CHAPTER XXXV.
The Severance of Ireland.
The great pitched battle having now been decided on the ground chosen by the invaders, for reasons already stated, their advance could begin. A strong detachment at once crossed the water to occupy Queenstown, which place gave its victorious Allies a jubilant welcome, and illuminated at night, from the summit of the hill to the quays, notwithstanding that the glass of every window had been shivered to fragments by the vibration of the cannonade. Meanwhile, the main body worked round by land and bridges, and after leaving outposts at Mallow Junction to secure the important trunk line of railway to Dublin, entered Cork, whose inhabitants welcomed them with open arms. But time was valuable—it was necessary to keep striking while the iron was hot; so making the Cork and Queenstown district his base of operations, La Roche pushed on by forced marches, and reached Dublin with his advance guard on the fourth day after the battle. Here the fugitive remnant of the British troops had thought of a rally, in the hope of reinforcements; but the news of the great defeat had so paralysed the Home Administration, that none were forthcoming; and the next piece of news which enlivened the London papers, was the capitulation of Dublin on the 18th of October, or rather, its declaration for the enemy. There was nothing now to stop the march of the Allies northward; and in a very short time the last chance of retaining the Union in any form or degree
