against 10,000 of your fellow-citizens, to assist him in digging the graves, which he has destined to receive them one by.one?

"I have heard of assassination by sword, by pistol and by dagger, but here is a wretch who would dip the Evangelists in blood! If he thinks he has not sworn his victim to death, he is ready to swear, without mercy and without end; but oh! do not, I conjure you, suffer him to take an oath! The arm of the murderer should not pollute the purity of the gospel; if he will swear, let it be on the knife, the proper symbol of his profession!

"At this moment, even the bold and daring villany of O'Brien stood abashed; he saw the eye of Heaven in that of an innocent and injured man; perhaps the feeling was communicated by a glance from the dock; his heart bore testimony to his guilt, and he fled for the same! .

"You find him coiling himself in the scaly circles of his cautious perjury, making anticipated battle against any one who should appear against him; but you see him sink before the proof.

"He assumes the character of a king's officer, to rob the king's people of their money, and afterwards, when their property fails him, he seeks to rob them of their lives! ...

"This cannibal informer, this dæmon, O'Brien, greedy after human gore, has fifteen other victims in reserve, if from your verdict he receives the unhappy man at the bar! Fifteen more of your fellow-citizens are to be tried on his evidence! Be you then their saviours; let your verdict snatch them from his ravening maw, and interpose between yourselves and endless remorse!"

This villain was not punished, but was rewarded for his manifold services, until he became not merely use

less, but dangerous to his masters; then he was hanged for a very ordinary murder, namely, for having killed an old sick man. (See further, App. No. 9.)

No. II.-PAGE 34.

Massacres of the Curragh of Kildare and Glenco.

GENERAL DUNDAS, when at his head-quarters in Naas on the 24th of May, received a message from a body of the Irish, that they were willing to surrender their arms, provided one Perkins should be liberated from prison, and they all permitted to return home in peace. The general, after writing to the castle for instructions, ratified the condition. And a few days after, a large body who had surrendered their arms, were cut to pieces at Gibbet-Rath, on the Curragh. The only pretext which bears any colour of truth was, that one of the rebels was foolish enough to discharge his gun in the air before he delivered it. This was done by lord Jocelyn's fox-hunters, under the orders of sir James Duff, who had written that morning to general Lake, that he would make a dreadful example of the rebels. No reprimand was ever given nor enquiry made, and doubtless the act was much applauded. (See the Rev. James Gordon's History of the Rebellion, p. 101; and Plowden, vol. 4, p. 341.)

Having mentioned the massacre of Glenco, it might be worth while to remind the reader of that odious crime, which has this affinity to that of the Curragh, that both

were executed by treason, and in defiance of that good faith which savages respect; and that, in one as in the other, the actors were not only unpunished, but preferred.

That shocking story of Glenco, is thus briefly related by an intelligent and unprejudiced writer: "A proclamation was published in autumn, 1691, which declared that all rebels who took the oaths of the government, before the first of January ensuing, should be pardoned. All the attainted chieftains of the Highlands, except M'Donald of Glenco, took the oaths before the time prefixed. Upon the last day of December, he went to Fort William, and desired the oaths to be tendered to him by the governor of the fortress, who, as he was not a civil magistrate, refused to administer them. M'Donald then went to Inverary, the county town, to take them; but by bad weather was prevented from reaching it, till the term prescribed by the proclamation was elapsed. The sheriff scrupled at first, but was prevailed upon at last to receive his allegiance. Advantage was taken of M'Donald's not having complied literally with the terms of the proclamation, and a warrant for proceeding to execution was procured from the king, which was signed both above and below with his own hand. Sir John Dalrymple, the secretary, gave orders that the execution of it should be effectual; and without any previous warning. For this purpose, in the month of February, two companies went, not as enemies, but as friends, to take quarters in the valley of Glenco, where all the clan lived. To conceal the intention the better, the soldiers were of their own lineage, Highlanders of Argyle's regiment. They were all received with the rude, but kind hospitality of the country. They continued in the valley near a fortnight; and then in the night-time rose to butcher

their hosts! Captain Campbell, of Glenlyon, who was un cle to the wife of one of M'Donald's sons, and had supped and played cards with M'Donald's family the night before, commanded the party. Thirty-eight men were slain. The rest would have shared the same fate, had not the alarm been given by one of M'Donalds sons, who overheard one of the soldiers say to another, he liked not the work; he feared not to fight the M'Donalds in the field, but had scarcely courage to kill them in their sleep; but that their officers were answerable for the deed, not they.? This execution made the deeper impression, because the king would not permit any of those who were concerned in it to be punished, conscious that in their case his own was involved." Sir John Dalrymple's Memoirs, vol. I. p. 213, Dub. ed.

"As a mark of his own eagerness to save secretary Dalrymple, king William signed the warrant both above and below with his own hand. In the night, lieutenant Lindsay, with a party of soldiers, called in a friendly manner at M'Donald's door; he was instantly admitted. M'Donald, as he was rising from his bed to receive his guest, was shot dead behind his back with two bullets. His wife had already put on her cloaths, but she was stripped naked by the soldiers, who tore the rings off her fingers with their teeth. The slaughter became general. To prevent the pity of the soldiers to their hosts, their quarters had been changed the night before; neither age nor infirmity was spared. Some women in defending their children were killed. Boys imploring mercy were shot by officers on whose knees they hung. In one place nine persons, as they sat enjoying themselves at table, were shot dead by the soldiers. The assassins are even said to have

made a sport of death. At Inveriggen, in Campbell's own quarters, nine men were first bound by the soldiers, then shot at intervals, one by one. Several who fled to the mountains, perished by famine and the inclemency of the season, Those who escaped owed their lives to a tempestuous night. Lieutenant-colonel Hamilton, who had the charge of the execution from Dalrymple, was on his march with four hundred men, to occupy all the passes which led from the valley of Glenco, he was obliged to stop by the severity of the weather, which proved the safety of the unfortunate tribe. He entered the valley the next day; he laid all the houses in ashes, and carried away all the cattle and spoil, which were divided among the officers and soldiers." Macpherson's Hist. vol. 1.

page 628-9-Dub. ed.

A still more interesting account of this black transaction is in Garnet's Scotland, vol. 1, p. 288; but it is too long for the present purpose.

No Irishman, I believe, ever read this story without the strongest sympathy with the unfortunate victims of royal and ministerial cruelty. It should be hoped that Scotchmen are not less generous towards Irishmen, when it is their turn to be betrayed and suffer. Those that are not, are undeserving of the name of SCOTCHMEN; an honorable name when truly merited.