XLIV. the disaffected remained quiet in the north till news CHA P. arrived of a seditious commotion in the county of Wexford, with three victories in succession over the royal army. Expecting that their example would be followed throughout the province, a considerable number assembled in the vicinity of Antrim, on the seventh of June, with design to seize the magistrates, who had appointed on that day a meeting there; and, making their attack at two o'clock in the afternoon, rendered themselves very nearly masters of the town. But they were dislodged by a body of troops, with artillery, under general Nugent, and pursued with the slaughter of perhaps near two hundred; not without the loss of about thirty of the royalists, among whom was lord O'Neal, a descendant of the ancient dynasts of Ulster, so formidable to English government till the end of Elizabeth's reign. Unsuccessful attempts were also made by small parties at Larne, Ballymena, and Ballycastle. Assembling on Donnegar-hill, the insurgents were assured that. the rest of the northerns would not second their efforts, in consequence of intelligence received that the war in the county of Wexford was completely of a religious complexion, and that successful opposition in Ulster to the royal authority would tend to enable the catholics of the south to effect their great object, the extermination of protestants. In despair and disgust, these malcontents, who were mostly protestants, relinquished all thoughts of further warfare; and, breaking, throwing away, or surrendering their weapons, dispersed to their several homes. CHAP. Saintfield. June 9, 1798. Actuated in like manner as those of Antrim, a number of insurgents assembled near Saintfield, in Action at the county of Down, on the eighth of June, under a leader named Jackson; and with furious resentment set fire to the house of one Mackee, an informer, where eleven persons are said to have perished in the flames. This was the only act of atrocity, except in battle, committed by the armed malcontents in Ulster, where the people are better educated than in the south, and possess more the principles of pure religion. Electing for their general Henry Munroe, a shop-keeper of Lisburn, they placed themselves on the ninth in ambuscade, awaiting the approach of colonel Stapleton with a body of York fencibles and yeomen cavalry. Here the royal troops would have been totally routed, if the infantry, on whom the cavalry were driven back with slaughter, had not, with a cool intrepidity, extremely uncommon, if not altogether singular, at this time in Ireland, rallied and dislodged the foe. Stapleton, having remained master of the ground, retreated to Belfast, having lost about sixty men, including three officers, beside Mr. Mortimer, a clergyman, vicar of Porta-ferry, who had volunteered on this occasion. At Ballyna 13, 1798. Little discouraged by this repulse, in which the hinch, June loss of the rebels was perhaps not greater than that of the royalists, the bands of Munroe, re-assembled, and took post at Ballynahinch, on the Windmillhill, and at the house and in the demesne of lord Moira, in number about four thousand. To the troops of general Nugent, who arrived on the twelfth XLIV. with fifteen hundred men, they abandoned this CHAP. hill, and the town, which lies in a valley between the hill and the high grounds of lord Moira. On the latter they took post, and, in the next morning, cannonaded the royal army with six small cannons tied on cars, while shells were thrown against them from the opposite artillery. The cannonade continued three hours without execution on either side, while the town was in flames, which had been wantonly fired by the soldiery of Nugent. At length a close combat was commenced. The Monaghan militia, posted with two field-pieces at lord Moira's great gate, were driven by an impetuous charge of pikemen back on the Hillsborough cavalry, and both together forced in disorder from their ground. But what their valour had gained was lost to the insurgents by their want of tactics. Assailed in flank by other troops, which gave time for rallying to the discomfited, they were thrown into confusion, and retreated up the high ground to the summit. After a defence of this post for some time, they fled in all directions, and again assembled on the mountains of Slyeeve-Croob. Here, after consultation, influenced by the same arguments which had been successfully urged to the insurgents of Antrim, they finally dispersed. Their loss at Ballynahinch was about a hundred and fifty that of the royal forces seems to be stated too low at forty, The execution followed of the insurgent leaders to complete the termination of this very local and short, but active and vigorous commotion, which must have been attended with CHAP. Consequences incalculable, if it had spread to extent XLIV. through the northern counties. Proceedings of the Wexfordian re bels. The abandonment of rebellion in the northern province, while the rest of the kingdom, with a small 1798. exception, remained in a state of quiet, left the insurgents in the county of Wexford to contend almost alone against the royal troops. Since their repulses at Ross and Arklow, they were reduced to defensive warfare, and could only hope to maintain some posts, until forces should arrive to their assistance from France. Some in the mean time among them seemed resolved to annoy their opponents where opportunities occurred. Their chief force about Gorey, marching to Mountpleasant, in the county of Wicklow, burned the little town of Tinnehely on the seventeenth of June, and put to death some protestants as Orange-men. Many more would have suffered on that imputation, if they had not been saved by the humane interposition of Mrs. Maher, a catholic lady. The surprizal of Hackets-town, their next object of attack on the eighteenth, was prevented by the arrival of general Dundas with an army, who, leaving as a garrison in this town the yeomen of Tinnehely, styled the True-Blues, pursued the rebels to Tinnehely, and thence to Kilcavanhill. Here a junction was formed with the troops of Loftus, from Tullow, and an attack seemed to be intended against this post: but after a cannonade, with little execution on either side, and tremendous shouts of defiance from the rebels, with their hats raised on pikes according to their constant practice, XLIV. the royal army retired. In the same night, the CHAP. twentieth of June, the insurgents abandoned the post, and under Garret Byrne, of Ballymanus, a catholic gentleman of the county of Wicklow, retreated to Vinegar-hill, which was become the prime station of the rebel force. To surround this post on all sides at once was the Proceedings plan of Lake, the chief commander, and several of the army. armies moved from different quarters for this purpose. Dundas, Duffe, and Loftus from the vicinity of Kilcavan, followed the march of Garret Byrne: Eustace and Johnson advanced from Ross; and Needham from Arklow and Gorey. After its victorious defence of Arklow, the royal army there had continued some time closely in its quarters, sending patroles with great caution on the road toward Gorey. The country about the latter was in a few days evacuated by the rebels, to the no small joy of many loyalist families, who, by the sudden and unexpected defeat of Walpole, had been prevented from escaping, and on whom the enemy had been living at free quarter. Needham's forces marched from Arklow on the nineteenth of June, and from Gorey on the twentieth toward Vinegar-hill. The movement of the army from Ross was a kind of surprize to the bands of Philip Roche on Lacken, who fled in the utmost confusion, leaving their tents behind with great quantities of plunder. They might have been pursued with slaughter, if Roche had not practised stratagems, He distributed a number of horsemen with banners displayed, as it |