Part 19 (1/2)
[Sidenote: The Butlers and O'Briens. Carrigogunnell.]
The troops being pacified for the moment and Lord Butler having arrived with another battering piece, the garrison of Carrigogunnell, consisting partly of Desmond men and partly of O'Briens, were summoned to surrender on promise of their lives, and warned that if the castle had to be taken by force no quarter should be shown to man, woman, or child. They detained the messenger and returned no answer. A breach was soon made, and, after more than one failure and the loss of thirty men killed and wounded, the castle was taken by storm. Seventeen of the defenders were killed in the fight, and of forty-six survivors all were put to death on the spot, except certain gentlemen of the O'Briens, for whom large ransoms were refused, and who were taken to Limerick, tried for high treason, and immediately executed. Chief Justice Aylmer accompanied the army for such purposes. The castle was handed over to Lord Butler, who placed it in his brother-in-law's charge, and Donogh, having gained his great object, became a scourge to the citizens of Limerick.[182]
[Sidenote: Grey cannot pay his army.]
The troops positively refused to go into Clare without receiving their arrears, and Grey had nothing to give. He therefore proposed to leave them at Limerick, Cork, and Kilmallock; giving his own and the Council's security for their victualling until the King should think proper to send money. They refused; and Butler's men, after twenty days' trial of Lough Gur, would stay there no longer unless the towns had English garrisons.
James Fitz-Maurice, whom the King acknowledged as Earl of Desmond, and who had a party in the country, was not at hand, and as no one could take his place the castle was abandoned. The artillery was left at Limerick and Clonmel, and the Lord Deputy went back to meet Parliament at Dublin.
His expedition had shown that a small army well led and well paid could go anywhere and do anything in Ireland, and that feudal castles could do nothing against a proper siege train; but it had also shown that the necessary conditions were not likely to be fulfilled under a King who gave away priories while crossing pa.s.sages, and who staked one of the finest peals of bells in London upon a single throw of the dice.[183]
[Sidenote: The Duke of Richmond dies, 1536.]
The death of the Duke of Richmond, whom his father no doubt intended to advance and whom Charles V. even thought, or professed to think, destined to succeed him, made no difference to the country which he nominally governed. It was indeed at first supposed that Acts of Parliament pa.s.sed after his death would be invalid, but the lawyers seem to have decided that this was not the case.[184]
[Sidenote: The revenue. Abuses.]
The actual revenue of Ireland, derived partly from forfeitures and partly from a parliamentary grant, amounted at this time to about 5,000_l._, of which 1,000_l._ was not paid. Henry, who was of course obliged to supplement this, complained that he got very little for his money, and wished to reduce the Irish establishment. He declared that he valued an increase of income less for himself than for the common good of Ireland.
'A great sort of you,' he wrote to the Lord Deputy and Council (we must be plain), 'desire nothing else but to reign in estimation and to fleece from time to time all that you may catch from us.' He announced therefore that he was about to send an independent person with ample powers to inquire into Irish affairs. He gave Brabazon detailed instructions for a survey of marsh lands, and bade him go to war no more but apply himself wholly to financial affairs. No salary was to be paid to any officer who acted by deputy, and none but customary fees exacted. Henry said he was determined to reform Ireland, and would value his servants there according to their merits in that behalf. 'If anyone,' he wrote, 'directly or indirectly devised and practised the let, hindrance, or impeachment of this our purpose for any respect, whereunto we will not fail to have a special eye, we shall so look upon him what degree soever he shall be of, as others shall, by his example, beware how they shall misuse their Prince and sovereign Lord, and transgress his most dread commandment.'[185]
[Sidenote: Ireland cannot be governed without money.]
To this formidable letter Grey and his Council answered that the army had never been properly paid, and had in consequence often mutinied, that they had spent every farthing of revenue on public objects, and had raised large additional sums on their own credit, that credit was now quite exhausted, and that without money to pay off the men it was impossible further to reduce the military establishment. Brabazon had accounted or was ready to account for every penny, 'and as to our desire to reign in estimation, it is to be thought that among civil people there can no name of dignity or honour be in estimation, unless thereunto be annexed rule and riches. Would to G.o.d his Majesty did know our gain and riches, which is so great that we of the mean sort of this Council, being his Grace's officers among us all, we suppose be not worth in money and plate 1,000_l._ Irish, which is a small substance for us all, being in the rooms that we be under his Grace. We be no such purchasers of possessions, builders, dicers, nor carders, neither yet pompous householders whereby we should consume our profits and gain if we had them.'[186]
[Sidenote: Grey attacks the O'Connors, 1537.]
Those best acquainted with the country at this time believed that the necessary precedent to its reduction was a thorough conquest of Leinster.
