Part 41 (1/2)
He then narrates the sufferings of the Catholic laity, many of whom he says are reduced to ”extreme poverty and misery;” ”if they have any property, they are doubly persecuted by the avaricious courtiers.” But so many have given a glorious testimony of their faith, he thinks their enemies and persecutors have gained but little. Thus, while one party was rejoicing in their temporal gain, the other was rejoicing in temporal loss; and while the former were preaching liberty of conscience as their creed, the latter were martyrs to it.
Another letter to Rome says: ”2,000 florins are offered for the discovery of a Jesuit, and 1,000 for the discovery of any other priest, or even of the house where he lives. Whenever the servants of any of the clergy are arrested, they are cruelly scourged with whips, until they disclose all that they know about them. Bodies of soldiers are dispersed throughout the country in pursuit of bandits and priests; and all that they seize on, they have the power, by martial law, of hanging without further trial. They enter private house, and execute whom they please, vieing with each other in cruelty. It is difficult to define the precise number of those who are thus put to death. All who are greedy and spend-thrifts, seek to make a prey of the property of Catholics. No doors, walls, no enclosures can stop them in their course. Whatever is for profane use they profess to regard as sacred, and bear it off; and whatever is sacred they seize on to desecrate. Silver cups are called chalices, and gems are designated as _Agnus Deis_: and all are, therefore, carried away. There are already in prison one bishop, one vicar-general, some religious, very many priests, and an immense number of the laity of every cla.s.s and condition. In one city alone five of the aldermen were thrown into prison successively, for refusing to take the nefarious oath of allegiance, on their being nominated to the mayoralty; in another city, no less than thirty were likewise thrust into prison at Easter last, for having approached the holy communion in the Catholic Church.”
The Catholics protested against this treatment in vain. A pet.i.tion was considered an offence, and the pet.i.tioners were sent to gaol for their pains.
In 1611 the Bishop of Down and Connor was executed in Dublin. He had been seized, in 1587, by Perrot, and thrown into prison. He was released in 1593, and, according to Dr. Loftus, he took the oath of supremacy.
This statement, however, is utterly incredible, for he devoted himself to his flock immediately after his release, and continued to administer the sacraments to them at the risk of his life, until June, 1611, when he was again arrested in the act of administering the sacrament of confirmation to a Catholic family. Father O'Luorchain was imprisoned with him, and they were both sentenced and executed together. At the trial the Bishop declared that the oath of spiritual supremacy was impious, and said that his enemies could not thirst more eagerly for his blood than he himself was desirous to shed it for Christ his Redeemer.
This venerable prelate had attained his eightieth year, but he was full of the vigour of saintly heroism. When on the scaffold he asked the executioner to allow him to be the last victim, as he wished to spare Father O'Luorchain the terrible spectacle of his sufferings. But the good priest was not behind the Franciscan bishop in his zeal, and he exclaimed, with a touching grace of courtesy, which the occasion made sublime, that ”it was not fitting for a bishop to be without a priest to attend him, and he would follow him without fear.” And he did follow him, for the Bishop went first to his crown.
There was great difficulty in procuring any one who would carry out the sentence. The executioner fled, and could not be found when he learned on whom he was to do his office. At last an English culprit, under sentence of death, undertook the b.l.o.o.d.y work, on a promise that his own life should be granted as his reward.
Communications with Rome were still as frequent and as intimate as they had ever been since Ireland received the faith at the hands of the great Apostle. To be children of Patrick and children of Rome were convertible terms; and the Holy See watched still more tenderly over this portion of the Church while it was suffering and persecuted. Paul V. wrote a special letter to the Irish Catholics, dated from ”St. Mark's, 22nd of September, 1606,” in which he mourns over their afflictions, commends their marvellous constancy, which he says can only be compared to that of the early Christians, and exhorts them specially to avoid the sin of attending Protestant places of wors.h.i.+p--a compliance to which they were strongly tempted, when even one such act might procure exemption, for a time at least, from severe persecution or death.
