ADMINISTRATION OF FITZWILLIAM, 1574 AND 1575, AND REAPPOINTMENT OF
SIDNEY.
[Sidenote: Unjustifiable seizure of Sir Brian MacPhelim, who is
executed.]
If violence were vigour and a readiness to act on rumour decision, then
the next exploit of Essex would entitle him to a high place among the
leaders of men. There is no difficulty in believing that Sir Brian
MacPhelim had been plotting with Tirlogh Luineach and other enemies of
English rule, and it is quite possible that he or his followers had
committed some barbarous outrages. He had all along been hostile to the
Earl's enterprise, and it is not surprising that he should have sought to
frustrate it. But he came to meet Essex at Belfast in friendly guise, and
he brought his wife and other relations with him. It is plain from this
that he intended no immediate treachery, but Essex, who was getting
soured, could only see evidence of dissimulation. He proposed to arrest
his visitors, and his officers made no opposition. The O'Neills defended
their chief, and much blood was shed. 'I have,' Essex wrote to the Privy
Council, 'apprehended Sir Brian, his half-brother Rory Oge MacQuillin,
Brian's wife, and certain of the principal persons, and put others to the
sword, to the number of 200 in all places, whereof 40 of his best
horsemen.' Sir Brian, his wife, and other prisoners were sent to Dublin,
and Essex announced that they would be tried according to law. It is only
certain that they were executed. There was, be it observed, no state of
war between O'Neill and the Earl. The chieftain was not a proclaimed
traitor, and there was no warrant against him. And even if it be granted
that he was technically guilty of treason, could his wife be considered
equally guilty? The Earl's own account does not justify him, while the
Irish annalists charge him with the blackest treachery. 'Peace,
sociality, and friendship,' say the 'Four Masters,' 'were established
between Brian, the son of Phelim Bacagh O'Neill, and the Earl of Essex;
and a feast was afterwards prepared by Brian, to which the Earl and the
chiefs of his people were invited; and they passed three nights and days
together pleasantly and cheerfully. At the expiration of this time, as
they were agreeably drinking and making merry, Brian, his brother, and
his wife, were seized upon by the Earl, and all his people put
unsparingly to the sword--men, women, youths, and maidens--in Brian's own
presence. Brian was afterwards sent to Dublin, together with his wife and
brother, where they were cut in quarters. Such was the end of their
feast. This unexpected massacre, this wicked and treacherous murder of
the lord of the race of Hugh Boy O'Neill, the head and the senior of the
race of Owen, son of Nial of the Nine Hostages, and of all the Gaels, a
few only excepted, was a sufficient cause of hatred and disgust of the
English to the Irish.' Some praised the Earl's conduct, and there seems
to have been no official blame, but Ormonde hinted his dislike of what
had been done. Essex meant well, he said, God send it so: 'I am loth to
speak of the North, which has cost her Majesty much, but I pray God a
worse come not in Sir Brian's place.' The Earl himself boasted 'that this
little execution hath broken the faction and made them all afeard;' and
that two of Sir Brian's kinsmen were competitors for his inheritance, and
had applied to Captain Norris, each offering to live in peace. The
knight-errant who had started with visions of creating an Eden in Ulster,
now thought it a triumph to make men of two minds in an house.[294]
[Sidenote: Vacillation of the Queen.]
Essex believed that 2,000 soldiers would suffice for Ireland, 1,300 of
them being stationed in Ulster while permanent fortified posts were being
built and garrisoned, and that when the building was done 500 men would
easily hold the province. To this arrangement the Queen, with much
hesitation, agreed. Garrisons cost money, as she knew by the experience
of Maryborough and Philipstown, and like them they might after all be but
very moderately successful.
[Sidenote: Essex and Fitzwilliam.]
As soon as Fitzwilliam knew that he was expected to represent the Crown
and to furnish all garrisons in the three southern provinces with 700
men, he at once declined the task. The force actually in Ireland was
about 3,000, and in case of the proposed scheme not taking effect, it was
to be reduced by one half. All was made dependent on perfect accord
between the Deputy and the Governor of Ulster; and in fact they had never
been on really cordial terms. Nor did Elizabeth herself speak with any
confidence, and it is plain that personal regard and admiration for Essex
were struggling in her mind with the desire to throw away no more money
upon Ulster. It was in Elizabeth's nature to vacillate, and the tendency
may have been increased by Burghley's illness. To keep Essex in Ireland,
and at the same time to secure his failure there, may have been
Leicester's policy. That some sinister influence was at work may be
inferred from the Earl's complaint to Burghley that many letters sent to
him were intercepted, and that he could trust no messenger but his own
servants. Fitzwilliam's refusal to incur the responsibility of government
without proper forces was reasonable enough, but his manner of proceeding
shows how deep his feeling against Essex really was. He summarily
discharged all men above 2,000; and the Earl, as he himself expressed it,
'having no longer soldiers to govern,' resigned the government of Ulster.