The overthrow of the Kildare Geraldines was necessary, but had its inconveniences. They had been a standing menace to the Government, but they had kept the Irish at bay, and their fall left the marches quite open. Without security either of life or t.i.tle no one would work the forfeited lands, and the margin of waste grew broader every day. Grey's temper and talents made him prefer war to diplomacy, and he resolved to strike at O'Connor, whose hostages were in his hands, and who was under recognizance to deliver 800 cows to the King, but who had regained complete possession of Offaly. His brother Cahir had suffered the not uncommon fate of those who support Irish governments, and had been an exile for two years. Grey, Brabazon, and Aylmer took fourteen days'
provisions from Dublin, and were joined on the march by Lords Delvin, Slane, and Killeen, and by William Saintloo, now seneschal of Wexford, with his own company and 100 kerne. They pa.s.sed along the southern edge of Westmeath to MacGeohegan's country, the modern barony of Moycashel, and took hostages from that chief and from O'Molloy, whose district lay further south. On the same day Brabazon got possession of Brackland Castle through the treachery of an inmate, who acted in Cahir O'Connor's interest, and who was pardoned while the rest of the garrison were beheaded. The soldiers destroyed all that lay in their path, and on the fifth day arrived before Dangan, afterwards Philipstown, which had been fortified with some skill. The march was only of five or six miles, but the ground was boggy, and a road had to be made with fascines and hurdles. The ditches about the castle were filled in the same way, and the courtyard was forced before nightfall. Three days were spent in waiting for one large and two small pieces of artillery, and on the bright May morning following their arrival fire was opened upon the keep.
After four hours' cannonade, resulting as usual in those days with the disabling of the princ.i.p.al gun, a breach was made and the castle at once stormed. The walls were dismantled, and the heads of their twenty-three defenders set on poles 'for a show to the O'Connors.' On the next day Ossory's second son Richard, afterwards created Viscount Mountgarret, came to excuse his father, who had been kept away by ill-health. O'Connor in the meantime had fled into O'Carroll's country, 'which O'Carroll,'
Grey carefully notes, 'is the Earl of Ossory's friend.' The punishment of O'Carroll for harbouring the fugitive was nevertheless entrusted to Richard Butler, partly to punish his tardiness, and partly because Grey's fifteen days' provisions were almost gone. It was an absurd expedient, and before the end of the year O'Connor was back and Cahir had fled the country. The sole result of the expedition was to show the force of artillery; yet Henry, unless his language be thought ironical, calls it a notable exploit. 'If, however,' the King added, 'he should be suffered to enter again, it should but add a further courage to that traitorous malice which by all likelihood is so entered, that it will not be removed.'[187]
[Sidenote: Grey makes many enemies.]
Grey had many enemies, for he was not conciliatory, and his relations.h.i.+p to the Geraldines laid him open to the suspicions of all who had risen on the ruins of the House of Kildare. With Brabazon, the ablest man about him, he had long been on cold terms, and many supposed that the Vice-Treasurer thought he ought to have been Deputy himself. Thomas Agard, Vice-Treasurer of the Mint, a sour but apparently honest Puritan, hated Grey for his attachment to old religious forms, and Archbishop Browne lost no opportunity of attacking him on the same grounds. Alen, Master of the Rolls, a useful public servant, but with an inborn love of intrigue, gave trouble to every successive chief governor. Robert Cowley and his son were devoted to the House of Ormonde, which Grey thought too powerful. The Deputy did not favour the innovations in religion, and took no pains to hide his dislike to Browne and Agard; but with the rest he was always ready to co-operate. The King, however, found it hard to reconcile conflicting accounts, and resolved to send over Commissioners unconnected with Irish factions to report upon the actual state of affairs. The persons selected were Anthony St. Leger, of Ulcombe in Kent, one of the wisest statesmen who ever represented the English Crown in Ireland; George Paulet, a younger brother of the astute courtier who is best known as Marquis of Winchester, but not equally endowed with prudence; Thomas Moyle, of Gray's Inn, Receiver-General of the Court of Augmentations, and afterwards Speaker of the English House of Commons; and William Berners, auditor of the same court. The Irish Government was directed to treat them with as much deference as if the King were present; and they were ordered to treat Grey with much consideration, and to take his advice when possible. The latter instruction, so well calculated to soothe the Lord Deputy's wounded pride, was not directly made known to him. The Commissioners were ordered to present their credentials to the Lord Deputy as soon as they reached Dublin, and then to summon the Council and read the King's letter, in which he promised to remember their good services. 'If, on the other side,' he added, 'we shall not find you now faithful officers, ministers, and good councillors, but men given more to your own affectes, commodities, and gains, than earnestly bent to our satisfaction, we shall again so look upon the best of you so misusing himself for it, as shall be little cause to rejoice at length of his doings in that behalf.'[188]
[Sidenote: The King sends a special Commission.]
