebels. Meath and Westmeath were full of armed
bands, while Longford and Louth had suffered greatly by incursions
from Ulster. A force of 3,000 foot and 300 horse was sent forward
to Kilcullen, and on May 10 Essex set out from Dublin to take the
command.[310]
[Sidenote: Campaign in Leinster.]
From Kilcullen bridge on the Liffey to Athy bridge on the Barrow, the
line of march lay through a wooded country, and stray shots, which
did no harm, were fired at advanced parties. Athy was found to be
decayed through the disturbed state of the country, but the castle
was surrendered without difficulty, and Ormonde made his appearance,
accompanied by his kinsmen Lords Mountgarret and Cahir, both of whom
had been considered in rebellion. About 200 rebels showed themselves,
but retired to bogs and woods on the advance of Southampton with a
detachment. Lord Grey de Wilton was carried by his impetuosity further
forward than his orders warranted, and was placed under arrest for a
night. Both lords had cause to regret what was perhaps an ill-judged
exercise of authority. Sir Christopher St. Lawrence here distinguished
himself by swimming across the Barrow, recovering some stolen horses,
and returning with one of the marauder's heads.
[Sidenote: Owen MacRory O'More.]
After three or four days the provision train came up, and Maryborough
was relieved; the rebels not venturing to make their threatened attack
at Blackford near Stradbally. From Maryborough, which Harrington calls
'a fort of much importance, but of contemptible strength,' Essex made
his way to Lord Mountgarret's house at Ballyragget. The line of march
lay through a wooded pass; where the O'Mores had dug ditches and made
breastworks of the fallen trees. Essex showed both skill and activity,
but he lost three officers and several men; and the natives could
hardly have hoped to stop a viceregal army between Dublin and Kilkenny.
One Irish account says the English loss was great, and another notes
the capture of many plumed helmets, from which the place was named the
'pass of feathers.' The accounts agree that Owen MacRory had not more
than about 500 men with him, and Harrington says he offered to have
a fight with sword and target between fifty chosen men on each side.
Essex agreed to this, but the Irish did not appear. The Lord Lieutenant
did not risk as much as Perrott had formerly done, when he proposed
to decide the war by a duel with Fitzmaurice, but Ormonde must have
remembered that day well, and can hardly have thought this later piece
of knight-errantry much less foolish.[311]
[Sidenote: Campaign in Munster.]
The Kilkenny people expressed their joy at the arrival of Essex 'by
lively orations and silent strewing of the streets with green herbs and
rushes,' and he received a similar welcome at Clonmel. But he did not
like the Latin oration delivered at the latter town: it adjured him not
to bear the sword of justice in vain, while he anxiously protested that
it was for the exercise of clemency that 'her Majesty had given him
both sword and power.'
[Sidenote: Siege of Cahir.]
Essex was now in Munster, and his resolution first to subdue the home
province had been thrown to the winds. Derrinlaur Castle, which annoyed
the navigation of the Suir, was surrendered; its indefensibility had
been proved in 1574, and the fate of the garrison was doubtless well
remembered. Another castle higher up the river gave more trouble. Lord
Cahir was in the viceregal camp, but his brother James (called Galdie
or the Englishman) undertook to defend the family stronghold, and
it was necessary to bring up heavy artillery. The want of foresight
which characterised this campaign was conspicuously shown here. The
battering train, 'one cannon and one culverin,' was brought up by
water to Clonmel, but no draught horses had been provided, nor were
there any means of strengthening the bridges, which might sink under
so unusual a weight. The guns were slowly dragged by men all the way
to Cahir, of the strength of which there is an elaborate official
account. The critical Harrington admits that it was not built with
any great art, but that nature had made it practically impregnable,
which was not true even in those days. An assault would have been
difficult, for the castle was then surrounded by water; but a battery,
which completely commanded it, was easily planted near the site of
the present railway station. Lord Cahir called upon his brother to
surrender, but was answered by threats and insults. Two days later the
guns came, were placed at once in position, and opened fire in a few
hours; but the carriage of the largest 'brake at the second shot,' and
took a day and a half to repair. A ball stuck in the culverin, but
that too was cleared in time, and fifty rounds from this light piece
was enough to silence the garrison on that side. An orchard under the
south-west wall was occupied the same night, and most of the garrison
escaped by the left bank of the river; but two of the English captains
were killed. Before a breach could be effected the White Knight
threw in reinforcements, and the besiegers made another lodgment at
the north-east end of the island. The cannonade was renewed at close
quarters, and on the night of the third day the garrison made a sally.
The intended assault had been assigned to Sir Charles Percy and Sir
Christopher St. Lawrence, with four companies of the Flanders veterans,
who repulsed the attack and entered the castle along with the Irish, of
whom about eighty were killed. A few escaped by swimming, and the guns
were soon mounted on the deserted walls. Having repaired damages and
placed a garrison of 100 men in the castle, the Lord Lieutenant marched
northward along the left bank of the Suir. He made much of this siege,
which was the single thing he had to boast of in Munster, but it was
a small matter after all. A year later James Butler, with sixty men,
again got possession of this 'inexpugnable' fortress without firing a
shot, but soon surrendered to Carew, whose bare threats were enough to
secure his object.[312]
[Sidenote: Death of Sir Thomas Norris.]
[Sidenote: Irish tactics.]
The bridge at Golden was repaired and the army passed to Tipperary,
where a letter was received from Sir Thomas Norris, whom Essex had
already met at Kilkenny. The Lord President announced that he had
been wounded in a skirmish with the Castleconnel Burkes, but he
recovered sufficiently to accompany Essex in part of his Munster
campaign. The wound seems to have been fatal at last, for on August
he was dangerously ill, and in September commissioners were appointed
to execute duties which had been neglected since his death. The
Lord-Lieutenant himself was well received at Limerick, and entertained
with two English orations, 'in which,' says Harrington, 'I know not
which was more to be discommended--words, composition, or oratory, all
of which having their peculiar excellencies in barbarism, harshness,
and rustical, both pronouncing and action.' After several days' rest
the next operation was to revictual Askeaton, and the Sugane Earl
showed himself at Adare with 2,000 or 3,000 men. The bridge was not
defended, but the Irish galled the army in passing a boggy wood beyond
the Maigue, and the soldiers 'went so coldly on' that Essex had to
reproach their baseness. Harrington describes the enemy as 'rather
morrice-dancers tripping after their bag-pipes' than soldiers, and
declares that in all Munster they never once strayed from the edge of
their woods 'further than an old hunted hare doth from her covert for
relief.' Some fighting there was, and the official account makes much
of the Irish losses and little of the Lord-Lieutenant's; but Harrington
says that Plunkett, an insurgent captain who was supposed to have
shown slackness, had next day to give Desmond hostages for his good
behaviour. As Essex passed through each hedge, the thorns closed behind
him, and left the state of Munster unaltered.[313]
[Sidenote: End of Munster campaign.]
[Sidenote: Death of Sir Henry Norris.]
Askeaton was easily victualled by water from Limerick, and Essex turned
aside to Conna near Lismore, where Desmond had his chief residence. The
move was thought a strange one, and Harrington could only conjecture
that he wished to 'give the rebels an inexcusable provocation,' but
O'Sullivan, much less ingeniously, says that he did not dare to proceed
further westward. At Finniterstown the army had to pass between two
woods, and had a sharp fight with Desmond, who had been joined by
Lord Fitzmaurice and some of the MacCarthies. Captain Jennings was
killed, Sir Henry Norris had his leg broken by a bullet, and a third
officer was shot through both cheeks. Norris 'endured amputation with
extraordinary patience,' but died a few weeks afterwards, making the
third of these famous six brothers who had fallen a victim to the Irish
service. After an interval, which was allowed to elapse for fear of
causing fresh sorrow, the Queen wrote to condole with Lord and Lady
Norris on the 'bitter accident' which had deprived them of two more
sons, and the survivor was ordered home from Holland to comfort them.
