Full text of "The viceroy's post-bag; correspondence, hitherto unpublished, of the Earl of Hardwicke, first lord lieutenant of Ireland, after the union;"

See other formats

THE VICEROY'S POST-BAG

Works by the Same Author.

BISHOP DOYLE : A Biographical
AND Historical Study (The New
Irish Library).

THE BOOK OF PARLIAMENT.

IRISH LIFE AND CHARACTER.

PARLIAMENT : Its Romance. Its
Comedy, Its Pathos.

THE LIFE OF DANIEL O'CONNELL.

THE VICEROY'S
POST-BAG

CORRESPONDENCE HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED

OF THE EARL OF HARDWICKE

FIRST LORD LIEUTENANT OF IRELAND

AFTER THE UNION

BY MICHAEL MacDONAGH

LONDON
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET

1904

^ -J Ui A- ^

BOSTON COLLEGE UBRARY

CHESTNUT HIU, MA 021 67

INTRODUCTION

Letters a century old, and thousands of them ! They

deal with Ireland, political and social, in that dark and

dismal period when she lay physically prostrate, bruised

and broken, after the Rebellion of 1798, and had just

been discrowned of her legislative independence by the

Union.

* * *

How singularly interesting it is to go through old
letters, even if they but treat of the trivial details of the
daily round of life — the exchange of thoughts and ex-
periences between friend and friend in unromantic and
commonplace circumstances ! But here are communica-
tions from the most exalted political personages of the
opening years of the nineteenth century — Viceroys of
Ireland, Prime Ministers, Secretaries of State — and not
dry, formal official documents, but letters of the closest
intimacy, dealing with matters of high State policy,
revealing important secrets of Government, closely
guarded hitherto by the imperative injunctions, " Most
Private," "Strictly Private and Confidential"; letters
of men well known in Irish history, engaged in the
hazardous game of revolution ; letters of political
prisoners written in Dublin dungeons ; letters of
shameless place-hunters ; letters of knaves and hypo-
crites, in high places and lowly ; letters of pimps and

vi INTRODUCTION

informers. Here, surely, is romance and drama and

farce in abundance !

* * *

It is a thrilling experience to peruse these papers of a
hundred years ago — many of them with ink as fresh as
if they were written but yesterday ; others faded and
yellow, and difficult to decipher — and to learn from all
the prominent actors in the transaction the hitherto
unknown tale of the liquidation of the bill in honours,
places, and pensions incurred by the Government of the
day in the barter of the Irish Parliament ; to read the
amazing story of the Emmet Insurrection of 1803 as it
is told by Viceroy, Chief Secretary, Under Secretary,
spies and informers ; to foUow the development of the
treasonable plot, and the Executive counterplot ; to see
the revolutionary working in the dark, in fancied security,
and the secret agents of the Executive reporting his every
movement to Dublin Castle.

* * *

For the student of constitutional practice and political
history these letters are also most valuable. They
illustrate the official relations between the heads of the
various departments of the State, and the etiquette which
regulates correspondence between them on questions of
policy. They also lay bare the jealousies and quarrels
of Ministers. It is as if the walls of the departments in
Whitehall were removed, and the huge machinery of
Government disclosed at work to public view.

* * *

These most interesting and valuable documents are
from the post-bag of the Earl of Hardwicke, the first
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland after the Union of 1800. They

INTRODUCTION vii

baffled the keen search of the late Mr. Lecky in the secret
archives of Dubhn Castle, and were therefore supposed
by him to have been destroyed, as he states in his
" History of Ireland in the Eighteenth Century." For
live years Hardwicke held the exalted office of Viceroy
of Ireland during the Addington Administration, and the
second Administration of Pitt, which followed. He was
most methodical and business-like in his habits. He not
only kept a copy of every letter, official and private, which
he wrote during his term of office to Ministers in London,
but retained the replies in his personal possession, and
carried them all off on his leaving Ireland in 1806. The
papers lay in the deed-room of Wimpole Hall — the seat
of the Hardwickes — until three years ago, when they
were sold to the trustees of the British Museum, and,
having been arranged and classified, were made accessible
last year in the Manuscript Department at Bloomsbury.

* * *

I have been permitted by the Home Secretary, the
Right Hon. A. Akers-Douglas, to supplement the cor-
respondence dealing with the Emmet Insurrection of
1803 by extracts from the secret papers in the Home
Office — in three volumes, and marked " Ireland, 1803.
Most Secret and Confidential " — which are now also made
public for the first time. They tell a thrilling and true
story of Ireland when she began a new epoch iii her
strangely chequered career.

MICHAEL MacDONAGH.

London,

October, 1904.

CONTENTS

BOOK I
THE UNION

CHAPTER PAGE

I. THOSE EMBARRASSING UNION ENGAGEMENTS - - I

II. THE LIST OF UNION ENGAGEMENTS - - - 40

III. CONTEST FOR AN IRISH REPRESENTATIVE PEERAGE - 54

IV. THE SCRAMBLE FOR PLACE - - - - 66

V. THE PRIMATE OBJECTS TO PROFLIGATE BISHOPS - 94
VI. THE HUNT FOR BISHOPRICS - - - - I20

VII. THE LAWYERS AND THE UNION - - ' ^5^

VIII. THE CATHOLICS AND THE UNION - - - 1 76

IX. THE DISTRIBUTION OF TITLES AND DIGNITIES - 1 93

X. A CHAPTER OF UNION DISAPPOINTMENTS - 2x8

BOOK II

THE EMMET INSURRECTION

I. ON THE EVE OF THE INSURRECTION - - - 252

II. THE INSURRECTION ----- 269

III. WAS THE EMMET INSURRECTION A POPISH PLOT ? - 298

IV. ROBERT EMMET AND SARAH CURRAN - '33^
V. CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION OF CONDEMNED

CRIMINALS ------ 363

VI. TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF EMMET - - - 388
VII. THE FATE OF THOMAS RUSSELL - - "413

VIII. THE LORD LIEUTENANT GETS THE GARTER - - 432

INDEX - - - - - - 455

THE VICEROY'S POST-BAG

BOOK I
THE UNION

CHAPTER I

THOSE EMBARRASSING UNION ENGAGEMENTS

In February, 1801, Henry Addington, Prime Minister,-
was engaged in the task of forming a new Administration.
Through the influence of his pohtical chief and intimate
friend, William Pitt, Addington had been elected Speaker
of the House of Commons in 1789 ; and he was again
unanimously called to the Chair on January 22, 1801,
the opening day of the first session of the United
Parliament of Great Britain and Ireland at Westminster.
At that time Pitt's position as Prime Minister seemed
to be supreme. For the long period of seventeen years
he had been at the head of the Government, and there
was every prospect at the opening of the year 1801 that
his career in office would extend, unchallenged and secure,
far into the nineteenth century. He had accomplished
the legislative Union of Ireland and Great Britain.
One of the first measures of the United Parliament was
to be an Act to throw open its doors to the Catholics, to
pay stipends to the bishops and priests of the Catholic
Church in Ireland, and to reheve, to some extent, at least,
the peasantry of the hateful impost of tithes for the main-

2 THOSE EMBARRASSING UNION ENGAGEMENTS

tenance of the Protestant Establishment. The state-
ment that such was to be the consummation of Pitt's
Irish pohcy had disarmed the hostihty of the influential
Irish Catholics — prelates and gentry — to the Union. But
Pitt had reckoned without the stubborn conscientious
objection to Catholic emancipation of that honest Pro-
testant bigot, George III.

On January 31, 1801, the King held a levee to celebrate
the Union of the Parliaments of Great Britain and Ireland.
The intentions of Pitt with regard to the Catholics had
just reached the ears of the monarch. The news drove
him almost to distraction. Emancipate the Catholics !
Was there ever heard such inconceivable folly and mad-
ness ? "I would rather give up my Throne," he pas-
sionately exclaimed, " and beg my bread from door to
door throughout Europe, than consent to such a measure !"
The enraged King encountered Henry Dundas, a Scottish
member of the Administration, at the levee, and stormed
at him : " What is this that this young lord has brought
over from Ireland, and is going to throw at my head ?"
He referred to Viscount Castlereagh, Chief Secretary for
Ireland, and the Bill to give civil rights to the Catholics.
" Listen !" he cried ; " I shall reckon any man my personal
enemy who proposes any such measure." Had he not
taken an oath at his coronation to maintain the Pro-
testant reformed religion ? Would he not perjure
himself by consenting to Catholics being admitted to
Parliament and to offices under the Crown ? Dundas
endeavoured to explain the subtle constitutional point
that the coronation oath bound the sovereign only in
his executive capacity, and that as an Estate of the Realm
he acted upon the advice of his Ministers, who alone were
responsible for legislation. " None of your Scottish
metaphysics, Mr. Dundas !" cried the blunt, simple-
minded, and unimaginative old monarch. " None of
your damned Scottish metaphysics !"

Pitt resigned. The King sent for the Speaker of the
House of Commons, a man of strong anti-Papist opinions,
nad appealed to him to form a Government to resist the

GEORGE III. ON THE REIGN OF IRISH JOBS 3

claims of Catholic Ireland. Addington, doubtful as to
the result, was unwilling to attempt the task. " Lay your
hand upon your heart," said the distracted King, " and
ask yourself where I am to turn for support if you do not
stand by me." The Speaker then went to Pitt to ascer-
tain whether, if he were to form a Government, it would
have Pitt's support in the House of Commons, Pitt was
most friendly. Indeed, it is probable he was glad to
escape the tremendous project of endeavouring to carry
Catholic emancipation. " I see nothing but ruin to the
country, Addington, if you hesitate to take office,"
said he,

Addington no longer hesitated. On February 10 he
announced to the House of Commons his resignation of
the Speakership in obedience to the King's command to
form an Administration. That night he had a long inter-
view with George III. about the men whom he proposed
to invite to serve under him in the new Government. The
next day the sovereign wrote to him :

" The more the King reflects on the conversation of
last night and the proposed arrangements, the more he
approves of them ; but he blames himself for having
omitted to mention the natural, nay very necessary,
return of the Marquis Cornwallis from Ireland. He
well knows many have thought the office of Lord Lieu-
tenant should altogether cease on such an event. The
King's opinion is clearly that, perhaps, hereafter, that
may be proper, but that at present it is necessary to fill
up the office with a person that shall clearly understand
that the Union has closed the reign of Irish jobs ; that
he is to be a kind of President of the Council there, and
that the civil patronage may be open to his recommenda-
tion, but must entirely be decided in England."

Charles Abbot, a member of the House of Commons,
was offered by Addington the post of Chief Secretary of
Ireland, in succession to Lord Castlereagh. " He said
to me," says Abbot, " that, sorry as he should be to part
with me, he wished Lord Hardwicke to go to Ireland,
and me to go with him as his friend and adviser. That

I — 2

4 THOSE EMBARRASSING UNION ENGAGEMENTS

the scene was great, and the business would be to render
the Union a real Union." Abbot accepted the office, and
at the request of Addington called on Lord Hardwicke
at his house in St. James's Square to inquire whether he
would go to Ireland as Viceroy if he received the King's
command. Philip Yorke, Earl of Hardwicke, was the
eldest son of the distinguished lawyer. Lord Chancellor
Yorke. He had sat in the House of Commons for his native
county of Cambridgeshire as a follower of Charles James
Fox, and, like all the Whigs of the period, had been friendly
to Ireland and to a settlement of the Catholic claims ;
but in the House of Lords, to which he succeeded in 1790,
he supported Pitt, and was still favourably disposed
towards Catholic emancipation. He was Colonel of the
Cambridgeshire Militia, and had been in Dublin with his
regiment during the closing stages of the Rebellion of
1798. At this time he was forty-four years of age, and
married.

" I went," writes Abbot on February 20, " and Lord
Hardwicke consented upon all public grounds, viz., that
he was against now agitating the question of Catholic
emancipation, reserving himself for other times and cir-
cumstances upon the principle,* and holding that peaceful
acts and peaceful demeanour were to be the future claims
for such a boon as the Catholics were now expecting."

The next day an official letter from the Prime Minister,
dated " Palace Yard, February ye 21, 1801," was de-
livered to Lord Hardwicke.

" My dear Lord," it ran, " I am very desirous of half
an hour's conversation with your Lordship, and should
be much obliged to you if you would take the trouble of
calling in Palace Yard at such time between the hours of
three and five to-day as it may be most convenient to you
to appoint."

Hardwicke, accordingly, waited upon Addington that
afternoon. He was offered the office of Lord Lieutenant

* Meaning that Hardwicke reserved the right to support
Catholic Emancipation in other times and in other circumstances.

BEGGING LETTERS TO THE LORD LIEUTENANT 5

of Ireland, " not only with the King's command," as
Hardwicke subsequently wrote to a friend, " but with
his anxious wish that I should not decline it," and the
position was there and then accepted.

The King had fitful lapses into insanity, and weeks
passed before the appointment of Hardwicke as Viceroy
was confirmed. At last Hardwicke got this note from
the Prime Minister, dated " March ye 16 " :

" I have received his Majesty's command to request
that you will be at the Queen's House at twelve o'clock
to-morrow, for the purpose of kissing his Majesty's
hand as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and of being sworn
on the Council."

So, on St. Patrick's Day, 180 1, Hardwicke was sworn
of the Privy Council, and declared Lord Lieutenant of
Ireland, " at the Court of the Queen's House," and " in
the presence of His Most Excellent Majesty in Council."

* * *

On the news being published that Hardwicke was Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland, every post brought him a shoal
of letters from all sorts and conditions of persons, appeal-
ing for something out of the bounty of his patronage.

Here is Sir John Dalrymple recommending his two
sons to the good graces of his Excellency. The elder
is Lieutenant-Colonel of the third regiment of Guards
" at the age of twenty-five "; the younger " was
reckoned the best Algebraist at Cambridge, and there-
fore must be infinitely useful to your lordship in accounts,
to which you are probably not bred." Even the accom-
plishments of his daughter-in-law were placed by this old
Scottish baronet at the service of the Viceroy. " My
eldest son's wife," says he, " is one of the finest creatures
that ever God made, beautiful and accomplished, draws
finely, and highly connected by relations. Lord Craven
is her cousin german. She would be a capital companion
for my Lady Hardwicke." " At the worst," he adds in a
P.S., " recommend my sons to the new Secretary at War."

Here is the Rev. Charles Chester^ a clergyman of the

6 THOSE EMBARRASSING UNION ENGAGEMENTS

Established Church, in a parish with a small stipend in
Oxfordshire, and evidently a distant and poor relation of
the Lord Lieutenant. He writes to his brother Robert, a
dean, to bring him under the notice of the Lord Lieutenant,
and this Robert does by forwarding the letter to his Excel-
lency. " To procure the patronage of his lordship would
cheer my drooping spirits not a little," he says, "for I think
my prospects in life could not depend upon a better man."
" You cannot imagine," he adds, " what a state of flurry
and anxiety it has put me in to find any chance of pre-
ferment hanging over my head, of which you know I am
in no small want, and most anxiously do I wish his lord-
ship may think of me." The post he desires is no less than
that of private secretary and chaplain to the Viceroy.
" Should his lordship be kind enough to take me, I shall
leave my wife and children with their friends in Wales, so
that my whole time should be devoted to his service."
The note of piteous entreaty thus swells higher and
higher in the letter, and finally concludes in the following
outburst :

" Indeed, I wish his lordship knew how anxious I
feel to accompany him ; but should he decline to take me,
I shall feel a double mortification here, as all my neigh-
bours, who know that we are related to Lord Hardwicke,
are asking me if his lordship does not take me with him."

Poor human nature ! How pitiable it figures in this
post-bag of an Irish Viceroy ! What meanness ! What
cupidity ! There are dozens of letters pouring the most
fulsome compliments on the Lord Lieutenant — (what a
blessing, they all exclaim, his appointment will prove to
Ireland and Great Britain !) — each and every one of them
concluding with an appeal for a job. " My son," says
one suitor, " who is lately connected and married into
one of the most respectable families in Ireland, desires
to unite with me in the same expression, and would
esteem the honour of serving your Excellency in the
Church as the utmost object of his ambition."

THE MORTGAGE ON THE VICEROY'S PATRONAGE 7

Lord Hardwicke sent replies, at once courteous and
evasive, to his host of suitors. He had need to be ex-
tremely cautious and niggardly in his promises. " Keep
this advice in mind," wrote the Earl of Westmorland, an
ex- Viceroy : " take as few persons to Ireland as you
can help from this country, as they will be a constant
plague for a provision. Those you find there have not
that claim." But that was not the reason why Hard-
wicke refrained from entering into any engagement
whatever in regard to the exercise of the patronage of
the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. After he had been
confirmed in ofhce the following ominous epistle from
the Marquis Cornwalhs, the outgoing Viceroy, was laid
before him by the Duke of Portland — the Home
Secretary of Pitt's Administration — to whom it was
addressed :

" Dublin Castle,

"February 19, i8or.

" My Lord,

" As my continuance in the situation I have the
honour to hold may not be long enough to enable me to
fulfil all the engagements which I have thought it my
duty to contract on the part of His Majesty's Govern-
ment, and by direction of his Ministers, repeatedly con-
veyed to me by your Grace, I feel myself particularly
bound by every tie and obligation at the present moment
to draw your Grace's attention to this subject.

" The general nature and extent of those engagements
has been communicated and explained to your Grace by
the Chief Secretary, my Lord Viscount Castlereagh, and
he will lay before you an accurate detail of them.

" Much anxiety is daily manifested by those gentlemen
whose expectations I have not yet been enabled to fulfil,
and though I endeavour to impress on their minds an
assurance that their just hopes will not be disappointed by
any change in His Majesty's Councils, they intimate a
wish to receive that assurance from the authority of those
with whom the future administration of Ireland may be
connected.

" I am, therefore, to request your Grace will take the
earliest opportunity of conferring with His Majesty's
Ministers upon this subject, and that you will furnish me

8 THOSE EMBARRASSING UNION ENGAGEMENTS

with an official authority to assure all those gentlemen
who have any promise of favour in consequence of the
Union that they will be fully provided for according
to the extent of the engagements made with them, and
that no new pretensions will be allowed to interfere with
their prior and superior claims.

" I have, etc.,

" CORNWALLIS."

This was the embarrassing heritage which the Viceroy
who carried the Union left to his successor.

* ♦ *

At length, on May 25, 1801 — more than two months
after his appointment as Viceroy — Lord Hardwicke
arrived in Ireland, and was inducted Lord Lieutenant
of Ireland in the Privy Council Chamber, Dublin Castle.
Two days later his predecessor, the Marquis Cornwallis,
sailed for England. It was a difficult situation, that in
which Hardwicke now found himself — the first Viceroy
of Ireland after the Union. He was a man of common-
sense and moderate views, with a practical judgment in
affairs. His correspondence also shows that he regarded
his office as that of a peace-maker — to win the esteem
and confidence of all classes of the Irish people for
himself, and to unite them in attachment to the Union
of Ireland and Great Britain.

On the first question of the time, the emancipation of
the Catholics, he sets forth his views in a private letter
to a friend, just on the eve of his leaving London for
Ireland :

" I am rather inclined to think with Mr. Pitt," he says,
" that had this measure of enabling the Catholics to sit
in Parliament been brought forward by the Government,
as a measure accompanying the Union, it would have
tended to produce conciliation and quiet in Ireland ; and
that it would have been hardly possible for the Catholics,
with all their intrigue and perseverance, to have brought
any number of members to the House of Commons. At
present, however, our business is to postpone it."

PITT'S ENGAGEMENT TO THE IRISH CATHOLICS 9

Then he goes on to enlarge upon a still vexed point in
the history of the Union — whether Pitt definitely pledged
himself as Prime Minister to the Irish Cathohcs to propose
Catholic emancipation in the Imperial Parliament :

" You may be assured," he says, " that no pledge or
promise was given to the Catholics upon this subject,
and that it rests merely upon Mr. Pitt's general ideas
thrown out in his speech of January, 1799, when he
opened the question of Union. They had reason to
believe that it would be brought forward by Govern-
ment, and were, of course, more anxious for the Union
upon that account, but there has been no promise of any
sort whatever." * * *

The office of private secretary to the Lord Lieutenant
was filled by the Hon. and Rev. Charles Lindsay, a rela-
tion of Lord Hardwicke, and a clergyman who had two
livings " without care of souls " in England. Hardwicke's
brother, Charles Yorke, was Minister for War in the Adding-
ton Administration, and to him Lindsay sent several
letters reporting, at this early stage, the progress of the
Lord Lieutenant, which Yorke seems to have sent back to
his brother in Dublin. Writing in June, 1801, Lindsay says :

" The citizens of Dublin are by no means reconciled to
the Union. They have pettishly slackened their manu-
factures, and now begin to wonder that their articles are
wanted. It is at this precise moment, therefore, that aU
are to be coaxed upon whom civilities have influence ; and
as trade must resume its channel, it will appear to receive
a greater stimulant than the reality from the patronage
of the female part of the Castle. With respect to the
first, I think you will agree with me in thinking that the
natural manner and real civility of our Chief Governor
will work their way with more effect than the com-
placency of a more finished courtier. And in regard to
the latter, as it is plain our fellow-subjects here are com-
pounded of self-love and vanity, having their interest
constantly in view — but in particular instances constantly
sacrificing it to their figure in life — it follows that a spur
to trade will operate on men, who mix the characters of
tradesmen and gentlemen so ridiculously together, with
manifold powers." * * *

lo THOSE EMBARRASSING UNION ENGAGEMENTS

The Union engagements practically deprived Lord
Hardwicke of the prerogative of patronage which attached
to his office as deputy of the King in Ireland. He had
little left to give to his own relations and friends, or to
those who had claims on his bounty for services rendered.
In the circumstances, how irritating must have been the
applications from unknown place-hunters. Here is a
specimen, the audacity of which is truly colossal :

" 13, Suffolk Street, Dublin,
" May 27, 1801.

" My Lord,

" It is a matter of some relief to me that when I
enter upon the subject of an address to a man of your
birth and consideration I am not driven to the difficulty
of prefacing it by panegyrizing letters. The moment I
heard of your lordship's appointment to the Govern-
ment of this country, I sat down, and in the sincerity of
my heart congratulated your regimental surgeon, and
my worthy and highly- valued friend, Mr. Other, by letter
on that event. Mr. Other attended me whilst in Dublin,
and gave me his surgical and friendly aid when I met with
a very severe accident — indeed, that of having broken my
leg — which accident it has not been my fortune yet to have
retrieved.

" I am certainly unknown to your Excellency, and
would feel the usual dismay and embarrassment but for
the reasons I have already mentioned. In the seventh
year of an high and honourable profession, in which the
great and good Lord Hardwicke was the honour and the
ornament, my progress has been much impeded ; but
my loyalty to my Sovereign, and my love for the law, and
my personal exertions in their protection, were alert and
unremitting. Previous to the Rebellion I was one of the
few of the Irish Bar who voted for the armament of that
body, and when that Rebellion was at its height I directed
my every effort to its final overthrow. Pardon me here,
my lord, for thus speaking of a fact which was no more
than a duty ; but as I discharged that duty with zeal and
fidelity, contrasted with other individuals, I presume to
have some claim to your Excellency's notice.

" On the subject of the Union I acknowledge I differed
with some of my old friends, and thought it a measure not

AN IRISH PLACE-HUNTER il

calculated for the benefit of either country, and there-
fore did from principle publicly write and speak against
it ; but I trust that a candour of that sort will not shut
me for ever from the countenance of a Government whose
ready and willing servant I have constantly proved myself
to be.

" Having still some interest in the city, I beg, under
your Excellency's encouragement, to use it to the pro-
motion of your wise and auspicious Administration.
Deign, therefore, to bear me in recollection, amid the
bustle and splendour of an arduous and important situa-
tion. Could I be but honoured with an interview I should
show in what manner that my humble services might be
employed.

" I pray your lordship's answer, and have the honour
to remain, with infinite truth and respect, your Excel-
lency's most devoted humble servant,

" Isaac Burke Bethel."

t He was politely but decisively informed that no hope
of a place could be held out to him. But Isaac Burke
Bethel was not to be shaken off so easily. He called
on Lindsay at the Castle, but was not received. " I
did myself the honour of waiting upon you," he subse-
quently writes to Lindsay, " in order to tell you that I
have written a small essay complimentary of his Excel-
lency and his auxiliaries in office." The letter is endorsed,
" This kind of thing to be civilly discouraged. — C. L."
Bethel, however, still refused to be discouraged. On
October 23, 1801, he again writes to Lindsay :

" Having troubled his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant
with an offer of my humble services upon his arrival in
this kingdom, and having received a polite note from
you in answer as his relative and private secretary, I beg
leave again to intrude myself upon you, and to inform
you that I had it in contemplation to bring forward a
work, strictly and constitutionally loyal, which would
have produced me something very handsome by the sale,
in which, as may be seen in manuscript, the most honour-
able testimony of Lord Hardwicke's private character
is evinced. The arrival of that looked-for blessing,

12 THOSE EMBARRASSING UNION ENGAGEMENTS

peace,* has induced me to lay aside the idea of pubhcation
for the present. I still have a wish to show my readiness
to serve the Government in any way that is most con-
genial to his Excellency's mind. My professional re-
ceipts, I am sorry to say, have fallen off, and if his Ex-
cellency would prevail on the Chancellor to make me a
Commissioner of Bankruptcy, I should deem myself
most gratefully bound to his Excellency, to his Adminis-
tration, and to his family."

Lindsay now seems to have lost all patience with
Bethel. A copy of his reply to the place-hunter was not
preserved, but that it was neither civil nor polite is
apparent from the following humorous acknowledgment
from Bethel :

" Your letter, which I got last night on my table, cer-
tainly did not contain either oil or wine. I have now
only to request of you a favour which Sir Robert Walpole
granted to a young courtier similarly circumstanced, and
that is that you will do me the honour of a salute when-
ever you meet me. I hear that Sir Robert's condescen-
sion made the young fellow's fortune. The ladies in
St. James's Park were candidates for his person, and he
shortly yielded to the solicitations of one for whom he
had ten thousand reasons of making the successful partner
of his heart."

So Isaac Burke Bethel was kicked out into obscurity,

for we hear no more of him, or his small complimentary

essay, or his strictly constitutional and loyal work ; but —

the fortunate possessor of a light heart — he disappears

with a joke on his lips.

* * *

The Rev. Charles Chester, one of Hardwicke's poor
relations, has already been mentioned as a suppliant for
preferment in Ireland. The Lord Lieutenant appointed
him one of the Viceregal Chaplains, which required only
an occasional visit to Dublin. But his ambition was a
place on the Irish Episcopal Bench ; and in a letter to

* The preliminary article of the peace between Great Britain
and France was signed on October i, 1801, the definitive treaty
being subscribed at Amiens in the March following.

AN ENGLISH CLERGYMAN AS PLACE-HUNTER 13

Lindsay, the Viceroy's private secretary, he sets forth
what he calls his " candid sentiments " on the chances
of having his object reahzed. Candid, indeed ! It is a
barefaced manifestation of worldliness and avarice :

" BOTTISHAM,

" February 17, 1802.

" My dear Lindsay,

" I am much obhged to you for your kind letter
which came to hand last night, and I was glad to find by
it that you were all going on well in Ireland. I am very
happy to hear that matters have enabled the Lord Lieu-
tenant to pay off so many claims, and now that promo-
tion seems dropping fast, I am particularly obliged to you
for thinking of me.

" But however acceptable any preferment in Ireland
might be to me, I am sorry to say there is not the smallest
chance of my being able to get the appointment of my
present Hving for anybody. It is, however, no great
matter, as it has never yet cleared to me £100. It is in
Oxfordshire, and in the disposal of Sir Clement CottreU ;
and when I tell you that the church and parsonage are
in Sir C.'s park, and adjoining his own seat, it will at once
strike you that he never would give it to a stranger, nor
even to any man he did not highly regard, lest such man
should prove a disagreeable neighbour. So that I really
doubt if I could get it for my own son (were he old enough),
for if Sir C. did not like him I know he would not give it
to him. This point, therefore, cannot be gained, and I
can only say that I wish Lord Hardwicke should under-
stand that I am in no particular hurry to be preferred,
and can by no means expect anything till he has satisfied
all prior engagements.

" Moreover, I often think of what you and I most fully
agreed upon, that there are very few livings (with care of
souls) in Ireland that can be desirable to an Englishman,
from the great uncertainty of their value, and therefore
I must own that I should hesitate at the idea of giving up
a small certainty in Oxfordshire for any great uncertainty
in Ireland ; for I at this moment know two men who, with
livings about £1,000 a year, have not received a shilling
for the last four years, and worse times may yet come to
pass there. Add to this that if I could mend my income
some hundreds a year by living in Ireland, the difference

14 THOSE EMBARRASSING UNION ENGAGEMENTS

of the expense of educating my family and occasional
calls to London by family duty and business would not
a little cut into it, and you will allow there should be a
good balance to compensate the sacrifice of leaving one's
country and all family connections, though I by no
means say that I may not be induced so to do by many
good things there besides bishopricks, and shall be thank-
ful for every offer that may be made to me.

" As you say in your letter to me, a bird in the hand is
better than a distant contingency. So it often is, and I
should, perhaps, for that reason, have been glad to catch
at the first offer from many a man in Lord Hardwicke's
station ; but I too well know his character and goodness
of heart to harbour the smallest doubt of his not providing
for me in due time ; and although the Irish Bishops have
not dropped as they did at the beginning of Lord Camden's
reign, whose second chaplain, Dr. Porter, got a bishoprick
in a few months, still, luck may be in store, and many
may drop in the course of another year or two.

" It is not improbable I may, some day or other, but
have to congratulate you on being seated at Dublin,
for the present Arch-B. is by all accounts a bad life,
and as Lord Hardwicke is now likely to continue long
in his situation, he may very probably be able to place
me, and two or three more after you, upon the Irish Bench.
But in case of any unforeseen contingency preventing
his doing thus much for me, I cannot have a doubt but
you will be thus exalted ; and then, as you once hinted
to me, it could be no difficult matter for Lord Hardwicke
to procure one, if not both of your livings in England for
me. Such, my dear Lindsay, are my candid sentiments
upon this subject ; and such are my reasons for not being
in a hurry to grasp at a care of souls (not too good, I fear)
in Ireland.

" I am highly flattered by Lord Hardwicke's kind and
handsome intentions towards me ; and I am sure I am
greatly obhged to you for your kind anxiety to promote
my interest with him. I am obliged to you and the
other gentlemen who preached on the days appointed
for my turn, which I shall not forget when I come to
Dublin ; and am,

" Yours most sincerely,

" Ch. Chester."

'T' Tr "si^

IRISH PEERS WANTING JOBS 15

Here is a letter from Richard Longfield, of Longue-
ville, CO. Cork, Lord Longueville, addressed, in April, 1802,
to the Earl of Westmorland, entreating the ex- Viceroy
to recommend him to Hardwicke : "It is now thirteen
years," he says, " since I accepted the patronage of the
district of Cork in lieu of office. For some years I had
great satisfaction in the preference ; but for the last three
years my claims have been infringed, and attended with
very unpleasant circumstances." In truth, the Irish
Executive, during these three years, had employed all the
patronage at their disposal to sap and disintegrate the
opposition to the Union, a measure which was determined
upon by Pitt during the Rebellion of 1798. In the
Viceroy's post-bag I came upon a letter from Castlereagh,
written from Harrogate, where he was "taking the waters,"
on August 10, 1 80 1, to Hardwicke in reference to the Union
engagements. " The arrangements of the Government
with a view to the accomplishment of the measure were
begun," he says, " as early as in the month of October,
1798."

Lord Longueville goes on to point out that he wrote
to Pitt complaining of the action of the Irish Executive
in appointing over his head to offices in his patronage
within the Revenue district of Cork. " My wishes now,"
he adds, " are to be left in uninterrupted possession of
the patronage of the district of Cork until an equivalent
in office shall be held out to me, or until a friend of my
recommendation shaU get the Bishopric of Cork or
Cloyne. The patronage of either of those situations
would make me ample amends for the relinquishment
of the patronage of the Revenue district of Cork." What
were his services to the Government ? He had secured
the seats for Cork and MaUow in the Irish Parliament in
the interest of Pitt for years at a cost of ;^30,ooo, and had
supported the Union. And what was his reward ? He
forgets to mention, in replying to his question, that for
his services on behalf of the Union he was elected an Irish
representative peer in the first group of twenty-eight
Irish peers which, under the terms of the Act of Union,

i6 THOSE EMBARRASSING UNION ENGAGEMENTS

were to represent Ireland in the House of Lords of the
Imperial Parliament ; and that in December, 1800, he
was advanced from a Baron to a Viscount in the Irish
peerage. What he does say is that he was ignored in
the distribution of offices and sinecures because he had not
made a bargain with the Irish Executive for his support
of the Union in the Irish House of Lords, and for the
votes of the representatives of his pocket boroughs in the
Irish House of Commons. " Lord Shannon, who has
ever been my opponent," he says, " is First Lord of the
Irish Treasury at ;!r3,ooo a year. Lord Boyle has the
reversion of Lord Liverpool's place. Clerk of the Pells,
£3,500 a year. Lord Donoughmore, as Commissioner,
£1,000 a year ; as searcher, packer, and ganger, £2,000
a year." " Contrast their situations and mine," he says
in a final outburst of virtue unrequited. " I have never
varied in my support ; I never made terms for the Union,
or any measure Mr. Pitt or you recommended ; I never
by any accident received one guinea of public money for
my own use for any ofhce or situation."

Richard Hely-Hutchinson, Lord Donoughmore, to
whom Longueville refers as one of his rivals in the dis-
tribution of the patronage of Cork, was advanced to an
earldom in December, 1800, for his services in support
of the Union ; and, as LongueviUe indicates, held two
lucrative offices under the Crown — a Commissionership
of the Revenue at £1,000, and the sinecure post of
" searcher, packer, and ganger " at £2,000, per annum.
His brother, Francis Hely-Hutchinson, M.P., was also
in the enjoyment of the CoUectorship of Dublin Port,
with a salary of £1,200 a year. Another brother, John,
a distinguished soldier, who commanded the army in
Egypt, had just been raised to the peerage, for his military
services, as Baron Hutchinson of Alexandria and Knock-
lofty, CO. Tipperary, with a pension of £2,000 a year. But
Lord Donoughmore was not yet satisfied with the many
good things which had fallen to his family. He desired
for another brother, Abraham Hely-Hutchinson, that
very post in Cork — a city represented in Parliament by a

THE SERVICES OF THE HELY-HUTCHINSONS 17

fourth brother, Christopher Hely-Hutchmson — which
Lord Longueville, in writing to Westmorland, also
coveted Here is Donoughmore's letter to Lord Hard-
wicke :

" Knocklofty,

''April 8, 1802.
" My Lord,

" Mr. Foster, the Collector of Excise at Cork, being
represented to me to be so dangerously ill as to make
his immediate dissolution almost unavoidable, will your
Excellency have the goodness to permit me, in such an
event, to submit my brother, Mr. Abraham Hely-Hutchin-
son, to your Excellency's kind consideration for that
appointment ? The representation of the city in which
this vacancy is likely to take place has been held by my
family, without any interruption, since the commence-
ment of the present reign. Its present representative,
as well as the brother for whom I now solicit, have been
employed, not unworthily, as Volunteers with the troops
in Egypt ; and on the subject of Union, so interesting
to the British Empire, and on which so hard a battle was
fought, I could with confidence refer your Excellency to
Marquis Comwallis, your Excellency's predecessor in
the Government of Ireland, from whom, as well as from
Lord Castlereagh, I have the satisfaction of having in
my possession the strongest and most honourable acknow-
ledgments of my exertions, and those of my family, on
that occasion.

" These are my humble pretensions to the favour I
take the liberty of soliciting ; to which I must be per-
mitted to add those marks of personal attention which I
have on all occasions had the honour of experiencing from
your Excellency. I have the honour to be, with great
respect, my Lord,

" Your Excellency's faithful, humble servant,

" DONOUGHMORE."
* * *

Hardwicke sent the following reply to Donoughmore :

" My dear Lord,

" No circumstance has occurred since my arrival
in this country which has made me regret more sensibly
the very particular situation in which I am placed in
regard to engagements than the letter which I received

1 8 THOSE EMBARRASSING UNION ENGAGEMENTS

from your lordship the day before yesterday. Before
my appointment to the government of this country I
was apprised of the numerous engagements which Lord
Cornwallis had been obhged to make, and which, as there
could be little expectation of his being enabled to satisfy
them during the period he was likely to remain in Ireland,
had been expressly sanctioned by his Majesty's Govern-
ment in England, and were delivered to me under that
sanction by Lord Cornwallis and Lord Castlereagh. I
am, therefore, under the necessity, in the disposal of
whatever situation may become vacant, of looking to the
satisfaction of one or other of the engagements which I
have adopted ; and am, therefore, precluded from making
any application of the valuable office which is lately
become vacant at Cork, that shall not have that object
particularly in view.

" I flatter myself your lordship will give me credit for
a very sincere disposition to satisfy your personal wishes,
and to show that respect and regard to your family to
which they are so well entitled. In both those sentiments
generally I am sure that every branch of the King's
Government will concur ; and I beg leave for myself to
assure your lordship that this feeling has received addi-
tional force from my personal acquaintance and inter-
course with your lordship since my arrival in Ireland.
If you should be of opinion that any mode can be pointed
out, in conversation with myself or Mr. Marsden, after
your lordship's return to Dublin, by which the wish you
have expressed can be made consistent with the object
to which I am bound most scnipulously to adhere, it will
afford me particular satisfaction."*

* * *

Further light is thrown on this struggle between Longue-
viUe and Donoughmore for the reversion of the Cork
Collectorship of Excise, and on the determination of Hard-
wicke to satisfy, as speedily as possible, the Union
engagements, by the answer which was returned
to Longueville's letter to Westmorland. That com-
munication was sent by Westmorland to Addington,
forwarded by Addington to WiUiam Wickham — then the
Chief Secretary for Ireland — and upon it Wickham made

* Abraham Hely-IIutchinson was ultimately appointed to the
Collectorship of Clonmel.

"UNION ENGAGEMENTS MUST HAVE PREFERENCE" 19

a " private and confidential " report for the Prime
Minister, a copy of which he sent to the Lord Lieutenant.
It is dated " St. James's Place, April 25, 1802," and is
as foUows :

" Lord Longueville had very considerable Parliamen-
tary influence in Ireland, always voted with the Govern-
ment, and strongly supported the Union, for which
services he obtained, among other things, a promotion
in the Peerage, a seat here in the House of Lords, a seat
at the Revenue Board, and what is called the patronage
of Cork, jointly with Lord Donoughmore. But the Lord
Lieutenant says, first, ' I will never suffer what is called
the patronage of a place to be construed to extend to
situations of £700 a year, such as the Collectorship of
Cork, which must necessarily be reserved to Govern-
ment '; secondly, all engagements of the kind (supposing
the Collectorship to be included under the word patron-
age) must give way to positive and specified Union
engagements ; thirdly, Union engagements, ever since
Lord Hardwicke went over, have been, without exception,
preferred to all others, so that we should have some of
the first people, and many of our best friends, seriously
dissatisfied, and with reason, if an exception to the
general rule were made in favour of Lord Longueville.

" Lord Longueville knew all this long before he wrote
the letter you have sent me to Lord Westmorland, and
long before the place became vacant, for I find among
the Speaker's papers the following memorandum :

" ' March, 1801, — Lord Longueville states quarrel
with Lord Castlereagh ; remains attached to Mr. Pitt
and Lord Westmorland ; desires patronage of Revenue
oflftces in Cork, or to recommend to Bishoprick of Cork
or Cloyne. Answered — That the application would be
remembered, but could not be agreed to, directly or
indirectly.

" ' March, 1801. — Same demands renewed to Lord
Hardwicke thro' Lord Westmorland. Answered nearly
in same manner, adding that at all events Union
engagements must have the preference.

" ' June 16, 1 80 1. — Demand renewed again for patron-
age of Cork to Lord Lieutenant. Answered as before.]

" ' December 19. — Demand that Mr. Foster, the late
Collector, then living, should resign to Mr. O'Connor,

2 — 2

20 THOSE EMBARRASSING UNION ENGAGEMENTS

the person whom Lord Longueville now wished to
appoint. Answered — That the thing could not be,
because the place in question must he reserved to fulfil
Union engagements.''

" But the fact is that Lord Donoughmore has an equal
claim to the place with Lord Longueville, if any claim
at all be admitted, which we are all bound most stoutly to
deny. All that the Lord Lieutenant desires is to give the
place (being one of great confidence) to a proper person,
and to get rid of a Union engagement. For this purpose
he will give it either to Lord Donoughmore or Lord
Longueville against their respective promises of places,
under Union engagements, of £500 a year each, though
the CoUectorship is ;£750, and you may be assured that
though they may chuse to make a great noise about the
matter, they will be, either of them, very glad to make
such an arrangement."

A few days later Wickham, writing to the Lord Lieu-
tenant, reports :

" N.B. — I saw Mr. Addington on the 27th April, who
told me that in consequence of my letter he had distinctly
told Lord Westmorland that Lord Longueville could not
have the CoUectorship without giving up an equivalent
to satisfy an Union engagement."

Thus for years Lord Longueville persisted in advancing
his claim to appoint to the bishopric of Cork whenever it
might become vacant. But his claim was ignored, be-
cause it was not a Union engagement. Besides, his lord-
ship was a most constant supporter of the Government,
and therefore did not count. " With regard to Lord
Longueville," Hardwicke wrote to the Home Secretary
in 1803, " it would be certainly too much to promise him
the reversion of the bishopric of Cork, and it is not neces-
sary for the purpose of keeping him steady."

* * *

Even political services, however notable, were not
allowed by Hardwicke to supersede any claim, how-
ever insignificant or undeserving, on the sacred " List

A REMINISCENCE OF THE REBELLION OF 1798 21

of Union Engagements." Here is a striking in-
stance of services to the State in troublous times allowed
to go unrequited because of the promises of posts and
pensions so lavishly distributed by Lord Cornwallis to win
support for the Union :

" Antrim,
'' jih February, 1802.

" My Lord,

" On the ground of public services rendered to
this Kingdom by my son and myself, I am convinced
your Excellency will pardon the trouble which I am
about to give, and which I should not at present do
but from an occurrence which has lately taken place
here.

" It will be necessary to make a short statement of
the services of my son and myself, as your Excellency is,
perhaps, unacquainted with them. It is no less singular
than true that the two pieces of intelligence, productive
of the events which the Secret Committees of the Houses
of Lords and Commons of Ireland reported to be the
salvation of the country, came, the one from me and the
other from my son. I prefer'd a memorial to the Mar-
quis Cornwallis on the loth of October, 1798, setting
forth that on the 17th day of February, 1797, I seized
papers which would have eluded the search of most people,
and which I transmitted to Government ; and I received
a letter from Mr. Secretary Cooke, dated 22nd February,
1797, thanking me, by Lord Camden's command, for the
most essential information contained in them. I stated
in this memorial that in consequence of this information
the decisive steps were taken on the 3rd of March, 1797,
which the Committees of the Lords and Commons reported
to be the salvation of the country.

" I forwarded on the nth October, 1798, a copy of
this memorial to Lord Camden, who was acquainted with
the facts stated in the memorial, in which I set forth that
the Secret Committee of the House of Lords reported that
the saving of the country was in a great measure to be
attributed to the spirited conduct of the Visitors of the
College at the College Visitation, I also stated that this
Visitation was held in consequence of information given
by my son to the Provost of the College, who told me
that the salvation of the College was owing to the spirited

22 THOSE EMBARRASSING UNION ENGAGEMENTS

conduct of my son.* In consequence of this spirited
conduct he gave up the almost certain prospect of a
Fellowship in said College, as appeared by the certificate
of the Provost and Senior Fellows of the College, I
having taken his name off the books to avoid assassina-
tion, after his having risk'd his life more than once in
duels for the service of the country. In answer to my
letter enclosing the memorial stating the above facts to
Lord Camden I received the following letter from his
Lordship :

" Brighthelmstone,

" November 4th, 1798.

" ' Sir,

" ' I have received your letter of the nth
October. The statement you have made of the cir-
cumstances in which you were engaged, and of the
encouragement to expect preferment which you re-
ceived, is perfectly correct ; and I shall be very happy
to hear that you receive any mark of the attention of
Government.

" ' I am, sir, your most obedient servant,

" ' Camden.'

" In July last I wrote to Lord Pelham relating to my
son, and received the following answer :

" Putney,
" J^ily 2ist, 1 801.
" ' Sir,

" ' I have this day received the favour of yours
of the 13th, containing copies of letters from Lord
Macartney and your son to yourself. I mentioned
your son's name to Lord Hardwicke before he left
England, and have no doubt that he will attend to my
recommendation. At the same time I cannot pretend
to say that he may be able to do so to the extent of
your son's wishes. My original application to Lord
Cornwallis was for a Commission in the Engineers, and

* The College Visitation is a well-known episode in the history
of the Rebellion of 1798. It was conducted by the Earl of Clare,
Lord Chancellor, to inquire how far treasonable sentiments had
permeated the students. The investigation led to the expulsion
of several scholars, students, and sizars, including Robert Emmet,

CHURCH PREFERMENT WANTED FOR AN OFFICER 23

I believe that Lord Comwallis was at all times very
much inclined to serve your son.

" ' I am your most obedient, humble servant,

" ' Pelham.'

" I heard yesterday, from Mr. McNaghten at Lord
O'Neill's, that my old class-fellow. Dean Dobbs, died on
Thursday last. He was Dean of Connor, a preferment
worth £400, which he communicated to me, having some
thoughts of exchanging with me for some of my prefer-
ments for his sons, if it could be accomplished. My son,
who was recommended to your Excellency by Lord
Pelham on the ground of pubhc services, and who is at
present a first Lieutenant in the Artillery, has taken his
degree in Dublin College, and has attended the course of
Divinity lectures, by which he is qualified to be ordained.
May I, on the ground of both our services, suggest to your
Excellency the measure of appointing me to the Deanery
of Connor, in which diocese I have been a beneficed
clergyman for upwards of thirty years, and leaving me
to apply to the Marquis of Donegall, from whom I got
all my preferment in the Church as a private patron, in
order to get my son presented to some of my parishes ;
by which means my son and I would be taken off the
hands of Government ; and I trust your Excellency will
be of opinion that my request is not unreasonable.

" In case this request cannot be at present complied
with, I trust you will not take the application amiss.

"I am your Excellency's most obedient, humble
servant,

" Geo. Macartney."

The reply of the Lord Lieutenant, which he scrawled,
with many emendations and alterations, on a vacant page
of Macartney's letter, to be copied and forwarded by his
private secretary, must have given little comfort to the
reverend doctor :

" Sir,

" From the statement you have made in your
letter of the 7th inst. I should have been very happy to
have had it in my power to return a more satisfactory
answer to your application with respect to the deanery
of Connor. I am, unfortunately, so circumstanced in

24 THOSE EMBARRASSING UNION ENGAGEMENTS

regard to ecclesiastical preferment, that whenever a
vacancy occurs I am under the necessity of applying it
to the satisfaction of one or other of the Union engage-
ments of my predecessor. I am consequently entirely
precluded at present from granting any of your
wishes."

Another claimant for recognition of services rendered
to the State was the Rev. Philip Johnson, Derriaghy,
Antrim. Writing in July, 1804, he says, with reference
to his public conduct in the years 1793 and 1796 :

" At the commencement of the former of those years
an attempt was made by some factious Democrats in this
neighbourhood to induce the inhabitants of my parish
to join in measures which I always considered as tending
to promote sedition and rebellion. They proposed to
send delegates from Derriaghy to Ballymena, to consult
with other delegates about new modelling the Constitution.
On this occasion I did not adopt the same timid hne of
conduct with many others, I did not withdraw myself
from the danger, I met them in full assembly, I came pre-
pared for the contest, I opposed the resolutions, they were
rejected and others of a direct contrary tendency were
proposed by me, carried, and published. The odium of
every factious and disloyal man which I thus incurred
was much increased in the year 1796, when my contiguity
to that grand focus of sedition, the town of Belfast, and
the maturity which their schemes had then acquired,
made it necessary for every loyal man to take an active
decided part. Having as a magistrate received informa-
tion of the treasonable designs then in agitation, which I
communicated to Government, generally through the
medium of Lord Castlereagh, to whom I am well known,
I thought it proper to adopt measures which might check
their machinations ; and before the establishment of the
Yeomanry Corps I conceived a plan which I submitted
to Lord O'Neill, then Governor of the County, and to my
Lord Castlereagh, and thro' them to Government ; and
which at least was not disapproved of, and agreeable to
which I soon after formed five or six parishes, being a
principal part of my Lord Hertford's estates, into small
armed bodies, including every loyal Protestant, who
were in some degree organized and prepared to check the

A PARSON AS MAGISTRATE 25

progress of sedition, and withstand the open attempts
of the disaffected.

^^ " Their capabihty of doing so was exempHfied in my
'^wn parish on the 12th of November, 1796, when the
first and only attempt was made in this neighbourhood
to assemble large bodies of the disaffected under the pre-
tence of digging potatoes for an individual who had
shewn that he possessed the same principles and was
then in confinement. I got information of their intention
before the time of meeting. The place where they were
to assemble was some miles distant from me, in the most
unfrequented and least civihzed part of my parish. Yet
I did not hesitate to meet them. I gave notice of my
design to the leading men of the loyalist associations.
We came upon them from different quarters, we instantly
dispersed them, and took more than forty prisoners,
whom I conducted to the town of Lisburn, and there
detained them till I sent for the late Lord Downshire,
who was then at Hillsborough, and they were afterwards
disposed of agreeable to his lordship's pleasure.

" The resentment was great which I had incurred from
the disaffected before this time, especially by the infor-
mations which I had received and communicated to
Government of their proceedings, and which even in-
duced my Lord Castlereagh to come to Lisburn that he
might superintend the execution of the arrests which
Government had resolved on. I had the honour to
second his lordship on this occasion. I assisted in form-
ing the plan, and was the person who in company with
his lordship made a prisoner of Charles Teeling in the
town of Lisburn,* which was the commencement of the
active measures then adopted by Government. I after-

* Charles Hamilton Teeling was one of the leaders of the
Ulster United Irishmen. In his " Personal Narrative of the
Irish Rebellion " he gives an interesting account of his arrest in
September, 1796. As he was riding with his father through the
streets of Lisburn Lord Castlereagh met them. " He accosted
us with his visual courtesy," says Teeling. " We had proceeded
up the streets of Lisburn together, when, having reached the house
of his uncle, the Marquis of Hertford, we were about to take leave
of his lordship. ' I regret,' said he, addressing my father, ' that
your son cannot accompany you,' conducting me at the same
time through the outer gate, which, to my inexpressible astonish-
ment, was instantly closed, and I found myself surrounded by a
military guard." Teeling was detained in prison without trial
for about two years, and then released.

26 THOSE EMBARRASSING UNION ENGAGEMENTS

wards accompanied his lordship in several expeditions
by day and night to apprehend the persons against whom
I had received information, the immediate consequence?-
of which to myself were that repeated attempts were
made to assassinate me. One on the 8th of October,
1796, had nearly proved fatal. I was attacked by two
assassins armed with bayonets and pistols about nine
o'clock at night in a street of Lisburn, immediately after
I had taken into custody persons charged with treason.
One of the villains fired a pistol at me behind my back ;
the ball entered my shoulder, and was extracted at my
breast. Government offered a reward of £300 for dis-
covering these fellows, but in vain.

