AS a great conflagration is often kindled by a fmall fpark, fo the feuds and altercations between the peep-of-day boys and defenders, the former prefbyterians, the latter Romanifts, which occafioned much ftrife and bloodfhed, has been afcribed to a trifling difpute between two individuals.

On the fourth of July, 1784, two men of the former perfuafion had a quarrel and fought near Market-hill, a fmall town in the county of Armagh, when one of the combatants became victorious by the advice and affiftance of a Roman catholick peafant and his brother, who happened to be prefent, for which the vanquifhed hero vowed vengeance againft the latter.

A fecond challenge took place, but the two Romanifts would not attend the combat, having been informed, that the prefbyterians, who had been defeated, refolved to be revenged of him and his party.

At laft the vanquifhed prefbyterian publifhed, that a horfe-race would take place on a certain day at Hamilton’s-bawn, where the combatants met and fought a fecond time; when the conqueror became victorious by the affiftance of fome Romanifts who fought on his fide. Both parties began to raife recruits, and to collect arms; but prefbyterians and papifts mixed indifcriminately, and were marked for fome time by the diftrict; to which they belonged, and not by any religious diftindion. Each body affumed the fingular appellation of fleet, and was denominated from the parifh or town-land where the perfons who conipofed it refided.

The Nappack fleet was at firft headed by a Roman catholick; and the people in the neighbourhood of Bunker’s-hill, (in the road from Newry to Armagh,) entered into an affociation to defend themfelves againft the Nappack fleet, chofe a difsenting minifter for their leader, affumed, for the firft time, the title of defenders, and were joined foon after by the Bawn fleet, in order to protect themfelves againft the Nappack fleet. On Whitfunmonday, in the year 1785, the two parties met, and were to have had a defperate engagement.

The Nappack fleet, 700 in number, were all armed with guns, fwords, and piftols. The Bunker’s-hill defenders, and the Bawn fleet, though much more numerous, were not fo well armed. When they were on the point of engaging, Mr. Richardfon, of Richhill, member for the county of Armagh, and two more gentlemen, interpofed, and induced them to feparate, which prevented a great effufion of blood.

From the inveterate hatred which has ever exifted between the two sects, they foon began to feparate, and to enlift under the banners of religion; and as the Roman catholicks shewed uncommon eagernefs to collect arms, the prefbyterians began to difarm them.

The former affumed the appellation of defenders, the latter that of peep-of-day boys, becaufe they vifited the houfes of their antagonifts at a very early hour in the morning, to fearch for arms; and it is moft certain, that in doing fo, they often committed the moft wanton outrages, infulting their perfons, and breaking their furniture.

The paffions of both parties being very much inflamed, they never miffed an opportunity of exercifing hoftilities againft each other, which .frequently terminated in the commiffion of murder.

A detail of their battles would be as unintereftiing as that of the kites and crows.

To exafperate the defenders, and to induce them to embody themfelves from motives of fear, prophecies were frequently made, that the Scotch (meaning the prefbyterians) would rife on a certain night, and maffacre the Romanifts, who, being credulous and timorous, pofted watches all night to give the alarm. As fuch reports were conftantly made, fome time previous to, and during the rebellion, as devices to inflame the popifh multitude againft the proteftants, we may reafonably conclude, that the authors of them, at this early period, had the fame fmifher defigns.

By a feafonable exertion of government, this fpirit of combination and outtrage might have been eafily extinguifhed; but I have been affured, that it was fomented by the improper interference of country gentlemen, who efpoufed one party or the other, for electioneering purpofes; and it happened, that one perfon, who had popifh tenants, was partial to the defenders, and another, whofe eftate was chiefly occupied by prefbyterians, protected the peep-of-day boys.

In the year 1785, fome prefbyterians, profecuted by one Keegan, a papift, whom they had beaten in a moft cruel manner, were fentenced to be imprifoned for a certain time; but they were immediately liberated at the inftance of a gentleman of influence. In the fame manner, one Mc. Quone, a defender, who was fentenced to die at Armagh, in the year 1787, for the murder of one Donaldfon, a prefbyterian, obtained his pardon by the interference of an individual of confiderable weight.

In the year 1787, the difturbances rofe to fuch an alarming pitch, in the county of Armagh, that two troops of dragoons were fent to the city of Armagh to quell them, as infantry were found inadequate for that purpofe.

At laft it became a downright religious war, and the fanaticks of one sect exercifed the moft barbarous revenge on the innocent members of the other, for the crimes of the guilty.

On the trials of fome of the infurgents, at the fummer affizes of 1786, it was proved by fome refpectable witneffes, that, in a riot at Tanderagee, the defenders, who were then arraigned, had offered 5I. for the head of a proteftant.

In the year 1788, the defenders combined among themfelves, not to purchafe any goods from a proteftant, which turned many perfons of the eftablifhed church againft them^ who had formerly been rather friendly to them,and induced them to retaliate.

The people of Lurgan, and its vicinity, were remarkably quiet during the heat and frenzy of the infurgents, becaufe it abounds with proteftants of the eftablifhed. church; the only feft uniformly attached to the conftitution.

