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‘ riorly of this grand defensible orl
TI-IEV UNITED IRISHMAN. '
March 18.
Eh: claim! iirishmtiz.
second was the work of the Batavian Republic, attained
through the instrumentality o FIJLHLL.
e first rode in Bantry Bay during :1 storm of weeks,
d because the wind ‘u u . Scarcely had it‘ gone to
to the nortlueiist, is at once found. Keep
it on
ing the extreme
the Ciirlingford Mountains, by moving it
y the
n
='
o
3
ru1c'in Ireland by a system of steady advance by cordons..
y the plans on Wliicll he acted in La Vendcc-.spp:Ars
very ridiculous, indeed. The purposes of men, however,
’ ' ' in whl l
the aid he asked from France, in '96, should have been so
small as to compel to recruit and drill before marching on
the capital; and, it is the one he would probably have
selected in '98.
c i they have
been previously engaged; and I-Ioche on Irish ground, the
emancipator of the people, would not have been Hoche in
ts ‘
Vendee, the subjugator of pcosan
Men accustomed to military disc line, and the tsctiqne
ncucz .u ' ' I ' ‘ K
t. .‘u ' “ ' " ‘ ‘ "L ancttud
and 1‘ e
It-‘J1 to look for thc commander-in-cliief,
in-chief sailed up the bay LU look for it. The second was
e .
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tion of Hum rt, in the taking of the Jloche oil‘ Lough
Swilly, and the death of Tone.
,,.L . . . X
of foreign iiiVl‘tSl nand foreign aid, to which we mean to
devote this pa er.
1; Ireland were peopled and governed by men whose feel-
42 'n exact unisonmif the pcoplewcre
ti
powers to invade her soil would end in utter defeat. Not
only i she herself the :‘ natural fortress of Erin," but every
province is ii fortification, less a extent than the whole
island, but not in strength; and so splitup into division
:Literdivision,M " ' ‘ ' " ' " " “"
nh riiviamvi
remark that that, with the left on Killala bn , by the Moy,
and the line of lakes southward, with the extreme right on
Gzilwsy, r the fastnesscs of Connemara; 1' should this
line be too, extensive, w’ h the extreme left on Lough
hiiislr ’ seaward, ' ‘ ' " ‘
way; ' ' ' way no vttfir 9 “min..-
right on on.“ pay ’ are ositioiis as
fensible as any'in Ireland. The last is, perhaps, the most
so; and is the one lluninr: 1- should have selected, had not
the rash impatience which hurried him to Ireland with it
handful of men, hurried him also out of his fastnessss,
seeking, as it were, for most iiiglorious defeat.
But In ster is thejnost remarkable provincein this
respect. Behind the great frontier line from Limerick to
‘ ‘ ' ' n
9.
‘F
. by 1- L .- .
in a country like ours can be met and overthrown. A dis-
ciplined French army and a disciplined Englis army,
cluding the regards of the native population, would exactly
equal terms. The natural ‘ or artistic diiii.
would be equally useless defences, or
’ They would level mo
meet here on
E
E. a
:.
perhaps, the generals on
pol y a ourn to the broad plains o
Kildarc or lllcath, that they might fight it out in a Christian
country. - '
u Ire‘ ’ ‘ enein
is the undisciplined peasant, light of limb, who is a good
I . - tr ->. L n U
nless the
to the smaller divisions of counties and baronics, and yet
. . . - - - .. .
her geographical chameter ensures--an endless war, in a
thousand dilrerent posts for independence. Exclusive of
' of Month, and the flats of Kil-
of each baroiiy, of each
up by rivers or streams, guarded by hills or
towering rocks. or fortified, inch by inch, by tho cxcclle t
. ‘ " L nvnlllit
the great grazing districts
n
nh
in the south, anywhere between Cork and Kenmore, would
ate in o Cork settled, it
would at once advance its centre and ri ht on the Black-
water, extending its left westward towards the Shannon
If it succeeded in securing this position, the next move
would ' ' ' W‘?!-
thc right on Waterford, and left, as extended as circum-
stances would admit, on Tipperary or Limerick.that i
supposing always there were opposing forces suiiicient to
J .“ . .
at the corner of every field, where two join in a salient
an lc. Every road is thus enfiladed froni turn to turn-
every bridge or narrow declivity laid undcr ll cross tire.