" I soon recovered from the effects of my wound, and
my ardour was not damped. On the 12th of November
following, before my wound was quite healed, I was able
to enter again on active service, as I have already men-
tioned. From that time to the present I have continued
to use every effort in my power to shew my loyalty and
to serve my country. To enable me to do so I asked and
was appointed to be Captain of two Corps of Yeomanry,
the Ballymacash Loyal Infantry, and the Derriaghy
Supplementaries, — the former consisting of 150 non-com-
missioned officers and privates, the latter of 106.

" But I have not, as yet, received or asked from Govern-
ment any emolument or compensation to myself for
what I have done or suffered. I have been found fault
with by my friends on this account ; they urge me to lay
aside my reserve, and in compliance with their wishes I
have taken the liberty of laying this detail before your
Excellency. For the truth of everything I have here
mentioned I would appeal to any person who has had an
opportunity of knowing it, especially to my Lord Castle-
reagh, respecting those circumstances where I have used
his name, or to my Lord Hertford, on whose estate I was
born and have always lived, and who knows my family,
my public and private character and myself. If, after
having ascertained that I have stated nothing but the
truth, your Excellency thinks me deserving of any favour,
I would receive it in the line of my profession as a clergy-
man with the sincerest gratitude, particularly if you will
confer on me the rectory of Ahoghil,* now vacant by the

* On the margin of the letter there is a note scrawled in pencil
by Hardwicke : " Given to the Rev. Mr. Leslie at the particular
request of Lord Hertford."

THE ORANGEMEN AND THE UNION 27

death of the Rev. Edward Hudson, which is in the gift of
government.

"I have the honour to remain your Excellency's
most faithful and devoted humble servant,

" Philip Johnson."

" To which I might have added — That at no period
either before or since 1796 have my exertions in support
of the Laws and Constitution been wanting when they
appeared hkely to prove useful. I take no notice of
what I did in 1798, many thousands did the same — that
is, everything in their power to suppress an unnatural
Rebellion, which threatened ruin and destruction to all.
But in the year 1800 I found myself on the great question
of the Union in a peculiar and trying situation. I had
made up my own mind on the subject, and I thought
differently from many loyal honest men, with whom I
had formerly acted. Some time before this I had become
an Orangeman, when I was convinced that the Institution
was founded on principles in which aU loyal Protestants
could join, that it could not be suppressed without in-
juring the cause of Loyalty, and that it might be highly
useful if properly directed, tho' like everything that is
good it might be liable to abuse. I could not after-
wards refuse, when called upon, to take a lead in it. I
was made a master, then district master of Lisburn,
and, on the first vacancy, grand master of the County of
Antrim.

" When the question of Union came to be agitated,
Orangemen were divided in their opinions, and publica-
tions appeared under their name repudiating the measure.
Some men in elevated stations, particularly the late Lord
Downshire, wished to make use of them as an instrument,
and encouraged them in their opposition. I was aware
of the bad effects which might attend their interference ;
and Mr. Smith of Lisburn shewed me a letter from Lord
Londonderry requesting his assistance in preventing the
Orangemen of this neighbourhood from throwing their
weight into the scale of opposition. Mr. Smith is not an
Orangeman, and could do nothing ; but at my desire he
sent his lordship a copy of the enclosed address then in
contemplation from the Grand Lodge of the County of
Antrim, which I proposed, brought forward, and which,

28 THOSE EMBARRASSING UNION ENGAGEMENTS

being published, put a stop to the business.* From this
time they were never known as Orangemen to decide or
give an opinion on that or any other pohtical subject. -1
enclose another address which, as Grand Master of the
County, I thought right to publish on the renewal of the
War, and a copy of our Obligation.

" I was unwilling, however, to mention these circum-
stances to his Excellency, not knowing whether they
would increase or lessen my interest with Administra-
tion ; tho' I might have assured him in the most positive
manner that my influence would continue to be exerted,
as it always has been, in promoting what is evidently
conducive to the cause of Loyalty, and a due obedience
to the Laws. I might have gone further, and have given
it as my opinion, to which my own conduct will, certainly,
be conformable, if our Government shall clearly and
decidedly express their wish totally to suppress the
Orange Institution, that from thence forward it will be,
if not altogether dissolved, at least rendered incapable
of giving offence even to its enemies,"

With Johnson's letter there is a half-sheet of note-
paper, on which the Lord Lieutenant wrote the following
pencilled directions for his private secretary :

" Inform Mr. J. that though it is not in my power to
comply with his request on account of the number of

* " In spite of the resolution in favour of neutrality passed by
the Grand Lodge, the Orangemen over a great part of Ireland
were straining fiercely, like hounds in the leash. Few things in
the history of this period are more curious than the many Orange
resolutions protesting against the Union. The Grand Lodge was
accused of having betrayed the country under the influence of a
few great placeholders. Representations of no less than thirty-
six lodges assembled at Armagh declared that it made no material
difference whether the Constitution was robbed by open and
avowed enemies or by pretended friends, who were, in reality,
the deadliest enemies of the country, and that it was the duty of
all Orangemen to stand forward in opposition to the impending
measure. The representation of thirteen Orange lodges in the
county of Fermanagh at once echoed this language, and very
similar resolutions were passed by many other lodges in different
parts of Ireland. A large proportion of the lodges, it is true,
obeyed the direction of the Grand Lodge and kept silence on the
subject, and some individual Orangemen were conspicuous sup-
porters of the Union ; but there is not, I believe, a single instance
of an Orange resolution in its favour." (Lecky : " Ireland in the
Eighteenth Century.")

THE CLAIM OF A POLITICAL PAMPHLETEER 29

engagements to which I have been obHged to pay atten-
tion, I have kept his memorial as a certificate of his
pubhck merits."

A very curious and interesting personalty who is to
be met with often in the Viceroy's post-bag — mainly
in the unheroic capacity of a place-hunter — is the Rev.
Thomas Brooke Clarke, D.D., an Irish Protestant clergy-
man Hving in London, and a political pamphleteer. He
sent to Hardwicke the following letter in support of his
claim to preferment in Ireland :

" 24, Alsop Buildings, Marylebone,
" 2Uh May, 1802.

" My dear Lord,

" It is some and the sole alleviation of very
poignant feelings which I labour under at this moment,
that they bring with them the means of giving to your
Excellency perhaps some useful information, and afford
me an opportunity of testifying my zeal and attachment
to your interests.

" I had the honour of an interview with Mr. Wickham
two days since, of which I shall relate the occasion here-
after, during which he mentioned that the late and the
present Administration were on the best terms, and in
habits of mutual good offices and strict friendship. On
this point I could only keep silence with respect to Mr.
Wickham. But it may not be unnecessary to apprise your
Excellency of some circumstances within my own know-
ledge, whereby you may, on combining them with others,
steer your opinion on the nature and consequences of
the connection now subsisting between the late and
present Government. I disclose these matters to you in
confidence, which I shall not do to any other man, though
I am not bound to secrecy but by my own discretion, and
a sense of the importance of such matters remaining
generally unknown.

" I had a long conference with Mr. Dundas the other
day on various topics. Your Excellency knows his
public sentiments, as uttered in the House, on the Peace.
But entering into different circumstances with me, relative
to the present Administration, he said they sometimes
consulted Mr. Pitt and him, who freely gave them their
opinions, but that no other connection subsisted between

30 THOSE EMBARRASSING UNION ENGAGEMENTS

them. And he added, that such were the sentiments of
Mr. Pitt with respect to the present Government, that he
never would ask a favour from them, and, if I do not
mistake, he also said, never accept of one. The same
sentiments likewise he uttered for himself. But, my
Lord, something, perhaps, still stronger has come to my
knowledge withiusthese few days. Mr. Rose has in a con-
versation with a friend of mine — a man of great respect-
ability and considerable talent — condemned different
proceedings of the present Administration, some as in-
jurious to the country and totally opposite to the intentions
of Mr. Pitt, and others as dangerous in their immediate
and ruinous in their remote consequences. For the truth
of his having made these remarks I will venture to pledge
myself.

" The conclusion which I draw from these, and from
Mr. Dundas's public and private sentiments, as well as
from a variety of other circumstances, is this — Mr. Pitt
and his party are not bond fide friends to the Addington
Administration, but they do not appear hostile to their
measures ; they support them rather than add strength
to Opposition. Mr. Pitt and his friends, however, only
rest on their oars until the gale and the tide answer, when
Mr. Pitt will come into his former station in the Commons,
and Mr. Dundas be probably placed at the helm in the
House of Peers. Perhaps I draw wrong inferences from
true premises. If so, your Excellency will make better
use of them. But to your bosom alone, my Lord, I con-
fide them as facts which are too true to be generally
known.

" And now I shall pass to the personal circumstances
which led to a knowledge of the former. Here, my Lord,
I must entreat your pardon and your patience. I have
much at stake, but I shall be brief, and shall not state a
circumstance that is unnecessary.

" During my conference with Mr, Dundas I mentioned
to him Lord Castlereagh's interview with me while the
Union was pending, and his most earnestly advising me
to give up the point which I urged of a specific engage-
ment on a particular object, for the general one of my
name being put on the List of Irish Preferment. I men-
tioned to him that having supposed Lord Castlereagh's
advice to be founded on a liberal honesty in directing
me to do what he had the power of knowing was best

CASTLEREAGH REPUDIATES A UNION ENGAGEMENT 31

for me under existing circumstances, and not having a
doubt of his honour in the performance of it, I yielded to
his counsel and told his lordship I would abide by his
advice, and commit the whole matter and my success to
his hands. I reminded Mr. Dundas also of his applica-
tion to Lord Castlereagh in my favour some few days
after this interview, and of Lord Castlereagh's confirma-
tion of his engagement to me by telling Mr. Dundas what
had passed, and of his being apprised of my object before
Mr. Dundas's recommendation. Mr. Dundas answered
these representations, when I had submitted them to
him, by saying this was very true, and he thought I ought
to call on Lord Castlereagh and get him to perform his
engagement.

" I paused, however, to reflect on this, and feeling
some repugnance with respect to Lord Castlereagh from
his conduct, I consulted Mr. Beresford* as one in whose
judgment and honour I could confide. He advised me
to apply to Mr. Wickham and ask him to speak to Lord
Castlereagh, and try if he would acknowledge the engage-
ment, and desired me to refer Mr. Wickham for a confir-
mation of it to Mr. Dundas. It may be necessary here
to restate that after my interview with Lord Castlereagh
Mr. Dundas had one with him, and recommended me and
my claims to him, and finding that everything was settled,
and the business of my preferment fixed, he wrote a letter
to me saying that he had recommended me to Lord Castle-
reagh, but that he had told him that he had seen me
previously and was already apprised of my object. This
letter I once showed to your Excellency, and I have it
still.

" But a long time after aU applications to ensure pre-
ferment had been set at rest by promise and expectation
from Lord Castlereagh, I received a letter from him
swerving from his engagement to Mr. Dundas and me.
Struck by such conduct I went instantly with his lord-
ship's letter to Mr. Dundas, who said, much surprised, ' I
must confess, Dr. Clarke, this is extraordinary. Lord
Castlereagh gave me every reason to think that your
preferment was a matter fixed. When I spoke to him
he informed me that he had been apprised of your object
by yourself before I recommended you, and I certainly

* John Beresford, M.P., a politician who exercised enormous
influence in Ireland.

32 THOSE EMBARRASSING UNION ENGAGEMENTS

understood both from his words and manner that it would
be accomphshed.' I shewed Lord Castlereagh's letter
swerving from his engagement to your Excellency in
New Cavendish-street, and I mentioned to you, at the same
time, my having shewn it to Mr. Dundas and his remarks
on it, as I have just now stated them. My object in
so doing was at Mr. Dundas's desire in order to get your
Excellency to join with him in an application to Mr. Pitt
when he found that Lord Castlereagh had violated his
engagement, or rather seemed inclined so to do. When
I shewed these letters to you, and stated those remarks
of Mr. Dundas on Lord Castlereagh's engagement to me,
I never thought I should have occasion to call your
Excellency's recollection toward them now.

" Mr. Beresford said that if Lord Castlereagh would
acknowledge this engagement, and your Excellency think
proper to admit it, it would exonerate Lord Castlereagh
from carrying his engagement further into effect, of which
he, no doubt, would be glad, and fully empower your
Excellency to put me on the List, and act in whatever
manner you might think fit after. I followed the counsel
of Mr. Beresford, and waited on Mr. Wickham, whose
kindness, politeness and good sense I am fully sensible
of. He in a very handsome manner said, after hearing
my statement, that as a Minister he could not admit a
mere personal statement from any gentleman ; it must
be confirmed by the late Administration ; and that as he
found I was dissatisfied with Lord Castlereagh he could
not open the business to him, it was a matter of so much
delicacy. (I did not interrupt Mr. Wickham, and I
omitted afterwards to acquaint him that Lord Castle-
reagh had not the most distant knowledge of my senti-
ments or dissatisfaction with respect to him.) ' But,'
said Mr. Wickham, ' if Mr. Dundas will avow his promises
to you, and Lord Castlereagh acknowledge his, then,
indeed, the matter will come before me in a proper shape.'
I felt the force of this immediately, thanked Mr. Wick-
ham, and told him I left him perfectly content. To which
he very good-humoredly and in a very friendly manner
replied, ' Then, Dr. Clarke, I am truly sorry not to make
you more content.'

" But, my Lord, I was perfectly content when he said,
' If Mr. Dundas would avow his promises, and Lord
Castlereagh acknowledge his, the matter would come

THE PAMPHLETEER'S APPEAL TO THE VICEROY 33

forward in a proper shape.' Because, my Lord, I believe
that to your Excellency Mr. Dundas's promises are
abundantly known. Perhaps also in your kind inter-
view with him on my account he has himself stated to
you what has passed with Lord Castlereagh. If he has
not, I have no doubt but he will, if called upon. And,
my Lord, as my exertions on the question of the Union
are known to you, as the promises are, I believe, not
unknown to you, which really drew me from my profes-
sional engagements, and whereby I have sustained a loss
of some hundreds of pounds per annum, which I resigned
in order to devote myself wholly to the one object, perhaps
your Excellency will on these grounds of public justice,
backed by the earnest entreaties of private friendship,
interfere with Lord Castlereagh. To your Excellency he
will probably readily acknowledge his engagement, when
he understands that you are about to exonerate him
from the trouble of performing it, or the reproach of its
violation. It is, however, the opinion of Mr. Dundas,
' that the knowledge of what has passed fully empowers
your Excellency to have my name inserted on the List
by your own desire, as a man whose claims on the ground
of service both the Government of England and Ireland
have acknowledged, and which are knowTi likewise to
yourself.' Pardon this statement ; it is Mr. Dundas's
words, not mine.

" But, my Lord, if I have rendered services to the
country, it is to you the country is indebted. Perhaps
the letter forwarded by your Excellency to Mr. Pitt con-
taining reasons for the measure of an Union, six months
before he brought it forward, was of more service than
all the efforts of my mind afterward. However, my
Lord, I feel that this is the crisis of my future fortune.
All my exertions, my hopes and expectations, my loss
of income and waste of time, all are now at stake, all
must be lost, unless, my Lord, you stretch out an hand
to save me. If I succeed it can be only and wholly by
your generosity and kindness. Mr. Dundas's promises,
I believe, you know, or have reasons not to doubt of.
Lord Castlereagh's are not, perhaps, altogether unknown
to you, and he probably wiU not be sorry to acknowledge
his engagement when the bare acknowledgment will
rub out the score. Then, my Lord, you will have the
matter in proper shape before you, as Mr. Wickham said.

34 THOSE EMBARRASSING UNION ENGAGEMENTS

At present it is in one that gives birth to very pregnant
sensations on my part.

" But, my Lord, while I am capable of feeling I shall
enjoy pleasure in being permitted to sign myself always,

" Your Excellency's faithful, attached, and obliged
humble servant,

"Thos. B. Clarke."

On June 8, 1802, Clarke sent the following note to the
Lord Lieutenant :

" Though I had the honor of writing to your Excellency
only about a week since, yet the present object will, I
trust, plead for my taking up my pen again so soon. I
am going to collect my different pamphlets on the Union,
in order to form a volume. I beg permission to dedicate
that volume to you. If it has been useful to the country
or honourable to me, to you we are both indebted. All
the good of this volume belongs to your Excellency ; all
the bad to me alone."

The reply of the Lord Lieutenant to this communica-
tion was a brief, angry note telling Clarke to trouble him
no more with political tittle-tattle. Its effect on Clarke
is seen in the following letter :

" 24, Alsop Buildings, Marylebone,
"13 August, 1802.

" My dear Lord,

" Since the time I had the honour of making your
Excellency's acquaintance, I have passed so far down
the vale of life as to be not very distant, perhaps, from
the end of my journey. It has been, I may say with truth,
one of great labour and sorrow. I have, however, in
looking over my past accounts, minutely examined my
heart and conduct towards your Excellency throughout
that period. And, Heaven now witness my truth, that
I have borne along with me but one impression of attach-
ment toward your Excellency, pure, unaltered, uninter-
rupted. If, however, I have by any means erred of late,
my judgment may have been in fault — this I am ready
to avow — but my heart or my principles never. Indeed,
where I am induced to surmise I have erred is, perhaps, a
strong proof in itself of my zeal and feelings, accompanied
by respect for your Excellency. I thought it honest, I

VICEROY DECLINES TO MAKE NEW ENGAGEMENTS 35

conceived it to be my duty, to conceal nothing from your
Excellency whereof the knowledge could prove useful,
by enabling you to correct, or to anticipate, or to prevent
consequences. Toward others for whom I felt not an
equal interest, I would not have been blind to the policy
of silence. But, my Lord, the transaction of the Univer-
sity* and the conversation of Mr. Dundas w&re, in my
opinion, of too much importance to be concealed one
moment from you. If, however, I have erred in com-
municating them I cannot now do such violence to the
settled habits of my life as not to give way to feelings
which have grown up with me through youth and man-
hood for your Excellency, and say I am truly distressed
to have communicated anything which may have given
you one moment's uneasiness and displeasure. Youi
Excellency, I am sure, will do me the justice not to
doubt that my sole aim and object were not to offend
but to serve you — to give proof of my attachment, and
not of the errors of my judgment.

" I hope, therefore, after this declaration on my part,
and an appeal to your Excellency's head and heart, that
if any dissatisfaction exist its impressions will be done
away. But, my Lord, do not attribute this step to any
mean policy. My regret is the effect of a proud attach-
ment to yourself and your principles, not of a narrow
or selfish one to your distinguished situation or your
power. I have due feelings of respect for the character
of Viceroy of Ireland, but infinitely more than this for
the character of Lord Hardwicke. It is to your integrity
and virtues I have been attached throughout life ; and
still remain, my dear Lord, with truth and fidelity,

" Your Excellency's respectful and sincere servant,

" Thos. B. Clarke."

In reply to this letter the Viceroy, writing from the
Phoenix Park on October 21, 1802, assured Clarke that

* The allusion to Dublin University refers to an earlier letter
sent by Clarke to the Lord Lieutenant. In it he states that
he had had a communication from Dublin declaring that the
unsympathetic and, indeed, abrupt manner in which Lindsay,
his Excellency's private secretary, had received Prime Serjeant
Browne, who came to solicit the support of the Lord Lieutenant
for a Bill to be promoted in Parliament for enabling the Fellows
of the University to marry, had excited " a great ferment of
indignation in Trinity College."

3—2

36 THOSE EMBARRASSING UNION ENGAGEMENTS

he had not received from the late Administration any
engagement with regard to his preferment, and that he
had reason to know that such was the sense both of Com-
waUis and Castlereagh of the burden which had been
placed on his patronage by the Union Engagements, that
they would on no account consent to ask for the enlarge-
ment of the List by even one other name.

" I am well aware," he goes on, " as I doubt not Lord
Comwallis was, of the services rendered to the cause of
the Union by your literary labours ; and for that reason,
as well as on account of the length of our acquaintance, I
should have great pleasure in being able to promote your
views of better preferment in Ireland. But when I
recollect that to this hour the heavy mortgage left by my
predecessor on the patronage of the country has pre-
cluded me from paying attention to any claim, however
strong, and whether of a public or a private description,
I am sure you will not be surprised at my declining to
make any new engagements, or add to those which have
already been productive of so much embarrassment."

The kindlier terms of this letter touched the heart of
Clarke, and moved him to the warmest expressions of
gratitude.

" I have at this moment been honoured with your
letter," he writes on October 25, 1802, " which has
lightened a load that has oppressed me long and beyond
what I can or ought to attempt to describe. But let me
forget it in the moment that I wish to thank your Ex-
cellency, and assure you, my Lord, that however I have
suffered, my attachment and respectful esteem never

abated one instant."

* * *

The following letter, written to the Lord Lieutenant by
the Rear-Admiral Whitshed, in reference to his father,
the Bishop of Raphoe, shows that it was not an entirely
self-seeking age :

" Raphoe Castle,

" December 28th, 1803.

" My Lord,

" When I had last the honor of seeing your Ex-
cellency you were so much hurried that I deemed it

A BISHOP'S INATTENTION TO WORLDLY INTERESTS 37

imprudent to speak on a subject which I had previously
mentioned to Mr. Wickham, and in which I cannot help
feeling the most lively interest. The feeble and lethargic
state in which I find my poor father no way tends to lessen
that feeling, and altho' for the present he has recovered
from the attack he had, yet such a one at 80 cannot have
been made with impunity, and must be look'd on as the
forerunner of something more fatal.

" I am well aware, my Lord, that I have no claim in
my individual person that could for an instant justify
the request I am about to make. But I own I look with
the utmost confidence to your Excellency's kindness, and
I may almost say justice, fairly to consider the situation
in which the bishop's two sons will be placed on the day
of his dissolution, when the singular phenomenon will
be exhibited of a man having been a bishop thirty years,
and having one son upwards of twenty-four years and
another upwards of sixteen j'^ars in the Church, and yet,
together, not possessing above four hundred and fifty
pounds per annum in it. 'Tis natural that this statement
should excite some surprise, and the bishop must be
known before it can be well understood. The early part
of his life exhibited the same inattention to worldly con-
cerns that the later periods of it have done ; and con-
scientiously and meekly to discharge his duty and to
walk humbly with his God, has been the sole object of
his existence in this world. Such, my Lord, in a few
words, is the character of this good man ; and your Ex-
cellency will, I am sure, no longer be surprised to hear
that every older and poorer person than his sons in his
diocese succeeded to vacant livings, and were provided
for before they obtained even what they now possess.
The same dignified feeling prevented his ever asking for
them what nothing would induce him to accept ; and I
know well that he has more than twice refused to hold,
before he was a bishop, two livings, and that almost any
man but himself, placed as he was, might have been Bishop
of Clogher. Your Excellency will not wonder then when
you are told that he used his influence in the country and
supported the measure of the Union in Parliament with
all his power, without a thought of himself and his family,
and true to his principles he conscientiously discharged
his duty.

" Having now, my Lord, stated the character of the

38 THOSE EMBARRASSING UNION ENGAGEMENTS

man, and laid the nature of his case before you, shall I
be too sanguine if I indulge the hope that your Ex-
cellency will not suffer the sons of the good man who
scorn'd to barter his duty for his interest, to be worse off
than those who hesitated not to study their individual
advantage before the benefit of the State ?

" I have taken the liberty thus to address your Lord-
ship, preferring it to the roundabout mode of those
recommendations which I might procure to your Ex-
cellency from England, some of which, however, will I
dare say be presented, from the solicitude of my friends
there. But it would, indeed, be to me most flattering
and gratifying to think that to your Excellency's kindness
alone I owed the advancement of my brothers.

" I am now to apologise for the liberty I have taken,
and which, under all the circumstances of the case, I
trust your Excellency will forgive. I have the honor to
subscribe myself, with the highest respect, your Ex-
cellency's most obedient and most humble servant,

" J. Whitshed."

The Viceroy, as usual, was extremely careful in the
phrasing of his reply. The draft of his letter is full of
alterations. Dated January lo, 1804, it runs :

" I trust you will do me the justice to believe that I
enter entirely into the feelings which you must have on
the subject of your brothers, in consequence of the situa-
tion in which they are likely to be left from a pardonable,
tho' certainly an unfortunate delicacy on the part of
the Bishop of Raphoe. The circumstances you have
stated, and the interest which you very naturally take
in your brothers' welfare, render me very desirous of
holding out some expectation that I may be able, sooner
or later, in some degree to gratify your wishes. But as
I should be equally unwilling to promise more than I
am likely to be able to perform, I think it right to explain
to you the very unpleasant situation in which I have been
placed in regard to patronage, ecclesiastical as well as
civil, by the engagements which my predecessor was
under the necessity of contracting, and which devolved
upon me under the sanction of the late and present
Administrations. From this circumstance I have not
had the opportunity of disposing of a single Living that

AN IRISH PEER IN DISTRESS 39

has fallen to the patronage of the Crown exceeding an
hundred pounds per annum, and I have still two or three
engagements for Church patronage unsatisfied. In the
meantime some engagements have had necessarily to be
made, to the liquidation of which I must consider myself
pledged, whenever this heavy mortgage of the Union is
paid off, and which, of course, it would be difficult to
supersede.

" I have troubled you with this long explanation, be-
cause I should really be happy to be able to say that I
was at liberty to comply with your request at an early
opportunity. Subject to those engagements by which I
am bound, and without binding myself for anything
specific, which is beyond my power, I shall have great
pleasure in recording your wishes, and I hope not in-
effectually, for I assure you it would afford me great
satisfaction to be instrumental in promoting the views
you have in favour of your brothers,"

* j|e *

There was nothing left even for members of the Irish
peerage, upon whom misfortune and distress had fallen
through no fault of their own. Here is a petition from
Richard Meade, Earl of Clanwilliam, co. Tipperary, whose
father died in 1800 :

" His Majesty was pleased to grant to my father, the
late Earl of Clanwilliam, dignities of Peerage. I have
succeeded to those dignities, but find on looking into the
state of my affairs that the entire of the property which
should have been my paternal inheritance is involved, and
liable to more debts and charges than it is worth, and not
of my creating. I have been told that in similar situa-
tions the Crown has in many instances extended its
liberality for the support of the Peerage. May I take the
liberty of requesting your Excellency laying this my case
before his Majesty ?

"September i^th, 1801."

It was a sad case, but no assistance could be rendered.
Lord Clanwilliam was informed that the promises of
pensions for services on behalf of the Union must have the
prior claim on the Government, and that it would prob-
ably take yea,rs to redeeni thern.

CHAPTER II
THE LIST OF UNION ENGAGEMENTS

What was this list of Union Engagements which so worried
Lord Hardwicke by mortgaging the patronage of his office?
What was this sinister document which cast the shadow
of perplexity and embarrassment over the entire five years
of his Viceroyalty ? It is notorious that the Irish Parlia-
ment, which in the session of 1799 refused to decree its
extinction, was induced by the distribution of honours,
places, and pensions among its members, and persons of
political influence outside, to carry the Bill of Union in
the session of 1800. Cornwallis, the Lord Lieutenant,
and Castlereagh, the Chief Secretary, were authorized by
the Cabinet of William Pitt, with the consent of the
King, to bestow any rewards and give any engagements
they thought necessary in order to win support for the
Union. " A shameless traffic in votes began," writes the
unprejudiced and impartial Lecky, " and many men of
great name and position in the world were bought as
literally as cattle in the cattle-market."

Even before the Union was carried the Lord Lieutenant
— as we learn from " The Cornwallis Correspondence " —
sent over to the Cabinet a list of sixteen names, all of
them, with a few exceptions, members of the House of
Commons, who had been promised Irish peerages for their
political services, with a request for the immediate issue
of their patents of nobility. King George III. grumbled
at the Bill. The Cabinet were reluctant to blazon forth
to the world in this fashion the shameful means by which

" YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BRIBE ME " 41

they were endeavouring to effect the Union of Ireland with
Great Britain. But Cornwallis wrote peremptorily that his
engagements must be carried out, or else he should resign.
" If the King withholds his consent," says he, " he will
be pleased to allow me to retire from a station which I
could no longer hold with honour to myself, or with any
prospect of advantage to his service." So the account
was settled. After the Union had been carried, other
accounts, still more exorbitant in their character, were
presented by the Irish Administration to the Cabinet.
One was for the creation of twenty-eight Irish peerages ;
the raising of twenty Irish peers to higher ranks ; and
the conferring on six Irish peers of peerages of the
United Kingdom.* Another was for the payment of a
sum of £1,260,000 as compensation to the owners of eighty
pocket boroughs — returning 160 members to the Irish
Parliament — which were abolished under the Act of
Union, at the rate of £15,000 a borough. Both these
accounts were settled during the brief period that re-
mained of the Viceroyalty of Lord Cornwallis. Again,
the twenty-eight Irish peers who under the Act of Union
were elected for life to represent the Irish peerage in the
House of Lords of the Imperial Parliament were virtually
nominated by the Lord Lieutenant, and consisted ex-
clusively of supporters of the Union.

* * *
That much of the story of how the Union was carried
has long been known. But there was another portentous
bill of promises of places, pensions, legal appointments,
bishoprics, and promotions in the Irish peerage, for which
Cornwallis and Castlereagh had made themselves liable,

* On the principal stairs of Powerscourt House, co. Wicklow,
hangs a portrait of Richard Wingfield, fourth Viscount Powers-
court, The picture is inscribed : " You are not going to bribe
me." The story of the inscription is that during the negotiations
for the Union Cornwalhs sent a message to Lord Powerscourt to
say that if he voted for the impending measure he would recom-
mend him to the King for a marquisate. In great indignation,
Powerscourt ejected the messenger from the house, saying,
" You are not going to bribe me." Powerscourt was one of
the small minority of Irish peers who opposed the Union,

42 THE LIST OF UNION ENGAGEMENTS

remaining undischarged at the fall of the Pitt Administra-
tion in the spring of 1801. These engagements are referred
to in " The Cornwallis Correspondence," but their nature
has hitherto been a profound secret. Lecky, who was per-
mitted to examine the secret papers of the period in the
archives of Dublin Castle for his " History of Ireland in
the Eighteenth Century," says the list and the negotia-
tions with respect to it were destroyed. What hap-
pened was that the careful and methodical Hardwicke
carried off the correspondence on quitting office in 1806.
Now, after the lapse of a century, this disgraceful record
leaps to light. In the year 1804 Hardwicke made a copy
of this list of Union Engagements, distinguishing the
promises which at that time had been fulfilled, and com-
menting on each case, for the information of Lord Hawkes-
bury, the Home Secretary of Pitt's second Administra-
tion. Accompanying the document was the following
letter :

Private and confidential.

" Dublin Castle,

" September 26, 1804.

" My dear Lord, —

" Not being certain whether your lordship may be
in possession of a copy of the Union Engagements which
were delivered to me by Lord CornwaUis, and which I
have been endeavouring to discharge as faithfully and
as expeditiously as possible, I enclose a copy of each of
the papers with some additional and confidential notes of
explanation.

" Your Lordship will easily believe on a perusal of the
enclosed papers that the task which I undertook to per-
form has not been free from difficulty and embarrassment.
In the application of offices and other objects of patronage
which have gradually become vacant I have naturally
been induced to select from the list those who appeared
most proper for the situations in which openings occurred.
The consequence has been that nearly all those who were
qualified for any offices of trust or situations of business
have been already selected from the list, and there is little
chance of the other engagements being satisfied, except by
sinecure offices which are not very easily found.

BRIBES OF BISHOPRICS 43

" The greater part of those upon the different lists who
had not actual engagements for specific offices received
the amount of their engagements from a fund, in which
I have had no concern, and of which I was entirely
ignorant at the time I received the papers. The fund for
these money payments has, I understand, been partly
supphed from his Majesty's privy purse, but the demand
on the fund has been gradually diminishing, as offices
have been provided for those who had engagements ;
and the payments are now limited to the few who still
remain unprovided for, for some of whom, with every
disposition to do so, it will be extremely difficult to find
situations which they will be competent or willing to
hold."

Hf 4: *

The following is a complete copy of this document. I
have enclosed in brackets the remarks of Lord Hardwicke,
which, in the original, are written in red ink :

Church Engagements.

The Archbishop of Cashel — To succeed to Dublin.

(Translated accordingly, vice Fowler, deceased.)

Rev. Mr. Alexander — The Bench.

(Done. Appointed Bishop of Clonfert by the removal
of Bishop Beresford to Kilmore, Kilmore toXashel, and
Cashel to Dublin.)

Bishop of Killaloe — Strong assurances given to Lord
Abercom of his being translated, which Lord Cornwallis
intended to do after he had found an opportunity of re-
moving the Bishop of Kilmore to a better See.

(Translated to Londonderry, vice the Earl of Bristol,
deceased.)

Rev. Mr. Trench — The Bench of Bishops.

(Promoted to Waterford, vice Marley, deceased.)

Dean Warburton — Promised to recommend him strongly
to Lord Hardwicke on account of his general good char-
acter, and of his services during the Rebellion and the
Union contest. Lord Cornwallis intended to have pro-
moted him to the Bench after the Union Engagements
had been fulfilled.

(The King has declared he will never make him a
Bishop. He was a Roman Catholick originally ; his
name, Mongan, and his father an Irish harper. He him-

44 THE LIST OF UNION ENGAGEMENTS

self was a missionary, and acquired, by plausible manners,
to the amount of £2,000 a year and upwards of Church
preferment.)*

Rev. Mr. Cleland — Tutor to Lord Castlereagh. Pro-
mised the Rectorship of Armagh.

(Promoted to the Precentorship of Armagh, vice
Alexander.)

Rev. Richard Straubenzie Wolfe, Lord Kilwarden's
nephew — Better preferment.

(He was promoted to the Prebend of Ticolme and
Rectory of Templepeter, in the Diocese of Leighlin and
Ferns ; also to the vicarage of Dunlackney and Agha, in
the said diocese, vice Alexander, promoted The above-
mentioned Prebend, etc., vacated by the unfortunate
assassination of Mr. Wolfe, t have been given to a son of
Dr. Kearney, the Provost, to whom I was desirous of an
opportunity of showing a personal attention, the College
being at present inclined to support his Majesty's Govern-
ment, and at all times an important body.)

Rev. Mr. Bisset — Promised a living of £500 or £600 a
year, and to resign his present preferment of £300 a year.
Through him managed Cope, M.P. for Armagh.

(Not done, because the Primate refused to present a
person recommended by Government to his Living.)

Rev. John Hill, brother to Sir G. Hill — Promised pre-
ferment and to be recommended to Lord Hardwicke for
early promotion.

(Promoted to the Prebend of Clonmethan, vice Lord
Strangford, deceased.)

Rev. Mr. Paul, Lord O'Neill's tutor — His Lordship has

* Warburton, in a letter to the Lord Lieutenant, written at
Loughgilly Parsonage, Newry, states that his yearly income is
^2,250. It is thus made up : three sinecures — Precentorship of
St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, /400, Prebend of Killaloe, ;^ioo,
Deanery of Clonmacnoise, ;^ioo ; two parishes — Mohill, £700,
Loughgilly, ;^950. He desires to exchange the parish of Mohill,
in the Diocese of Ardagh, for Dr. Alexander's parish of Killeny,
which lies close to Loughgilly. " My hope is," he says, " that the
Government may be equally accommodated by this exchange ;
yet I should feel it a serious obligation, inasmuch as it would afford
me the highest satisfaction which a conscientious clergyman can
possibly enjoy, that of having all his clerical duty within reach
of his daily inspection and personal attendance." His wish,
however, was not complied with.

t Mr. Wolfe was murdered, with his uncle, Lord Chief Justice
Kilwarden, during the Emmet insurrection of 1803.

DISTRIBUTION OF LIVINGS 45

had a positive promise that Mr. Paul should be pro-
moted.

(This was done accordingly by the Rectory and Vicar-
age of Knockbride, vice Thomas Smyth, deceased.)

Rev- John Molesworth Staples — Promised Lord Chfden
to give him a Living.

(The Rectory, etc., of Killeven, vice Lord Strangford,
deceased.)

Rev. Joseph Palmer — Promised Mr. David LaTouche
to give him a Living.

(Done by giving him a Living in Co. Kildare.)

Rev. John Rowley — Promised his father, Mr, Clot-
worthy Rowley, that he should be promoted.

(Not yet done.)

Rev. Mr. Clemlow — Lord Cornwallis promised his
uncle, Mr. Mathew, that he would recommend him
strongly for preferment.

(This private wish was connected with a publick
transaction. His uncle was an old acquaintance of
Lord Cornwallis, but being one of Lord Downshire's
members, he was obliged to take away his place. As
some return, and to show that there was nothing personal
in it, he put down his nephew in the manner above stated.
Mr. Clemlow was accordingly promoted to the Rectory
of Westena, alias Vastina, in the Diocese of Meath, vice
Homan, deceased.)*

* Further light is thrown on this transaction by a letter from
Cornwallis to Hardwicke, dated " Culford, July 15th, 1802." It
shows that another nephew of Mathew had been deprived by
CornwalUs of some position because of his opposition to the
Union. The letter runs :

" My dear Lord, — Your goodness to me on all occasions has
been most strongly manifested, and in no instance more than in
your attention to my recommendation of Mr. Clemlow, which
could not be fairly classed in the list of public engagements. The
unfortunate circumstance of my having been under the necessity
of using hard measures with regard to one of the nephews of my
old and very respectable brother soldier, Mr. Mathew, made
me very desirous of being the means of obtaining a post for
another nephew, in whose welfare he was most interested, in
addition to which Mr. Mathew's gallant and eminent services
at the period of the breaking out of the Rebellion in the North
give him some claim to public consideration. The Living in the
diocese of Meath, which Your Excellency is so kind as to offer,
will, I have no doubt, be gratefully accepted by Mr. Clemlow,
but at all events I shall feel that I have done everything that
could reasonably have been expected of me."

46 THE LIST OF UNION ENGAGEMENTS

The Rev. Dean Graves — Was promised preferment
both by Lord Cornwallis and Lord Camden.

(Promoted to the Deanery of Connor, vice Dobbs, de-
ceased.)

Rev. Gilbert Holmes — A letter from Lord Cornwallis,
5th August, 1801, stated that Mr. Holmes had been
forgot.

(Promoted to the Deanery of Ardfert, vice Graves, pro-
moted.)

Exclusive of the above list of Positive Engagements
in the Church, there are some applications which Lord
Cornwallis would have been glad to have complied with,
if proper opportunities had offered, and which are entered
in a separate book of applications under similar circum-
stances.

Rev. Mr. Usher — A friend of Lord Belvedere.

(A supplementary engagement given in by Mr. Cook,
and satisfied by the Vicarage of Asnamurthis, in the
Diocese of Meath, vice Homan, deceased.)

N.B. — Besides those, I have presented the Rev. Pon-
sonby Gouldsbury to the Rectory of Raddinstown,
vacated by Dr. French, at the particular request of
Mr. Smyth, member for the Co. Westmeath, as well as his
colleague, Mr. Rochfort. Rev. Mr. Lee, brother to the
member for the County of Waterford, to the Deanery of
Kilmacduagh. Also Rev. Mr. Hunt, nephew of Mr. Hunt,
an old Surveyor-General and very inefficient, thereby
saving the expense of placing him on Income Incidents.

Civil Engagements.

Those marked (*) were members of the House of Com-
mons, and gave their support to the Union.

*Mr. M'Naughton, representative for Antrim — Rever-
sion of the Searchership of Cork, vice Yelverton, £5,000
a year.

(Not done, from a difficulty in form.)

*Mr. Walsh, Collector of Naas — To resign to his son.

(Done.)

*Colonel Burton, M.P., Co. Clare — To name the suc-
cessor to the Collection at Ennis.

(Done.)

*Mr. Faithful Fortescue — To get compensation for the
loss of his pension of £300 a year.

BRIBES FOR MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT 47

(To be put on the Pension List this year.)*

*Colonel Skeffington, Lieutenant-Governor of Cork-
Promised ;^300 a year in addition.

(Not done. I could appoint this gentleman to some
office of £600 per annum if I could appoint to the Lieu-
tenant-Government of Cork.)

*Mr. Hatton, brother-in-law of Lord Hertford — To be
removed to a more lucrative office. He lately declined
the Board of Accounts, £800 a year. He had accepted
the Fellowship of the Exchequer, being a sinecure of the
same value with the Accounts, but could not find the
necessary security.

(Now Commissioner of Stamps, ^^500 a year.)

*Mr. Rutledge — Brought into Parliament by his sister-
in-law, Mrs. Bruen, widow of Colonel Bruen, who made
a great fortune in the American War, and purchased an
Irish Borough on speculation.

(He had a money payment. This was liquidated by
his being appointed to a seat at the Navigation Board,
£500 per annum.)

*Colonel Nesbit — Promised £500 a year.

(Not done.)

*Mr. Cotter, Lord Shannon's friend — To be employed
in Tontines, or in an office of £400 a year.

(Done by Tontine Office.)

♦Colonel Macdonnell — Promised £500 a year.

(Done by a seat at the Board of Accounts, which
he was allowed to transfer. N.B. — This engagement
was liquidated by £800 per annum on account of his
having been appointed a supernumerary aide-de-camp,
in expectation of some employment of business.)

*Colonel MacNamara — Promised ;^400 per annum,

(Not done.)

* In the Lord Lieutenant's audience-book, in which Hard-
wicke entered the names of persons who called to see him at
the Castle, the object of their visits, and his replies, there is a
note which throws more hght on this engagement : " June 2, 1801.
Mr. Faithful Fortescue, Lord Clement's nephew. States that
an engagement for a pension, instead of one which he gave up
on coming into Parliament for the life of himself and Mr. G.
Adair, was entered into for regranting said pension to himself and
wife. Told him that his name was not on the list given in by
Lord Castlereagh in London, but Lord Cornwallis had stated it in
conversation on the 26th of May, as Mr. Fortescue does himself.
That a mem. was made of it, but it cannot be put on the Pen-
sion Listtill after those which were on that originally given in."

48 THE LIST OF UNION ENGAGEMENTS

*Major Creighton, Lord Erne's son — Promised the
Barrack Board, or an equivalent £800 per annum.

(Done by the appointment to the Government of Heist
Castle.)

*Colonel Wemyss — ;^400 per annum.

(Done by CoUectorship of Kilkenny.)

*Sir Vere Hunt — ^£500 per annum.

(Done by Weighmastership of Cork.)

*Mr. Straton, Lord Roden's brother-in-law — £400 per
annum.

(Done, first by Navigation Board, and afterwards by
CoUectorship of Dundalk. He was first a Commissioner
of Navigation. Lord Roden claimed to appoint to the
CoUectorship of Dundalk, as being always considered in
his patronage ; but I could not comply with this claim on
account of the engagement, and Mr. Straton vacated the
Navigation Board.)

*Mr. Leslie — £300 a year, recommended by Mr. Brooke,
member for Donegal.

(Done by the place of Judge Advocate.)

*Capt. Cane — ^£400 per annum.

(Not done.)

*Mr. George Knox — Dismissed from the Revenue
Board. Promised restitution, £1,000 per annum.

(Not done, because a seat at the Revenue Board is in-
compatible with his seat in Parliament. Query — How
can this debt be paid now ?)

*Mr. Baker — An employment of £250 a year. Recom-
mended by Lord CaUan. Lord Callan had two members.

(Not done.)

*Mr. C. Tottenham — His son to be promoted from
Wicklow Collection, the reversion of which is promised
to Mr. Leigh, of New Ross.

(Not done.)

*Mr. Alexander Hamilton — To have the interest of
Government in the next General Election for the County
of Dublin.*

* There is a letter from Hardwicke to Marsden the Under-
Secretary, dated July 8, 1 802, and marked " Secret " in reference to
this engagement. " My dear Sir," it says, " I am decidedly of
opinion that we should not be justified in undertaking to support
Mr. Alexander Hamilton with money. We have fairly given him
the full benefit of all the support which Government could give
to any candidate for the County of Dublin, and to make it the more
complete have abstained from intimating a wish in favour of any

MORE BRIBES TO PARLIAMENTARIANS 49

(Done, but without success. N.B. — Mr. Hans Hamilton
and Mr. Faulkner, then members, were in opposition to
the Government.)

*Capt. Ormsby — First vacancy at the Paving Board,
£300 per annum.

(Not done.)

*Mr. M. Burke — Collection of Loughrea, in case Mr.
Trench retires (Lord Dunlo's brother), or an equivalent.

(Paid.)

*Col. Jackson (Co. Mayo) — A Surveyorship on the quay
in Dublin, for his brother-in-law, Mr. Ormsby, £350 per
annum.

(Done, being Commissioner of Stamps.)

Bishop of Meath — A Revenue situation for his brother,
from £200 to ;^300 per annum.

(Mr. O'Beime is appointed Landwaiter on the quay at
Dublin.)

*Sir George Shee — To be Paymaster of the Forces and
of the Privy Council. If the appointment should not take
place, to succeed Sir Henry Cavendish as Receiver-
General.

(Now Secretary to the Treasury. Done by grant of
reversion of Sir Henry Cavendish's office, subject, how-
ever, to any alteration for the benefit of the Revenue
which may be thought necessary. N.B. — No further
Receiver-General of the Revenue should be permitted to
keep large balances in his hands, or to exact from the
different Collectors one per cent, for their bills. This is
the arrangement alluded to, and must be enforced.)

*Lord de Blaquiere — To be returned to Parliament on
the General Election. If not, his son to have the Board
of Works, £400 per annum.

(Query — Done by Mr. Addington.)

Lord Dunlo — To name to the Collection or Military
government of Galway, whichever becomes first vacant.
He had two sons in Parliament.

Lord Wallscourt — A Revenue situation for his brother,
£400 per annum.

(Not done.)

other candidate, though all profess to be friendly to Government.
... I shall be glad to know what you think upon the subject,
though if you have nothing to state per contra it may be as well
to hold this language to Mr. Hamilton when he calls upon you
between three and four. ' '

50 THE LIST OF UNION ENGAGEMENTS

Mr. George Browne — Promised a permanent employ-
ment of equal value (£400) per annum. Recommended
by Mr. Denis Browne, Member for Mayo. Now Commis-
sioner for Suffering Loyalists.

(Not done.)

*Mr. Archdale — Had a promise of an employment of
£500 a year, which he waived upon being brought into
Parliament. His claim is to revive when Parliament
expires.

(In Parliament.)

Mr. Mason's nephew — For an employment of £100 per
annum.

(Done by Barrackmastership of Millstreet.)

A great difficulty still exists in paying off several of
those engagements, viz. :

Colonel Nesbit

• • £500

Colonel Macnamara

• • £400

Captain Cane

. . £400

Mr. Geo. Browne . .

• • £400

Hon. Geo. Knox . .

. . £1,000

The three first will accept no coUectorship, or Revenue
situations in the country, which requires attendance, and
are very unwilling to take any of that description, even
in Dublin ; and it is impossible to find snug sinecures for
them which admit of their residing where they please, and
require no attendance at all.

Honours.

Viscount Gosford — To be an Earl.

(At the instance of Mr. Acheson, his son, Lord Gosford
declined this honour at the late promotions, as he wished
to avoid the imputation that he had made any difference
on this account at the Union. He is now very desirous
of the dignity.)

Viscount Limerick — To be an Earl.

(Created Earl of Limerick.)

Viscount Dunlo — To be an Earl.

(Created Earl of Clancarty.)

Baroness Dufferin — Solicited to be created, originally
a Viscountess, which was declined, as it was not intended
to recommend any person for two steps in the first in-
stance. No promise was given as to future promotion,
and this fact is only here stated in case her Ladyship

PROMOTIONS TO THE JUDICIAL BENCH 51

should hereafter desire that her claim may be considered
previous to Lady Newcomen's promotion, who is now
below her in rank.

(No claim or application has been made by Lady
Dufferin.)

Baroness Newcomen — To be a Viscountess.

(Created Viscountess.)

Law Engagements.

*Prime Serjeant Daly — Bench.

(Vice Baron Sir Michael Smith, now Master of the
Rolls.)

*Mr. R. Johnson — Bench.

(Vice Mr. Justice Kelly, who retired.)

*Mr. Serjeant Stanley — Prime Serjeant.

(Vice Daly. Afterwards Commissioner of Accounts.)

*Mr. C. Osborne — First Counsel to the Commissioners.

(Vice Johnson.)

*Mr. C. Ormsby — Second Counsel to the Commis-
sioners.

(Vice Osborne, now first Counsel.)

*Mr. M'Clelland — Received assurances of Legal pro-
vision. He supported the Union with ability.

(Solicitor-General, on Baron Smith's promotion.)

*Mr. W. Johnson — Similar assurances. He wrote and
spoke ably in support of the Union.

(Great difficulty attends the fulfilment of this gentle-
man's engagement. He looks to the Bench, but his
brother being already an Union Judge, and not highly
respected, it is scarcely possible to place him there also,
with any regard to what is due to the Profession.)

*Dr. Browne — Received assurances to the same effect.
He was agent to the late Primate ; on his death Govern-
ment undertook to interfere with his successor to continue
him, but without success.

(Prime Serjeant, on removal of Prime Serjeant Stanley
to the Board of Accounts.)

*Mr. Grady — £1,000 per annum.

(This was effected by his appointment to be Second
Counsel to the Commissioners of the Revenue, a place
which upon explanation is admitted to be worth double
the engagement.)

*Mr. Sharkey — £400 per annum.

(Assistant Barrister for the County Roscommon.)

4—2

52 THE LIST OF UNION ENGAGEMENTS

*Mr. Francis Knox — First vacant situation of Chairman
of Quarter Sessions.

(Chairmanship of County Leitrim. But £400 per
annum still due to him, which he receives privately,
having given up the place of Assistant Barrister of the
County Tyrone by Lord Castlereagh's desire in conse-
quence of a wish to oblige Lord Abercom with this
appointment. That Chairmanship is worth £800 per
annum.)

Mr. Bellew — Promised a similar situation.

(See Pension List. This gentleman is a son of Sir
Patrick Bellew, of the County Louth, a Roman Catholick,
and it was therefore thought very desirable to commute
this engagement, as he looked to the fulfilment of it in
the County of Louth, where the appointment would have
been very obnoxious to all the Protestant gentlemen.)

Mr. Donellan, brother to Lady Fingall — ^Promised ;i^300
a year ; recommended by Lord Fingall.

(As a Roman Catholic, I preferred giving him the Office
of Customer of Waterford to making him an Assistant
Barrister.)

Mr. Lynch — The office of Chairman of the County of
Galway, when vacant.

Pensions.

Lord de Blaquiere — £1,000 per annum for the lives of
his wife and daughter ; £700 to be put on the Pension List
from March, 1802, and £300 from March, 1803.

(Done in the year 1802 by an arrangement with Mr.
Fortescue.)

*Sir Boyle Roche — £400 a year for his own life.

Mr. M'Kenna — £300 a year for his literary services.

Mrs. Bromhead — £200 a year.

(Daughter of Sir Thomas French. An old engagement
of Lord Hobart's.)

Mrs. Armit — ^£300 a year.

Mr. Edward Winder — £100 a year.

Lord Bishop of Clonfert's Widow — £500 a year for
herself and eleven children.

Lord Belvidere — £200 a year.

(Done.)

*Mr. Faithful Fortescue — £300 for himself and wife in
lieu of the Pension he lost by coming into Parliament.

