And thus, if James had been guided by the advice of his most loyal Protestant counsellors, he would have at least greatly mitigated one of the chief evils which afflicted Ireland.

[162] Having done this, he should have laboured to reconcile the hostile races to each other by impartially protecting the rights and restraining the excesses of both.

He should have punished with equal severity the native who indulged in the license of barbarism, and the colonist who abused the strength of civilisation.

As far as the legitimate authority of the crown extended,--and in Ireland it extended far,--no man who was qualified for office by integrity and ability should have been considered as disqualified by extraction or by creed for any public trust.

It is probable that a Roman Catholic King, with an ample revenue absolutely at his disposal, would, without much difficulty, have secured the cooperation of the Roman Catholic prelates and priests in the great work of reconciliation.