that purpose, he declared, (as if, says Cambden, he thought himself sufficiently secured by the testimony of a good conscience,) that he would renounce all claim to his letters of protection, in case the aforesaid accusations of his enemies could be proved against him." This matter being seriously debated in the council, some of that board were of opinion, that O'Nial should be then made at prisoner, notwithstanding his protection, in order to answer a charge of high treason, which his known, and inveterate enemy, sir Henry Bagnal, had newly prepared against him. But the majority of the council, † either, says my author, out of a vain scruple of violating the public faith, or through some secret affection for Tirone, declared, that he ought, in justice and honor, to be then dismissed; and that his trial should be deferred to another time. Of the subject of this This same Bagual had formerly urged some articles of treason against him, which, says Morrisson, were believed in England, till Tirone offered, by his letters, to stand to his trial either in England or Ireland. Accordingly, adds my author, he answered to the said articles, before the lord deputy and council at Dundalk, in such sort, as they who had written into England against him, now on the contrary, wrote that he had sufficiently answered them. Whereupon, the lords of England, wrote to the earl of Tirone, that they approved his answers, and that, in their opinion, he had wrong to be so charged.-At the same time, their lordships wrote to the deputy, taxing him and the marshal (Bagnal) that they had used the earl of Tirone against law and equity."-Hist. of Ireland, fol. 12. + How little confidence was to be had in the promises of the English on such occasions, appears from the following among many other instances. Some English officers having assured certain Irish chiefs, that upon surrendering themselves to the government, they would obtain their pardon. "These chiefs embraced the counsel, submitted, and consented to attend the lord deputy St. Leger into England: but here, the only favor granted was, that they were not brought to immediate execution. They were committed to prison, their lands declared forfeit, and granted to those, by whose counsel they had surrendered."—Lel. Hist. of Ireland, vol. ii. p. 189. O'Sullivan Beare, in a letter to a Spanish minister, “ requests either speedy relief, or the speedy sending of a ship to receive him, his wife, and children; to save them from the hands of those (as he calls them) most merciless enemies; making choice (says he) rather to forsake my ancient inheritance, friends, followers, and goods, than any way trust to their most graceless pardon or promise."--Pacata Hibernia. debate, Tirone was privately informed by the Earl of Ormond,* and thereupon immediately fled from Dublin; and although he was quickly followed by the deputy's order to stop him, which was sent to all the towns through which it was thought he was to pass, yet by the assistance of his friends, and the swiftness of his horses, he escaped in safety to Ulster. O'Donnel's first cause of disaffection to the government, happened very early. While he was yet a lad, of the age of twelve or thirteen years, a ship freighted with several curiosities, was, by the then lord deputy's order, sent to the bay of Tirconnel; where the master having found O'Donnel, and some of his companions, seduced them, with a display of his curiosities, to come on board his vessel; and after entertaining them there for some time, with much seeming affection and respect, he privately ordered his mariners to sail back for Dublin, having got the prey they came for. As soon as they arrived there, O'Donnel, and his companions, were closely confined in the castle of that city, where they remained prisoners, under many wants and cruel restraints,† for more than seven years; and at last made a desperate attempt to escape, which by the assistance of their friends, and their own resolu 8 Lombard. Irish Annals. *This earl had some time before received the like private orders, with respect to some Irish gentlemen to whom he had granted protection; but he was so far from obeying them, that he wrote a letter to lord Treasurer Burleigh, in which he told him, that these orders appeared very strange to him; that the Irish gentlemen in question had, according to her ma jesty's instructions, delivered pledges to do good service, and put in assurances of their loyalty; and then he declares his resolution in these words: "My lord, I will never use treachery to any man, for it will both touch her highness's honor, and my own credit too much; and whosoever gave the queen advice thus to write, is fitter for such base service than I am. Saving my duty to her majesty, I would I were to have revenge by my sword, of any man that thus persuadeth the queen to write to me."-Carte's Orm. vol. i. fol. 56. "His manner of usage, says Lee, was most dishonorable and discommendable, and neither allowable before God or man. For he (O'Donncl) being young, and being taken by this stratagem, having never offended, was imprisoned with great severity, many irons laid upon him, as if he had been a notable traitor and malefactor, and kept still among those who were ever notorious traitors to your majesty."-Memorial to the queen, Desid. Hib, vol. i. p. 96. tion, succeeded; though not without the loss of the life of one of O'Donnel's companions, and the extreme danger of his own. It was upon his arrival in Ulster, after this escape, that he entered into the before-mentioned combination with Tirone, being then not more than twenty years old. The queen' was much displeased that her commands, with respect to Tirone, were not executed; and the lords of the English council sharply rebuked the deputy for having so easily suffered him, to escape out of his hands. And although sir William Russel afterwards frequently invited him, in the most soothing manner, to come to Dublin, he could never be again prevailed upon, by any promise of safety, to put himself in his power; but immediately betook himself to open acts of hostility: the first of which was, (after having defeated a large body of the queen's forces) his assaulting and demolishing in the year 1595, the fort of Black Water, which was built upon the passage into Tirone. "In this victory, says Borlase," the like of which, the Irish never gained,* since the English first set foot in Ireland, Tirone's implacable enemy, Marshal Bagnal,† with others, was slain." In this action, one of the queen's soldiers, by accident, set fire to a barrel of gun-powder, and that set fire to a number of others ranged along the line. The explosion was terrible, and destroyed a great number of the queen's men; and the remains of the defeated army marched back to Ardmagh in disorder. 