Military History of the Irish Nation, comprising a Memoir of the Irish Brigade in the service of France. With an appendix of official papers

Appendix

OF OFFICIAL PAPERS RELATIVE TO THE BRIGADE, FROM THE ARCHIVES AT PARIS. BY THE LATE MATTHEW O'CONOR, ESQ., BARRISTER- AT- LAW. DUBLIN : HODGES AND SMITH, G R AFTON-S TEE E T, BOOKSELLERS TO THE UNIVERSITY. 1845. DUBLIN : PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, BY M. H. GILL. PACE i CONTENTS.

Chapter I. The Campaign Of Tyrone

; A. D. 1550 TO A. D. 1607- Irish valour displayed at home as well as abroad. — Hugh O'Neal, Earl of Tyrone. — His abilities -Revolts against the English authority, and maintains his ground against Sir John Norris and the English army Proposals of accommodation made by England, and rejected. — Norris displaced by Lord Burrough Tyrrell's exploits. — Death of Lord Burrough. — The English army defeated, and their commander, Sir Henry Bagnall, killed at the Blackwater. — The Earl of Essex Lord Mountjoy appointed Governor. — His skill and energy. — Spanish expedition arrives at Kinsale Incompetency of its commander, Don Juan D'Aguila Defeat at Kinsale. — O'Neal is forced to submit.— Dunboy. — Flight and attainder of O'Neal,

Chapter II. Campaigns In The Service Of Spain

; A. D. 1585 TO A. D. 1609. The Irish auxiliaries of the Dutch, under Sir Edward Stanley, seduced from their allegiance. — The four nations. — Their successful gallantry at Bois-le-duc — The Spanish Armada. — Stanley's advice. — Campaign in France. — Dourlen taken by storm Amiens surprised by Portocar- CONTENTS. VI PAGE rero.—Its siege by King Henry IV., and the Duke de Biron.— Death of Portocarrero.— Montenegro succeeds him Defence of Amiens— Montenegro surrenders.— Capture of Rhinberg— Licentiousness of the soldiers.— Campaign in the Netherlands in 1599— Lodgment effected in the Island of Bommel — Fort erected in the Island in the face of the enemy — Battle at Nieuport, be tween the Archduke Albert and Prince Maurice, . . 31

Chapter III. Campaigns In The Service Of France

; A. D. 1652 TO A. D. 1654. Regiment raised by Lord Bristol. — An Irish regiment offer their services to the Duke of York and enter the French service Siege of Ligni. — Campaign of 1653. — Irish engaged on both sides. — Siege of Moinon. — 800 Irish nearly all cut off by the French Lines of Arras, . . 69

Chapter IV. Further Services In The Armies Of Spain

; A. D. 1656 TO a. d. 1660. Charles II. and his brother obliged to leave France. — The Irish colonels offer their services to the Duke of York. — Circumstances under which Richard Grace of Gracefield, and other Irish colonels, had entered the French service — Siege of Conde. — Charles and Ormond tamper with Lord Muskerry. — St. Gerlain betrayed by the Irish garrison. — Campaign of 1657. — Siege of Ardres. — Unsuccessful attack on Mardyke. — Spanish distrust of the Irish. — Siege of Dunkirk. — Battle of the Downs. — Colonel Grace and his regiment make good their retreat — The other Irish regiments taken prisoners. — Dunkirk taken by the English. — Restoration of Charles H., CONTENTS. VII PAGE

Chapter V. Further Campaigns In The Service Of France

; A. D. 1673 TO A. D. 1689- Sir G. Hamilton, in 1673, raises an Irish regiment for the service of France — Cruelties committed by the troops under Turenne in the Palatinate. — Montecucoli opposed to Turenne. — Death of Turenne. — Retreat of the French. Glory acquired by Hamilton and the Irish on that occasion. — Distinguished services at Altenheim. — Death of Hamilton Gradual decay of the Irish regiments Defence of Cambray, 87

