I573-] STATE OF IRELAND. 303 the Irish/ ' to assemble forces/ ' to spoil, besiege, rase, or destroy the towns and castles of Irish outlaws/ ' to annoy them by fire and sword, or any manner of death/ ' to take to his use the goods and chattels of traitors, pirates, and felons, with all shipwrecks that should happen within the circle of his grant; ' 1 power also ' hard/ as Burghley remarked, ' to be granted for any natural subject ' 'power to make slaves and to chain to ships and galleys all or any such of the Irishry or Scots Irish as should be condemned of treason, for the better furtherance of his enterprise/ On the Queen's consent to these demands, the Earl bound himself to conquer the district out of his own re- sources, and after four years of possession to pay a hun- dred pounds a year to the treasury. He was not alone or unsupported : many gentlemen, from good motives and bad, had volunteered to take shares in the expe- dition. Lord Hunsdon, Sir Arthur Champernowne, Sir Thomas Wilford, Sir Ralph Bourchier, and several more, were ready to go with him in person, or to send their sons and servants. Such was the proposal now submitted to Elizabeth for a new settlement. In its original form it infringed upon the Crown rights, and Sir Henry Sic? ,iey recom- mended Burghley to insert provisions for the protection of the Sovereign. ' Independent jurisdictions/ he said, ' Opposite this paragraph Burgh- ley writes : 'It were good that shipwrecks were more charitably used for the relief of the owners.' Offer of the Earl of Essex touching the inhabiting of the North of In- land, May 26, 1573: MSS. Ireland.
