The Irish Confederates and the Rebellion of 1798

Front matter

Engdb7 W.G Jickmm. NY M©f AB1M0 MMTMIET. NEW YORK HARPER A BROTHERS THE IRISH CONFEDERATES, AND «jr* JUhUtntt nf 1798, BY HENRY M. FIELD. NEW YORK: HARPER & BROTHERS, 82 CUFF STREET. 1851. Entered, accordiDg to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, BY CYRUS W. FIELD, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York. TO THE DESCENDANTS or TONE, SAMPSON, EMMET, AND McNEVEN, RESIDING IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK, ©l*i5 bolnme is 3nscribe&, IN MEMORY OF THE HAPPY HOURS PASSED IN THEIR SOCIETY. CONTENTS PAGE Preface, 9

Chapter I

A Glance at Irish History. — Aborigines of the Island.— Phœnician Colonies.— Traces of an Asiatic Origin. — St. Patrick introduces Christianity. — Invasion of the Danes. — Henry U. undertakes to subdue Ireland to the Pope, -------IS CHAPTER H Why the Irish hate the English. — Ireland a conquered Country. — No Fusion of Races. — Intermarriages prohibited. — Attempt of Elizabeth to exterminate the Natives by Famine. — Duplicity of the Stuarts. — Cromwell in Ireland. — Massacre of Drogheda, and Estates confiscated. — English Plantations. — Policy of Charles H. to depress Ireland.— Revolution of 1688. — The Irish forced to emigrate.— Scene at the Surrender of Limerick. — Irish Brigade formed in the European Armies, ----- 21 CHAPTER m. Difference of Religion. — Why the Reformation did not spread in Ireland as it did in Scotland. — Henry VHI. introduces it as a Matter of Policy. — Sends over Preachers ignorant and immoral. — The Catholics persecuted. — Penal Laws against them. — Priest-hunting, as among the Scotch Covenanters, -------35

CHAPTER IV.

The Struggle for Irish Independence begins.— The American War.— Danger of a French Invasion. — The Irish Volunteers organized. — Demand for Free-trade and an Independent Parliament. — Revolution of 1782. — Rejoicings of the People. — Political Abuses still exist. — Demand for further Reform. — Grattan. — The French Revolution breaks out, •- 48

CHAPTER V.

Curran.— His Boyhood passed among the Peasantry.— Attends their Weddings and Funerals.— College Life.— Destined for the Church. — Chooses the Law.— Studies to make himself an Orator — Powers of Conversation.— Playful Fancy.— Wit, Humor, and Pathos. — Extreme Sensibility. — Sudden Transitions of Feeling. — Constitutional Melancholy. — Character of his Eloquence. — He defends a Catholic Priest. — The State Trials.— His Love of Ireland, 61

CHAPTER VI.

Theobald Wolfe Tone. — Early Life. — Marriage. — Studies Law. — Project of a Military Expedition to the South Seas. — Settles in Dublin.— Friendship with Emmet and Russoll, VI CONTENTS. CHAPTER Vn. Excitement caused by the French Revolution. — Tone enters into Politics. — Division of Parties in Ireland. — He endeavors to unite the Dissenters and Catholics. — Founds the Society of United Irishmen. — Is appointed Secretary to the Catholic Committee. — His Efforts to obtain Catholic Emancipation. — Opposed by the Protestant Ascendency. — Convention in Dublin. — Petition to George HI., ------ 79

CHAPTER VIII.

The Irish Volunteers disbanded. —Earl Fitzwjlliam Lord Lieutenant.— The United Irishmen changed to a Secret Society. — Rev. William Jackson arrives as an Emissary from France. — Is arrested. — Anecdote of his Imprisonment. — Trial for Treason, and Death. — Hamilton Rowan makes his Escape from Newgate. — Fidelity of Irish Sailors. — Tone floes to America. — Meets old Comrades. — Sails for France, - - - 96

CHAPTER IX.

Tone in France. — Shiel's Speech. — Acquaintance with James Monroe. — Audience of Carnot. — Life in Paris. — Plans for invading Ireland. — General Hoche. — Tone's first Interview. — Council of War with Hoche and Carnot, ------- 110

CHAPTER X.