On another occasion the same Pontiff writes thus: ”You glory in that faith by which your fathers procured for their country the distinguished appellation of the Island of Saints. Nor have the sufferings which you have endured been allowed to remain unpublished; your fidelity and Christian fort.i.tude have become the subject of universal admiration; and the praise of your name has long since been loudly celebrated in every portion of the Christian world.”[464]
O'Neill and O'Donnell may be justly considered the last of the independent native chieftains. When the latter died in exile, and the former accepted the coronet of an English earl, the glories of the olden days of princes, who held almost regal power, had pa.s.sed away for ever.
The proud t.i.tle of ”the O'Neill” became extinct; his country was made s.h.i.+re ground; he accepted patents, and held his broad acres ”in fee;”
sheriffs were admitted; judges made circuits; king's commissioners took careful note of place, person, and property; and such a system of espionage was established, that Davies boasts, ”it was not only known how people lived and what they do, but it is foreseen what they purpose and intend to do;” which latter species of clairvoyance seems to have been largely practised by those who were waiting until all suspicions were lulled to rest, that they might seize on the property, and imprison the persons of those whose estates they coveted.
In May, 1603, O'Neill had visited London, in company with Mountjoy and Rory O'Donnell. The northern chieftains were graciously received; and it was on this occasion that O'Neill renounced his ancient name for his new t.i.tles. O'Donnell was made Earl of Tyrconnel at the same time. The first sheriffs appointed for Ulster were Sir Edward Pelham and Sir John Davies. The latter has left it on record, as his deliberate opinion, after many years' experience, ”that there is no nation of people under the sun that doth love equal and indifferent justice better than the Irish, or will rest better satisfied with the execution thereof, _although it be against themselves, so that they may have the protection and benefits of the law, when, upon just cause, they do desire it.”_
A plot was now got up to entrap O'Neill and O'Donnell. Their complicity in it has long been questioned, though Dr. O'Donovan appears to think that Moore has almost decided the question against them. Moore's evidence, however, is hardly complete, while there is unquestionable authority which favours the opinion that ”artful Cecil” was intriguing to accomplish their destruction. Curry says, in his _Historical Review_: ”The great possessions of these two devoted Irish princes, proved the cause of their ruin. After the successful issue of the plot-contriving Cecil's gunpowder adventure in England, he turned his inventive thoughts towards this country. A plot to implicate the great northern chieftains was soon set on foot, and finally proved successful. The conspiracy is thus related by a learned English divine, Dr. Anderson, in his _Royal Genealogies_, printed in London, 1736: 'Artful Cecil employed one St.
Lawrence to entrap the Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnel, the Lord Delvin, and other Irish chiefs, into a sham plot, which had no evidence but his.'”
The next movement was to drop an anonymous letter at the door of the council-chamber, mentioning a design, as then in contemplation, for seizing the Castle of Dublin, and murdering the Lord Deputy. No names were mentioned, but it was publicly stated that Government had information in their possession which fixed the guilt of the conspiracy on the Earl of Tyrone. His flight, which took place immediately after, was naturally considered as an acknowledgment of his guilt. It is more probable that the expatriation was prompted by his despair.
The Four Masters give a touching account of their departure, and exclaim: ”Woe to the heart that meditated, woe to the mind that conceived, woe to the council that decided on the project of their setting out on the voyage!” The exiles left Rathmullen on the 14th of September, 1607. O'Neill had been with the Lord Deputy shortly before; and one cannot but suppose that he had then obtained some surmise of premeditated treachery, for he arranged his flight secretly and swiftly, pretending that he was about to visit London. O'Neill was accompanied by his Countess, his three sons, O'Donnell, and other relatives. They first sailed to Normandy, where an attempt was made by the English Government to arrest them, but Henry IV. would not give them up. In Rome they were received as confessors exiled for the faith, and were liberally supported by the Pope and the King of Spain. They all died in a few years after their arrival, and their ashes rest in the Franciscan Church of St. Peter-in-Montorio. Rome was indeed dear to them, but Ireland was still dearer; and the exiled Celt, whether expatriated through force or stern necessity, lives only to long for the old home, or dies weeping for it.
