the Works in the Morning with a Captain Lieutenant and Ensign The Sutlers that were ready to go to Mullingar were to have a Guard at the Hospital where they were to take up what Men were sick or wounded And the Majors of each Regiment were to have a particular Care that the Mens Arms were fix'd and clean which Orders were often repeated June the 11th One Captain Taylor and two private Men desert from the Enemy who acquaint us that my Lord Tyrconnel by a Declaration dated May the 15th had ordered all the Rapparees into Connaught to recruit their Army and that the General St. Ruth at his going towards Athlone had ordered Brigadier Maxwel's Men to drive all the Cattle in those parts in the Rear of the Army for their support and that the Irish talk'd of giving us Battel tho' they were generally dissatisfied with the few and mean Cloaths sent them out of France and the small allowances of Provisions c. This Evening it was given out in Orders that the Chaplains should say Prayers at the Heads of their respective Regiments at ten in the Morning and seven at Night and to admonish the Men from Swearing a Vice too common at all times amongst us The 12th the Soldiers were prohibited Gaming and all Guards were to be relieved constantly at nine a Clock Our Line of Communication was then finished and we were working upon a Spur Half-Moon and Horn-Work with a good Ditch to cover the Draw-Bridge and Entrance to the Out-work There was also a Bastion begun to the Right towards the Lough and a large Half-Moon towards the Left both which command the new uttermost Work and the Fort was ordered to be amended by throwing part of it down and building it a new A Work was likewise designed along the Lough-side to cover those within that side being open and none could stir in the Fort but were exposed to Shot from the Hill A Platform was also designed for eight Guns on the top of the Mount The same Day ten Guns and three Mortars left at Mullingar were brought up and four Troopers desert the Enemy who confirm the Report of their being at Athlone with the greatest part of their Army June the 13th One hundred Prisoners were sent from the Camp to Carne-Castle a place three Miles hence where the Rapparees used to shelter themselves and demolished it And stealing being become very common in the Camp a Fellow was hanged for stealing an Horse which wrought some Reformation for a time The 14th and 15th we continued improving the forementioned Works On the 16th a strong Party of Horse was sent to view Athlone And on the 17th Lieutenant-Colonel Toby Purcell was left Governor of Ballymore with four Companies of Lieutenant-General Douglas's Regiment who went himself towards the North and from thence to Flanders The same Day my Lord Lisburn was sent out towards Lanesborough with a Party of two thousand Foot and five hundred Horse who meeting with a small Party of the Irish Horse kill'd two or three and the rest fled in haste towards the Shannon but mistaking the Ford one or two more were drown'd That Evening Orders were given out That no Sutler or other Person whatever should buy any Ammunition Arms or Accoutrements or any thing that belongs to the Soldiers on pain of Death because the Soldiers for a little Money would be apt to sell their Cloaths or Shooes And if as great Care were not taken of most of them as of Children they would soon be in a very indifferent condition June the 18th The Army march'd from Ballymore The Army march towards Athlone and is joyned by the Duke of Wirtenberg and encamp'd that Night at Ballyburn Pass near Twoy where we were joyned by that part of the Army commanded by the Duke of Wirtenberg and Count Nassau being all Foreigners and seven thousand in Number and now our Army is about eighteen thousand The General with a Party of Horse views Athlone where he could see several of the Enemy's Horse upon the little Hills nigh the Town and their Camp about two Miles beyond the River upon a narrow Neck of Land between two Boggs where they remain'd till the Town was taken June the 19th Very early in the Morning our Advance-Party We approach the Town march'd and by nine a Clock had beat the Enemy from several out Ditches to within the Walls of the English Town on this side the River our Men lodging themselves in the same Ditches For tho' the Irish quitted it the Year before and burnt the Houses both without and within the Walls upon the approach of Lieutenant-General Douglas yet they designed to show more Courage this time and defend this side the River also which made some blame Lieutenant-General Douglas as guilty of an Over-sight in not demolishing the Walls when he quitted it the Year preceeding but those that accompanied him in that Expedition know that he had not time for it And since the Irish seem'd so Brave the General was resolved to lose no time ordering three Guns to be planted nigh a Ford on Lanesborough-side which play'd all that Day upon a Breast-Work that the Enemy had on the other side About six in the Evening our Guns came up to a Battery planted between Isker and Athlone and that Night we were hard at work in raising another Battery on which we mounted nine eighteen Pounders And June the 20th about eight a Clock in the Morning Batteries planted our Battery began to play on a Bastion not far from Dublin-Gate by twelve we made a Breach the breadth of the Bastion and continued firing to prevent the Enemy from raising any Works within About three a Clock a Council of War was held wherein the following Rules were agreed upon in order