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CHAP. of opinion. that, if such a man as Cornwallis had not been at the head of the Irish administration, with full power to act according to his judgement, the consequences of this petty invasion might have speedily become ruinous. The viceroy saw the necessity of both vigour and caution. His operations were planned on this idea. On the fourth of September he arrived at Hollymount, whence he was preparing to march to the attack of the French at Castlebar, fourteen miles distant; but received information in the evening that the enemy had abandoned that post, and had directed their course to Foxford.

Motions of

the French.

After their victory at Castlebar the French receiv 1798. ed great additional accessions of Irish peasantry to their standard, chiefly from the western and mountainous parts of Mayo. To furnish these with arms, the stores brought from France were quite insuffici ent, though five thousand five hundred muskets had been distributed in Killala. These mountaineers were mostly very aukward in the use of guns, and of little use in combat to the French, who had expected far more powerful assistance from the Irish, They had hoped also to be immediately followed by additional troops and stores from France. Totally disappointed in the former expectation, and seeing little ground for hope in the other, they began to suspect that they had been sent on a desperate errand, to annoy, not to conquer, the enemies of their country. Like brave and faithful soldiers, they resolved, even in this case, to perform their duty, and to exert every power

XLVI.

power against the British government, until irre- C H A P, sistible necessity should compel them to surrender. ✔ Humbert accordingly, having ordered the troops left at Killala to repair to the main body, commenced a rapid march, early in the morning of the fourth of September, from Castlebar, through Foxford, towards Sligo, perhaps with a design of attempting to approach the county of Donegal, where the additional forces from France were expected to make a landing.

Cornwallis.

The motions of the main army, immediately un-Plan of der the personal command of the viceroy, were calculated to cover the country, to intimidate the abettors of rebellion, and to afford an opportunity of rallying to any smaller bodies of troops which might be defeated; while these bodies were ordered to harrass the enemy as much as possible, without risking a battle, except where success would be nearly certain. Colonel Crawford, with a body of troops, supported by another under general Lake, hung upon the rear of the French: and general Moore, with a third, observed their motions at a greater distance; while Cornwallis, with the chief army, moved nearly in a parallel direction from Hollymount, through Clare and Ballyhaunis, toward Carrick-on-Shannon, intending to regulate his subsequent motions by those of the enemy.

Coloony,

5, 1798.

Pursued by such forces from behind, the French Battle of leader found himself also opposed in front by ano-September ther army. Colonel Verreker of the city of Limerick militia had marched from Sligo for that

purpose

XLVI.

CHAP. purpose with three hundred and thirty men and two curricle guns. He met and fought the hostile troops when they had passed the town of Coloony on the fifth of September. A mutual mistake had place. The colonel, supposing himself engaged with the van-guard only of the French, pressed with eagerness for the victory before the main body should arrive to its relief. Humbert, conceiving the colonel's force to be the vanguard of a great army, attempted only to repulse, not to surround it. Verreker displayed a true military spirit, which was afterwards highly applauded by the French commander; but, after a battle of about an hour, he was obliged to retreat, with the loss of his artillery, to Sligo, whence he withdrew his little army to Ballyshannon.

of the

Proceedings This opposition, though attended with defeat to French. the opposers, is supposed to have caused Humbert

to relinquish his design on Sligo. He directed his march by Drummahair toward Manorhamilton in the county of Leitrim, leaving on the road, for the sake of expedition, three six-pounders dismounted, and throwing five other pieces of artillery over the bridge at Drummahair. In approaching Manorhamilton he suddenly wheeled to the right, taking his way by Drumkerin, perhaps with the design of an attempt to reach Granard in the county of Longford, where an insurrection had taken place. His rear-guard skirmished successfully on the seventh with the advanced guard of Crawford, between Drumshambo and Ballynamore. Crossing

the

XLVI.

the Shannon at Ballintra, and halting some hours CHA P. in the night at Cloone, he arrived at Ballynamuck on the eighth of September, so closely pursued, that his rear-guard had been unable to break the bridge at Ballintra to impede the pursuit; while the viceroy, with the grand army, crossing the same river at Carrick-on-Shannon, marched by Mohill to SaintJohnstown in the county of Longford, to intercept him in front, in the way to Granard. This movement reduced him to such a situation that, if he should proceed, he must inevitably be surrounded by near thirty thousand British forces, commanded by an accomplished leader.

at Ballyna

8, 1798.

In this desperate situation Humbert arranged his Surrendry forces, doubtless for no other purpose than to main-muck, Sept. tain the honour of the French arms. The rearguard was attacked by Crawford, and about two hundred laid down their arms. The rest continued a defence for above half an hour; but, on the appearance of the main body of Lake's army, surrendered also. They had previously made lord Roden a prisoner, who, with a body of dragoons, had advanced into their lines to obtain their surrendry. This nobleman now, by ordering the troops of his party to halt, fortunately prevented some effusion of blood. Excluded from quarter, the rebel auxiliars, fifteen hundred in number, who had accompanied the French to this fatal field, fled in all directions, and were pursued with the slaughter perhaps of five hundred. The troops of Humbert were found, after surrendry, to consist of seven hundred and

forty

XLVI.

CHAP. forty-eight privates, and ninety-six officers. Thus his loss appears, from his first landing in Ireland, to have been two hundred and fifty-six. He had augmented, by promotions, his number of officers.

Insurrec

tion at Granard.

The wisdom of the viceroy, in the plan of his movements, in a line between the invading force and the interior country, is evinced, beside other circumstances, from the failure of an insurrection in the neighbourhood of Granard, which took place while the French were marching from Castlebar, and had been designed to make a powerful diversion in their favour, or even to afford them a commodious post, whence they might direct their operations against the metropolis. The united conspiracy had been embraced by multitudes in the neighbouring counties, particularly Longford, where men of property had espoused the cause. Their plan is said to have been to rise around Granard, to seize that post, and thence with augmented hosts to attack the town of Cavan, where lay deposited stores of arms and ammunition. They would have surprized the former on the fifth of September, if captain Cottingham, a yeoman officer, had not arrived for its defence, by a rapid march from Cavan. With two hundred yeomen, advantageously posted, he defeated the ill-armed multitude of two or three thousand, with considerable slaughter. The principal body of these, consisting of people from Westmeath, marched, after this repulse, to Wilson's hospital, which had been already seized and plundered by a party of their associates. They

2

proceeded