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 müe of Ross, where they

tormed 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 ac 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 inative, regaling themselves on the slaughtered cattle and liquors, which were proJured 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.

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.

"Decipher, B. I. K. M. Q. Y. * **

"Yours ever,

"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.

the city was intrusted to their protection- and from the few regular troops in garrison, the Cavan regiment, with a detachment of Reay Fencibles, were despatched to reinforce the troops in Wicklow, and enable the royalists to rally and recover the ground they had lost. The troops were forwarded by carriages specially impressed the com. mand given to General Needham-and on the 6th of June, the column quitted Wicklow, and after passing a deserted country, and being joined by some yeomanry and armed loyalists, it entered Arklow early the same evening; some straggling rebels retiring from the town, where they had loitered plundering and drinking, on the cavalry advanced guard appearing by the Dublin road.

The reception of the troops by the inhabitants was enthusiastic. for many under fear of death had already abandoned their houses, to embark in fishing-boats, and escape from a place which they expected to become an immediate scene of savage violence.

During the two succeeding days (7th and 8th of June), the commanding officer was engaged in making dispositions for the defence of the town, and in selecting a position. Ground was marked out capable of being occupied by a body of troops so limited in number as the garrison; and while such fences were preserved as would afford cover to the royal light troops, from which to annoy an advancing enemy, others, that could either mask their movements, or interrupt the play of the guns, were levelled and removed. Meanwhile the country was carefully patrolled; and alarm-posts assigned to the different corps to take up on the rebels being reported to be in motion.

The morning of the 9th came. At noon a wing of the Durham Fencibles marched in,* under the command of an excellent officer, Colonel Skerrett, affording a well-timed and most efficient reinforcement to the garrison-and in consequence of this arrival, General Needham made a slight change in his dispositions—and never was a little army more curiously composed, than the morning state of that of Arklow exhibited on the day of the attack upon the town.

"A few hours after their arrival, one of those ludicrous incidents occurred, which, amid the calamities of war, occasionally amuse military men. Two of the officers of this regiment, passing by the house of Mr. Miles O'Neile, where Needham was quartered, and where a breakfast was prepared for the General, were mistaken by a aervant for two of the expected guests, and informed that "breakfast was ready." This intelligence being communicated, the Durham officers came in a body and devoured the viands wholesale. One of them, Captain Wallingtun, remaining behind the rest, had assembled about him the drivers of the carriages in which the regiment had travelled from Dublin, to pay them severally their demands. The General, at length arriving with a company of hungry guests, was at first astonished when he saw hi lodgings surrounded by a crowd of wrangling coachmen; but when informed of the fate of his breakfast, he burst into a rage, and drove out the intruders with such fury that, with their paymaster, they tumbled one over another in the street."-Gordon.

As the evening carne on, an advanced picket announced the appearance of the insurgents-and consequently, an infantry outpost at the Charter-house was called in, and replaced by a cavalry patrol-while by the two great approaches to the town,-the sea-side road, and that leading to Coolgreney-dense masses were seen moving to the attack. By the former road, one great column directed its march against the lower part of the town, called the Fishery,-by the latter, an im