DISTRIBUTION OF PENSIONS 53

Mr. Bellew — £150 a year.

(N.B. — The amount of this heavy mortgage on the
Pension List of Ireland is £3,450 from March 25th, 1802 ;
for the year's grant from Lady Day, 1801, was completed
before my arrival in the May following. The grants have
therefore stood thus :

From Lady Day, 1802 to 1803, £1,200

1803 to 1804, £1,200

„ , 1804 to 1805, £1,200

£3,600

Leaving at the disposal of His Majesty's Government in
Ireland for the year ending March 25th, 1805, the sum of

£150 ! ! !

And beyond that sum no pension can be placed on the
Irish Establishment till after March 25th, 1805, for the
ensuing year. Of this, it is understood that a pension of
£600 which His Majesty has been pleased to grant to
Lady Clare, and of £300 per annum to the Widow of the
late Judge Chamberlayne, are to be placed on the Irish
Establishment as soon as the above mortgage is paid off.
So that for the two years ending March 25th, 1806, the
sum of £150 may be granted in the first year, and of £300
in the second.

This state of things is highly inconvenient and pre-
judicial to the King's Government in Ireland, and the
disadvantage of it was certainly not foreseen, and has
probably never been sufficiently considered. How it is
to be remedied I know not, but the fact is that the in-
convenience of the entire want of patronage of any descrip-
tion, occasioned by the engagements of which many
remain still unsatisfied, has produced a variety of incon-
veniences, and some dissatisfaction.)

* * *
This, then, is the incubus which the Union placed
upon the unwilling shoulders of the Earl of Hardwicke.
The story of the embarrassments and perplexities with
which it strewed the pathway of the luckless Viceroy — a
story of dramatic interest — I shall tell in subsequent
chapters.

CHAPTER III

CONTEST FOR AN IRISH REPRESENTATIVE PEERAGE

Hardwicke was only a few weeks in office when a dispute
between him and the Cabinet as to the exercise of the
Viceroy's patronage with respect to the bestowal of
honours led almost to his resignation. The incident shows
that the King, as well as Cornwallis and Castlereagh,
entered into engagements on his own account to further
the Union. In July, 1801, Lord Rossmore, who was
elected one of the first group of representative peers of
Ireland, in return for his services to the Union, fell ill.
Lord Charleville — Charles William Bury, of Shannon
Grove, co. Limerick — waited on the Lord Lieutenant,
and urged his claim to succeed to the first vacancy in
the representative peerage. He had not only supported
the Union, for which he was promoted in the Irish
peerage from Baron TuUamore to Viscount Charleville,
but he had given to the Government the nomination to a
seat in the United Parliament for the pocket borough of
Carlo w, by which Mr. Ormsby — described as " a useful
Parliament friend " to the Administration — was returned.
Hardwicke gave him a promise that he should have the
nomination of the Government when the expected vacancy
in the representative Irish peerage occurred.

Accordingly, on the death of Rossmore, early in August,
Hardwicke wrote to the Prime Minister informing him of
his promise to Charleville. " You may be assured,"
replied Addington, in a note from Wimbledon, dated
" August ye loth, 1801," " of every assistance from hence

THE KING'S PROMISE TO LORD THOMOND 55

in giving effect to your opinion and wishes in favour of
Lord Charleville." But this agreeable aspect of things
was transformed by a letter written by the Duke of Port-
land to Lord Hardwicke on August 12, which is endorsed
by the Lord Lieutenant as having been received on
August 16. Portland was Home Secretary under Pitt,
during the Rebellion of 1798 and the carrying of the Union,
and had just resigned office. His communication to
Hardwicke conveyed the unpleasant intelligence that the
King was pledged to give the first vacancy in the
representative Irish peerage to the Marquis of Thomond.
Before the Union Morough O'Brien was Earl of Inchiquin ;
after the Union he was created Marquis of Thomond. Of
the King's engagement to him Portland writes :

" When the late Lord Lieutenant transmitted the list
of those peers whom he thought the fittest to represent
that illustrious body, his Majesty expressed great dis-
appointment and concern at not finding Lord Thomond's
name amongst them. He has repeatedly expressed this
sentiment to Lord and Lady Thomond, and assured them
both that it had not been, and should not be, his fault if
Lord Thomond did not supply the first vacancy. As far
as his Majesty can commit himself, he is pledged upon
this occasion, and I therefore trust your Excellency will
find no difficulty in fulfilling the engagement liis Majesty
has made. Although I am sensible that I have no longer
any right to trouble your Excellency officially upon such
a subject as this, I know too well how much his Majesty
is, and, indeed, ought to be, interested in it not to feel
that I should be wanting in my duty to him, and in respect
to your Excellency, if I omitted to represent those circum-
stances to you."

On August 13 Addington wrote to Hardwicke that he
was " extremely uneasy," on learning, for the first time,
of the King's promise to the Marquis of Thomond. " Such
an assurance must be strictly observed," he says, " though
unknown to, and not remembered by, Mr. Pitt, and
certainly never communicated to myself. I mean to
write to his Majesty to-morrow to express at once your
submission to his Majesty's pleasure, and my hope that

56 CONTEST FOR AN IRISH PEERAGE

upon the next vacancy no obstacle will arise to the full
support of Government in favour of Lord Charleville."
But Hardwicke was a man of grit and determination, as
we shall often see in the course of these researches in
his post-bag, and he was not going to yield, even to the
King. Immediately on receiving Portland's communica-
tion on August i6, he sat down and wrote letters to the
Prime Minister and to Pelham (who had succeeded Port-
land as Home Secretary) — which letters he despatched,
not through the post, but by special messenger — declaring
that he must insist upon the nomination of Lord Charle-
ville. He was too far committed in his engagement to
that nobleman. He had mentioned the matter to Lord
Clare. " A most proper man for the position," said the
Lord Chancellor. If the nomination were now set aside
it would be said that no reliance could be placed on his
engagements. Then he goes on :

" I have, therefore, only to request that you will lay
these circumstances before his Majesty, whose wish upon
such an occasion would have been a command, which I
should most cheerfully have obeyed, had any, the slightest,
intimation of it been communicated to me at the time of
my appointment. I undertook the Government with a
very heavy mortgage upon the patronage of the Crown,
but, until the arrival of the Duke of Portland's letter this
morning, was actually ignorant of any engagements what-
ever in regard to a recommendation on the part of the
Government to the first vacancy in the representation of
the Irish peerage. You seem to have been equally un-
informed of any such expectation having been held out
to Lord Thomond from the high Quarter to which I have
alluded ; and I therefore rely upon your kindness and
friendship to represent the circumstances which have
passed in their true light to his Majesty. I trust his
Majesty is too well acquainted with my devotion to his
service not to be convinced that I have acted for the best.
If the King entertains a wish in favour of Lord Thomond,
he ought to have a positive promise of being supported on
the next vacancj/."

Writing again to Addington a few days later in a
" private and confidential " communication, the Lord

VICEROY UPHOLDS CHARLEVILLE'S CLAIM 57

Lieutenant urged the Prime Minister to ascertain dis-
tinctly whether it was really the wish of the King that
Thomond should have a positive promise of being re-
coimmended for the next vacancy in the representative
peerage. He says :

" I have, of course, refrained from communicating the
embarrassment which has arisen to anyone besides Mr.
Abbot and my private secretary ; but in a place where an
universal desire prevails of being acquainted with the
business and concerns of others, the despatching of a
messenger on an unusual day, and at an unusual hour,
has given rise to much speculation on the subject both at
the Post Office and the different offices about the Castle.

" The conversation that I have understood to have
arisen upon the subject has given me an opportunity of
inquiring whether any promises or expectations were held
out by the late Government, and I am informed upon the
best authority that amongst the applications to be in-
cluded in the original list which were conveyed to Lord
Comwallis, there was one from the Marquis of Thomond
and one from Lord Sheffield, one or both of which were
transmitted through the Duke of Portland. That the
answer returned by Lord Comwallis was that it did not
appear proper in the selection of the representative peers
to recommend any who, notwithstanding they might have
Irish property, were yet resident in England ; that upon
this ground he had objected to Lords Thomond and
Sheffield ; and, further, that his Majesty had coincided
in this opinion, and had expressed his approbation of it.
I cannot help saying that the idea is a just one, and if
adhered to will save many difficulties hereafter.

" If, however, his Majesty should wish Lord Thomond
to be recommended upon the next vacancy, no objection
will, of course, be made on my part, and nothing but the
Duke of Portland's forgetfulness could have created any
embarrassment at present. The facts, however, being as
they are, I trust you will upon consideration feel the im-
possibility of undoing that which has been done under your
own authority, at least through the same instrument^
without reducing the Government to a state of perfect
nullity and inefficiency, and a total incapacity of having
any weight or rendering any service."

* * *

58 CONTEST FOR AN IRISH PEERAGE

On August 20 the Lord Lieutenant, writing from
Phcenix Park to his brother, Charles Yorke, Minister for
War, addressing him " My dear Charles," in a " private
and confidential " communication, pours out his woes
with respect to the impediments placed in the way of the
exercise of his patronage. There were also troubles with
the Duke of York as regards army patronage, and about
these Hardwicke writes :

" I also send you a copy of the Duke of York's letter
and a copy of his answer to the list of recommendations
I sent for ensigncies and cornetcies. I rather fear his
R.H. will make many difficulties, for surely it is very hard
upon Irish gentlemen who recommend their sons for
commissions that they shall be excluded from every
regiment that happens to be in Ireland. Was ever such
an answer returned to an English or a Scotch gentleman
applying for a commission as that their request would be
attended to, but not in Great Britain ? On what prin-
ciple, then, except to show that a Lord Lieutenant shall
have less to say to commissions in Ireland than any
other gentleman, can the Duke of York have thought it
right to return such an answer, through Col. Brownrigg,
of such a description ?

" I sincerely hope that the Duke of York may see the
propriety of leaving to the Lord Lieutenant the power of
recommending to ensigncies and cornetcies, in the Army
in Ireland. It is indeed a necessary point, without which
the weight of the King's Government here will be too
much reduced, and the Lord Lieutenant ought to be able
to recommend with greater certainty than a private noble-
man in England. All that the Duke of York says about
the Army here I have heard before ; but in point of fact
every Lord Lieutenant till now has had the power of
recommending not only to ensigncies and cornetcies, but
to all commissions. It is but right that that power, so
far as relates to first commissions, should be reserved, so
far as relates to regiments in Ireland ; but when once a
man is in the Army the Commander-in-Chief is the proper
judge of his future promotion, and the recommendation
of the Lord Lieutenant for higher commissions must be
guided by the same rules which guide the decision in the
case of other recommendations, viz., the merit of the
parties."

VICEROY THREATENS TO RESIGN 59

Hardwicke then returns to the quarrel over the rival
claims of Charleville and Thomond for the vacant repre-
sentative Irish peerage, and tells his brother clearly that
unless the position was given to Charleville he should
resign. He says :

" As to the point of Lord Charleville, I should make so
foolish a figure to be obliged to retract, that, without being
punctilious, or assuming more than I ought to do (which
is not in my disposition), I cannot remain if Addington
insists now on Lord Thomond being recommended by
Government. It will be a silly cause for a publick quarrel,
and what, I am sure, if properly explained to the King,
he would not approve. It is entirely owing to the Duke
of Portland, and I should think that a very sufficient
reason for explaining the matter fully and distinctly to
the King, who, I verily believe, will be found not to be so
anxious for the Marquis of Thomond, as to wish his Prime
Minister to break his word, and his Government in Ireland
to be held up to ridicule by every clerk in the Post Office,
Civil Department, etc.

"If you see Addington pray tell him that if I had felt
it possible to act otherwise I would have immediately
acquiesced in his second thoughts, which, however, upon
this occasion, I cannot say are better than the first. Not
that it is any question between the two men, or whether
the King's wish shall be attended to, but whether the King's
wish — concerning which aU those who were to act upon it
knew nothing — is to supersede a positive promise of the
King's Government, merely to save the Duke of Portland
the embarrassment of saying that he never recollected the
King's recommendation, committed to his charge, until
it was too late to give it effect without disgracing an
efficient part of the Government. This is the real state
of the case, and I shall wait patiently for the event.
Abbot entirely agrees with me in thinking that I could do
nothing else ; and that it is much better for Addington to
support himself against such weakness than to give way
to it." ^ ^ ^

Addington replied to Hardwicke on August 20. He

deplored the situation. What pain it caused him ! But

he was determined to stand by the King's promise. He
says :

6o CONTEST FOR AN IRISH PEERAGE

" I was fully justified in giving you the answer which I
sent to your first letter in favour of Lord Charleville ; but
I should think myself wanting in delicacy and in duty
towards the King if I could oppose even your lordship's
wishes and a letter of my own — written in ignorance of
what had passed — to the species of encouragement given
from that Quarter to the Marquis of Thomond. The
silence of one of my colleagues has occasioned this diffi-
culty ; but I know your lordship too well not to be con-
vinced that you could not be desirous of obviating it at
the expense of what is due to the word and, consequently,
to the feelings of the King."

Letters between London and Dublin crossed each other.
The correspondence assumed a tone of asperity. There
were angry reproaches, earnest appeals, bitter objurga-
tions. " Why should not Lord Charleville withdraw his
pretentions ?" cried Addington, Pelham, and Portland in
chorus. Did he know that the word of his sovereign was
at stake ? How could he call himself a friend to the
Administration if he were to continue in his obstinacy ?
Portland chided himself for not having communicated
the King's engagement to his colleagues in the Cabinet.
But the fault was not all on his side. As the Irish Depart-
ment was subordinate to the Home Office, it was the duty
of the Lord Lieutenant, before he had committed himself
to Lord Charleville, to have ascertained the views of the
King's confidential servants through the Secretary of State
for the Home Department. " Portland is quite correct
on the constitutional point," says Pelham ; " that was the
custom when I was Chief Secretary for Ireland." From
the Prime Minister came entreaties to the Lord Lieutenant
to refrain from giving pain to the King. " You well
know," he says, " that it ought to be particularly avoided
at this time." The poor King had an attack of insanity
every time his Ministers showed a disposition to thwart
his wishes, and he only recovered when they penitently
told him they would do as he desired.

But Hardwicke was inflexible. He resolved upon the
daring move of appealing to George III. direct. Here is

HARDWICKE'S PETITION TO THE KING 6r

an extract from his letter to the King, and a manly,
straightforward letter it is. He says :

" In a publick view it is certainly indifferent in itself
on which of the two Peers the choice should fall, and it is
no otherwise material to myself personally than that it
involves the essential stability of the Government here,
which cannot be useful or efficient in hands from which
the means of executing the promises of your Majesty's
Ministers are withheld. This degree of weight and
authority was at all time important, but never more so
than at the present moment, when the general state of
the country is unsettled, and when cabals are on foot
hostile to the joint interest of the Empire as cemented by
the Union, the full benefits of which — so far as respects
due collection of the Revenue, the necessary economy in
its expenditure, and the improvement of the internal re-
sources of the country — can never be fully obtained but
by an impartial and uncorrupt Government, supported
by your Majesty's unquestioned favour and protection.

" Unless some arrangement can be made," he says in
conclusion, " which will enable me to fulfil promises which
I was regularly authorised to make, I shall feel that
nothing can repair the diminution of weight and authority
which your Majesty's Government in this country will
experience, and that it will be impossible for me to con-
tinue in this situation without any further prospect of
being useful to your Majesty's service."

Hardwicke, in a letter to the Prime Minister, enclosing
a copy of the address which he had sent direct to the King,
is more explicit on the subject of the cabals, which he says
had been formed to the injury of the Union. Though he
does not name him, he has the Earl of Clare in mind as
the head of the intriguers. Next to Castlereagh, Fitz-
gibbon, the Lord ChanceUor, was among Irishmen the
most powerful advocate of the Union. He indeed it
was who first suggested the project to Pitt as far back as
1793. A man of immense ability and consuming ambition,
he believed that the government of Ireland would be
virtually in his hands after the Union, and was grievously
disappointed on finding it was proposed to invest, as
heretofore, the supreme authority in the Lord Lieutenant.

62 CONTEST FOR AN IRISH PEERAGE

He had a profound contempt for the stoHd, plodding
Enghshmen, Hardwicke, the Viceroy, and Abbot, the
Chief Secretary, who were sent over to rule Ireland, and
he took no pains to conceal it. " Lord Clare," Abbot
complains, " conducted himself disrespectfully and dis-
ingenuously towards the Lord Lieutenant upon many
occasions, public and personal ; and impertinently toward
me by his letters and language to other people, but it
made no difference in the uniform propriety with which
Lord Hardwicke treated him ; and by my indifference to
it he at last thought fit to say that he had set foot upon
my neck." It is true that these commonplace English-
men did not possess a tithe of Clare's talent, but they had
that to which he could not lay claim — tact in the manage-
ment of men, and capacity for government and guidance.
Says Hardwicke to Addington :

" The cabals to which I have alluded are not merely
those of Anti-Unionists or Half-Traitors ; they are those
of persons, some of whom, perhaps, are of no small con-
sequence in this country, who, though they supported the
Union, supported it in the expectation of a change in the
system of Government by which their weight, influence
and power in the country might be increased ; those
who imagined that one consequence of the Union would
be the governing of Ireland by means of some of its leading
men, formerly known by the name of Undertakers, aided
by the co-operation and agency of others, who by such an
arrangement would be raised from a mere subordinate
situation to that of the real Ministers of this country. To
such men (and that there are such is an undeniable fact),
the continuing to govern Ireland by a Lord Lieutenant
from England has been a subject of mortification and dis-
appointment, and, without referring to any personal
dislike of myself, accounts for some things which I have
unavoidably observed. Anything, therefore, that would
tend to lower either the real or the supposed weight of the
Lord Lieutenant would be to them a subject of triumph,
and the real and immediate consequence would be an
inability to carry on with effect any of the proposed and
necessary inquiries into the different offices and depart-

SETTLEMENT OF THE DISPUTE 63

ments, and the best mode of ensuring in future the due
collection and expenditure of the publick Revenues."

* * *
To " My dear Charles " everything that happens is
reported by the Lord Lieutenant. His Excellency,
sending copies of his letters to the King and to the Prime
Minister to Charles Yorke on August 21, explains that his
references in the letter to Addington are to Lord Clare,
and to Cooke, the Under-Secretary, who, having failed to
secure the Chief Secretaryship, was on the side of the
Lord Chancellor. " They are both disappointed men, and
they take care to show it," says Hardwicke. Cooke
joined in all the " impertinences and sneers " of the
" underlings in office " — the permanent officials of Dublin
Castle — when things were not done as they thought fit.
" He is, however," continues Hardwicke, " personally
civil and submissive, but abuses Abbot and me to those
who might very well be supposed to report it again." As
to the letter to the King, he says :

" Probably the point may be determined before the
King receives it, and possibly it may have no effect ; and
in that case I must beg that my leaving the Government
may make no alteration in your situation at home. I
shall never be induced to lend my aid to any factitious
opposition, but shall give the same support as if the case
had never happened, tho' I shall feel that I have some
reason to complain ; and what is worse, that the Ministry
will weaken itself, not by obliging me to return, but by
retracting a promise made by the Prime Minister, and
shaking all confidence in future and past engagements."

4: 4: ^

The final issue of the dispute is thus set forth in a letter
from the Prime Minister to the Lord Lieutenant, dated
** WiroHedon, September 2, 1801."

" Your lordship may be assured that his Majesty could
not have been reconciled to the postponement of the
Marquis of Thomond's claim, nor could any consideration
have induced me even to suggest it. His Majesty, how-
ever, has been graciously pleased to approve of an arrange-

64 CONTEST FOR AN IRISH PEERAGE

merit which I thought it right to propose, and which ought
to be satisfactory to all parties. It is that of conferring
upon the Marquis of Thomond the dignity of a Peer of
the United Kingdom, in which case there can be no re-
maining impediment, on the part of the Government,
to the accomplishment of your lordship's wishes in favour
of Lord Charleville."

Accordingly, Viscount Charleville was elected a repre-
sentative peer of Ireland, and the Marquis of Thomond
was created a peer of the United Kingdom as Baron
Thomond of Taplow, Bucks.*

The Viceroy, acknowledging the Prime Minister's
communication, writes :

" It is unnecessary to trouble you by repeating at any
length that the only interest I felt in the transaction arose
from a conviction of the effect which would have been
produced on the public mind by so strong a proof of the
inability of the Irish Government to fulfil its engage-
ments. That conviction was confirmed by reports which
reached me in the progress of the business, of which
(though the particulars were never divulged, and wiU
now, I trust, be buried in oblivion) some idea had
nevertheless got abroad, and was evidently operating
to the injury of the public service. I therefore sincerely
rejoice in the very proper and honourable manner in
which you have been able, through his Majesty's con-
descension and goodness, to bring it to a conclusion."

At the end, the seriousness of the incident was relieved
by a piece of comedy, though, no doubt, neither of the
actors in it appreciated its humour. On September 7
the Lord Lieutenant sat down in the Viceregal Lodge to
write to his brother an expression of his satisfaction with
the manner in which an embarrassing situation had been
terminated by the King. Charles Yorke, in one of his
letters, had complained that the Lord Lieutenant should
have taken up so uncompromising an attitude, without
having first consulted him as to the effect it might have
on his own position in the Administration as Minister for

* Extinction has long since overtaken both these titles.

A TOUCH OF COMEDY 6$

War. *' But," the Lord Lieutenant remonstrates in
reply, " you must acknowledge that from the nature of
the representations I was obliged to make without loss
of time such communication was morally impossible.
Besides that, if the King, upon the statement I thought
it necessary to transmit to him, had stated his wishes in
favour of Lord Thomond, even under the circumstances
which I laid before him, I should most probably have
thought it my duty to remain here."

But that does not end the humour of the situation.
The independent and fearless address threatening resigna-
tion which Hardwicke had sent the King — a threat upon
which we now know he did not intend to act — was never
delivered to his Majesty ! " I had written so far," says
the Lord Lieutenant in the same communication to his
brother, " when your letter of the 3rd arrived, with the
mail of the 4th from London." This letter from Charles
Yorke informed his Excellency that his address to the
King had been forwarded to Tittenhanger, when it was
discovered that his Majesty was at Weymouth ; and that
on the return of the letter, after several days' delay, to
London, he had decided to suppress it, as the dispute had
in the meantime been happily arranged. The Viceroy
was mortified, and he did not conceal his feelings from his
brother. " I am persuaded," he says, " that you acted
with the truest regard for me upon the occasion, and with
the most friendly intention, but I should not act with
sincerity if I did not say that it is one of those points on
which it is impossible for any person, however near and
dear, to judge for another."

CHAPTER IV

THE SCRAMBLE FOR PLACE

The Earl of Hardwicke was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland,
vested, according to his Patent of Office, with the royal pre-
rogative of patronage in Irish honours, places, and pensions,
and yet he had not a post to give to a relative, a friend,
or a supporter ! The position, surely, was intolerable ! In
August, 1801, he consulted Pelham as to whether these
embarrassing Union engagements could not be repudi-
ated, as they had been contracted by a former Adminis-
tration, or else be lifted, by some means or other, off his
shoulders. But there was no escape from the burden.

" I humbly conceive," writes Pelham in reply, " that
the principles upon which Mr. Addington undertook the
Administration, and that your Excellency was appointed
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, were that those engagements
were as binding as if Mr. Pitt's Administration had con-
tinued. The engagements of one Lord Lieutenant were
always considered as binding upon his successor, if there
was no change of Administration at home, and it was very
necessary that they should be so considered in Ireland,
for if a contrary principle had been adopted the favours
conferred by one Lord Lieutenant would not be considered
by those who received them as influencing their support
of his successor ; and if this system was thought con-
venient during the independence of the Irish Parliament,
I am sure your Excellency will not hesitate about it at
this moment, when the Governments are identified and
consolidated. "

After this Hardwicke endeavoured straightforwardly
and candidly to discharge as quickly as possible the debt

HARDWICKE'S ANXIETY TO PAY THE UNION BILL 67

incurred by the statesmen of the Union. It was not a
pleasant task, but there was nothing dishonourable in
it. Such seems to have been the view taken of the matter
by the Lord Lieutenant. He paid the Union account
without any sense of personal humiliation. There was
just a grumble now and then over the difficult and equi-
vocal position in which he unexpectedly found himself ;
there was just an occasional sulk that he was unable to
respond to the claims of relationship, to think of his own
favourites, in distributing the dignities, appointments,
and pensions which constituted the patronage of his office.
But it does not make him cynical. He does not preach ;
he does not moralize. There is not to be found in the
mass of his correspondence a single expression of surprise
or regret that it should have been found necessary to
carry the Union by the means disclosed in the List of Union
Engagements. Perhaps he viewed it merely as an ex-
hibition of the mean and sordid but inevitable side of
Government or of political life at the opening of the
nineteenth century.

* * *

The conscientiousness with which Hardwicke en-
deavoured promptly " to liquidate the Union engage-
ments " — to employ a phrase he was fond of using himself
— is seen in the paying off of the claim of Lieutenant-
Colonel John Creighton. Shortly after the arrival of
Hardwicke in Ireland the military post of Governor of Ross
Castle became vacant. On referring to the List of Union
Engagements, the Lord Lieutenant found that a military
situation, or an equivalent £800 per annum, had been
promised to Major Creighton, subsequently promoted to the
command of a regiment. Creighton was the second son of
the Earl of Erne, and he and his elder brother (afterwards
the second earl) had sat in the Irish House of Commons.
Both of them voted against the Union in the session of 1799,
when it was defeated, but, rapidly changing their opinions,
like many other members of Parliament, they supported
it in the session of i8oo, when it was carried. Their

5—2

68 THE SCRAMBLE FOR PLACE

father also supported the measure in House the of Lords.
The rewards given for these services were the promotion
of the father from a viscountcy to an earldom, and the
promise of a military post for the second son. Ac-
cordingly, Hardwicke, feeling bound in honour — as he
expressed himself to the Home Secretary — to apply the
vacant situation of Governor of Ross Castle to the satis-
faction of a Union engagement, wrote to Lord Erne
offering the post to his son. The offer was accepted. But,
to the Lord Lieutenant's chagrin, the office was otherwise
disposed of in London, without the slightest reference to
him, by the Commander-in-Chief, the Duke of York.
Thereupon Hardwicke wrote as follows to Addington,
the Prime Minister :

" Private and confidential.

" Phcenix Park,

" June 27, 1 801.

" My dear Sir,

" I am under the disagreeable necessity of troubling
you upon a subject which not only occasions a degree of
personal embarrassment to myself, but may, in its con-
sequences, have very unpleasant effects in regard to
Government. You are no stranger to the variety and
extent of the engagements which Lord Cornwallis was
under the necessity of contracting for the purpose of
carrying the great measure of Union, engagements which
he was authorized to make under the King's sanction by
the Duke of Portland and Mr. Pitt, and which have been
delivered to me under your authority. From the observa-
tions I have already made I have no hesitation in saying
that if there were now a Parliament here, the publick
business could not be carried on with so heavy a mort-
gage upon the patronage of the Crown in this country,
and that even now the mere carrying of those engage-
ments into effect is a matter of no small difficulty. If
the faith of the Government is to be kept in regard to
those engagements, which are not personal in regard to
Lord Cornwallis, but entirely of a publick nature, and for
the sake of a measure which was thought and which daily
experience proves to have been essentially necessary, it
is my duty to fulfil them as soon as possible, and I look

THE BRIBES OFFERED BY THE PATRIOTS 69

to that object upon the occasion of every vacancy where
the situation can be appHed to that purpose.

" The government of Ross Castle, which was merely
a ten-shilling government,* appeared to be of that descrip-
tion ; and as it is stated to me that there are few if any
instances of any government in this country being dis-
posed of in England without some communication with
the Lord Lieutenant, I did not imagine that I was ex-
ceeding my powers in applying that government to satisfy
an engagement made for a great publick object. The
person whom I intended to recommend to his Majesty
was, as I conceive, properly selected for such an object
of patronage — I mean Lieut. -Col. Creighton, son of Lord
Erne, to whom there is an engagement for a situation of
;^400 a year — and though the government in question is
far inferior to that amount, yet Lord Erne, who has always
expressed a wish for some military situation for his son,
had actually consented to accept it. In regard to Lord
Erne, therefore, who was amongst the most honourable
supporters of the Union, I am placed in the most awk-
ward situation, from which I trust H.R.H. the Duke of
York will relieve me by appointing Lieut. -Col. Creighton
to a government of equal value in Great Britain.

" But the consequences of the whole patronage of
Ireland of a similar description being at once taken from
the office to which his Majesty has been graciously pleased
to appoint me will, in the present moment at least, and
till the Union engagements are satisfied, be very serious
indeed ; more so, I am convinced, than you can be aware
of till they are distinctly explained. The fact is that the
bribes, almost openly offered by what Lord Clare called
the Consular Exchequer,f obliged the Government to

* The emoluments of the position were ten shilhngs a day.

t " A hundred thousand pounds was subscribed, or more
probably promised, by leading members of the Party, and some
desperate but manifestly hopeless attempts were made to combat
the Government by their own weapons. Two seats which the
Government believed they had secured were obtained by the
Opposition, and Peter Burrowes and Thomas Goold — two able
opponents of the Union — were introduced into the House.
Saurin was soon brought in for one of Lord Downshire's boroughs,
and other measures of a more than dubious kind were taken.
One venal member — a brother-in-law of Lord Clare — who had
voted for the Union in 1799, was unquestionably bribed by a sum
of /4,ooo to vote against it in 1800, and it is stated by Grattan's
biographer that another vote was only lost because the money
was not forthcoming for another bribe." — Lecky : "Ireland in
the Eighteenth Century."

70 THE SCRAMBLE FOR PLACE

counteract their influence by the same system in order to
carry the measure ; and hence arose the engagements for
certain salaries without office, or money payments, which
are upon the Hst of engagements, and which have ah^eady
created some embarrassment. These must somehow or
other be done away ; for as the gentlemen to whom they
are payable have very little delicacy upon the subject,
they will make no secret of the conduct of Government
if the payments are not made good, or (which more
particularly bears upon the question at present) if
they observe either an unwillingness, or an inability, in
Government to satisfy the engagements in general.

" I need add very little more upon the subject, except
that as Colonel Littlehales,* who was acquainted with all
the transactions at the time of the Union, has written
fully to my brother, Mr. Yorke, I wish particularly to
refer you to his letter. I also recommend myself to your
friendly support and assistance with the Duke of York,
for I feel that this appointment of General Johnston,
without any communication with me, direct or indirect,
will leave an impression not very favourable to the publick
interests in Ireland. Above all, though we were not per-
sonally concerned in them, it behoves us to prevent the
Union transactions from being divulged in Parliament,
of which there is great danger, if the faith of Government
is not strictly observed, and if there is not a general im-
pression that it will be."

A few months later, in August, 1801, another important
military post, the government of Kinsale, fell vacant. In
this case the first step taken by the cautious and circum-
spect Hardwicke was the sending of a letter to the Duke
of York, expressing his earnest wish that his Royal High-
ness would recommend Lieutenant-Colonel Creighton for
the post. He pointed out that Lord Erne was among
the most honourable of the supporters of the Union in
the Irish House of Lords ; that he had had two members
in the Irish House of Commons who voted for the measure ;
that he had asked, in return, a military situation for his
younger son, and had been grievously disappointed be-

* Littlehales was Military Secretary both to Lord Cornwallis
and to Lord Hardwicke.

THE DUKE OF YORK ON THE ENGAGEMENTS 71

cause the government of Ross Castle, which was promised
him, had been given to another. The Lord Lieutenant
then goes on to remonstrate with his Royal Highness :

" I have undertaken the Government of Ireland with
a very heavy mortgage on the patronage of the Crown,
arising, not from any private engagements of my prede-
cessor, but from the necessity of carrying through the
Irish Parliament the great measure of the Union, the
incalculable advantage of which to the King's service,
and to the particular interests of Ireland, and to the joint
security and strength of his Majesty's dominions, will, I
am convinced, become every day more and more apparent.
But I must beg leave to represent to your Royal Highness
that as the Union engagements of Lord CornwaUis, which
are both of a civil and military nature, were transferred
to me, under the King's sanction, the patronage of the
Crown in Ireland ought to be considered as applicable to
the purpose of satisfying them in the same manner as
it certainly would have been if Lord Cornwallis had con-
tinued in the Government himself."

The reply of the Duke of York, signed " Frederic,"
insists that the first consideration in the disposal of
military posts must be the interest of the Army. Says
his Royal Highness :

" I shall not enlarge upon the manner in which the
Army promotions were made in Ireland, upon the abuses
which took place, and upon the melancholy state in which
the Troops were in Ireland in consequence.

" His Majesty was so thoroughly aware of the neces-
sity of making a reform in this particular that from the
moment the Union was determined upon, it was decided
that the two Armies should be in all respects consolidated,
and so strongly was this impressed upon his Majesty's
mind that after the first of this year his Majesty would not
admit of the usual form of Lord Cornwallis's transmitting
the recommendations for promotions in Ireland till they
were carried in by me. I cannot doubt your Lordship's
statement of Lord Cornwallis having promised military
governments in Ireland in satisfaction of Union engage-
ments, but I can assure your Lordship that I never heard
of them, and am the more astonished at it, as his Lordship
never hinted at any such measure to me.

72 THE SCRAMBLE FOR PLACE

" I have entered thus fully into this statement, wishing
that your Lordship should receive every information on
the subject, and should be convinced that no want of
respect has been shown, or, I am sure, intended towards
you ; but that before ever Lord Cornwallis's resignation
was expected the present system was intended to be laid
down."

At the same time, the Duke of York declares he should
always be ready to give every assistance in his power to
the Government in carrying out their obligations. He
proposed to recommend Lieutenant-Colonel Gardiner for
the government of Kinsale, and Major Creighton to suc-
ceed Gardiner as governor of Hurst Castle, on the Solent.
Hardwicke, expressing to his Royal Highness his satisfac-
tion with the arrangement, says :

" At the same time I think it right to take this oppor-
tunity of explaining to your Royal Highness that the
Union engagements which were delivered to me by
Lord Cornwallis did not contain any specific promises of
particular military objects, but some of them being to
military men were capable of being liquidated by such
objects as that which I was desirous of applying to the
engagement made to Lord Erne in favour of his son ; and
the engagements being to a very considerable extent, it
was desirable to call in aid every object of patronage in
the country that could with propriety be made applicable
to any particular case. I thought it right to trouble
your Royal Highness with this general explanation upon
the subject, and to express my hope for your concurrence
in any similar instance which may occur hereafter.

" I should, of course, be careful to recommend no

person merely on the ground of an engagement unless

he were proper for the situation, independently of that

consideration."

* * *

In the List of Union Engagements will be found the
following entry : " Bishop of Meath — A Revenue situa-
tion for his brother, from £200 to ;£300 per annum." Dr.
O'Beirne, Bishop of Meath, had been a Catholic, and was
being educated for the priesthood when he joined the Pro-
testant Church. He is supposed to be the Irish Protestant

THE QUEER CASE OF BISHOP O'BEIRNE 73

clergyman, O'Beirne, who performed the marriage cere-
mony between Mrs. Fitzherbert and George IV. when
Prince of Wales, in December, 1785. He supported the
Whig cause in a series of pamphlets, with the result that
he accompanied Earl Fitzwilliam — appointed Viceroy in
1794 — to Ireland as first chaplain and private secretary.
In 1795 he was appointed Bishop of Ossory, and in 1798
was translated to the See of Meath. The Bishop was a
conspicuous supporter of the Union. Here is a letter
from him to the Viceroy in reference to the engagement :

" TuNBRiDGE Wells,

" June 27, i8or.

" My Lord,

" In the multiplicity of business in which your
Excellency must be engaged, under the present circum-
stances of your Government, I am fearful of being guilty
of great impropriety by breaking in on your Excellency's
time with a private concern of my own. But a letter
which I have this day received from my brother compels
me to overcome my repugnance to such an intrusion, and,
I hope, will plead my excuse.

" I must be aware that it is to Lord Cornwallis's recom-
mendation alone that I am indebted for the offer your
Excellency has been pleased to direct Col. Littlehales to
make to my brother of the place of Barrack Master to
the Cashell district. I could pretend to no other interest
with your Excellency. But as I cannot but feel highly
gratified by your Excellency's taking so early an oppor-
tunity of realizing the kind wishes of the late Government
in my favour, I scarce know how to reconcile myself to
the task my brother has imposed on me of begging leave
to decline the appointment.

" The promise of providing for my brother has been of
long standing, as old as my own particular connexions
with two Lord Lieutenants, both of whom staid too
short a time to fulfill it. Mr. Pelham and Lord Camden
were kind enough to renew it towards the end of their
Administration, after I had the good fortune of recom-
mending myself to their notice. I was then encouraged
to apply for a specific place, that of Landwaiter on the
Custom House Quay in Dublin, a place generally esti-
mated at between £400 and £500 per annum ; but at

74 THE SCRAMBLE FOR PLACE

the same time I stated that any other of about that value
would fully gratify me, and something on that scale was
what I had reason to know was in their contempla-
tion.

" When Lord Camden was so good as to leave a memor-
andum of this, with the other promises he had made, I
do not know that he mentioned anything specific. In
my own conversations with Lord Cornwallis and Lord
Castlereagh on the subject I contented myself with
stating what I had expected from Lord Camden and Mr.
Pelham, and with the kind wishes they expressed, as
well in consequence of that recommendation, as from
what they were pleased to say of their desire of giving me
that additional mark of their own approbation of my
conduct ; and, except that towards the end of the last
session of the Irish Parliament I asked for the place of
one of the Commissioners of the new Navigation Board, I
did not trouble them with any specific application.

" I have ventured to enter into this detail to account
to your Excellency for what, otherwise, you might think
unwarrantable in my brother, and in the hope that you
wiU not be offended at refusing any mark of your Ex-
cellency's favour, which you might be pleased to extend
to him. The place of Barrack Master to the Cashell
district, I see by Col. Littlehales' letter to my brother, is
about ten shillings a day, requiring constant residence,
and that my brother should give up his company in the
Longford Militia. I need not tell your Excellency that
his company is more lucrative, even if the place of Bar-
rack Master, such as that of the district of Cashell, was the
place of a gentleman, which in the time of my being
acquainted with the nature of the Lord Lieutenant's
patronage, it was not considered to be, and from the
person who fills the place in my own neighbourhood it
cannot be now esteemed to be.

" I shall not obtrude any longer on your Excellency's
time than to beg leave to assure you of my most sincere
wishes for the success of your Excellency's Government,
and of my earnest desire to contribute, as far as my
humble line will admit, to its credit and support.

" I have the honour to be with the highest respect, my
Lord, your Excellency's most obedient and most humble
servant,

"T. L. Meath."

O'BEIRNE'S DISAPPOINTMENT ALLAYED 75

In December, 1801, the brother obtained the post to
which he aspired, that of landwaiter on the quay of
Dublin ; and the Bishop, in a letter to the Lord Lieu-
tenant, expresses his very grateful sense of the gracious
manner in which his Excellency had fulfilled the engage-
ment. " It has," he says, " changed what was originally
the promise of another into an act of kindness on the part
of your Excellency, that has much stronger claims on
my gratitude, and must ever command my warmest
acknowledgments." But the post proved disappointing
to the brother. Writing to the Viceroy from Ardbraccan
House, Navan, on May 23, 1804, the Bishop, after re-
counting the history of the transaction, says :

" When your Excellency was pleased to offer him the
place of Inspector-General of Barracks, I requested
Mr. Abbot to inform your Excellency that while I ac-
cepted with great thankfulness this proof of so early an
attention to the recommendation that procured my
brother the honour of your notice, I begged leave to state
that the place of Landwaiter on the Quay of Dublin was
what I had been encouraged to expect for him.

" In a short time after, your Excellency was so good
as to direct Mr. Abbot to offer him this place of Land-
waiter, and in the letter he wrote conveying to me your
Excellency's pleasure, he observed that although it
might not be as lucrative, from some late regulations, as
I had known it to be when I first applied for it, yet he
could offer it as worth five hundred a year. This was,
certainly, much lower than the perquisites of the office
in Lord Camden or Lord Comwallis's time. Yet had it
proved to have been worth even that much, I never should
have obtruded upon your goodness with any further appli-
cations. But my brother can make it appear that in
consequence of the new regulations he is, at this moment,
scarcely receiving at the rate of three hundred pounds a
year ; while from the distinction that has been made
between the Landwaiters, and the difference of duty
assigned to those with whose class he has been thrown,
it has become a place of such drudging and slavery as
never could have been in the contemplation of anyone
succeeding, as he did, to Mr. French, who was one of the
older-established Landwaiters."

-j^ THE SCRAMBLE FOR PLACE

What the Bishop now desired was that his brother
should succeed " Mr. Scanlan, whose place is worth
something more than ;^5oo a year." His desire was
again satisfied ; for, writing on July 3, 1804, he offers his
" most grateful acknowledgments " to his Excellency,
But the exuberant thankfulness of the letter is best
shown by its concluding sentence :

" I have the honor to be> with the greatest respect and
most sincere attachment, my Lord, your Excellency's
greatlv-obliged and most obedient humble servant,

"T. L. Meath."
* * *

In November, 1801, a vacancy in the collectorship of
Dundalk was anticipated. " Anne Roden," the Dowager
Lady Roden, at once wrote to the Viceroy — her son, the
Earl of Roden, being then absent in London attending
to his Parliamentary duties — that this post had always
been in the patronage of " the Family." Hardwicke, in
his reply, stated that the post, when vacant, must be
applied to the discharge of one of the Union engagements ;
and added that the engagement to Lord Roden for his
Union services had been fulfilled by the appointment of
his brother-in-law, Mr. Straton, to a position on the
Navigation Board, worth £400 a year. Lady Roden,
writing again, insisted that the office given to Mr. Straton,
her son-in-law, was the reward, not for Union services, but
for the return of Isaac Corry, Chancellor of the Irish
Exchequer, as member for Dundalk in the Imperial
Parliament.

" I beg leave to represent to your Excellency," she
adds, " that neither Lord Roden, my son, nor my son-in-
law in Parliament, have at any time received the least
consideration from the Government of this country on
account of their steady and uniform support of the
momentous question agitated in the last Session of the
Irish Parliament, which they so strenuously seconded
upon all occasions."

Then came the following letter from Lord Roden to the
Viceroy :

"LORD JOCELYN'S FOXHUNTERS " 77

" London,
"November 16th, 1801.

" My Lord,

" In consequence of having received a copy of
a letter your Excellency was pleased to write to the
Dowager Lady Roden, dated Phoenix Park, Nov. 5th,
respecting the disposal of the Collection of Dundalk (in
case a vacancy should occur), I find myself called upon
(for the sake of my Family and particularly for the sake
of my own feelings) to trespass upon your Excellency's
time, as I must conceive my situation, and the circum-
stances that attend the one to which I allude, have not
been perfectly made known to your Excellency.

" Your Excellency, I hope and trust, has been informed
of the pubUc line of conduct of the Family to which I
belong, the elder part of which had the honour of being
much connected with an ancestor of yours. I thank
God, my Lord, before and since that period it has had
the pleasing satisfaction of shewing on every occasion its
loyalty and firm support of His Majesty's Government,
in consequence of which especial favours from the Crown
have been confer'd on different branches of it. As to
the recent ones, viz.. Lord Cornwallis having been pleased
to recommend my son to be appointed joint Auditor-
General with me, I have his Lordship's word, and if my
assertion could be doubted I can have it under his hand,
that that mark of Royal favour was confer'd on me in
consequence of my military services in Ireland,* and not

* " Another large body of rebels, who had agreed with General
Dundas to surrender their arms, were assembled for that purpose
at a place called Gibbet-rath, or the Curragh of Kildare. Sir
James Duff, who had just made a rapid march from Limerick
with 600 men, proceeded with his force to receive the weapons.
Unfortunately, a gun was fired from the rebel ranks. According
to the most probable account it was fired into the air by a rebel
who foolishly boasted that he would only deliver his gun empty.
Instantly a deadly volley was poured by the troops into the
rebels, who fled in wild panic and disorder, fiercely pursued by
Lord Jocelyn's Foxhunters. The ofi&cers lost all control over
their men. In the vast and open plain defence and escape were
alike impossible, and although General Dundas, on hearing what
had occurred, hastened to do all that was possible to arrest the
slaughter, between 200 and 300 men were killed. The affair
was plausibly, though untruly, represented as a deliberate plot
to massacre defenceless men who had been lured by the promise
of pardon into the plain, and it contributed perhaps more than
any other single cause to check the disposition to surrender

78 THE SCRAMBLE FOR PLACE

in consideration of any political measure ; for I beg to
assure your Excellency that as to the great question
lately agitated, no power on this earth should have in-
fluenced me to have supported that most important
measure of Legislative Union, if I had not been most
decidedly of opinion of its great efficacy, for in my opinion
it was a question of too much import for any man of
honor to act upon but from positive conviction. As to
the appointment of my brother-in-law, Mr. Straton, to
the Navigation Board, the original promise was made for
returning Mr. Corry for Dundalk,* with the addition of
its being made an employment of £500 per annum,
instead of £400, which your Excellency was pleased
voluntarily to do in the most obliging possible manner,
which I shall ever remember with much gratitude.

" I have many apology's to make for taking up so much
of your Excellency's time, but the refusal of the patronage
of the town of Dundalk to our Family, contained in the
letter I have already aluded to, has been so unexpected
an event to me, that I must beg your indulgence for a
few moments. From the whole of the town and vicinage
of Dundalk having belonged to our Family, it has,
almost uninterruptedly, indeed I believe entirely so,
been considered that in case of any vacancy occurring in
the gift of Government within that situation, the nomina-
tion was offered to the representative of that property.
On the death of my uncle, the late Earl of Clanbrassil, I
became possessor of that estate, and since that event has
taken place I have had assurances from the different
Governments in Ireland that the same patronage should
be continued to me, and last year Mr. Gataker was put

arms." — Lecky : " Ireland in the Eighteenth Century." The
Lord Jocelyn of this incident in the Rebelhon of 1798 is the
Earl of Roden of the letter to the Lord Lieutenant.

* Isaac Corry sat in the Irish Parliament for Newry. He was
one of the leading advocates of the Union, and was appointed
to the office of Chancellor of the Irish Exchequer, of which
Sir John Parnell was deprived on account of his opposition to
the Union. The personal antagonism between Corry and Henry
Grattan became so bitter during the debates on the Union that
one night they left the House of Commons and fought a duel at
Balls' Bridge, outside Dublin. Corry was wounded in the arm,
and Grattan escaped unhurt. Corry lost his seat for Newry in
an election for the first United Parliament, but through the Roden
influence was returned for Dundalk.

LORD RODEN ON HIS FAMILY CLAIMS 79

into a Revenue situation there with my consent, and since
Mr. Purcell has been nominated to a Revenue situation
there at my request, I shall lament, indeed, if when I am
absent from Ireland supporting his Majesty's Govem-
men here, that your Excellency shall think proper to
deprive me of a similar mark of Royal favour that has
been bestowed by former Governments on my Family,
and put a stranger into a situation that has always been
filled by a person of our nomination. It will not only
materially affect me in the present instance, but be a
means of our Family never in future seeking it as a claim
of patronage. I can only say I trust neither I nor any
person belonging to my Family have committed any act
that should preclude us from a continuance of that line
of conduct that has uniformly been bestowed in the situa-
tion in question. I shall have to lament that under your
Excellency's Administration, I should be deprived of that
local patronage my ancestors ever possessed.

" From a conversation my brother, Mr. Percy Jocelyn,
mentions to have had the honor of having with your
Excellency, I learn that it was not your intention immedi-
ately to fiU up the employment. I trust that the state-
ment I have had the honor to lay before your Excellency
will induce you to consider my situation, and that I may
not have the mortification to reflect that his Majesty's
existing Government in Ireland have judged proper at
this period to deprive me of a situation of patronage
which former Governments have ever consider'd as
belonging to my Family, and which has (by influence)
ever assisted us in the zealous support of his Majesty's
Government, which has ever been the pride and object
of our lives.

" I intreat your Excellency's forgiveness for the length
of this letter, the very great importance of the object it
contains, will, I trust, plead my excuse. I have only now
to request that your Excellency will permit me to return
you my sincere thanks for your obliging kindness on a
former occasion, and also for the flattering expressions
contained in a letter I had the honor sometime since to
receive ; and have the honor to be, my Lord, with high
respect and esteem,
; " Your Excellency's obhged, faithful, humble servant,

" RODEN."

8o THE SCRAMBLE FOR PLACE

On the same day Lord Roden wrote to Cornwallis,
saying, " I am rather apprehensive, without your being
so good as to say that you promised me during your
Administration the patronage of the town (which you
was pleased to do in your own closet), I may be most
materially injured by a stranger being put in upon me
there." To this Cornwallis, writing at Paris on Novem-
ber 23, 1 80 1, replied :

" My dear Lord,

" I feel very sensibly the honorable support which
your Lordship afforded my Administration in Ireland ;
and I perfectly recollect that I gave you the strongest
assurance that so long as I continued in the Government
of that country you should have the patronage of the
town of Dundalk,"

Roden sent to the Viceroy copies of his letter to Corn-
wallis, and of the latter's answer, in support of his own
communication to his Excellency. But it was all with-
out avail. The Lord Lieutenant refused to budge from
the position he had taken up in his letter to Lady Roden.

" I trust your lordship will give me credit for wishing
to show you every mark of respect in my power," Hard-
wicke replies, " and for doing full justice to your useful
and spirited exertions, both political and military, in
support of His Majesty's Government in Ireland. I am
also perfectly convinced that your conduct upon those
great and important events which have of late years
occupied the attention of the public in this country, was
the result of a sincere conviction, and the most honourable
feeling of duty, and that no other consideration could have
induced your lordship to have acted in the manner you
did upon a late question, which was one upon which the
most honourable men might fairly have differed, and, as
your lordship observes, of too great import for any man
of honour to act upon but from positive conviction."

Then the " but " comes in, represented by those
unfortunate Union engagements. Hardwicke continues :

" But if such an office as that of Collector at Dundalk
should become vacant before the engagements to which

LORD WALLSCOURT 8 1

I am personally pledged shall be fulfilled, I am sure your
Lordship will feel, if you place yourself in my situation,
that neither my own individual honour nor that of the
Government will allow me to have any other choice than
that of selecting, from those whose engagements may be
at the time unsatisfied, the person most proper to perform
the duties of the place. As there is not at present a
vacancy, I have no idea who that person may be ; but,
although he were a perfect stranger to me, if the faith
of the Government is generally pledged to him, and if
he is fit for the employment, I must prefer him to every
other recommendation."

Roden, however, was not content.

" How my very much respected and sincerely esteem'd

friend, Lord Comwallis," he writes to Hardwicke, " can

reconcile his having given me the patronage of Dundalk,

and fulfilling his engagements with an appointment

existing under that patronage, I cannot say ; but the

business is certainly attached to him and most clearly

not to your Excellency's Government. Under the present

circumstances of the case, I shall by this day's post write

to Mr. Straton to have the honor of waiting on your

Excellency, and shall recommend to him to resign his

situation at the Navigation Board in order that he may

accept of your Excellency's appointment to the Collection

of Dundalk."*

* * *

Joseph Blake, Lord Wallscourt, had his eye on this
coUectorship of Dundalk in the interest of his brother.
The engagement will be found in the " Civil " section of
the List of Union Engagements. " Lord Wallscourt —
A Revenue situation, for his brother, £400 per annum."
Among the persons to whom Lord Cornwallis in his letter
to the Duke of Portland of June 9, 1800 — while yet the
fate of the scheme ol the Union was undecided — states
that he had " ventured to hold out a reasonable expecta-
tion that in consequence of their valuable services his
Majesty would in his goodness raise them to the rank of
peers in Ireland " was Joseph Blake, one of the members

* See Straton 's case in the " Civil " section of the List of
Union Engagements.

