"M. CHAROST, chef de demi-brigade, which answers to our title of lieutenant-colonel, was left in charge of Killala, while the French force advanced into the country. The choice proved a fortunate one for the town, Charost being a man of sense and of honour. From the time the him, messed with the bishop's family, where they were very welcome, being, under Providence, their sole protectors in the midst of so many perils. A hair-brained priest of the name of Sweeney, who afterwards paid the forfeit of his life for exciting his parishioners to rebellion, being introduced to M. Charost, said he should be extremely obliged to him if he would make him a present of the Bishop of Killala's library. The bishop's library!' answered Charost, turning from him with contempt, is just as much his own now as ever it was.' This worthy French officer, who seemed to understand the obligations of moral honesty much better than some of his Irish allies, had attained to the age of five-and-forty. In person, he was strong and vigorous, inclined to fat; his countenance was cheerful, and on the whole pleasing; he had a plain good understanding, which served him for all the uses he put it to; and he had either no leisure or no liking to strain it with over-labour. His religion, he told the bishop, he had yet to seek; because his father being a Catholic, and his mother a Protestant, they left him at liberty to choose for himself, and he had never yet found time to make the inquiry, which, however, he was sensible he ought to make, and would make when heaven should grant him a repose. French left Killala, he, and two officers under "BOUDET, the next in rank to the commandant, was a captain of foot, a native of Normandy, twenty-eight years of age. His height was six feet two inches. In person, complexion, and gravity, he was no inadequate representative of the knight of La Mancha, whose example he followed in a recital of his own prowess and wonderful exploits, delivered in measured language, and with an imposing seriousness of aspect. His manner, though distant, was polite; and he seemed to possess a more than common share of feeling, if a judgment might be formed from the energy with which he declaimed on the miseries of wars and revolutions. "PONSON, the last of the trio, formed a curious contrast, in every respect, to the character just described. In stature, he did not exceed five feet six inches; but if the body was little, he was alive from head to foot. Navarre gave him birth, the country of Henry IV., and his merry countenance recalled to mind the features of that celebrated monarch, though without the air of benevolence diffused through them; for this monkey seemed to have no great feeling for any body but himself Wherever he was, his presence was testified by a noise as loud and as pertinacious as that of a corn-creak; it was a continual roll of talk, or laughter, or whistling. Yet, in a gloomy hour, this eternal rattle had its use; it more than once kept the spirits of the bishop's family buoyant when terror pressed heaviest. One day, a crowd of pikemen, clamorous with some insolent demand birth, who had been in the military service of France before the invasion, and had come to Ireland in the French fleet. These were Matthew Tone and Bartholomew Teeling, made prisoners at Ballynamuck. These ill-fated men were tried at Dublin barracks by a military tribunal, and, being found guilty of high-treason, were executed, the latter on the 24th of September, and the former a few days afterwards. as The little army which landed at Killala had been intended, it appears, only dable force, which was in a short time to a vanguard to a much more formifollow. Providentially for the safety of the British empire, the French government had been as tardy in seconding the operations of Humbert, as they had been in sending succours to the support of the rebel force in the south of Ireland. The want of money is assigned as the cause of delay iu the equipment of the second fleet, and in the interim before its appearance on the upon the commandant, appeared on the point of breaking down the castle-gate. The bishop expressed his apprehension to Ponson: 'I will tell you what to do,' said he step out among them suddenly, and cry, Stop thief, and they will, every man of them, take to their heels.' Ponson was hardy, and patient to admiration of labour and want of rest. Tied to a sword as long as himself, and armed with pistols, firelock, and bayonet, he stretched himself up to view till he became terrific. He was strictly honest, and could not bear the want of this quality in others; so that his patience was pretty well tried by his Irish allies, for whom he could not find names sufficiently expressive of contempt. The worse part of his character was that which related to religion. The commandant reported him to be a downright atheist. In this practice, he went beyond the common herd of the French army, who, though they showed no desire to join in worship with any people (a circumstance frightful to all, and astonishing to the Roman Catholics), yet respected the devotions of their neighbours. Indeed, the contrast, with regard to religious sentiments, between the French and their Irish auxiliaries, was extremely curious. The atheist despised and affronted the bigot; but the wonder was, how the zealous papist should come to any terms of agree. ment with a set of men who boasted openly that they had just driven Mr. Pope out of Italy, and did not expect to find him again so suddenly in