The army then marched by Croom to Bruff, whence Essex went with
Ormonde, Blount, St. Leger, and Carew to consult the Lord President
at Kilmallock. They agreed that there was no money, no magazine, no
remnant of any kind of victual of her Majesty's stores, cows enough for
only two days, and hardly ammunition for three. On Norris promising
to procure some beeves out of Lord Barry's country and to send them
to Conna the advance was resumed, the line of march being over the
Ballyhoura hills to Glanworth and Fermoy. Essex himself went to Mallow,
detached a party to Cork for the promised supplies, and then rejoined
the army with Cormac MacDermot MacCarthy, who brought 100 cows and
200 kerne. There was some fighting, and Sir Henry Danvers was wounded
between Fermoy and Conna; but the latter castle was dismantled. Lord
Barry brought the convoy safely to Castle Lyons, and the Blackwater was
passed at Affane, a ford which was only practicable for one hour at low
water. The President returned from the neighbourhood of Dungarvan with
1,000 men, with which he expected to be able to maintain the war in
his province, and Essex marched without fighting through Lord Power's
country to Waterford.[314]
[Sidenote: Defeat of Harrington in Wicklow.]
In pursuance of his original intention to settle Leinster before going
further afield, Essex had proposed to give Sir Henry Harrington,
seneschal of Wicklow, 700 foot and 50 horse, 300 of these to be
seasoned soldiers. His sudden resolution to attack Munster altered
this, and the work was left to 'four new companies and Captain Adam
Loftus, his company of foot, who were all Irish and most of them lately
come from the rebels; myself,' Harrington plaintively adds, 'without
either horse or foot, or any penny of entertainment.' The O'Byrnes
had fortified the passage of the Avonmore near Rathdrum, and, in
order to accustom his troops to the presence of an enemy, Harrington
led them out several miles and encamped near the river. This was on
May 28, when Essex was before Cahir. Phelim MacHugh sent peaceful
messages to Harrington, which can have had no object but to disarm his
suspicion. Next morning the Irish were in considerable force, and,
after reconnoitring, the seneschal ordered a return to Wicklow. The
enemy pressed on his rear and hung on his flanks, the ground being
for the most part bush, wood, and bog. A stream which crossed the
road was safely forded, but some signs of insubordination appeared in
Loftus's company, which was explained by an attempt on the part of his
subalterns to gain over some of the hostile kerne who had formerly
fought on the Queen's side. If this was a stratagem on the part of
the O'Byrnes it was completely successful. Loftus did his best in the
rear, the post of danger in a retreat, but received a wound from which
he afterwards died. His men immediately ran away, and, although no one
pursued, never stopped till they got to Wicklow. The Irish then charged
down the road, and the main body of infantry behaved no better. 'I
persuaded them,' says Captain Atherton, 'but to turn their faces and it
should be sufficient for their safety, but they never offered to turn,
nor speak, but, as men without sense or feeling, ran upon one another's
backs, it not being possible to break by reason of the captains, which
endeavoured by all means to stay them, but all in vain.' As soon as the
ground allowed them, the soldiers broke in all directions, throwing
away their arms and even their clothes. Captain Charles Montague, who
had already done such good service at Blackwater, handled his troop of
horse well, and, though wounded in several places, brought off all the
colours, and covered the retreat of the few foot soldiers who retained
any kind of order. Captain Wardman was killed, and this was the end of
Essex's great scheme for the settlement of Leinster.[315]
[Sidenote: Essex returns to Dublin,]
At Waterford, the Lord-Lieutenant was 'received with two Latin
orations, and with as much joyful concourse of people as any other town
of Ireland.' He inspected the fort of Duncannon, and Harrington, who
amused himself in country quarters by reading books on fortification,
and who hoped at coming home to talk of 'counterscarps and casemates,'
shoots his wit at the expense of Sir John Norris in his capacity of
engineer. Stripped of technicalities and Italian terms of art, the
criticism is that the fort was too confined, and that it was commanded
from the land side. The wit forgot that Irish rebels had no artillery,
and did not notice that the course of the channel forced all ships of
any size to come close under the walls. Against a Parma or a Spinola
the defences would have availed little, but after-events proved that
Duncannon was an important post in Irish warfare. Boats were brought
from Carrick and New Ross, and the army was ferried over from Passage
to Ballyhack. This proved a long operation, 'the boats not being great,
and the carriage of our army far greater than ever heretofore in this
country followed so few fighting men,' in which statement the reason
of Essex's failure is perhaps contained. The line of march lay by
Ballibrennan to a ford over the Slaney, between Enniscorthy and Ferns.
The direct road to Dublin was by Carnew, but the Duffry was a land
of woods and hills, swarming with rebels and practicable only for a
fighting force; whereas Essex could muster no more than 1,200 effective
men, clogged with hurt and sick, and 'with at least thrice as many
churls, horseboys, and other like unserviceable people which were of
necessity to be guarded.' It was, therefore, determined to go by the
coast, and no enemy appeared until Gorey had been passed. From this,
villages and houses were burned on both sides of the road 'to whet the
rebels choler and courage,' who made a stand at a river four miles
south of Arklow.
Essex himself passed the deep water with his horse, and Ormonde led the
rest of the army over a better ford near the seaside. The Irish, who
were about 1,000 strong, did not venture to close, but skirmished on
the left flank, the broken ground being too far off for them to do much
harm. Captain Lawrence Esmond was, however, killed. Essex endeavoured
to draw the enemy down by masking a part of his force, but the natives,
as Harrington observes, were not easily to be drawn into an ambuscade.
Ormonde and Blount, with the head of the column, advanced to the
seaside, hidden from the others by the shape of the ground. The Irish,
being on the height, saw their advantage, and very nearly succeeded in
cutting off the baggage train in the centre. A hard fight followed,
and a charge of Southampton's horse just saved the army from a great
disaster. Several of his men were bogged and in great danger. Captain
Constable escaped with two wounds, and Mr. Seth Cox, 'a gentleman whose
industry had adorned him with much both science and language' was
killed. Captain Roche, an Irishman by birth, who had long served the
French king, had his leg shattered by a shot.
[Sidenote: having effected nothing.]
After some more fighting, the rebels were beaten off with the loss
of 100 men. Donell Spaniagh, Phelim MacFeagh, and Owen MacRory were
all present, and were willing to treat upon protection being granted.
Essex sent word to Phelim that he might have a safe-conduct as far as
Arklow if he would come and sue for mercy as a repentant rebel, but
that a messenger sent for any other purpose would be hanged. Dublin
was reached without further fighting, and the Irish annalists, with
whom Harrington is in almost verbal agreement, may be left to sum up
the results of the expedition. While the 'army was in Munster,' say
the Four Masters, 'the Geraldines continued to follow, pursue, and
press upon them, to shoot at, wound, and slaughter them. When the Earl
had arrived in the Decies, the Geraldines returned in exultation and
high spirits to their territories and houses.... In Leinster they
marched not by a prosperous progress, for the Irish were pursuing and
environing them, so that they slew great numbers in every road by which
they passed.... They said it would have been better for the Earl if he
had not gone on this expedition, as he returned back without having
received submission or respect from the Geraldines, and without having
achieved any exploit worth boasting of, excepting only the taking of
Cahir.[316]
[Sidenote: Severity of Essex.]