'Being now,' he said, 'altogether private, I do desire your Majesty's
good license so to live in a corner of Ulster, which I hire for my money;
where though I may seem to pass my time somewhat obscurely, a life, my
case considered, fittest for me, yet shall not be without some stay in
these parts, and comfort to such as hoped to be rid from the tyranny of
the rebels.' In the meantime his men were unpaid and unfed; for the
Vice-Treasurer had orders from the Deputy to give them nothing without
the Queen's special directions, and the victualler feared that he might
not have sufficient warrant. Essex, who complained bitterly that he had
not even ten days' notice, appealed to the Council, and both Fitton and
Loftus sided with him; for the prospect of having 1,500 disbanded
soldiers let loose upon the Pale was not a pleasant one. 'To you,' Essex
told Burghley, 'I am content to be beholden, yet to be generally bound to
all men as I have been in this action, is to my nature such a misery as I
confess all the wretchedness that I have found in Ireland hath not been
comparable to this. And now, since my good deserts here, if they were
any, be extinguished with dishonour, I pray you let my small sins be also
forgotten. I suffer pain enough. Increase not my misery with your ill
opinion.'
[Sidenote: Troops hastily disbanded.]
Fitzwilliam, as on some other occasions, showed a lamentable want of
dignity, and, if we are to believe the Governor of Ulster, he dismissed
the troops with indecent haste and with no more responsible advice than
that of his wife. 'My lady, as I am most credibly informed, kept her
Majesty's letters three days and coted every line of it, and in the end
gave her final judgment that I and all my soldiers should be cassed; and
it was no sooner done but here was such a general joy conceived by some
about him, as though some great victory had been obtained, and indeed it
agreed well with his former report, for not six weeks since he said there
were two Deputies in Ireland, and named me for one, and added that either
he would have all, or I should have all.' Tirlogh Luineach, or perhaps
his astute wife, knew how to profit by these dissensions, for no sooner
was it known that Essex had resigned his province, than he thanked
Fitzwilliam for not invading his country unjustly, as the Earl had done.
He professed great readiness to treat with the Lord Deputy. His loyalty
to the Queen only had prevented him from accusing Essex several times:
his only desire was peace, and he had no wish to injure any person in the
English districts.[295]
[Sidenote: The Queen encourages Essex.]
Elizabeth had not bargained for being so promptly taken at her word. 'We
did never,' she said, 'think that upon such a sudden either you our
Deputy would have refused to take that your charge with those numbers, or
you the Earl have given over your government of Ulster.' To the one she
was willing to allow 700 men in addition to garrisons, hinting at the
same time that she had evidently been paying for imaginary soldiers. To
the other she said that the enterprise was not abandoned, and Maltby was
authorised to use encouraging language. Munitions were sent, and even
some money, and Sir Peter Carew was ordered to Ulster as a valuable
lieutenant, and probably also a pleasant companion for the Earl. All this
was open and official, but to the Earl she wrote a private letter, which,
to one of his romantic temper, was probably more consoling than a
Lord-Lieutenant's commission with unlimited warrant to raise and pay
troops. She could not but feel that he had failed, but her heart was
touched, and she addressed him thus:--
'For your more satisfaction we have thought good to signify unto you,
that by all your actions, your wise behaviour and constancy in them, your
pains and travels sustained by yourself bodily, the great charge that you
have been at in your private expenses, and consuming of your revenues and
patrimony in our service, and for the attaining of honour by virtue and
travail, we have great cause to think you a rare treasure of our realm
and a principal ornament of our nobility; we wish daily unto God we had
many such; and are sorry that in anything you should be discouraged....
What success soever your enterprise shall have we must needs have a great
good opinion of you as a thankful prince ought to have; whereof you may
be bold to assure yourself, and all such your friends as would be glad
thereof, which be, you may be bold, for your rare virtues and noble
courage, a great number.'[296]
[Sidenote: He sets out towards Tyrone.]
In his delight at this letter, and notwithstanding the doubtful tenour of
Maltby's instructions, Essex sought a reconciliation with Fitzwilliam.
Both professed to bear no personal resentment, and to have quarrelled
only on public grounds, but others could see that their animosity was of
long standing and proportionately difficult to appease. The Earl was
sanguine that now at last he was on the high road to success. 'I would
not,' he confessed, 'blame the Queen if she were weary of Ireland ... it
is certain her Highness has spent 600,000_l._ in her time here and the
realm never the better; but, trust me, sir, reformation was never
thoroughly intended until now, as I think.' Full of hope he set forward
towards the Blackwater, having already employed 600 labourers to cut
passes through the woods bordering on Tyrone, where the people, since his
devastating raid in the previous autumn, had been living altogether on
flesh. 'They have been occupied with raids and incursions this sowing
time, and their next harvest shall be by all likelihood twice as urgent,
and therefore it is certain that they must either starve or obey very
shortly.'[297]
[Sidenote: The Queen again changes her mind.]