Ireland. It astonished the French officers to hear the recruits, when they offered their services, declare, that they were come to take arms for France and the blessed Virgin!' MAJOR O'KEON, an officer of theirs from Ballina, was sometimes joined with these three Frenchmen. He was a native of the Irish barony of Tyrawley; had received his education for the priesthood in France, and had attained to a bene. fice of some value in the church, when the revolution, stripping him at once of profession and livelihood, forced him to become a soldier for bread. O'Keon was a man of plausible manner, but he was deficient both in morals and common honesty; he cheated the Bishop of Killala of twelve guineas, and carried off from Dublin an other man's wife." Irish coast, a brig from France arrived at | Humbert in Ireland. Sir John Borlase the little island of Rutland, from which Warren, who was cruising with seven fri were landed three boats full of men, and a gates, in the Canada, off Lough Swilly, number of officers, among whom was discovered the enemy's squadron about James Napper Tandy, one of the Irish noon, on the 11th of October, in the N.W. emissaries to the French directory, who quarter. The British admiral instantly had attained the rank of general of brigade threw out the signal for a general chase, in the French service. This brig, called and gave orders to form in succession as the Anacreon, was full of arms and accou- each ship of war reached her antagonist; trements, and contained a park of artillery; but, from the great distance, and a hollow but when the adventurers found the people, sea, it was found impossible to commence instead of joining them, fled to the moun- the action before the next morning, at tains, and that the rebellion in Ireland was which time it was discovered that the eneentirely suppressed, they re-embarked, my's large ship had lost her main-top-mast. after distributing a number of inflammatory Still confident in their own strength, the papers, and steered again for the French French squadron bore down, and formed a coast.* line of battle in close order upon the starboard tack; on which the Canada threw out a signal for the Robust to lead, and the rest of the ships to form in succession in the rear of the van. An action of three hours and forty minutes ensued, at the end of which period the enemy's three-decker, which proved to be the Hoche, struck, and three of the frigates, following her example, hauled down their colours, after a long and gallant resistance.* The whole squadron, it appeared, was entirely new, and full of troops, stores, and every other equipment for the support and establishment of the invading force in Ireland. Five of the frigates, the schooner, and the brig escaped, but three of the former were afterwards captured, and the armament being thus in effect destroyed, the object of the expedition was completely frustrated. Some time after the abortive attempt at invasion, Napper Tandy, and two other Irish rebels, were apprehended by the agents of Great Britain, on the neutral territory of Hamburgh, and conveyed to Ireland, where Tandy was indicted for hightreason, at the spring assizes for the county of Donegal, in the year 1801, when, having pleaded guilty, by previous arrangement, he was suffered to leave the kingdom, and take up his residence in France. On the 17th of September, the very day after General Rey quitted the coast of Ireland in the Anacreon, an expedition, consisting of one ship of the line, eight frigates, a schooner, and a brig, sailed from Brest with a strong reinforcement, intended to co-operate with the force under General *The papers distributed by Napper Tandy and his associates consisted of two addresses, one of which was signed “General Rey," and the other "J. N. Tandy." The following is a copy of the former, and the latter was of similar tenor: LIBERTY OR DEATH. "Northern Army of Avengers. "UNITED IRISHMEN! Head-quarters: "First year of Irish Liberty. "The soldiers of the great nation have landed on your coast, well supplied with arms and ammunition of all kinds: with artillery, worked by those who spread terror among the ranks of the best troops in Europe, headed by the French officers; they come to break your fetters, and restore you to the blessings of liberty. James Napper Tandy is at their head; he has sworn to lead them on to victory, or to die. "Brave Irishmen! the friends of liberty have left their native soil to assist you in reconquering your rights; they will brave all dangers, and glory at the sublime idea of cementing your happiness with their blood. French blood shall not flow in 1. Forns' freemen, to arms! The trumpet Coset not your friends be butchered unassisted. If they are to doomed to fall in this most glorious struggle, let their death be useful to your cause, and their bodies serve as footsteps to the temple of Irish liberty. "In the name of the French officers and soldiers now on the coast of Ireland. "GENERAL REY." Among the prisoners taken in the Hoche was the famous and unfortunate Theobald Wolfe Tone, the projector of the society of United Irishmen, and so long considered as the most active and able negotiator among the Irish fugitives at Paris, and as the great adviser of most of the measures pursued by his rebellious countrymen. He was no sooner landed in Ireland, than he was conveyed to Dublin, and put upon his trial by a court-martial, before which he Fleets engaged off the coast of Ireland on the The Canada, Robust, Foudroyant, Magnanime, The Anson came up in the latter part of the action, having lost her mizen-mast in the chase the day before. FRENCH. 