Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/541

 1 5 74-] THE DESMOND REBELLION. 521 went to Waterford to see him. He was told that lie must go through the form of surrendering to the Deputy ; he made no objection, and under the protection of a safe- conduct, he returned with Essex and his cousin to Dublin. On his arrival, he found that the Queen had sent a new order, that he was to repair immediately to her presence. Remembering his long captivity, he did not choose to risk a repetition of it. He refused to go to England ; and Fitzwilliam dared not disobey the letter of the Queen's instructions. The negotiation was suspended. Essex, who had pledged his honour for Desmond's safety, conducted him to the frontier of the Pale ; and followed him, a month later, with Fitzwilliam and Ormond and some companies of English soldiers. A fortress on the Suir was destroyed and the garrison executed ; the conditions of compromise were so far modified that the repair to England was dispensed with ; and Desmond then signified his readiness to submit. He ascribed his past faults to bad advisers, whose names he was exhorted to reveal if he wished to recover per- fectly his mistress's confidence. 1 He surrendered Castle- maine and Castlemartyr, which were again occupied by English garrisons, and in other respects his authority was undisturbed. He was left supreme over his feudal principality, and passed for a loyal subject. It was again Ireland for the Irish, and the October. two southern provinces were left to be go- verned by their own laws and their own rulers, in re- 1 The English Council to the Earl of Desmond, October, 1574: MSS. Ireland.