Tone in Hoche's Staff. — Accompanies him to the Army. — Armament preparing at Brest. — Ruse with a Spy. — Tone enlists Irish Prisoners. — An Emissary sent to Dublin- — The Troops embark. — The Expedition sails. — Reaches Bantry Bay. — Driven off the Coast by a Gale of Wind, 129

CHAPTER XL

Tone goes with Hoche to the Rhine. — Battle of Neuwied. — Plan of a second Expedition from Holland.— Dutch Fleet in the Texel.— Admiral Dewinter. — Mutiny at the Nore. — Battle of Camperdown. — Death of Hoche. — Formation of the Army of England.— Napoleon sails for Egypt, ----------- 145

CHAPTER XII.

The United Irish Society completes its Organization.— Numbers and Wealth involved in it. — Oaths of Secrecy. — Organized into an Army. — Attempt to suppress it by Force. — The Triumvirate, Clare, Castlereagh, and Carhampton. — Reign of Terror in Ireland. — Men tortured to force Confessions. — The State Trials. — The Struggle approaching. — Mditary Preparations. — The North impatient to rise. — Fatal Reliance on France, 159

CHAPTER XIII.

Lord Edward Fitzgerald. — High Birth. — Serves in the American War under Lord Rawdon. — Wounded at the Battle of Eutaw Springs. — Travels in Spain. — Rejoins his Regiment in Canadu. — Tour to the Falls of Niagara, the Great Lakes, and the Mississippi. — Returns to England.— Meets Fox and Sheridan in the Society of London. — Visits Paris during the French Revolution. — Marries a Daughter of Madame de Genlis. — Enters Parliament. — Joins the United Irishmen. — Is appointed Commander-in- Chief.— Talents for War.— Military Tactics, 175

CHAPTER XIV.

Thomas Addis Emmet.— The Three Brothers.— His Education.— Studies Medicine at Edinburgh.— Travels on the Continent.— Adopts the Profession of Law.— Commences Practice in Dublin.— State Trials.— He takes the Oath of the United Irishmen in open Court.— Intimacy with Tone.— Joins the Society.— la chosen one of tho Directors. - CONTENTS. VII

CHAPTER XV

William James McNeven. — A Connaught Man.— Educated at Prague and Vienna.— Settles as a Pbys cian in Dublin. — Bold Conduct in the Catholic Convention. — Interview with an Emissary from France. — Sent on a Mission to Paris, - 19G

CHAPTER XVI.

William Sampson. — Early Voyage to America. — Commences the Practice of Law in Belfast. — Intimacy with Curran. — Anecdotes. — They are employed together on the State Trials. — Friendship of Lord Moira, ----------- 203

CHAPTER XVII.

Secrecy of the Conspiracy.— Fidelity of the Irish to their Oaths.— Spies of Government. — Reynolds betrays the Leaders. — They are seized whilo in Council. — Arrest of Lord Edwurd Fitzgerald.— Trial and Execution of two Brothers, - - - - 210

CHAPTER XVIII.

The Rebellion of 1798. — Plot to take Dublin. — Rising in Kildare. — Engagements.— General Panic. — Proclamation to the Army, --------- 220

CHAPTER XIX.

Insurrection in Wexford. — Provoked by Cruelties of the Soldiery. — The Rising headed by a Catholic Priest.— Battle of Oulurt Hill.— Battle of Enniscorthy.— Vinogar Hill chosen as the Centre of Operations. — Scenes in the Rebel Camp, - 227

CHAPTER XX.

Panic at Wexford. — The Rebels march on that Town. — Battle of the Three Rocks. — Flight of the King's Troops. — The Insurgents march against Gorey. — They defoat Colonel Walpole. — Crisis of the War, 235

CHAPTER XXI.

Battles of Arklow and New Ross. — Massacres at Scullabogue and Wexford. — The Armies converging. — Sir John Moore defeats the Insurgents near Wexford.— Battle of Vinegar Hill, 245

CHAPTER XXII.

Guerilla Fighting kept up in the Mountains. — Warlike Character of the Irish. — Causes of the Failure of the Rebellion.— The Want of able Officers.— Death of Fitzgerald.— Desolations of the War, 255

CHAPTER XXIII.

New French Expedition.— Humbert sails without Orders. — Lands at Killula in the North. of Ireland.— Takes Possession of the Town.— Is quartered in the B, shop's Palace. — Character of his Army. — Marches on Castlebar, and defeats General Lake. — Surrenders to Cornwallis, -------------- 263

CHAPTER XXIV

Last Expedition of Tone.— Captured in a Naval Engagement.— Trial before a Court Martial— Curran's Efforts to save him.— Sentence.— Last Letter to hia Wife.— Death, CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXV

PiG15 Lord Cornwallis.— Fate of the State Prisoners.— Compromise proposed by Government. — Examination before a Secret Committee- — Mitigations of Captivity. — Emmet's Wife and Sister. — The Prisoners are sent to Fort George in Scotland. — Liberated at the Peace of Amiens, ------------- 282

CHAPTER XXVI.

