similar circumstances! Here, as in all other places where the insurgents had success, in the early part of the rebellion, while their hopes were high, a tumultuous and frantic exultation took place, with congratulations of Naas and Dublin being in the possession of their associates; the conveyance of such false intelligence, to inspirit their followers, being a part of the policy almost constantly practised by the leaders of the revolt. Loud shouts were heard, especially from a multitude of women, who always followed the men on such occasions, of down with the Orangemen! and, which marked the object of insurrection at its very commencement in the minds of the common people, down with the heretics! They accordingly murdered with deliberate ceremony,, and mangled their bodies in a horrid manner, two gentlemen of the names of Stamer and Brewer, and an old man who had been serjeant in the king's army. That a slaughter of the remaining protestant inhabitants would have been perpetrated, is highly probable, if it had not been prevented by the approach of a body of troops, through fear of whom the rebels fled. Richard Griffith, Esq. with part of his troop of yeomen cavalry, and forty of the Armagh militia, who had repulsed the assailants at Claine, pursued them almost to Prosperous, three miles distant, which caused much terror to the rebels in possession of that town.

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The attack of Naas, the most considerable of the military stations assailed by the insurgents, at the very commencement of the rebellion, was an hour and a half later than that of Prosperous. In this town, fifteen miles south-westward of Dublin, were posted a part of the Armagh militia, detachments of the fourth regiment of dragoon guards and of the ancient Britous, under the command of lord viscount Gosford, colonel of the Armagh regiment, The surprise of this post was prevented by the vigilance of the garrison. The approach of near a thousand insurgents, under the conduct of a chief named Michael Reynolds, being announced by a dragoon, the troops had time to form according to a preconcerted plan. Repulsed in their first onset at the county gaol, which stands in this town, the rebels possessed themselves of all the avenues, and made a general assault in almost every direction. Unable to make an impression on the troops, they fled on all sides after about forty minutes of irregular firing, and were pursued with slaughter by the cavalry. Of the king's forces, two officers and some privates were slain; of the rebels about thirty were found dead in the streets, and a greater number, perhaps near a hundred, may have been slaughtered in the roads and fields in the pursuit. In the course of the day the inha bitants of Naas beheld such scenes, as were afterwards exhibited elsewhere on a larger scale, and

with much higher colouring, the terrified loyalists of the neighbouring towns and country, men, women, and children, who had abandoned their possessions to the rapacity of the foe, flocking into this place of arms with the troops who retreated from the inferior posts. The little garrison of Claine arrived here in the morning, where lieutenant Esmond, taking his place in Captain Griffith's troop, apparently unconscious of the affair of Prosperous, was arrested. The troops who had fought at Kilcullen arrived not before nine in the evening; the fugitive loyalists who accompanied them were obliged to remain in the street all night, yet they fared much better than many people afterwards in similar situations, as they were supplied with provisions from the military stores while they continued in this town, which was during some time after in a state of alarm.

In the action at Kilcullen, which had taken place at seven in the morning, the inefficacy of cavalry against embattled pikemen was two clearly shewn. A body of about three hundred rebels having taken post at the church of Old Kilcullen, general Dundas without waiting for his infantry, ordered his cavalry, consisting of forty men of the light dragoons and Romney's to charge, and, in this service, three times repeated, they were repulsed with the loss of captains Erskine and Cooks, and twenty privates, beside

ten wounded, most of them mortally. Retiring to Kilcullen bridge, he attacked the enemy, who had followed him thither, with twenty-seven Suffolk infantry in front, who, in three destructive discharges of musketry, discomfited and dispersed the rebels.

In my relation of this affair I by no means intend any censure on the general; nor, if I were not indispensably bound to strict impartiality and truth, would I mention any circumstance, which might be wrested into a sinister sense against one whom I consider as an excellent officer and a worthy man. A mistaken opinion of the force of cavalry against pikemen seems tohave been almost universal until experience brought conviction.

War being now openly commenced by the conspirators, government necessarily proceeded to the strongest measure of coercion. The lord lieutenant issued a proclamation on the 24th, giving notice, that orders were conveyed to all his majesty's general officers in Ireland to punish according to martial law, by death or otherwise, as their judgment should approve, all persons acting, or in any manner assisting, in the rebellion. This proclamation was notified the same day to both houses of parliament, by a message from his excellency, who received in consequence addresses of thanks and approbation from both. The effects of this procedure, the necessity of which marked the calamitous condition of the

country, were quickly felt by great numbers of the lower, and some of the higher classes of the people. An instance of its fatality to the latter immediately occurred on the sanguinary repulse of the rebels at Carlow.

Of the intended surprise of this town, forty miles south-westward from Dublin, the garrison was apprised, both by an intercepted' letter, and by the intelligence of lieutenant Roe, of the NorthCork militia, who had observed the peasants assembling in the vicinity late in the evening of the 24th of May. The garrison, consisting of a body of the ninth dragoons, the light company of the North-Cork militia, under captain Heard, some of the Louth militia, under lieutenant Ogle, the yeoman infantry of Carlow under captains Burton and Eustace, Sir Charles Burton's yeoman cavalry, and about forty volunteers-the whole about four hundred and fifty in number, under the command of colonel Mahon, of the ninth dragoons, was judiciously distributed at various posts for the reception of the assailants. The plan of assault was ill contrived, or ill executed, Different parties were appointed to enter the town at different avenues; but only one, that which arrived soonest, attempted an entrance, the rest being deterred by the incessant firing of the troops. This body, perhaps amounting to a thousand or fifteen hundred, assembling at the house of Sir Edward Crosbie, a mile and a half