Ormonde charges his rival with high treason
The battle or skirmish at Affane seems to have been the last on English or Irish ground in which two noblemen without any commission made private war upon each other. Sir Maurice Fitzgerald says that banners were displayed on Desmond’s side, and that Ormonde ‘staying still at the beginning of the conflict, did suddenly put up a thing of red silk upon a staff.’ It was probably intended as a rallying point for his men, but Ormonde himself denied that a flag had been displayed. The Queen had declared that no sword but hers should be drawn, and angrily summoned the two Earls to her presence. Both letters are guarded in expression, but that to Desmond is rather the more severe of the two. With the consideration which she often showed to old and tried servants, she wrote very graciously to Cusack, the failure of whose policy was now apparent to all. ‘He had done his best,’ she said, ‘but the enmity between the two Earls was greater and deeplier rooted than could be reformed by any but her own princely directions.’ Arnold came to Waterford soon after the arrival of Ormonde and his prisoner, and interrogatories were administered to the persons principally concerned. To do the legal business, the Lord Justice took with him Mr. Justice Plunkett, who was married to Kildare’s daughter, and thus, in the language of the country, ‘ajainte and follower to the garontynes.’ Sir George Stanley, Marshal of the Army, who had no reason to love Arnold, declared that it was as much as he could do to prevent the Lord Justice from prejudging the case in a sense unfavourable to Ormonde. Arnold began by demanding the custody of the prisoner, as no doubt he had a right to do; but he did it in such a way as to make it appear a slight to the captor, who demanded an order in writing. At last he was promised a copy of the entry in the Council Book, and he then brought Desmond himself. ‘My Lord Justice,’ he said, ‘hither have I brought to you my Lord of Desmond, according to your straight commandment given me, which in no way I meant to disobey. And I deliver him unto you as the Queen’s Majesty’s prisoner, being taken in the field by me with his banner displayed, burning and spoiling the Queen’s Majesty’s good subjects within shire ground, with sundry traitors in his company.’ He then charged him with high treason, and earnestly besought that he might be kept securely, and not allowed to communicate with anyone till the Queen’s pleasure should be known. ‘And seeing,’ he continued, ‘you have thus taken him from me, if men’s mouths be stopped, as I fear they will, and by means thereof some part of his heinous treason come not to light, I trust therein I shall be discharged to her Majesty.’ The policy of isolating Desmond had indeed been approved at the Council table, but Arnold nevertheless allowed all men free access to him. The Council were inclined to have the interrogatories administered to the two Earls answered by counsel, but Stanley refused to agree to this on the technical ground that Desmond was accused of treason. In law he was right, but morally wrong, and had Arnold dealt the same measure to both sides, little could have been said against him. But Ormonde was required to answer at once in his own person, while Desmond was allowed several days, during which he had answers drawn in writing by a lawyer. Stanley again objecting, the Lord Justice told him that he was a wilful man, and affectioned to my Lord of Ormonde. But Vice-Treasurer Fitzwilliam, who had some experience of Desmond and his doings, took exactly the same view as Stanley. ‘So good an offer given of God, and so overthrown, I will not judge too far, hath not lightly been seen, but 20,000l. will not buy out that which (if he had been honourably kept, so it had been with restraint from common speech) might have been had.’ Arnold stayed seven weeks at Waterford without much furthering the business, and Ormonde soon went to England. Desmond, accompanied by MacCarthy More and O’Sullivan Beare, was sent over in the custody of Captain Heron, who records that his distinguished prisoner was very sea-sick. Arnold borrowed 200 marks to defray expenses, but Heron, writing from Liverpool for orders, complained that he was not furnished with money. The Earl’s long halt at Chester may have been caused less by sickness and fatigue than by a wish to hear the last news from Ireland. The Queen wrote strongly to Lords Roche, Barrymore, Power, and Dunboyne, urging them to maintain order during Desmond’s absence, and the amiable Cusack doubtless felt that under his skilful management all would still go merry as a marriage bell.[92 - Sir George Stanley and Sir W. Fitzwilliam to Cecil, April 3, 1565; Cusack to same, April 22; Lord Justice and Council to the Privy Council, April 23; Captain Nicholas Heron to the same, April 27.]
