won  a  success  which  nearly  rendered  the  experi-
ment of  the  Government  fatal  to  the  English
interest.  Two  rural  parishes,  where  the  chapels
had  been  burnt  by  yeomen,  turned  out  under  the
command  of  their  priests,  swept  the  British
troops  out  of  all  the  strongholds  in  the  county,
and  one  or  two  of  the  young  farmers  who  acted
as  their  aides-de-camp  were  so  fit  for  their  work
that  they  afterwards  rose  to  distinction  in  tiie
armies  of  Napoleon.  Ila:d""arfStti;th  of  Ireland
followed  the  example  oi-\.\IexfQrd3  there  would
probably  have  been  a  revolution ;  but  the  Wex-
ford men  were  unsupported,  and  after  a  cam-
paign like  that  which  was  fought  for  the  Bour-
bons in  La  Vendee,  were  finally  defeated.  A
little  later  a  French  expedition  procured,  and
accompanied,  by  Wolfe  Tone  landed  in  the  W^est,
but  it  was  too  feeble  in  number  for  its  purpose,
and  it  arrived  when  the  contest  was  at  an  end.
