There is every reason to believe that this horrible atrocity, occasioned to all but the lowest barbarians who were banded with the rebel forces, feelings of alarm and disgust. Almost the last act of Bagenal Harvey, before he was deprived of his command, was the publication of a general order to restrain future acts of violence *. -and he originated a subscription, in which many rebel leaders joined, to pay for the interment of the poor sufferers. Roche-not the priest, but a lay commander-issued also, a conciliatory address†—and years after *Resolved, that all officers shall immediately repair to their respective quarters, and remain with their different corps, and not depart therefrom under pain of death, unless authorized to quit by written orders from the commander-in-chief for that purpose. It is also ordered, that a guard shall be kept in the rear of the different armies, with orders to shoot all persons who shall fly or desert from any engagement, and that these orders shall be taken notice of by all officers commanding at such engagement. All men refusing to obey their superior officers, to be tried by a court-martial, and punished according to their sentence. It is also ordered, that all men who shall attempt to leave their respective quarters when they have been halted by the commander-in-chief, shall suffer death, unless they shall have leave from their officers for so doing. It is ordered by the commander-in-chief, that all persons who have stolen or taken away any horse or horses, shall immediately bring in all such horses to the camp, at head-quarters, otherwise, any horse that shall be seen or found in the possession of any person to whom he does not belong, shall, on being convicted thereof, suffer death. And any goods that shall have been plundered from any house, if not brought into head-quarters, or returned immediately to the houses or owners, that all persons so plundering as aforesaid, shall, on being convicted thereof, suffer death. It is also resolved, that any person or persons who shall take upon him or them to kill or murder any person or prisoner, burn any house, or commit any plunder, without any special written orders from the commander-in-chief, shall suffer death. By order of Head-quarters, Carrickbyrne Camp, June 6, 1798. B. B. HARVEY, Commander-in-chief. † TO THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND. Countrymen and Fellow Soldiers ! Your patriotic exertions in the cause of your country have hitherto exceeded your most sanguine expectations, and in a short time must ultimately be crowned with success. Liberty has raised her drooping head; thousands daily flock to her standard; the voice of her children everywhere prevails-let us then, in the moment of triumph, return thanks to the Almighty Ruler of the universe, that a total stop has been put to those sanguinary measures, which of late were but too often resorted to by the creatures of government to keep the people in slavery. Nothing, now, my countrymen, appears necessary to secure the conquests you have so bravely won, but an implicit obedience to the commands of your chiefs; for, through a want of proper subordination and discipline, all may be endangered. At this eventful period, all Europe must desire, and posterity will read with astonishment, the heroic acts achieved by people, strangers to military tactics, and having few professional commanders. But what power can resist men fighting for liberty? In the moment of triumph, my countrymen, let not your victories be tarnished with any wanton act of cruelty; many of those unfortunate men now in prison were not your enemies from principle, most of them. compelled by necessity, were obliged wards, it was the greatest wish of such of the Wexford rebels as survived, to prove, that in whatever crimes they might have participated largely, they were wholly unconnected with the burning of Scullabogue. to oppose you; neither let a difference in religious sentiments cause a difference amongst the people. Recur to the debates in the Irish House of Lords of the 19th of February last, you will there see a patriotic and enlighted Protestant bishop (Down, and many of the lay lords) with manly eloquence, pleading for Catholic emancipation and parliamentary reform, in opposition to the haughty arguments of the lord chancellor, and the powerful opposition of his fellow courtiers. To promote a union of brotherhood and affection amongst our countrymen of all religious persuasions, has been our principal object; we have sworn in the most solemn manner, have associated for this laudable purpose, and no power on earth shall shake our resolution. To my Protestant soldiers I feel much indebted for their gallant behaviour in the field, where they exhibited signal proofs of bravery in the cause. Wexford, June 7, 1798. EDWARD ROCHE. * "My informant's chief anxiety seemed to be the shewing that he, and the Wexford people in general, were clear of the massacre on the bridge, which he solemnly assured us was perpetrated by the Shelmalier men and the lowest ruffians about the quays of Wexford-while the others were at Long Ridge-but he could offer no palliation for the atrocities of Scullabogue and Vinegar-hill. He was a mercantile man, and employed in attending to the lading of a fine ship, called 'The Shelmalier.' The figure-bead of the vessel was a good likeness of Esmond Kyan, who lost an arm at Arklow, and was afterwards hanged at Wexford.”