Essex lost no time in holding a court-martial on the officers and
men of Harrington's force. Piers Walsh, Loftus's Irish lieutenant,
who was certainly guilty of cowardice, and perhaps of treacherously
communicating with the enemy, was shot; all, or nearly all, the
soldiers, had run away; they were sentenced to be hanged, and were
actually decimated. The other officers, 'though they forsook not their
places assigned them, but were forsaken by the soldiers, yet because
in such an extremity they did not something very extraordinary...
were all cashiered' and imprisoned. Harrington himself, being a Privy
Councillor, was not tried, but was placed under arrest during her
Majesty's pleasure. His thirty years' service were not forgotten in
England, and he soon returned to his duty. The decimation was not
approved of, and Wotton notes it as a piece of Roman discipline, and
as an instance of Essex's tendency to severity. On the voyage to the
Azores he had thrown a soldier overboard with his own hands.[317]
[Sidenote: Dissatisfaction of Elizabeth.]
Instead of settling Leinster as announced, the Lord Lieutenant had
only succeeded in getting rid of his army. 'The poor men,' he wrote,
'that marched eight weeks together be very weary, and the horsemen so
divided that I cannot draw 300 to a head.' And still he promised to
overthrow Tyrone, or be himself slain, if he could find him 'on hard
ground and in an open country,' which he was as little likely to do
as Glendower was to draw spirits from the vasty deep. There had been
sharp letters about his making Southampton general of the horse. His
commission gave him power to do this, but the Queen had expressed her
personal repugnance to such promotion. She disliked the formation of
what, in later Irish history, has been called 'a family party.' Blount
was Essex's stepfather, though about his own age, and Southampton had
without leave married his cousin, Elizabeth Vernon, who was a maid of
honour. Essex tried to maintain the appointment against the Queen's
will, mainly on the ground that no volunteer would adhere to him
when thus discountenanced; but Elizabeth said she did not see that
Southampton's counsel or experience could be of any particular value,
and refused to believe that 'the voluntary gentlemen are so discouraged
thereby as they begin to desire passports and prepare to return.' The
Lord-Lieutenant had to submit, and Southampton continued to serve as a
volunteer. The account rendered for two months showed no great balance
in the Queen's favour, and it is evident that she thought pretty much
as the Irish did about the futility of the Munster journey. He had,
she said, 'brought in never a capital rebel, against whom it had been
worthy to have adventured 1,000 men; for of these two comings in that
were brought unto you by Ormonde (namely, Mountgarret and Cahir),
whereupon ensued the taking of Cahir Castle, full well do we know that
you would long since have scorned to have allowed it for any great
matter in others to have taken an Irish hold from a rabble of rogues
with such force as you had, and with the help of the cannon, which was
always able in Ireland to make his passage where it pleased.'[318]
[Sidenote: Essex on his defence.]
Before the end of May Cecil knew that Essex intended to visit Munster,
so as to make things safe there before going to the North, and he
expresses no opinion on the subject. But the Queen soon grew uneasy,
and complained that she was giving the Earl 1,000_l._ a day to make
progresses with. When the results of two months' expenditure were
known, her indignation burst forth. Nothing had been done but what
President Norris might have done as well, and she was especially
displeased 'that it must be the Queen of England's fortune (who hath
held down the greatest enemy she had) to make a base Irish kerne to be
accounted so famous a rebel.' Ireland was in a state worse than that
in which Ormonde had left it, and Tyrone was announcing to continental
nations 'defeats of regiments, deaths of captains, and loss of men of
quality in every corner.' Essex entrusted regiments to young gentlemen,
and made such a fuss that the rebels were always fully prepared. This
was just criticism, and indeed the Earl's own story tallies with it.
He provides the excuse also, but he had only found out what was known
to hundreds of officers who had served in Ireland. The rebels, he
said, were much more numerous than the soldiers, and for light warfare
they were both naturally more active and better trained to fight. The
Queen's gallant officers and gentlemen of quality did more good than
all the rest, and the real difficulty was to restrain their ardour,
whereas the rebel leaders 'dare never put themselves to any hazard,
but send their kerne and their hirelings to fight with her Majesty's
troops.' English officers with cavalry could always win in the open,
and towns were in no danger; but in bogs and woods he was loth to
'wager the lives of noblemen and gentlemen against rogues and naked
beggars.'
These were the commonplaces of Irish warfare since Surrey's and
Skeffington's days, and Essex was learning his lesson at an enormous
cost.[319]
[Sidenote: Campaign in Leix and Offaly.]
The Lord-Lieutenant was ill, of the malady which nearly proved fatal
in the following year, and the results of overwork and failure were
not lessened by rebukes from the Queen. An intended expedition into
Leix and Offaly was noticed by her as unworthy of his rank, but yet he
determined to go. Blount was first sent to victual Maryborough, and
the sergeant-major to Philipstown. Captain William Williams commanded
at the latter place, and he had just lost 60 men by allowing them to
fall into an ambuscade. There was no difficulty in relieving the forts,
but when Essex himself followed, he had some sharp fighting on the
border of Westmeath. The Irish were commanded by Captain Tyrrell, a
noted English or Anglo-Irish partisan in Tyrone's pay, who always kept
200 men with him. In days long gone by, the Anglo-Norman Tyrrells had
driven the O'Dooleys from Fartullagh, and now they were in arms against
the Queen of England's representative. Sir Conyers Clifford came from
Connaught, to meet the Lord-Lieutenant, and his horsemen fought bravely
on foot in a country where there was no place for cavalry. 'In all
this journey,' says Harrington, who came with the Connaught troops, 'I
was comrade to the Earl of Kildare, and slept both on one pillow every
night for the most part; here at the parting, my lord gave Sir Griffin
Markham great commendations, and made him colonel and commander of
all the horse in Connaught; and gave me and some others the honour of
knighthood in the field.'
Clifford lost many men before effecting the juncture, and yet the
natives were so completely surprised that they had no time even to
hide their children. Many hundred cows were taken, but the result
of the expedition was that Essex returned to Dublin and Clifford to
Connaught.[320]
[Sidenote: Anger of Elizabeth.]
[Sidenote: The cheap defence of nations.]
At the beginning of August, the Irish Council demanded 2,000 fresh
men for the expedition to the North, but before an answer came, they
declared that nothing could be done for the year. It is difficult
to say how far this inconsistency was caused by the fluctuations
of Essex's own temper, but it was clear that he did not inspire
confidence. The Queen granted the reinforcements, while severely
criticising the conduct of both Lord-Lieutenant and Council. She had
been repeatedly told, and could very well believe, that a garrison at
Lough Foyle was the chief thing needful. 'We doubt not,' she said,
'but to hear by the next that it is begun and not in question.' In the
meantime the garrisons in Connaught and Munster and in the midland
forts seemed scarcely able to maintain themselves. 'We can hope of no
success,' she said sarcastically, 'than to be able to keep our towns
which were never lost, and some petty holds of small importance, with
more than three parts of our army, it being decreed for the head of
the rebellion, that our forces shall not find our way this year to
behold him.' She could not understand how no more than 5,000 men were
available, instead of at least double that number; and, indeed, it is
not easy to understand even now. And there were other things to make
her angry. Essex had been specially ordered to make no knights except
for some striking service, and he now made no less than fifty-nine,
without having anything to show for it. The court news-writer, from
whom we learn so much, notes that he had begun by dozens and scores,
and had now fallen to 'huddle them up by half-hundreds; and it is noted
as a strange thing, that a subject, in the course of seven or eight
years, should, upon so little service and small desert, make more
knights than in all the realm besides; and it is doubted, that if he
continues this course, he will shortly bring in tag and rag, cut and
long-tail, and so bring the order into contempt.'[321]
[Sidenote: Defeat of Sir Conyers Clifford (August).]
