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OF THE REFORMATION. 267pearance of what may, in every sense of the word, be termedher golden age.But while speakingof the mistress of the sea, let me beallowed to throw a glance upon that neighbouring island,which having been subjectto her for centuries, has beendeluged with blood, whenever it has dared to shake the fetters which bound it. While the Reformation spreaditsblessings, sooner or later, over other lands, Ireland appearsto have been destined only to feel its curse. The woundswhich it dealt here, were too deep to be scarred over ;andeven since the efforts of a more liberal policy have beenmust be left to time to decide whedirected to their cure, itther the means applied will be sufficient.Lang before the Reformation, the inhabitants of Irelandhad been expelled from part of their possessions by Englishcolonists ;and a hatred of their conquerors had been engendered, to which the Reformation gave new vigour.TheIrish remained Catholic, if for no other cause than that theiroppressors were Protestant.Being again plundered of a considerable portion of theirlands, when James L sent over a new host of colonists, theirand during the civil wars underdisaffection was increased ;the hapless Charles, a fearful insurrection broke out, (1641,)which cost above a hundred thousand of the Protestants iaIreland their lives, and went near to exterminate themaltogether.The civil war now raged for ten years without interruption,till itgave Cromwell a pretext for new acts of injustice, thereal object of which was to reward his soldiers. Maltreated,the Irishplundered, and hunted into a corner of the island,saw three partsof their country in the hands of strangers.But even thus the measure of their unhappiness was not yetfull The same revolution which restored, and improved,the English constitution, and secured the national freedom,was to the ill-fated Irish a source of new persecutions, and offinal subjection.When William III. had established hisauthority here with the sword, (1691,)the miserable remnantof their lands was torn from them by proscriptionand;what was even worse than this, a legal despotismwas soon.after established, such as no other country of Europe hasever witnessed. By the statutes of Anne, (1703,)the Catho-