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CHAPTER XXXIV.
LAST YEARS OF SIDNEY’S ADMINISTRATION, 1577 and 1578

Lord Chancellor Gerard on the Pale

The letters of Lord Chancellor Gerard give a vivid picture of the state of the Pale during the controversy about cess. He divides the inhabitants into three classes – gentlemen, idlemen, and churls. Every gentleman kept a number of idle hangers-on, who sponged upon the poor cultivators, and robbed openly when refused free quarters. Their nominal master gave them neither food nor clothes but merely countenance, in return for which they were always ready to avenge his real or fancied injuries. These locusts ate up all the scanty surplus which was left to the poor cultivator. Remonstrance was vain, and perhaps the landowners had really not much choice. ‘I will not put away my thieves,’ a gentleman would argue, ‘for then such a one’s thieves would rob me; let him put away his, and I will put away mine.’ The vicious circle was hard to break, for the Government was not strong or steady enough to repress all impartially. The judges went circuit with little effect, for the juries ‘more regard whether any of the parties are of kin or allied to the justice or of the sept of the justice, or counsellor, than to the matter, and that way commonly passeth the verdict.’ Nor was there much outward magnificence to hide the inherent defects in such a judicial system. At Trim the Court of Assize was like an English cattle-pen; there was no crier, no trumpeters or javelin-men to hedge the sheriff’s dignity, and no competent officer to see that indictments were properly drawn or prisoners duly arraigned. That a desire for justice existed was shown by the conduct of a Meath grand jury, whose members were of very humble position, but who took heart at the Chancellor’s visit, and, believing that right would at last be done, found bills against above 100 of the local oppressors for retaining idle followers.

Gerard’s scheme for governing Ireland

Important causes, in Gerard’s opinion, were better removed into the Chancery or Star Chamber, but the thieves might be dealt with by the hangman provided the assizes were a little better conducted. English judges were much wanted to secure something like impartiality. Gerard had sixteen years’ Welsh experience, and he saw no reason why the policy which had succeeded there should not succeed in Ireland. The Lord Deputy should endeavour to keep the Irish from actual rebellion, and to persuade them to make some contribution to the revenue. Afterwards, on the borders of each county, English judges might ‘deliver justice with such severity as the poor fleas may have yearly comfort to be delivered from the webs and oppression of the great spiders, … and so by little and little to stretch the Pale further, thereby to hit the mark long shot at, and hitherto missed, which is to save the revenue of England and bring somewhat from hence.’

The Irish to be civilised or extirpated

Hitherto the prevailing policy had been to keep English and Irish from hurting each other, and the more successful it had been the more harm it had done. The peasants of the Pale were all Irish. They propagated their species with perfect recklessness, and it was therefore useless to expect any increased civilisation. Even in Dublin people of English race delighted in talking Irish, and habits and feelings always followed the language. It might be possible to civilise some of the Irish: the rest should be extirpated, and English farmers with good leases and moderate rents substituted for them. From this nucleus the Celtic wilderness might be gradually reclaimed. In the meantime, the prisons were few and insecure. There were no pounds. The mountains everywhere harboured thieves, and they came within four miles of Dublin. Cattle were not safe in the fields, even at the very gates. But it had once been no better in Montgomery and Radnor, in Brecknock and Monmouth. There also it had been necessary to fold the flocks securely at night until the twenty-sixth year of Henry VIII., when Wales was fully reduced to shire ground and the Presidency Court made a reality by hanging the mountain thieves instead of allowing the Lord Marchers to traffic in pardons. Dublin county might be made as quiet as Monmouthshire if compositions for crimes were sternly abolished and if successive Lord Deputies would ‘work hanging instead of agreeing to recompense felonious offences.’³⁴²

Drury’s opinions

White, the Master of the Rolls, who hated Sidney and did not like English officials generally, and who ostentatiously put his trust in Burghley rather than in Walsingham, reported that Munster was quiet, but that the Lord President gained little love by burdening the people with cess. Drury argued that this quiet was owing entirely to the just severity with which he ruled, having, as he oddly expresses it, executed ‘divers malefactors of good account.’ As for the cess, money must be had somehow, for he had been forced to spend largely on the repair of Limerick Castle. Cork was without stores, and a foreign invasion might be expected at any moment; for the intrigues of James Fitzmaurice were no secret. Lord Barry compounded for an annual payment of 150l., and MacCarthy Reagh for 250l., but in many cases no agreement could be come to, and the uncertainty of all titles made financial reform almost desperate. Rents were as uncertain as titles, and landlords and tenants distrusted each other profoundly. But firmness had its usual effect, and the stout old soldier saw signs of increasing conformity among his subjects of all ranks.³⁴³

