still hoped against hope for help from Spain. Queen Elizabeth, wearied by the endless war, had made overtures to the Irish chieftains, offering pardons and titles to all who should cease fighting. Rory O'Donnell and several others had already come to terms with the queen. To O'Neill, also, Elizabeth made flattering offers, but he held out resolutely, until he received news Death of of the death of Hugh Roe O'Donnell, in Spain. Elizabeth. With the disappearance of this last hope, O'Neill saw that his cause was lost, and decided to close the struggle, when Queen Elizabeth died.

SUMMARY

1603.

Sir John Perrott, who became lord lieutenant in 1582, did much for Ireland. He enforced English law all over the country, and attempted a policy of conciliation. He made the mistake, however, of treacherously capturing and imprisoning Hugh Roe O'Donnell and several other young chiefs as hostages. They became allies of Hugh O'Neill, who headed a rebellion against the government in the name of freedom and tolerance for Catholics, in 1595. Up to the year 1600, O'Neill was everywhere successful, and by his excellent tactics and good generalship defeated every army sent against him. Portmore was taken in 1595 by the Irish, who also won the battles of Drumflugh, 1597, and The Yellow Ford, 1598. A truce was made in 1599. The arrival of a new lord lieutenant, Lord Mountjoy, who, with his army, devastated the provinces of Munster and Leinster, and the inefficiency of the Spanish general, Aguila, who landed at Kinsale in 1601, brought the rebellion to an end. The Irish lost the decisive battle of Kinsale, and Aguila returned to Spain. Ulster was then devastated. Most of the Irish chiefs accepted Elizabeth's offers of pardon, and submitted to her authority. O'Neill had laid down his arms and was on the point of making formal submission when the queen died, 1603.

CHAPTER XVIII

THE PLANTATION OF ULSTER

ENGLISH SOVEREIGNS:

1603-1641

James I, 1603-1625 Charles I, 1625-1649

151. Flight of O'Neill and O'Donnell. James, the son of Mary Stuart, ascended the throne of England as

JAMES I

James I in virtue

of his descent from Henry VII. It is worth remembering that James, like the Scottish monarchs who preceded him, was descended from Fergus, who, with his brothers, led an Irish colony to Scotland, at the beginning of the sixth century.

After O'Neill's submission he and Rory O'Donnell received the English

title of earl, and external tranquillity seemed to be restored to Ireland. The position of the two great chiefs was, however, full of difficulties. They had been restored

to their estates, and this caused envy and jealousy among the adventurers who had hoped to secure these estates in case of forfeiture. They were surrounded by enemies and spies, who constantly sent false reports of their sayings and doings to London. Matters reached a climax when the report was spread, in 1607, that these two chiefs were planning another rebellion. Both were old and worn out with the fatigues of war, and they determined to leave Ireland, rather than endure a Their new period of perils. They fled to the conti- deaths. nent with their families; first to France and later to Rome, where they were hospitably received by the Pope, and pensioned. O'Donnell died in 1608, and O'Neill did not long survive him.

One more great

152. The system of plantations. rebellion was to come a generation later. It had two main causes the suppression of the Catholic Church, and the system of plantations. In order thoroughly to understand the latter, we shall have to go back a little, and trace its origin and development.

Begun under Ed

Until the year 1547, whenever the English government wished to be rid of a troublesome Irish chief, it had settled matters by removing the offender, and putting another chief in his place, leaving the mass of the tribesmen unharmed and undisturbed. During the reign of Edward VI, a new system was introduced. The entire estate of the rebellious chief was confiscated, and the tribesmen, who were considered to be his tenants, as they would have been under English law, were turned out of their farms and homes. The whole land of the tribe was then given to an "undertaker," who received it on condition that he should bring over a certain number of English colonists and plant them on the confiscated land. Hence the name 66 plan

ward VI.

Its evils.

tation." This naturally caused great loss, suffering, and misery to the dispossessed tribesmen, who became bitter enemies of the English government. Hundreds of cultivators were often turned out of house and home in this way, no provision being made for their future, beyond a general order to settle elsewhere. This sad fate overtook them through no fault of their own, but simply because a quarrel had arisen between the head of their tribe and the Dublin government. There was no place for the dispossessed peasants elsewhere. The tribesmen of other regions could not find room for them, or give up their own fields, which, indeed, they would rather have defended by the sword.

153. Early attempts at plantation. The first experiment in the new system occurred in 1547, shortly after the death of Henry VIII. Two chiefs, O’Moore and O'Conor were banished, and their lands confiscated and given to "undertakers," to found plantations. An Englishman, who had received a grant of part of this land, was able to gain possession only after severe fighting, and his settlement was ruined by the perpetual attacks of the dispossessed tribesmen. The loss of life through fighting was not the only evil resulting from this system. Hardly less mischievous was the fall in the value of land. An estate which had been in admirable condition under its native chief was usually reduced to a wilderness before the planters gained possession of it.

A second attempt at plantation, in the south and west, during the reign of Queen Mary, met with a like fate. On this occasion, the full force of the English government was brought to bear against the Irish tribesmen ; yet, after years of bitter fighting, during which the families of the original cultivators were all killed, the English were forced to admit the defeat of their scheme. A