INSURRECTION IN IRELANDDEFEAT OF THE REBELS. BATTLE OF BOULAGH, JULY 29, 1818.

New Zealander, Volume 4, Issue 263, 6 December 1848, Page 2

INSURRECTION IN IRELANDDEFEAT OF THE REBELS. BATTLE OF BOULAGH, JULY 29, 1818.

We copy from the Times the following graphic account of the defeat of the insurgents in T ipperary by a small party of police : — WILLMONT, NEAII BaLLINGARKY, COUNTY OF TirPcuAiiY, Saturday.— The news which I have to communicate will give, lam sure, univei sal satisfaction in England and thoughout the world. The rebellion having actually commenced this morning ou the common of Boulagh, near Ballingarry, has been decisirely checked by the firmness and courage of 51) or GO police. Three of the insurgents have, I believe, paid the penalty of their rashness with their lives. More are wounded, and among them, I am told, is one of the Confederate leadei s. Smith OBrien made his escape from the field of battle on horseback, and is now in nil probability either taken or dead. If not, his capture may be looked on as certain. The large sum offered by governmenti and the animosity which the rebel chief has excited by his conduct, make it impossible that he can escape the hands of justice, unless, indeed, he carries out the resolution which, he has more than once avowed, of resistance even to the death. Being in sight of the spot where the conflict took place, and having the most ample and authentic sources ot information, I am fortunately able to supply you with full particulars of occuirences, which will be ever memorable in the annals of Ireland, not so much for their intrinsic importance, as from the remits which are likely to flow from them. This morning at three o'clock intelligence was received at Kilkenny that OBrien, Meagher, Doheny, O'Reilly, and Dillon, had been proclaimed traitors; that rewards had been offered of £500 for the apprehension of OBrien, and of i? 300 for that of each of his four confederates. Notices to thu effect were posted up, not only in Kilkenny, but all over the country, policeineu having been despatched ou cars in every duectiou for that purpose. Scarcely had the tUiUQuncemcut been, mude 3t Kilkenny, when. Mr.

Bhke, the county iiisjrrtoi of constabulary, resolved lo uml^rlnUr the important duty winch the Lori s Lieutenant's pioelnnMtiou pointed out, Having nut tni Oil Ins plans, with the most praiseworthy tiespatch lie stinted liom Kilkenny shoitly after daybreak, and reaching IJurlcypark, nßceitained there, on undoubted authority, that Mr. Smith OBrien and the other proclaimed d.iitois had passed the night amoni* the colliers (or " Black Boys") of Boulogh common, within a mile of BaHingarry. This important point having brcit bellied, Mr. Blake sent a messenger to CnlUn, where the constabulary of ihe surrounding distiict hail been concentrated sonic days previously. Thcie, to the number of fi'ty or sixty men, under the command of chiet constable Trant, he diiecled to march on the common of Boulugh, a distance of ten Irish miles. Mi. Blake albo despatched a inessengei to Mr. Greene, the u-sidciit magistrate of Kilkenny, icquusting him to get a Btiong mililaty force moved at ouceftoiu tlie barr.ioks there to the same point. Proceeding to Ballvphilip, the icsidcnce of Mr. Going, he there leceived furiher information as to the whereabouts of Mr. O'Biien ami his rebel crew. Acting upon this, he proceeded at once to Thurlcs, anil having secured military reinfoi cements of the most complete'and overwhelming kind fiom that place, and, by the aid oi messen 'crs, lrom Fethard, Clouinel, Tcinplcmore, anil Ca&hel, he had these all concentrated on the spot which had been pointed out to him as the head quarters of the rebel army. While all these preparations were in progress, the small but couiageous band of policemen from Callan had already penetrated to thevciy centre of disaffection, and, with a resolution which, wiien all the circumstances arc known, will excite universal nd> miration, had in (.fleet buppic^sut] tin; insuricclion. A body of fifty armed men had checked the lebeltion winch \va, to sweep before it the armies of the Queen* and to disunite, the two islands ior ever! As 1 have not yet been on the h\jld of battle, I am only able to give u general outline of what took place there. The police, mm clung to llic common of Boulagh, found Smith OBrien and his associates in treason stationed therewith an ovet whelming force, ready to give them battle. The bell of the ucucst Koman Catholic Chapel had been rung as soou as they ware seen approaching, and crowds of persons were niomenUiily flocking to the ranks of the insurgents. Finding himseif in danger of being surrounded und cut oil", chief constable Trant thiew his men into a substantially •lated house which