IRELAND (HISTORY.) 



arrival, a force was collected, and marched against 

 them. General Hutchinson arrived at Castlebar on 

 the 25th, and was immediately joined by general 

 Lake, the chief commander in the west. The 

 British troops were drawn up in an advantageous 

 position between Castlebar and the French, who 

 were advancing towards it. At seven o'clock in the 

 morning of the 27th, Humbert arrived with about 

 800 of his own troops, and 1000 Irish peasantry. 

 His only artillery consisted of two small guns. The 

 army opposed to him amounted to nearly 3000. 

 Scarcely was the engagement begun, when the royal 

 army were seized with a panic and fled, leaving their 

 artillery, which consisted of six pieces of cannon, and 

 their ammunition, behind them. Their officers in 

 vain attempted to rally them : they fled, without 

 stopping, thirty-eight miles, to Tuam, which they 

 reachedthat night ; ami, at one o'clock of the 28th, 

 some of them reached even Athlone, having marched 

 eighty miles in twenty-seven hours. Here they 

 were stopped by the arrival of the viceroy. From 

 Castlebar, the French, after gaining this most unex- 

 pected victory, proceeded to the eastward, into the 

 heart of the country, with what design it is impos- 

 sible to conjecture, unless from the expectation of 

 being reinforced by the peasantry on their march. 

 General Lake and his column followed to watch 

 their movements, while lord Cornwallis, with the 

 chief army, moved towards Carrick, on the Shannon. 

 At length, on September the 8th, general Lake 

 having come up with their rear, at a place called 

 Ballinaimick, a sharp action took place, which fortun- 

 ately terminated in the surrender of the French, and 

 the capture or dispersion of the rebels. The troops 

 of Humbert amounted to 748 privates and 96 offi- 

 cers. The Catholic peasantry of the county of 

 Mayo, who had first risen to assist the French, still 

 continued in arms, notwithstanding the surrender of 

 Humbert. They even attacked Castlebar, but were 

 repulsed. They were afterwards obliged to take 

 refuge in Killala, from which, being stormed by the 

 royal forces, they were driven with great slaughter. 



The French government at hist seemed as if they 

 meant to send assistance to Humbert; and, as a pre- 

 lude to this assistance, a brig arrived near the north- 

 west coast of Donegal, where it landed its new sup- 

 plies. Among these was Napper Tandy, who had 

 been constituted general of brigade in the French 

 service. As soon, however, as he learned the fate of 

 the army of Humbert, he reimbarked. He was after- 

 wards arrested at Hamburg by the British govern- 

 ment, tried in Ireland, pleaded guilty, but was par- 

 doned. Another attempt of the French to revive a 

 cause now desperate was equally unsuccessful. A 

 squadron, consisting of one ship of the line, and eight 

 frigates, with troops and ammunition on board, des- 

 tined for Ireland, was fallen in with off the western 

 coast of that island by the squadron of Sir John Bor- 

 lase Warren, on the 12th of October, who captured 

 the ship of the line and three frigates. Afterwards 

 the rest, except two frigates, were taken. Another 

 squadron, of three frigates, with 2000 troops on 

 board, anchored in the bay of Killala on the 27th of 

 the same month ; but, on the appearance of some 

 British ships, they set sail, and escaped. 



The plan of a union between Great Britain and 

 Ireland, appears to have been first proposed by the 

 Irish peers, in their address to queen Anne in the 

 years 1703 and 1707, but at this time the British 

 cabinet was averse to it. Afterwards, when the 

 Irish volunteers forced the British government to 

 render the Irish parliament independent of that of 

 Britain, a union was sought for by the British, but 

 it was no longer an object of desire among any 

 classes of the Irish. The almost uninterrupted 



insurrections by which Ireland was disturbed after 

 the commencement of the French revolution, seem to 

 have suggested to the British cabinet the idea of 

 seriously bringing about a union. On the 22d of 

 January, 1799, the measure was recommended by 

 the viceroy to parliament. In the house of lords a 

 favourable address was voted by a large majority. 

 In the commons, after a debate which lasted twenty- 

 two hours, there was a majority of only one in favour 

 of the measure. When it was again brought forward 

 the next day, those who opposed the union had a 

 majority of five. Before the conclusion of the ses- 

 sion, however, those who were favourable to it had 

 attained a majority ; but the detail of the measure 

 was postponed till the next year. In the British 

 parliament, the question had also been introduced 

 during the session of 1799, and, after considerable 

 discussion, but with less opposition than in the Irish 

 parliament, a series of resolutions, recommending a 

 union, had been voted. When the Irish parliament 

 assembled again on the 15th of January, 1800, a 

 motion was made hostile to the measure, which, 

 after a long and animated debate, was negatived by 

 a majority of forty-two. On the 5th of February, 

 lord Castlereagh communicated a message from the 

 lord-lieutenant, in favour of a union, and developed 

 the plan on which it was to be effected. On a divi- 

 sion of the house for taking this message into con- 

 sideration, there appeared 158 in favour of it, and 

 115 against it. The house of peers were more decid- 

 edly in favour of a union. In order to counteract 

 the effects of opposition, government had recourse to 

 those means, which the distribution of places of 

 honour or emolument must always put in their 

 power, and which too frequently have overcome the 

 consciences of those who have been the most loud in 

 their professions of purity, independence, and patriot* 

 ism. By the active and judicious employment of 

 these means, the majority in the house of commons 

 had been greatly reduced, and the prospect of carry- 

 ing the measure was rendered every day more 

 favourable. Besides, many of those, both in and out 

 of parliament, who, during the first impulse of their 

 feelings, had reprobated the union, without consider- 

 ing the arguments that might be urged in favour of 

 it, having become cool, and divested themselves of 

 prejudice, resolved to support it. 



The subject of the union being again introduced 

 into the British parliament, it was discussed in both 

 houses, and on the 2d of July received the royal 

 assent. The articles of union were partly commercial 

 and partly political. The proportion of revenue to 

 be raised in the two kingdoms was fixed by a com- 

 parison of their aggregate imports and exports, by 

 which Ireland was to raise two parts of the revenue 

 for every fifteen raised by Greet. Britain, during the 

 first twenty years after the union. At the close of 

 that period, the proportion was to be regulated oy 

 parliament. One hundred commoners from Ireland 

 were to sit in the imperial parliament, and the pro- 

 prietors of disfranchised boroughs were to receive 

 a pecuniary compensation. Four lords spiritual, by 

 rotation of sessions, and twenty-eight lords temporal, 

 elected for life by the peers of Ireland, were to sit 

 in the house of lords. The first of January, 1801, 

 was fixed as the commencement of the union. 



After the union, the history of Ireland naturally 

 falls into that of BRITAIN. The reader is therefore 

 referred to that article. The union, notwithstanding 

 the many commercial advantages it bestowed on Ire- 

 land, did not bring that tranquillity to the country, 

 which its advocates anticipated^ The annals of the 

 country are still unhappily marked by instances of 

 insurrection and outrage, proceeding either from na- 

 tional jealousy, religious animosity, the feuds of clans 