82 THE SCRAMBLE FOR PLACE

for Galway. Blake was accordingly created Baron
Wallscourt. Writing from " Ardfry, near Loughrea,"
on January 6, 1802, to Dr. Lindsay, the Viceroy's private
secretary, he says :

" Common report informing me that some vacancies
in public situations were likely to occur shortly, I took
the liberty of reminding Lord Castlereagh of an engage-
ment that the late Administration were pleased to enter
into for a provision for my only brother, to which his
Lordship has favoured me with a reply, of which I have
the honour to enclose a copy.

" The expected vacancies I allude to are the Collector-
ship of Dundalk, and the retirement of some of the Com-
missioners of the Revenue. Not that I look to any of
the latter situations for my brother, but possibly they
may be filled by gentlemen who vacate places of less con-
sequence. Should my information be correct, permit
me to take the liberty of requesting that you will be so
good as to solicit his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant to
appoint my brother (Henry James Blake) to one of those
vacancies, or any other situation of the annual value of from
£500 to ;^6oo that may fall to his Excellency's disposal.

" His Excellency, I trust, will feel inclined to serve my
brother when he is informed that I represented the county
of Galway during ten years (and until his Majesty was
pleased to remove me to the Peerage), in the course of
which time my opinions, fortunately, coincided with the
measures of His Majesty's Ministers, so as to enable me
to give them my uniform support. Though conceiving
myself entitled to some attention, I did not trouble the
Government for any situation of emolument for myself
or any of my family, as will appear by none such being
held by any relation of mine at present. I am persuaded
that it is unnecessary for me to urge this matter further,
his Excellency being apprized of my hopes and wishes."

" I perfectly recollect," Castlereagh writes in the note
which Wallscourt enclosed, " the assurance you received
whilst I was in office of having a provision made for your
brother, in compliance with which the engagement was
handed over by Lord Comwallis to Lord Hardwicke ; and
I have no doubt his Excellency will take the earliest
opportunity of carrying it into effect. If I have an oppor-

THE CASE OF SIR VERE HUNT 83

tunity, I shall be happy in conversation to suggest any-
thing that can promote your wishes. I am persuaded,
however, that no further suggestion from me is necessary
to secure the accomplishment of the engagement in
question."

Wallscourt's brother did not, as we know, obtain the
collectorship of Dundalk. The engagement to Walls-
court is endorsed by the Lord Lieutenant in the official
list as " not done." That was in 1804. But I find that
Henry Blake, Wallscourt's brother, was appointed subse-
quently to the portsurveyorship of Galway.

* * *

Then there is the interesting case of Sir Vere Hum, of
Curragh Chase, Limerick, who sat for that county in the
Irish Parliament, and was promised a post of £500 a year
for his support of the Union.* The Irish Executive
had considerable trouble in satisfying this claim. Here
is a memorandum sent from London by Wickham to the
Viceroy of an interview between him and Lord Limerick,
Hunt's brother-in-law :

" July 12th, 1803.

" Offered Sir Vere Hunt, through Lord Limerick, £500
a year until a place of the same value {not a sinecure)
should be given to him, admitting his claim to the ;^500
a year from the beginning of the year 1800, but no earlier.

" N.B. — Sir Vere Hunt claims from the beginning of
1799.

"Or,

" The Weighmastership of Cork {a sinecure) of £600 a
year, the appointment to date from the day of Mr.
Crosbie's death, Sir Vere Hunt renouncing all claim to the
arrears of his allowance of ;£5oo a year.

"This offer made as an ultimatum from which the
Irish Government will not recede. Sir Vere Hunt to
choose between the two, and until his choice is made to
receive nothing.

" N.B. — This was read over and over again to Lord

* Hunt was the father of Sir Aubrey De Vere the poet, author
of " Juhan the Apostate" and "Mary Tudor," who in 1832
assumed by Royal Ucense the surname of De Vere, and grand-
father of the late Aubrey De Vere, a most gracious figure in the
literary circles of the latter half of the nineteenth century.

6—2

84 THE SCRAMBLE FOR PLACE

Limerick, who was not allowed, however, to take it away
in writing."

How the engagement was settled is thus humorously
recorded in a letter from C. W. Flint, of the Irish Office,
London, to Alexander Marsden, the Under-Secretary for
Ireland, dated July 20, 1803.

" My dear Sir,

" I had a very long battle with Sir Vere Hunt last
week on the subject of the ultimatum of the Irish Govern-
ment communicated to him at Mr. Wickham's particular
desire by Lord Limerick. He, of course, told me how ill
he had been treated by everybody except Mr. Wickham.
He abused Lords Castlereagh and Limerick most lustily,
and expressed himself particularly anxious that his
claims on the Irish Government should be referred to
the decision of a fair and honourable umpire, and men-
tioned Mr. Casey as a fit and proper man for this important
office. I told him that all umpires were out of the case,
and that he had only to choose between two very plain
and simple offers — a place of £500 a year (not a sinecure),
admitting his claim to £500 a year from the beginning of
1800, but no earlier ; or the Weighmastership of Cork (a
sinecure) worth £600 a year, the appointment to date
fiom the day of Mr. Crosbie's death, Sir V. renouncing
all claim to the arrears of this allowance of £500 a year.
He left me, very little satisfied ; but before he went away
he begged I would ask Mr. Wickham whether Lord Hard-
wicke would have any objection to insert his son's name
in the patent instead of his own. I told him I would
mention this to Mr. Wickham.

" Sir Vere called on me again this morning, when I
informed him of Mr. Wickham's desire that he must
either accept the ultimatum or he must reject it alto-
gether ; and that with respect to his son's name being
inserted in the patent instead of his own, it was a thing
quite out of the case. Poor Sir V. looked rather queer,
but seeing that we were not to be bullied, he very gravely
told me that he would accept of the Weighmastership,
and begged I would request Mr. Wickham to cause his
patent to be prepared as soon as possible. Thus, thank
God, have you got rid of him for ever."

But the Irish Executive were not yet rid of Sir Vere
Hunt. In a letter dated " Phoenix Park, July 28th,

BOYLE ROCHE 85

1805," and marked " secret and confidential," addressed
by the Lord Lieutenant to Nicholas Vansittart, then
Chief Secretary for Ireland, there is an extraordinary
story told about Hunt's bribe and Edward Cooke, who
was Under-Secretary at the time of the Union. It says :

" My dear Sir,

" It is a matter of some delicacy to explain the
grounds of Sir Vere Hunt's complaint. I understand
that he was promised a payment of £500 per annum till he
was appointed to an office of that value. That when he
called for payment at the Civil Office, Mr. Taylor, who had
charge of such proportions of the Secret Service Money as
were drawn from the Treasury and remained in readiness
for application, paid over to Mr. Cooke a sum of £500
which he promised to Sir Vere, who was then in the room,
should be remitted to him. When Sir Vere called upon
Mr. Marsden in the following year he asserted that he
had never received the money ; and though Mr. Marsden
and Mr. Taylor wrote to Mr. Cooke upon the subject,
stating Sir Vere's assertion, and the latter, Mr. Taylor,
particularly reminding him of the circumstances, they
have to this hour never received any answer to their letter.

" This was again complained of by Sir Vere Hunt when
he accepted the place of Weighmaster of Cork, and as
that office, which was called £600 per annum, certainly
exceeded ;^5oo, it was stated by Mr. Wickham both to Sir
Vere Hunt and Lord Limerick to be given in satisfaction
of all arrears, which, I understand, did not exceed the
one year's payment of £500 which has been so unaccount-
ably withheld by Mr. Cooke."

* * *

Here is a letter signed " Boyle Roche."* What has

* " Sir Boyle Roche certainly was, without exception, the
most celebrated and entertaining anti-grammarian in the Irish
Parliament. I knew him intimately. He was of a very respect-
able Irish family, and, in point of appearance, a fine bluff, soldier-
like old gentleman. He had numerous good qualities, and
having been long in the army his ideas were full of honour and
etiquette, of discipline and bravery. He had a claim to the title
of Fermoy, which, however, he never pursued, and was brother
to the famous Tiger Roche, who fought some desperate duel abroad
and was near being hanged for it. Sir Boyle was perfectly well
bred in all his habits, had been appointed Gentleman Usher at
the Irish Court, and executed the duties of that office to the
day of his death with the utmost satisfaction to himself as well

86 THE SCRAMBLE FOR PLACE

" the buffoon of the Irish Parhament " got to say ? He,
too, is a petitioner for a place. He had voted for the
Union, and, as will be seen on reference to the " Pension "
section of the Union engagements, he had received a pen-
sion of £400 a year for life. Writing to Hardwicke from
29, Thayer Street, near Manchester Square, London,
" May ye 12, 1801," he says :

" I believe your Excellency knows I had a place at
the Castle for above 23 years, which I resigned to Capt.
Bruce (a friend of Lord Castlereagh) for an annuity from
the Government."

He points out that the Gentleman Usher of the Black
Rod, though abolished by the Union as an office of the
House of Lords, remained as an office of the Order of
St. Patrick and of the Viceregal household, and presumes
that, as it had now no salary attached, it was probably
little sought for.

" As I have been so many years about the Castle town,"
he says, " I shall feel displaced at being removed from it ;
and if your Excellency will have the goodness to appoint
me Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod, without a salary,
which will give me an opportunity of attending about your
person, and in which I may be useful, being perfectly
acquainted with everything about the Castle, I shall con-
sider myself as highly honoured."

His wish was gratified by his appointment as a " Gentle-
man at Large " in the Viceregal household.

* * *

Opponents of the Union are also found in the thick
of the scramble for place. Here comes the name of
" Jonah Barrington," the Sir Jonah of that graphic work

as to everyone in connection with him. He was married to the
eldest daughter of Sir John Cane, Bart., and his lady, who was a
bas bleu, prematurely injured Sir Boyle's capacity, it was said,
by forcing him to read Gibbon's ' Rise and Fall of the Roman
Empire,' whereat he was so cruelly puzzled, without being in the
least amused, that in his cups he often stigmatized the great
historian as a low fellow, who ought to have been kicked out of
company wherever he was for turning people's thoughts away
from their prayers and their politics to what the devil himself
could make neither head nor tail of!" — Jonah Barrington:
" Personal Recollections of his Own Times."

SIR JONAH BARRINGTON 87

on the Union, " The Rise and Fall of the Irish Nation.''
He sat in the Irish House of Commons, and in his book
he poses as an unpurchasable patriot. " Refused all
terms," he proudly writes of himself. A motion in favour
of the Union was, as I have said, defeated in the session of
1799. But in the session of 1800 the supporters of the
Union were in a decisive majority. There was no General
Election in the interval. Parliament had been packed by
the method of inducing many of the opponents of the
measure to make way for friends of the Government.
One of the patriots who resigned was Jonah Barrington.
Clogher, for which he sat, was a Government borough ;
and it was the rule in those days that the representative
of a nomination borough must vote as his patron directed
or resign.* However, in September, 1801, he called on
Hardwicke, with a letter of introduction from the Earl of
Westmorland, a former Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
Hardwicke, writing on the subject to Westmorland, says :

" Mr. Barrington seemed desirous of explaining the
situation in which he has stood in regard to Government,
before the question of Union, and though he was aware
that he could not be considered as entitled to early favour,
yet he wished not to be looked upon as hostile, and
claimed some merit for having given up his seat in Par-
liament after the first session in which the Union was
discussed. He does not appear to have any particular
object, though I presume he some time or other will look
to the Bench."

* He opposed the Union, as he states in his " Personal Recol-
lections," by every means in his power, both in and out of Parlia-
ment. " In January, 1800," he says, " I received a letter from
Lord Westmorland, stating that as Clogher had been a Govern-
ment seat he doubted if I could in honour retain it. I had
already made up my mind to resign it when required. I men-
tioned the subject to Mr. Foster, the Speaker, who thought I
was not bound to resign. However, I acceded to the suggestion
of Lord Westmorland, and accepted an escheatorship. But no
office in His Majesty's gift, no power, no deprivation, would have
induced me to support the Union." Barrington was ultimately
appointed Judge of the Admiralty Court, and knighted. In 1830
he fled to France, and by a resolution of both Houses of Parlia-
ment was removed from his office for embezzlement of the fees
of the Court. He died at Versailles in 1834.

88 THE SCRAMBLE FOR PLACE

But until the legal engagements arising out of the Union
were settled, there was no place for Jonah Harrington.

Here, too, is John Egan, another barrister on the
hunt for a job. He was member for Tallagh in the Irish
Parliament.* In 1799 he was appointed Chairman of
the Kilmainham Sessions, in the hope of securing his vote
for the Union. During the debate on the question it was
noticed that he appeared ill at ease. What side should
he take ? That was the question which perplexed him.
At last, making up his mind, he sprang to his feet, and
delivered a vehement, uncompromising speech against
the Union. The exclamation with which he concluded
is historic. " Ireland for ever !" he cried, " and damn
Kilmainham !"

Here is a curiously artless and ingenuous letter which he

addressed to Hardwicke :

"Ely Place, Dublin,

" Oct. 17, 1 801.
" My Lord,

" Baron Metge I know intends to resign his seat in
the Exchequer ; and if the wishes of that able and up-
right Judge could designate a fit successor, I am authorized
to say to your Excellency they rest upon me. Convinced
that the grandson of Lord Chancellor Hardwicke, whose
pre-eminence in talents, as in virtues, is so familiar to the
lawyer's ear, will consult every means to fill the judicial
situations with learning, talents, experience, and integrity,

* " Mr. Egan, one of the roughest-looking persons possible,
being at one time a supporter of the Government, made virulent
philippics in the Irish House of Commons against the French
Revolution. His figure was coarse and bloated, and his dress
not over elegant withal. In fact, he had by no means the look
of a Member of Parliament. One evening this man fell foul of a
speech of Grattan's, and amongst other absurdities said in his
paroxysm that the right honourable gentleman's speech had a
tendency to introduce the guillotine into the very body of the
House ; indeed, he almost thought he could perceive it before
him. {'Hear him ! hear him !' echoed from Sir Boyle Roche.)
Grattan good-humouredly replied that the honourable member
must have a vastly sharper sight than he had. He certainly
could see no such thing. 'But though,' added Grattan, looking
with his glass toward Egan, ' I may not see the guillotine, yet
methinks I can perceive the executioner.' ' Order, order !'
shouted Sir Boyle Roche, but a general laugh prevented any
further observation." — Barrington : " Personal Recollections of
his Own Times."

SIR JOHN PARNELL . 89

I felt that conviction forbids me as a candidate. But the
partiahty of some friends, and particularly of Lord Avon-
more, manifested in a letter to his grace the Duke of
Portland in 1798, revokes the interdict pronounced by
myself, and emboldens me to entrude upon your Ex-
cellency's important avocations, by soliciting your
perusal of the enclosed copy of that letter, which I have
his lordship's permission to make use of upon any emer-
gency like the present. Will your Excellency be pleased
to accept as my apology for such intrusion the absence of
that noble lord upon circuit, who, I can venture to say,
will, if resorted to, press my pretensions to a vacancy in
his Court upon your Excellency, with the same warmth
and from the same motives, however partial and mis-
taken, that he did upon his grace the Duke of Portland.
Absence from this country in England, till within a short
space of time, prevented my having the honour of paying
my personal respects to your Excellency.

" I am, with unfeigned regret, your Excellency's most
obedient humble servant,

" John Egan."

But Egan, the opponent of the Union, had no chance of
promotion, however agreeable the simplicity with which
he might appeal for it. The vacant judgeship went to
the Solicitor-General, Michael Smith — one of the most
effective debaters on the side of the Union in the Irish
House of Commons — who had been appointed to the
second Law Officership of the Crown for his services
immediately after the Union was carried.

* * *

The Lord Lieutenant and Chief Secretary, however,
were desirous of conciliating the most conspicuous and
able opponents of the Union. There was Sir John
Parnell, for instance, who had been dismissed from office
as Chancellor of the Irish Exchequer on account of his
opposition to the measure, and who now represented
Queen's County in the Imperial Parliament. In June,
1801, Abbot, the Chief Secretary, writes to Hardwicke :

" Mr. Addington has again upon this occasion ex-
pressed his wish that Sir John Parnell may obtain some
considerable situation in the Irish Government."

90 THE SCRAMBLE FOR PLACE

Again he writes :

" Sir John Pamell left London last night upon his way
to Ireland, where he will most probably pay his respects
to your Excellency, and we hope you will give him a re-
ception that shall mark our friendly disposition towards
him, for he is an honest fellow, and may be a valuable
Parliament coadjutor."

Then there was John Foster, the last Speaker of the
Irish House of Commons. He employed all his influence
against the Union, and while the House was in Committee
on the Bill delivered a powerful speech in opposition to
the measure. Abbot, writing to Hardwicke, on June 29,
1 80 1, says :

" I have just come to town from Lord Alvanley's,
where I slept last night. Pitt and Dundas were there
also. Pitt agrees to the propriety of cultivating Foster,
and advises to let him understand ' he is not to govern
Ireland,' but that his assistance in promoting its internal
improvements and local interests should be cordially
accepted, and that he should be allowed to feel that he
had considerable power in forwarding the execution of
aU beneficial measures of that description."

In December, 1801, John Beresford — a powerful mem-
ber of the Irish oligarchy, whom we shall meet again in
a subsequent chapter — resigned his office as head of the
Revenue Department. His salary was £2,000 a year,
including an extra £1,000 as First Commissioner of the
Board. Hardwicke, writing to Pelham, said that, of
course, the vacancy would be used to " liquidate a Union
engagement," but suggested that the extra £1,000 a year
should be applied to the creation of a tenth Commis-
sioner, and the new post given to Colonel Foster — son of
John Foster — who had had a seat on the Revenue Board,
of which he was deprived for his opposition to the Union.

" As this is a point," continues Hardwicke, " so nearly
connected with the interests and possible wishes of a
person who has borne so distinguished a part in the
politics of this country as Mr. Foster, the late Speaker, I
have thought it my duty to suggest it for the consideration
of your Lordship, as his power of mischief is immense."

THE LAST SPEAKER OF THE IRISH PARLIAMENT 91

The Home Secretary promptly replied :

" The appointment of Colonel Foster would postpone the
completion of those Union engagements which, in my judg-
ment, ought to be satisfied before any other be thought of."

Hardwicke, a sensitive man, felt very keenly this
official reprimand. He wrote to Addington, the Prime
Minister, petulantly complaining of the tone of Pelham's
letter. No one, he protested, could be more " exactly
scrupulous " than he was to hasten the complete redemp-
tion of the Union engagements, and he points out that
if John Foster, who represented Louth in the Imperial
Parliament, was not conciliated he might become an
opponent of the Administration. He continues :

" It was natural to suppose that Mr. Foster, who had

long been accustomed to take a lead in Irish affairs, and

whose opinions carry with them a certain degree of

weight in this country, might sometimes take occasion

to object to measures in a manner which, though not

directly hostile, might be rather inconvenient to the

course of your business in the House of Commons, and

even invite opposition. On this ground it occurred to

me that you would not dislike to show a disposition to

conciliation by offering to restore his son to an office

which he had lost by the Union, and if it could be done, as

I thought and am confident it might, without violating

a single engagement."

* * *

One of the most curious of the Union engagements was

that of Lord Blaquiere. The son of a French merchant

settled in London, Colonel John Blaquiere went to Ireland

as Chief Secretary to Lord Harcourt, Viceroy in 1772.*

* " Sir John Blaquiere was a little deaf of one ear, for which
circumstance he gave a very singular reason. His seat, when
Secretary, was the outside one on the Treasury Bench, next to
the gangway, and he said that so many members used to come
perpetually to whisper to him, and the buzz of importunity was so
heavy and continuous, that before one claimant's words had got
out of his ear the demand of another forced its way in, till the
ear-drum, being overcharged, absolutely burst, which, he said,
turned out conveniently enough, as he was then obliged to stuff
the organ tight, and tell every gentleman that his physician had
directed him not to use that ear at all, and the other as little as
possible!" — Barrington : "Personal Recollections of his Own
Times."

92 THE SCRAMBLE FOR PLACE

When he ceased to be Chief Secretary he remained in
Ireland, and, continuing to sit in the Irish House of
Commons, gathered to himself many valuable sinecures.
He was bailiff of the Phoenix Park ; he was alnager of
Ireland, an alnager being an officer formerly appointed
to inspect woollen cloth ; he was Commissioner of the
Paving Board. Blaquiere was a conspicuous supporter of
the Union. His house was twice wrecked on that account
by the Dublin populace. But, as may be imagined,
this remarkable pluralist had made an excellent bargain
for his services. He had his sinecures commuted for
£3,200 per annum for life. He secured — as will be seen
from the List of Union Engagements — a pension of
£1,000 for the lives of his wife and daughter. He ob-
tained an Irish Peerage. He also asked to be appointed
one of the representative peers to sit in the House of
Lords, but was induced to waive the claim in favour of
some less accommodating suitor, on the condition, also
set out in the List of Union Engagements, that he was to
be returned to Parliament — Irish peers having the right
under the Union to sit in the House of Commons for
British constituencies — at the first General Election, or
else that his son was to be given a position under the
Board of Works at £400 per annum.

Writing to Hardwicke from London, November 17,
1 80 1, Lord Blaquiere says on the subject of his engage-
ments :

" The immediate point is this — by the stipulation
made with me a prominent feature is a seat in the Im-
perial Commons to compensate for my relinquishing the
seat for life engaged to me in the Lords. The Irish
Government being, however, aware of the difficulties
that might arise, put this alternative into the contract,
that if they should find it impossible to give me a seat,
the man I should name was to have a seat at the Board
of Works.

" Statements, how founded I know not — nay, I do not
believe them — talk of an immediate dissolution of Par-
liament. For thiity long years I have been — whether
useful or not becomes not me to say — a member. No

LORD BLAQUIERES ENGAGEMENTS' 93

fish out of water can be more uncomfortable than I shall
feel if I am to be put upon the shelf. I wish much to
know, and humbly entreat of your kindness to let me
know, what it is that I am to expect from the Govern-
ment— whether the seat or the office, that I may arrange
myself accordingly ; but if, my dear Lord, I may be
allowed to express a wish, that wish unquestionably is
for the seat."

The Lord Lieutenant, in reply, says that, as Blaquiere
could only be returned for a seat in Great Britain, the per-
formance of that engagement was not so much in the
power of the Irish Government as the alternative appoint-
ment of his son to the Board of Works. However, his
Excellency promised to communicate with Whitehall on
the subject. Then came another letter from Blaquiere.

" The fact is this," says he, " that if your Excellency
shall be pleased to give me the nomination to a seat in
Ireland, I believe I would find no difficulty in getting it
exchanged for a seat in this country, some friends of
yours and mine, my dear Lord, having already offered
to do it, provided you give them sufficient notice."

Accordingly, Lord Blaquiere secured the last of many
valuable rewards in return for his services to the Union,
by being elected member for Rye in the General Election
of June, 1802, the first under the United Parliament.*

* " Nobody ever understood eating and drinking better than
Sir John de Blaquiere, and no man ever was better seconded
in the former respect than he was by his cook, Mrs. Smith, whom
he brought from Paris. His company seldom exceeded ten in
number, but so happily was it selected that I never yet saw a
person rise from his table who did not feel gratified. Sir John
was one of the old school, and with all the playful good breeding
with which it was distinguished, he had nothing of that starch
pride which, in more recent times, has supplanted conviviality
without making men either wiser, better, or happier" (Barring-
ton: "Personal Recollections of his Own Times"). Barring-
ton defends De Blaquiere, the noted pluralist : "If his money
came from the public purse," he says, " it was distributed to
the public benefit ; if he received pensions from the Crown,
butchers, bakers, and other tradesmen pocketed every shilling
of it. He knew employment to be the best species of charity.
In short, Sir John de Blaquiere was as much abused and as
much regarded as any public character of any period."

CHAPTER V

THE PRIMATE OBJECTS TO PROFLIGATE BISHOPS

" How I love to kick those whom my duty obhges me
to court !" This is the exclamation of indignation and
disgust to which Lord Cornwallis gives expression in a
letter to his friend General Ross during the negotiations
with the Lords and Commons of Ireland for the purchase
of the Irish Parliament. Cornwallis, we are told, was an
honest, bluff, hearty, straightforward English soldier and
statesman. But is it not curious that the immorality of
his own part in the transaction appears never to have
struck him ? The bribed, no doubt, deserved to be
kicked, but ought the bribers to have escaped the boot ?
Surely the ignominious punishment should have been
impartially distributed. However. Cornwallis seems also
to have derived from the negotiations a share of sly,
cynical amusement. Here is a delightful extract from
one of his letters to the Duke of Portland :

" It was privately intimated to me that the sentiments
of the Archbishop of Cashel were less friendly to the
Union than they had been, on which I took an oppor-
tunity of conversing with his Grace on the subject, and
after discussing some preliminary topics respecting the
representation of the Spiritual Lords, and the probable
vacancy of the see of Dublin, he declared his great un-
willingness at all times to oppose the measures of the
Government, and especially on a point in which his
Majesty's feelings were so much interested, to whom he
professed the highest sense of gratitude, and concluded
by a cordial declaration of friendship."

ARCHBISHOP AGAR 95

Dr. Charles Agar, thus shamelessly bribed, voted for
the Union, and he soon got his reward. Here is a letter
from him, dated " Cashel, 26th October, 1801," to Hard-
wicke, stating that he had heard from Abbot, the Chief
Secretary, that his Excellency had done him the honour
of interesting himself in forwarding his promotion to the
see of Dublin, vacant by the death of Dr. Fowler :

" I cannot, therefore, avoid troubling your Excellency
with an acknowledgment of my obligations for this most
kind mark of your favour," he says. " which I hope to
prove by my conduct has not been conferred on one who
is capable of forgetting how much he is indebted to your
Excellency on this occasion."

Hardwicke replies :

" I assure your Grace I shall have great pleasure in
being instrumental in fulfilling the engagement of the
late Government in this particular instance."*

* * *

The death of Dr. Fowler, Archbishop of Dublin, in
October, 1801, led to the satisfaction of several of the
claims in the " Ecclesiastical " section of the Union engage-
ments. On October 2, 1801, Hardwicke wrote to Pel-
ham a private and confidential letter setting out certain

* "Dr. Agar was made a Viscount in 1800, Archbishop of
Dublin in 1801, and Earl of Normanton a few years later. He
tried very hard to obtain the Primacy of Ireland, but the Govern-
ment refused to relax their rule that no Irishman should hold
the place. However, Lord Cornwallis writes : ' His Grace had
my promise when we came to an agreement respecting the Union
that he should have a seat in the House of Lords for life '
(' Cornwallis Correspondence,' ii., pp. 160-209). Archbishop Agar
was also remarkable for the zeal with which he advocated san-
guinary measures of repression during the Rebellion of 1798
(Grattan's ' Life,' vol. iv., p. 390), for the large fortune which
he made by letting the Church lands on terms beneficial to his
own family (' Castlereagh Correspondence,' vol. ii., p. 71), and
for having allowed the fine old church at Cashel to fall into
ruins, and built In its place a cathedral in the most modern taste,
which he ordered to be represented on his tomb (Stanley's
' Westminster Abbey,' p. 324). There is an extremely eulogistic
inscription to his memory in Westminster Abbey, and a fine
bas-relief representing the angels bearing the mitre to the saintly
prelate." — Lecky : " Leaders of Public Opinion in Ireland,
1871).

96 PRIMATE OBJECTS TO PROFLIGATE BISHOPS

arrangements for which he asked the Home Secretary's
approval before he took official action. Dr. Agar, the
Archbishop of Cashel, was to go to Dublin, and Dr.
Charles Brodrick, the Bishop of Kilmore, to Cashel.
The bishopric of Kilmore, thus vacated, his Excellency
says, would, of course, be conferred upon the Rev.
Nathaniel Alexander, Precentor of Armagh, who had
the first engagement for the Episcopal Bench.

" I shall take no steps upon this subject till I hear
from your Lordship," he adds, in accordance with the
arrangement that every proposed exercise of patronage
by the Lord Lieutenant must first receive the sanction
of the Home Office, " and shall be obliged to you, there-
fore, if you will take an early opportunity of laying the
proposed arrangement for these ecclesiastical promotions
before his Majesty, that I may be authorized to write
to you officially upon the subjects." He adds : " The
second engagement for the Bench is Dr. Trench ; and if
circumstances should permit of it, I shall be glad to have
his Majesty's authority for giving an assurance to the
Bishop of Killaloe of a promotion to the see of Derry,
in which, I understand, there is a near prospect of a
vacancy."

Pelham, writing in reply on October 27, says that the
King was graciously pleased to express his approbation
of the arrangements proposed by the Lord Lieutenant.

" I must, however," says the Home Secretary, " men-
tion to your Excellency his Majesty's observation on the
proposed assurance to the Bishop of Killaloe : ' He is no
friend to embarrassing his Government with promises of
what is not vacant.' At the same time his Majesty
speaks in very handsome terms of the Bishop of Killa-
loe."

But before Dr. Alexander was appointed officially to
the vacant bishopric of Kilmore there came to the Lord
Lieutenant a letter from John Beresford, asking that his
son, George de la Poer Beresford, Bishop of Clonfert
and Kilmacduagh, might be translated to the richer
diocese of Kilmore. John Beresford — a member of the
Waterford family — was a very important and powerful

WILLIAM STUART, PRIMATE OF ALL IRELAND 97

personage. " The King of Ireland " he was called, such
was his sway and authority, and all the weight of his
influence had been cast on the side of the Union. He
filled the lucrative post of First Commissioner of Revenue,
and now sat in the Imperial Parliament for Waterford,
the same constituency which he had represented in the
Irish House of Commons. Hardwicke wrote again to
Pelham, recommending that John Beresford's wish should
be gratified. He pointed out that Dr. Alexander had
received a promise simply that he should be raised to
the Episcopal Bench, but had no reason to expect one
bishopric more than another. The Home Secretary
agreed. In fact, he thought that Bishop Beresford,
having regard to the immense political influence of his
father, ought to have been promoted to the higher
dignity of the archbishopric of Cashel.

* * *
Now comes on the scene, with most unpleasant and
awkward consequences to the Government, the Arch-
bishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, William
Stuart, fifth son of the third Earl of Bute. The arch-
bishopric of Armagh fell vacant during the contest on
the question of the Union, and CornwalHs endeavoured
to have it filled by one of the Irish bishops who
supported the Government.

" It would have a very bad effect at this time to send
a stranger to supersede the whole bench of Bishops," he
wrote, " and I should likewise be much embarrassed by
the stop that would be put to the succession amongst
the Irish clergy at this critical period, when I am beyond
measure pressed for ecclesiastical preferment."

But the King, with his ingrained prejudice against the
Irish — even the loyalist colonial Irish — refused to depart
from his long-settled policy of appointing an English
ecclesiastic to the first position in the Irish branch of the
Established Church ; and accordingly, in December, 1800,
Dr. Stuart was promoted from the see of St. David's,
Wales, to the archbishopric of Armagh and the Primacy
of All Ireland. In the account of Dr. Stuart in the

98 PRIMATE OBJECTS TO PROFLIGATE BISHOPS

" Dictionary of National Biography " there is a sentence,
well worth quotation, in view of the most interesting
correspondence between him and the Prime Minister and
the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland which I find in the Vice-
roy's Post-bag.

" On the loth April, 1783," says the " Dictionary,"
" he was introduced to Johnson by his countryman,
Boswell, who describes him as ' being, with the advan-
tages of high birth, learning, travel, and elegant manners,
an exemplary parish priest in every respect,' which certi-
ficate as to his highly respectable accomplishments and
character indicates a common type of ecclesiastic, and
nothing more ; and as to his individuality nothing further
is known than the dates of his promotions."

The individuality of Dr. Stuart becomes quite vivid
after a perusal of his correspondence.

The Primate, chief though he was of the Protestant
Church in Ireland, had no voice in the appointments of
bishops. The vacant see of Kilmore was in his own
province of Armagh, yet he was not consulted as to the
ecclesiastic most worthy to fill it. Abbot, the Chief
Secretary, wrote to him simply that it was the intention
of the Ministers to appoint Dr. Alexander, Precentor of
Armagh, to the diocese. That, it will be remembered,
was the first intention of the Government, until they
yielded to the appeals of their influential supporter, John
Beresford, on behalf of his son. Dr. Beresford had had
a living for years in Kilmore, and his reputation as a
pastor did not smell sweet in the diocese. The Primate
accordingly wrote the following most indignant letter to
Addington, the Prime Minister, protesting against Beres-
ford's translation to Kilmore :

" Armagh,
" November 27, 1801.
" Sir,

" It is with great reluctance that I trouble you
even with a few lines, but a report prevails in this country
that you have promised to recommend Mr. Beresford to
his Majesty to succeed the Bishop of Kilmore ; and as I
firmly believe no measure can be more decidedly fatal

" ONE OF THE MOST PROFLIGATE MEN IN EUROPE " 99

to the Established Church, I trust you will excuse the
liberty I now take of expressing the grounds of that
opinion.

" Mr. Beresford is reported to be one of the most pro-
fligate men in Europe. His language and his manners
have given universal offence. Indeed, such is his char-
acter that were His Majesty's Ministers to give him a
living in my diocese to hold in commendam, I should
be wanting in my duty if I did not refuse him institution.

" But, perhaps, it may be said that Mr. Beresford,
being a bishop, it matters Httle whether he has two or
four thousand per annum, or in what part of Ireland he
is placed. This last circumstance is, however, of the
utmost importance. In the North, which is well known
to be the Protestant part of Ireland, and where, therefore,
if it be meant to preserve the Protestant interest, most
care should be taken to place the government of the
Church in proper hands, I have six bishops under me.
Three are men of tolerable moral character, but are in-
active and useless, and two are of acknowledged bad
character. Fix Mr. Beresford at Kilmore, and we shall
then have three very inactive bishops, and, what I trust
the world has not yet seen, three bishops in one district
reported to be the most profligate men in Europe.* Is
it possible to believe that such an arrangement will not
expose the Church Establishment to much real danger ?
Can any method be devised more effectually to ruin us,
even in the opinion of our own people ? Profligate
bishops never fail to produce a profligate clergy ; they
ordain the refuse of society, and give the most important
cures to the most worthless individuals.

" Even if every tale told to the discredit of Mr. Beres-
ford were false, it would scarcely mend the matter, as
most undoubtedly his reputation is bad, and these tales

* This statement recalls what Dean Swift wrote of the bishops
who were sent over from England by the Government to rule the
Irish diocesos in the eighteenth century. " Excellent and moral
men had been selected," he wrote, " upon every occasion of
vacancy ; but it unfortunately happened that, as these worthy
divines crossed Hounslow Heath on their way to Ireland to take
possession of their bishoprics, they have been regularly robbed
and murdered by the highwaymen frequenting that common,
who seize upon their robes and patents, come over to Ireland,
and are consecrated bishops in their stead." It would seem,
however, as if Dr. Stuart at least had passed safely across
Hounslow Heath on his way to Armagh.

7—2

loo PRIMATE OBJECTS TO PROFLIGATE BISHOPS

are universally credited. As I have reason to believe
this measure is determined, I well know that my opinion
can have little weight. I should not have troubled you
upon the present occasion if the situation I hold did not
in some degree render it necessary,

" I have the honour to be, with great respect,

" Your most obedient humble servant,

" Wm. Armagh."

It will be noticed that the Primate's letter is dated
November 27, 180 1. It was not until December 19, 1801,
that the Prime Minister was moved to take action upon
it. Writing from Downing Street on that day to the
Lord Lieutenant, he says :

" My dear Lord,

" I am quite ashamed to have so long delayed the
communication of the inclosed letter from the Primate. It
is, of course, in strict confidence that I now transmit it
to your Lordship. I should have great pleasure in hearing
that the information contained in his Grace's letter had
originated in misrepresentation, or, at least, in exagger-
ated accounts that had reached him of the disposition
and conduct of the person to whom he refers. It has,
however, been thought right to suspend the recommenda-
tion to his Majesty till we hear again from your Lordship ;
though it is wished that the letter I am now writing and
your answer may be considered as private communica-
tions."

The reply of the Lord Lieutenant to the Prime Minister,
dated " Phoenix Park, December 22nd, 1801," and
marked " Private," says :

" If his Grace's representation had been made at the
time the measure was only in contemplation and before
any steps had been actually taken with a view to the re-
spective promotions of Bishop Beresford and Dr. Alex-
ander, I have no hesitation to say that it would have been
entitled to every degree of weight. At the same time, I
think it but just to observe that no information un-
favourable to the character of the Bishop of Clonfert has
reached me since his promotion to the Bench. If there
were any circumstances of conduct or character sufficiently
strong to make his translation improper with a view to

ABBOT'S LETTER TO THE PRIMATE loi

the interests of the Church of Ireland, they ought to have
operated in a greater degree against his original promo-
tion, because it does not appear to me at all material to
the credit of the Church, whether he is Bishop of Clonfert
or Kilmore ; more especially as I do not understand that
since his original promotion his character has been such
as ought in justice to preclude his translation. Besides
which, it strikes me forcibly that the putting him back
from a translation which had been already settled would
be fixing a stigma that would not only be highly injurious
to a man who may fairly be stated to be in the way of
redeeming his character, but would greatly reflect upon
the character of the Government which originally raised

him to the Bench."

* * *

Then comes a letter from Charles Abbot, the Chief
Secretary, to the Primate, dated "Phoenix Park, Dec. 23rd,
1801," and marked " Private and Confidential " :

" My dear Lord,

" The mail which arrived last night from England
brought a private and confidential letter, dated the 19th,
from Mr. Addington to Lord Hardwicke, inclosing one
from your Grace to Mr. Addington, dated 27th of Novem-
ber, respecting the bishoprick of Kilmore ; and persuaded
as I am that your Grace has a full confidence in the sincere
desire of Lord Hardwicke's Administration in Ireland to
promote the great interests of the Established Church,
and to give the fullest weight to your Grace's opinions
upon every subject connected with those interests, I
cannot but regret most deeply that your Grace did not
at the time of writing to Mr. Addington write also to his
Excellency upon the same subject, as all recommenda-
tions and appointments to offices in Ireland, whether of
Church or State, by liis Majesty's gracious permission,
pass invariably through the Lord Lieutenant ; and had
your Grace's representations upon this particular occa-
sion reached his Excellency at an earlier period, they
would, I doubt not, have been received with all the con-
sideration and respect to which they are at all times so
strongly entitled.

" I am not unaware that your Grace may possibly
think me in some degree to blame in the business ; and
I assure you it gives me very unaffected concern that you

I02 PRIMATE OBJECTS TO PROFLIGATE BISHOPS

should entertain that sentiment even for a moment.
Having by his Excellency's permission apprized your
Grace of the intended Church arrangement upon the
Archbishop of Dublin's death, so far as I then knew its
probable course, you might very possibly have expected
to hear again of any further incident as it arose. To this
charge I should not be altogether without excuse, if I
alledged the constant pressure of a multiplicity of im-
portant business ; but I would not willingly rest it upon
that ground, not only because I fully admit that none
can be more important than what regards the state of
the Church of Ireland, at this time more especially, but
because other reasons also weighed in my mind, whether
justly or unjustly is for your Grace's determination.

" The kind and flattering confidence with which your
Grace had conversed with me upon many things and
persons materially connected with Church affairs in this
country had given me the opportunity of knowing that
your Grace held the Bishops of Killaloe and Kilmore in
high estimation as the most exemplary characters upon
the Bench ; and with respect to all others, whether in
possession or expectancy, I had been led to suppose that
your Grace felt no particular preference or distinction.
Now I assure your Grace that so much did your selection
of characters weigh in the mind of his Excellency, that
upon the sole strength of your testimony, and without the
smallest intimation whatever from any quarter in or out
of Ireland, his Excellency, knowing that Bishop Knox
had a different object in view, recommended in the
strongest terms that Bishop Brodrick might be raised
to the archbishoprick of Cashei, and your Grace's testi-
mony to his merits was relied upon by Lord Hardwicke
in his letter to Lord Pelham as the most conclusive
reason which could possibly be assigned in his behalf.

"The expectation held out to Mr. Alexander being, in
general, a succession to any vacant bishoprick, it was
at that time conceived that his promotion to the then
only vacant bishoprick (Kilmore) was of course ; but
pending the progress of this arrangement, and before the
opening in Kilmore was made, a very powerful solicita-
tion was sent in behalf of Bishop Beresford, and as it
appeared to his Excellency that Bishop Beresford being
already on the Bench a mere translation from one see to
another was simply a question of emolument and con-

" SIMPLY A QUESTION OF EMOLUMENT " 103

venience to the individual, and that in any event both
Bishop Beresford and Mr. Alexander would have episcopal
rank, it was not a case in which resistance to such a solici-
tation was of any moment, it being always recollected
that the expectation given by Lord Comwallis to Mr.
Alexander was not of any particular see, but of such as
might be vacant. The consequence has been that his
Excellency has not felt himself warranted in recom-
mending that any alteration should now be made, and he
is even precluded from it by the progress already made in
the business.

" My own anxious desire to stand well in your Grace's
opinion has induced me to trouble you at this length,
because I feel most truly that any circumstance of any
sort, however imperfectly understood, which should
abate of your Grace's confidence in a Government sin-
cerely desirous of co-operating with your efforts in main-
taining, and (perhaps it might not be untruly said) in
settling the Church of Ireland on its best foundations,
would be a publick misfortune. For, as your Grace well
knows, it is not in your own province alone that the effect
of your authority and example is to be looked for, but
we have trusted that its beneficial effects will produce
infinite good throughout the country, and in no concerns
more than those which, as I understand from the most
respectable quarters, require your Grace's presence and
interposition in Dublin, where the great charitable in-
stitutions of the country are managed.

" May I hope that what has now occurred may, upon
the whole, enable us to prevent the recurrence of any
similar inconvenience, and that your Grace will not hesi-
tate to impart to his Excellency, or those in his Govern-
ment with whom you may have occasional intercourse,
your sentiments upon all matters instantly and unre-
servedly, where you wish them to be considered, as they
ever will be with the greatest deference and goodwill.

" Pardon me, my Lord, if upon some points not un-
connected with this subject, and of very great moment
to this country, and which for very many reasons I cannot
well commit to writing, I express a very earnest hope
that I may have an opportunity of speaking with your
Grace before I go to England, which I shall probably do
immediately after the present recess. I cannot well be
spared from hence at this time ; but if you have any

I04 PRIMATE OBJFXTS TO PROFLIGATE BISHOPS

intention of coming next month to Dublin, I shall be
glad if what I have intimated may have the effect of
accelerating your journey and bringing you to Dublin
by the middle of next month, before which time I do not
expect to be called over."

* * *

The Primate sent to Abbot, in reply, a long letter, and
a very interesting and most important letter. It is
dated " Armagh, December 27, 1801 " :

" Dear Sir,

" Your letter dated Wednesday night, I did not
receive till Friday night, and there being no post on
Saturday it was impossible for me to answer it before this
morning. Nothing would give me more real uneasiness
than to be thought capable of acting with impropriety
towards Lord Hardwicke. He is certainly entitled to
more than common respect. I beg therefore to be
believed when I assert that I had no intention of making
a foolish appeal to the English Government against any
measure his Excellency may please to adopt. I well
know that recommendations and appointments to offices
in Ireland pass through the Lord Lieutenant ; but it
sometimes happens that the English Minister influences
such appointments, and there were circumstances which
induced me to suspect that Mr. Addington had interfered
in the present instance."

His Grace then goes on to remind the Chief Secretary
of his first communication, telling him that Mr. Alexander
had been promoted to Kilmore, and saj^s it led him to
believe that Beresford had been appointed by the Prime
Minister over the head of the Lord Lieutenant. After he
had received this letter from the Chief Secretary several
persons told him that Dr. Beresford was really the selec-
tion of the Ministers for the see. " But," he says, " being
well acquainted with the practice of Irish gentlemen
to claim friendships with those with whom they are
scarcely acquainted, to detail conversations that were
never spoken, and to affect being entrusted with secrets
that do not exist, I gave no credit to their representa-
tions." However, two letters that came to him from
London dissipated all doubt on the point. One was from

A CALAMITY FOR THE IRISH CHURCH 105

a friend who had heard John Beresford boast that Adding-
ton had given Kilmore to his son. " The other letter,"
says the Primate, " was from an English prelate of the
highest rank, and the most powerful influence in his pro-
fession, who informed me that I was universally blamed
for not endeavouring to avert such a calamity from the
Church by writing to his Majesty. Believing the arrange-
ments to be finally settled, I was unwilling to give the
King the uneasiness which, I think, a letter from me on
such a subject would have given him. But I thought
proper to write to Mr. Addington, whom I considered as
the author of the arrangement." He had been " blinded "
by Abbot's communication announcing the promotion of
Dr. Alexander. If he had had the slightest suspicion that
it was really intended to give the see to Dr. Beresford he
would have written at once in expostulation to the Lord
Lieutenant. " Have written to him !" he exclaims.
" Though I will not trouble him with those solicitations
which my predecessor almost daily carried to the Castle,
I would have fallen on my knees to Lord Hardwicke. I
would have surrendered my own private patronage, the
very situation I hold, if by these means 1 could have
averted a measure which I firmly believe will bring dis-
grace and ruin upon us all."

His Grace proceeds in the same bitter strain :

" I am heartily sorry to find from your letter that my
solicitation is not sufficiently powerful to overbear the
just claims of the Church in a point which concerns its
very existence. You cannot be serious when you write
that a translation from one see to another is simply a
question of emolument. It is not so in any countr}/, and
in Ireland less than any other. You mention my example,
but the example of the Lord Lieutenant is of still more
importance. What will happen if the bishops of Ireland
follow this example, and adopt this language — promote
the most worthless clergymen, because when a man holds
a living a bad character is not to impede his preferment,
as a removal from one parish to another is simply a
question of emolument ?

io6 PRIMATE OBJECTS TO PROFLIGATE BISHOPS

" Indeed, my dear sir, I deplore this measure as a most
heavy misfortune. Nothing can have a more direct
tendency to ruin the Estabhshment. Had the Roman
Cathohcs gained their point we might by a prudent
conduct have averted any immediate ill effects. But
how are we to avert the consequences of our own bad
character ?

" This is the first unfettered act of the present Ad-
ministration. All other Church preferment has been
given in conformity to the promises of Lord Cornwallis, or
with a view to please him. But His Majesty's Ministers
were free to fill Kilmore as they thought proper.* You
inform me they have placed Dr. Beresford in that situa-
tion. Such a bad character will confessedly prove of
great detriment ; and since having been dean his char-
acter, his conduct, and his language are well known, and
held in universal detestation, by this is proclaimed that
though a man be ever so vitious and corrupt, he may, if
he joins some one faction in this kingdom, be placed in
the highest ecclesiastical situation — for where can the
man be found whose character is not as good as Dr. Beres-
ford's, and who, therefore, if he be supported by the same
interest, may not form the same pretensions ?

" By this measure, too, we are deprived of the advan-
tage promised to us by the Union. In truth, the two
Churches cannot be considered as united, unless they are
governed by the same principle. A bad moral character
would in England be an insuperable obstacle to the promo-
tion of a bishop — an obstacle which neither rank, nor
wealth, nor Parliamentary interest can enable a man to
surmount."

" The promotion of Mr. Beresford is, in my opinion,
decisive as to the fate of the Church," the Primate con-
tinues. " It cannot, therefore, be supposed that I shall
warmly concur with Ministers who have adopted measures
that have a manifest tendency to subvert the Establish-
ment to which I belong, and the religion which I profess,
I am, however, so far from wishing to give Lord Hard-
wicke any trouble that I sincerely wish to retire, and
entertain hope that his Majesty will be graciously pleased
to allow me to resign a situation which he compelled me to

* The Primate, of course, was in error on this point.

THE PRIMATE THREATENS TO RESIGN 107

assume, and which I can no longer hold with advantage
to the country, or honour to myself. If his Majesty
should reject this request, I shall confine my attention
solely to the business of this diocese. With the province
I can have little concern. It would be absurd to inspect
the conduct of such a man as Beresford, for the same
interest which places him at Kilmore will most assuredly
be exerted to protect him."

* * *

On December 28, 1801, the Lord Lieutenant wrote the
following " private and confidential " letter to the Prime
Minister :

" My dear Sir,

" The concern which I feel at the manner in which
the Primate has expressed himself upon the subject of
Bishop Beresford's translation to Kilmore makes me very
desirous that you should be in possession of the whole
transaction, and consequently obliges me, though very
unwillingly, to trouble you with a few short extracts of
letters which passed upon that subject. I cannot, how-
ever, in justice to myself, omit, in the first place, to observe
that from the moment of my appointment to the Govern-
ment of Ireland I have felt a very anxious and unaffected
desire to be upon the best possible footing with the Primate.
In addition to a firm conviction of his strict honour and
integrity, and of his zeal for the interests of the Church,
I was not unacquainted with the opinion which his Majesty
entertained of his character and principles, and had really
nothing more anxious at heart than to co-operate to the
best of my abilities in the station I have the honour to
hold with the exertions which his Grace would be desirous
to make for the interest and advantage of the Church,
which appeared by all the accounts I have heard to stand
so much in need of his vigilant and honourable super-
intendence.

" The transaction of which his Grace complains admits
of a short and simple explanation. The episcopal
arrangements consequent on the death of the Archbishop
of Dublin were principally settled by Lord Cornwallis's
engagement to promote the Archbishop of Cashel to
Dublin, and to raise Mr. Alexander to the Bench. In my
first letter to Lord Pelham I proposed to offer the arch-

io8 PRIMATE OBJECTS TO PROFLIGATE BISHOPS

bishoprick of Cashel to the Archbishop of Tuam, and the
vacant archbishoprick to the Bishop of Kilmore. Beyond
this, I had proposed no translations whatever, and if
Mr. Alexander had come up to Dublin from Armagh to
forward the completion of his engagement — which was
delayed, first, by our not being acquainted with his chris-
tian name, and description, and, secondly, by his not
being in possession of a Doctor's degree — his promotion to
Kilmore would have been so far settled as to have made
it impossible to have complied with Mr. Beresford's appli-
cation for his son's translation, which was conveyed to
me in a letter I received on the 4th of November.

" At this period, if it was proper to entertain Mr. Beres-
ford's application at all, no time was to be lost in trans-
mitting it regularly to England ; and you will perceive
that I did little more than take the earliest opportunity
of forwarding the letter, because I did not know what
expectation might have been given to Mr. Alexander of
succeeding to Kilmore, for which at that time (viz., a
fortnight after my first letter recommending the different
engagements) no other person had been proposed. I,
therefore, contented myself with simply stating the fact
that the engagement to Mr. Alexander was for the Bench
in general, and not for a particular bishoprick, and that
upon that ground no objection could arise to a compliance
with Mr, Beresford's application.

