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seventy in one trench. An Irish priest, named MacOdeghan, captured forty or fifty Protestants, and persuaded them to abjure their religion on a promise of quarter. After their abjuration, he asked them if they believed that Christ was bodily present in the Host, and that the Pope was head of the Church? and on their replying in the affirmative, he said, 'Now, then, you are in a very good faith!' and, for fear they should relapse into heresy, he cut all their throats."

Let these facts always be borne in mind when we look on Cromwell in Ireland.

This rebellion, which broke out in 1640, had through the necessity of the times been much neglected till 1649. The Parliament, indeed, had long before got possession of Dublin, which was delivered up to them by the Marquis of Ormond, who was then obliged to come over to England. But being recalled by the Irish, Ormond made a league with them in favour of the king, and brought over most of the kingdom into a union with the Royalists. Londonderry and Dublin were the only places that held out for the Parliament, and the latter was in great danger of being lost. This compelled Colonel Jones, the Governor, to send over to England for succour; and a considerable body of forces was thereupon ordered for Ireland. The command of these was offered to Cromwell, who accepted it with seeming reluctance; professing "that the difficulty which appeared in the expedition, was his chief

motive for engaging in it; and that he hardly expected to prevail over the rebels, but only to preserve to the Commonwealth some footing in that kingdom."

The Parliament was so pleased with his answer, that, on the 22nd of June, 1649, it gave him a commission to command all the forces that should be sent into Ireland, and to be Lord-Governor of that kingdom for three years, in all affairs both civil and military. From the very minute of his receiving this charge, Cromwell used an incredible expedition in the raising of money, providing of shipping, and drawing the forces together for their intended enterprise. The soldiery marched with great speed to the rendezvous at Milford Haven, there to expect the new Lord-Deputy, who followed them from London on the 10th of July. His setting out was very pompous, being drawn in a coach with six horses, and attended by many members of the Parliament and Council of State, with the chief of the army; his life-guard, consisting of eighty men who had formerly been commanders, all bravely mounted and accoutred, both they and their servants.

He was received with extraordinary honours at Bristol. Thence he went to Wales, and embarked for Ireland from the lovely and magnificent haven of Milford, and at last arrived in Dublin. Reviewing his army of twelve thousand men-apparently a small army, indeed, for such a work!-there, he advanced to Drogheda, or Tredagh, which he took

by storm. His advance through the country was a continued triumph, a repetition of the same wonderful career which closed the war with Charles in England. The taking of Tredagh was a feat of extraordinary strength; so much so, that the brave O'Neal swore a great oath, "That if Cromwell had taken Tredagh, if he could storm hell, he would take it also!" Terrible also was the contest of Clonmell, before which Cromwell sat down with the resolution of fighting and of conquest.

Many persons were here taken, and among them the celebrated fighting Bishop of Ross, who was carried to a castle kept by his own forces, and there hanged before the walls, in sight of the garrison; which so discouraged them that they immediately surrendered to the Parliament's forces. This bishop was used to say, "There was no way of curing the English, but by hanging them."

For all this tremendous havoc, the most terrible oath an Irishman knows to the present day is "The curse of Cromwell!" And the massacres and the besiegements are ever called in to blacken the great general's memory by writers, for instance, like Clarendon. And what did Cromwell do first? All husbandmen, and labourers, ploughmen, artificers, and others of the meaner sort of the Irish nation, were to be exempted from question in reference to the eight years of blood and misery, now ended. As to the ringleaders, indeed, and those who could be proved to be really concerned in the massacre of

1641, there was for these a carefully graduated scale of punishments-banishment, death,-but only after exact inquiry and proof. Those in arms at certain dates against the Parliament, but not in the massacre, these were not to forfeit their estates, but lands, to a third of their value, in Connaught were to be assigned to them. Others not well affected to Parliament were to forfeit one-third of their estates, and to remain quiet at their peril. The Catholic aristocracy, we see, were to be punished for their guilty bloodsheddings, but the "ploughmen, husbandmen, and artificers of the meaner sort were to be exempted from all question." Clarendon admitted that Ireland flourished under this arrangement to a surprising extent; and Thomas Carlyle well says, "This curse of Cromwell, so called, is the only gospel of veracity I can yet discover to have been ever fairly afoot there."

Cromwell returned to London in the month of May, 1650, as a soldier who had gained more laurels and done more wonders in nine months than any age or history could parallel, and sailed home, as it were, in triumph. At Bristol he was twice saluted. by the great guns, and welcomed back with many other demonstrations of joy. On Hounslow Heath he was met by General Fairfax, many members of Parliament, and officers of the army, and multitudes of the common people. Coming to Hyde Park, he was received by the Lord Mayor and Corporation of the City of London; the great guns were fired off, and

Colonel Barkstead's regiment, which was drawn up for that purpose, gave him several volleys with their small arms. Thus in a triumphant manner he entered London, amidst a crowd of attendants, and was received with the highest acclamations. And after resuming his place in Parliament, the Speaker, in an eloquent speech, returned him the thanks of the House for his great and faithful services in Ireland; after which, the Lord-Lieutenant gave them a particular account of the state and condition of that kingdom. It was while he rode thus in state through London, that Oliver replied to some sycophantic person, who had observed, "What a crowd comes out to see your lordship's triumph!" "Yes; but if it were to see me hanged, how many more would there be!" Here is a clear-headed, practical man.

But it was a busy life; his three years LordLieutenancy had evidently been remitted; for other and urgent matters demanded such a bâton as he alone could wield; and when he had struck down the rebellion, the Parliament recalled him, and he arrived in London, May 31st, 1650. On the 29th of June, within a single month of his arrival at home, he set forth on his great military expedition to Scotland. The Parliament had wished Lord Fairfax to take command, and set things right there; but, although Fairfax was an Independent, his wife was a Presbyterian, and she would not allow her husband to go. We believe that it was very well that it was so.

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