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CHAPTER II.-The OrderS AND CONDITIONS OF PLANTATION.

I.

HE broad lands, thus quietly abandoned to the planters by the flight of the northern earls, were soon to receive vast additions, as mentioned at the close of the preceding chapter. These additions included Cavan, the 'country' of the O'Reillys; Fermanagh, the 'country' of the Maguires; Coleraine, the 'country' of the O'Cahans; the barony of Inishowen, which had belonged to Sir Cahir O'Dogherty; the estates of Sir Niall Garve O'Donnell, stretching from Lifford westward along the two banks of the Finn, and including the beautiful Lough Esk; the territory of Clogher, which belonged to Sir Cormac O'Neill, the Earl of Tyrone's brother; and last though not least in fertility or picturesque beauty, the 'country' of Orior, reaching from Armagh to the vicinity of Dundalk, and owned by the gallant old Sir Oghie O'Hanlon.

How had all these magnificent sweeps of Ulster territory become available for plantation purposes, so soon after the departure of the fugitives from Lough Swilly? The answer is not difficult, nor need it be lengthened. 1. Sir John O'Reilly had been induced to surrender his 'country,' and to take out a grant of it from the crown in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, who created him a knight. The lands of Cavan, by the Celtic law, strictly belonged to the whole clan, of whom Sir John O'Reilly had only been the elected trustee ; but the grant, on feudal terms from the crown, constituted him the owner in demesne, the interest being thus drawn to and centred in himself; so that, according to English law, should he become a traitor, the clansmen had no longer any right in the lands, and were to be regarded from that moment as simply intruders thereon. Sir John, as a matter of course, joined the Earl of Tyrone and other Ulster lords in 1595, but died soon afterwards. He was succeeded by his brother, and, on the death of the latter, an uncle became the representative of the clan. Both these leaders were slain in the progress of the war. Sir John O'Reilly, however, left a son named Mulmorie, who took his stand on the side of the government, and was slain at the battle of the Yellow Ford, leaving a son also named Mulmorie, who was a mere youth, at the time of the plantation. But Sir John himself, and his brother and uncle who succeeded, all died during the war, and accordingly the lands vested in the crown without even the necessity of investigation-the fact of their having died whilst in rebellion being enough to justify the confiscation of their estates without further delay. The youthful Mulmorie O'Reilly, whose father had died fighting on the side of the English at the Blackwater, and whose mother was a niece of the Duke of Ormonde, presented a very considerable difficulty for a time to Chichester's arrangements; but the scruples thus occasioned soon gave way under the plantation pressure, and young O'Reilly was obliged to accept a 'proportion' of his own lands, like any other English or Scottish undertaker.

2. Sir Hugh Maguire, the chief lord of Fermanagh, was a son-in-law of the Earl of Tyrone, and joined the latter in 1595. He was slain during the progress of the war, and his whole estates were

granted to his cousin, Connor Roe Maguire, who had taken the side of the government. But this arrangement was afterwards considered unjustifiable in some respects, and soon after the accession of James I. the county of Fermanagh was divided almost into two equal parts between Connor Roe and his cousin, Cuconnaght Maguire, the latter, as the brother and representative of Sir Hugh, considering himself rightfully entitled to all the family estates. He was, in fact, so dissatisfied with this division of his lands that he went with the earls into exile, and died soon afterwards at Genoa. Connor Roe, according to the arrangement above-mentioned, had three baronies, which Chichester represented as over-much; he was induced, therefore, to surrender his grant, and to accept one barony, which the king promised he should certainly have. But, even with this modification Chichester was not satisfied, and the matter ended in Connor Roe having to accept a small portion of what he regarded as his own, and on the same terms as the other undertakers.

3. Sir Donnell Ballagh O'Cahan, another son-in-law of the Earl of Tyrone, also espoused the quarrel of the latter in 1595, and was his most efficient ally for a time. But soon after Sir Henry Docwra landed at Derry, in the spring of the year 1600, O'Cahan surrendered to the government, and united his forces with those of Docwra, on condition that he should have a grant from the crown of the lands which his family had hitherto held under the O'Neills. This condition, with one or two reservations, was gladly accepted by the crown, and O'Cahan was granted a custodiam of his 'country' until the regular grant could be made out. But, after O'Cahan had most efficiently assisted the government in defeating O'Neill on the field, and afterwards in worrying him at the council table and in the courts of law, he could not get his grant as promised. His lands had become much more acceptable than any services he could then possibly render; and, indeed, it came out at last that he, and all the O'Cahans together, were simply intruders on their own lands, from the date of the act known as the 11th of Elizabeth, which had never been repealed, and which vested in the crown the estates of Shane O'Neill, and of all such Ulster lords as had joined in his rebellion against the state,—although the government, on making peace with Shane previously, had put all the Ulster uriaghts or sub-chiefs again under his sway. Sir Donnell O'Cahan, under these circumstances, naturally enough became sulky, and even perhaps rebelliously disposed. At all events, Chichester had him seized when he went to Dublin, in 1609, to complain of his grievances; and soon afterwards, he was sent to the Tower in London, where he was doomed to suffer a life-long imprisonment, being finally released by death in the year 1628.

