then three troops of horse, headed by Sir C. Willoughby; the rear was closed by a few companies of foot led by Sir C. Coote.

They had scarcely gone a mile, when, about three miles off on the other side of a red bog, the long files of glittering pikes appeared in dense order, passing rapidly by the tower of Killika, with the evident design of intercepting them on their march. It must, under these circumstances, have been concluded by the earl, that he was not likely to pass without a battle. His dispositions were prompt and decisive; he caused his pioneers to clear a road on the right, and thus enabled the foot to disengage themselves from the baggage. He sent out Cornet Magrath with thirty horse to observe the rebels' march. He easily inferred that their design was to seize on the pass of Ballysonan, through which his march lay. Not being encumbered by baggage, the rebels marched much faster than the English. But they had a considerable circuit to take, and the earl, anticipating their purpose from their speed, sent on Lucas to seize the pass, with some troops of horse-a movement which may, in some degree, have been favoured by the accident of not having been seen by the rebels, as at this part of the way a hill intervened between the armies. They were thus obscured from each other for about two miles.

The detachment under Lucas was successful, and when the rebels came within view of the pass, they were surprised and mortified to find it in the possession of their enemies. They halted upon the hill side. In the mean time the earl came up: he caused the baggage to be drawn into the rear, and sent to hasten the march of Coote and Grenville.

The rebels were partly seen, as they stood half-way up the hill and facing the pass. They were marshalled with considerable skill, and presented an imposing appearance with their close array and their numerous ensigns waving on the breeze. The earl drew up the four divisions of foot which were on the ground, in order of battle, within "two musquet shot" of them, and marked the places into which the remaining divisions were to fall as they came up. These divisions, or rather companies, hurried forward, and as they were small bodies, were quickly in their places. The earl, without further delay, commanded the whole line to move forward against the enemy, and they advanced at a rapid pace up the hill. They had not gone far before they met with a check, the consequence of which ought to have been fatal, had there been on the enemy's part the skill or promptitude to take advantage of such an incident: their forward movement was interrupted by a hollow which had concealed a hedge until their line was stopped by it, and they were compelled to take a considerable circuit, after which they formed again on the other side within musket shot of the rebels, who should unquestionably have attacked them during this awkward movement. But the courage of undisciplined soldiers, when not excited by action, is always apt to be chilled at the appearance of an enemy's advance. Their leaders could, in all probability, have no authority sufficient to move a body of men, who, though resolved to fight, were waiting to be roused by blows. With this infatuation the rebels stood their ground, and suffered a considerable number of the English to regain their order of assault, and draw up again just beneath them,

without any interruption. This was indeed in some measure, aided by the skill of the earl, who contrived to amuse their attention by a continual fire of cannon and musketry, and also, by sending forward several small skirmishing parties; and, while this was going on, Sir T. Lucas, who occupied the right wing of the English, fortunately discovered a wide gap in the hedge, and passed through with three troops of horse. Without a second's delay they charged at a round trot into the left of the rebels, who had manifestly looked on their movements with a wavering resolution. The moment the English horse reached them, they gave way without a blow; and as the infantry at the same time came rushing up the hill, the disorder ran along their line, and immediately the entire of the left wing, with their officers, were burrying on in a tumultuous and panic-stricken disorder, down towards the red bog. Their horse stood for a few minutes longer, but were charged by Sir C. Grenville at the head of his troop, and followed the fugitives. The right of the Irish were commanded by Mountgarret in person, and comprised the more select companies under Moore, Byrne, and other principal officers: these men looked calmly on the rout of their companions and kept their ground; on these the hope of the rebel chiefs had been fixed. The earl of Ormonde seeing this, advanced in person against them with his volunteers, and three hundred infantry, led by Sir John Sherlock. They maintained their reputation, by standing during the exchange of some vollies, and when the earl began to advance, they retreated in order before him till they reached the top of the hill; there they caught a sight of the bog and their flying companions, and breaking into utter confusion, rushed in wild disorder down the hill. The number of their slain was seven hundred, among whom were numbered several colonels and other officers. The earl lost twenty men. A detailed account of the fight was transmitted by the Irish government to the house of commons, in which it was read, and afterwards published by their order. In this account the earl is mentioned as 66 ordering the battle and manner of fight in all the parts of it, and doing it with very great judgment, laying hold quickly and seasonably on all opportunities of advantage that could be gained, and sparing not resolutely to expose his own person to hazard equally with any other commander." The earl, not being allowed the means to follow up this success, returned immediately after to. Dublin.