In the year 1788, fome volunteer corps were raifed, for the purpofe of checking the fpirit of turbulence and outrage that prevailed, by ftrengthening the arm of the civil magiftrate.* They completely put an end to the perambulations, and the domiciliary vifits of the peep-of-day boys, and very wifely entered into refolutions, that they would not fhew favour or affection to any defcription of men who fhould difturb the publick tranquillity; and yet the defenders shewed the moft decided averfion

* In the fame manner affociations of armed men were ncceflary to put down the white boys.

to this inftitution, began to collect arms with more zeal than ever, and even to learn the manual exercire.

Thefe volunteer corps were very ufeful in preventing tumultuous meetings, riots, and difturbances. In confequence of a challenge given by the defenders and peep-of-day boys, there was a numerous meeting within two miles of Lifmadil, in the county of Armagh, in the year 1788; and the confequences might have been very fatal, had not eighteen of the firft volunteer Armagh company repaired there, and declared that they would fire on the firft perfon who would refift the lawful commands of the magiftrate, and they took fome arms from both parties.

In the fame year, the defenders, emboldened by their numbers and the arms they had procured, fcnt fome challenges to the volunteers, of which a notable inftance occurred at Granemore in the fame county, when they fent a challenge to a party of the latter, after they had fired their laft cartridge in their evolutions, preparatory to a general review. The volunteers, thus circumftanced, being unable to defend themfelves, were obliged to retire to a place of fafety, till they procured a reinforcement for their protection; and then they proceeded to their refpective homes.

The Benburb corps of volunteers, in the county of Tyrone, having proceeded, without arms, to hear divine fervice at the church of Armagh on a Sunday, headed by Mr. Young, one of their officers, paffed by a Romifh chapel, the congregation of which abufed, and threw ftones at them. The volunteers, having procured fome fire arms at Armagh, the altercation was renewed at their return, and ended in a conflict, in which two of the popifh congregation were killed, and fome perfons were wounded on both fides. It was conjectured that the former were prepared for the combat, as they had five mufkets.

The volunteers were very much cenfured for having returned by the fame road, when they might have taken another.

The open hoftility which the defenders difplayed againft the volunteers, raifed for no other purpofe but to maintain focial order, and their intemperate zeal to furnifh themfelves with fire arms, alarmed all loyal and peaceable fubjects; in confequence of which the earl of Charlemont, governor of the county, and the grand jury, publifhed a manifefto in the

year 1788, againft all papifts who fhould anemble in arms, and againft any perfons who fhould attempt to difarm them without legal authority.

It appears then, that the fears of the prefbyterians were not groundlefs; and as they were prevented from difpoffeffing them of arms, which they were collecting in great numbers, they fought for legal redrefs, and indidted fome of the defenders in the year 1788; but baron Hamilton quafhed the indictments, and difmiffed both parties, with a warm and impreffive exhortation to live in peace and brotherly love.

The following difcovery, made in the year 1789, clearly proved that the defenders were fyftematically organized, and that their uncommon eagernefs to procure arms and ammunition, arofe not from defenfive, but offenfive defigns. One of their plans or conftitutions was found in the year 1789, by a magiftrate of the county of Armagh, on one of their leaders of the name of Sharky, and dated the 24th of April of that year, at Drumbanagher.* It is very evident that their views muft have been hoftile, as one effential required in a member of the order was, to be poffeffed of a mulket, and a bayonet. It prevailed alfo in the county of Louth, and they could not plead in excufe for introducing it there, that it was done for protection againft the prefbyterians, as none of that perfuafion, and but few proteftants of the eftablifhed church, exifted there. It muft have taken up fome time to bring this fyftem to maturity, and they were probably numerous in the county of Armagh, as Sharky’s lodge is number 18. There muft have been an intercourfe, and a communication between the lodges of different counties; for, in this plan, there appears a certificate, that Michael Moore was a brother defender, and he is recommended to the committee of Carrickarnan, number 1, in the county of Louth. Sobriety, fecrefy, the accumulation of arms, and the giving affiftance to each other on all occafions, feem to have been leading objects with them. They were exclufively of the Roman catholick religion. They knew each other by fecret figns: they had a grand mafter in each county, who was elected at a general annual meeting, and they had aifo m.onthly meetings.

For the following reafons, it unquestionably appears, that they had treafonable defigns:

* See Appendix, No. II.

The defenders oath found in every other part of the kingdom, correfponds in general with this;* and it has one peculiarity which is worth obfervation. They are required to take an oath of allegiance, which ends thus, While we live under the fame government.

Weldon, a noted defender, who was tried in the year 1795, in Dublin, and afterwards hanged, for various treafonable practices, but particularly for having administered this oath, obferved, on the laft paragraph of it, “If the king’s head were off to-morrow, you would not be under the fame government.”! Weldon dated the origin of the order in 1790, but I fuppofe he alluded to the introduction of it into Dublin. It appeared afterwards, on the trials of all the noted defenders, particularly on thofe of Weldon, Hunt, and Brady, in Dublin, that the extirpation of proteftants was one of the chief objects of the inftitution. Some intelligent tnagiftrates in the county of Armagh have affured me, that they were organized at an early period, with fuch a degree of art and ingenuity, as the low people of which they were compofed, could not have poffeffed; and the fame obfervation is made in the report of the fecret committee of the houfe of lords of 1793.

We cannot be furprifed at this, when it is very well known, that the famous father Quigley| was very active among the defenders. As he interefted himfelf very much in their concerns, it is not improbable that their organization was on the French plan, as it has been difcovered, that he made a practice of going often to France.

