laid in garrisons, in small troops, in divers parts bordering upon his country; yea, and over-run all your English Pale to the utter ruin thereof; yea, and camp, as long as should please him under the walls of Dublin, for any strength your majesty yet hath in that kingdom to remove him.

"These things being considered, and how unwilling he is (upon my knowledge) to be otherwise towards your majesty than he ought, let him (if it so please your highness) be somewhat hearkened unto, and recovered if it may be, to come in unto your majesty to impart his own griefs, which no doubt he will do, if he will like his security. And then, I am persuaded, he will simply acknowledge to your majesty how far he hath offended you; and besides, notwithstanding his protection, he will, if it so stand with your majesty's pleasure, offer himself to the marshal (who hath been the chiefest instrument against him) to prove with his sword that he hath most wrongfully accused him. And because it is no conquest for him to overthrow a man ever held in the world to be of most cowardly behaviour, he will, in defence of his innocency, allow his adversary to come armed, against him naked, to encourage him the rather to accept of his challenge. I am bold to say thus much for the earl, because I know his valour, and am persuaded he will perform it."*

This cartel took no effect: but it was plain that O'Neill would soon have an opportunity of meeting his enemy, if not in listed field, yet in

* Lee's Memorial.

open melee of battle: for news arrived in the North, that large reinforcements were on their way to the Deputy from England, consisting of veteran troops who had fought in Bretagne and Flanders, under Sir John Norreys, the most experienced general in Elizabeth's service; and that garrisons were to be forced upon Ballyshannon and Belleek, commanding the passes into Tyrconnell, between Lough Erne and the sea. The strong fort of Portmore also, which O'Neill had permitted to be built on the southern bank of the Blackwater, was to be strengthened and well manned; thus forming, with Newry and Greencastle, a chain of forts across the island, and a basis for future operations against the Irish country to the North.

And now it was very clear that, let King Phi lip send his promised help, or not send it, open and vigorous resistance must be made to the further progress of foreign power, or Ulster would soon be an English province. The northern confederacy too, that great labour of O'Neill's life, was now strong and firmly united. Even Mac Gennis and O'Hanlon, two chiefs who had long been under the influence of Bagnal, were in the ranks of their countrymen, and O'Neill gave his daughter to the chieftain of Iveagh, his sister to him of Orier. In Leinster, the O'Byrnes, the O'Cavanaghs, and Walter Fitzgerald (surnamed Riagh) had entered into close alliance with O'Neill, and were already wasting the borders of the Pale: and O'Donnell and Mac Gwire were in arms, impatient for the chief of Tyr-owen

to lift his banner and take his rightful post in the van of embattled Ulster.

At last the time had come; and Dungannon, with stern joy, beheld unfurled the royal standard of O'Neill, displaying, as it floated proudly on the breeze, that terrible Red Right Hand upon its snow white folds; waving defiance to the Saxon queen, dawning like a new Aurora upon the awakened children of Heremon.

66

With a strong body of horse and foot O'Neill suddenly appeared upon the Blackwater, stormed Portmore, and drove away its garrison, "as carefully," says an historian, as he would have driven poison from his heart :" then demolished the fortress, burned down the bridge, and advanced into O'Reilly's country, everywhere driving the English and their adherents before him to the South, (but without wanton bloodshed, slaying no man save in battle; for cruelty is no where charged against O'Neill; and finally, with Mac Gwire and Mac Mahon, he laid close siege to Monaghan, which was still held for the Queen of England.

O'Donnell, on his side, crossed the Saimer at the head of his fierce clan, burst into Connaught, and shutting up Bingham's troops in their strong places at Sligo, Ballymote, Tulsk, and Boyle, traversed the country, with avenging fire and sword, putting to death every man who could speak no Irish ;* ravaging their lands, and send

*See Mac Geoghegan. Some writers say "all Protestants;" but as all the Protestants then in Connaught were foreigners, and all the foreigners were hostile in

ing the spoil to Tyr-connell. Then he crossed the Shannon, entered the Annally's, where O'Ferghal was living under English dominion, and devastated that country so furiously that "the whole firmanent," says the chronicle, was one black cloud of smoke."*

Not having sufficient force to meet the confederates in the field, Russell had recourse, for the present, to negotiation; and while O'Neill lay before Monaghan he received intelligence that a certain Sir Henry Wallop, who was styled "treasurer at war," accompanied by Sir Richard Gardiner, the queen's chief justice, had arrived in Dundalk, as commissioners, to confer with the Irish chiefs. They summoned O'Neill, by his Saxon title of Earl of Tyr-owen, and the other leaders, according to their rank, to attend them at Dundalk, as English subjects, and state their "grievances" there. But O'Neill haughtily refused to see these commissioners, save at the head of his army, or to enter any walled town as a liege man of the Queen of England; "For be it known unto thee, O Wallop, that the Prince of Ulster, on his own soil, does homage to no foreign monarch and for your 'earls of Tyrone'-earl me no earls ;-my foot is on my native heath, and my name The O'Neill." So they met in the vaders, it is invidious and unjust to designate the sufferers in these wars by their sectarian appellation. *MS. Life of O'Donnell.

"My foot is on my native heath. and my name is Mac Gregor." The writer gladly acknowledges a plagiarism from the Red Gregarach: and further admits that the above may not have been the very words of O'Neill's message; but it was to that effect.

cpen plain, in presence of both armies; and O'Neill demanded, as the first condition of a peace, that no garrisons or sheriffs should for the future be sent into any part of Ulster, save to Newry and Carrickfergus ;-that no attempt at religious persecution, or, as the English called it, "reformation," should be made in the North; and finally, that Marshal Bagnal should be restrained from encroaching upon the Irish territory, or the jurisdiction of its chiefs, and also be compelled to pay him, O'Neill, one thousand pounds of silver, as a marriage portion with the lady whom he had raised to the digity of an O'Neill's bride. O'Donnell made the same demands, as to garrisons and sheriffs, and freedom of religion; and further complained of his treacherous abduction and severe imprisonment, and of a certain “Queen's O'Donnell" who presumed to claim his chieftaincy by "English tenure." Their terms, in short, were, that all pretence of English interference with the North should forthwith cease.*

The queen's commissioners pretended to consider some of these conditions reasonable: others they "referred" to her majesty; but when they came to propose certain terms to the confederates, as a kind of temporary arrangement, until the queen's pleasure should be known, as that they should lay down their arms, beg forgiveness for their "rebellion," discover their correspondence with foreign states, and the like; the chiefs rejected their proposals with scorn: in Moryson's phraseology, "the rebels grew insolent;" and the