Desmond offers to submit, 1577

Desmond, the common oppressor of all, complained loudly that the soldiers ill-treated his tenants, and exacted cess, both in money and in kind; that he and his were much the poorer, and that the Queen was never a penny the richer. This complaint was made directly to Burghley without complaining to the Lord President, a breach of decorum for which the Earl received a rebuke. The English Council with becoming gravity told Drury to make strict inquiry, but they knew, and every officer in Ireland knew, that ill-paid soldiers could not be kept in proper order. A loan of 500l. for the Munster service was refused by the Queen, and the President warned her that she would be put to greater expense by her refusal. He begged for a galley to cruise on the coast, and like the stout-hearted man he was he went on doing his best with scanty means and not very much thanks. Sir John of Desmond, being suspected of complicity with the Connaught rebels, was arrested, whereupon the Earl retired into Kerry, refused to go to the Deputy or President, ordered his dependents to pay no taxes, and collected a force which soon swelled to 1,000 men; professing all the time to consider his own life in danger. Sir James, with 200 foot and some horse, levied contributions in Duhallow, while Drury, besides his own servants, had but 100 available troopers. The summer passed away thus, and the winter was half over before Desmond made up his mind that he was in no danger. He agreed to disperse all his forces except twenty horsemen, and to pay something towards the expenses of the province. Having several times refused to come to the President, he came to Kilkenny at Sidney’s first summons, was reconciled to Drury, with whom he had not been on speaking terms, and promised to support him as the Queen’s chief officer should be supported. Sidney knew his mistress, and he advised the acceptance of these terms. Drury was forced to submit, very much against his own judgment; for Desmond, in his view, was the one great obstacle to law and order. The habit, he said, of easily pardoning great offenders, ‘which both now and heretofore being used hath been the common gall to the good government of the province, and the greatest encouragement that may be to such as transgress, … which kind of precarium imperium is in my judgment the unfittest way to a perfect reformation.’³⁴⁴

Drury’s efforts to divide Munster from Connaught

That there had been intrigues between the Desmonds and the Connaught rebels was probably true enough. An alliance was even contemplated between Lady Mary Burke and Sir John of Desmond. Both were already married, but matrimonial ties were lightly regarded in the Clanricarde family, and Sir John was not the man to let principle stand in the way of interest. By keeping the Government constantly occupied the Western gentlemen hoped to prevent administrative reform, and there was always the off chance of a foreign invasion, which might restore their waning importance. Religion went for something, but probably not yet for much. In order to cut off communications between Connaught and Munster, Drury paid particular attention to Thomond, where the Earl, a vain and vacillating man, who could do little harm and might be of some use, made loyal professions, and received nearly all the privileges he asked for, though he afterwards complained that a new tax was nevertheless imposed on his country. His experience of foreign Courts had not been so pleasant as to tempt him to fresh adventures. Very different treatment was awarded to Murrough O’Brien, noted as the best horseman in Ireland, a great favourite with Desmond and other disorderly persons, and proportionately feared by the lovers of peace. He had been engaged in Fitzmaurice’s old rebellion, and was suspected of plotting a new one. His outrages were many, and a verdict was easily obtained at Limerick. ‘300l. was offered for his life, and more would have been given, but 3,000l. should not have saved him; … his death was far better than his life, and he confessed he had deserved death.’³⁴⁵

