nd where a cordon of soldiers was to be
stationed to prevent their return. May 1, 1654, was the date fixed for
this national exodus, and all who after that date were found east of the
appointed line were to suffer the penalty of death.

The dismay awakened when the magnitude of this scheme burst upon the
unhappy country may easily be conceived. Delicate ladies, high-born men
and women, little children, the old, the sick, the suffering--all were
included in this common disaster; all were to share alike in this vast
and universal sentence of banishment. Resistance, too, was hopeless.
Everything that could be done in the way of resistance had already been
done, and the result was visible. The Irish Parliament had ceased to
exist. A certain number of its Protestant members had been transferred
by Cromwell to the English one,--thus anticipating the Union that was to
come a century and a half later. The whole government of the country was
at present centred in a board of commissioners, who sat in Dublin, and
whose direct interest it was to hasten the exodus as much as possible.

For the new owners, who were to supplant those about to be ejected, were
ready and waiting to step into their places. The Cromwellian soldiers
who had served in the war had all received promises of grants of land,
and their pay, now several years due, was also to be paid to them in the
same coin. The intention was, that they were to be marched down regiment
by regiment, and company by company, to ground already chosen for them
by lot, then and there disbanded, and put into possession. A vast
Protestant military colony was thus to be established over the whole of
the eastern provinces. In addition to these an immense number of English
speculators had advanced money upon Irish lands, and were now eagerly
waiting to receive their equivalent.

As the day drew nearer, there arose all over Ireland a wild plea for
time, for a little breathing time before being driven into exile. The
first summons had gone out in the autumn, and had been proclaimed by
beat of drum and blast of trumpet all over the country, and as the 1st
of May began to approach the plea grew more and more urgent. So evident
was the need for delay that some, even among the Parliamentarians, were
moved to pity, and urged that a little more time might be granted. The
command to "root out the heathen" was felt to be imperative, but even
the heathen might be allowed a little time to collect his