The Irish Rebellion of 1798

Preface

Various writers have dealt with the Irish Rebellion of 1798, but disjmssionate record has been vainly sought save in the pages of " England in XVIII. Century." The traces of war are soon obliterated by the kindly hand of nature, but when hereditary hate is coupled with religious rancour, the wounds are deeper and slower to heal, and the events of '98 unhappily, to some extent still continue to in fluence social and political life in Ireland. In writing of a period when party passion knew no bounds, accuracy is of more importance than verbal elegance. The endeavour to marshal con flicting statements giving authority for each may tend to baldness, but it has the advantage of placing the reader in a position to draw his own conclusions. Every authority available at the British Museum has been called into requisition, and information from local sources when deemed to be trustworthy has also been used.

In several instances, more especially as regards the State Papers at Dublin, I have quoted largely from Mr. Lecky, who has placed me — a stranger to him — under a further obligation by kindly reading a portion of the manuscript and making several valuable sugges tions, and these I hastened to adopt. To Mr. Lecky and others, who have by infor mation and advice facilitated the present work, are tendered the grateful thanks of The Authob. CONTENTS.

Chapter I

William HI. and the Irish Catholics — The violated Treaty — The Penal Laws — Catholic Loyality — Lord Chesterfield's Adminis tration—Agrarian Crime — The Steelboys — England's right to legislate for Ireland — Lord Townshend's vice-royality — The Irish Parliament and America — Financial condition of Ireland — English jealousy of Irish trade — Henry Grattan — Gardiner's Bill for the relief of Catholic disabilities — The Volunteers — Free Trade — Hussey Burgh — Removal of the restrictions on trade — The Irish Declaration of Rights — Rumours of Invasion — Growth of the Volunteer Movement — The Dungannon Meeting — Repeal of 6, Geo. I. c. 5.

Chapter II

Repeal of the Declaratory Act insufficient — England renounces the right to legislate for Ireland — The Irish Constitution — The House of Commons — Sale of Seats — Collisions between the English and Irish legislatures — The Volunteers become more powerful — Quarrel between Flood and Grattan — Lord Charlemont and the Bishop of Derry — Flood's Reform Bill — Trade Depression and the Corn Law — Outrages — Peep of Day Boys and Defenders- James Napper Tandy — French interest in Irish affairs — Spread of revolutionary sentiment — Theobald Wolf Tone — Samuel Neilson — The United Irishmen — Lord Kenmare and the Catholic Com mittee — English desire for the redress of Catholic grievances — Revolutionary spirit in Ulster — The Back Lane Parliament — Lord Edward Fitzgerald— The Catholic Relief Bill of 1793— The Gun powder Act — Convention Act — The Militia — Defenders become United Irishmen — War with France — Mission of Jackson — Sup pression of the United Irishmen — Spread of the organization as a Secret* Society — The Orangemen — Jackson's Charity — The Battle of the Diamond — Expulsion of the Catholics from Armagh — Tone's flight to America — Goes to France — Interview with Carnot — The Fitzwilliam Episode — The French Expedition of 1796 — Martial Law in Ulster — General Lake — The case of William Orr — The French and Dutch expedition — Battle of Camperdown.

CHAPTER HI. Government information— Arrest of O'Connor and O'Coigly at Margate— Information of Reynolds— Arrests at Oliver Bond's— Arrest and death of Lord Edward Fitzgerald— Martial Law—Mis conduct of the soldiery— Expected outbreak— The defence of Dublin.

Chapter IV

The outbreak in the country— Treachery of Esmond— Attacks on Prosperous, Clane and Naas— The Irish pike— Attacks on Monasterevan, Hacketstown and Carlow — Fights at Tara — Rathangan— General Dundas and the rebels— Slaughter at Gibbetrath — Religious aspect of the rebellion — Loyality of the Catholic clergy and better classes.

Chapter V

Historical sketch of Wexford — The Danes — The English Invasion— Trade— State of the county — United Irishmen in Wexford — Orangemen — The North Cork Militia — " Tom the Devil." — Behaviour of the peasantry — Outbreak at Boulavogue — Father John Murphy — Murder of Protestants — Battle of Oulart Hill — Capture of Enniscorthy — Vinegar Hill — Father Murphy's diary — The Camp on the Hill — Cloney's Account — The rebel leaders — Alarm in Wexford — Arrival of the " gentlemen prisoners " at Vinegar Hill — Advance on Wexford — Defeat of General Fawcett's detachment — Sally of the Wexford garrison — Surrender of the town — Wexford in possession of the rebels.