On the May following the synod of the Romish clergy was held in Kilkenny, and those formal acts took place which established the confederate assembly, and gave another form to the rebellion. The history of these events we have introduced in our memoir of the rebel leader Owen O'Neile, with whose arrival in Ireland this change was coincident. In that memoir may be found, sufficient extracts from their acts and resolutions, and something of a brief internal view of their designs and composition. We must here be compelled to view them occasionally and at a greater distance, receding in the mass of circumstances.

The lords-justices during this time were hurried on into inconsistencies of conduct, of the motives of which, were it worth a lengthened investigation for so trifling a purpose, it would be hard to give any

very precise explanation. But it may be generally observed that their position was beginning to be a little more intelligible to themselves, as their difficulties increased; and that thus while maintaining the same system of policy in subservience to their puritan masters, they were from time to time alarmed by incidents which made them apprehensive for themselves and doubtful of the safety of carrying much further the inconsistent plan of irritating and insulting, without taking any step for effectual coercion. They had pursued this course from the commencement of the rebellion, scattering vengeance with unsparing and indiscriminate fury, and driving the peaceful and unwilling into rebellion; while with equal constancy they restrained the hands of the earl and his officers, from meeting the enemy as they should alone have been met, in the field. Until at last, about the time at which we are arrived, the resources which might but a few months sooner have terminated the war, became exhausted, while the army, in want of every necessary, and unpaid the balance due to them, became insubordinate and refused to march. The parliament of England saw with indifference a state of things favourable to their own purposes; the zeal which they affected was but specious and supplied an ample source for slanders against the king. But it was otherwise with Parsons-he with his colleague in office, was compelled to endure the inconveniences and dangers of such a course. His very safety might depend upon the balance of parties, of whom the majority of those, even on his own side, disapproved of all his proceedings. Thus though willing to paralyze the arms of the earl of Ormonde and of the loyalists, he was anxiously alive to the danger of being left without an army on which he could reckon.

Thus while the officers immediately under the influence of the lords-justices, and who acted in the spirit of their instructions were rousing the towns and cities of Connaught into a second outbreak, by the most wanton and insolent outrages; the lords-justices were petitioning for aids in men and money to the parliament, and striving to force their crippled, starved, naked, and mutinous soldiers to march on their petty expeditions. In this state of things, the rebels were again growing formidable in the western counties. They had been restrained by the spirit, activity, and prudence of the earl of Clanricarde, but the able and judicious combination of force and moderation by which this .nobleman induced the most turbulent spirits to submission, was frustrated by the intolerable tyranny of a few parliamentary officers, whose savage and unprovoked brutalities excited a general alarm and resentment. Clanricarde himself was reproved for accepting of submissions; his protection violated, his own people, and even an officer who served under him seized and imprisoned. Lord Ranelagh, then president of Connaught, and the earl of Clanricarde remonstrated strongly against these proceedings, and their representations were strenuously supported in council by the earl of Ormonde. The consequences were not slow to appear in a general and rapid growth of dissatisfaction through the counties of Mayo and Galway, while the rebels were completely masters of the field in Sligo and Roscommon.

In this most alarming condition of affairs, the Irish administration was roused to some show of opposition, and a considerable effort was agreed upon in the council. The earl of Ormonde was ordered to

march with 4500 infantry and 600 horse, for the purpose of re-inforcing the lord-president. Leaving Dublin for this purpose on June 14th, on a service which from the state of the country at the time, was considered to require his ability and prudence, the earl proceeded on this march. On the way he took the castle of Knocklinch by storm, and gave the rout to a strong party of rebels, who posted themselves to dispute his way in the pass of Ballinacor. Lord Netterville fled at his approach, leaving his castle which he had fortified and burning his town. Sir James Dillon, who had besieged Athlone for six months, retired before him. The lord-president who was shut up there without the means of defence, was thus set at liberty to meet the earl and to receive command of the reinforcement intended for him. The earl of Ormonde marched back to Dublin.

