What Do The Military Despatches From General Lake And General Sir James Duff Reveal: History 1 Assignment, DCU, Ireland

Task Description:

Analyzing and Providing Context for a Historical Source 

Task Outline: “What do the military despatches from General Lake and General Sir James Duff reveal about the nature of the 1798 Rebellion?”

Primary source documents:

Document 1: General Lake notice,25 May

LIEUT. GEN. LAKE, commanding his Majesty’s Forces in this Kingdom, having received from his Excellency the Lord Lieutenantfull powers to put down the Rebellion, and to punish Rebels in the most summary manner according to Martial Law, does hereby give notice to all his Majesty’s subjects, that he is determined to exert the powers entrusted to him in the most vigorous manner for the immediate suppress on the same: and that all persons aiding in the present Rebellion, or in the anywise aiding or assisting therein, will be treated by him as Rebels, and punishment accordingly. And Lieut. Gen Lake Hereby requires all the inhabitants of the City of Dublin (the great Officers of State, Members of the House of Parliament, Privy Councillors, Magistrates, and military persons in the form uniform excepted) to remain within their respective dwellings from NINE o’clock at night till FIVE in the morning, under pain of punishment.

By order of Lieutenant General Lake,

Commanding his Majesty’s Forces in this Kingdom.

Title: “Despatch of General Sir James Duff to Lieutenant General Lake, 29 May 1798, Kildare”

We found the REBELS retiring from the Town on our arrival, armed; we followed them with the Dragoons. I sent on some of the Yeomen to tell them, on laying down their arms, they should not be hurt. Unfortunately, some of them fired on the Troops; from that moment they were attacked on all Sides; nothing could stop the Rage of the Troops. I believe from TWO to THREE HUNDRED of the REBELS were killed. We have three men killed and several wounded. I am too much fatigued to enlarge. I have forwarded the Mails to Dublin.

A contemporary printed version of this document can be found on www.nli.ie.

Click on the heading, “Main Catalogue”.

In the box, paste in the following: LO Folder 6/1798/14.

Please note that you will only be dealing with the last paragraph on this page.

The original handwritten letter can be viewed as “Document 9” in a documents collection on 1798 compiled by the National Library of Ireland [Link: 1798.PDF (national archives. ie)]. The introduction to “Document 9” gives the immediate background to the writing of the letter. It reveals that Duff crossed out a sentence in the handwritten version that was not included in the printed version.

Your response should include the following elements.

1. Who created the documents?

2. When was the document created?

3. Where were the documents created?

4. For what audience were the documents written?

5. Why were these documents written?

In your analysis, please refer to a minimum of two academic sources on the 1798 Rebellion.

History students must use the Irish Historical Studies Rules for Contributors, available at https://tinyurl.com/IHSformat. A file entitled “Irish Historical Studies referencing style 20-21” is also available on the “2020/2021 HIS1” homepage.