doth great hurt, who, although a most grave and wise councillor, and of great experience in this state, yet his notorious recusancy and wilful absenting himself from church, these three or four years past, is a means to draw the greatest numbers into that corruption in which they live.

"The sword alone without the Word is not sufficient; but unless they be forced, they will not once come to hear the Word preached. It is a bootless labour for any man to preach in the country out of Dublin for want of hearers. But things may be remedied without any danger and with great gain, if the Ecclesiastical Commission be restored, and put in use, and liberty be left to myself and such commissioners as are well affected in religion, to imprison and fine, and send over into England, such as are obstinate. There is no fear this severe course will breed any stirs ; as these people, if they once perceive a thorough resolution to deal roundly with them, they will conform themselves.

Unfortunately for the native Irish, Connaught at this time was placed under the government of Sir Richard Bingham, whose course of conduct was the very opposite to that of the Lord Deputy. Bingham's method of governing was by the sword, by martial law, by hangings, confiscations, and breach of faith. Such acts as these he gloried in. The more Irish he killed and the more estates he confiscated, the more he considered himself deserving of the favour of his sovereign. The feelings which actuated him and his followers are but too faithfully portrayed in the following account given by one of his captains, Thomas Wodehouse, of a battle, or rather of a massacre of almost defenceless Scots and Irish, at Ardnaree, in the county of Sligo, near the present town of Ballina, in the year 15862:

"Having good news to send you of this day's service, how it hath pleased God that the governor this day met with James M'Donnell's sons, and all their forces, and he, with the number of about fourscore horsemen, like a brave gentleman, charged them. I was as near him as I could, and so cut off their wings, and they were presently like cowardly beggars, being in number, as we did judge, about 1,300 in that place, hard by their camp, William Burkes town, called Ardnaree. About one o'clock we did join battle, and they did set their backs to the great river called the Moy; and the governor and we that were but a small number, did, with him, who, I protest to God, like as brave a man, charge them before our battail came in, and kept a narrow strait in our charging of them, so as they could not pass our foot battle; and there, God be thanked, we did drown and kill, as we all did judge, about the number of one thousand, or eleven hundred; for there did by swimming about one hundred escape; and, as the country saith on the other side of the water, they have killed them, for we cannot this day get over the water into Tyrawly to them for want of boats; but truly I was never, since I was

'Calendar of State Papers, 1588-1592 (Hamilton), p. 368.

2

Captain Wodehouse to Secretary Fenton. Calendar of State Papers, 1586-1588, p. 161.

a man of war, so weary with killing of men; for I protest to God, for as fast as I could, I did but hough them and paunch them, sometimes on horseback, because they did run as we did break them, and sometimes on foot, and so in less than an hour this whole and good field was done."

Sir Richard Bingham himself, writing of the same so-called battle, says :"They (the Scots and Irish) fled before us to the river side, which was not far from us, when we slew and drowned them all, saving fourscore or thereabouts, which stripped themselves and swam over the river into Tyrawly, leaving their weapons and apparel behind them. There were no more of the Scots that escaped but these, and a hundred or fourscore, which went the day before into Tyrawly for a prey with certain of the Burkes. Such as escaped into Tyrawly were slain on their return by my brother, George Bingham, Sheriff of the Co. of Sligo. The number of their fighting men slain and drowned that day was estimated and numbered to be fourteen or fifteen hundred, besides boys, women, churls, and children, which could not be so few, as so many more and upwards. On our side was not one man slain, but divers hurt and galled."

For this bloody and savage massacre of what were evidently almost unarmed, defenceless men, women, and children, Sir Richard Bingham claimed the greatest credit, and bitterly complained to the ministers in England that the Lord Deputy did not fully recognise his services. The governor of Connaught, who had shown such zeal in the queen's service, who had increased her revenues there, and asserted her authority, was put off, he said, with the castles of Roscommon and Ballymote as residences instead of that of Athlone, which had previously been the head-quarters of his predecessors, and the revenue and emoluments he received were far less than had been represented by the Lord Deputy.

In the name of establishing the queen's authority, and for securing what he termed pledges for the tranquillity of the country, he seized upon all the chief men of the Irish, and without any crime being charged against them, cast them into prison. Amongst others, Hugh O'Conor was thus seized.

