IRELAND. 



rf. twelve year* old, who was secretly conveyed into the 

 - , ' Netherlands out of the reach of" Henry's vengeance. 



I,ord Grey, who was appointed deputy, met with 

 few difficulties or obstacles from the Irish chieftains, 

 but the Butlers were still active in intrigue, and it was 

 deemed necessary to accept their proteased allegiance, 

 tliuugh their actions were by no means accordant with 

 _|t _u of it- '* WM not > however, to be expected that the Irish 

 ^^L chieftains would long remain tranquil. At the head of 

 A. 0- 1^39. those of the north was O'Neil, formidable for his own 

 power, and for the influence which he possessed. 

 Suddenly, in the year 1539, he advanced into the 

 neighbourhood of Dublin, but, on the approach of the 

 Lord Deputy's forces, he retreated with his booty till 

 he reached the borders of Meath. Here, strongly 

 potted, with a river on his front, he awaited the issue of 



battle, at Bellahoe. Lord Grey immediately crossed 

 and attacked the enemy, who, after a slight resistance, 

 fled in all directions. Grey, however, did not live 

 long to witneM the fruits of his victory, which were 

 sufficiently manifested by the submission of the chief- 

 tains, even after hu death. So complete was this sub- 



Henry mission, that Henry, in I.J11, received from the Irish 

 VIII. King parliament the title of king of Ireland, instead of 

 cf Inland. J or( ] 



A. D. 1541. j o fcjrifft ^ c chieftains for their submission, and to 

 keep them faithful, O'Neil was created Earl of Tyrone, 

 O'Brien Earl of Thumond, and De Burgo Earl of Clan- 

 ricard. 



At this period, when after many unsuccessful at- 

 tempt*, it seemed probable that Ireland would subside 

 into a Mate of comparative tranquillity and civilization, 



new source of civil warfare, of hatred of the English, 

 and of devastation arose. We allude to the attempt* 

 which were made to convert the Irish to the Protes- 

 tant religion, and the sturdy consistency which the 

 great majority of the Irish <lisplayed in adhering to the 

 old religion. The means that were adopted by Henry 

 VIII. and his son Edward, to introduce the Reforma- 

 tion, were extremely injudicious ; and a* it was strc- 

 nuotuly opyuaed by the primate, it made scarcely any 

 prufcre**, when the accession of Mary destroyed the 

 little of it that had taken root. But though this queen, 

 on account of her religion, was a favourite with the 

 Irish, yet they did not display their attachment by re- 

 maining perfectly quiet during her reign ; on the con- 

 trary, such a formidable insurrection broke out in the 

 district* of Lew and Ofally, that, when it was quelled, 

 it was judged necesury to vest them in the house, and 

 to place them under the jurisdiction of sheriffs ; the 

 name of I .eix was changed to that of Queen's County, 

 and of Ofally to King's County. The tame parlia- 



Act explain, 





d dine enactments hi 1557, passed 



tag fa^n- an act explanatory of Poyning's law, by which it was 

 V L w - declared that no bill, nor even the heads of a bill, 

 A. I*. Ita. ,hould be framed by the lords or -'~-i. of Ireland, 

 but only by the viceroy and his council, or by the king 

 and his council ; and that the bill thus framed was to 

 be passed into a law by the Irish parliament, or reject- 

 ed without alteration or debate. 



During the latter part of the reign of Mary, the 



north of Ireland was agitated by the machinations of 



il, and the south by the turbulence of O'Brien. 



On the accession of Elisabeth, O'Neil having made his 



peace through the earl of Kildare, repaired to London, 



where he WM graciously received by the queen. His 



Mbsnuaion, however, was short and insincere ; for as 



-soon a* he had assembled his force*, he appeared openly 



in anna, while, at the same time, he had recourse to in* 



4 



239 



But aS neither 1 availed him, and he saw him- Hist<^y. 

 self surrounded by the royal troops and their Irish auxi- ^^ "Y"*' 

 liaries, while he was deserted by a large portion of his 

 army, he surrendered himself to a body of Scotch who 

 had landed in Ulster, by whom he was assassinated in O'Xcil as- 

 1567. , sassinated. 



The disputes between the Geraldines and the But- FaieofDes- 

 I-T< -till continued ; and, in an attempt made by the Earl moid. 

 of Desmond to seize some lands of the latter, he was A 'D- '56.. 

 surrounded, taken prisoner, and sent to England ; from 

 which he was sent back to Dublin. His party, in the 

 mean time, rose in rebellion. This induced him to at- 

 tempt his escape, which he effected ; but he deemed it 

 prudent not to jtin the rebels at first His intentions, 

 however, being suspected, he was attacked as an ene- 

 my, and reduced to the most abject state of misery, so 

 that at length he implored, as an act of mercy, that he 

 might be sent a prisoner to London, but in vain. Un- 

 der these circumstances, hope revived in his breast at 

 the intelligence of the arrival of a body of Spanish and 

 Italian forces, with a large quantity of arms. This 

 hope was not of long continuance, ior the foreigners 

 were defeated, and being deemed freebooters, were 

 massacred by the command of the lord deputy. The 

 Earl of Desmond was thus compelled to hide himself in 

 the most unsuspected places ; but even here he was not 

 safe, for he was discovered by an Irishman, who cut off 

 his head, and brought it to the Earl of Urmond. 



Ci>il wars in all countries are carried on with the 

 utmost violence and cruelty ; and in the state in which 

 Ireland was at this time, this civil war. or rebellion, as 

 it is generally styled, was rendered horrible, especially 

 in Munster, by every species of cruelty, the features and 

 effects of which were heightened by famine. 



Elizabeth at length directed that sagacity and policy Adminirtra- 

 to the affairs of Ireland, which she had Ux> long with- tio " of Per - 

 held from them ; and, in 1584, Sir John Pcrrot was *?''. 

 appointed lord deputy ; for the high and arduous du- 

 ties of hi* situation he was amply qualified, both by 

 experience and by talents and disposition. His plan 

 was simple, but could it have been carried into effect, 

 it would have been decisively and permanently advan- 

 tageous. He first visited those parts of the country 

 which had always been the scene of the ino-t violent 

 disturbances, and this journey having convinced him 

 that the plan which he meditated was well calculated 

 to produce the effects he wished, he resolved, without 

 low of time, to put it into execution. It consisted in 

 the gradual introduction of the English law, adminis- 

 tered with impartiality and steadiness, into all parts of 

 Ireland. This ought to have been done before ; but it 

 had not ; and Pcrrot, much to hi* chagrin and disap- 

 pointment, soon found that the English government 

 were not disposed to furnish him with the means of 

 doing it now. Besides this source of disappointment, 

 another awaited him, in the proceeding* ot the parlia- 

 ment, which ttrenuously set themselves against him, 

 solely because he wished to act according to law, jus- 

 tice, and sound policy towards the native Irish. Per- 

 rot, however, still persevered, and did as much good as 

 he could with his limited means, and under the preju- 

 dice and opposition by which he was encountered. 

 To these source* of disquiet others were added, for dis- 

 turbances broke out in Connaught and Ulster; but 

 such was the influence of hit character, that, before his 

 departure, the upected Irish chieftain* obeyed hi* 

 summons, and gave hostages for their fidelity; and hi* 

 successor, Fitzwilliam, found Ireland tranquil when he 

 assumed the government 



