The Insurrection of Ninety-Eight

The failure of the French expedition did not put an end to the revolt of the United Irishmen. Wolfe Tone next resorted to Holland, which country, like France, was then hostile to England. A large force was collected, and a Dutch squadron was made ready to sail for Ireland. But now, again, a series of high gales swept over the German Ocean and the English Channel, and the ships lay helpless in their harbor. When at last they sallied forth, they were easily taken by the English admiral Duncan. The failure of the attempts to procure foreign help threw the United Irishmen upon their own resources. They might have become disheartened, had it not been that the cruelties and severities of the English officials and soldiers in Ireland kept the spirit of resistance aflame. The whole island was honey-combed with English spies, and with base Irishmen, who, for offices and money, were eager to betray their patriot fellow-countrymen. There were traitors in the very meetings of the United Irishmen, who hastened away from those meetings to reveal what had been done, to the English authorities in Dublin castle.

Many of the leading patriots were seized and thrown into prison. They were tried before packed juries, who were sometimes plied with drink, in order that they might bring in verdicts against the accused. Martial law was proclaimed in the counties where the insurgents were most numerous and formidable. The counties of Kildare and Wexford were sternly subjected to this law. Irishmen were condemned to death upon the evidence of paid spies and traitors, and upon the conviction of corrupted juries. The English troops in Ireland were guilty of barbarous atrocities.

When the humane Sir Ralph Abercrombie took command of the army in Ireland, he wrote back to England that "houses have been burned, men murdered, others half hanged. A young lady has been carried off by a detachment of dragoons; and, in the room where she was, an officer was shot through the thigh. These are but a few of the enormities which have disgraced us of late; were the whole to be collected, what a picture it would present! Within these twelve months, every crime, every cruelty, that could be committed by Cossacks or Calmucks has been committed here."

Abercrombie tried to put a stop to the outrages committed by the soldiers, and to restore discipline and obedience to the English troops. But the violent enemies of Ireland, aided by Earl Camden, the lord-lieutenant, were too strong for him; and he was forced to give over his command to General Lake. This general was stern and severe; and winked at, if he did not sanction, the cruelties which his soldiers committed upon the Irish. The poor peasants, many of whom were wholly guiltless of rebellion, were flogged and shot, or their wretched huts were burned over their heads. Men were subjected to barbarous tortures, to compel them to betray the design's and hiding-places of the patriots.

If any man ventured to wear a sprig of green, the Irish color, he was subjected to persecution and violence: even women, for this act, were insulted and infamously treated. It was the custom of the United Irishmen to have their hair cropped close to their heads. If any man, therefore, was found with his hair cut short, the brutal British soldiers would cover his head with pitch, and put a paper cap thereon, which could not be removed without tearing the scalp.

All these things incensed the Irish, and drove them by thousands into the ranks of the United Irishmen. The chiefs of the society resolved upon a general rising throughout the country. But the government spies were not idle. A meeting of the Irish leaders in Dublin was betrayed by an informer, and surprised by a posse of soldiers from the castle; and fourteen of them were captured. Soon after, Thomas Addis Emmet, Sampson, and McNevin were taken. Lord Edward Fitzgerald was still at large, and was all the more resolved, after the arrest of his colleagues, to kindle an insurrection. But he, too, was soon betrayed. The lord-lieutenant was informed that Fitzgerald was concealed in the house of a certain feather-merchant. A party of soldiers was at once sent to seize him. When they entered his room, the brave patriot sprang upon them with a long dagger. He was desperately wounded, however, and was dragged away to prison, where he died of his wounds in a few days.

CAPTURE OF FITZGERALD.

The revolt was deprived of its gallant and able leaders; yet, in many places, the rising took place as had been planned. The scattered companies of soldiers and militia-men, spread through the country as garrisons, were assailed by the fierce, undisciplined United Irishmen. In some places the companies were overcome, and their posts occupied by the insurgents. Then followed scenes of savage carnage and destruction, visited by the victors upon the soldiers, and upon the partisans of England, in the districts round about. In other places the English troops held their own, and the insurgents were driven off with savage slaughter. Martial law was proclaimed in Dublin; and this saved the capital from a rising of the United Irishmen within its limits.

The insurrection was the most obstinate and the most prolonged in the county of Wexford. It held out there after Ulster and Meath had been reduced to complete subjection by the English troops. At first the Wexford rebels won some notable victories. They defeated the militia at Oulart, took Ferns, where they burned the Protestant bishop's palace; and, gathering strength as they advanced, at last entered the town of Wexford itself.

In no long time the entire country, with the exception of the towns of Duncannon and New Ross, was in the rebels' hands. They desperately attacked New Ross, but without success. Some of the wildest of the rebel spirits wreaked their vengeance upon a party of Protestant men and women who were collected for safety in a house and barn in the neighbor-hood. Many of these were shot, or killed with pikes; the rest were burned in the barn where they were huddled together. This atrocious act was done without the knowledge of Harvey, the commander of the insurgents; who, when he heard of it, denounced it with warm indignation. He was soon after succeeded in the command by a warlike priest, Father Philip Roche. Some minor successes emboldened the insurgents to advance northward. Thirty thousand of these marched on Arklow, which was held by a strong English garrison.

At the head of these insurgents was Father Michael Murphy. They attacked the defenses of the town with furious valor. At one time the rebels seemed on the point of victory; but, in the midst of the fray, Murphy fell, fatally wounded. His men, disheartened by this event, slowly and sadly withdrew, and the English remained masters of the town. The battle of Arklow was the turning-point of the insurrection.

The Irish now retired to two camps,—one on the hill of Lacken, and the other on Vinegar hill, near Enniscorthy. There they remained inactive, sending foraging parties through the neighboring districts to collect provisions, and awaiting a favorable moment for resuming the offensive. But that moment never came. Heavy re-enforcements soon arrived from England, and the English generals resolved to at once advance upon the rebels in their camps. At the head of the English was the relentless General Lake. The Irish, under Roche, when they heard of the advance of the English, retreated from Lacken hill, and succeeded in reaching Wexford in safety. The other Irish stronghold near Vinegar hill remained. The English troops closed in upon it. They drove the Irish, who fought with desperate but useless courage, out of Enniscorthy up the hill. A terrible battle ensued. At last the Irish were forced to evacuate the hill, and to seek refuge, like their comrades of the Lacken camp, in Wexford (June 2I, I798).

Already the position of the Irish at Wexford had been attacked; and, when the news of the defeat at Vinegar hill arrived, the Irish abandoned the town. The various Irish forces now retired into the interior, and were broken up into marauding bands. The vengeance of the English upon the defeated Irish was swift and terrible. The soldiers and militia vied with each other in the excess of their atrocities. A hospital containing a number of wounded Irish was burned with its inmates. Parties of militiamen rode about the country shooting all, even women, whom they chanced to meet. The houses were robbed of all articles of value. Court martials sat in the towns, and those whom they condemned were hurried in batches to execution. Many of the leaders of the revolt were hung in Dublin. Among those who thus suffered were Roche, Kelly, Murphy, and Harvey. Others were mercilessly flogged with the cat-o'-nine-tails. Hundreds of perfectly innocent persons were subjected to the brutal violence of the triumphant English.