[2] Cromwell, when he had reached the zenith of his power, had
recourse to a new expedient. He repeatedly solicited the fugitives, who, in
the reign of the late king, had settled in New England, to abandon their
plantations and accept of lands in Ireland. On their refusal, he made the
same offer to the Vaudois, the Protestants of Piedmont, but was equally
unsuccessful. They preferred their native valleys, though
[Footnote 1: According to Petty (p. 187), six thousand boys and women were
sent away. Lynch (Cambrensis Eversus, in fine) says that they were sold
for slaves. Bruodin, in his Propugnaculum (Pragae, anno 1660) numbers the
exiles at one hundred thousand. Ultra centum millia omnis sexus et aetatis,
e quibus aliquot millia in diversas Americae tabaccarias insulas relegata
sunt (p. 692). In a letter in my possession, written in 1656, it is said:
Catholicos pauperea plenis navibus mittunt in Barbados et insulas Americae.
Credo jam sexaginta millia abivisse. Expulsis enim ab initio in Hispaniam
et Belgium maritis, jam uxores et proles in Americam destinantur.--After
the conquest of Jamaica in 1655, the protector, that he might people it,
resolved to transport a thousand Irish boys and a thousand Irish girls to
the island. At first, the young women only were demanded to which it is
replied: "Although we must use force in taking them up, yet, it being so
much for their own good, and likely to be of so great advantage to the
public, it is not in the least doubted that you may have such number of
them as you shall think fit.
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