December Major General Mackarty made his Escape from Inniskillin who had remained there a Prisoner ever since the Rout at Newtown-Butler he had been Sick and at that time writ to Major General Kirk to get leave of the Duke to have his Guard removed which he complained of was troublesome in his Sickness this was done but at his Recovery they say a Serjeant and some Men were put upon him again The Town it seems stands upon a Lough and the Water came to the Door of the House where he was confined or very near it He found means to corrupt a Serjeant and so got two small Boats called Cotts to carry him and his best Moveables off in the Night The Serjeant went along with him but returned that Night to deliver a Letter which and Mackarty's Pass being found in the Lining of his Hat he was the next Day shot for it The General was much concerned when he heard of Mackarty's Escape and said he took him to be a Man of Honour but he would not expect that in an Irish-Man any more Col. Hamilton the Governour of Inniskillin was blamed for his Negligence but he came to Lisburn and desired a Tryal which could not be for want of Field-Officers till the 15 th of March at what time he produced Major General Kirk's Letter to him by which he was cleared About Christmas there happened an unlucky Accident at Belfast Cranmer Bowls and Morley three Lieutenants in Major General Kirk's Regiment happened to kill two Masters of Ships and being tryed by a Court-Marshal the thing appeared so ill that they were all three Shot month January On the 8 th and 10 th of January there were several Regiments broke one into another by reason of the fewness of Men in them viz. The Regiments broke were my Lord Drogheda's Col. Zanchy's Sir Henry Inglesby's Lord Roscommon's Col. Hamilton's and the Officers were continued at hâ—lf Pay till there could be Provision made for them in other Regiments The 12 th 16 th and 20 th several Officers went over into England for Recruits And Sir Thomas Newcomb's House in the County of Longford Sir Thomas Newcomb 's house surrendred was surrendred upon very good Terms it being held out by his Lady against a great Party of the Irish for the House is strongly situated and she got about 200 of her Tenants into it who defended the Place till the Irish brought Field-pieces against it tho it was above 20 Miles from any of our Garisons Of the Men that were in it one hundred of them were entertained by Sir John Hanmer in his Regiment and the rest were provided for by the Duke at Lisburn But though our Army had been much afflicted with Sickness and Mortality yet this was little taken notice of by a great many who gave themselves up to all the Wickedness imaginable especially that ridiculous Sin of Swearing A Proclamation against Swearing of which complaint being made to the Duke by several of the Clergy then at Lisburn and frequent Sermons preached against it this occasioned the Duke to set out a Proclamation bearing date January 18. Strictly forbidding Cursing Swearing and Profaneness in Commanders and Souldiers which he said were Sins of much Guilt and little Temptation but that several were so wicked as to invoke God more frequently to damn them than to save them and that notwithstanding the dreadful Judgments of God at that time upon us for those and such like Sins fearing that their Majesties Army was more prejudiced by those Sins than advantaged by the Courage or Conduct of those guilty of them And therefore he commanded all Officers and Souldiers in his Army from thence forward to forbear all vain Cursing Swearing and taking God's holy Name in vain under the Penalties enjoined by the Articles of War and of his utmost Displeasure Commanding also the said Articles to be put in the strictest execution For no doubt the Debaucheries in Armies are the high way to Ruin since those both obey and fight best that are most sober Brigadier Stuart's Stratagem to fall upon the Irish January 22. Brigadier Stuart with a Party of 500 Horse and Foot went from Rostriver and Newry beyond the Mountains towards Dundalk and Carlingford burning most of the Cabbins where the Irish sheltered themselves and took a considerable Prey of Cattle The Irish had some People dwelt amongst us who had agreed upon giving them a Sign when any Party of ours was to march out which was by making Fires in several Places this the Brigadier understood by a Prisoner and so made Fires three or four times which alarum'd the Irish at first but when they found it done several times and no Party appear they neglected the Sign so that when our Party marched indeed they took no notice of it which gave the Brigadier opportunity of marching where he pleased without opposition There came one Mr. King an Attorney from the Enemies Quarters and gave the Duke an account how things stood at Dublin And about this time the Irish had got a trick having always good Intelligence to come in the night and surprize our Men in their Beds as they quartered in the Country in single Houses They stole five or six of my Lord Droghedah's Men