of the Isles, and to Patrick Maclean, Bailie of Iona and Justice Clerk of the South Isles.
and sends agents to Dublin.
A few days after this treaty the bishop and the bailie came to Dublin and asked for 1,000l. Half of this sum, with 100l. worth of provisions, was as much as St. Leger could afford to give them. In the meantime Donnell Dhu had appeared at Carrickfergus with 4,000 men and 180 galleys, having left another force of 4,000 behind him to keep Argyle and Huntley in check. In writing to the King of England he expressed great joy that his Majesty had deigned to look upon so small a person, and either he, or the priest who prompted him, found an extraordinary analogy between the fishers of the Western Isles and those of the Galilean lake, and between Henry VIII. and their Master. At Carrickfergus Donnell Dhu and his friends again bound themselves to do the bidding of Lennox, and ‘to fortify after their power the King’s Majesty touching the marriage of the Princess of Scotland, and in all other affairs as is commanded them to do by my Lord Earl of Lennox.’272
His agreement with St. Leger.
Having done their business in Dublin, Donnell’s ambassadors hurried to England and made their terms with the Council. They bound their chief and his friends to be Henry’s liege subjects, and to furnish him with 8,000 auxiliaries, who were to co-operate with Lennox and Ormonde, and, if possible, to harry Scotland as far as Stirling. While Lennox remained in Argyle’s country all the islemen were to be employed in destroying it; in other places 6,000 were to follow him, but there were never to be less than 2,000 occupied in persecuting the sons of Diarmid. In consideration of this undertaking Henry promised to pay 3,000 of Donnell’s men, and to send a force of 2,000 Irish under Ormonde, who was to be subordinate to Lennox.273
The whole project ends in failure.
St. Leger had considerable difficulty in raising 2,000 men at short notice. Money was scarce with him, and he was not told what pay he might offer. Recruiting was hindered by rumours of casualties among the kerne who had taken part in Hertford’s second raid, when they had been specially employed to burn and waste East Teviotdale ‘because the borderers would not most willingly burn their neighbours.’ The required number was, however, got together by great exertions, one-half being raised by Ormonde. The force when complete consisted of 100 of the Dublin garrison, 400 gallowglasses, and 1,500 kerne. Two hundred and fifty had muskets, or were to some extent trained in the use of artillery, of which there were several pieces. Shipping was collected in the Irish and Welsh ports, and great quantities of munitions put on board. Lennox himself came to Dublin, and sailed with Ormonde for the Clyde. Dumbarton Castle was in the hands of Lord Glencairne, and was to be taken if possible. Should this attempt fail, the plan was to effect a landing in Argyle’s country, and to do all the damage possible there. The fleet left Dublin on November 17, and was unlucky from the first, being caught in a storm off Belfast Lough and much damaged. On reaching the Clyde the country was found to be up in arms, the attitude of the islemen was uncertain, a French squadron was on the coast, and Lennox, against the advice of Ormonde, resolved to turn back. Donnell Dhu died at Drogheda just at the critical moment, and was buried in St. Patrick’s, Dublin, where an epitaph recorded the mournful fact that he had escaped an exile’s life only to die an exile’s death.274
James MacDonnell offers his services, 1545.
James MacDonnell, the son of Alaster, became Lord of the Isles by general consent. He had been educated at the Scottish Court, and his politics had thus lost something of their insularity. At all events he had learned to write, and that was a rare accomplishment for one of his family in those days. Lady Agnes Campbell had perhaps excited doubts in his mind as to the desirability of destroying the Argyle power; and others in the isles may have doubted the power of Henry VIII. to protect them against the Campbells and Gordons. But James still professed his readiness to do the King of England’s bidding, suggested St. Patrick’s day—nearly two months off—for a meeting with Lennox in the island of Sanda, and in the meantime asked for shipping to transport his men. Ragged Scotchmen continued to flock to Dublin, all asking for money; and the Irish Government soon formed an opinion that while the cost of maintaining them was certain, the expectation of service was more than doubtful.275
Dissensions between St. Leger and Ormonde.
St. Leger and Ormonde were now at open war. When leaving Gowran for Scotland the latter received an anonymous letter warning him that he was sent there only that he might be the more easily caught and put into the Tower. The writer affirmed that Lennox had said as much, and that the boasting of the Lord Deputy’s servants had been to the same effect. The pretext was that the Earl obstructed Irish reforms. Ormonde seems to have partly believed the letter, for he sent a copy to Russell, and begged him to procure an impartial inquiry. He then went to Scotland, declaring that his loyalty was not of that timorous sort which fears inquiry or shuns danger. ‘If,’ he wrote, ‘I saw all the power of the world upon a hill armed against his Majesty, I would rather run to his Grace, though I were slain at his Majesty’s heels, than to leave his Highness and save myself.’276
They both go to England, 1546.
After his return from Scotland Ormonde wrote several letters to Privy Councillors in England, in which he attacked St. Leger’s administration as expensive and wasteful. A graver accusation against a servant of Henry VIII. was that he concealed much which it imported the King to know. The letters were seized on ship-board by the Lord Deputy’s brother, and detained for some time in Dublin. Ormonde refused to state his grievances before the Irish Council, as being necessarily under St. Leger’s influence, but preferred to run all the risks of a voyage to England. The Irish Government left all to the Privy Council. St. Leger accordingly went over to state his own case, having first secured certificates of character from the Irish Council, from Desmond, Tyrone, Thomond, and Upper Ossory, and from several Irish chiefs, all of whom willingly came to Dublin at his summons, and ‘wept and lamented the departing of so just a governor.’277
Intrigues of Irish officials.
Lord Chancellor Alen was not favourable to St. Leger. He quarrelled regularly with every deputy; but there may be some truth in his allegations, which are little more than a statement of the insoluble problem of Irish government. The King’s writ did not run much further than in former days. The revenue was almost stationary, and was supplemented annually by 5,000l. of English money. Leinster was not reformed. Irishmen were quiet, but might not long remain so. The chiefs continued to wage private war, and were not to be tamed with abbey-lands in their own countries, or farms in the Pale. ‘I cannot,’ said Alen, ‘learn that ever such barbarous people kept touch any while, or were ever vanquished with fair words. Let Wales be example.’ Interrogatories were sent to Irish councillors on these and similar points, and as to whether either St. Leger or the Chancellor had been corrupt in any way. Questions were asked as to the demeanour of every councillor, as to whether Alen’s account of St. Leger’s overbearing conduct at the Council Board was true, as to the behaviour of Ormonde and others there. In replying to Alen’s charges, St. Leger complained of their vagueness, and detailed his strenuous exertions to overcome the inherent difficulties of his task, and here most people will sympathise with him. He thought that Irishmen on the whole kept their word as well as Englishmen, ‘and if Irishmen use their own laws, so doth the Earl of Ormonde, and all the Lords Marchers in Ireland.’ We have here a line of argument very common in our own day, but very rare in that of Henry VIII., and St. Leger must be credited with unusual breadth of view. The Irish customs were in truth necessary; for there was then no way of enforcing English law, and the difficulty of applying it fully has not disappeared even in the reign of Queen Victoria.
