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Untitled Article
/ In the reign of Elizabeth it seems to have been the object of the deputies and British adventurers to get rid of the native princes and lords , and to confiscate their property . The whole narrative is interesting ; we shall only insert the end of the last Earl of Desmond . Two of bis brothers had brought
over a few troops from Spain , which had been defeated . " It is probable enough that Desmond wished well to his brothers' invasion , but he had taken no part ; and no one more loudly , and there is reason to believe , no one more sincerely , condemned the enormities with which it was stained . His only offence was his refusal to attend the deputy in his camp , a refusal which , in his case , was undoubtedly excusable .
" The war against Desmond was followed up with a barbarity disgraceful to human nature . His vast estates were ravaged with fire and sword , and the innocent population of the country delivered up to slaughter and to famine . Desmond , reduced to the utmost extremity , offered to surrender and submit to the Queen ' s pleasure . But all accommodation was rejected ; and it was hardly any longer concealed , that the Desmond property was considered too great for one proprietor .
" Before the termination of the war , another invasion took place from Spain , which , though somewhat more considerable than the former , was too trifling to have any effect on the war in its present advanced stage . This invading force consisted of seven or eight hundred men , who were landed on the coast of Kerry , like the former , and had just time to construct a fort , where they resolved to await the arrival of the Irish forces , when they found
themselves attacked b y Lord Grey , now Lord-Deputy . As their position was near the shore , Admiral Winter was able to co-operate with the land forces in their reduction . Their position was found untenable , and they surrendered at discretion . It is painful to tell , that after the Spaniards had laid down their arms , some British companies were marched into the fort , and the Spanish battalions underwent a deliberate fusitade . The entire were butchered in cold blood .
" There was nothing in this horrible transaction which was not in perfect consistency with the whole course of the Desmond war . But the massacre of the Spaniards made a noise throughout Europe , and brought a reproach upon the Queen ' s government , which the mere slaughter of her own subjects could never have occasioned . The Queen expressed the utmost horror and displeasure at so foul a deed ; but none of the agents in the transaction were punished or disgraced .
" There are two names implicated in this deed dearer to humanity than hers who then wore the crown of England—Spencer and Raleigh . The former was Secretary to Lord Grey , under whose eye , and by whose authority , the massacre was committed ; the latter commanded at the slaughter . The intellect which lifts men above the age they live in , leaves the heart frequently cold and hardened . Raleigh and bpencer were adventurers and speculators in Irish forfeitures ; the one was deeply engaged , the other even attempts a defence of the crimes perpetrated in the Desmond persecution .
" Grey , who seems to have imbibed a taste for blood in the Desmond war , pursued his career with frequent and horrible murders , committed upon the most distinguished persons and families of the kingdom . His agents in these transactions were profligate Englishmen , who swarmed in all part 8 of the country , and were volunteers in every guilt and mischief . They were men generally who had fled from their debts , or from the punishment due to their crimes ; or they were needy dependents on great families , whose object was to make a fortune on any terms . The cry against Grey ' s enormities at length
became too long and strong to be any longer unheeded , even by Elizabeth , who cannot be accused at this period or her reign of evincing any weak compassion for her Irish subjects . The deputy was at length removed , and Sir John Perrot appointed to the Irish government . The Earl of Desmond was dead ; he had been surprised in a hut in Kerry , while weary , and reposing
Untitled Article
Review . O' ' —Driscols History of Ireland 257
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1828, page 257, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2559/page/41/
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