nigh Tondragee which obliged the Officers to order all the Men to lie in the Town for the future The 25 th of January the Duke went from Lisburn to Legacory and so to several Places on the Frontiers as Lieut. Gen. Douglas had done before And a great Store was ordered at * Armagh is the Metropolitan of the whole Island where S. Patrick the Irish Apostle ruled in his life-time and they say rested after death tho there is as much Contention about his Grave as Homer's in honour of whom it was of such venerable estimation in that time that not only Bishops and Priests but Princes paid their great Respects Armagh and several others up and down the Country for the most conveniency to the adjoining Garisons month February On Sunday Febr. 2. a Party of my Lord Drogheda's Regiment of 100 Men with 20 Dragoons and about 60 of the Country People marched from Tondragee and Market-hill Their business was to surprize two Companies of Irish Foot who lay nigh the Mountains of Slavegollion and defended a great number of Cattel there The Enemy had some notice of their coming and seem'd to design fighting but considered better of it and ran away 17 of them took to a Bog in which were taken one Lieutenant Murphey and four more one Man being killed only our People brought home about 500 Cattel February the 8 th the General had an account that the Enemy were drawing down some Forces towards Dundalk and that they had laid in great Store of Corn Hay and other Provisions in order to disturb our Frontier-Garisons from thence The Duke sent a Ship or two towards Dundalk who burnt some of the Irish Gabbords The General draws some Forces into
was taken exactly next day In Lieutenant General Douglas's Regiment Wounded Sir Charles Fielding Capt. Rose mortally wounded Capt. Guy Capt. Trevor Capt. Rose junior Capt. Wainsbrough Lieut. Wild mortally wounded Lieut. Wybrants Lieut. Lacock Lieut. Rapine Lieut. Lloyd Ensign Goodwin Ensign Burk Kill'd Major Hambleton Lieut. Ennis Lieut. Morison Ensign Tapp Ensign Pinsent In Colonel Cutts's Regiment Wounded Colonel Cutts Capt. Newton Capt. Foxon Capt. Massham Lieut. Levis Lieut. Barrock Lieut. Cary. Lieut. Trenchard The Adjutant Mr. How 's a Voluntier Kill'd Capt. Hudson Ensign Mead. In the Earl of Meath's Regiment Wounded The Earl of Meath L. C. Newcomb mort wounded Lieut. Blakeney Lieut. Hubblethorn Kill'd Lieut. Latham Ensign Smith In Brigadier Stuart's Regiment Wounded Brigadier Stuart Major Cornwall Capt. Pallferey Capt. Galbreth Capt. Stuart Capt. Casseen Lieut. Stuart Lieut. Cornwall Lieut. Cary. Ensign Stuart Kill'd Capt. Lindon Capt. Farlow Lieut. Russell In my Lord Lisburn's Regiment Wounded Major Allen. Capt. Adair Capt. Holdrich Capt. Hubbart Lieut. Hillton Lieut. Goodwin Ensign Hook Kill'd Capt. Wallace Capt. West Ensign Ogle These make in all Fifty nine whereof Fifteen were killed upon the Spot and several dyed afterwards of their Wounds the Granadeers are not here included and they had the hottest Service Nor are there any of the Forreigners who lost full as many as the English so that I 'm afraid this did more then countervail the loss that the Irish had during the whole Seige at least in the numher of Men. Next day the King sent a Drummer in order to a Truce that the Dead might be buried but the Irish had no mind to it and now the Soldiers were in hopes that the King would make a second Attack and seem'd resolv'd to have the Town or dye every Man But this was too great a hazard to run at one Place and they did not know how scarce our Ammunition was it being very much wasted the day before this day however we continued Battering the Wall and it begun to Rain and next day it was very Cloudy all about and Rain'd very fast so that every Body began to dread the Consequences of it The King therefore calls a Council of War wherein it was Resolv'd to quit the Town and Raise the Siege which as the Case stood then with us was no doubt the most prudent thing that could be done The Siege Raised We drew off therefore our heavy Cannon from the Batteries by degrees And on Saturday August the 30. we marched greatest part of them as far as Cariganliss the Guard being the Earl of Drogheda's and Brigedeer Stuart's Regiments The Rain which had already fallen had softned the ways and we found some difficulty in getting off our Guns especially since for the most part we were obliged to draw them with Oxen a part of our Train Horses being disposed of to the Enemies use before and this was one main Reason for Raising the Siege for if we had not granting the Weather to continue bad we must either have taken the Town or of necessity have lost our Cannon because that part of the Country lies very low and the Ways are deep Therefore on Sunday the last of August all the Army drew off having a good Body of Horse in the Rear As soon as the Irish perceived we had quitted our Trenches they took Possession of them with great Joy and were in a small time after over all the Ground whereon we had Encamped two days before we Raised the Siege a great many Waggons and