But events were ripening at Woolwich for great Regimental changes. A small subaltern's detachment left for Dublin, which was to be the parent of the Royal Irish Artillery, a corps which will form the subject of the next chapter. In 1756, a company of miners was formed for service in Minorca, which, on its return to Woolwich, was incorporated into the Regiment, and two other companies having been raised in the same year, and four additional in 1757, there was a total, including the companies of miners and cadets, of twenty-four companies. The largely increased number of company officers, in proportion to the limited number of those in the higher grades, made the prospects of promotion so dismal, that the Regiment was divided into two Battalions, each of which will receive notice in subsequent chapters. ----- Footnote 14: Cleaveland's MSS. Macbean's MSS. Footnote 15: Brown. CHAPTER XIV. THE ROYAL IRISH ARTILLERY. THE Ordnance Department in Ireland was independent of that in England until the year 1674, when Charles II., availing himself of the vacancy created by the death of the then Irish Master-General—Sir Robert Byron— merged the appointment in that of the Master-General of England; and the combined duties were first performed by Sir Thomas Chicheley. This officer appointed, as his deputies in Ireland, Sir James Cuff and Francis Cuff, Esq. The Masters-General of the Irish Ordnance, whom we find mentioned after this date, were subordinate to the English Masters- General, in a way which had never previously been recognized. Even after the amalgamation, however, the accounts of the Irish and British Departments of the Ordnance were kept perfectly distinct. When ships were fitted out for service in the Irish seas, their guns and stores were furnished from the Irish branch of the Ordnance. All gunpowder for use in Ireland was issued by the English officials to the Irish Board on payment; and the lack of funds, which was chronic at the Tower during the reigns of the Stuarts, was not unfrequently remedied by calling in the assistance of the Irish Board. Tenders for the manufacture of gunpowder having been received, and the orders then given having been complied with, it was no unusual thing to pay the merchants with Ordnance Debentures, and to ship the powder to Ireland in exchange for a money payment. The correspondence between the two Boards throws light upon the way in which money was found for the English fortifications, and also gives us the value of gunpowder at various times. For example, in August, 1684, one thousand barrels were shipped to Ireland; and the sum received in payment—2500_l._—was ordered to be spent on the fortifications at Portsmouth.