[Footnote 1016: _Cf._ Maitland, _English Law and the Renaissance_, p. 70; Lee to Cromwell: "if we should do nothing but as the common law will, these things so far out of order will never be redressed" (_D.N.B._, xxxii., 375; the letter is dated 18th July, 1538, by the _D.N.B._ and Maitland, but there is no letter of that date from Roland Lee in _L. and P._; probably the sentence occurs in Lee's letter of 18th July, 1534, or that of 18th July, 1535 (_L. and P._, vii., 988, viii., 1058), though the phrase is not given in _L. and P._).] But Ireland demanded even more than Wales the application of Henry's doctrines of union and empire; for if Wales was thought by Chapuys to be receptive soil for the seeds of rebellion, sedition across St. George's Channel was ripe unto the harvest. Irish affairs, among other domestic problems, had been sacrificed to Wolsey's passion for playing a part in Europe, and on the eve of his fall English rule in Ireland was reported to be weaker than it had been since the Conquest. The outbreak of war with Charles V., in 1528, was followed by the first appearance of Spanish emissaries at the courts of Irish chiefs, and from Spanish intrigue in Ireland Tudor monarchs were never again to be free. In the autumn of 1534 the whole of Ireland outside the pale blazed up in revolt. Sir William Skeffington succeeded in crushing the rebellion; but Skeffington died in the following year, and his successor, Lord Leonard Grey, failed to overcome the difficulties caused by Irish disaffection and by jealousies in his council. His sister was wife of Fitzgerald, the Earl of Kildare, and the (p. 367) revolt of the Geraldines brought Grey himself under suspicion. He was accused by his council of treason; he returned to England in 1540, declaring the country at peace. But, before he had audience with Henry, a fresh insurrection broke out, and Grey was sent to the Tower; thence, having pleaded guilty to charges of treason, he trod the usual path to the block.