The inhabitants of no part of Leinfter enjoyed fo equal a portion of focial happinefs, as thofe of the county of Wexford, which arofe from the following caufes: Many Englifh families who fettled there at, different periods, but particularly in the laft century, introduced that œconomy, induftry, and cleanlinefs, which are peculiar to the Britifh nation, but in which the native Irifh are very deficient; and ftrong veftiges of thofe habits are ftill evident in the defcendants of the Britifh fettlers. There are fewer abfentee eftates in Wexford than in moft other counties, and more gentlemen refident in it, who maintain focial order, and difcharge the duties of hofpitality, charity and humanity; and as the leaves of a tree enrich the foil which nourifhes the parent trunk, fo the rents of an eftate fhould be expended in

* The latter was hanged. He was coadjutor to father Kavenagh. parifh prieft of Gorey.

rewarding the labour of thofe, who, in producing them, contribute to thE eafe, the comfort, and convenience of the landlord. From its oblong and narrow form, and the fmuofity of its fea coaft, it enjoys a much greater length of it, in proportion to its quantity of fquare acres, than any other county a citcumftance favourable not only to commerce, but to agriculture, as the fea fand, and fea weed, form a very good manure for corn. It is abundantly fupplied with fifh and fea fowl. It is bifected by the river Slaney, which is navigable to Ennifcorthy, fifteen miles from the fea: part of it is bounded on the weft by the rivers Nore and Sarrow, which unite a little above New Rofs, and proceed in a very copious ftream to Dunbrody, where being joined by the river Suir, they run in a fouth-eaft direction, and, paffing by Paffage and Duncannon fort, difcharge themfelves into the ocean at Hook tower.*

The county of Wexford had been generally noted for the peaceable dhpofition of its inhabitants, and a chafte adminiftration of juftice, which might be juftly imputed to the comfort, and the conftant occupation, which its very extenfive and flourifhing agricuhure affords to the farmers and the peafantry, and to the number of gentlemen who refide on their eftates. While many counties in Ireland were difgraced by nocturnal robbery and affaffination, committed by defenders and united Irifhmen, for five years previous to 1797, it was the pride and the boaft of the Wexford gentlemen, that their county remained in perfect tranquillity! But in the autumn and winter of the year 1797, and in the fpring of the enfuing year, as there were well grounded fufpicions that the mafs of the people began to be infected by thofe baneful principles, which have fince proved fo fatal to the kingdom, that pikes had been manufaftured, that clubs had been formed, in which illegal oaths had been adminiftered, meetings of the magiftrates were held in different parts of the county, to take into confideration the neceffity of proclaiming thofe diftricts, where fymptoms of difturbance had appeared.

From the beginning of the year 1797, it was perceived by fome magiftrates of difcernment, that the lower claffes of the people were very unwilling to pay their debts, or to fulfil any engagements: That they appeared furly when called on to do fo and they were heard, when angry,

* See Plate F, No. I. JII. III.
† The only inftance to the contrairy that occurred there fome years were the whiteboys in the year 1774, and the defenders who appeared there in 1793; but the latter were foon fupreffed.

or drunk, to hint on fuch occafions, that they “would foon have an opportunity of being revenged. They were feen to remain later than ufual at fairs and markets, and in publick houfes, and to confer together in whifpers.

At a meeting of the magiftrates held at Gorey, the twentieth day of November, 1797, fuch ftrong proofs appeared, that a fpirit of difaffection had exifted fome time in certain diftricts, that nineteen parifhes were proclaimed; which circumftance alarmed the priefts of thofe parifhes, and their congregations, as they found that the progrefs of their rebellious defigns would be impeded, if the civil magiftrate was empowered to act with additional energy under the infurrection law. They therefore affembled at their refpective chapels, and in an addrefs, which they univerfally adopted, befought the earl of Mountnorris to avert that meafure, as it would cover them with a fufpicion of difloyalty and difaffection, which they by no means merited: And as his lordfhip, and feven more magiftrates of the county, fpoke and voted againft proclaiming thofe parifhes, they entreated him and them, to meet them at their refpective chapels, that they might take the oath of allegiance, to clear themfelves from that imputation; and his lordfhip, and thofe magiftrates, having accordingly attended them, they all, at their refpective altars, fwore an oath of allegiance, agreeable to a form previoufly agreed upon.*

So deep was the difguife of the popifh multitude, and their priefts, that the proteftant minifters, churchwardens, and parifhioners of fome parifhes, were prevailed on by them, to fign certificates of their loyalty and peaceable deportment, in order to prevent the adoption of that falutary coercion, which would have checked their dangerous defigns; and yet thofe very priefts, and their flocks, difplayed the moft bitter and unrelenting enmity againft thofe minifters† and their congregations, in the month of May, and hunted them like wild beafts.

