English had to contend was Hugh, the son of the late Baron of Dungannon. This active and ambitious chief, who had been rewarded for his services in the war against the Earl of Desmond with the earldom of Tyrone, soon proclaimed himself not merely the successor to the earldom of O'Neil, but the genuine O'Neil himself. The natives of Ulster, in need of such a champion, admitted his claims, and were ready to support him in all his pretensions. As these were not admitted by the English, he became their enemy, and by his military talents proved a terrible thorn in their side. He demanded for the natives liberty of conscience and all their old lands, rights, and privileges; and the successive deputies found themselves engaged in a most harassing and destructive war with this subtle chief and his followers, in which he wore them out by constant skirmishes and surprises amongst the woods, bogs, and mountains of his wild territories. Sir John Norris, who had served with so much honour in the Netherlands and France, sunk under it; and in August of 1598 Sir Henry Bagnall was defeated and slain in a pitched battle at Blackwater, in Tyrone, his baggage and artillery being lost, and 1,500 men killed. The consequence of this victory was that nearly all Ireland rushed into a state of open rebellion, and the great question in the English cabinet was, who was the man capable of reducing the insurgents. It required no common man; for the Irish everywhere proclaimed the Earl of Tyrone the saviour of his country, and looked to him to drive the English wholly out of Ireland. The Earl of Essex dwelt so much in the Council on the necessary bravery and address of the man who should be appointed, that the Cecils, anxious to remove him to a distance from the Court, declared that he himself was by far the most fitting for the office. His friends warned him of the dangers and difficulties of a Government which had been the ruin of so many; but the queen, seconding the recommendations of the Cecils, to induce him to accept the post, remitted him a debt of £8,000, and made him a present of nearly three times that sum. He was furnished with an army of 18,000 men, many of them veteran troops who had fought in the Netherlands, and with the fullest powers that had ever been conferred on any Irish deputy. He had full authority to continue the war or to make peace; to pardon all crimes and treasons at his pleasure, and to determine all his own appointments. Such were the terms of his commission; but in one particular the queen had laid a strict injunction upon him, in conversation, which was, that he should not give the command of the cavalry, as he wished, to his friend and the friend of Shakespeare, the Earl of Southampton, with whom Elizabeth had the old cause of quarrel, that of presuming to marry without her consent. In March, 1599, Essex marched out of London, surrounded by the flower of the young nobility, and followed by the acclamations and good wishes of the populace, of whom he was the idol for his military reputation and his frank and generous disposition.
No sooner did he arrive in Ireland than he set at defiance the orders of the queen, and placed Southampton at the head of the horse. Elizabeth sent an angry command for his removal, and Essex reminded her of the terms of his commission, and wished to know whether she meant to revoke it. It was not till after a very warm correspondence, which on the part of the queen became most peremptory, that the headstrong Essex gave way. This was precisely the conduct that his enemies at home had, probably, foreseen, and certainly rejoiced in. Sir John Harrington was sent out by the queen with Essex to be her spy upon him; and from the correspondence betwixt this gentleman and his friend Markham, we discover the watchful caballing of his enemies to find occasion against him and ruin him in his absence. Markham says:—"What betideth the lord-deputy is known to Him only who knoweth all; but when a man hath so many showing friends, and so many unshowing enemies, who learneth his end here below? I say, do you not meddle in any sort, nor give your jesting too freely amongst those you know not." He adds, "Two or three of Essex's sworn foes and political rivals, Mountjoy's kinsmen, are sent out in your army. They are to report all your conduct to us at home. As you love yourself, the queen, and me, discover not these matters; if I had not loved you, they had never been told. … You are to take account of all that passes in this expedition, and keep journal thereof unknown to any in the company. This will be expected of you."
Such were the circumstances under which Essex went out on this command—bitter and indefatigable enemies labouring for his destruction at home; spies placed around him; and an army, which, spite of some veterans, turned out to contain a majority of raw, worthless fellows, who grew disgusted at the very sight of an Irish campaign, and deserted in numbers. Sickness, from the wretched and unwholesome supplies of provisions—the worst enemy of the British soldier in all ages being frequently the commissariat officers—soon decimated them; and by the month of August his 18,000 men showed no more than 3,500 foot, and 300 horse. He was compelled to demand a reinforcement of 2,000 men before he could march into Ulster, the chief seat of the rebellion. The queen sent the soldiers, but accompanied the order by very bitter letters, complaining of his waste of her troops, her money, and of her time, which was so precious. Essex defended himself by representing the difficulties of the task which he had to encounter, and which had mastered so many before him. He assured her that he acted entirely by the advice of the Lords of the Irish Council; but "these rebels," he said, "are far more numerous than your Majesty's army, and have—though I do unwillingly confess it—better bodies, and more perfect use of their arms, than those men your Majesty sends over." He added, that for his part he received nothing from home but "discomfort and soul-wounds."
Wen he came up with Tyrone on the 5th of September, encamped with his whole army in the county of Louth, that chief demanded a parley, and showed so many causes of real complaint against the former governors of Ireland, and professed such apparently sincere desire for peace on the redress of these grievances, that Essex deemed it both justice and the best policy to listen to them. Instead of a battle, therefore, as was expected, an armistice was agreed upon for six weeks, which was to be renewed from six weeks to six weeks till the following May, to give time for full inquiry.
No man had ever shown himself more ready to plunge into war, and more reckless of danger in the midst of it