Chapter VI

Irish popular leaders — Bagenal Harvey — Sir Jonah Barrington's description — Harvey appointed Commander-in-chief — The Govern ment and the rebellion — Quietude of Ulster — Disposition of the troops— Attack on Newtownbarry— Defeat of the rebels near Ballycanew— Tubberneering— Death of Walpole— Retreat of Loftus.

Chapter VII

Bagenal Harvey's force— New Ross— Harvey's summons to surrender— Battle of New Ross— Personal Narratives— Incidents of the battle— Death of Lord Mountjoy— Michael McCormick and his wife— Heroism of the insurgents— Scullabogue— The victims- Harvey's proclamation— His waning influence— Superseded by Father Philip Roche— Attack on Mr. Kavenagh's at Borris. CHAPTER VHI. Father Murphy's force — Want of self-control among the rebels — Attacks on houses of protestants — Murder and plunder — Arklow — Its importance as a military position — The capital in danger — Government measures to check rebel advance — The Durham Fencibles — Colonel Skerritt— Battle of Arklow — Death of Father Michael Murphy— Miles Byrne on the battle.

Chapter IX

Vinegar Hill and Wexford — Description of the Camp on the hill — Atrocities — Religious fanaticism — Treatment of prisoners — Father Philip Roche — His humanity — Differences of treatment — The victims — Wexford — Appearance of the rebels — Matthew Keughe or Keogh — His previous career — The rebel fleet — The state of the town — Arrangements for feeding the inhabitants — Value of money— Waywardness of the rebels — The nominal leaders in danger — Capture of Lord Kingsborough — Protestants desire to be admitted into the Roman Catholic faith — Edward Roche — His proclamation — The violent party.

Chapter X

Position of affairs — Supineness of the Government — Condition of Ulster — Disapproval of French methods in Switzerland — France and America — Effect of events in Wexford — The insurrections in Ulster — Antrim — Samuel Orr — McCracken — Death of Lord O'Neill — Newtownards — Ballynahinch — Difference between the Ulster insurgents and those of the south — Outbreak in Cork.

Chapter XI

Proceedings of the Wexford rebels — Movement on Tinehely — Condition of Wexford — The Dixons — The massacres on the bridge — Advance of the Royal troops — Battle of Foulk's Mills— Father Roche's skill as a general— Surrender of Wexford — Battle of Vinegar Hill — Lake's proclamation — Execution of Father Roche, Grogan, Harvey and Keogh. CHAPTER XH. The retreat from Wexford — Bloody Friday — Attack on Hackets town — Battle of Ballyellis — Ballygullen — Father John Murphy's contingent — Advance into Carlow — Affairs at Killedmond and Goresbridge — Attack on Castlecomer — Apathy in Kilkenny — Fight at Kilcomney Hill — Capture and execution of Father John Murphy- Dispersion of the rebels— Joseph Holt — The State prisoners — Trial of the Sheares — Captain Armstrong — Trial of McCann — Evidence of Thomas Reynolds — The prisoners and the Government — Clemency of the Executive — The prisoners memorial.

CHAPTER XHI. The French land at Killala— Bishop Stock— Humbert and his force — Conduct of the Mayo peasantry— Considerate treatment of the bishop and his family by the French— French treatment of the insurgents — State of Connaught — Humbert's advance — " Castle bar races " — Behaviour of the militia regiments — French opinion of the rebels in Connaught — Establishment of a civil Govermant — Behaviour of the rebels.

CHAPTER XIV.

Humbert's advance — Disposition of the Government forces — Fight at Collooney — Advance of Cornwallis — Ballinamuck — State of Killala — French officers and populace — Advance of the King's troops : the battle — Treatment of the French soldiers and their officers — Conduct of the troops at Killala — James Napper Tandy's expedition — His escape to Hamburgh — His extradition and trial.

CHAPTER XV.

The State prisoners — Their advertisement — Government opinion — Objection of America to receive them — The Banishment Act — The attack on Grattan — Doctor Duigenan — Grattan and the United Irishmen — Evidence of Hughes — Samuel Neilson and Grattan.