They had parochial and baronial committees, and a fuperior one to which they appealed; and from a connexion which appeared afterwards to have fubfifted between them and the Catholick committee in Dublin, we may infer that they were much influenced by it.

The difturbances excited by them in the counties of Armagh, Antrim, Down, Louth, and Monaghan, were fuch, in the year 1789, that general Euflace received orders to repair to thefe counties, and to take the command of a body of troops for fuppreffing them.

At Rathfriland, in the county of Down, and its vicinity, he found that the papifts and prefbyterians harboured fuch mutual enmity and fufpicion,

* But after the war broke out, they were univerfally bound to join and aflift the French.
† I give this man’s trial in the year 1795.
| He was afterwards hanged at Maidftone, in Kent, in 1798.

that a body of each under arms, conflantly kept watch and ward. On being afked their reafons for fo doing, each faid they were afraid of being murdered by the other.

At Loughbrickland, their animofity was fo great, that the general recommended to a Mr. White to quit it, as it would be unfafe for a proteftant to refide there; and he followed his advice.

Many gentlemen of the North have affured me, that the origin of the defenders, and the exceffes which they committed, may properly be imputed to the favage and fanguinary fpirit of the lower clafs of Romanifts in the county of Armagh, where they are peculiarly barbarous.

The following tranfaction will fully prove this, and that fanaticifm was one of the principal fources of defenderifm:

Richard Jackfon, of Forkin, in the county of Armagh, efquire, who died on the 11th of January, 1787, devifed an eftate of about £4,000 a year to the following charitable purpofes: That his demefne, confifting of 3,000 acres, fhould be colonized by proteftants;* and that four fchoolmafters fhould be eftablifhed on it, to inftruft, gratis, children of every religious perfuafion.

7In the year 1789, the truftees obtained an act of parliament, to carry the provifions of the will into execution; and they appointed the reverend Edward Hudfon, rector of Forkill, who was alfo one of the truftees, agent to tranfact the bufinefs of the charity. The papifts, who lived in the neighbouring country, a favage race, the defcendants of the rapparees, declared, without referve, that they would not fuffer the eftablifhment to take place; and they foon put their menaces into execution. They fired twice at Mr. Hudfon. On one occafion, an affaffin was fent from a popifh chapel, when the congregation was affembled, to the road fide, where Mr. Hudfon was paffing by, and he deliberately fired at him with a mufket, from behind a bufh, and killed his horfe. The new colonifts were hunted like wild beafts, and treated with favage cruelty: their houfes were demolifhed, and their property was deftroyed.

The treatment of Alexander Barclay, one of the fchool-mafters, in February, 1791, will fhew the reader the ferocious difpofition of thefe favages; and he muft fhudder with horror at hearing, that they openly exulted in the perpetration of thefe enormities, many of which they

* It had no tenants on it, as it was his demefne.

committed by torch light. They burned the manor mill, and would have murdered the miller, but that he made his efcape, naked, acrofs a river, in the night.

A REPORT of fome of the TRUSTEES of the charity at Forkill, devifed by RICHARD JACKSON, efquire, of the maffacre of the Barclay family, to the bifhop of DROMORE.

“On Friday evening at feven o’clock, a number of villains affembled at -the houfe of Alexander Barclay, one of the fchool-mafters in the parifh of Forkill, near Dundalk, appointed by the truftees of the late Richard Jackfon’s charities, to inftruft indifcriminately the children of the poor of faid parifh. They rapped at the door, he enquired who was there,

* From the time of the laft rebellion in Ireland, in 1689, there had been a fmall barrack there, in which troops were cantoned, till within 30 or 40 years before this period, to reprefs the ferocious fpirit of the rapparees.

and one man of the name of Terence Byrne, his near neighbour, (whofe voice he well knew, and had before at different times admitted upon knowing his voice,) told him it was he was there; he opened the door, and a number of men rufhed in, threw him on his face, and three of them flood on him, and flabbed him repeatedly. They then put a cord round his neck, which they tightened fo, as to force out his tongue; part of which, as far as they could reach, they cut off. They then cut off the four fingers and thumb of his right hand, and left him on the floor, and proceeded to ufe his wife in the fame manner. To add to their barbarity, they cut out her tongue, and cut off her four fingers and thumb, with a blunt weapon, which operation took them up above ten minutes, one or two of them holding up her arm, while they committed this inhuman action. They then battered, and beat her in a dreadful manner. Her brother, a boy of 13 years of age, had come from Armagh that morning to fee her. They cut out his tongue, and cut off the calf of his leg, and left them all three in that fituation.

“No reafon can be affigned for this moft inhuman tranfaction. The man was a proteftant, a peaceable decent man; he taught above 30 of their children gratis, being allowed a falary by the truflees for 40 more. He afked them, whether he had ever offended them? They faid not; but that was the beginning of what he and thofe like him* fhould fuffer.

“Shocking as this account is to human nature, it is publickly exulted at in the parifh; and no perfon feems to think, that any punifhment will follow the commiffion of this moft atrocious wickednefs. So far were they from wifhing to conceal it, that they proceeded on the road with torches, publickly, and in defiance of every body.

“There is every reafon to dread the moft alarming confequences from the effects of this tranfaction. The proteftants are every where in the greateft terror; and unlefs government affords them affiftance, muft leave the country; as this recent inflance of inhumanity, and the threatenings thrown out againft them, leave no doubt upon their minds of what the intentions muft be againft them.

