reference to any conspiracy, or dropped letter. "There was no other intention then but in a peaceable way to bring the suit to a trial:" for, let it be well weighed, THE COUNCIL THEN KNEW NOTHING OF THE CONSPIRACY.184

These accounts are in direct opposition to each other, and prove the rottenness of the affair. Dr. Carleton's narrative is a wretched, improbable tale but if it were true, then the story of the dropped letter is obviously a falsehood: and if the letter were really dropped, and led to the discovery of the conspiracy, then is the

"O'Cane, using this ceremony, promised to reveal all that he knew in that matter, if he would, on the other side, promise him to save him from the violence of Tyrone, and not to deliver him into England, which he promised to do.

"Whereupon the bishop resolved to bring him to the council of Ireland, there to take his confession. Thus they coming peaceably to the council, the confession of O'Cane was taken. After this, process were sent to Tyrone, to warn him to come, at an appointed time, to answer to the suit of the lord bishop of Derry. There was no other intention then but in a peaceable manner to bring the suit to a trial. But behold the burden of an evil conscience! Tyrone had entered into a new conspiracy, to raise another rebellion: of this conspiracy was O'Cane. This thing was secret: THE COUNCIL KNEW NOTHING OF IT. Tyrone, being served with process to answer the suit, began to suspect that this was but a plot to draw him in; that surely all the treason was revealed by O'Cane, whom he knew to be of the conspiracy; that the pretence was a process and a trial in law, but THE INTENT WAS TO HAVE HIS HEAD. Upon this bare suspicion, Tyrone resolved, with such other as was in the conspiracy, to fly; and thereupon fled out of Ireland, with his confederates, and left all those lands in the north of Ireland."

184 Carleton, 233.

135 Idem, 232.

99185

bishop's account false. We leave the reader to settle the question of fraud between them; and venture to submit what appears a much more rational view of the affair than is given by either of the statements.

The greedy courtiers, who finally obtained possession of the immense estates of the earls, were hungering after them, and anxious to find some pretext for a seizure. They had recourse to the clumsy contrivance of the letter, the contents of which were probably magnified and exaggerated to the most extravagant degree, accompanied with rumours and threats of a rigorous course to be pursued with them, if they came to Dublin; at the same time issuing process for Tyrone to appear there. Thus he and those implicated with him in the dropped-letter-contrivance, were placed in the dilemma, to attend, and probably be attainted, or to refuse, and be proclaimed rebels and traitors, and pursued with fire and sword, as was the usual mode of proceeding in such cases. In these trying circumstances, they fled for safety to the continent. But so far as respects the present object, the disproof of Clarendon's millenium, it is of little importance what construction the reader puts on this statement. It is barely submitted, without any concern whether it be admitted or rejected, as beyond comparison more probable than the letter-dropping affair, or the idle story of a Catholic conspirator betraying his dearest friend

and conspiring accomplice, and running voluntarily into danger of his neck and estate, to make discoveries of property belonging to, and for the benefit of, an entire stranger, and a Protestant!

The case of an earl of Tyrone, perhaps the same person, under queen Elizabeth, affords a specimen of the wretched flimsiness of the pretexts made use of to involve the Irish nobility in the charge of treasonable conspiracies.

"The lord deputy and council (says Sir James Ware) certified her majesty of the daily seditious practices of the earl, which they looked upon to be forerunners of rebellion: how he sent to Mac Connel, who was a chief among the Island Scots, many of his men, upon condition to receive supplies from him upon any occasion whatsoever he required; how he claimed the chief men of Ulster to depend on him as his vassals; how he had sent his son to be fostered among the O'Cahans, to whom he had formerly been a great enemy; which showed a great combination to make way for his future greatness; fostering being accounted the greatest bond of amity among the Irish. They concluded with an earnest. request, that some treasure might be sent over to supply the soldiers' wants."186

"Though Tyrone had served against Macguire, and received a wound in the service, yet his refusal to deliver the sons of Shane O'Neal, after their escape out of the castle of Dublin, when required so to do, together with his frequent complaints against the lord deputy, the marshals, and the garrison soldiers, gave sufficient ground to believe that he only covered his treacherous intentions, till he might be ready to put them in execution."187 Excellent proofs, most assuredly!

The case of Shane O'Neal, the chief potentate of Ulster, during the same reign, is still more in 187 Idem, 47.

186 Ware, Eliz. 40.

point. His conspiracy was not discovered by "a dropped letter," but revealed to a servant, at a drinking bout. The story is narrated with great naivete, by Sir James :

"At this time, the lord lieutenant received some intimation that Shane O'Neal was contriving new conspiracies."188

How do you suppose, gentle reader, he received this intimation, and what were the contents of it? Attend:

"A kinsman of his, [Shane O'Neal's] drinking in company with the collector of the archbishop of Armagh's revenues at Drogheda, was heard to swear by his soul, that his cousin was a patient fool, and so were his ancestors, in taking an earldom from the kings of England, when, by right, themselves were kings. He further added, by way of question, to the bishop's servant, Is it not so? The man was glad to comply, and to say it was so, seeing six of the Irish in the room, with their skeans by them. But as soon as he came to his master, Adam Loftus, he cried out, Pardon me, master. The archbishop asking him, Why, what hast thou done? He told him the whole story. Whereupon he wrote to the lord lieutenant about it."189

Certainly this was a most important communication to the lord lieutenant, on which the safety of the state depended, and precisely on a level with the dropped letter, which cost one hundred and fifty thousand people five hundred thousand acres of land. Never, before or since, has any letter, whether dropped or sent through the postoffice, afforded such a harvest.

In consequence of this "conspiracy," so very dangerous in itself, so miraculously discovered,

188 Ware, Eliz. 7.

189 Ibid.

and so accurately and minutely detailed, troops were raised against the rebel, many of his followers killed, and "great preys of cattle made.""190 And be it observed, that throughout the whole of the history of Ireland, "preys of cattle" form a most important item in the spoils of war gained by the lords deputies.

Some time afterwards,

"On the complaint of the nobility, the lord deputy raised a great army of English and Irish, in order to root out Shane O'Neal." 191

Here, the reader will observe, there was no dropped letter," no "conspiracy," no "rebellion;" but the first family in Ireland, with all its numerous branches and dependencies, to the amount, perhaps, of thousands, was to be "rooted out," on the complaint of "the nobility!" and two or three hundred thousand acres of land forfeited, "for the promotion of religion and civilization." But it was all fair, It was only "spoiling the Egyptians," those wretches that neither "built houses nor planted orchards."

Those who carefully examine the sorry romances above quoted, will find it difficult to decide which is most wonderful, the stupidity with which they are contrived, or the wickedness which employed such means to despoil an oppressed and unoffending people.

But however the question of the guilt or innocence of the earls may be determined, it does not 191 Idem, 10.

190 Ware, Eliz. 7.