treated, it was returned, with a single exception, without comment beyond the statement that the subject was not a desirable one. The exceptional comment was to the effect that "were the statements made in the work as authentic as those of the Bible, no publisher, with any thought to his future, would dare print such an array against England, when at that time the disposition of the people throughout the country was so friendly towards her." The Author accepted the statement as a compliment, since it seemed to indicate that his humble efforts had been successful.

Notwithstanding his disappointment in the failure to have the work published in 1898, when it would have been most apt, the delay was not without advantage. More time has thus been furnished in a busy life to elaborate and reconstruct the original manuscript to its present form, which must even now, however, still contain many defects and omissions where so much had to be condensed. In fact, my

investigations have necessarily been extended over a greater period of time, the material has been more systematically arranged, and the result is essentially a new treatment of the subject.

Consequently, The Indictment of 1898, which had dealt rather in generalities, had outgrown its title and Ireland under English Rule was more appropriate.

While the scope of this Work covers in outline fully seven centuries and a half of Irish history and extends to the present time, it has not been my purpose to give a continuous historical narrative of events nor to detail the services of individuals, a task which would have proved a failure if attempted within so limited a space.

The historical sketch does not extend beyond the Union with England at the beginning of the nineteenth century, since this event was the culmination of Ireland's wrongs, but the commercial or financial results with their consequences are treated of nearly to the present time.

The so-called Rebellion of 1803 and the different disturbances at later periods within the Nineteenth century natur

ally followed the "Union" and any attempt to trace events in detail from a political standpoint would necessarily have involved much repetition without aiding the particular object of this work. The troubles of 1803 have been treated of by the writer somewhat in detail elsewhere,' and the material published, with the addition of some new historical facts which were in close connection with the events of the last century. As the history of the past fifty years has been often given in numerous personal narratives by those who were participants, it is within the reach of all who wish to study the subject.

The object of the writer has been to trace certain causes and effects and to show, what is self-evident in the abstract, that no result can be produced without an adequate cause. As the chief proposition it will be shown that Ireland has only prospered under English rule for a brief interval-when at least Irishmen managed Irish affairs, although these were conducted by a minority, with the added disadvantage that fully eight tenths of the population of Ireland at that time were disfranchised on a religious test. The logical deduction then presents itself that Ireland has never prospered because of misrule on the part of the English Government.

This will be proved to have been the case, as well as that Irish affairs were conducted by England for centuries in accordance with a settled and fixed purpose that Ireland should not prosper. As part of the indictment against England, it will be shown that only within a recent period has the effort been abandoned, whenever an opportunity presented, to exterminate by the sword the Catholic portion of the population; since that time, the same policy has been indirectly but as successfully followed in depopulating the country by famine and forced emigration. Only the more

The Emmet Family, with some Incidents Relating to Irish History, etc. Privately printed, New York, 1898.

2 Mathew Carey quotes from Maurice and Berghetta: "When we see a suffering people, with depressed minds and indolent habits, we do not (as we ought to do) ascribe their poverty to the men who govern them. But no one who sees a mangy flock of sheep, ever doubts that it is the fault of the farmer

prominent instances will be cited in proof, but even these form a pandemonium of horrors more brutal in detail than could be gleaned from the deeds of any other civilized nation. The Irish were by no means free from a charge of cruelty in their efforts at retaliation but, if any justification can be offered, when the truth becomes known they will be judged by future generations as blameless, in view of the grievous and countless provocations from which they suffered during so many years.

With the English people as individuals the writer has no issue, as the greater portion of a long life has been passed in close and pleasant social relations with them. Nor can he lay claim himself to any better stock than that of the mixed English race, which came down to him in an unbroken line on his mother's side from the days of King Stephen. From his father he has no Irish blood direct but is descended from a family originally settled in the central portion of England, of which members served in the armies of Charles and Cromwell and afterwards intermarried with the descendants of the earlier English settlers in the west of Ireland, where in time they became also "Hibernis ipsis Hiberniores."

The indictment which the writer will attempt to draw will be against that unique political organization known as the British Government - a system well fitted for the oppression of the whole human race, with the exception of the English people themselves; with a settled policy, since the Norman conquest, which has remained unchanged in the quest of gain and new territory.

Yet England possesses a government which is almost perfect in its administration for the freedom, prosperity and happiness of her own people; and her promptness in giving, under all circumstances, the fullest protection abroad to the humblest of her race is most praiseworthy. But she is generally mistrusted by other people for her consummate selfishto whom it belongs."- Vindicia Hibernica, etc., third edition, Philadelphia and London, 1839, p. 423.

ness and brutality in dealing with a weaker Power; and she is honestly despised by the many in consequence of her treatment of Ireland.

A full statement of England's policy in Ireland will be given; this policy will be traced from an early period to the so-called Irish Rebellion in 1798, when the consummation was reached in the great crime committed against Ireland, in forcing, by bribery and corruption, "The Union," to which the Irish people were not a party. The Indictment of 1898, as originally prepared, consists in showing the condition of Ireland, one century later.

Where a special authority has been cited, the selection has been made whenever it was possible from some writer with English sympathies and preference given to the contemporary observer. As the writer could have no personal knowledge of the subject, the work must necessarily be a compilation; therefore all quotations given are in full, to express the author's views in his own words rather than by a freely worded paraphrase, as is usually done. By following this plan the reader is enabled to judge for himself, which could not otherwise be readily done as many of the works which have been quoted are now out of print and but few of them are likely to be found outside of a special collection in some private library.

Through the influence of English-created public opinion many thoughtless people regard "the low Irish" as being to a great extent responsible for the chronic state of want and misery from which they have so long suffered.

To remove this spirit of prejudice, religious or otherwise, against the Irish people, and which so generally exists as an English inheritance, material will be furnished to show that the Irish are a law-abiding race, more temperate as a people than either the English or Scotch; that their morals will compare favorably with those of any other race; that they are not from choice a lazy nor a shiftless people, that even under adverse circumstances which would have discouraged others they have prospered wherever it was possible to do

so; and that the individual's religious belief exercised no special influence, as the Catholic was as prosperous in Ulster or elsewhere, when able to avail himself of the same advantages possessed by his Protestant brother.

The one great purpose the writer has had in view throughout was to do justice to the Irish people as a whole. He would gladly have laid aside entirely all religious appellations, if it had been possible to do so, but unfortunately the prejudice of centuries, excited by the acts of the English Government, has created the impression with many that only the "Papist " is the real Irishman, and unless a Presbyterian or a "Scotch-Irishman be shown as the chief actor, no circumstance of Irish history was worthy of thought. The fact is indeed a difficult one to realize that not a few persons regard the "Protestant Irishman," the "Presbyterian Irishman" and the "Catholic Irishman" as so many distinct species of the human race.

There remains in Ireland, outside of the Islands and on the West Coast, but little of the old Celtic race, for the Irish people have now become as much of an aggregation as the population of the United States is an agglutination of other

races.

Yet there is something in the Irish climate and surroundings which, even within a generation, exercises a powerful influence in bringing the descendants of all foreigners to a type possessing much in common and with characteristics unlike any other people. The writer in his researches found much to admire among all classes and he has been able to do so without reference to the religious belief of the individual. With a more intimate knowledge his love and admiration became the greater for the whole Irish people, who constitute a wonderful and remarkable race.

The only stumbling-block met with has been the Orangeman, who has allowed neither climate, Christian charity nor any other influence to change his nature. But even the Orangeman could be made a passably good Irishman if he could be brought to realize that the "Protestant Ascend