Maltby punishes the Clanricarde rebels. His opinion

Great severities

While Drury was occupied, Maltby, much to Sidney’s satisfaction, had taken up the military command of Connaught. Clanricarde was already a prisoner; O’Connor Roe yielded at the first summons; and there were only the Earl’s two sons to deal with. They were given eight days to consider whether they would submit absolutely or no. When that time had elapsed they asked for further delay, which Maltby granted, partly because his own preparations were not made. The rebels made loyal professions, ‘taking God to witness that they had no intent to do anything more that should purchase her Majesty’s further indignation.’ This was done only to put the Governor off his guard, and a treacherous attack was made on one of his detachments, in which a few men were killed and two officers captured. The rest escaped to the castles of some well-affected gentlemen, and Maltby lost no time in entering the mountains. John Burke’s district was the first attacked. All houses and corn were burned, and every human being the soldiers met was killed. ‘I spared,’ says Maltby, ‘neither old nor young.’ Ulick’s district was then visited, and a strong castle reduced after two days’ sap. ‘I put them to the misericordia of the soldiers, who had lost their lieutenant. They were all slain to the number of twenty-two, all tall men, who were at the murder of the horsemen.’ Another fruitless attempt was then made at negotiation, but Maltby saw the object was to gain time, and Ulick’s followers were treated like John’s. Everything that would burn was burned, both in plain and mountain, and every person met with was killed. Protection for five weeks was afterwards granted that the crops might be sown; how seed was obtained it is not easy to understand. After this tremendous lesson Connaught was quiet, and Maltby was free for a time to practise the Roman theory of government as expounded by Virgil. By Sidney’s order he had a conference with Drury, and they agreed that with a little trouble the two provinces, ‘being ragged countries as we found them,’ might be brought into order. The greatest obstacle was the uncertainty prevailing as to Clanricarde’s fate, and it was evident that John Burke would break out again whenever he had the power. In the meantime strict military discipline was maintained, and Maltby found that his soldiers, who were chiefly Irishmen and but lately open enemies, became nearly as good as a general could desire. ‘Travail, industry, and plain-dealing,’ he said, ‘doth prevail over the people… He that will not hazard some limbs in these services or that standeth doubtful of everything shall prevail little in this land… To do good among this rude nation they must be applied well, and plausible dealing doth prevail much in some of them and in others rigour doth no hurt, so as every of them must be used in their conditions. They be a people that do now seek much unto the administration of justice, and do greatly seem to covet it, which God willing they shall not want with the best advice I can give them. They are grown into a great good liking of the Government, and do use more familiarity towards us than they were wont to do, for commonly I do never stay any of them that cometh unto me, be he good or bad, but such of them as are taken by the officers if they be found faulty to cast off the same; and few of them do escape my hands. The rest do very well allow of it.’³⁴⁶

Rory Oge O’More, 1571 to 1578

During his last term of office Sidney had much trouble with Rory Oge O’More, who still claimed the ancient chiefry of Leix. In 1571 and 1572 Rory had been at the head of a band which fluctuated between 80 and 240 swords, and had succeeded in defying all Fitzwilliam’s efforts. Arrangements were made to surround him. Kildare and Ormonde were commissioned to hunt him with all their forces, and the latter delayed a journey to England rather than leave the task unfinished. O’More was brought to make a formal and somewhat humble submission and to give hostages, of which Feagh MacHugh O’Byrne was one; but Fitzwilliam, who knew Ireland too well to be sanguine, was of opinion that the hanging of a pledge or two would not prevent Irishmen from breaking out whenever it happened to suit them. Rory was spoiling the Pale again within four months, and in the spring of 1573 the Lord Deputy pronounced him worse than ever. He submitted again the same year, and a few days afterwards gave important help to Desmond in his escape from Dublin. When that turbulent personage found himself safe in Munster, Rory Oge was one of the outlaws whom he adjured to stand firm. Kildare was also accused of plotting with him, and this charge was never fully cleared up.³⁴⁷

Rory Oge submits,

The arrival of Sidney in Ireland was always understood by the Irish as a sign of what modern politicians call vigour, and Rory Oge, among others, thought it wise to make his peace. ‘He came unto me,’ wrote Sidney, ‘on the Earl of Ormonde’s word, and in the cathedral of Kilkenny submitted himself, repenting (as he said) his former faults, and promising hereafter to live in better sort (for worse than he hath been he cannot be), for by him and his the greatest spoil and disorders have been committed upon the Queen’s County and the Pale. I accepted him upon treaty, and trial of amendment till my return… I have given him warning, and will keep touch with him if I can.’³⁴⁸

