Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1893-02-02
A FRENCH INVASION.
An Unknown But Interesting
Chapter in Irish History.

acquainted with the details, English
historians coutcutinp themselves gen
orally with n bnra mention, IF tho fact
Altbonrh tho ocrurrcpccs nbnut To be
norrntel toni; ,,lo,,n in I'M, 1,,,s& of Ire.
land. vct thrv ,ycr, Of socxtrnOr,linnry
, ro4nr, .bot , 1,;.,,,r,, - ,h,,,, ,,,;lI n,
found ;rtcro.tir,.
Rv vav ~ rrnf,ca !. ,r,,, ", rccrs.
sary To sov that Tho Irish r,h.llion of
l7oS had iust n,ar s,,,.nrrsscl and al
though durinr tho RISING IN, Irish had
looked To- Franco for mid. for one rea-
son or other II had not been forthcom-
inv u,,il f,rtnr,,.l, i,r NV, british
,ynvcrpr,cr+ II WINS ~, late On the
nnd ~ Auyrst ,-os rs +bn b;shop IF
Ein,lo cn,ntv N,vn was hollinr n
visitation of his cl,,r,~v Mt his residence
there. three frirutrs. two of fortv-four
Gums and ono of thirtv-cisrht. undor
ENGLISH colors. entered the bay and
dronrcd anchor Two of the bishops
sons and the port surveyor rowCd out
to the ships with the intention of
boarding them; on doing 50, they were
informed. to their srrcat establishment.
that they were the prisoners OF the
French republic Tie same even
ing about three hundred French
troops wrru landed and i'm ncdiatrly
advanced ON the town. Notice was
instantly sent Off to Bulliun, seven
miles to the southwark, where Il small
English force WAS stationed; and. mean
while, the garrison, composed of yco-
nanny and tCnciblCS to the number of
nifty, EallantlY advanced to meet the
invaders. Being overwhelmed by num-
bcrS, however, and losing two of their
party by fusllladc from the French,
they turned and fled, twenty of them
being taken prisoners Thus the
French effected landing and gained
possession of killala. The whole
| forces OF the French Wcrc now landed,
consisting OF about eleven hundred otli-
GERS ana mon, with two guns, under
Gen. llumbrrt; but they calculated on
| beng joined 10y the Irish malcuntcntS,
for whom they had brought arms and
| uniforms. Next morning an advance
| column of one hundred mon, of whom
forty were mounted on horses "rHQuiSi-
| tened" for the purpose, advanced on
| Ballina, and were soon followed by the
| main body. On tile evening of the 18th
| they entered B%llina, the garrison of
| which fled after faint resistance.
| Hero several hundred Irish joined the
standard of the "librrat0rS, making,
together with those who had Joined
since the landing of the French, about
fourteen hundred auNiliarirS. llum-
bert, encouraged 10y these additions to
his forces, determined not to give them
any time for reflection, but advanced
at onco ON tlrbar, the chief town of
Mayo, where large E"ill,h force was
stationed.
Tho troops Mt Ca%tlEhar, made up
mostly of militia and yronanry, i'll IL
bad state of discipline, numbered about
four thousand, with fourteen guns,
under Gen. Hutchinson; but ut the
last moment Cen, Lake, rs senior Of
ticrr, took over the command, which
occaSiOncd great discomfort and some
confusion among the troops. The
French wore expected to advance by
the main road from Ballina, ON whicli
Il force had been stationed TO watch
Thorn, and the British dispositions
were made accordingly; but llumhcrt,
| who WAS II veteran in the art Of war,
chose IL road by which he was not OK
prctcd namely, to the west 10y the
pass of Barnagrr, which had been
cuusilcrrd impassablr, and 50 came
upon the british ON their left flank.
Nhcn lIumbrrt came III sight of She
Formidable array opposed to him, he
concludrd that surrender must bc his
fate; but, all the Same, determined t,
, MAKE ut least some show of resist
ancr. The English, ON the other hand
had been taken unawarrs; and
surprised 10y the flank movement
of the French, had hastily I,
take up new position about
mile ir,m their fnr:nrr one This, an,
the warlillc appearance of the Frcncl
troops, did not tend to increase thci
confidence. The French advanced OIL
the right and left of the English posi-
ton in small bodies amid Il cloud o
smoke, and under II smart fusiilad" an'
hot fire from the English artillery
which, however, did not check thei
advance The English, becoming
alarmed Mt the unusual tactics of TIN
French, and by movement To turf
their left, which unfortunately was nm
defended, retrratrd, were seized witt
panic, broke, and fled in confusion
through tho town, cavalry and lnfantr