CHAPTER XX.

Assembling of the United Troops in Down-Action near Saintfield-Attack on Portaferry-Battle of Ballynahinch-Total Suppression of the United Irishmen in Ulster.

THE disasters which followed the rising in Antrim had not the effect of intimidating Down, but a fatality attended their separate movements. Had they acted in concert, a different result might have been produced. The other counties of the province, though apparently tranquil, were far from composed, and had they risen simultaneously, the whole British force in Ulster would not have been able to suppress them. Antrim and Down alone could have produced more men for the field than the government of Lord Camden might have found it prudent to contend with.

The decisive battle of Antrim was fought on the 7th of June, and though M'Cracken had been able to maintain a fugitive warfare, with a few brave and determined followers, the spirit of

the county was broken, and no exertion of his was successful in restoring it.

The United Irishmen of Down first appeared in arms on the 9th, in the neighbourhood of Saintfield, but before any formidable number had assembled, they were forced into action. The town of Newtownards, a few miles distant, was garrisoned by an English regiment, the York Fencibles; these, under the command of Colonel Stapleton, together with a corps of yeoman cavalry, another of infantry, and two light pieces of cannon, marched with haste to dislodge them. Informed of Colonel Stapleton's advance, the people posted themselves in the line of his march, a short distance from the town of Saintfield, occupying the space between high and close hedges, which, then in full verdure, shadowed the road on each side over which he must pass. Here they awaited Stapleton's approach, and here they must have succeeded in cutting off his entire division, had it not been for the temerity of an individual, who observing in the yeomanry ranks a gentleman conspicuous for loyalty, the Rev. Mr. Mortimer, rector of Comber, levelled his musket and fired -Mortimer fell.

This shot was the first intimation to Stapleton of his perilous situation; about one half of

his force were already within the line of the hedges, when he discovered the position of the United troops, and the action instantly commenced. Such of the British as were within the hedges suffered severely; many fell before any effectual resistance could be made. Captain Unit, of the York, at the head of the light company, at length succeeded in forcing one of the hedges; he was received on the opposite side by a body of pikemen, and fell gallantly fighting at the head of his company, most of whom perished with him.

The action now became more general. Such of the British troops as had not entered the defile, were able to form; they were assailed with much intrepidity by the people, but eventually succeeded in beating them off, at least so far as to enable Colonel Stapleton to effect an orderly retreat to Comber. This little affair, though indecisive, was sanguinary; no prisoners were taken on either side. Stapleton occupied Comber for the night, while the United troops entered Saintfield, and remained in the undisputed possession of the town.

On Sunday, the 10th, it was understood that the men of Ards had taken up arms; they were regarded as a prudent, but a bold and determined people; Stapleton marched from Comber

to oppose them. The distance was short a little time would have brought the parties into contact, but Stapleton changed his route and proceeded towards Belfast.

While the inhabitants of the northern division of the barony of Ards were assembling, those of the southern had marched at an early hour in the morning against Portaferry. Captain Mathews, a brave and experienced veteran, had the command of that town, and displayed considerable talent in its defence. The only force he had for its protection was one on which, as a military man, he seemed to place but little reliance: this was the. yeomanry ;-but Mathews was determined they should fight'; he inclosed them in the market-house, and directing the captain of a revenue cruizer, then lying in the river, to bring his guns to bear on the street, he waited the approach of the people, who were now advancing on the town in considerable force.

The yeomanry had no alternative-fight they must; the guns from the cruizer commanding the open street, were alike pointed against those who advanced or those who might be disposed to fly-the pikemen in an opposite direction— the market-house between. Self preservation forced a sort of courage,-Mathews cheered his

forlorn hope-a number of pikemen fell by the first discharge-the Ards men advanced-again they received a volley from the fortress. The shot from the cruizer by this time began to tell; men dropped in every direction, ignorant of the force by which they were assailed; their exposed situation in the street, with the pressure in the rear, soon caused confusion in the front, and unable to return the fire with proportionate effect, they retreated from the town.

Mathews, satisfied with the result of the action, but not considering it prudent to risk a second, passed over to Strangford with his yeomen, who had calculated so little on their own powers of resistance, that some actually conceived, for the moment, that they themselves were the runaways.

The rising in the northern parts of Down had now become pretty general. On the morning of the 10th a considerable body of men, chiefly armed with pikes, entered Newtown Ards; they were repulsed, but returning in the course of the day with additional numbers, and a few pieces of small ship cannon, they took quiet possession of the town, which had been previously evacuated by the slender garrison that had successfully opposed them in the morning. From