“The man and the boy can fpeak a little, the woman f cannot, and
* Meaning proteftants.
† She was a handfome young woman; they cut off one of her breafts, and fhe foon after died.

fortunately they are all likely to die; as, if they live, they are incapable of earning their fubfiftence. Terence Byrne is fince fled.”

One Devitt, who was privy to it, turned approver, and charged a man of the name of Murphy, with being concerned in it. The watch of Alexander Barclay was found in his houfe; and all the family having identified him, he was convicted at Armagh, and hanged at Forkill. In his way thither, he shewed ftrong figns of defpondency, fobbing, fighing, and bewailing his fate. But when near Forkill, he met a prieft, who whifpered a fhort time in his ear, after which his countenance brightened up, he advanced to the place of execution with firmnefs, and was launched into eternity with fingular refignation. The barbarous treatment of this colony by the Romanifts, and their favage cruelty towards the Barclays, convinced the prefbyterians that the extirpation of proteftants of every denomination was the main defign of the defenders.

As their zeal to collect arms ftill increafed, and as a large quantity of them was imported into Newry for their ufe, which occafioned a general alarm, the grand jury and high fheriff of the county of Armagh entered into the following refolution, at the fpring affizes of 1791:

Refolved, “That a rage among the Roman catholicks, for illegally arming themfelves, has of late taken place, and is truly alarming: In order then to put a ftop to fuch proceedings, and to reflore tranquillity, we do pledge ourfelves to each other, as magiftrates and individuals; and do hereby offer a reward of five guineas, for the conviction of each of the firft twenty perfons, illegally armed and affembled as aforefaid.”

Though the origin of the defenders has been imputed to a particular quarrel, and dated from a certain period, we may fairly conclude, that they had treafonable and revolutionary fchemes, which were infpired by miffionaries from France; probably fome of their own clergy; and what corroborates this opinion is, that the fermentation among them increafed, and kept pace with the difturbances of that kingdom.

When Spain was the moft potent (late in Europe, the Irifh maintained a connection with her, and fought her affiftance to make war againft their liege fovereign, and to fepara’te their native country from England; for which purpofe they brought two Spanifh armies into Ireland, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, which produced two dreadful civil wars.

When France rofe to unrivalled wealth and power, on the declenfion of the Spanifh monarchy, under the aufpices of Richlieu and Mazarine his eleve, the Irifh began, and have never ceafed, to attach themfelves to her, hoping, through her aid, to accomplifh their treafonable defigns; and the popifh clergy, many of whom have been bred in France, never fail to infpire their flock with admiration of the Gallic nation, and with the moft inveterate hatred towards the Englifh, whom they brand with the odious appellation of hereticks. For this reafon, we find father Quigley, an active agitator among the defenders, and afterwards among the united Irifhmen.

In the years 1792 and 1793, they broke out into open rebellion, and attacked, with deftructive rage, proteftants of every denomination, in the counties of Dublin, Louth, Meath, Cavan, Monaghan, Rofcommon, Weftmeath, Donegal, Leitrim, Down, Mayo, Sligo and Derry, Limerick, Wexford, and even in the county of Kerry. In fhort, we may venture to aflert, that before the end of the year 1793, they had fpread the feeds of combuftion over moft parts of Ireland. Not to interrupt the courfe of the narrative, I have annexed, in an Appendix, fome of the principal outrages committed by them.

In the year 1792, they plundered one hundred and eighty proteftant houfes in the county of Louth, though the proteftants in it are not numerous; and they never experienced any enmity or oppofition from them, till they were rouzed to come forward in defence of their lives and properties. The depriving proteftants of their arms and ammunition feemed to have been one of their principal defigns.

In fome places, landlords were obliged to reduce their rents, and the clergy to rehnquifh their tithes, to calm the florm of licentious turbulence, but without effect. Many proteftant families abandoned their houfes, and fled to the capital for protection.

In the autumn and winter of 1792, fo many barbarous outrages were committed by them, in the county of Louth, that at the fpring affizes following, held at Dundalk, twenty-one defenders were fentenced to die, twenty-five to be tranfported, twelve to be imprifoned a certain time, for having confpired to murder diftferent perfons, thirteen indifted for murder put off their trials, and bench warrants iffued againft eighty perfons who abfconded.*

* In the reign of queen Elizabeth, before England had completely experienced the bleffings of the Reformation, we find frequently as many, nay more delinquents, at an affizes.

They would have completely defolated the county of Louth in the year 1792, but that the right honourable John Fofter, fpeaker of the houfe of commons, whofe activity as a ufeful country gentleman, can be equalled by nothing, but the zeal and wifdom which he has difplayed in parliament for the profperity of his country, gave them a complete overthrow, by the moft vigorous and unabated exertions, in the courfe of which his life was often endangered.

In the county of Louth, they marched in great numbers, and in regular array, to their mafs houfes, to fairs and patrons, and were at times heard to declare, that they would not fuffer any proteftant to live in the country.

In the year 1788, Mr. Camac employed a number of mafons to build an inn between Dundalk and Drogheda. Some carriers, who were conveying linen from Dromore to Dublin, were flopped by the mafons, who required them to crofs themfelves, and fay their Ave Maria. Such of them as were papifts, of courfe complied; and one prefbyterian, who living much with Romanifts, knew all their tricks and manoeuvres, was permitted to pafs unmolefted; but a proteftant, who unfortunately happened to be ignorant of them, was moft grievoully beaten by them.

