Butlers; and lastly, that he held private intelligence with O'Niall, O'Conor, and other Irish lords, to make an inroad into Ormonde's territories.* In spite of the very strong and numerous charges contained in the letters and memorials of Ormonde, some of these charges impress the idea, that evidence of any very serious delinquency must have been wanting. The charges, most of them appear to be revivals of accusations long disposed of by the commission already mentioned. On these charges, Wolsey contrived to obtain a sentence of death against Kildare. Kildare, however, knew the true source of this decision. The lieutenant of the Tower was his warm friend, and it was agreed that he should repair to the king, as if to take his commands on the affair. There was little time to lose; Kildare was, most probably, to be beheaded in the morning early. It was late, and there was perhaps much uncertainty as to the king's being reached at the hour of midnight. Fortunately for Kildare, no such difficulty occurred: his friend stated the fact, and asked the king's pleasure. The king was much affected and surprised; the cardinal, to make the matter sure, had kept it from his knowledge, and this malicious privacy, was now favourable to his intended victim; Henry might easily have been talked into a very opposite feeling; his tyranny was the result of deliberation, his better feelings were the impulse of the moment; these were now quickened by indignation, for he saw through the conspiracy, and his arbitrary temper, prompt whether in good or evil, suggested a decided course. He forbade the execution, and prohibited any further proceeding against the earl. He took off his ring and gave it to the lieutenant to bear to Wolsey as a token of his authority. The interposition of his friends had now time to work, and the earl was liberated on their security, that he would appear when called upon to answer such charges as should be made against him. His securities were the marquis of Dorset, the countess dowager of Dorset, and several members of the family of Grey, with Sir Henry Guilford, John Abbott, and Sir John Zouch. Cox gives a curious and highly characteristic report of the speeches of Wolsey and Kildare, on the trial above referred to; but as they seem altogether unauthentic, and still more because they are too long, we omit to extract them. Cox doubts this whole account of the earl's condemnation, and he may be right enough. He asserts that there is no authority for it. It is certain that Kildare was taken quickly into favour with the king. An extract from a letter, written by archbishop Inge and lord chief justice Birmingham, to Wolsey, dated 3d February, 1528, throws some additional light on the king's great partiality towards this earl. It also exhibits the strength of his party, and his great power in Ireland. "Thabsence of thise bothe lordes hathe greatlie enhaunsed and couraiged our soveraine lordes Hirish and Englisshe rebelles; whereby the londe is alway in danger, and wolde be ferr more, werr nat the feree of their retourn. "And now, within this thre or foure daies, there is privey reaporte, that therll of Kildair, for som his inysdemeanours of late, is committed unto the tour. If it so be, the seid erll is mervellous, and hathe been unknowen to us and other divers the kinges true subjectes, of this his londe. In consideration wherof, it was never so great nede to provide for defens of this poor londe, in our daies as nowe; for the vice deputie is nat of power to defend the Englisshrie; and yet the poor people is ferr more chargid and oppressed by hym, than they have been, th erll of Kildair being here. He hathe no great londes of his owne, and the kinges revenues, besides the subsidie, is skante ynowe to pay the kinges officers ther ordinarie fees; and the subsidie may nat be hadde, till it be grannted by perliament, without the whiche the deputie hathe full litle to manteyn his chargies. Th erll of Kildair coude help hymself, in taking advantage of Hirishmen, better then any other here." The state of affairs in Ireland was such as to cause serious alarm in the pale and among the members of the administration. On his departure, the earl had committed the government to his brother, the lord Thomas Fitz-Gerald of Leixlip: the annalists briefly tell us that he was removed; and his removal may be regarded as a fresh demonstration of the enmity of the faction opposed to the earl. Richard Nugent baron Delvin was substituted; but he was soon found to be unequal to the difficulties of a situation, which demanded at the time extensive power and influence. O'Conor Fally, the ally and kinsman of the Geraldines, made an irruption into the pale, and carried off a large prey into Offaly: on receiving information of this, Delvin ordered the stoppage of his pension, claimed by O'Conor as due upon certain plough-lands in Meath. A meeting was proposed at Sir W. Darcy's castle, near Ruthven; but O'Conor, whose real object was far from a desire of accommodation, contrived an ambuscade, by which he intercepted the deputy, and made him a prisoner. The historical writers on this period state, that lord Ossory (Ormonde) was now appointed in place of the imprisoned lord, and that he used every effort for his deliverance, but without effect. It is certain that considerable efforts were made by the earl of Ossory and his son, for the deliverance of Nugent; and we think it likely, that the correspondence from which this fact appears must have misled the historians; they inferred the appointment of lord Ossory