but soon breaks out again, and burns Naas, 1576

For a year or more Rory seems to have kept pretty quiet; but the rumour of a Spanish invasion and the exhortations of John Burke were too much for his prudence, and the dispute about the cess laid the Pale unusually open to attack. Allying himself as of old with Connor MacCormac, who stood in the same relation to the remnant of the O’Connors as he himself did to the O’Mores, he was soon at the head of 140 men and boys. On the night of March 3, 1577, Rory and his ally brought their band to Naas, and entered the town, which they found unprepared. Their men had no muskets, but were armed with torches stuck upon long poles, with which, ‘like hags and furies of hell,’ they rushed through the street, setting fire to the low thatched houses on either side; and they were gone again within half an hour. The night was windy, the March weather had dried the thatch, and the whole place was burned to the ground in a few minutes. ‘There were,’ says Sidney, ‘about 500 men’s bodies in the town, manlike enough in appearance, but neither manful nor wakeful, for they confess they were all asleep in their beds after they had filled themselves and surfeited upon Patron Day, which day is celebrated for the most part of the people of this country birth with gluttony and idolatry as far as they dare. They had neither watch nor gate shut; … the town is open on all sides, and without soldiers, yet how unwilling to bear any charge for their own defence.’ Rory Oge, says Hooker, ‘tarried very little in the town saving that he sat a little while upon the cross in the market-place,’ and feasted his eyes with the flames. None of the townsmen were killed.³⁴⁹

Rory captures English officers. Escapes capture, 1577 and 1578

After this exploit Rory’s force increased rapidly, and he attacked Leighlin Bridge, of which Sir Peter Carew the younger was constable, but which was actually in charge of his famous brother George, who here performed his first noteworthy service. Half the town was already burned when Carew, at the head of only seven horsemen and five musketeers, boldly sallied out against the enemy, who were between 200 and 300. Surprised in the darkness, they fled, but soon recovered, and some of them actually entered the castle. Carew managed to shut the gates, and his assailants, having suffered considerably, departed without doing any further harm. The Devonshire captain lost only two soldiers and one horse, but not a single one of his men escaped unwounded. Soon after this Captain Harrington and Alexander Cosby, son of the Captain of Leix, were taken prisoners, treacherously enough, according to the English accounts, by Rory, and carried about by him in triumph. If Cosby was, as some accounts say, an actor in the Mullaghmast tragedy, he deserved nothing better, but in this kind of warfare it is to be feared that breaches of faith were common enough on both sides. All attempts to catch Rory had hitherto been vain, and Sidney was forced to temporise for the sake of the prisoners. Robert Hartpole, who was used to this kind of service, and who had probably many friends among the country people, brought fifty soldiers to a cabin at the side of a wood, where he heard that the outlaw and his prisoners were to sleep. Finding himself in a trap, Rory tried to kill Harrington by slashing at him with his sword. He fractured his skull, broke his arm, and cut off one of his fingers; but Harrington recovered from these and other injuries. Rory had his shirt cut off by a sword, but managed to creep away between the soldiers’ legs, and reached the covert with a single companion. The cabin was on the very edge of the bush. The prisoners were rescued, and sixteen people, including all the men in the house, were killed. Rory’s wife was also killed, but one woman at least, a sister of Feagh MacHugh, was spared. Connor MacCormac was perhaps not present, for he afterwards made his peace with the Government and received a pension. Letters implicating John Burke and others were found in the house.³⁵⁰

Sidney in Kilkenny and Tipperary

Harrington’s capture gave much encouragement to discontented persons, and the Lord Deputy determined, as he expressed it, to attempt Rory’s suppression by plaguing his maintainers. He went to Kilkenny on Christmas Eve, accompanied only by Sir Lucas Dillon, and found, as he expected, that the rebel had plenty of friends high and low in the town. The time from Christmas to Twelfth Day was spent in investigating the matter, and so abundant was the evidence that it would have taken till Easter to hear it all. Tipperary enjoyed comparative immunity from the operations of Government, and Rory Oge’s children were fostered among Ormonde’s principal tenants and officers. Fulke Grace, the Earl’s constable at Roscrea, had refused to let Drury enter the castle until he had promised him protection, and he now refused to come to Sidney himself when sent for. All this and a great deal more was sworn to, but ‘such partiality and affectionate dealing were found in the juries, as were the matter never so plain, the evidence never so full, if it touched any of their friends, and namely, the tenants and servants of the Earl of Ormonde, no indictment would be found – no, though the party made submission and confessed the fault; if the matter touched any of Ossory, were the evidence never so weak, the jury would find it.’ The jurors were bound to appear before the Star Chamber, and the Lord Deputy returned to Dublin without catching Rory Oge.³⁵¹

