CHARACTER OF HUMBERT'S ARMY. 267

said, 'Vive!' They demanded bread, beef, wine and beer, and by supplying them with those articles, as far as my purse went, I obtained their good-will. The rebels who accompanied them at first plundered us of various articles, but one day, when they revisited us, I alarmed my foreign. inmates, who expelled and chastised them severely. One of them was from Holland; I gave him my watch, but he kindly returned it. Another was from Paris, was mild, learned, and rather silent; he had been a priest, but on the overthrow of his order, became a soldier. He denied a future existence. One a Spaniard, was as intrepid as Hannibal. Since the age of fifteen he had followed the profession of a soldier. He had been a prisoner in Prussia, in Paris, and in London. He had been confined in a dungeon at Constantinople. He crossed the Alps with Bona parte, and fought under him in Italy. His body, head, and face, were covered with wounds. He was a hard drinker, a great swearer, and mocked at religion; and yet he was very fond of children, and never entered my apartment without inquiring after my wife. The fourth was from Rochelle, and the fifth from Toulon."*

But an army, composed of such materials, was likely to prove troublesome. The danger was imminent of a new insurrection. The spirit of rebellion, so lately quelled, started up again at the least prospect of revolution. The peasants in great numbers flocked to the invading standard. A camp was formed in the bishop's meadows near Killala. The French furnished the peasants with arms, and began to instruct them in military discipline.

* Sir Richard Musgrave's History, vol. ii. p. 157.

If any of the peasantry thought to make this a religious war, they were quite disappointed. The French officers were much amused, to hear their Irish recruits say that they had come to take arms for France and for the blessed Virgin! They replied that they had just deposed Mr. Pope in Italy, and did not expect to see him so soon in Ireland.

But the movement gained force with every hour's delay. The news that the French had effected a landing soon spread through Ireland, and set the whole island in agitation. Not a moment was to be lost. Lord Cornwallis prepared to march against the enemy in person at the head of his whole army.

A body of four thousand men was soon assembled at Castlebar, under General Lake, the conqueror of Vinegar Hill. This was far on the northern road, and in a position to watch or attack the enemy. But Humbert did not wait to receive the English at Killala. Learning the position of General Lake at Castlebar, he left a garrison of two hundred men to hold Killala, and sallying out with a force of nine hundred, and about a thousand raw Irish, he marched with great celerity to the south. The main road runs direct to Castlebar. He had given out that he should march by this route. The news soon reached the ears of spies that were lurking about the camp, who lost no time in conveying it to the enemy. A heavy force was accordingly thrown forward to intercept him. He left Killala Just at evening, filing out, as he had declared his intention, on the main road. On this he advanced some distance, when suddenly he turned to the right, and struck into the

BATTLE OF CASTLEBAR.

269

mountains. He now found himself in a circuitous road which was almost impassable for artillery. It led through a narrow defile where a single company with a field-piece, could have stopped the advance of his whole army. But the British generals no more thought that the French would advance in that direction, than that they would drop down from the sky.

It was hardly daybreak next morning when a yeoman, who had been out to look after his farm, came galloping into Castlebar with a report that a large body of men in blue clothes, were advancing on the road from the mountains. "What were these which came in such questionable shape?" The general was instantly in his saddle, and attended by a few dragoons rode forward to reconnoiter. He had gone about three miles, when he saw the' advanced guard of the French sweeping up the road. A report of fire-arms, and bullets whistling past, admonished him to change his course. He wheeled his horse, and general and troopers spurred back to town faster than they

came.

Now all was bustle in the camp. The drum beat to arms. The garrison was marched out of town to a rising ground, which gave them an advantageous position fronting the enemy. Scarcely were they drawn up in battle array, before the French columns were seen advancing. When drawn out in line to face the four thousand English troops, the little French army made but a slim figure. They were weary with a toilsome night's march, while the English were as fresh as if drawn up on parade. Their batteries were in position, and began to thunder across the

field. Several shot struck the French line, and caused it to fall back. But they had no thought of retreating. "In a short time, they were perceived deploying from the center, which was performed in a quick, masterly style, with the files very open." The rapid evolutions of the French, and their bold front, struck terror into their enemies. Suddenly the English troops were seized with a panic. As the French advanced, they broke, and in spite of every effort of their officers to rally them, ran for life. They rushed through the town, and continued their flight with such rapidity that they reached Tuam, thirty miles distant, the same night. They left fourteen pieces of artillery in the hands of the French.

The defeat was indeed most disgraceful. The effects might have been disastrous to English rule in Ireland, if Lord Cornwallis had not been advancing with a powerful army. Humbert was now obliged to stand upon the defense. He retreated behind the Shannon, and held out until the 8th of September. It was not until he was surrounded by nearly thirty thousand troops, that he surrendered. If an officer of but ordinary military talent, with one thousand Frenchmen, could so alarm the whole island, how long would the Irish government have stood against Hoche, with his fifteen thousand veterans?

CHAPTER XXIV.

LAST EXPEDITION OF TONE.-CAPTURED IN A NAVAL ENGAGEMENT.-TRIAL BEFORE A COURT MARTIAL.-CURRAN'S EFFORTS TO SAVE HIM.-SENTENCE.— LAST LETTER TO HIS WIFE.-DEATH.

THE progress of events now brings to the theater of war the moving spirit of the revolution. The precipitancy of Humbert in sailing without orders, threw the Directory into the greatest perplexity. They must openly desert him, or support him by an immediate reinforcement. It had been designed that the expedition should consist of nine thousand men, but time was more important than numbers, and as soon as three thousand could be assembled, they were embarked on board a squadron consisting of one line-ofbattle ship, eight frigates, and one schooner, and sailed for Ireland. Tone felt that the attempt with such a force was desperate, but he had always said that if but a corporal's guard went, he should go with them. He was on board the Hoche, a seventy-four, with the admiral. It was on the 20th of September, 1798, that he bade adieu to the shores of France, which he was never to see again.

Admiral Bompart was an excellent seaman, and once out of port, he sailed away far into the Atlantic, making a broad sweep to the west, to avoid the English fleets. After