" I naturally conceived that it would not be disagreeable
to yourself and the Administration in general, to oblige
an old servant of the Crown, and I had reason to believe
that his Majesty himself entertained a good opinion of
Mr. Beresford. Had I been apprised of the Primate's
strong objections to Bishop Beresford's character, of the
grounds of which I am still ignorant, I should, certainly,
have made no sort of representation on the subject ; but
as circumstances stood at the time Mr. Beresford's letter
reached me there was no time for learning his Grace's
sentiments, and as he had been promoted to the Bench
subsequent to his Grace's advancement to the Primacy,
it did not occur to me that his Grace could entertain
objections to his translation so strong as those he has
expressed in his letter of the 27th inst. to Mr. Abbot, and
which, I have no doubt, he sincerely feels.

" I trust, however, when his Grace finds no disrespect
whatever was intended towards himself, nor (what I am

THE VICEROY'S OPINION OF THE PRIMATE 109

sure he will consider of superior importance) any inten-
tional disregard of the interests of the Church, that he
will not think himself called upon to abandon the duties
of his high station, in which he may be so eminently
useful, on account of the translation of a person to whose
original promotion he did not feel the same forcible
objections."

To the Primate the Lord Lieutenant sent the following

communication :

" Phcenix Park,

" Dec. 2gth, 1801.

" My Lord,

" If I had had the good fortune to be better known
to your Grace, you would not have suspected me of any
unwillingness to co-operate to the best of my abilities
with your zealous and honourable exertions for the advan-
tage of the Church over which you preside ; and I am
confident that every branch of His Majesty's Government
is impressed with the same opinion of your Grace's
anxiety to fulfil the objects of your high station in this
country. For those reasons I am very desirous that your
Grace should be put in possession of all that has passed
on the subject of a transaction which I am concerned to
learn has made a strong impression on your mind ; and
for this reason I have requested my brother-in-law and
pri ate secretary. Dr. Lindsay, to wait upon your Grace,
in order that he may have an opportunity of communi-
cating to you all that has passed in reference to the pro-
posed translation of the Bishop of Clonfert to the see of
Kilmore. Dr. Lindsay will set out to-morrow, and if he
cannot reach Armagh before a late hour in the evening,
will have the honour of waiting on your Grace on Thursday
morning.

" I cannot conclude without assuring your Grace that
I am very sensible of the polite expressions you make use
of in regard to myself in your letter to Mr. Abbot, and of
what you are so good as to say in regard to your having
written to Mr. Addington.

" I remain, my Lord, with great truth and respect,
your Grace's most obedient and faithful servant,

" Hardwicke."

But in a " private and confidential " letter to the Prime
Minister, written also on December 29, the Lord Lieu-

no PRIMATE OBJECTS TO PROFLIGATE BISHOPS

tenant, in announcing that he had sent his private secre-
tary to interview the Primate, is not so compHmentary
with reference to his Grace's " zealous and honourable
exertions " in behalf of the interests of the Established
Church in Ireland. " I am more than ever convinced,"
says his Excellency, "that a sincere desire to do the
utmost practical good that circumstances will admit is a
more useful quality in the administration of publick
affairs, of whatever description, than that furious though
honest zeal which disclaims everything short of theoretical
perfection, and abates entirely if disappointed in any
single instance." In other words, the Primate, in the
opinion of the Lord Lieutenant, was "a crank." His
Excellency continues : " I am sure I need not add that if
any statement of this affair should be laid before the
King, I shall conform cheerfully upon this as upon aU
other occasions to his Majesty's commands ; and it
appears to me that after what has passed nothing short
of such an authority can properly stop the course of this
ecclesiastical arrangement, which I am truly sorry has
been brought into question, and occasioned you so much
trouble."

The next letter is from the Prime Minister to the Lord
Lieutenant :

" Private and Confidential.

" Downing Street,

" Jan. 2nd, 1802.

" My dear Lord,

" I most entirely concur in all the sentiments you
have expressed on the circumstances which have occurred
respecting the proposed recommendation of Dr. Beresford
to the bishoprick of Kilmore ; and it appears to me that
a more proper step could not have been taken than that of
sending to the Primate a person so high in your Lordship's
confidence as Dr. Lindsay.

" It is my intention to wait for your next communica-
tion, and then to lay the whole matter in person before the
King, to whom I shall think myself bound to acknowledge
that but for an accidental delay an intimation, through
Lord Pelham, of my wishes in favour of Dr. Beresford

THE PRIMATE STILL UNYIELDING iii

would have been transmitted to Ireland, previous to the
arrival of your Lordship's dispatch of the 4th of Novem-
ber. I must, however, be strangely ignorant of his
Majesty's sentiments if it can be necessary for me to
trespass long upon his condescension and patience, in
endeavouring to convince him that no disrespect to the
Primate was or could be intended by your Lordship or
myself ; or that we are either of us less deeply impressed
than his Grace with a sense of what is due to the purity
of the Church Establishment, and above all, to the
interests of religion.

" It is to me, I fairly acknowledge, a subject of regret
that a communication was not made to the Primate of
the intentions of Government respecting Dr. Beresford
before any step was taken for carrying them into effect ;
and if he had not been previously upon the Bench a
considerable degree of importance, and perhaps of blame,
might be attached by many to the omission. But such a
communication, even in such a case, though very proper,
has not I believe been very usual, and the want of it in
the present instance cannot, I think, be justly made a
subject of that grave and most serious description of
complaint which would be called for by a disregard of
institutions entitled to reverence, and of individuals who
from their situation and character have the strongest
claims to attention and respect,

" I have written in haste and more at length than I
intended. There are other points upon which I am de-
sirous of writing to your Lordship, but they must be re-
served for a future letter.

" I am ever, with true regard, my dear Lord, your most
obedient and faithful servant,

" Henry Addington."

The Primate, writing on December 31, i8or, replied
in the following brief and unyielding letter to the Lord
Lieutenant :

" My Lord,

" I beg leave to assure your Excellency that I
am extremely sensible of your goodness in writing as
well as in giving me an opportunity of conversing with
Dr. Lindsay.

" I forbear to trouble you further upon the business
relating to Kiimore, as I wrote on Tuesday to Mr.

112 PRIMATE OBJECTS TO PROFLIGATE BISHOPS

Addington, who, I trust, will now advise his Majesty to
allow me to resign the Primacy ; for I wrote in such a
manner as will convince him that I most sincerely desire
so to do. I deeply lament that any circumstance in
which I am concerned should give your Excellency one
moment's uneasiness."

The failure of Lindsay's mission to the Primate is thus
reported by the Lord Lieutenant to the Prime Minister,
in a letter dated January 5, 1802 :

" My dear Sir,

" I am very sorry to inform you that Dr. Lindsay's
visit to the Primate has not been attended with the good
consequences I had hoped and expected from it, as you
will see by the inclosed letter in which he refers to one
which he had written to you on the Tuesday preceding.
Dr. Lindsay communicated to his Grace all that had
passed on the subject of Bishop Beresford's proposed
translation, and had conceived from the conversation
which passed a different impression from that which is
conveyed by the letter.

"It is impossible to lament more than I do the step
which his Grace has taken in requesting you to advise
the King to allow him to resign the Primacy ; but ex-
traordinary and unprecedented as such a step would be,
I think it would be, in every view, much less injurious
in its consequences than his retaining the situation, and
living as a private bishop in the diocese of Armagh,
abandoning the care of the public charities to the boards
which are supposed to have mismanaged them for so
many years, and giving up that general superintendence
of the Church in which he might have been so eminently

useful."

* * *

Then followed a correspondence between the Primate
and the Prime Minister, copies of which were forwarded
by Addington to Hardwicke.

" Armagh,

" Dec. 2gth, 1801.

" Sir.

" The removal of Dr. Beresford to the North of
Ireland is, in my opinion, the most fatal blow the Church
has ever received. To place among the Protestants a
bishop of indifferent character would, in the present

PRIME MINISTER PLEADS WITH PRIMATE 113

moment, be a publick misfortune, but to place among
them a bishop whose immoralities have rendered him
infamous cannot fail to produce the most serious ill
effects.

" I now find myself in a situation in which I can do no
good, but in which I can do incredible mischief : a situa-
tion from which every man of honour must be anxious to
extricate himself. I, therefore, beg the favour of you to
lay my humble request before his Majesty that I may be
permitted to resign the archbishoprick of Armagh. This
measure cannot be productive of ill consequences as
the example is not likely to be followed ; and as I re-
signed the bishoprick of St. David's to obtain the Primacy
it cannot be illegal to resign Armagh to retire to a private
situation.

" If his Majesty is graciously pleased to grant this
request, I humbly hope the change may take place early
in the spring. Were I to presume to ask you a personal
favour it would be to give some small provision to my
chaplain, Mr. Carter, who quitted his preferment in
England to accompany me to Ireland, and who, having
been tutor to Prince William, I am persuaded his Royal
Highness wiU bear testimony to his worth and merit.

" I am sure your good nature will pardon this trouble,
and induce you to honour me with a few lines as soon as
circumstances will admit.

" I have the honour to be with the highest esteem and
respect. Sir, your most obedient, humble servant,

"W. Armagh."

From the Prime Minister to the Primate :

" Downing Street,

" Jan. jth, 1802.

" My Lord,

" I meant to defer troubling your Grace 'till I
had heard the result of Dr. Lindsay's visit to Armagh ;
but I feel that your letter of the 29th of December de-
mands immediate attention.

" It is unnecessary for me to recapitulate the steps
which have been taken in consequence of your Grace's
first letter. The opinion I entertain of your Grace's
justice is accompanied by a conviction that it is not
possible for you to suppose that any of his Majesty's
confidential servants who encouraged the proposed transla-
tion of Dr. Beresford to the bishoprick of Kilmore were

114 PRIMATE OBJECTS TO PROFLIGATE BISHOPS

influenced by motives inconsistent with the highest re-
spect for your character and station, or with feelings less
earnest than those by which your Grace is known to be
actuated, for the purity of the Church Establishment, and
the interests of religion.

" Till I received your Grace's letter of the 27th of
November, no imputation had reached me that was dis-
creditable to Dr. Beresford. I cannot, therefore, re-
proach myself for having supposed that, countenanced as
he was by the Irish Government, and by Lord Pelham,
he was not unworthy of being removed to Kilmore. The
responsibility, however, of such an arrangement could
not, in any degree, attach upon your Grace. It would
faU upon certain individuals belonging to the English
and Irish Governments, and particularly, I acknowledge,
upon myself.

" I trust, therefore, that your Grace will not persist in
urging the performance of the painful task imposed
upon me by your last letter ; or rather that on further
consideration your Grace may be disposed to remain in a
situation which you could not quit without creating great
uneasiness to his Majesty and real detriment to the publick.
On the impediments that might arise to the accomplish-
ment of the wish you have expressed, your Grace will
be pleased to observe that I have not presumed to
hazard an opinion.

" I have only to add that I shall wait with anxiety for
a further communication from your Grace, and that I
have the honour to be, with the greatest respect,

" My Lord, your Grace's most humble and obedient
servant,

" Henry Addington."

From the Primate to the Prime Minister :

" Armagh,
" I Ath January, 1802.

" Sir,

" Your letter of the 7th of January I had not the
honour of receiving till last night. I feel and acknow-
ledge the very handsome manner in which you are pleased
to express yourself ; but I beg leave to assure you that
the request I ventured to propose was the result of much
serious thought, and did not originate from pique, ill-
humour, or party attachment. In truth I have no reason

PRIMATE'S REPLY TO THE PRIME MINISTER 115

to complain of any disrespect — from Lord Hardwicke
and Mr. Abbot I have received every civility. The
character of the former is far above my praise, and from
the firmness, abihties, integrity and assiduity of the latter,
I am well persuaded this country will derive signal ad-
vantage.

" I have been refused no favour, for I hazarded no
solicitation ; and I am not soured by contrariety of
opinion, for, till this business, I have had no reason to
differ from His Majesty's Ministers. I am utterly un-
acquainted with Mr. Beresford and his party, nor do I
know any individual of the party whose sentiments and
principles are opposite to his. I had no friend to recom-
mend to Kilmore. I expressed no wish in favour of any
person ; and I can affirm upon my honour that I objected
to Dr. Beresford upon publick grounds only. As emolu-
ment is the only object of this young man, whose character
is indisputably infamous, it might have been procured
for him in the Catholick part of Ireland where he could
do little mischief ; but surely it was unnecessary to re-
move him to the Protestant part where he can do a great
deal. It is certainly true that I am not responsible for
his removal, but I am unfortunately so for his conduct
when he is placed in my province, and am bound by the
laws and usage of this country to inspect it.

" Mr. Abbot having sent me, at the request of Lord
Hardwicke, the proposed arrangements, I entertained
no suspicion of any other till the 27th of November, when
I took the liberty of writing to you, a liberty which I
should probably have taken before had I suspected that
His Majesty's Ministers meant to promote Dr. Beresford.
This translation to the see of Kilmore is, in my opinion,
fatal to the Church Establishment. It exposes us to
ridicule and contempt ; it encourages that profligacy of
manners already too prevalent in Ireland, and it holds
forth to the young men of this country that morals are
of no estimation in the opinion of the English Minister.
My understanding suggests no surer method of destroying
the Church than by placing irreligious and profligate men
in those situations where the people have a right to expect
examples of piety and virtue.

" I will not, however, push this subject further, but
beg the favour of you, if Dr. Beresford is translated to
Kilmore, as your letter leads me to suppose, to lay my

8—2

ii6 PRIMATE OBJECTS TO PROFLIGATE BISHOPS

humble request before his Majesty, and I most confidently
rely on the wisdom and goodness of the King that he will
allow me to resign a situation which I can no longer hold
with advantage to the publick, or credit to myself.
Before you submit the matter to his Majesty, I earnestly
entreat you to consider what will be the consequence of
compelling me to remain against my will, and if you do
so, I am well persuaded you will advise his Majesty to
permit me to retire. To tell you that I feel nothing on
this occasion would be to tell you what is not true. I
most deeply lament it as the greatest misfortune of my
life. No man ever resigned so high a situation or aban-
doned a profession in which he was so honourably dis-
tinguished, without great regret ; but if Dr. Beresford be
translated to Kilmore I should certainly have to struggle
with far greater evils, and should probably struggle in
vain, for the profession itself would shortly cease to exist.
I therefore adopt that part which appears to me least
liable to objection, and retire from a situation in which
I cannot continue without embarrassing His Majesty's
Ministers."

From the Prime Minister to the Primate :

" Downing Street,

" Jan. 2p-d, 1802.

" My Lord,

" I have been honoured with your Grace's letter,
and I cannot forbear observing that you have not con-
descended to notice the concluding paragraph of mine of
the 7th of this month. As, however, it is not possible for
me to be influenced by general charges only, notwithstand-
ing my respect for the quarter from whence they have
proceeded, I think it incumbent on me to request, and,
indeed, to claim from your Grace's justice some specifica-
tion of the depravity which has led your Grace to pro-
nounce that ' the character of Dr. Beresford is indisputably
infamous '; and that ' if he is translated to Kilmore the
profession itself would shortly cease to exist.'

" I have reason to believe that his Majesty's pleasure
in consequence of the vacancy in Kilmore will not be
made known till I have heard again from your Grace ;
and I trust you will pardon me if, till that period arrives,
I abstain from laying your Grace's letters and my
answers, with your correspondence with Lord Hardwicke
and Mr. Abbot, before the King."

PRIMATE'S THREATS IGNORED 117

The next letter on the subject is from Addington to
Hardwicke, dated January 24, 1802 :

" It is in strict confidence," says the Prime Minister,
" that I acquaint your Lordship of my having already
apprized his Majesty of what has passed, tho' the letters
have not yet been submitted for his perusal. I incline
to believe that no imputation can justly attach upon
Dr. Beresford, but that of gaiety and irregularity
at an early period of his life. Since he was upon the
Bench I understand his conduct has been irreproach-
able."

Acknowledging the receipt of this communication on
January 28, 1802, Hardwicke writes to Addington :

" I have only now to hope that this transaction may
be brought to an early, and I wish I could say satisfactory,
conclusion. Being perfectly unconscious of any inten-
tional disrespect to the Primate, or of any disregard or
indifference to the interests of religion, I am very sin-
cerely concerned at the stile and manner of his Grace's
letters, and at the unprecedented step which he proposes
to take on account of the translation of a person to whose
promotion to the Bench he did not feel himself called
upon to object with the same apprehension of its conse-
quences ; and yet it is remarkable that whatever objec-
tions could have been made to Dr. Beresford on the ground
of character and conduct arose from circumstances which
occurred previously to his original promotion, and con-
sequently before I had any opportunity of being ac-
quainted with them.

" I flatter myself that his Majesty, to whom you will

now be under the necessity of stating what has passed,

will be graciously pleased to put the most favourable

construction upon the share I have had in this transaction,

which is so fully explained in former letters that I should

not be justified in trespassing longer upon your time at

present."

* * *

The protests and threats of his Grace of Armagh were
ignored by the Government. Dr. Beresford was trans-
lated from Clonfert to Kilmore. From John Beresford

Ii8 PRIMATE OBJECTS TO PROFLIGATE BISHOPS

came the following grateful letter to the Lord Lieutenant,
dated London, February 22, 1802 :

" My dear Lord,

" Lord Pelham assured me that he would send off
the King's letter for Kilmore by this night's post. I
cannot suffer it to go without accompanying it with my
most sincere and heartfelt thanks to your Excellency for
your exceeding great kindness to me throughout a most
disagreeable and unprovoked business. I am perfectly
sensible of your Excellency's firm, manly, gentlemanlike,
and truly friendly conduct throughout the whole ; and
beg that you will accept of my best thanks, and be assured
that I shall ever retain the most grateful recollection
of it.

" I am, my dear Lord, with great truth and respect,
your faithful and much obliged humble servant,

" J. Beresford."

The news was conveyed to the Primate by the Lord
Lieutenant in the following letter :

" Dublin Castle,

" March 4th, 1802.

" My Lord,

"It is my duty to acquaint your Grace that in
consequence of the representations you have made in
regard to the removal of Bishop Beresford from the see
of Clonfert to that of Kilmore, Mr. Addington has sub-
mitted the whole case to his Majesty's consideration, and
that it did not appear to his Majesty, under all the cir-
cumstances, that there were sufficiently strong reasons
for negativing the translation.

" I am, however, desired to assure your Grace that
though this translation has been necessarily confirmed,
there is every disposition on the part of the King's
Ministers to consult your Grace's feelings and comfort
in any subsequent arrangement which you may consider
material to the interest of the Church Establishment.
For myself, I can only say that as I came to this country
with the most anxious desire of co-operating with your
Grace to promote whatever objects you might think
beneficial to the great publick interests which are more
immediately under your superintendence, I agree most
entirely in the sentiments which are felt by His Majesty's
Ministers in England, and should be very happy to have

SUBMISSION OF THE PRIMATE 119

an opportunity of proving to you the sincerity of this
declaration."

The tactful and courteous Lord Lieutenant succeeded
in soothing the ruffled feelings of the Primate. " William
Armagh," writing on March 11, 1802, expresses his grati-
tude for the Lord Lieutenant's extreme kindness.

" Whatever I may think of that translation and the
manner in which it may affect the Establishment in this
country," he says, " I cannot entertain a doubt of your
Excellency being sincerely inclined to promote the real
interests of the Church."

Dr. Stuart, accordingly, did not resign. For twenty
years more he was Primate of All Ireland. On May 6,
1822, he died from accidental poisoning by an embroca-
tion which he had taken in mistake for medicine. There is
a full-length marble statue of him in Armagh Cathedral.

CHAPTER VI

THE HUNT FOR BISHOPRICS

The Primate, as I have pointed out in a note to the last
chapter, was mistaken in stating in his letter to the Chief
Secretary that the Government were unfettered by the
Union engagements in appointing to the bishopric of
Kilmore. Dr. Alexander's promotion to the Episcopal
Bench was, of course, a Union engagement. There re-
mained on the list one other promise of a bishopric —
that to the Hon. and Rev. Power le Poer Trench. This
clergyman's father was Lord Kilconnel in the Irish
House of Lords, and his elder brother, Richard Trench,
was member for co. Galway in the Irish House of
Commons. Richard Trench voted against the Union in
the session of 1799, but voted for it in the session of
1800. Lord Kilconnel, who supported the measure in
the House of Lords, was promoted to be Viscount Dunlo
in December, 1800, and was further advanced to the
Earldom of Clancarty in 1803. There was also an en-
gagement given by Lord Cornwallis that the younger
son of the family, a clergyman, should be early promoted
to the Bench of Bishops.

Here is Pelham, the Home Secretary, writing to the
Lord Lieutenant, July 21, 1802, acknowledging the
official letter of his Excellency recommending Mr. Trench
for the united bishopric of Waterford and Lismore, then
vacant. The Home Secretary says he has delayed laying
the letter before the King, as he had not received from
the Lord Lieutenant the customary " private and con-

120

THE TOTTENHAM LOFTUS CLAIM 121

fidential " communication which always preceded the
official letter. Of course, the Home Secretary goes on
to say, somewhat sarcastically, his Excellency's recom-
mendation was sufficient reason for thinking that Mr.
Trench was a proper person to be advanced to the
Bench of Bishops. Nevertheless, he should really like
to know what were the claims of Mr. Trench to Water-
ford, one of the best of the sees.

" If," says the Home Secretary, " he is the person I
presume him to be (younger brother of the member for
Galway), I should suppose any bishoprick would be con-
sidered by him a very great object."

The reply of the Lord Lieutenant is not wanting in the
same quiet irony :

" I am much obliged to your Lordship for saying that
my recommendation of Dr. Trench is a sufficient reason
for your thinking it fit that he should be advanced to the
Bench ; but I am sure you will do me the justice to
believe that if it had been really a recommendation origi-
nating from any wish of mine, either on private or on
publick grounds, of friendship or merit, instead of an
engagement of the late Administration in Ireland,
adopted by His Majesty's Ministers, as well as by myself,
upon undertaking the Government of this country, I
should not have contented myself with a mere official
letter, though it appeared to be sufficient in the case of
an engagement already known and recognised."

* * *

The appointment of Mr. Trench to the see of Waterford
satisfied the last claim for a bishopric on the List of
Union Engagements. But not until he was entirely
quit of Ireland did Hardwicke cease to be tormented
by conflicting claims to vacant sees for services rendered
in the carrying of the Union. Here, for instance, is the
Prime Minister writing to the Lord Lieutenant, January 9,
1803, stating that Lord Loftus, son and heir of the
Marquis of Ely, sitting in the House of Commons for
the borough of Wexford, and a Lord of the Treasury,
had informed him that he had had at the time of the

122 THE HUNT FOR BISHOPRICS

Union a positive promise from the Duke of Portland,
then Home Secretary, that his younger brother, the Rev.
Lord Robert Tottenham Loftus, should be raised to the
Bench of Bishops as soon as possible after he had reached
the age of thirty, the canonical age of a bishop. Adding-
ton says he assured Lord Loftus that if a written confir-
mation of the statement were obtained from Portland
the pretensions of the Rev. Lord Robert Tottenham
Loftus would be favourably considered by the Govern-
ment.

" I told his Lordship," the Prime Minister goes on,
" that I v/ould give him one proof of a good disposition
towards him, which was that if his statement should be
verified the only friend for whom I felt extreme anxiety
with a view to preferment in the Church in Ireland
should not stand in his way ; but that I could not pos-
sibly say more."

The friend for whom Addington was concerned was
Dr. Butson, Dean of Waterford, a college friend of his
Oxford days,

" He thanked me," says the Prime Minister in conclu-
sion, referring to Lord Loftus, " but did not appear satis-
fied, though he was particularly civil and even cordial
in his expressions towards the Government."

Thus opens the interesting and exciting story of the
hunt of the Tottenham Loftus family for a bishopric.
It is an amusing tale also ; but we will have to mingle
indignation with our merriment, for there is much in it
to shock our sense of virtue and duty, showing, as it
does, the low level of the public spirit, and the character
and the honour, of the men in whose hands the destiny of
Ireland unhappily lay at the close of the eighteenth cen-
tury. A few words, first, as to the Tottenham Loftus
family. The Earl of Ely, in the Irish Peerage, was the
owner of six boroughs which returned eight members to
the Irish House of Commons. Consequently, it was most
important to win him over to the side of the Union ; and
as he was determined to sell his influence dearly, it was

A UNION ENGAGEMENT FOR A BISHOPRIC 123

obtained only at an enormous price. For himself, a Mar-
quisate in the Irish Peerage and a Baronage of the
United Kingdom, carrying, of course, a seat in the
House of Lords of the Imperial Parliament, and the
sinecure post of Postmaster-General for Ireland. He also
received the immense sum of ;^45,ooo " compensation "
for the loss of his nomination boroughs. For his eldest
son. Lord Loftus, a post in the Treasury, and for his
younger son, Lord Robert Tottenham Loftus, a bishopric.
As the latter engagement — the only one remaining un-
fulfilled— was given by the Duke of Portland, Home
Secretary, it did not appear in the list supplied by Corn-

wallis to Hardwicke.

* * *

In August, 1803, the see of Derry became vacant
through the death of its bishop, that eccentric ecclesi-
astic, the Earl of Bristol. Dr. Knox, the Bishop of
Killaloe, had an engagement, in return for his services
to the Union, for a translation to a wealthier diocese,
and as he was anxious to obtain Derry, the Lord Lieu-
tenant supported his claim. But there were rumours
that the Cabinet intended to set aside Knox, and appoint
some other ecclesiastic to Derry over the head of the
Viceroy, and Hardwicke — anxious, as usual, for the re-
demption of the Union engagements — thus writes, in
some perturbation of mind, to his brother, Charles Yorke,
now Home Secretary :

" Private.

" Dublin Castle,

" August 13, 1803.
• " My dear Charles,

" I am obliged to write in some haste upon a point
which, though of minor importance to objects which claim
our immediate attention, is, nevertheless, of some con-
sequence to the credit and character of Government, as
well as to myself personally. On the List of Union En-
gagements, of which I have been the faithful and dis-
interested executor, the name of the Bishop of Killaloe
stands second, next to the Archbishop of Cashel, for a
translation to Dublin. The engagement was made by
Lord Comwallis for promotion to a better see, and was

124 THE HUNT FOR BISHOPRICS

made to Lord Aberdeen, who has, I understand, acted
very handsomely of late towards the present Ministry.
In November, 1801, the Bishop of Killaloe might have
been promoted to Cashel, if he had not previously — i.e.,
in June, 1801 — made his option of a translation to Derry,
for which he proposed waiting, and of which he had as
strong a promise as I believe is ever given on behalf of
his Majesty — that is, ' every assurance, short of an abso-
lute promise.' His large family, and the connexion of
his family with the North, induced him to prefer this
chance to the certainty of greater rank with £6,000 per
annum.

" I should have thought there had been no doubt of
his succeeding, but that a short note from the Speaker
informs me that translations and removes are intended ;
and that some Irish bishoprick will be opened for Dr.
Lindsay. I am now less interested for Dr. Lindsay's
objects than for the general character of this Govern-
ment, though I think if no engagement existed it would
be too much to say — after all that has passed, and that
I have done nothing for any friend or connexion what-
ever — that such or such a bishoprick is too good for
him, and that and this removes must intervene. I had
already written to Addington on the subject before I
received the Speaker's note ; but I rather apprehend
that the Bishop of Ferns, a very jobbing fellow, though
an English bishop, has pressed through other quarters
for a remove from the Irish to the English Bench. I
also hear that Dr. Goodenough is talked of for Derry,
which, at any rate, I should think an arrangement that
would not be very much approved, as Derry should cer-
tainly be given to some man of rank and family.

" But this is quite foreign to the purpose, and relates
also to the policy of removing from England to Ireland,
a plan which I think would be inconvenient. Besides,
the Bishop of Killaloe is really a respectable bishop, and
except the Archbishop of Cashel the most likely to be
useful in promoting the interests of the Church in this
country, which requires every support and encourage-
ment, notwithstanding its supposed and apparent opu-
lence.

" I hope you will prevent my being dishonoured in
this instance. At the same time, I assure you that
whatever is done this is a moment at which I should

THE VICEROY'S SECRETARY GETS A BISHOPRIC 125

certainly not feel it possible to avert it by expressing a
desire to withdraw myself.

" Yours most affectionately,

" Hardwicke."

Ultimately, Dr. Knox was translated from Killaloe to
Derry. All the promises of bishoprics to supporters of
the Union being now satisfied, the conscientious Hard-
wicke thought he might fairly serve some of his own
relations. Accordingly, he recommended his brother-in-
law and private secretary, Rev. Charles Lindsay, for the
diocese of Killaloe, and his wish was gratified by the King.

" It is my earnest desire," says the Prime Minister,
conveying to Hardwicke his Majesty's approval of the
promotion of Lindsay, " that the next vacancy on the
Bench may be supplied by Dr. Butson."

The Marquis of Ely now thought it was time to
advance the pretensions of his son to a bishopric. So,
on September 30, 1803, he sent the following letter from
Dublin to Addington :

" My dear Sir,

" I must entreat your forgiveness for presuming
to take up a moment of your precious time about my
own concerns, but my attachment to a favourite son
urges me to it.

" At the time of the Union, I trust I gave it as ample
and effective support as any other gentleman in Ireland.
I might have made a positive and a speedy bargain for
my son with the Lord Lieutenant of the day, had I been
as active as others of less claims. However, I made my
claims known to the Duke of Portland, who assured me
they should have his best support. All the episcopal
claims in consequence of the Union are declared to be
now fulfilled, except my son's, and Dr. Lindsay, brother-
in-law to Lord Hardwicke, fills the present vacancy of
Killaloe. Ma^^ I now entreat the favour of you to have
my son noted down for the next vacancy ? I appeal to
the Duke of Portland for a promise from the Govern-
ment of the day that he should be taken care of. On that
score I once more entreat your pardon for all this trouble."

* * iif

126 THE HUNT FOR BISHOPRICS

Towards the end of the year 1803 the Bishop of
Raphoe lay ill. The news brought into the field a fresh
claimant for a bishopric in return for services rendered
to the Union. This was the Marquis of Waterford,
whose father, the first Marquis, voted for the measure
in the House of Lords, as his uncle, John Beresford, had
supported it in the House of Commons. His youngest
brother. Lord John Beresford, was rector of Termon-
maguirk, in the diocese of Armagh ; and the promotion
of this son to the see of Raphoe was the object of his
dearest solicitude. Lord Waterford further informed
Hardwicke that Dean Butson — Addington's friend — was
going about Waterford boasting that he had been pro-
mised the reversion of the next vacant see. Surely Lord
John George Beresford would not be set aside in favour
of such a man ! But here is Waterford's letter to the
Lord Lieutenant :

" CURRAGHMORE,

" Dec. 2$rd, 1803.

" My dear Lord,

"As a vacancy has occurred on the Bench of
Bishops by the decease of the Lord Bishop of Raphoe,* I
take the liberty of addressing your Excellency in behalf
of my brother. Lord John Beresford, to succeed to the
vacant see.

" Your Excellency was pleased, when last I had the
honor of seeing you in Dublin, to express yourself in the
kindest manner respecting Lord John. You were pleased
to acknowledge his pretensions to hold that situation
from his rank in life, his conduct as a clergyman, and
particularly the claims his family has on His Majesty's
Government for their unremitting and steady support.
Mr. Addington, in a conversation I had the honor to have
with him last winter, admitted in the strongest manner
my pretensions. He said he never made reversionary
engagements, and requested me not to urge what was
unusual, but offered by that night's post to write to your
Excellency on this subject.

* In a letter written at the same time to the Prime Minister,
Lord Waterford says : "A vacancy is soon likely to occur on
the Bench of Bishops by the decease of my Lord Bishop of
Raphoe."

ANOTHER BERESFORD CLAIM TO A BISHOPRIC 127

" When I reflect on that conversation I cannot bring
myself to beheve that Mr. Addington ever could prefer
to Lord John Beresford a gentleman who has taken every
pains in his power to make it a matter of public notoriety
that he had a promise from Mr. Addington to succeed,
on the first vacant see, to the Bench. I should hope, had
Mr. Addington made such a promise, it was only of such
a nature that it was to be done if favourable circumstances
permitted ; but as the gentleman had betrayed his secret,
it now remains with Mr. Addington to say whether the
gentleman has the same claims on His Majesty's Govern-
ment as I have.

" Feeling myself unable to apologise for thus trespassing
on your Excellency, and relying on your Lordship's
friendship, I trust I shall have the pleasure to hear that
my wishes, and most anxious desire, are through your kind
interference accomplished.

" I beg leave to subscribe myself, my dear Lord, your
Excellency's most obliged, faithful servant,

" Waterford.

" P.S. — Lord John Beresford's preferments in the Church
are about four and twenty hundred, out of which he pays
three curates. The gentleman's preferments are scarce
sixteen hundred, out of which he pays three curates. The
above assertion I can prove."

The Viceroy's reply to Lord Waterford is as follows :

" Dublin Castle,

" Dec. 27th, 1803.

" My DEAR Lord,

" I am sure your Lordship will have the candour to
acknowledge that I could not receive your letter of the
22nd inst. without being in some respects at a loss to
return so satisfactory an answer to it as I should always
wish to give to any letter of your Lordship. I shall, how-
ever, endeavour to answer it precisely as I feel, and I trust
you will give me credit for a fair and candid statement.

" Your Lordship is not unacquainted with the very
numerous engagements on the patronage of the Govern-
ment to which every claim of whatever nature has been
necessarily postponed. In the disposal of the higher pre-
ferments of the Church, it is impossible that I should at
any time pledge myself to particular engagements with-
out a positive certainty that the recommendation will be

128 THE HUNT FOR BISHOPRICS

approved and sanctioned. This course has been uniformly
pursued in all cases of this description ; and if in any
instance I can consider myself warranted in forwarding a
recommendation officially, without a previous assurance
that it will receive the King's sanction, it would be in the
case of a person recommended by the Prime Minister him-
self. With every disposition, both on private and publick
grounds, to promote your Lordship's wishes in the instance
of Lord John Beresford, and with a conviction also from
everything I have heard and know that whatever pre-
tensions he may derive from his rank and family, and
from the support which His Majesty's Government has
received from his connexions, are strengthened by his
character and respectability as a clergyman, I trust your
Lordship will not press me to interfere with those wishes
which Mr. Addington has uniformly expressed in favour
of the Dean of Waterford, by declining to forward a
recommendation which, it was fully understood, was to
be made, upon the vacancy which may be shortly ex-
pected to occur. Though I certainly have not approved
of the declarations which have been made by that gentle-
man in regard to a supposed promise, and think that in
all such cases they had better be spared, yet this circum-
stance would not be considered as justifying me in with-
drawing my support of a recommendation in favour of
which, I am now at liberty to say, Mr. Addington has
expressed his wishes in the strongest manner.

" I have now explained to your Lordship very openly
the precise circumstances of this case, from which I am
sure you will be convinced that I cannot, after all that has
passed, decline recommending the Dean of Waterford if
a vacancy should occur on the Bench. I will, however,
if your Lordship wishes it, communicate your letter to
Mr. Addington."

Hardwicke, writing to Addington on December 28,
1803, thought the claim of Lord Waterford — " with very
fair pretensions to apply for such promotion for his
brother " — was, in the circumstances, most unreasonable.
Lord John George Beresford had only just attained to his
thirtieth year, the canonical age of a bishop. Besides, two
of the Beresford family were already on the Bench of
Bishops — the Archbishop of Tuam and the Bishop of
Kilmore. The Lord Lieutenant goes on :

VICEROY SUPPORTS THE DEAN OF WATERFORD 129

" The Dean of Waterford, whose recommendation you
have desired me to forward whenever a vacancy occurs,
has certainly not acted with proper discretion in declaring
publicly that he has your positive promise of the first
vacancy. I was sorry to fmd that he was inchned to
press his recommendation as one that ought to have been
made, and that he was entitled to expect, on the death of
the Bishop of Derry. In answering Lord Waterford, I
have endeavoured to show him that the dean's indiscre-
tion, though I disapprove of it entirely, would not justify
me in wishing to supersede a recommendation for which
you have been so particularly anxious."

The Prime Minister, replying in January, 1804, says :
" I rather doubt whether the Dean of Waterford can have
made the declaration imputed to him, as it would not only
have been inconsistent with discretion, but with accuracy."
Butson had only reason to believe that Addington would
recommend him for a bishopric after the promotion of
the Viceroy's private secretary. " I do, however," adds
the Prime Minister, " consider myself bound to support
the pretensions of Dr. Butson, as the engagements with
which we have been so long encumbered are disposed of."

Lord Waterford also wrote to Addington in the interest
of his brother.

" I feel confident," he says, " that no other per-
son in this country can be found to have upon publick
or private grounds a stronger or fairer claim for pre-
ferment on the Bench than Lord John Beresford, my
brother. I am, therefore, to request that you will be
pleased to recommend Lord John Beresford to a seat on
the Ecclesiastical Bench on this occasion, and I have
reason to think that such preferment would not be dis-
agreeable to the Lord Lieutenant, to whom I have spoken
on this subject, but to whom application must be made,
as he never makes a promise."

But Addington, hurt, no doubt, by Waterford's tittle-
tattle about Butson, sent a curt reply.

" My Lord," says he in his note (a copy of which
he forwarded to Hardwicke), " Lord John Beresford's
personal character and his affinity to your Lordship

I30 THE HUNT FOR BISHOPRICS

justly entitle him to look to a high situation in the Church ;
but I must beg to confine myself to this admission, and
to continue to decline to give any specific assurance or
pledge whatever."

The Lord Lieutenant, writing to Addington, January 13,
1804, deals with the rival claims of Waterford and Ely.
In the opinion of his Excellency, Ely had already been
sufficiently rewarded for his support of the Union ; and
as Waterford had received no return for his services
beyond a step in the Irish Peerage, Waterford rather than
Ely was entitled to the next vacant bishopric after the
claim of Dr. Butson had been satisfied.

* * *

The Bishop of Raphoe seems to have recovered. But the
Bishop of Kildare died in April, 1804, and Dr. Lindsay,
the Lord Lieutenant's brother-in-law, was translated
from Killaloe to Kildare. Then and only then did Lindsay
resign his post as first chaplain to the Viceroy, which he
had held in conjunction with the private secretaryship ;
and as an interlude to the Tottenham Loftus hunt for a
bishopric I will give here a remarkable letter from that
curious person, Rev. Charles Chester (Hardwicke's poor
relation), to the Lord Lieutenant as a claimant for the

position :

" Dame Street, Dublin,

" April 1 1, 1804.

" My dear Lord,

" That I may not intrude upon you in a busy
moment, I take this method of reverting to a subject I
mentioned to you the other day, viz., my succeeding the
bishop as your Excellency's first chaplain ; and I do it
with the more confidence as you wished to know my
reasons for desiring it, and I think you said that if it was
a very great object to me, you would waive your objec-
tions.

" I must begin then with saying that I have ever con-
sidered it as an object of the first importance to me ; and
that it is, as your objection still further convinces me,
for the honor of being appointed first chaplain to the
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland naturally attaches a great
degree of credit to the person, not only in this country,

REAPPEARANCE OF THE REV. CHARLES CHESTER 131

but also in England, and especially in the University.
To me, therefore, who have so long lived in the neighbour-
hood of one, on this account it is greater than it might be
to many men ; and it is a well-known fact that the first
chaplain to a Lord Lieutenant has, and ever will be con-
sidered to have, a strong claim for handsome preferment
from the Minister in England, inasmuch as he is
generally considered as having a fair claim for an Irish
bishoprick. Now, although I never intend to press
for this honour, yet the great interest that such an
appointment would give me with the Minister in England
cannot but make me greatly wish it, because I shall then
be satisfied that the application you have already made
for me, and which, as I now stand, may be unattended to,
will then soon be answered with some handsome piece
of preferment. These reasons, my Lord, and the warm
interest you show for my welfare, make me hope you will
oblige me in this instance. But this is not all ; for from
my first appointment as second chaplain, I, of course,
looked forward in time to become the first, and so did all
my friends.

" Moreover, I was encouraged to look for it by your first
chaplain, then Dr. Lindsay, from the first of my coming
here ; and when you very lately told me that whenever the
Bishop would resign the office I should succeed him, and
he, at the same time, told me he should resign as soon as
the patent for his translation arrived, I, of course, flattered
myself that I was sure of it, and mentioned it to many of
my friends here, as well as by letter to those in England ;
which may appear premature, but as I found the Bishop
had named his intention and my succession to many of the
Household, by whom I was then congratulated, I could not
but consider it was certain. And it was but on Thursday
last that the Bishop told me in the presence of Mr. Camp-
bell that he should at once resign the office, and that I
might consider myself from that time as first chaplain.

" Think, then, my Lord, how great must be my disap-
pointment. But even that is nothing in comparison to
the disgrace I shall feel at having been brought into so
ridiculous a situation ; for, instead of being raised in con-
sequence in this country, I shall appear to my acquaint-
ances here, particularly to the College, and to my friends
in England, no better than a false boaster, and can only
expect to be despised for having presumed, without your

9—2

132 THE HUNT FOR BISHOPRICS

Excellency's previous concurrence, to speak of an arrange-
ment that wiU appear to them, by my disappointment,
was never seriously in contemplation. Think, then, my
dear Lord, how my feelings must be hurt at the idea of
labouring under such an imputation, and I trust you will
feel but little hesitation in obliging me.

" I should certainly regret that what would be so
advantageous and gratifying to me should be a source of
trouble to your Lordship ; but it appears to me that the
inconvenience you alluded to might be effectually pre-
vented by one letter from you to Mr. Addington, or Mr.
Yorke, announcing the arrangement, and explaining that
the Bishop of Kildare, as Dean of Christ Church, having
necessarily resigned the ofhce of first chaplain, your second
chaplain and relation, Mr, Chester, in whose behalf you
had some time ago applied to him, had succeeded of course ;
but you thought it right to state to him that it was neither
his wish nor your intention that he should interfere with
any Ministerial interest in this country ; but that you
hoped he would take an early opportunity of presenting
him to a stall in one of the great cathedrals, and that West-
minster would be the most eligible to him.

" Thus, my Lord, you may prevent the possibility of

being troubled with any letters on the subject ; thus you

may promote my interest with the Minister in the most

effectual manner ; you may save my feelings from being

severely wounded, and you will add a most gratifying

obligation to those already bestowed upon your obedient,

humble servant,

" C. Chester."
* * *

Dr. Nathaniel Alexander was translated from Clonfert
to KiUaloe, and the question remaining for settlement
was which of the three claimants for a bishopric — Lord
Robert Tottenham Loftus, Lord John Beresford, or Dean
Butson of Waterford — should get the vacant see of Clon-
fert. The Lord Lieutenant sent to Whitehall the official
recommendation of Dean Butson for the position. But
the Tottenham Loftus family brought all their influence
to bear upon the Prime Minister, and, to judge by the
following letter from Lord Ely to the Viceroy, they seemed
to have, at last, attained their object :

LORD ELY URGES HIS SON'S CLAIM 133

" May nth, 1804.

" My Lord,

" I took the earliest opportunity of waiting on
your Excellency after receiving my English letters to
state that my son had a meeting by appointment, on
Monday last, with the Duke of Portland and Mr. Adding-
ton, on the subject of my younger son's claim on the favour
of Government to be placed on the Episcopal Bench in
the present vacancy ; and on looking it over they each
agreed that they conceived the faith of Government was
pledged at the time of the Union to give their assistance
to his being now appointed ; and Mr. Addington felt it
so forceably that he desired a gentleman present (General
Loftus) to write to Mr. Butson to give the reason why
he was not at liberty to recommend him to the present
vacancy ; and I was told that nothing remained but my
entreating your Excellency's kind recommendation to
have the business settled to my satisfaction.

" I trust from the very kind answer I received in your
closet at the time this vacancy happened, that you will
have no objection to grant your favourable recommenda-
tion, which will confer the highest obligation on your
Excellency's most obedient and very humble servant,

"Ely."

To this communication the Lord Lieutenant sent the
following reply :

" Phcenix Park,

" May nth, 1804.

" My dear Lord,

" I am very sorry that you should have had the
trouble of calling here at a time when I had really not a
moment to spare, being anxious to finish some letters for
the express or mail of this day.

" Upon the subject of your Lordship's letter, which I
have just received, I think it much better to deal fairly
and candidly towards your Lordship, than to claim any
share in a favour for which, however interesting it must
be to your Lordship, you will be solely indebted to Mr.
Addington, if his Majesty should approve of the arrange-
ment in favour of Lord Robert Tottenham.

" Your Lordship knows that in the disposal of the
Church preferment and other patronage of this country,
since I have had the honour of holding my present situa-
tion, I have acted merely as a trustee of the late Govern-

134 THE HUNT FOR BISHOPRICS

ment, and no one can say that I have not been anxious to
fulfil every engagement in an honourable and disinterested
manner. Had there been any other engagements that
received a similar sanction I should not have recommended
the Bishop of Killaloe for a seat on the Bench — the
only personal favour I have solicited or obtained for any
of my connections — nor subsequently, by Mr. Addington's
particular desire strongly expressed in different letters,
should I have forwarded an official recommendation of
the Dean of Waterford. But I cannot retract or super-
sede a recommendation transmitted officially at the
express desire of the Prime Minister, more especially as
the satisfaction of other engagements is connected with
the promotion of the Dean of Waterford, or of some
other clergyman under circumstances nearly similar in
respect to the preferment he holds, and not less proper in
other more important particulars.

" 1 flatter myself that even your Lordship, as well as
others who may judge impartially upon the subject, will
acquit me of any want of goodwill or of due respect and
regard towards your Lordship or your family. I have
no reason to entertain a contrary feeling, and am ready,
as I always have been, to admit your pretensions to
recommend your son to some of the higher situations in
the Church. But I should not act properly by your
Lordship, or consistently with my duty to the publick,
or to the King's Government, if I did not say that in
my opinion there are claims to which the interests of
both — if, indeed, they can be considered separate —
demand attention in preference to Lord Robert Totten-
ham. At the same time that I request your Lordship
to give me credit for acting upon a principle of consis-
tency, and upon publick grounds only in the opinions I
have given, I cannot conclude without assuring you that I
feel in no degree hurt at your having endeavoured to
promote the interest of your son in the manner which
appeared the most likely to succeed."

A few days later came a most important letter on the
subject from the Prime Minister to the Lord Lieutenant.
It is dated May 14, 1804, and in it Addington says it is
his last communication to Hardwicke as Prime Minister,
for on the next day he is to go out of office, to be succeeded
by William Pitt. It is a bitter letter. He is very angry

THE DUKE OF PORTLAND'S PROMISE 135

because he finds that the Duke of Portland — Home
Secretary at the time of the Union — had, with the
approval of the King, really given Lord Loftus the pro-
mise of a bishopric for his younger brother, in return for
the family support of the Union, and that Portland had
failed to communicate this engagement to his colleagues.
He says :

" Having resisted all the representations of Lord
Loftus (which were not deficient in earnestness, to say the
least) in favour of his brother, I was at length placed in
a situation of great difftculty by a declaration of the Duke
of Portland, made in the presence of Lord Loftus and
Lieutenant-General Loftus — viz., that he had given them
a promise in the King's name that when Lord Robert
Tottenham was of the proper age, and an opportunity
offered, he should be raised to the Bench ; and that he
considered this as an Union engagement, and so binding
as to admit of no fair alternative if Lord Ely and his
family insisted upon the literal performance of it. I had
been previously given to understand that his Grace did
not conceive himself to be further pledged than that Lord
Robert should stand fair for the Bench when a proper
opportunity offered, and that he was by no means pledged
for the first vacancy after Lord Robert should have
reached the age of thirty.

" The Duke of Portland, however, though wishing well
to Dean Butson, stated the engagement as I have before
described it, and it became, therefore, impossible for me
to be a party in violating a promise given by one of my
colleagues in the name of the King. I accordingly sug-
gested that the circumstances ought to be communicated
to his Majesty by the Duke of Portland, and an official
notification will, of course, be made to your Excellency
through the regular channel. I shall make no further
comment on this transaction, which is to me a very un-
pleasant one ; and will only add that it should not be
imputed to me with truth that any wish of mine has
obstructed the performance of a single Union engage-
ment."

* * *

Robert Banks Jenkinson, Lord Hawkesbury, now
comes on the scene. He has been appointed to the Home
Office in the new Administration, and with him, and his

136 THE HUNT FOR BISHOPRICS

chief, William Pitt, lies the decision of the question
whether the vacant bishopric of Clonfert is to go to Dean
Butson or to Lord Robert Tottenham Loftus. Writing to
the Viceroy on May 20, 1804, he says the Duke of Portland
had given an assurance that in his official capacity as
Home Secretary he had contracted an engagement with
Lord Loftus for a bishopric for his brother, and in the
circumstances Pitt and he had come reluctantly to the
conclusion that Lord Robert Tottenham Loftus must be
appointed Bishop of Clonfert. Hawkesbury goes on :

" I am happy, however, in being able to add that Pitt
entirely agrees with your opinion that the appointment
of voung men of rank to bishoprics without any attention
to their requirements and other qualifications must, on
every account, be resisted in the future. The security
of the Protestant religion and of order requires the
utmost attention to be paid to the purity and respect-
ability of the two Benches. The Union engagements
have, in recent instances, most materially counteracted
these important objects, but it is to be hoped that they
are now at an end, and that we may be enabled to revert
to those principles, and that practice, which can alone
contribute to the tranquillity and happiness of any
country."

Portland's letter to Hawkesbury — a copy of which
Hawkesbury sent to Hardwicke — is extremely interest-
ing for the light it throws on the part played by Lord Ely
in the haggling and bartering by which the Union of
Ireland and Great Britain was effected :

" London,
" Friday, i8th May, 1804.

" My dear Lord,

" The vacancy which has lately happened upon
the Irish Episcopal Bench has, very naturally, brought
forward the claims of the Marquis of Ely in favour of his
younger son, Lord Robert Tottenham Loftus, and has
occasioned Lord Ely to call upon me to lay before the rest
of the King's confidential servants the testimony which,
perhaps, I alone am able to give in support of his title.

" It is unnecessary now to enter into the particulars
which made Lord Ely decline having any communica-

PORTLAND CONFIRMS LORD ELY'S CLAIM 137

tion with the then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, or his
Chief Secretary, respecting the Union, and rendered him,
moreover, very averse to that measure. The fact is, of
itself, sufficiently notorious. But as his influence was
very considerable, a common friend of his and mine inter-
fered, and was so fortunate as to prevail upon him to
open that negotiation with me (who, your Lordship knows,
had at that time the honour of holding the Seals of the
Home Department) which he had positively refused to
do with Lord Comwalhs. Lord Loftus, accordingly, came
over, and among the conditions which he stipulated for
his father's support of the Union (all which conditions, I
must observe, have been religiously fulfilled) was in-
cluded the promotion of his brother. Lord Robert, to an
Irish bishoprick, when he should become of a convenient
age to have one conferred upon him.

" As that event has now taken place, as well as the
other, Lord Loftus is now come over again to claim the
performance of the engagement above specified ; and
the whole of Lord Ely's part of it having been correctly
and punctually fulfilled, I have no hesitation in giving it
as my opinion to your Lordship, that it is the duty of
His Majesty's Servants to see this only remaining article
of that treaty fully and completely executed, by recom-
mending to his Majesty to confer the vacant bishoprick
in Ireland upon Lord Robert Tottenham.