Sampson is liberated from Prison on Condition of going into Exile. — Sails for Portugal — Shipwrecked.— Reaches Oporto. — Is seized and imprisoned. — Sent to Lisbon. — Thrown into the Dungeons of the Inquisition. — Is sent to Bordeaux. — Takes up his residence in Paris, -------------- 296

CHAPTER XXVII.

The Union.— Proposal to abolish the Irish Parliament— Designs of Pitt and Castlereagh. — Excuses to justify tho Measure. — England in Danger. — Union carried by Bribery. — Promises violated. — The Prosperity of Ireland declines. — Absenteeism of Noblemen. — Effect on the Spirits of the People. — The Irish Orators. — Lament of Grattan. — Melancholy of Curran, ------------ 305

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Bobert Emmet. — College Eloquence.— Visits Paris after the Treaty of Amiens. — Returns to Ireland.— Embarks in the Conspiracy. — The Insurrection takes Place at Night. — Is instantly suppressed.— Emmet lingers near Dublin. — Is arrested. — Speech on his Trial — Sentenced to Death.— Farewell Letters. — Hia Execution. — The Broken Heart, 314

CHAPTER XXIX.

The Exiles on the Continent. — They come to America. — Fate of Tone's Family. — HiB Widow remains in Paris. — Her Son studies at the University. — Joins the Army. — Serves in the Campaigns of 1813 and 1814.— Wounded at the Battle of Leipsic— Siege of Erfurt. — Quits the Army on the Fall of Napoleon. — The Family remove to the United States, and settle in Washington, 324

CHAPTER XXX.

Caroer of Emmet in America,— Is admitted to the Bar.— Immediate Success.— Character of his Eloquence.— Appears before the Supremo Court of the United States.— Described by Judge Story.— Private Life.— Stroke of Apoplexy in Court.— His Death, 331

CHAPTER XXXI.

Dr. McNeven settles in New York.— Chosen a Professor.— Marries an American Lady. — Efforts for Irish Emigrants.— Sampson resumes the Practice of Law.— Friendship of the Exiles.— Their Families connected by Marriage.— Death of Sampson and McNeven. — They are buried side by side, ----..___ 342

CHAPTER XXXII.

A last Look at Ireland.— Sad Aspects.— The late Famine.— Bright Spots here and there — Emancipation of the Catholics.— The Established Church.— Grant to Maynooth —The Queen's Colleges.— Old Parties broken up.— The Orangemen— No more Repeal — Sale of encumbered Estates.— Tenant Right.— Elasticity of the Irish Character- National Faults and Virtues.— Warm Affections.— The Irish Emigrant.— Welcome to America.— Hope of better Days, ------.-.__ $rifnrt. A visit to Ireland in the summer of 1847 won my heart for that country and people. Vague impressions of the fierce rebellion of 1798, and especially the fate of Robert Emmet, drew my thoughts to that portion of her history. But it was not until I came to know the families of the Irish exiles in New York that I learned the particulars of that eventful struggle.

The subject was new to me, and perhaps will be to many. If I mistake not, the history of Ireland is not generally known. Many who are well read on every part of English, and even of Scottish history, seem little in formed on that of the sister island. The border wars be tween England and Scotland have been invested with every charm of poetry and romance, while the far longer and deadlier resistance of the Irish to their conquerors, fills but a paragraph in the general history of Britain. It is hardly remembered that Ireland was once a distinct na tion, and that she has a separate history. Of these civil wars that of 1798 was the last, and possesses the freshest interest. The novelty of the story — the distinguished actors who A*

Preface

. X figured in it — and the tragical fate which so often termi nated the career of the young and the brave — riveted my attention, and led me to think that a connected narrative of these events might possess interest to others. The struggle for Irish independence — which began during the American war, and closed with the Union in 1800 — is one of the most remarkable passages of modern history. It has been thrown into the shade by the co temporary French Bevolution. But the war of factions, and the Rebellion, in Ireland, was one in that series of convulsions which then agitated Europe. It has all the interest of a great battle for liberty. It was a contest car ried on for more than twenty years between the passion for freedom on one hand, and arbitrary power on the other, a contest finally ending in civil war.