[Sidenote: Death of Clifford.]
It may be doubtful whether Essex intended again to take the dilatory
advice of his Council, or whether he would have been stung into
action by the Queen's taunts. A great disaster seems to have finally
determined him, though it should probably have had the contrary effect.
O'Connor Sligo had been with Essex in Munster, whence he returned to
Collooney, the only castle which he had preserved from O'Donnell, and
where he was at once beleaguered by him. Essex ordered Clifford to
relieve him and to occupy Sligo, by which means he hoped to distract
Tyrone's attention. Clifford, with a force of something under 2,000
men, went to Boyle, and, in spite of the Lord Lieutenant's caution
against over-confidence, resolved to pass the Curlew mountains without
resting his men, after two days' march in the hot harvest weather. He
does not seem to have expected any opposition, but O'Donnell had been
watching the pass for weeks, and had given orders that the army should
be allowed to get well on to the mountain before they were attacked.
The Irish scouts saw them leave the abbey of Boyle, so that there was
plenty of time for O'Donnell to bring up his forces. On arriving at
the narrowest part of the pass between Boyle and Ballinafad, Clifford
found it strongly defended by a breastwork, and held by 400 men, who
fired a volley, and then fell back. The road up the mountain, which
consisted of 'stones six or seven foot broad, lying above ground, with
plashes of bog between them,' ran through boggy woods, from which the
Irish galled the soldiers, who exhausted their powder with little
effect. Sir Alexander Radclyffe, commanding the advance guard, was
mortally wounded, and as no reinforcement came up, a panic ensued,
and the whole array were driven pell-mell back to Boyle. Sir John Mac
Swiney, an Irish officer in the Queen's service, faced the enemy almost
alone, cursing the vileness of his men, and 'died fighting, leaving the
example of his virtue to be intituled by all honourable posterities.'
Only the horse under Sir Griffin Markham behaved well, covering the
retreat and charging boldly up hill 'among rocks and bogs, where never
horse was seen to charge before.' Markham had his arm broken by a shot,
and Sir Conyers Clifford was killed while trying to rally his men.
Harrington thought the imagination of the soldiers was bewitched, and
cites the extraordinary escape of Rory Oge from his cousin Sir Henry in
1577, when they thought 'he had, by magic, compelled them not to touch
him'; but this panic is easily explained by the moral effect of recent
defeats. So far as Ireland went, people were losing their faith in
Elizabeth's star.[322]
[Sidenote: Effects of this disaster.]
O'Rourke, who remained in possession of the field, cut off Clifford's
head and sent it to O'Donnell, and MacDermot, in a letter which
Harrington very justly characterised as 'barbarous for the Latin,
but civil for the sense,' announced that, for the love he bore the
governor, he had carried his headless trunk to the neighbouring
monastery of Lough Cé. He was ready to exchange it for his own
prisoners or to give it decent burial himself, and he would offer no
obstacle to the burial of other officers. 'The Irish of Connaught,' say
the Four Masters, 'were not pleased at the Governor's death, for he
had been a bestower of jewels and riches upon them, and he had never
told them a falsehood.' The same authorities say the Irish did not
attribute their victory to arms, but to the miracle of the Lord and
to the special intercession of the Blessed Mary. Nor was superstition
confined to the victorious party, for not only did the English soldiers
talk of magic, but Clifford himself was said to have prophetically
dreamed of his capture by O'Donnell, and of being carried by monks
into their convent. The defeat was particularly disastrous, because
Clifford's troops were not raw recruits, as Harrington's had been.
Essex determined to employ them no more, except to defend walls. The
immediate result of the battle was that O'Connor Sligo submitted to
Tyrone, and became a loyal subject of the real king of Ireland.[323]
[Sidenote: A council of war decides to do nothing.]
Essex's first and natural impulse was 'to revenge or follow worthy
Conyers Clifford,' but others thought that very little could be done.
In early spring it had been decided to wait till the summer, and now
in harvest-time the season for fighting was considered to be past.
Again the General placed his fate in the hands of a council of war, and
again his advisers resolved to do nothing. 'The Lords, Colonels, and
Knights of the army,' as they style themselves, declared that there
were less than 4,000 men available for a campaign, that many soldiers
deserted to the rebels, ran away to England, feigned sickness, or hid
themselves. The uniform ill-success of the Queen's army had lately
been such that her troops had no heart for the Ulster enterprise, and
it was certain that they would be greatly outnumbered by the rebels.
'The Connaught army consisting of a great part of old companies being
lately defeated,' there was no chance of establishing a post at Lough
Foyle, and in any case there were not men enough to garrison it, and
the same would apply still more strongly to Armagh and Blackwater,
whither provisions could not be brought by sea. For these reasons, and
being thoroughly aware of the state of the army, the officers declared
against any journey far north. 'In which resolution,' they say, 'if
any man suspected it proceeded of weakness or baseness, we will not
only in all likely and profitable service disprove him, but will every
one of us deal with his life, that we dissuaded this undertaking with
more duty than any man could persuade unto it.' The Queen was very
angry with the Lord Lieutenant for calling in 'so many of those that
are of so slender judgment, and none of our council,' to keep men from
censuring his proceedings, and there can be little doubt that it was a
weak device to shift the responsibility. Seven days after the officers'
declaration, Essex left Dublin, resolved to go as far and do as much
'as duty would warrant, and God enable him.' This meant that he would
fight Tyrone if the arch-rebel would forego his advantage of position
and come out to battle. 'If he have as much courage as he pretendeth,
we will, on one side or the other, end the war.' He had come to see
that the 'beating of Tyrone in the field' depended upon the good
pleasure of that chief, and it would have been well for his fame had he
mastered that elementary truth before he undertook to censure better
soldiers and wiser men than himself.[324]
[Sidenote: Essex goes to the north.]
[Sidenote: Tyrone in sight.]
Essex left Dublin on August 28, with the intention of placing a
garrison at Donaghmoyne in Farney. That land of lakes and hills was
his own inheritance by the Queen's patent to his father, and he may
have had some idea of securing his own as well as of annoying Tyrone.
He travelled through Navan and Kells, and at Castle Keran, beyond
the latter town, he mustered an army of 3,700 foot and 300 horse. But
the idea of establishing an outpost either in Monaghan or Cavan was
quickly abandoned for three reasons, any of which would have been ample
by itself. It was not worth doing, since there was nothing to defend
beyond Kells. It could not be done, because it would be impossible to
bring provisions on horseback from Drogheda. Last and not least, Tyrone
was in Farney, ready to burn the Pale up to Dublin gates as soon as
the Lord Lieutenant's rearguard had passed. It was resolved that Kells
should be the frontier garrison, and the army marched to Ardee. The
camp was so placed that Tyrone's could be seen on the other side of
the Lagan, and there was some small skirmishing when a party was sent
down to cut firewood near the river. Next day Essex advanced to the
Mills of Louth, and encamped on the left bank of the Lagan. Tyrone made
a flank march at the same time, and the two armies were quite close
together, the Irish keeping the woods, though 10,000 or 11,000 strong.
Sir William Warren, who was used to treating with Tyrone, went to seek
the enlargement of a prisoner, and next day Henry O'Hagan came to ask
for a parley. 'If thy master,' Essex is reported to have said, 'have
any confidence either in the justness of his cause, or in the goodness
and number of his men, or in his own virtue, of all which he vainly
glorieth, he will meet me in the field so far advanced before the head
of his kerne as myself shall be separated from the front of my troops,
where we will parley in that fashion which best becomes soldiers.'
Vainglory there was, but rather upon the challenger's own side; it
was as a general, and not as a champion, that Elizabeth had sent her
favourite to Ireland.[325]
[Sidenote: Essex meets Tyrone,]
[Sidenote: and retires without fighting.]