Rory is killed by the Fitzpatricks, 1578

After his narrow escape, Rory was soon at the head of a band, and burning villages as busily as ever. He entered Carlow through one of many breaches in the wall, and fired all the thatched houses, but in retiring he was attacked by Cosby or Hartpole at a ford, and suffered great loss. But here again he himself escaped, so that even Sidney thought he bore a charmed life and talked of ‘sorcery or enchantment (if it be lawful so to deem).’ In the end the fatal snare was of his own laying. In order to entrap the Baron of Upper Ossory he sent a spy to tell him, as if of his own accord, that Rory had gathered a great spoil of ‘pots, pans, pewter, nappery, linen, and other household stuff and implements’ – a strange bait for King Edward’s old playfellow – and that it might all be easily seized. The emissary was instructed to insist on a small force only being sent: a larger one would attract attention and defeat the scheme. The Baron hardly knew what to believe, but decided not to lose the chance. He brought a strong force to the appointed place, but kept aloof himself with the main body, and sent about thirty men into the wood. Rory also kept back the bulk of his followers, but showed himself, under the impression that the Fitzpatricks would not face so renowned a champion; ‘wherein,’ says Sidney, ‘he found himself very much deceived.’ The Baron’s kerne set upon him stoutly, and he fell pierced by many mortal wounds. His brother-in-law, Feagh MacHugh, swore to avenge him, and kept his word. Maltby called Rory the Robin Hood of Ireland, and the Queen’s approbation was conveyed to Lord Upper Ossory. Rory’s followers carried off his body, but the head was afterwards sent to Sidney and duly set up on Dublin Castle – the Lord Deputy afterwards complaining bitterly that the Queen made light of the service, being persuaded that it was as easy to kill such a rogue as Rory Oge as to kill ‘mad George, the keeper of the Queen’s Court.’ The Connaught annalists more correctly record ‘that there was not in Erin a greater destroyer against foreigners than that man; and he was a very great loss.’³⁵²

Government of Drury

Drury, being relieved for a moment from danger on the side of Desmond, was able to turn his attention to the disturbers of Leinster. At Limerick he hanged Rory Oge’s Brehon, who was much esteemed among the people; for the President it was enough that he practised only such law as was repugnant to her Majesty. One of Rory’s sons, accompanied by his nurse, was taken in a wood near Roscrea. Drury also found time for a not inconsiderable number of hangings, and reported with complacency that 400 had been executed by justice and martial law since he took office. At Clonmel a man was pressed to death. A sharp eye was kept on all arrivals from abroad, and a friar, fresh from Portugal, was hanged in his cowl at Limerick. The President was able to say that he had been the first to appoint English sheriffs in Thomond and Desmond. Justice, in his opinion, was liked by the people, and her Majesty’s revenues were much increased thereby.³⁵³

The Queen finds Sidney too expensive

The affairs of the Netherlands had now become pressingly important, and Queen Elizabeth was forced to provide material help for the patriotic party. Scarcely had she made up her mind to back their bills to the extent of 100,000l. and to send 6,000 men to the provinces, than the victory gained at Gemblours by Don John of Austria, or rather by Alexander Farnese, seemed for a moment to place William of Orange in a desperate position. The Queen saw that her help would really be wanted, and war, even clandestine war, required a great deal of money. Sidney was not a cheap Lord Deputy, and there were plenty of people at Court to tell the Queen that he had exceeded the 20,000l. which had been mentioned as the annual expense of his government. Ormonde was at Elizabeth’s side, and Ormonde’s influence was always directed against Leicester and his brother-in-law. It was at first proposed to recall the Lord Deputy in a peremptory manner. But Walsingham and Wilson, and probably Burghley also, worked in Sidney’s interest, and Elizabeth’s better nature prevailed over her love of money and her ill-temper towards a faithful servant who treated her somewhat too like an equal. It was suggested that Sidney should be left alone until he himself asked to be relieved, and then for a time judgment was suspended until Lord Chancellor Gerard should be heard on the question of cess and on the state of Ireland generally.³⁵⁴

