ings concerning religion, very admirable in an age when so many
men, in other things not lacking in elements of nobility, were full of
bitter animosity, and zealous to persecute all those who differed from
them concerning things shrouded in mystery.

It may be said, indeed, that Owen Roe is in this only a type of all his
countrymen, who, though they suffered centuries of persecution for a
religious principle, never persecuted in return. Their conduct
throughout the epoch of religious war and persecution was always
tolerant and full of the sense of justice, contrasting in this, and
contrasting to their honor, with the conduct of nearly every other
nation in Christendom.

The history of Ireland, for the half century which followed this war,
offers few salient features for description. The Catholics during all
this time were under the ban of penal laws. The old tribal chiefs were
gone. The Norman lords were also gone. The life of the land hardly went
beyond the tilling of the fields and the gathering of the harvests. And
even here, men only labored for others to enter into their labor. The
right of private taxation, confirmed by law, and now forfeited by the
feudal lords, was given as a reward to the adherents of the dominant
party in England, and their yearly exactions were enforced by an armed
garrison. The more vigorous and restless elements of our race, unable to
accept these conditions of life, sailed in great numbers to the
continent, and entered the armies of many European powers. It is
estimated that, during the half century after the Treaty of Limerick,
fully half a million Irishmen fell in the service of France alone.

XV.

CONCLUSION.

A.D. 1750-1901.

The Treaty of Limerick, signed when the army of Sarsfield came to terms
with the besiegers, guaranteed equal liberty to all Ireland, without
regard to difference of religion. There is no doubt that William of
Nassau, scion of a race which had done much for liberty, a house that
had felt the bitterness of oppression, would willingly have carried this
treaty out in a spirit of fidelity and honor. But he was, helpless. The
dominant powers in England and Ireland were too strong for him, and
within the next few years the treaty was violated in letter and spirit,
and the indigenous population of Ireland was disarmed, deprived of civil
rights, reduced to servitude.

It is best, wherever possible, to secure the word of witnesses who
cannot be suspected of pre