1571 and 1572.
[Sidenote: Fitzwilliam cannot govern without money, 1571.]
Sidney was looked upon as the proper Viceroy for stormy times, and to him
money and troops were given grudgingly and of necessity, for he would not
go to Ireland without them. Fitzwilliam was but a stop-gap, thrown into
the place to serve a turn, as he bitterly expressed it. 'For God's sake,'
he cried, 'let me be rid of Ireland or I perish.' Arthur Lord Grey was
chosen for the perilous post, but the appointment did not then take
place, because the Queen differed from him as to a sum of 2,000_l._ It
would all, said Fitzwilliam, have been spent in her service, and she
would lose ten times the sum by denying it. Of money, indeed, there was a
most grievous want. The magazines were empty. The captains were almost
openly mutinous. The men were in rags and ready to desert, being forced
in the meantime to sell their arms for sheer want. The victuallers were
unpaid and had struck work. The Lord Chancellor's salary was at least two
years in arrears. Grey was taken seriously ill at the thought of being
forced to go to Ireland on the Queen's terms, and Sidney positively
refused to return. Fitzwilliam had therefore to remain, and to make the
best of it. He received the title of Lord Deputy, but neither more men
nor more money than when he held the less exalted post of Lord
Justice.[208]
[Sidenote: Perrott is ill-supported. Ormonde.]
After his failure at Castlemaine, Perrott said that the work of 'trotting
the mountains' was not suited to English soldiers. He had been promised
two hundred kerne at sixpence a day, but had received neither the men nor
the pay. He could not do without them, even if he had to keep them at
his own cost. The only real way of restoring order was to be in two
places at once, as Governor and as general; that being impossible, he
must have such a force as would bear dividing. 'To follow the kerne from
wood to wood your Lordship knows the soldiers are far unable. Therefore,
if I should do any good here, I must have kerne against kerne, and
gallowglass against gallowglass, and trained men to do what they may for
the stand.' Limerick, the garden of Munster, was too much impoverished to
support an army, and the men were in dysentery from always eating beef
without bread or vegetables, not forty horsemen being fit for service.
The Privy Council, who had promised two hundred kerne, now murmured at
being asked for a bare hundred, and the fiery President declared that he
would never trust them, nor do anything in their faith again. From
Ormonde alone, whom he 'ever loved and honoured,' did he get any real
help, and he was not always satisfied that even Ormonde did his best to
prosecute the rebels, for he urged him to divide his men into four
divisions, and then to leave Fitzmaurice no resting-place. But even while
chiding the Earl for inaction, Perrott admitted that want of provisions
was a fair excuse.[209]
[Sidenote: It is proposed to restore the Desmonds. General misery in
Munster.]
In his extremity Perrott was driven to ask that Sir John of Desmond might
be sent over. In the absence of the Earl Sir John would then be leader of
the Geraldines, and would draw all away from James Fitzmaurice. The
people of the 'poor, ruinous town of Kinsale,' as they called themselves,
begged for both brothers to help the President in saving them from the
fate of Kilmallock. They of Youghal, who had yet to learn of what Desmond
was capable, urged the same request. They complained of being shut up
within their walls, in hourly fear of assault, and crushed by the cost of
a garrison in which they had no confidence. They were worn with watching;
no one could spend a night at home. Rich and poor were in the same
plight, and the young would soon be as weak as the old already were.
Their chance of food depended on the precarious herring fishery.
Desmond and his brother, they said, 'in their time did right well govern
these parts,' and their return would send James Fitzmaurice beyond the
seas. For Sidney they longed no less than for Desmond. Perrott was
entirely against the restoration of the Earl, thinking that his further
detention in London would secure the good behaviour of his brother. He
advised that the Earl and Countess, who were prisoners at large, should
be shut up in the Tower for a year, so as to take away all hope of their
return. This, he thought, would encourage the Geraldine chiefs to make
separate terms. Sir John might then be safely sent over, security having
been first taken for his good behaviour. 'I hear,' said Perrott, 'he is a
decent gentleman.' Fitzwilliam, who saw Munster pretty much through
Ormonde's eyes, was equally against both. 'God keep both Sir John of
Desmond and base money out of Ireland, yet are they both at the seaside
to come over, if brutes be true.'[210]
[Sidenote: Perrott proposes to decide the war by a duel.]
Most people who study the acts of Sir John Perrott will probably be of
opinion that he was a wise and honest man, if not always prudent for
himself. But he now indulged in such an act of folly as can hardly be
matched, even in the annals of Irish misgovernment. He could not catch
James Fitzmaurice, and therefore he challenged him, resolving, if
possible, to end the war at one blow. Had the weapons been those of the
tilt-yard, the Queen's old champion might have been pretty sure of
victory, but Fitzmaurice, who at first encouraged the President's idea,
insisted upon sword and target and Irish trousers for both sides. Perrott
agreed, and provided a pair of scarlet trousers for himself. Then
Fitzmaurice objected to single combat, and proposed that there should be
fifty a side. It was finally agreed that each party should consist of
twelve horse and twelve foot, 'with indifferent armour and weapon.'
Edward Butler was one of those picked on the President's side. Perrott
wrote to Ormonde to borrow his horse, and begged him to attend with all
his force, evidently thinking that there was a danger of foul play. 'I
trust very shortly,' he told the Earl, 'to make end of this war, and to
overthrow the rest of these Geraldines, which do so much annoy her
Majesty's subjects. My lord, I have promised that there shall be no hurt
done unto him by any of your lordship's men, until such time as the day
be past, and I have promised him peace, that no man shall hurt him, nor
none of his, till this matter be tried. And so he likewise hath promised
to do the like unto all her Majesty's subjects.'[211]
[Sidenote: Ormonde at his wit's end. Fitzmaurice refuses to fight.]
