Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 9.djvu/191

 1570.] THE RISING OF THE NORTH. 177 ventured to challenge, yet they had committed the last and worst form of treason they had invited a foreign army into the kingdom, imperilling the national inde- pendence as well as the throne of the Sovereign. There was nothing therefore except its bloodlessness in the circumstances of the rebellion which called for any particular leniency, and those who look back upon such a condition of things from times when the danger from similar combinations has long passed away, are apt to be misled by their natural compassion for sufferers, and from the instinctive sympathy with those who risk and lose their lives in a public cause. It is equally certain however that there may be seen in the conduct of the Government at all times, and after all necessary allowance, the working of question- able passions; and the retribution inflicted upon the Northern insurgents shows undoubtedly that anger and avarice had for a time overclouded Elizabeth's character. The complaints of the Queen about expense while the rebels were in the field had been incessant. Every letter which Cecil wrote contained some intimation or other of the extreme difficulty of getting money from her. After the flight and dispersion from Durham, orders were immediately sent down that ' some of the rascals should be hanged by martial law,' 1 but care was to be taken that none of the ' richer sort ' should suffer in that way. Death by martial law would not 1 Cecil to Sadler, December 20 : Sadler Papers, vol. ii. VOL. ix. 12