Next day Essex offered battle, which of course was refused by the
enemy, but Tyrone again sent to desire a parley. A garrison was placed
at Newrath near the mill of Louth, and on the following day the army
marched towards Drumcondra. They had scarcely gone a mile when O'Hagan
came again, and 'speaking,' like Rabshakeh, 'so loud as all might
hear that were present,' announced that Tyrone 'desired her Majesty's
mercy, and that the Lord Lieutenant would hear him; which, if his
lordship agreed to, he would gallop about and meet him at the ford of
Bellaclinthe, which was on the right hand by the way which his lordship
took to Drumcondra.' Essex sent two officers to see the place, who
reported that the ford was too wide for the purpose; but Tyrone, who
knew the ground, found a spot 'where he, standing up to his horse's
belly, might be near enough to be heard by the Lord Lieutenant, though
he kept to the hard ground.... Seeing Tyrone there alone, his lordship
went down alone. At whose coming Tyrone saluted his lordship with much
reverence, and they talked above half-an-hour together, and after went
either of them to their companies on the hills.' Of all the foolish
things Essex ever did, this was the most foolish. By conversing with
the arch-rebel without witnesses he left it open to his enemies to
put the worst construction on all he did, and he put it out of his
own power to offer any valid defence. Two days before he had declared
war to the knife, and now he was ready to talk familiarly with his
enemy, and practically to concede all without striking a blow. A more
formal meeting followed with six witnesses on each side. Tyrone's
were his brother Cormac MacBaron, Magennis, Maguire, Ever MacCowley,
Henry Ovington, and Richard Owen, 'that came from Spain, but is an
Irishman by birth.' Southampton, St. Leger, and four other officers of
rank accompanied the Lord Lieutenant. By way of humility, the Irish
party rode into the river, 'almost to their horse's bellies,' while
Essex and his followers kept on the bank. Tyrone spoke uncovered,
saluting the viceregal party 'with a great deal of respect,' and it
was arranged that a further conference should take place next morning.
Essex continued his march to Drumcondra, but Tyrone came himself to the
place of meeting--a ford where the Lagan bridge now stands. Wotton was
one of the commissioners on the Lord Lieutenant's part, and it is not
likely that the negotiation suffered in his hands. He was chosen as
the fittest person 'to counterpoise the sharpness of Henry Ovington's
wit.' The result was a cessation of arms for six weeks to six weeks
until May, either side being at liberty to break it on giving fourteen
days' notice. If any of Tyrone's allies refused to be bound, the Lord
Lieutenant was left at liberty to attack them. To save Essex's honour
it was agreed to that his ratification should be by word simply, but
that Tyrone's should be on oath. Next day the Lord Lieutenant went
to take physic at Drogheda, and Tyrone retired with all his forces
into the heart of his country, having gained without fighting a
greater victory than that of the Yellow Ford. Bagenal was defeated,
the Earl of Essex was disgraced; one had lost his life, the other his
reputation.[326]
[Sidenote: The Queen blames Essex severely,]
[Sidenote: and he leaves Ireland without leave.]
'If these wars end by treaty,' Wotton had said on his first arrival,
'the Earl of Tyrone must be very humble.' But the wars were ended so
far as Essex was concerned, and the rebels had conceded nothing. A
week before his meeting with Tyrone, Essex had written to the Queen,
warning her to expect nothing from a man weary of life, whose past
services had been requited by 'banishment and proscription into the
most cursed of all countries,' and almost suggesting that he meditated
suicide as the only means of escape. Nor were Elizabeth's letters such
as to encourage him. He had disappointed the world's expectation, and
his actions had been contrary to her orders, 'though carried in such
sort as we were sure to have no time to countermand them.' 'Before your
departure,' she wrote, 'no man's counsel was held sound which persuaded
not presently the main prosecution in Ulster; all was nothing without
that, and nothing was too much for that.' An army and a summer had been
wasted, and nothing had been done. The only way of accounting for the
way in which the available troops had dwindled from 19,000 to less
than 4,000 was by supposing that he had dispersed them in unnecessary
garrisons, 'especially since, by your continual report of the state of
every province, you describe them all to be in worse condition than
ever they were before you put foot in that kingdom.' He had condemned
all his predecessors, he had had everything he asked for, and he had
done worse than anyone. Two days after the despatch of this letter
Elizabeth received the account of the truce with Tyrone, which she
promptly characterised as the 'quick end made of a slow proceeding.'
She had never doubted that Tyrone would be ready to parley 'specially
with our supreme general of the kingdom, having often done it with
those of subaltern authority; always seeking these cessations with
like words, like protestations.' She blamed Essex severely for his
private interview--not, she was careful to say, that she suspected
treason; 'yet both for comeliness, example, and your own discharge, we
marvel you would carry it no better.' He had neglected her orders and
sheltered himself systematically behind a council which had already
wrapped Ireland in calamities. If she had intended to leave all to
them, it was 'very superfluous to have sent over such a personage as
yourself.' His despatches were as meagre as his actions, and he had
told her nothing of what passed between him and Tyrone, nor of his
instructions to the commissioners, so that 'we cannot tell, but by
divination, what to think may be the issue of this proceeding... to
trust this traitor upon oath is to trust a devil upon his religion. To
trust him upon pledges is a mere illusory... unless he yield to have
garrisons planted in his own country to master him, and to come over
to us personally here.' The letter concluded with a positive order not
to ratify the truce, nor to grant a pardon without further authority
from herself, 'after he had particularly advised by writing.' One week
after the date of the letter Essex left Ireland, in spite of the most
stringent orders not to do so without a special warrant.[327]
[Sidenote: The O'Neill in his hold.]
Some account of Tyrone, as he appeared among his own people near
Dunkalk, has been fortunately preserved in a letter from Sir John
Harrington, who was at once a keen observer and a lively writer,
and who had already seen him at Ormonde's house in London. Tyrone
apologised for not remembering him personally, and said that the
troubles had made him almost forget his friends. While the Earl was in
private conversation with Sir William Warren, Harrington amused himself
by 'posing his two sons in their learning, and their tutors, which were
one Friar Nangle, a Franciscan, and a younger scholar, whose name I
know not; and finding the two children of good towardly spirit, their
age between thirteen and fifteen, in English clothes like a nobleman's
sons; with velvet jerkins and gold lace; of a good cheerful aspect,
freckle-faced, not tall of stature, but strong and well-set; both of
them speaking the English tongue; I gave them (not without the advice
of Sir William Warren) my English translation of Ariosto, which I got
at Dublin; which their teachers took very thankfully, and soon after
shewed it to the Earl, who called to see it openly, and would needs
hear some part of it read. I turned (as it had been by chance) to the
beginning of the forty-fifth canto, and some other passages of the
book, which he seemed to like so well that he solemnly swore his boys
should read all the book over to him.' Harrington was not insensible to
flattery of this sort, for he has recorded the reception of his work
at Galway and its soothing effect upon 'a great lady, a young lady,
and a fair lady' who had been jilted by Sir Calisthenes Brooke; but it
did not prevent him from afterwards calling Tyrone a damnable rebel.
It was O'Neill's cue to speak fairly, and he took occasion to say that
he had seen his visitor's cousin, Sir Henry, in the field, and that he
must have been wrongly accused of misconduct in the fight near Wicklow.