Sir Philip Sidney’s advice to his father

At last the Queen made up her mind that, whatever might be done by another Deputy, the present one would never consent to govern as cheaply as she wished. Walsingham privately informed Sidney that he was to be recalled, but that to save his credit he would be summoned as if for a short visit to Court for the purpose of explaining accounts and other knotty matters. The wily secretary advised his friend to put his affairs in order as soon as possible, and to be ready for any emergency. At last the summons was sent. The Queen announced that proposals for a more economical establishment had been made to her, and that before giving her decision she wished to see the Deputy, who was to bring with him the auditor and his books. Five thousand pounds were sent to keep things going until Midsummer, and out of this Sidney was to pay the soldiers. This letter, which ordered the Lord Deputy to be at Court by May 10, was more than a month on the road, and did not reach Dublin till April 23. Literal compliance was therefore impossible, and the advice which Sidney received from his son was not to leave Ireland till Michaelmas, so that his enemies might not have to say that they had driven him away. ‘Your lordship is to write back,’ said the young diplomatist, ‘not as though you desired to tarry, but only showing that unwillingly you must employ some days thereabouts; and if it please you to add that the Chancellor’s presence shall be requisite… and then the more time passes the better it will be blown over.’³⁵⁵

Sidney’s last days in Ireland

Sidney took the advice of his famous son, delaying his return till September, but sending over Waterhouse at once with such instructions as were likely to smooth his path. The Queen was reminded that the cess question was not yet fully settled, that the auditor’s books could not be posted in a minute, that a foreign invasion was at hand, that there were many unfinished causes scarcely fit to be entrusted to a new hand, and that her Majesty owed her Deputy 3,000l., for which he held the Treasurer’s warrant. If anything could make Elizabeth acquiesce in the neglect of her orders it was an allusion to the 3,000l., and she allowed Sidney to stay where he was until he had an opportunity of conferring with Gerard. Sir William Drury was nominated Lord Justice to take up the government as soon as it should be vacant. Rory Oge was disposed of soon after this, and a branch of the Scottish MacDonnells, long settled at Tinnakill, in the Queen’s County, received a pension of 300l. a year in consideration of giving the Queen constant service as gallowglass. In the meantime the MacMahons had broken out, and driven off cattle from the Northern frontier of the Pale. Lord Louth followed with a few horsemen, and falling into an ambuscade was himself slain, as well as the eldest son of the loyal Sir Hugh Magennis. The loss of an active and thoroughly well-affected young lord of twenty-three could not be passed over, and Sidney invaded Monaghan, destroying everything that he could lay hands on. MacMahon came to Newry with a withe about his neck and sued for pardon; but Sidney had by that time left Ireland.³⁵⁶

He leaves Ireland finally

Gerard was detained in Wales by illness, and Sidney sent first Attorney-General Snagg, and afterwards Ludovic Briskett, Clerk of the Council, to keep his cause alive at Court. Men, money, victuals, and munition were required, for there was talk of a descent by Stukeley, and the Lord Deputy wished to hold a Parliament to renew the subsidy of 13s. 4d. on each ploughland which had expired, and to renew the Act imposing a duty on wines, which was about to expire. But all eyes and ears were now turned to the Netherlands, and Waterhouse wrote to warn Sidney that he would get nothing except perhaps ammunition, and that the money last sent was regretted. ‘Irish alarms,’ he said, ‘are so far from waking courtiers out of their sleep that, as I am sure, till they hear that the enemy is landed, they will never think of aid that may carry with it extraordinary charge. There is now no speech of the return of the Earls of Ormonde and Kildare… The States have made John Norris general, &c.’ Thus matters stood when the Irish Chancellor arrived in Dublin; and no time was then lost in completing the arrangements about cess. An assembly of notables was convened from Dublin, Meath, Louth, Kildare, King’s and Queen’s Counties, Carlow, Wexford, Kilkenny, and Tipperary, and the agreement already referred to was thus made. Sidney at this time took a strong dislike to Gerard, whom he accused of ambitious dealing and of plotting against him at Court. ‘He did not let to say that he had brought over such warrants for himself and restraint for me as I could do nothing without him,’ and he was accused of boasting that Ireland should be governed with a white rod when Drury ruled by his direction.³⁵⁷