Chapter VI. First Formation Of The Irish Brigade In The Service Of

FRANCE, A. D. 1690-1. Original formation of the Irish Brigade. — Exchange of troops favourable to France Pay and arrangement of the Irish regiments in the French service Operations in Savoy. — St. Ruth commands the Irish auxiliaries. — The passes of the Alps forced by the valour of the Irish Savoy overrun. — Services in Catalonia, 97

Chapter VII. Campaign Of

1690-1 IN IRELAND. Battle of the Boype. — Errors on James's side. — Incompetency of the French commander. — Mistakes of William. — James's flight ill-advised. — William delays in prosecuting the war. — James's cold reception in France. — William approaches Limerick. — Views of different parties. — The French forces retire to Galway. — Siege of Limerick Imperfect state of the fortifications. — Bravery displayed on both sides William defeated. — The French a hiu- CONTENTS- PAGE 105 193 drance instead of a help. — Recal of Lausun's corps. — Character of Sarsfield Luttrel's intrigues. — The con fidence of the Irish forfeited by Tyrconnel. — He goes to France and obtains assistance. — Deputation sent to James at St. Germain. — St. Ruth appointed commander in-chief. — Marlborough takes Cork and Kinsale. — Arrival of St. Ruth and the French succours. — Opening of the campaign. — Siege of Athlone— Heroism of the Irish garrison. — Athlone taken. — Battle of Aughrim. — Death of St. Ruth.— Treachery of Baldearg O'Donnell.— Other instances of desertions. — Death and character of Tyr connel. — Treachery of Luttrel. — Siege of Limerick. — Turned into a blockade. — Surrender of Limerick. — Military provisions of the treaty The English enter Limerick. — Attempts to induce the Irish troops to enter the English service. — Departure of the Irish army, . .

Chapter VIII. Final Formation Of The Irish Brigade In The Service Of

FRANCE, AND CAMPAIGNS TILL THE PEACE OF RYS- WICK ; A. D. 1691, TO A. D. 1697. The Irish troops arrive in France, and are new formed into regiments List of the new regiments, and their commanders. — Position of the French Monarch's affairs The new-formed corps ordered to the Rhine. — Bridge at- Dudenhaven defended by the Irish Posture of affairs on the Piedmontese frontier. — The allied forces invade Dauphine. — Defence of Guillestre and Embrun The Allies re-cross the Alps. — Savoy invaded by Catinat Battle of Marsiglia. — Death of Sarsfield Operations in Germany and Spain — Campaign of 1694 Invasion of the Vaudois territory. — Operations on the Rhine Death of Lord Mountcashel. — Campaigns of 1696 and CONTENTS. IX TAGE

Chapter IX. Services During War Of The Spanish Succession

A. D. 1701, to a. d. 1738. Prince Eugene takes the command of the Imperialist forces. — Forces the French lines on the Adige. — Catinat superseded by Villeroy.- — Attack on Prince Eugene's position at Chiari. — Affair between Sheldon's horse and the Imperialists, under Count Merci — Prince Eugene attempts to surprise Cremona. — Valiant and successful defence of Cremona by the Irish Villeroy taken prisoner. — The Imperialists repulsed. — Modesty of Mahony Vendome appointed to command the French army. — Distinguishing characteristics of the two generals Battle of Luzara — Battle of Spire. — The Imperialists defeated at Gremen. — The Electorate of Bavaria sides with France Determined opposition of the Tyrolen peasantry. — Riva surrenders to Dillon. — Marlborough carries the lines of Schellenburg Incapacity of the French commanders. — Battle of Blenheim. — Operations in Piedmont. — Augmentation of the officers in the Irish regiments. — Persecutions in the Cevennes. — Rising of the Camisards. — Eugene attempts to cross the Adda — Battle of Cassano. — Campaign of 1705 in Germany. — Battle of Ramillies — Bravery of Lord Clare and Colonel O'Brien Fame of Marlborough Brave defence of Alicant — Successes of the English in Flanders. — Prince Eugene relieves Turin.

