WENTWORTH'S IRISH POLICY	109
own preservation, till I see my master's power and greatness set out
of wardship and above the exposition of Sir Edward Coke and his
year-books, and I am assured the same resolution governs in your
lordship. Let us then in the name of God go cheerfully and boldly;
if others do not their parts I am confident the honour shall be
ours and the shame theirs, and thus you have my Thorough and
Thorough.'
On another occasion he asserted that the king was able to carry
any just and honourable action
'thorough all imaginary opposition, for real there can be none; that
to start aside for such panick fears, phantastick apparitions, as a
Prynn or an Elliot shall set up, were the meanest folly in the whole
world.'1
The new lord deputy as speedily made up his mind that auto-
cracy was the only possible form of government. His council
he described as a company of men the most intent upon their
own selfish interests of any he had ever met with, and he plainly
told them that there was no necessity for him to consult them
and that if need be he could get along without their help.2 His
only confidants were his cousins, Christopher Wandesford and
George Radcliflfe, who alone knew, so he said, what he wrote or
intended*3
Wentworth certainly found Ireland in a parlous condition.
To begin with, the seas were infested with pirates. In 1630 they
had landed at Baltimore and carried off over a hundred in-
habitants, and had prevented the new lord deputy from crossing
the Irish Sea for six months, and even then managed to capture
five hundred pounds' worth of his linen.4 Wentworth, however,
infused some of his own energy into the few royal ships allowed
him, and, aided by Rainsborough's successful expedition against
the pirates at Sallee, claimed to have cleared the seas by 1637.
Then the army, on which the maintenance of English autho-
rity ultimately rested, was a sorry force, consisting of not more
than 400 horse and 2,000 foot. Even so, it was paid very irre-
gularly. Consequently discipline was almost non-existent. In
addition horses, arms, and equipment were defective, drills
were infrequent, and the officers were often absentees* Here
again Wentworth, by careful examination of every troop or
company, was able to point out to each officer what was wrong
x Strafforde*s Letters, i, in, 173; Bagwell, i. 192.
2 Stratford?* Letters, pp. 201-2.	3 Ibid., p. 193*	4 Ibid* p. 198.