stands on an eminence close to tlio common. Here they were speedily assailed by the armed mob without and by their leaders. Mr. Smith OBrien went up to the windows with a brace of pistols in his hands, and called on them to surrender their arim, promising them, if they complied, their peiions i would bs safe. While he parleyed aud endeavoured to iraternibe by shaking hands with the men tluough , the windows, his adherents were very coolly piling straw and hay at the entrance of the house, with the view of suff icatiug the poor lellows within, or burning them alive. The time was now come for action, but the police did not use their muskets until several hhots had been fired at them, and stones thrown in on them thiough the window. One account says, they fiied a volley — anothei that they (ired only thice shots. Ceitain, however, U is that two men — due of them, 1 believe, named M'Bride — were killed dead on the spot, and that a third expiied shortly after. It is also currently reported that one of Mr. Smith O'liricn'a friends (some say Dillon) was wounded in the knee, The effect of thib determined conduct was that the crowd ictreated, and although Smith O'Biien urged them over and over again to go and pull down the house, they would not attempt it. The Roman Catholic clergymen of the distant, it is said, arrivid at this lime on the scene of btrifu, and implored the pcoplu to abbtain from violence. Smith OBrien and liis friends then nppear to h-ive got disgusted. Dd. clanng that, as the people would not bland by him, fie would not stand by them, he fled across the country upon the chief constable's horae, and, rumour says, in the direction of Uil.ugford. By this tune a icintoicemL'iit of constabulary had armed from Cabhel, and soon uftcr strong b-ulus of the regular troops, cavahy, artillery, and infantry, came pom ing in from eveiy quarter. By the time they had amved thu utmost traiKpuilky prevailed-— the rebellion had vanished, and was nowhere to be found. The military will bivouac to-night on the open field— no plc<u>aui position, as it rains in torrents- So much for the battle of Boulugh Common, fought between 4i)uO or 500J iusuigcuts and 50 or GU police ! 1

WIILMONT, NEAR IioULAGH CoMMOtf, SUNDYV Night.— Ytbterday, on amving at this place, I despatched a letter to the poit town of Callan, the contents of which were to be communicated to you by telegraph. The lettei was carried by Mr. W. I*. Latham, a young gentleman residing heie, and who had obligingly offered me his seivices tor that purpose He arrived at Cullan in peifeet sdfety, but on his return he was stopped by a band of men who were armed with guns, scyilies, and pikes, aud who ihicatened to shooi him if he did not at once acknowledge that he WiS the bearer of despatches. By tuing the name of Mr. Lime, a gentleman highly popular in this neighbourhood, and by conciliatory language, he succeeded, after two houis' detention, m pacifying his captors; but finding from them that another party was ljing in wait to intercept him, he deemed it more prudent to return and spend the night at Callan. Having done io, he left on his way home at eleven o'clock this morning, and reached Carabine bridge— appropriately so called— iv peifect safety. There, however, he found himself suddenly surrounded by armed men, who were lying in ambush for him, and shouted out, " There goes the spy !" Finding that his progress was cut off. he at once leaped his horse over the ditch, and took to the fields ; but a shot was fired at him immediately afterwards, and before he reached home he was pelted with stones. I make no comments on these facts. The rebellion has for the moment been suppressed by the gallantry of fifty policemen, and the judicious arrangements of Mr. Blake, inspector of constabulary for the county of Kilkenny. To them belongs the chief merit ot the check which insurrection yesterday received at the common Boulagh. Having, however, visited the spot to day, and made the most minute inquiries of persons in every way trustworthy, I am now enabled to supply you with details which serve to fill up the outlines I have already given of the events which took place here yesterday. In the first place, then, I have to mention that the brunt of the contest was not entirely borne by the party of constabulary from Callan. A body of nineteen men from Cashel, bended by Sub-Inspector Cox, and accompanied by the Hon. Mr. French, R.M., arrived on the scene of action juit as the struggle with Mr Trant and bib fifty men had terminated. While they were pushing upwards to tho house where their comrades were barricaded, an immense body of the insurgents came down upon. them. One man, " a black coat boy," armed with a huge pike, which he brandished as lie went along, offered to lead the attack on the police, and stood out in front for that purpose. Sub-Inspector Cox immediately gave the order to one of his constables, " Shoot that man." He was al once pierced through tUa heart with a ball, and fell dea'l> tumbling over like a hare when shot tunning. Thte had a, decisive eileet, TJie crowd fled at once, receiv-

