CHAPTER XXXIV.

REIGN OF ELIZABETH-CONTINUED.

Affairs of Ulster.-Hugh, earl of Tyrone-His visit to Elizabeth-His growing power-Complaints against him.-Sir Hugh O'Donnell.-Capture of Hugh Roe O'Donnell; cunning device.-Sir William Fitz William, lord deputy.-The Spanish armada-The wrecks on the Irish coast.-Disappointed avarice of the lord deputy-He oppresses the Irish chiefs-Murders MacMahon.Hugh Geimhleach hanged by Hugh O'Neill, who then revisits London, excuses himself to Elizabeth, and signs terms of agreement.-O'Neill returns to Ireland, and refuses to give his sureties until the government should fulfil its engagements.-Hugh Roe's first escape from Dublin Castle and his recapture.-Fresh charges against Hugh O'Neill-He carries off and marries the sister of Marshal Bagnal.-Brian O'Rourke hanged in London.-Hugh Roe's second escapeAffecting incidents-His adventures and return to Tirconnell-Drives off an English party-His father's abdication and his own election as chieftain-He assails Turlough Luineach, and compels him to resign the chieftaincy of Tyrone to Hugh O'Neill.—An English sheriff hunted out of Fermanagh.-Rebellion of Maguire-Enniskillen taken by the English-Irish victory at the Ford of the Biscuits, and recapture of Enniskillen.-Sir William Russell lord deputy.-Hugh O'Neill visits Dublin-Bagnal's charges against him-Vindication of his policy.-Fiagh Mac Hugh O'Byrne and Walter Riavagh FitzGerald.-Arrival of Sir John Norris.-Hugh O'Neill rises in arms-Takes the Blackwater Fort.-Protracted negotiations.-War in Connaught; successes of O'Donnell-Bingham foiled at Sligo, and retreats.-Differences between Norris and the deputy.-Bingham disgraced and recalled.-Fresh promises from Spain.-Interesting events in Connaught. Proceedings of the Leinster insurgents.—Ormond appointed lord lieutenant.—Last truce with O'Neill.-Hostilities resumed in Ulster.-Desperate plight of the government.-Great Irish victory of the Yellow Ford.-Ormond repulsed in Leix.-War resumed in Munster, &c.

[FROM A.D. 1587 To A.D. 1599.]

YMPTOMS of approaching storm were now (1587) visible in Ulster, where the exactions and oppression of the English sheriffs excited wide-spread disaffection. Turlough Luineach had become old and feeble, and enjoyed little influence in his sept. On the other hand, Hugh O'Neill, the son of Mathew, was daily advancing in power and popularity. Like Turlough he had been hitherto distinguished for his loyalty. He had, as it were, a hereditary claim to the support of the English government; and in return he had given the aid of his sword, and had fought under the English standard in the Geraldine war; but his valour and military habits inspired his countrymen with confidence and respect; he was in the vigor of his age, and was ooked to naturally as the successor to the chieftaincy of Tyrone.

In

the parliament of 1585 he took his seat as baron of Dungannon; and ere the proceedings had terminated obtained the title of earl of Tyrone, in virtue of the grants made to his grandfather, Con Bacagh, and to his father, by Henry VIII.; but on the question of the inheritance annexed to the earldom he was referred to the queen. He accordingly repaired to England, carrying the warmest recommendations from the lord deputy, Sir John Perrott; and he gained the good graces of Elizabeth so effectually, by his courtly manners, and his skill in flattering her vanity, that she sent him back with letters patent under the great seal, granting him the earldom and inheritance in the amplest manner. He was, however, required to define clearly the bounds of Tyrone; to set apart 240 acres on the banks of the Blackwater for the erection of an English fort; to exercise no authority over the neighbouring chieftains; and to make sufficient provision for the sons of Shane O'Neill and Turlough Luineach-Turlough himself continuing, for the remainder of his life, to enjoy the title of Irish chieftain of Tyrone, with right of superiority over Maguire and O'Cahane, or O'Kane. On his return Hugh was received with enthusiasm by his countrymen, and the confidence reposed in him by government was such that his proposal to keep up a standing force of six companies of well-trained soldiers, to preserve the peace of the north, was gladly accepted; a step which proved to be incautious on the part of the English authorities.

