in their private dealings were loft, payment was ex- CHAP. acted a fecond time. mous. As the affidavits of the clergy, authenticating thofe of claimants, were indifpenfably required to be all in their own hand-writing, the labour of fome parifh minifters was from various caufes enorThe pleasure of procuring aid for the de ferving compenfated the toil: but when cafes occurred, happily few in comparison, where a clergyman was required' to fwear, that he fincerely be lieved an affidavit to be true, which appeared to him fufpicious, the business was perplexing. To know the real ftate of the claimant's property and loffes he could not pretend to refuse his fanction without being able to affign any reason would be regarded as totally indefenfible: and to commit perjury would be intolerable. How far the confciences of fome clergymen might be quieted by a practice pursued I cannot pretend to fay. The clergyman figned his affidavit without fwearing, and the magiftrate certified it as fworn before him. I believe that very few were capable of figning in this manner what they would not fwear, hardly any at all doubtless in the diocese of Ferns. But a clergyman might have written and figned affidavits to have them ready for the fanction of his oath after due confideration and enquiry; and these mean time might be brought by the claimants to a magiftrate, who would certify them without fufpicion, whence they might be tranfmitted to the commiffioners without farther enquiry. I hope that fuch frauds were very VOL. II. Hh rare. XLV. CHAP. rare. The commiffioners acted their part through. XLV. out, with dignified integrity; though they could not always escape deception. the French ment. 1798. Neglect of I have somewhat anticipated in marking the evil govern- confequences of rebellion in the fouth of Ireland. A fmall part of the claims of compenfation came from the west, where commotion had been excited by a small invading force. That the government of France was at this time very feebly administered appears from the neglect of attempting to fend affiftance to the Irif rebels, while they were in ftrength. If, according to the advice of lord Edward Fitzgerald, a number of fwift veffels had been fent to different parts of the coaft with officers, troops, arms, and ammunition, fome of them might have eluded the vigilance of the British cruifers. Such fupplies, what they most of all wanted, might have infpirited the infurgents to dangerous enterprizes. What effects might thus have been produced we may in fome degree conjecture from the impreffion made on the kingdom, by a contemptibly small body of French troops, landed after the complete fuppreffion of the rebels, in a part quite remote from the fcene of rebellion, among a people who had not exhibited figns of difaffection, and at a time when, by the unremitting attention of Cornwallis, the minds of the difaffected had been every where conciliated in a confiderable measure, and the royal troops, who had before too much refembled an armed mob, were reduced into the form of a regular army. XLV. ments for This viceroy had completely planned, and, after CHAP. unavoidable delays from the fituation in which he had found affairs, was on the point of putting into Arrange execution fuch an arrangement of the troops, as to defense. enable him to affemble, with great expedition, a respectable force in any part of the kingdom where expediency fhould require, when intelligence arrived. of a French invafion. The chief account of the tranfactions confequent to that enterprise is a narrative given by Doctor Stock, bishop of Killala, who, with his family, was thirty-two days in the hands of the invaders and their auxiliars. This narrative is valuable and interefting, calculated for the prevention of those errors which, from the want 'of fuch authentic and impartial documents, are apt to creep into history, and become established by time. It is extremely honourable to the learned prelate, fince it evinces a genuine goodness of heart, and a mind fo cultivated, so candid, fo elevated above mean prejudices and the fervile fear of party, as to difcern and publicly acknowlege the virtues of an enemy. Its accuracy is confirmed, if it could require fuch confirmation, by the teftimony of the French officers employed in this expedition, with whom fome gen, tlemen from Ireland have fince converfed in France. XLVI. French in vafion at Killala. 1798. French invafion at Killala -Battle of Castlebar Character of Humbert -Motions of Cornwallis Motions of the French Plan of Cornwallis Battle of Coloony-Proceedings of the French -Surrendry at Ballynamuck- -Infurrection at Grenard--Proceedings in the west Storming of westStorming Killala Prior tranfactions at Killala-Plans for faving lives and properties-Forbearance of the rebels in the west- -Treatment of the French officers -Executions-Macguire-Teeling and Tone --Tandy-Second French expedition-Death of Theobald Wolfe Tone-Exertions of Cornwallis. CHAPA FRENCH fquadron of three frigates, two of forty-four guns each, and one of thirty-eight, which had failed from Rochelle on the fourth of Auguft, arrived on the twenty-fecond of the fame month in the bay of Killala in the county of Mayo, prevented by contrary winds from reaching the coaft of Donegal, their place of deftination. The troops were immediately debarked, confifting of eleven hundred men, of whom seventy were officers. Humbert, their chief commander, had, according to the military CHAP. XLVI. inftitutions of the French republicans, rifen from the ranks to the dignity of a general officer, had rendered himself confpicuous in fighting against the infurgents of La Vendeé, and had been fecond in command to general Hoche in the abortive expedition to the bay of Bantry. So illiterate as to be fcarcely able to write his own name, he was yet an excellent officer; of a fierce demeanour, the effect of art, to extort quick obedience by terror; in the full vigour of life, prompt in decifion, and quick in execution. The garrifon of Killala, only fifty in number, yeomen and fencibles of the Prince of Wales' regiment, fled, after a vain attempt to oppofe the entrance of the French vanguard, leaving two of their party dead, and twentyone prifoners, among whom were their officers. To compenfate as far as poffible, by the vigour of his operations for the smallness of his force, appears to have been an object with the French commander. A detachment, advancing on the following day toward Balliná, seven miles to the fouth of Killala, defeated the picket guards, and took poffeffion of that town on the night of the twenty-fourth, the garrison of which retired to Foxford, ten miles farther to the fouth. In the defeat of the pickets, the Reverend George Fortefcue, nephew to lord Clermont, and rector of Ballina, who had volunteered, was flain. Though the military arrangements of the viceroy Battle of could not yet be completed, a force more than fuf- Caftlebar. August 27, ficient 1798. |