n the August of this year (1629), Falkland finally left Ireland. He had asserted, and endeavoured by fabricated evidence to prove the existence of a plot against the Government, whose leaders were, as he declared, Sir Phelim Mac Hugh O’Byrne, a large Wicklow land-owner, and his six sons. Falkland had already attempted to overreach the O’Byrnes in a certain transaction concerning land, but had not succeeded, and this accusation was his revenge, as well as a method, should it prove successful, of reaping profit for himself. The O’Byrnes, brought before a jury consisting largely of men who coveted their estates, were of course convicted, their lands were confiscated, and they themselves imprisoned.

Certain members of the Irish Privy Council, actuated, not by love of justice or by pity for the Deputy’s victims, but rather by dislike of the Deputy himself, brought the transaction under the notice of the King, and induced him, in spite of Falkland’s remonstrances, to institute a Commission of inquiry. The revelations which followed so completely shattered Falkland’s reputation that it became necessary to recall him. The O’Byrnes had gained little, except their liberty. No compensation was given them, and their lands were nor restored. Later, they were permitted to buy back a part of their estates for the sum of £15,000.

After the departure of Falkland, the Government was administered by Lord Loftus and Richard Boyle, Earl of Cork, as Lord Justices.

The two Lord Justices, who agreed in nothing else, agreed cordially in the zeal with which they endeavoured to execute the decrees against the Catholics. They dispersed several religious communities, and suppressed many institutions. A notable act perpetrated by them was the destruction of the cave on an island in Lough Derg, known as ” St. Patrick’s Purgatory.” This, as a place of pilgrimage, had been famous for centuries, not only throughout Ireland, but also in the countries of Continental Europe.

The Catholics, not unnaturally, considered this renewal of persecution as a direct violation of the engagements into which Charles had entered with their agents in London, and on the faith of which they had already contributed a portion of the promised £120,000. They now intimated that, until the ” Graces ” were confirmed by a Parliament, they would pay no more. To this the King replied in a very unconciliatory tone, and the general feeling of exasperation had reached a high pitch, when Viscount Wentworth, who had been appointed Deputy in the previous year, landed in Ireland in the July of 1633.