" I have the honour to be, with great truth and regard,
your Lordship's faithful, humble servant,

" Portland."
* * *

It seemed a triumph for the Tottenham Loftus family.
But Hardwicke was now committed to the appointment
of Dr. Butson, and he was not going to see the Dean
sacrificed to Lord Robert Tottenham Loftus without a
strong protest. Here is a copy of a long letter marked
" Private and Confidential," and dated " Phoenix Park,
May 24, 1804," which the Viceroy sent to Hawkesbury,
telling the whole story for the benefit of the new Prime
Minister and the new Home Secretary. He says :

" The recommendation of Dean Butson was originally
made in consequence of the particular desire of Mr.
Addington, who had known him at Oxford as an excellent
scholar. Unfavourable reports had been circulated in

138 THE HUNT FOR BISHOPRICS

this country respecting his moral character, as well as
the correctness of his religious principles, the ground of
which I have never been able to ascertain. At any rate,
he is a person who has many enemies, and his promotion
was by no means a popular measure in Ireland, so that in
supporting his recommendation I am not influenced by
any private wish of my own, which would rather have
induced me to recommend Lord John Beresford, not only
from his rank and family connexions, but from his char-
acter as a clergyman. Mr. Addington's recommendation
of Dean Butson was strongly pressed from the very
moment he became Minister till very recently ; and
even long after he had been apprised by Lord Ely and
Lord Loftus of their claim to a bishoprick grounded on a
supposed promise of the Duke of Portland.

" It appears by a letter from Mr. Addington in January,
1803, that a reference was actually made to the Duke of
Portland, in consequence of Mr. Addington having offered
to withdraw his recommendation of the only friend for
whom he felt anxiety on the subject of Church prefer-
ment in Ireland, if Lord Loftus's statement should be
verified. But no written statement from the Duke of
Portland was then produced, though Lord Loftus appears
from Mr. Addington's letter of January the 9th, 1803, to
have given him reason to expect it ; and even so lately
as the ist of January last, when a vacancy on the Bench
was daily expected, Mr. Addington does not appear to
have admitted Lord Loftus's claim. I transmitted on
the 2ist inst. to Sir Evan Nepean extracts of some of
Mr. Addington's letters upon this subject ; and I think it
right to enclose copies of them as important documents
in this case, which has been so much embarrassed by the
recent admission of the Duke of Portland in consequence
of the perseverance of Lord Loftus.

" I enclose copies of two notes from Lord Ely to my-
self, the first written before I came to Ireland, the other
to solicit the first living which had fallen vacant in the
gift of the Crown. To the first of these notes I answered
generally that, admitting his Lordship's pretensions to
recommend his son for Church preferment, I could not
give him any hope of being able to provide for Lord
Robert till the Engagements which I had received from
Lord Cornwallis had been satisfied, and to the second I
answered that the living in question was disposed of to

ELY'S CLAIM REJECTED BY THE VICEROY 139

satisfy a positive engagement. The inference to be
drawn from these notes is that Lord Ely himself did not
at that time consider his son as having a promise of a
bishoprick* ; and from Mr. Addington's letters it appears
equally clear that the Duke of Portland, though called
upon by Lord Loftus, did not support his Lordship's
assertion respecting an engagement ; and, in consequence,
Mr. Addington's friend, the Dean of Waterford, was
officially recommended, a circumstance which would not
have happened if Lord Loftus's claim had been verified
and supported by the Duke of Portland.

" Every precaution, therefore, seems to have been used
by Mr. Addington to ascertain whether any such engage-
ment as that claimed by Lord Loftus had actually been
made, without the knowledge of Mr. Pitt, who was
Minister at the time of the Union, or without having been
communicated to me by Lord Coniwallis with the other
engagements, or at any time added to the List upon
subsequent recollection, or on being reminded of it by
the parties concerned."

Two days later, and, of course, before a reply to the
above letter was received from Whitehall, Hardwicke
again wrote to the Home Secretary on the same subject.
He says that on the previous day Lord Robert Tottenham
Loftus called upon him at the Castle to request his re-
commendation for the vacant bishopric, and he encloses,
for the information of the Home Secretary, a long but
deeply interesting document, which he entitles — " Sub-
stance of Lord Hardwicke's Conversation with Lord
Robert Tottenham, 25th May, 1804 " :

" Lord Robert Tottenham began by stating that his
father's support at the time of the Union was one of the
principal causes of the success of that measure ; that by

* The Lord Lieutenant had probably forgotten the following
entry which I find in his audience-book recording a call at the
Castle by Lord Ely to see his Excellency as early as September 15,
1801 : " Going to the County of Wexford. Reminds me of the
application he made for his son, Lord Robert Tottenham, who
is in the Church. Says he was as much concerned in the Union
as anyone, and added that he had made NO BARGAIN ! If he
had, he says, he might have provided for his son, who has now
nothing but a very small living. Replied, I must get through all
my engagements before I can possibly attend to his wishes."

I40 THE HUNT FOR BISHOPRICS

the part he took upon the occasion he had made a great
sacrifice of personal influence, by which his family might
have been benefited and advanced. That upon this
ground a promise was made by the Duke of Portland in
the King's name that he, Lord Robert Tottenham, should
be promoted to the Bench upon the first vacancy after
he should be of the proper age ; that this promise had
been lately recognised by the Duke of Portland in the
presence of Lord Loftus and General Loftus ; and that
he came, in consequence, to request that I would transmit
the official recommendation.

" I told his Lordship that soon after I was appointed
to the Government of Ireland, I received from Lord Corn-
wallis, through Lord Castlereagh, in London, a very
numerous list of Church engagements, in addition to
many others, including two bishopricks, and many other
objects of considerable importance. Having undertaken
to fulfil these engagements of my predecessor, I had
applied every object of patronage that could be so applied
to the satisfaction of one or other of them ; and if his,
Lord Robert's, name had been included in the List, I
should have equally received it as a Union engagement.
That having, however, adhered so scrupulously to the
engagements which I had adopted, I felt a considerable
difficulty in abandoning an engagement made by the
express desire of Mr. Addington when he was Minister,
which had been pressed upon me for three years, and the
recommendation of which had been officially transmitted
at his particular instance, and with his perfect appro-
bation.

" It was notorious that Dean Butson was recommended
for a bishoprick entirely through the friendship of Mr.
Addington, who had known him many years ago at
Oxford, where he was distinguished as a scholar ; that
the deanery of Waterford and the living of Kilscoran
were both provided for in contemplation of Dean Butson's
promotion ; and that having already recommended that
gentleman for the vacant bishoprick, and made engage-
ments for his preferments, with Mr. Addington's appro-
bation also, I did not see with what consistency I could at
once abandon these engagements, and recommend his
Lordship. That I was aware his Majesty could dispose
of his bishopricks in Ireland, as well as in England, in
whatever manner he thought fit, but that it had not been

TOTTENHAM'S INTERVIEW WITH THE VICEROY 141

usual to dispose of them without the recommendation of
the Lord Lieutenant, and that the promise now claimed
had never been admitted till after the recommendations
of Dean Butson had been sent over by Mr. Addington's
desire.

" In January, 1803, Mr. Addington informed me that
upon Lord Loftus claiming this promise of a bishoprick,
previously to his departure for France, he had told his
Lordship that if that promise could be established, the
only friend for whose preferment in Ireland he felt anxious
should give way ; but he added that though Lord Loftus
had given him reason to expect from the Duke of Portland
a written statement of the promise, he had not received it.
I could not help observing that if that statement had
even then been supplied, much of the present difficulty
and embarrassment would have been spared, for Dean
Butson would never have been recommended at all.

" Lord Robert Tottenham did not controvert any part
of the statement which I had made, except by asserting
that Mr. Addington had declared that Dean Butson was
not recommended by his desire (a circumstance which I
cannot explain, after Mr. A.'s letters upon the subject,
which were the whole cause of the recommendation).
He also added that Mr. Addington was perfectly satisfied
to withdraw the Dean's pretensions, and that the Dean
was also satisfied with what Mr. Addington had said to
him upon the subject.

" To this I could only say that the conduct of one man
was no rule for that of another ; that I was not particu-
larly fond of saying that what I called black one day was
white another ; that I did not consider Mr. Addington's
conduct upon this occasion at ail creditable, and that
holding that opinion I could not avoid expressing it ; that
if he consented to abandon his friend, it was no reason why
that I should send over a recommendation directly incon-
sistent with that which was at this moment upon record,
both here and in the Secretary of State's office in London.

" Lord Robert then repeated his question whether I
would transmit his recommendation, and upon my again
repeating the difficulty I felt he said, ' In what way, then,
am I to proceed ?' To this question I replied that I did
not wish to give any advice in a case of which I did not
approve, explaining, however, that by that expression I
meant nothing personally uncivil towards his Lordship,

142 THE HUNT FOR BISHOPRICS

but merely in reference to what had passed, and that I
was far from entertaining any hostile feeling towards his
Lordship or his family.

" Lord Robert added that Mr, Addington had told him
he did not desire the recommendation of Dean Butson to
be transmitted officially. He took his leave, with an
apology for having taken up so much of my time."

" Upon the best consideration which I have been able
to give the subject," says the Lord Lieutenant in his
covering letter to Hawkesbury, " it appears to me that
after the recommendation which I have officially sent by
the desire and with the consent of Mr. Addington, that I
cannot, with any propriety or consistency, supersede that
recommendation by transmitting another on any lighter
grounds than his Majesty's commands." Nothing could
be more determined and imperative. It meant simply —
" Appoint Dr. Butson Bishop of Clonfert, or I resign."

In another letter, dated June 9, 1804, sent by the Lord
Lieutenant to the Chief Secretary, Sir Evan Nepean, who
was then in London, his Excellency says :

" With respect to Lord Robert Tottenham, he is young
enough to wait, and if he is to be a bishop soon I think it
most likely he would prefer Ferns to any other, on account
of the interest of his family in the county of Waterford.
I flatter myself, therefore, whenever Mr. Pitt has an oppor-
tunity of mentioning and explaining the subject to the
King, that the King's Letters for the promotion of the
Dean of Waterford to Clonfert, and of the Rev. Mr. Cole
to the Deanery, will be sent over, for as the letter of recom-
mendation (at least for the former) is in Lord Hawkes-
bury's office no other will now be required.

" After this is arranged I shall probably be desired to
recommend Lord Robert Tottenham for the next ; but
whatever may be thought right upon the whole, I think
it will be at all events better for me to avoid a promise.
I apprehend that Lord Loftus and the rest of them will
be perfectly satisfied when they find that the Bench is not
to be taken by storm. I shall make an attempt to bring
over the Primate, and shall take occasion to write to
him when the whole is settled. I heard the other day
that his great cause of offence is that Mr. Clelland was

TRIUMPH OF THE LORD LIEUTENANT 143

appointed Precentor of Armagh,* a situation which
brings him in immediate and frequent communication
with his Grace. This was a positive engagement dehvered
to me by Lord Cornwalhs, was a private wish of Lord
Castlereagh in favour of a clergyman who had been a sort
of tutor or governor or companion of his, and who is now
an agent of Lord Londonderry. If this is a grievance, it
is none against the present Government, and at any rate
the Primate might have tried to manage some exchange
through the interest of Government and his own patronage,
instead of remaining by his fireside in anger with all the
world. Mr. Bissettf has declined the Deanery of Cloyne."

The Lord Lieutenant triumphed. Here is a letter
written by Hawkesbury from Whitehall, June 18, 1804,
to his Excellency :

" Mr. Pitt has seen Lord Loftus on the subject of the
vacant bishoprick,and has informed him that under all the
circumstances of the case his brother cannot succeed to it.
This disagreeable business is therefore at an end. The
difficulties which have occurred in it are certainly to be
ascribed chiefly to the Duke of Portland, who, if he was so
improvident as to make the promise, should at the time
have communicated it both to Mr. Pitt and Lord Corn-
walhs, which he certainly did not do. The situation
which Mr. Pitt held at the time of the Union makes him
the properest judge how far the engagement could be
considered as imperatively binding or not, and with his
decision Lord Loftus has, not without much difficulty,
complied."

Lord Loftus then sent Pitt a letter, a copy of which was
forwarded to the Lord Lieutenant. It is dated June 13,
1804, and runs :

" Sir,

" Having felt extreme concern at the disappoint-
ment that occurred yesterday, when I had the honour of
seeing you on the subject of my brother's promotion to
the Bench, and for which I was totally unprepared, I was
prevented at the moment from expressing those senti-

* See the Union Engagements, " Ecclesiastical " section,
t Another Union engagement. See "Ecclesiastical" section
of List of Union Engagements.

144 THE HUNT FOR BISHOPRICS

ments which have since occurred on reflecting seriously
on this painful subject.

" I can assure you, Sir, nothing could give me more pain
than to induce a supposition that any object of mine,
however well founded my claims, tending to embarrass
you or your arrangements, should be pertinaciously
adhered to by me. I, therefore, do now, on the part of
Lord Ely and myself, wave our pretensions to the present
vacancy, relying, as I most confidently do, on your assur-
ances, that my brother shall succeed to the first sub-
sequent vacancy on the Bench, without having to appre-
hend any impediment being thrown in the way by the
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland."

The letter contains the following pencilled note by
Hardwicke : " N.B. — This was very unhandsome and
very unfounded, for Lord Loftus threw impediments in
the way of the arrangements which had been officially
recommended, by the desire of the Prime Minister after
a full consideration of Lord Loftus's pretensions, which
had been disavowed by the Duke of Portland and set
aside." However, Hardwicke, naturally, was joyous over
his success. He sent a letter to the Home vSecretary,
declaring the deep thankfulness and gratitude with which
he had learned that Mr. Pitt " has settled the affair of the
bishoprick in so satisfactory and so honourable a manner."
Dr. Butson, Dean of Waterford, was accordingly pro-
moted to the bishopric of Clonfert.

* * *

Where, it will be asked, was the Marquis of Waterford
all this time ? The following letter supplies the answer :

" London,
" June 26, 1804.
" My dear Lord,

" I should have waited until I had the pleasure of
seeing you in Dublin, if I did not think it incumbent on me
at present to express the gratitude I feel for your Excel-
lency's good intentions towards my brother. Lord John
Beresford. That he has not succeeded on the last
vacancy, and that he will not succeed on the next, I can
in no way impute to your Excellency. I am fully sensible
of your desire to serve me by advancing Lord John, and

THE WATERFORD CLAIM FOR A BISHOPRIC 145

only lament the unfortunate arrangements which have
prevented the exercise of your friendship.

" When I was informed that the negotiation between
Lord Loftus and Mr. Butson was concluded, I thought
it my duty to wait on Mr. Pitt in order to endeavour to
place my brother in such a situation that he might not
be subject to any further disappointment. I will not so
far disguise my sentiments as not to say that I felt con-
siderable mortification on hearing that another engage-
ment* would prevent the accomplishment of my wishes as
soon as I expected ; but being convinced that embarrass-
ing circumstances alone could have induced the engage-
ment to be made, I acquiesced, and retired from a second
interview with Mr. Pitt in the fullest confidence that my
brother's having been kept back in his profession would
eventually not be of disadvantage to him. I hope your
Excellency will approve of my conduct, and give me
credit for the cheerfulness with which I have borne dis-
appointment.

" Your Excellency will, I flatter myself, do me the
justice to acknowledge, that with whatever anxiety I
naturally may be supposed to feel in an object of so much
importance to one of m)' family, I have never pressed
you to interest yourself in a manner inconsistent with pro-
priety. I now hope that if this wished-for opportunity
should occur during your Excellency's Administration
you will have pleasure in co-operating with the wishes of
Mr. Pitt in placing my brother in a good bishoprick, and
thereby assisting me in the attainment of an object,
which it will be particularly gratifying to me to obtain
while your Excellency remains in the Government of
Ireland.

" Believe me, my dear Lord, your Excellency's faithful,
obliged, humble servant,

" Waterford."

Writing on July 10, 1804, to Lord Waterford, the Vice-
roy says :

" I have now the satisfaction of assuring you, and with
the entire concurrence of Mr. Pitt, that Lord John will

* On the margin of the letter there is a note in the handwriting
of Hardwicke in reference to this passage : " To Lord Robert
Tottenham, so unaccountably sanctioned by the Duke of Port-
land."

146 THE HUNT FOR BISHOPRICS

be recommended to the Bench on the next succeeding
vacancy, when I flatter myself the object, concerning
which your Lordship is naturally so anxious, shaU be
accomplished in a manner that will be agreeable to you
both. I shall only add that I have been really mortified at
the disappointment which your Lordship has experienced,
and that I shall be particularly gratified if the opportunity
of promoting your views upon the subject should occur
during my continuance in the Government of Ireland."

* * *

The Tottenham Loftus family were balked, but not
routed. " Lord Ely will never relinquish anything,"
said Cornwallis, when the Duke of Portland wrote to
him in December, 1800, that the King was reluctant to
confer the marquisate which had been promised for
his services to the Union. The Marquis of Ely had an
interview with Pitt, the result of which was a letter
from Hawkesbury to Hardwicke, saying :

"It is Mr. Pitt's opinion that, under all the circum-
stances of the case, it will not be possible to avoid pro-
moting my Lord Robert Tottenham Loftus to the Epis-
copal Bench on the next vacancy."

Nor had Lord Robert Tottenham Loftus long to wait
for his bishopric. In September, 1804, the see of Down
became vacant. The Lord Lieutenant wrote to Dr. Stuart,
the Primate, as Down was in his Grace's province, in-
forming him that Lord Robert Tottenham Loftus had
the first claim on the Government for promotion to the
Episcopal Bench.

" I am the more anxious that your Grace should con-
sider the point," says his Excellency, " because I recol-
lect your opinion, expressed on a former occasion, re-
specting the necessity of being very cautious as to the
character and conduct of those who were placed in the
bishopricks of the Protestant part of Ireland. I should,
therefore, wish to know, as I am not called upon in any
degree to recommend Lord Robert Tottenham to the
vacant see of Down, whether there is any bishop on the
Bench to whom your Grace would think it might be
offered with more propriety."

SATISFACTION OF THE ELY CLAIM 147

The reply of the Primate is as follows :

" Armagh,
" Sept. 28, 1804.

" My Lord,

" I have had the honor of receiving your Excel-
lency's letter.

" The diocese of Down is certainly of such importance
as to require an upright, active, and prudent bishop.
Of Lord Robert Tottenham's moral character 1 have
heard nothing, and, therefore, am willing to believe
it not to be bad. But as I find it is universally said that
he is utterly unacquainted with his profession, never
having performed any clerical duties, I should conceive
it would be improper to place him in a situation where
even a slight imprudence might be extremely detrimental
to the Church.

" The Bishop of Ferns would, perhaps, be the fittest
person for the diocese of Down. He has temper, char-
acter, knowledge, and every requisite that would enable
him to fill it with credit to himself, and with advantage
to the public. But as there is no episcopal house, as the
income is inferior to that of Ferns, and as he looks for-
ward to other preferment, I can scarcely think he would
be inclined to change.

" The Bishop of Killaloe having an estate and large
house in the diocese of Down, and being of a dissenting
family, and therefore being connected with the Dissenters
of the North, the bishoprick of Down would be peculiarly
acceptable to him. He has prudence and moderation,
but is, in other respects, inferior to the Bishop of Ferns.
As I conceive there are strong objections to the Bishops
of Ossory, Clonfert, and Killala, the Bishops of Ferns
and Killaloe appear to be the only two who could with
any propriety be translated, if your Excellency should
not deem it prudent to place Lord Robert Tottenham in
the diocese of Down."

The Bishop of Killaloe was accordingly recommended
for translation to Down and Lord Robert Tottenham
Loftus for promotion to Killaloe. Hawkesbury, writing
from Whitehall, October 17, 1804, says :

" Under all the circumstances of the case, it is impos-
sible not to fulfil the engagement of the Duke of Portland
to Lord Robert Tottenham Loftus for the vacant bishop-

10 — 2

148 THE HUNT FOR BISHOPRICS

rick, though I must own that the elevation of young men
of fashion to the Bench is Uable to considerable objec-
tions, and especially in Ireland, where so much is want-
ing to be done for the encouragement of true religion."

The Lord Lieutenant thus conveys the good news to
Lord Ely :

" Private.

" Dublin Castle,

" 22,rd Oct., 1804.

" My dear Lord,

" I am sorry that it has not been in my power to
make an earlier communication to your Lordship of the
diocese to which Lord Robert Tottenham will be recom-
mended on his promotion to the Episcopal Bench. I
have now, however, great satisfaction in acquainting you
that he will be recommended to the bishoprick of Killaloe,
and that the official letter to the Secretary of State will
be forwarded this day.

" The present Bishop of Killaloe having promised to
give me some assistance from the patronage of his diocese,
I shall rely upon Lord Robert Tottenham's disposition to
act the same friendly part, which is really material to me
on account of the great number of engagements which I
have had, and the limited patronage of Government in
Ireland in point of livings.

" I am happy to think that Lord Robert will find
Killaloe a very eligible situation, and I doubt not but
the present and late Bishop will give him every informa-
tion upon the subject."

Lord Ely replies :

" My dear Lord,

" I beg your Excellency to accept my thanks for
your very obhging letter which I had the honour of re-
ceiving yesterday, informing me that you had last night
recommended my son. Lord Robert Tottenham, to be
Bishop of Killaloe. I flatter myself that his conduct in
all respects will answer your Excellency's expectation,
and prove him to be not unworthy of the honor con-
ferred upon him.

" I can venture without consulting him (which I wish
at present to decline) to say that he will find much pleasure

THE WATERFORD CLAIM ALSO SATISFIED 149

in conferring on any person your Lordship shall think fit to
recommend, the very first preferment in his patronage."

* * *
The claim of Lord John Beresford was also quickly
satisfied. In January, 1805, another bishopric fell into
the hands of the Viceroy, by the death of the Bishop of
Cork and Ross. Lord John Beresford had the first
claim to the vacant see ; but his reverend lordship now
aspired to the richer diocese of Raphoe, the Bishop
of which was again extremely ill. It appears, from a
letter written by the Lord Lieutenant to the Home
Secretary on the subject of the vacancy in the see of
Cork, that the Bishop of Ferns had expressed a wish some
months before to be translated to the diocese of Raphoe,
and that Hardwicke had, with Pitt's consent, informed
him that when the expected vacancy occurred in Raphoe
the see should be his. Now the situation was complicated
by the desire of Lord John Beresford to wait for Raphoe
rather than to accept Cork. The Viceroy says :

" Upon the return of Lord Waterford to Ireland in
August he informed me that he had spoken to Mr. Pitt
on the subject of his son, Lord John, being appointed to
the bishoprick of Raphoe, and that on Mr. Pitt making
some objection on the ground of its being unusual to
solicit a bishoprick of the supposed value of Raphoe on
the first advancement to the Bench, Lord Waterford
observed that the situation of the diocese in the neigh-
bourhood of his property in the county of Derry made
it particularly eligible, and that his brother had experi-
enced delays and disappointments in his promotion to
the Episcopal Bench. That Mr. Pitt admitted that the
circumstance made a difference, and Lord Waterford
understood him to say that Lord John should have the
bishoprick of Raphoe.

" I told Lord Waterford that if he had at any time
expressed a particular wish for that bishoprick, I would
have taken care that no encouragement should be given
to any other person ; but as his Lordship had never men-
tioned any other wish than an hope that his son might
be placed in a good bishoprick I had concluded he
pointed to one in the South of those that were likely to

ISO THE HUNT FOR BISHOPRICS

become vacant, in preference to one of those in the Pro-
vince of Connaught.

" From this short statement your Lordship will see
how the matter stands, and I should hope Lord Water-
ford might be induced to waive Raphoe for the present,
more especially as the vacancy which his brother is
entitled to fill has occurred in another bishoprick, which
I understand is worth between £3,000 and £4,000 per
annum."

The Viceroy proceeds to say that if Lord John Beresford
persisted in claiming Raphoe, perhaps the Bishop of Ferns
might be induced to waive the promise he had received of
translation to that see, of course on conditions — namely,
" by holding out to him an expectation of being raised to
the rank of an Archbishop in case a vacancy should occur
by the removal of the Primate to England in the event
of the death of the Archbishop of York," In reply to this
letter, Hawkesbury, writing from Whitehall, January 30,
1805, says that Pitt agreed to the promotion of Lord
John Beresford to the see of Cork, if his lordship would
accept of it. He continues :

" The only objection that could at any time have been
made to his appointment arises from the circumstances of
there being already two Irish bishopricks in his family ;
but the error was in the appointment of John Beresford's
son to be Bishop of Kilmore, and it would not be just that
a person of Lord John's character should suffer on that
account. With respect to the holding out to the Bishop
of Ferns (as I understand you) the expectation of succeed-
ing to one of the Archbishoprics, and of thereby enabling
you to give the bishoprick of Raphoe, when it shall
become vacant, to Lord John Beresford, there does not
appear to be any objection to it. But I think it important
that you should be apprised that the idea of the Primate
being likely to succeed to the Archbishoprick of York is,
as far as I have any means of information, wholly destitute
of foundation, and, under present circumstances, not at
all likely to be accomplished."

In the end Lord John Beresford accepted Cork, in
February, 1805. He was promoted to the archbishopric
of Dublin in 1820, and to the Primacy in 1822.

CHAPTER VII

THE LAWYERS AND THE UNION

" The Bar was almost universally hostile to the measure
of Union, principally because it left to the members of
the profession no other theatre than the Four Courts on
which they might distinguish and advance themselves,
and it must be admitted that the legal appointments
which have taken place since the Union have been con-
ferred upon persons who, without that object of contest,
would never have been brought forward."

This is a passage from a letter dated September, 1803,
written by Hardwicke to Addington. In December,
1798, during the early stage of the agitation on the subject
of the Union, and on the eve of the first introduction of
the question in the Irish Parliament, a most representa-
tive meeting of the Bar was held in Dublin, and after a
long and very able debate, in which all the great lawyers
took part, a resolution was carried by 166 votes to 32
condemning the scheme. In that debate William
Con3mgham Plunket displayed conspicuous ability in
opposition to the Union ; and during the passage of the
measure through the House of Commons there was no
more powerful, eloquent, or strenuous defender of the
Irish Parliament. Time passed, and Lord Kilwarden,
Chief Justice of the King's Bench, was murdered during
the Emmet insurrection in June, 1803. At the trial of
Emmet in September, 1803, Plunket held a brief for the
Crown ; and in his speech to the jury deli vexed a virulent
attack on the prisoner, picturing him as a villain steeped
in iniquity, and repudiated the protestations of undying

151

152 THE LAWYERS AND THE UNION

hostility to the Union which he himself had made in the
Irish House of Commons only four years before. A few
weeks subsequently, in the legal promotions consequent
on the death of Kilwarden, Plunket was appointed
Solicitor-General.

The Lord Lieutenant seems to have been apprehensive
that the appointment to one of the law offices of the Crown
of a man who had been so prominent an opponent of the
Union — although unquestionably a most able lawyer —
might be resented at Whitehall. He wrote a long letter
in explanation to Addington, from which I take the
passage that opens this chapter. " It is, therefore, highly
desirable," he also says, " and, indeed, essential to the
support and credit of English Government, since Parlia-
mentary objects are removed from this country, that the
character of Government should be redeemed by a strict
attention to merit and to what is due to public opinion
in the selection of persons for the higher legal appoint-
ments, and particularly for the Judicial Bench." This,
it will be recollected, was in September, 1803. By that
time aU the legal engagements in connection with the
Union had practically been discharged. Not more than
five of the thirty-two barristers who had voted for the
Union at the Bar debate were without places ; and of the
twenty-three barristers who supported the Union in the
House of Commons in 1800, six were on the Bench, and
eight had other offices under the Crown. The Prime
Minister, therefore, like the Viceroy, saw no objection to
the appointment of William Conyngham Plunket to the
office of Solicitor-General, in succession to James M'Clel-
land — a Union appointment — who was promoted to the
Bench as Baron of the Court of Exchequer.

* * *

The wiping off of the legal account in the bill of the
Union engagements for a time progressed smoothly. In
June, 1801, St. George Daly, the Prime Serjeant, was
appointed Baron of the Court of Exchequer ; Robert
Johnson was made a puisne Judge of the Court of Common
Pleas, and Edmund Stanley succeeded Daly in the office

THE CASE OF EDMUND STANLEY 153

of His Majesty's Prime Serjeant at Law in Ireland. These,
as will be seen on reference to the List of Union Engage-
ments, had the first claims for promotion.

Stanley was Prime Serjeant for a few months only. He
was in deeply embarrassed circumstances. So closely
was he watched and pursued by his creditors that to avoid
arrest and imprisonment for debt he secretly i!ed from
Dublin. " Lately at the Four Courts," writes the Viceroy
to the Prime Minister, " when the Prime Serjeant was
wanted to give some explanation of a trial at which he
had presided at the last circuit, his residence could not be
ascertained, and the reference, of course, could not take
place."

This was a scandal that could not be tolerated, so in
December, 1801, Stanley was removed from the office of
Prime Serjeant. But he received another appointment.
Among the legal engagements there is the case of Arthur
Browne. He was a Fellow of Trinity College, and one of
the representatives of Dubhn University in the Irish House
of Commons. With his colleague, George Knox, he de-
nounced the Union, and voted against it on the first intro-
duction of the question in 1799. In the following session
he changed his mind, and supported the Union. He
acknowledged that in so doing he was acting contrary to
the opinions and wishes of the majority of his constituents.
What, then, had induced him to alter his opinion on the
great question of the day ? We find it in the List of Union
Engagements : " Received assurances of legal provision."
This particular engagement gave the conscientious Hard-
wicke considerable trouble, for Browne was supposed to
be an indifferent lawyer. The Executive had a number
of the Irish seats in the United Parliament at their dis-
posal. Browne, who was turned out of the representation
of Dublin University, was offered one of these safe con-
stituencies. But he refused to be shelved in that fashion.
What he expected — as he told the Lord Lieutenant —
was not a seat in Parliament, but a seat on the Judicial
Bench. The office of Commissioner of Accounts, with a
salary of £800 a year, became vacant. It was tendered

154 THE LAWYERS AND THE UNION

to him, and accepted, on the understanding that it was

not to be regarded as a satisfaction of his claim for legal

promotion. Then an exchange of posts between Browne

and Stanley was arranged in January, 1802. Browne got

the office of Prime Serjeant, and Stanley the place at the

Board of Accounts. The emoluments of both positions

were equal.

* * *

Clare, the Lord Chancellor, was not satisfied with the
manner in which judicial appointments were being filled.
In a letter to the Lord Lieutenant, dated September 16,
1801, and marked " Private," he thus pours forth his
indignation :

" As yet I have not received an answer from the
Attorney-General to a letter which I wrote to him from
Dublin, whilst I was there ; and if he should decline the
situation of a Judge I should feel some difficulty in select-
ing two or three persons for your Excellency's considera-
tion in recommending a successor to Baron Metge, and
am free to acknowledge that such a return on my part
strikes me not to be altogether consistent with the situa-
tion which I have the honour to hold in the Law Depart-
ment in this country.

" I have endeavoured to the best of my judgment to
recommend the persons best qualified for the Bench since
I have held the Seal of Ireland. In every instance of a
vacancy which occurred during Lord Westmorland's
Government, he attended implicitly to my recommenda-
tion. In the Administration of Lord Camden political
considerations prevailed with him to overrule my opinion ;
and I must say that the law arrangements made by his
successor (the promotion of Mr. Justice Fox excepted)
are such as I did most unequivocally disapprove of.

" My only object is to promote the due administration
of justice, and if I am appealed to on the subject I will
conscientiously give the best and fairest opinion upon
it. But unless that opinion is to be attended to by the
Executive Government, without appeal from it, I shall
beg leave to decline altogether any interference in the
appointment of a Judge in Ireland.

" The answer made to me, when I made very strong
remonstrances against some of Lord Cornwallis's law

DEATH OF LORD CHANCELLOR CLARE 155

promotions, was that his poHtical engagements made it
indispensably necessary that he should not attend to
them, but that after the Union the English practice
should prevail in Ireland. If I were to consult my private
feelings I would abundantly prefer the old abominable
practice of accommodating law promotions to the political
objects of the Executive Government. But if it is pro-
fessed to take the opinion of the Chancellor as a guide
to the Executive Government so long as I have the
honour to hold the Great Seal, I will decline to give
any such opinion in the shape of a return of names for
the selection of one of them, and should feel such a pro-
ceeding to be utterly inconsistent with the situation which
I hold."

This communication contains the following observation
in the handwriting of Hardwicke :

" To this ill-tempered letter I made no reply ; and if a
letter of a different sort had not followed it my intercourse
with the writer must have been discontinued."

* * *
The highest legal office in Ireland, the Lord Chancellor-
ship, fell into the hands of the Government through the
death of the Earl of Clare on January 28, 1802. The
Ministers almost exulted in the disappearance of the
proud, masterful, stiff-necked John FitzGibbon. As I
have already shown, he had a contempt for the English-
men sent over to rule Ireland after the Union, Hardwicke
the Viceroy, and Abbot the Chief Secretary — the im-
patience of the strong and able and domineering and
ambitious personality for the commonplace and mediocre
men that cross his path. " The death of Lord Clare,"
says Abbot, " deHvered the Irish, and also the British
Government, from great trouble. He had rendered
signal service to his country in a crisis of great violence ;
but his love of power and his overruling temper made
him unfit for the station of Chancellor, when no longer
coupled with the degree of authority which he had exer-
cised as Minister before the Union." What an end was
his ! In the Viceroy's Post-bag there is not a word of
regret for his premature and unexpected death from the

156 THE LAWYERS AND THE UNION

Ministers whose interests in Ireland he had served so
well and so long, and he was buried in Dublin amid
the execrations of the people. A bitter anti-Papist, he
once declared that he would make the Catholics as tame
as cats. Dead cats were flung upon his hearse. The
Lord Lieutenant, however, in a note to Abbot, dated
February 2, 1802, endeavours to minimize the significance
of this unseemly demonstration. " The riot and disorder
at Lord Clare's funeral," says he, " was occasioned by a
gang of about fourteen persons under orders of a leader,
so that it does not tell so ill for the character of the
Dublin populace (whom I am not, however, going to
defend) as I had at first imagined."

Who was to succeed FitzGibbon as Lord Chancellor ?
He was the first Irishman that had ever filled that office.
The Lord Lieutenant was desirous that the precedent
thus set should be followed, and his choice was Lord
Kilwarden, Chief Justice of the King's Bench. While
Clare lay dangerously ill at Mount Shannon, his country
residence, near Limerick, Kilwarden called on Hardwicke
— as the Viceroy tells Addington, the Prime Minister, in a
letter dated January 19, 1802 — to urge his claim to the
Lord Chancellorship, should it become vacant.

His Excellency writes :

" He stated his pretensions with great diffidence, not
desiring any answer at present, and, of course, not re-
ceiving any other from me than that I should take the
earliest opportunity of informing His Majesty's Ministers
of the wish which his Lordship had expressed upon the
subject. I added that from the great importance of the
office itself, the determination must, of course, rest with
His Majesty's Ministers, to whose consideration I should
immediately submit his Lordship's pretensions,

" My private opinion certainly is, and I believe that of
the publick also, that the experience, character and talent
of Lord Kilwarden point him out as the properest person
to succeed Lord Clare. Of the other Chief Judges, Lord
Norbury, though a very worthy and pleasant man, is
scarcely fit for the situation to which he has been raised ;
and Lord Avonmore is deeply in debt, and is, besides, of

WHO SHALL BE LORD CHANCELLOR? 157

a temper less adapted to such an office than Lord Kil-
warden.

" The poUcy of appointing an Irishman, or of selecting
a person from the English Bar, must, of course, be for
your consideration. If I were to give an opinion upon the
subject I should say that it would be better to appoint an
Irish lawyer at the present moment. The great theatre
for the talents of the Irish lawyers was taken away by the
removal of the Parliament, and they have now no other
objects of ambition to which they can look than those of
their own profession. With a view, therefore, to satisfy
that body, I should think the policy of selecting a Chan-
cellor from the Irish Bench, in many respects, far better
than that of resorting to the English Bar."

Lord Clare was subsequently removed to Dublin, with
the idea of going to England for the benefit of his health.
" He had been attacked," Hardwicke tells Pelham, " by
a violent bleeding from the nose, which lasted, without
intermission, for sixteen hours, and had reduced him to a
state of weakness which, he says, he cannot well describe."
Writing on January 28, 1802, Hardwicke informs the
Home Secretary that the Lord Chancellor died that
morning at half-past one o'clock at his Dublin house.
" He retained his senses to the last," says the Viceroy,
" but I fear that lately he must have suffered considerably
from the great difficulty of breathing, though I understand
he did not complain."* On January 30 Hardwicke re-
ported to Whitehall that Lord Avonmore, Chief Baron
of the Court of Exchequer, had called upon him that
morning as a suitor for the vacant Chancellorship. " His
Lordship stated," says the Viceroy, " that he hoped he
should not be considered as presuming in feeling ambitious

* Lord Clare in his will (extracts from which were sent to Hard-
wicke) warns his wife and children to have nothing to do with
his sister, Mrs. Jeffries, and her family, " all of whom," he says,
" he has known from long and fatal experience to be destitute
of every principle of justice, honor, and gratitude." What
a fierce and relentless personality he must have been, thus to
carry his hatreds to the grave ! He also desires that his books
may be removed from Mount Shannon to Dublin, " if this giddy
and distracted country," he says, " should ever be restored to
peace."

158 THE LAWYERS AND THE UNION

to succeed as Chancellor the person who had succeeded
him in the office of Attorney-General. He further repre-
sented that he had been upwards of i8 years Chief Baron
of the Exchequer."

Baron Yelverton, for his advocacy of the Union, was
created Viscount Avonmore in the list of promotions of
December, 1800. But Lord Kilwarden was still the
choice of the Irish Executive for the post of Lord Chan-
cellor. Abbot, the Chief Secretary, writing to Adding-
ton, the Prime Minister, says :

" Lord Avonmore, whose learning and talents are un-
questionably great, is nevertheless so totally neghgent of
propriety of manners, and so extremely embarrassed in
his private concerns, that it is hardly creditable for the
King's service for him to remain Chief Baron of the Ex-
chequer. His very salary of ofhce is assigned to pay his
creditors, by deed enrolled in his own Court."

So certain was the appointment of Kilwarden regarded
that Hardwicke also reports to Pelham that Lord Nor-
bury, Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas — who,
as John Toler, Attorney-General, had rendered the
Government powerful aid in carrying the Union — had
called on him in the guise of a petitioner for the higher
judicial position of Chief Justice, praying " that his
humble request may be laid at His Majesty's feet, that
he may be honoured with a promotion to the King's
Bench in case the office of Chief Justice should become
vacant in any intended arrangement."

But the post of Lord Chancellor was to go to an English-
man. On February i, 1802, Pelham sent the following
letter to the Lord Lieutenant :

" There is great reason to hope that Sir John Mitford
will accept the Seals, which would be, in my opinion,
next to the Union, the greatest blessing to Ireland that
can be imagined. I entertain a very high opinion of
Lord Kilwarden's talents and virtues, and should have
no doubt of preferring him to any person at the Irish
Bar ; but, taking the Bar of the Empire, I have no doubt
in saying that Sir John Mitford is the fittest man to sue-

APPOINTMENT OF SIR JOHN MITFORD 159

ceed to any vacancy that might arise in either Kingdom,
if I may still use that term of distinction. There is not
a doubt at the Bar of England of his being pre-eminently
the best equity lawyer in the profession."

Mitford had succeeded Addington as Speaker of the
House of Commons. The correspondence in the Vice-
roy's Post-bag shows that he by no means jumped at the
offer of the Lord Chancellorship of Ireland. He said he
was reluctant to quit England and take office in a country
wholly unknown to him. The entire influence of the
Ministry was brought to bear on him to induce him to
go to Ireland. The country was represented to him as
being in a state of chaos. On his acceptance of the office
of Lord Chancellor depended the re-establishment of law
and order in Ireland. Even George III. joined in the
implorings of his Ministers to Mitford to become the
saviour of the unfortunate sister island. Mitford yielded
to these flattering solicitations. His terms, however,
were that his salary as Lord Chancellor should be fixed
by Act of Parliament at £10,000 a year, and that he
should be promoted to the Peerage as Lord Redesdale.
They were readily granted. How keen he was about the
emoluments of the office is shown by the following letter
from Hardwicke to Addington :

" Private and Confidential.

" Dublin Castle,

" March i^fh, 1802.

" My dear Sir,

" I am sorry to be under the necessity of com-
municating to you a letter which I have received from
Lord Redesdale, with a short statement of the circum-
stances which give rise to it. Before the event of Lord
Clare's death was known in England, a King's letter had
been sent from the Secretary of State's office for the
appointment of three Commissioners for the custody of
the Great Seal, as recommended by Lord Clare himself,
reserving to him, in the same manner as they were
reserved by the Commission during his absence last
year in England, the fees, perquisites, profits and emolu-
ments of the office. As soon as Lord Clare's death was

l6o THE LAWYERS AND THE UNION

known another letter was sent from the Secretary of
State's office for the appointment of the same Commis-
sioners, but instead of withholding the fees and emolu-
ments, giving to them all the profits, etc., etc., in as
ample a manner as to the Chancellor himself. At the
end of February, the King's letter arrived for the ap-
pointment of Lord Redesdale, from the terms of which,
whenever acted upon, it appeared that the emoluments
of the present Commissioners should cease.

" In order to ascertain the effect of the two Commis-
sions, and to clear up the apparent inconsistency between
them, Mr. Marsden had an interview with Lord Kil-
warden, who was of opinion that the Commissioners
would consider themselves entitled to the emoluments
given by their Commission so long as they continued to
discharge the duty. His Lordship, therefore, thought it
would be the safer and better course to write to England
in order to ascertain the effect of the two Instruments.

" In this state of things I thought it far better to write
to Lord Redesdale himself than to make any formal
application on the subject, not conceiving that it was
intended by the King's letter to put out of the receipt
of the emoluments the Commissioners who would neces-
sarily continue to discharge the duties under their ap-
pointment, and until the delivery of the Seal to Lord
Redesdale. You will, I am sure, not be surprised that
I should feel mortified at the manner in which Lord
Redesdale appears to have understood my letter ; but I
should not have troubled you upon the subject if he had
not expressed an intention of laying the matter before
His Majesty. The possibility of this having been done
makes it necessary that I should give you this explana-
tion, though as Lord Redesdale has desired his letter
might be considered as confidential I Ixave not written
upon this subject to any other person than Mr. Wickham."

Soon after this Redesdale arrived in Dublin. It is
characteristic of the man that the first thing he did was
to hold an inquiry into the salary, fees, and perquisites
of his office. There is a letter from him to the Lord
Lieutenant dated " Ely Place, 27th April, 1802," in
which he states the Prime Minister had promised that
his income should be £10,000 a year, British money, and
clear of all deductions. He says he had been informed

THE LORD CHANCELLOR'S SALARY AND FEES 161

by " Mr. Denyer, the secretary to the late Lord Clare,"
that the income then properly belonging to the office was
£5,000 a year. In addition to this Lord Clare received,
under the Act passed to compensate holders of offices
abolished by the Union for loss of income and emolu-
ment, two sums of £3,978 3s. 4d. and £161 6s. 8d. — in
respect of his offices as Speaker of the House of Lords —
raising the income received by him to a total sum of
£9,139 los. In the way of perquisites, Lord Clare was
paid £500 a year by his secretary out of his fees, and £50
a year by one of the messengers of the Commissioners of
Bankruptcy, which was derived from fees also. Redes-
dale thought that the messenger ought not to be charged
with this £50 a year, and he proposed to abolish the
liability ; but the £500 a year from the secretary to the
Lord Chancellor might, with propriety, be continued to
be paid for the benefit of the public. As to his own
salary of £10,000 per annum British " clear of all deduc-
tions," it was to be placed on the Irish Establishment,
and to secure that object he drafted a Bill which he asked
the Lord Lieutenant to send to the Ministers in London,
with a request that steps be immediately taken to pass

it into law.

* * *

The engagement to William Johnson of legal promo-
tion gave Hardwicke considerable trouble, as his note to
the case in the List of Union Engagements shows. The
following letter to Pelham, who had apparently written
to the Viceroy in the interest of Johnson, enters more
fuUy into the reasons of his Excellency's objection to
Johnson being made a judge :

" Private.

" Dublin Castle,

" March 31s/, 1802.

" My dear Lord,

" I take the earliest opportunity of acknowledging
your Lordship's letter of the 25th inst., and think it my
duty to give you the best opinion I have been able to form
in regard to the propriety of holding out to Mr. Wilham

t62 THE LAWYERS AND THE UNION

Johnson any expectation of being appointed to a seat
upon the Bench, instead of receiving some other Law
promotion, in consequence of his engagement from Lord
CornwaUis. I understood, and your Lordship may pro-
bably have heard, that some of the last promotions to
the Bench were not very satisfactory to the Profession,
and were not generally considered in the country as
reflecting great credit on the Government. Of this de-
scription was the promotion of Mr. Johnson, who was
appointed to the Common Pleas in the room of Judge
Kelly ; and though his brother, Mr. William Johnson,
is certainly a man of abilities, and materially assisted the
question of Union, I am very apprehensive that the pro-
moting him to a seat on the Bench would expose the
Government to a considerable share of censure and anim-
adversion,

" From the engagement made with him by Lord Corn-
waUis he is certainly entitled to be considered in his pro-
fession, and I was in hopes that he would be perfectly
satisfied with the prospect of succeeding to the situation
of Counsel to the Commissioners, whenever an opening
could be made in one of those offices. Hitherto the Law
promotions have been made entirely subservient to the
Union engagements, for the promotion of Baron Smith,
the late Solicitor-General, to the Bench, which was ap-
proved of, and indeed recommended by Lord Clare, made
an opening for Mr. M'Clelland.

" If there had been any positive engagement for the
Bench, it would, of course, have been necessary to have
adhered to it ; but as it is of great importance in every
point of view that the judicial situations should be filled
in a manner likely to afford general satisfaction, I should
hope Mr. Johnson would be gratified by an assurance of
being considered on the first opening of some such situa-
tion as that of Counsel to the Commissioners, to which
under his engagement he would have a very strong claim."

* * *

Another Union engagement that worried the Lord
Lieutenant is the one thus described in the legal section
of the official list : " Mr. Grady, £i,ooo per annum."
J. S. Grady, a Protestant barrister, was one of the few
members of the Bar who supported the Union at the
famous meeting of the lawyers to consider the question

"MR. GRADY, ^i,ooo PER ANNUM" 163

in December, 1798. He was also active in promoting
petitions in favour of the Union in Munster. When the
time came for the payment of the reward which he had
been promised for his services — a legal appointment
worth £1,000 a year — the Irish Executive found them-
selves in an awkward predicament. He was notoriously
an incompetent lawyer, worse even than Arthur Browne,
the Prime Serjeant. What was to be done with him ?
In October, 1801, Abbot wrote on the subject to Lord
Castlereagh, and received the following apologetic defence
of the engagement :

" It is one of those arrangements pressed upon us by
the necessity of the case, at a moment when we were not
altogether in a situation, consistent with the safety of
the measure entrusted to us, to decide merely upon the
personal merits of those who had the means to forward
or impede it. The number of applications to which you
have been exposed as the result of that measure have
enabled you to judge of the embarrassment under which
we acted."

Castlereagh, however, thought there was no escape in
honour from the promise of promotion held out to Grady.
The post which Grady desired was that of a judge, but as
a compromise he was willing to accept the position of
counsel to the Commissioners of the Revenue. In June,
1802, Marsden, the Under-Secretary, was directed to send
a friend to Grady to ascertain whether he would be willing
to relinquish his claim to this legal ofhce in return for a
civil appointment of equal value. Grady, who by no
means shared in the general opinion that he was unsuited
for the office of counsel to the Board of Revenue, and was
besides a man of violent temper, rejected these overtures
An language unfit, certainly, for the ears of the pious
Viceroy. Marsden thus reports the result of the inter-
view :

" The person employed by me to communicate with
him, had from me a statement in writing of the excessive
difficulties which lay in the way of Mr. Grady's promo-
tion in this line, and my strong recommendation that in
prudence he should yield to them. I further stated that

II — 2

1 64 THE LAWYERS AND THE UNION

in such case he should have a seat at the Revenue Board,
and a pension of £300 a year for his wife, or in case he
thought proper to retire from the Bar, that he should
have a Revenue situation at Belfast of £1,500 a year,
and a pension in like manner as in the other case. This
latter proposal I was able to make by Mr. Jocelyn having
offered his situation for a seat at the Revenue Board.

" Mr. Grady, it seems, has rejected this offer with very
strong expressions of displeasure, and has declared that
he will not accept of anything collateral to his profession
in lieu of the engagement made to him ; that beside his
claim upon the first agreement he was urged to accept
the place of Counsel to the Commissioners, when, a few
months ago, he was in London, to which he assented,
though such a situation was below what he had been
told he was entitled to. At a second interview with my
friend, Mr. Grady talked in a still higher tone, with some
personal observations as to some of the parties concerned
in making this overture to him, which nearly precludes a
further attempt at negotiation."

" I think, as it stands," says Marsden in conclusion,
*' there is nothing left but to appoint Mr. Grady second
Counsel to the Commissioners, and to trust to making
an agreement hereafter by which he shall have an efficient
coadjutor, or to signify to him without explanation that
it is the determination of His Majest\^'s Ministers that his
appointment is not to take place."

At this time there was a puisne judgeship of the Court
of King's Bench vacant. Osborne, first counsel to the
Commissioners of the Revenue — a Union appointment —
was promoted to the Bench ; and Ormsby, the second
counsel — another Union appointment — succeeded to
Osborne's place. This was Grady's opportunity, and
he was not found wanting. Writing to the Viceroy from
York Street, Dublin, in July, 1802, he says he had learned
from Osborne that he had been elevated to the Bench in
succession to Judge Chamberlain.

" I thought," says he, " that as a matter of course the
announcement of my appointment as counsel to the
Board of Revenue would he made at the same time. I

GRADY GETS A POST OF ^2,000 A YEAR 165

waited upon Mr. Marsden," he continues, " who informed
me that he had not as yet received any directions from
your Excellency for my appointment, and as far as I
could collect from him, seemed to make some difficulty
as to the succession to that office. Knowing as your
Excellency does how long I have been postponed, I trust
your Excellency will not permit any further procrastina-
tion of my appointment,"

He got the office, and fared better than he had ex-
pected. His engagement was for ;^i,ooo per annum.
" This was effected," it is amusing to read in the note
to the case in the Union engagements, " by his appoint-
ment to be second counsel to the Commissioners of
Revenue, a place which, upon explanation, is worth
double the engagement."

* * *

The appointment of Grady as counsel to the Commis-
sioners of the Revenue had disastrous consequences to
William Johnson, as is shown by the following letter from
Hardwicke to Castlereagh :

" Private.

