destitute of perfonal courage, nor of a good understanding, poffeffed no military experience, much less thofe rare talents, by which an undisciplined multitude may be directed and controled. He formed the plan of an attack on three different parts of the town at once, which would probably have fucceeded had it been put in execution. Having fent a fummons to General Johnfon, the commander of the king's troops, with a flag of truce, to furrender the town, the bearer of it, one Furlong, was fhot by a centinel of an out-post.* Whilft Harvey was arranging his forces for the affault, they were galled by the fire of fome out-pofts: he ordered a brave young man, of the name of Kelly, to put himself at the head of five hundred men, and drive in the out pofts. Kelly was followed confufedly by a much greater number than he wished: he executed his commiflion; but could not bring back the men as ordered; they rushed impetuously into the town, drove back the cavalry with flaughter on the infantry, feized the cannon, and being followed in their fuccefsful career by crouds from the hills, feemed fome time nearly mafters of the town. From a full perfuafion of a decided victory in favor of the rebel army, fome officers of the garrifon fled to Waterford, twelve miles diftant, with the alarming intelligence.

The original plan of attack was thus defeated by this premature, though fuccefsful onfet, in one quarter; the Dublin and Donegal militia maintained their pofts at the market house, and at a ftation called Fairgate, and prevented the rebels from penetrating into the centre of the town; while Major General Johnson, aided by the extraordinary exertions of an inhabitant of Rofs,

* To shoot all perfons carrying flags of truce from the rebels, appears to have been a maxim with his majefty's forces. This meafure if wife, was certainly lefs productive of good, than evil confequences. In Furlong's pocket was found the following letter of fummons to General Johnson.

"SIK,

"AS a friend to humanity, I requeft you will furrender the town of Ross to "the Wexford forces, now affembled againft that town; your refiftance will but provoke rapine "and plunder, to the ruin of the moft innocent. Flushed with victory, the Wexford forces, now "innumerable and irresistible, will not be controlled, if they meet with refiftance. To prevent, "therefore, the total ruin of all property in the town, I urge you to a speedy furrender, which "you will be forced to in a few hours, with lofs and bloodshed, as you are furrounded on all fides. "Your answer is required in four hours. Mr. Furlong carries this letter, and will bring the "anfwer.

"Camp at Corbet Hill, half past three o'clock

"in the morning, June 5, 1798.""

"I am, Sir,

"B. B. HARVEY, General commanding, &c. &c. &c." named

named M'Cormick, who had ferved in the army, though not then in commiffion, brought back to the charge the troops that had fled across the river to the Kilkenny fide; they presently recovered their poft, and drove the rebels from the town, the outskirts of which were now in flames, fired by the affailants or difaffected inhabitants, as Enniscorthy had been. The rebels, in their turn, rallied by their chiefs, returned with fury to the affault, and regained fome ground. Again diflodged by the fame exertions as before, and a third time rallied, they were at last finally repulsed, after an engagement of above ten hours, ending about two o'clock in the afternoon.

The official bulletin, published at Dublin on the 8th of June, stated, that on the 5th, about fix in the morning, the rebels attacked the position of General Johnfon, at New Rofs, with a very large force and great impetuofity; but that, after a conteft of feveral hours, they were completely repulfed. The lofs of the rebels was very great, the streets being literally ftrewed with their carcaffes. An iron gun upon a fhip carriage had been taken; and late in the evening they retreated entirely to Carrickbyrne, leaving feveral iron ship guns not mounted.

General Johnson ftated, that too much praife could not be given to the forces under his command.

The general feverely regretted the lofs of that brave officer, Lord Mountjoy, who fell early in the conteft. A return of the killed and wounded of his majesty's forces had not then been received, but it appeared not to have been confiderable. It was fuppofed to have been about 300, though the official detail afterwards made reduced them to about half that number *

* The impetuofity and ardor with which the rebels affailed the town of Rofs, and the prodigality with which they threw away their lives, furpaffed belief. The troops did not stand it; and the difficulty, with which that able and meritorious officer, General Johnfon, rallied them, proves the terror, which this ferocious, though irregular charge of the rebels had created. The first affailants had no fooner diflodged the troops, than, instead of pursuing them on their retreat, they fell most voraciously to plunder, and became quickly difabled to act from intoxication, whereby they were fo eafily repulfed on the return of the fugitive troops. Sir Richard Mufgrave fays, (p. 410) "that fuch was their enthusiasm, that though whole ranks of them were feen to fall, they were "fucceeded by others, who feemed to court the fate of their companions, by rufhing on our troops "with renovated ardor."