from the authoritative position in which he appears during the transaction of so important a negotiation. But it seems nearly certain, from a letter of the Irish council to Wolsey on the occasion, that Thomas Fitz-Gerald was appointed by them; and it is also little probable that he would enter with any sincerity into the negotiations for the liberation of Nugent; O'Conor having probably acted as the friend of the earl, and partisan of the Geraldines. O'Conor's claim is mentioned in the letter of the Irish council, from which our information is drawn; and from this document it appears, that they had urged the payment of his pension. This claim is also mentioned by Inge and Birmingham, in a letter to the duke of Norfolk, in which they state, that there had been continual contention on the point, "sithe the earl of Kildare left this." Lord Butler, son to lord Ormonde (Ossory at the time), mentions in a letter to archbishop Inge, his own visit to O'Conor's house, where he slept and was, Richard Nugent, lord Delvin. + State Papers. with some difficulty, permitted to speak to Nugent, in presence of the O'Conors. He then mentions, that he contrived to bring away Cahir O'Conor (who was "to be the next O'Conor”), as a protection, and that he brought him with him to his father; at his father's, they prevailed on him to promise to join their party, if his brother would not “be conformable to reason:" O'Conor's chief stipulation was, that the king should not suffer the earl of Kildare to take revenge on him for taking part in the king's quarrel. Lord Butler adds, " surely, my lord, many great wise men that I have spoken with, since this misfortune happened, think precisely that it comes through the abetment of the earl of Kildare, his counsellors and band; and that they look for much more mischief, if that you see not this substantially ordered. Therefore, my lord, at the reverence of God, look substantially at this matter, and beware whom you trust that you have trusted of this band [party]. I have many things to say to your lordship, that I dare not write," &c. It would be a vain accumulation of parallel authorities to extract the abundant passages of an authentic correspondence which exhibit the sufficiently evident state of party feeling on either side. One sentence from a letter written at this time by the duke of Norfolk, probably contains the most important commentary upon the whole of these transactions. “The malice between the earls of Kildare and Ossory, is, in my opinion, the only cause of the ruin of that poor land.” It is also obvious, from another letter written to Wolsey, by the same nobleman, that his opinion was for sending over Kildare, as the best course under the circumstances.* Wolsey's own opinion seems to have been formed on something of a compromise between the extreme opinions of the opposite parties; he advised the commission of the administration to the Butlers, but still so as to communicate the impression to the Irish, that Kildare, who was nominally still deputy, should soon be sent over. For this reason, also, he would not advise that this earl should be discharged of the office; and further, that he thought it expedient to impress him with a sense of responsibility. It is evident through the entire of the long paper,† from which this opinion is taken, that he attributes the main disturbances to the influence of Kildare. The following extract may satisfy the_reader:-"Thies folowing bee the causes, whiche movethe the saide lorde cardinall to thinke, in his pore judgement, that the erle of Kildare shuld not bee put from his rome at this tyme, but the same to bee deferred, untill a more mature consultation were takene and had therein; soo that, upon his discharge, substanciall direction ymmediately moght bee takene for the defence of the said lande, in thavoiding of suche perill and dannger, as mought folowe. “The firste cause is, that syns the harveste and collecte is nowe at hande, by reason thereof, no provision canne bee sente from hens, in tyme for the withstanding thereof, but that it suld bee in the powre of the Irishe rebelles, combined to gidder, to distroye and devaste the hoole Englishery, if, by good wisdome, dexteritie, and pollicie, they bee not conteyned by dulce and faire meanes, and somme hope of the erle of Kildares retourne: for it is greatly to bee fered, that the said Letter to Wolsey. State Papers, Ib. p. 135. † State Papers, Ib. p. 136. erle of Kildares kynnysfolkes, servanntes, and suche other wild Irishe lordis (with whome the said erle hathe, and hathe had, intelligence), if they shall perceive that he is clerely excludid from his office, and in the kingis displeasure, they shall peradventure, for revenging thereof, seeing they may nowe commodiously, in maner without resistence, doo the same, over ronne the hoole Englishe boundes and pale, and doo suche high displeasure, as woll not, withoute an army royall, and mervailous great expensis, bee redubbid or repayred hereafter; where as they, being in somme hope, and not in utter disperation of the said erles retourne, there is some apparence that they woll forbere from doing the said extreme hurtis, and soo, by such meanes, the said danngers maye bee wisely put over, till other better provysion shall bee made and devised for withstanding of their malicious attemptates. "The second cause, why there shuld bee none other deputie made at this tyme thene, is, that as long as the said erle of Kildare is not dischargid of his rome, he shalbe aferd that any thing shuld bee done or attemptid, to