Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/604

 584 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 62. arrived, but no one could be found to use them, or per- mit himself to be trained as a soldier, till he had received four gold crowns in advance. The chiefs it was true hated England, but they would not commit themselves till they were certain of success, and the Legate who said a few months before that a crucifix, a consecrated flag, and the name of James Fitzmaurice would suffice to drive the English out of Ireland, was now obliged to confess that if the Spaniards wished it done, they must them- selves do it with their own hands. They must send eight thousand men fully provided with heavy guns, powder, shot, stores, waggons, horses, muskets, lead, and match, two hundred pipes of wine at least, and food for six months for the army ; the whole of Munster being wasted, and the cattle destroyed. This remarkable acknowledgment was signed by Sanders himself, by Desmond and Baltinglass, and by two officers of the Spanish-Italian force. 1 It was sent to Spain through a priest, who went back thither in the swiftest of the Spanish ships, and Desmond wrote by the same messenger to Philip, that he was himself a homeless wanderer. Every town, castle, village, farm- house, belonging to him or his people had been de- stroyed. There was no longer a roof standing in Munster to shelter him. 2 So terribly, so effectively Pelham and Ormond had done their work in the preceding summer. Those who had escaped alive had lost faith in their cause or their 1 Letters from Smerwick, October 19, 1580 : MSS. Simancas. 2 Ibid.