" Dublin Castle,

" June 26, 1805.
" My dear Lord,

" I shall be very happy if it is in my power to
enable you to answer the letter which you have received
from Mr. William Johnson, whose engagement I trust
you will do me the justice to believe I was from the first
as desirous of fulfilling as any of those which devolved to
me from Lord Cornwallis, and which I have from the
first endeavoured to satisfy in the best manner that the
means of Government would admit. Mr. William John-
son's engagement, which was for legal promotion, was
rendered more difficult by his pretensions to the Bench
and to the office of Solicitor-Genera), which, though given
to Mr. M'Clelland — who had also a legal engagement —
is certainly an office in the disposal of which it seemed
necessary to look to the service of the Government, and
the general satisfaction of the Bar, as well as the higher
judicial situations to which that office may eventually
lead.

i66 THE LAWYERS AND THE UN TON

" Tho situation which would have best suited the
engagement, and which would, I appreliend, have been
entirely satistactoiy, was that of Counsel to the Coni-
niissioners, and it 1 had been left at liberty to adhere to
the engagement to Mr. Grady, which, as stated in writing,
was for a Thousand Pounds per annum, generally, the
arrangement might have been settled for Mr. Johnson.
But Mr. Gradv was permitted to amend his engagement
as delixered to me by Lord Cornwallis and your Lordship,
and, amongst other assurances, obtained an admission in
writing from Mr. Cooke by which it was explained to be
a promise of the lirst legal situation (of whatever value)
which became vacant after three persons had received
legal ad\ancement, dating from the time the engagement
had been made by Lord Cornwallis's Government.
Ihider this interpretation of Mr. Grady's engagement it
became impossible to appoint Mr. William Jolnison to
the situation of Counsel to the Conmiissioners, and hence
arose all the embarrassment which has since arisen in
regard to Mr. Johnson's engagement."

♦ * *

The contest between the arrogant J. S. Grady and the
meek and humble Arthur Browne as place-hunters is not
without its amusing side. Prime Serjeant Browne was
among the applicants for the position on the Bench
rendered vacant by the death of Judge Chamberlain.
Here is his letter to the Viceroy :

" The place which I have the honour of holding under
the Government, and which has been usually, though I
cannot say necessarily, considered as a step to the Bench,
will, I hope, excuse me from presumption, whatever may
be the event. My present time of life, the iiiortihcation
of being passed by, which, perhaps, maj' be temied
humiliation, and various other circumstances, more
proper in conversation than in letter, will further plead
my apology. But unless any humble pretensions of
mine be supported by merits, and the opinion of my
brethren, they can go but verv little way. Those
humble pretensions I can only submit, I hope with
modesty, leaving their consideration, with the most
profound respect, to the wisdom of his Excellency,

ARTHUR BROWNE'S MORTIFICATION 167

from whom the favours and kindnesses I have received
will always be most gratefully and feelingly acknow-
ledged."

The Viceroy was a very moral and a deeply religious
man. Browne was not only very humble, but, like the
Lord Lieutenant, he was very religious and very moral.
While on circuit in 1802 he wrote to Hardwicke express-
ing regret that he had been unable to see his Excellency
before leaving Dublin.

" I did wish also," he says, " to have the honour of
mentioning privately to your Excellency an indecorum
which universally prevails on the Circuits of travelling,
and being absent, consequently, from church, on Sundays ;
but as it cannot be altered during the present, I will defer
mentioning my humble ideas to your Excellency until my
return."

A year elapsed, and in July, 1803, there was another
vacancy on the Judicial Bench. Kilwarden, the Lord
Chief Justice, was murdered in Thomas Street on his way
to the Castle, the night of Emmet's insurrection. Browne
still hopes that his ambition for a place on the Bench may
be gratified, and is still very humble.

" Of my fitness for Judicial situation it doth not become
me to speak. That a stable settlement less laborious
than the Bar must at my period of life be desirable is
certain. But whatever be the determination on this
subject I hope your Excellency will allow me ever to
acknowledge your Excellency's constant kindness and
condescending politeness to me, and to testify my extreme
gratitude and respect."

Again Browne was passed over. Mr. Justice Downes
was made Chief Justice of the King's Bench. Baron
St. George Daly — a Union appointment — was made a
Judge of the King's Bench, James M'Clelland, the Solici-
tor-General— another Union appointment — was made a
Baron of the Court of Exchequer, and William Conyng-
ham Plunket succeeded to the Solicitor-Generalship.

1 68 THE LAWYERS AND THE UNION

Even in his sore disappointment Browne did not cease
to be humble. He wrote as follows to the Lord Lieu-
tenant :

" Sept. 14th, 1803.

" My Lord,

" I hope your Excellency, if you should think the
application I am about to make improper, will at least
pardon it in the present wounded state of my mind.
Whenever this country shall have the misfortune of
losing your Excellency, I am apprehensive that I shall
not longer have any political friends here, that any person
will be preferred to me, and that I shall have only to go
back to Parliament, and rest upon myself. Under these
impressions it is not unnatural to ask favours while your
Excellency is here, and before the transactions of 1800
are quite forgotten. I need not add that I have not the
presumption to expect any immediate answer from your
Excellency, or to wish anything more at present than
that the request should be taken into consideration.

" The place of Prime Serjeant has always been con-
sidered by the Bar in this country, it being first in pre-
cedence if not in consequence of the Crown Law Offices,
as giving a kind of preceding title to the Bench, at least
so far as to put in an inferior light the person passed over.
It also has generally been attended with a seat in the
Privy Council. Not being successful in the former, I
own if at any time during your Excellency's Administra-
tion I were thought worthy of the latter it would be ex-
tremely gratifying, provided it did not interfere with any
future prospects of the Bench. Having simply presumed,
and I hope humbly, to express my wishes on the subject,
I shall not trouble your Excellency further than only to
express the great and deep sense I always entertain of the
personal kindness I have received from your Excellency,
and to subscribe myself, with the most profound respect,

" Your Excellency's most obliged and most obedient

' " Arthur Browne."

More than a year later Browne again writes to the Lord
Lieutenant as a disappointed servant of the Crown :

" December ^rd, 1804.
" My Lord,

" Finding that I did not fully and clearly express
my ideas when I last was permitted to have the honor of

THE PROVOSTSHIP OF TRINITY COLLEGE 169

an interview with your Excellency, I hope that your
Excellency will pardon me for referring to a paper which
fully express'd them, deliver'd to your Excellency about
twelve months since, and now I believe in the hands of
Sir Evan Nepean.

" I certainly myself have always conceiv'd that the
Government of Ireland was bound in honor, after I lost
my seat in Parliament by their means, and even by the
strongest implications from their language at and after
the time, to put me on the Bench ; and that even if it
had not been so, that being Prime Serjeant, and my
conduct tried upon five circuits, that my humble claims
had a preference ; and surely I would never have accepted
the place had I foreseen its mortifications, knowing the
expectations which the Bar have always annex'd to the
place. I did humbly hope also that tho' the Chancellor
might have a negative, that Government would be so
good to propose or mention me to him, as he inform'd me
was done on the last occasion,

" If, however, your Excellency thinks that the present
Administration of Ireland has nothing to do with the
language of the former, I hope that your Excellency will
not be displeased with my humbly representing to the
Minister and Lord Cornwallis, then in power, how I think
I stood with respect to them.

" I should not presume to be so troublesome to your
Excellency did I not feel that I have some enemies — tho'
I do not think I ever in my life gave cause for enmity —
who would be equally busy on any other occasion in
making objections to me. Thus if the Provostship was
vacant, and my senior pass'd over, it would be said that I
sought it politically, and that I was a layman, tho' my
humble pretensions would be grounded on being the next
senior as a Fellow, and on a strenuous denial of the extra-
ordinary position that a lay Fellow is not entitled to the
same privileges with every other.*

* At this time there was a rumour that Dr. Kearney, the
Provost of Trinity College, was to be promoted to a bishopric
on the next vacancy, and that he was to be succeeded as head
of the College by Dr. Browne. The Rev. Gerald Fitzgerald, the
Vice-Provost, sent a petition to the Lord Lieutenant expressing
the anxious hope that this slight to his position and character
was not in contemplation. He pointed out that the statutes of
the College ordained that the Provost must be a Professor or
at least a Bachelor of Divinity, and consequently that Browne
was ineligible. " Your memorialist," says Dr. Fitzgerald in

lyo THE LAWYERS AND THE UNION

" To your Excellency, personally, I must always
acknowledge the greatest obligations, and feel the highest
gratitude ; but I fear, however it may turn out for the
country, that the most unlucky day of my life will have
been that on which I voted for the Union.

" I have the honor to be, with the greatest and most
humble respect, your Excellency's much oblig'd and very
obedient humble servant,

" Arthur Browne."

Browne died in June, 1805, with his ambition for a
judgeship unsatisfied. The Irish Administration abolished
the office of Prime Serjeant, and appointed instead a first
Serjeant — besides the second and the third Serjeants
which were already in existence — as in England, giving
precedence over him to the Attorney - General and the
Solicitor-General. The Lord Lieutenant, writing on
June II, 1805, to Hawkesbury, says :

" The office has been established for many years upon its
present footing, and in former times, when it might have
enabled His Majesty's Government to gratify the pro-
fessional gentlemen of weight and talents, the advantage
may have been more than adequate to the inconvenience
which must occasionally have arisen from it. The offices
of Attorney and Solicitor General are, of course, conferred
upon lawyers of eminence and ability, and necessarily
lead to higher and more important professional situations,
and it is therefore desirable that they should take the lead
in all Crown prosecutions. This, however, they could not
do so long as the office of Prime Serjeant existed ; and for
this reason, as because at present the Prime Serjeant is
first in turn as a circuit Judge, I think it will be right to
abolish it. Upon a point of this description I have, of
course, consulted with the Lord Chancellor, who advises
strongly that the ofhce should not be filled up. I also
understand from his Lordship that the Bar will be inclined
to approve of this resolution ; and in a case of this de-
scription it is satisfactory to know the opinion of those
who are able to form a proper judgment upon the subject."

conclusion, " who has been many years a Doctor of Divinity, is
conscious that his character, whether considered in a moral or a
political point of view, will bear the strictest scrutiny, and that
his attachment to the King and Constitution is too well known
to require any comment or observation."

SIR JAMES CHATTERTON STATES HIS CLAIM i;i

The Home Secretary, in his reply, dated June 17, 1805,
says :

" I have communicated with his Majesty's confi-
dential servants upon the subject, and I beg to inform
your Excellency that from the explanation you have
given respecting the nature and circumstances of that
appointment they entirely concur in the arrangement
which your Excellency has proposed."

Dr. Arthur Browne was, therefore, the last of the Prime

Serjeants of Ireland.

* * *

Sir James Chatterton, the second Serjeant, applied to
the Lord Lieutenant for the new post of first Serjeant.
Just a year earlier, in July, 1804, he sent a petition to his
Excellency setting out his claim to a seat on the Judicial
Bench. It begins, " That he was for sixteen years, as a
member of the Irish Parliament, the zealous and constant
supporter of His Majesty's Government," and then goes
on :

" It may be asked why he did not go into the Union
Parliament The answer is that in the year 1791 he pur-
chased from the late Sir Barry Denny and his son a seat
in the borough of Tralee for that Parliament, for which he
paid a thousand guineas, but by their deaths in the inter-
mediate time he lost both his seat and money.

" That by that loss he was prevented from giving a
Parliamentary support to the measure of the Union, but
his wishes in the subject were evident by the part he took
in the D'Oyer Hundred Court at Cork, where he voted
for and was one of the Committee who proposed the address
presented to the Government on that occasion, certainly
attended with very useful consequences.

" That Sir James's only object in attending his Pro-
fession is the attainment of a seat on the Bench, which he
trusts his long and faithful service to the King's Govern-
ment, the high approbation he has constantly met with
as a circuit judge, his rank and property in the country,
and, he hopes he may venture to add, his respectability of
character both in public and private life may be supposed
to entitle him to.

" That he begs leave to observe that in the event of his

1/2 THE LAWYERS AND THE UNION

professional advancement, your Excellency will have the
disposal of the two places which he has the honor of now
holding under Government — the Paper Office, an honor-
able sinecure of £500 a year on the Establishment, and the
place of the King's second Serjeant at Law, the fourth in
the rank at the Irish Bar, attended with many advantages
to a professional man, and from the opportunities of going
the circuits reasonably estimated at £500 a year more.

" Now, in reference to the post of first Serjeant, Sir
James Chatterton submits to the Lord Lieutenant his right
to it in the natural course of succession, having filled the
place of third Serjeant, and being the second Serjeant."

But there was then another claimant of the office in
William Johnson, who was supported by a letter from
Castlereagh, dated " London, 17th June, 1805," urging his
title to promotion on account of his services to the cause
of the Union.

"My wishes upon this point," says Castlereagh, "are
entirely governed by a sense of personal duty to him
for the part he took upon that great question, never
having had any personal intercourse with him which
could create a more partial sentiment. This tie, however,
entitles him to my most earnest solicitation in his behalf,
and I am persuaded your Lordship will be disposed to
extend to him the same measure of favour and protection
which you have already in so many instances done to the
supporters of the Union."

That Chatterton failed to get the office is, therefore,
not surprising ; and his feelings of disappointment find
vent in the following letter to the Lord Lieutenant :

" Gre.\t George Street, South,
" June 29, 1805.

" My Lord,

" I beg leave with great respect to state to your
Excellency that having received from the Lord Chancellor
the honor of a letter, in which he is so good to say that he
is sorry to learn from myself, as well as from your Excel-
lency, that I am disappointed in consequence of the
arrangements proposed to be made upon the vacancy of
the office of Prime Serjeant, and that his Lordship trusted
with my ample fortune and considering the state of my
health I would not, upon reflection, be disposed much to

THE DISAPPOINTMENT OF CHATTERTON 173

blame those arrangements ; and also mentioning the salaries
intended to be paid to the different Serjeants, however
that the salary could be no object to me, I have in my
answer stated to his Lordship (as I now beg leave to state
to your Excellency) that in returning his Lordship my
best thanks for the honor of his letter, it would be doing
injustice to my own feelings, if I did not express my deep
sorrow and regret in finding it to be the intention of the
Government to pass by, in the arrangement about to take
place, the pretensions of an old and faithful servant.
That his Lordship does no more than justice in conceiving
that the question of emolument is not the consideration
which would weigh upon my mind. My fortune, which
his Lordship is so good to call an ample one, would prevent
the necessity of my making that a principal object of
pursuit. That it is rank in that Profession of which his
Lordship is the head is my object, and I trust I may call
it the legitimate object to which I have thought myself
justified in looking forward ; and having been in the habit
of discharging the duties of a circuit judge in almost every
part of Ireland, not discreditably to myself nor to his
Majesty's Commission, it could not fail to hurt me deeply
that in whatever arrangements may be thought necessary
my humble claims had not been fortunate enough to
have met the favourable consideration to which I trusted
I might have conceived them entitled. And that on the
score of my health I should feel no disqualification from
undertaking the discharge of the duties of any professional
situation for which the Government may do me the honor
of considering me to be fitted.

" These matters I presume to lay before your Excel-
lency, hoping you will be so good to pardon the trouble

you have received."

* * *

Another lawyer who thought his services to the Union
had been very ill requited was Edmund Stanley. Pelham
wrote to Hardwicke as early as July, 1802, stating that
Stanley had complained to him that he had been removed
from the office of Prime Serjeant " with more speed than
the public service seemed to require," and that had more
time been allowed him he might have made an arrange-
ment with his creditors. Stanley also asked Pelham,
who, it will be remembered, was Chief Secretary during the

174 THE LAWYERS AND THE UNION

Rebellion of 1798, to bear testimony to the Viceroy of his
loyalty and zeal in the public service. " This request I
feel myself bound to comply with," says Pelham, " and
I must fairly state to your Excellency that if his reputa-
tion for talent and professional experience had been equal
to his loyalty and public spirit he would certainly have
been advanced to higher situations."

In August, 1803, Stanley, still hoping to obtain another
legal appointment, wrote a long letter to the Viceroy in
which he recounted his services to the State, and told a
curious story of his pitiable condition owing to the
machinations of disloyal enemies. He had been thirteen
years in the Irish House of Commons, during which he
had most faithfully supported all the measures of the
Government, His pecuniary embarrassments were en-
tirely due to the large sums of money he had expended
(he does not say how) in the interest of the Irish Executive,
and to the fact that he had received no return until his
appointment as Prime Serjeant after the Union had been
carried. The position to which he had succeeded Arthur
Browne at the Board of Accounts — in exchange for the
office of Prime Serjeant — he had sold for £5,000. He
would have received more if " the respectable gentleman "
whom he had nominated to be his successor in the office,
and who was prepared to give him " a substantial sum,"
had been accepted ; but £5,000 was all he was able to
obtain from the person sanctioned by the Government.
He offered to hand over this money in satisfaction of some
of the claims of his creditors, and for the payment of the
remainder to pledge the future expectations and resources
of his profession. Then he goes on :

" But though all fair and honourable men agreed to
this proposal, yet I am sorry to say I have too good reason
to believe that some persons in Dublin, who have got
possession of my securities, combine against me, and not
only refuse all amicable arrangement, but declare nothing
will satisfy them but to deprive me of my liberty for ever.
Some of my friends inform me that it is revenge these
persons want and not their money ; and the principal

EDMUND STANLEY AND HIS ENEMIES 175

man who acts so I have long considered far from friendly
to the Government or their measures. He will listen to
no fair or honourable terms, or to anything short of my
ruin ; and, in fact, by such hostile conduct has defeated
all arrangement. No doubt can now be entertained that
such a spirit exists in Dublin ; and no question that some
of the disaffected have made use of the power they have
got over me to persecute me.

" Who made himself more obnoxious to the enemies of
Government, or took a more open and conspicuous part
against them, both as prosecutor, and afterwards in the
discharge of my duties as a judge, than I did for ten years
before the Union ? The histories of the late Rebellion
record how often my life was in danger, and my house
destroyed in Dublin. It is well known how often I was
held forth in the anti-Union papers, during that measure,
as an object of resentment, and my creditors in Dublin
excited against me. These vindictive resolutions have
had their effect. They did not, indeed, succeed in taking
away my life (though it was attempted) ; but am I not
deprived of everything worth living for — my liberty, pro-
fession, the comfort of my family and friends, and every
other enjoyment ? I can never persuade myself that it
is the intention of Government (after carrying their
objects) to desert a friend who worked hard in their
service for thirteen years, and leave him exposed to the
malice and vengeance of his enemies."

But all the appeals of Stanley to the Viceroy were in
vain. The last one, which he sent from London in
January, 1806, was that he and his daughter should be
given reversionary interests in his wife's pension on the
Irish Establishment, a request which his Excellency said
he was powerless to grant.

CHAPTER VIII

THE CATHOLICS AND THE UNION

The Catholics of Dublin were unquestionably opposed to
the Union. But it is impossible to arrive at any positive
conclusion as to the attitude of the great mass of the
Catholics in the provinces from a study of the annals of
the period, so contradictory are they on the point. There
was no means by which the Catholics of the provinces could,
as a body, express their opinion on any public question,
except the uncertain and unsatisfactory method of petition ;
and Catholics were represented equally in petitions for and
against the Union. Probably their state of mind was that
of indifference. This, however, is beyond question, that
the leading Catholic prelates and gentry — a small but
influential group, who were regarded as the representatives
of the general body, and had hitherto given expression
to their views and feelings on questions affecting their
religion and social status — were strongly in favour of the
Union. The three most conspicuous personages in this
group were Dr. Troy, Archbishop of Dublin, the Earl of
Fingall, and Lord Kenmare. They had long been in the
close confidence of Dublin Castle, and it was through them
that Cornwallis and Castlereagh endeavoured to secure
Catholic support for the Union. The Government were
extremely anxious to conciliate Catholic feelings on the
subject, as is shown by " The Cornwallis Correspondence,"
but it is notable that in the long List of Union Engagements
which Cornwallis left to his successor to discharge there
are only four Catholics. These are Mr. Bellew, Mr. Lynch,
Mr. Donellan, and Mr. McKenna — all barristers.

176

ARCHBISHOP TROYS' NEPHEW 177

No doubt there were Catholics among those supporters
of the Government who immediately received rewards
for their services during the struggle on the question of
the Union. Indeed, that such was the case is established,
I think, by some letters which I have found in the Vice-
roy's Post-bag. Here, for example, is a letter from Arch-
bishop Troy to the Lord Lieutenant :

" North King Street, Dublin,
" 28/A June, 1802.

" My Lord,

" Two years have elapsed since my nephew, John
James Troy, was appointed Tide Surveyor at Queensboro',
near Drogheda, by Marquis Cornwallis, who had named
him a Landwaiter at Waterford, but afterwards deemed
it expedient to give this place to another at the recom-
mendation of the Marquis of Waterford. Sir E. B.
Littlehales and Mr. Marsden witnessed this transaction,
and Lord Cornwallis's declaration to me — ' that Govern-
ment would not fail to remedy my nephew's disappoint-
ment, by removing him to a more lucrative and respectable
situation.'

" The Surveyorship at Queensboro' does not produce
more, communibus annis, than £150 per annum, exclusive
of a house and garden. The Landwaitership at Waterford
is stated to be of quadruple value. I presume to state
these circumstances under the hope and expectation that
they will recommend my nephew to your Excellency's
notice and consideration. The Commissioners of his
Majesty's Revenue and the Hon. Colonel Napier will
certify his character and conduct.

" I need not add how gratefully I shall acknowledge
your Excellency's attention to his advancement, nor the
profound respect with which I have the honour to be, my
Lord, your Excellency's most obedient, most humble, and
devoted servant,

"J. T. Troy."

Archbishop Troy writes again to the Viceroy on
June 23, 1804, pressing his nephew's claim to promo-
tion. He refers to a rumour that a landwaiter at
Dublin was about to retire, and suggests that perhaps
an opportunity would thereby arise for removing his
nephew from Queensborough to the capital. It is curious

178 THE CATHOLICS AND THE UNION

to note that the Lord Lieutenant, replying to the Arch-
bishop, addresses him as " Sir." His Excellency says
he fears there is little likelihood of a more eligible
situation for John James Troy arising through the resig-
nation of the Dublin landwaiter.

" But," he goes on, " though it is difficult to fix any
precise time, or any specific object, I will certainly not
overlook an opportunity of carrying out your wishes
whenever it shall be fairly within my power."

In January, 1806, on the eve of Hardwicke's depar-
ture from Ireland, Archbishop Troy once more addresses
the Lord Lieutenant on the subject of the advancement
of his nephew. He encloses a letter he received from
his nephew, who had just been promoted from Queens-
borough to Castletownsend, co. Cork. The nephew is
not satisfied with his new position, because he finds its
income has been considerably reduced. He says :

" As the time approaches when we are no longer to
have the happiness of being under Lord Hardwicke's
kindly care, I feel anxious that his Excellency might be
reminded' to recommend me to the protection of his
successor, in the hope of being removed to a situation
not so remote from my friends, when an opportunity
shall offer, particularly as the Custom House here,
which is a large building, is in a very ruinous state that
could not be made habitable until the summer should
be advanced ; and in the interim I shall be under the
necessity of residing in very inconvenient and uncom-
fortable lodgings in this village."

Archbishop Troy, in forwarding his nephew's letter to
the Lord Lieutenant, writes :

" North King Street, Dublin,
" 21 st January, 1806.
" My Lord,

" I take the liberty of enclosing a letter to me
from my nephew, and humbly solicit the favour he
requests. Your Excellency's gracious acquiescence will
confer an additional obligation on his family in general,
and on myself in particular, for which all will be ever
grateful. Permit me to add to his representation, that

LORD KENMARE'S BROTHER-IN-LAW 179

another situation of equal rank in the Revenue Depart-
ment at the Custom House, Dublin, would be perfectly
agreeable to him. His present residence among strangers,
at the distance of nearly two hundred miles from his
family and connections, is rather unsatisfactory. It is
principally on this account that he wishes to be removed
from it.

" I cannot but avail myself of this opportunity to
express my own and the general regret at your Excel-
lency's approaching departure from this countr}^ where
the happy effects of your exemplary virtues and consum-
mate prudence in the Administration of His Majesty's
Government are strongly felt and will be long remem-
bered. May your Excellency continue to enjoy during
many happy years the enviable satisfaction of reflecting
that you had tempered justice with mercy and firmness
with moderation.

" Allow me, my Lord, to renew the unfeigned assur-
ances of profound respect and grateful attachment, with
which I have the honour to be, my Lord,

" Your Excellency's most obliged, most devoted, and
very humble servant, " T T Trov "

Then there is Lord Kenmare. Sir Valentine Browne,
Bart., of Killarney, was raised to the peerage as Viscount
Kenmare for his loyal services in 1798.

" Among the many engagements which I have been
obliged to contract in the event of the success of the
measure of a legislative Union," says Cornwallis, writing
in 1799, " I have promised to use my utmost influence
to obtain an earldom for Lord Kenmare."

He appears as Earl of Kenmare in the Union peer-
age promotions and creations of December, 1800. On
October 19, 1802, he sent from Killarney the following
curious communication to Lord Hardwicke, which shows
that he received other rewards for his services besides a
promotion in the Peerage :

" I feel encouraged by your Excellency's very great
kindness and attention on a former occasion, to take the
liberty of troubling you once more with an application

12 — 2

i8o THE CATHOLICS AND THE UNION

on a subject in which Lady Kenmare and myself are,
indeed, greatly interested. It relates to Mr. Aylmer, my
brother-in-law, whom I had the honour of introducing
to your Excellency at Killarney. He is half-brother to
Lady Kenmare, and, though of one of the most eminent
and respectable families of this country, and entitled to
a very large fortune by birth, finds himself bereft of all
those hopes by the irreparable derangement of his father's
affairs, which has rendered indispensably requisite the
sale of a very fine place in the county of Kildare, called
Lyons, and the entire of the family estate in that county,
to the amount of from four to five thousand pounds a
year.

" Those unfortunate circumstances first induced me to
make an application in his behalf to Lord Camden, who
was so kind as to appoint him to a small employment at
the Custom House, which his lordship then supposed to
be worth about £220 (pounds) a year, but which, by sub-
sequent arrangements, has not produced quite £100
(pounds) a year. On a further application the Marquis
Cornwallis was pleased to join Mr. Aylmer in an appoint-
ment with Sir Boyle Roche to the place of Surveyor of
the River Kenmare, which I understand to be worth
£300 a year, which Sir Boyle enjoys the whole of for his
life. The favour I have to ask of your Excellency is that
on Mr. Aylmer resigning his place at the Custom House,
which is worth so little, you will please to appoint him to
a place of higher emolument which he may be able to
retain together with the Surveyorship of the River Ken-
mare at Sir Boyle's death ; or else to grant him some-
thing at present equal to the produce of the two employ-
ments he would resign — the joint appointment to the
River Kenmare, with the place at the Custom House.
From the knowledge I have of your Excellency's way of
thinking, and knowing also Mr. Aylmer's delicacy, I need
not say that I should not wish him to hold any situation
but such as would be quite consistent with his birth con-
nections."

The Lord Lieutenant, in reply, says he consulted
Mr. Wickham, the Chief Secretary, as to whether his
lordship's wishes with respect to Mr. Aylmer could be
satisfied ; but unfortunately there were then no means
of doing so at their disposal.

A CATHOLIC LEADER i8i

" I can only say, therefore," he goes on, " that I shall
be very anxious for the moment when I may be at liberty
to offer Mr. Aylmer some situation of that description
consistent with the views your Lordship has for him.
Your Lordship must be aware that it is not in my power
to speak with certainty as to the time."

* * *

There were also Catholics who were promised rewards
for their services to the Union, but by some mistake or
oversight were omitted from the official List of Engage-
ments. That fact is established by the following signi-
ficant letter from Cornwallis to Hardwicke shortly after
the arrival of the latter as Viceroy in Dublin, and v/hile
he was striving to arrive, with much bitterness of mind,
at a complete conception of the Union engagements by
which his patronage was mortgaged :

" CULFORD,

" /w^y i9» 1801.

" My dear Lord,

" It has been a matter of much mortification to
me that your Excellency has been troubled by some in-
accuracies in the statement of my engagements ; but
from what you must have seen of the pressing mode of
solicitation on your side of the water, you will easily
conceive the distraction which those in the Government
must have felt during the anxious period while the great
measure of the Union was in suspense ; and will, I hope,
make some allowances for the confused manner in which
the promises have been brought forward.

" I trust, however, that every omission has now been
completely explained, except the claim of Mr. Myles
Keon for some provision for his son.* This gentleman

* Myles Keon is mentioned in Wolfe Tone's " Memoirs." Before
1792 Catholic affairs were managed by a general committee.
Tone being secretary, wtiich was a self-appointed Dublin body,
and not nominated by the Catholics of the nation. " It is to the
sagacity of Myles Keon, of Keonbrook, co. Leitrim," says Tone,
" that his country is indebted for the system on which the general
committee was to be framed anew in a manner that should render
it impossible to bring it again in doubt whether that body were
or not the organ of the Catholic will. His plan was to associate
to the committee, as then constituted, two members from each
county and great city, actual residents of the place which they

1 82 THE CATHOLICS AND THE UNION

was supposed to have considerable influence with the
Cathohcs in the county of Roscommon, and as both the
members for that county had on the first discussion voted
against the Union, and one of them (Colonel Mahon) was
disposed on the second struggle to take a less hostile
part, I felt it to be a matter of great consequence that
we should make a good figure, either in the meeting, or
in the signatures of the freeholders. I perfectly recol-
lect, on his promising to exert himself, that he had an
assurance of some provision for his son, but he neglected
afterwards to remind me of it, and the circumstance
escaped my recollection.

" His views are, I believe, very moderate ; but if it
should not suit your Excellency to accommodate him in
any manner during your Administration, I should hope
that you would allow him to stand over as claimant upon
Government.

" I have the honour to be, with great regard,

" Your most obedient and faithful servant,

" CORNWALLIS."

* * *

I shall now deal with the cases of the Catholics
actually on the List of Union Engagements. There
is William Bellew, the younger son of Sir Patrick
Bellew, Bart., a member of an old and distinguished
Catholic family in Louth. He was one of the first
Catholics who joined the Irish Bar, when the legal pro-
fession was opened to Catholics by the Relief Act of
1793. At the Bar debate on the question of the Union
in December, 1799, Grady, a Protestant lawyer — whose
name appears on the List of Union Engagements, and
with whose strange case I have already dealt in the
chapter on " The Lawyers and the Union " — declared
that the Catholics desired the Union. The assertion
was contradicted by Bellew. The Catholics, said he,
had not yet begun seriously to consider the question,
and as yet had formed no decided opinion about it.
That, indeed, exactly described Bellew's own condition

represented, who were, however, only to be summoned upon
extraordinary occasions, leaving the common routine of business
to the original members, who, as I have already related, were all
residents of Dublin."

WILLIAM BELLEW AND THEOBALD M'KENNA 183

of mind. Later on, as we learn from " The Cornwallis
Correspondence," he was with difficulty restrained from
moving a resolution hostile to the Union at a meeting
of the Catholic gentry held in Lord Fingall's Dublin
house. He subsequently had several interviews with
Cornwallis, which resulted in his making up his mind
that the Union was most essential in the interest of the
Catholics, the promise of a Chairmanship of Quarter
Sessions helping him, no doubt, to that conclusion.

There is a curious note to his case in the List of Union
Engagements.

" This gentleman," writes Hardwicke, " is a son of Sir
Patrick Bellew, of the county Louth, a Roman Catholick,
and it was, therefore, thought very desirable to commute
this engagement, as he looked to the fulfilment of it in
the county of Louth, where the appointment would have
been very obnoxious to all the Protestant gentlemen."

As a matter of fact, the Chairmanship of Louth fell

vacant, and the Irish Government proposed to appoint

Bellew, in fulfilment of the engagement ; but they yielded

— despite the strong protest of Castlereagh — to a petition

from the Protestant magistrates of the county, declaring

that if Bellew were appointed to the office they would

refuse to act with him.

* * *

In the " Pension " section of the Union engagements will
be found the entry : " Mr. M'Kenna — £300 a year for
his literary services." Theobald M'Kenna, a lawyer of
considerable influence in Catholic circles, wrote one of
the first pamphlets in favour of the Union, entitled
" Memoir on Questions respecting the projected Union,"
and was appointed by the Government to superintend
the publication and distribution of the literature issued
to influence public opinion in favour of their scheme.
On October 13, 1801, he writes to Abbot, the Chief Secre-
tary, in a state of apprehension about his promised
pension. The four Administrations which successively
ruled Ireland from 1793 to 1800, he says, had each,

1 84 THE CATHOLICS AND THE UNION

unsolicited by him, called for his services " in the cause
of civil society and good government."

" But the affair of the Union," he adds, " constitutes
the ground on which my claim, at least to a certain
extent, is beyond all question irresistible. You know
that, in consequence of application made to me, I gave
up my time and trouble to the cultivation of that ques-
tion. If contributing nearly as much as any other
person to render that transaction palatable to the public,
and to extend the credit of it, be a service to the Govern-
ment, that service I must say I rendered. A positive
engagement was made to me."

This letter would seem to suggest that the Union
pensions were unpaid until they were regularly placed
on the Irish Establishment. But, as a matter of fact,
that was not so. New pensions on the Irish Establish-
ment could be created in each financial year only to the
amount of £1,200. But, meantime, until the pensions
" passed " — as the proper phrase had it — " the Great
Seal," the pensions were paid out of another fund.
That fund is indicated in a letter which Abbot, the Chief
Secretary, sent from London to Hardwicke, the Viceroy,
shortly after the latter arrived in Ireland in 1801, inform-
ing him of the arrangements which were being made for
the discharge of the Union engagements.

" The money," he says, " for engagements of the
Union, as authorized to be taken out of the privy purse,
to be settled between Mr. Pitt and Lord Castlereagh."

Further light is thrown on the subject by the letter
written by the Lord Lieutenant to Hawkesbury, Home
Secretary, dated September 26, 1804, which I give fully in
the chapter dealing with the List of Union Engagements.

" The greater part of those upon the different lists who
had not actual engagements for specific offices," says the
Viceroy in that letter, " received the amount of their
engagements from a fund in which I had no concern,
and of which I was entirely ignorant at the time I re-
ceived the papers. The fund for these money payments
has, I understand, been partly supplied from his Majesty's
privy purse."

LORD FINGALL'S BROTHER-IN-LAW 185

I think this shows that not only were the pensions
paid out of the King's privy purse until they were placed
on the Irish Estabhshment, but also the amounts of the
salaries promised in cases where, as Lord Hardwicke
says, there were no actual engagements for specific offices.
Take the case of another Catholic on the List of Union
Engagements. " Mr. Donellan, brother to Lady Fingall,"
we read — " Promised /^3oo a year ; recommended by Lord
Fingall." In this instance no particular office is men-
tioned ; and Donellan, accordingly, received £300 a year
until he was appointed to an office in the Customs." As a
Roman Cathohc," says Hardwicke in his note to the case,
" I preferred giving him the office of Customs of Water-
ford to making him an assistant barrister." Donellan,
desiring to retain the pension as well as the post, -enlisted the
good offices of Lord Dunlo, for I find the following letter
was written by Hardwicke to Dunlo on April 9, 1803 :

" My dear Lord,

" I requested Mr. Wickham to make my excuse to
you for having delayed to acknowledge your letter re-
commending Mr. Donellan for some situation equal in
value to that of Commissioner of Appeals or a Chairman
of Sessions, and to explain to you not only the cause of
the delay, but the manner in which I was already cir-
cumstanced in regard to this engagement.

" I was not at first quite certain whether he was the
same person to whom an expectation of provision had
been held out during Lord Cornwallis's Administration,
and to whom I was in some degree already pledged.
Finding he was the same gentleman, I did not think it
fair to claim a merit with your Lordship to which I was
not entirely entitled, though the manner in which you
interested yourself in his favour was an inducement to
me to make him an early offer in preference to others.
An opportunity occurred precisely at that time, and I
am happy to find that the situation which was offered
to him of Customs of Waterford and Ross, vacant by
the death of Mr. Crosbie, has proved acceptable to Mr.
Donellan, on account of its being compatible with his
profession, and not requiring residence in any particular
part of the country."

1 86 THE CATHOLICS AND THE UNION

Lord Dunlo, writing on April i8, 1803, from the Terrace,
Spring Gardens, London, to the Lord Lieutenant, says :

" Mr. Donellan in his appHcation to me had informed
me that he was in possession of some pension from the
Irish Government, and was desirous that through my
means the situation of Commissioner of Appeals, Chair-
man of Sessions of Meath or Louth, or some other em-
ployment of equal value compatible with his profession
might be obtained for him, in addition to the income he
then enjoyed. It was for this reason, and with this view,
that my request was made to your Excellency that the
situation sought by me for him at your Excellency's
hands should be in addition to his present income.

" Mr. Donellan, however, fearing lest compliance with
the application made by me in his favour should deprive
him of the income he already enjoyed under your Ex-
cellency's Government, and thereby leave him in no
better plight than he formerly found himself, requested
that I should explain the matter in such wise as to guard
against any mistake.

" Actuated as well by private friendship (of which I
must confess I cannot divest myself in this instance) as
by public feelings, founded upon the exertions made
tiirough the influence of his family, in very trying times,
in support of His Majesty's Government, and unwilling
to be more than necessarily troublesome in my own
person, I immediately applied to Mr. Wickham request-
ing that he would be the medium of expressing Mr.
Donellan's fears, now become mine, to your Excellency.
Mr. Wickham desired me to give him a note in writing
upon the subject, and that he would transmit the sub-
stance of it. This was accordingly done about the middle
of last month. The note stated my application to your
Excellency, Mr. Donellan's fears, and my wishes that
your Excellency's intentions in his favour might not
divest him of any former provision from Government.
Possibly Mr. Wickham may have forgotten to transmit
the substance of this note, as he certainly has not recol-
lected to deliver the kind message alluded to in your
Excellency's letter to me. I, therefore, take the oppor-
tunity which the acknowledgment of the receipt of this
last affords me to express my hopes and wishes that
Mr. Donellan's fears may not be realized, and that the

CROSBIE THE SINECURIST 187

benefit he has hitherto derived from the favour of
Government may not be superseded by the recent
grant made to him, the effect of which, as I am given to
understand, would be to leave him in no better situation
than that in which he found himself upon my application
to your Excellency in his favour."

Sir Boyle Roche is mentioned in Lord Kenmare's letter
which I give in this chapter. He reappears in another
extraordinary letter to the Lord Lieutenant, signed
" W. Crosbie," in which we see him in the receipt, quarterly,
of the pension promised him before it was actually placed
on the Irish Establishment. " Gentlemen may tither
and tither and tither, and may think it a bad measure,"
said he, addressing the laughing Irish House of Commons
in favour of the Union, " but when the day of judgment
comes, then hon. gentlemen will see that this is a most
excellent Union. Sir, there are no Levitical degrees
between nations, and on this occasion I see neither sin nor
shame in marrying our own sister." For uttering a few
" bulls " in this fashion in support of the Union Sir Boyle
Roche received a pension of £400 a year, in addition to
the sinecure post — mentioned in Lord Kenmare's letter —
of Surveyor of the River Kenmare, which he already
possessed.

Crosbie's amazing communication shows the bargaining
in Government offices and positions which went on in
Ireland, with the sanction of the Executive, at the
opening of the nineteenth century. The letter is written
from 5, Gloucester Place, Portman Square, London, and
is dated March 15, 1802. It was through the death of
Crosbie that Donellan obtained the sinecure post of
Customer of Waterford in 1803. Crosbie also held the
sinecure of the Weighmastership at Cork, with a salary of
£600 a year — the post which fell to Sir Vere Hunt.
Moreover, Crosbie was Commissioner of Stamps in the
Irish Department, with a salary of £500 a year. This post
was not exactly a sinecure. However, all that he had to
do to earn his £500 per annum, paid quarterly out of the

1 88 THE CATHOLICS AND THE UNION

Irish Exchequer, was to go to Dubhn occasionally to
sign some official documents. But he detested that
occasional journey. He wanted another sinecure under the
Irish Government which would give him £500 per annum
in London, without ever having to set foot in Ireland.
He recalls to the Viceroy the fact that he spoke to
his Excellency before he left for Ireland in 1801 about his
desire to exchange his post in the Irish Stamp Department
with Sir Boyle Roche for " a sinecure office." " That
sinecure office," he subsequently found, " had been
granted in reversion by Lord CornwaUis." It is not named,
but it is easy to guess that the " sinecure office " is the
Surveyorship of the Kenmare River, to which Aylmer,
Lord Kenmare's brother-in-law, was to succeed on the
death of Sir Boyle Roche. Crosbie then goes on :

" I mentioned to your Lordship at a late period when I
was in Ireland, with great confidence in your good wishes,
how material an object it would be for me to be relieved
by some arrangement from the necessity of making fre-
quent excursions to Ireland for the sole purpose of official
attendance. Being conscious that I could not expect to be
allowed to hold the situation I now do without discharging
the necessary duties, I now trouble your Excellency to
extend your approbation of an exchange which has been
proposed to me by Sir Boyle Roche, who is to be provided
for soon by a pension of £400 a year, and in the meantime
receives one hundred pounds per quarter till his pension
passes the Great Seal. He is ready to surrender his claim
to me, and to take my office in exchange, provided such
an arrangement shall be approved of by your Excellency.
I do not hesitate in making this part of my request,
because my office being £500 a year and Sir Boyle's
pension only four, I think it rather to the advantage of
Government to have a better thing on so bad a tenure as
Sir Boyle's life.

" But it is to your feelings for a very old acquaintance
that I must address myself to prevent my being a loser
in point of income, which I should be to the amount of
£100 a year. Having said this much of my wishes I
ought to point out the mode with all deference, and shall
merely suggest that I have the office of Customer of Water-
ford, the emoluments of which consist of small fees, but the

HARDWICKE ON SIR BOYLE ROCHE 189

salary is.t>nly £14 a year. It has been customary under
the same circumstances — that is, where there has been a
wish to grant — to attach a certain salary to those sort of
employments ; and in my case £100 a year attached to
the Customership of Waterford, in addition to the present
£14, would secure me my present income, which is to the
extent of my wishes.

"If through your Excellency I can accomplish this
retreat, I shall feel myself most exceedingly indebted to
you. Something of the kind is absolutely necessary to
my comfort, for I wish to live in this country, but am too
poor to give up such a place. I should feel very unhappy
if I did not entertain sanguine hopes of accomplishing my
object, either in the present instance or under some more
favourable circumstances, during your Excellency's Ad-
ministration ; for if I do not succeed now, with friends on
both sides of the water, I shall hereafter have little hope
of a more favourable issue. I have conversed with Lord
Pelham on the subject, who is my old and intimate friend,
but I have too much reliance on your kindness to think
his interference necessary."

The Lord Lieutenant is most obliging in his reply.
" Dear Crosbie," he addresses his correspondent, *' you
may be sure I shall have great pleasure in assenting to
any arrangement with regard to your office that may be
at all practicable." He sympathizes fully with Crosbie's
desire to enjoy his Irish salaries in London without having
to undergo the discomfort of an occasional visit to Ireland.
But was Crosbie sure that he was not doing himself an
injustice in the arrangement he proposed with Sir Boyle
Roche ? If Sir Boyle were to " dye " — so his Excellency
spells the word — before March 25, 1803, his pension could
not be placed on the Irish Establishment. " Sir Boyle,
between ourselves," his Excellency adds confidentially,
" is not exactly the man I should have chosen by way of
presenting to so publick and important an office as Com-
missioner of Stamps ; but no objection will arise to his
appointment, if you are satisfied with his security for the
payments which he is entitled to receive until his pension
of £400 is placed on the Establishment, and to accept the

190 THE CATHOLICS AND THE UNION

risk arising from the contingency of his dyeing before this

time twelvemonths."

I cannot say whether the arrangement was carried out,

as there is no further correspondence in reference to it in

the Viceroy's Post-bag. No doubt it was, as both parties

were willing. Poor Crosbie's enjoyment in London of his

many Irish sinecures was, sad to say, soon brought to an

end, for the worthy man departed this life in March, 1803.

As for Sir Boyle Roche — for whose shoes, as Surveyor of

the Kenmare River, Aylmer, the brother-in-law of the Earl

of Kenmare, was waiting — he lived until he died (as he

would say himself) at his residence in Eccles Street,

Dublin, on June 5, 1807.

* * *

The fourth Catholic on the List of Union Engagements
is Mr. Lynch. He was promised the Chairmanship of the
County of Galway " when vacant." I do not know
whether Mr. Lynch ever received his reward ; probably
he did not, for the position was not vacant during the
Viceroyalty of Hardwicke ; and, as I shall show in my next
article, the few Union engagements unfulfilled at the fall
of Pitt's second Administration, and the return of the
Whigs to power, were repudiated by the new Govern-
ment. But the following correspondence between
Matthew F. Lynch and Alexander Marsden, the Under-
Secretary for Ireland, will be read with interest. It tells
us how the first movement of the Catholics on behalf of
Emancipation after the Union was quietly suppressed :

" Galway,
" October 20. 1803.
" Sir,

" A number of Roman Catholic gentlemen, of the
first property and consequence in the county, having
come to the determination of petitioning Parliament and
addressing his Majesty on the subject of their claims,
applied to me to prepare the address and petition intended
to be proposed at the meeting to be convened on the 27th
inst., according to public advertisement.

" Being unacquainted with the sentiments of the Irish
Administration on the subject, I have evaded giving a

HOW THE CATHOLIC MOVEMENT WAS SUPPRESSED 191

final answer until informed whether the discussion of so
momentous a question at this crisis might not embarrass
the other arrangements of His Majesty's Ministers. The
situation in which I am placed by this application from
persons of the highest respectability will, I trust, plead
my excuse in trespassing on your important public
concerns."

Marsden, writing from Dublin Castle on October 25,
1803, says :

" As I conceive your letter to be written merely to pro-
cure for your private satisfaction the information you
desire to have, I can only communicate to you such
opinion as I entertain myself on the subject, of which I
shall certainly make no disguise, and I confess I have
great doubts of the propriety at this period (which you so
properly term a crisis) of agitating a question in a public
assembly which might lead to a division of sentiment
amongst men who are all disposed and all interested in
supporting one common cause against the enemy of all
Establishment and property in this country. If the
address be lost many will be disappointed, and if it be
carried as many may be displeased ; and we cannot at
this time spare the heart and hand of a single member of
the community.

" Pray consider this, and recommend to the friends of
the measure the expediency of deferring to another season
the discussion of points which are not particularly called
for at the present crisis."

Lynch, replying on October 27, says :

" I had this day the honour of receiving your letter,
and am happy to have it in my power to inform you that
I have prevailed on the Roman Catholick gentlemen who
attended the meeting this day to postpone the considera-
tion of the question to a future indefinite period.

" I beg leave to return my particular thanks for the
kind and obliging manner in which you have been pleased
to communicate your sentiments to me on this subject.
They have guided me on this occasion, and confirmed the
opinion I entertained of the inexpediency of discussing
any question at this important moment which might
endanger the harmony of the country."

192 THE CATHOLICS AND THE UNION

Over a year passes, and Lynch reappears in the Hard-
wicke correspondence. In a " private and confidential "
letter dated December, 1804, from the Lord Lieutenant
to Sir Evan Nepean, the Chief Secretary, there is the fol-
lowing passage :

" As to Mr. Lynch, I think he should have the £300
per annum till his engagement is satisfied. His engage-
ment was made to him on account of his influence in
Galway, where his services may still be useful, and I
understand from Marsden that Mr. Lynch called to inquire
whether he was likely to succeed in that object."

CHAPTER IX
THE DISTRIBUTION OF TITLES AND DIGNITIES

Long as is the List of Union Engagements which Corn-
wallis left to be redeemed by his successor, the Post-bag
of Lord Hardwicke makes it clear that there were, in
addition, a large number of supporters of the Union in
both Houses of the Irish Parliament, and of influential
persons in the counties — laymen and ecclesiastics. Catholic
and Protestant — active in promoting petitions in favour
of the measure, who were promised offices, pensions, and
titles, but whose cases were not entered on the official
List, because, probably, they were not sufficiently per-
sistent and clamorous in keeping themselves conspicuously
before the Executive.

In July, 1801, shortly after the arrival of the Earl of
Hardwicke as Viceroy in Ireland, the creation of several
Irish baronets and knights was gazetted. It was the last
of Cornwallis's personal payments of the titles and digni-
ties which he had promised for aid rendered the Govern-
ment in carrying the Act of Union. A few days after the
announcement of these honours in the Irish newspapers
the post brought the following indignant letter from
Colonel Burton, one of the representatives of Clare in the
Imperial Parliament, for which county he had sat also in
the Irish House of Commons :

" Limerick,

" July 13, 1 801,
" My Lord,

" Your Excellency will, I hope, pardon the liberty
I take in addressing you, and particularly on a subject that
does not immediately relate to your Administration. But

193 13

194 DISTRIBUTION OF TITLES AND DIGNITIES

I have heard so much of Lord Hardwicke's condescension
that it induces me to trespass upon your Excellency's time.

" It is necessary that I should inform your Excellency
that for the eleven years I have been in Parliament I have
uniformly supported the King's Government in this
country, that the language I have ever held to your Excel-
lency's predecessors has been that there was no office,
title, or emolument that they could offer me that I would
accept, nor did my agreeing with His Majesty's Ministers
on the question of the Union tempt me to hold any other,
or to ask for any distinguishing mark of favour for myself
or friends, except in the instance I have now to allude to.

" Mr. Joseph Peacocke, of Barntick, in the county of
Clare, a relative of mine, possessed of the second best
resident property in that county, attached to the Govern-
ment, and a strenuous supporter of all its measures, was
desirous of being made a Baronet. His wishes were com-
municated to Lord Castlereagh by Lord Conyngham.
The request was so trifling, when considered by whom and
at the time it was made, that my brother and I did not
think it necessary to make any inquiries after Lord Castle-
reagh's desiring to have Mr. Peacocke's place of abode,
etc. My surprise and disappointment, therefore, is very
great at finding his name being omitted in the list of the
Baronets gazetted on the 7th inst.

" I know not what Mr. Peacocke's feeling may be, but
unless he is gratified in the object he had in view, I shall
think it incumbent on me to resent it, and to show that
I am not insensible to the ridiculous point of view a
respectable gentleman has been placed in by my too great
confidence in Government, who will lose in me a steady
and disinterested supporter. I have at the same time
to assure your Excellency that, from my disposition to
support your Excellency's measures, I shall feel the utmost
concern at being driven to pursue a line of conduct so
different from what my family have ever observed, and
shall regret it the more since your Excellency is at the head
of the Government.

" I have the honour to be, my Lord, your Excellency's
most obedient and very faithful servant,

" Francis N. Burton."

The Lord Lieutenant, in reply to his irate correspon-
dent, points out that the Union engagements relating to
the title of Baronet were entirely ^settled before his arrival

SUPPLEMENTARY HONOUR ENGAGEMENTS 195

in Ireland, and that he even was ignorant of the names of
the gentlemen upon whom the honour had been conferred
until he saw them in the Gazette. As to the claim of
Mr. Peacocke, he knew nothing of it ; it did not appear on
the list of engagements which he had received from Lord
Cornwallis, and he deeply regretted that all he could do
in the circumstances was to forward Burton's letter to
Whitehall.

Peacocke, however, did not get the baronetcy. The
King was reluctant to confer titles in Ireland, even in
cases where there were positive engagements. Therefore,
the man who was content with a loose verbal promise had
to go without his expected reward.

