of the church, was railed at and spit upon, by those, that before his going to church, were so desirous to see and salute him; insomuch, as after that public profession of his religion, the town was cleared of the multitude of strangers; and the earl, from thence forwards, might walk as quietly and freely, and as little in effect followed, or regarded, as any other private gentleman; nor did any of his father's followers, except some of the meanest sort of freeholders, after that resort unto him."*

As nothing can excuse the barbarous incivility of these Irish to the young earl of Desmond on that occasion, so this passage furnishes no ill proof of the mistaken policy of the then government of Ireland, which consisted in proselyting by force or seduction to the established religion, the heirs of the principal Irish families, with a view of drawing their followers and dependents after them. "For the truth is," as my author' well observes in the same place," the young earl's religion, being a protestant, was the only cause that bred this coyness in them all: for, if he had been a Roman catholic, the hearts and knees of all degrees in the province, would have bowed unto him."

CHAP. VII.

Lord deputy Mountjoy's and lord Verulam's opinions of the government of Ireland in 1602.

AND, indeed, all thinking men saw and regretted, that the policy of the government of Ireland, at this juncture, was as weak as it was wicked. Lord' deputy Mountjoy, in a letter2 to

• "This young earl seeing how much he was deceived in his hopes (for he supposed that all his father's followers would have relied upon him, and obeyed his directions) embarked for England on the 22d of March following, and so to court; where, after a few months, he died. The letters patent, which her majesty had granted for his restoration, the president never delivered unto him, according to his directions; for he had caution from her majesty, unless his services, or services done for his sake, should merit the same; of both which there was but weak and slender performance."-Pacat. Hibern. fol 122.

the lords of the council in England, seems to impute to its fraud and severity, the continuance of the war even to this time. “All the Irish" says he, "that are now obstinate, are so only out of their diffidence to be safe in any forgiveness; and though they are weary of the war, they are unwilling to have it ended, for fear lest, upon a peace, there would ensue a severe reformation of religion. They have the ancient swelling, and desire of liberty, in their countrymen, to work upon; their fear to be rooted out, and to have their old faults punished upon particular discontents; and generally all over the kingdom, their fear of a persecution for religion ;† the least of which, alone, have been many times sufficient to drive the best and most quiet states into sudden confusion." Nay, he even seemed to apprehend, that these fears, and their diffidence to be safe in any forgiveness,‡ "would keep all spirits from settling, breed new combinations,

* « When some one, who hath been a bad member, pardoned by your majesty, hath heard himself exclaimed upon to be a notable thief after his pardon; and hath simply come in, without any bonds, or any enforcement, to an open session, to take his trial by your majesty's laws, if any could accuse him; notwithstanding his coming in after this manner, there hath been order given, without any trial at all, for the execution of him. And so he hath lost his life, to the great dishonor of your majesty, and discredit of your laws. And this dishonest practice has been by consent of your deputies."-Lee's memorial to queen Elizabeth, MSS. College Library.

"All the Irish chieftains, in their treaties of submission, concurred in the same general demands of a free exercise of religion.”—Leland's History of Ireland, vol. ii. p. 335..

"When there have been notable traitors in arms against your majesty," says the before-mentioned memorialist," and sums of money offered for their heads, yet could by no means be compassed, they have in the end, of their own accord, made means for their pardon, and have put in sureties for their good behavior, offering to do great service, which they have accordingly performed, to the contentment of the state; and thereupon received pardon, and have put in sureties for their good behaviour, and to be answerable at all times, at assizes and sessions, when they should be called. Yet, notwithstanding, there have been secret commissions given for the murdering of those men. They have been often set upon by the sheriffs of shires, to whom the commissions were directed, in sundry of which shires, some of them have been killed, and others have hardly escaped. And, after all this, they have simply come, without pardon or protection, to submit themselves to your majesty's laws, where they have been put to their trial, upon several indictments, of all which they have been acquitted, and set at liberty."-Lee's memorial to the queen. Desid. Curios. Hib. vol. i. p. 92,

and even stir the towns themselves to solicit foreign aid, with promise to cast themselves into their protection." In order to prevent which, he submits to their lordship's consideration, the following particulars:

"As all pain and anguish, impatient of the present, doth use change for a remedy, so (says his lordship) will it be impossible for us to settle the minds of those people into a peace, or reduce them unto order, while they feel the smart of these sensible griefs, and apparent fears, which I have remembered to your lordships, without some hopes of redress and security." After which he tells them, "that they should be advised how they punished in their bodies and goods, such merely for religion, as did profess to be faithful subjects, and against whom the contrary could not be proved,* that it would as much avail the speedy settlement of Ireland, as any thing, if it would please her majesty to deal liberally with the Irish lords of the country, or such as were of good reputation among them, in the distribution of such lands as they formerly possessed, or such as the state could make little use of for her majesty. If they continue (adds his lordship) as they ought to do, and yield the queen as much commodity, as she may otherwise expect, she hath made a good purchase of such subjects for such lands." Lord Verulam,3 in a letter to secretary Cecil, about the same time, earnestly recommended the same lenity and forbearance, with respect to these people. "I think," says he," that much letting of blood in the decline of the disease, is against all method of cure; that it will but exasperate necessity and despair; and, perchance, discover the hollowness of that which is done already; which none blazeth to the best shew. But of all other points, to my understanding, the most effectual is the well expressing or impressing, of the design of England on that miserable and desolate nation; that the queen seeketh not an extirpation of the people, but a reduction; and now that she hath chastised them by royal power and arms, according to the necessity of the occasion, that her majesty taketh no pleasure in the effusion of blood, and the displanting of antient generations."

