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"Famine, Fire, and Slaughter" in Ulster -
Tyrone approaches Mountjoy - He is repelled - Docwra and Chichester
combine against Tyrone - He retires to Glenconkein - A Force of 8000 men
fail to "hunt the Arch-traitor into the Sea" - Tyrone communicates with
King 1 James VI of Scotland - James acts with Characteristic Diplomacy -
Elizabeth appoints Commissioners to deal with Tyrone - Death of the
Queen - Tyrone, ignorant of her death, submits.
The great Russian who wrote War and
Peace^ and he alone, could adequately describe the state to which
Ireland was reduced by the struggle for supremacy between Elizabeth and
Tyrone. Nauseating and gruesome in the extreme as are many of the
details, they must be given, if only thereby to gain a truthful picture
of the scene when "the war-cloud had lifted". Pitiful and full of
anguish are the memorials of that terrible time, whether furnished by a
Moryson or a Spenser; by a cool-blooded, indifferent looker-on, or by
one who lost his all by incendiary fires, which swallowed up not alone
his worldly goods, but with tongues of flame licked up the lives of his
children.
Famine followed the footsteps of
Mountjoy, who devastated the country through which he passed, destroying
the crops as he went, and leaving in his wake nothing save desolation
and death. "Mountjoy", says Mr. Bagwell, "had clearly foreseen a famine,
had done his best to bring it about, and had completely succeeded." The
victims of his merciless methods were reduced to "unspeakable
extremities". Fynes Moryson relates how Sir Arthur Chichester, Sir
Richard Moryson, and other English commanders in Ulster witnessed "a
most horrible spectacle of three children (whereof the eldest was not
above ten years old) all eating and knawing with their teeth the entrals
of their dead mother, upon whose flesh they had fed twenty days past".
Captain Trevor tells us that certain old women lit fires in the woods to
attract young children, and that when the children approached, hoping to
find food and warmth, they were seized, killed, and eaten by the
beldames. Horses were killed for food, and not only horses but dogs,
cats, hawks, kites, and other birds of prey. Moryson says: "No spectacle
was more frequent, in the ditches of townes, and especiallie in wasted
countries, than to see multitudes of these poore people dead, with their
mouthes all coloured greene, by eating nettles, docks, and all things
they could rend up above ground". The very wolves were driven by
starvation from the woods, and killed the enfeebled people. The dead lay
unburied, or half-buried, for the survivors had not strength to dig a
proper grave, and the human remains, being left thus exposed, were
devoured by famishing dogs or ravenous wolves.
Reduced by such a spectacle, Tyrone
wrote to Mountjoy in most humble terms, saying: "I know the Queen's
merciful nature, though I am not worthy to crave for mercy. . . .
Without standing on any terms or conditions, I do hereby both simply and
absolutely, submit myself to her Majesty's mercy." Mountjoy, however,
remained implacable, and, pluming himself on his success, talked of
hunting the archtraitor into the sea. The war was now confined to a
corner of Ulster, and Tyrone, being hard pressed by Docwra and
Chichester, \vas driven into his last fastnesses, with a few followers
and but fifty fighting-men, and stood simply on the defensive. The
portion of country he could still call his own was merely about 200
square miles in extent, situate in the south-eastern part of Deny,
Glenconkein, and the most eastern portion of Tyrone, on the shores of
Lough Neagh.
Sir Henry Docwra, governor of Derry,
had been busy for months planting garrisons at all suitable spots, and
Mountjoy himself had, during the summer, traversed Ulster with the
object of erecting forts; for starvation by means of garrisons was his
object. About the 10th of August the Queen's forces, augmented by those
of Docwra from Derry, which comprised some 450 English foot and 50
horse, with 200 O'Cahan and 100 O'Dogherty kerne, supplemented by forces
which accompanied Chichester from Carrickfergus and Danvers'from Armagh,
and by troops drawn from the Mountnorris, Blackwater, Mountjoy, and
Charlemont forts, made a formidable array, being a total strength of at
least 8000 men, wherewith to "hunt the arch-traitor" and his fifty
men-at-arms "into the sea".
This mighty host was gathered together
at Toom, the most northerly point of Lough Neagh, with the result that
the inhabitants of the district were eaten out of house and home, and
the surrounding country cropped as bare as an English common. How the
rebels subsisted we are told by Moryson, who says: "the wild Irish
willingly eat the herb shamrock, being of a sharp taste, which, as they
run and are chased to and fro, they snatch like beasts out of the
ditches".
