In 1796, France launched an armada carrying over 45,000 men to Ireland, only to be prevented from landing by bad weather. The United Irishmen and Catholic Defenders were sensationalized by the attempted French invasion and their recruitment doubled in Ulster in 1797. The British government, fearing insurrection, moved to disarm the people beginning with Ulster. Lieutenant Gerard Lake wrote in his journal that "...nothing but terror will keep them in order. It is plain that every act of sedition originates in this town [Belfast." In March 1797, Lake proclaimed martial law and ordered the citizenry to surrender their arms. Weapon searches began in Belfast and Carrickfergus, with more than 5,000 arms seized in the first ten days. Due to spies infiltrating nearly every level of the United Irishmen, Lake was able to capture the organization's leadership who were transported to Dublin from Belfast. The now General Lake would go on to devastate the United Irishmen's ranks while, at the same time, doing nothing to disarm loyalist Orange Men. In 1798, General Sir Ralph Abercromby was appointed commander-in-chief in Ireland. Abercromby toured Ireland and realized quickly that Lake's forces were out of control and that their brutal tactics were pushing more and more of the populace into rebellion. Abercromby formally censured the Irish army which outraged leading members of the Irish Government, who responded by forcing Abercromby to resign and Lake to take his place. As a result of Lake's continually harsh methods, the population rose up in revolt culminating in the Irish Rebellion of 1798. On 17 July 1798, United Irishmen revolutionary leader Henry Joy McCracken was tried on Ann Street. When the Crown Prosecutor offered him his life in exchange for the names of the other rebel leaders, McCraken refused. He was then lead to Market House at High Street and Corn Market where he was hanged.