Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
An Historical And Geographical Account Of Ireland.
to hope not only to repossess the lands of their forefathers , but to restore the Popish religion in Ireland . They therefore entered into a deep and detestable conspirac } ' for massacring all the English Protestants in that kingdom . In this they were encouraged by the unhappy dissensions that broke out between the King and . his Parliaments in England and Scotland . Their bloody plan being discovered
by the English government at Dublin , prevented that city from falling into their hands . They , however , partly executed , in 16 41 , their horrid scheme of massacre ; but authors have not agreed , as to the numbers who were murdered ; perhaps they have been exaggerated by warm Protestant writers , some of whom have mounted the number of the sufferers to 40 , 000 ; other accounts speak of ro , ooo or
12 , 000 , and some have even diminished that number . * What followed inconsequence of this rebellion , and the reduction of Ireland by Cromwell , who retaliated the cruelties of the Irish Papists upon themselves , belongs to the history of England . It is certain that they smarted so severely that the } ' were quiet during the reign of Charles II . His Popish successor and brother , James II . even . after the revolution took place , found an -asylum in Ireland ; and was encouraged to hope , that , by the assistance of the natives there , he might remount his throne ; but he was deceived , and his own
pusillanimity cn-operated with his disappointment . He waSjdriven out of Ireland by his son-in-law , after the battle of the Boyne , the only victory that King William ever gained in person ; a vi & ory , however , on which depended the safety of the Protestant religion , and the liberties of the British empire . Had James been victorious , he probably would have been reinstated on the throne ; and nothing else could be expe & ed than thatbeing irritated by oppositionvictorious over his
, , enemies , and free from every restraint ^ he would have trampled upon all rights , civil and religious , and pursued more arbitrary designs than before . The army of William consisted of 3 6 , 000 men , that of James of 33 , , but advantageously situated . James , it is true , fought at the head of an undisciplined rabble ; but his French auxiliaries were far from behaving as heroes , it must be acknowledged , however ,
that he left both the field and the kingdom too soon for a brave man . The forfeitures that fell to the crown , on account of the Irish rebellions and the revolution , are almost incredible ; and had the acts of parliament which gave them away been strictly enforced , Ireland must have been peopled with British inhabitants . But many political reasons occurred for not driving the Irish to despair . The friends of the revolution and the Protestant religion were sufficiently gratified out of the forfeited estates . Too many of the Roman Catholics might have been forced abroad ; and it was proper that a due balance should
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
An Historical And Geographical Account Of Ireland.
to hope not only to repossess the lands of their forefathers , but to restore the Popish religion in Ireland . They therefore entered into a deep and detestable conspirac } ' for massacring all the English Protestants in that kingdom . In this they were encouraged by the unhappy dissensions that broke out between the King and . his Parliaments in England and Scotland . Their bloody plan being discovered
by the English government at Dublin , prevented that city from falling into their hands . They , however , partly executed , in 16 41 , their horrid scheme of massacre ; but authors have not agreed , as to the numbers who were murdered ; perhaps they have been exaggerated by warm Protestant writers , some of whom have mounted the number of the sufferers to 40 , 000 ; other accounts speak of ro , ooo or
12 , 000 , and some have even diminished that number . * What followed inconsequence of this rebellion , and the reduction of Ireland by Cromwell , who retaliated the cruelties of the Irish Papists upon themselves , belongs to the history of England . It is certain that they smarted so severely that the } ' were quiet during the reign of Charles II . His Popish successor and brother , James II . even . after the revolution took place , found an -asylum in Ireland ; and was encouraged to hope , that , by the assistance of the natives there , he might remount his throne ; but he was deceived , and his own
pusillanimity cn-operated with his disappointment . He waSjdriven out of Ireland by his son-in-law , after the battle of the Boyne , the only victory that King William ever gained in person ; a vi & ory , however , on which depended the safety of the Protestant religion , and the liberties of the British empire . Had James been victorious , he probably would have been reinstated on the throne ; and nothing else could be expe & ed than thatbeing irritated by oppositionvictorious over his
, , enemies , and free from every restraint ^ he would have trampled upon all rights , civil and religious , and pursued more arbitrary designs than before . The army of William consisted of 3 6 , 000 men , that of James of 33 , , but advantageously situated . James , it is true , fought at the head of an undisciplined rabble ; but his French auxiliaries were far from behaving as heroes , it must be acknowledged , however ,
that he left both the field and the kingdom too soon for a brave man . The forfeitures that fell to the crown , on account of the Irish rebellions and the revolution , are almost incredible ; and had the acts of parliament which gave them away been strictly enforced , Ireland must have been peopled with British inhabitants . But many political reasons occurred for not driving the Irish to despair . The friends of the revolution and the Protestant religion were sufficiently gratified out of the forfeited estates . Too many of the Roman Catholics might have been forced abroad ; and it was proper that a due balance should