THE WEXFORD CATHOLICS. 1798 319 of reason, the rebellious peasantry said that they Ch. 38. had been treacherously deceived; and that their enemies would be satisfied with nothing less than their blood. Rage and despair, from that moment, took possession of their breasts, and the rebellion spread into districts which had been pronounced wholly free from disaffection. address. A few months previously, when disturbances Wexford were expected, the Roman Catholics of the county of Wexford presented an address to the Lord Lieutenant, in which they declared their loyalty to the Crown, and their readiness to take up arms, if required, in defence of the country against foreign or domestic foes. The Government, relying on these assurances, corroborated, as they seemed to be, by the peace and prosperity of that part of the island, thought they might safely except the county of Wexford from the extraordinary preparations which they were making in every other county for the preservation of the peace. The priests, taking advantage of this negligence, assembled their flocks, and joined the rebellion, Father Murphy, a ferocious bigot, put himself at the head of several thousand country people, near the town of Wexford, and cut to pieces a detachment of militia which attempted to oppose them. Another party plundered and burnt the bishop's palace at Ferns. Murphy then marched his men to Enniscorthy, a town about six miles from Ferns, which was occupied only by a regiment of militia and a troop of yeomanry. After a short struggle, 320 1798 INSURGENT ATTACK ON WEXFORD. Ch. 38. the military were overpowered, the greater part of the town was burnt, and almost all the Protestant inhabitants were massacred. The insurgents then entered Wexford, having dispersed a body of troops which opposed their progress. The rebel force being greatly increased by their successes were divided into three corps; one was placed under the command of Bagenal Harvey, a gentleman of fortune, who had recently been lodged in the jail at Wexford on a charge of treasonable practices. The second and third divisions were commanded by priests, of whom Murphy was the principal. Several encounters took place between the rebels and the military force, in which the latter were defeated, often through the incapacity of the commanders. Harvey marched upon the town of New Ross, and after an obstinate conflict, was driven back by General Johnson. The rebels, in their retreat, murdered three hundred prisoners whom they had taken on previous days. Harvey resigned, or was displaced from his command, after his failure at New Ross; and the rebel bands were afterwards led exclusively by priests whose cruelty and fanaticism emulated the most revolting outrages of the Orangemen. Such progress had the rebellion made at one time, that fears were entertained for the safety of Dublin. The Lord Lieutenant sent Lady Camden to England; and many other ladies left this country. The triumph of rebellion was, however, short lived. A sufficient number of troops having been collected under com DEFEAT OF THE INSURGENTS. 1798 321 petent officers, skill and discipline prevailed against Ch. 38. tumultuous numbers. General Moore, who afterwards attained such sad distinction in the Peninsula, defeated the insurgents, with a decision, which struck them with dismay. Many dispersed and returned to their homes. General Lake drove the main body from Vinegar Hill, a strong position commanding the town of Enniscorthy; and the next day Enniscorthy itself was re-taken. Wexford also was re-occupied by the king's troops, and most of the rebel leaders were taken and executed under a military commission. These severe measures were necessary. But the courts-martial, composed mainly of Protestant yeomanry and militia, grossly abused their powers to gratify revenge, and to retaliate on the enemies of their religion and race. At the time when the rebellion was at its height, the English Government thought it necessary to replace Earl Camden by a lieutenant, who should be competent to exercise supreme military authority; and the Marquis Cornwallis, who combined high reputation as a statesman and a general, with the requisite rank in the peerage, was induced to accept the vice-royalty Lord Cornwallis arrived in Dublin the day before the occupation of Wexford by the King's troops; and his first act was to check the violence of party, and to restrain the administration of military law within due bounds. The plenary powers granted to courts-martial by the alarmed and excited government of his predecessor, were withdrawn, and the sentence of every 322 1798 MODERATE MEASURES Ch. 38. court-martial was to be submitted for approval before execution, according to ordinary practice. The order was just in time to save the life of a peasant, who had been condemned to death for having possession of arms with a treasonable purpose, on the single fact that a bullet had been found in his cottage. Proclamation of an Amnesty. Virulence of the Loyalists. Before he had been a week in Ireland, the Viceroy thought the authority of Government had been sufficiently vindicated, and that the time was come when an effort might be made to put an end to the cruel strife. Accordingly, on the twentyninth of June, he proclaimed an amnesty to all who, within fourteen days surrendered their arms, and took the oath of allegiance. Many availed themselves of this offer to abandon a desperate cause; but the greater number still stood out and dispersed themselves in small bands, which harassed the troops and rendered every man's house unsafe, although they were no longer formidable as a revolutionary insurrection. The policy of Lord Cornwallis was loudly resented by the loyalists, whose exasperated passions and raging thirst for revenge could be satiated with nothing less than the extermination of the Romanist party. One of the Viceroy's measures seemed indeed to go to the verge of moderation. The prisons were crowded with persons of various conditions, every one of whom was probably liable to the penalties • Annual Register, vol. xl. p. 135. OF LORD CORNWALLIS. of treason. With seventy-three of these men, the most active and intelligent of the rebel leaders, the Irish Government opened a communication; the result of which was, that the prisoners, in consideration of their lives being spared, and of the sentence of death which had been already passed upon Oliver Bond, one of their chiefs, being commuted to banishment, agreed to expatriate themselves and to make a full disclosure of the plot, with the exception of such information as would be evidence against any member of their body. The Protestants, who regarded the suppression of the revolt as the triumph of their party, did not suppress their indignant murmurs at a clemency which stinted them of their revenge. Even the Government at home thought Cornwallis had gone too far in treating with criminals on such easy terms; and Lord Grenville expressed an opinion that the Irish Government had become party to a misprision of treason in allowing the prisoners to withhold evidence against their accomplices. This was to say that a felon who does not turn approver is guilty of misprision of felony; a doctrine which crown lawyers would have considered somewhat novel. But Cornwallis, fresh from the Government of India, and inured to habits of military command, seems to have cared as little for the opinion of the British 323 Ch. 38. 1798 f Courts and Cabinets of George III., vol. ii. p. 406. |