The Red Hand of the O'Neills had hitherto been a powerful protection to Ulster. The attempts ”to plant” there had turned out failures; but now that the chiefs were removed, the people became an easy prey.
O'Dogherty, Chief of Innishowen, was insulted by Sir George Paulett, in a manner which no gentleman could be expected to bear without calling his insulter to account; and the young chieftain took fearful vengeance for the rude blow which he had received from the English sheriff. He got into Culmore Fort at night by stratagem, and then marched to Derry, killed Paulett, ma.s.sacred the garrison, and burned the town. Some other chieftains joined him, and kept up the war until July; when O'Dogherty was killed, and his companions-in-arms imprisoned. Sir Arthur Chichester received his property in return for his suggestions for the plantation of Ulster, of which we must now make brief mention.
There can be little doubt, from Sir Henry Docwra's own account, that O'Dogherty was purposely insulted, and goaded into rebellion. He was the last obstacle to the grand scheme, and he was disposed of. Ulster was now at the mercy of those who chose to accept grants of land; and the grants were made to the highest bidders, or to those who had paid for the favour by previous services. Sir Arthur Chichester evidently considered that he belonged to the latter cla.s.s, for we find him writing[465] at considerable length to the Earl of Northampton, then a ruling member of King James' cabinet, to request that he may be appointed President of Ulster. He commences his epistle by stating how deeply he is indebted to his Lords.h.i.+p for his comfortable and kind letters, and the praise he has given him in public and private. He then bestows an abundant meed of commendation on his justice in return. He next explains his hopes and desires. He declares that he wishes for the Presidency of Ulster, ”more for the service he might there do his Majesty, than for the profit he expects,”--a statement which the Earl no doubt read exactly as it was intended; and he says that he only mentions his case because ”charitie beginnes with myeselfe,” which, indeed, appears to have been the view of that virtue generally taken by all planters and adventurers. He concludes with delicately informing his correspondent, that if he can advance any friend of his in any way he will be most happy to do so. This letter is dated from the ”Castle of Dublin, 7th of February, 1607.” The date should read, according to the change of style, 1608. The Lord Deputy knew well what he was asking for.
During the summer of the preceding year, he had made a careful journey through Ulster, with John Davies; and Carte has well observed, that ”n.o.body knew the territories better to be planted;” and he might have added, that few persons had a clearer eye to their own advantage in the arrangements he made.
[Ill.u.s.tration: CASTLE MONEA, CO. FERMANAGH.]
The plan of the plantation was agreed upon in 1609. It was the old plan which had been attempted before, though with less show of legal arrangement, but with quite the same proportion of legal iniquity. The simple object was to expel the natives, and to extirpate the Catholic religion. The six counties to be planted were Tyrone, Derry, Donegal, Armagh, Fermanagh, and Cavan. These were parcelled out into portions varying from 2,000 to 4,000 acres, and the planters were obliged to build bawns and castles, such as that of Castle Monea, county Fermanagh, of which we subjoin an ill.u.s.tration. Tully Castle[466] was built by Sir John Hume, on his plantation. Both these castles afford good examples of the structures erected at this period. The great desiderata were proximity to water and rising ground--the beauty of the surrounding scenery, which was superadded at least at Tully Castle, was probably but little valued.