When Essex started once more for the North, Maltby was able to say that
he and the Deputy were very good friends, and that the country generally
was pretty quiet, 'but for the ordinary uncertainty of the Irish, _quod
natura dedit_.' The Scots had gone home, and Tirlogh Luineach, who saw
that mischief was intended, sent his wife to Newry to sue for peace. She
held out for the old rights of O'Neill, but offered to pay a 'tribute,'
in consideration of his superiority over Maguire and MacMahon being
acknowledged by the Crown. Ten days were given to Tirlogh to consider the
matter further, and Essex withdrew to Drogheda, where he received a
letter from the Queen which put an end to all his hopes. She allowed that
he might well be surprised at this 'sudden change, but that she had no
meaning that he should proceed in the service, otherwise than we thought
it necessary for a time, in respect of the danger he had laid before her
of a general revolt.' The political horizon was troubled, and on full
consideration she had made up her mind that the Ulster project could not
be made to pay, and must be abandoned. 'Direct the course of proceeding,'
she said, 'in such sort as the enterprise may yet be so given over as our
honour may best be salved' and the quiet of Ireland provided for. How all
this might best be done was referred to the discretion of Essex, who was
to consult the Lord Deputy and Council. Tirlogh Luineach was to be made,
if possible, to relinquish his claim to the Urraghs, to content himself
with the modern county of Tyrone, and to join in expelling the Scots. A
fort at the Blackwater would be most desirable, if it could be built
cheaply with the help of those who would be protected by it from
O'Neill's tyranny.[298]
[Sidenote: The Essex scheme is abandoned. Fort at Blackwater.]
Essex bowed loyally to her Majesty's will, spoke much of her good-nature
and little of his own disappointment, and only begged that she would have
some regard for his ruined fortunes. But he gently reproached the Privy
Council with unkindness for not warning him before he spent his substance
and his health 'in an action which, as it now appears, was never intended
to be performed.' With a heavy heart he set out for the Blackwater, and
began building a fort there. Tirlogh Luineach, who had 1,900 of his own
followers and 1,400 Scots with him, sent to say that he was ready to make
peace and to abjure Sorley Boy and his Scots, if the building operations
were suspended. Essex consenting to a parley, Tirlogh supposed that he
had gained his point, and insisted on Sorley being a party. 'This storm
is over,' he said to his Scotch ally, 'and the Earl shall neither build
nor make war.' Finding that the work went on, he proposed to attack
before the defences should be tenable, but Sorley refused, saying that
good watch was kept at night, and that he would only fight if Tyrone were
invaded. The O'Neills had no mind to do all themselves, and Tirlogh,
supported neither by clansmen nor auxiliaries, said that he would trust
the English. Essex crossed the river, cut off 1,200 kine, and drove
O'Neill into the bogs, following him so close that he had to leave his
horse and his mantle behind. A bridge with stone piers and timber
superstructure was finished, earthen bridge-heads were thrown up, and an
entrenched enclosure constructed to hold 200 men and tenable by fifty;
the Baron of Dungannon agreeing to find victuals for the latter number.
Essex had perhaps no great skill as an engineer; for Sidney visited the
fort four months later and found it 'imperfect, not worth the charge of
the keeping if there be peaceable proceeding; the bridge and gate to
guard it not half reared.'[299]
[Sidenote: Advice of Waterhouse. Profit _versus_ honour.]
Tirlogh having sued for peace, Essex was now in a position to make it on
such tolerable terms as might 'salve the Queen's honour,' his principle
being to acknowledge none of the O'Neill claims, but to wink at their
practical assertion. Tirlogh agreed to confine himself in general to
Tyrone, to give up his claim to superiority over his neighbours, to keep
the peace towards O'Donnell and other subjects of the Queen, and to
furnish his contingent to all hostings. On the other hand, he was excused
from coming to any governor against his will, was to have a share in the
customs of Lough Foyle, and might have 300 Scots in pay, provided they
belonged to the Campbell and not to the MacDonnell connection. His claim
to tribute from O'Dogherty would be acknowledged whenever he could prove
his title. These terms were considered reasonable by so good a judge as
Maltby, but Fitzwilliam had lately taken the precaution to inform the
Queen that Tirlogh Luineach might easily be dealt with without any of the
fuss which Essex thought proper to make about the matter. The Deputy had
seen so much of Ireland, that he had ceased to have any very high
standard. Waterhouse, the devoted partisan of Essex, also thought it
possible to save the point of honour, and to avoid war by a composition
with the Irish; but he did not deceive himself about the real nature of a
peace so made. 'All this,' he said, 'will be but patches, and (according
to your country proverb) "make much work for the tinker." If this plot
which here hath good allowance and there is thought probable take not
place, nor some better form of reformation devised, then it were good to
persuade that all soldiers were cassed, and leave here in Dublin some bad
justice for a shadow of her Majesty's possession: and let all go as it
will to the devil, and never let it suck up the riches of England to be
vainly spent to no purpose. So would it come to pass that within two or
three years there would be twenty kings, and every one consume other in
continual murders, which tragedy were far better than the remedies that
have been practised here these one hundred years past. You may take this
for a Christmas game, but if profit be preferred before honour, then
there may be somewhat said in this behalf.'[300]
[Sidenote: No open rebellion.]