It was a period of military atrocities — yet resisted and set in con trast by individual heroism and popular enthusiasm — by eloquence in debate and courage in the field — a period, in short, like all revolutionary epochs, distinguished by great virtues and great crimes. The spectacle is full of excitement — a nation rising from the torpor of ages, and "shouting to the earth" — the old chieftains, that have long held the fortress of power, alarmed and training their guns on the advancing masses — the people defeated and driven back, yet returning with new vigor to the conflict. The events are all closely connected, and are in continual pro gress. They succeed each other regularly like the acts of a drama. The interest heightens at every succeeding act. We shall see how a peaceful movement for reform grew into an agitation for revolution ; how an open political association

PREFACE.

. XI darkened into a secret conspiracy ; how entreaties spurned changed to angry menaces, and threats ended in blood. The whole has its catastrophe in the rebellion of 1798. The progress of this story brings into view every variety of incident. Now armed battalions move across the field in brilliant array — and now we follow peasants in their hiding-places among the hills. At one moment we are in the heat of battle — and then alone on the field at night, listening to the wail of a mother over her son. Now the narrative leads us to the floor of Parliament, watching till midnight the stormy debate — then to the court-room, where the young and ardent patriot is on trial for his life — and next we see him, attended by soldiers, marching to the place of execution with slow step and muffled drum.

There is not a passion of our nature which is not awakened in reading this history — pity, grief, indignation ; anger at the treachery of some, admiration at the fidelity of others. The melancholy fate of so many brave men, the sufferings and courage of the peasantry, the pathetic eloquence of the Irish orators — all lend a painful interest to the events we have to relate. It is a sad story. Yet we are fascinated even in these dark scenes by traits of the Irish character, which con stantly break through the adversities of their condition, " Like skies that rain and lighten," by incessant flashes covering the darkened heaven with brightness. The record of so much suffering is relieved by the mixture of much that is honorable to our nature.

PREFACE.

. These scenes have an additional interest to us from the fact, that several of the principal actors in them were afterward cast upon our shores. At first I thought only to write brief memoirs of the Irish exiles, but this soon ran into a general history of the revolutionary scenes in which they bore a part. It therefore seemed best to make the design of this volume more complete ; to embrace in it the origin and course of that projected revolution in which they were actors. The subject is a historical unity : the events of this period are so connected — the subject is so compact that it may be viewed apart. It forms a distinct chapter in Irish history. I however so far adhere to the original design as to detail with particular minuteness the part borne by these illustrious exiles. They are the heroes of the story.

It is often by following the fortunes of an individual that we obtain the most graphic picture of a historical period. As the American reader may feel particular interest in their fate, I have glanced rapidly at their history after they left their country and settled in ours. It is pleasant after scenes of strife and blood, to contemplate a picture of repose. It furnishes that relief to the eye which artists seek in painting. It affords that ex quisite satisfaction to the moral feelings, which is the highest pleasure in history. The materials of this history are scattered through many volumes, and mixed up with masses of merely local or temporary interest. To sift huge octavos down to a few material facts, and to cast aside the party rancor with which every page of Irish history is disfigured, has been the labor of many months. The object has been to

PREFACE.

. XIII glean from this wide field such details as might be of per manent historical value, and to weave them into a con nected tale. It has been my care to make this narrative strictly ac curate; to introduce no feature into the scene for effect which was not authentic history. This has made it neces sary to compare the different historians of that time. Many personal incidents have been communicated by the famdies of the Irish exiles. The reader will miss the vivacity which gave to each anecdote its charm in the relation. But I beg him to imagine that he is sitting before a blazing fire on a winter's night, listening to Irish melo dies, and in the intervals, that he hears these brief chap ters recited by a fair reader, and with a pleasant voice. New York; Feb. 1851. HARPER X BROTHERS NEW YORK. <&jft Srtstj Cnnftkrnfts Hntt HMdlinn.

CHAPTER I.

A Glance at Ieish Histoet. The Irish claim to be a very ancient people. How long the island lay uninhabited — at what time man first set foot upon its silent shores — are matters of conjecture. Probably the same Celtic wave, which, at a remote period of time, swept across Europe, and inundated Britain, reached Ireland. But these aborigines of the island were half-naked savages, with long hair and of ferocious aspect, and belted with skins. They lived in rude huts, and sub sisted on acorns, or by hunting and fishing. Society was in its rudest state. Divided into clans, they acknowledged the sovereignty of petty chiefs. Their religion, like that of the ancient Britons, was that of the Druids. But the Irish historians are fond of tracing their origin to a more civilized people. The Phenicians, the maritime adventurers of antiquity — so run their ancient chronicles — sailing westward, founded Carthage, and planted other colonies along the coast of Africa and in Spain, and from thence crossed to Ireland, the outer limit of the then known world.

