Clanalsters [Dubourdieu's account adds: "who are by original Scottish "], who are most desirous to lyve under the Scottes, because they do better defende them and less spende them then the Irish Lorde doth.

The Route, a pleasant and fertile countrey, lyinge betwene the Glynnes and the ryver of Band, and from Clandeboye to the sea. It was sometymes enhabited with the Englishe (for there remaineth yet certaine defaced castles and monastaries of their buildinges). The now Capten that maketh clayme thereto is called McGwillim [the posterity, as is thought, of a Welshman-Dubourdieu's account]; but the Scott [Sir James MacSurley] hath well nere expulsed him from the whole, and dryven him to a small corner near the Bann, which he defendeth rahter by the mayntenaunce of Turloch Oneil than his owne forces; and the said Scottes did inhabite the rest, which is the best parte, till likewise they were by her Matie's forces, banished as aforesaid; but nowe come back and possesse all in usurped manner as before. The chiefe auncient followers of this countrey are the O'Haryes and the O'Quyns, who dwell upon their lands and yelde rent and service to the Scott [the aforesaid James]. They are able to make 60 stronge and well furnished horsmen and about 200 footemen.

Castles wardable are onelie Belfast, Eden duchar, and Olderfleete; and castles defaced are these: Portmucke, in Iland Magy, Glanarme and Redbaye, in the Glyns, and Castle Martyn, in the Rowte.

[Dubourdieu's account adds: "The chiefe house is called Dunluce, standing upon a rock in the seashore, where the said Sir James hath his residence.

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Carickfergus is the only town in the shire, upon the river, three miles broad over against the towne, walled partly with stone, and partly with sodds. There are in it two wards: the one in the castle, in the south ende of the towne; the other in the abbye, in the north end thereof. This towne is governed by a mayor and two sheriffs; and at this day there are but 16 freemen of this towne.

"Castles wardable at this day: Belfast, eight English miles up the river from Carrickfergus, where the passage is over the river at low water; Edenduffee Carrick, near Lough Eagh. Castles defaced: Olderfleet, Glanowre, Castle Marteen, in the Route."]

It may easlie be perceaved, by this slender and brief description of Ulster, what hath ben and ar the reasons why this Province hath ben from tyme to tyme more chargeable to Her Matie then any other, as namlie :

I.

The want of good townes and fortified places, wherewith other places are better replenished.

2. And next, the sufferance of the Oneils to usurp the government of the severall Captens and freeholders, and by little and little to excede the bowndes of their owne, and so encrease uppon the possessions of other; whereby they were made stronger then otherwise they colde have ben, and abled thereby to wage and mainteine the greater number of Scottes.

3. Thirdlie, the confininge so nere to the Iles of Scotland, and the contynuall comerce which the Irishry have with the people of those partes, occasionethe the often cominge in of them, to the greate hurt of this Province and the subjects which dwell there.

4. Fourthlie, and lastlie, the want of due exercises of religion and justice, of sacred and civill instructions, is the occasion of much impietie and barboresnes; which two are the mother and nurse of all their disobedience, disorder, and disloyaltye.

REMEDIES

1. For a remedie to the first: thoughe it be a thing greatly to be wished, that the example were folowed by K. Henry the Second, of K. John and of others since their tyme, of famous memorye, who, havinge great desire to reforme that countrey, did make sondrey fortifications, as well there as in other places of the realme; yet, considering Her Maties excessive charge nowe bestowed, as well for the defence of this her realme as in other partes beyond the seas, for the necessarie strengtheninge of her whole dominion, it is not convenient to desier Her Maties greater expense; but onlye that such revenues as this Province may be made to yelde Her Matic may be employed uppon fortyfications in places most needful for certaine yeres.

2. And to the second: lyke as in former tyme of good government it was a thing most regarded in all treaties to weaken the force of the Oneiles by withdrawing from them their Uryaghes, as was done by K. H. th' Eighthe with Con O'Neil, who, when he had made him Earle of Tyron, gave him no more by patent than the bare countrie of Tyrone, and specyalle provided that he should not intermedle with anie on this side the Blackwater; soe is it most needful to take the opportunitie which now the people and the time doth better offer then it did then. Thearfore, the way is, to aportionate both to Tur. Lenoghe and the Earle of Tyron [beinge of one sirname] landes on the north side of Blackwater, to them and their heirs males, indyfferently bounded by some well acquainted with those. countries, whearwith they should only deale, and medle no further, but leave the governmente of the rest for Her Mate to the cheef commissioner, or other Her Highnes' offiycers in that Province.

