Deputy referred all back to the King, and the tenants continued to pay no rent. Kildare wished to command Sir Piers on his allegiance to appear before the King in England on a certain day; but he was overruled by the Council, who believed that this would drive Butler into rebellion; and as its acknowledged chief, he could command all the forces of his family. He chanced, moreover, to be at peace with the reigning Desmond, and he had strengthened himself by alliances among the Irish. These considerations prevailed with the King or with Wolsey, and the case remained in abeyance; but it had gone far enough to cause an irreparable breach between Kildare and the rival chief.[79] [Sidenote: Kildare visits England in 1515. His restless policy.] Meanwhile, the Lord Deputy trod in his father's footsteps. He made successful raids on the O'Mores and O'Reillys, and for slaying many of the latter had a grant of the customs of Strangford and other places in Down. A visit to England in 1515 resulted in permission to hold a Parliament in the following year, but it produced no legislation of importance. He took and dismantled Leap Castle, the stronghold of the O'Carrolls, which his father had failed to gain, and he surprised Clonmel by a sudden march, though we know not what offence that town had given him. When he was busy in the north, where he destroyed O'Neill's castle at Dungannon and stormed Dundrum, which was defended by Magennis, the O'Carrolls rose again and invaded Meath. Again Kildare visited Ely and destroyed another castle. The history of two viceroyalties may indeed be told in a single sentence. Every year or two the Earl of Kildare harried some Irish country, and then reported such and such execution done upon the King's enemies. There was no attempt to keep the peace among the natives, the highest policy being the setting of one chief against another. The O'Neills and O'Donnells continued their everlasting feuds, and nearly every tribe was constantly at war. Occasionally they made foreign alliances, as in the case of O'Donnell, who was a travelled man. A French knight coming on a visit to St. Patrick's Purgatory was hospitably received by the chief, and offered to recover Sligo from the O'Connors. The offer was accepted, and in due course an armed vessel appeared in Killybegs Harbour. Sligo was battered from the sea, the O'Donnells co-operating by land, and the castle surrendered. We hear no more of the mysterious Frenchman.[80] Ware says that Ireland was peaceable during the year 1518, but the Irish annalists tell a very different story.[81] [Sidenote: Miserable state of the country.]