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were frequently aided by some of the native Irish princes, who, 
either anxious to diminish the preponderating power of some neigh- 
bouring chieftan, or desirous to revenge some real or imaginary in- 
jury or insult received, or perhaps, willing to share in the spoils of 
an opulent neighbour, were always forward to join the common 
enemy. By this criminal policy of the Irish princes, the foreigners 
were enabled to support themselves in the possession of a few settle- 
ments adjoining to the sea, but they never were able to make any 
permament establishment in the interior of the country. 
If it were not foreign to the design of this Essay, the author could, 
from indubitable authority, prove that Ireland was never completely 
subjugated by these hordes, that obtained such absolute sway in 
France and England. He could show, that, from their first appear- 
ance on our shores, until the total destruction of their power on the 
plains of Clontarf, in the year 1014, the regular succession of the 
Irish monarchs and provincial kings was uninterrupted ; that nota 
month, nor even a week, elapsed in which they were not resisted, 
and frequently defeated with immense loss, by some of the district 
princes ; and that nothing could have prevented their utter annihila- 
tion, at any period, from their first landing in the island, but the 
jealousy and disunion that always unhappily existed between the 
kings and petty chiefs of the country. 
It must however be admitted, that, so far as the power of these 
foreigners extended, they ruled the people with a rod of iron, and 
levied the most oppressive tributes and contributions. This excited 
in the natives a rooted detestation for their oppressors ; so much so, 
that, even to the present times, the lower orders of the native Irish 
hold the memory of these foreigners in the greatest abhorrence. 
But their domination was restricted within very narrow boundaries, 
seldom extending to any considerable distance from the sea-coasts 
