Ireland under the Tudors, with a Succinct Account of the Earlier History. Vol. 2 (of 3). Bagwell Richard

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СКАЧАТЬ of Tirlough Luineach, the second man in Tyrone.64

Small results

      At last the army moved. Its composition was so heterogeneous that only a general of exceptional powers could hope to lead it to advantage, and Sussex was not such a general. The Keating kerne, the scourges of Wexford, did not agree with their Northern congeners: an affray took place, and blood was shed. There were small skirmishes with Shane’s men. The soldiers chased a party to the edge of some bog or wood; then the wild horsemen appeared suddenly on all sides, or shots were fired from behind turf-ricks, and a retreat was beaten, seldom without loss. One day’s work was exactly like another’s. A few cows were taken, but no real service was done. For the first week the army lay encamped outside Armagh, and one dark night, while the rain was falling in torrents, a gang of thieves crept up to the lines and stole 300 pack-horses. This shameful negligence Sussex excused only by the fact that it was Easter Monday, and that it had been devoted to prayer, Sunday having been spent on the march. He forgot the natural connection between watchfulness and prayer. St. George’s Day was spent by the Lord-Lieutenant in his tent, keeping the festival of the Garter; but the saint seems not to have been propitiated. Perhaps he thought the red cross should have been exhibited in the field. Three inglorious weeks passed away, and at the end the provisions were gone. The Blackwater had been crossed only for a few hours, and the baffled Viceroy returned to the Pale to bemoan his hard fate, and to lay the blame of failure upon every head but the right one – namely, his own.65

Treachery of Andrew Brereton against the MacDonnells

      Notwithstanding the perfidy of his own intentions towards them, Sussex expected the Scots to keep their promises made through Hutchinson and Randolph. Piers, the indefatigable constable of Carrickfergus, went both to Cantire and Red Bay. At the latter place he made an arrangement with James MacDonnell, by which the latter bound himself and his brother Sorley Boy to send a contingent to Armagh. Sussex had succeeded in making peace between the Scots and Andrew Brereton, the turbulent farmer of Lecale, who had called Tyrone traitor at the Council Board fourteen years before. Alaster MacRandal Boy, the acknowledged chief of the MacDonnells in that district, was a tried friend of the English, and willingly accepted Brereton’s invitation to sup at Ardglass. That same night a number of Scots, including the chief and his brother Gillespie, were killed in their beds by Brereton’s orders, and a third brother underwent the same fate in another village. These murders of course destroyed all hopes of help from the MacDonnells, and Scots and Irish alike called loudly and justly for vengeance. ‘The voice is common,’ said Sussex, ‘that every Irishman that cometh to the Queen’s service is either left undefended or murdered by treason, which toucheth as much the surety of the Queen’s order in this realm as the breach of my "slantie" toucheth me in honour.’ Brereton fled, having first sold his interest in Lecale to the Earl of Kildare. It does not appear that he was ever punished, and ten years afterwards we find the Lord Deputy recommending him for a good service pension. Such things did indeed touch the honour both of Queen Elizabeth and of her most distinguished servants.66

