nth for all the world. His ablest officers confirmed his
testimony, [631] One of them, indeed, was so unjust as to represent the
people of Ireland not merely as ignorant and idle, which they were, but
as hopelessly stupid and unfeeling, which they assuredly were not. The
English policy, he said, had so completely brutalised them, that they
could hardly be called human beings. They were insensible to praise and
blame, to promises and threats. And yet it was pity of them; for they
were physically the finest race of men in the world, [632]

By this time Schomberg had opened the campaign auspiciously. He had with
little difficulty taken Charlemont, the last important fastness which
the Irish occupied in Ulster. But the great work of reconquering the
three southern provinces of the island he deferred till William should
arrive. William meanwhile was busied in making arrangements for the
government and defence of England during his absence. He well knew that
the Jacobites were on the alert. They had not till very lately been an
united and organized faction. There had been, to use Melfort's phrase,
numerous gangs, which were all in communication with James at Dublin
Castle, or with Mary of Modena at Saint Germains, but which had no
connection with each other and were unwilling to trust each other, [633]
But since it had been known that the usurper was about to cross the sea,
and that his sceptre would be left in a female hand, these gangs
had been drawing close together, and had begun to form one extensive
confederacy. Clarendon, who had refused the oaths, and, Aylesbury, who
had dishonestly taken them, were among the chief traitors. Dartmouth,
though he had sworn allegiance to the sovereigns who were in possession,
was one of their most active enemies, and undertook what may be called
the maritime department of the plot. His mind was constantly occupied
by schemes, disgraceful to an English seaman, for the destruction of
the English fleets and arsenals. He was in close communication with some
naval officers, who, though they served the new government, served
it sullenly and with half a heart; and he flattered himself that by
promising these men ample rewards, and by artfully inflaming the jealous
animosity with which they regarded the Dutch flag, he should prevail on
them to desert and to carry their ships into some French or Irish port,
[634]

The conduct of Penn was scarcely less scandalous. He was a zealous and
busy Jacob