to the storming the Place at five Which because they show the Method of Attacking Towns by Storm it will not be impertinent here to insert them Order of the Attack at ATHLONE the Twentieth of June 1691 at Five in the Afternoon There are to be Commanded from each Wing a hundred The Order of the Attack at Athlone and fifty Granadiers in all three hundred which are to be Commanded by a Lieutenant-Colonel and Major six Captains twelve Lieutenants twelve Serjeants and that Detachment shall be disposed of as followeth 1. A Lieutenant Serjeant and thirty Granadiers who as soon as they shall enter the Breach shall take to the Right towards the Bridge to prevent the Enemies getting that way into the Town but if they find any Retrenchment before the Bridge they shall Post themselves in Covert as well as they can thereabouts 2. After them a Captain two Lieutenants two Serjeants and fifty Soldiers 3. Then the Lieutenant-Colonel three Captains five Lieutenants five Serjeants with a hundred and twenty Granadiers who shall follow the two former Detachments towards the Bridge 4. After these the Major with two Captains four Lieutenants four Serjeants and a hundred and
injury but by my own defects which by this means I have exposed to the publick Censure of all People I have seen a great part of the most notable Adventures however from the beginning to the end and want only skill to give a good Account of them By-standers commonly see more than those actually ingaged in Battel here every man is tied to his Post and minds the Business only that is before him when those that are Lookers on have nothing else to do but to observe So that wherein I have been defective in this Point is more for want of Judgment than Opportunity and those that are Judges in the Military Art I hope will pardon me where I have made use of Terms that are not proper to that Profession But besides what Observations I have been able to make my self I have had the benefit of several Diaries and some of those writ with good skill I have look'd over all our Publick Accounts too and been freely allowed the advantage of several Publick Papers and Letters at the Secretary of War's Office and other places so that you have all that I know of the matter and I hope it 's no crime in me to know no more than I do tho I will not warrant what I have said from being guilty of several Mistakes for men relate things generally as they conceive 'em and of many that have seen the same thing few there are that relate it alike every one speaking of it according to his own Notions or as his mind is turned by clear or confused Conceptions which alone may be sufficient Encouragement to any judicious Undertaker to be at the pains to compleat the Work especially when they see a thing of that Importance so slovenly managed Tho I am the first that has chalked out the way and have some Reasons to believe that whoever writes afterwards upon this Subject will take more upon Trust than I have done There is already published An Account of the State of the Protestants in Ireland under the late King's Reign most of whom found it true by experience what is there at large related which is the reason that at this day in Ireland you 'l find no Jacobites but Papists Some of whom I hear have made it their boast That they have answered that Book but I 'm sufficiently assured That the Reverend Author who writ it is able to make it good And what credit one of the Romish Faith and an Irish Evidence too will gain by contradicting pure Matter of Fact any sober man may easily foresee Sir Richard Cox has also been pleased to say That he will oblige the world with a Third Volume of his History upon which Considerations I have said little of things before our own Landing and afterwards have for the most part confined my self to matters relating to the Army even in which if we take things as they rise there have been several Actions on our side that have made but an indifferent Figure to us who possibly did not stand in a good light and so could not discern the true Reasons of things only we ought to be satisfied that Publick Authority is not to be subject to the private Passions and Opinions of the people nor the Laws of Government either in Armies or elsewhere to the Fancies of every pretender Some perhaps may ask what part of our Army had the greatest Interest in the Glory of those Victories which we have gained in that Kingdom we being composed of so many different Nations which must needs create Emulation if not Envy it self It has been an Observation before my time That all people generally have a good opinion of themselves and magnifie their own Countrey-men either as to Courage or Customs though it be often without the least shew of Reason The Turks you see contemn us and we them as much The Grecians in former times called all the world but themselves Barbarians and now they are as much despised by most people The Italians deride the French and they again scoff at the Italians The Spaniards laugh at all and every Countrey again at them We call the Irish Wild and Rude and they think to be even with us in calling us English Churles and other Names of Reproach and notwithstanding they were worsted yet their Officers would confidently affirm That their men had as much Courage as those that beat them The Danes too magnified their own Actions and the Dutch and French did as much for themselves yet if you 'l grant me but for this once to be impartial I can affirm by often-repeated experience That I never saw any thing contemn