massacres of Elizabeth and Cromwell, or the blowing of the Sepoys of
India from the mouth of the cannon of the invader. Well may the
ensign of England wear an encrimsoned hue; for, from time immemorial,
it has been stooped in the blood of the nations: and that too,
without her people having ever fought a proud or decisive battle
single-handed. Her fame, in this connection, rests solely upon the
influence of her gold and the power of foreign bayonets. Scotland and
Ireland have been the main stay of her armies; her native element,
_per se_, affecting their composition in but a secondary degree. The
muster rolls of the Peninsula, and the supplementary field of Waterloo,
have attested this assertion to the fullest. The fact is, her laurels,
for the most part, have been gathered by Irish hands. Taking advantage
of the proud daring and chivalry of our people, in connection with the
poverty and oppression which she had wrought among them, she shook her
gold in their half-starved faces, as she does to-day, and lured them
into her service whenever she had a point to attain in the field.
Through this channel, and through it alone, the fame of her arms became
established; the true aspirations of her own sons seldom exceeding the
exalted limits of a bread riot, or the sudden exploits incident to some
poaching expedition. As a general thing, the English are traders and
diplomats, rather than soldiers. Their character for bravery has been
won through the lavish use of their subsidizing gold, rather than
through any innate warlike propensities on their part. They have never
fought for a myth, or an abstract, chivalrous idea; but always for some
bread and beef object, however apparently unconnected with the project
said to be had in view. In the exemplification of their Christian
missionary spirit, too, this feature of their character is abundantly
set forth. Wherever they have succeeded in introducing the Gospel
among the heathen, they have subsequently inserted the wedge of civil
discord, to be followed on their part by the sword of conquest. No