had to be done before Cromwell could restore peace and English supremacy in the island. He and his men thought the Irish deserved little mercy on account of the massacre of 1641. The work of re-conquest began with the siege of Drogheda, and Cromwell ordered that no one bearing arms should be spared. The city was taken by storm and 2000 men were put to the sword; while of those who surrendered, every tenth man was knocked on the head, the rest being sent as slaves to the Barbadoes. A month later a similar massacre took place at Wexford, though not by Cromwell’s orders. The effect of this terrible severity was soon seen, the other towns offering but little opposition to Cromwell’s army. After nine months spent in Ireland Cromwell returned to England, leaving the task of completing the conquest to others. Sad was the fate of the poor Irish who had taken part in the strife. Many were put to death or exiled, and thousands were turned out of their homes and banished to the dreary wilds of Connaught, their lands being given to English settlers. The bitterest curse an Irishman can use to-day is the “Curse of Cromwell.”
3. Cromwell in Scotland.—While Cromwell was thus subduing the enemies of the Commonwealth in Ireland, in England its affairs were being managed by men like Vane, who was at the head of the navy, with Admiral Blake as his chief officer. John Milton, the great Puritan poet, was Latin Secretary of the Council, and Bradshaw was its president. These were able and honest men; but many of the members of Parliament and the Council were selfish and corrupt, and used their positions to put their friends into fat offices, and to satisfy their own ambition and greed. They were unwilling to have a Parliament elected that represented the people, and were suspicious and jealous of the army and of all who had the interests of the country at heart. But any discontent with Parliament had to be put aside until a new danger which had arisen was removed. For Charles II. had agreed to become a Presbyterian, and to uphold the Covenant, and the Scotch had recalled him as their king. It would not do to allow Charles to march into England with a Scotch army, so Cromwell marched north with an English army into Scotland. The people fled at his approach, having heard of his doings in Ireland, and Cromwell found himself, when near Edinburgh, hemmed in between the hills and the sea