the great hurte of the Englishery, by those that he hathe intelligence with, or any others, supposing that the same mought be layed and arrected unto his charge; forasmoche as he standeth onerate, as yet, as the kingis deputie of that lande: where as he, being thereof discharged, shall litle or nothing care, what may comme of the said land, or what hurte or dammage bee inferrid thereunto." Lord Ossory was soon after sent over as deputy; and the lord chancellor having died of the sweating sickness, which was this year (1528) very prevalent and fatal in Ireland, a creature of Wolsey's was appointed, with the well understood purpose of giving all annoyance possible to the earl of Kildare. The earl on his part, sent over his daughter, lady Slane, to stir up O'Niall and O'Conor, his friends and kinsmen, to oppose and thwart the lord deputy. She was, as Cox observes, "unhappy in being successful;" having thus caused great confusion and devastation,* which ultimately told with nearly fatal weight against the earl himself. For the present, however, affairs began to wear a favourable aspect for Kildare. For although his practices were thoroughly known to all parties, and fully understood by the king, they had not the effect of prejudicing his reputation with the council, or of causing any serious displeasure in Henry's mind. His misdeeds were consistent with the principles of the age, and practised by his rivals and opponents according to their power. The one question looked upon was expediency, and Kildare's great power for good or evil, suggested the trial of making him a friend, and securing his good offices by favourable conditions. In pursuance of this object, the king determined to liberate the earl, and send him over with Sir William Skeffington, who was in 1529 appointed deputy to the duke of Richmond. The duke was made lord lieutenant, and held the office for life. Though it was thought inexpedient to intrust the earl with the government, or in any way to increase powers already too large for the peace of the country, yet his *Letter from Ossory to Wolsey.-State Papers, p. 143. See also the letter which follows from lord Butler, and the Paper of. Instructions from the deputy and council, p. 145. * pride was to be conciliated, and his good offices secured. The instructions to Skeffington were prepared accordingly; particular stress is laid upon the importance of keeping the peace between "the king's well beloved cousins, Kildare, Desmond, and Ossory," as a principal means to preserve the peace of the country, and consult its interests. Amongst these instructions in which the deputy is desired to call a parliament to get a subsidy before its sitting, to charge the lands of the clergy, to repress military exactions he is also specially desired to assist the earl of Kildare in his enterprises. The paragraph is worth extracting. "And whereas therle of Kyldare hath made faithfull promise unto the kynges highness to employe and endeavor hym selfe, to the uttermost of his power, for the annoyance of the kynges sayd rebellious subjectes of the wyld Irishry, as well by makyng excourses upon them as otherwise; farasmuche as the men of warre, now sent oute of this realme with the sayde deputie, shall move in suche case, doo right good stede to the sayd erle, in such exployttes as he shall make, whene the sayde deputie shall not fortune to procede therunto hym selfe, shall, at the requisicion of the sayd erle, send unto hym the sayd men of warre, or as many of them as he shall requier for makyng of suche exployttes, reserving a convenient nomber of them to remayne and attend upon hym selfe; and the proffyttes of suche imposicions, that is to say, of bestes or other thyng, that at an entre or exployte shalbe imponed or had, by way of patysment or agreement upon thenemyse, to be alwayese the moyte answered to the kynges highnes, to thandes of the sayde undertresawrer, and the other moyte to renue to therle of Kyldare, yf he shall make thexploite, and putt the imposicion, and to his company not havyng the kynges wages, to be ordred and divided by his discrecion, as hath bene accustomed."† The arrival of Kildare excited among his friends and powerful party, a sensation of great joy. He was, together with the deputy, received by a procession of the citizens, near St Mary's abbey. His conduct was, for some time, conformable to the expectations of the government. He probably aided the deputy in an invasion of the O'Mores; and in the following year (1531), he certainly accompanied him in an expedition into Ulster. The habits of Kildare were factious; he was not likely to submit with much patience to have his predilections and animosities curbed by one whom he must have regarded as an inferior: it was not long before ill-will began to grow up between him and the deputy, who appears to have soon entered into a friendly understanding with the earl of Ossory. The death of Wolsey, which occurred in the year at which we are arrived, gave also an impulse to the ambition of Kildare. Both he and the deputy now commenced their efforts to undermine each other in the favour of the king. With Skeffington was joined the Butler faction, and their various correspondence, which, if quoted here, would appear as the repetition of the same characteristic complaints and charges of which the reader is now fully aware, must have at length produced a strong prejudice against the earl in the English council. He became at last so impatient, that he could no longer be * State Papers. † Ib., Vol. ii. p. 150. + Ware. |