Death to that degree and that too in all shapes as the English Officers and Soldiers did upon all occasions And if any endeavour to take the greatest part of the Glory of that War from them they do them not that Justice which the Merit of their Cause deserves Not that other people did not behave themselves very well but the Numbers of no other Nation were equal to ours or if they had can I by any means allow they could have out-done us I have done our Enemies all the Justice in every point that the Merit of their Cause would bear and that too from several of their own mouths upon whose Credit I have related many Circumstances And as to our own side I am very far from having the least prejudice to the Person of any man nor if I had could I ever persuade my self to take so poor a Revenge if any as to asperse him unjustly this would be my own loss and not his So that if any man happen to be injured by what I have said though there 's a great difference between being wronged and offended I declare it no wilful Mistake and shall be very ready to ask his Pardon which I will not do to any man for saying what I know to be true But what I am most sorry for is That I question not but a great many Gentlemen have deserved very well in this War tho it has been my Misfortune not to know their Names and yet I hope that Time and a more diligent Enquiry will do them Justice What I have writ towards the end of the Book concerning the past and present States of that Countrey was done with the rest in April last when the noise of the French Descent filled every ones ears and the same discourse being now revived I shall let it stand as it is with this Remark That though I am no Prophet yet if they do make an Attempt I hope they 'l have the same Fate that others have had before them Whatever my Account of these matters may be yet the Maps that I have inserted which illustrate the principal Battels and Sieges are very good and cost no small Pains and Charges to bring them to that perfection But when I read over these Papers my self I find the Stile of the whole harsh and unpleasant which must needs be
day about 10 a Clock their Reer Guard of Horse stood on the other side of Melahy their Foot vanishing out of sight toward Balynasloe for Monsieur St. Ruth being out-done in so considerable a matter as the losing Athlone he was resolved to retrieve his loss or Dye since he could not be answerable to his Master that imployed him for what had already happened and therefore he used all the means possible to strengthen his Army find out a convenient place of advantage to try his Fortune in since he saw that we were not shye in affording him opportunities now he begins to be very kind to and familiar with the Irish Officers whom formerly he had treated with Disrespect and Contempt and to Caress the Soldiers tho a little before he would Hang a Dozen of them in a morning for very slender faults as they thought he draws therefore his Army into the most convenient posture he could to watch our Motions The first thing our General did after the Town was The Dead about Athlone Buried taken was to order the Dead in and about the Town to be buryed and in the Evening all our Army was drawn up and 41 pieces of Cannon fared three rounds being seconded by the Horse and Foot and then followed Bonfires for Joy that the Town was taken which had cost us 12000 Cannon Bullets 600 Bombs nigh 50 Tun of Powder and a great many Tun of Stones shot out of our Mortars But after the Town was taken the Soldiers were many of them unruly and committed several outrages therefore it was given out in Orders that night that no Soldier should go to the Town or over the Water on pain of Death and the Sutlers that went to Dublin were ordered to go to the Hospital and take up the sick and wounded Men. And here let me observe once for all that we had much better conveniencies for our Sick and Wounded this Campaign than formerly having a great many large Tents set up in form of a Quadrangle with Quilts and other conveniencies for every Soldier nor was Dr. Lawrence Physitian to the Army Charles Thomson Esquire Chirurgeon General Mr Thomas Proby and the rest of the Chirurgeons wanting in their careful industry to recover and heal the Sick and Wounded which no doubt must be a great incouragement to the poor Soldiers when they know that if any misfortune attends them they shall undoubtedly be taken care for The Enemy Resolve to give us Battle July the 2 d. We had an account by some Deserters that the Enemies Foot were gone beyond Balynasloe and their Horse were Encampt on this side of it that they resolved to stay thereabouts and Fight us tho at present they were in a great Consternation and seem'd doubtful of their own performances A great many of the Country people and Deserters came hourly in and the General gave them all protections assuring them that they shou'd be kept Inviolable against any of our Army or others resolving to punish the Offenders with Death but on the other hand expected all conformity of dutiful Subjects to their Majesties from them and if any were found to carry Intelligence to the Enemy or harbour succour or conceal them they should suffer Death for it This day the General had an account from one Capt. Aughmouty that the Enemy had quitted Lanesbourgh and that he with his Troop had possest himself thereof July the 3 d. The General commanded his Army The Works of Aâ—hlone repaired to begin the repairing the Works of Athlone which were strangely shattered by our Cannon and not