Shane O’Neill attacks the Scots,
After his exploit at Carlingford, Shane O’Neill lay quiet for a long time, watching the Scots, to whom he had lately done much damage. These hardy warriors were over confident. They neither took the trouble to negotiate with Shane, nor abstained from saying that Englishmen had no right to Ireland; boasting that they had already 70 miles out of the 120 between Coleraine and Dublin, and that they would soon have the rest.
and gains a complete victory
After Easter Shane quietly collected a strong force at Edenduff Carrick, or Shane’s Castle, and having cut passes to secure a retreat, marched rapidly by Broughshane and Clogh to the North. The warning fires went up from the hills about Fair Head, and James MacDonnell, who was in Cantire, came at once to the rescue. He landed at Cushendun only to find that his castle on Red Bay was already burned and dismantled. Sorley Boy had suffered severe loss while trying to stop O’Neill in the pass of Knockboy, but he effected a junction with the new comers. Sorley had a fortified residence at Ballycastle, on the north coast, and thither Alexander Oge was expected to bring a strong reinforcement. The brothers retreated towards Ballycastle, but for some unaccountable reason did not occupy it. Perhaps it was held by a hostile garrison. Shane followed to the castle, the islemen, who numbered about 1,000, lying in Glenshesk, and having thus some advantage of rising ground. No help came, and very early the next morning Shane made his attack. The O’Neills, who were more than two to one, gained a complete victory. According to Shane and his secretary, the Scots lost some 700 men, but other eye-witnesses reduce the number by one half. James MacDonnell was dangerously wounded, and taken prisoner. Sorley Boy was also taken, and a third brother, Angus, was killed. Two chiefs of the Macleods, with many other men of note, fell into the victor’s hands.[93 - Fitzwilliam to Cecil, May 17, 1565. The fight was on May 2.]
Shane supreme in the North, 1565
On the following day Alexander Oge brought 900 men to Rathlin, but returned to Scotland on hearing the bad news. Dunseverick and other MacDonnell castles at once surrendered. Dunluce, which was nearly impregnable by an Irish army, held out for three days; but the garrison opened their gates when they heard that Sorley Boy had had no food during that time, and that his gentle captor would give him none as long as the place held out. Shane remained the unchallenged master of the North, and had the satisfaction of bragging about the obligations under which he had placed the Queen. His secretary, in a letter written some weeks afterwards, said that O’Neill had exhorted his men before the battle to be true to their Prince, that is, Queen Elizabeth; but Shane, who wrote on the day of the fight, says nothing of this, and his worthy secretary’s correspondent was Sir Thomas Cusack, perhaps the only man living who would have believed such a story.[94 - Shane O’Neill to the Lord Justice, May 2; Gerot Fleming to Cusack, June (No. 82).]
Sidney advises the Queen to put him down
Cusack was much delighted at Shane’s services against the Scots, and continued to write in glowing terms of his good conformity. But others could tell of his twice plundering Dundalk, and the Queen had already decided in her own mind that Ireland could not be governed any longer by accommodation, and had determined to send over Sir Henry Sidney, cheaply, if possible, but if necessary, at any expense. Sidney’s advice was plain. Leix and Offaly must be pacified by a general pardon, followed by gentle dealings, or else the people must be extirpated. The former would be the easier course, the latter the more thorough. Munster might best be managed by keeping the nobles at Court, and by appointing a President and Council to rule it: 200 foot and 100 horse would be a sufficient force. Thomond should be divided among as many men as possible, supreme military command being given to the Earl. The Scots should have no grant of land, which would only be a back door for the Queen’s enemies. They might be winked at until Government was strong enough to expel them thoroughly; in the meantime all ports should be held, so that the fleet might cut off access to the isles. As for Shane, he was a common robber, never to be reformed unless by force; O’Donnell should be restored, and Newry, Dundalk, and Carrickfergus made thoroughly defensible, with as little noise as possible. Shane O’Neill knew that he could neither hoodwink Sidney nor hope to defeat him openly, and he began a new correspondence with Scotland. He refused to give up his prisoners to their Queen or to the Earl of Argyle, until he knew the will of his own Queen; and in the meantime he talked about enormous ransoms. Secretary Fleming says James MacDonnell offered O’Neill all his property in Ireland and Scotland for bare liberty, but that Shane declined on the ground that he was the Queen’s officer, and that the quarrel was none of his. Treated with cruelty or neglect, MacDonnell died of his wounds, and Shane, who retained Sorley Boy by his side, soon began to talk about marrying the widow, Lady Agnes Campbell. So matters rested; while Sidney, among bitter recriminations, was forging a sword for his old gossip’s destruction.[95 - Fitzwilliam to Cecil, June 8, July 13, and Aug. 23; Gerot Fleming to Cusack, already cited. Sir Henry Sidney’s articles for Ireland, May 20, 1565.]