4. Sir Cahir O'Dogherty, the youngest of these Ulster knights, had probably the happiest fate, although apparently the most cruel at the time of its occurrence. On the death of his father, Sir John O'Dogherty, the clan elected Felim, the younger brother of the latter, to succeed him, which so enraged Sir Cahir's foster-brethren, the MacDavitts, that they agreed with Sir Henry Docwra, in 1601, to desert their own standards, and join the government on condition that Sir Cahir might have a grant of his father's estates from the crown. This offer was gladly accepted by Sir Henry Docwra, on the part of the government, and the matter was to be certainly arranged at the close of the war with O'Neill and O'Donnell. But it soon afterwards appeared that the best portion of the whole barony of Inishowen, namely, the island of Inch, with its valuable fishings, had

been granted to Sir Ralph Bingley. Although Docwra did his best to have his engagement to Sir Cahir made good, he failed in doing so, from the amount of powerful opposition against him. O'Dogherty naturally became discontented; and, in the meantime, Docwra felt so indignant, on account of certain treatment received from the government by himself, that he sold out his property in and around Derry to an Englishman named Pawlett, who was wholly unfitted (even according to the expressed opinion of Chichester himself), both from his arrogance and inexperience, for the duties of deputy-governor of Derry, which he required to discharge in Sir Henry Docwra's absence. Sir Cahir O'Dogherty, having lost his fishings, which were then the readiest and most valuable sources of revenue on his estates, was compelled to sell certain lands to Sir Richard Hansard; and, for this purpose, he required to visit Derry, and even to enter Pawlett's office, to await the arrival of the purchaser, and of Captain Hart, who was to witness the sale. Whilst there, an altercation arose between himself and Pawlett, during which the latter brutally struck him with his clenched fist in the face! O'Dogherty not wishing, perhaps, to try conclusions with Pawlett in the same vulgar style, or afraid lest the official bully might summon other equally unscrupulous parties to his aid, rushed from the office, and, unfortunately, before his rage had time to cool, met his two fosterbrothers, the MacDavitts, in the street. On hearing the cause of his excitement, they replied, in furious terms, that there was only one way of meeting such an insult, pledging themselves that they would be ready to march on Derry at the head of all the fighting men of the clan at a given hour! They but too faithfully kept to their determination, slaying Pawlett, sacking Derry, and summoning sympathisers far and near to arise and avenge their wrongs. The revolt attracted many Irish, especially from the county of Armagh; and its suppression required the services of picked troops, under the command of the best officers, including such men as Lambert and Wingfield. The struggle lasted only about three months, commencing early in the May of 1608, and going on to the 5th of July-on which day O'Dogherty was slain whilst skirmishing at a place called Duinn, or Doone, in Killmacrenan. The king had, previously to the commencement of the revolt, written a very decided letter to Chichester, requiring that Sir Cahir should receive an immediate grant of all his family estates, including the island of Inch with its fishing. There was ample time to have communicated the contents of this letter to Sir Cahir, and thus to have prevented the revolt; but, unfortunately, the letter was entrusted to one of Chichester's servants in London, and, perhaps, did not reach the deputy until after O'Dogherty had taken the field. At all events, O'Dogherty's body had hardly time to blacken in the sun on the spikes where its severed fragments were exposed, when Chichester's application for the barony of Inishowen reached the council in London through this same servant, John Strowd, and another named Francis Annesley. Although there were other and powerful applicants for Inishowen, the deputy outstripped or out-manoeuvred them all, and secured the whole large spoil to himself.

5. Sir Niall Garve O'Donnell represented the main family of the Clann-Dalaigh, and he kept "nursing his wrath" because his cousin, Hugh Roe O'Donnell, was elected by the clan as its chief and representative. On the landing of the English at Derry under the command of Sir Henry Docwra, Sir Niall Garve offered to join the latter with one thousand chosen men, on condition

that the government, if successful in defeating the Earl of Tyrone and Hugh Roe O'Donnell, would restore him (Niall Garve) to the headship of the clan by giving him a grant of all Tyrconnell. To this proposal the government, through Sir Henry Docwra, most willingly acceded, Docwra afterwards admitting that Sir Niall's assistance had been most important-indeed indispensable. When the war closed, however, the government thinking Sir Niall arrogant and unmanageable, adopted Hugh Roe's younger brother, Rory O'Donnell, conferring the estates on him, and creating him Earl of Tyrconnell. Sir Niall retired to his own lands on the banks of the Finn; but on the flight of his rival with O'Neill, he (Sir Niall) came forward again to press upon the government the fulfilment of the original promise made to him through Sir Henry Docwra. The government, through Chichester, parleyed with him, pretending to accede to his demands from a fear that he might join O'Dogherty. He did actually, and, as he supposed, secretly, join O'Dogherty; but on the collapse of the revolt, Sir Niall was seized and tried for his life. The government, however, could not get a jury to convict him; so he was sent to the Tower, with Sir Donnell O'Cahan, under the charge of Francis Annesley. He was there doomed to a life-long imprisonment, and died about the year 1626.