12 The several submissions which he afterwards made, with ap 9 Cambden's Eliz. p. 635. 10 Morrisson's Hist. The earl of Tirone ordered, that the dead of the enemy should be interred. Two thousand five hundred were left, with their general, on the field of battle: among whom were 18 captains, and many other gentlemen, whose names were unknown. About this time, one hundred and forty-four barrels of gun-powder, sent from the queen to Dublin, were stored in Winetavern-street, and took fire by accident, on the 13th of March. Numbers were lost, and that part of the town greatly damaged by the explosion.-Irish Annals. "Tirone put Marshal Bagnal's (his sworn enemy) whole army to the rout; for thirteen valiant commanders, and fifteen hundred common soldiers, were slain at this skirmish: and soon after the fort of Black Water was yielded up."-Baker's Chron. f. 387. parent sincerity, were but of short duration; because the conditions promised him on these occasions, were never fulfilled; of which breach of articles he frequently complained; but was only answered,13" that the benefit of his pardon was so great, that it should have counterpoised his wrongs, and still kept him in his duty." The report which Lee, in his memorial to queen Elizabeth, makes of Tirone's loyalty, power, and services, is extremely remarkable. For mentioning the designs of his enemies, "Let," says he, "those devices take effect, or otherwise have him cut off, your majesty's whole kingdom there would moan it most pitifully; for there was never man bred in those parts, who hath done your majesty greater service than he, with often loss of his blood, upon notable enemies of your majesty; yea, more often than all the other nobles of Ireland. And what quietness your majesty has had these many years past, in the northern parts of that kingdom, its neither your forces there placed (which have been but small,) nor their great service who commanded them, but only the honest disposition, and carriage of the earl, hath made them obedient in these parts to your majesty. If he were so bad as they would fain enforce, as many as know him, and the strength of his country, will witness thus much with me, that he might very easily cut off many of your majesty's forces, which are laid in garrison 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 hath yet in that kingdom to remove him,"+ 14 13 Mor. Hist. 14 Lee's Memorial, MSS. See Append. No. 1. * Her majesty had created him an earl, on account of his former services, but on this occasion," he shook off," says lord Mountjoy, "that title as a badge of his bondage, and reassumed that of O'Nial, with which name," adds his lordship," and not the title of Tirone, he did much mischief; for believe me, the titles of our honors do rather weaken, than strengthen them in this country."-Morris. Hist. f. 276. + Secretary Cecil, in a private letter to lord deputy Mountjoy, on this occasion, says, "that if Tirone was sure to be pardoned, and live in any security, with the quality of any greatness, such was his weariness of his misery, (and so of the rest) he would be made one of the best instruments in that kingdom."-Morrisson, f. 236. "The rebels forces," says Borlase," when Tirone was proclaimed a traitor, amounted to 1000 horse, and 6280 foot, in Ulster; and 2300 in Connaught; all at Tirone's beck: whereas before, 800 foot, and 300 horse, were esteemed, on the government's side, an invincible army." 15 CHAP. VI. Desmond's insurrection. THE Earl of Desmond's vast estate in the province of Munster, was a strong temptation to the chief governors of Ireland to make, or proclaim him a rebel, their prey being insured to them, in either case, by his forfeiture.* And, indeed, it doth not appear, that this earl, before he was proclaimed, had committed any overt act of treason; unless his private family quarrels with the Earl of Ormond, about their respective powers and limits, can be deemed such.+ About a month before he was proclaimed, his countess had delivered up their only son, together with Patrick O'Haly, bishop of Mayo, and Con. O'Rourke, a Franciscan friar, both nobly descended, (who had fled to her for protection) to sir William Drury, lord justice at Limerick, as pledges of the earl's loyalty; nor can I 15 Reduct. of Ireland, p. 175-6. Sir William Drury, president of Munster, first attacked him on hie own estate in the county of Kerry," altho' king Edward III. made Kerry a county palatine, and granted to the earls of Desmond, all the royal liberties, which the king of England had in that county, excepting four pleas, viz. of burning, rape, forestall, and treasure-trove."-Baker's Chronicle, f. 352. "Desmond," says the same historian, "possessed whole countries, together with the county palatine of Kerry, and had of his own name and race at least five hundred gentlemen at his command; all whom, and his own life also, he lost within the space of three years, very few of the house being left alive.”—Id. ib. fol. 361. + "Ormond's relation to the earl of Desmond," says Carte," did not extinguish the animosity between the two families. The quarrel was renewed with so much violence, that on February 1, 1564-5, a bloody conflict happened between them at Affane, in the county of Waterford, in which Desmond was routed, and 280 of his men killed. Great part of Munster was wasted on occasion of this quarrel."-Life of Ormond, vol. i. f. liii. |