CHAPTER XVI.

French indifference to Irish affairs— Tone and the French Government— The expedition of September— The naval action Various accounts of Tone's capture— His trial and death— His character — Conclusion. :;:^*The indulgence of the reader is craved in respect of the typographical errors which have crept in. They are mostly trivial but on p. 183 the references to the notes having been transposed and on p. 224, C. ii. the word " also " should be omitted.

Chapter I

Before entering upon a relation of the events of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, it is necessary to give a sketch, however slight, of the events that preceded it, and the most appropriate starting point is the downfall of the Stuart Dynasty in 1688. At a time when England was shaking off the yoke of absolute monarchy, the sister island was as passionately asserting her attachment to it as a principle and shedding the blood of her bravest sons in its defence. To this day Ireland is pro bably the least democratic part of Europe, and almost the only country in which it would be possible to set up an absolute monarchy as opposed to the present state of things. Previous to the battle of Aughrim, William III. offered the Irish Catholics, on their voluntary surrender, the free exercise of their religion, the half of the churches in the kingdom and the half of their ancient possessions.* The offer was con temptuously refused and the King's troops gained a decisive victory.

The Siege of Limerick ♦Sir Charles Wogan to Swift, Feb. 27, 1732-3. A followed, and the first of the " civil articles" of the capitulation stipulated that the Catholics of Ireland should enjoy the same liberties and privileges they possessed in the reign of Charles II. Indeed, the Irish Catholics could scarcely have hoped for a more liberal-minded conqueror than William of Orange. Previous to his departure from the Continent, he intimated to the German Emperor that he would use the utmost endeavour to obtain the repeal of the penal laws of Elizabeth, and if he was unable to keep his word it was owing to the strong anti-catholic feeling which existed in England.* When the treaty of Limerick was laid before the English Parliament, the conditions precedent to its sanction were that no person should sit in either House of the Irish Parliament who had not taken the oath of supremacy and signed a declaration abjuring the most fundamental doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church. f It was in consequence of this interpolation, which the King was powerless to avert, that Limerick received its popular designation of " the city of the violated treaty."

Catholics being thus excluded from the Irish Parliament, that body, rather with a view of promoting their own selfish interests than sectarian prejudice, commenced a system of legislation *Ranke iv. 437. fW. & M. Cap. 2. almost unparalelled in the history of representative assemblies. The earlier measures were aimed at the exclusion of the Catholics from public offices and were so far but re-enactments of the English Test Acts. A more serious blow was struck by the Legislation of 1727, which deprived the Catholics of the Franchise, but it was necessary to attack their property as well. No papist could hold a lease for a longer term than thirty-one years, nor was he supposed to own a horse worth more than five pounds. He had no power to bequeath his property. Education was denied to his children, and various other enactments, many of them absurd, most of them cruel, and all of them vexatious, afflicted the Irish Catholics.

But it must not be forgotten that the penal laws directed against Catholics in England were just as rigorous, though owing to the smallness of their numbers and their political insignificance, they escaped the rigour of those laws which were put into force against their co-religionists in Ireland with inflexible severity. To the extreme ferocity which characterized the persecution of the Protestants of the Continent these harsh measures must doubtless be ascribed. England had given welcome shelter to hundreds of French families, whose only fault was their faith, flying from re lentless foes and spreading far and wide the reports of the cruelties inflicted upon their friends. Notwithstanding the hardships to which the Irish Catholics were subjected, they remained passive. Indeed they could hardly do otherwise without education or leadership, and, as Swift described them, '• they were utterly incapable of inflicting any injury even if they desired it."

There was no difficulty in recruiting for the King's army amongst the Protestants, and Irish soldiers were despatched to the Highlands in 1715. Four years later, when England was dan gerously threatened, the Duke of Bolton (then Lord Lieutenant), told the Government that they might withdraw the greater part of the Irish Army for service elsewhere, pleading at the same time that owing to the poverty of the country it might not be asked to furnish the soldiers' pay during their absence. As it was, there were at that very time seven Irish regiments serving out of their native country though they continued to be paid out of Irish revenue. Two years later, when a Stuart invasion was again threatened, six Irish regiments were sent to England and their pay charged to the Irish exchequer, the Lord Lieutenant in vain asking the English treasury to defray the cost.