Desmond and Ormonde
The war of the two great Houses did not end with Ormonde’s victory at Affane, but was carried on vigorously in London. Ormonde hated Leicester, and it is easy to see that there was a certain difference of opinion, corresponding in some degree to the Butler and Geraldine factions, between the parties of Sussex and Leicester, both in England and Ireland. Sussex, being interrogated, stated of his own knowledge that Desmond had harboured proclaimed traitors whom he refused to surrender, while Ormonde was always ready to obey the Government in such matters. Desmond had maintained the rebels in Thomond, and about this there could be no doubt. Sussex showed by records that Sir Maurice Fitzgerald’s lands were in the county of Waterford, and that Desmond had no legal right there. Desmond, in short, had been a disobedient subject, and an oppressor of his neighbours, both Anglo-Norman and Celtic. Desmond kept Sussex waiting three weeks at Waterford, and refused to come to Dublin at all, though an ample escort was offered him; while Ormonde was always ready to obey the summons of the Government and Council. Sir Henry Radclyffe and Francis Agarde, both of whom had good opportunities of judging, spoke to the same effect.[96 - Answers of Sir H. Radclyffe, F. Agarde, and the Earl of Sussex, Aug. 8, 1565. Fitzwilliam and Stanley generally supported Sussex. Arnold, Cusack, and Sidney inclined to Leicester’s side.]
Sidney inclines to favour Desmond,
Sidney preferred to dwell on the services of the late Earl of Desmond. The present man had never refused to come to him, and had come readily even to Drogheda, ‘a place to him and all his county most odious for that his great grandfather upon a like letter sent from a governor was there put to death as they constantly affirm.’ Desmond had offered to stand or fall in his suits on trial either by the common law or by the Governor and Council; and if Sidney had stayed in Ireland he would have been taken at his word. As to Ormonde, Sidney ‘never saw a more willing man to serve the Queen, and during the time of my being there he went in more journeys and saved more to his charge than any man of Ireland birth.’ As to Desmond’s rights in the county of Waterford Sidney expressed himself very cautiously, merely noting that several Earls of Desmond had claimed supremacy over the Decies, and had levied grievous distresses there.[97 - Answer of Sir H. Sidney, Aug. 8, 1565.]
and maintains this position against Sussex
Six weeks later, the controversy having waxed hot in the meantime, Sidney was more decidedly favourable to Desmond. The Earl’s entry into the Decies was indeed not justified by law, but still less was Ormonde’s interference justifiable. Both deserved punishment for unlawful assembly, but Desmond’s should be the lighter, for that he had better colour of distress than Ormonde of rescue. Desmond had but followed the custom of his ancestors up to the time of the fight, and whoever made the first onset should be answerable for the slaughter. Both Earls should be made to contribute to the support of a Presidency intended to bridle both, and in future to obey, and to make others obey, as if they lived within the Pale. Both should be bound in great sums to stand to the decision of the Governor, Chancellor, and three Chief Justices as to the lands in dispute between them. Sussex, who fortified his argument by many references to Acts of Parliament, urged that Desmond had committed treason by his invasion of Waterford, and that Ormonde in resisting him had done no more, or at least very little more, than became a loyal subject of the Queen.[98 - Sir H. Sidney’s simple opinion, Sept. 16, 1565; Opinion of the Earl of Sussex, Sept. 22. The twenty-seventh clause of the Statute of Kilkenny seems to the point: – ‘Item ordonne est que si debate soit entre Englois et Englois par quoi les Englois dune parte et daultre ceillent a eux Englois et Irrois en pais illeque a demourer pour guerre et greves aultre a grande domage al destruction de liege pouple du Roy, Accorde est et assentu que nule Englois soit si hardide mener guerre entre autre damener nuls Englois ny Irrois en paix desormais par telle a chescun, et si les faict et de ces soit atteint soit jugement de vie et de membres leur terres forfaitz.’] But these statutes were confessedly obsolete, and the Crown had winked at similar irregularities too long and too often to insist on rigid adherence to written law.
