A few years later a terrible rebellion broke out in Ireland. From its
partial conquest in the time of Henry II (S159), the condition of that
island continued to be deplorable. First, the chiefs of the native
tribes fought constantly among themselves; next, the English attempted
to force the Protestant religion upon a people who detested it;
lastly, the greed and misgovernment of the rulers put a climax to
these miseries. Sir Walter Raleigh said, "The country was a
commonwealth of common woe." What made this state of things still
more dangerous was the fact that the Catholic rulers of Spain
considered the Irish as their natural allies, and were plotting to
send troops to that island in order to strike England a deadly side
blow when she least expected it.
Elizabeth's government began a war, the object of which was "not to
subdue but to destroy." The extermination was so merciless that the
Queen herself declared that if the work of destruction went on much
longer, "she should have nothing left but ashes and corpses to rule
over." Then, but not till then, the starving remnant of the Irish
people submitted, and England gained a barren victory which has ever
since carried with it its own curse.