Battle of Castiglione. — Vendome surprises the Imperialists at Calcinato Successful defence of Toulon. — The lines of StoLhoven stormed by the French — Battle of Almanza. — Mahony takes Alcira and Xativa. — Siege of Lerida Carthagena surrenders Mahony's services in Sicily. — Siege of Tortosa Operations in Flanders. — The French defeated at Gavern — Siege of Lille. — Tournay surrenders. — Battle of Malplaquet. — Operations of b CONTENTS. X PAGE Eugene and Marlborough in 1710. — Philip V. of Spain forms two regiments of Irish deserters. — The Archduke Charles reinforces Stharemberg in Catalonia, who gains several advantages. — Battle of Almanza — Villa- Viciosa. — Marlborough superseded by the Duke of Ormond in the command of the Allies in Flanders — Storming of the lines of Denain. — Peace of Utrecht. — Termination of the war General remarks, 231 Appendix — Memoirs concerning the Irish troops, &c, . .310

Introduction

. The following pages comprise Mr. 0' Conor's labours on the general Military History of his countrymen, so far as he had completed the arrangement of his papers at the time of his death. If the life of this excellent Irishman and assiduous scholar had been spared, his work would doubtless have been presented to his country, in a form much worthier of the subject and the Author. As it is, the liberal indulgence of the reader must be solicited for errors incident to all posthumous publications, and from which it cannot be expected that the present vo lume should be wholly free. Dublin, April, 1845. MILITARY MEMOIRS II THE IRISH NATION.

Chapter I. The Campaign Of Tyrone

A French writer, whose cursory remark has grown into a sort of historical apothegm, observes that "the Irish who shew themselves the bravest soldiers in France and Spain, have always behaved shamefully at home." Had the lively M. Voltaire condescended to read the annals of an obscure people, shut out by distance and insularity from European history, he probably would not have indulged in this disparaging contrast : for he would have found Irish valour the same at Clontarf, at the Blackwater, and at Aughrim, as at Luzara, Cassano, and Fontenoy; the same at Dun boy and Limerick, as at Guillestre, Embrun, and Cremona; therefore, although my chief object in these Memoirs is to preserve the remembrance of B [A. D. 1014. 2 MILITARY MEMOIRS OF my gallant countrymen, whose valour, when pro scribed at home, shone with such distinguished lustre in foreign service, I have judged it right to couple the memoirs of the Brigade with a short re view of the military achievements of the Irish at home and abroad, during the century of active ser vice that preceded its formation.

Prior to the sixteenth century the wars of the Irish were either petty intestine feuds, not worthy of historical notice, or uncombined efforts in resistance to Norse and Anglo-Norman invasion : yet even in these the impartial mind will find subjects of no hu miliating comparison with the military recollections of other neighbouring countries. That the Irish, from the ninth to the eleventh century, were unable to free themselves from Danish and Saxon aggression, was a misfortune equally shared by Britain and France, in both of which countries those piratical powers won territory to a large extent, and permanently established themselves and their insti tutions ; but neither France nor Britain has the glory of having expelled their invaders, after two centuries of oppression, in a great pitched battle, as the Irish, led by their national monarch, Brian of the Tributes, did at Clontarf.

Iu the military annals of these ages, therefore, if the balance of valour were to be struck among the three nations we have named, it would incline, not to M. Voltaire's countrymen, who submitted to the yoke of Rollo ; nor to the country men of those writers who have so often from Eng- A. D. 1169.] 3 THE IRISH NATION. land taunted us with his petulant observation ; but it would be awarded to us, who, from that very home in which they suppose us incapable of valour, set to both this example of successful warfare which nei ther of them was able to imitate. Again, our subjugation by the Anglo-Norman adherents of Dermod Mac Murrogh, imperfect as it was, was not, in any sense of the word, a greater con quest than the English themselves had recently en dured at the hands of the invading Duke of Nor mandy; nor will the character of our Roderick in any wise suffer in the comparison with that of their Ha rold.

