.
'Previous to this time, the principal gentry in the county had raised corps of yeomanry; but my father had delayed doing so, because, as long as the civil authority had been sufficient, he was unwilling to resort to military interference, or to the ultimate law of force, of the abuse of which he had seen too many recent examples.

However, it now became necessary, even for the sake of justice to his own tenantry, that they should be put upon a footing with others, have equal security of protection, and an opportunity of evincing their loyal dispositions.

He raised a corps of infantry, into which he admitted Catholics as well as Protestants.

This was so unusual, and thought to be so hazardous a degree of liberality, that by some of an opposite party it was attributed to the worst motives.
Many who wished him well came privately to let him know of the odium to which he exposed himself.
'The corps of Edgeworth Town infantry was raised, but the arms were, by some mistake of the ordnance officer, delayed.

The anxiety for their arrival was extreme, for every day and every hour the French were expected to land.
'The alarm was now so general that many sent their families out of the country.