3 Scrinia Sacra.

It is worthy of notice, that all the cities and towns in the kingdom, tho' chiefly inhabited by the catholic natives, continued loyal to the queen during this war.

And then, as to the matter of religion, « All divines,” proceeds his lordship, "do agree, that if conscience be to be enforced (wherein they differ), yet two things must precede its enforcement; the one, means of information, the other, time of operation; neither of which they (the Irish) have yet had. And there is no doubt, but to wrestle with them is directly opposite to their reclaim, and therefore a toleration of religion, for a time not definite, seems to me to be a matter warrantable by religion, and in policy of absolute necessity: and the hesitation of this, I think, hath been a great casting back of affairs in Ireland."*

CHAP. VIII.

Proclamation of pardon to the province of Munster.

THE Irish, during the whole time of this war, seem to have acted chiefly on the defensive, notwithstanding the vast destruction by fire, sword and famine, which the chief governors of Ireland still carried through every part of their country. Of this destruction the queen herself expressed a very sensible feeling, when she declared on that occasion, "That she feared the same reproach might be made to her, which was formerly made by Bato to Tiberius, viz. It is you! you! that are to blame for these things, who have committed your flocks, not to shepherds, but to wolves."

This private declaration of pity, her majesty soon after seconded by a public act of truly royal beneficence, in facilitating

1 Cambden's Elizabeth, circa initium.

Pacata Hibernia, fol. 116.

A very singular anecdote of archbishop Tillotson, relative to this subject, is worthy of notice. “John Howe, a dissenting minister, who had heen chaplain to Oliver Cromwell, and was one of the most polite and learned writers among the dissenters," having found," that his friend Dr. Tillotson asserted in a sermon, preached at court the 2d of April, 1680, that no man, without an extraordinary commission from heaven, testified by working miracles, as the apostles did, ought to affront the established religion of a nation, though it be false; and openly to draw men off from the profession of it, in contempt of the magistrates and the law, &c.' Mr. Howe did not only write him a long letter upon this erroneous doctrine, but expostulated with him upon it, in a friendly manner: upon which Dr. Tillotson burst into tears, and frankly acknowleged that it was not to be justified."-Grainger's Biograph. Hist. vol. iii. p. 312.

and inviting some of these misguided people's speedy return to their duty. But her gracious intentions and commands in that respect, were in a great measure neglected or disobeyed, by her principal ministers in that kingdom.

"In December 1600, the queen dispatched an order to lord deputy Mountjoy, to grant a general pardon to all, and every the inhabitants of Munster, of what condition or state soever; thereby to remove from them all suspicion of impeachment for their former offences ;"" whereunto," adds her majesty," the greatest part of them have been violently carried, rather by the power of the arch-traitors (whom she therefore excepts from pardon), than by any wilful defection in their loyalty." "And to the end the people, wasted with the misery of these wars, might not be burthened with the expences in the obtaining their pardons, or putting in security for the peace, even when needful; her pleasure was, that the fees of the seal should be either wholly remitted, or so moderated by the lord deputy and council, that her subjects might have cause the more dutifully and gladly, to embrace her princely clemency and bounty, in that her gracious and free pardon."

In less than two months after the publication of this order,3 upwards of four thousand of the inhabitants of that province submitted, for protection, to the lord president. All these, however, contrary to her majesty's express commands, "his lordship obliged to put in such pledges, as no governor in former times ever had done the like." How little he observed her majesty's gracious commands of forgiveness, in other respects, appears from an history, which he himself has left us,†

4 Id. ib.

2 Pacata Hibernia, fol. 116. 3 Id. ib. fol. 121. ⚫ One of the reasons mentioned by sir George Carew for her majesty's granting this free and general pardon, was, " that there were many poor women and children, that had no ability to be at the charge of suing for their pardons. Pacat. Hibern. f. 97.-By which we may see what sort of people were then deemed rebels in Ireland.

+"Sir George Carew," says Grainger, " knew how to record, as well as how to act, great things; and has given us in his Pacata Hibernia, a his tory of the wars in Ireland, in which he was himself a principal agent; written with the unaffected openess and sincerity of a soldier. He was a lover of antiquities, and left four volumes of his collections relating to Ireland, to the Bodleian Library." He adds in a note, "the inscription on the print (of Pacata Hibernia) plainly intimates that he was the author

E