the river, and Doctor Maxwell, Bishop of Kilmore (one of the most credible, perhaps, of all the deponents), enters into grave particulars about these ghosts in his depositions, and describes them as "sometimes having been seen, day and night, walking upon the river; sometimes brandishing their naked swords; sometimes singing psalms, and at other times shrieking in a most hideous and fearful manner." We see by this, too, that Protestant bishops occasionally can rival even Catholic ones in their deglutition of the miraculous. CHAPTER X. 1649. Cromwell in Ireland.—The Irish nearly exterminated.— Advantages of Despatch.-Cromwell, the Devil, and the Orangemen.-Parallel between the Soldiers of Joshua and the Corporation of Dublin. THE ancient name of Ireland was Innisfail, or the Island of Destiny; and, if there had been added "of evil Destiny," the name would have been but too truly prophetic of her history. Walsingham, who, in Elizabeth's time, wished the whole island sunk in the sea, breathed a kinder wish for it than he, in the least degree, intended; and, either to have been moved farther off into the Atlantic"procul a Jove, sed procul a fulmine"-or to be (like Rabelais' island Médamothi) nowhere, are the only two desirable alternatives that could be offered to us. As if no possible change of circumstances could exempt this wretched people from suffering, after having been so vigorously persecuted and massacred under the Royal government, as rebels, they were now still more vigorously persecuted and mas sacred under the Parliamentary government, as royalists; and what with the Lords Justices on one side, and Cromwell and Ireton on the other, assisted by a pestilence, which was the least cruel enemy of the whole, they were at last reduced to a state very nearly realizing that long desired object of English policy-their extirpation. Little more, indeed, was left of the Catholic population than was barely sufficient to give life to the desolate region of Connaught, into which they were now driven like herds of cattle by Cromwell, under the menace of a proclamation, that "all of them who, after that time, should be found in any other part of the kingdom, man, woman, or child, might be killed by any body who saw or met them ;"while their estates, which, at that time, constituted at least nine-tenths of the landed property of the country, were divided among his officers and soldiers, and among those adventurers who had advanced money for the war. * A survey being made of all Ireland for this purpose, the best land was rated only at 4s. an acre, and some only at a penny; and the soldiers drew lots in what part of the kingdom their portions should be assigned them. "No man," says Carte, "had so great shares as they who had been instruments to murder the king. What lands they were pleased to call unprofitable (which were thrown in gratis) Such was Cromwell's way of settling the affairs of Ireland-and if a nation is to be ruined, this method is, perhaps, as good as any. It is, at least, more humane than the slow lingering process of exclusion, disappointment, and degradation, by which their hearts are worn out under more specious forms of tyranny: and that talent of despatch which Moliere attributes to one of his physicians, is no ordinary merit in a practitioner like Cromwell :-"C'est un homme expéditif, expéditif, qui aime à dépêcher ses malades, et quand on a à mourir, cela se fait avec lui le plus they returned as such, let them be never so good and profitable." Lord Antrim's estate (says the same author), consisting of 107,611 acres, was allotted to Sir J. Clotworthy (afterwards Lord Massarene) and a few others, in consideration of their adventures and pay, which did not in all exceed the sum of 7000l. 66 * Ludlow tells us in his Memoirs, that, being on his march, an advanced party met two of the rebels; one of whom," says he, was killed by the guard before I came up; the other was saved, and being brought before me, I asked him, if he had a mind to be hanged? and he only answered, 'If you please.' So insensibly stupid (adds he) were many of these poor creatures." Ludlow was mistaken-there was no stupidity here. Both the history and character of the Irish-their familiarity with the "plurima mortis imago," and their careless contempt for it—were all expressed in the answer of this rebel. vite du monde." A certain military Duke, who complains that Ireland is but half-conquered, would, no doubt, upon an emergency, try his hand in the same line of practice, and like that “stern hero," Mirmillo, in the Dispensary, "While others meanly take whole months to slay, Among other amiable enactments against the Catholics at this period, the price of five pounds was set on the head of a Romish priest-being exactly the same sum offered by the same legislators for the head of a wolf. The Athenians, we are told, encouraged the destruction of wolves by a similar reward (five drachmas); but it does not appear that these heathens bought up the heads of priests at the same rate-such zeal in the cause of religion being reserved for times of Christianity and Protestantism. "The Devil," says Shakspeare, "can cite Scripture for his purpose ;" and the soldiers of Cromwell being told by their leader, * that "the Irish * Cromwell's pious account of the surrender of Drogheda (where, having been admitted, on promise of quarter, he began a slaughter of the garrison which lasted five days) is a precious sample of this perversion of religion. "I wish," he says, in concluding his letter to the parliament, "that all honest hearts may give the glory of this to God alone, to whom indeed the praise of this mercy belongs."-- WHITELOCKE. |