Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/282

 362 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 59. and there for a time he maintained a shadow of au- thority. But his salary was unpaid, and no allowance was made him for the expenses of his office. When his own money was all gone, he borrowed to the extent of his credit. When this was gone, there was no resource but exaction. His followers became a company of ragged and starving ruffians ; and the President, who was sent to introduce a higher order of justice into Connaught, had to confess that his own servants ' were more griev- ous to the people than the rebels could be/ In an in- terval of quiet he ventured a few miles out of the town. On his return he found the gates shut against him. The citizens declined ' to receive or relieve the soldiers further.' They attempted to force an entrance, but they were defeated with loss. The President was ad- mitted to the empty honours of the castle ; the men-at- arms were dismissed to the Pale, and Fitton wrote to the council to be relieved of an office the duties of which were merely ' to have to speak the Queen's enemies fair, to give his friends leave to bribe the rebels for their own safety, and to see the people spoiled before his face/ 1 It cannot be said that England deserved to keep a country which it mismanaged so disastrously. The Irish were not to be blamed if they looked to the Pope, to Spain, to France, to any friend in earth or heaven, to 1 Rokesby to Cecil, April 15, 1570; Sidney to the Council, June 24, 1570 ; Fitton to Cecil, August 27, 1570; Fitton to Cecil, Feb- ruary 8, 1571 ; Fitton to Cecil, May 20, 1571 ; Fitton to the Coun- cil October 29, 1571 : MSS. Ireland.