While the English Government played fast and loose with the Ulster
expedition, it was possible to report that no open rebellion existed in
any part of Ireland, and that the doubtful were, as a rule, bound on
pledges. But burning and spoiling in a small way went on merrily. The
high universally oppressed the low, and 'some were hanged or killed here
and there every day.' Still, as a rule, it was not necessary to keep
watch, and cattle, at least in the Pale, could generally be left out at
night. Rumours reached Ireland that Sidney had been finding fault, but
Fitzwilliam asserted that Ireland was in a better state than when the
late Lord Deputy left it.[301]
[Sidenote: Want of money. Jobbery among lawyers.]
Want of money was the main reason that the Government was weak; and
corruption, while it enriched individuals, woefully impoverished the
State. Registers and records were tampered with--a very old complaint in
Ireland--merchants defrauded the revenue, and Custom-house officers
winked at their roguery. Victuallers not being sure of payment had little
credit, failed to perform their contracts, and were tempted into doubtful
courses. The courts of law were distrusted, at least by English
residents; one of whom gives the following account of the Irish Bench and
Bar:--
'Mr. Lucas Dillon and one or two more excepted, the rest of the
champering lawyers whereof there be no small number, are little better to
be accounted than junior barristers in the Court of Chancery; who, having
read a little of Littleton's "Natura Brevium," within a few years think
themselves sufficient to plead at any Bar, and must as the room falleth
void be her Majesty's servants, attorney or else solicitor, and so they
babble and brag out matters, right or wrong, at their pleasure without
controlment, especially if the cause toucheth one of their cousins.'[302]
[Sidenote: Kildare is vehemently suspected and arrested.]
Desmond was quiet for the time, but the head of the other great Geraldine
family was now suspected in his turn. In 1574 Kildare had been in great
apparent favour with the Lord Deputy. He had offered Desmond 500_l._ in
ready money to assume a submissive attitude, and it was thought that the
best way to secure the Pale was to place him in command on the south and
west borders, on condition that he should discharge his own followers and
trust entirely to 100 horse and 300 foot in the Queen's pay. Fitzwilliam,
who admitted that he only accepted the Earl's service for want of a
better, had soon reason to believe that he had treasonable or at least
dangerous intentions. John Alen, an hereditary enemy, was the first
accuser, and when it became known that complaints would be listened to,
there was no want of secret information. Some of the accusations were
probably true, others almost certainly false. It is very likely that
Kildare gave secret intelligence to Rory Oge O'More, but incredible that
he should have plotted with him the abduction of Lady Fitzwilliam and her
family from Kilmainham. He evidently had frequent communications with
the O'Tooles and O'Byrnes, and it was sworn that one of his messengers
offered to lead a party to burn Athy, where the Government had large
stores. The witness objecting that the Earl would be a loser by this, the
other answered, 'It is the Earl's own devise.' Much evidence, reaching
back to 1572, was offered as to Kildare's plots to obtain the government
as his ancestors had it, and of outrages committed at his instance; but
no one dared speak openly. Sir Peter Carew's opinion, 'that Earls were
dangerous men to be dealt with,' was probably generally accepted in
Ireland. Suspicions were soon aroused, and the Queen very properly
censured Fitzwilliam for trusting such matters to a secretary. His own or
the Archbishop's hand might have sufficed. To encourage witnesses it was
resolved to arrest Kildare, but the intention became known beforehand,
and all important documents were made away with. After much hesitation
the duty was assigned to Essex, who had no difficulty in making the
arrest, but had his doubts about its policy. 'You must,' he said, 'take
heed that you transfer not the greatness of some to make it trouble in
some other, so were the second error worse than the first.' Short as was
his confinement in Dublin Castle, Kildare managed to have interviews
there with Edmund Boy, who was one of his chief accusers, and so worked
upon his feelings that he made his escape. Richard Fitzgerald, another
important witness, was hanged by Feagh MacHugh O'Byrne. On arriving in
London a few days later, Kildare was placed in seclusion under the charge
of Lord Keeper Bacon; 'his cause,' said Ormonde, 'will make the Earl of
Desmond a melancholy man.' The Irish Government believed that there would
be no evidence until Kildare was fairly in the Tower.[303]
[Sidenote: Uncertainties. Sidney daily expected.]
