THE SCOT IN ULSTER
« previous page | book contents | start of this chapter | next page »
Dundee." There is no silver lining to the black cloud which forms Irish history at this time; there is no name among the English and Scots who fought in Ireland which should be rescued from kindly oblivion; while the one man of pure life and principle whom the Irish put forward--Owen Roe O'Neill--lacked that strength and moral force which made men like George Washington the founders of great nations.
It is fortunately not necessary here to recount at length the horrors which characterised the revolt of the Irish in 1641, or to relate the confused story of the prolonged civil war which followed, and desolated the land. For nearly two centuries a strife of tongues has raged regarding the character of the revolt, and apologists have been found who have denied the atrocities committed on the settlers, and done their best to wipe out the bloody stain which rests on the character of the Irish people. The difficulty of arriving at the truth regarding this sad portion of Irish history is very great; for not only are the facts covered over thick with the fabrications of succeeding generations of controversialists, but even the original documents of the period are not to be trusted, many of them being framed for the purposes of deceit. Recent research has, however, proved, that while the accounts of the horrors of the revolt have been greatly exaggerated, the cruelties practised were only too horrible. This must have been so; for it is to be remembered that in Ireland it was...continue reading »
« previous page | book contents | start of this chapter | next page »
Page 64
The Scot in Ulster:
Sketch of the History of the Scottish Population of Ulster
by John Harrison
1888