Carriages were sent towards Cashell and Clonmel with sick and wounded Men which was the Reason that we were forced to leave a great many Bombs Hand Granades and other things behind which we buried in the Artillery Ground but with a Train to blow them up so that when it took Fire the Irish were mightily afraid and thought we were beginning a new Seige from under Ground But yet they dug up most of our dead Officers and Soldiers only to get their Shirts and Shrowds month September The Army removes The Army Encamped that day at Cariganliss and then the Artillery marched forwards to Cullen whither the Army followed the day after but as soon as the Protestants that dwelt in that Country understood that the Army was drawing off they prepared to march along with Bag and Baggage which most of them did and lookt something like the Children of Israel with their Cattle and all their Stuff footing it from Aegypt though most of those poor People had no Promised Land to retire to but were driven into a Wilderness of Confusion for I saw a great many both Men and Women of very good Fashion who had lived plentifully before yet now knew not which way to steer their Course but went along with the Croud whither Providence should direct them In a day or two after we were removed from before Limerick Monsieur Boisleau the Governour made a Speech and told the Irish Monsieur Boiseleau's Speech to the Irish That with much ado he had perswaded them to defend the Town which with Gods help they had done but assured them it was not Fear but Prudence and Policy that had made the Enemy quit the Siege as might appear by their slow Marches and withal he told them his Opinion that the next time the Enemy came they would have it Which said he took leave and went to the French Forces then at Galloway and designing for France His Majesty goes for England His Majesty that day we Raised the Siege went to Cullen and so to Clonmel from thence to Waterford in order to take shipping for England accompanied with the Prince the Duke of Ormond and several of the Nobility From Waterford His Majesty sent back the Right Honourable Henry Lord Viscount Sidney and Tho. Conyngsby Esq to the Camp Lords Justices Appointed they with Sir Charles Porter having a Commission to be Lords Justices of Ireland The King set Sail with a fair Wind for England where he was received with an universal rejoicing and the Two Lords Justices on the Fourth of September came to the Camp then at Cullen where they staid till the Sixth in which two days they and the General Count Solmes ordered all Affairs relating to the Army And here we received Money which was very acceptable for it had been very scarce all the Campaign both with the Officers and Soldiers and yet every body were content and our Wants were no Obstruction to our Duties as His Majesty was pleased to take notice afterwards in His Speech to the Parliament From Cullen we marched on the Sixth to Tipperary blowing up a strong Castle when we Decamped and the two Lords Justices took their Journey towards Dublin in order to enter upon their Government Some that are Men already prejudiced will pretend to be Judges in this Affair though they never saw the Place or the Country and affirm that the Irish made never a false step but one during this whole
there was a Ship with Arms Ammunition and some Provisions on Board with about Sixty Officers designed for Limerick but cast away in that River and all the Men lost The Rapparees all this while were very busie about Cashall and Clonmel and did a great deal of mischief this occasioned some of our Army to joyn part of the Militia who went towards Cullen and burnt the Corn bringing away a good Booty without any opposition The Fifteenth of November Colonel Byerly's Horse marched from Dublin to Mount Naelick a Village towards the Frontiers and on the 19 th the Lords Justices Publish a Proclamation Declaring That if any of their Majesties Protestants Subjects had their Houses or Haggards burnt or were Robb'd or Plundred by the Rapparees such Losses should be repaid by the Popish Inhabitants of that County And in regard the Popish Priests had great Influence over their Votaries it was ordered That if any Rapparees exceeding the Number of Ten were seen in a Body no Popish Priest should have liberty to reside in such a County And it was further declared That the Government would not give Protection to any Person that had a Son in the Enemies Quarters unless such Son return to Their Majesties Obedience before the Tenth of December next following And in regard at this time the Government was apprehensive of some danger nigh Dublin it self they Publish a Proclamation the 22 d. That all Papists who have not been noted House-keepers in the City of Dublin for Three Months last past were within Forty eight Hours to depart at least Ten Miles from the City or else to be proceeded against as Spies and that not above Five Papists should meet together upon any Pretext whatever A Plot discovered About the 24 th there was great talk of a Design discovered