The learned Dr. King, at that time Archbishop of Dublin, writing to the Archbishop of Canterbury, comments severely on the state of affairs. " We are sending off six regiments to assist you. One would think, considering the number of papist we have here, that our gentry are for the most part in England, and all our money goes there, that we should rather expect help from you in distress than send you forces to protect you. Yet this is the third time we have done so since His Majesty's accession to the throne, and withal preserved the kingdom from any insurrection or rebellion, which is more than can be said for England or Scot land."* Yet notwithstanding their loyalty and the pleading of many influential personages, the position of the Irish Catholics remained without alleviation. Lord Stanhope, indeed, drafted a measure for the relaxation of the penal code, but his tenure of office was too short to enable him to bring it forward.

During the Jacobite rising of 1745 the Government of Ireland was in the hands of Lord Chesterfield, whose culture and breadth of view eminently qualified him for such a post. His avowed intention on going to Ireland was " to proscribe not a single individual among the Catholics, but to win them all over by good treatment," and he frequently expressed the opinion that for Ireland poverty was a far greater evil than popery. f As a result of the broad views of Chesterfield *British Museum, Adul. MS. 6117. f Mahon, iii. p. 489. Chesterfield's Miscellaneous Works, ii. 495-496, and the loyalty of the Irish Catholics during the '45, the penal laws, though not repealed, were considerably relaxed. The priests were no longer subjected to supervision, the possession of arms was winked at, and those who could afford to do so were allowed to send their children to the Continent to be educated.

But these slight relaxations of the penal code merely affected the Roman Catholic clergy and the better classes, the small farmer and the peasant were not only steeped in ignorance and supersti tion, but their economic position was rendered worse than ever and marks the commencement of what is known as agrarian crime. From the time of Charles II. the importation of Irish cattle or agricultural produce into England was forbidden. This legislation had the effect of directing the Irish agriculturist to sheep raising, and the woollen trade continued to flourish until crippled by legislation. The Catholics being for bidden to cultivate, had taken eagerly to pasture, the landowners and the larger tenants converted whole tracts of arable land into sheepwalks, while thousands of acres of common land were seized and enclosed.

A further encouragement to pastur age was given in 1758, when the free importation of cattle into England was permitted for five years. Moreover, the Irish Parliament exempted pasture land from the payment of title,* while the poor cottier, deprived of his rights of commonage was obliged to pay a heavy rent to his landlord, a tenth of his scanty produce to the Protestant rector, and his own clergyman exacted a further tenth of whatever might be left. Such treatment could only have one result. Goaded to despair, the unhappy people banded together in lawless organisations, having for their object the defence of the commons or resistance to the payment of tithe. Of these associations the Whiteboys were far the most formidable. At its first inception the society contented itself with damaging the property of the obnoxious tithe proctor, but outrage on the person, culminating in murder in a few cases, soon became frequent.

The agitation was not directed against individuals. The clergy of the Established Church were, save in rare instances, unmolested. It was the vicious system of land tenure and tithe collection which had goaded the people into desperation. At this period it is interesting to recall a proclamation issued in the County of Cork by " Captain Right," in which the Whiteboy leader avows himself both a true and faithful subject to the King and Government, and, while disclaiming any intention *Mr. Lecky points out that this measure only passed the Irish House of Commons ; it was never referred to the House of Lords, and was absolutely illegal in its operation. " England in XVIII. Century, iv. 322." of robbing the landlords, points out the severe disadvantage the Irish tenant labours under as compared with the English farmer in that he was liable to be robbed of his improvements.* There were, of course, not wanting those who ascribed these outrages to religious animosity or to French intrigue, though nothing can be more certain than that they were altogether due to the miserable condition of the great bulk of the population, and a Government inquiry reported that the outrages were absolutely unsectarian and non-political.*f" Another popular movement, which practically amounted to an insurrection, the consequences of which reached far beyond the area in which it had its origin, was due to the action of the Marquess of Donegal, an absentee landlord, who when his leases fell in demanded fines upon renewal from his tenants.