—MS. Journal of a Field Officer. CHAPTER XII. CONSEQUENCES OF THE REBEL DEFEAT AT ROSS-BATTLE OF ARKLOW. ONE of the great objects of the rebels in their attack on Ross, was to obtain command of the rivers Nore and Barrow. The possession of Wexford and Enniscorthy had already placed the navigation of the Slaney in their hands-but the possession of the Barrow would have been still more valuable, could they but obtain it. The royalists, on the other hand, were alive to its importance-for, were it closed by the insurgents, the military occupation of the interior of the county could scarcely be retained. General Johnson looked to Duncannon Fort for his ammunition, while his commissariat was chiefly dependent upon Waterford. Thither also, by water-carriage, he could dispatch his sick and wounded men-and so long as the command of the Barrow was in his hands, even though the country around should burst into general insurrection, by that river he could maintain his communications, and secure the necessary supplies required for an army in the field. The first advantage therefore, which he derived from his victory at Ross, was to complete what he had previously commenced-a free water-communication with Waterford. Captain Hill, of the Navy, was directed to destroy the country boats, which he did most effectually, to the number of 170. It was a dangerous service-for although the gun-boats, by which the river was kept open, had been provided with musket-proof barricades, on one occasion several of the soldiers and sailors who manned them, were killed and wounded by a sudden onslaught from the encampment at Slieve-Keilter; while they were constantly fired on by concealed rebels who were sheltered in the numerous woods which stretched down to the river's banks. The insurgents, after their defeat, employed themselves far less profitably than their opponents. The deposition of Bagenal Harvey from the command, and the election of Philip Roche was their first act. The latter had earned a savage reputation by being the leader at Tubberneering, and there obtaining an accidental success. Like Murphy, of Boulavogue, Roche was a man of ferocious character and vulgar habits -but although drunken and illiterate, his huge stature and rough manners gave him a perfect ascendancy over the savage mobs which, in rebel parlance, constituted an army. If Harvey proved himself an incompetent leader on the day of Ross, Roche, on his succession to the command, evinced neither talent or activity. His chief exploit was an attack upon a gentleman's house, in which he was disgracefully repulsed-while, in a new camp he * "Quitting the post of Slieve-Keilter in three days after their arrival, the troops of Philip Roche occupied the hill of Lacken, within a mile of Ross, where they formed within a mile of Ross, the time was passed in drunken revelry, diversified occasionally with a sermon from Father Philip, or the slaughter of some helpless wretch, accused of being an enemy to the people. I may observe here, that very many of the unfortunate men, who fell in action with the king's troops, or suffered death by martial law, had been compelled by force to join the insurgent armies. Of the rebel chiefs, the priests were decidedly the most despotic, and too often the most unrelenting to the unhappy men, who became prisoners to the banditti they commanded. Even their own order were, in some instances, obliged to submit to the dictation of drunken and illiterate scoundrels, whom they secretly detested and despised. When carousing on Lacken Hill, Roche, instead of employing his multitudes, seems to have been anxious only to increase them-and the following letter to a fellow-priest, will shew that the sacerdotal method of recruiting in '98, was even more arbitrary than Napoleon's. "Rev. Sir, "You are hereby ordered, in conjunction with Edmund Walsh, to order all your parishioners to the camp on Lacken Hill, under pain of the most severe punishment; for I declare to you and to them, in the name of the people, if you do not, that