my meaning; but to stay you before you fell into the
ditch." But it was impossible for her to explain the real reasons for
her course, and the dissolution of the Parliament in January 1567 left
her face to face with a national discontent added to the ever-deepening
peril from without. To the danger from the north and from the east was
added a danger from the west. The north of Ireland was in full revolt.
From the moment of her accession Elizabeth had realized the risks of the
policy of confiscation and colonization which had been pursued in the
island by her predecessor: and the prudence of Cecil fell back on the
safer though more tedious policy of Henry the Eighth. But the alarm at
English aggression had already spread among the natives; and its result
was seen in a revolt of the north, and in the rise of a leader more
vigorous and able than any with whom the Government had had as yet to
contend. An acceptance of the Earldom of Tyrone by the chief of the
O'Neills brought about the inevitable conflict between the system of
succession recognized by English and that recognized by Irish law. On
the death of the Earl of Tyrone England acknowledged his eldest son as
the heir of his Earldom; while the sept of which he was the head
maintained their older right of choosing a chief from among the members
of the family, and preferred Shane O'Neill, a younger son of less
doubtful legitimacy. The Lord Deputy, the Earl of Sussex, marched
northward to settle the question by force of arms; but ere he could
reach Ulster the activity of Shane had quelled the disaffection of his
rivals, the O'Donnells of Donegal, and won over the Scots of Antrim.
"Never before," wrote Sussex, "durst Scot or Irishman look Englishman
in the face in plain or wood since I came here"; but Shane fired his men
with a new courage, and charging the Deputy's army with a force hardly
half its number drove it back in rout on Armagh. A promise of pardon
induced the Irish chieftain to visit London, and make an illusory
submission, but he was no sooner safe home again than its terms were set
aside; and after a wearisome struggle, in which Shane foiled the efforts
of the Lord Deputy to entrap or to poison him, he remained virtually
master of the north. His success stirred larger dreams of ambition. He
invaded Connaught, and pressed Clanrickard hard; while he replied to the
remonstrances of the Council at Dublin with a bold defiance. "By the
sword I have won these lands,"