Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 3.djvu/440

420 the soldiers, the commissioners were to survey the Crown estates, to examine the treasurer's accounts, noting down accurately the receipts and disbursements; to inquire into the real conduct of the deputy, the council, the judges, 'how far every man was doing his duty in his degree;' whether there were complaints of bribery, extortion, or oppression, or whether such complaints were well founded; and generally they were to avail themselves of all means of information as to the condition and prospects of the country and the conduct of the Irish Government.

On arriving in Dublin they found themselves in a chaos of quarrel, calumny, and contradiction. Moderation seemed the one impossible and unimagined virtue. The loyalists in the council, who had done good service in the Geraldine rebellion, were in the humour of the modern Orangemen. The deputy, goaded by opposition and unreason, had dashed into toleration of the rebels. Immediately after the landing of the commissioners, an occurrence took place which illustrated the temper in which they would find Lord Grey, who but two years before had been a rational English nobleman. In the August of the same summer an expedition was ordered into King's County against O'Connor; and the knights and landowners of the Pale as usual were in attendance on the deputy. The weather had