Some people have been led into the following error, as to the origin and the title of the defenders:

That they often, and particularly in the year 1786, indicted fome of the peep-of-day boys, who were acquitted, though their guilt was evident That finding no redrefs from the laws of their country, they united, collected arms for their defence, and affumed the name of defenders.

Some perfons of both parties were frequently convicted and punifhed. Two peep-of-day boys at the fpring affizes of 1788, at Armagh, were fentenced to be fined and imprifoned for ill treating a Roman catholick. Baron Power, in the year 1795, hanged three defenders, and two peep-of-day boys. In the year 1797, government fent the attorney general to Armagh, to difpenfe juftice equally to both parties. He tried alternately two of each party, and fome of both were found guilty, and punifhed.

As the defenders were committing the moft dreadful outrages in the county of Louth, in the year 1792, and the Roman catholick gentlemen did not fhew any inclination to affift in fuppreffing them, the following query appeared in the Dublin Journal of the third of January, 1793:

Have the Roman catholick gentlemen and landholders of the county of Louth, ftepped fairly forward, in conjunction with the proteftant gentry and landholders, in reprefilng the outrages of the banditti, called defenders? Or do they keep back, filent and inactive, pretending to difapprove, yet really acquiefcing in their conduct? This query demands an anfwer.

On the third of January, 1793, few perfons, who called themfelves the Roman catholick inhabitants of the county of Louth, affembled at Greenmount, near Caftle Bellingham, entered into ftrong refolutions againft the defenders, and exhorted all perfons of their perfuafion, to abftain from their combinations, and their unwarrantable practices; and they publifhed them in the Dublin Journal. It was figned by fixty laymen, moft of them in very low fituations, and by eighteen popifh priefts, and doctor Reilly, the titular primate of Ireland.

The following perfons were among the laymen who figned it One Coleman, of Dundalk, with whom Sweetman, fecretary of the Catholick committee, correfponded in the month of Auguft, 1792, relative to protefting the defenders then in prifon, and for whom he employed counfel in their defence, as ftated in the report of the fecret committee of the houfe of lords:*

Another man of the fame name, convicted of lying in wait, and confpiring with others, to murder Parker M’Neil, efquire, a magiftrate, becaufe he had taken an active part againft the defenders:
Patrick Byrne, of Caftletown, efquire, a man of fortune but very feditious, who was fined £1,000 and imprifoned two years, for having publifhed an inflammatory pamphlet, and who has fince abfconded, having been deeply engaged with the defenders:

John Hoey and Anthony Marmion, convicted of treafonable practices, as defenders, and hanged at Dundalk, in the fummer of 1798:

Thomas Marky, condemned to die, but his fentence was mitigated to tranfportation: Bartholomew Mc. Gawley, tranfported for defenderifm:

One Mc. Allifter, deeply concerned with the defenders: John Conlon, a noted defender, who afterwards became an approver; and it is moft certain, that the majority of thofe who figned that paper were defenders,

*This is given at large in the origin of the Catholick committee.

On the feventh of November, 1792, Mr. Mc. Neil was fired at in the night, when at a window in his houfe, on account of the active part which he had taken againft the defenders.

In the year 1793, the grand jury and high fheriff of the county of Cavan, entered into ftrong refolutions againft them, at the fpring affizes.

The magiftrates, gentlemen, and landholders of the county of Meath, vifcount Headfort in the chair, did the like.

The landholders in the Queen’s County, duly affembled by the fheriff on the twenty-ninth of June, 1793, alarmed at the outrages committed by them, refolved to unite and exert themfelves for their fuppreffion.

The inhabitants of the barony of Demifore, in the county of Weftmeath, adopted fimilar refolutions on the twenty-feventh of January, 1793.

At laft, they became fo furious and alarming, that the lord lieutenant and council iffued a proclamation, on the thirteenth of February, 1793, offering a reward of £100 to any perfon, who would profecute them, in the counties of Louth, Meath, Monaghan, Cavan, Dublin, and the county of the town of Drogheda, where they affembled in large bodies, with arms and other offenfive weapons, adminiftered illegal oaths, fent threatening letters, plundered houfes of arms and other things, and burned both houfes and offices.

It has been faid, in their excufe, that they acted in their own defence, in the counties of Armagh and Down, having been attacked by the prefbyterians; but in the other counties, which I have mentioned, their aggreffion on the proteftants was wanton, fpontaneous, and offenfive; as there were but few, if any, prefbyterians in them, and they met with no provocation whatfoever. Some gentlemen, in the North, of great fagacity and folid judgment, have afcribed the origin of the defenders to the following caufe:

During the American war, when volunteering was in its meridian, fome prefbyterians, who had revolutionary projects, invited the Roman catholicks to join them in arms, from the ufe of which they were prohibited by law.

They meant to avail themfelves of their affiftance to fubvert the conftitution, knowing that they, on all occafions, had evinced a decided hoftility to the proteftant ftate.

When the reftoration of peace had defeated the hopes of the prefbyterlans, they refolved to difarm the Roman catholicks, who, animated by the poffeffion of arms and a knowledge of difcipline, not only refufed to furrender them, but proceeded to collect large quantities of them, and even boafted that they would not lay them down, until they obtained a further extenfion of their privileges, in addition to thofe which were recently conceded. Such boafting alarmed the fears, and roufed the indignation of the prefbyterians, who proceeded in large bodies to difarm them, which produced mutual hoftility.