It is not surprising that Ormonde was 'almost at his wit's end' on
receiving this extraordinary letter from his old brother-in-arms. 'The
manner of the President's dealing herein is strange to me. I will stay
his lordship (if I can by any means) from this attempt, and will with all
my heart join with him myself and my company, to fight against the
traitor and his whole company, rather than he should so barely hazard
himself with so few.... God send us a good hour against these
villains.'[212] He may have intended treachery and been foiled by
Ormonde's action, or he may have suspected treachery; but the message he
sent by his Irish poet gave a very good reason for not coming. 'If I
should kill Sir John Perrott, the Queen of England can send another
President into this province; but if he do kill me, there is none other
to succeed me, or to command as I do, therefore I will not willingly
fight with him, and so tell him from me.' In the most disturbed times in
modern Ireland officials, even policemen, have often been protected by
the same consideration. Perrott, however, was very angry, and resolved to
'hunt the fox out of his hole,' regretting, as well he might, that he had
wasted so much time and played into the hands of his crafty foe.[213]
[Sidenote: Colonisation of Ulster. Sir Thomas Smith, 1572.]
The failure of colonisation projects in Munster did not prevent the
Queen from listening to those who imagined that they could found private
principalities in Ireland. The district of Ards, in what is now the
County of Down, being almost surrounded by the sea, was by its position
well suited for such an experiment. On the north-west a land frontier of
barely ten miles might seem to require no great number of defenders.
Various offers were made, those of Secretary Smith being accepted by
Elizabeth. Tremayne, who foresaw the commotion that would be caused by
any scheme of colonisation, was in favour of a more extended experiment;
but strongly advised that the Queen should appear as the patroness of a
country already her own, and not as a conqueror. The people should be
told that their rights would not be infringed, and this should be
published everywhere in the Irish language. Had Sir Thomas Smith taken
this advice he would still have had many difficulties to encounter; but
he did not take it, and the Ulster Irish had their first notice from a
pamphlet written in English and published in London. Sir Thomas thought
that 'the little book was evil done,' but was induced to agree to its
being put forth by his son, who was to have the actual direction of the
business, and whom he was even content to lose in the glorious work of
reconquering the Queen's land without burden to her or to the English
State. The writer of the pamphlet, whether young Smith or another, set
forth at length the historical reasons why the English power had waned in
Ireland, and proposed to restore it by colonisation. A permanent garrison
was to be established, and 'every soldier to be made master of his own
land, to him and his heirs for ever.' It was supposed that 600 or 700 men
would be enough, and that the penniless younger sons, who could no longer
fall back on the decent idleness of the abbeys, would seize upon this
golden opportunity. The examples chosen to prove how easily a small
English force might overcome a larger body of Irish were singularly
inapplicable to a plan of colonisation. It was true that Gilbert with 100
men had driven the Munster rebels before him, that Collyer with one
company had discomfited 1,000 Redshanks, that Randolph with 300 had
beaten 3,000 O'Neills before Derry. But it was equally true that the
rebels were as strong as ever when Gilbert's back was turned, that Scots
continued to pour in, and that the settlement at Derry was abandoned. It
was argued that 300 horse and 400 foot would be enough to settle the
Ards, and their pay would amount to 10,000_l._ a year. For the first
three years they were to pay no rent for their holdings, after which it
was estimated that they would be self-supporting. How Sir Thomas Smith
could imagine that private adventurers would lend 10,000_l._ a year
without interest for three years, upon the security of Irish land still
unconquered, may well puzzle us; but sanguine hope was a characteristic
of the sixteenth century.
'Many shall say,' the candid pamphleteer admits, 'that they shall go into
a place where they shall want meat, housing, and all things necessary,
for that no prince yet hath been able to victual their army ... that the
soldier is always constrained to march through the bogs and rivers, and
in the night to lodge upon the grass without meat and fire. This is
indeed a great misery ... but consider the difference that is between the
Deputy's journey who seeketh to apprehend the rebels' bodies ... and his
enterprise, who desireth the land only.'[214]
[Sidenote: The O'Neills are alarmed.]
Whatever English adventurers may have thought of Thomas Smith and his
pamphlet, there was nothing in the movement which could possibly be
pleasing to the Irish. The Norman family of Savage had from early times
enjoyed dominion in the Ards, and their title to considerable estates in
the southern half had been acknowledged in 1559. It was evidently not
intended to interfere with them, and though pretty thoroughly
Hibernicised, they seem on the whole to have favoured Smith's enterprise.
Had the plan been strictly confined to the peninsula, and adequately
supported until the cultivation of wastes became profitable, a small
English Pale might have been created in Ulster. But Sir Brian MacPhelim
O'Neill, chief of a clan which had long lorded it over the southern part
of Antrim and the northern part of Down, took fright at once. Even in the
Ards he claimed superiority, and he rightly guessed that Smith's
operations would extend further. Old Captain Piers at Carrickfergus
promptly reminded the Lord Deputy that it was the nature of Irishmen to
let land lie idle rather than to see others work, and that the Clandeboye
O'Neills had been too long loose to brook the curb easily. Piers
circulated a letter purporting to be a copy of one sent by the Lord
Deputy, and denying the whole story; 'but the truth,' he added, 'will
soon be known, in spite of my feigning.' He advised Fitzwilliam to gain
time by pretending that the intruders were brought in entirely against
the Scots, and to take timely pledges from Sir Brian MacPhelim. He would
do his best; but when all shifts were exhausted the Irish would revolt,
and the result was only too certain.[215]
[Sidenote: Sir Brian MacPhelim O'Neill.]
Fitzwilliam himself reported that the immediate effect of the pamphlet
had been to strengthen the Scots, whose alliance all the Northern tribes
now sought, and that a common danger had made O'Donnell and O'Neill
friends. The expense of restoring peace was likely to be greater than any
private interest could warrant. Sir Brian MacPhelim pleaded his own cause
with considerable force. He had served Sussex, Croft, and Sidney
faithfully, and had lately borne the whole cost of victualling
Carrickfergus; and the Queen, ignorant as he believed of his daily
usefulness, was now about to give away his inheritance to Saxons. In her
service he had spent more cows and horses than were in any one English
county, and so it should always be while he was left in command.
