Book-bot.com - read famous books online for free

A Popular History of Ireland : from the Earliest Period to the Emancipation of the Catholics - Volume 2 by Thomas D'Arcy McGee
page 32 of 608 (05%)
the Desmond estates, determined that the Earl and his
brothers should not live long in peace, however peaceably
they might be disposed. The old trick of forging letters,
already alluded to, grew into a common and familiar
practice during this and the following reign. Such a
letter, purporting to be written by the Earl of Desmond
--at that period only too anxious to be allowed to live
in peace--was made public at Dublin and London. It was
addressed to Sir William Pelham, the temporary Lord
Justice, and among other passages contained this patent
invention--that he (the Earl and his brethren) "had taken
this matter in hand with great authority, both from the
Pope's holiness and King Philip, who do undertake to
further us in our affairs, as we shall need." It is
utterly incredible that any man in Desmond's position
could have written such a letter--could have placed in
the hands of his enemies a document which must for ever
debar him from entering into terms with Elizabeth or her
representatives in Ireland. We have no hesitation,
therefore, in classing this pretended letter to Pelham
with those admitted forgeries which drove the unfortunate
Lord Thomas Fitzgerald into premature revolt, in the
reign of Henry VIII.

Sir John of Desmond had been nominated by the gallant
Fitzmaurice in his last moments as the fittest person to
rally the remaining defenders of religion and property
in Munster. The Papal standard and benediction were
almost all he could bequeath his successor, but the energy
of John, aided by some favourable local occurrences,
DigitalOcean Referral Badge