At the meeting held at Gorey, eight magiftrates, including Lord Mountnorris, voted and fpoke vehemently againft proclaiming the nineteen parifhes, from a perfuafion that the popifh inhabitants and their priefts were

* See in appendix, No. XVII. The addrefs to his lordfhip, and the oath of allegiance which they all adopted, and the names of the priefts and their refpective parifhes.
† See in appendix, No. XVII. the certificates of fome parifhes, which 1 happened to obtain.

perfectly innocent; and yet they were as obnoxious to that ferocious and fanguinary fpirit which broke forth in the month of May, as thofe who wifhed to enforce that meafure.

The fymptoms of rebellion were fo evident and alarming in the month of April, that twenty-feven magiftvates affembled at Ennifcorthy, on the twenty-fifth of that month, and agreed that the whole county fhould be proclaimed, and it accordingly, took place on the twenty-feventh; but Mr. Jofhua Pounden ftrenuoufly urged an exemption from its operation for that town, from a conviction of the loyalty of its inhabitants; and Mr. Alcock of Wilton, from the fame motive, folicited a fimilar privilege for his tenants; though the fequel proved that they were deceived.

This procedure was adopted, in confequence of their having difcovered that great quantities of pikes had been made, and of their having detected blackfmiths in the act of fabricating them.

Mr. Hawtrey White, captain of the Ballaghkeene yeomen cavalry, obtained the following information, and communicated it to government, fo early as the month of November, 1797: Their manner of affembling: Their frequent meetings: Their mode of collecting money in their refpective parifhes: That it was to be applied to the purpofe of purchafing arms and ammunition, and of feducing the military: That an attack on the city of Dublin was meditated: That the popifh priefts were deeply concerned in the rebellion; and that whenever it would break out, religion would have the chief influence.

Many other priefts and their congregations followed the example of thofe who took oaths of allegiance, on the twenty-fixth of November, 1797, having folicited the magiftrates to give them the fame opportunity of exculpating themfelves.

In the month of February, 1798, fome of the principal popifh farmers of the parifh of Kilrufti, folicited Charles Dawfon, efquire, of Charlesfort, near Ferns,* a magiftrate, to attend them at their chapel for that purpofe; and he complied with their wifhes, on the enfuing Sunday, when he was affifted by the reverend Edanus Murphy, their parifh prieft, and his coadjutor. The latter in a long harangue from the altar, expatiated on the virtues of his prefent majefty, the wifdom and lenity of his

* See Plate II. 6.

government, and recommended to them a fteady and unfhaken fidelity to both. He at the fame time appointed three days for them to affemble at different places in the parifh, to take and fubfcribe the oath of allegiance, before Mr. Dawfon, which they accordingly did; and father Murphy was prefent at one of their meetings.

The fame prieft and his flock affembled again on the twenty-eighth of January, 1798, in their chapel, expreffing their abhorrence of the barbarous outrages lately committed, and of the dangerous confpiracies formed by traitors and rebels, ftyling themfelves united Irifhmen; and declaring their unalterable attachment to their beloved fovereign, and to our happy conftitution. It was figned by Edanus Murphy, and five hundred and fourteen of his parifhioners, and publifhed in the Dublin Journal on the third day of March, 1795, after having been prefented to the viceroy.

Notwithftanding fuch unequivocal teftimonies of their loyalty, Mr. Dawfon had ftrong reafons for thinking that a ftorm was gathering, as the people affembled privately, and many pikes had been manufactured in the parifh, fubfequent to the adminiftration of oaths at the chapel. He therefore prevailed on fome of his tenants, partly by threats, and partly by perfuafion, to make a full confeffion of their guilt, and to deliver up their arms, which they accordingly did; and next day, a great number of people followed their example, in acknowledging their delufion, in furrendering pikes, and in foliciting protections, which they obtained; though thefe very people had a few days before taken oaths of allegiance, and had figned an addrefs to the viceroy.

On this difcovery, Mr. Dawfon, alarmed at the perilous ftate of the country, repaired on the twentieth of May to Wexford, where he and twenty-nine magiftrates affembled; and publifhed notices, exhorting all the people in general to come in, to take oaths of allegiance, to confefs their errors, and to accept the protection which they then offered them. This produced the defired effect; far the magiftrates continued the entire week to receive great numbers of people, who feemed very penitent, having confeffed their errors; the committees before whom they had been fworn; and the blackfmiths who had made their pikes, of which they furrendered great quantities.

The fame protections were granted in the parifhes of Ennifcorthy,Templefhambo. Ferns,* Newtown-Barry† and Camolin,| where the refpective parifh priefts attended, and exhorted their flocks to teftify their loyalty, and to renounce their errors; and this continued till the day before the rebellion broke out, and in moft of the parifhes in that county they followed their example.

The priefts and their congregations in the parifh of Monomolin, took oaths of allegiance, furrendered their arms, and received protections, on the week preceding the rebellion, and fent a loyal addrefs to the viceroy.