Clandeboye had been in the hands of his family for fourteen generations,
and he now begged for a royal grant in consideration of faithful service
from his childhood. Whatever may have been the Queen's actual intention
towards Sir Brian MacPhelim and the other Irish, it is clear that no good
was intended them. Smith covenanted to suppress all rebels not only in
Ards but in Clandeboye, to divide the lands among the adventurers, and
not to sell to any Irishman or Scot. English settlers were forbidden,
except by royal license, to intermarry with Irish or Scots, and they were
all bound to attend the Deputy anywhere in Ulster for forty days.
[Sidenote: Vain attempts to reassure Sir Brian.]
Fitzwilliam vainly tried to explain away Smith's project: for all answer
the unlucky pamphlet was laid before him. Smith himself would fain have
counteracted by a letter the mischief done by his 'books spread in
print.' He said he was not coming to rob Sir Phelim, but to help that
loyal chief, and he was willing to have any points in which their
interests might differ decided by a lawful judge rather than by an appeal
to arms. As a beginning of friendship he begged Sir Brian to be the
protector of his people. The language was not ill chosen, and had it been
followed by wise action, the scheme might yet have succeeded. The Queen
also wrote to Sir Brian, promising, in language which 'gladded' him, that
his lands should not be taken away. Had Sir Brian and his friends been
frankly invited, as Tremayne advised, to co-operate with the Queen in a
well-designed scheme for planting some thinly peopled districts within
the Earldom of Ulster, they might perhaps have been friendly, though even
that is very doubtful: managed as it was, the project was foredoomed to
failure.[216]
[Sidenote: Fitzwilliam has no money.]
Fitzwilliam did not cease to beg for his recall or for men and money to
do something worthy of the place which he was forced to fill. In his
office of Vice-Treasurer he had incurred debt to the Crown, and if only
allowed to go back to England he would sell Milton to pay them. In the
meantime Ireland lay at the mercy of a foreign enemy. Let but 6,000
Spaniards land, and the loss would be as irrevocable as that of Calais,
nor would the Narrow Seas be any longer safe. Fitzwilliam supposed that
Sidney was his enemy at Court; but the friendly tone of Leicester's
letters makes this unlikely, and it is probable that the real difficulty
was with the Queen. Still the late and present Deputies differed widely
about the respective merits of Butlers and Geraldines. Ormonde had often
begged Elizabeth not to hear his accusers in his absence; and Sidney may
have reported against him, for he was now sent for. This was too much for
Fitzwilliam's endurance. The South, he said, always was tickly, Ormonde
only could manage it, and in short he could not be spared.[217]
[Sidenote: The Queen reduces the army.]
[Sidenote: A loyal Irishman.]
Ulster was greatly excited by colonisation rumours, and multitudinous
hordes of Scots, introduced by Tirlogh Luineach and his wife, or seeking
settlement for themselves, kept the scanty English garrisons in constant
alarm. Sorley Boy MacDonnell with 700 men beset Carrickfergus. Captain
Cheston, a brave and discreet soldier, sallied forth at the head of his
company and discomfited his assailants, but received an arrow in his
thigh; such surgery as was available failing to extract it, he lingered
fourteen days, and then died. This was the moment chosen by Elizabeth to
reduce the army in Ireland. 9,400_l._ was sent over with strict
injunctions to discharge 166 men from the foot companies and 70 from the
garrisons of Leighlin, Dungarvan, Maryborough, Bunratty, and Ballintober,
and to hold 500 more in readiness to go as soon as the money arrived. The
news spread fast over Ireland, causing 'general jollity' and a universal
belief that the days of Saxon rule were over, that an Irish nobleman
would be Viceroy, and that all late English settlers would soon be
hurrying to the seaside. 'When all be discharged,' said the unfortunate
Deputy, 'God send me some rid out of Ireland, for I look to see fire
round about in every quarter; but I must confess this medicine is well
taken away, for the disease did but putrefy under it without any heal.'
Among the men discharged were several who had been at Derry, and who had
received pensions since the abandonment of the post. One of these, Edmond
Byrne, deserves a passing notice. He had been in the service of Don
Carlos, and on hearing a Spanish gentleman speak evil of Queen Elizabeth,
had attacked him at the palace gates, though attended by two armed
followers. Having killed his man and beaten off the two underlings, Byrne
first took sanctuary, and then fled to Portugal. There the same conduct
provoked the same retort, and Byrne wounded the slanderer of his
sovereign. This loyal Irishman afterwards received a pension of four
shillings a day.[218]
[Sidenote: Poverty of the Crown.]
The best excuse for Elizabeth's ill-judged parsimony was the great
difficulty which she found in getting money at this time. The breach with
Alva had destroyed the credit system of the Netherlands, and English
finance had not yet become sufficient to itself. Moreover, the Queen took
care that Spain should be fully occupied, and the capture of Brill, which
coincided with the discharge of the troops in Ireland, made a Spanish
descent on that country exceedingly improbable. Alva had never been able
to replace the Genoese treasure detained in England, and it was pretty
clear that there would be none to spare for less important services. But
by the relaxation of English efforts in Ireland, nearly all that had been
done there was neutralised, and it is impossible not to feel some pity
for Fitzwilliam.[219]
[Sidenote: Fitton in Connaught.]
The Presidency of Connaught did not flourish greatly under Fitton's
charge; perhaps no one could have done anything there without a
considerable army. He could indict O'Connor Don and MacDermot for high
treason, he could lay whole baronies waste, and he could generally take
castles. But he could not establish either peace or respect for the
common law, and he dared not, while he remained in the province, leave
the Brehon law in undisputed possession of the field. The civil and the
canon law, as well as the law of England, all declared that a man should
be held liable only for his own acts. But Irish custom extended the
liability to descendants and to collaterals, and Fitton seems to have
thought it possible to play fast and loose with the two systems, and to
use their own customs against the Irish, though contrary, as he believed,
to all law, human and divine.
[Sidenote: Clanricarde's sons.]
