"national vengeance be visited on him; let him "find no quarter. Two other crimes demand ** ************. Rouse all the energies of your "souls: call forth all the merit and abilities "which a vicious government consigned to "obscurity; and under the conduct of your "chosen leaders march with a steady step to "victory. Heed not the glare of hired soldiery

or aristocratic yeomanry: they cannot stand "the vigorous shock of freedom. Their trap"pings and their arms will soon be yours; and "the detested government of England, to which "we vow eternal hatred, shall learn, that the "treasures it exhausts on its accoutered slaves, "for the purpose of butchering Irishmen, shall "but further enable us to turn their swords on "its devoted head. Attack them in every di"rection by day and by night: avail yourselves "of the natural advantages of your country, "which are innumerable, and with which

1

you

are better acquainted than they. Where you cannot oppose them in full force, constantly "harass their rear and their flanks: cut off "their provisions and magazines, and prevent "them as much as possible from uniting their "forces: let whatever moments you cannot de"vote to fighting for your country, be passed

in learning how to fight for it, or preparing "the means of war-for war, war alone must

"occupy every mind and every hand in Ireland, "until its long oppressed soil be purged of all "its enemies. Vengeance, Irishmen―vengeance << on your oppressors. Remember what thou"sands of your dearest friends have perished by "their merciless orders-Remember their burnings, their rackings, their torturings, their military massacres, and their legal murders"Remember Orr!" *

46

* Appendix to the report, &c. No. 20. William Orr, a man of good family and connexions, had been hanged at Carrickfergus for high treason.

CHAP. II.

Insurrection-Mail-Coach-Skirmishes-Prosperous

Naas-Kilcullon-Martial Law-Carlow-Sir Ed

ivard Crosbie-Monasterevan-Hacketstown-Tarah

Rathangan Surrendry at Knockawlin-Gibbit-rath -County of Wexford-Mountnorris-Terror of whippings-Father John Murphy-Kilthomas-OulartEnniscorthy-Wexford-Arrest - Mission of Colclough-Three Rocks-Meath Militia-Repulse of Col. Maxwell-Wexford evacuated-Gorey-Earl of

Courtown-Arklow-Newtownbarry-Camps-Ballycanoo-Walpole-Tubberneering-Ross-Scullabogue-Slyeevekeelter-Lacken-Arklow-Skerrett.

BY such arrests, and other precautions, the plan of insurrection was frustrated, which was to commence on the night of the 23d of May, by an attack on the army encamped at Lehaunstown, or Laughlinstown, seven miles south of Dublin-an attack on the artillery stationed at Chapelizod, two miles west of the same-an attack on the castle, and other parts of the metropolis, as soon as the news of the two former assaults should reach the city, in all which the counties of Dublin, Wicklow, and Kildare were to co-operate-and the destruction or detention of the mail-coaches on the north and south roads,

which was to serve as a signal of insurrection to the rest of the kingdom. The plot had been announced late in the evening of the 21st, by a letter from the secretary of the lord lieutenant to Thomas Fleming, the lord mayor of Dublin, and on the 22d by a message from the lord lieutenant to both houses of parliament; and to prevent its execution, the troops of the line, militia, and yeomanry, were disposed under arms in what were supposed to be the most advantageous positions. By a variety of precautions the capital was restrained in tranquillity; but in the neighbouring counties, notwithstanding the disorganisation of the confederacy by the various operations of government, the appointment was observed by considerable numbers; the mailcoaches on the northern, western, and southern roads were destroyed; the first at Santry, three miles from Dublin; the second between Lucan: and Leixlip, eight miles from the same; and the third near Naas, fifteen miles from the capital; insurgents assembled in many places; and in that night and the following day several skirmishes were fought, and the towns of Naas, Claine, Prosperous, Ballymore-Eustace, and Kilcullen were attacked; as were also, in the next succeeding night and day, those of Carlow, Hacketstown, and Monasterevan,

Among the skirmishes of the recent insurrection were those which took place near Rathfarn

ham, Tallagh, Lucan, Lusk, Dunboyne, Barretstown, Collon, and Baltinglass. In all these petty actions, except those near Dunboyne and Barretstown, and in all the attacks of towns, except that of Prosperous, the insurgents were defeated, though Kilcullen was abondoned to them after their defeat. In these and other conflicts in the course of the rebellion, the number of the killed and wounded of the rebels is extrémely uncertain, and almost always vastly exaggerated in the public prints. The action near Dunboyne, eight miles from Dublin, in the county of Meath, was the surprise of a small party of the regiment of Reay fencibles by a body of rebels, who seized the baggage of two companies of the king's troops escorted by the above party; and that near Barretstown was also a surprise of a small body of the Suffolk fencibles, who lost all their baggage in their march to Kildare. The engagement in the neighbourhood of Baltinglass, twenty-nine miles from Dublin, southward, was one of the most considerable of the skirmishes which happened at this time. A body of at least four or five hundred insurgents were on the 24th, at one o'clock, attacked in the town of Stratford-upon-Slaney, near Baltinglass, on one side by a small body of troops composed of thirty of the Antrim militia, under lieutenant Macau. ley, and twenty of the ninth dragoons, under cornet Love; and on the other by a party of