6. Sir Cormac O'Neill, unfortunately for himself, was mentioned as a remainder man in the will of his brother, the Earl of Tyrone. At the time of the latter's flight from Ulster, Cormac had met him at Dunnalong the evening before the earl sailed from Lough Swilly, and the brothers spent the night together in the old castle of the O'Neills at Newtownstewart. There is no doubt some arrangement had been come to between them by which Cormac, if possible, was to obtain a custodiam from the government of Tyrone's estates, and thus have the power to hold them until the latter could return in more peaceful times. Cormac pretended to disapprove highly of the earl's proceedings generally, and of his departure without the knowledge and sanction of the government in particular. He (Cormac) was one of the first to inform Chichester of his brother's flight, having travelled to Dublin with all haste to communicate the intelligence. At his first interview with the deputy he introduced the matter of the custodiam, endeavouring to obtain it as if for himself, and promising, in return, his best services to discover the motives of the flight, and the destination of the fugitives on the continent. The authorities appear to have seen through his motives at a glance, and they acted accordingly. As an important preliminary, they seized him, and shut him up in a dungeon of the castle, Davys at the same time writing facetiously to Salisbury, that Sir Cormac wanted a custodiam of the O'Neill estates, but that they (the authorities) had taken a custodiam of him! Chichester, however, writing to the council in London, took care to describe for their edification the serious aspect of the affair-which simply was, that Sir Cormac O'Neill was to be carefully looked after, being a remainder man in Tyrone's will, and the only heir to the O'Neill estates, except Tyrone's little son of six years old, who was fostering somewhere in Tyrone, and whom the parents could not find, in time, to take with them in their flight. But the deputy soon found him also, placing him under the immediate care of Sir Toby Caulfield, and paying the latter for the child's board and lodging from certain household effects left by the child's mother, the Countess Catharina O'Neill. Sir Cormac O'Neill was taken from his wife and family and sent

to the Tower, where he also was doomed to imprisonment for life. The earl's little son, named Con, began soon to be a source of uneasiness to the authorities, who had reason to fear that the Irish of Ulster were contemplating his rescue; so he, too, was sent to the Tower, where he pined many years, and probably therein found an early grave, as no trace of him afterwards, so far as we are aware, has been found in any State paper relating to Ulster. We shall hear of him again, however, in 1615, and previously to his being sent for a time to Eton, from which he was very soon removed to the Tower.

7. Sir Oghie O'Hanlon was very old and infirm at the time of the plantation, and, therefore, more easily set aside than any of the other Ulster knights above-named. His barony of Orior was, among other territories, vested in the crown by the 11th of Elizabeth, and the O'Hanlons, according to English law, were thereafter simply intruders on their own lands; but the government were then wholly unable, in this and the numerous other similar cases, to enforce its own Act. Orior, however, being a very attractive region in the eyes of English speculators, was granted by the Queen to a Captain Chatterton, who engaged to plant therein a certain number of English settlers in a certain time. But so soon as this arrangement became known, Chatterton was slain among the O'Hanlons of Orior, and his heirs were so frightened that they never seem to have taken any means to carry out the terms of agreement with the Queen. The grant to Chatterton, however, had never been formerly declared void, and indeed was not known to have been regularly inrolled, so that when Sir Oghie afterwards was restored to the family estates the alleged restoration had no force in law. He surrendered the deceptive deed, however, when its character became known, and was promised a real grant so soon as Chatterton's could be set aside. This new grant was made out, but contained certain reservations which he (Sir Oghie) did not like, and which made him slow, if not careless, in accepting. One of its provisions was that should he or any of his heirs or assigns enter into rebellion, the doing so would make void the grant. It so happened that, although this deed was not claimed by Sir Oghie, the lands conveyed therein were forfeited by his son, Oghie Oge O'Hanlon, who took part in O'Dogherty's revolt. The old knight was adjudged to be directly compromised by the fact of having given his son shelter at some time during the revolt. Chichester held the father accountable, but magnanimously proposed to grant him a pension of £80 a year in lieu of his barony of Orior! A grant for this pension was actually made, but old Sir Oghie did not live to enjoy it even one year. His grey hairs were literally brought in sorrow to the grave. His son was sent to Sweden to assist in fighting the battles of Gustavus Adolphus, the protestant champion of the north; his son's wife, who was a sister of Sir Cahir O'Dogherty, was stripped in the woods by soldiers in the government service, and perished there, after having given birth to a child.

Thus did Chichester remove all these Irish landowners, through one pretext or other, making their lands available for plantation, and extending the field for British settlers in Ulster beyond what he had at first even ventured to imagine.

II.

The summer of 1608 was a memorable time throughout this northern province. The excitement and consternation created by the flight of the earls in the preceding autumn had not subsided