The Earl of Clanricarde's two sons were in open rebellion, and he was
bound to answer for them both by Irish law, of which he had accepted the
liabilities, and by agreement under his own hand. The Earl was loyal
enough, as his whole career showed, but he was unable to control his
clan, and was perhaps not sorry to get out of a temporary difficulty by
surrendering himself. There were frequent and very circumstantial reports
of an intended Spanish descent, and he may well have dreaded the
necessity either of joining or of opposing an invader who was under papal
patronage. Fitton seems to have had no other case against the old lord
than that he levied exactions like his ancestors, a charge which came
with remarkably bad grace from the President. Fitzwilliam said openly
that he could only be chastised by bringing in the Mayo Burkes, who had
always been rebels, and he very justifiably shrank from such a miserable
expedient. A more respectable plan was to send Thomond home and encourage
him to earn a complete restoration by his service against the Clanricarde
rebels.[220]
[Sidenote: Fitton and Clanricarde.]
On first arriving in Dublin, Clanricarde had been shut up in the castle.
After a month he was released on his own recognisances, and three months
later he was again committed on Fitton preferring against him a formal
charge of being the counsellor, comforter, and procurer of his son's
doings. A few months before Fitzwilliam had pronounced Fitton a wise and
sober man, very conscientious, severely just, and not subject to gusts of
passion. He now complained that the President had refused to reveal the
charge against Clanricarde at the Council Board. This the Lord Deputy
considered a stain on his own loyalty, and he demanded an opportunity of
clearing himself. The Earl's offence, if offence there was, fell far
short of treason, and he could be very badly spared from his own
country. The Queen rebuked Fitton severely for his secret ways, and for
arresting the old Earl, who made his submission to the Lord President of
Connaught, only asking that he might in future have the assistance of a
councillor to keep order. This was granted, and he was soon sent back to
Connaught with a general commission to grant pardons at discretion; a
wonderful end to a trial for high treason. The Council patched up a truce
between Fitton and Fitzwilliam, but the flame soon burst forth again.
Clanricarde's detention in Dublin lasted about six months, and he never
quite forgave Fitton. 'After being set at liberty,' he said, 'I did
within one twelvemonth hang my own son, my brother's son, my
cousin-german's son, and one of the captains of my gallowglasses, besides
fifty of my own followers that bare armour and weapons; which the
Archbishop of Tuam, the Bishop of Clonfert, and the whole corporation of
Galway may witness.'[221]
[Sidenote: Fitton driven into a corner.]
When Fitton wrote to say that he expected soon to have no place in his
power except Galway, Fitzwilliam sneeringly answered that he would be a
very old man before the rebels came to seek him at Athlone. For a few
weeks longer the President kept the field. Clare Galway was yielded at
his approach, and a few kerne were shot here and there, but the young
Burkes eluded him as completely as David eluded Saul. On one occasion
they were close, and Ulick, taking an axe in his hand, declared that he
would lead on; but the captain of gallowglasses, wiser in his generation,
advised a fitter opportunity. Lady Mary Burke escaped out of Galway, and
went to join her brothers. Then provisions ran short, the Mayo Burkes,
whom Fitzwilliam had thought it possible to retain as allies, joined
their namesake, and Fitton retired to Athlone, leaving the whole province
free from any pretence of settled government.[222]
[Sidenote: Even Athlone is not safe.]
Fitton was only three months older when he saw his dismal prophecy
fulfilled. Having demolished most of the castles in Clanricarde, lest
they should offer a refuge to the English, the young Burkes, with a force
estimated at from 500 to 2,000, and largely composed of Scots
mercenaries, plundered the district between the Suck and Shannon, then
crossed the great river, and burned all along the left bank as far as
Athlone. James Fitzmaurice was with them, chiefly in the vain hope of
relieving Castlemaine, before which Perrott had again sat down. Turning
to the east, the wild bands harried Roscommon and Westmeath, burned
Mullingar, Meelick, and other places, and then doubled back to Athlone,
to which they set fire. In spite of the guns in the castle and the
musketeers on the steeple of the church, they approached boldly from the
north side, broke into the cloister with the help of masons, and, being
aided by a high wind, burned most of the malt and biscuit stored above.
Of the 350 soldiers promised by Fitzwilliam not one had arrived, and the
President could only look on while the town burned. Meeting with no
resistance, the rebels again crossed the Shannon and went to Galway. That
town was too strong for them to attempt, but they killed an English
captain in a skirmish, and on two separate occasions passed the walls
without serious opposition and penetrated into Connemara, where they
chastised the O'Flaherties for their adherence to English rule. Fitton
could do nothing but beg the Lord Deputy not to pardon the treason after
the old fashion of Ireland. 'It is comforted,' he said, 'and fostered
from under your own elbows, I mean Dublin itself.'[223]
[Sidenote: Fitton is forced to leave Connaught to itself.]
Fitton lingered at Athlone for a few weeks and then retired, first to
Dublin and then to England. Fitzwilliam announced that Connaught would
soon be quiet, for there would be no one left to resist the rebels. The
unlucky President was not to be blamed, for he 'could not work miracles
as Moses did.' After one more attempt to give trouble, which was
frustrated by Perrott's energy, Clanricarde's sons--the MacIarlas, as
they were called--saw that there was no fear of punishment, and that they
might as well sue for mercy. They told the Deputy that they were in a
wretched and damnable state; and this was true, for they were very
vicious young men. They knew not where to turn, and they offered to give
themselves up and be good subjects for ever if only they might be assured
of the pardon which they feared to ask. Their father was powerless to
control them, and he supported their petition on the ground that despair
might 'make them follow young counsels.' He himself was ready for any
service, or even to go to prison, and would welcome any president that
had no property in Connaught, 'excepting always Sir Edward Fitton, who
sought my blood.' A good salary, he added fairly enough, would be the
best defence against corruption. Believing that Fitton would traduce him,
he sent an agent to England to enter a cross case. The late president's
prayer was so far heard that the young Burkes received no immediate
pardon. In the meantime Athlone was held by a scanty garrison. In one of
the long nights just after the new year Art Maguire, who had the watch,
arranged with some of the O'Kellys to betray the castle. A ladder was
planted and thirty-four men scaled the walls unobserved, when a chance
noise startled the guard. The assailants called out in English to make
way for the Earl of Clanricarde's sons; but they were worsted in the
scuffle and jumped off the battlements, several legs being broken. 'If
the devils had not made great shifts they had broken most of their
necks.' Fitzwilliam attributed the result entirely to God's providence.
