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Shane summoned to the Court
of Elizabeth - His Letter to the Queen - Sussex attempts to get Shane
murdered - Shane prepares to submit - His Terms of Submission - He sails
from Dublin - Received on his Arrival in London by Cecil, Pembroke, and
Bacon - He appears before Elizabeth - Received graciously by the Queen -
He is detained in England - Corresponds with Elizabeth.
Shane O'Neill was now
required to appear in person before Elizabeth to explain the grounds on
which he based his claim to the Earldom of Tyrone, and also to account for
the disloyal conduct of which he had, of late, been guilty. O'Neill
professed the fairest and most peaceable intentions, and denied that he
had opposed the Government: what he had done had been done in self-defence;
and he maintained that no attempts should be made to control him in the
just exercise of his own authority. He held that if he had attacked any of
the English settlements, he had only repelled their attempts against
himself: these injurious neighbours, envying his state, and being desirous
to wrest from him his possessions, had even formed designs against his
person; the result being that he lived in constant danger of being
assassinated.
He now wrote to the Queen
giving an account of himself and his actions, and his letter, though it
suffers much from being translated, is a document which proves that if the
writer was, when viewed from a modern standpoint, a savage, he was at
least a highly interesting savage.
"The Deputy", he writes,
"has much ill-used me, your Majesty; and now that I am going over to see
you I hope you will consider that I am but rude and uncivil, and do not
know my duty to your Highness nor yet your Majesty's laws, but am one
brought up in wildness far from all civility. Yet have I a good will to
the commonwealth of my country; and please your Majesty to send over two
commissioners that you can trust that will take no bribes nor otherwise be
imposed on, to observe what I have done to improve the country, and to
hear what my accusers have to say; and then let them go into the Pale and
hear what the people say of your soldiers with their horses, and their
dogs and their concubines. Within this year and a half, three hundred
farmers are come from the English Pale to live in my country where they
can be safe.
"Please your Majesty, your
Majesty's money here is not so good as your money in England, and will not
pass current there. Please your Majesty to send me three thousand pounds
of English money to pay my expenses in going over to you, and when I come
back I will pay your Deputy three thousand pounds Irish, such as you are
pleased to have current here.
"Also I will ask your
Majesty to marry me to some gentlewoman of noble blood meet for my
vocation. I will make Ireland all that your Majesty wishes for you. I am
very sorry your Majesty is put to such expense. If you will trust it to me
I will undertake that in three years you shall have a revenue where now
you have continual loss.
"Also your Majesty's father
granted certain lands to my father O'Neill and to his son Matthew. Mat
Kelly claims these lands of your Majesty. We have a saying among us
Irishmen that 'whatsoever bull do chance to bull any cow in any kerragh,
notwithstanding, the right owner of the cow shall have the calf and not
the owner of the bull'. How can it be or how can it stand with natural
reason that the said Matthew should inherit my father's lands, and also
inherit his own rightful father the smith's, and also his mother's lands
which the said Matthew hath peaceably in possession?"
Sussex, despairing of
conquering O'Neill in the field, determined to remove "the most dangerous
person in Ireland" by other means than warfare. He decided to use the
poisoned bowl or the dagger, as the following letter from him to the Queen
proves. It is dated 24th August, 1561, and runs:
"May it please your
Highness,
"After conference had with
Shane O'Neill's seneschal I entered talk with Neil Grey; and perceiving by
him that he had little hope of Shane's conformity in anything, and that he
therefore desired that he might be received to serve your Highness, for
that he would no longer abide with him, and that if I would promise to
receive him to your service he would do anything that I would command him,
I sware him upon the Bible to keep secret that I should say unto him, and
assured him if it were ever known during the time I had the government
there, that besides the breach of his oath it should cost him his life. I
used long circumstance in persuading him to serve you to benefit his
country, and to procure assurance of living to him and his for ever by
doing of that which he might easily do. He promised to do what I would. In
fine I brake with him to kill Shane; and bound myself by my oath to see
him have a hundred marks of land by the year to him and to his heirs for
his reward. He seemed desirous to serve your Highness and to have the
land, but fearful to do it doubting his own escape after with safety,
which he confessed and promised to do by any means he might escaping with
his life. What he will do I know not, but I assure your Highness he may do
it without danger if he will. And if he will not do that he may in your
service, then will be done to him what others may. God send your Highness
a good end.
"Your Highness's
"Most humble and faithful subject and servant,
"T. SUSSEX."
The Queen's opinion of this
proposal, if she ever expressed it in writing which is doubtful is not
discoverable. That she did not contemplate the committing of the proposed
murder with aversion, or censure Lord Sussex, is proved by the fact that
he was continued in office, and later he repeated the experiment on other
lines, but was signally unsuccessful.