Tyrone deplored his 'own hard life,' comparing himself to wolves, that
'fill their bellies sometimes, and fast as long for it;' but he was
merry at dinner, and seemed rather pleased when Harrington worsted
one of his priests in an argument. 'There were fern tables and fern
forms, spread under the stately canopy of heaven. His guard for the
most part were beardless boys without shirts, who, in the frost, wade
as familiarly through rivers as water-spaniels. With what charms such a
master makes them love him I know not; but if he bid come, they come;
if go, they do go; if he say do this, they do it.' He made peaceable
professions, and spoke much about freedom of conscience; but Harrington
perceived that his only object was to temporise, and 'one pretty thing
I noted, that the paper being drawn for him to sign, and his signing it
with O'Neill, Sir William (though with very great difficulty) made him
to new write it and subscribe Hugh Tyrone.'[328]
[Sidenote: Essex deserts his post (September).]
[Sidenote: His reception at Court.]
The only possible excuse for Essex's leaving Ireland against orders
was the Queen's last direction to 'advise by writing' the progress of
his negotiations with Tyrone. He had given a promise--a foolish and
rash promise--that he would 'only verbally deliver' the conditions
demanded by the arch-rebel. A letter to Sir John Norris had been sent
into Spain, and Tyrone refused to open his heart if writing was to be
used. Essex could, however, refer to the instructions given by him to
Warren, and in any case he might have waited until her Majesty had
expressed her opinion as to his promise of secrecy. After all, the most
probable supposition is that he was sick of Ireland, that he felt his
own failure, and that he hoped to reassert over the Queen that power
which absence had so evidently weakened. He swore in Archbishop Loftus
and Sir George Carey as Lords Justices, Ormonde remaining in command
of the army under his old commission, and charged them all to keep
the cessation precisely, but to stand on their guard and to have all
garrisons fully victualled for six months. He sailed the same day, and
travelled post, with the evident intention of himself announcing his
departure from Ireland. Having embarked on the 24th, he reached London
very early on the 28th, hurried to the ferry between Westminster and
Lambeth, and appropriated the horses which he found waiting there.
Lord Grey de Wilton, who had not forgiven his arrest, was in front,
and it was proposed by Sir Thomas Gerrard that he should let the Earl
pass him. 'Doth he desire it?' said Lord Grey. 'No,' was the answer,
'nor will he, I think, ask anything at your hands.' 'Then,' said his
lordship, 'I have business at Court.' He hurried on to Nonsuch, and
went straight to Cecil.[329] Essex arrived only a quarter of an hour
later, and although 'so full of dirt and mire that his very face was
full of it,' made his way at once to the Queen's bedchamber. It was
ten o'clock, and Elizabeth was an early riser, but on this occasion
she was 'newly up, the hair about her face.' He fell on his knees and
kissed her hands, and the goodness of his reception was inferred from
his own words that, 'though he had suffered much trouble and storm
abroad, he found a sweet calm at home.' He dressed, and at eleven had
another audience, which lasted an hour. Still all went well. The Queen
was gracious, and the courtiers as yet saw no reason to stand aloof;
but Cecil and his friends were thought to be rather cold. Elizabeth
was evidently glad to see her favourite, and for a moment forgot his
real position. The first meeting of the Privy Council dispelled the
illusion, and on the 1st of October he was committed to the custody of
Lord-Keeper Egerton.[330]
[Sidenote: Negotiations with Tyrone (October and November).]
It was very uncertain as to what would be the consequences of Essex's
escapade, and those who were left in charge could only temporise as
best they might. In about two months Sir William Warren had three
separate parleys with Tyrone, and in each case it was the English
diplomatist that urged a continuance of the cessation of arms. Tyrone,
who had his immediate followers extraordinarily well in hand, seems
to have kept the truce, and he had reasons to complain of injuries
done him by the English party. In the paralysis of government outrage
upon the borders could scarcely be avoided, and Tyrone's allies were
less steady than himself. 'In all the speeches,' Warren wrote, 'passed
between him and me, he seemed to stand chiefly upon a general liberty
of religion throughout the kingdom. I wished him to demand some other
thing reasonable to be had from her Majesty, for I told him that I
thought her Majesty would no more yield to that demand than she would
give her crown from her head.' Warren laughed at a letter addressed
to Lord O'Neill Chief Lieutenant of Ireland. 'I asked him,' he says,
'to whom the devil he could be Lieutenant. He answered me, Why should
I not be a Lieutenant as well as the Earl of Ormonde.' The reasoning
is not very clear, and it seems at least probable that many regarded
him as the Pope's viceroy. In making James Fitzthomas an earl he had
greatly exceeded even the most ample viceregal powers. From the meeting
with Essex to the date at which he resolved to begin fighting again,
his official letters are signed Hugh Tyrone, but on November 8 he gave
Warren fourteen days' notice to conclude the truce, on the ground of
injuries done him by Thomond and Clanricarde. That letter and those
succeeding it, with one significant exception, he signs as O'Neill.
In repeating the notice to Ormonde he says, 'I wish you command your
secretary to be more discreet and to use the word Traitor as seldom as
he may. By chiding there is little gotten at my hands, and they that
are joined with me fight for the Catholic religion, and liberties of
our country, the which I protest before God is my whole intention.' In
all these negotiations Tyrone professes to rely entirely upon Essex
to see justice done, and declares war 'first of all for having seven
score of my men killed by the Earl of Ormonde in time of cessation,
besides divers others of the Geraldines, who were slain by the Earl
of Kildare. Another cause is because I made my agreement only with
your lordship, in whom I had my only confidence, who, as I am given
to understand, is now restrained from your liberty, for what cause I
know not.' And this letter, being intended for English consumption,
is signed Hugh Tyrone. Immediately after writing it he again took the
field.[331]
[Sidenote: Amount of blame imputable to Essex.]
'The conditions demanded by Tyrone,' says Essex himself, 'I was fain to
give my word that I would only verbally deliver.' The consequence was
that there is not and cannot be any absolutely authentic statement of
those conditions. There is, however, a paper printed in a collection of
repute, and immediately after one of Cecil's letters, which professes
to be a statement of 'Tyrone's Propositions, 1599.' The Queen herself
says that Essex, on his return, acquainted her with Tyrone's offers,
but in so confused a manner as could only be explained by supposing
that 'the short time of their conference made him not fully conceive
the particular meaning of Tyrone in divers of those articles.' What
probably happened was that Tyrone talked big, and that when Essex came
to think over it afterwards, he could not clearly distinguish between
extreme claims which had been mentioned, and serious proposals which
had been made. But the 16th article in 'Tyrone's Propositions' is
clearly not invented by the writer, who was probably hostile to Essex.
It demands 'that O'Neill, O'Donnell, Desmond, and their partakers,
shall have such lands as their ancestors enjoyed 200 years ago.'
Whether Tyrone ever demanded any such thing is doubtful, but it is
certain that this, or something very like it, was what Essex told the
Queen. 'Tyrone's offers,' she says, 'are both full of scandal to our
realm, and future peril in the State. What would become of all Munster,
Leix, and Offaly, if all the ancient exiled rebels be restored to all
that our laws and hereditary succession have bestowed upon us?' And
again, 'we will not assent in other provinces [than Ulster] to the
restitution of all traitors to their livings, or the displantation of
our subjects that have spent their lives in the just defences of their
possessions which they have taken and held from us or our ancestors.'
It is quite evident then that Essex actually laid before Elizabeth
a proposal which involved the reversal of every attainder and the
expropriation of all settlers upon forfeited lands. After this it
hardly seems worth discussing matters of commerce, or proposals that
Englishmen should be debarred from all preferment in Church and State
in Ireland, while all statutes prejudicing the preferment of Irishmen
in England should be repealed.'[332]
[Sidenote: What Tyrone meant by 'liberty of conscience.']