The Irish had been two hours inside the castle and were probably waiting
for reinforcements, very likely for the graceless young men in whose
names they professed to act.[224]
[Sidenote: Ormonde goes to England.]
[Sidenote: Fitzmaurice still at large, 1572.]
Ormonde was summoned to England at the beginning of 1572, and there were
not wanting detractors to say that he was unwilling to go, and that he
was playing a game of his own. Some thought him too merciful, and one of
his followers asked Burghley to give him a private hint inculcating
severity. But neither Perrott nor Fitzwilliam could do without him, and
he was certainly not idle. The pursuit of Fitzmaurice was but a
wild-goose chase, and every now and then some new Geraldine partisan
arose and gave local trouble. Edward Butler, with five hundred men, went
to Aherlow, killed a few kerne, and drove off some cattle which had been
stolen from Kerry; but he never saw Fitzmaurice, though he reported that
he was weak and might be easily attacked. The difficulty was to find him.
Meanwhile Rory MacShane, with a small band, swept away what he could find
in the meadows about Clonmel. The townsmen were disinclined to follow,
but their sovereign threatened to denounce them as traitors, and they
accompanied him into the hills near the town. The foolhardy sovereign,
who had refused Ormonde's offer of a garrison, allowed himself to be
drawn into rough ground, and lost his life. Then came Edward Butler, who
killed twenty-one of Rory's men. The solitary prisoner was promptly
hanged, drawn, and quartered. Besides these services performed through
his brother, Ormonde was able at this time to make head against Rory Oge
O'More, while Kildare, with six hundred kerne of his own and a hundred of
the Queen's, pressed that chief from the North.
[Sidenote: The Lord President reports progress.]
At another time Fitzmaurice threatened Youghal, but the Viscount of
Decies sent timely aid. If to keep the Queen's peace was the object of
government, it had very indifferent success. Yet Perrott did not despair.
Wales and Northumbria had been settled by Presidents, and why not
Munster? 'Came it to perfection elsewhere in one year? No, not in seven.'
The Irish were subtle, fond of license, and ready for anything as long as
it was not for their good. But he claimed to have laid a sound
foundation. Munster was no longer governed by letters from Dublin which
no one obeyed. Before he came no man could go a mile outside Cork,
Limerick, Youghal, Kinsale, Kilmallock, Dingle, or Cashel. No one helped
but Ormonde, yet the country had become fairly safe, and English
fishermen fished in peace. The rebels had dwindled from 1,000 to 'fifty
poor kerne, and ten or twelve bad horsemen.' The decentralising system
might be carried much further, and Perrott recommended a President for
Ulster. The Lord Deputy might then spend some part of his time at
Athlone. The advice was probably good, but the poverty of the Crown
hindered all comprehensive reforms.[225]
[Sidenote: Castlemaine taken. Perrott cannot catch Fitzmaurice.]
Early in June Perrott again besieged Castlemaine. Most of the
MacCarthies, O'Sullivans, and other West Munster clans furnished
contingents, as well as the Barrys and Roches, and some of the walled
towns. James Fitzmaurice having failed to bring the Scots from Connaught
to its relief, the castle surrendered after a three months' blockade,
'through the want of provisions,' say the annalists, 'not at all for want
of defence.' This being the only place which resisted the English arms,
and the most convenient spot for foreigners to land, the success was a
considerable one in spite of the time it had taken. When it was just too
late Fitzmaurice, with Ulick Burke and Shane MacOliver, passed the
Shannon near Portumna, with the help of the O'Maddens, and marched down
the left bank towards Limerick, the fears or sympathies of the citizens
again swelling their numbers to 1,000. The sheriff attempting to
withstand them was slain with thirty of his men, and Perrott, who besides
his own servants had only 160 English soldiers, at once proceeded in
search of them. He was accompanied by several native lords and chiefs,
but seems to have set but little store by their services. Fitzmaurice
lurked in the wooded and boggy plain between Limerick and Pallas, and
MacBrien Coonagh sent word to Perrott that the Scots would certainly
fight in the neighbourhood of Ballinagarde. The floods were out, and the
President found his enemy, apparently about 600 strong, advantageously
posted on ground inaccessible to cavalry, and unapproachable even by foot
soldiers marching more than two abreast. Perrott threw forward a few
musketeers to skirmish, and then quitting the saddle led the way on foot
to encourage the Irish lords, the attack being covered by a body of
musketeers. The Scots threw their spears at the skirmishers and seemed
disposed to charge, but a second and better-directed volley broke them,
and they fled in disorder towards the Glen of Aherlow, leaving a few dead
on the field. Perrott followed through a frightful country, but could not
get a second chance. Clancare and Cormac MacTeige, MacCarthies who in
their soul hated the Desmonds, did good service, but the other allies
were lukewarm. Perrott blamed Lord Roche for keeping aloof with the
cavalry, but if the President's own description of the ground be true,
his lordship had little choice. Ormonde was in England, and his presence
alone would have done as much as all his forces without him; but Sir
Edmund Butler co-operated zealously enough with the President, and the
penitent Edward exhorted him to fresh exertions. 'Remember,' he said, 'my
dear brother, that though you did never so much service, it is but your
duty, and far less than her Majesty deserved at our hands.' On one
occasion the Butlers brought in fifty heads, and Perrott allowed that
they served most willingly in the field, though he does not seem to have
had a high opinion of their actual achievements.[226]
[Sidenote: Perrott cannot pay his soldiers. A mutiny.]