Chichester now proposed to call a Parliament. The plantation of Ulster had removed some difficulties in the way of its accomplishment. The Protestant University of Dublin had obtained 3,000 acres there, and 400,000 acres of tillage land had been part.i.tioned out between English and Scotch proprietors. It was expressly stipulated that their tenants should be English or Scotch, and Protestants; the Catholic owners of the land were, in some cases, as a special favour, permitted to remain, if they took the oath of supremacy, if they worked well for their masters, and if they paid double the rent fixed for the others. Sixty thousand acres in Dublin and Waterford, and 385,000 acres in Westmeath, Longford, King's county, Queen's county, and Leitrim, had been portioned out in a similar manner. A Presbyterian minister, whose father was one of the planters, thus describes the men who came to establish English rule, and root out Popery: ”From Scotland came many, and from England not a few; yet all of them generally the sc.u.m of both nations, who, from debt, or making and fleeing from justice, or seeking shelter, came hither, hoping to be without fear of man s justice, in a land where there was nothing or but little as yet of the fear of G.o.d.... Most of the people were all void of G.o.dliness.... On all hands atheism increased, and disregard of G.o.d; iniquity abounds, with contention, fighting, murder and adultery.”[467]
It was with such persons as these the lower house was filled. The upper house was composed of the Protestant bishops and English aristocracy, who were of course unanimous in their views. Chichester obtained ample powers to arrange the lower house. Forty new boroughs were formed, many of them consisting merely of a few scattered houses; some of them were not incorporated until after the writs were issued. The Catholics were taken by surprise as no notice had been given, either of the Parliament or the laws intended to be enacted. Six Catholic lords of the Pale remonstrated with the King, but he treated them with the utmost contempt. The house a.s.sembled; there was a struggle for the Speaker's chair. The Catholic party proposed Sir John Everard, who had just resigned his position as Justice of the King's Bench sooner than take the oath of supremacy; the court party insisted on having Sir John Davies. The Catholics protested, and sent a deputation to James, who first lectured[468] them to show his learning, and them imprisoned them to show his power. Some kind of compromise was eventually effected. A severe penal law was withdrawn; a large subsidy was voted. In truth, the Irish party acted boldly, considering their peculiar circ.u.mstances, for one and all refused to enter the old cathedral, which their forefathers had erected, when Protestant service was read therein on the day of the opening of Parliament; and even Lord Barry retired when he laid the sword of state before the Lord Deputy. We may excuse them for submitting to the attainder of O'Neill and O'Donnell, for there were few national members who had not withdrawn before the vote was pa.s.sed.
Chichester retired from the government of Ireland in 1616. In 1617 a proclamation was issued for the expulsion of the Catholic clergy, and the city of Waterford was deprived of its charter in consequence of the spirited opposition which its corporation offered to the oath of spiritual supremacy. In 1622 Viscount Falkland came over as Lord Deputy, and Usher, who was at heart a Puritan,[469] preached a violent sermon on the occasion, in which he suggested a very literal application of his text, ”He beareth not the sword in vain.” If a similar application of the text had been made by a Catholic divine, it would have been called intolerance, persecution, and a hint that the Inquisition was at hand; as used by him, it was supposed to mean putting down Popery by the sword.
James I. died on the 27th March, 1625, and left his successor no very pleasant prospects in any part of his kingdom. He was p.r.o.nounced by Sully to be ”the wisest fool in Europe;” Henry IV. styled him ”Captain of Arts and Clerk of Arms;” and a favourite epigram of the age is thus translated:--
”When Elizabeth was England's King, That dreadful name thro' Spain did ring How altered is the case, ah sa' me!
The juggling days of good Queen Jamie.”
On the accession of Charles I., in 1625, it was so generally supposed he would favour the Catholic cause, that the earliest act of the new Parliament in London was to vote a pet.i.tion, begging the King to enforce the laws against recusants and Popish priests. The Viceroy, Lord Falkland, advised the Irish Catholics to propitiate him with a voluntary subsidy. They offered the enormous sum of 120,000, to be paid in three annual instalments, and in return he promised them certain ”graces.” The contract was ratified by royal proclamation, in which the concessions were accompanied by a promise that a Parliament should be held to confirm them. The first instalment of the money was paid, and the Irish agents returned home to find themselves cruelly deceived and basely cheated. Falkland was recalled by the Puritan party, on suspicion of favouring the Catholics; Viscount Ely and the Earl of Cork were appointed Lords Justices; and a reign of terror was at once commenced.