The two Earls submit
Desmond submitted to the Queen to abide her judgment concerning the many treasons, murders, burnings, and other such things objected to him by the Privy Council since he last received pardon. Ormonde did the same, protesting his peaceable intention in entering the Decies. Both Earls entered into recognizances in 20,000l. to abide such orders as her Majesty might prescribe. With a view of bridling Desmond, MacCarthy More was created Earl of Clancare, and Sir Owen O’Sullivan received a grant of his country subject to such rents and services as the new-made Earl could prove himself entitled to.[99 - Submission of Desmond, Sept. 12, 1565, and of Ormonde, Sept. 24. Both recognizances are dated at Westminster, Nov. 22.]
Sidney will not go to Ireland unless his demands are granted
The general voice both of England and Ireland pointed to Sidney as the fittest man to govern. But he knew well that he was more likely to lose a great reputation than to gain fresh laurels, and he determined not to go unless treated fairly. He declined to be responsible for any debts contracted by his predecessors, and required a clear balance-sheet to start with. Stores must be put in decent order, and at least 200 horse and 500 foot given him over and above the usual establishment. Every captain should have the pay of eight dead men borne on the books, so as to enable him to reward deserving soldiers. It was desirable that St. Patrick’s should be turned into a military hospital. Dublin Castle, Kilmainham, Leighlin Bridge, and Carlow must be put in repair. The Great Seal should be given to a good English lawyer, and Archbishop Curwen should be suitably provided for in England.[100 - Curwen became Bishop of Oxford as Sidney advised.]
Some of his conditions
By serving the Queen Sidney complained that he was 3,000l. poorer. His plate and his wife’s jewels were in pawn. To secure him from further impoverishment he asked for an ample commission, to be continued Lord President of Wales for life or during good behaviour, and to have the right of going to the Queen at all times without license. The privilege of making steel, and the right to export 6,000 coarse-dressed cloths and corn for his own household, were the other means by which he proposed to stave off financial ruin. ‘If you will not grant these things,’ he said to the Queen, ‘give me leave to serve you anywhere except in Ireland, or to live private shall be more joyous to me than all the rest and to go thither.’[101 - Sir H. Sidney’s suits, May 20, 1565.]
The terms actually granted
Sidney’s demands were only partially granted. He was allowed to retain the presidency of Wales. His salary was the same as his predecessors. He had license to export provisions for his household, but nothing was said about the coarse-dressed cloths. Some of the ruined castles were to be restored, Kilmainham at the expense of the lessees, Dublin and Carrickfergus at that of the Government. The military force was not to be increased, and Sidney was expected to heal the distracted land with 882 soldiers and 300 kerne. It was even supposed that he could put down piracy, for though the Queen was willing to lend a ship and a pinnace, she refused to give a single sailor, and coolly told her representative that he might man them out of his ordinary garrison. The captains were allowed six ‘dead pays’ instead of the eight which were asked for. All ecclesiastical patronage was vested in the new Governor, except archbishoprics and bishoprics, and he had the appointment of all civil officers except the Chancellor, the Treasurer, the sub-Treasurer, the Chief Justice of the Queen’s Bench, the Chief Baron, and the Master of the Rolls. The powers given to Sidney were almost identical with those which Sussex had enjoyed. It was at first intended to give him the title of Lord-Lieutenant also, but either because his importunities annoyed the Queen, or to lessen the mortification which the Earl may be supposed to have felt, Sidney was obliged to be content with the lower title of Lord Deputy.[102 - The Commission, dated Oct. 13, is in Sidney Papers, p. 86. Even the last draft of the instructions, dated Oct. 5, has the higher title, for which Lord Deputy was substituted on revision.]