prevent it, on its immediate landing, or, liaving mastered
the capital
construction, ilJu.rsLLtI.u uy traps and pitfalls, in the shape
UI uliuhua ' ‘
Every road is liable to be immersed in water on the low
levels, or commanded from every hill as by an entrencliczl
towcr. ,
The surfaces o Ulstcrjconnauglit, and Munster, arcintc-
< er. . Extcriorly, each of
these provinces has itsfown natur. l line of defence, of which
ong stand against foreign tyranny..
for instance. mp
ste is i reg
position. From the Monroe a
nd
a
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o
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30::
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s
molri-. southward, on the kindred Lough Oughtcr, in
Cavsn, is alinc of defence for all the north, wliic
This was the last line of defence licld byflicigh O'Neill:
whether on Lo gh Oughter
ugh E e, those t o la ith the nv run
between them, fo is not rrd h',x ng north-west,
Cavan to the falls of Ballcek, and pa l t one
point only-En i llcn Fro iillcck 0 At tie,
through is nd wide peiiing, over falls, and throng
rapid the waters of all s is ll to h se
Here the Connsught line of defence begi rom ougli
Melvi , mon mountains and fpasses, ith rocks hangiii
overhead, waiting for the crow-b. r, or th mine, soutliward,
through the lmrony of Boho, in Fcrmsnagh, Lough Muc-
nd the Leitri run ‘or, you reac
11
itself held by mountains. Thence
Shannon, of which we need say no more. From the
Shari , at -Limerick, across by the Keeper, the Dnon,
andt ' S ' W terford, is a
r equally iinpregnahlc.
f these provinces, with Loinster, might ther
of on enemy, and one of them held
l as old
, ore in possession
for months or years against hini4is Connaug it w
from Li ericl: o Galway, by the Confederates, against
Wilham, when he held the otl h . fr in Derry to
s Ulste held f r tunes against the n
IDS
u stcr might at any time have been
' h orm n-as n
held, were chivalrous and honest chiefs not wanting there
9-om time immemorisl.
nut buuuiu nu, “ ‘ ’ ’ 4‘
live, or be forced, each of the three provinces has interior
lines, more condensed, and just as defensible in every part.
For instance, concentrating the northern forces behind
1 . L . . .. .
'I‘liis was the position and plan selected by Iloclic in '96,
n ‘ ‘ m.-ts baullted him.
ideas.
the title of the Paciticator of La
ndcan peasants, attached to royalty and
ex
Republic. T
their traditions and songs. and Iberian natures, like the
Celts.of Brctagnc, all inclined them to con
the defence of the old royalty and aristocracy, under which
icy had ‘vcd f ' ain r u ‘ d
novelty, and, above all, to the defence of the weak, to the
restoration of the conquered, so dear and entrancing to tlfc
’ ' ' The
ahits of the Vcndeans were simple-their lives were spent
in the toil of the field-their leisure days in manly exci-.
cis in hunting, or the d: me. They were, in almost every
r.
whole French
1 customs-not corrn ted
natives against England, and'u war of the kind
-- . . . .
u
E.
F
0 am. ,
when Hoclie undertook to quell it.
Ilis Inn was this-to establish, in the first place, on-
tre lcd camps; in the second to draw a circular li
. nd extending it from time to time, so as progressively to
envelope the whole country, and push the last insurgents
into a corner without possibility of retreat. He further
res red to reduce every pa cov red, by disarming the
inhabitants, and taking from them cattle and produce. By
thes n be restored Vcndee to I‘ nce.
in quite unnecessary i
i cc n
nticipnted that too or twelve thousand men
unstcr without the slig Itcst o tion living g in
he l.in LC sec k might lmvc
ectcd a single battlagroiind, had even then any forces
worth moment been drawn up against him,
and an nm at
WW3 0f “I3 B73551‘ “my in Ireland, this was equally un.
one with the extreme right on Bullyshonnon, and the
extreme left on the line of Lough Ncagh and the Bann, or
th d r c or moving thelcft
further hsck,nnd concentrating still more, you cntroach
' ' ic F0 lo '
likely. All he would have then to (lo, with the amount o
TOTCCS “D40? his 90““’"““-l. was to march from the line of
(,1 - .. . . . - .