Traces of this Asiatic origin yet remain in the land. The round towers, which still stand like solitary columns in her valleys, were erected at a period be yond the reach of history, and are believed to have been reared for the worship of the sun. The feastings and cries of the peasantry at funerals — the Irish wakes — is a custom which carries us back directly to the East. Even thus early, portions of the country were inhabited by a powerful race. The Irish trace far back into this period the line of their kings. " Bemember," says Ossian, " the kings of Erin ; the stately forms of old. Let not the fallen be forgot, they were mighty in the field." But the island was but partially reclaimed by these bands of adventurers. The country itself was still a wilderness, a wild waste of lakes and mountains, of bogs and moors.

The aboriginal savages still roamed through interminable forests. Bears had their dens in rocky cav erns. The wolf came down to drink of her mountain lakes, and the deer slept in his covert unscared by the cry of the hunter. "Wild fowl haunted her inland waters, and the eagle sailed along her northern rocky shores. The island lay in the solitude of nature. At length came Christianity, the true civilizer of nations. A holy man landed on the shores of Ireland. The life of St. Patrick is enveloped in some degree of obscu rity, and perhaps looms up large in the twilight of tradi tion. Still there seems no reason to doubt that there was such a man, who came over the sea in the fifth century, and devoted himself to the conversion of the poor island ers. He gathered them in the open fields or under the ST. PATRICK. 17 shade of an aged oak, at the sound of a drum,* and preached to them the gospel.

The savages sat at his feet in mute wonder as he related the story of the cross. They were won by his mfldness, and awed by the sanctity of his life. And chiefs and vassals together embraced the new religion. Then rose churches and abbeys in many a sequestered valley of Ireland. Then were the hill-sides pressed by pious feet. The convent bell rang across the vale. Monasteries crowned many a hill, which were the reposi tories at once of learning and of Christianity. From the sixth to the eighth century, Ireland was confessedly in ad vance of England in civilization and in piety. Hither came the great Alfred to obtain that learning which his own kingdom could not afford. Irish missionaries propa gated the gospel in the surrounding nations. To Ireland the Anglo-Saxon king Oswald applied for learned men to teach his people Christianity.

An Irish monk, Columba, founded the monastery in the sacred island of Iona, " which was once the luminary of the Caledonian regions, whence savage clans and roving barbarians derived the benefits of knowledge and the blessings of religion."f The Irish chieftains derived wealth and power from the civilization of their people, and began to assume a rude, barbaric splendor. Lofty castles rose in which the bards of Erin, like those of Wales, sung of the deeds of their ancestors, and the harp was heard in the halls of Tara. * Neander's History of the Church. + Johnson's Tour to the Hebrides. The Irish still linger with fondness on the traditions of ancient days. It is natural for an imaginative and high-spirited people — crushed by superior power — to try to forget their present wretchedness in the recollection of ancient glory.

The Greek and the Italian, fallen, have never forgotten their former name. In twenty centuries the intense life of the ancient races has not become extinct. " Stdl in their ashes live their wonted fires." So the tra ditional glories of Ireland give a charm to her hills and valleys. The songs of her ancient bards linger on the air, fainter and fainter, yet still more sweet, like the sound of bells dying away in the distance.* The pressure of Asiatic nations upon the tribes of Eastern and Northern Europe, precipitated the barbarians of Scandinavia upon the Boman Empire. The same vast migration of nations forced some of the Germanic tribes to the West. The Saxons landed in England, but seem not to have invaded Ireland. Not so easdy did she escape the visit of "the rugged Dane." Sheltered behind Eng land and Scotland, she felt not the first shock of inva sion.

But the bold sea-kings at length passed the Ork neys, and turned their prows to the south. They saded by the stormy Hebrides, and found a larger and more beautiful island. These intrepid navigators have left their footprints along the coast. Dublin is a Danish city. They retained their power in Ireland for two hundred years. * Whoever is curious in such matters will find the subject of Irish An tiquities treated ai great length in Moore's History of Ireland. ENGLISH INVASION. 19 Scarcely were the Danes expelled before another in vader came, whose hand is still upon the land. In 1170 the Anglo-Norman first set foot upon these shores. It is a curious fact that the invasion of Ireland was undertaken by the English to extend the authority of the Pope. The primitive churches of Ireland were remarkably pure.

