Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/293

 157-] STATE OF IRELAND. 273 young Irish, who had come to Spain to do homage to their expected sovereign, when thej^ discovered that they were still to remain attached to England, went over to the Archbishop, accused Stukely of having be- trayed them, and denounced him as an adventurer. It was little to them whether Mary Stuart or Elizabeth was sovereign of England if they were themselves to continue slaves but nothing moved the King. The Archbishop wrote Stukely 's history : he represented him as an apostate buccaneer, a despised, detested, swindling rogue. But the political causes which ren- dered him distasteful to the Irish recommended him to Philip. His presence, his assumption, his audacious and enormous lies, bore down the weight of opposition ; the recommendation of the English refugees con- tributed to strengthen the delusion, and, under Stuke- ly' s auspices, the Spanish Government began serious preparations for the invasion and conquest of Ireland. Ships were collected at Vigo with arms and stores. Ten thousand men were to be raised, and Julian Ro- mero was to be recalled from Flanders to command. Stukely represented the Gorman Irish, the Geraldines, the Butlers, the de Burghs, as waiting his orders and ready to rise at his call. He recommended that Scilly should be seized first for a depot, and, with Scilly in their hands, the Spaniards would command both chan- nels, and a few weeks at most would then finish the work. His own services were, of course, to be splen- didly rewarded. He no longer aspired to sovereignty, but nothing less than a duke's coronet would satisfy VOL. x. 18