ing a volley a* they dispersed, which must have wounded tome or them. The tiling of Mr. Co\'s paity was heard by another detachment of ninety police under the command of Sub-Inspector Monaghan, moving up to the scene of action from Killenaule. The men at once gave three hearty cheers, and leaving the high road ran across the fields as fast as they could to the succour of their conuades. On their arrival, the party of Sub»lnspector Trant withdrew from their perilous position, and returned lo Cullan. The widow Cormacks house, which the3e men occupied, stauds on an elevated piece of ground above the common of Boulagh. It is a very substantial building, surrounded by a wall four feet high, and remarkably well adapted for the uurpose for which it wasuied. The police appeal t-d to have retreated on tins position, paileying as they went wilh the insurgents, who in overwhelming numberi demanded thcii arms. Once safely inside they proceeded to banicade the windows ami doors. Mantlepieees weic torn down, doors pulled from their hinges, and dressers displaced for this purpose. The house now presents internally a sufficiently di»mantled look, and poor Mis CormacU is left to lament a woeful destruction of her furniture and fixtures. Her own uccount of the affair ii exceedingly graphic, and deseivea to !>e recoideJ. Knowing that distuibunccs were likely to tuke place, she had collected within her house, as a sanctuary, her five children. When the police took possession of it, the insurgents shook their pikes at her for this, and in alarm slu 1 went to Air. Smith OBrien, who, with the " 82 Club" cap upon his head, was squatted in her cabbage garden at the time, to avoid the fire of the little s>anKon within the house. 'IV widow besought the u Jvmg of Muustei" to go and speak to the police, Init he derlincd doing so, and asked her to go back and ' tell them that all he wanted from them was their arms. Finding that, as an ambassador, shs did not succeed in getting his request acceded to, she returned, and taking hold of Mr. O'Diien by the collar, again urged him to see Mr. T«. int. A.t first he re I used to go, but the widow offered to cscoit him, and thin he consented. Having gained her object so far, and seeing that a conflict was inevitable, she wished to recover possession of her five younsj children. The police, hu>vever, refused to give them up, retaiuing them as hostages for their own safety, but placing them under the staircase, the «por most sheltered from the fire (if the rebels. The widow (ken went for the piiest, and was absent from the iovii white the lighting was going on. On her return, the insurgents were removing their dead and wounded, being allowed by the police to do &o on condition that they came unaimed. Taking up the thiead of the narrative at the point wheic widow Coi mack's information ceases, I bear from Mi. Tiant tb.it he was up stairs naincauing the window* when Smith OBrien ma-le his appearance below. The rebels had occupied some back picmiscs, and vv«ra keeping up a cmss fne, winch made it very tlillu'ult for him to join hib men below. Having, however, succeeded in getting down safely, he saw Smith OBrien creeping on all fours out of the gate of the im loiure. Two of his men immediately Bhouted, " There he is," and laising their muskets iked at 2nm within a distance of 12 yards. He rolled over at the discharge, either to avoid the shot, or because he was hit, and then disappeared. I had ncaily omitted mentioning one point in the widow Cormacks state~ faOiit which is interesting aud important. On her relin n, she found a crowd of peisons round a handsome looking young man who was severely wounded, beiuir shot through both legs. T<ii- is supposed to be Mr. Di lon. They wore cutting off his boot when ihe oaw him, and he appealed to b<' m groat pain. The blood was stieaiiiing from the uouml. The Roman Catholic clergy of the district appear to have noted in a very ci editable manner with reference 10 this insurrectional y movement. The conduct of the llev Mr. Coreoiun 1 have already alluded to. I have now to state that the Rev. Mr. Mddor exposed himself yesterday to consideiable personal dangm in interfering between the police and the peasuntiy, and cndi louring to put a btop to the dis urbances. The llev. Mr. Fitzgerald also used his influence at a lUe hour laat nielli, in pri serving the peace, wh<n the people, who were m a veiy excited state, had