Roderick erected towns, built bridges, con structed highways, founded religious houses, and endowed professorships in learning. With causes of dissension and defeat palpable in the circumstances of the times in which he lived, it is harsh to charge such a man with individual want of conduct, because, at the head of only a section of his nation, opposed or deserted by those who ought to have been his natural friends and allies, he failed in re sisting an invasion invited by an entire province, and prosecuted by the united valour and policy of Eng land and Rome; yielding to the same force, in an aggravated degree, that had overturned the dynasty of Alfred in the person of Harold, though the latter monarch fought at the head of an united people, and free from that greatest embarrassment that can befal a king contending for the liberties of his country, the treachery of his ecclesiastics. b2 1550-67 4 The Irish, therefore, do not shrink from a fair comparison with other nations, since grown to be great military powers, in the wars of those ages.

But I conceive it would be unprofitable to detail the series of inglorious petty contests in which we might be able to match rude valour here with equally ill-employed, though better disciplined, force in the intestine wars of Stephen, or of the Roses in England, or in the provincial conflicts which desolated France during the same periods. I therefore proceed at once to the first demonstration of a really national kind made by the Irish since their subjugation, when, in the reign of Elizabeth, the great house of O'Neal began to measure arms with its opponents in an open war of independance. Hugh Earl of Tyrone was the leader under whom this strife of a single clan against individual tyranny, ripened into a national struggle, which occupied the whole power of England for many years, and may be regarded as opening the school for that national military genius which afterwards rose to so noble a pitch of fame in all the most warlike services of Europe.

The first blow, hoAvever, was struck by his uncle, Shane the Provid. If we credit Camden's account of this chieftain, we must imagine a barbarian. The less suspected records of history display us a hero. The Statute-book, in attainting his blood and proscribing his name, pronounces his loftiest panegyric, enacting that "Forasmuch as the .name O'Neal, revived by him, in the judgment of A. D. 1567.] THE IRISH NATION. 5 the common people of Ireland, conveys in itself a great sovereignty, as they suppose, and that all the people of Ulster should rather live in servitude to that name, than in subjection to the Crown of Eng land, the name of O'Neal, the manners and ceremo nies of its creation, and all its dignities, preemi nences, tributes, and exactions should cease for ever, and any person assuming the name of O'Neal should be guilty of high treason."

But, however easily Acts of Parliament were car ried in those days, extinguishing the ancient digni ties and liberties of the country, the name of O'Neal was not to be blotted out of the Irish history with out a much more serious struggle than attended the desultory efforts of .John the Proud; for on his mur der by the Mac Connells, or Mac Donnells of An trim (formerly subjugated to his arms, but who treacherously turned and assassinated him on his taking refuge in their camp, after a temporary defeat by the English at Derry), a new claimant, not only to the name of O'Neal, but to the loftier title of a national warrior and liberator of his country, though stained by the vices of duplicity and cruelty, arose in the person of Hugh, the son of his illegitimate brother Ferdoragh or Matthew. Hugh O'Neal, the famous Earl of Tyrone, while he equalled his uncle in strength of body, in perse verance, courage, and constancy; far surpassed him in knowledge of military affairs, in cultivation of mind, and personal accomplishments.

In genius, fertility 1567-1591 of resources, address, and manners, none of his co temporaries, whether English or Irish, could com pete with him. Even Camden admits that "he had a strong body, able to endure labour, watching, and hunger ; that his industry was great, his soul large, and of a capacity for the weightiest businesses." His vices were those of the times, and of his position in early life among the courtiers of Elizabeth, where he necessarily became familiar with dissimulation and all the arts of intrigue. During the life-time of Shane, jealousy or caution induced him to side with the English. He had a command in their army, had accepted of the title of Earl of Tyrone,had not refused a commission to execute martial law, and had even imbrued his hands in the blood of his nephews.

Though a professed Catholic he would attend the Lord Deputy to church, and stay for divine service, whilst the Lords of the Pale stopped short on the threshold. He had even carried his compliance so far as to engage to banish monks, nuns, and friars out of Tyrone. But these were only concealments of deep designs upon the sovereignty of Ireland. Whilst practising these exterior marks of attachment to the sovernment, and of loyalty to the Queen, he was secretly encouraging his countrymen to enter into the Spanish service, and learn the rudiments of war under its great masters, the Duke of Parma, Count Ernest of Mansfield, and the Count De Fuentes. He was, at the same time, in the habit of training men in the corps which he commanded under the Queen's com- A. D. 1591-4. J THE IRISH NATION. . 7 mission, discharging them when expert, raising re cruits in their place, and discharging those again when sufficiently trained.

