midnight
No code of laws ever enacted in even the most barbarous age of the world , could compare in fiendish cruelty with the early penal enactments of the Pale -- so forcibly supplemented in after years by the perjured `` Dutch boor '' and the inhuman Georges . The foul fiend himself could not have devised laws more diabolical in their character or destructive in their application . So close were their meshes and sweeping their folds , that the possibility of escape was obviously out of the question ; as their victim was met and entangled at every turn , until at last the fatal blow descended , and the unequal contest was ended . But more infamous and unjustifiable still , when `` the foul invader '' found himself occasionally unable to cope successfully with his brave and chivalrous antagonists , he had recourse to a darker and deeper treachery than even that which characterized the stealthy and unexpected stroke of his midnight dagger . He adopted the guise of friendship ; and professing to forget the past , lured into his power with festive blandishments the chiefs of many a noble following , whom he dared not meet in open fight , but who , at a given signal , and while the brimming goblet circled through the feast , were suddenly set upon and foully murdered ere they could draw a dagger or leap to their feet . In corroboration of this assertion , we have only to refer to Mullaghmast , where a deed of this description was perpetrated ; and of a character so cruel and dastardly , that the names of those concerned in the inhuman plot are now desecrated by every individual raised above the brute , or inspired with the hope of heaven . Nor was there any mode of propitiating the satanic spirit which seemed to actuate the English against their opponents , from the first moment that they set their foot upon Irish soil ; for , when , in the lapse of years , a portion of the inhabitants in the vicinity of the Pale , professed their readiness to conform to the manners , laws and customs of the invader , their overtures were rejected , and they were still held at the point of the sword , as `` the Irish enemy , '' and denied the protection of the laws that they were ready to obey .