Liberty of conscience was what Tyrone continually asked for, but
not what he or his friends were prepared to grant. He undertook
generally to 'plant the Catholic faith throughout Ireland,' and when
did Rome bear a rival near her throne? In a letter to the King of
Spain he acknowledged his object to be the 'extirpation of heresy,'
and recalcitrant chiefs were reminded that present ruin and eternal
damnation would be their lot if they did not help to 'erect the
Catholic religion.' Jesuits boasted that his victories had already
made it impossible for Protestants to live in certain districts.
Tyrone claimed personal inviolability for priests, and treated the
imprisonment of one as a breach of the cessation. In the paper already
discussed he is said to have demanded that the Catholic religion should
be openly preached, the churches governed by the Pope, cathedrals
restored, Irish priests released from prison and left free to come
and go over sea, and that no Englishmen should be churchmen in
Ireland. The article about the release of clerical prisoners is just
such a coincidence as Paley would have urged in proof that 'Tyrone's
Propositions' form a genuine document. But here again it is probable
that this was only laid before the Queen as Tyrone's extreme claim, and
that Essex gave her some reason to suppose that he would be satisfied
with less. 'For any other personal coming of himself,' she wrote, 'or
constraint in religion, we can be content, for the first, that he may
know he shall not be peremptorily concluded, and in the second that we
leave to God, who knows best how to work his will in these things, by
means more fit than violence, which doth rather obdurate than reform.
And, therefore, as in that case he need not to dread us, so we intend
not to bind ourselves further for his security than by our former
course we have witnessed; who have not used rigour in that point, even
when we might with more probability have forced others.'[333]
FOOTNOTES:
[300] Parallel between Essex and Buckingham in _Reliquiæ Wottonianæ_.
[301] _Reliquiæ Wottonianæ_; Camden; Essex to the Queen in Devereux's
_Earls of Essex_, i. 493. The letter quoted in the text is the best
proof that Camden's story is substantially true. See also Spedding's
_Life of Bacon_, ii. 91, 103. For Spanish popular notions on Philip
III. see _Carew_, Aug. 23, 1602. Beaumont, the French ambassador
in 1602, says the Queen told him, in a broken voice, that she had
warned Essex long since 'qu'il se contestast de prendre plaisir
de lui déplaire à toutes occasions, et de mepriser sa personne
insolemment comme il faisait, et qu'il se gardast bien de toucher à son
sceptre.'--Von Raumer, Letter 60.
[302] Spedding, ii. 124-126; Essex to John Harrington in Park's edition
of _Nugæ Antiquæ_, i. 246.
[303] Bacon's advice to Essex immediately before his going to Ireland,
Spedding, ii. 129; Essex to Southampton, Jan. 1, 1599, printed by
Abbott; Bacon's _Apology_, first printed in 1604.
[304] The letter of advice is in Spedding, ii. 129; Apology concerning
the Earl of Essex; Essex to Southampton in Abbott's _Bacon and Essex_,
chap. ix. Jan. 1, 1599. Essex wrote to the Queen, just before starting,
as follows: 'From a mind delighting in sorrow, from spirits wasted
with passion, from a heart torn with care, grief, and travail, from a
man that hateth himself and all things also that keepeth him alive,
what service can your Majesty expect? since my service past deserves
no more than banishment and proscription into the cursedst of all
other countries.' The letter ends with some verses in praise of a
contemplative life, and Essex signs himself 'your Majesty's exiled
servant.'--_MS. Harl._ 35, p. 338.
[305] The progress of the negotiations may be traced in Chamberlain's
_Letters_ (Camden Society). Essex to Southampton, Jan. 1, 1599; and
Charles Blount (afterwards Lord Mountjoy) to Essex, Jan. 3, both in
Abbott, chap. ix.
'Full little knowest thou, that has not tried,
What hell it is in suing long to bide;
To lose good days that might be better spent
To waste long nights in pensive discontent;
To speed to-day, to be put back to-morrow, &c.'--_Spenser._
[306] Devereux, ii. 16-24; _Four Masters_; Prayer for the good success
of Her Majesty's forces in Ireland (black letter, London, 1599).
Were now the general of our gracious empress
(As in good time he may), from Ireland coming,
Bringing rebellion broached on his sword,
How many would the peaceful city quit,
To welcome him?--_Henry V._ Act 5.
[307] Chamberlain's _Letters_, 1599. Robert Markham to John Harrington
in _Nugæ Antiquæ_, i. 239; Fenton to Cecil, May 7; Fynes Moryson's
_Itinerary_, part i. book i. ch. i. At Hatfield there are a great many
letters asking Essex to employ the writers or their friends in Ireland.
Most of these anticipate triumph. William Harborn on Feb. 3 asks for
nothing, but presents the Earl with an Italian history of the world in
four volumes, 'to attend your honour, if they be permitted, in this
your pretended Irish enterprise, at times vacant to recreate your most
heroical mind.' The Queen's instructions speak of a 'royal army, paid,
furnished, and provided in other sorts than any king of this land hath
done before.' Its nominal strength was raised to 20,000, but they were
never really under arms at once.
[308] The Commission, dated March 12, is in Morrin's _Patent Rolls_,
ii. 520. The instructions, dated March 27, are fully abstracted by
Devereux, and in _Carew_.
[309] Chichester to Cecil, March 17, 1599, MS. _Hatfield_. Account of
Sir Arthur Chichester by Sir Faithful Fortescue in Lord Clermont's
privately printed _Life of Sir John Fortescue_, &c.
[310] Report on state of Ireland April 1599, in _Carew_, and further
particulars in Dymmok's _Treatise of Ireland_ (ed. Butler, Irish
Arch. Society, 1843). Dymmok's account of the Leinster and Munster
journey is, with slight omissions, word for word (but better spelt)
Harrington's journal from May 10 to July 3, after which it is
continued from other sources. (_Nugæ Antiquæ_, i. 268-292.) There is
an independent journal in _Carew_ from May 21 to July 1. The opinion
of the Irish Council is printed by Devereux, i. 24. Essex to the
Privy Council, April 29. Sir H. Wotton to Ed. Reynolds, April 19, MS.
_Hatfield_, where it is noted that Sir H. Wallop died within an hour of
the Lord Lieutenant's arrival.
[311] _Nugæ Antiquæ_, i. 269-275; _Four Masters_; O'Sullivan Bere, tom.
iii. lib. v. cap. 9. O'Donovan cannot exactly identify the 'transitus
plumarum,' and the name is forgotten in the district. Harrington
places it between Croshy Duff hill, which is two and a half miles from
Maryborough on the Timahoe road, and Cashel, which is four miles from
Maryborough on the Ballyroan road. Captain Lee, in _Desiderata Curiosa
Hibernica_, i. 114, suggests that Tyrone would willingly settle all his
differences with Bagenal (whom he very wrongly accuses of cowardice)
by a duel. Tyrone was the last man in the world to do such an act of
folly, but Lee exposes his own character.
[312] The Lord President, Ormonde, and other councillors 'hath
persuaded me for a few days to look into his government.'--Essex to the
Privy Council, May 21, 1599, MS. _Hatfield_. The few days were a full
month. _Nugæ Antiquæ_, i. 275-278; Journal of occurrents in _Carew_,
under June 22. The battery was planted on May 28, and all was over by
the 31st. 'The castle of Cahir, very considerable, built upon a rock,
and seated in an island in the midst of the Suir, was lately rendered
to me. It cost the Earl of Essex, as I am informed, about _eight weeks'
siege_ with his army and artillery. It is now yours without the loss
of one man.'--Cromwell to Bradshaw, March 5, 1649. Thus history is
falsified by flattery and local vanity. There is a picture-plan of the
siege in _Pacata Hibernia_.
