Ireland under the Tudors, with a Succinct Account of the Earlier History. Vol. 2 (of 3)Bagwell, Richard
History
Ireland under the Tudors, with a Succinct Account of the Earlier History. Vol. 2 (of 3)
Bagwell, Richard
Ireland -- History -- 16th century
Both Butlers continued their lawless practices; indeed, Lady Dunboyne,
who was a chief sufferer, declared that Edward was 'but a patch to Sir
Edmund in extortion and spoil.' He threatened her with yet worse things
for having brought Sidney's letters to him; and in the meantime seized
her cattle, nominally for the purpose of maintaining himself against the
White Knight, with whom he had picked a quarrel to give an excuse for
keeping his ragged battalion together. Ormonde still lingering in
England, the Lord Deputy was obliged to go to Kilkenny himself, where he
hanged several of Edward Butler's men, not by martial law, as Sir Peter
Carew proudly pointed out, but 'by the verdict of twelve men orderly.' A
similar example was made at Waterford, and Sidney returned to Dublin to
make preparations for holding a Parliament, in which he secured a
majority by interfering in elections.[159]
[Sidenote: Parliament of 1569. Opposition to Government.]
No list has been preserved of the members who sat in either House of
Elizabeth's second Irish Parliament. Many Englishmen had, by Government
influence, been returned for remote places. Sidney, who had a taste for
heraldic pomp, was in some anxiety as to what dress he ought to wear. He
was told to do as St. Leger had done. If he could not find whether St.
Leger had used a garter or a Parliament robe, he might do as he pleased.
Princely robes of crimson velvet lined with ermine were provided in due
course, and the Lord Deputy took his seat under the cloth of estate. Lord
Chancellor Weston made an eloquent speech on the advantages of law and
order. The House then separated, and James Stanihurst, Recorder of
Dublin, was again chosen Speaker of the House of Commons by a large
majority over Sir Christopher Barnewall, who was also a lawyer and the
candidate favoured by the gentlemen of the Pale. After the usual
protestations of unfitness, Stanihurst was accepted by Sidney, and made a
speech in which he claimed personal inviolability for the members,
freedom of speech, and power for the House to punish breaches of its own
orders. The Lord Deputy, having granted these suits, addressed the whole
Parliament at great length. None knew better, he said, than those in
Ireland the advantages of law and order; let them act according to that
knowledge, and be careful lest in defending their own privileges they
should tread upon her Majesty's prerogative. On the following day
business began, and it soon appeared that the House of Commons was
divided into two parties bitterly hostile to each other. The Court, or
English party, consisted chiefly of officials and of the Lord Deputy's
nominees, men who might be trusted not to exhibit too much independence.
On the other side were the gentry of the Pale, the burgesses returned by
the old corporate towns, and the common lawyers generally, who had been
roughly handled by Sidney in Sir Peter Carew's case, and who asserted
that some of the English members were returned for towns not
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