Great numbers of people in the parifh of Kilfcoran, attfended by two prieftis, continued to take oaths of allegiance on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, previous to the thirtieth of May. Above one thoufand perfons did the like in the parifh of Taghmon, the week preceding the rebellion, and two hundred even fo late as the morning of Whitfunday.

The protections granted to the perfons who took fuch oaths, were foundafterwards in the pockets of numbers of them who fell in the rebellion.

On the twelfth of April, 1797, many parifh priefts and their congregations addreffed lord Camden in terms ftrongly expreffive of their loyalty, and on this occafion they all adopted one form of addrefs.||

As the earl of Mountnorris had always been peculiarly attentive to the intereft of the Roman catholicks, and had endeavoured to awaken a fenfe of duty in them, at this alarming period, they folicited him to prefent them to the viceroy, which he accordingly did.

The reverend Dudley Colclough, a magiftrate, adminifhered oaths of allegiance in the parifh of Templeftiambo, to fome hundreds of people, who furrendered their pikes, and on doing fo received protections.

Sir Frederick Flood and Henry Brownrigg, efquire, did the like in the parifh of Camolin, where the priefts attended.

The following letter§ publifhed in the Dublin Journal of May twenty-fixth, fhews how much the magiftrates were impofed on.

* Plate H. 6.  † Ibid. 5.   ‡Ibid.  See in Appendix, No, XVII. i. the names of the priefts, their parifhes and their addrefs.
§ Camolin, May 24th. “I have the fatisfaction of informing you, that the meafures of government have been attanded with the happieft effects. In this parifh, many hundred pikes have been given up within thefe few days to Sir Frederick Flood and Henry Brownrigg, efquire, magiftrates; and the unfortunate people are crowding in with the fulleft confeffion, and throwing themfelves on the mercy of government. I have been myfelf an eye-witnefs to the fenfe of guilt and contrition in the deluded peafantry, againft whom fuch baneful arts have been exerted.”

It was obferved, that in the town of Camolin, a number of priefts ufed frequently to meet, dine together, and hold private conferences for fome months previous to the rebellion.

At Ennifcorthy, the two Mr. Poundens fat for an entire week, previous to Whitfunday, giving protections to the people, in confequence of their having taken the oaths, and furrendered their arms. Thefe proceedings took place in the prefence of three priefts,* who to give a greater appearance of fandtity to them, infifted that the people fhould be fworn on a popifh manual; and yet fo little regard had their flock for the facred obligation of an oath, that fome of thefe protections were found in the pockets of rebels, who were killed on the Monday following, when they attacked the town of Ennifcorthy.

In the parifh of Ferns, oaths were adminiftered to the inhabitants of it, by Ifaac Cornock, efquire, and the reverend Mr. Turner† of Ballingale, both magiftrates, until the evening before the rebellion broke out.

Some of them denied, that they had ever feen a pike, or taken the united Irifhman’s oath; but on being refufed protections, and threatened with the feverity of the law, they acknowledged both; and faid, that they had procured thofe weapons to protect themfelves againft orangemen, who they heard would foon rife and exterminate the Roman catholicks. A few of them owned, that the purport of their oath was, to join the French, and to kill all loyal fubjects, and fuch perfons as would not join them; and on being urged to declare whom they meant by loyal perfons, they faid proteftants.

Mr. Hawtrey White of Peppard’s caftle,‡ in the parifh of Donoughmore, an active magiftrate, knowing that rebellious principles had been widely diffufed, and had taken deep root in the minds of the people, prevailed

* It was obferved, that a prieft retired with fome of the parifhioners, and whifpered them fometime before they took the oath.
† Mr. Turner, before whom they fwore thofe oaths on Saturday, was murdered by them next morning.
‡ Plate III. I.

on the following priefts, and the moft refpectable farmers of their congregations, to affemble at his houfe, on Saturday, the nineteenth day of May, for the purpofe of admonifhing them, on the alarming ftate of the country: Father Nicholas Redmond, parifh prieft of Donoughmore, father Michael Murphy, of* Ballycanew, father Michael Lacy, of† Kilmuckridge. He informed them of his having received certain intelligence, that fecret meetings of the people had been frequently held, in which treafonable oaths had been adminiftered, and that great quantities of pikes had been made in their parifhes, and in all the adjacent country; and he preffed them to ufe their utmoft exertions, by exhortations from the altar, to check their deluded congregations, in their career to deftruction; but they, and their parifhioners, declared in the moft folemn manner, that they were pofitively ignorant of the alarming circumftances which he ftated, and that they had never feen a pike; though Mr. White had pofitive information, that fome of the farmers who had made fuch declarations of their innocence, were poffeffed of confiderable quantities of thofe weapons. They all departed, making ftrong profeffions of loyalty, and exprelling great furprife and concern at what they had heard. Next day thefe priefts exhorted their flocks from the altar, to conduct themfelves peaceably, and to act with fidelity towards the government; and they, as if deeply impreffed with the admonitions of their fpiritual paftors, continued the entire week to furrender pikes, and to fwear oaths of allegiance before the magiftrates, and to receive protections. But though the mafs of the people gave fuch unequivocal teftimonies of their fincere intention to preferve focial order, the following circumftance raifed many ominous doubts and conjectures in the minds of his majefty’s loyal fubjects: That the popifh multitude reforted to their chapels, much oftener than ufual, for fome weeks before the rebellion broke out, to exercife their devotions, and to confefs to their refpective parifh priefts, not only in the county of Wexford, but in many other parts of the province of Leinfter.