80 guns Hoche 44 guns (taken.) (taken.) Loire 44 guns (taken.) Romain 44 guns (escaped.) Bellone 40 guns Resolue 40 guns Coquille Ambuscade guns 36 guns 36 guns 40 (taken.) (taken.) (taken.) (taken) (escaped.) defended himself with considerable ability |rection in Ireland; in which more than and firmness, not attempting either to deny or to palliate his offence. The plea on which he rested was that of being a denizen of France, and an officer in the service of the republic; but when he found that this defence was unavailing, he requested that he might die like a soldier, and not as a felon; and be shot, according to military usage, rather than hanged. The court, however, did not judge it proper to accede to his request, and the unhappy culprit attempted to escape the ignominy that awaited him by cutting his throat in the prison. The wound was at first supposed not to be mortal, but, after languishing a short time, it terminated his existence.' The rebellion itself did not survive its original projector. The few companies of rebels who lurked in the woods and mountains, dispirited by the ill success of their allies, and dreading the approach of winter, successively laid down their arms; and Holt, the last and most intrepid of their chiefs, was glad to obtain the boon of his forfeited life by expatriating himself for ever from his native soil. Thus, after a bloody and abhorrent scene of three months' duration, ended the insur Protestant Leaders, with the fate that befell them. Lord E. Fitzgerald, died of his wounds. Theobald Wolfe Tone, convicted, but cut his throat. Honourable Simon Butler, died in extreme poverty, in Wales. James Napper Tandy.t Archibald H. Rowan.t thirty thousand lives were sacrificed, and property to the amount of upwards of two millions sterling destroyed; and which, after throwing the whole kingdom into indescribable confusion and dismay, overwhelmed the instigators of the rebellion in one common ruin. That the object of this deep-laid and extensive conspiracy was to imitate the example set by the people of Holland, and to erect Ireland into a republic, through the agency of France, cannot be doubted; and had the French directory manifested as much promptitude in executing, as the original conspirators displayed ability in forming their plans, this revolutionary struggle might have ended in a measure which can never be sufficiently deprecated, not only as tending to the alienation of a large portion of the strength of the empire, but as an event involving its prosperity and independence. (41) (41) History furnishes few more striking instances of the influence which success exercises over the minds of men, than in the case of the attempt to give independence to Ireland. That which, if it had succeeded, would have dignified its projectors and supporters with the lofty title of patriot, and ranked them among the Tells and Washingtons of better times, has subjected them, by its failure, to the name and punishment of traitors and rebels. Following, as we have done in this country, the relations of British writers, we have been led to understand, under the expression of the Irish rebellion, every thing that was profligate in design, or cruel or sanguinary in execution. The mere name of United Irishman car Oliver Bond, convicted of high-treason, but died ried, to many American ears, the idea of some in prison. Beauchamp B. Harvey.* Thomas Russell.t Hugh Wilson.t thing lawless and unprincipled, with all the crimes but none of the abilities of the French revolutionists; and yet, if we coolly consider the motives or the conduct of this calumniated body of men, we shall probably find that instead of censure and obloquy, they deserved respect for their intentions, and pity for their misfortunes. Their object, one of the holiest to which the efforts of man can be directed, was the emancipation of their country. Endowed by nature with the greatest physical advantages, Ireland had been for many centuries the victim of foreign tyranny. The detail of her grievances would occupy far more room than the brief space allowed to a note admits. It is sufficient to observe, that all that a people can suffer of hardship from foreign taskmasters, was endured in this unfortunate country. (b) Robert Simms,† proprietor of the Northern Persecuted for their religion, obnoxious for their Star. (c) Edward Hudson.t The persons to whose names stars are affixed were nanged; and those marked thus † exiled. political opinions, prevented by the English monopoly from enjoying the benefits of commerce, or even their agricultural advantages, the people of Ireland were compelled to submit to the government of strangers, and to see their oppressors The above list, extracted from Sir Richard Mus-enriched with the spoils of their country. To grave's publication on the Irish rebellion, may serve to establish the fact, that whatever character the civil war assumed in its progress, it was not, in its origin, a war of religion. (a) Now (1832) living in France. living in Philadelphia. W. G. free themselves from this degrading thraldom, and raise their country to its proper rank among the independent nations of the world, was the object of the association of United Irishmen. In this body were comprised many persons of the highest rank in society, and others distinguished for their talents or virtues. In the progress of the insurrection, great excesses were no