reton's Cruelties and Miserable Death--The Banishment to
Connaught--The Irish are sold as Slaves to Barbadoes--General Desolation
and Misery of the People.

[A.D. 1649-1655.]

Cromwell was now master of England, and ruled with all that authority
which is so freely granted to a revolutionary leader, and so often
denied to a lawful monarch. The great body of the English stood aghast
with horror when they discovered that regicide, and the substitution of
an illegal tyranny for one which at least was legal, was the end of all
their hopes. The new ruler was aware of the precariousness of his
position. The safety of his head, as well as the continuance of his
power, depended on the caprice of the multitude; and he saw that the
sword alone could maintain him in the elevated position to which he had
risen, and the still more elevated position to which he aspired. We
scarcely imagine him to have been more religious or less humane than
many of his contemporaries, though it is evident that he required a
great show of the kind of religion then fashionable to support his
character as a reformer, and that he considered himself obliged to
exercise wholesale cruelties to consolidate his power.

The rightful heir to the English throne was then at the Hague, uncertain
how to act and whither he should turn his steps. He wished to visit
Ireland, where he would have been received with enthusiastic loyalty by
the Catholics; but Ormonde persuaded him, from sinister motives, to
defer his intention. Ormonde and Inchiquin now took the field together.
The former advanced to Dublin, and the latter to Drogheda. This town was
held by a Parliamentary garrison, who capitulated on honorable terms.
Monck and Owen O'Neill, in the meantime, were acting in concert, and
Inchiquin captured supplies which the English General was sending to the
Irish chief. Newry, Dundalk, and the often-disputed and famous Castle of
Trim[483] surrendered to him, and he marched back to Ormonde in triumph.
As there appeared no hope of reducing Dublin except by famine, it was
regularly blockaded; and the Earl wrote to Charles to inform him that
his men were so loyal, he could "persuade half his army to starve
outright for his Majesty."

Ormonde now moved his camp from Finglas to Rathmines, and at the same
time reinforcements arrived for the garrison, under the command of
Colonels Reynolds and Venables. The besiegers made an attempt to guard
the river, and for this purpose,