What the Lord Lieutenant
did not succeed in effecting by force was brought about through the
mediation of the Earl of Kildare, whose family connection with O'Neill
gave him considerable influence with that chief. The persuasions of
Kildare were backed by a pressing letter of invitation from Elizabeth to
Shane to repair to her Court, and this invitation Shane the Proud accepted
on terms which implied that he was rather conferring a favour than
receiving one. He demanded a safe-conduct so clearly worded that whatever
the result of his visit he should be free to return; he required a
complete amnesty for his past misdeeds; and he stipulated that Elizabeth
should pay all expenses for himself and his retinue; the Earls of Ormonde,
Desmond, and Kildare must receive him in state at Dundalk and escort him
to Dublin; Kildare must accompany him to England; and, most important of
all, Armagh Cathedral must be
evacuated.
On these terms he was ready
to go to England. When the terms were laid before the Council in London,
they were accepted for "certain secret respects", and the prospect of
having such a redoubtable chieftain in their power made one of the members
suggest that the terms of the safe-conduct might be evaded, and " that in
Shane's absence from Ireland something might be cavilled against him or
his for non-observing the covenants on his side; and so the pact being
infringed the matter might be used as should be thought fit". Happily for
the honour of England this vile proposal met with no approval from the
Queen, who, after some slight hesitation, wrote to O'Neill accepting all
his terms save the evacuation of the cathedral. Making a virtue of
necessity Shane consented to this, saying at the same time that he did so
solely to please Elizabeth, but that for "the Earl of Sussex he would not
mollify one iota of his agreement".
Everything being now in
order, the Ulster chieftain, leaving Turlogh Lynnagh O'Neill in charge of
Tyrone, set sail in December, 1551, from Dublin, with Kildare in
attendance and accompanied by a guard of gallowglasse, and was received
privately at the Lord Keeper's house, on the 2nd of January, by Cecil,
Pembroke, and Bacon. O'Neill had received one thousand pounds already, and
was now handed a second thousand; whereupon he remarked that two thousand
pounds was a poor present from so great a queen. The enormity of his
transgressions being pointed out to him, and an endeavour made to extract
a promise that he would behave himself in future, he evasively responded
that he hoped he would get a little more money. Seeing that it was waste
of time to try to bargain with him, the Englishmen had to content
themselves with Shane's assurance that he would confess in Irish and in
English that his deeds were not what they should have been, whereupon
preparations were made to receive him at Court.
Few scenes could be more
picturesque than this visit of the great Ulster chieftain to the capital
of his unknown sovereign. As he came striding down the streets of London
on his way to the Palace, attended by his train of gallowglasse armed with
the battleaxe, his was indeed a figure to strike the imagination. Like the
great golden eagle from far-off Donegal, when seen among homely
surroundings, Shane the Proud impressed those who gazed at him as being
indeed a king of men. He stalked into the Court, his saffron mantle
sweeping round and round him, his hair curling on his back and clipped
short below the eyes, which gleamed from under it with a grey lustre.
Behind him followed his gallowglasse, their heads bare, their fair hair
flowing on their shoulders, their linen vests dyed with saffron, with long
and open sleeves, surcharged with shirts of mail which reached to their
knees, a wolf-skin flung across their shoulders, and short, broad
battle-axes in their hands.
The redoubtable chief had
no reason to be dissatisfied with his reception. The Council, the peers,
bishops, aldermen, dignitaries of all kinds, were present in state, and
the assembly included ambassadors from the King of Sweden and the Duke of
Savoy.
Approaching the throne
O'Neill fell on his knees before Elizabeth, and from a scroll which had
been inscribed at the dictation of Cecil, read aloud in Irish a submission
couched in the following terms:
"Oh! my most dread
sovereign lady and Queen, like as I, Shane O'Neill, your Majesty's subject
of your realm of Ireland, have of long desired to come into the presence
of your Majesty to acknowledge my humble and bounden subjection, so am I
now upon my knees by your gracious permission, and do most humbly
acknowledge your Majesty to be my sovereign lady and Queen of England,
France, and Ireland; and I do confess that for lack of civil education I
have offended your Majesty and your laws, for the which I have required
and obtained your Majesty's pardon. And for that I most humbly from the
bottom of my heart thank your Majesty, and still do with all humbleness
require the continuance of the same ; and I faithfully promise here before
Almighty God and your Majesty, and in presence of all these your nobles,
that I intend by God's grace to live hereafter in the obedience of your
Majesty as a subject of your land of Ireland.
"And because this my speech
being Irish is not well understanded, I have caused this my submission to
be written in English and Irish, and thereto have set my hand and seal;
and to these gentlemen my kinsmen and friends I most humbly beseech your
Majesty to be merciful and gracious lady."