doubt CHAPTER X. CAMPAIGN OF 1799: Invasion of Naples by the French-Establishment of the Parthenopean Republic -Ehrenbreitstein capitulates to the French-The Austrians, under the command of the Archduke Charles, again take the field. CAMPAIGN IN GERMANY: The French Army under Jourdan, and the Austrians commanded by the Archduke, meet near Pfullendorf-Battle of Stokach-Battle of Lieblingen-Retreat of the French across the Rhine-Assassination of the French Plenipotentiaries on quitting Radstadt. CAMPAIGN IN ITALY: Tuscany invaded by the French under Scherer-Battle of Castle Nuovo-Battle of the Adige-Arrival of the Russians at Verona-Field-marshal Suworrow assumes the command of the allied Armies in Italy-Defeats the French Army, and enters Milan-The Allies besiege the principal Fortresses of Italy, and advance into Piedmont-The Kingdom of Naples reconquered by an Army under Cardinal Ruffo, and the Parthenopean Republic dissolved-The People of Italy rise against the defeated Army of France-Rome capitulates to Captain Trowbridge-Signal Defeat of the French Army on the Banks of the Trebia-Turin, Bologna, Alexandria, and Mantua surren der to the Allies-Suworrow, having conquered the principal part of Italy, menaces the South of France-Battle of Novia, General Joubert killed, and the French army defeated-Dissensions in the Courts and Camps of the Allies. CAMPAIGN IN SWITZERLAND: Schaffhausen and Peterhausen fall into the hands of the Allies-The French expelled from the Grisons-Defeat of the French Army at Zurich-Vigorous Efforts made by the French Directory to retrieve the Disasters of the Campaign-Massena, having received fresh supplies, becomes the Assailant-The French, after obtaining possession of the Pass of the Devil's Bridge, and of St. Gothard, seize on the Valais-The French Armies again cross the Rhine, and oblige the Archduke to return to the German Frontier-Suworrow quits Italy, and advances into Switzerland-His disastrous March-Arrives in the Valley of Mutten, and takes possession of the Post of Brunnen-Termination of his Successes-Battle of Zurich, and its disastrous Result-Suwor row, discontented alike with his Allies and his Colleagues, retreats into Bohemia-His Death and Character-Termination of one of the most sanguinary Campaigns upon Record. LEAVING the unhappy kingdom of Ireland, so recently agitated by the storms of insurrection, to regain that state of tranquillity which a strong government, humanely committed. They are incident to almost all popular commotions, and the greater the previous degree of opposition, the more violent is the reaction in general. But in comparison with the cruelties and profligacy of the English troops and the Orange party, authorized and licensed as they were by the government, the excesses of the United Irish sink into the shade. All that the most refined pea and judiciously administered, could scarcely fail to produce, and turning to a much more ample theatre, we find a world in arms, preparing for the renewal of that dreadful conflict, which it was fondly hoped had found a partial termination in the peace of Campo Formio. But the temple of Janus was still doomed to remain open, and new altars were destined to smoke with sacrifices to the furies who delight in blood. Notwithliarly incident to the wars arising out of the standing the miseries and calamities pecuFrench revolution, it soon became evident, that a general peace was still at a distance. Combinations were now forming on a gigantic scale, by which more warriors were to be brought into the field, than had ever engaged at one time since the days of Xerxes. still contending for superiority in one quarWhile the negroes and mulattoes were cruelty could invent, or revengeful brutality could inflict, was exercised upon the unfortunate santry. Whole districts were devastated by the unsparing sword of the conquerors, and even the judgments of court-martial were found too slow for their eager vengeance. Nor were these sanguinary proceedings confined to remote districts. The populous cities were in many instances the theatres of their commission; and it has been asserted in the British parliament, without contradiction, that the torture was openly inflicted in Dublin under the eye of the government. The conduct of the British troops on these occasions verified the common remark of the connexion between cise their vengeance on the persons of the vancruelty and cowardice. The same men who had quished. But posterity, to whom the true history exercised this unrelenting severity towards the of these transactions will be better known, will defenceless peasantry, were a short time after- not fail to do justice to both parties. Of the highwards defeated, with circumstances of peculiar dis-minded men, by whom the revolution was attemptgrace, by the French troops under General Hum-ed, many perished in action, others on the scaffold. bert, whose force was not one-fifth of their own, and some still remain in exile from their country, and so great was their panic, that, according to the experiencing "softened phrase" of Mr. Baines, they "retreated the same night to Tuam,"* a distance of thirty miles. It is not to be wondered at therefore if the United Irish were tempted to retaliate on their oppressors some of the evils by which they themselves had been visited. The unfortunate issue of the insurrection left it in the power of the conquerors to sully the characters, as well as to exer* Page 270. What patriots feel When all but life and honour's lost."