Had the Irish driven their invaders into the sea, or the English succeeded in the complete reduction of the island, the misery of its after ages might have been avoided.

A struggle such as that in which Scotland drove out its conquerors might have produced a spirit of patriotism and national union which would have formed a people out of the mass of warring clans.

A conquest such as that in which the Normans made England their own would have spread at any rate the law, the order, the civilization of the conquering country over the length and breadth of the conquered.

Unhappily Ireland, while powerless to effect its entire deliverance, was strong enough to hold its assailants partially at bay.

The country was broken into two halves whose conflict has never ceased.