3. To the therd: as there is noe way soe good as to fortifie the coast neere their landing place, soe me thinketh that will seeme too chardgeable, and thearfore will not lyke Her Matie soe well. In which respect a second way should be thought uppon, and that may be this:

It is evidente that the people which most anoy us from Scotland are the Clandonells, who are ever in contynuall warre with another secte of people of the Iles, named McAlans. And yf on McAlan Her Matie would bestow some convenient pension, he will, I thincke, undertake to kepe the Clandonells soe contynually occupied as the shalbe hable to sende none of their people to disturbe Her Highnes' subjectes in Ulstar, whearof will aryse to Her Marie a treble commoditie with a single chardge; for she shall bothe prevente the myscheef which is now wrastled with rather then redressed, and save the chardge, which is almost yeerelie, in this frutelesse labour spente, amountinge oft to above ten thousand powndes a yeere, together with the loss of manie men's lyves, and also assure herself of a good frend and instrumente in the backes of the Scottes, to afflicte them and worke diversion of their forces when they shalbe aboute to attempte anythinge against us.

4. As for the fourth: it might doubtlesse be remedied yf these countreis weare as well broughte to the nature as to the names of Sheeres; that is, that the Sheeres being perfectly bonded, Sheryffes of Englysh education may be appointed in everye countie, and in certaine convenient places some preachers and free schooles. And for the whole Province, a Counsaile weare established, of the wysest, gravest, and best disposed, dwellinge within the same, havinge some other joyned with them that were not possessyoners therein. That alsoe, assizes, quarter sessions, and such other lyke tymes should duely and orderly be in every countie observed; which

all require not soe great chardge and travaile in the beginninge as they yeld both proffitt and honour in the ende.

Since the writing of the premises I doe perceave, by letters lately receaved out of Ireland, that the Earle of Tyron hath taken upon hym the rule of Sir Hugh McEnys, Sir Con McNeyle Oge, the Capten of Kilwarlyn, and sundry others, who, at my cominge thence, depended only upon the Quene.

Queen Elizabeth died in 1603, and was succeeded by James VI., King of Scotland. In Scotland, the Protestant Reformation had produced a vast effect on its inhabitants. John Knox, a man of learning, eloquence, and fearless courage, had led the reformers to victory. A system of education was provided for the people. The principles of Protestantism sank into their hearts and changed the habits of their lives. In two generations men of clay were transformed into men of iron. An ignorant and changeable people became the foremost race in the world, possessed of all the qualities necessary to render the Celts of Ireland subject to the authority of England. Hitherto, English colonists had been absorbed by the Irish. But now another description of colonist was to settle in Ulster, capable of holding the Celt in subjection, and keeping the "back door" of access to England closed against all her enemies.

After James became King of England, he appointed as Lord Deputy of Ireland, Sir Arthur Chichester, who desired to see the country colonized with men of his own race and religion. It was reported that he intended to seize the earl of Tyrconnell and the earl of Tyrone, both of whom had been in rebellion against the Government. But these two chieftains, with many of their friends, fled from the country in 1607, and never returned. All their estates, embracing the six counties of Colerain (now Londonderry), Tyrone, Armagh, Cavan, Fermanagh, and Donegal, were immediately confiscated by the Crown, and became available for purposes of plantation.

NOTES TO CHAPTER XXXII

1A kern was one of the old Irish irregular light-armed infantry, carrying only a sword and javelin; corresponding to the cateran of the Scottish Highlands, and distinguished from the heavier-armed galloglass.

The transcript of this passage printed in Dubourdieu's Statistical Survey of Antrim (Dublin, 1812) reads as follows: "Great Ardes is almost an island, a champion and fertile land, and now possessed by Neil MacBryan Flain," etc.

3 Dubourdieu's transcript of Bagnal's description of county Down gives the following in addition:

"Townes in the County of Downe, viz., The Newrie, Downe, Ardglass, all unwalled, and without any privileges of a corporation.

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'Castles of the said County: Green Castle, near the barr of Carlingford, upon the sea. Dondrom, in the bottom of the bay that divideth Le Cahel from Eveagh. The castle of Narrow-water, which keepeth the river that goeth to the Newrie passable. Ringhaddy, Scattery, Castle Reagh, within the isles of Lough Coyne.

Strangford,

'This countie hath the sea to the east, the county of Armagh to the west, the haven of Carlingford and that river to the south, the countries of Brasilogh, Clancan, and Lough Eagh to the north."

Dubourdieu's transcript adds: "It is granted in lease by the Queen to one Savage, one of the Earl of Essex, his men."

