they are not destined to
escape. Their office was to promote peace. So long as the permanent
peace and independence of the nation seemed likely to be forwarded by
resistance to foreign invasion, they counselled resistance; when
resistance was hopeless, they recommended acquiescence, not because they
believed the usurpation less unjust, but because they considered
submission the wisest course. But the Bull of Adrian had not yet been
produced; and Henry's indifference about this document, or his
reluctance to use it, shows of how little real importance it was
considered at the time. One fearful evil followed from this Anglo-Norman
invasion. The Irish clergy had hitherto been distinguished for the high
tone of their moral conduct; the English clergy, unhappily, were not so
rich in this virtue, and their evil communication had a most injurious
effect upon the nation whom it was supposed they should be so eminently
capable of benefiting.

Henry did not succeed much better with his administration of secular
affairs. In his _Curia Regis_, at Lismore, he modelled Irish
administration on Norman precedents, apparently forgetting that a
kingdom and a province should be differently governed. Strongbow was
appointed Earl Marshal; Hugh de Lacy, Lord Constable; Bertram de Verdun,
Seneschal; Theobald Walter, Chief Butler; and De Wellesley, Royal
Standard-bearer. It was also arranged that, on the demise of a Chief
Governor, the Norman nobles were to elect a successor, who should have
full authority, until the royal pleasure could be known. Henry did not
then attempt to style himself King or Lord of Ireland; his object seems
to have been simply to obtain authority in the country through his
nobles, as Wales had been subdued in a similar manner. English laws and
customs were also introduced for the benefit of English settlers; the
native population still adhered to their own legal observances. Henry
again forgot that laws must be suited to the nation for whom they are
made, and that Saxon rules were as little likely to be acceptable to the
Celt, as his Norman tongue to an English-speaking people.

Dublin was now made over to the inhabitants of Bristol. Hugh de Lacy,
its governor, has been generally considered in point of fact the first
Viceroy for Ireland. He was installed in the Norman fashion, and the
sword and cap of maintenance were made the insignia of the dignity.
Waterford and Wexford were also bestowed on royal favourites, or on