BEFORE entering upon a detail of that unhappy struggle between the people of Ireland and Great Britain, which has dis- tracted and considerably impaired the population, consequently injured the trade and diminished the wealth, of the country of the former, we shall take a short retrospective view (that we may the better understand the nature of our subject) of its ge- neral history from the time of its first invasion by the English during the reign of Henry II. in the year one thousand one hundred and seventy, to the period more immediately connected with the principal object of our consideration. Torn by intestine dissentions, divided into a number of weak and petty states, and harassed by the incessant invasions of the Danes, the people of Ireland, with the exception of a few reli- gious devotees, continued later than most other European na- tions in a state of barbarian darkness and commotion. No law had any weight but that of force; no tie extended further than the limits of the territory possessed by any particular sect or clan into which the people were divided; a chieftain distin- B Infernal cruelty of his conduct All Ireland submits to Cromwell's authority - Charles II. proclaimed-wretched state of Ireland THE HISTORY OF THE IRISH REBELLION. PART I. Review of the History of Ireland, from the first Invasion of the English, in the Year eleven hundred and seventy. CHAP. I. BEFORE entering upon a detail of that unhappy struggle between the people of Ireland and Great Britain, which has distracted and considerably impaired the population, consequently injured the trade and diminished the wealth, of the country of the former, we shall take a short retrospective view (that we may the better understand the nature of our subject) of its general history from the time of its first invasion by the English during the reign of Henry II. in the year one thousand one hundred and seventy, to the period more immediately connected with the principal object of our consideration. Torn by intestine dissentions, divided into a number of weak and petty states, and harassed by the incessant invasions of the Danes, the people of Ireland, with the exception of a few religious devotees, continued later than most other European nations in a state of barbarian darkness and commotion. No law had any weight but that of force; no tie extended further than the limits of the territory possessed by any particular sect or clan into which the people were divided; a chieftain distin B |