With such power thrown into his hands, both by Irish and English, and with all the traditions of his ancient race, and all the wrongs of his oppressed country before him, it was not to be expected that Hugh O'Neill would quietly sink into the subservient minister of his country's foreign masters; or, that he would stifle every impulse of hereditary ambition within him. Such a course would have been revolting to his aspiring nature. From time to time complaints reached government from minor chiefs, over whom Hugh soon began to extend his power. Turlough and the sons of Shane-an-Diomais appealed against him. He kept up amicable relations with the Ulster Scots, and secured the friendship of the powerful and hitherto hostile sept of O'Cahane by giving them the fosterage of his son. All these circumstances caused uneasiness to the government of the Pale, which had suffered a considerable diminu tion of strength by the withdrawal of a thousand soldiers from Ireland to serve the queen in the low countries, at the close of 1586. The chief of Tirconnell, hitherto steadfast in his allegiance, also exhibited a grow ing spirit of independence which was sufficiently alarming. There was an intimacy between him and Hugh O'Neill which boded no good for

VICEREGAL KIDNAPPING.

439

the English. The earl of Tyrone had married a daughter of Sir Hugh O'Donnell, and the families were drawn together by friendly ties. O'Donnell refused to admit an English sheriff into his territory, and the traffic carried on between his remote coasts and those of Spain established relations between the countries not at all satisfactory to the English authorities.

The course which the government adopted under these circumstances was as extraordinary as it was infamous. It was known that Hugh Roe, or the "red," the eldest son of Sir Hugh O'Donnell, was a youth of rare abilities, and aspiring mind; and it was resolved that by some means the council should get possession of this boy as a hostage. To accomplish this openly would, however, require a large army, and rouse the northern chiefs to resistance, and Sir John Perrott proposed a plan by which such danger and expense would be avoided. How the act of treachery, which he suggested, is to be reconciled with his general character for partiality to the old Irish race seems puzzling; but he may have thought that a plan which avoided bloodshed, though not the most honorable, was the most humane means of attaining the end that had been resolved on.

A vessel laden with Spanish wines was sent round from Dublin to the coast of Donegal, on the pretence of traffic, and of having come direct from Spain. The commander was one John Bermingham, a Dublin merchant, and the crew consisted of fifty armed men. The ship arrived with a favorable wind in Lough Swilly, and anchored opposite Rathmullen, a castle built by Mac Sweeny of Fanad, one of O'Donnell's commanders of gallowglasses; it being previously ascertained that Hugh Roe was not far off with his foster-father, Mac Sweeny-na-tuath. A party of the sailors landed, and while they pretended to sell their wine they took care to explore the country. The neighbouring people flocked to the shore; abundance of the liquor was distributed among them; and when Hugh Roe came to Mac Sweeny's castle, and his host sent to the ship for wine, it was answered that none remained for sale, but that if a few gentlemen came on board all that was left would be willingly given to them. The unsuspecting Irish chiefs fell into the snare. Hugh Roe, then scarcely fifteen years of age, with Mac Sweeny and his party, proceeded in a small boat to the ship, were ushered into the cabin, and served with wine until they became, as the annalists tell us, "jolly and cheerful;" then their arms were stealthily removed, the hatches closed down, the cable cut, and the prize secured. An alarm was instantly raised, and the people crowded from all quarters to the beach, but the ship was in deep water, and there were no boats by which she could

be attacked. Young Hugh's foster-father rushed to the shore, and offered any ransom, but none of course would be accepted. The guests who were not required were put ashore, and the ship sailed for Dublin, where the young scion of the house of O'Donnell was safely lodged in Bermingham tower, along with several other state prisoners of the Milesian and old English races already confined there.*

A.D. 1588.—Hugh, earl of Tyrone, led an army, at the close of April, against Turlough Luineach O'Neill, and encamped at Corricklea, between the rivers Finn and Mourne. Sir Hugh O'Donnell joined his son-in-law, the earl, while the family of Sir Hugh's brother, Calvagh, took the side of Turlough, who was also supported by auxiliaries from Connaught, and by Hugh O'Gallagher. A battle, in which the earl was defeated, was fought between them on the first of May. In the meantime the importunities of Sir John Perrott to be relieved from his charge in Ireland were at length listened to. His enemies had become insupportable, and he was brow-beaten at the council-board by subordinates.† On the 30th of June he was succeeded by Sir William FitzWilliam-a mau of a cruel and sordid disposition, without any redeeming quality in his character-who had already filled the office of lord justice more than once.

