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206 Stephen Dunford: The Journey of The IrIsh
ages.” So it was that in 1603, buoyed by his successes, a triumphant Mountjoy announced to his new king that Ireland was now ‘capable of what form it shall please the king to give it.’
For the first year or so following the Treatry of Mellifont, outwardly, it seemed as if little change had come about, but in reality, change had come about, and with great speed. The old order was gone, and now, for the first time, English law operated in every part of Ireland and the Viceroy imposed his will without resistance from Donegal to Cork. The division of the country into counties was also completed, and the English legal system, with its judges, sheriffs, and juries, replaced the Brehon system. No armed forces were permitted, other than those controlled by the Crown, and any hope of successful resistence, without foreign aid, appeared to be gone forever.
An Act of Oblivion passed in 1604, pardoned all ‘offences’ against the English up to that time, but it soon became apparent to the Irish chiefs that this spirit of conciliation was to be short-lived. With the accession of James 1 to the English throne, the Catholic population of Ireland assumed that the proscription of their religion would discontinue, and in many places, notably, Waterford, Cork, Limerick, and Kilkenny, Catholic churches were reopened and the religion publicly practiced. But with the appointment by King James of a new Vice- roy, the unscrupulous Sir Arthur Chichester in 1605, the churches were quickly closed and a proclamation issued banishing all priests from Ireland and making attendance at Protestant services compulsory, under threat of fine. The Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity were revived and re-applied and no effort was spared in enforcing the laws. Yet, in spite of these decrees, however, the Irish Catholics clung steadfastly to their faith and the Government found itself unable to enforce the penal regulations everywhere, and even though the native seminaries were shut down, the Irish Colleges recently established on the Continent took their place.
Despite their submission, the Earls were not long left undisturbed, and the Spanish links maintained by them aroused great suspicion in both Dublin and London-O’Neill’s son was an officer in the Spanish army, while O’Neill himself may have been in receipt of Spanish financial assistance. Furthermore, O’Neill was involved in land disputes with an influential loyalist member of the O’Donnell clan, one who had fought with Mountjoy’s army, and also with his son-in-law, Donal O’Cahan. Consequently, they were well-watched and spied upon, and accounts of their movements, and intentions, real or otherwise, were regularly dispatched to the Crown. Finally, Christopher St. Lawrence, Baron of Howth, gave false
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