ound that English traders and laborers were not easily to be
persuaded into the risks of a settlement under these conditions, and the
new owners were compelled in most cases either to put up with such labor
as the country afforded or to allow the soil to lie barren for the time.
The scheme which the rulers had in mind--a scheme which meant nothing
less than the substitution of an English for an Irish population--proved
a failure. An English nobleman endowed with the spirit of adventure might
be tempted to accept an estate in Ireland on the chance of making a
brilliant career there, winning the favor of his sovereign, and becoming
a great figure in the eyes of his own court and his own country. A mere
adventurer might be as ready to try his fortunes in Ireland as in some
unexplored part of the New World beyond the Atlantic. But the ordinary
trader or working-man of English birth and ways did not at that time feel
inclined to give up his business and his home to venture on a settlement
in that wild western island, where all reports told him that every man's
hand was against every other man, and that the loyal subjects of the
Queen were hunted like wild game by the uncivilized Irish.

Sir John Perrot was not a man qualified to make the situation any better
than he had found it. A man of quick and violent temper, he succeeded in
making enemies of some of the Irish chieftains who had lately been coming
over to the service of the Crown, and converted some of his friends in
office into his most bitter enemies. Sir John Perrot had to be withdrawn,
and a new deputy appointed in his place. Such a representative of English
government was not likely to encourage many of the Irish chieftains to
accept the advances of an English deputy, or to believe that they could
secure safety for themselves and their lands by submitting to his rule.
The new Deputy, Sir William Russell, had a hard task before him.

One of the most important and famous struggles made during these years
against English dominion was led by Hugh O'Neil. This celebrated Irish
leader was the grandson of that Shane O'Neil whom Henry VIII had created
Earl of Tyrone. He had led thus far a very different life from that
usually led by an Irish chieftain. The ruling powers were at first
inclined to make a favorite of him, and confirmed him in his earldom and
estates. He was brought over when very young to England, and we learn
that even in the brilliant court of Queen Elizabet