Page:Irish minstrelsy, vol 2 - Hardiman.djvu/17

Rh and oppressed people of both countries; but the cry of suffering humanity is the same in every age and clime. Whoever shall take the trouble of comparing- the histories of Greece and of Ireland, and of observing the systematic conduct of their respective rulers, will find, the difference of condition between the "Eastern Irish Papists," and the Western Greek Helots, not so great as may at first view appear. The former were oppressed by Turks, the latter by Christians, and to the shame of these English Christians be it recorded, that in the exercise of their tyrannic sway in Ireland, they have excelled the most furious followers of Mahomet in Greece. Circumstances may arise, when the infliction of death becomes an act of mercy, and the preservation of life a refined cruelty, by reserving the victim for more exquisite torture. Adrian, the Pope, "let slip the dogs of war." Debilitentur—Deleantur, weaken—exterminate, became, for centuries, the war cry in Ireland. From Henry the Second, to Henry the Eighth, the land was deluged with the blood of the natives. Elizabeth depopulated Munster. James the First depopulated Ulster. Cromwell cut off thousands of the Irish, and treated the survivors with more than Turkish cruelty. William closed the sanguinary scene, and the genius of England, satiated with blood, amused itself under Anne, and her successors, to George the Third, in erecting the most hideous monument of legal persecution ever exhibited to the view of an astonished world. During these horrible scenes, a priest, a bard, and a wolf, were alike objects of state vengeance in Ireland. The same reward was proclaimed for