To restore himself to the confidence of his na tural friends after so many years of apparent aliena tion required no ordinary abilities. But in Hugh O'Neal's character tact was a conspicuous quality. He had scarcely thrown off the assumed title and policy of the Anglicised partisan, when he found himself at the head of an enthusiastic people, and aided by all the power of a clergy whom he had so shortly before engaged to persecute. A broil with his brother-in-law, Sir Henry Bagnall, Marshal of the Queen's forces in freland, concurring with the revolt of O'Donnell and Maguire, was the immediate occa sion of his casting off the mask. Bagnall preferred an impeachment; the Earl repelled the accusation, but withdrew beyond the Blackwater into O'Neal's country. The fort of Portmore had shortly before been erected to command the principal pass into this prin cipality, and an English sheriff had been intruded within its bounds.

O'Neal, seeing the time ripe for action, expelled the functionary, and levelled the fort, and the Queen's forces were immediately marched on the scene of the outbreak, under the conduct of Sir John Norris. The skill and renown of Sir John Norris pro mised a speedy conquest To the veteran army of 10,000 men, led by this able general, trained in the wars of the Low Countries, and supplied with all [A. D. 1595 8 MILITARY MEMOIRS OF the improved implements of war, O'Neal could op pose only a few thousands of undisciplined and half armed clansmen, without artillery, commissariat, or ammunition. But he was conscious of his own abilities, of the difficulties of the country and climate, and' of the enthusiasm of his followers, and calmly rested on his arms, to fight or negociate, as occasion might demand.

The operations of the Engbsh army were re tarded and counteracted by disunion. Russell the Deputy envied the glory of Norris, and Norris was jealous of the interference of Russell. The acuteness and energy of Tyrone never suffered a decisive mo ment to escape. By the disunion of the commanders he calculated upon obtaining a truce, and so suffer ing the season for action to pass over, while the seve rity of an Irish winter would guard his territory from invasion. He accordingly offered submission, com plained of the tyranny of the Queen's officers, required liberty of conscience, oblivion of the past, and ex emption of his territory from the sheriffs and garrisons of the shire lands. The sympathy of Norris, a soldier, was excited by the recital of cruelties exer cised upon the unfortunate natives; and his ingenious mind suggested measures of inquiry and redress.

Russell, a statesman, more accustomed to the policy of the times, doubted the sincerity of O'Neal, suspected his objects, delay and succour from Spain, and pru dently pressed a vigorous prosecution of the war. O'Neal's arts effected a truce, which, however, soon A. D. 1595.] 9 THE IRISH NATION. broke off, and the English began their march from Dundalk on Armagh. Then O'Neal, issuing from the woods, hung upon their rere, attacked them in front, assailed them in flank; when pressed, retired to his fastnesses, again returned to the charge, and convinced Sir John Norris that the talents of his opponent were at least a substitute for the deficiencies of his means. As he approached Armagh the elite of the Irish army made an unexpected and furious assault; the steadi ness of discipline repelled the attack, but the army was forced back on Dundalk, and 600 of these veterans left on the field of battle (a).

Norris next proceeded to raise the siege of Mona ghan, invested by the insurgents. Arivulet separated the armies, each of which seemed to dread the event of a battle. A sharp encounter ensued, in which Norris had three horses killed under him, and he and his brother were forced by their wounds to retire from the heat of the conflict. Segrave, an Engbsh officer, at the head of a body of cavalry, made a furious assault upon O'Neal's quarters. Ty rone encountered him in single combat; their lances being shivered on their cuirasses, the vigorous arm of O'Neal, wielding a ponderous sword, clove down his adversary. Norris sounded a retreat, and Mo naghan surrendered to the victorious army(6). These successes, occurring in the autumn of 1 595, spread the flame of insurrection throughout the country, gave new vigour to O'Neal, and alarmed (a) Hist.