One rebel, emboldened by fanaticifm and drunkenness, advanced before his comrades, feized a gun, crammed his hat and wig into it, and cried out, "come on, boys, her mouth is stopped." At that inftant the gunner laid the match to the gun, and blew the unfortunate favage to atoms. This fact has been verified by the affidavit of a perfon who faw it from a window.

Bloody as was the carnage at New Rofs, where the rebels were faid to have loft between two and three thoufand men, the horror of that fcene vanifhed before the inhuman maffacre of a number of unfortunate prifoners,* men,

women,

* Such inhuman maffacres in cold blood are in their nature too horrible to find advocates, whether perpetrated under the brutal orders of a king's officer on avowed rebels, or of rebels in retaliation; by a Henry at Agincourt, a Suwarrow at Praga, or a Bonaparte in Palestine. To a deed fo foul the groffeft mifinterpretation must be expeted in the frantic rage of party to be fuperadded to its own effential atrocity. Sir Richard Mufgrave (p. 426) has afferted, that "John Murphy, the rebel captain, Nicholas Sweetman, and William Devereux, who both held the fame rank, commanded a guard of 300 rebels, and that when the rebel army began to give way at Rofs, an exprefs was fent to Murphy, to put the Proteftant prifoners to death, as the king's troops were gaining the day; but Murphy refufed to comply without a direct order from the general: that he foon after received another meffage to the fame purpose, with this addition, that the prisoners, if released, would become very furious and vindictive: that fhortly a third express arrived, faying the priest gave orders that the prifoners fhould be put to death: that the rebels, on hearing the fanction of the priest, became outrageous, and began to pull off their clothes, the better to perform the bloody deed."

There is no queftion, but that the rebels were univerfally and unexceptionably determined upon the principle of retaliation and retribution: they confidered every man that lost his life under military execution, without trial, as a murdered victim whofe blood was to be revenged: fo fanguinary and vindictive had this warfare fatally become. Befides numerous inftances of fuch military executions, wherever the army had gained an advantage, they bore deeply in their minds the deliberate and brutal murder of thirty-eight prifoners, moft of whom had not (at least who were faid and believed not to have) committed any act of treafon at Dunlavin on the 24th of May; and the like wanton and atrocious murder of thirty-nine prifoners of the like defcription at Carnew, on the morning of Whitfun Monday, merely because the party, which had them in cuftody, had orders to march, and they were unwilling to difcharge them, but wanted time to examine, much more to try them. A gentleman of punctilious veracity and retentive memory has affured me, that he was prefent in the House of Commons at the examination of a Mr. Frizell, a person of refpectability, at the bar of that house, in the fummer of 1798, who was a prifoner in the houfe of Scullabogue on the 4th of June. He was asked every queftion that could be fuggefted relative to the maffacre: to which his anfwers were fubftantially as follows: That having been taken prifoner by a party of the rebels, he was confined to a room on the ground floor in Scullabogue house, with twenty or thirty other perfons; that a rebel guard with a pike stood near the window, with whom he converfed: that perfons were frequently called out of the room in which he was by name, and he believes were foon after fhot, as he heard the report of mufquets fhortly after they had been so called out; that he understood that many were burned in the barn, the fmoke of which he could discover from the window that the centinel pikeman affured him, that they would not hurt a hair of his head, as he was always known to have behaved well to the poor: that he did not know of his own knowledge,

but

women, and children, mofily Proteftants, burned to death in a barn at Scullabogue on the evening of that fame day. Scullabogue houfe, which is the property of a Mr. King, was fituated at the foot of Carrickburn mountain. When the rebel army marched to Corbet hill, these prifoners had been left under a guard, commanded by John Murphy, of Loghnaghur. The runaways declared, that the royal army in Rofs were fhooting all the prifoners, and butchering the Catholics, who had fallen into their hands, feigned an order from Harvey for the execution of thofe at Scullabogue. This order, which Harvey himself, a Proteftant, and a man of humanity, was utterly incapable of giving, Murphy is faid to have refifted; but his refiftance was vain. Thirty-feven were fhot and piked at the hall door; and the reft, a hundred and eighty-four in number according to report, crammed into a barn, were burned alive, the roof being fired, and ftraw thrown into the flames to feed the conflagration.