I will censure all Sutton's parish with fire and sword. Come to see me this day. "Lacken Hill, June 14th, 1798. "To the Rev. James Doyle." "ROCHE. It was given out in general orders, that the commander-in-chief should send out guards to compel such persons as they should find loitering at home to join them, and punish with death those who should resist the order. Those who refused to take arms, were directed also to be tried by court-martial, and put to death. Another epistle is equally characteristic of the desperate fanaticism of these atrocious men, who, when abandoning the altar, appear to have cast to the winds every feeling of common humanity. It was written from Gorey, and addressed by Michael Murphy to a Dublin shopkeeper. The priest was killed at Arklow-and after the battle General Skerrett received some plunder from a soldier, comprising, formed a less irregular encampment than usual, many tents being erected for the lodgement of their officers. A detachment, sent hence for arms and ammunition to the town of Borris in the county of Carlow, twelve miles distant, on the 12th, was, by a fire of the garrison from the house of Mr. Cavenagh (used on the occasion as a fortress) repulsed with the loss of ten killed and many wounded, while only one soldier fell on the side of the loyalists; but this handsome little town was in great part burned. With exception of this fruitless attempt, the bands on Lacken lay inactive, regaling themselves on the slaughtered cattle and liquors, which were procured in plenty from the country in their possession, and so negligent of their safety, tl at, any night after the two first, they might have been surprised and routed by a detachment from the garrison of Ross."-Gordon. K among other things, a watch, crucifix, and the following letter,* which he had found on the body of Father Murphy : "Friend Houston! Gorey, 6th June. "Great events are ripening. In a few days we shall meet. The first fruits of your regeneration must be a tincture of poison and pike, in the metropolis, against heretics. This is a tribunal for such opinions. Your talents must not be buried as a judge. Your sons must be steeled with fortitude against heresy, then we shall do; and you shall shine in a higher sphere. We shall have an army of brave republicans, 100,000, with fourteen pieces of cannon, on Tuesday, before Dublin; your heart will beat high at the news. You will rise with a proportionable force. "Yours ever, "Decipher, B. I. K. M. Q. Y. * * * "M. MURPHY." But though such monsters as Roche and Kearns and the Murphys brought obloquy and disgrace upon the priesthood, it is but common justice to the Roman Catholic clergy to state, that numbers were both loyal and humane,-even most of those who were really disaffected, confined their treason to secret encouragement, and abstained from overt acts—and culpable as they were, they at least did not afford to their tainted flocks the encouragement of open example. But there were others, and not a few, who exerted themselves to abate the barbarities of these abominable times-and where they dared not give public expression to their feelings, by secret influence or pardonable artifice, saved many devoted to destruction.† The consternation which the intelligence of Walpole's destruction occasioned in the metropolis, may be easily imagined. Many families quitted the kingdom in despair, and even the Lady-Lieutenant hastily abandoned the Castle, and sailed for England, on hearing the disastrous occurrence. This, probably, was the gloomiest moment of that fearful period but the unbounded loyalty and devotion of the Dublin Protestants, shone out with increasing brilliancy, and assisted to dispel the gathering cloud. In the metropolis, the yeomanry amounted to nearly 4,000 men, now well-armed, well-disciplined, and purged from those traitors, who but a few weeks before had thronged their ranks. With perfect confidence * "Father Murphy, in the constant hurry and confusion in which he had been kept probably, in preparing for the attack of Arklow, had neither time nor opportunity to forward this edifying epistle."-Musgrave. + Frequently the priests urged Protestants, whom they wished to preserve, to conform apparently to popery-but temporary security, and not a wish to proselytize, was the humane object. Musgrave says that at Feathard, "Father Doyle, the priest, assembled the Protestants in a house, under a pretence of baptizing them, though in fact he did not perform that ceremony; and he very humanely announced, in order to save their lives, that they were sincere converts to his religion." These facts were proved on the trial of Devereux, Haughran, and some other assassins concerned in the atrocious burning at Scullabogue. |