Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/559

1 565.] DEATH OF a NEIL. 539 lord to live like a servant ; and the money now spent in buying armour and horses and waging of war should be bestowed in building of towns and houses. By ending these incessant wars ere they be aware, you shall bereave them both of force and beggary, and make them weak and wealthy. Then you can convert the military service due from the lords into money ; then you can take up the fisheries now left to the French and the Spaniards ; then you can open and work your mines, and the people will be able to grant you subsidies/ 1 The first step towards the change was to introduce a better order of government : and relapsing upon the scheme for the division into presidencies, Sidney urged Elizabeth to commence with appointing a President of Munster, where Ormond and Desmond were tearing at each other's throats. The expense the first consider- ation with her would be moderate. The President would be satisfied with a mark (13$. 4^.) a day ; fifty men liorse and foot would suffice for his retinue, with yd. and 8tf?. a day respectively ; and he would require two clerks of the signet, with salaries of a hundred pounds .a year. The great Munster noblemen Ormond, Des- mond, Thomond, Clancarty, with the Archbishop of Cashel and the Bishops of Cork, Waterford, and Limerick, would form a standing council ; and a tribunal would be established where disputes could be heard and justice administered without the perpetual appeal to the sword. 2 1 Opinions of Sir H. Sidney : I 2 It is noticeable that we find in Irish MSS. Rolls House. I an arrangement which was intro-