CHAP. XLII. on the twenty-fourth of May, by general Lake, the fucceffor of Abercrombie, by the lord mayor of Dublin, and by the lord lieutenant. In the first was notified that the general was determined to exert, in the moft fuminary and vigorous manner, the powers with which he was entrusted, to fupprefs the rebellion; and that all perfons not in military uniform, with exception of magifterial and legislative men, were commanded to remain within their houfes from nine o'clock at night till five in the morning. In the second all perfons in Dublin, posfeffing registered arms, were required immediately to furnish exact lifts of thefe; all, who had not registered, to furrender whatever arms and ammunition they poffeffed; and every house-keeper to fix on the outfide of his door a lift of the names of all perfons refident in his houfe, diftinguishing ftrangers from those who made actually a part of his family. The third gave notice, that orders were conveyed to all his Majefty's general officers in Ireland to punish according to martial law, by death or otherwife, as their judgement fhould approve, all perfons acting, or in any manner aflifting, in the rebellion. When, by a meffage from the chief governor, his proclamation was, on the fame day, communicated to the house of commons, a member fubmitted a queftion to the wisdom of the houfe, whether the execution of martial faw on the great fomenters of rebellion, then in prifon, would not be expedient, that the rebels might no longer derive encouragement from a hope of finding means to effect their refcue. XLIII. refcue. In reply, lord Caftlereagh, with dignified CHAP. humanity, befought the members, in pathetic terms, not fuffer their zeal fo far to outrun their judgement, as to prefs on his excellency, the lord lieutenant, a measure of unneceffary vengeance, which would brand his administration with cruelty, and close the door of mercy against repentant rebels. Having voted an addrefs of thanks, and full approbation of his decifive measure, to the chief governor, the houfe adjourned for a week, on the motion of lord Caftlereagh. Carlow. If a sense of humanity and juftice, fimilar to that Attack of of this able fenator, had actuated the military1798. officers, to whom a difcretionary power was thus dangerously, perhaps unavoidably, delegated, the calamities of the rebellion, at this time in Ireland, would have been far lefs lamentable. Of the abuse of this power inftances were innumerable. One of the earliest, and most atrocious occurred after the attack of Carlow, which took place on the twentyfifth of May, at two o'clock in the morning. The garrifon, confifting of four hundred and fifty men, under colonel Mahon of the ninth dragoons, was fully prepared for the enemy's reception, as intelligence had arrived of the hostile defign. Different parties of rebels had been directed to affail the town from different quarters at once; but the plan was not executed in concert, fo that only one column, which had affembled in front of Sir Edward Crosbie's house, a mile and a half diftant, attempted an entrance. Rufhing in confufion, with vain con fidence XLIII. CHAP. fidence and tumultuous noife, into Tullow street, the affailants received fo deftructive a fire, that they recoiled and attempted a retreat; but, finding their flight intercepted, they attempted to take refuge in the houses, where numbers miferably perifhed, as these were immediately fired by the foldiery. Eighty houfes were confumed, and the number of rebels burned and flaughtered, probably fell not fhort of four hundred, while not a man was even wounded on the fide of the loyalifts. Other parties, whofe approach was too late for co-operation, difpersed without attempting an attack on the town. Death of Sir Edward After the defeat, executions commenced, as elfeCrosbie, where in this calamitous period, and about two hundred were in a fhort time put to death by martial law. Among the earliest victims was Sir Edward Crofbie, a gentleman highly accomplished, and fincerely beloved and efteemed by men of cultivated minds for his humanity and other amiable qualities; but offenfive to fome by frequently expreffing his pity for the poor peafantry of Ireland oppreffed by enormous As his fentiments were in favour of a reform in parliament, he had been, on no other grounds, denounced by his enemies as a republican. His misfortune in the prefent cafe confifted in his having been surrounded by the rebels, before he had notice of the infurrection, and thereby prevented from escaping to Carlow, Yet even fuch escape might not have ferved him in this perturbid ftate of things, as he might have been denounced to a licencious foldiery and affaffinated, or have undergone rents. the the fame kind of trial and execution which he after- CHAP. XLIII. ward fuffered. In the trial of this baronet, proteftant loyalifts, witneffes in favour of the accufed, were forcibly prevented by the bayonets of the military from entering the court. Catholic prifoners had been tortured by repeated floggings to force them to give evidence against him, and appear to have been promised their lives upon no other condition than that of his condemnation. Notwithstanding these, and other violent measures, no charge was proved, of which the members of the court martial, who fentenced him to death, were fo fenfible, that, in defiance of an act of parliament, the register of the proceedings was withheld, as a fecret, from his wife and family. The court was irregularly conftituted and illegal, deftitute of a judge advocate. The execution of the fentence was precipitate, at an unufual hour, and attended with atrocious circumftances not warranted even by the fentence. After he was hanged, his body was abused, his head fevered from it, and exposed on a spike. These proceedings, which reflect indelible difgrace on the perfons concerned, are detailed in a pamphlet styled, A Narrative of the apprehenfion, trial, and execution of Sir Edward William Crofbie, baronet." The prefident of the court was an illiterate man, unable to write the most common words of English without mif-fpelling, But what numbers have fallen victims to ignorance in power, whofe wrongs have been unnoticed and are unknown! The CHAP. The progress of rebellion toward the southwest XLIII. was checked by this bloody repulse, and by discomVarious fitures elsewhere of infurgent parties, particularly of one at Hacketftown in the fame morning. operations. 1798. On the northern fide of Dublin, where it was lefs formidable, the only large affembly, found in arms, was completely routed in the evening of the twentyfixth, on the hill of Tarah, by a body of four hundred Reay fencibles and yeomen. On the western quarter Sir James Duffe, making a rapid march, with fix hundred men from Limerick, and arriving on the twenty-ninth of May at Kildare, completed the plan of laying open the communication of the country with the metropolis, which had sustained for fome days a fpecies of blockade. But the army of this general, who appears to have been perfonally brave and enterprising, commited, through indifcipline or mifconduct, an act which tended strongly to confirm a spirit of rebellion among the unfortunate peasantry. General Dundas had routed the rebels at Kilcullen, had recovered that little town, and had, with the confent of the lord lieutenant, accepted the furrendry of two thousand infurgents, pofted under one Perkins, on an eminence called Knockawlin hill, on the borders of the great race-courfe called the Curragh of Kildare. Permitted, by previous compact, to retire unmolested, on the delivery of their arms, they had, on the general's approach, with fhouts of joy returned to their homes, leaving thirteen cart-loads of pikes on the ground. From this a disposition to furrender was becoming general, and a large body had |