Bemote from the center of Catholic Christendom, they were little affected by the corruptions of the Church of Borne. They cared little for festivals and splendid ceremonies, "only preaching," says the venerable Bede, " such works of charity and piety as they could learn from the prophetical, evangelical and apostolical writings." They acknowledged no allegiance to the Pope. Indeed their churches could hardly be called Episcopal, for though they had bishops their clergy were ad equal. There was a bishop to every parish. But he assumed no lordly pre rogatives nor splendor. He was poor like the people whom he instructed. This fact may conciliate the regards of Protestants towards that unhappy country. In 1154, the same year that Henry II. ascended the throne of England, Nicholas Breakspear, the only Eng lishman that ever fided the Papal chair, became Pope under the title of Adrian IV.

Eager to extend his sway over ad the British Islands, he issued a commission to Henry H. giving bim authority to subdue Beland to the Catholic faith. He was to pay to the Pope the tribute of a penny for each house, and on this sole condition was at liberty to establish himself as monarch of that country. This fact Catholic and Protestant historians have combined to suppress, though for very different reasons. The Cathodes did not like to admit that they had been be trayed by their Holy Father, nor the Protestants of Eng land that to the gift of their great enemy they owed their only title to Ireland. True, several years after the Pope's commission, the English were invited over, as the Saxons had been invited into England, to aid in settling a civil dispute, which gave another pretext for invasion.

But they brought the commission of the Pope as their title to the land. The army under Strongbow, which landed in the south of Ireland, was a band of crusaders, marching under the banner of religion. So that, when English Protestants lament the obstinate adherence of the Irish to the Church of Borne, they may thank themselves for teaching them the lesson which they have learned so well.

Chapter II

W ht the Irish hate the English. — Ireland a Conquered Country. — No Fusion of Races. It is easy to understand the bitterness which exists between the Irish and the English. Ireland is a conquered country. To reconcde a nation to new masters several generations must elapse. The wounded pride of a van quished race can be healed only by time, and the most conciliating policy. But this fact alone does not explain the long-continued animosity. If Ireland was a conquered country, so was Scotland ; so was Wales ; so was England herself. But in ad these instances there was a gradual fusion of races. The victorious invaders graduaUy melted down into the mass of the nation. Thus the fair-haired daughters of the Saxons won the hearts of their Norman lords ; and woman's charms effected what could not have been effected by centuries of wars.

Thus in ad the invasions of England. Ancient Britons, Saxons, Danes, and Normans, ran to gether, and have made that composite race, which is now the noblest in the world. In Scotland and Wales the English at first encountered the same hostility as in Ireland. For hundreds of years the name of the Saxon was as bitterly hated among the Highlands, and the Welsh mountains, as across the chan nel. But these were parts of one island, and the waves of population gradually flowed together. Beland was a distinct coimtry, and could be Anglicized more slowly. Of a proud race, and inflamed with ideas of the an cient glory of his country, the Celt stood apart from his foreign masters. But time heals ad wounds. The blood shed in battle sinks into the earth ; the grass grows green over the slain ; and ancient feuds and wars at last die out from the memory of men.

Here time would have brought oblivion and reconciliation, if continued oppression and cruelty had not kept the wounds fresh and bleeding. The most woful blunder ever committed in the long mis government of Ireland, was the laws early passed prohib iting marriages between the English and the native Irish, — even making it an act of high treason. This rendered the evfl incurable. The two races, naturady jealous of each other, were thus forced asunder. The nation was divided into a dominant and a servde class; between whom there must be forever jealousy, hatred, and often civd war. Had the Normans, at the period of their conquest, prohibited marriages with the Saxons, the same bitterness would have been entaded upon England. The two races would never have coalesced. The animosity of slaves to their masters would have descended from generation to generation.

The history of England would have been little more than a succession of wars between two races as utterly apart, and as deadly hostde, as the Spaniard and NO FUSION OF RACES. 23 the Moor. Had the same barbarous laws been passed in Wales and Scotland, to render impossible a mixture of the subjugated people with their masters, the English would have been as cordiady detested in those countries to this day as they are in Ireland. It was the interest of England to make the hereditary divisions in her mixed people disappear as fast as possible, and to fuse the whole popula tion of the British islands into one nation. But these laws rendered the line of division indelible. They branded the greater part of the nation as a subjugated people, and compeded the English to stand always in the attitude of invaders, clad in mail, and with arms in their hands.