Sidney’s instructions
Sidney received minute instructions as to the principles on which he was to conduct the Government. He was to make close inquiry as to the best available means for establishing the ‘Christian religion’ among the people, and St. Patrick’s was to be at once surveyed, with a view to founding a college. The judicial bench was to be purged of partial men; and if necessary, lawyers with increased stipends would be sent from England. The jurisdiction of the courts was to be extended as much as possible in the Irish districts. Sheriffs were to be regularly appointed for Leix, Offaly, and for what is now the county of Wicklow. The Celtic countries between the Shannon and the Pale were, if possible, to be joined to Meath, or to the King’s and Queen’s Counties. Besides the five shires of the Pale, Carlow, Wexford, Kilkenny, Waterford, Tipperary, Cork, Kerry, and Limerick were, as a matter of course, to be considered under the law; and Desmond and Ormonde were to protect sheriffs and coroners in the execution of their duties. A Presidency would be established for Munster, and perhaps another for Connaught; and in the meantime every means was to be taken to substitute English manners for Irish customs, fixed payments for arbitrary exactions, and estates of inheritance for tribal chiefries. Many existing statutes were unknown, because they had never been printed, and Sidney was directed to send exemplifications of such as appeared fit to be published and observed.[103 - Instructions for Sir H. Sidney.]
Revenue
The finances were to be reformed, if possible, without further charge to the Queen, and with greater ease to the subject, an impossible task, which Sidney well knew that he could never perform. Many of the rules laid down were, however, very good, and it was clearly seen that much of the financial confusion arose from private jobbing, and from a faulty system of public accounts. What Elizabeth would not as yet see was that the first and greatest irregularity consisted in leaving soldiers unpaid, and in fixing salaries at rates which would not support the incumbents. In order to keep the reforming spirit alive, the Lord Deputy and Council were ordered to read their instructions over every three months, and to report progress to the Queen. ‘How strange a thing it may seem to be,’ says her Majesty in Council, ‘that such a realm as that is, where no just cause is to fear invasion of any other prince, where any person dwelling in that land has never directly or indirectly denied the sovereignty of that Crown to belong to the Crown of England, yet nevertheless to remain so chargeable to the Crown of England for the governance thereof only, and the revenues thereof to be so mean as the like burden and charge is not found in any place of Christendom, where commonly though the countries be subject to titles of other princes, or full of rebellions even for the sovereignties, yet the same do contribute sufficiently to the charge for their own government.’[104 - Instructions for Sir H. Sidney, Oct. 5, 1565.]
Private instructions
Besides the public instructions, Sidney received others for his own use only. Elizabeth had evidently still some hope of Shane, and desired to temporise with him, and with the Scots; in the meantime extending the rule of Carrickfergus as far as possible, and perhaps fortifying Carlingford and other coast towns. Shane’s claims were to be strictly scrutinised in Parliament, and Sidney was to confer personally with him, and to give him a safe-conduct if he demanded it. If still undutiful, he was to be left to his fate, which could not but overtake him at last.[105 - The Queen to Lord Deputy Sidney, Nov. 12, 1565.]
Treatment of certain Irishmen. Sir John of Desmond to be security for his brother
O’Donnell was to go back to Ireland, to be supported by the Government in Dublin, and restored, if possible, by policy and not by war. Yet war would be preferred to Shane’s holding Tyrconnel. The O’Reillys were to be persuaded into holding their lands of the Crown, and into making their country as obedient to law as those of Desmond and Ormonde were supposed to be, but were not. Sir John of Desmond was to be sent to England as a sort of hostage for his brother’s performance of promises lately made.[106 - Instructions for Sir H. Sidney, Oct. 5, 1565.]
