The History of the Williamite and Jacobite Wars in Ireland; From Their Origin to the Capture of Athlone - Tapa blanda

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1884. Excerpt: ... To understand the history of the struggle made by divided Ireland in the wars of William and James; to comprehend why it was that one portion of the country sided with the foreign Protestant invader, and another with the Catholic legitimist; or to appreciate what interest Ireland could have had in the battling for power between a Dutch usurper and an English tyrant; one must look back beyond the period, and outside the locality of these contentions. It must be borne in mind, that, at the period of the Revolution, Ireland was inhabited by two races, be " It might seem, therefore, that the Irish Eoman Catholic was in a situation which his English and Scotch brethren in the faith might well envy. In fact, however, his condition was more pitiable and irritating than theirs, for though not persecuted as a B tween whom blood and religion had built up broad barriers; barriers which confiscation, evil deeds, and evil laws had made almost insurmountable, while the very memories of past struggles and bygone wrongs cemented more strongly the wall which severed the inhabitants of a common country. Before the Revolution of 1688, Ireland was nearly a subdued, if not a conquered, country. Its citadels, its arms, its trade, its broad and fertile lands, were in the hands of English and Scotch settlers: the descendants of Cromwell's soldiers and the proteges of the first James--men professing the religion of the Eeformation, and possessed of the wealth of the country. They made England's Irish garrison, and ruled over the natives--the Celtic Catholics--who still lingered on the soil, almost wild in the wilds, and but civilized where they held their heads and septs together, and, in defiance of English law, sheltered their persecuted priesthood; or where they inhabited tow...