Cath. lib. iv.; Pet. Lombard, p. 393. (b) M'Geog. torn. iii. p. 509- [A. D. 1596-7. 10 MILITARY MEMOIRS OF the fears of Elizabeth for the safety of Ireland. Pro posals of accommodation were made and were re jected, and in the intoxication of success O'Neal openly aspired to the throne of his ancestors. His negociation with the King of Spain, and the Gover nor of the Netherlands, promised him arms and am munition, and induced an exaggerated estimate of his strength. In these projects he passed the win ter. In the summer of 1596 Norris again advanced from Dundalk, was, as usual, harassed in hismarch(a), but at length succeeded in recovering Armagh and Portmore. At this latter position he erected new fortifications, and also built the strong fort of Mount Norris, to secure the communication between the important ports of Newry and Armagh.

Upon his retiring to his quarters in Dundalk, Tyrone blockaded his garrisons, intercepted their supplies, and forced them to capitulate, and, as his own troops were unequal to the defence of fortified towns, left them dismantled(J). Lord Burrough, who had acquired a name in the wars of Flanders, was now appointed Lord Deputy. In the pride of power, and the presumption of ignorance, he displaced Norris, and assumed the conduct of the war in Ulster. Norris, removed to the Pre sidency of Munster, sunk to an untimely grave, his laurels withered, his fame blotted, and Ms last mo ments embittered by insult(c). His successor's fate (a) Pet. Lombard, p. 397. (b) Ib. (c) Hist. Cath. Hib. v. 3. C. Pet. Lombard, 397. Camd. 543. A. D. 1597.] THE IRISH NATION. 11 would not have provoked his envy. Burrough marched to the Blackwater, having ordered a body of troops from Leinster to join him by another route.

Richard Tyrrell, one of O'Neal's lieutenants, a man experienced in the Irish wars, and famous for his guerilla excursions, waylaid the division in a narrow defile in Westmeath, and out of 1000 one man only is said to have escaped. The memory of the achieve ment is still preserved in the name of TyrrelTs Pass(a). Burrough having garrisoned Armagh and Portmore, was preparing to fall back upon Leinster, when the victorious Tyrrell' s approach recalled him. The united force of the Ulster army encountered at Drumflough, near Benburb. Here O'Neal displayed the courage of a soldier, and the conduct of a general, exhibiting consummate talents in the art of war. Burrough also behaved with a valour worthy of the steadiness and discipline of his veteran army, and exposed himself in the^thick of the encounter, until, endeavouring to force Ms way through the Irish fines, he received a mortal wound.

The Earl of Kildare, the second in command, exerting every nerve to restore confidence to the troops, dispirited by the wound of their general, met with a similar fate. Discipline and steadiness alone saved the Eng lish army from a decisive and irreparable defeat. (a) M'Geoghegan, iii. p. 517. [A. D. 1597. 12 MILITARY MEMOIRS OF They retired in order from a field of battle covered with their dead (a). The Earl of Ormond, Lieutenant-General of the army, was now directed to seek an accommodation with O'Neal. Success, general insurrection, succours from Spain, disinclined the latter from submission. He temporized, demanded terms which he knew were inadmissible, as usual protracted the war, ha rassed the English, and declined an engagement. Sir Henry Bagnall next undertook the prosecu tion of the war.

His ardent mind anticipated vic tory without calculating chances, exploring roads, or ascertaining the strength or position of his anta gonist. At the head of 7000 veterans, trained in the wars of Brittany and the Low Countries, he marched from Dundalk to relieve the fortress of Portmore, again besieged by the Irish. O'Neal, ever cautious, raised the siege, and was about retiring into the fastnesses of Tyrone, but was dissuaded by his bard, O'Clery, who assured him that, according to the prophecy of Saint Ultan, the Irish were to gain a great battle at a neighbouring pass on the Blackwater, called the Yellow Ford. O'Neal, taking advantage of the enthusiasm kin dled by this lucky coincidence, marched to the spot, called in Irish Beal an atha Buidhe, which naturally (a) Peter Lombard, p. 398.

