The greater part of the Catholic proprietors of the town
were thrown into prison. The various indictments against country
gentlemen, followed by the confiscation of their property, were hurried
through the court with the merest shadow of legal form; for, the
defendants being absent and unacquainted with what was being done in
Dublin, it was only necessary to recite the accusation to find the
accused guilty, and to pass sentence of confiscation--all this being the
work of a few minutes only.
Nothing could be done, however, to carry the sentences into effect, for
William's troops still possessed only the ground the troops stood upon,
and the towns they occupied. Outside those limits, the whole country was
against them. The Earl of Marlborough had returned to England,
immediately after the surrender of Kinsale; and General Ginckle, who had
now succeeded to the command, determined to harass the enemy, and to
increase the resources at his disposal by an expedition into the
southwest of Ireland, which, covered by Cork and Limerick, had hitherto
been free from the presence of any English troops. He therefore pushed a
strong body of cavalry and infantry westward from Cork and Kinsale; and
these succeeded in making themselves masters of Castle Haven, Baltimore,
Bantry, and several other castles on the line of coast.
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