There were rumours of a second invasion of Scots from Connaught, but they
did not come, and Perrott was left free to follow those already in his
province. The indefatigable man made such preparations as he could for a
grand attack on Aherlow with the help of the two Butlers, and he set out
from Kilmallock in advance of his army. When he had gone a few miles the
captains overtook him in hot haste to say that their men had mutinied and
had returned to Kilmallock. The Irish auxiliaries were not bound to serve
without English soldiers, and they immediately deserted the President,
glad enough, no doubt, of the excuse. A few of the gentlemen remained,
and Perrott retraced his steps to find his soldiers still under arms,
clamouring for the Queen's pay, and complaining of the endless and
thankless toil to which they were condemned. He reminded them that he had
already offered some money on account, that more was on the way, that
they had but slender excuse for their insubordination, and that he had a
mind to hang the ringleaders. The men answered firmly but respectfully
that if he hanged one they would all swing together for company, and in
the end he was forced to temporise. Crippled as a general, the President
went off to hold assizes at Cork, where he found the people willing to
prosecute and the juries ready to convict, so that the pleasures of
hanging were not altogether denied him. The garrison of Kilmallock, in a
fit of repentance, or persuaded by their officers, made a raid into
Aherlow and killed some thirty of Fitzmaurice's men sleeping in their
cabins. 'I am ashamed to write of so few,' said the Lord President, 'but
considering their cowardliness and the continual watch which they use to
keep, it is accounted as much here to have the lives of so few, as 1,000
in some other country. If I might have but one trusty gentleman of the
Irishry I would not doubt I should in short time bring the country to
good quiet.' That one trusty gentleman was not to be had, but Ormonde's
brothers did what they could to prove that they were not, and, in spite
of recent transgressions, never had been Irishry. Without any help from
Perrott they attacked Fitzmaurice in his camp near Tipperary, and killed
100 of his men. That was the last important success of the campaign,
which had proved beyond doubt that the rebels had no chance in the field
against English soldiers or even against the Butler gallowglasses; but it
had also proved that they could not be followed with advantage, and that
the problem of Irish government was as far from solution as ever.[227]
[Sidenote: Stratagems of Fitzmaurice.]
On one occasion (we are not told the date or place) the hunter nearly
became a prey to his quarry. A pretended deserter brought news that
Fitzmaurice was hard by with only thirty persons, and offered to be the
President's guide, tendering his own life as security. With
characteristic rashness Perrott followed the man with about thirty
soldiers, and at the break of day came upon Fitzmaurice accompanied by
400 or 500 foot and 80 horse. Trewbrigg, the President's secretary, who
rode in advance, charged the Irish and Scots with three or four men, and
lost his own life and a purse containing 100_l._, which served as a
military chest. Nothing daunted, Perrott followed with the rest of his
men. He jumped a bank and unhorsed one of the rebels. Another came behind
him with his spear, held by the middle as in an Indian boar-hunt, and he
was barely rescued by George Greame, afterwards famous in the Irish wars.
Outnumbered by ten or twelve to one, the English soldiers were nearly
overwhelmed, when Captain Bowles, not much more prudent than his chief,
galloped up with three or four fresh men. Supposing these to be the
advanced guard of a larger body, Fitzmaurice drew off. Even this lesson
did not teach Perrott prudence. Fitzmaurice, being closely pursued, faced
about near a bridge leading to a wood, and sent a man with a white cloth
on the top of his spear. The Lord President allowed himself to be drawn
into a parley, and while he wrangled about terms Fitzmaurice got his men
over the water and escaped.[228]
[Sidenote: The Irish in Spain. Stukeley.]
The incessant rumours of Spanish invasion led to nothing, but these
foreign intrigues are worth following for the light which they throw upon
Elizabeth's policy. Stukeley, finding that the Archbishop of Cashel's
party would not accept him as the champion of Irish Catholicism, went to
Rome, where he walked barelegged and barefooted about the churches and
streets. Fitzwilliam derisively reported that the man who had given up
the kingdom of Florida and the dukedom of Ireland only for holiness' sake
was about to have a red hat, and that the superstitious people of
Waterford really believed in his sanctity. Constant communication was
kept up between Ireland, Spain, and the Low Countries, and there was
scarcely a southern chief or lord who was not supposed to be in
correspondence with Stukeley or with some other of the exiles. Many
probably sympathised with the idea of a Spanish invasion, though not to
such an extent as the sanguine Fitzgibbon had represented, and others may
have thought it prudent to make friends with the mammon of
unrighteousness. The adventurer, after his return from Rome, was
attracted by the somewhat kindred spirit of Don John of Austria, and
served under him either at Lepanto or in some smaller encounter with the
Turks, after which he retired to Madrid, and 'for his many deeds' became
more of a favourite than ever. A pension of 1,000 ducats per week was
thought a suitable entertainment for the Duke of Ireland, and one Cahir
O'Rourke obtained the command of forty men. The Bishop of Cadiz received
orders from Philip to punish those who refused passages to the Irish
refugees, friars, and others, and one Cormac, calling himself provincial
of the Irish Dominicans, busied himself in seeing that the order was
carried out. The French captains under one pretence or other refused to
carry these emissaries; but the Portuguese were more subservient, and
many Irishmen sailed from Lisbon as well as from the Spanish ports.
Meanwhile loyal Englishmen were subjected to every inconvenience. Five
ships were stopped at San Lucar and three at Seville, and many of
Elizabeth's subjects were closely imprisoned. The Inquisition worked
harder than ever. Rumours of a fleet to be commanded by Stukeley were
again rife, and some talked of as many as fifty ships. Philip II.'s slow
mind was quite unequal to the task of coping with such statesmen as Cecil
and Walsingham, and they were able to watch every move. English merchants
and sea-captains, even Compostella pilgrims, took a pride in thwarting
the despot, who seldom travelled further than Aranjuez, and imagined that
he could rule all mankind by making silly marginal notes on despatches.
Waterford having been recommended in 1569 as the best point for attacking
Ireland, Philip, who apparently heard of the place for the first time,
could only wonder in manuscript 'whether the Duke of Feria knew anything
of that port.' Considering that Philip had been King of England, this is
a fine illustration of the aphorism as to the small amount of wisdom with
which the world is governed.[229]
[Sidenote: Effects of St. Bartholomew in Ireland.]
The day of St. Bartholomew could not but have its effect in Ireland. In
Connaught and other Irish districts 'the godly,' as the few Protestants
esteemed themselves, thought it prudent to hide. The rest of the people
triumphed 'as though the kingdom of Antichrist were once again erected.'