The Queen writes a private letter to Sidney
Even more interesting than these private instructions is a letter which Elizabeth herself wrote to Sidney. It is in her usual involved style, and must be read over and over before it yields its full meaning. The Queen’s chief object seems to have been to make Sidney take a view favourable to Ormonde in his controversy with Desmond. Too many, she said, were partial to the latter. ‘If I did not see the balances held awry, I had never myself come into the weighhouse.’ ‘Make some difference,’ she said, ‘between tried, just, and false friends. Let the good service of well deservers be never rewarded with loss. Let their thank be such as may encourage more strivers for the like. Suffer not that Desmond’s "denyinge dedes," far wide from promised work, make you trust to other pledge than either himself or John for gage; he hath so well performed his English vows, that I warn you trust him no longer than you see one of them. Prometheus let me be, and Prometheus hath been mine too long … then are we ever knitting a knot never tied, yea, and if our web be framed with rotten hurdles, when our loom is well-nigh done, our work is new to begin… Let this memorial be only committed to Vulcan’s base keeping without any longer abode than the leisure of the reading thereof, yea, and with no mention made thereof to any other wight. I charge you as I may command you. Seem not to have had but secretaries’ letters from me.’ The letter nevertheless was kept safely at Penshurst, where Arthur Collins found it in the reign of George II.[107 - Sidney Papers, vol. i. p. 7.]
Arnold’s policy not successful
Like many who have tried their hands at the Irish problem, Sir Nicholas Arnold began with great professions, and after much disturbing men’s minds showed that he was no cleverer than those who had gone before him. Great as his failure had been in dealing with Shane, Sussex had at least kept tolerable order in the districts which paid some regard to law. Arnold was accused of caring little whether there was war or peace. His harsh treatment of the O’Connors has been already noticed, and the O’Reillys were handled in much the same way. They had plundered on the border of the Pale, and Shane O’Neill, anxious to assert his power, offered to compel restitution. Arnold preferred to make Kildare the instrument of punishment. A parley was first held, and promise of restitution made by old Malachias O’Reilly and his sons, Hugh and Edmund. Cahir O’Reilly, the chief offender, was to be punished. It soon appeared that Cahir was out of reach in Shane’s country, and that some of the hostages demanded were also there. The camp was the scene of much confusion, Kildare’s men threatening and even throwing stones at Sir George Stanley, the Marshal, and raising the ominous cries of ‘Cromaboo!’ and ‘Down with the English churls!’ The Earl with difficulty pacified his men, but Arnold, who all along showed the most extraordinary subservience to Kildare, and was on the worst terms with Stanley, declined to notice the outrage.[108 - Shane O’Neill to the Lord Justice and Council, June 30, 1565; Fitzwilliam to Cecil, Aug. 23.]
The O’Reillys
A remarkable conversation took place between Arnold and Hugh O’Reilly, whom he urged to take the government of the country on himself. Hugh answered that O’Donnell was evil spoken of for assuming the government while his father lived, and that he saw not those punished who killed the Queen’s subjects. Shane O’Neill murdered his father, and procured the murder of his brother, who was five times as valuable to the Crown as any O’Reilly could be. The politicians of the Pale would maintain his half brother against him, and perhaps seek his life. If O’Neill ceased to protect Cahir, ‘then,’ said Hugh, ‘I say for O’Reilly, your prisoner, and for his eldest son, if any of them receive men or meat from O’Reilly’s country, I will die but they shall be delivered to your governor, or all their hurts past be paid for presently.’ He was quite willing to give hostages, but not to undertake to give those beyond his reach. According to Fitzwilliam Hugh meant well, and in any case the original aggressor was not Cahir O’Reilly but Kildare himself. Any damage done to the Pale had been more than paid for already. ‘Arnold,’ he said, ‘means well, but Ireland, in my opinion, though it be brute and rude, is not known to every man for a year or two’s trial.’[109 - Fitzwilliam to Cecil, Aug. 23, 1565.]