Writing in July, 1587, Bingham sets forth the disorders which existed in the province when he went there, the difficulty of collecting Her Majesty's revenue, and the refusal of some of the native Irish to wait upon him, and then proceeds :—

"But now, since I had charge there, I have taken in and left in durance sufficient pledges for the security of the whole country; not children or mean or weak persons, but men of action and quality, as the two sons of Morrogh O'Flaherty, Hugh O'Conor Don, O'Madden, M'Mahon, M'Dermot, Richard Burke of Mayo, Robert M'Petre, and many others, for whose durance the whole country is better, and for the enlarging of whom 1 might have benefited 1 Calendar of State Papers, 1586-1588, p. 179.

!

myself, if I would, £2,000 and upwards. Since my coming unto the land, O'Rourke, O'Flaherty, O'Brien, the bad Burkes, and all of them of account, have come in to me dutifully, which indeed they have done more for fear than for any other cause; for the Irish assuredly obey not for love but for fear; and yet, I praise God, all the well-affected there love me, and the ill-affected fear me."

Shortly after this, and probably in consequence of the differences which existed between her servants in Ireland, the queen determined to withdraw Bingham from Connaught, and to send him on a mission to Flanders. Before he left Ireland, he drew up, in July, 1587, another "discourse," setting out all he had done for the queen's service in Ireland, and reiterating his complaints against the Lord Deputy, especially for releasing from confinement some of the Irish chieftains.

During his stay in the Low Countries he continued to write his complaints to Lord Burghley. In a letter dated from Utrecht, 3rd October, 1587, he says:

"I was removed from my place in Connaught, as your Honour knows, upon an intent to employ my services hither, and that the place I should here hold (as I was made believe) was the Colonel General's, which the Lord Willoughby now has; and besides, I was borne in hand that I should continue my place in Ireland by my substitute or deputy, as Mr. Norreys, Sir W. Stanley, and others, called from thence in like sort, had done. But I was no sooner embarked from Ireland, but the Lord Deputy had clean displaced me, both in title and in every particular entertainment else, and bestowed the same upon Sir Thomas L'Estrange in as large and ample a manner as myself every way had it first from Her Majesty, and so consequently they discharged all such officers, my friends and followers, as were left there by me to continue their service in my absence; whereby not only I, but such of my friends as I left there are altogether disfurnished of means how to live, and myself clean disgraced for ever. . . . So do I beseech your Honour that I may not be left here behind the earl, when I shall be maligned at ; for otherwise if I be left here, and my place taken from me in Ireland, I might lawfully believe that the same was true which was told me in Ireland before my coming thence, which was, that I was not removed for any intent to do myself good, or for any necessity there was for my service in these countries, but only to content and satisfy the humour of the Deputy, who, maligning at me and at the course I held, had devised these means to remove me, and that the same would prove my great disgrace and utter undoing for ever; but in the accustomed goodness of your Honour's favours to me, I hope I shall not be so thrown off, having in no sort deserved otherwise than well, whatsoever may be secretly informed to your Honour by my adversaries to the contrary."

Whether this remonstrance had its effect or not, new counsels shortly after prevailed with the ministers of the queen, and it was resolved that Bingham should be restored to the government of Connaught, and further that his persistent demand, that Athlone should be assigned to him for a residence,

should be granted. The queen herself, in November, 1587, notified this to the Lord Deputy, and directed him to make such arrangements as would enable Sir Richard Bingham, or the governor of Connaught for the time being, to inhabit the castle of Athlone.

In January, 1588, Sir John Perrot prayed Her Majesty to relieve him of the government of Ireland, and that his successor might be sent thither with speed. Sir William Fitzwilliam was accordingly nominated to succeed him. Meanwhile Bingham was on his return to Connaught, and hearing in London that O'Conor Sligo was dead, it immediately occurred to him that it would be for Her Majesty's profit and his own advantage that the castle of Sligo, as well as that of Athlone, should belong to the chief commissioner of Connaught, and in February, 1588, he wrote to Lord Burghley making this suggestion. Here a difficulty arose, which would have troubled a less unscrupulous mind.