Fitzwilliam's constant prayers for a recall had not been unheard, but it
was difficult to find a successor for him, since it had been resolved
that Essex should not be Lord Deputy. Sidney had been expected as early
as July 1574, but he was in no hurry to start. Waterhouse had gone from
Ulster to England towards the end of 1573, and had laid before the Privy
Council the requests of Essex, especially as to the necessity of erecting
fortifications and providing properly for provisioning the troops. 'A
lack of good foresight' in high quarters was the fault which Waterhouse
saw most clearly, and he complained that it was hard to get attention for
the most necessary business. Statesmen pleaded that they were too busy
with Desmond to mind anything else, 'wherein they travel so far southward
that they have lost sight of the North Pole.' Various schemes were
discussed. Some were for leaving Fitzwilliam at his post and giving him
for a time the assistance of a military officer of high rank, who might
pacify the country and then leave it to the Deputy. Others were for at
least three Presidents independent of the chief Governor; 'to breed a
certain virtuous envy in these monarchs, who should do her Majesty best
service.' Others, again, were for trusting Irish lords, such as Ormonde
and Kildare, leaving only matters of law and justice to the Lord Deputy.
The prevailing opinion was that there should be Presidents, and that they
should be appointed simultaneously with the new Deputy. Waterhouse's
advice being asked, he said that if Essex were rejected there were but
two persons available, Leicester and Sidney. The former could scarcely be
spared, and he therefore advised the choice of the latter, whose
secretary he had been. Sidney was reluctant and Elizabeth undecided, and
more than a year and a half slipped by without the change being actually
made. 'For God's sake despatch him,' said Fitzwilliam; 'this uncertainty
is a hell of unquietness to me, and so increases mine infirmities of
shoulder, arm, side, and stomach, that I look shortly to become
serviceable for nothing else but the worms of this land.' He could not
hope to be in England before October; too late for Bath, and leaving him
no resource but physicians in whom he did not believe.[304]
[Sidenote: The revenue. A pestilence,]
The Government of Ireland from April 1, 1573, to September 30, 1575, cost
the Queen more than 130,000_l._ in ready money sent from England, besides
the Irish revenue and debts incurred but not discharged. It was a
principal part of Sidney's instructions to devise some means of checking
this outflow. The Ulster account being almost closed, it was supposed
that he would be able to manage with 5,000_l._ a quarter regularly paid,
and that by improving the Irish revenue even that sum might in good time
be reduced. Sidney was not likely to indulge in such golden dreams, and
he undertook the government of Ireland for the third time with little
expectation either of honour or profit. Leaving the Queen at Dudley
Castle, he landed at Skerries after nearly losing two vessels in a storm.
The summer had been very hot, and no rain fell from May 1 to August 1. 'A
loathsome disease and dreadful malady,' say the 'Four Masters,' 'arose
from this heat--namely, the plague, which raged violently among the
English and Irish in Dublin, Naas, Ardee, Mullingar, and Athboy. Between
those places many a castle was left without a guard, many a flock without
a shepherd, and many a noble corpse without burial.'
[Sidenote: and panic.]
The whole Pale being infected, it was difficult to find a safe
resting-place. The well-to-do citizens of Dublin fled to Drogheda, where
they were grudgingly admitted, and whither they probably brought the
pestilence; for deaths occurred in the town soon after the arrival of
Essex and of the old and new Deputies, who all reached it on the same
day. Immobility was the fault for which Fitzwilliam had been most blamed,
and his successor, by starting immediately for Carrickfergus, no doubt
meant to show that he was as capable as ever of those rapid movements
which had bewildered and charmed the Irish mind. A blow had just been
struck in Ulster, which for the time made resistance little to be feared.
The terror of Sidney's name might do the rest.[305]
[Sidenote: General results of Essex's grant.]
After his treaty with Tirlogh Luineach Essex had pressed on in pursuit of
the Scots from the Antrim side, the people of the country generally
showing themselves friendly. Sorley Boy appeared in force at the Bann, on
the banks of which river an encounter took place. The Scots were worsted
and driven into Tyrone. Clandeboye was for the moment cleared of the
intruders, and Essex, as far as in him lay, handed it over to Brian
'Ertagh' O'Neill, who said that his people were few, his cattle less, and
that in striving to defend his country from the Earl 'his husbandmen were
starved, dead, or run out of the country,' which he left to the disposal
of the man who had reduced it to this condition. Such, so far as the
scheme of a settlement went, was the total result of the grant to Essex,
who was, however, so deficient in humour as to boast 'that no man in
Clandeboye claimeth property in anything, whereby your Majesty may see
what this people are when they are roughly handled.'[306]
[Sidenote: Expedition to Rathlin. Massacre.]