During his absence, the lords-justices had been proceeding in that most insidious and pernicious course of measures, by which they were at the same time working to transfer the king's authority, already reduced to a mere form, to their masters the rebel parliament of England, and swelling the ranks of their enemies, by the most unmeasured and unprovoked acts of tyranny. Had their power been levelled directly against the hierarchy and priesthood of the church of Rome, it would be an easy task to vindicate their policy; however we may feel inclined on the score of conscience to acquit that able and consistent body for their steady hostility to the church and government, which they were bound to regard as heretical, there can be little doubt of the reciprocal obligations of those who were by ties of no less force bound to the defence of these institutions. But there was neither wisdom, sound expediency or justice, in the unmerited severities which had the effect of rousing the pride, resentment, and fear of the Roman catholic laity; of driving them into the precincts of a powerful and dangerous hostility, and thenceforth converting religious persuasion into an influential element of political division. These wretched and incapable tools of a grasping and usurping fanaticism, had not the power to calculate the full consequences of arousing the action of one of an opposite character, far more longbreathed and vital, because founded upon principles more removed from impulse and enthusiasm. They could not observe, (or reason upon the observation,) how little influence their creeds have upon the main conduct of most men, until they become embodied in the tangible element of party feeling, when the basest felon who is ready to bid defiance to every sacred obligation, will fight to the death for his altar, because it is his party. It is indeed a matter of nicety to mark the line of moderation and firmness; but we are inclined to think that the laity of the Roman church, would never have been thus embodied into a religious party, by a line of firm and decisive control, directed against the then visibly dangerous influences of the Roman see. They saw the real state of things, and their predilections were all on the side of the crown and constitution of England. They had with a wise and politic moderation, been satisfied to see their church subsist under restraints by connivances, which were the mild but effective outwork against inroads, of which they knew the danger. They were peaceful, submissive, and always prompt to assert their loyalty. But by the policy now adopted it was no longer a matter of individual con

duct, feeling or opinion; a line of conduct conveying disqualification and prescription beyond the letter of the law, spread terror, discontent and indignation through every rank. The most loyal and influential persons of most counties, were first by an order and then by a bill-excluded from the parliament, which was then called, and by such a comprehensive insult and injury sifted into a lesser counterpart of the English commons. The alarm and offence were, as ever happens with unpopular measures, still more injurious than the acts; the Roman catholics were terrified with apprehensions of utter extirpation, and it is little likely that such fears were allowed to fall unimproved to the ground. To add to these mischiefs, it was a most flagitious and scandalous part of the system of proceedings at this time adopted, to drive out of Dublin resident gentry of the Roman catholic persuasion, into the arms of those among whom they could only find safety by enlisting in their ranks. That such was the direct design of the lordsjustices is indeed the inference of Carte, and upon no slight grounds; he reasons from their letters to the parliament of England, and a variety of circumstances, that being fearful of committing the injustice of a more direct attack on the liberty and property of the Roman catholics, they proceeded to effect their purpose by means which were calculated to work by terror and anger. Among these the principal was an urgent and oft repeated application for permission to bring the penal statutes, which were in fact nothing more than a precautionary provision against dangers always possible, into full and active operation: a step equally precipitate and cruel: whatever were their intentions, the purpose of kindling a universal discontent was effected.

Among the most effective of their opponents, the earl of Ormonde was foremost. His great ability is indeed strongly illustrated by the mere fact of his being enabled to stand his ground and hold a very influential authority under a system of usurpation so grasping, lawless and intriguing. His wisdom, honesty and courage were more than equal to the little official cunning of Parsons; but he was unsupported, and his authority was undermined, by powers against which he was altogether unprovided with any means of resistance: he was even tied down by those very laws, which his opponents only regarded as instruments to be used and thrown aside. His movements against the rebels were overruled; his attempts to moderate the councils of government slighted; his efforts to protect the innocent baffled and counteracted. His private fortune was chiefly in the hands of the rebels, and his pay as the king's lieutenant-general was withheld. The difficulties with which he had to strive were great beyond the possibility of any ordinary stretch of apprehension. In his command he was thwarted and crossed by the earl of Leicester, at this time lord-lieutenant of Ireland, but living in England, from which he sent his orders at the prescription of parliament, which had thus the disposal of every thing. And thus even the army under the earl of Ormonde's nominal command was officered by his enemies, the creatures and servants of the parliament, so far as this change could be brought about by filling the vacancies as they fell. To this injustice the earl was compelled to submit, for though the inconvenience of which it was productive was quickly and severely felt, and though on the earl's application, the king