It appears upon the whole, that the burning of the prifoners at Scullabogue was not, as has been generally reprefented, the confequence of any regular order or fyftem, but perpetrated by fome runaway rebels from the affault on Rofs (the coward being ever cruel), who, to palliate their own flight, invented or magnified the cruelty of the king's troops. It is generally believed, that feveral perfons, who were on guard at Scullabogue, and suffered for the tranfaction, were in truth the most innocent of that inhuman and barbarous maffacre.*

but only from the reports current amongst the prisoners, what the particular caufe was, for which the rebels had fet fire to the barn. Upon which, Mr. Ogle rofe with precipitancy from his feat, and put this question to him with great eagerness: Sir, tell us what the caufe was. It having been fuggefted, that the question would be more regularly put from the chair, it was repeated to him in form; and Mr. Frizell answered, that the only cause that he, or he believed the other prifoners ever understood, induced the rebels to this action, was, that they had received intelligence, that the military were again putting all the rebel prifoners to death in the town of Rofs, as they had done at Dunlavin and Carnew. Mr. Ogle afked no more questions of Mr. Frizell, and he was foon after difmiffed from the bar. To thofe gentlemen who were prefent at this examination, the truth of this statement is fubmitted.

* According to fome accounts, about fifteen Catholics perished in this barn. But I find, in a letter from Dr. Caulfield to Dr. Troy, of the 29th of October, 1799; that he could " mention but "feven, viz. two men of the name of Neille, the clerk of Mr. Shalloe's chapel, Johnston a piper, "Eleanor Ryan a fervant maid, Edward Ryan her father, and Edward Killa a herd. The people at "Wexford (town) were not the authors of that maffacre, nor had they any hand in it. We can"not tell who commanded the guard that remained there."

On

On the day enfuing the rebels defeat at Rofs, they re-affumed their former pofition on Carrickburn hill. Great difcontent pervaded the whole army from their failure on the preceding day. Loud murmurs were heard againft their commander in chief, who in confequence thereof refigned his command, and retired to Wexford. He is faid to have been much difgufted, not only at the turn of events in the field, but more particularly at the general infubordination that prevailed throughout their ranks. Being a man of natural benevolence and humanity, he was fhocked at the maffacre at Scullabogue: and the laft act of his power was, the iffuing general orders denouncing the penalty of death against fuch perfons, as fhould murder the prifoners, burn any houfe, or commit any plunder, without fpecial written orders from the commander in chief.*

The

* GENERAL ORDERS.

At a Meeting of the General and several Officers of the United Army of the County of Wexford, the following Refolutions were agreed upon :

Refolved, That the commander in chief shall fend guards to certain baronies for the purpose of bringing in all men they fhall find loitering or delaying at home, or elsewhere; and if any refiftance be given to thofe guards fo to be fent by the commanding officer's orders, it is our defire and orders, that fuch perfons fo giving refiftance, fhall be liable to be put to death by the guards, who are to bear a commiffion for that purpose; and all such persons so to be found loitering and delaying at home, when brought in by the guards, fhall be tried by a court-martial, appointed and chofen from amongst the commanders of all the different corps, and be punished with death.

Refolved, That all officers fhall immediately repair to their refpective quarters, and remain with their different corps, and not depart therefrom under pain of death, unless authorized to quit by written orders from the commander in chief for that purpose.

It is also ordered, that a guard shall be kept in rear of the different armies, with orders to shoot all perfons who shall fly or defert from any engagement, and that these orders shall be taken notice of by all officers commanding fuch engagement.

All men refufing to obey their fuperior officers, to be tried by a court-martial, and punished according to their fentence.

It is also ordered, that all men who shall attempt to leave their respective quarters when they have been halted by the commander in chief, fhall fuffer death, unlcfs they shall have leave from their officers for fo doing.

It is ordered by the commander in chief, that all perfons who have stolen or taken away any horse or horfes, thall immediately bring in all fuch horses to the camp, at head-quarters, otherwife every horse that shall be seen or found in the poffeffion of any person to whom he does not belong, fhall be feized, and the perfon convicted of taking it shall suffer death.

And