There was talk of the Spanish Inquisition, but little or no actual
violence is recorded to have been done. Suspicion filled the air, and the
sudden appearance of innumerable friars seemed to bode some great foreign
movement. They came out of Ulster and traversed Connaught in companies of
twenty at a time. Cormac, the so-called Provincial of the Dominicans,
brought a budget of indulgences to Sligo, and published them openly.
Friars preached at Galway before the ex-mayor and other leading townsmen,
and held councils at Adare, Galway, and Donegal. They came and went
between Ireland and France, and Fitzwilliam's informant held that the
preaching of Ulster friars 'must naturally tend to rebellion.' Their
evident desire, he thought, was to subvert the English Government, and
'set up their own wickedness.' In Galway the mendicants bore themselves
like princes, so that the Pope might be thought King of England and
Ireland. Clanricarde himself dared not say a word, and Limerick
threatened to be soon as bad as Galway.[230]
[Sidenote: Rise of Rory Oge O'More.]
Those parts of Ireland which were supposed to be tolerably well settled
were pervaded by a sense of insecurity, and gave Fitzwilliam no help.
King's County, under the wise government of Henry Cowley, noted by an
eminent lawyer as being the only Englishman who ruled by law, was long
an exception; but the Queen owed the constable near 2,000_l._, and such
disinterestedness could not be expected from every officer. Cowley had
but twenty-three men, and, though others praised him, he was himself
dissatisfied with the state of his district. Cosby was less successful in
the Queen's County, where Rory Oge O'More still kept an armed remnant of
his tribe together. Kildare and Ormonde combined their forces but could
not catch him, and he refused to cross the Barrow except in the company
of the former Earl, who accordingly brought him to his castle of Kilkea.
Rory said he would make no war against the Queen, but must be assured of
life and living before he would submit; nor would he disperse his men,
who were his only protection against many enemies. After consulting with
Cosby, the two Earls gave him protection for a fortnight, on his
undertaking not to damage the corn. When Ormonde went to England Rory
broke out again, and found his neighbours willing enough to help him.
Bands of fifty or a hundred invaded the Pale nightly with music and
torches, as Fitzwilliam bitterly observed, 'lest they should be heard or
seen,' yet he would not blame Cosby, for he had neither men nor
money.[231]
[Sidenote: The O'Byrnes.]
In Wexford a gentleman named Browne was murdered by the O'Byrnes, among
whom Feagh MacHugh was rising into distinction as a guerilla chief.
Agard, the seneschal of Wicklow, took immediate vengeance on some of the
mountaineers, and was then inclined to hold out hopes of mercy as the
best chance of catching the most guilty parties, such as Matthew Furlong
and others, who had employed the O'Byrnes. But Nicholas White, the
seneschal of Wexford, went 'thundering' about saying that the Queen would
never pardon anyone who had a hand in Browne's murder. Fitzwilliam wished
devoutly that White had stayed in England. The revenge already taken
might have been severe enough even for White's taste. Led by a
mountaineer whom he had captured, and whose life was the price of his
service as guide, Agard entered the south-west corner of Wicklow, where
he burned sixteen villages, then passed through the valley of Imail,
where he killed a foster-brother of James Eustace, afterwards the famous
rebel Lord Baltinglass. A sister of Simon MacDavid's was captured, 'whom,
if she do not stand me in stead, I mean to execute.' Had plunder been the
main object a very large number of cattle might easily have been driven
off, but the guide, who may have had a quarrel of his own to avenge,
offered to take the soldiers where they might 'have some killing.'
Captain Hungerford and Lieutenant Parker preferred killing to kine, and
went in at the head of Glendalough. 'They slew many churls, women, and
children,' brought away much kine, and lost 500 more 'while they were
killing.' Feagh MacHugh just escaped, but two of his sisters and two
foster-brothers were slain. Much blood was destined to be shed before the
blood of Robert Browne should be finally expiated. Sometimes the English
officers seem to have set a very indifferent example. Robert Hartpole,
sheriff of Carlow and constable of the Castle, and his sub-sheriff were
accused upon oath of having seized a vast number of cattle on all sorts
of pretences, of forcing labourers to work, and in general of every sort
of violence and corruption. These misdeeds were said to have been
committed by virtue of letters from the Earl of Ormonde. In the following
year, Hartpole was one of those licensed by the Lord Deputy to cess
Ormonde's lands for protection against the O'Mores and O'Connors. No
particular notice seems to have been taken of the charges against him,
for he remained in Carlow to found a family, and to be remembered as a
chief actor in one of the most horrible tragedies recorded even in Irish
history.[232]
[Sidenote: Bad effects of reducing the army.]
Fitzwilliam had reduced the army much against his will, and the
disturbances which he had foreseen followed as a matter of course. He
asked for reinforcements, unless the Queen wished deliberately to leave
the whole country to the native Irish. Her answer was that she marvelled
at the stir in Ireland, and that she would not send the 800 soldiers he
asked for; and she reminded him that Mr. Smith had been ready to bring
over that number if Fitzwilliam had not opposed the enterprise. Smith
was, however, now really coming, and might give some help. The poor
Deputy could only answer that the 800 men were much wanting, that double
that number of Scots had landed in Connaught, and that Ormonde, on whom
alone he could depend, had been sent for to England. But to Burghley he
passionately poured out his griefs. 'I pass over,' he said, 'usual
matters, such as killing, burning, spoiling;' though they pricked his
conscience daily, and though he feared that God would demand the innocent
blood at his hand. The English name was hateful, and he would rather die
when Ireland was lost than live in England to bemoan it. He could but
shake the scabbard, for he had no sword to draw, and yet military
government was the only government possible for a 'people so long nursled
in sensual immunity.' The great men 'all, tooth and nail, whatsoever
semblance they bear, do spur, kick, and practise against regular
justice.' The fear of Ormonde kept some quiet, but in his absence their
enforced frowns at the rebels were changed to winking. For himself, he
could bear all if the Queen would only give him credit for doing his
best, instead of blaming him more and more for not doing what he had long
since declared impossible. 'A hard word of a prince,' he said, 'is a dart
to a true subject--much more, a nipping, a checking, and a
taunting.'[233]
FOOTNOTES:
[208] Fitzwilliam to Burghley, Aug. 19, Sept. 8, Nov. 25, 1571; to the
Queen, Sept. 6. His patent as Lord Deputy bears date Dec. 11.