From the envenomed hatred with which the popifh multitude are infpired from their earlieft age by their clergy to a proteftant ftate, their proteftant fellow-subjects, and to a connection with England, and which has appeared in various fhapes, fuch as levellers, white boys, right boys, united Irifhmen, and defenders, we cannot be at a lofs to account for the origin of the latter; they are but a link of the fame chain; they, like the white boys, cement their union by oaths, plunder or burn houfes, put out the tongues, and cut off the ears of their fellow creatures, mangle, maim, or murder them, and hough cattle; — a barbarous practice, which is peculiar to the favages of Ireland!

In the year 1795, the Romanifts, who affumed the name of mafons, ufed frequently to affemble in the neighbourhood of Loughgall, Charlemont, Richhill, Portadown, Lurgan, the Ban foot and Black-water foot, and robbed proteftants of their arms.

In the month of September of that year, they affembled in arms, in;the day time, marched into the parifh of Tentaraghan, in the county of Armagh, and fired into the houfes of proteftants.

Next day the latter affembled in arms for their defence, and a conftant difcharge of mufketry was kept up at each other from diftant hills, but no lives were loft.

On the eighteenth of September, fome magiftrates of the neighbouring country, prevailed on the leaders of the proteftants and the defenders, to repair to the houfe of one Winter, near Portadown, where articles of amnefty and mutual reconcilement were drawn up, and figned by both parties; who alfo entered into recognifances of £50 on each fide, to keep the peace, which were alfo figned by two popifh priefts on the .part of the defenders.

Mr. Atkinfon was one of the gentlemen who figned the articles on the part of the proteftants; yet the defenders way-laid and fired at him, as he was returning to his houfe, at Crowhill, on the fame day.

The defenders, in violation of thefe articles, affembled next day, in arms, and attacked the proteftants, who again propofed peace and mutual forgivenefs, but in vain.

The defenders, elate with their numbers, having fent for reinforcements to the mountains of Pomeroy and Ballygawly, in the county of Tyrone, made an attack on the proteftants, near a village called the Diamond; and were heard to declare, that they would not fuffer a perfon of their perfuafion to remain in the country.

The fhouts and the firing of the defenders alarmed the proteftants, who affembled from all quarters; and an engagement having enfued, forty-eight of the defenders were killed, and a great number were wounded, on the twenty-firft of September, 1795.

It was univerfally allowed, that the defenders were, at leaft, ten to one in this conflict, ever fince known by the name of the battle of the Diamond.

During the three days that the defenders continued under arms, provifions were fent to them in abundance, on cars, from remote parts; fo ftrong was the fpirit of their party!
As the paffions of both parties were now fo much inflamed, that they feemed mutually to think of nothing lefs than extermination; as the defenders were in the proportion of fix to one to the proteftants; and as the former had been fupplied clandeftinely with large quantities of arms and ammunition from Dublin, and various other quarters; the former proceeded, immediately after the victory, to fearch their houfes for them, and wherever they found them concealed, they demolifhed both therm and the furniture; in confequence of which their inmates emigrated to the province of Connaught, particularly to the counties of Mayo and Sligo, where they were well received and protected; but it will appear in the fequel, that their proteftors had reafon to repent of the reception which they gave them.

The reader may form fome idea of the animofity of both parties in the county of Armagh, from the following circumftance: A refpectable

gentleman of that county affured me, that the proteftant inhabitants of the parifh of Sego, were fo much afraid of being murdered by the Romanifts in the year 1795, that they would not venture to go to Lurgan or Portadown, market towns in the neighbourhood, unlefs they were well armed, and in confiderable numbers.

All the emigrants to Connaught did not go from Armagh, or in confequence of feuds or quarrels. Some gentlemen of the county of Tyrone affured me, that many popifh families emigrated from it to Connaught, in confequence of prophecies frequently uttered, that civil wars would foon take place on the eaft fide of the Shannon; that the rivers would be crimfoned with blood, and that there would be a deftructive plague, occafioned by the number of putrid carcafes unburied. The proteftants in the county of Armagh, finding that it was neceffary they fhould unite for their defence, inftituted Orange clubs, of which I fhall now proceed to give an account.

But I think it neceffary to obferve, that the fpirit by which the defenders were actuated, appeared in a moft defperate and outrageous manner in four of the moft remote counties of the kingdom, in the year 1793, in Kerry and Donegal, in Wexford and Limerick, and in many of the intermediate ones, which clearly proves that their plans were not defenfive.

As the defenders not only became terrifick to individuals, in moft parts of the kingdom, by the conflant perpetration of nocturnal robbery and affaffination; as they formed a fyftematick combination, and fupplied themfelves with arms, for the obvious purpofe of fubverting the conftitution in church and ftate; and as they were encouraged and directed by the Catholick committee, and the united Irifhmen, the proteftants of the eftablifhed church, to defeat their malignant defigns, found it neceffary to excite and cherifh a fpirit of loyalty, which began to languifh and decline, in a very alarming degree, and to rally round the altar and the throne, which were in imminent danger.