Sussex can obtain no decisive success

      After a fortnight’s rest Sussex again took the field. Led by an O’Neill, his army crossed the Blackwater at Braintree, and penetrated to Clogher. Some cattle were taken, but the majority were driven off into Fermanagh, which was now quite under Shane’s control. Provisions were short, and the raid, for it was nothing more, was supported by the beasts taken. Tirlough Luineach and the unfortunate Maguire met the Lord-Lieutenant, but the former did not, and the latter could not offer any effectual help. A general hosting was ordered, but the overtaxed and desponding Pale scarcely answered the call. The summons was repeated, and the Earls of Ormonde, Desmond, Clanricarde, and Thomond, were directed to meet the Lord-Lieutenant at Dundalk on June 14. In the meantime Sussex collected a small force at Armagh, and advanced to Dungannon. Tirlough Luineach was sent for; but he had not been favourably impressed by his last interview, and he did not come. A few O’Neills and a few soldiers, including one English captain, were slain in skirmishes, some cows were captured, and many ponies ham-strung. Shane hovered in the neighbourhood and prepared a Caudine ambuscade for Sussex near Lough Neagh. The Lord-Lieutenant escaped by taking another road, and returned to Armagh to find that MacMahon’s hostages had flown. On the way back to Dundalk some plunder worth noting was taken, 3,000 kine and 1,600 stud mares belonging to the O’Neills, which had purposely been mixed up with the MacMahons’ property. MacMahon sent to ask for peace. His request was granted, and he was invited to attend the Lord-Lieutenant; but, like Tirlough Luineach, he declined to respond. Sussex returned to Drogheda, and on the same night Shane’s people plundered Henry O’Neill’s property close to Dundalk. Such was the usual, almost the inevitable end of these expeditions.67

Negotiations

      The preparations of Sussex for a new invasion of Tyrone led to nothing of importance. Negotiations were again tried, and Ormonde and Kildare were sent to argue the point with Shane. He agreed to a conference without listeners; there to make only such proposals as in matter and manner were worthy of a loving subject, and in sworn secrecy. The Earls offered not to divulge his statements, except to the Lord-Lieutenant and such of the Council as he should name. The desired conference took place, but Shane stiffly declared that he was not such a fool as to treat with the Scots without proper securities from the Government. He again demanded all that could be claimed by an O’Neill, and hinted to Ormonde that he had some understanding with the southern Geraldines, and that he might be worth conciliating.68

Cusack makes a virtual surrender to Shane. Mortification of Sussex

      While Shane was defying the State in Ireland, Sir Thomas Cusack was at Court advocating a conciliatory policy. In desperation the Queen sent him back with large treating powers. How much she felt the humiliation may be inferred from her thinking it necessary to apologise to Sussex. While sweetening the pill thus, she told him plainly that he had failed, that his failure had been a direct encouragement to the disaffected, and that he had confessed himself powerless to carry matters with a high hand. Under the circumstances there was nothing for it but to temporise. The mere form of a submission was the best that could be looked for. Cusack and Kildare accordingly met Shane, who descanted largely on his losses, on the attempts made to assassinate him, and on the persistent enmity of the Lord-Lieutenant towards him. He was, however, brought to consent to a treaty, by which he gained everything and yielded nothing. He was acknowledged as O’Neill, with all the powers ever exercised under that name. The Earldom of Tyrone was again dangled before his eyes, but the Queen said that for her own honour she could not go far into the matter until she had scrutinised the patents. With characteristic frugality she asked about the robes and collars sent to Sussex when he purposed to make O’Reilly and O’Donnell Earls, so that they might be available in case of a new creation. By the treaty concluded, Shane’s differences with Maguire and O’Reilly were reserved for Commissioners, but they were to have no power to enforce their award. Chiefs who had committed the crime of loyalty were abandoned, and Shane was released from all obligations to appear in person before the Viceroy. His former promises to the Queen were cancelled, and he was exonerated from all responsibility for the murder of the Baron of Dungannon’s son. Armagh Cathedral was to be restored to him, and he agreed to use it as became the Metropolitan Church of Ireland. Some trifling alterations were made in the treaty before ratification, but the surrender on the Queen’s part was complete. Sussex felt this bitterly, but put a good face on the matter, and wrote to Shane in a conciliatory tone.69

Shane again desires an English wife. Lady F. Radclyffe for choice

      Shane still professed much anxiety to live clearly after the English fashion. An English wife was the best means to that end, and of all eligible persons he preferred Lady Frances Radclyffe. In this he had probably no other design than to humiliate Sussex, but he suggested that the Queen should give Mellifont as a dowry. If her Majesty would not make a match, then he begged leave to seek a foreign alliance; but he greatly preferred an English woman – Lady Frances above all others – to increase his civil education, and to make his followers acknowledge their duties СКАЧАТЬ