Sir Donnell O'Conor Sligo had been a most faithful subject of the queen, and royal letters patent had been passed to him, under which he held his castle of Sligo and all his ancestral lands, for the term of his own life, with remainder to the heirs male of his father, who were then represented by his nephew, Donough O'Conor. On the death of his uncle, young O'Conor claimed his inheritance. To dispute his right directly, and to set aside the queen's patent openly, might have led to disastrous consequences, and was more than even Bingham could venture to do; but he was equal to the emergency. Acting under his direction, his brother George, whom he left as his deputy in Sligo, seized upon the property, alleging as his excuse that Donough O'Conor and his father were both illegitimate.

The Lord Deputy, who, during Bingham's absence, had released Hugh O'Conor Don, determined that O'Conor Sligo should receive at least a fair trial, and that an unprejudiced commission should inquire into his claim, and the reasons urged against its validity. This information Bingham received at Chester on his way to Ireland, and on the 24th February he wrote to Lord Burghley :

"I understand that the Lord Deputy hath granted out warrants for the enlarging of Hugh O'Conor Don and others of the pledges in that province. Surely this is a most strange course, and a matter of no small importance to set at liberty such principal men as lie for the observation of Her Majesty's peace, myself having been so careful to get them in; but it cannot be done without great corruption. Also I hear of a certain commission which the Deputy hath granted out for the finding of an office upon the lands of O'Connor Sligo and the illegitimacy of Donnough O'Connor. The commissioners are so aptly chosen for his purpose as the queen shall not be advantaged by his death if they can choose. But I can assure your Honor the lands are the queen's; for both Donnough and his father are base born, and he cannot

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inherit by O'Connor's patent. And how fit it is that Sligo should be detained in Her Majesty's hands, being as the door and key to that part of the province, let any man report that knows the state of things there. And for my part, I wish it to be handled for the benefit of Her Majesty's service, and not for any particular gain to myself anyway, as I have delivered to your Lordship. The Lord Deputy with much ado hath delivered the possession of Athlone to my brother, but not without his wonted crossings to me. . . . . Now that I have Athlone, it is intended that I should lose Ballymote and Boyle, for which I hear no mean men will be suitors. They are places of great importance, and very commodious for Her Majesty's service; and though hitherto I have gained little or nothing by them, yet in time they may prove good things, and therefore I beseech your Honour prevent any such, as may go about, to get them; for I respect more the disgrace I shall sustain if they be taken from me than any benefit that ever I think to reap by them, and chiefly I respect therein the benefit of Her Majesty's service."

Writing again to Lord Burghley, on the 6th March, he repeats his former statement that O'Conor Sligo is illegitimate, but adds :—

"I do rather wish, if he be found to be O'Connor's heir, that Ballymote might be assigned to him instead of Sligo; for though they be both of great importance to be detained in Her Majesty's hands, yet Sligo doth more front the ill-affected, and stands jump upon the entrance and passage into that province."

On the 18th March the Lord Deputy writes to Lord Walsingham :

"I did, by the advice of the whole Council here, appoint the Bishop of Meath; Sir Robert Dillon, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas ; Sir Lucas Dillon; Mr. Beling and Mr. Elliott, learned in the laws; to travel to Sligo to inquire upon the death of O'Connor Sligo, who was his next heir; and I understand that the Bishop of Meath, Sir Robert Dillon, Mr. Beling, and Mr. Elliott have sat upon that Commission, but what they have done thereon I do not yet know. The young gentleman claiming to be heir was here, and craved but indifference and justice. He doth appertain to the Earl of Leicester, and his father was killed in Her Majesty's service, when the overthrow was given to the Scots in Sir N. Malbies time."

Bingham arrived in Dublin two days later, and found that the decision of the Commission was in favour of the legitimacy of the claimant. Writing to Lord Burghley, announcing this fact, he says :—

"I take it a great piece of injury offered to Her Majesty that neither Her Highness Chief Commissioner, her justice or her attorney for that province, were either all or some of them on that Commission. Yet as it pleased Her Grace to hear my opinion touching the requisiteness and necessity for the house of Sligo to be kept to Her Highnes's use (which being but a small thing cannot be greatly prejudicial to the living of Donnough Mac Cahil Oge), to whom Her Highness may give a greater portion of land or castle as a recompense either in the