The unfortunate people being unable to raise the necessary amount were evicted by thousands, when they formed themselves into an association under the name of " Steelboys." They, like the Whiteboys of the south and west, began by attacks on property followed by personal outrage. A very considerable body of troops had to be sent to Ulster. Many of the Steelboys were killed in hand to hand conflicts, not a few handed, but the great bulk of these evicted tenants, who ♦Paper in Irish State Paper Office, quoted by Mr. Lecky, iv. 333. •[England in xviii Century, loc. cit. were chiefly Presbyterians, emigrated to America, where upon the outbreak of the war of Indepen dence they proved the most dangerous adversaries of the British forces. Owing to the confiscations which had followed the various rebellions in Ireland, nearly two-thirds of the revenue had become the hereditary pro perty of the Sovereign, and over it Parliament possessed no power.

In 1719 a short Act of the English Parliament, (6 Geo. 1, cap. 5), the right of binding the sister country by laws passed by the English Legislature was distinctly affirmed, while so far back as the reign of Henry VII. Poynings Act, or as it is best known in Ireland, the Statute of Drogheda, subordinated the Irish Legislature to the English Privy Council. By the same Act of 1719 the position of the Irish House of Peers as the Supreme Court of Appeal in Ireland was destroyed in the most arbitrary manner. The House of Commons was to all intents and purposes in the hands of wealthy landowners, who returned their own nominees, and who were known as " Undertakers." Add to this the fact that the Habeas Corpus Act did not extend to Ireland, that the Parliament might continue for an indefinite period, that there was no restriction on accepting office under the Crown and that enormous pensions were from time to time charged upon the Irish revenue without the sanction of either the Irish or even the British Parliament, and we get some faint glimpse of the state of affairs that existed nt the time.

It was evident that things could not go on like this for ever. The Presbyterians of the north, who, inasmuch as they were not papists, enjoyed the advantages of education, began to grumble at English restriction on their trade. In addition, the desire for the assimilation of the Irish to the English system in regard to the duration of Par liaments, the irremovability of the judges and other reforms was everywhere expressed, and when, in 1767, Lord Townshend came over as Lord Lieutenant, and required to reside con tinuously in the country, the hopes of the people grew high, but they were again doomed to dis appointment. The measure framed in reliance upon the Lord Lieutenant's speech from the Throne was so mutilated in England that on its return to the Irish House of Commons it was rejected.

Still next year some good was effected. The duration of the Irish Parliament was limited to eight years, but as a set off Ireland was required to furnish an additional 3,000 men to the army. Certain of the more unblushing of the " Under takers," of whom Lord Shannon, Ponsonby and Holy Hutchinson were the principal, offered to carry the Government business through Parliament, if only they received favours enough. To his credit Shelbourne refused to countenance the proposal, and the "Undertakers" became bitterly opposed to the Government. It is indeed a curious phase of Irish Parlia mentary history that it knew no party. Men who voted black one day voted white the next. Those who were active supporters of the Government upon a particular measure exhibited the greatest hostility upon another.

The dividing lines were not political, but personal, and a member was not a Whig or Tory, but a follower of one or other of the half dozen men who practically controlled the Irish Legislature. Lord Townshend steadily set his face against the ■■ Undertakers," and in order to secure a Government majority in the Irish House of Commons he took the most extraordinary mea sures. At a time when politics were perhaps more corrupt than any other, he rewarded his supporters in the most barefaced way, at the same time depriving his opponents of every office and emolument it was possible to take from them, and the better to further his projects he prorogued the Parliament for fourteen months. By February, 1771, he had secured a majority, which by wholesale corruption he managed to maintain until his resignation in September, 1772, during which period his prestige steadily declined.

Not only were his politics corrupt, but his private character was bad, and his open immorality stirred up stinging satires from the pen of a young man who was afterwards to become known to fame as Henry Grattan, while other trenchant criticisms were written by Flood, who had now been a member of the Commons for some years. During the next Viceroyalty, that of Lord Harcourt, an effort was made to tax the absentee landlords, but the proposal came to naught, chiefly owing, strange though it may appear, to the opposition of the greatest Irishman of his day, Edmund Burke. Lord Harcourt, by his diplo matic treatment of the Irish opposition, com pletely disarmed them and even induced Flood, hitherto the leader of the National party, to accept the well-paid post of Vice-Treasurer, and when in the autumn of 1775 Parliament was opened by a speech from the Throne, in which the revolt of the American Colonies was referred to and an appeal made to Irish loyalty, the House of Commons returned a reply expressive of indigna tion with the American rebellion and profuse in its assertion of loyalty to the King.

