261; Lynch, Cambrensis Eversos,
in fine; King's Pamph. 441, 447; Ormond in Carte's Letters, ii. 412; and
Cromwell in Carlyle's Letters and Speeches, i. 457.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1649. Sept. 3.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1649. Sept. 11.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1649. Sept. 12.]
From Drogheda the conqueror led his men, flushed with slaughter, to the
seige of Wexford. The mayor and governor offered to capitulate; but whilst
their commissioners were treating with Cromwell, an officer perfidiously
opened the castle to the enemy; the adjacent wall was immediately
scaled;[a] and, after a stubborn but unavailing resistance in the
market-place, Wexford was abandoned to the mercy of the assailants. The
tragedy, so recently acted at Drogheda, was renewed. No distinction was
made between the defenceless inhabitant and the armed soldier; nor could
the shrieks and prayers of three hundred females, who had gathered
round the great cross, preserve them from the swords of these ruthless
barbarians. By Cromwell himself, the number of the slain is reduced to two,
by some writers it has been swelled to five, thousand.[1]
Ormond, unable to interrupt the bloody career of his adversary, waited with
impatience for the determination of O'Neil. Hitherto that chieftain had
faithfully performed his engagements with the parliamentary commanders.
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