[209] Perrott to Fitzwilliam, Aug. 14, 20, and 22; to Ormonde at p. 64 of
his _Life_, no date, but about this time.
[210] Corporation of Kinsale to the Privy Council, Aug. 10; Corporation
of Youghal to the Queen, Sept. 6; Fitzwilliam to Burghley, Nov. 25;
Perrott to Fitzwilliam, Dec. 4. This last letter has a note by
Fitzwilliam, in which he says Sir John of Desmond would be as well in
England as in Munster, 'in spite of his wit and soberness.'
[211] _Perrott's Life_, pp. 61-63. Perrott to Ormonde, Nov. 18, 1571.
[212] Knocklong was the appointed place, and Perrott kept his tryst; but,
'God be praised,' said Fitzwilliam, 'the rebel chief did not appear.'
[213] _Perrott's Life._ Ormonde to Fitzwilliam, Nov. 20; Fitzwilliam to
the Privy Council, Feb. 27, 1572.
[214] Sir T. Smith to Burghley, April 10, 1572. The pamphlet is printed
in the appendix to Hill's _MacDonnells of Antrim_.
[215] Piers to Fitzwilliam, Jan. 3, 1572, with notes by the Lord Deputy;
same to same, Feb. 8; Morrin's _Patent Rolls_, i. 427.
[216] Fitzwilliam to Burghley, March 14; to the Queen, June 27; to the
Privy Council, June 28; Sir Brian MacPhelim O'Neill to Fitzwilliam, March
6; to the Queen and Privy Council, March 27; Thomas Smith, Junior, to Sir
Brian MacPhelim, May 20. There is a tolerable account of this business in
chap. xiv. of Strype's _Life of Smith_.
[217] Fitzwilliam to Burghley, March 24, April 15, May 5; to Leicester,
March 16; Leicester to Fitzwilliam, March 8.
[218] Notes of such as are appointed to be discharged, May 8; Fitzwilliam
to Burghley, April 15 and May 21; to the Queen and Privy Council, Feb.
27; Morrin's _Patent Rolls_, ii. 64. The fight in which Captain Cheston
was wounded took place before Feb. 14.
[219] Burgon's _Life of Sir Thomas Gresham_, chaps. vi. and vii.
[220] Fitton to Burghley, Jan. 31, with enclosures, March 31; Fitzwilliam
to Burghley, April 21; Lord Deputy and Council to the Privy Council, May
15.
[221] Earl of Clanricarde's Declaration, March 8, 1578; Fitton to
Burghley, January 31, 1572; with enclosures, March 31; Lord Deputy and
Council to the Privy Council, May 15; to the Privy Council and
Fitzwilliam to Burghley, April 21, May 24; to the Queen, &c., July 25; to
Burghley, Aug. 4. Order by Lord Deputy and Council, July 22.
[222] Fitton to Leicester, May 18, in _Carew_; to Fitzwilliam, June 16.
[223] _Four Masters_, 1572. Fitton to Fitzwilliam, July 16; John Crofton
to Fitzwilliam, same date; Bishop of Meath to Fitzwilliam, July 17;
Fitzwilliam to the Queen, July 24.
[224] Fitzwilliam to Burghley, Sept. 25, 1572; to the Queen, Feb. 18,
1573; Clanricarde to Fitzwilliam, Nov. 2, 1572; to Burghley, Dec. 15.
Earl of Clanricarde's sons to Fitzwilliam, Nov. 9; Edward Brereton to
Fitton, Feb. 9, 1573.
[225] Perrott to Fitzwilliam, May 11, 1572; Ormonde to Fitzwilliam, Feb.
5, 1572, enclosing one from Edward Butler; Mayor of Youghal to Lord ----,
March 21: John Danyell to Fitzwilliam, Feb. 26.
[226] Perrott to the Privy Council, Sept. 1; to Fitzwilliam, Sept. 12 and
16; to Burghley, Nov. 2; Fitzwilliam to Privy Council, Sept. 25; to
Ormonde, Oct. 21; Edward Butler to Sir Edmund Butler, Oct. 19; Sir Edmund
Butler to Richard Shee, Oct. 20; Bishop of Limerick to Perrott, Aug. 31;
Mayor and Recorder of Limerick to Perrott, Sept. 1.
[227] Sir E. Butler to R. Shee, Nov.; Lord Deputy and Council to the
Queen, Dec. 1.
[228] _Perrott's Life_, pp. 67, _sqq._
[229] Fitzwilliam to Burghley, May 24, 1571; to the Privy Council, April
15, 1572; Dominic Brown to Fitton, April 9, 1571. Examination of Walter
French, March 30; and report of John Crofton, April 13, 1571. Memorandum
concerning Ireland, 1571 (No. 44). Memorandum concerning Stukeley, March
5, 1572. Stukeley went to Rome early in the spring of 1571, and returned
to Spain in November. See also Froude, x. 479, _note_.
[230] Edward White (Clanricarde's clerk) to Fitzwilliam, Nov. 1572. On
Nov. 29, Fitzwilliam answered that he was glad the Earl had such a jewel
as White about him.
[231] N. White to Burghley, July 17, 1573; Fitzwilliam to Burghley, Oct.
6, 1572; to the Queen, Dec. 7, 1572, and Feb. 18, 1573; Henry Cowley to
Burghley, March 12, 1572; Kildare and Ormonde to Burghley, Aug. 14, 1572.
[232] Fitzwilliam to Burghley, Aug. 26, 1572; Notes of Journey, May 1572;
Examinations, &c., Aug. 21, 1572; License to Hartpole and others, Sept.
24, 1573. Hartpole was concerned in the Mullaghmast massacre.
[233] Fitzwilliam to the Queen, July 24, Aug. 3, Sept. 25, 1572; to the
Privy Council, Aug. 4; to Burghley, Sept. 25 and Oct. 21; the Queen to
the Lord Deputy, Aug. 5.