* *I entirely coincide with the justness of the ob servations contained in the above note by Mr. Wharton. At the present day, however, and for the last thirty-six years, nearly all the intelligent members of the United Irish Society rejoice in the failure of the attempt of separation from Eng land.-W. G. ter of the globe, the other three were about | same time, to intimate, that St. Januarius to become the scenes of battles, attended had greeted the arrival of these deliverers with such an expenditure of blood, as in in the kindest manner, "his blood having some cases to prove even ruinous to the miraculously liquified on the very evening victors. In Africa, from the shores of the of that day on which the republican forces Mediterranean to those of the Red Sea, the had taken up their abode in the capital." French invaders were still disputing the palm of superiority with the native Arabs and Mamelukes. In Asia, the English, justly tenacious of their dominion in the east, were arming on the coast of Malabar and Coromandel, against the Sultan of Mythe friend and ally of that foe, who had already erected his standard on the plains of Egypt. All Europe, from the English Channel to the Hellespont, and from the Baltic sea to the Atlantic Ocean, was once more agitated. While the south teemed with new revolutions, the north prepared to pour forth her armies, and the whole continent seemed destined by turns to resemble a camp and a field of battle. sore, The congress at Radstadt, instead of adjusting the disputes between the Germanic empire and the French republic, was employed in vain forms of discussion, and displayed much more anxiety to promote their own aggrandizement, than to adjust the indemnities and reconcile the conflicting interests of the minor co-estates. The late expedition into the Roman territory had proved eminently disastrous to the King of Naples, now an exile from his kingdom; and on the 7th of January, in the year 1799, an armistice was signed by Prince Pignatelli, on behalf of the Neapolitan government, by which the French forces under Championnet obtained possession of the city of Capua, and thence advanced to the capital, which they entered, on the 23d, after a gallant, but unavailing resistance, made principally by the lazzaroni. But no sooner had the republican troops taken possession of the city, than this mendicant body, on being assured that the French were not the enemies of their tutelary saint, Januarius, professed an ardent attachment to their conquerors, and in order to exhibit an unequivocal proof of their zeal for a republican government, as well as their abjuration of monarchical principles, immediately proceeded in a body to pillage the residence of the absent king. Nor were the clergy backward in paying their court to the victors; and a day was appointed for the celebration of a solemn Te Deum, on which occasion all the faithful citizens were invited, by the cardinal archbishop, "to return thanks to the Most High, for the glorious entry of the French troops, who, protected in a peculiar manner by Providence, had come to regenerate the nation, and to consolidate its happiness." The venerable prelate did not fail, at the VOL. I. 24 Immediately after this solemn mockery, Naples was proclaimed a republic, under the designation of the Parthenopean commonwealth; and the provisional government was confided to twenty-one citizens, chosen by the French general. These legislators were enjoined to draw up a plan for a new constitution, worthy of a free people; and while money was levied for the payment of the army, the estates of the clergy, and the dominions of the crown, were declared to appertain to the conquerors. An assembly, representing the piazze or ancient parliament, was soon after convoked; and care was taken to admit two representatives of the lazzaroni, who still continued to possess considerable sway in Naples. While the French plenipotentiaries were menacing the ministers of the Emperor of Germany with a renewal of hostilities, if a passage were afforded to the Russian troops into Italy; and while the army under Championnet was employed in establishing the Parthenopean republic, the fortress of Ehrenbreitstein, in front of Coblentz, was obliged, after a memorable defence, to capitulate, on the 24th of January, to the French general, D'Allemagne. But although this acquisition materially strengthened the frontiers of the republic, it added not a little to the jealousies of the princes of the empire, and contributed to precipitate a war that had now become inevitable. 99 The English ministry had, about the conclusion of the preceding year, formed a treaty with a new ally, for the " purpose of opposing the successes of the arms of France, for checking the extension of the principles of anarchy, and for securing the re-establishment of the balance of Europe.' The late Empress of Russia, occupied about the extension of her own empire, contented herself with the publication of proclamations against France; but her son Paul Petrowitz, a monarch of a different character, was anxious to distinguish his accession to the throne of the czars by some splendid action, and accordingly entered into the combination against the French republic, with all the zeal inspired by a chivalrous attachment to the cause of sovereigns, and an hereditary passion for military glory. In the mean time, an appearance of negotiation was still kept up at Radstadt; But the Emperor of Germany, dissatisfied with the provisions of the treaty of Campo |