factions admitted, and to which Henry must resign himself. He was encumbered with a country from which he could not retreat; which he could not govern; which was incapable of a noble independence, and incapable equally of a noble submission; which remained, and would remain, in a chronic disorder, exhausting alike to the English exchequer and the English patience. In other respects, as the Reformation advanced in England, Romanism with the Irish was deepening into a national principle. 'Irishmen,' said Allen, 'have long supposed that the royal estate of Ireland consists in the Bishop of Rome for the time being; and the lordship of the Kings of England to be but a governance under the same.' The Anglo-Irish of the Pale, and the Celts of the provinces, shared so far in the same convictions; and the commissioners concluded that the spirit was too strong to subdue. The King might conquer the country as often as he pleased; but his victories did but wound the air, which would close again behind his sword.[1] The Archbishop of Dublin could find no spiritual man in all his diocese who would preach the word of God or declare the King's supremacy.[2] The Butlers alone among the
- ↑ State Papers, vol. ii. p. 535.
- ↑ 'Neither by gentle exhortation, evangelical instruction, neither by oaths of them solemnly taken, nor yet by threats of sharp correction, can I persuade or induce any, either religious or secular, once to preach the word of God, or the just title of our most illustrious prince. And yet before that our most dread sovereign were declared to be (as he ever was in deed) supreme head over the Church, they that then could, and would, even till the right Christians were weary of them, preach after the old fashion, will not now open their lips; but in corners and such company as them liketh they can full earnestly utter their opinions.'—Archbishop Brown to Cromwell: ibid. p. 539.
