Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/561

 1576] THE DESMOND REBELLION. 541 and signified his accession to office by vigorous opera- tions of the usual kind. In the autumn which followed Sidney's progress, he too held an itinerant justice court in the southern province. At an assize at Cork, ac- cording to his own report, he hung forty-three notable malefactors. One he pressed to death as declining to plead to his indictment, and two traitorous M 'Sweenies from Kerry were drawn and quartered. 1 At Limerick he disposed of twenty-two more. In a subsequent sessions at Kilkenny he executed thirty-six, among which, he says, with laudable satisfaction, were ' some good ones/ Two he hanged for treason, and three others, ' a blackamoor and two witches/ he put to death * by natural law, for that he found no law to try them by in the realm/ 2 But on the whole he thought it necessary to apologize for his moderation. ' I have chosen rather/ he wrote, ' with the snail slenderly to creep, than with the horse swiftly to run/ 3 Notwithstanding the calamitous failure of December. Sir Edward Fitton as President of Connaught, Col. Malby, who was knighted on his^ appointment, was sent to Athlone in his place. The re- establishment of the Presidencies was an intimation to the chiefs that, after all, their jurisdictions were to be superseded ; and if Drury's executions were to be regarded as creeping, they had cause to fear for themselves when he began to move in earnest. They held their compact with the 1 Drury to Walsingham, No- I 3 Drury to AValsingham, Novera vember 24 : MSS. Ireland. ber 24, 1576 : MSS. Ireland. 2 Carew Papers, p. 144.