Conciliation Resolved On.— When Lord Leonard Grey left Ireland, in 1540, the strength of the Geraldine League was, to a considerable extent, broken, but yet of the end of the war there was no sign. It had lasted already over six years; there seemed no reason why it should not last six more, or even longer . No sooner was one chief crushed than another rose ; while a raid was being avenged by a counter invasion of the raiding clan’s territory, cattle were carried off by another clan behind the back of the Deputy’s army. Henry, for various reasons, earnestly desired peace in Ireland. Silken Thomas had sought aid from the Continent; others might follow his example, and meet with a more favourable response from the European sovereigns.

The Irish war, moreover, was extremely expensive. Henry, having no standing army, had to hire volunteer soldiers, who demanded high pay, and, in England at least, were hard to get on any terms. Then, in Irish campaigns, the army melted away by disease at a terrible rate. The soldiers, too, were often found not very efficient; for they were ignorant of the country, and did not understand the guerilla warfare in which the Irish were adepts. All this grieved the King, who grudged every pound spent on a barbarous island, from which neither glory nor revenue was to be obtained. Robert Cowley, an official of whom we hear much, suggested the complete extermination of the native Irish. This scheme was not adopted. It was pointed out that it would be ” a marvellous and sumptuous charge and of great difficulty “—in other words, extremely expensive and not certain to succeed.