For fome months previous to it, doctor Caulfield, the popifh bifhop, and a number of priefts, ufed frequently to meet, and dine at the houfe of Peter Redmond, at Ennifcorthy, where they held fecret conferences.

* Plate II. 6.   † Plate III. 2. 
‡ Mr. White had undoubted information at that time, that thefe priefts were deeply and actively engaged in the caufe of the union. Michael Murphy was killed at the battle of Arklow.

By fuch profound diffimulation, covered over with the broad mantleof religion, the priefts and their congregations lulled the government, and the magiftrates, into a ftate of fupine and fatal fecurity; and prevented them from adopting fuch vigorous meafures, and falutary precautions, as were neceffary to prevent the execution of their nefarious defigns. They therefore formed their deftructive plans, with the filence and fecrefy of moles, and ftarted forth, fuddenly, with the fury and fiercenefs of tygers.

The delufive ftillnefs that preceded the infurrection in the county of Wexford, refembled a calm in one of the tropical regions, which is fuddenly fucceeded by a hurricane, that fpreads univerfal defolation.*

When, this dreadful volcano burft forth, which has brought irreparable calamities, and indelible difgrace on that once-happy and opulent, portion of the kingdom of Ireland, there were no other troops in the county of Wexford but the North Cork militia, confifting of but three hundred men; and they did not arrive there till the twenty-fixth of April. Their head-quarters were in Wexford, where three companies of them were ftationed; the remainder were cantoned at Gorey, Enniscorthy, and Ferns. Two thoufand troops, properly cantoned in it, would have awed the rebels into obedience, and have prevented the poffibility of a rifing; but the folemnity and facrednefs of oaths, and the earneftnefs of proteftations, banifhed all fufpicion on the part of the government, the magiftrates, and the loyal fubjects; though the fubverfion of the former, and the extirpation of the latter, had been fome months concerted.

The following reafon is to be affigned, for the zeal which the leaders of rebellion in the county of Wexford difplayed, in organizing and arming the people, and in practifing the arts of deception on the government lord Edward Fitzgerald had laid a plan, that a few fast-failing French frigates, fhould come to Wexford, filled with arms and ammunition,

* But, as we often fee, againft fome ftorm,
A filence in the heavens, the rack ftand ftill.
The bold winds fpeechlefs, and the orb below
As hufh as death; anon, the dreadful thunder,
Doth rend the region.       — SHAKSPEARE.

|| Plate II. 4 [missing ref. in text].

with officers and Irifhmen, and perfons capable of drilling men.§ In confequence of this, their expectations of their arrival were fuch, that the Wexford rebels miftook our frigates for French, when they appeared on their coaft.

It was the intention of the Irifh directory, that the infurrection fhould take place at one and the fame time, all over Ireland; but the following circumftances difconcerted their fcheme, and prevented the accomplifhment of it. The arreft of the reprefentatives for the province of Leinfter, at Oliver Bond’s, and afterwards of lord Edward Fitzgerald, the two Sheares, Neilfon, and fome other leaders; and as their fucceffors difagreed about the time of rifing, it is certain that it was not determined on till a fhort time before it was to take place in Dublin and its vicinity.

It was not communicated to the Wexford leaders till the twenty-fifth of May, and it required fome time to apprize the different captains of it, that they might prepare their corps to act in concert. For thefe reafons, the general infurrection in that county did not take place till Whitfunday, the twenty-feventh day of May, 1798.

But the zeal of father John Murphy,* of Boolavogue chapel, in the parifh of Kilcorraick, was fo intemperate, that he began his military career at fix o’clock on Saturday evening the twenty-fixth of May; and confidering the time of its duration, and the limits to which it was confined, we muft allow that it was as deftructive as that of Attila, Jengis Kan, or Tamerlane. His father was a petty farmer at Tincurry, iin the parifh of Ferns, where he was educated at a hedge-fchool, kept by a man of the name of Gun. It appears by his teftimonium and diploma,† that he received holy orders at Seville in Spain, in the year 1785; and, I prefume, that he gractuated there as a doctor of divinity, as he affumes that title in his journal,‡ which he dropped in his retreat from Vinegarhill, and which was found by captain Hugh Moore of the 5th dragoons, aid-de-camp to general Needham.