begun to ring ihe chapel bell of Killcusiiu', and threatened to renew thecontcht. To-day, I hear that he exhorted his heaters from the jniipU toobbeive the law, and that the celebrated Father Lallan also lolu his, excitable p rihhioners, at mass, that if thiy joined m the. rebellion lie would enrsp th< m fiom the altar by book, bell, and candle. Fathei O*Sha.ughnesby, parish priest of Drangan, made a pimil.tr announcement, and altogether there is no doubt Chut Hie Roman Catholic clergy here, as a body, have used (licir influence most creditably for the preservation of the puMte peace by discountenancing rebellio.i. The military force which arrived here last night is 1500 stronir, and is under the command of that- distiuguished officer, General M'Donald. It consists of infantry, cavalry, and ailillery, and is equipped as t omplely in every respect as if about to engage in a regular campaign. General M'Douald concentrated his ioYces upon this position last night with extraordinary rapidity, and his arrangements for keeping up communication with the different military stations in the nfighbomhood so as to effectually crush uny outbreak that may be attempted, are of the most complete and satisfactory character. The small paiticu of police actually engaged with the inhUi gents appear to have done bloody execution i'tnong them. Out of eleven who are known to have been killed on the spot, or very seiiousiy wounded, six are already dead, and the rest are not expcited to survive. Many more, 1 hear, are hurt, and it is impossible to ascertain exactly the exient of the loss, as the insurgents, who were principally colliers out of work, withdrew their comrades svhen they fell, and concealed the bodies of their dead. Smith OBrien, I hear, gave a sovereign to woman vrhose husband was shot dead before he left the scene of action. The correspondent of the Morning Chronicle gives the following account of the way in which the house became the scene of conflict : — On the night of Friday Jast, Smith OBrien, who on the Thursday before had been seen safe by 800 armed men out of their county of Tipporary, towards Watciford comity, returned unexpectedly to Commons, accompanied by three j muting cars full of gentlemen. The neighbourhood turned out, armed, and beized the arms of •■ two streets of palatinei," as my collier guide called a Protestant colony, descendants of Germans, settled in the neighbourhood. This night was passed by OBrien and his party reviewing and marshalling their force ; and he blppt in a cabin, round which 32 men stood guard. Next morning, having notice by theirg spies of the advance of the Callan police force, which formed part of four or five different bodies which were to concontra.e at Balliugarry, he assembled and addressed his men on two gieat plateaux of culm, and about half'past 12 o'c oek they saw the Callan police force, of thirty-seven men, under Inspector Trant, advanciug from 13allm< garry to meet them. The police had advanced as far as a cross road that comes down the hill past Mrs. M'Cormack's' house, when, suddenly seeing the greet numbers that weie under Smith OBrien, they turned up the cross road with a view of gaining a pobt of defence. O'lMcu'b body then broke, and uishcd up the hill lo unlicipdte their design ; or, as my informant

phrazNl it, to " cross-cut-thcm." But the police got in first, running neck and neck. Tlie widow M'Cormack, who 6ome minutes before had gone down from her house to the national school, alarmed, by leason of the music and the hurraing, for the safety of two of her children at school there, found herself mingled by by the ciowd rushing up. She ran with them, for she had left five children in the house, and reached the ya'd gate just as ihe police had secured the house doors. Ou bide the wall were hundieds shouting, while wiihin in front and rear, were a few. At the gate they stopped her, and rrieil, " Why did you let them in ?" Cut she rushed past, and standing up on the parlour window-stool, begged in vain that her children might be given out. She then said to the police, " I will send lor the priest to make the peace," and she offered lo put a boy on Mr. Train's giey horse that was loose in the enclosure in front, but the inspector advised her lo send a boy on foot. She then went to Smith OBrien who was sitting under the wall in the cabbage garden, and asked him what it was he wanted ? He said, "Tell the police it is their arms I wnu." She returned to him with a iclu al, and putting her hand on his coat ollar, she said " Go, sir, and speak to ihetn yoursoll;" but he refused unless she went with him, which she did, and she saw him parley with them through the parlour window, and shake bauds with them. She had previously seen some of the blackooiUed