to
Leinster, as far south as Wexford, and began to assume a more
decidedly religious character. As a contemporary historian wrote:--

"So inveterately rooted are the prejudices of religious
antipathy in the minds of the lower classes of Irish
Romanists, that in any civil war, however originating from
causes unconnected with religion, not all the efforts of their
gentry, or even priests, to the contrary could (if I am not
exceedingly mistaken) restrain them from converting it into a
religious quarrel."

(Had he lived a century later, he might have used the same words.)
But though this was generally the case, there were complications as
embarrassing as they usually are in Irish affairs. The yeomanry
were mainly Protestants, but the majority of the militia were Roman
Catholics, and those commanded by Lord Fingall entirely so. There
was much disaffection in both branches of the service; besides which,
officers and men alike lacked the discipline and experience of
regular troops; but as the supply of soldiers from England was wholly
inadequate for the situation, the Government were obliged to rely on
any forces they could obtain. As the rebellion drifted into being a
Roman Catholic movement, the Orangemen became intensely loyal, and
were eager to fight on the king's side, but the Government dreaded
lest by employing them they might offend the militia. By 1798, when
the rebellion in the south was at its height, the north had become
comparatively calm. The severities of the previous year had had some
salutary effect; the staunch Protestants had no desire to aid in what
had become a Roman Catholic rebellion; and the republican party had
seen that the universal fraternity of the Jacobin Government of France
had turned into a military despotism which was engaged in crushing the
neighbouring republics and was almost at war with the sister Republic
of America.

But whilst Ulster was growing calmer, the condition of the south
was becoming daily more appalling. On the 23rd of May the rebellion
actually broke out in the counties of Dublin, Kildare and Meath; and
many skirmishes took place in which the losses on the king's side were
comparatively few but those of the rebels enormous, in consequence of
their ignorance of the use of firearms. The better-trained forces soon
got to know that an Irish peasant when armed with a pike was a deadly
foe; but when armed with a musket was almost harmless. This part