The battle of the Diamond, in the county of Armagh, in the month of September, 1795, and the duplicity and treachery of the Romanifts, on that occafion, convinced the proteftants, that they would become an eafy prey to their enemies, from the paucity of their numbers, unlefs they affociated for their defence; particularly, as the fanatical vengeance, which they difplayed on that and other occafions, convinced the members of the eftablifhed church, that they meditated nothing lefs than their total extirpation.

In commemoration of that victory, the firft Orange lodge was formed in the county of Armagh, on the twenty-firft of September, 1795, though the name of orangeman exifted fome time before.
They were merely a fociety of loyal proteftants, affociated and bound together, folely for the purpofe of maintaining and defending the conftitution in church and ftate, as eftablifhed by the prince of Orange, at the glorious Revolution, which they regarded as a folemn and facred duty. It confers diftinguifhed credit on its early members, that they united and ftood forward for this truly patriotic purpofe, unfupported and unprotected by the great and the powerful, to whom their motives were mifreprefented by traitors, who knew that the inftitution would form a firm barrier againll their nefarious machinations.

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I have univerfally obferved, that the difaffected, who arraigned with the utmoft feverity the Orange focieties, never uttered any cenfure on the committees of affaffination, to which fo many loyal men fell a facrifice.

Plutarch, in his life of Solon, tells us, that he procured a law to be paffed at Athens, by which any perfon fhould be branded as infamous, that remained neuter when any difturbance or commotion took place, which endangered the exiftence of the ftate. Should not, on the fame principle, thofe who did not affift in oppofing the rebellious defigns of the defenders and the united Irifhmen, be deemed diftoyal, or even traitors?

The lower clafs of proteftants of the eftablifhed church, actuated by an invincible attachment to their king and country, flood forward at this perilous crifis, in the fpirited defence of both, and avowed their unalterable determination to ftand or fall with them.

As they encreafed, a fpirit of loyalty encreafed with them, and ftrength and confidence fucceeded to the place of fupinenefs and defpondency, in the breafts of loyal men. Supported by a confcioufnefs of the goodnefs of their caufe, and by the protection of Providence, they perfevered through every difficulty in their generous refolution; rapidly encreafed in numbers, and became an irrefiftible obftacle, wherever the inftitution got a footing, to the progrefs of the feditious focieties. Left its members, roufed by wanton and unprovoked outrages, might have been ftimulated to retaliate, and from retaliation to commit any exceffes, gentlemen, highly refpectable, not only by birth and fortune but by moral excellence, put themfelves at its head, to regulate its motions; whofe characters were alone fufficient to refute the many falfehoods and calumnies uttered againft the inftitution. As a further refutation of them, they publifhed a declaration of their principles in the newfpapers, which will convince the reader of the purity of their intentions.*

The members of the Orange inftitution, being thus inftrumental in uniformily refifting the progrefs, and contributing to defeat the revolutionary defigns of confederated traitors, became of courfe objectls of their moft pointed and vindictive refentment. Every means were ufed to traduce and vilify them. The nature of their affociation was mifreprefented,

* See Appendix, No. V.

and oaths which they abhorred, were fabricated and impoftd upon the publick as the obligations of orangemen.
With equal virulence, and from the fame motives, the eftablifhment of the militia, and the formation of the yeomanry were oppofed by them.

The following circumftance unqueftionably proves, that the inftitution was perfectly defenfive: It never was introduced into any county or diftrict, till it had been fome years difturbed or defolated by the defenders or united Irifhmen.

It was not eftablifhed in the metropolis, though many years threatened with open rebellion, till the month of January, 1798; and many gentlemen of high charafter and confiderable talents placed themfelves at its head, to give the inftitution a proper direction, and to filence the calumnious clamours of traitors againft it.

It is well known, that the Revolution in England could not have been effected, if combinations of perfons, attached to the conftitution, had not been made for its accomplifhment; and it is univerfally acknowledged, that it could not have been maintained againft the many confpiracies formed for the reftoration of king James, but by the fame means.

As the Jacobites vilified and maligned thofe atfociations, from the fame motives that the difaffected did the orangemen, the houfe of commons of England refolved in the year 1695, “That whoever fhould affirm, an affociation was illegal, fhould be deemed a promoter of the defigns of king James, and an enemy to the laws and liberties of the kingdom.”
From the year 1792, to the year 1797, the county of Monaghan had, been difturbed by the defenders, who at that time became terrifick by the aid and co-operation of the united Irifhmen.

In the beginning of that year, the loyal fubjefts, alarmed for their fafety, began to form Orange clubs, againft the combination of traitors, who were conftantly committing nocturnal robbery and affaffination; but fome of the leading gentlemen of the county oppofed the inftitution.

In confequence of this, the difaffected diffeminated their doftrines fo rapidly, and with fo much fuccefs, that many loyal fubjefts were obliged to compromife with them from motives of fear, to take their oaths, and to enter into their fyftem.
At laft, thofe very gentlemen, who at firft oppofed the Orange inftitution, perceiving that their oppofition muft foon terminate in a total

subverfion of focial order, and the deftrudtion of their lives and properties, encouraged with infinitely more zeal, than they had before refifted, its eftablifhment; in confequence of which, the loyal fubjects, animated by their united ftrength, ftruck the combined traitors with terror and difmay, and reftored energy to the execution of the laws. The fame thing occurred in the counties of Fermanagh, Donegal, Derry, Tyrone, and Armagh, where it was obferved it had a peculiar good effect in detaching the prefbyterians from the union.

