rangements as the time would permit, he embarked for England, where he was received with loud acclamations, by all the friends of the Commonwealth.

But the fame which he left in the kingdom he had just conquered, did not reflect upon his achievements the same degree of praise which he received from his more partial countrymen. On the contrary, the cruelties of which he was guilty in that unhappy land, sank so deeply into the hearts of the sensitive people who endured them, that the lapse of a hundred and eighty years has not worn out the impression of horror and detestation with which his bloody career was accompanied. Various attempts have been made to discover or to create an apology for his ferocious conduct. We have been reminded that the Irish campaign was the first enterprise of the new commonwealth, and that it was of the highest importance to the stability of its govern ment, and to the weight and respectability it should possess among foreign states, that the war should be conducted with skill and success. We are told, at the same time, that the inhabitants were bigoted, ignorant, and bloodthirsty Roman Catholics; a race unbroken and savage, who had scarcely in any instance been brought resolutely to encounter an enemy in the field; and hence Cromwell might imagine that, by the terror of his name, he should not only extinguish all their hopes of resistance, but even finish the war at one blow. But this, it is added, could only be effected by convincing the rabble of Catholic military that he was not to be trifled with; or, in other words, by exhibiting some examples of an appalling severity,

He may have believed that, in such a case, a certain degree of cruelty was real humanity in disguise. In short, it is assumed, that his purpose was, in the course of a few months, to lay all Ireland at the feet of the Parliament; and then it is asked, "how much would the evils attending a few instances of early severity, be compensated by the cutting off long years of obstinate resistance?" "In fine, it must be admitted," says the advocate to whom I allude, "that Cromwell, however urbane and benevolent might be his general disposition, showed that he was capable of stringing himself to, and going through with, acts of cruelty and horror."*

But no reasons, founded on mere expediency, can ever justify the violation of those original sentiments of human nature, upon which the laws of morality and religion have their chief dependence. Besides, excessive severity in a conqueror usually defeats the ends for which it is adopted; because, as the governor of every fortress could not be expected to surrender at the first summons, and as resistance in every case incurred the punishment of military execution, the garrisons would not only hold out to the last extremity, but even then rather lose their lives in the defence of their walls, or in fighting at the corner of every street, than lay down their arms, to be butchered in cold blood. The policy adopted by Cromwell succeeded, indeed, for a time; but it would soon have produced a reaction, by giving to despair the attributes of courage. The horrors of Drogheda

* Godwin's Commonwealth, vol. iii. p. 151.

and Wexford did not open the gates of Kilkenny, Ross, Waterford, and Clonmell; and if the Irish could have trusted one another, and resisted the solicitation of English gold, the camp of the invader would have been converted into an hospital before his flag could have appeared on so many of the citadels of Munster.

Another motive for the severities of the Lord-Lieutenant, in the memorable campaign now described, arose from the sickly state of his army, which was melting away by agues and fluxes, and from his own impatience to "get out of the trade of war," and to take a share in the government at Westminster. His health, too, had been impaired by the fatigue and bad weather to which he was constantly exposed; and when he sat down before a town, he did not conceal that the comfort of a house, compared with the privations of a tent, stimulated his exertions, and made him refuse all cessation of arms. But much may also be attributed to that indifference for the rights and sufferings of Irishmen, which had become habitual to the people of England. The historian Cambrensis, who accompanied to the Green Isle the original adventurers, in the reign of Henry the Second, recommended as a maxim for their proceedings in the new settlement," that the only way to civilize the Irish, was to exterminate them, and seize their estates." This inhuman principle had been acted upon to a considerable extent, even when the natives had no other disqualifi cation except that of being the savage and ignorant possessors of land which their invaders were desirous to appropriate; but after the Re

formation was established in Britain, the cupidity of the Protestants was inflamed by religious zeal; and then, it appeared meritorious to expel from the land of their fathers the bigoted adherents of a church which they themselves had hardly relinquished. Henceforward the Irish were stigmatized as Catholics, as well as rebels, -a sufficient ground for any deeds of violence and oppression which might be exercised towards them; while their country, as Lord Clarendon remarks, was the "great capital out of which all debts were paid, all services rewarded, and all acts of bounty performed." In fact, so strong was the belief in both islands that the English, at this time, meant to follow literally the advice given by Cambrensis, that, in the preamble to the act for settling Ireland, the legislature thought it necessary to express their views in such a way that the Irish people "might know that it is not the intention of Parliament to extirpate that whole nation."

It is a painful exercise of reflection to estimate the amount of suffering which must have been inflicted upon Ireland by the victories of Cromwell. Besides those who fell in the towns which were subjected to military fury, great numbers were shipped off to the plantations abroad; and not fewer than forty-five thousand men enlisted in the armies of France and Spain, and thereby became voluntary exiles from the country of their birth, where they were no longer permitted to enjoy either liberty or food, those common gifts bestowed by nature upon all her children.

CHAPTER II.

Containing an Account of the Events which took place in Scotland, from the Proclamation of Charles the Second, till the battle of Worcester.

THE people of Scotland, notwithstanding the firmness with which they had opposed the government of the late King, were all along friendly to monarchical rule, and even to the hereditary rights of the House of Stuart. It happened, accordingly, that when intelligence reached Edinburgh of the fate of the first Charles, a deputation of the native Parliament proceeded to the market-cross of that city and proclaimed his son King of Scotland, England, France, and Ireland; adding, as one of the terms of his accession to the throne, that he should give full satisfaction to the Lords and Commons of his firm attachment to the National Covenant, as well as to the Solemn League and Covenant between the two kingdoms. The prince, however much he might be gratified by this decided step in his favour, was, at the same time, so greatly perplexed by the conditions on which alone he could assume the exercise of royal power, that he refused at first to come under an obligation which must necessarily oppose his duty to the