'Sir Arthur Chichester was the second son of Sir John Chichester of Raleigh, in Devonshire. He commenced his public career by robbing one of the Queen's purveyors, for which offence he was compelled to retire to France, where he soon became distinguished as a soldier. Queen Elizabeth pardoned him, probably because she thought that she had as much need for his military services as Henry IV. of France. (Lodge, Peerage of Ireland, edited by Archdall, vol. i., p. 318; Granger, Biographical History of England, vol. ii., p. 98.) On Chichester's return, he was sent to Ireland to assist in the suppression of Tyrone's rebellion, and proved himself a willing and effective instrument in carrying out Mountjoy's ruthless policy of extermination against the native Irish. English writers, and among them old Fuller, delight to tell how Chichester was so instrumental in ploughing and breaking up the barbarous Irish nation, and then sowing the soil with the "seeds of civility." The preparatory process consisted simply in the remorseless and wholesale destruction of human life, and all kinds of property. He proceeded on the conviction that the sword, even when wielded against helpless women and children, was not sufficiently destructive, and therefore called to his work all the horrible agencies of famine and pestilence. Describing a journey which he made from Carrickfergus, along the banks of Loughneagh, into Tyrone, Chichester says: "I burned all along the lough, within four miles of Dungannon, and killed 100 people, sparing none of what quality, age or sex soever, besydes many burned to death; we kill man, woman, and child; horse, beast, and whatsoever we find." On another occasion, after his return from a similar expedition into the Route, he writes: "I have often sayd and wrytten that it is famine that must consume them; our swordes and other indeavoures worke not that speedie destruction which is expected." (See an interesting contribution by William Pinkerton, Esq., in Ulster Journal of Archæology, vol. v., p. 209, and note.) Thomas Gainsforde, the writer of The True, Exemplary, and Remarkable History of the Earl of Tirone, already quoted, refers to the dire calamity inflicted at that period on the helpless inhabitants of Ulster. "For the sword-men," says he, "perished with sicknesse and famine the next yeere following, and the poore calliots [old women] devoured one another for mere hunger, and showed us the lamentable effects of a calamitous warre and afflicted country" (p. 37). The writer expresses his gratification on the advancement of Chichester to the chiefgovernorship as follows: "By this time is Sir Arthur Chichester lord deputy, who watched these parts of the North more narrowly than any other before him. First, because of his long experience and residence amongst them, as being governor of Knogfergus, and a laborious searcher of Logh Con [Strangford Lough] with all the territories adjacent " (p. 47).— Hill, Montgomery Manuscripts, p. 48.

CHAPTER XXXIII

THE SCOTTISH PLANTATION OF DOWN AND ANTRIM

C

OLONISTS from North Britain had already possessed themselves of large portions of Down and Antrim, the two counties lying nearest to Scotland, some years before the inception of King James's "Great Plantation." The history of these early settlers in county Down has been preserved to some extent in the recently published Montgomery Manuscripts and Hamilton Manuscripts,' which both come very close to being contemporary records of the periods of which they treat; and in the Macdonnells of Antrim the Rev. George Hill gives a great deal of information about the Scottish colonization of that county. The most important parts of these manuscripts are reprinted as appendices to this volume. The main points of the story may be outlined in a few paragraphs.

At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the north half of county Down, known as the Upper Clannaboye country, was ruled by one of the cadets of the great O'Neill family, who bore the name, Con McNeale McBryan Feartagh O'Neill, and lived in the old mansion house of Castlereagh, two or three miles distant from Carrickfergus Castle (now Belfast). Toward the end of the year 1602, Con happened to be entertaining some relatives in his halls of Castlereagh, when his wine gave out. A fresh supply, which he had ordered from Spain, had been brought as far as Belfast, but was detained on its arrival there by the queen's exciseman, until Con should pay a lately imposed duty, concerning which he neither knew nor understood anything. The old chieftain's blood arose, and he ordered some of his retainers to proceed to Belfast and bring the wine by force. There his servants had an encounter with some English soldiers, and in the melee one of the soldiers was killed. O'Neill was therefore accused of "levying war against the queen," and lodged in Carrickfergus Castle. Sir Arthur Chichester proposed to hang him, as an example, and for a time it looked as if Con's praiseworthy desire to supply his relatives and friends with a proper amount of “drink" would result in the host's losing his head.

In this extremity, Con's wife communicated with a friend in Scotland, one Hugh Montgomery, who was the Laird of Braidstane, in Ayrshire. He had been looking for an eligible "settlement" in the north of Ireland, and kept himself posted as to what went on there through relatives who traded to Ireland from the port of Irvine. In consideration of the cession to himself of one-half of Con's lands in county Down, he now agreed with the latter's wife to assist the prisoner to escape, and entrusted the carrying out of the enterprise to his relative, Thomas Montgomery, who was the owner of a sloop which sometimes traded with Carrickfergus. The latter accordingly