Froude detested and despised the cosmopolitan philosophy which regards patriotic sentiment as a relic of barbarism.

He was not merely an historian of England, but also an English historian; and holding Fisher to be a traitor, he did not hesitate to justify the execution of a pious, even saintly man.
Fisher would no doubt have said that it was far more important to preserve the Catholic faith in England than to keep England independent of Spain.

Froude would have replied that unless the nation punished those who sought for the aid of Spanish troops against their own countrymen, she would soon cease to be a nation at all.

His critics evaded the point, and took refuge in talk about bloody tyrants wreaking vengeance upon harmless old men.
If patriotism be not a disqualification for an historian, Froude had none.

Like every other writer, he made mistakes.