The preparations that had been making, for some time, in Spain, for a descent on the English coasts, had excited much of hope and of fear among the different classes of the population in this country. The abortive result is familiar to the world. Scattered by the winds of heaven, the "invincible armada" made this year memorable by the example which it afforded of one of man's proudest efforts collapsing into nothingness. Many of the ships were wrecked on the coast of Ireland in September, and their crews, too frequently, only escaped from the dangers of the deep to fall into the hands of the queen's officers, by whom they were executed without mercy. The ruling passion of the

These particulars are from the Four Masters, who abstracted the account from the life of Hugh Roe O'Donnell, written by Cuchory, or Peregrine O'Clery, one of themselves, and preserved in the library of the Royal Irish Academy.

† See in Ware's annals, under A.D. 1587, an account of an altercation between the lord depu☛ and Sir Nicholas Bagnal, the marshal; Perrott was in the habit of saying that he could please th Irish better than the English. Many of the former lamented his departure; and old Turloug Luineach, who accompanied him to the water's side, wept in taking leave. See Ware.

The loss of the Spanish armada, on the coast of Ireland, according to Thady Dowling, 17 ships and 5,394 men-the numbers generally given by historians; but it appears from a doc ment in the State Paper Office, London, signed by Geoffry Fenton, the Irish secretary of state, that the total numbers were 18 ships and 6,194 men, viz. :-in Lough Foyle, 1 ship and 1,108 mes; Sligo, 3 ships and 1,500 men; in Tirawley, 1 ship and 400 men; on Clare Island, 1 ship 800 men; “in Fynglasse, O'Male's country," 1 ship and 400 men; in O'Flaherty's country, 1s and 200 men; in the Shannon, 2 ships and 600 men; at Tralee, 1 ship and 24 meu; at Din 1 ship and 500 men; in Desmond, 1 ship and 300 men; in Erris, 2 ships, no men lost, these b

new deputy was avarice, and unfortunately for the Spanish sailors, and for the Irish on whose shores they were cast away, rumour attributed to the former the possession of fabulous treasures. A thousand Spaniards, under an officer named Antonio de Léva, found refuge with O'Rourke and Mac Sweeny-na-tuath, the foster-father of young O'Donnell, and were urged to commence hostilities, but their instructions did not apply to such a contingency, and they determined on returning for orders to Spain. For this purpose they re-embarked, but a fresh storm arose, and the ship, with all on board, went down within sight of the Irish coast. A commission was issued by FitzWilliam to search for the treasure which these Spaniards were supposed to have brought, but none, of course, could be found, and the deputy, not content with this result, resolved to visit the locality himself "in hopes to finger some of it,” as Ware tells us. He was accompanied by Bingham, and laid waste the territories of the Irish chiefs who had harboured the strangers. O'Rourke escaped to Scotland, but was delivered up to Elizabeth, and subsequently executed in London; and FitzWilliam, disappointed in his search for Spanish gold, carried off John Oge O'Doherty and Sir John Mac Tuathal O'Gallagher, "two of the most loyal subjects in Ulster," and threw them into prison in Dublin castle. The latter died from the rigor of his imprisonment, and the former remained two years in captivity, and owed his liberation, in the end, to the payment of a large bribe to the corrupt viceroy.

A.D. 1589.-That the hatred and distrust of the Irish towards the English government were kept alive by such oppressive acts as these cannot be a matter of wonder; but at every step, as we proceed, we meet similar outrages. A very remarkable and atrocious instance occurred this year. Rossa MacMahon, chief of Monaghan, having abandoned the principle of tanistry, and taken a re-grant of his territory from Elizabeth, by English tenure, died without issue male, and his brother, Hugh Roe MacMahon, went to Dublin to be settled in the inheritance as his

taken into other vessels; in "Shannan, 1 burnt, none lost, because the men were likewise embarked In other shipps"; in "Gallway Haven, 1 shipp which escaped and left prisoners, 70"; "drowned and sunk in the N. W. sea of Scotland, as appeareth by the confession of the Spanish prisoners, (but iu truth they were lost in Ireland,) 1 shipp, called St. Mathew, 500 tons, men 450; one of Byshey of St. Sebastian's, 400 tons, men 350: total of shipps, 18: men 6,194."-(See Four Masters, vol. v., p. 1870, n.) "The Spaniards cast ashore at Galway" says Dr. Lynch, in the Icon Antistitis, "were doomed to perish; and the Augustinian friars, who served them as chaplains, exhorted them to meet the death-struggle bravely, when they were led out, south of the city, to St. Augustin's hill, then surmounted by a monastery, where they were decapitated. The matrons of Galway piously prepared winding-sheets for the bodies, and we have heard that two of the Spanish sailors escaped lestruction by lurking a long time in Galway, and afterwards got back to their own country."Pii Antis. Icon., edited and translated by the Rev. C. P. Meehan, p. 27, also P. 176.