their goods and chattles not culpable. Whilst they destroyed the people, they rifled their goods, and sent off the cattle in large droves to Scotland. The war they carried on there, was rather that of plunderers and robbers, than of disciplined troops. Nay, to such an height did they carry their rapacity, that the chief justices in those days, iniquitous as they were, began to apprehend an universal scarcity, from these Caledonian. Tartars. Dr. Warner* tells us, that Monroe, in his return to Carrig-fergus, wasted the country, and with other effects carried off four thousand head of cattle; but the night before they were to be divided between the English and Scots, they were conveyed away, to the great discontent of the English, "who began to mutiny, and never after cared to march with such a band of thieves." After this they marched into the county of Antrim, where they drove off five thousand head of cattle; and when lord Antrim invited Monroe to his castle where he was sumptuously entertained, and offered to unite with him to preserve the peace of this county, the return the latter made his noble host was, to seize on his cattle, and make himself a prisoner! In short," says Dr. Warner, says Dr. Warner," the Scotch general had as little honour as the banditti he commanded." "Whilst the cause of liberty prompted the English, and the Irish armed in defence of their religion and their country, the Scotch, parsimo * Civil Wars of Ireland, vol. i. p. 198. nious and prudent, whatever their pretences might be, shewed clearly that lucre alone was their primum mobile. Though they promised the reversion of wonderful places in heaven, to such as would take the covenant, yet the moment the English parliament swore to its maintenance, they refused to march to their assistance till they received one hundred thousand pounds, besides three hundred thousand pounds voted to them before this, as well as twenty-five thousand pounds a month, during their stay in England. Even to their selling the king, whom, through Montreuil the French ambassador, they invited to their camp, as to a sure asylum, they plainly shewed that avarice was their predominant passion. Charles, their lawful sovereign, descended from an illustrious line of kings, instead of the protection which honour, allegiance, and public faith demanded, they gave up to his relentless enemies; not for religion, not for liberty, or even revenge; but for base, sordid lucre! the sum of four hundred thousand pounds was the price of royal blood, half of which was paid in hand, and of this reward for treason the general and the common soldier, equally partook! Whilst all Europe execrated so atrocious an act, men of wit were not wanting to express their particular detestations; and with one of the many epigrams. on this foul deed, I shall close this chapter. "Quis neget Iscarii Scotum de Germine Judæ, VOL. III. D For the sake of the English reader, without pretensions to the gift of poesy, I give the following translation, containing the substance of the foregoing epigram. "From Judas sprung, who can deny the Scot? The lord's anointed sold by one, as t'other sold his God. As Christ was sold by Judas, Scotland her king betrayed. As he sold his lord, for cash she sold her laird." The insurrection was for six weeks confined to the mere Irish of the province of Ulster, the remnant and descendents of those perfidiously plundered by James about thirty-two years before. But this did not satisfy the puritan parliament, or their creatures, Parsons, Borlase, and others, who greedily longed for confiscations. The rebel parliament knew, that notwithstanding the sufferings of the Irish from the tyranny of the reigning family, in person, goods and conscience, they would crowd with ardour to the royal standard, against a detested and dreaded party; and they dreaded such an accession to his majesty's forces. They sufficiently expressed their fears of the eight thousand Irish, raised by lord Strafford, and were never easy till they caused him to disband them. Whatever contempt they outwardly affected for the Irish, they were inwardly convinced of their valour. They could not be unacquainted with the declaration of lord Mountjoy, That if England were invaded, he could bring three thousand men from Ireland, who would deal as hard knocks as ten thousand men of any other nation whatever." A general civil war of continuance was absolutely neces sary, whose management should be in their hands; and the administration of Irish government lodged in the hands of their own creatures, to prevent so dangerous an accession to the royal cause. The event proved the foresight of these able, wicked politicians; for it was the Irish rebellion, as 'tis called, that decided the fate of Charles; the forces employed in which, without this impediment, would unquestionably have turned the scale in favour of the royal martyr, had they arrived while affairs wore a favourable aspect. Here we likewise have an instance of divine justice in the administration of this world. Without the royal robbery, committed on the antient proprietors of Ulster, and other robberies, committed by father and son in different parts, there would have been no insurrection in Ireland, to favour the rebellion in England; therefore the house of Stuart fell by its own crimes. The overthrow of Charles caused the exile of the two young princes, and, by consequence, their education in the catholic religion, which, in its. consequences, occasioned their final expulsion. If it be asked, would not the English rebels hazard, by such a bold experiment, the loss of a country of which they would be ambitious to retain possession? Revolutionary politics often lead to daring and hazardous methods; but the leaders of the regicide faction were too well acquainted with the divided state of Ireland, to entertain any serious apprehension of such loss. Besides the division of catholic and protestant, the jea lousies between the antient and modern Irish had not as yet subsided. The greater part of the land being at that time possessed by descendants of English settlers, the Anglo-Irish interest must predominate in any public body representing the insurgent Irish. These, conscious of the iniquitous means by which their estates were wrested from the antient proprietors, fearing a spirit of resumption to revive among the old natives, in case of a separation, would adhere to the connexion with England, as the palladium of their safety, necessary to secure their possessions. To secure and strengthen this attachment to English connexion, it was easy to increase their fear of separation, by stimulating some of the old natives to petition for a restitution of their estates, unjustly and violently torn from them. The representatives of English descent would take alarm at this, making it their own case, and reject the petition. The consequence would be, a complete rupture between the insurgents. Besides, the king's English enemies commanded the revenue of England, and all the forces in Ireland, as raised and destined for it. They possessed the capital, and several strong-holds, which they could defend against the Irish with moderate garrisons; and, having the command of the sea, they could send supplies and reinforcements as required. Their creatures governed in the king's name, called on the support of all that professed loyalty. They fought in Ireland, against the king's interest, under the king's colours, and made all the use they could of the royal autho |