men -irrynig hay to the back-door, nnd heard O'JJiieii hunying them, .lust about this time some of the men outside the wall flung stones nt the windows, and fired a few shots, and she ran out, hearing the police bid her clear away, and brfore she was many steps the volloy was given from lha house. She ran to her father's, three fields off, nnd, returning in a qiurter of an hour, found the filing over, the priest theie, and the mob standing round out of reach of shot. At the wicket, one lay dead; at the adjacent coiner, under the wall, another lay badly wounded, whom the priest was preparing ; and another lay badly wounded near the yard gntc. A bundled and twenty yaids down a. sloping field, west of tnc house, was a bulk oi men, amongst whom Smith OBrien was walking up and down quickly. They had a young man there. '» a pure young gentleman," the blood pouring down his le,;s, liib face p.ile nnd sweaty, and he said, " Oh, lads, lay me down — lay me down, anywhere." She advised them to take o(Y his boots, which they were doing when she quitted them. Shortly a'tcr she saw Smith O'lJrien tide off alone the Kilkenny w^y. It is believed that the wounded man was O'Bricu Dillon , whom they call Dillon Browne. The fo' lowing account is taken fiom the Freeman's Journal : — Dublin, Four o'clock, a. m. — We have receive 1 the following special report from our coi respondent in Kilkrnn) :-r-E.irly on Saturday morning, Sub-Inspector 'front, of the Callan station, county Kilkenny, with between forty and fifty men under his command, pro* cecded to the neij>hbomhood of Ballm&arry, on the borders ot the county ot l'ippeia>y, and twelve miles from the city of Kilkenny, to assist in arresting Mr. Smith OBrien, who was reported to be in the mountains of lh.it locality, sui rounded by a large body of armed peasantry, borne time aft ei wards a niouuted police constable, named Carrol, was sent from the Maudliu-Mrcct station, with a despatch for Sub-ln« spector Ti.mt, but on arriving at a part of the county between B.il nigtiny and a place called (Jomenoiis, he heaid bevi-ial bhots filed, ami he was soon afterwards taken prisouei by some armed country people, several ot whom were for shooting him, saying, <ib 1 have been informed, ' If this man gets back, he will hang us all.' The otiiei", however, declared they would not take Cairoll's life. The constable was in coloured clothes. He was tatien into the presence of Mi. Smith O'Uiien, who it appears woic a tap with a peak and silver band, and cauicd a siick hi his hand. Mi. O'Brieii addic^im; Canol formally, said, • You are one of the mounted pohCv 1 ?' Ihe constable at once said he w is, being aware that lie was known to peisons in the neighbourhood. Mr. S. O'Uncn then turned round, o.\\d asked <he people whether he should give hiint>i.lf up, but they advised bun not to take buehasUp, upon which he walked about lor some time, and then mounting the constable's hor^e, rode away. Carrol was detained in the custody ol four men. During thib time, Sub-Inspector Tuint and his men weie simt up in a house to which they had lelicaleJ, sui rounded by the country pc .pie, upon whom they tired Irom the windows. Alter the hjise ot two or three hours, Carrol was left m the charge of one man, who allowed him to take hisdcpaiturc On Ins road buck, Canol eiicounteiedMi 1 . binith OBrien, who had changed bib dicsn, and now wore a hat. ftlr. O'Bucn, who was on horseback, stopped the constable, but the latter remonstrated with him, and told him it was fooliMi to think of iiu ding out against the foice thac would be ! brought aganst him, especially as the priests weie exhorting the people not to join in idisting the autholities. Mr. OBrien appeared to think deeply on what Canol said, and observed that lor twenty years, he had been endeavouring to serve his country, but that if the people did not stand by him, he might as well give up the attempt. He shoilly afterwaida give Cariol hib stick, and rode off. ft would be impossible to picture the consternation into which the rebel army was thrown by this disgraceful issue of an insurrection which has been in process of gestation since the memorable yeur of the monster meetings ; and now, after all the stimulants that have been applied to bring it to a healthy mutuiity, his been crushed in the bud by a handful ot policemen. This is a sad icsponse to a:l the ravings and blustering about the aimed millions united m a holy cause, the 11 wild blood of Tipperaiy," lighting to the death, &c. Alas! for the last appeals of Messrs. Duffy, Martin, and Lalor. The rebellion, to use their favouute phrase, has been '•squelched," and in all human probability, bofoie the opening of the Commission on Tuesday next, the leaders will ba in the hands of the "enemy."