soldierly, and it was creditable alike to General Loftus and to those who effected it. To force a passage through the town would have involved a sacrifice of the troops-for the approach to Gorey ran through an inclosed country, divided into numerous fields, each having its fence or hedge-row. All these which commanded the road were already defended by rebel musquetry-while every high ground that domineered the line of march was occupied by the enemy in force, who cannonaded the troops with the howitzer and battalion guns* taken that morning from Walpole.

To mask the movement was indispensable-and while LieutenantColonel Scott-a steady and intelligent officer-carried off the infantry by the Camolin road, General Loftus, with fifty dragoons under Captain Corry, remained in observation, and amused and misled the rebels. The little column marched rapidly with shouldered arms-and, never returning a shot, crossed the Slieve-buoy ridge in safety; and almost in the presence of 15,000 insurgents, carried their guns and tumbrils over a mountain without a road, and joined Lord Ancram with scarcely the loss of a man.

The possession of a town has occasionally, in both ancient and modern times, proved any thing but advantageous to the captors. Capua demoralized an army-Torquemada, in later days, arrested the march of twot-and to "the army of liberty" in '98, Gorey was as fatal. For five days they halted in and about the town, drinking and pillaging destroying property not portable-and, as at Enniscorthy, visiting their vengeance on the church. Had their fury been expended on the building alone, it would have been a matter of little import-but unhappily, the contest had now taken a religious colouring, so ran

*This term frequently occurs-and even a modern soldier will scarcely understand it. At the period when the rebellion broke out, every regiment of infantry had two light six-pounders attached to it-some from the lightness of their equip. ment were called "curricle guns"-and were the rude origin of the horse artillery of modern times. As might be expected, the battalion guns were neither rapid nor brilliant in their practice.

This remark, however, will be understood to apply only to these irregular gunners, for the Royal Irish Artillery (long since incorporated with the British) were proverbial, in those evil days, for loyalty, efficiency, and valour. One, out of a hundred anecdotes, will instance the good conduct of this admirable corps.

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During the confusion and dismay," says Musgrave," which took place among the troops, when they were surprised in the road at Tubberneering, the gunners of the artillery, with the most deliberate coolness, levelled one of the hedges of the road, dragged the gun into an adjacent field, and fired with excellent effect at a numerous body of rebels who were posted on a high rock, from whence, with their musketry, they had killed many of our soldiers. They drove the rebels from that advantageous position, after having killed a number of them, and contributed materially to prevent the complete destruction of the army."

"Torquemada witnessed a most disgraceful scene of riot and confusion on the part of the British. There, immense wine-stores were found and plundered; and it was computed, that at one time, 12,000 men were lying in the streets and houses in a state of helpless intoxication. Nor was the boasted sobriety of the French proof against the temptation which these well-stored cellars presented. On their subsequent occupation of the town, Souham was obliged to stay his march for twelve hours for his own corps numbered more drunkards even than that of Lord Wellington !"-Maxwell's Life of Wellington.

corous and sanguinary, that blood alone could satisfy party hatred and thirst for vengeance--and the best interests of the cause itself, were sacrificed to stupid and unproductive brutalities, from which grey hairs afforded no protection, nor boyhood could claim an immunity.†

*

* "Providentially the rebels had too many commanders; and those of the Wexford force being mostly priests, their attention was more divided to the interests of their church by purging the land of heretics, than to the concerns of the Irish Republic,' which the northern leaders had in view. Consequently, time was wasted in collecting and piking Protestants, which might have been employed with far greater advantage to the cause."-MS. Journal of a Field Officer.

"A drummer, named Hunter, of the Antrim regiment, only some twelve years old, fell into the hands of the rebels in the unfortunate affair in which Colonel Walpole lost his life. He carried his drum with him-and when conducted to the town of Gorey, with some other prisoners, being ordered to beat it, actuated by a spirit of enthusiastic loyalty, he exclaimed, That the king's drum should never be beaten for rebels;' and at the same instant leaped on the head and broke through the parchment. The inhuman villains, callous to admiration of an heroic act even in an enemy, instantly perforated his body with pikes.”—Musgrave.

CHAPTER XI.

BATTLE OF ROSS-MASSACRE AT SCULLABOGUE.

THE operations of the rebel armies which we have already detailed-namely, the attempt on Newtown Barry by the corps under Father Kearns, and that on Gorey by the insurgents under the two Murphys and Perry of Inch, with the intervening occurrence of Walpole's defeat at Tubberneering, must be connected by a simultaneous transaction, probably, in military importance, the most interesting which marked the outbreak.

The strongest of the insurgent corps had assembled on the hill of Carrickbyrne, under the chief command of Bagenal Harvey, with Father Roche acting "en second." Their encampment was six miles from the town of Ross,* of which it was their first and greatest object to obtain possession.

The dangerous proximity of the rebel host had caused alarm for the safety of the town, and, consequently, the garrison had been strengthened. On the 5th of June, the County Dublin Militia, with detachments from the Clare, Donegal, and Meath Militia, 5th Dragoons, Mid-Lothian Fencibles, and English artillery, occupied the place; a force amounting to 1,400 men of all arms, of which 150 were yeomen. General Johnson commanded.

On the evening of the 4th of June, the rebel camp at Carrickbyrne broke up, and the insurgents moved bodily to Corbet-hill, within a mile and a half of Ross, on which, after driving in an outpost, they bivouacked for the night. The royalists, fearing a surprise, remained under arms: the infantry and guns in position on the southern and eastern faces of the town-the yeoman infantry holding the bridge

*The town of Ross is situated on a large river, formed by the junction of the Nore and Barrow, which unite about one mile above it, and meeting the river Suir, at Dunbrody, runs in a south-east direction by Passage, and discharges itself into the sea, at Hook-tower, from which it is about twenty-five miles distant. The navigation to Ross is good-as vessels of nearly 400 tons burthen can lie close to the quay. For this reason, it was a place of considerable trade even as early as the reign of Henry V., and large quantities of corn and provisions were annually exported from it.

It was formerly a place of strength—surrounded with high walls, and strengthened by towers and bastions, of which there are still considerable remains. The whole of the town, except Friary-street, South-street, North-street, the quays, and the space between them and the river, is on a very steep descent. It is ten miles from Waterford, nineteen from Wexford, and sixteen from Enniscorthy.

"A person who was forced to attend them in their march informed me, that they moved by parishes and baronies, each having a particular standard; and that in their way they stopped at a chapel where mass was said at the head of each column by priests, who sprinkled an abundance of holy water on them."-Musgrave.