one House left whole in all the Town Especially the Castle which was beat down to the ground on the Southeast side as was also the Tower within it we fell to work therefore and put some few shattered Houses in a condition to hold our Magazines and Stores which were daily coming up from Dublin and Mullingar and without which we could not march forwards That morning William Robinson Esquire one of the Pay-masters to the Army came with Money as also many Waggons and Carts with Ammunition and other Mecessaries A Trumpeter returns with an answer of a Letter sent to the Enemy about the exchange of Prisoners The Fourth proved very Rainy yet our Men were imployed in clearing the Streets repairing the Breaches and mounting four of the Enemies Guns taken in the Town upon some of our spare Carriages That Evening a Party of 20 Horse and ten of Kirk's Granadeers A party of our Horse surprized mounted were sent out to view the Enemies Camp being Guided and Commanded by one Higgins a Converted Priest but they fell into an Ambush of 400 of the Enemies Horse in the Woods of Clanoult our men defended a Bridge and fought stoutly for some time but were at last broke 15 kill'd and 4 taken Prisoners the rest escaping with Higgins who was sadly Wounded The 5th Major General Maxwell and other Prisoners were sent towards Dublin but some of them make their escapes Three out of Col. Parker's and as many out of My Lord Antrim's Regiments deserted to us The 6th The Prisoners sent to Dublin one of our men taken Prisoner two days before was released by Lieutenant General Sheldon and that Evening it was given out in Orders to be ready to march by 5 in the morning the left Wing over the Pontoons and the right Wing over the Bridge which was now repaired and every Soldier was to have 15 shot of Powder The 7th the Army marched over the River and a Prisoner that had made his escape going to Mullingar was taken nigh Banoher and having stole a Horse he was hanged with a Rapparee guilty of the like Fact Capt. Villers returns with 30. Horse from viewing the Enemy still at Balynasloe and the Militia possess some Passes upon the Shanon And because a Declaration published this day by the Lords Justices by direction from England made a great noise both in the Enemies Camp and ours as also all the Kingdom over during the remainder of the Campaign being that upon which the Articles of Galway and Limerick and all the Irish Capitulations were afterwards founded it will not be amiss here to give you the Declaration it self at large as it was Published By the Lords Justices of Ireland a Proclamation Charles Porter Tho. Coningsby SInce it hath pleased Almighty God to give so great Success to their Majesties Arms toward the Reduction of the Kingdom of Ireland that in all probability the whole must in a short time be brought under Their Majesties Obedience with great Effusion of Blood and Destruction of Their Majesties Enemies Their Most Excellent Majesties in Compassion to their Seduced Subjects to avoid further Effusion of Blood and that nothing on Their Majesties part be wanting to Incourage and Invite all who are now in Arms against Them to subject themselves to Their Obedience and Government have Commanded us And we the Lords Justices of this Kingdom
who have surrendred themselves But in case the Persons invited by this Declaration should neglect in time prescribed to lay hold on the same they must never more expect the like Advantageous Terms and Condiscentions Given at the Camp by Nenah the Eleventh Day of August 1691. in the Third Year of Their Majesties Regin Bar. De Ginckell The Army that day marched to a place called Shalley in a wild and desolate Country nigh the Silver-Mines where in the former Wars about seventeen of Sir George Hambleton's Followers were slain by the Kenedies and here Major General Trelawyng's Regiment joined us the 12th we marched to a place called Tulla where we halted next day and our Advance Guards brought in one of the Enemies Outscouts a Prisoner Several Deserters also come off to us amongst whom were two of the Horse Guards who inform the General that the Irish Foot were drawn into Limerick and their Horse having burnt several places that escaped their fury last year were retired likewse near the Town we understand also that my Lord Tyrconnell was taken suddenly very ill and there were several disorders amongst the Chief Officers in Limerick some of them being suspected to incline to our side From hence the General sent a Spy who took several of the Declarations in order to disperse them in Town The 14th we marched to Cariganliss and the General The Army go to Cariganliss with the rest of our Great Officers went with a Party within two Miles of Limerick near which three of the Enemies Scouts being posted upon the top of a round Hill towards our left two of them deserted to us as our Party drew off The 15th in the Morning early fifteen hundred A Party go towards Limerick Horse and Dragoons commanded by Major General Ruvigny and one thousand detached Foot as a reserve in case of danger commanded by the Prince of Hess with six Field-peeces were ordered to march towards Limerick with whom went the General and all the Chief Officers in order to view the Town The Enemy had lined the Hedges in several places with Foot and there appeared two Squadrons of Horse and a Party of a Dragoons about a Mile on this side the Town who fronted our Men for some time but when they saw our Advance Party resolved to push them they retired nearer home and afterwards