to the Lords Justices of sending a Supply of Meal Salt Tobacco Brandy and several other things from Dublin to the Enemies Quarters Those who were carrying these things were pursued and overtaken in the County of Kildare upon a By Road they all made their escapes however but one of them being a Woman dropt a Petticoat in which was found a Letter and also another in a Rowl of Tobacco which gave grounds to believe that a Correspondence was kept between the Papists in Dublin and the Enemy beyond the Shanon and therefore on Sunday Night the 30 th of November a general search was made through the City and most of the Papists secured This Piece of Service the Militia performed very dextrously without noise or suspicion till the thing was done A List of the Privy-Council The last Packquets from England brought a List of the Privy Council appointed by His Majesty for the Kingdom of Ireland as also of several of the Judges The Council were The Lord Primate the Lord Chancellor Lord Treasurer Archbishop of Dublin Duke of Ormond Earl of Meath Earl of Drogheda Earl of Longford Earl of Renelah Earl of Granard Viscount Lisburn Bishop of Meath Robert Fitz-Gerrald Esq the Vice Treasurer Chancellor of the Exchequer Chief Justice of the King's Bench Chief Justice of the Common Pleas the Chief Baron of the Exchequer Master of the Rolls Secretary of State Master of Ordance Sir Henry Fane Sir Charles Merideth William Hill of Hillsborongh Esquire On Monday the First of December several of the said Persons attended the Lords Justices at the Council Chamber and there took the usual Oaths of Privy Councellors The Judges named for the Respective Courts in Dublin were Sir Richard Reynoll Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench Sir Richard Stephens one of the Justices of the same Court Mr. Justice Lindon being formerly sworn there In the Common Pleas Mr. Justice Jetfordson Mr. Justice Cox being formerly sworn there In the Exchequer Jo Healy Esq Lord Chief Baron and Sir Standish Hartstone one of the Barons of the Court Mr. Baron Ecklin being formerly sworn there This day we had News of the Enemies passing the Shanon at several Places and Orders were sent to our Frontiers to be in readiness and Colonel Gustavus Hambleton sent a Party from Birr towards Portumna who met with a Party of the Enemy which they routed killing some and brought off two Officers with Eleven Prisoners being Dragoons and Foot month December December the 2 d. A Proclamation was issued out by the Lords Justices and Council forbidding all Their Majesties Subjects of Ireland to use any Trade with France or to hold any Correspondence or Communication with the French King or his Subjects This was the first that was Signed by the Council and these were present viz. Fran. Dublin Drogheda Longford Granard Lisburn Robert Fitz-Gerald Anth. Meath Charles Merideth We had at that time an Account from Cork that on the 22 d. of November last there were 60 of our Horse and Foot who met with near Five hundred of the Rapparees in the Barony of West Carberry near Castlehaven our Men at that disadvantage Retreated towards Castlehaven the Enemy followed in the Rear and fired at a distance several times our Party facing about killed Nine and afterwards being Attackt again they killed one Brown an Ensign of the Enemies Castletown Besieged The Enemy next day Besieged Castletown an House near Castlehaven they were Commanded by O Donavan O Driscoll and one Barry As they approached the House our Men killed Twelve of them this put them into an humour of Retreating though one Captain Mackronine with his Sword drawn endeavoured to hinder them but he and some more of the Party being kill'd the rest got away as well as they could Several of them had Bundles of Straw fastned upon their Breasts instead of Armour but this was not Proof for about Thirty of them were killed upon the Spot amongst whom were young Colonel O Driscol Captain Tiege O Donavan besides several that went off Wounded we lost only two Men. Rapparees defeated At this time Colonel Byerley being at Mountmelick with part of his own Regiment and some of Colonel Earl's Foot he was frequently Allarumed as well by Parties of the Irish Army as by Considerable Numbers of the Rapparees who had a design to burn the Town as they had done several others thereabouts but the Colonel was very watchful and kept good Intelligence a main Matter in this Assair He was told of a Party that designed to burn the Town and he took care to have all his Men both Horse and Foot in readiness to welcome them but they heard of his Posture and durst not venture however on the Third of December he had notice of a Body of Rapparees that were not far from the Town and designed him a mischief he sends out Lieutenant Dent with Twenty Horse and ordered each Horseman to take a Musqueteer behind him when the Horse came almost within sight of the Rapparees they dropt their Foot who marched closely behind the Hedges unperceived by the Enemy When the Enemy espied so small a Party of Horse they Advanced