Docwra and Chichester found it by no
means easy to converge upon Tyrone. To penetrate shaggy woods in order
to discover the whereabouts of your enemy before you proceed to dispatch
him is not by any means an agreeable undertaking, especially when, in
endeavouring to find the way "through verdurous glooms", impedimenta in
the shape of fallen tree-trunks block the way, and a chance encounter
with a pack of fierce and starving wolves may possibly relieve you of
the necessity of ever encountering another foe! No sooner had the woods
been entered than the O'Cahans decamped and the O'Dogherties declined to
proceed farther. The usual fortunes of war followed; guides either
misled or deserted, soldiers sickened and died, and a wily foe cut off
unwary stragglers. Chichester, full of enthusiasm, penetrated farther
into the woods and had a brush with Tyrone's men, but did little or no
damage, and in but a short time the borders of the wood, like that
enchanted one of which George Meredith sang, were marked by "hasty
outward-tripping toes, heels to terror, on the mould". Docwra returned
to Derry, and Chichester abandoned the enterprise.
Tyrone's thoughts now naturally turned
towards Scotland. Five years earlier he had offered his services to
James, but that sagacious and sanctimonious monarch, "willing to wound
and yet afraid to strike" Elizabeth, replied with characteristic
pomposity: "When it shall please God to call our sister, the Queen of
England, by death, we will see no less than your promptitude and
readiness upon our advertisement to do us service". Tyrone, accepting
this assurance as genuine, kept James informed of events in Ireland that
might interest the King. But the goodwill of James towards useless
friends was a somewhat negative .quantity, and, true to his instinct to
"make friends of the mammon of unrighteousness", if such friendliness
led to material results, he offered the Queen, in 1601, a body of troops
wherewith to exterminate Tyrone and all his breed. Elizabeth, accepting
James's professions of friendship at what they were worth, remarked,
while she thanked him for his kind offer, that the rebels had done their
worst already, and added significantly: "Remember that who seeketh two
strings to one bow, may shoot strong but never straight; if you suppose
that princes' causes be vailed so covertly that no intelligence may
bewray them, deceive not yourself; we old foxes can find shifts to save
ourselves by others' malice, and come by knowledge of greatest secret,
specially if it touch our freehold".
Tyrone had now retired to a formidable
fastness near the extremity of Lough Erne, accompanied by his brother
Cormac, Art O'Neill of Clanaboy, and MacMahon, with a muster of some 600
foot and 60 horse. To this secure stronghold Mountjoy, in September,
followed him with his huge army, but was unable to get within less than
twelve miles of his quarry. Henry and Con, the sons of Shane O'Neill,
who were in the English service and were followed by some of the men of
Tyrone, were permitted by the Lord Deputy to remain with the herdsmen in
the neighbourhood, which otherwise was wholly depopulated.
On the nth of September Mountjoy
returned to Newry, stating, in his letters to Cecil and the Privy
Council, that "we found everywhere men dead of famine, insomuch that
O'Hagan protested to us, that between Tullaghoge and Toom there lay
unburied 1000 dead, and that since our first drawing this year to
Blackwater there were about 3000 starved in Tyrone".
Early in March, 1603, three letters
were received by the Lord Deputy, two bearing dates 6th and 17th
February, from Elizabeth, the third dated the i8th February, signed by
Cecil. In her dispatches the Queen desired Mountjoy to invite Tyrone to
Dublin, and to assure him at the same time that his life would be
preserved. Tyrone, once in the Lord Deputy's hands, was to be detained.
Eleven days later the maiden Queen, as women are wont to do, changed her
mind, and added that not alone was Tyrone's life to be spared, but he
was also to be granted a full pardon and be set at liberty. In the
letter signed by Cecil, the Queen, two days later, suggested, among
other things, that the title of Tyrone should be altered, and granted
him greater latitude on condition that he kept the approaches to Ulster
in a clear and satisfactory condition. To these dispatches Mountjoy
replied by pointing out that Tyrone was to the Irish a more innocent and
less suggestive title than The O'Neill, which he considered highly
inflammatory, and he added many sage suggestions, which, alas! Elizabeth
never lived to read; but it is deeply interesting to know that on the
very day of her death, 24th March, commission was given to Sir William
Godolphin and Sir Garret Moore to treat with Tyrone, he and his
adherents being granted the Royal Protection for a period of three
weeks.
Elizabeth was no more, and Tyrone was
unaware of the fact. Great care, indeed, was taken to keep the news from
becoming public property. The intelligence reached Mountjoy three days
after the event, and was at once suppressed, chiefly through the
diplomacy of Fynes Moryson. Under the circumstances it was deemed
expedient to hasten the negotiations with Tyrone, and accordingly
instructions were issued to the Commissioners to expedite matters.