The first duty imposed on the Commissioners was the reduction of expenditure and the increase of revenue. As a cheap defence to the Pale, hostages were to be generally taken, and the army was, if possible, to be cut down to 340 picked men, inclusive of garrisons. Hors.e.m.e.n were to receive 8_l._ yearly, footmen 4_l._, constables of castles 13_l._ 6_s._ 8_d._, gate-keepers 6_l._ 13_s._ 4_d._, under-warders 4_l._ 13_s._ 4_d._--all in Irish currency, or about two-thirds of the sterling amounts. The Vice-Treasurer was in future to visit all garrisons quarterly, to see that deserving men received commands, and to provide for frequent musters of all borne on the books. All soldiers in excess of the new establishment were to be paid off with money specially provided, and the King, with a touch of his daughter's temper, gave orders that they should be induced if possible to take less than their due. The Commissioners were to survey waste lands and were authorised to give leases for twenty-one years, with a clause of forfeiture for non-observance of the laws as to English dress and for alliance with Irish rebels--the penalties provided by law being also enforced. After this all offices and officers were to be subjected to rigid scrutiny, with a view to increased efficiency and reduced expense. Detailed instructions were given as to public accounts, and Brabazon was to be repaid all he had spent in annoying the King's rebels.
[Sidenote: Powers of this Commission.]
The control of legislation was also given to the Commissioners, who were to see various Acts for the establishment of royal authority in Church and State duly pa.s.sed. They were to inquire as to the claims of clerical proctors to interfere in Parliament, were themselves to have a right of entry as the King's councillors, and were to expound the royal policy 'with all their wit and dexterity, and with such stomach, where they shall perceive any man frowardly, perversely bent to the let and impeachment of the King's purpose in the same, as they may the rather by their wisdom both conduce the thing to effect and reconcile the parties that before would show themselves so wilful and obstinate.' Messages to this effect were sent to both Houses, both Wolsey and Cromwell relying upon a species of intimidation of which Charles I.'s attempt on the five members is the last recorded example. The Commissioners afterwards exercised the power of dissolving Parliament.
[Sidenote: The King has vague good intentions.]
The Commissioners were to examine charges of taking money from the rebels which were brought against many men highly placed in Ireland; Henry rightly supposing that many nominal subjects connived at treason, as in the case of O'Brien's Bridge, which had cost much to take and to demolish, and which was now as strong and as troublesome as ever. But he did not choose to see that want of money was the chief cause of this failure. He was indeed, he said, determined to make a full reformation some day, and the information now collected would be very useful when the convenient season arrived. In the meantime, the Commissioners were to reduce the garrison to 340 men.
[Sidenote: The Commissioners arrive in Ireland, 1537. Grey's activity against the Irish.]
St. Leger and his companions set out early in August, but were detained by adverse winds about Holyhead, and did not arrive at Dublin till the middle of September. Grey had unusually strong reasons for exertions, and he begged hard for money and artillery. The pay of the army was twelve months in arrear. O'Connor was coshering among his friends 'more liker a beggar, than he that ever was a captain or ruler of a country,' and making vain suits daily to the Government. But Grey had not caught him, and he could be submissive enough until what was left of his corn had been saved; his neighbours, English and Irish, thinking it more prudent to shelter an enterprising rebel than to run risks for a Government which could not protect its friends. Grey, who habitually used strong language, characterises these prudent people as 'having as much falsehood remaining in them as all the devils of h.e.l.l.' Having, as he supposed, made O'Connor 'as low as a dog were for the bone,' he applied himself to the Kavanaghs, whose chief, Cahir MacArt, had married a Geraldine. It had been often proposed to extirpate them and to colonise the country. The Lord Deputy now entered Carlow, burned some castles of the O'Nolans between Newtownbarry and Tullow, forced Cahir MacArt to give hostages, and then turned sharply upon Ely O'Carroll, where O'Connor had first found a refuge. He had now the help of Ossory, who was always glad to weaken a neighbour, and of Cahir O'Connor, who was as anxious as his brother to divert attention from the Offaly corn. He pa.s.sed unopposed through the lands of the Fitzpatricks, O'Mores, O'Molloys, and MacGeohegans, received O'Carroll's submission, and then entered Tipperary, where he took a castle belonging to O'Meagher, the chief of Ikerrin. O'Connor came in on safe-conduct, and paid 300 marks for his son, who was given up to him.