Many have sold
back their lands to the original owners, and have left the country.
Others are only holding out for better terms. Another ten years of
James's reign, and things would have righted themselves; but, if the
Dutchman ascends the throne of England, there is no hope for Ireland,
save in the sword."
"Well, we must hope it will not come to that," Colonel L'Estrange said.
"I am ready to fight the battles of England on the Continent, but civil
war, with all its horrors, sickens me; and civil war here is not like our
civil war in England. There were no race animosities there, no memory of
cruel wrongs on one side or the other. Men fought for a principle, but
there were no atrocities committed, on either side, like those which have
devastated Germany. The peasant ploughed the land, and the trader kept
open his shop unmolested. It is true that, towards the end, there were
confiscations of the property of those who still continued the strife,
and a few executions of individuals; but, taking it as a whole, no war
has ever caused so little suffering, to the people at large, as did the
civil war in England; but assuredly, a war in Ireland now, like those
which have gone before, would be marked by the foulest atrocities,
massacres, and destruction on both sides.
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