Mountjoy was at Sir Garret Moore's castle at Mellifont when the news of
Elizabeth's death arrived, and, without revealing his secret, he urged
upon Godolphin the advisability of immediate action. Godolphin, in
blissful ignorance of the fact that "England wept upon Elizabeth", set
out at once to parley with Tyrone, and even rode several miles beyond
Dungannon to meet him, returning with the "great O'Neill" that evening
to Charlemont fort. Early next day the little party of horsemen set out
for Mellifont, where the ceremony of submission took place. Fynes
Moryson, who was present, tells us: "Tyrone being admitted to the Lord
Deputy's chamber, kneeled at the door humbly on his knees for a long
space, making his penitent submission to Her Majesty, and after being
required to come nearer to the Lord Deputy, performed the same ceremony
in all humbleness, the space of one hour or thereabouts".
The terms of the submission were
equally complete: "I, Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, do absolutely submit
myself to the Queen's mercy, imploring her gracious commiseration,
imploring Her Majesty to mitigate her just indignation against me. I do
avow that the first motives of my rebellion were neither malice nor
ambition, but that I was induced, by fear of my life, to stand upon my
guard. I do, therefore, most humbly sue Her Majesty that she will
vouchsafe to restore to me my former dignity and living. In which state
of a subject I vow to continue for ever hereafter loyal, in all true
obedience to her Royal person, crown, and prerogatives, and to be in all
things as dutifully conformable thereunto as I or. any other nobleman of
this realm is bound by the duty of a subject to a sovereign, utterly
renouncing the name and title of O'Neill, or any other claim which hath
not been granted to me by Her Majesty.
"I abjure all foreign power, and all
dependence upon any other potentate but Her Majesty. I renounce all
manner of dependency upon the King of Spain, or treaty with him, or any
of his confederates, and shall be ready to serve Her Majesty against him
or any of his forces or confederates. I do renounce all challenge or
intermeddling with the urriaghs, or fostering with them, or other
neighbour lords and gentlemen outside my country, or exacting black
rents of any urriaghs, or bordering Itfrds. I resign all claim and title
to any lands, but such as shall now be granted to me by Her Majesty's
letters patent.
"Lastly, I will be content to be
advised by Her Majesty's magistrates here, and will assist them in
anything that may tend to the advancement of her service, and the
peaceable government of this kingdom, the abolishing of barbarous
customs, the clearing of difficult passes, wherein I will employ the
labours of the people of my country, in such places, as shall be
directed by Her Majesty, or the Lord Deputy in her name; and I will
endeavour for myself, and the people of my country, to erect civil
habitations, and such as shall be of greater effect, to preserve us
against thieves and any force but the power of the State."
In return for this abject submission
Tyrone was promised a full pardon, and a patent for nearly all the lands
which he held before his rebellion. Thus, after six years of war or
negotiations, the Earl retained Tyrone on almost the same terms as those
which he had himself proposed in 1587. He had, however, to face the
significant fact that 300 acres were reserved for the fort of Mountjoy
and 300 for Charlemont, and Ulster was to submit to a composition, as
Connaught had done. Still, with characteristic common sense, he made the
best terms for himself, and resumed his position as the first subject in
the realm, nor is there any reason to doubt that he was perfectly loyal
and sincere in so doing.
On the afternoon of the next day, 4th
April, he ,rode into Dublin with the viceregal party, and on the 5th Sir
Henry Danvers arrived from England with official tidings of the death of
the Queen. King James was at once proclaimed, the announcement of his
accession to the throne of England being received with plaudits by the
populace, but Tyrone, who naturally was the cynosure of all eyes, burst
into tears on hearing of the death of Elizabeth. "There needed", says
the alert Moryson, "no œdipus to find out the true cause of his tears;
for, no doubt the most humble submission he made to the Queen he had so
highly and proudly offended, much eclipsed the vain glory his actions
might have carried if he had held out till her death; besides that by
his coming in, as it were, between two reigns, he lost a fair advantage,
for (by England's estate for the present unsettled) to have subsisted
longer in rebellion (if he had any such end) or at least an ample
occasion of fastening great merit on the new King, if at first and of
free will he had submitted to his mercy."
The last year of O'Neill's war cost
the English treasury £290,733, besides "contingencies", which, according
to Cox, amounted to at least £50,000 more, making the last year's
expenditure for this Irish war at least £340,733, while the revenue of
England at this period was not more than £450,000 per annum. During the
last four and a half years of Elizabeth's reign it has been computed
that the Irish war cost her about £1,200,000 an enormous demand upon the
slender revenue of those days. The drain upon the life-blood of England
was also great, her soldiers perishing by thousands like rotten sheep in
the bogs and dank woods of Ireland; and not recruits or rankers only,
but distinguished officers like the Norrises, Clifford, Bagenal, and
Bingham. As we have seen, on the very day of her death the great Queen's
thoughts were fixed on Ulster. She had firmly resolved, with all her
imperious will, that she would subdue Ireland, and it is not by any
means improbable that, as she lay fully dressed, propped up by cushions
on the floor of her palace, dying, her last fierce flickering thought
dwelt on Tyrone. |