As one Webfter, a proteftant neighbour of doctor Murphy, was returning from Gorey, he met him near Boolavogue, about four o’clock

§ Report of the fecret committee, Appendix, No. XVI.
* See the oath of allegiance which he took, and his addrefs to lord Mountnorris,’ with other priefts, Appendix, No. XVII.      † See Appendix, No. XVIII.        ‡Ibid.

on Saturday the twenty-fixth of May, and was faluted by him with great cordiality; and yet, in about three hours after, the doctor was at the head of a numerous party of rebels, who burned the houfes of Webfter,§ and his brother, and many of his proteftant neighbours.

The doctor collected his forces by lighting a fire on a hill called Corrigrua,* which fignal was anfwered by another fire on an eminence contiguous to his own houfe, at Boolavogue; foon after which father Murphy fet out on his crufade, at the head of a numerous band of followers.†

Thefe outrages, the firft fymptoms of open rebellion, were communicated to the garrifon of Ennifcorthy,‡ in the following manner: A party of thefe rebels attacked the houfe of the widow Piper, at Tincurry, four miles from that town, wounded her in a defperate manner, and murdered her fon-in-law, a young man of the name of Candy. Her daughter, having narrowly efcaped by leaping out of a window, mounted a horfe, and galloped off to Ennifcorthy, and informed the garrifon quartered there of thefe atrocities, at feven o’clock in the evening.

About the hour of eleven o’clock that night, the Ennifcorthy and Healthfield yeomen cavalry, commanded by captain Richards and captain Grogan, proceeded to Tincurry, to difperfe the rebels; and on their arrival there, found all the circumftances of atrocity related by the poor female fugitive to be ftrictly true; and they were alfo informed by her mother, that the affaffins principally concerned in them, were one Fitzpatrick, and the Boulgers, a popifh family, her near neighbours, with whom fhe had always lived in the clofeft friendfhip and that their enmity could have arifen from no other motive, but becaufe fhe was of the proteftant religion, and that her two fons were in the fervice as yeomen.

Soon after the yeomanry returned to Ennifcorthy, they were alarmed a fecond time, by the arrival of a young man of the name of Webfter, who informed them that his father’s houfe at Garrybritt, about five miles off, had been fet on fire by a party of rebels, and that he made his efcape after having rufhed through the flames. On this intelligence, captains Richards and Grogan fet out a fecond time with their corps of cavalry, in purfuit of the rebels; and on their arrival at Garrybritt, found the

§ See in Appendix, No. XVIII. 2. the Affidavit of Samuel Whealey.  * Plate II. 7.  † Ibid.  ‡Plate III. 2.

houfe of the two Webfters, brothers, John and Robert, in flames, and the two daughters of one of them, both handfome and young, having narrowly efcaped, were fitting in their fhifts, in an orchard near the houfe, fhivering with cold. Their father, a man of confiderable fubftance, was in a moment reduced to poverty.

Captains Richards and Grogan faw all the proteftant houfes, as far as their fight could extend, in a ftate of conflagration; and having received undoubted information that father Murphy was at the head of the rebels who were thus fpreading devaftation, they, in the firft inftance, repaired to his houfe, where they difcovered that he, confcious that his nefarious conduct would provoke the vengeance of the magiftrates and the military, had concealed his furniture in a pit in an adjacent field, before he had fet out on his campaign; and all the rebels who attended him followed his example.

They therefore fet fire to father Murphy’s houfe, as a punifhment for the atrocities which he and his followers had perpetrated. Some perfons have afferted that the yeomen were the aggreffors on this occafion, and that father Murphy would not have embarked in the rebellion, if he had not been provoked by the burning of his houfe and his chapel; but the facts which I have related are a fufficient refutation of this; and the affidavits of two rebel leaders of the names of Roffiter and Crawley,* remove all doubts on it.

In juftice to captain Richards, I think it right to fay, that he would not fuffer any of his party to burn father Murphy’s chapel, or to infult his veftments, which were found in the pit‡ near his houfe; but that on the contrary, he infifted that nothing of the kind fhould be done, having faid, “Punifh the man, but do not mock or infult his religion.”

The yeomen cavalry, in their progrefs that night, overtook fome of the rebels in arms, whom they put to death, and burned fome of their houfes, which their inmates had deferted, and from which the furniture had been removed and concealed.

Many particulars of the deftructive career of that facerdotal hero, during that night and next day, have been verified by the affidavit of Samuel

* See Appendix, No. XVIII. 3.        ‡ They found there his teftimonium and diploma.

Whealey, a farmer of that parifh.* Having burnt every proteftant houfe in the parifh of Kilcormick, and murdered fuch of their inmates as he could feize, he proceeded to a place called the Harrow, where he engaged and defeated a party of the Camolin yeomen cavalry, having killed lieutenant Bookey, who commanded it, and Mr. John Donovan, one of the privates; after which he burned the houfe of Rockfpring,|| belonging to the former.

