Lord Falkland was appointed Deputy on the 1st April, 1622. This change James I. emphasised a month later by the protest just mentioned against the abuse of his Royal Letters under former Deputies. Shortly after Falkland’s coming (Chichester being in Germany) the grants to Hamilton were impugned in the Irish Courts. Since the breakdown of Sir James Balfour’s Inquiry in 1618, “discoverers” had been dumb; but, in 1623, the Exchequer Barons took action, and several “Wakeman” Patents were held to be invalid. The judgments which condemned them are not extant; but Falkland was made aware of their effect, and was urged to pursue still more sweeping investigations. Counter-pressure, placed upon him by those to whom exposure meant ruin, prevailed. He halted, and nothing further was done. At first the new Deputy (heedful of the warning of the King) tried to enrich himself by ways which differed from those of his predecessors. His most original proposal was to make Ireland a base for Algerine corsairs, so as to draw wealth from their inroads on international commerce. Large sums were offered by him to the Duke of Buckingham, the Prince of Wales, and the Secretary of State for permission to attract these raiders to prey on shipping from Irish harbours. The design bespoke the man, and when it was rejected he gave “protections” to Dutch pirates and other Freebooters who haunted the coasts, trafficked with them, and dealt in their cargoes. Unsatisfied by his gains from such sources, Falkland sought riches in other fields. He applied for leave to confiscate the property of the loyal Corporation of Waterford in order to seize it for himself, and when courses like these proved unprosperous he fell back into the beaten paths of previous Deputies. Naturally he set his face against any attempt to unravel the threads of the Patent scandals, but Chichester’s memory grew more and more unfragrant, and in 1627 a Munster notable, Sir William Power, lodged informations that the Wakeman Grants were “fraudulently passed without the intention of King James.” Sir William at the same time denounced the Patents lavished on Boyle, the new-made Earl of Cork. Power was connected by marriage with Boyle, but was at enmity with him over boundaries. On his complaint the English advisers of the Crown proceeded to ransack Boyle’s title to the 42,000 acres of the Desmond Estate, which he captured from Sir Walter Raleigh. The Attorney and Solicitor Generals for England, with three Serjeants-at-Law, pronounced it void, yet no step was taken against the “Wakeman” grants. A mysterious hand seemed outstretched to protect them.