Some of the debentures issued to the creditors of the English Ordnance, in lieu of money, were on security of the grounds in the City of London, called the Artillery Grounds, and carried interest at the rate of two per cent.: others were merely promissory notes issued by the Board, which bore no very high reputation, nor were they easily convertible into money. From certain correspondence in the Tower Library, during the reigns of Charles II. and James II., it would appear that the Board could not be sued before the Law Courts for the amount of their debts;— the letter-books of that period teeming with piteous appeals from the defrauded creditors. One unhappy man writes that in consequence of the inability of the Board to meet his claims, he "had undergone extreme hardships, even to imprisonment, loss of employment, and reputation." Another in the same year, 1682, writes, that "he is in a very necessitous and indigent condition, having not wherewithal to supply his want and necessity; and he doth in all humility tender his miserable condition to your Honours' consideration." During periods of actual or expected disturbance in Ireland, stores for that country were often accumulated in Chester, and on the Welsh coast, ready for shipment; from which it may be inferred, that the arrangements in Ireland for their safe keeping were inadequate. The formation of a battalion of Artillery on the Irish establishment was not contemplated until the year 1755, when, on the requisition of the Lord-Lieutenant, a party of twenty-four non-commissioned officers and men of the Royal Artillery, under the command of a First Lieutenant, left Woolwich for Dublin, for that purpose. This detachment, having received considerable augmentation and a special organization, was in the following year styled "The Artillery Company in Ireland," the commissions of the officers being dated the 1st of April, 1756. The company consisted of a Major, a Captain, one First and one Second Lieutenant, three Lieutenant-Fireworkers, five Sergeants, five Corporals, one hundred and six Bombardiers, thirty-four Gunners, one hundred and two Matrosses, and two Drummers. The large number of Bombardiers suggests a special service, probably in the bomb-vessels, for which this class was employed. Major Brownrigg, the commandant of the corps, was replaced in 1758, by Major D. Chevenix, from the 11th Dragoons. Two years later, the company was considerably increased, and was styled the "Regiment of Royal Irish Artillery." It had now a Colonel-in-Chief, and another _en seconde_, a Lieutenant-Colonel commandant, a Major, four Captains, four First and four Second Lieutenants, and four Lieutenant-Fireworkers. The Masters-General of the Irish Ordnance were _ex officio_ Colonels-in-Chief of the Irish Artillery. The following is a list of those who held this appointment during the existence of the corps: James, Marquis of Kildare, Richard, Earl of Shannon, Charles, Marquis of Drogheda, Henry, Earl of