e
of Elizabeth, or at least he pleads extenuating circumstances.

======================================================================

[Illustration: Defeat of the Spanish Armada. From the painting by P.
de Loutherbourg.]

======================================================================

"Most pitiful of all was the fate of those who fell into the hands of
the English garrisons of Galway and Mayo. Galleons had found their way
into Galway Bay,--one of them had reached Galway itself,--the crews
half dead with famine and offering a cask of wine for a cask of water.
The Galway townsmen were humane, and tried to feed and care for them.
Most were too far gone to be revived, and died of exhaustion. Some
might have recovered, but recovered they would be a danger to the
State. The English in the West of Ireland were but a handful in the
midst of a sullen, half-conquered population. The ashes of the Desmond
rebellion were still smoking, and Dr. Sanders and his Legatine
Commission were fresh in immediate memory. The defeat of the Armada in
the Channel could only have been vaguely heard of.

"All that the English officers could have accurately known must have
been that an enormous expedition had been sent to England by Philip to
restore the Pope; and Spaniards, they found, were landing in thousands
in the midst of them with arms and money; distressed for the moment,
but sure, if allowed time to get their strength again, to set Connaught
in a blaze. They had no fortresses to hold so many prisoners, no means
of feeding them, no more to spare to escort them to Dublin. They were
responsible to the Queen's Government for the safety to the country.
The Spaniards had not come on any errand of mercy to her or hers. The
stern order went out to kill them all wherever they might be found, and
two thousand or more were shot, hanged, or put to the sword. Dreadful!
Yes, but war itself is dreadful, and has its own necessities."

A quaint recital of the fate of these fleeing galleons is to be found
in a history published by order of Oliver Cromwell, with the title of
"Old England Forever, or Spanish Cruelty Displayed." One chapter runs
as follows:

"_Here followeth a particular Account of the Miserable Condition of the
Spanish Fleet, fled to the North of Scotland, and scattered, for many
Weeks, on the Sea-Coasts of Ireland. Written October 19, 1588_.

"About the Beginning of August, the Fleet was, by Tempest, driven
b