Camden, p. 545, who claims the vic tory on the part of the English, is silent as to the wounds of the Deputy and of the Earl of Kildare. He mentions that Sir Tho mas Waller, a man renowned for valour in the wars, was wounded. A. D. 1597.] THE IRISH NATION. 13 offered one of the strongest positions in the neighbourhood, being skirted by a bog on one side, and a wood on the other, and approached by a narrow causeway. He had studied the character of Bagnall. Bravery approaching to temerity, presumptuous confidence in his own talents and skill, implacable hatred towards O'Neal, and sovereign contempt for the Irish, were calculated to precipitate him into an engagement under every disadvantage of position. O'Neal had no cannon, little ammunition, and few musqueteers. He supplied these deficiencies by his admirable disposition.

In the pass leading to the plain he placed 500 light-armed infantry; in the plain itself in front of his position, he dug pitfalls and trenches, and covered them with green sods, supported by wattles and branches. Before the engagement he sought to animate his men by a speech instilling revenge and inspiring hope, exciting fanaticism, and rousing patriotism, by every topic which an ardent mind could suggest. " The object of our most ardent prayers, to fight the Protestants upon equal terms, we have at length obtained. Inferior in number you have often routed them; you have now superior masses to oppose to them. My hopes of victory are not placed in the thunder of artillery, but in your valour. Recollect how often you have defeated greater forces, nobler chiefs, and even Bagnall himself, when less prepared and less disciplined than you are now, The Catholic Irish [A. D. 1597- MILITARY MEMOIRS OF in the ranks of your enemies will shrink from the contest; the consciousness that they are arrayed against their religion and country must unnerve them.

You are about to fight for your country, your wives, your children, and possessions. Bag nall, the bitterest of your enemies, not content with the plunder of your properties, seeks to exterminate your race. Here he must meet the just retribution for his cruelty; here we must avenge our wrongs, and the death of our companions killed at Portmore. St. Ultan has promised and prophesied our victory." Bagnall also, after the manner of the ancients, addressed his troops in the language of valour, but without the soul-stirring topics that excite the pas sions, and inflame to enthusiasm. " Relying on your bravery I selected you as my companions in arms; the undisciplined I left in garrisons, the cowardly with Ormond. From your ex ertions alone I anticipate victory. I have often witnessed your valour.

Will these men, unarmed and undisciplined, dare to encounter troops, accoutred, armed, trained as you are, and inured to war? I should be mad if I could suppose they would sustain your shock for a moment. Remember how you drove O'Neal from his camp at Mullachban. On him who this evening brings me the head of O'Neal or O'Don nel I bestow a thousand pounds. March then! and delay not the moment of victory." A veteran army did not require a speech to animate its courage. Contempt for an enemy unprovided A. D. 1597.] THE IRISH NATION. 15 with artillery, and untrained to the ordinary evolu tions of war, military music, clarions, trumpets, and fifes, elevated the spirits of the men. A finer array had never appeared in the Irish wars : 600 cuirassiers, covered with armour, glistening in the rays of the sun of a summer's morning, armed with lances, nine feet in length, led the van.

The infantry, trained in the wars of Flanders, who had often withstood the shock of the renowned Spanish pikes, marched in gallant array, divided in three columns, followed by parks of artillery, and ammunition waggons. The general at their head, mounted on a fine charger, by his military carriage, seemed to advance to assured victory. But in his contempt for the Irish, and his hatred to O'Neal, he pushed on more with the courage of a soldier, than with the circumspection of a general. With his front column he entered into the defile, unsupported by the second division. The Irish light troops posted there opened a galling fire from behind underwood and trees. Many of the English fell; but Bagnall's intrepidity forced the pass. His infantry debouched into the plain. His artillery being planted against the rampart four feet high, thrown up by O'Neal in front of his position, his heavy horse charged the Irish light-armed ca valry with irresistible fury, but were thrown into confusion by the concealed pitfalls and ditches, into which they were precipitated by their headlong bravery.