A month later the withdrawal for service in America of 4,000 men of the force agreed to be maintained in Ireland for the protection of the country was sup ported by Flood and after some debate assented to, the Government undertaking the payment of the troops from Imperial resources during their absence from Ireland. Meanwhile the financial position of the country was going from bad to worse, while the general discontent increased. Further bribery and a wholesale creation of peers (eighteen in one day) constituted the concluding acts of Harcourt's ad ministration. Ireland was almost bankrupt, two thirds of the country uninhabited, and of the population that remained the greater proportion was on the verge of starvation. The new Lord Lieutenant, Buckinghamshire, represented to Lord North that Irish resources could no longer bear the strain to which they were subjected, and the English Prime Minister having endorsed that view, it was proposed to alleviate Irish trade to some extent, but the proposition was met with a fierce howl of opposition from the English manu facturers.

In fact, it was said that " a foreign invasion could scarcely have excited a greater alarm." From all the great centres of English trade, with the solitary exception of London, petition after petition, and remonstrance after re monstrance, poured in upon the Government. Burke lost his seat for Bristol, and Lord North was reluctantly compelled to give way, and only a tithe of the Irish demand was granted. The embargoes on Irish trade were slowly, but none the less effectually, bringing into closer relation the two great religious bodies. The Presbyterians of the North, sympathising with their kinsmen across the Atlantic with whom they were forbidden to trade, viewed with indignation the restrictions which hampered their great in dustries, while the Catholics of the South, with as just cause, resented the laws which prevented the exportation of live stock and provisions.

The writings of the French philosophers, too, began to exert considerable influence upon the better educated of the Irish Protestants, but above all the personality of Henry Grattan, who first took his seat in the Irish Parliament in the month of December, 1775, and whose first principle was that "the Irish Protestant could never be free until the Irish Catholic ceased to be a slave," brought about more liberal views amongst the members of the Irish Protestant Parliament. Grattan was opposed both by Flood and Charle mont, but at length a private member, Mr. Luke Gardiner (better known by his later title of Lord Mountjoy) on the 27th May, 1778, introduced a bill for the relief of Catholic disabilities. A clause freeing the Dissenters from the obligations of the Test Act having been added, the Bill passed both Houses of the Irish Legislature, but the English Privy Council rejected the proposal to relieve the Presbyterians, and on the 4th of August of the same year the Bill, as returned from England, was accepted by the Irish Parliament, and, as Burke said, by this measure the Irish Catholics were at length acknowledged as subjects of the Crown, and had the protection of the law extended to them.* Meanwhile the position of England was daily becoming more critical.

France had entered into a treaty with the revolted colonies of America, and their combined privateers hovered about the coasts. The flower of the Irish Army had been withdrawn from the kingdom, and the remainder, underfed and their pay in arrear, barely sufficed for the protection of the capital and the preservation of order. The country gentlemen had long favoured the establishment of a militia, but the scheme was delayed, and now that Ireland was in immediate danger of invasion the national treasury was empty. At this crisis the spirit of the nation manifested itself with an enthusiasm which was all the more admirable from its freedom from crime or disorder. Throughout the country the inhabi tants, headed by the leading gentry, banded themselves together for the purpose of repelling invasion, and the remarkable organisation known as the Irish Volunteers sprang into existence.

Never was Viceroy of Ireland so completely bewildered as the Earl of Buckinghamshire. Un able to afford the Irish people that protection ♦Letter to Nagle, August 25, 1778. from a foreign foe, which was admittedly his first care, he saw on all sides spring up a national guard full of loyalty to their Sovereign, yet minded to secure their own rights. The Lord Lieutenant reported that the conduct of the new force was admirable, and even contributed to the preservation of order, but to their appeal to be supplied with the arms that had been sent over for the proposed rnilitia he turned a deaf ear. The newly enrolled body was distinctly Protestant, but the Catholics showed their sympathy by what must be admitted, considering their disabilities, as large and generous financial aid. Early in 1779 the Viceroy warned the English Government that the existence of the Volunteers would probably be utilised to obtain political advantage, and he stated plainly that unless some concession was made before the English session closed, violent opposition would be encountered when the Irish Parliament met.