Naturally O’Cahan chafed at the breach of faith with himself; but, for the three years during which Devonshire survived, the arrangement with O’Neill—in spite of protests by Chichester—was respected. The death of Devonshire wrought a complete change of spirit. The new Deputy encouraged Montgomery to support O’Cahan, in order to curb O’Neill’s power and clip his acres. The Bishop first stipulated with Sir Donal that the Church should enjoy such lands as he selected in Derry, and then promised that O’Neill’s suzerainty, with its burdensome tribute of £200 a year, should be done away with. In edifying epistles to Cecil the prelate enlarged on the advantage which would accrue to religion from this scheme, and he backed up O’Cahan in his refusal to pay rent to O’Neill. The contract between the overlord and his vassal had been written down by the Brehons in clear Gaelic; but at Devonshire’s death O’Cahan disowned it, hoping to revive his peace-treaty with Chichester. Little did Sir Donal suspect that both Deputy and Bishop were using him as a pawn, or foresee the dire results that were to follow from his upsetting the decree of the Brehons. CHAPTER VII. CHIEFTAIN AND VASSAL. O’Neill, seeing his brother-in-law fall under evil influences, tried to enforce payment of his rent by “distress.” In 1606 he resumed possession from O’Cahan of the fishery of the Bann, and took a prey of his cattle. This dispute was greedily welcomed by the enemies of the chiefs. O’Cahan lodged a protest with “the State” against the seizures; and O’Neill, although the King gave him sovereign control in his territory, was cited to appear before the Privy Council in Dublin to answer Sir Donal’s complaint. A splendid opening for the spread of the Gospel loomed in sight of the “reformers.” When the case came on the Deputy majestically presided over the Council as supreme judge. The suit concerned a river for which, a year earlier, he issued a Patent to Hamilton, and then had it conveyed to himself. Montgomery attended the trial to give it a spiritual solemnity and support O’Cahan. Without at first entering deeply into the merits, Chichester—to gain time to prejudice the King—ordered O’Cahan to send in a formal petition and O’Neill to lodge a written reply. He then appointed the Attorney-General (Davies) and the Solicitor-General (Jacob) to act as counsel for O’Cahan, and adjourned the trial for a month. O’Neill, bereft of legal assistance, was left to his own devices. Before the next hearing Davies sent a report on the case to Cecil. He threw out that O’Neill’s Patent was bad, but spared mention of the fact that a petition for its amendment had been rejected on his advice—although in other cases “defective title” was cured for the asking. Nor did the Attorney-General relate that the Bann had been seized by the Deputy, or that he sat, and would again sit, to try the title to its waters without informing the litigants that he held spurious Patents for it in his pocket.