their Foot fired several Small-shot but without any harm to us tho' about seven of the Enemy were killed by our Dragoons We stayed several hours within less then Cannon-shot of the Town upon the Ground where we encamped the year before we could see that they had repaired Ireton's Fort and built another some distance to the Right where formerly stood an Old Church and a third was begun also with a Line of Communication from one to the other but not as yet finished they had then two Field-peeces in Ireton's Fort but did not fire them and drew them off to the Town next day Whilst we staid there first a Drummer and then one Hagan a Captain came off to us who informed the General that my Lord Tyrconnell died the day before some say of Grief because things went My Lord Tyrconnell dies at Limerick not according to his desire and that after all his Endeavours and good Services to promote the Catholick Cause he was slighted to that Degree that whilst their Camp lay by Athlone one Lieutenant Colonel Conner came to my Lord's Tent and bid him be gone from the Camp else he would cut his Tent-Cords My Lord Tyrconnell knowing that he durst not be so impudent without a considerable Faction to support him went next Morning early towards Limerick where he remained till his death which some say was not without suspition of foul play in being poisoned with a Cup of Rattafeau this is nothing but Apricock-stones bruised and infused in Brandy which gives it a pleasant Relish some of which my Lord Tyrconnell had given him at an Entertainment and falling ill upon it he often repeated the word Rattafeau which made several believe that he had received Poyson in that Liquor because he would not comply with the prevailing Faction then in Town But most People say that he died of a Fever However it was he certainly had managed the Affairs of that Kingdom from his entrance upon publick Business to his dying day with as much dexterity and zeal for the Interest he * As to his encouraging one Jâ—nes to Assassinate King William in the year 1690. proved by Original Letters under his own hand I leave others hereafter to give a more particular account of pretended to serve as any man could have done At the General 's return from viewing the Town he found a considerable quantity of Bread-Waggons come to the Camp under the Convoy of the Militia Horse and Dragoons of the County of Tipperary whom the General viewed and sent home again We had now a Train of nine 24 Pounders nine 18 Pounders and three Mortars with Ammunition and other Utensils of War proportionable which left Athlone on the 12th under the care of Col. Lloyd's Regiment and a Party the Militia who were met upon the Road by the Earl of Drogheda's and Colonel Venner's Foot Regiments with a small Party of Horse but the General remembring what hapned to our Train the year before and that the same People were still as industrious as formerly Major General la Forrest with a good Detachment of Horse and Dragoons was sent on the 16th to meet our Cannon The same day a Captain and a Lieutenant desert from the Enemy and confirm the Report of the death of my Lord Tyrconnell and withal that Francis Plowden Esq one of the Commissioners of the Revenue in the late King's time had brought over a Commission from the late King out of France appointing Sir Alexander Fitton Sir Richard Neagle and the said Francis Plowden Esq to be Lords Justices of Ireland which Commission lay dorment till my Lord Tyrconnel's death by which it appeared that his Adversaries were like to prove too many for him if he had lived and that tho he had promoted the late King's desires tho' not his real Interest to the utmost and was of the same Religion too with himself yet he was in a fair way of being served as Some of the Irish Officers suspected for holding a Correâ—pondence with our Ar others had been before him We understood also that Colonel Henry Lutterill was not only suspected to hold a Correspondence with our Army but was taken into Custody and tried for his life in that he with some others had consulted about the surrender of the Town for which they designed to put him to death but that they either wanted clear Proof or else waited for Advice from France about it but the occasion of Colonel Lutteril's confinment was upon the account of a Letter brought him by a Trumpeter from some great Officer in our Army when the Garison of Gallway was conveyed
for England with the Lords Justices and most of the Nobility and Gentry in and about Dublin went to Ringsend and there taking leave he went on board the Monmouth-Yacht which sailed next Morning for England The 6th several of the Transport-Ships that went with The Transport-Ships return from France the first of the Irish Forces to France returned to Cork having Landed the Men at Brest and the Week following about Twenty more came back to Dublin they all spoke well of the French Treatment of them in accommodating them with several Necessaries which they extreamly wanted but that the Irish did not find themselves so very welcome as they expected to have been though at their Landing an Express was sent to the late King to St. Germains to give him an Account of it he seemed to be very well pleased with their coming and sent the following Letter to Lieut. General Sheldon then the Officer in Chief with the Irish JAMES Rex HAving been informed of the Capitulation and Surrender of Limerick and of the other Places which Remained King James's Letter to the Irish to us in our Kingdom of Ireland and of the