End of the War
Above: Picture of Queen Elizabeth
During the spring and summer of 1602, Mountjoy had pushed his campaign in the north, and one by one the Ulster chiefs, even Hugh Ruadh’s two brothers, Rory and Caffir O’Donnell, submitted and sued for pardon. O’Neill, however, with a few hundred faithful followers, still stood out, away in the remote northern parts of Tir Owen.
Above: Picture of Mountjoy
To end the war speedily was Mountjoy’s great object. The Queen was evidently dying; there would be all the uncertainty of a new reign to face. Still, Elizabeth, even now, had not lost her old fire ; to grant terms to ” the Arch-traitor” she was most reluctant. Mountjoy, however, pointed out that no other course seemed possible. Without favourable terms, O’Neill would certainly not ” come in,” for he could hold out, “as a wood kern,” almost indefinitely in the forests and mountains. The Queen, convinced by these reasons, at length authorised the Deputy to open negotiations.
A meeting was arranged at Mellifont (Co. Louth). Mountjoy arrived first, and, while he awaited O’Neill, there came to him, at midnight, a herald with news of great importance ; Elizabeth lay dead in her palace at Richmond. He took care, when O’Neill appeared, to conceal this intelligence from him ; feeling sure that he, entertaining hopes of obtaining better terms from the new Sovereign, would decline, for the present, to treat at all.
It was, therefore, as Elizabeth’s representative that Mountjoy received the Irish leader’s submission, on the 29th March, 1603. Kneeling before the Deputy, O’Neill sued for pardon of his past offences, and promised to be loyal and to renounce all dependence on any foreign power. He would not exercise any authority outside his own lands, and would assist her Majesty’s officials whenever required. Mountjoy, on his side, promised pardon in the Queen’s name, and the restoration of Hugh’s title of Earl of Tyrone and of almost all his lands.Regarding religious toleration, nothing was said in the public articles of submission, but we have ample evidence that an undertaking was given that it should be accorded.
After a few days spent at Mellifont, O’Neill rode with Mountjoy to Dublin. Only when he arrived there did he learn that the Queen was dead. He is said to have shed tears of rage on discovering how he had been tricked.
In the following June, James, the new English sovereign, received Hugh O’Neill and Rory O’Donnell with much honour at his court. He confirmed O’Neill’s title, and bestowed that of Earl of Tirconnell on O’Donnell. In August the two Earls returned to Ireland. The great insurrection was over, and now, after nearly four and a half centuries, the English Conquest of Ireland was real and complete