His provisions failing, the Earl was obliged to quit the field, leaving
300 foot and 850 horse at Carrickfergus under the charge of John Norris,
who had secret orders to undertake a combined naval and military
expedition against Rathlin. With the soldiers under Norris and three
frigates under 'Francis Drake, Captain of the "Falcon,"' it is not
surprising that the affair was completely successful. All the boats at
Carrickfergus were taken up, and in spite of the winds the whole force
reached the island together, and landed, notwithstanding a vigorous
resistance. The Scots retired into their castle, which Norris proceeded
to batter with two heavy guns brought from the ship. A breach was soon
made, but the first assault was repulsed, owing to the strength of the
inner defences, which were probably erected by an Italian officer who was
at this time in Sorley Boy's service. The same night, however, the
garrison, seeing that they could not hold out, offered to surrender for
'their lives and their goods, and to be put into Scotland, which request
Captain Norris refused, offering them as slenderly as they did largely
require: viz., to the aforesaid constable his life and his wife's and his
child's.... The soldiers, being moved and much stirred with the loss of
their fellows that were slain, and desirous of revenge, made request, or
rather pressed, to have the killing of them, which they did all, saving
the persons to whom life was promised.... There were slain that came out
of the castle of all sorts 200.... They be occupied still in killing, and
have slain that they have found hidden in caves and in the cliffs of the
sea to the number of 300 or 400 more.' Eleven Scottish galleys were
burned. Three hundred kine, 3,000 sheep, 100 brood mares, and enough bere
to feed 300 men for a year, were found in the island. A spy, moreover,
informed Essex that 'Sorley put most of his plate, most of his children,
and the children of most part of his gentlemen, with their wives, into
the Rathlin with all his pledges, which be all taken and executed, as the
spy saith, and in all to the number of 600. Sorley then also stood upon
the mainland of the Glynnes and saw the taking of the island, and was
like to run mad for sorrow (as the spy saith), turning and tormenting
himself, and saying that he then lost all that ever he had.' Essex had
nothing but praise for all concerned, which indeed they deserved, if
barbarity is to incur no blame; but no one seems to have wasted a thought
on such considerations, and Queen Elizabeth vouchsafed her unqualified
thanks.[307]
[Sidenote: A useless fortified post in Rathlin.]
[Sidenote: The Scots supreme on the Antrim coast.]
Essex wished to found a permanent fortified post in Rathlin. Norris
remained behind to reap the harvest and to hold the island until
Sidney's pleasure should be known. In the meantime, Sorley Boy, though he
had lost his children, had not lost heart. He chose his time and swept
away all the cattle from Carrickfergus. The garrison pursued him, got
into difficult ground, and were disgracefully beaten, owing to one of
those panics to which regular troops were always subject in their
encounters with Highlanders. Some attributed all to the prevailing
dissipation, and yet Carrickfergus was hardly a Capua. About forty Scots
put the English to flight and killed sixty of them, including Captain
Baker and his lieutenant. When Sidney came to Carrickfergus a month later
he found it 'much decayed and impoverished, no plough going at all, where
before were many; ... cattle few or none left; churches and houses, save
castles, burned; the inhabitants fled, not above six householders of any
countenance left remaining; so that their miserable state and servile
fear were to be pitied.' Of so little use had the Rathlin massacre been
that the Lord Deputy found the Scots 'very haughty and proud by reason of
their late victories had against our men, finding the baseness of their
courage.' The coast from Larne to the Bann was full of corn and cattle,
and in the undisputed possession of Sorley, who was willing enough to
come to terms, but very suspicious and afraid of the opinion of his own
followers. Sidney abandoned Rathlin at once, saying that it was easy at
any time to take, but very expensive and useless to keep. There was a
scarcity of water about the fort, and the 'Race of Rathlin' is one of the
stormiest pieces of sea on our coast. 'The soldiers brought thence being
forty in number, they confessed that in this small time of their
continuance there, they were driven to kill their horses and eat them,
and to feed on them and young colts' flesh one month before they came
away.' Such was the real value of a position where, in the opinion of
Essex, 100 men 'would do her Majesty more service, both against the Scots
and Irish, than 300 can do in any place within the north parts.' Sidney
thought that the Glynnes might be handed over to Sorley Boy, no better
claimant appearing, but that the Route ought to be given back to the
MacQuillins, having been lost only because their late chief was a
'dissolute and loose fellow, feeble both of wit and force.' Lady Agnes
O'Neill, a true Campbell, met Sidney and asked for a grant of the Glynnes
for her son by James MacDonnell, offering to defend it against Sorley
Boy, and to pay a higher rent to the Crown; but this did not recommend
itself to the Lord Deputy, wise as he thought the lady, and much as he
admired her manners and address.[308]
[Sidenote: Hopeless condition of Ulster. Sidney's advice.]
