Clarendon was ready to do anything that the King wished, but he usually gave good advice, which was very seldom taken. Indeed, James said plainly that he had made up his mind to remodel the administration, both civil and military, and would go to work at once quite irrespective of anything the Lord Lieutenant might say, who, having been only a short time in Ireland, could not possibly give His Majesty 'so good an account as he had already received from persons of undoubted integrity and zeal for his service.' Having begun with the bench, he went on to name nineteen Roman Catholic Privy Councillors, who were not to take the oath of supremacy. Among them were the three new judges, Richard Hamilton, Lord Galmoy, Justin MacCarthy, and Tyrconnel. Clarendon did not think that the dignity or usefulness of puisne judges would be enhanced by making them politicians, and neither Rice nor Daly were anxious for such promotion, though it flattered the vanity of Nugent, who was much the least able of the trio. Nagle, whose fees exceeded a Chief Justice's salary, agreed with the Lord Lieutenant that a practising barrister was unfitted for the position. Having a large family, he could not afford to lose briefs, and he declared, and perhaps at this time really fancied, that he was not ambitious. In the meantime it became known that Tyrconnel, in pursuance of the scheme hatched before Charles II.'s death, was about to return as lieutenant-general, with power over the army, independent of the Viceroy, who was informed by Sir Robert Hamilton that he had seen the commission. Clarendon thought the creation of such a potentate absurd, as indeed it was, and he professed to disbelieve the story; but a fortnight later Rochester wrote to confirm Hamilton's statement. Alarmed by such reports and by what they saw going on, several Protestant families left Ireland every week, carrying with them what they could realise. Industry was paralysed, and large employers of labour prepared to wind up their business and to make haste out of the country. The Government and the judges on circuit tried to settle men's minds, but it was persistently rumoured that by Christmas Day no Protestant would be left in the army. At last Tyrconnel arrived, and the alarmists were soon seen to be better informed than those who cried peace when there was no peace.[148] [Sidenote: Catherine Sedley in Ireland.]