esses he could
scarcely be said to have a party. Those elements of force which, when
the civil war broke out, had appeared arrayed against each other, were
combined against him; all the Cavaliers, the great majority of the
Roundheads, the Anglican Church, the Presbyterian Church, the Roman
Catholic Church, England, Scotland, Ireland. Yet such, was his genius
and resolution that he was able to overpower and crush everything that
crossed his path, to make himself more absolute master of his country
than any of her legitimate Kings had been, and to make his country more
dreaded and respected than she had been during many generations under
the rule of her legitimate Kings.

England had already ceased to struggle. But the two other kingdoms which
had been governed by the Stuarts were hostile to the new republic. The
Independent party was equally odious to the Roman Catholics of Ireland
and to the Presbyterians of Scotland. Both those countries, lately in
rebellion against Charles the First, now acknowledged the authority of
Charles the Second.

But everything yielded to the vigour and ability of Cromwell. In a
few months he subjugated Ireland, as Ireland had never been subjugated
during the five centuries of slaughter which had elapsed since the
landing of the first Norman settlers. He resolved to put an end to that
conflict of races and religions which had so long distracted the island,
by making the English and Protestant population decidedly predominant.
For this end he gave the rein to the fierce enthusiasm of his followers,
waged war resembling that which Israel waged on the Canaanites, smote
the idolaters with the edge of the sword, so that great cities were left
without inhabitants, drove many thousands to the Continent, shipped off
many thousands to the West Indies, and supplied the void thus made by
pouring in numerous colonists, of Saxon blood, and of Calvinistic faith.
Strange to say, under that iron rule, the conquered country began to
wear an outward face of prosperity. Districts, which had recently been
as wild as those where the first white settlers of Connecticut were
contending with the red men, were in a few years transformed into the
likeness of Kent and Norfolk. New buildings, roads, and plantations were
everywhere seen. The rent of estates rose fast; and soon the English
landowners began to complain that they were met in every market by the
products of Ireland, and to clamour for protecting laws.

Fro