The northern part of Armagh under the Baron of Dungannon Sidney found all
waste, and the cathedral in ruins. The southern part had been granted by
the Queen to the brothers Chatterton, who were totally unable to manage
the country, and were rapidly losing all. 'They wrestle and work,' said
Sidney, 'and go to the worse, ... tall and honest gentlemen, who have
lost in that enterprise all that ever they had, and all that anybody else
would trust them with, and their blood and limbs too.' The O'Hanlons
would not come to Sidney on protection, lest they should be cajoled into
acknowledging the Chattertons' title. Lecale in Down, which was Kildare's
property, had been partially, but only partially, peopled by the
exertions of Essex. Ards was a little better, less owing to Sir Thomas
Smith than to the natural tendencies of its old English inhabitants,
whose chief, Edmond Savage, was received into protection. Kinelarty, or
MacCartan's country, was 'all desolate and waste, full of thieves,
outlaws, and unreclaimed people. None of the old owners dared occupy the
land, because it hath pleased her Majesty to bestow the same upon Captain
Nicholas Maltby, tied, nevertheless, to such observation of covenant and
condition as Chatterton had his.' Maltby deserved a much better
provision, but could do no good with this one either to himself or to
anyone else. He could only 'make the country altogether abandoned of
inhabitants.' It was absolutely necessary for the Queen's service that
both Chatterton's and Maltby's grants should be revoked. Dufferin, long
the property of the White family, was 'all waste and desolate, used as
they of Clandeboye list.' Neill MacBrian Ertagh, whom Essex had
acknowledged as captain, made some show of opposition at the ford of
Belfast. 'We passed over,' said Sidney, 'without loss of man or horse,
yet, by reason of the tide's extraordinary return, our horses swam, and
the footmen in the passage waded very deep.... Clandeboye I found utterly
disinhabited. The captain refused to have conference with me, and
answered, "That Con MacNeill Oge was captain, and not he" (who being
appointed to be delivered to the Marshal, by negligence of his keepers,
made an escape in his coming from Dublin, where before he remained
prisoner).' It cannot be said that the slaughter of Sir Brian MacPhelim
and his family had done much for the civilisation of Eastern Ulster, or
that the system of private conquest was any great improvement upon native
usages.[309]
[Sidenote: Sidney wishes to ennoble O'Neill.]
Sidney did not visit Tyrone, Tyrconnel, Monaghan, or Fermanagh on this
occasion, but MacMahon came to Armagh, begging to be relieved from the
tyranny of O'Neill on condition of paying the Queen rent; and O'Donnell
and Maguire wrote to the same effect. As to Tirlogh Luineach, who came to
Armagh without hesitation or condition, Sidney advised that his messenger
should be graciously received at Court, and that his petition should be
granted, excepting the authority which he claimed over his neighbours,
and that he should be made Earl of Clan O'Neill for life. 'Considering
his age, wounded and imperfect body, his ill diet, and continual surfeit,
he cannot be of long life.' Magennis also, whose country of Iveagh had
improved much since Sidney first freed it from the O'Neills, could do
little owing to the want of a title. He might receive a full grant and
the rank of Baron. The Lord Deputy's plan was to make all look to the
Crown, without excepting O'Neill. Advantage might be taken of the fact
that Lady Agnes 'longed to have her husband like a good subject, and to
have him nobilitated.' With prophetic clearness he showed what the result
of his policy must be. 'The taking from O'Neill all these captains of
countries that heretofore have depended upon him and the predecessors of
his name, and contenting him with the title of Earl, ... it will be the
dissipation of his force and strength, ... that these lords and captains
of the countries should hold absolutely of the Queen and of none else,
... in half an age his posterity shall not be of power to do any harm;
which will breed a quiet in the North, which country hath heretofore,
from time to time, been so troublesome.'[310]
[Sidenote: Bagenal at Newry.]
Amid the general failure of English settlers in Ulster, Newry, in the
hands of the Marshal, Sir Nicholas Bagenal, made a gratifying contrast.
The town was well built, and increasing fast, the lands well cultivated,
'and he is much to be commended; as well that he useth his tenants to
live so wealthily under him, as his own bounty and large hospitality and
house-keeping, so able and willing to give entertainment to so many, and
chiefly to all those that have occasion to travel to or fro northwards,
his house lying in the open highway to their passage.' Essex had lately
complained that Bagenal would not lend him his house, but it must be
admitted that the building was well employed.[311]
FOOTNOTES:
[294] Fitzwilliam to the Privy Council, Nov. 17, with enclosures;
Waterhouse to Walsingham, Nov. 18; Essex to the Privy Council, with an
enclosure, Nov. 24; to Burghley, Dec. 3; Notes on Ireland, by Ormonde,
enclosed in his letter to Burghley of Dec. 8; _Four Masters_, 1574.