[313] Journal of occurrents in _Carew_, under June 22; _Nugæ Antiquæ_,
i. 278-280. The Journal, the _Four Masters_, and O'Sullivan Bere, tom.
iii. lib. v. cap. 6, all agree that Norris died of a wound in the head.
'Kilthilia' may be Kilteely near Hospital, whither the Journal says the
wounded man was first carried. He died in his own house at Mallow.
[314] _Nugæ Antiquæ_ and Journal _ut sup._ Essex left Askeaton on
the 8th, and arrived at Waterford on June 21. The Queen to Lord and
Lady Norris, Sept. 6, in S.P. _Domestic_, and Rowland Whyte to Sir R.
Sidney, Sept. 8, in _Sidney Papers_.
[315] The contemporary accounts are collected in _National MSS. of
Ireland_, part iv. i. app. xiv. Atherton's is the most minute. There
is also a field-sketch made by Captain Montague. The Irish were not
numerically stronger than Harrington's force. Loftus, who died at
Wicklow for want of a skilful surgeon, was the archbishop's son.
[316] Journal in _Carew_, under July 1; _Nugæ Antiquæ_, i. 254, 259,
and 286-292; Dymmok's _Treatise_. Essex left Waterford June 22, and
reached Dublin July 2.
[317] Essex to the Privy Council, July 11; Devereux, ii. 50-52; Fynes
Moryson, part ii. lib. i. cap. i.; _Nugæ Antiquæ_, i. 292; _Reliquiæ
Wottonianæ_.
[318] Privy Council to Essex, June 10; Essex to the Privy Council, July
11; the Queen to Essex, July 19.
[319] Essex to the Privy Council, May 21, MS. _Hatfield_; Cecil to Sir
H. Neville, May 23, in Winwood's _Memorials_; Chamberlain's _Letters_,
June 10; Essex to the Queen, June 25, in Moryson; the Queen to Essex,
July 19.
[320] Dymmok's _Treatise_, p. 43; _Nugæ Antiquæ_, i. 255; the Queen to
Essex, July 19 and Aug. 10. Harrington's comrade was Gerald, fourteenth
Earl of Kildare. The 'sergeant-major' was either Captain Richard Cuny
or Captain George Flower.
[321] The Queen to the Lord Lieutenant and Council, Aug. 10 in _Carew_;
Chamberlain's _Letters_, Aug. 23.
[322] Dymmok's _Treatise_, p. 44; _Nugæ Antiquæ_, i. 255-257 and
264-268; _Four Masters_. Harrington was present, and Dymmok's account
is from those who were. O'Sullivan Bere says the English lost 1,400
men, but Harrington says Clifford's whole force hardly amounted to
that number. O'Donnell, though not far off, took no actual part in the
fight. H. Cuffe to E. Reynolds, Aug. 11, MS. _Hatfield_, written when
the bad news was quite fresh.
[323] _Four Masters_; MacDermot's letter is in Dymmok; Essex's
instructions for Dillon, Savage, and Dunkellin in _Carew_, Aug. 10.
Dymmok gives Aug. 15 as the date of Clifford's death, but it must have
been a week earlier.
[324] Essex to the Queen, soon after Aug. 15, in Devereux, ii. 56, and
two other letters at p. 67. The officers' declaration is at p. 55,
where the names of the signatories are given. They fairly justify the
Queen's stricture in her letter of Sept. 14.
[325] Dymmok's _Treatise_; Journal in _Carew_, No. 315. The two
accounts substantially agree. It was the hereditary privilege of
O'Hagan to inaugurate O'Neill.
[326] Journal in _Carew_ and Dymmok _ut sup._ Moryson and Camden
closely agree. The chronology is as follows: Essex leaves Dublin
Aug. 28; musters at Castle Kieran, Aug. 31; between Robinstown and
Newcastle, Sept. 2; Ardee, Sept. 3; Mills of Louth, Sept. 4; O'Hagan's
first overtures, Sept. 5; the meeting at Bellaclinthe, Sept. 7;
cessation concluded, Sept. 8; Essex goes to Drogheda, Sept. 9. See also
Shirley's _Monaghan_, p. 104. There is a story told somewhere that
Tyrone spoke much of religion, and that Essex answered, 'Go to, thou
carest as much for religion as my horse.' The original articles of
cessation, dated Sept. 8 and signed Hugh Tyrone, are at Hatfield.
[327] Essex to the Queen, Aug. 30, from Ardbraccan; the Queen to Essex.
Sept. 14 and 17--all printed by Devereux. On March 27, Essex had
licence at his own request 'to return to her Majesty's presence at such
times as he shall find cause,' but this was revoked by her letter of
July 30. Sir H. Wotton to E. Reynolds, April 19, MS. _Hatfield_.
[328] Harrington to Justice Carey in _Nugæ Antiquæ_, i. 247. Park gives
April as the date of this letter, but this is disproved by internal
evidence, and it certainly belongs to October. See also _ib._ pp.
260 and 340. Warren's own account of his 'second journey to the Earl
of Tyrone,' is dated Oct. 20. The first lines of the 45th canto of
Harrington's translation of _Orlando_ are:--
Look how much higher Fortune doth erect
The climbing wight on her unstable wheel,
So much the higher may a man expect
To see his head where late he saw his heel, &c.
[329] Sir Christopher St. Lawrence, according to Camden, offered his
services to kill both the peer and the secretary.
[330] Letters from Rowland Whyte to Sir Robert Sidney in _Sidney
Papers_, ii. 117, 127, from Sept. 19 to Oct. 2; Essex's _Relation_,
written by him during his imprisonment.
[331] The letter to Essex is of Nov. 22, and with seventeen others
belonging to the last three months of 1599, is printed by Mr. Gilbert
in App. 16 to _National Manuscripts, Ireland_, part iv. 1. In a letter
of Nov. 6, to the Lords Justices, Lord Lieutenant (Ormonde), and
Council, the Queen approves of the slaughter by Ormonde 'in revenge of
that that brake the cessation in Wexford... do not irritate nor oppress
any such as have submitted ... in respect of any private unkindness of
your own.'
[332] 'Tyrone's Propositions, 1599' are in Winwood's _Memorials_, i.
118, immediately after Cecil's letter of Oct. 8 to Neville, and are
reprinted by Spedding and Abbott. The letter does not mention any
enclosure. In _Bacon and Essex_, pp. 134-148, Dr. Abbott endeavours,
not very successfully, I think, to show that the document is entirely
unworthy of credit. It is, however, not called 'Essex's propositions,'
but 'Tyrone's,' and I have shown that the most outrageous part of it
was regarded by the Queen as a serious proposal. Essex should have
broken off the conference at the mere mention of such a thing. Sidney
would have done so, or Norris, or Mountjoy. The Queen's letters to
Fenton and to the Lords Justices, &c., are of Nov. 5 and 6.
[333] The Queen to the Lords Justices, &c. Nov. 6; Tyrone to Warren,
Dec. 25; to the King of Spain, Dec. 31; to Lord Barry and others, Feb.
1600, in _Carew_. On Feb. 13, 1600, the Vicar Apostolic Hogan told Lord
Barry he had 'received an excommunication from the Pope against all
those that doth not join in this Catholic action.' James Archer, S.J.,
in a letter of Aug. 10, 1598, printed in _Hibernia Ignatiana_, p. 39,
informs Aquaviva of 'frequentes Catholicorum victorias, unde fit ut
hæretici ex multis locis migrare cogantur.' For Henry Fitzimon, S.J.,
the priest of whose imprisonment Tyrone complained, see his _Life_ by
Rev. E. Hogan, S.J., p. 209. 'I never went to Tyrone,' Warren wrote
to Cecil, on Dec. 24, 1599, 'but I was forced to bribe his Friars and
Jesuits.'