Mistakes of Arnold
No doubt Arnold had a hard task, but it is clear that he was not the man to make it easier. The Queen’s best officers in Ireland were slighted daily. The Lord Justice treated Archbishop Loftus with marked rudeness at the Council Board. The Irish service had so completely bewitched him that no Englishman could look for favour. Everything was hoped for from Shane, whom he praised continually to the Queen, though obliged to remind O’Neill himself that his deeds were not so very laudable. Seeing that the men who opposed him favoured Ormonde, Arnold was in all things partial to Kildare, and to the Geraldine party generally. The irregularities which he found in every branch of the public service were really matters of long standing, hardly to be visited on individuals, and largely the fault of the Home Government. Arnold insinuated many things against Vice-Treasurer Fitzwilliam; but when Fitzwilliam’s accounts were produced they were found to be quite correct. Stanley was recalled less because of Arnold’s accusations than because he was disliked by Sidney, and the Queen particularly stated that she did not despise the Marshal’s service, nor credit the reports against him. The difficulty of finding out the exact truth was no doubt very great. Even Cecil was not always well served, for portions of a letter addressed by Fitzwilliam to him were copied out, and transmitted to Arnold. Excuses may be made for a man who with good intentions had raised a hornet’s nest about his ears; but he was evidently quarrelsome, arbitrary, credulous, and deficient in personal dignity, a quality which probably carries as much weight in Ireland as in any country in the world.[110 - In his ‘articles,’ Dec. 2, 1565, Oliver Sutton accuses Arnold of frequenting low haunts. Writing to Shane, Aug. 27, Arnold says, ‘facta tua non quadrant cum meis laudibus’ Yet Fitzwilliam says the Council were not allowed to write the truth about Shane’s doings (to Cecil, Nov. 28). The Queen to Sir George Stanley, Oct. 23.]
CHAPTER XXIV.
1566 AND 1567
Sidney arrives in Ireland, 1566
Sidney was wind-bound for nearly two months in Wales and Cheshire. He and his wife were forced to flit about the coast, staying sometimes in places where food, drink, and lodging were alike bad, weary of their lives, and with no news more cheering than that one vessel carrying their horses and furniture had foundered with all hands, and that the cargo of another had been much damaged, though the men were saved. ‘God send me a better proceed,’ said he, ‘and a good end of this froward beginning.’ He lost all his wine and other property, worth 1,500l., and was inclined to attribute to witchcraft an extraordinary series of storms which shattered nearly all the ships between Liverpool and Chester. William Thwaites, a faithful and useful servant, perished, and Sidney mourned his loss more than any quantity of property. The Lord gave, he said, and the Lord hath taken away. The stone pier at Chester was ruined, and Sidney, not forgetting that he was Lord President of Wales, declared that the city would be irreparably damaged unless the Queen sent help. Yet great as the storm was, he feared lest his jealous mistress should accuse him of loitering, and begged the Vice-President of the Welsh Marches to corroborate his accounts of the weather. He wished Cecil a long life, and himself a speedy departure from ‘this hungry head.’ Elizabeth afterwards expressed sorrow for Sidney’s losses, but it does not appear that she did anything in the way of compensating him. At last the wind changed, and Sidney found himself in charge of a country as unquiet as the sea that washed her shores.[111 - Sidney to Cecil from Chester, Nov. 24, 1565; from Hylbry, Dec. 3; from Beaumaris, Dec. 17; from Holyhead, Jan. 9; from Dublin, March 3, 1566; to Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, Jan. 9; the Queen to Knollys, April 18, 1566. ‘I was never so weary of any place,’ Sidney wrote from Hylbry island. He landed near Dublin, Jan. 13, and was sworn in on the 20th.]
Sidney and Shane O’Neill
Sidney’s first care was to let Shane O’Neill know of his arrival, and to urge him to appoint a meeting at Drogheda or Dundalk. Shane answered by praising Arnold’s government, and proposed that his successor should be at Dundalk on February 5, which he thought would be conducive to business. Sidney thought the date too early, especially as Cusack was not at hand, and suggested that if O’Neill were sincere he might fix a better day, promising, in the meantime, to punish a satirical versifier who had offended him. Shane then declined a meeting until his latest suits were favourably determined, but promised to wait on the border for seven days, during which he hoped the Lord Deputy would come to Dundalk. To this it was answered that the treaty of Nov. 18, 1563, had not come to hand, that Cusack, who knew all about it, was sick in Munster, and that in the meantime Shane might as well come under safe-conduct. The slippery chief was kind enough to say that he took the Lord Deputy’s delay in good part, and that Sidney could not desire his presence more than he desired Sidney’s. He knew the latter’s sweet nature and readiness for all good things, and reminded him of their former friendly relations. His people, he said, would not allow him to come to the Lord Deputy’s presence, on account of the many hurts done by official people to the O’Neills during the last twenty years. The imprisonment of his father, the handcuffs which secured his own safety on the way to Court, the two attempts of Sussex to murder him, were duly recapitulated, as well as many outrages upon Irishmen of less importance.