[295] Fitzwilliam to Burghley, April 26, 1575; to the Privy Council,
March 31; Essex to Burghley, March 31 and April 1; to the Queen, March
31; to Burghley and Sussex, April 28; to the Privy Council, April 15; the
Queen to Essex and Fitzwilliam, March 15; the Privy Council to
Fitzwilliam, March 14; Tirlogh Luineach O'Neill to Fitzwilliam, April 29;
Devereux, _Earls of Essex_, i. 91 and 104.
[296] Instructions for Captain Maltby, April 8; the Queen to Essex, April
11.
[297] Essex to Walsingham, May 9; to the Privy Council, March 10.
[298] Maltby to Burghley, May 14; Essex to the Privy Council, June 1; the
Queen to Essex and to Fitzwilliam, May 22; Instructions for Mr. Ashton,
same date.
[299] Writing to Walsingham on Jan. 12, Waterhouse particularly asked
that the adventure should not be abandoned without due notice to Essex.
Essex to Walsingham and to the Privy Council, and instructions per Mr.
Ashton, all June 1; to the Privy Council, July 5; Waterhouse to
Walsingham and to Burghley, June 24; Sidney to the Privy Council, Nov.
16, in the _Sidney Papers_. Essex told Walsingham that his chief regret
was that he should have been betrayed into speaking hardly of
Fitzwilliam. This came from anxiety for the Queen's service.
[300] Waterhouse to Walsingham, Jan. 12, 1575; Fitzwilliam to the Queen,
June 14; Instructions by Mr. Ashton, June 25; Articles with Tirlogh
Luineach, June 27; Essex to the Privy Council, July 5; Maltby to
Walsingham, July 5.
[301] Fitton to Burghley, Jan. 5; Fitzwilliam to Burghley, Jan. 7 and
March 13.
[302] John Symcott to Burghley, March 10, 1575; also Jan. 13 and May 14;
Essex to Burghley, April 10; Fitton to Burghley, Jan. 18; Jenison to
Burghley, Feb. 3.
[303] Sir P. Carew to Tremayne, Feb. 6, 1574; Fitzwilliam to Burghley,
July 12; to the Privy Council, August 2. Miscellaneous information
against the Earl of Kildare, Feb. 9, 10, and 11, 1575. Leicester to
Burghley, Feb. 27; Fitzwilliam to Burghley, Sussex, and Leicester, May
15; Essex to Walsingham, May 9; Ormonde to Burghley, May 16; Fitton to
Burghley, May 15 and 18. Short note by Burghley concerning the Earl of
Kildare, Dec. 8.
[304] Instructions for Mr. Waterhouse by the Earl of Essex, Nov. 1573;
Waterhouse to Sidney, Dec. 17, 1573, in the _Sidney Papers_; Fitzwilliam
to Burghley, Aug. 3 and Sept. 4, 1575; Sidney's patent is dated Aug. 5 in
the latter year. In a letter printed in Lodge's _Portraits_ (Walter, Earl
of Essex), dated Aug. 28, 1574, Essex tells Burghley that Sidney had been
expected 'these two months, but that the rumour had passed.'
[305] Fitton's accounts to Sept. 30, 1575. The gross Irish revenue was
scarce 11,000_l._ a year; see Auditor Jenyson's statement in _Carew_,
1575 (No. 34). Instructions for Lord Deputy Sidney, Aug. 2. H. Sackford
to Burghley, Aug. 12; Fitton to Burghley, Aug. 29 and Sept. 27; Sidney to
the Queen, to Burghley, and to Walsingham, Sept. 28, and a letter of the
same date to the Queen in the _Sidney Papers_.
[306] Essex to the Queen, July 22.
[307] Sidney's Brief Relation, 1583, in _Carew_. Essex to the Queen, July
31; to Walsingham, same date. There is a tradition that one woman hid in
a cave and escaped the massacre; Hill's _MacDonnells_, p. 186. Captain
Drake's pay was 42_s._ a month. The Queen to Essex, Aug. 12, in _Carew_.
[308] F. Lany to Sidney, Sept. 16; Essex to the Queen, July 31; Sidney to
the Privy Council, November 15, in the _Sidney Papers_; Ralph Bagenal to
Burghley, Nov. 24.
[309] Sidney to the Privy Council, June 15, 1576, in _Sidney Papers_.
[310] Sidney to the Privy Council, Nov. 15, 1575, in the _Sidney Papers_;
Ralph Bagenal to Burghley, Nov. 24.
[311] Sidney to the Privy Council, _ut supra_.