The Wars of Religion 643 suppressed a revolt of the Irish and assumed the title of king of Ireland. Queen Mary of England had hoped to promote better relations by colonizing Kings County and Queens County with Englishmen. This led, however, to a long struggle which only ended when the colonists had killed all the natives in the district they occupied. Elizabeth's interest in the perennial Irish question was stim- ulated by the probability that Ireland might become a basis for Catholic operations, since Protestantism had made little progress among its people. Her fears were realized. Several attempts were made by Catholic leaders to land troops in Ireland with the purpose of making the island the base for an attack on England. Elizabeth's officers were able to frustrate these enterprises, but the resulting disturbances greatly increased the misery of the Irish. In 1582 no less than thirty thousand people are said to have perished, chiefly from starvation. As Philip's troops began to get the better of the opposition Persecution in the southern Netherlands, the prospect of sending a Spanish English army to England grew brighter. Two Jesuits were sent to Eng- Gathohcs land in 1580 to strengthen the adherents of their faith and urge them to assist the foreign force against their queen when it should come. Parliament now grew more intolerant and ordered fines and imprisonment to be inflicted on those who said or heard mass, or who refused to attend the English services. One of the Jesuit emissaries was cruelly tortured and executed for treason, the other escaped to the Continent. In the spring of 1582 the first attempt by the Catholics to Plans to assassinate the heretical queen was made at Philip's instigation. Elizabeth It was proposed that, when Elizabeth was out of the way, the Duke of Guise should see that an army was sent to England in the interest of the Catholics. But Guise was kept busy at home by the War of the Three Henrys, and Philip was left to under- take the invasion of England by himself. Mary Queen of Scots did not live to witness the attempt. She became implicated in another plot for the assassination of