Sidney pronounces Shane hopeless
Sidney could only say that Shane ought to know him better, and that he was quite willing to meet him at Dundalk. But he declined to enter any house or town, desiring the Lord Deputy to meet him at a bog-side where he had 1,000 men with him. Sidney could not bring half as many men, and he did not think such a meeting for the Queen’s honour. Shane stickled for the old treaty with Cusack, who was absent, and Kildare, who was present, remembered nothing about it. It had never been on record in Ireland, and the copies produced by O’Neill and by Leicester agreed, ‘as well as Luke the Evangelist and Huon of Bordeaux.’ Lucifer was never more puffed up with pride and ambition than O’Neill, who was the only strong and rich man in Ireland, able to bring 4,000 foot and 1,000 horse into the field. If he did not come to Sidney, he would come to no Englishman, and since the first conquest there had not been any man in Ireland more likely to bring it under the dominion of a foreign prince. ‘In the morning he is subtle, and then will he cause letters to be written either directly otherwise than he will do, or else so doubtfully as he may make what construction he likes, and ofttimes his secretary penneth his letters in more dulled form than he giveth him instruction, but in the afternoon when the wine is in, then unfoldeth he himself, in vino veritas, then showeth he himself what he is, and what he is likely to attempt.’
Shane’s pretensions to be greater than any earl
Formerly he had condescended to request that his parliamentary robes might be sent into his own country. ‘Now he cares not to be an Earl unless he can be something higher and better. "I am," he said, "in blood and power better than the best of them. I will give place to none but my cousin of Kildare, for that he is of my House. You have made a wise Earl of Macarthy More, I keep as good a man as he. For the Queen, I confess she is my sovereign lady, yet I never made peace with her but by her own seeking. And whom would you have me trust, Mr. Stukeley? I came unto the Earl of Sussex upon the safe-conduct of two Earls and protection under the Great Seal, and the first courtesy that he offered was to put me in a handlock and to send me into England. When I came there upon pardon and safe-conduct, and had done my business and would have departed according the same, the Queen herself told me that indeed safe-conduct I had to come safe and go safe, but she had not told me when, and so there held me till I had agreed to such inconvenience against my honour and profit as I would never perform while I live, and that made me make war. If it were to do again, I would do it, for my ancestors were kings of Ulster, Ulster was theirs, and shall be mine. And for O’Donnell, he shall never come into his country if I can keep him out of it, nor Bagenal into the Newry, nor the Earl of Kildare into Dundrum or Lecale. They are mine; with this sword I won them, with this sword I will keep them. This is my answer, commend me to my gossip the Deputy. God be with you, my masters." "Nay," said the envoys, "we brought you letters, and by letters we look for answer." "Well, letters you shall have," said he, and he caused his secretary to write. We send a true copy, so that you shall see how well speech and writing agree.’[112 - These are wanting, but the mention of them shows that Shane was faithfully reported, otherwise we might have suspected the magniloquent Stukeley. Sidney to Leicester, March 1, 1566; to Shane, Feb. 24: – ‘De poeta seu rithmatore de cujus insolenti jurgio questus es, supplicium congruum sumemus.’ Sidney to Shane O’Neill, Jan. 21, Jan. 30 (sent by Stukeley), Feb. 9. Shane to Sidney, Jan. 26, Feb. 5, Feb. 18 (with enclosure). In the last letter Shane says, ‘Novi vestram suavissimam naturam (a Deo Optimo Maximo vobis datam) non inquinatam neque maculatam ed ad omnia bona promptam.’]