He first caused an inquisition to be held at Wicklow in 1636, to impeach one of the Wakeman grants. The result was that lands confiscated from the O’Tooles, which had been patented to Hamilton, were declared re-vested in the Crown. Grants springing from Thomas Irelande’s Letter (on which the title to Lough Neagh rested) evoked no greater respect. After the death of Lord Chichester, his heir did not even rely on the Patents of the fishery. For in 1625 Edward Lord Chichester (the second in succession) besought Charles I. to appoint his son Arthur (afterwords Lord Donegall) “Admiral and Commander of Lough Neagh” at a salary of £30 6s. 8d., and to give him a “licence” to fish in the Lough and the Bann. What owner would petition the Crown for a “licence” to enjoy his own fishery? Such a request amounted to an admission that the Patents of Lough Neagh to Hamilton in 1606, to Bassett in 1608, and to Lord Chichester in 1621 were waste paper, and that the hope of the family lay in reviving the “life-estate” annexed to the quasi-military “command” created by the Patent of 1604. It was at least possible for them to argue that some germ of legality attached to that Patent, yet Charles I. never granted the request. Strafford was unaware of any claim by the family to the Bann; but was resolute to enforce the surrender of Lough Neagh. The fact that since 1622 the Londoners had paid £100 per annum for it to the Chichesters, and would have continued to do so if the Star Chamber had not deprived them of the Bann, had to be taken into account. He made up for the loss by offering an attractive compensation. He proposed to allow Edward Lord Chichester to take out a fresh Patent for all his uncle’s acquisitions minus Lough Neagh—and this under the new Act would be valid for all time against the Crown. The family would thereby be forever quieted in the enjoyment of rich territories which had been stolen from the natives thirty years earlier. Negotiations on this basis were conducted through the Commissioners for Defective Titles, and lasted some years. The records of that body were housed near Dublin Castle, and perished by fire in 1711; but from the “memorials” enrolled in Chancery the main story can be traced.