1569.] STATE OF IRELAND. 249 Butlers only remained to be dealt with, and having, as he supposed, awed into quiet the rest of the country, the Deputy addressed himself to his most serious diffi- culty. The brothers had broken up from Cashel after he had passed south, and had used the time in com- pleting the clearance of the intending settlers. Sir Edward had revenged the destruction of his own house on a tenant of Carew's at Inniscorthy, committing, as Sidney said, ' outrages too horrible to hear/ It is need- less to dwell upon the details. Sidney may have exag- gerated the worst features of the story. If he told but the bare truth, the English had set the example of ferocity, and had little right to complain. However it was, he sent for Ormond to Dublin, and required him to bring his brothers with him. While Sidney was still in the field, the Earl had written a second letter of serious remonstrance to Cecil. He re- minded him of the long-tried loyalty of his family, when England had no other friend. The rebellion was provoked, he said, by a universal belief among the people that their lands were to be taken from them by the sword, and he warned him that such a project could never be carried out without the destruction of the whole people. 1 When Sidney's message came he at once obeyed ; and his brothers, on receipt of a safe-conduct, consented to accompany him. They were charged with rebellion. They said boldly that they had a right to defend themselves against oppression. Sidney said that Ormond to Cecil, September 7 : MSS. Ireland.
