[146] Rothe’s Analecta Sacra, iii. art. 19, Cologne, 1617. The text was evidently composed before Chichester had ceased to be viceroy, and therefore before the work of the Wexford settlement was quite finished.
[147] St. John to the Privy Council, September 29, 1619, on which Gardiner mistakenly states that 300 outlaws were slain in connection with the Wexford plantation only. Same to same, November 9. Grant of 100l. to Hugh MacPhelim O’Byrne, ib. No. 602, and St. John’s letter to him, June 18, 1620; Sir Francis Blundell to the Council (written in London) July 20, 1620; Lord Deputy and Council to the Council, December 6, 1620 and May 25, 1621; Sir Thomas Dutton to Charles I., December 20, 1629; and Hadsor’s opinion calendared under 1632, 2190, 7. Donnell Spaniagh of Clonmullen and thirty-five other Kavanaghs, with many Wexford neighbours, were pardoned in 1602. Morrin’s Patent Rolls, Eliz. p. 607. Hadsor in Sloane MS. 4756.
[148] The King to Chichester, April 12, 1615. Ely O’Carroll comprised the baronies of Clonlisk and Ballybritt, the southern portion of King’s County.
[149] Certificate of survey, November 20, 1618; Lord Deputy and Council to the Privy Council, November 8, 1619; Commissions for settling the plantation, September 30, 1619 and April 10, 1620; Lords Justices and Council to the Privy Council, June 22, 1622; Lord Wilmot’s discourse, 1627, No. 534; Richard Hadsor’s propositions, 1632, No. 2190; Lords Justices to Vane, November 13, 1641.
[150] Brief return of survey in Sloane MS. 4756.
[151] St. John’s description of Connaught, 1614, in Carew, p. 295. St. John to Lords of Council, December 31, 1620, in Cal. of State Papers, Ireland; Sir Thomas Dutton to the King, December 20, 1629, ib.; Hadsor’s propositions, ib., 1632, p. 681. The final grant to Sir Frederick Hamilton is in Morrin’s Patent Rolls, Car. I. p. 541. In a letter to Wentworth of February 12, 1634–5, Viscount Wilmot suggests that Coote should be asked ‘what became of the 5,000l. allotted to be disbursed upon the town and wall of Jamestown,’ Melbourne Hall Papers, ii. 175.
[152] St. John to the Privy Council, September 29, 1619; Privy Council to St. John, August 1621; extract of a letter calendared at June 17, 1624.
[153] Sir John Digby to Buckingham, June 4, 1617, in Fortescue Papers (Camden Society); St. John to Buckingham, ib., November 24, 1618 and August 17, 1620; the King to St. John, concerning Sir Roger Jones, October 6, 1620. For the report as to disarming Protestants see Court and Times, ii. 304; communications between King and Privy Council calendared January 28 to February 3, 1622; St. John to the Privy Council, October 13, 1621 and April 8, 1622.
[154] Court and Times, ii. 327; Ussher to Grandison, October 16, 1622, Works, xv. 180 and Hampton to Ussher, ib. 183; Cox’s Hibernia Anglicana, ii. 39.
[155] Proclamation of January 21, 1623–4, Carew; Falkland to Calvert (with enclosures), October 20, 1623; to Conway (sent with Westmeath), April 27, 1624; Archbishop Abbot to Conway, September 10, 1623, Cal. of State Papers, Ireland, June 4, 1625.
[156] Falkland to Conway, April 24, 1624; to Privy Council, March 16, 1625; Council of War for Ireland (Grandison, Carew, Chichester, etc.) to the Privy Council, July 6, 1624.
[157] Lord Deputy to Lord Chancellor, October 22 and 28, 1624, and Loftus’s answer to the first; Conway to Grandison and others, November 24; Loftus to the Privy Council, January 10, 1625; Privy Council to the King, March 21.
CHAPTER X
EARLY YEARS OF CHARLES I., 1625–1632
Accession of Charles I., March, 1625.
The death of James I. made little immediate difference to Ireland. King Charles was proclaimed in Dublin, and a new commission was issued to Falkland as Lord Deputy. An attack from Spain was thought likely, and the Irish Government were in no condition to resist it, for the pay of the troops was in arrear—nine months in the case of old soldiers and seven in the case of recent levies. Being hungry they sometimes mutinied, and were more dangerous to the country than to foreign invaders. The fortifications of the seaports were decayed, and ships of war were unable to sail for want of provisions. Pirates continued to infest the coast, and this evil was aggravated by constant friction between the Irish Government and the Admiralty of England. Falkland continued viceroy for more than six years after the accession of Charles I., constantly complaining that he was neglected and that his official powers and privileges were unfairly curtailed. With Lord Chancellor Loftus he continued to be on the worst of terms, and the King was at last driven to place the Great Seal in commission. Loftus was sent for to England.[158]
Quarrel between Falkland and Loftus.
The suspended Chancellor was accused of seeking popularity for himself and intriguing against the King, especially with regard to the expenses of recruiting and maintaining soldiers. There were charges, all denied, of hearing cases in private and making money by extortion; and Loftus openly claimed the right to eke out his salary of 360l. by exacting certain fees. After a long inquiry by King and Council, Loftus, who could keep his temper, was completely exonerated, and was granted the unusual privilege of quitting Ireland whenever he pleased without forfeiting his place. Prosecutions in the Castle Chambers were ordered against those who had accused him falsely. Loftus was at war with Lord Cork as well as with the Deputy, and Cork sustained the charges against him before the King and Council.[159]
The case of the O’Byrnes.
The English Government tired of plantations.
Like his two predecessors, Falkland believed that plantations were the best things for Ireland, and he had not been many months in the country before he proposed to settle the lower part of Wicklow and some strips of the adjoining counties. In the days of Feagh MacHugh O’Byrne the district had been constantly disturbed, and his son Phelim trod for a time in his footsteps; but he made his peace with Queen Elizabeth and held a considerable part of the tribal territory, though by a rather uncertain tenure. The Queen perhaps intended to secure him by patent, but this was not done during her lifetime, and James issued letters to the same effect, which Grandison managed to avoid acting on. The reason given for delay was that much of the land in question had been granted to individuals by patent, and that the whole territory belonged in fact to the King. Middlesex, for some reason not now evident, opposed Falkland’s scheme of a plantation, and the London Commissioners for Irish causes did the same. Plantations, said the latter, were very good things in themselves; but they were the cause of much exasperation in those concerned, and in several cases but little progress had been made, so that it was unreasonable to break fresh ground. Falkland would do well if he could break off