the pillage of the enemy, became victims to the rapacity of individuals, whose rank in life and official situation gave a more atrocious feature to these foul transactions. To such excess was this system of outrage carried, that Wexford seemed on the verge of a second conconvulsion. Happily for that distracted county, there were found, amongst the British Commanders, men, who possessed with a discriminating judgment a benevolence of disposition. They had witnessed the courage of the enemy in the field, and, brave and magnanimous themselves, they respected those qualities in others. When permitted the exercise of a discretionary authority, they displayed a becoming feeling of humanity in protecting the oppressed, restraining the ferocity of the soldiery, checking the magis terial despot in his tyrannical course, † and inter him no leisure for fighting, perhaps we might think him not entirely blameless."-Gordon's Hist. Irish Reb. p. 239. * General Moore and General Hunter were distinguished for their humane and soldier-like conduct. + Mr. O'Donnell asserted, " as a fact of his own knowledge, the apprehension of some persons, who had come in under the proclamation, by a magistrate of the country; and though these men had in their pockets the sealed protection of Lord Castlereagh, it was disregarded by the magistrate, and those men threatened with prosecution and death if they dared to stay a single day at their own homes!"-Extract from Mr. O'Donnell's speech in the Irish House of Commons, 31st July, 1798. posing between the murderous yeoman and the defenceless peasant. To the prudence and hu manity of these officers was Wexford indebted for the preservation of an extensive district,* whose entire population had been marked for destruction. The infernal plot failed, but the contrivers and abettors were not punished. The suppression of Wexford, and the accumulating force of the Royal army in Ireland, leaving no hopes in a prolonged resistance, Aylmer entered into military conditions with the British General Dundas. These conditions, honorable to the Kildare chief, and favorable to the troops for whose interests he stipulated, were "Security in person and property to the superior officers, with permission to retire to any country not in hostility with England; and a full amnesty and oblivion of the past to all his other fellow-soldiers in arms." The first of these conditions extended to the two surviving Wicklow and Wexford chiefs, Byrne and Fitzgerald. These, with Aylmer and the officers of his staff, were conveyed prisoners of war to Dublin, preparatory to their emigration from Ireland. The subalterns and privates returned to their homes. Aylmer, who was devoted to military pursuits, proceeded to the Continent after his A populous district in the County of Wexford, denominated "The Macomores Territory." enlargement from the Castle of Dublin, and, entering into the Austrian army, met with rapid promotion. Many years after, when the Austrian cavalry was regarded as a model of perfection by the Continental states, the Regent of England solicited from the Emperor the services of an experienced officer, for the instruction of the British cavalry in that system of tactics, which had rendered his squadrons the admiration of the military world. The Emperor acceded to the request, and the officer whom he selected for this important service was William Aylmer! Aylmer arrived in England, executed his commission, was honored with the approbation of the highest personage in the state, and presented with a splendid token of Royal favor. But the prejudice of other times was revived, when in the person of the Austrian officer was recognised the Rebel chief, who twenty years before had marshalled the United forces on the plains of Kildare; and Aylmer returned to the land of his nativity, the modest, the unasuming, but still devoted patriot. When Columbia had arisen, and the illustrious Bolivar was giving freedom to the regions of the West, Aylmer embraced so alluring a cause with all the enthusiasm of his more juvenile years. Embarking at the head of a fine regiment of his countrymen, seven hundred strong, he steered for the shores of Vene zuela. He landed on the burning sands of Margaretta, and survived those hardships which proved fatal to so many of his countrymen. He was quickly distinguished by his military talents, and won the personal esteem of the LIBERATOR. But by a fatality, which attended most of the European officers in that service, his hopes and his prospects were blighted. He perished under the influence of malignant fever, the result of arduous service and unremitting solicitude for the glory of the Columbian Republic. CHAPTER X. Amnesty Bill-Courts-martial, and Executions. On the retirement of the Kildare troops from the field, the military force of the Union ceased to be operative, with the exception of some small but daring bands, which continued to occupy fastnesses in the Wicklow mountains. The removal of Lord Camden from the administration of Ireland, afforded hopes of a milder system; and, agreeable to the usual policy pursued by Britain towards this distracted country, the Marquis Cornwallis was sent amongst us, to conciliate those feelings which his predecessor had outraged. The bill of amnesty followed. This measure came recommended from the throne, in a message from his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant, to the Commons House of Parliament. The following is an extract from that message, as announced to the House, by Lord Castlereagh, on Tuesday the 17th of July, 1798 :-" Notwithstanding the abhorrence which his Majesty justly entertains for the present unnatural rebellion raging in this country; yet wishing to exercise his royal prerogative of mercy, and by lenient means to bring |