When lieutenant Bookey fet out with his troop, he left a guard in his houfe, confifting of five Roman catholick fervants, and two proteftants, Jacob Ward and Samuel Hawkins. Between twelve and one o’clock in the morning, about five hundred rebels, headed by father Murphy, furrounded the houfe of Rockfpring, on which the five papifts deferted, and the two proteftants were left alone, with four guns, to defend the houfe. The rebels called to them to deliver up their arms, which the two proteftants faid they would do, and immediately difcharged four guns at them; and they continued to load and fire at them with all poffible celerity. The rebels, incenfed at their fpirited conduct, threw ftones at the windows, fired into them with their mufkets, and at laft broke open the front door with a fledge. As fome of the affailants had fallen by the fire of the befieged, others, dreading the fame fate, were heard to cry out, “Let us retreat, before more of us are killed.”

The rebels having entered the houfe, got lights, and affembled in the hall; on which the two proteftants ceafed firing, and placed themfelves on the head of the ftairs, with their mufkets, to prevent their foes from afcending. Father Murphy ordered fome of his men to go up ftairs, and learn who the perfons were that had the audacity to oppofe him; but having hefitated to obey his commands, he drew his fword, and threatened them inftantly with death. Two of them having attempted to comply, were fhot before they proceeded far, and tumbled down among their comrades. As the laft refource, to be revenged of the befieged, they fet fire to the houfe; and yet the two proteftants, with the moft deliberate valour, continued to charge and fire, till the floor, a prey to the flames, began to crack under them; on which they repaired to the upper ftory, but even there they were much fcorched with the flames, and almoft

* See Appendix, No. XVIII. ». H Plate II. 7.

ftifled with fmoke. But as they ceafed to fire, the rebels imagined they were fuffocated or confumed, and that they had obtained ample revenge; and fearing that the dawn, which was not far diftant, would expofe them to the yeomanry of Ennifcorthy who had been fcouring the country, they retreated, by which the lives of thefe two brave men were preferved.

As the murder of the reverend doctor Burrowes, reftor of Kilfnuck-ridge, and the burning of his glebe-houfe at Kyle,* were marked with circumftances of peculiar atrocity, I fhall give a minute defcription of them, as related to me by his widow and children,|| Some of his proteftant parifhioners, dreading that they would fall a prey to the fanguinary rage of father Murphy, took refuge in the houfe of Kyle, on Saturday evening. One Murphy, though an united Irifhman, had candour and humanity enough to inform Mr. Burrowes, about eleven o’clock that night, that his houfe would be attacked early next morning by a party of rebels. In confequence of this information, he, his family, and his parifhioners fat up all night, and barricadoed the lower part of the houfe, which was attacked at fun-rife by about five hundred rebels.

It was vigoroufly defended for fome time, many fhots having been fired by the affailants and the befieged. At laft, the rebels fet fire to the out-offices, which were quickly confumed, and foon after to the dwelling-houfe, which in a fhort time was in a ftate of conflagration. The rapid progrefs of the flames in the latter was imputed to fome unctious combuftible matter applied to the doors and windows of the houfe, which the rebels frequently ufed in the courfe of the rebellion.

The befieged, being in danger of fuffocation from the thicknefs of the fmoke, refolved to quit the houfe, however perilous it might be; and they were encouraged to do fo by father Murphy, who affured them, that they fhould not be injured, if they furrendered themfelves without any furfher refiftance. Relying on his promife, they quitted the houfe, on which they treacherously murdered Mr. Burrowes, and feven of his parifhioners; and gave his fon, a youth of fixteen years,| fo fevere a wound in the belly with a pike, that for fome time he lay motionlefs and

* See Plate III. 2.  
|| The moft material of them have been verified by the affidavit of his eldeft fon. See Appendix, No. XVIII. 4.
‡ This amiable youth languifhed and died of that wound in the autumn of 1800.

apparently dead. Mrs. Burrowes, her four children, and Mifs Clifford, her niece, continued for twelve hours to weep over the mangled bodies of her hufband and his feven parifhioners, and to confole and adminifter relief to her fon, who was in excruciating agonies, and bleeding fo copioufly, that every moment fhe expected his diffolution.

The horror of the fcene was heightened by the houfe in a ftate of conflagration, difcharging immenfe volumes of flame and fmoke, and emitting fuch heat, that the unfortunate fufferers could fcarce endure it. All her houfehold furniture, and her cloaths, except what fhe and her children wore, were deftroyed by the fire.

