act of mercy to the unhappy man by lending our aid to launch him into eternity. It was a scene I shall never lose the recollection of. Another fearful reminiscence is connected with it-I understand his wife and mother were, from an opposite window, composed witnesses of Monro's death!!!"*

"The trial of Monro was followed by that of a Presbyterian minister, named Birch. He was clearly proved to have taken an active part among the insurgents, and on the Sunday preceding the Battle of Ballinahinch, he preached an encouraging sermon to them at Creevey, near Saintfield. He did not shew the resolution of Monro, but after some lame attempts at a defence, was convicted, sentenced to death, and the troops were actually under arms to attend his execution, for which every preparation had been made, when a respite unexpectedly arrived.

* During this reign of terror, it would appear that worse than the bitterness of death was frequently endured by the female relations of the sufferers-and the feelings of McCracken's sister were lacerated equally with those of Monro's wife and mother.

"The time allowed him was now expired: he had hoped for a few days, that he might give his friends an account of all the late events in which he had taken a part. About five P.M. he was ordered to the place of execution, the old market-house, the ground of which had been given to the town by his great great grandfather. I took his arm, and we walked together to the place of execution, where I was told it was the general's orders I should leave him, which I peremptorily refused. Harry begged I would go. Clasping my hands around him (I did not weep till then), I said I could bear any thing but leaving him. Three times he kissed me, and entreated I would go; and, looking round to recognize some friend to put me in charge of, he beckoned to a Mr. Boyd, and said,He will take charge of you.' Mr. Boyd stepped forward; and, fearing any further refusal would disturb the last moments of my dearest brother, I suffered myself to be led away. Mr. Boyd endeavoured to give me comfort, and I felt there still was comfort in the hope he gave me, that we should meet in heaven. A Mr. Armstrong, a friend of our family, came forward and took me from Mr. Boyd, and conducted me home. I immediately sent a message to Dr. M'Donnell and Mr. M'Cluney, our apothecary, to come directly to the house. The latter came, and Dr. M'Donnell sent his brother Alexander, a skilful surgeon. The body was given up to his familly unmutilated; so far our entreaties and those of our friends prevailed.

"My heart sank within me when we were told all hope was over, and that a message had been brought from the general that the funeral must take place immediately, or that the body would be taken from us. Preparations were made for immediate burial. I learned that no relative of his was likely to attend the funeral. I could not bear to think that no member of his family should accompany his remains, so I set out to follow them to the grave.

"A kind-hearted man, an enthusiast in the cause for which poor Harry died, drew my arm within his, but my brother John soon followed, and took his place. I heard the sound of the first shovelful of earth that was thrown on the coffin, and I remember little else of what passed on that sad occasion. I was told afterwards that poor Harry stood where I left him at the place of execution, and watched me until I was out of sight; that he then attempted to speak to the people, but that the noise of the trampling of the horses was so great that it was impossible he should be heard ; that he then resigned himself to his fate, and the multitude who were present at that moment uttered cries which seemed more like one loud and long-continued shriek than the expression of grief or terror on similar occasions. He was buried in the old churchyard where St. George's church now stands, and close to the corner of the school-house, where the door is."—Account given of his death by the sister of McCracken.

He owed his escape from the gallows to the circumstance of his having a brother, a medical man of some repute, resident in Newtown-ards, who was a yeoman of distinguished loyalty. He had also a son, who adhered to the principles of his uncle, the doctor, in preference to those of his father-and the reverend traitor owed his life to the consideration in which both were held.

"A few executions more ended the outbreak in Ulster; for the accounts of the bloody goings-on in Wexford had their full share in bringing the Northerns to their senses, as many of them made no scruple of declaring at the place of execution."*

It would be hard to account for the extraordinary rapidity with which this short-lived and dangerous insurrection was suppressed, but from assuming that the elements of rebellion were themselves in an advanced progress of dissolution before any overt act had been committed, as the discrepancy of views between the Presbyterians and Romanists had betrayed itself in the council-room, before these unsteady confederates, with mutual suspicion and dislike, had banded in the field.

Another cause for the apparent supineness of some, and the partial defection of others, was the pacific system which government for a moment seemed disposed to adopt; in which, as has been already observed, had it been sincere, conciliation, no doubt, could have been effected with the people. This favourable disposition, however, was soon interrupted, and the angry passions on either side were rekindled with increased fury.

But probably the true cause of the prompt suppression of the Northern rebellion will be found in the terrible severity fulminated not only against the actual insurgents, but also those who resetted or assisted them. When the rebels were declared in arms, after calling on them to disband and surrender their leaders and their weapons, and instantly return to their allegiance, the general commanding thus proceeds :

"Should the above injunctions not be complied with within the time specified, Major-general Nugent will proceed to set fire to, and totally destroy, the towns of Killinchy, Killileagh, Ballynahinch, Saintfield, and every cottage and farm-house in the vicinity of those places, carry off the stock and cattle, and put every one to the sword who may be found in arms. It particularly behoves all the wellaffected persons who are now with the rebels from constraint, and who, it is known, form a considerable part of their numbers, to exert themselves in having these terms complied with, as it is the only opportunity there will be of rescuing themselves and properties from the indiscriminate vengeance of an army necessarily let loose upon them."

*MS. Journal of a Field Officer.