necessities which forced the Lords Justices and the General Officers of our Forces thereunto We will not defer to let you know and the rest of the Officers that came along with you that we are extreamly Satisfied with your and their Conduct and of the Valour of the Souldiers during the Siege but most Particularly of your and their Declaration and Resolution to come and Serve where we are And we assure you and Order you to assure both Officers and Souldiers that are come along with you that we shall never forget this Act of Loyalty nor fail when in a Capacity to give them above others Particular Marks of our Favour In the mean time you are to Inform them that they are to Serve under our Command and by our Commissions and if we find that a Considerable number is come with the Fleet it will induce Vs to go Personally to see them and Regiment them Our Brother the King of France hath already given Orders to Cloath them and furnish them with all necessaries and to give them Quarters of Refreshment So We bid you heartily Farewell Given at Our Court at St. Germaine the 27th of November 1691. But how good soever the Late King's Intentions towards Their Reception in France his Irish might be yet it was and is the French King who Orders every thing in his own Dominions as he Pleases nor had the French any good opinion of the Irish at their Landing as appeared by the Quarters of Refreshment assigned them which were at first only the Lanes and Hedges about Brest not admitting any of them into the City and at the same time this Letter was sent from the Late King there came Orders from his Brother of France to Reduce all or most of the Irish Officers the Colonels to Captains and the Captains to Lieutenants and Ensigns and the Subalterns to Sergeants or private Centinels and no wonder for what ever the Irish might hope for before their departure yet it was very improbable that they who only were put into such Posts in Ireland upon point of necessity because they could get no better should be continued so in France which is one of the most Warlike and Refin'd Nations in the World however this ill Treatment as the Irish took it to be did so exasperate them that several would gladly have returned into Ireland and offered largely for their Passage but were prevented by the strict Guards that were set upon them But they wrote to several of their Friends in Ireland giving an Account of their severe usage which made several Desert from my Lord Lucan that were not as yet gone as more would have done had he not soon after this Advice put them on Ship-Board One of those Letters sent from France after their first Landing since it gives a full Account of their Reception and Usage I think it worth my Pains to Transcribe SIR NEver People that left their All to come hither to Serve were so meanly received as those miserable Irish were here they have been much longer than necessary in Disimbarking them and will be at least Three days more though the Intendant has been pressed with great earnestness to take them a Shoar when they are Landed they lye in the Fields a Night or two at least before they are sent into their Quarters and then they get neither Money nor Cloaths and but little of any thing else The Major Generals are made Colonels the Colonels Captains the Majors Lieutenants and the Captains Serjeants and many of them but Private Men insomuch that as I pass along the Streets the Souldiers wish they had died in Ireland before they came here and many of the Officers express themselves to the same purpose and are extreamly dejected and melancholly some of them hope this will be Regulated tho' I see no great reason for it for this day there came a frivolous Complaint against some of Colonel Nugent 's Men and the Intendant threatned to break him for it and I do not doubt but he 'll be as good as his word in a short time For upon all occasions he uses their Officers with the greatest Insolence and Contempt imaginable Some of them having complained and told him they hoped to have been advanced here rather than thus reform'd he told them if they did not like it they might go back the Ships were in the Harbour that brought them tho' at the same time the Owners on Board the Transport Ships were ordered not to take any of them on Board again upon pain of Death This is all matter of Fact and a great deal more such usages they meet with too tedious to relate c. This News spreading abroad in the Country on Several desert that were not yet Shipt off Tuesday the 8th of December Colonel Mackdermot's and Colonol Brian Oneal's Regiments and a day or two after Colonel Foelix Oneal's who were part of the Irish Forces designed for France they quitted their design and refused to go on Board returning to Clare where some of them delivered up their Arms to Colonel Tiffin and went homewards in order to their living peaceably in the Country and the rest were subsisted as the other Irish Forces were Those that were now Embarquing had not much The Irish severely dealt withal at their Embarquing better usage on this side the Water for a great many of them having Wives and Children they made what shift they cou'd to desert rather than leave their Families behind to starve which my Lord Lucan and Major General Waughop perceiving they Publish a Declaration That as many of the Irish as had a mind to 't should have Liberty to Transport their Families along with themselves And accordingly a vast Rabble of all sorts were brought to the Water-side when the Major General pretending to Ship the