ing better than to throw rank, privilege,
and title into the scale, and do battle for the liberty and equality
of his countrymen. How I longed to see this great man, whom my fancy
arrayed in all the attributes he so lavished upon his countrymen, for
they were not only, in his description, the boldest and the bravest, but
the handsomest people of Europe.

As to the success of the enterprise, whatever doubts I had at first
conceived, from an estimate of the immense resources of England, were
speedily solved, as I read of the enormous preparations the Irish had
made for the struggle. The Roman Catholics, Madgett said, were three
millions, the Dissenters another million, all eager for freedom and
French alliance, wanting nothing but the appearance of a small armed
force to give them the necessary organisation and discipline. They were
somewhat deficient, he acknowledged, in firearms--cannon they had
none whatever; but the character of the country, which consisted
of mountains, valleys, ravines and gorges, reduced war to the
mere chivalrous features of personal encounter. What interminable
descriptions did I wade through of clubs and associations, the very
names of which were a puzzle to me--the great union of all appearing to
be a society called 'Defenders,' whose oath bound them to 'fidelity to
the united nations of France and Ireland!'

So much for the one side. For the other, it was asserted that the
English forces then in garrison in Ireland were beneath contempt; the
militia, being principally Irish, might be relied on for taking the
popular side; and as to the Regulars, they were either 'old men or
boys,' incapable of active service; and several of the regiments being
Scotch, greatly disaffected to the Government. Then, again, as to
the navy, the sailors in the English fleet were more than two-thirds
Irishmen, all Catholics, and all disaffected.

That the enterprise contained every element of success, then, who
could doubt? The nation, in the proportion of ten to one, were for the
movement. On their side lay not alone the wrongs to avenge, but the
courage, the energy, and the daring. Their oppressors were as weak as
tyrannical, their cause was a bad one, and their support of it a hollow
semblance of superiority.

If I read these statements with ardour and avidity, one lurking sense
of doubt alone obtruded itself on my reasonings. Why, with all these
guarantees of victory, with everything that can hallow a cause, a