+ " Dickey, a rebel leader, who was hanged at Belfast, declared a short time before his execution, that the Presbyterians of the north perceived, too late, that if they had succeeded in subverting the constitution, they would have ultimately to contend with the Roman Catholics."-Musgrave.

Nor were the penalties attendant on concealing rebels less stringent. Colonel Durham, commandant at Belfast, during the absence of General Nugent, thus denounces that offence :

--

“And shall it be found hereafter that the said traitor has been concealed by any person or persons, or by the knowledge or connivance of any person or persons of this town and its neighbourhood, or that they or any of them have known the place of his concealment, and shall not have given notice thereof to the commandant of this town, such person's house so offending shall be burnt, and the owner thereof hanged."

Now, however men may expose themselves in hazardous undertakings, when success is very doubtful, property at times, carries with it considerations superior to penal consequences to the person. With all the dearest relations of life, home is intimately blended-and the most reckless will hesitate before he risks making his hearth desolate, and his house a burning ruin. On the Northerns the lesson was not lost, and the immediate pacification of the country resulted. Indeed, further resistance would have been sheer folly-"every breeze wafted over fresh troops from England-every tide bore new-raised levies from her shores-regiment followed regiment in succession, until Ireland presented the appearance of one vast encampment. Commerce, manufactures, and husbandry were suspended, while the country seemed to have exchanged a rural for a military population."

There is an episode connected with the rebel defeat at Ballynahinch, which, as it has been wedded to verse, and chronicled in prose, it would be ungallant to pass over unrecorded. We may observe, however, en passant, that for a young lady, a battle-field is a very romantic, but a drawing-room a safer locality by far.

We will give Charles Teeling's version of this love affair :

Amongst those who perished on this occasion was a young and interesting female, whose fate has been so feelingly recorded in the poetic strains of our distinguished countrywoman, Miss Balfour. Many were the romantic occurrences of a similar nature at this unfortunate period, but none, perhaps, are more deserving of our sympathy than the interesting subject of the present incident. The men of Ards were distinguished for their courage and discipline, and their division bore a full share in the disasters of the day. In this division were two young men remarkable for their early attachment and continued friendship. They were amongst the first to take up arms, and from that moment had never been separated. They fought side by side, cheering, defending, and encouraging each other, as if the success of the field solely depended on their exertions. Monro had assigned on the 12th a separate command to each, but they entreated to be permitted to conquer or perish together. One had an only sister; she was the pride of a widowed mother, the loved and admired of their village, where to this hour the perfection of female beauty is described as it approximates in resemblance to the fair Elizabeth Grey. She had seen her brother and his friend march to the field; she had bidden

the one adieu with the fond affection of a sister, but a feeling more tender watched for the safety of the other. Every hour's absence rendered separation more painful-every moment created additional suspense. She resolved to follow her brother-her lover-to the field. The fatal morn of the 13th had not yet dawned when she reached Ednevady heights. The troops of the union were in motion. The enthusiasm of love supported her through the perils of the fight, but borne down in the retreat, she fell in the indiscriminate slaughter, while her brother and her lover perished by her side."

CHAPTER XXI.

PARTIAL OUTBREAK IN MUNSTER-STATE OF THE WESTERN I ROVINCESLANDING OF THE FRENCH IN KILLALLA BAY.

THE pacification of the North was followed by the suppression of the smouldering embers of rebellion in Leinster, which, like expiring fires, scintillated occasionally before they were finally extinguished. Connaught, either from imperfect organization, or a better affection in its population to the government, had remained quiet; and in the South no outbreak occurred, except a trifling demonstration, whose flame was quenched as speedily as it had been kindled.

On the subsiding of this outbreak in the north-eastern quarter of Ireland, another local rebellion, much inferior in vigour, and very easily suppressed, commenced in the opposite south-western quarter, in the county of Cork-accompanied with the same kind of violent acts as elsewhere in the South, and exhibiting nothing extraordinary or peculiar, it requires little notice. The principal action, and the only one which government has thought proper to communicate to the public, took place near the village of Ballynascarty, where, on the 19th of June, two hundred and twenty men of the Westmeath regiment of militia, with two six-pounders, under the command of their lieutenant-colonel, Sir Hugh O'Reilly, were attacked on their march from Cloghnakilty to Bandon, by a body of between three and four hundred men, armed almost all with pikes. This was only a part of the rebel force, here placed in ambush in a very advantageous position. The attack was made from a height on the left of the column so unexpectedly and rapidly, that the troops had scarcely time to form; but the assailants were quickly repulsed with some loss, and fell back upon the high grounds. Here, had the soldiers pursued them, from which they were with great difficulty restrained, they would probably have been surrounded and slaughtered, like the North-Cork detachment at Oulart. While the officers were endeavouring to form the men again, a body of rebels endeavoured to seize the cannon, and another body made its appearance on the high grounds in the rear; but, at the moment, a hundred men of the Caithness legion, under the command of Major Innes, who, on their march to Cloghnakilty, had heard the report of the guns, came to their assistance, and, by a brisk fire, put the assailants to flight on one side, after which those who were on the heights behind retired on receiving a few discharges of the artillery. The loss of the rebels in this action may perhaps have amounted to between fifty and a hundred men; that of the royal troops, by the commander's account, only to a serjeant and a private.*

With the exception of clan feuds, and occasionally some agrarian outrages, the west of Ireland was generally considered tranquil, and

*Gordon.