The submission having been
duly made, Elizabeth motioned Shane to rise, "check'd with a glance the
circle's smile", no doubt eyeing as she did so, with characteristic
appreciation, the magnificent thews and sinews of this the most formidable
of her vassals. Ignoring a suggestion from Sussex that she should give
O'Neill a cool reception, or "show strangeness" to him, she received his
submission very graciously, and listened favourably to the allegations by
which he defended or palliated his conduct. He repeated his objections to
the succession of Ferdoragh's issue, urged his own just claim to the
sovereignty of Tyrone, both by the laws of England and the old Irish
institutions; offered proof of his right and superiority over the
neighbouring lords; pathetically referred to the injuries he had received
and the desperate attempts made to destroy him; and lamented the iniquity
of his enemies which had driven him to ensure his own security even at the
risk of appearing to oppose her royal authority. He concluded with strong
protestations of friendship and loyalty. Elizabeth appears to have been
much impressed by the artlessness exhibited in his address, and dismissed
him with presents and assurances of favour.
Shane now discovered that,
notwithstanding his precautions, he had been outwitted in the wording of
his safe conduct. Although it was agreed that he should be permitted to
return to Ireland, the date of his return was not specified; and as it was
deemed politic to detain him until matters in Ulster had become more
settled, various pretexts were given for keeping the caged eagle in
London, one being that he must await the arrival of the young Baron of
Dungannon, who had been summoned to the English law courts to be heard in
support of his cause. Duplicity was the order of the day, for not alone
had Dungannon not been so summoned, but instructions had been given to
prevent him from leaving Ireland.
O'Neill was at first
unperturbed, and made good use of his time by writing flattering epistles
to the Queen, telling her that she was the sole hope and refuge he
possessed in the world; that in visiting England his chief desire had been
to see that great queen whose fame was world-wide, and to study the
methods of her government, so that he "might learn how better to order
himself in civil polity". He begged her to give him his father's earldom,
assuring her that if she did he would maintain her authority in Ulster,
where she should be undisputed Queen over loyal subjects; he would drive
away all her enemies; he would expel the Scots from Ireland who were
friends of Mary Stuart. His audacity knew no bounds, for "he was most
urgent that her Majesty would give him sorqe noble English lady for a wife
with augmentation of living suitable". It has never been suggested that in
making this last request Shane the Proud was sounding the mind of the
Maiden Queen in the modest manner which becomes the Irish gentleman. This
is a matter that never can be settled, but Shane considered himself,
although naturally he never said so, and despite the expressions of
humility used in his submission, as quite the equal in social rank of
Elizabeth. It is not a characteristic of manhood to beg the assistance of
a woman when seeking a wife, unless the hope is entertained by the man
that the woman whose aid towards matrimony is sought may, in giving the
help required, herself accept the position which it was proposed she
should select another to fill. Shane had nothing to gain by the
acquisition of any other "noble English lady", and therefore there could
be no object in his thus begging the Queen to find him a wife, save to
convey a covert proposal to Elizabeth herself, and in the case of
rejection protect himself from being rebuffed. O'Neill has, at the hands
of historians, been assailed with epithets of which the "adulterous,
murdering scoundrel" of Froude is about the mildest. But if humanity of
the time of Elizabeth must be judged by the standards of, say, Victoria,
what were Sussex and Elizabeth when the latter did not demur at the
suborning of Neil Grey to kill O'Neill? Shane appears to have got
thoroughly into Elizabeth's good graces, which was fairly creditable for
"a murdering scoundrel", and the Queen's suavity, coupled with the bearing
of Shane the Proud, led the wits at Court to style the Irish Chieftain:
O'Neill the Great, Lord of
the North of Ireland;
Cousin of St. Patrick. Friend of the Queen of England;
Enemy of all the world beside.
Shane had been now three
months in London, and yet nothing had been done, and he was pining to get
back to Ulster. He was told that "the young Baron" was expected from
Ireland daily, and other obstacles were put in the way of his departure.
Finally he appealed to Elizabeth, "having no refuge nor succour to flee
unto but only her Majesty"; he begged to be allowed to return to Ulster,
where his presence was urgently needed, not alone because the Scots were
"evil neighbours", but because his kinsmen were fickle. He added, however,
with genuine courtliness, that if Her Majesty desired him to stay he was
her slave indeed, he would do all which she would have him do; and,
evidently with the desire of being acceptable in the Queen's eyes, he
asked that he might be allowed to attend on Lord Robert Cecil, "that he
might learn to ride after the English fashion, to run at the tilt, to
hawk, to shoot, and use such other good exercises as the said good lord
was most apt unto".
Elizabeth, though touched
by this appeal, held for a little longer her unwilling guest in London.
The Golden Eagle was not suffered yet awhile to return to his mountain
home. |