In the evening, fhe, her children, and niece, repaired to a wretched inn at Oulart, about half a mile off, with her fon, who was carried on a door. Thefe unfortunate fufferers remained there till Tuefday the twenty-ninth day of May, and during that time her fon did not receive any medical affiftance. They were efcorted by a party of rebels to Caftleannefley, the feat of Mr. Clifford, above five miles off, where they were kept as prifoners, till the town of Wexford was taken from the rebels.*

While Mr. Burrowes’s houfe was in flames, Thomas Foxton, one of his proteftant parifhioners, who fought an afylum in his houfe, concealed himfelf in an oven, to efcape the fanguinary rage of the rebels, and he remained there till their departure. By fkulking in places of concealment, he contrived to evade their refearches, till after the king’s troops got poffeffion of Wexford; when he, half famifhed, and attended by his wife and three young children, was met between Inch and Gorey by a flying party of rebels, who put him to death. His affticted wife carried his body, on her back, two miles, to the church of Inch, to be buried. An inftance of piety which deferves to be recorded!||

Though the popifh inhabitants of Kilrufh had continued to take oaths of allegiance, and to furrender pikes to Mr. Dawfon, of Charles-fort, for a week preceding Whitfunday, he had fuch ftrong doubts of their fincerity, that he kept in his houfe by night, ten of his proteftant parifhioners, well armed, for his protection. Having difmiffed them on that morning,

* See in Appendix, No. XVIII. 4. the affidavit of T. C. Burrowes.
|| Richard, the brother of Thomas Foxton, and William Edwards who efcaped, and who were examined as witneffes the fixteenth of November. 1798, on the trial of Peter Crowley, one of father Murphy’s gang, proved that they heard fome of the rebels fay, “That all proteftants ought to be killed, as they were not chriftened.”

was preparing to attend his family to church, confifting of Mrs.Dawfon, two daughters, his fon of the age of fixteen, and a mifs Reade, when a man, who was under obligations to him, arrived at his houfe, and informed him, that he had juft come from a large body of people, who had rifen the night before, had burned many houfes, and had committed many various enormities, which he enumerated, and that they were refolved to carry every thing before them; that they were determined to compel Mr. Dawfon to join them, and co-operate with them; and that they would murder him, and his family, if he refufed to comply. Mr. Dawfon boldly declared, that he would fubmit to die, fooner than violate his allegiance to his king. He immediately fent a perfon to collect his proteftant guards, but, alas! no more than one of them, his gamekeeper, could be found;* and a few minutes after he arrived, a thoufand rebels furrounded his houfe, and fet fire to it and his out-offices, which were foon in flames. Mrs. Dawfon, her daughter, and mifs Reade, in the greateft confternation, made their efcape out of a window. Mr. Dawfon fled into his hall, as it was the moft defenfible part of his houfe. Soon after the front door fell in, and he received a mufket ball in his breaft. He could have fhot the man who fired at him; but perceiving his family in the hands of the rebels, he feared that they would inftantly have fallen a prey to their favage revenge.

As the flames began to rage in every part of his houfe, he fled into his lawn, where he was furrounded by a large body of them, who were proceeding to affaffinate him; but fome of them interfered, and faid, it would anfwer their purpofe much better, to take him with them, and make him act as their commander. He fhewed them his wound, which bled copioufly, and affured them it would foon occafion his diffolution; and they feemed fo much convinced of it, that they left him. He then proceeded through a plantation of trees to a tenant’s houfe. His fon, of whofe fafety he had defpaired, arrived there foon after, breathlefs and faint from running. He had fallen into the hands of the rebels, who were on the point of murdering him. They procured horfes, and repaired to the town of Ferns, two miles off. In their way thither, they perceived

* This man’s name was John Willis, and he was murdered that morning by one Arthur Murphy, his neighbour, and apparently his friend.

all the proteftant houfes on fire, in every direction, as far as their fight could extend. The proteftant inhabitants of Ferns,* alarmed at fuch appearances, and expeding that the town would be attacked by a numerous body of rebels, who were affembled in its vicinity, retreated to Ennifcorthy,† fix miles diftant, efcorted by a detachment of the North Cork militia, and the Scarawalfh yeomanry, commanded by captain Cornock; and Mr. Dawfon, and his fon joined them. Mrs. Dawfon and her family repaired to Newtownbarry,‡ five miles off, under the protection of the yeomanry cavalry of that town; and next day, efcorted by them, they went to Ennifcorthy, which was nine miles off.

The houfes and property of all the inhabitants of the town of Ferns were plundered or deftroyed, when they fled to Ennifcorthy. The bafe ingratitude of the popifh multitude towards doctor Cleaver, bifhop of Ferns, deferves peculiar attention. That amiable prelate, as noted for his great piety and extenfive learning, as for his mildnefs and humility, refided conftantly in his diocefe, which was by far the beft regulated in the kingdom. In the courfe of a few years, he had provided for above twenty curates, without any other recommendation but their own merit; in confequence of which, his clergy were diftinguifhed for their unremitted practice of every religious and moral duty.

His lordfhip and Mrs. Cleaver, were fingularly charitable and humane, to all the lower clafs of people in his neighbourhood. He paid an apothecary in Ferns £30 a-year, to attend his labourers; and he regularly employed a phyfician when they were affticted with maladies of a dangerous nature.

