AN

IMPARTIAL

HISTORY OF EUROPE.

CHAP. I.

The Irish Rebellion.

To give a detailed history of every skirmish and engagement between the rebels and king's troops is impossible in this place, and would indeed be tiring the reader with almost endless repetition of a subject of all others the most disgusting the destruction of our fellow-creatures. However, we shall endeavor to sketch the events in a succinct and perspicuous manner, and finish the chapter by illustrative reflections.

The first commotions appeared in different parts of Leinster. The northern and Connaught mailcoaches were stopped by parties of the insurgents on the night of the 23rd of May (1798); and, at about twelve o'clock on the morning of the 24th, a large body of rebels attacked the town and gaol of Naas, about fourteen miles from Dublin. The assailants were repulsed and driven into a narrow avenue,

where, without order or discipline, they sustained, for some time, the attack of the Armagh militia, and of the fencible corps raised by sir W. W. Wynne, and known by the name of the Ancient Britons. The king's troops lost two officers, and about thirty men, and the rebels had about 140 killed before they took to flight. They were, however, completely dispersed, and several of them taken prisoners. On the same day, a small division of his majesty's forces were surprised at the town of Prosperous; and a detachment at the village of Clare cut their way through to Naas, with considerable loss. About the same time, general Dundas encountered a large body of insurgents on the hills near Kilcullen, and 130 of them were left dead upon the field.

On the following day, a body of about 400 rebels, under the command of two gentlemen of the names of Ledwich and Keough, marched from Rathfarnham, in the neighborhood of Dublin, along the foot of the mountain towards Belgatt and Cloudalkin : in their progress, they were met by a party of dragoons, and defeated, great numbers being killed and wounded, and their leaders Ledwich and Keough taken. They were immediately tried by a courtmartial, and executed, having pleaded in vain that they had been forced into the service.

On the 26th of May (1798) another body of rebels was defeated at Tallagh-hill, about thirteen miles from Dublin, with the loss of 350 killed; among whom was their commander, who was supposed, from different

circumstances, to have been an officer in the French service. In the mean time, alarming commotions had appeared in the remoter parts. The town of Carlow was attacked on the morning of the 24th of May, by about 1000 rebels. The first movement, on the part of the insurgents, was to possess themselves of some pieces of cannon, which, however, they were forced to abandon, and defeated with the loss of 400 men. As the inhabitants were accused of having fired out of their houses upon the king's troops, the military, in revenge, burned a part of the town. The town of Kildare was also rescued from the rebels by sir James Duff, on the 29th of May, after an action in which 200 of the insurgents were killed.

In the counties of Wicklow and Wexford, however, the rebellion raged with the greatest violence. On the 25th of May (1798) the rebels appeared in great force, supposed to the amount of 15,000 strong, in the neighborhood of Wexford and Enniscorthy. A party of the North Cork militia were ordered out from Wexford, to meet the party of rebels, which was advancing towards that place. They marched to a place called Oulard, where they were met by the insurgents, who surrounded and cut to pieces the whole party, except colonel Foote and two privates.

Flushed with this success, the rebels, on the 28th, made an attack on the town of Enniscorthy, which they carried sword in hand.

On the 29th, a small reinforcemeut of the Donegal militia arrived in Wexford; but a party of the Meath militia, with three howitzers, advancing on the same service, fell into the hands of the rebels. On the preceding day, however, the Cork and Donegal militia, who were in Wexford, marched out to a place called the Three Rocks, to meet the rebels; but they found them in such force, that, after some firing, they were obliged to retreat, and re-enter the town. There were, at this period, confined in the gaol of Wexford, where they had been committed on the 26th, on treasonable charges, Mr. Beauchamp Bagenal Harvey, Mr. Edward Fitzgerald, and Mr. J. Colclough; the former a protestant, and we believe educated to the bar: the latter Roman-catholics; but all of them men of fortune, and of considerable interest in the county. The rebels gained possession of the town; liberated the gentlemen just mentioned; and Mr. B. Harvey, whom they nominated to the chief command of their army, marched to the attack of New Ross, where major-general Johnson was posted with a considerable force. The town was regularly summoned by Harvey, who now assumed the character of general; and, on the morning of the 5th of June (1798) it was attacked, and taken by the rebels, who were, however, shortly afterwards compelled to retire to Carrickburne. The slaughter of the rebels was prodigious; the king's troops lost about ninety men in killed, among whom was lord Mountjoy, colonel of the county of Dublin militia, and about 130 in wounded and missing.

In the mean time, another party of the county of Wexford rebels attacked the small town of Gorey, but were repulsed; and another party from Vinegarhill, a strong station within a mile of Enniscorthy, proceeded, on the first of June, to Newtown Barry. They surrounded the town in such a manner, that colonel Lestrange of the King's County militia, who commanded there, was obliged at first to retreat, in order to collect his forces. He then attacked the rebels, and drove them through the town with great slaughter.

On the 4th of June (1798) colonel Walpole attacked a strong post of the rebels, near the Slievebay mountain. In the beginning of the action, the commander was unfortunately killed by a shot in the head; and his corps forced to retire to Arklow, with the loss of fifty-four men killed, and two six-pounders. The rebel army, on the 9th of the same month, presented itself before Arklow, where general Needham commanded a considerable body of the king's forces. They approached, in two strong columns, from the Coolgrenny-road along the sand hills, while the whole of the intermediate space was crowded by a rabble, armed with pikes and fire-arms, and bearing down without any regular order. The position general Needham had chosen was a very strong one, in front of the barrack. As soon as the enemy approached within a short distance, he opened a very heavy fire of grape-shot, which, he observes, did as much execution as, from the nature of the