:-
liim, and throwing small gZIl'l‘is0lI8.:)f regulars, backed by
are a native army
might defy a foreigner for years.
' Orinslcad of moving the loft in the first line of defence,
from the Csrlingford Mountains to tho north-we upon
’ .
Lough Nesgh or the Foyls, should the extreme right have
turned. 0! the C011’-TB “rend. another line of defunct.
X
2 . .
his route. Probably success would have been equally
I curtain in this case haul he landed nearer the capital ; ' ut
landing where he purposod, with Munster in his halid, the
' ' " ' ' nun -idiuux. uouot.
To us, at this day, llochc's idea of lubjugating British
- -- no (llochn) then promised to send me his lnsrructloils tnrcm-yin,
4."
onjhc wu-in ream, which would en l to in .
rim‘: Hm-on, rat. 1. is. im. my W” V W cm "‘l"'
monarchy had ‘ 0
he had better have
Compare XVexford and
le in the Wexford campaign;
their own defences, maintained
months. But drawn by Humbert and his
aunt garde into a position at'Ballin:imuck, suited onlyto
regular ‘ " ‘ " , imposing force, they were
beziteln at once. Had the Connanglit men remained in the
fustnesses of Sligo or Leitrim-had they prepared for
guerilla war behind Lough Conn, in that natural strong-
hold which, we have said, Humbert should have occupied,
Waterford, ii; In two . -A -
other lipes of defence parallel almost to a nicety-.tlie lines f0l'9lQ11 “T90 b1'0“‘.!h‘ '0 1135 l‘55iSC1mW is Of 511011 numbers
and .:. e. ‘ ‘ ‘ .......;..,, ' ' enemies.
no foreign aid in men whatever.
they would have conquered for ll1OIli.i’lS--iii. all events, kept
their ground honorably, till Tone had taken up s similar
position in Doncgal or Down.
Such a force as Hochc led on Ireland-such aforce so
formed the maximum of 'l‘onc's demands from the direc-
tory, would have had this advantage-it would have won
' ‘I. 1...: ‘ ‘ ' --A
t-- 4- 1. s, ‘mum . .. .- . .
vigour, the courage, the devotion, of the peoplwit would
have rr tnrml ‘ ' ‘ ' ‘
it would have given liberty, but not ensured the means 0
it.
is’ > .
the minor regular force (5000 men) which Tone
ith
proposed to establish in the northern line of defence‘.-or
iv‘ ‘
estixblislicd in the ‘west, pending Tonc‘s
north, success would have been hastened or delayed, and
in crtain,
1'
he capit
attention, and prevent the govcr
principal force on '.l'one's advance. Were there even a
' ‘ ' ' ' Dublin ’ uiuusauu.
or forty, or sixty thousand Irishman, within a. few days
march it ‘ n t diillcult to see that “Maj
w iile it could
by the Viceroy in 98, t h
Pigeon-house fortified. 'ke the African bird, “ govern-
ment" thought to protect itself by sticking its head into a
hole. Government is wiser now, we thin . nblin
were in insurrection, and if the Kildarc, or Wexford, or
Month, or Northern men, were advancing to the aid of tbs
insurgents, as it would be their
not the Pigeon-house that would hold Lord Cla n n-no
n the bar of Dublin, nor the pier of Kingstown, but tb
first steam-boat going channel-ward.
But without insurrection in the capital, Tono might have
b many 1n duous fight, and mayhup, nal de cal
lVliile the English hold Dublin,
A
-1
J
they control Ireland-
ll Ulster, all Munster, half-a-dozen Corks or Limerick
ortli Dublin. In Tone‘: day, e
one-tenth so centralized as now. No railwa
a chief governor to precipitate regiments from one
‘ o the other-no telegraph communicated the 'vice-
5,
t
provinces, too, were accustomed to not for thcmselvelb
' ' ‘ the heck or rind of the Viceroy; an
i
the capital then
u I,
usscssiotl of the capital, we should, in fact, haw
I the whole country. vernmeiit in existent)?
uld iucea w‘ iht
Lough I-Lmo. we could cover the entire ptovlrico of Uistlif, uni in.-um
oumim. tuna we imi collected our menu. in sumclont force to pen:
on Uoblln.“-Toll, voL 11., p. 34.
st dc.