He fupplied them with clothes and blankets every winter; and with provifions at Chriftmas.

And yet, horrid to relate! thofe very labourers plundered his houfe of every valuable article in it, on the morning of Whitfunday, and openly avowed their thirft for the blood of him and Mrs. Cleaver. An orphan, whom he had found naked, and ftarving, at the age of feven years, and whom he had fed, clothed, and inftructed, for fix years, in his palace was the leader of thefe favages, fhewed them every precious article of furniture; and affifted them in breaking open the cellar. He ufed to

* See plate II, 6 and 7.     †See plate III. 3.;    ‡See plate II. 5.

prefide at the head of the table, and his toaft was, “Damnatian to all bifhops”. Some of his lordfhip’s English maid-fervants were eye-witneffes of thefe fcenes of brutal ferocity.

A rebel, taken in arms, near Scarawalfh-bridge,* in the month of June, was afked, Why they did not deftroy the bifhop’s palace, when they plundered it? and he anfwered, that father John Murphy, of Boolavogue, meant to keep it for himfelf.

Notwithftanding the affurances of father Michael Murphy, and father Michael Lacy, and their flock, on the nineteenth of May, to Mr. White, at Peppard’s caftle, of their fidelity to government, and their total ignoranee of a confpiracy; the infurrection was as general, and as deftructive, in the parifh of Kilmuckridge,† near which it lies, on Whitfunday the twenty-feventh of May, as in the parifh of Kilcormuck. Mr. White’s houfe was plundered on that day by his own tenants and neighbours, who had a fhort time before furrendered their pikes, and taken oaths of allegiance, as a proof of their fincerity. Two of the former, for whom he had a ftrong predilection, were the firft who began to pillage. One of them, of the name of Brien, was fo great a favourite with him, that though he difcovered fometime before, that he was concerned in the confpiracy, he rebuked him privately, and would not proceed againft him with that rigour, which the law required; and yet, he frequently pierced the portrait of Mr. White with a pike, and lamented that he had not the original. He entered the apartment of Mrs. White, his fifter, an aged lady, and told her, fhe muft quit the houfe; and he was foon after followed by a young woman, armed with a pike, who gave her the fame orders. Mr. White is captain of the Ballakeen cavalry; and it was very fortunate that he had affembled his corps at Gorey, on Saturday the twenty-fixth of May; for it has been fince difcovered, that it was the intention of the rebels, to have cut them off, fingly, in their refpective houfes, that night.

In the parifh of Camolin, they had furrendered many hundred prices, and continued to confefs their guilt with apparent contrition, and to take oaths of allegiance in the prefence of their prieft, father Francis Kavanagh, till the eve of the rebellion; but on Whitfunday they rofe in mafs, armed with pikes and guns, vowed vengeance againft the proteftants as orangemen,

* Plate II. 8.    † Plate III. 2.

proceeded to plunder and demolifh their houfes, and to kill fome, and to take others prifoners.

The reverend Mr. Owen, the parifh minifter, having fled, was taken prifoner near Gorey, where he was confined ten days, during which time he was often urged to become a convert to popery; but having refufed, they knocked him down, dripped him of his clothes, and gave him fome ragged garments to hide his nakednefs, wounded him with pikes, and fent him barefooted to Wexford gaol, with fome other prifoners. Edward Fitzgerald, of Newpark, a popifh gentleman, was captain of the guard who conducted them, though he had taken the oath of allegiance, and had been a member of the Shelmalier yeomanry.

Early on the morning of Whitfunday, captain White, having been informed that the rebels had rifen the preceding night in great force, and were committing great outrages, proceeded to the place where they were faid to be affembled, with his own corps, and that of lord Courtown’s. On his arrival there he found the intelligence which he had received to be true: He purfued the infurgents, which he could eafily do, as their deftructive progrefs was marked by the houfes of proteftants in a ftate of conflagration. He ordered fome of the ftragglers whom he found in arms to be put to death. One of them, whofe life was faved, confeffed to captain White, that the party whom they purfued was headed by the reverend John Murphy, of the parifh of Kilcormuck; that they were determined to burn the houfe, and take the life of every proteftant that came in their way; that the inhabitants of the country for fome miles round were to affemble that night at Oulart, and were to plunder and burn all the proteftant houfes that occurred in their way thither. Captain White’s party purfued the rebels within fix miles of Wexford, in hopes of being able to engage them; but when they were within a musket fhot of them they halted, and faced about to give them battle; at the fame time a party of them formed at each fide of the road, with a view of furrounding them. The rebels amounted, to about four thoufand, and the yeomen cavalry, who were armed only with piftols and fabres, did not exceed eighty; and as they were enclofed in a narrow road, where they could not act, captain White very prudently ordered them to retreat. He then recommended to his yeomen to get their families into Gorey* as faft as poffible.

* Plate II.