I have been affured by a very refpectable gentleman of the county of Tyrone, that its inhabitants were fo much intimidated by anonymous threatening letters, and by the affaffinations committed there, that in the lordfhip of Caledon, containing ten thoufand people, the whole of them, except about fix or eight perfons, were fworn; but the loyal fubjects having entered into the Orange focieties, and having gained courage and confidence by their united ftrength, renounced with indignation thefc traitorous combination*, invigorated the arm of the civil magiftrate, and completely checked the progrefs of treafon. The honourable general Knox, a gentleman whofe fagacity is not inferior to his courage and military fkill, which he has difplayed in Europe, Afia, and America, commanded at Dungannon, in the fummer of 1798; and he affured government, that the inftitution of Orange lodges was of infinite ufe, and that he would reft the fafety of the North on the fidelity of the orangemen who were enrolled in the yeomanry corps.

I think it right to mention, that the Orange affociation fhould not be confounded, as it has often invidioufly been, with the mutual and difgraceful outrages which prevailed in the county of Armagh many years preceding, between the loweft clafs of prefbyterians, under the denomination of peep-of-day boys, and the Roman catholicks, as defenders; for it was not inftituted till the defenders manifefted their hoftile defigns againfc proteftants of every defcription, in moft parts of the kingdom.

Borlafe tells us, that, in the year 1641, the lords juftices invited the lords and gentlemen of the pale to come to Dublin, and aflift them in preventing ftrife or fedition; but they refufed, under a pretext that every perfon of their order was to be maffacred, which was done merely to alarm the lower clafs of Roman catholicks, and infpire them with vengeance againft proteftants; and for the fame reafon the difaffected afferted,

in the years 1797 and 1798, that all perfons of that order were to be murdered by orangemen.

James Beaghan, executed on Vinegar-hill the twenty -fourth of June, 1799, for various murders, which, he faid, he was infligated by popifh priefts to commit, confeffed, that “every man that was a proteftant was called an orangeman, and every one was to be killed, from the pooreft man in the country. They thought it no more sin to kill a proteftant than a dog.”  See his confeffion at large in the fequel.

However ufeful the Orange inftitution may be in a country where the members of the eftablifhed church are numerous, it muft be allowed, that it muft have been injurious where there are but few, becaufe it only tended to excite the vengeance of the Romanifts againft them; and they could not unite with celerity, and in fufficient numbers for their defence. It fhould not be admitted in our regular army, or militia, confifting of both, and therefore would be likely to create party zeal and difcord.

As foon as the maffacres perpetrated at Vinegar-hill and Scullabogue were known in the North, numbers of prefbyterians, of whom fome had been difaffected, and others lukewarm, in the counties of Armagh, Tyrone, Fermanagh, and Donegal, trembling for their fafety, became Orangemen; and general Knox, depending on their zeal and fincerity, embodied them, and procured arms for them from government.

In the year 1792, when the diffemination of treafon and the formation of feditious clubs, in London, threatened the immediate deftruction of the conftitution, Mr. Reeves, by feafonably encouraging loyal focieties, checked the progrefs and the baneful effects of their doctrines. The inftitution of orangemen did not differ from them in the fmalleft degree.

I give the following extrafts from Harris’s Life of king William, to fhew that the Irifh Roman catholicks in the year 1689, propagated reports of the malevolent defigns of the proteftants towards their order, fimilar to thofe which were fet on foot of the orangemen, and for the fame purpofe:

“In the mean time, the Irifh papifts throughout the kingdom, proceeded in impeaching the proteftants of traitorous defigns; but their plots were fo ridiculoufly contrived, and made up of fuch palpable contradictions

and incongruities, that they ferved only to demonftrate the innocence of the accufed, and inveteracy of the informers. Thefe impeachments failing of the intent, they applied themfelves to other courfes, many turned tories and highwaymen, houfebreakers, and ftealers of cattle, and were guilty of fo many enormities to the English, that thoufands were forced to defert the kingdom, and pafs into England, under as great fears and jealoufies as if there had been an open rebellion, and five hundred together tranfported themfelves to the Englifh foreign plantations.”*

“The Irifh pretended, that the proteftants affembled in great numbers in the night time; and, to gain the more credit, the vulgar Irifh were inftructed to forfake their houfes, and to hide every night in the bogs, pretending a fear, that the Englifh would, in that dead feafon, cut their throats; a praftice, as notorious among them, as unheard-of among proteftants, and for which there neither was, nor could be, the leaft foundation; for their infinitely fuperior numbers to the Englifh, in fome parts an hundred families to one, fhewed how ridiculous the invention was; and they were convinced, both by the practice of the proteftants and the principles of their religion, that they were not men of blood. Whoever confiders the genius of the Reformed and Romifh churches in this particular, muft needs acknowledge a ftrange oppofition between them. However, with what malice and injuftice foever the Englifh were reprefented as nightwalkers, with defign of murdering the Irifh, yet examinations of thefe charges were taken by juftices of the peace, calculated for the purpofe, and tranfmitted to the lords juftices and council; upon which, by the king’s directions, a proclamation was iffued, forbidding all night meetings, though the lords juftices well knew there was no fuch practice.”†

* Harris’s life of K. William III. edit, of 1749, Dub. folio 107.    † lb. p.105.