* * *

It will be seen, on reference to the official List of Union
Engagements, that in the " Honours " section earldoms
were promised to Viscount Limerick, Viscount Gosford, and
Viscount Dunlo, and a viscountcy to Baroness Newcomen;
Baron Glentworth and Baron Kilconnel were, in the long
list of Peerage creations and promotions of December,
1800, created respectively Viscount Limerick and Viscount
Dunlo for their services to the Union, and received pledges
of further promotion in the peerage at the first fitting
opportunity. Viscount Gosford, who supported the
Union in the House of Lords, was offered an earldom in
December, 1800 ; but on the advice of his son and heir,
Colonel Acheson, who sat in the Irish House of Commons
and opposed the Union, he declined the honour, so that it
might not be said that he voted for the Union to obtain a
step in the Peerage. Still, Viscount Gosford and his son
and heir were anxious, as will be seen later, that after a
decent lapse of time the family should obtain the earldom-
The Lady Newcomen mentioned in the List for a vis-
countcy— the wife of Sir William Newcomen, a member of
the House of Commons — was raised to the Peerage as a
baroness in December, 1800, in return for her husband's
political services. Baroness Dufferin, who also appears in
the List, was another of the twenty-two Union peerages
created, on the recommendation of Lord Cornwallis, in

13—2

196 DISTRIBUTION OF TITLES AND DIGNITIES

December, 1800. Her son, Sir James Blackwood, who
sat in the Irish House of Commons for his own pocket
borough of Killyleagh, in co. Down, and supported
the Union, desired that his mother should be created
originally a viscountess, he, of course, being heir to the
title ; but, as the note to the case in the List of Union
Engagements states, this was refused, as it was decided
that no person should be recommended for two steps in
the Peerage at the same time.

The undertaking given with respect to these supple-
mentary honour engagements was that they should be
fulfilled after the first General Election for the United
Parliament. The General Election came off in June, 1802.
Accordingly, in August Hardwicke — always most scrupu-
lous for the speedy liquidation of the Union account —
wrote to the Home Secretary recommending that these
promised promotions in the Peerage should at once be
conferred. There was a doubt in the case of Baroness
Dufferin. It did not appear to his Excellency that her
advancement to a viscountcy was a positive engagement.
Castlereagh was consulted on the point. Writing to
Wickham, the Chief Secretary, Castlereagh said that if
Blackwood was very desirous of obtaining further promo-
tion in the Peerage for his mother, he (Castlereagh) would
ask the Lord Lieutenant to grant it as a favour to himself.
But no application had been received from Blackwood.
" I consider," says Castlereagh, " a step in the Peerage
too great a mark of favour to be either asked or granted
unless particularly desired ; and therefore, although I
wish to cultivate Blackwood's friendship as very material
to me in the county of Down, I have no wish to express
of this nature on the present occasion." No action was
taken, therefore, in the case of Baroness Dufferin. But
Viscount Limerick was created Earl of Limerick, and
Viscount Dunlo, Earl of Clancarty. In the case of
Viscount Gosford the earldom was again declined, as in
the opinion of the son and heir there had not yet elapsed
a sufficient time for the promotion to escape being de-
scribed as a Union engagement.

THE EARL OF LLANDAFF 197

While writing to Lord Pelham, the Home Secretary, on
the subject of these Union peerage promotions, the Lord
Lieutenant set forth the claim made to him for advance-
ment in the Peerage by the Earl of Landaff, of Thomas-
town Castle, CO. Tipperary. The Earl had supported the
Union in the House of Lords, but his son. Lord Mathew,
who sat in the House of Commons, had voted against the
measure. Says the Viceroy :

" His Lordship called upon me last week for the purpose
of representing that at the time of the discussion of the
Union question he had a promise from Lord Cornwallis
of promotion in the Peerage. That, having been much
distressed at the vote which his son. Lord Mathew, had
thought himself obliged to give against the Union, he
waited upon Lord Cornwallis to resign any pretension he
might have to the favour which had been promised to him.
That, having subsequently received a very handsome
letter from Lord Cornwallis, having attended a meeting
in Tipperary for the purpose of forwarding the wishes of
the Government by supporting an address from the county
in favour of the Union, and having twice brought into
Parliament a friend of Government, he thought himself
fairly entitled to the mark of favour which had been
originally promised. This is the statement which Lord
Landaff has made of the manner in which he understood
what passed at the time ; but it is evident that Lord
Cornwallis either did not consider himself as engaged to
his Lordship, or conceived himself entirely released from
the engagement, if any had been made. Lord Landaff
added, however, that he by no means wishes to found a
claim upon what had passed at that time ; but expressly
desires it to be considered as a new application, and hopes
that it may be favourably represented for his Majesty's
consideration."

The Earl of Landaff's desire was not gratified. Both
Pelham, the Home Secretary, and Addington, the Prime
Minister, were against the promotion, as it was not a Union
engagement.* ^ ^ ^^

* The earldom of Landaff has been long extinct. Thomas-
town Castle, the home of the Mathews, and the birthplace of the
Apostle of Temperance, Father Mathew, is now in a state of ruin.
In the eighteenth century it was said to be the most magnificent

198 DISTRIBUTION OF TITLES AND DIGNITIES

But the Earl of Landaff was not the only disappointed
seeker of a step upwards in the Peerage. There was John
Denis Browne, Marquis of Sligo, of Westport House,
Westport. He was Earl of Altamont in the Irish Parlia-
ment, and for his services to the Union was created
Marquis of Sligo, in the notorious twenty-two promotions
to higher grades in the Irish Peerage which were gazetted
in December, 1800. He was also made a representative
Irish peer in the House of Lords of the Imperial Parlia-
ment. But he thought he also deserved to be included
in the Union Peerages of the United Kingdom — six of
which had been created — and, indeed, he was led to expect
the distinction by Addington, Prime Minister, at the next
creation. Great, then, was his chagrin on finding that in
July, 1802, two Peerages of the United Kingdom were
created — one of which was Lord Sheffield, of the Irish
Peerage, made Baron Sheffield of Sheffield — and that he
had been passed over. These creations, it is necessary to
say, had no relation whatever to the Union. But I will
let Sligo tell his own story. Writing to Hardwicke on
August 2, 1802, he says :

" Considering upon the Union of these countries that
my family from their situation might look to a permanent
seat in the House of Peers of the United Kingdom, I
waited on Mr. Addington as soon as I was sent over as an
Irish representative peer. I stated to him my situation in
this Kingdom. That six out of seven of the Marquises
above me in the Peerage had received that mark of dis-
tinction, and that it had also been conferred on the only
one that was my junior in it. That my fortune here was
equal to any of those who had been so distinguished, and
the prospects of my son in both countries considerably
beyond them all. Under the circumstances I was induced
to make the request ; and Mr. Addington having expressed

residence in Ireland. One of its lords had peculiar ideas. On
the arrival of his guests apartments were assigned to them, and
each guest was told that he was to regard his apartments as his
own house during his stay. Mathew himself was rarely seen,
and he never allowed himself to be thanked. A fully-equipped
tavern was fitted up in the Castle for those whose tastes lay in
that direction. Dean Swift was a guest of this remarkable host.

THE MARQUIS OF SLIGO'S DISAPPOINTMENT 199

himself as favourably as possible to my pretensions, I
had very little doubt of succeeding in the attainment
of them.

" Had it been an object to have added insult to degrada-
tion and disappointment, I submit to your Excellency if
it could have been offered more pointedly than by choosing
those who were to receive what was withheld from me
from the lowest ranks of the Irish Peerage, persons who
had no situation in Ireland, and who had not even aided
in that measure as I had done, without which the dignity
of a Peer of the United Kingdom could not have been
conferred on anyone."

Hardwicke wrote in reply one of his characteristic
mollifying letters. He poured abundance of oil on the
wounded vanity of Sligo. Here is his Excellency's letter :

" Phcenix Park,

" igth August, 1802.

" My dear Lord,

" I was desirous before I acknowledged your obliging
letter of the 2nd inst. to learn distinctly from Mr. Wick-
ham what has passed upon the subject, concerning which
you had conversed with Mr. Addington, and which is,
of course, highly interesting to your Lordship. I under-
stand from Mr. Wickham that the two Peerages to which
your Lordship refers were conferred in consequence of
promises of some standing, and that whatever difficulty
exists with regard to claims which, as in the instance of
your Lordship, are upon many grounds entitled to atten-
tion, arises from an unwillingness to make new engage-
ments for the Peerage after the great increase which it has
received of late years.

" I think it impossible that any prejudice can have
arisen which could alter a determination already taken,
and that the reason which Mr. Wickham has assigned is
the true and only explanation of what has struck your
Lordship in consequence of the late creations. I have
communicated generally to Mr. Addington what your
Lordship stated in your last letter. I have not heard
from him since he has received my letter ; but I trust
that what Mr. Wickham has written to you will do away
with every idea of anything having been taken up to
your Lordship's prejudice."

200 DISTRIBUTION OF TITLES AND DIGNITIES

Sligo, acknowledging this letter, says :

" The pains you are so good to take to reconcile to my
mind the severest disappointment I have ever met with,
I shall always hold in my remembrance ; and in whatever
situation I may stand I trust you will do me the justice
to consider me among those that you may entirely com-
mand and dispose of.

" Not being in the habit of much intercourse with states-
men, I can easily imagine that I might be led to give
weight to professions which they were not meant to con-
vey, and I should blame myself under that impression
if my interest in the object had led me to a conclusion in
which I was not justified. The interview I had the honour
of having with Mr. Addington was at his own desire, after
my object had been named to him by my brother, and I
can hardly persuade myself that on such an occasion
expressions could have been used to me little, if at all,
short of direct engagements, if it was known at the time
to the person using them that an insurmountable objec-
tion existed to that request being complied with. It is
so inconsistent with the honour, candour and fairness of
Mr. Addington's general conduct and character, that I
should have attributed the change of sentiment to any-
thing rather than to him if any part of my conduct since
had admitted of two interpretations, either in or out of
Parliament. Your Excellency may know what the one
has been, though I am sorry by report only ; and the
Secretary of State has done me the honour to acknowledge
the other on more than one occasion.

" As to me, I am of small importance, and I am quite
aware of it. Neither shall my claims or my expectations
be again speedily troublesome ; but if there be anything
like a general principle to unite the hearts and minds of
Great Britain and Ireland, by keeping one in a state of
inferiority, by despising and rejecting the highest of our
birth, rank, and fortune, and giving priority without any
other claim than not being resident with us, I am afraid
it will not be found to answer, and I lament it exceedingly.
It will hurt me in a still sorer point than my pride, if it
takes from the strength of the Empire."*

* * *

* In February, 1806, Sligo's ambition was realized. He was
created Baron Monteagle of Westport in the Peerage of the
United Kingdom.

THE NAPIER FAMILY 201

Even membership of the Irish Privy Council was re-
stricted solely to those who had engagements from the
Government for services in the cause of the Union.
There was the Hon. Colonel George Napier, an old and
valuable civil servant, Comptroller of the Army Accounts.
Besides, he was the son of a Scottish peer, and his wife
was Lady Sarah Lennox, a daughter of the ducal house
of Richmond (thus descended on the wrong side from
Charles IL), whom George IIL in his young days was most
anxious to marry, whose sisters were the Duchess of
Leinster (mother of Lord Edward FitzGerald) and Lady
Holland (mother of Charles James Fox) and Lady Louisa
Conolly, wife of Mr. Conolly of Castletown, known as
*' the great Irish Commoner," who figures herself as Lady
Sarah Napier in the exciting annals of the Rebellion of
1798, and who became the mother of those two famous
British soldiers. Sir Charles Napier, the conqueror of
Scinde, and Sir William Napier, the author of the " His-
tory of the War in the Peninsula." The Lord Lieutenant
informed Colonel Napier that in recognition of his services
to the State he proposed to recommend him for the Irish
Privy Council, and Colonel Napier accepted the distinc-
tion with gratitude. The nomination was forwarded for
sanction to Whitehall. It was rejected by his Majesty's
confidential advisers, on the ground that all such honours
must be confined to those who had claims on the Govern-
ment for services rendered during the Union crisis.

The Lord Lieutenant was angry. He told Napier the
reason why his appointment to the Privy Council had
been refused by the Ministers. Napier was filled with
wrath at the news. He wrote an indignant letter to the
Lord Lieutenant. What, he asked, did the action of
the Ministers amount to ? As if they had said bluntly,
" We will confer the honour of Privy Councillor on those
political traffickers who supported Government on inter-
ested principles, but we cannot agree to your Excellency's
recommendation of a man of birth, character, and honour-
able services for that mark of his sovereign's approba-
tion."

202 DISTRIBUTION OF TITLES AND DIGNITIES

And this was his return for thirty-five years of faithful
services to the State ! He goes on :

" My Lord, I conceive there are occasions when a man,
without the imputation of egotism, may be permitted to
hazard a few words respecting himself, and I trust your
Excellency will admit that I am at present in a predica-
ment which justifies my availing myself of this license.
You will, therefore, allow me to observe that the son of
a peer, connected by birth or marriage with a considerable
part of the ancient nobility in both countries, could derive
no additional honour from mere association with the Irish
Privy Council ; and, in fact, had I been disposed to re-
ceive that distinction under ' a questionable shape,' or
had my friends been sufficiently venal to propose terms
when the dearest interests of this country were materially
implicated, I probably should not have to lament the
mortification of being compelled to consider myself as the
proximate cause of your Excellency proposing any measure
relative to Ireland which did not command that prompt
attention your exalted station, character, and Govern-
ment have a right to claim. But even those considera-
tions render this return to your Excellency's kind atten-
tion more ungracious, for surely those services must
be of slight importance which, sustained by such respect-
able testimony, are not esteemed worthy of a distinction
that may be bestowed without danger to the public safety,
or burthen to the public Purse, and which has hitherto
been granted without demur on every and any Chief
Governor's nomination.

" Respecting my own individual pretensions, I appeal
to your Excellency as a competent judge, and on incon-
trovertible evidence, that wheresoever the King's service
or the public interest have been implicated, I have neither
shunned the labour nor shrunk from the responsibility
and odium attaching to the extra official exertions pro-
posed to me by the Government of this country ; and I
feel it a duty I owe to myself to support the assertion by
requesting your Excellency will recollect the circum-
stance of my having been required to undertake a
laborious, confidential, and (what is still less pleasant) an
invidious task, totally abstracted from the duties of my
office, but importantly connected with the public interest.
I allude to that investigation of the conduct and practice
of the Board of Works, respecting the expenditure of

SIR GEORGE SHEE 203

money confided to their disposal, in which most disagree-
able and troublesome undertaking I was associated with
two Privy Councillors — the principal Commissioner,
whose official character became the subject of discussion,
being himself a member of that body — and had I not on
this occasion expected that a similar distinction would
have been proposed to me, I probably should have com-
plied with the customs of this country by stipulating for
the reward before I undertook the service."

Sir George Shee was another official of the Irish Ad-
ministration.* He, too, desired a seat in the Privy
Council, and as his name appears in the List of Union
Engagements, of course his wish was gratified. The
following correspondence in reference to his claim took
place between Hardwicke and Cornwallis :

" Phcenix Park,

" September 14th, 1804.
" My dear Lord,

" A claim having been made by Sir Geo. Shee
since his succession to the office of Receiver-General,
which he considers as a part of his engagement delivered
to me by your Lordship, I am under the necessity of
troubling you for a short explanation of it, according
to the fair understanding of it at the time.

" The entry opposite Sir George Shee's name in the
List of Civil Engagements is ' To be Paymaster of the

* " Sir George Shee was, we have seen, among the most active
and most loyal of the Irish magistrates, and he was one of the
few members of his class who were strongly in favour of the
Union. He was intimate with Pelham, and on the first day of
1799 he wrote to him that he was never more certain of any
truth in his life than that a Union would be advantageous to
Ireland, and highly so to the Empire at large, but he could not
shut his eyes to the fact that the opposition to it was becoming
more formidable every day, and he could not subscribe to the
doctrine that the measure must be carried at all hazards. . . .
If the measure, he continued, ' cannot be carried in the majority
of the counties and towns, and all parties in general continue to
decline expressing approbation of it, I really think that a moment
should not be lost in relinquishing it for the present, and by that
means quieting the ferment it has caused.' These words appear
to me to bear the stamp of true statesmanship, but the Govern-
ment had firmly resolved to flinch from no obstacle." — Leckv :
" Ireland in the Eighteenth Century."

204 DISTRIBUTION OF TITLES AND DIGNITIES

Forces and of the Privy Council. If the appointment
should not take place to succeed to Sir Henry Cavendish
as Receiver-General.' Soon after your Lordship left
Ireland, Sir George resigned his office of Secretary to the
Treasury in order to accept the appointment of Under-
Secretary of State to Lord Pelham, and to secure him
against the danger of losing his engagement, as far as
possible, I obtained for him a reversionary grant'of Sir
Henry Cavendish's office. Upon Sir Henry's death he came
over to Ireland in order to take possession of the office, and,
notwithstanding some regulations which it was always
intended to make in the office respecting fees and balances,
appeared to be well satisfied with the appointment.

" Within these few days, however, he has brought
forward a claim to be appointed a Privy Councillor, as
part of the engagement, and alleges that he had at all
events a promise to that effect. I certainly understood
from Lord Castlereagh, and it appears from the memo-
randum of which I send you a copy, that the Privy Council
was a part of the engagement only in case it had been
satisfied by the appointment of Paymaster of the Forces,
by way of giving dignity to a new office. But as it
has not been thought right to create such an office, I
have always thought that Sir G. Shee's engagement has
been satisfied by the other alternative, viz., the office
of Receiver-General.

"If your Lordship sufficiently recollects the circum-
stances of the transaction, amongst so many of a similar
description, I shall be much obliged to you for a com-
munication of your opinion ; because I am not willing,
unless it should be necessary for the sake of preserving
the good faith of your Lordship's Government, to expose
myself to the embarrassment of so many other applica-
tions, as the appointment of Sir George Shee to be a
Privy Councillor would unavoidably produce."

Cornwallis's reply is as follows :

" Private.

" CULFORD,

" September 2gih, 1804.
" My dear Lord,

" It is not without some difficulty that I can
attempt to give an answer that may be considered in any
degree satisfactory to your letter, dated the 14th instant,
having had less personal concern in the engagement
with Sir George Shee than in almost any other which

CORNWALLIS SAYS THE UNION HAD FEW FRIENDS 205

took place during the agitation of the Union question,
as the negotiation with that gentleman was entirely
carried on through Lord Castlereagh.

Sir George was not in a situation, nor, to do him
justice, was he disposed, to dictate terms, as many
others did, from which circumstance the agreement was
probably more loosely worded. I well recollect, however,
that the Privy Council was coupled with the office of
Paymaster-General. It seems that this was not expressed
in terms in case the engagement was to be satisfied
by the office of Receiver-General, Looking, however, to
the spirit of the transaction, I doubt, after his having
been disappointed of the higher office of Paymaster-
General, and taken that of Receiver-General with a dimi-
nution of its former emoluments, whether it would not
be consonant to the liberal proceeding which Government
has observed in the performance of the Union engage-
ments, that the Privy Council should still be given to
Sir George (provided there is no unfitness in a Receiver-
General being a Privy Councillor), especially if the
income of that office does not exceed that which he
enjoyed as Secretary of the Treasury, as that gentleman
would otherwise be, perhaps, the only one of our active and
zealous supporters on whom no mark of favour would
have been conferred, either in honours or emoluments.

" I feel it fairly due to Sir George to state from the
reports of those who acted most confidentially under
my Administration, during the agitation of the Union
question, that he served us with unqualified zeal, and
that he really did a great deal of good by his activity
in a cause which had few sincere friends,

" I have the honor to be, with very sincere esteem
and regard, my dear Lord, your most obedient and
faithful servant,

" CORNWALLIS."

A few days later came another letter to the Lord
Lieutenant from Cornwallis :

" Private.

" CULFORD,

" Oct. 2nd, 1804,

" My dear Lord,

" Since I have had the honor of transmitting to
you my answer to your letter respecting the claim of
Sir George Shee to a seat in the Privy Council of Ireland,
Lord Castlereagh has sent me a letter which he has

2o6 DISTRIBUTION OF TITLES AND DIGNITIES

received from Sir George, in which the latter asserts
that Lord Castlereagh wrote to him from London, at
the time when the creation of the oiBce of Paymaster
in Ireland was relinquished, to inform him that he was
to have the reversion of the Receiver-General's place,
together with the appointment to the Privy Council,
and his Lordship further informs me that as he has no
copy of the letter he cannot answer with precision for
the contents, but that he must suppose Sir George to
be correct in stating that when he notified to Sir George
that the creation of the office of Paymaster-General
was not to take place, he (Lord Castlereagh) expressed
himself in such a manner as would justify Sir George in
taking it for granted that the succession to the Council
was not to be affected by his having only the reversion
of Sir Henry Cavendish's office, instead of the Pay-
mastership in immediate possession.

" I am very sorry, my dear Lord, to have been obliged
to give you so much trouble on this subject, and beg
leave to assure you that I have the honor to be, with very
sincere regard, your most obedient and faithful servant,

" CORNWALLIS."

* * *

It is interesting to discover that in 1805 both Lord
Gosford and his son were agreed that the time was
come when they might accept the earldom offered in
1800, in the sure conviction that, after such a lapse of
time, it would not be suspected of being a Union peerage.
Pitt was Prime Minister now, and Hawkesbury was
Home Secretary. Hawkesbury wrote to Hardwicke in
September, 1805, that as Pitt understood Viscount
Gosford was desirous of an advance in the Irish Peerage
he hoped his Excellency would forward an official letter
to be laid before the King recommending the Viscount
for an earldom. " I understand," adds the Home Secre-
tary, " his son is very anxious respecting it, and that it will
probably determine his political line." Gosford accord-
ingly was created an earl, and no doubt the support of his
son, Colonel Acheson, a member of the Imperial Parlia-
ment, was in consequence secured by the Government.

* * *

"CHAS. DUBLIN," ARCHBISHOP AGAR 207

In the same year there was another advance in the
Irish Peerage, as a reward for services to the Union,
though the case does not appear in the official List of
Union Engagements. Hawkesbury, writing from White-
hall, November 14, 1805, to Hardwicke, says : " I have
had an application from Templetown for a step in the
Peerage which was offered to him at the time of the
Union by Lord Cornwallis, but was at the time refused
by him. He afterwards, in consequence of a change in
circumstances, altered his mind, and Lord Sidmouth
promised him he should be included in the first promo-
tions. I have spoken to Mr. Pitt on the subject, and
he has not the least objection to it. I should be obliged
to you, therefore, if you would have the goodness to
recommend him for a Viscountcy." Accordingly, Baron
Templetown was created Viscount Templetown in 1806
for his vote for the Union.

* * *

*' Chas. Dublin," Archbishop Agar, again comes on
the scene. He was an Irish peer as well as an Irish
prelate. Raised to the Irish Peerage in 1795 as Baron
Somerton, he was promoted Viscount Somerton iu
December, 1800, for his services to the Union. In
February, 1805, he wrote to the Lord Lieutenant that he
desired to be created Earl of Normanton. Why his Grace
desired this promotion in the Peerage is engagingly set
out in the following interesting letter written by his wife.
Countess Somerton, to " my dear Mr. Marsden," the
Under-Secretary at the Castle, who sent it on to the
Lord Lieutenant :

" There is nothing that the Archbishop and I have so
near at heart as the adorning our dear son, now on his
travels, with a little feather to make him more present-
able, etc., etc., wherever he goes. On the Continent
Rank is inestimable, and even at home it is no small
addition to a young man whom, in our partiality, we
think wants nothing else to recommend him partout ;
having the advantages of the best education, the first
alliances, and possessing all fortune's goods, if an income

2o8 DISTRIBUTION OF TITLES AND DIGNITIES

of ten thousand per annum can be so considered, and
which his father would leave him to-morrow.

" In short, this dear son's advantage is an object
with us deservedly precious. And no one acquainted
with the world can be ignorant of the value that is put
upon Rank, both in foreign countries and in one's own.
Since, then, this is indisputable, we naturally wish to
compass this for him, but which cannot be had in any
other way than by that of his father's advancing a step
in the Peerage. A step, certainly, of no use or conse-
quence to the A.B. himself, who is a flight of stairs above
it in his own person already, and it is hoped that this
favor would be the least embarrassing to Government
of any that cou'd be ask'd by his Grace, especially as
he happens to be so peculiarly and fortunately circum-
stanced as to have a claim to that favor beyond others."

A year later, in February, 1806, his Grace was created

Earl of Normanton, and his son got the courtesy title of

lord.

* * *

In October, 1804, a Ribbon of the Order of St. Patrick
fell to the Government by the death of the Duke of
Leinster, brother of Lord Edward FitzGerald, the leader
of the United Irishmen. The Duke, it is interesting to
note, was one of the few peers who opposed the Union.
An exciting contest for the Ribbon took place between
two noted champions of the Union — the Earl of Roden and
the Marquis of Waterford. Roden had been very early
in the field. So long before as July i, 1801, he wrote
to Hardwicke :

" From the various kind expressions Lord Cornwallis
was so good to make use of towards me, and his wishes
to show his regard for my general character, and (he was
pleased to say) military services during the late unfortu-
nate Rebellion in Ireland, on the death of the Lord
Marquess of Waterford I stated to Lord Cornwallis that
if he thought any military services of mine had been of
use, and that he had the disposal of the Ribbon then
vacant, on that ground I should be proud to receive it
from his hands. He wrote to me a very handsome letter

KNIGHTHOOD OF THE ORDER OF ST, PATRICK 209

on the subject, and said I should certainly have had it
had it not been promised to Lord Conyngham. Though
there is none at present vacant, it might happen that one
would fall during your Excellency's residence in Ireland.
If that should be the case, I might flatter myself with the
hopes of succeeding to it."

Hardwicke, as usual, returned a most gracious reply.
He told Roden how he had written to Addington, the
Prime Minister, of his desire to become a Knight of the
Order of St. Patrick, and how he had expressed the
opinion " that his lordship's loyal and spirited services
during the Rebellion " entitled his claim to a favourable
consideration in the event of a vacancy.

" Your Lordship will be aware," his Excellency added,
with characteristic caution, " that it would be improper
for me at present to make an engagement without being
perfectly certain that it would be in my power to fulfil
it when the vacancy occurred. But I must beg you at
the same time to be persuaded that I am very sensible
of the justice of your claims, arising from your useful
services and example at a most critical period."

In October, 1804, as I have said, there was a Ribbon
of the Order of St. Patrick at the disposal of the Govern-
ment. Roden lost no time in again putting his pretensions
before the Lord Lieutenant.

Hardwicke accordingly sent Roden the following letter,
dated November 8, 1804 :

" Your Lordship is aware that I cannot commit myself
upon a subject of this nature without a full communica-
tion with the King's Ministers ; nor am I at present able
to communicate to you what is likely to be the result of
the present vacancy. So far, however, I may venture to
assure your Lordship, that there is as much disposition
to admit your pretensions to this distinction in the present,
as in the late. Administration. Of the claims which have
been brought forward upon the present occasion there is
only one which appears to be prior in point of time to
your Lordship's, or, in my opinion, equal to it upon the
other grounds on which such Honours are generally claimed
or conferred. I will write to your Lordship again, as soon

2IO DISTRIBUTION OF TITLES AND DIGNITIES

as I am enabled to say anything more precise, or am
justified in giving you a fuller explanation upon the
subject."

Writing from ToUymore Park, on November lo, 1804,
Roden thus replied :

" I trust your Excellency will have the goodness to
pardon a very few observations which are only meant as
a statement of my claim for the Feather in question. I
have not the smallest doubt the one mention'd by your
Excellency to have a prior claim, in point of time, has
much more pretension on the grounds that such Honours
are generally claimed and conferr'd. I am certain that
his pretensions must be much superior to mine, as I can
never have deserved to claim any merit from any exertion
I have made, having merely, as I conceived, endeavoured
to do my duty.

" But I beg your Excellency will please to recollect that
the ground I had for troubling you originally on the subject
was Lord Cornwallis, soon after an end was put to the un-
fortunate disturbances in Ireland, having told me, on my
application for the Ribbon vacant by the death of Lord
Waterford, had it not been given by Lord Conyngham
he should have been happy to have given it to me. My
only wish to have got it then was in a military point of
view for my service I had perform'd with the Regiment
of Dragoons I then had the honor to command, to which
service Lord Cornwallis had been an eye-witness.

" Subsequent to the conversation I had the honor of
having with your Excellency, Mr. Wickham sent to me in
London to let me know that His Majesty's Ministers were
very happy in promising to comply with my former
request, namely, that I should have the first vacant
Ribbon of the Irish Order, which, coming from such
authority (considering him as acting as Secretary to the
Irish Government), I certainly conceived as conclusive,
and ever since did consider it in that hght. I am very
much fiatter'd by your Excellency's assurance of the
same kind disposition of the present Administration to
admit my pretensions as the last, and have merely stated
my case as it actually stands, which I consider my duty
to do merely in my own justification for troubling your
Excellency on the subject.

" Whatever may be the determination of His Majesty's

THE MARQUIS OF WATERFORD V. LORD RODEN 211

Ministers with respect to me, I can in no instance alter
the very sincere respect, attachment and high regard
with which I have the honor to be your Excellency's
obedient, faithful, humble servant,

" RODEN."

* * *

Addington was no longer Prime Minister. The second
Pitt Administration was now in power. Therefore Hard-
wicke wrote a long letter to Hawkesbury, the new Home
Secretary, informing him of the early application of
Lord Roden for the next Ribbon, and of the favourable
disposition of Addington towards his pretension. He
adds :

" My opinion is that there is no peer in Ireland who has
fairer pretensions than Lord Roden to such a distinction,
or which would be more generally acknowledged. In-
deed, there is but one person whose claim from Rank and
Property ought to stand in competition with him : I
mean the Marquis of Waterford. I have not, however,
heard that he has wished it at present, but if he should
make an application, and should press his claim the more
on account of the disappointment he has experienced
from the delays which have unavoidably taken place in
his brother's. Lord John Beresford's, promotion to the
Bench, I think Lord Roden might be prevailed upon to
postpone his claim to some future opportunity, as he has
another object of great importance to his family, con-
cerning which he is very anxious. The other object to
which I refer and which Lord Roden has lately repeated
in a letter is the advancement of his brother, Mr. Percy
Jocelyn, to the Episcopal Bench. I have told Lord
Roden that I would take an early opportunity of communi-
cating with His Majesty's Ministers upon the subject of
his application, but that I could not commit myself to
anything further at present."

The new Administration received the recommendation
of the Lord Lieutenant rather coldly. As a matter of
fact, the Marquis of Waterford had applied to Pitt for
the Ribbon. He mentioned that his father, who died in
1800, was a Knight of the Order of St. Patrick, and that
on delivering the insignia of his father to Cornwallis, while

14—3

212 DISTRIBUTION OF TITLES AND DIGNITIES

admitting that he could not then succeed to the Ribbon,
he had put in a claim to have his pretension allowed at
the earliest opportunity.* Pitt was disposed to regard the
claim with favour. Besides, Hawkesbury pointed out
to Hardwicke, the Prime Minister was of opinion that
nothing that had occurred with respect to Lord Roden
in 1801 amounted to an engagement for the next vacant
Ribbon. Hawkesbury, in the same letter, also adminis-
ters the following rap on the knuckles to the Viceroy :

" I very much wish you would avoid giving Lord Roden
any engagement with respect to his brother succeeding
to the Episcopal Bench without further communication,
as I am of opinion that very great inconvenience may
arise from the Government being committed too deeply
with regard to engagements of this nature, and that
the Church Establishment of Ireland deserves every
attention that can possibly be paid to it."

Before this letter from the Home Secretary reached
the Lord Lieutenant, Lord John Beresford, Dean of
Clogher, and brother of the Marquis of Waterford, called
at the Castle to advance his title to a Bishopric — the
story of which I have already told — and in the course
of the interview Hardwicke asked him to ascertain his
brother's sentiments with respect to the vacant Ribbon.
Accordingly, Lord John wrote to the Marquis on the

* The Archbishop of Dublin claimed, as Chancellor of the
Order of St. Patrick, the collars of the deceased knights. On
the death of the Duke of Leinster he demanded the Duke's
collar, which had been deposited with the Registrar of the Order,
and sent to the Viceroy, in support of his claim, the following
letter from " Francis Townsend, Windsor Herald," dated
" Heralds' College, 17th Nov., 1804."

" Dear Sir,

" The Collar of a deceased Knight of the Garter has ever
been considered as the perquisite of the Chancellor of the Order,
and I find nothing in the statutes of St. Patrick repugnant to
the idea that the Chancellor of that Order should be entitled to
the same privilege ; but I never understood that any other parts
of the Insignia, except the Collar, were claimed as perquisites.
The Ribbon and Badge of the Garter are always restored to the
sovereign. The application for the Collar is made to the family
of the deceased."

WATERFORD'S SUSPICIONS 213

subject, and sent the reply to the Lord Lieutenant. It
will be noticed that Waterford seems to have suspected
a design on the part of Hardwicke to supersede, by
the offer of the Ribbon of St. Patrick, the claim of his
brother to a seat on the Episcopal Bench :

" London,
" Nov. 12th, 1804.

" My dear John,

" T have just received your letter communicating
what passed at your audience with Lord Hardwicke.
The desire his Excellency obligingly expressed to know
what my wishes were on the subject of the vacant Irish
Ribband, marks that kindness on his part which is
extremely flattering.

" What I feel, however, with respect to the Irish Order
of Honor is that I should not make it an object of much
solicitation. If ever his Majesty thought proper to
select me as one of his Nobility to be invested with that
Order, I am ready to accept it most gratefully, and
given as a proof of my sovereign's esteem for my attach-
ment and fidelity I should receive it as conferring a very
distinguished favor.

" But neither this nor any other object shall for one
moment interfere with that which I have so much at
heart, your establishment in the northern Bishopric of
Raphoe, which from what passed between Pitt and me
(in whose word I have every confidence) I must rest
assured of. It is of too much importance to have you
well established so near my Derry property to embarrass
this engagement by any other personal consideration or
request of my own.

" Believe me, yours very affectionately,

Mr * :»r " WATERFORD."

Months dragged on, and Pitt could not — or, having
more important matters to consider, would not — make
up his mind as to the rival claims of Roden and Water-
ford for the Ribbon. The impatient Roden wrote as
follows to the Lord Lieutenant in Februar}^, 1805 •

" My dear Lord,

" I lament extremely trespassing on your Excel-
lency's time on a subject which, from being fully stated
before, I am distressed to renew, but considering all the

214 DISTRIBUTION OF TITLES AND DIGNITIES

circumstances it is impossible for me not to request
once more 3^our kind attention on a business in which
my own feelings are so much concern'd.

" Having some time since troubled your Excellency
respecting the vacant Ribbon in the Irish Order, I did
not conceive that His Majesty's Ministers would have
delayed to fulfil a claim made upon so honourable, and,
I conceived, so positive a promise. So long a period
of time having elapsed since the communication took
place, I feel myself absolutely called upon (with all
possible respect) to request an answer, one way or the
other, on the subject. Why Mr. Wickham's promise
to me has not been performed I cannot say ; but the
object in question can never, in any possible degree,
be brought into competition with my having (from the
circumstances) consider'd myself authorized publickly
to declare the offer having been made ; which declaration,
not having been confirm'd, must put me in a most un-
pleasant point of view with friends who have ever con-
sider'd my declarations founded on honourable fact.

" I entreat your Excellency will excuse this intrusion,
and beg to assure you what I have said or done in this
business can, in no possible degree, be attached to you,
for whom I have a most high respect, and, if you will
allow me to say, a sincere regard.

Hardwicke, in his reply, dated February 12, 1805,
laments that it is not yet in his power to return a decisive
answer on the subject, and goes on to write :

" If Mr. Wickham* had authority from Mr. Addington
to assure your Lordship that the wish which you had
expressed, and which I had conveyed to the King's
Ministers, would be complied with upon the first oppor-
tunity which would occur, there can be no doubt of your
right to claim the performance of what you considered
as a promise, and which, if so understood, the present
Administration would, I am sure, have no disposition to
controvert. In stating this to your Lordship I trust
you will consider me as wishing that the matter may be
brought to a satisfactory conclusion, and that you
should, at all events, receive an early answer.

" The only memorandum I find in Mr. Wickham's

• Wickham had long since resigned the Chief Secretaryship,

HARDWICKE'S EFFORTS FOR RODEN 215

books, of which I am in possession, is dated April 26,
1802, and states that in answer to a letter received from
you about that time he had informed you that the
contents of your letter should be communicated to Mr.
Addington and me. The communication to which
your Lordship refers must have been of a very different
description, and I shall be glad to know whether it was
by letter or verbal ; because if you consider it as a dis-
tinct promise it stands upon a different footing from that
of being considered as an application to which no other
answer had been given than that which I had been myself
authorized to convey, though it showed every disposition
to consider the claim in the most favourable manner."

if * *

A year passed, and Pitt died on January 23, 1806,
leaving the question unsettled, like several others of
greater political moment in which he was more deeply
concerned. His Administration came to an end with his
death. But before they quitted office they decided that
the Ribbon should be bestowed on the Marquis of Water-
ford. Hardwicke was annoyed by the decision. He
considered himself committed to Lord Roden ; and in
any case he naturally thought that his recommendation
as Viceroy ought to have been accepted. His anger was
further inflamed by the following curt note from Waterford
— who was aware of the Viceroy's efforts in the interest of
Roden — to the Under-Secretary, Alexander Marsden :

" CURRAGHMORE,

" February igth, 1806.

" Sir,

" It having been some time ago signified to me from
England that his Majesty has been graciously pleased
(without any solicitation on my part) to name me to fill
the present vacancy in the Order of St. Patrick, I am,
therefore, to request that you will have the goodness
to apply to his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant to know
when it will be convenient to his Excellency to invest me
with that honor."

Hardwicke sat down on February 26, 1806 — while he
was awaiting the arrival of his successor, the Duke of
Bedford, Viceroy of the new Whig Administration — and

2i6 DISTRIBUTION OF TITLES AND DIGNITIES

wrote a long letter, " private and confidential," on the
subject to Earl Spencer, the new Home Secretary. Here
is an extract from it :

" I feel it is necessary to inform your Lordship of a
circumstance which has occurred, and which places me
in some degree of difficulty in respect to the course which
I ought to take, and as it is possible you may not be
acquainted with it I am desirous of stating the case to
your Lordship, not considering it proper at this period to
decide upon a point of this nature without a full communi-
cation.

" On the 3rd instant I received an official letter from
Lord Hawkesbury, dated the 25th of January, conveying
to me his Majesty's pleasure that I would invest the Mar-
quess of Waterford with the Insignia of the Order of
St. Patrick, in which there has been a vacancy since the
death of the Duke of Leinster. I received at the same
time a private letter dated the 30th of January ex-
plaining the grounds on which the official letter was sent.
The same conveyance also brought a letter from Lord
Hawkesbury to the Marquess of Waterford, which was
forwarded to him on the 3rd instant, and which he must
have received on the following day. Had Lord Water-
ford been in Dublin, or had he come up on receipt of the
letter, I should have felt myself called upon to have acted
upon Lord Hawkesbury's letter ; but as three weeks had
elapsed before I received any communication from Lord
Waterford (though strictly speaking I might still be
justified in acting upon the letter of the 31st ulto.) I do
not choose to take such a step without apprising your
Lordship of the circumstances, and requesting you to
communicate to me your sentiments, as well as those of
Lord Grenville, upon this subject.

" I think it right to explain to your Lordship that this
Ribbon remained so long undisposed of in consequence
of Mr. Pitt not having determined between the claims
of Lord Roden and Lord Waterford, the former of whom
made an application for it on the first vacancy, in the year
1801, and which was communicated to Lord Hawkesbury
in a private letter, after the death of the Duke of Leinster
in 1804."

" I enclose," he says in a P.S., " copies of the letters to
which I have referred for your Lordship's information."

WATERFORD GETS THE RIBBON 217

His Excellency was most anxious to have the Ribbon —
now almost round the shoulders of the Marquis of Water-
ford — transferred to the Earl of Roden. But he met
with a very decided rebuff. Says Spencer in reply :

" My dear Lord,

" I am much obhged to your Excellency for your
letter of the 26th ulto., marked ' private and confidential,'
in relation to the Marquess of Waterford being invested
with the Order of St. Patrick. As that measure was com-
pletely determined upon by the late Administration, and
the authority was given to your Excellency by my prede-
cessor in office some days before I had the honour to re-
ceive the Seals, I apprehend there can be no doubt of
the propriety of your Excellency carrying the directions
contained in Lord Hawkesbury's letter of the 25th of
January into execution, and on this occasion I beg leave
to take the Hberty of desiring that your Excellency
would have the goodness to signify to the Marquess of
Waterford that though neither myself nor any of my
colleagues in office can, under the circumstances of the
case, claim any merit with him for a share in advising his
Majesty to confer this honour on his Lordship, we are,
nevertheless, anxious that he should do us the justice to
believe that we have great satisfaction in seeing it so
properly conferred."

Waterford had triumphed. The last letter on the
subject in the Viceroy's Post-bag is a brief note from the
Marquis, written from his Dublin residence, Tyrone
House, March 12, 1806, informing the Lord Lieutenant
of his arrival in town, and asking at what hour the next
day it would be convenient for his Excellency to invest
him with the Ribbon of the Order of St. Patrick.

CHAPTER X
A CHAPTER OF UNION DISAPPOINTMENTS

On the eve of the session of 1799, in which the question
of the Union was first brought up in the Irish Parhament,
Cornwalhs, the Lord Lieutenant, wrote to his friend,
General Ross, in London :

" The demands of our friends rise in proportion to the
appearances of strength on the other side ; and you, who
know how I detest a job, will be sensible of the difficulty
which I must often have to keep my temper."

The Earl of Hardwicke was a phlegmatic and most
courteous person, unlike the blustering soldier, Corn-
wallis ; but even he must have found it exceedingly
hard to restrain himself often during the liquidation of
these Union engagements which his predecessor flung
about so lavishly and left him to discharge. I have
already given examples of the complaints and upbrai dings
of persons included in the List of Engagements because
of the time they were kept waiting for their promised
rewards. But more poignant still are the wails of those
who were left out in the cold, who, though they supported
the Union for a price, were by some mischance excluded
from the official List of Engagements.

For instance, there was Mr. James Knox, Ranger of
the Curragh of Kildare, concerning whom I find the
following amusing entries in the Lord Lieutenant's
audience book for 1801 :

" June 9. — Mr. James Knox states the positive promise
of Lord Cornwallis that he should be appointed a Com-
missioner of Revenue on giving up his present office.
The engagement as he states was on the idea of a vacancy

218

MR. JAMES KNOX, RANGER OF THE CURRAGH 219

by Mr. Beresford or Sir Henry Langrish. Told him I
did not recollect his name, but I expected a correct copy
of the Engagements from England in a few days. N.B. —
Mr. Marsden says that Mr. Knox states the promise to
have been made somewhere after dinner, which, however,
Lord Comwallis denied."

" June 23. — Mr. James Knox again repeats his state-
ment of June 9th of a positive promise from Lord Corn-
wallis that he should be a Commissioner of the Revenue,
or that his present place of Ranger of the Curragh
should be made equal, by something in addition, to £800
per annum. Replied that he was not on the List, and
recommended him to write to Lord Cornwallis on the
subject. N.B. — Col. Littlehales has apprised Lord Com-
wallis of Mr, K.'s intention."

" July 10. — Mr. James Knox, for the 3rd time, em-
ployed forty minutes in going through the old story of
Lord Comwallis's promise to give him a better place than
that of Ranger of the Curragh. Was much dissatisfied
with the extract Col. Littlehales had sent him of Lord
Cornwallis's letter, which, he said, amounted to a general
promise of something better, though nothing specific
was mentioned. That Lord Comwallis told him he should
be upon his List of Engagements. Pressed me over and
over again to promise something better after all the
engagements were fulfilled. I positively refused to
amend the List of Engagements, which I could not do
without involving myself unpleasantly with those who
were the objects of them ; and as to making any promise
of my own, I positively declined it as often as he pressed
it, but in civil terms, and would give him no advice as to
writing again to Lord Comwallis."

The Lord Lieutenant adds the following note to the
entry, in big, sprawling characters :

" The Lord deliver me from Mr. James Knox, Ranger
of the Curragh of Kildare ! ! ! !"

* * *
Again, here is a letter from a man who had been a
member of the Irish Parliament, Hugh Dillon Massey,
of Doonass, co. Limerick, dated December 2, 1801 :

" A near relation of mine, who is quite unprnvided for,
was my first object in the Administration of my Lord

220 A CHAPTER OF UNION DISAPPOINTMENTS

Cornwallis, and his Excellency was pleased to say, from
the decided and disinterested support that I gave to the
Union question, that I had strong claims upon their
Administration. My object was to have obtained a
pension upon the Irish Establishment of three hundred
pounds per annum for the life of my relation ; and upon
my soUciting this favour from my Lord Cornwallis, he
said that the Pension List was so hmited, and that he
had so many reduced families at that time to provide for,
that he requested I would not then press it. For this
assertion I beg leave to refer your Excellency to Lord
Cornwallis.

" I am, my Lord, well aware that the Pension List
is equally limited in your Excellency's hands as it was
in my Lord Cornwallis's, and as I feel that I have no sort
of claim to your Excellency's favour, it is with the greatest
deference that I now beg leave to soUcit only one hundred
and fifty pounds per annum for my relation, instead of
the three hundred pounds which I had every reason to
expect, and which I have no doubt but I should have
obtained had I been in Ireland on the recall of your
Excellency's predecessor.

" I by no means presume to press my request until it
shall be perfectly at your Excellency's convenience ;
but if I may be flattered with a hope of obtaining this
object, at as early a period as circumstances will admit,
it will lay me under an everlasting obligation to your
Excellency and to your Administration."

" The present state of the Irish Pension List," says
the Lord Lieutenant, in the course of his reply, " and
the engagements of the late Government to which it is
liable, will, unfortunately, preclude me from paying
that attention to your request in favour of your relation,
even on the most limited scale, to which I have no doubt
he would be entitled from the circumstances to which
you refer."

" Request !" It was the word that Massey himself
had used ; but the adoption of it by the Viceroy annoyed
him. He wrote again to Hardwicke, insisting that his
application must be regarded as "a claim founded upon
the most unequivocal assurance from Lord Cornwallis."
" I have no doubt," he adds, " that although hurry

THE CLAIM OF HUGH DILLON MASSEY 221

of business at his departure may have occasioned
his omitting to include his engagement to me on the
List handed over to your Excellency, yet upon any
reference to him he will be most ready to verify what I
have asserted, and will recollect, upon his mentioning
the weight of engagements that must follow the measure
of the Union, my ready acquiescence in giving up one-half
of the provision, which I solicited for my relation, of
three hundred pounds a year." There was another
thing of which he was certain with regard to Lord Corn-
wallis. " The recollection of the disinterested and firm
support which I gave to his Lordship's Administration
(as a county member) upon that important question of
the Union will remain so strongly impressed upon his
mind as to lead him to do strict justice upon an appeal
through your Excellency to him." Massey himself
wrote to Cornwallis, reminding him of his application, and
asking him to " set the matter right with Lord Hard-
wicke." " I am well satisfied," he says, " that your
Lordship's representation of the facts to your successor
will lead to an immediate compliance with an object
which was at all times most material to me, and which
I flatter myself my zealous and disinterested support
will appear to have merited."

Cornwallis at this time was in the old French city of
Amiens negotiating, as plenipotentiary of Great Britain,
the famous Peace of Amiens, signed in March, 1802,
which brought to an end the war between England on
one side, and France, Spain, and Holland on the other.
Writing to Alexander Marsden, Under-Secretary for Ire-
land, on January 9, 1802, he says : " I am leading a
miserable life in this wretched town of Amiens, where I
am not only plagued to death, but am likely to be very
long detained by the low and ungentlemanlike chicanery
of my opponents." Then he goes on, in the same cynical
vein, to deal with the claim of Hugh Dillon Massey :

" I enclose a copy of a letter which I have received from
your ' friend ' Massey, claiming a pension of ;^i5o a year
for his cousin as a reward for his ' disinterested support

222 A CHAPTER OF UNION DISAPPOINTMENTS

of the Union.' I have, at present, no recollection of this
business, but as I was in the constant habit of taking
memorandums of all applications (which were either
granted or remained for consideration) as soon as they
were made, and of giving them the next morning to
Littlehales, I should imagine that if I gave anything
like an assurance to Massey it must be somewhere forth-
coming. As Littlehales has flown about very much
lately I have troubled you with an account of this business
from the certainty that you would be found upon your
station. If either you or he can throw any light upon
this business I shall be much obliged to you."

Whether Marsden was able to throw any light upon
the affair the Viceroy's Post-bag does not disclose. But
Hugh Dillon Massey failed to obtain the pension of
£300 or even of £150, which he desired for his cousin.

* * *

Here is a document in the handwriting of Lord Hard-
wicke, dated October 10, 1802, and entitled " Substance
of a Conversation with Lord Glandore," in which the
curious story of another Union disappointment is set
forth.

The Earl of Glandore (John Crosbie, of Ardfert, co.
Kerry) tells the Viceroy that his relative. Colonel Crosbie,
one of the members for Kerry, was opposed to the Union
when the question was first introduced in the Irish
House of Commons. Glandore, himself a supporter of
the measure, received a communication from the Govern-
ment urging him to try to induce Colonel Crosbie to take
the proper view of the matter. Accordingly, he had an
interview with Crosbie, and Crosbie consented to vote
for the Union on receiving an undertaking from Glandore
that if the Government did not reward him with an
office or pension he should resign in his favour the com-
mand of the Kerry Militia.* After the Union had been

* "At one of those large convivial parties which distinguished
the table of Major Hobart when he was Secretary in Ireland,
amongst the usual loyal toasts, ' The wooden walls of England '
being given, Sir John Hamilton, in his turn, gave ' The wooden
walls of Ireland ' ! This toast being quite new to us all, he was

CURIOUS STORY OF THE KERRY MILITIA 223

carried Glandore went to Comwallis, related what had
passed between him and Crosbie, and requested that he
should be relieved of his undertaking by some provision
being made for Crosbie by the Government. But Corn-
wallis told him he was too late. He should have come
before the Act was passed. Now that the Union was
carried the Government could not possibly add to the
long list of engagements they had been obliged to enter
into in order to effect their purpose. Glandore was
asked why he had not applied sooner, " In answer to
this question," he observed, writes Hardwicke, " that
he did not like to make a bargain when a great measure
was pending, but now that it was passed he hoped
the services he had rendered would not be overlooked or
forgotten." He bitterly regretted the engagement which
he had, he says, " giddily and rashly " entered into with
Crosbie. He had raised the Kerry Militia ; he had
appointed its officers ; he had led it in the " campaign
of '98," and it would break his heart if he had to resign
its command. He appealed over and over again to
Comwallis to do something for Crosbie, but nothing could
be done, and so he had to give up the Colonelcy of the
Kerry Militia to Crosbie. Now, two years after these
events, he comes with the story of his wrongs to Hard-
wicke in the hope that he may be righted. The Viceroy
says : . , .

" It appears from the correspondence which Lord
Glandore communicated to me that his first letter to the
Lord Lieutenant was dated September i, 1800. Lord
Comwallis, in answer to this letter, states the impossi-
bility of finding anything for Colonel Crosbie, which
could operate as an inducement to him to relinquish the
claim he had upon Lord Glandore for his resignation, and
regrets it in strong terms, calling himself, in one of the

asked for an explanation. Upon which, filling a bumper, he
very gravely stood up, and bowing to the Marquis of Waterford
and several other country gentlemen who commanded county
regiments, he said : ' My lords and gentlemen, I have the pleasure
of giving you " The wooden walls of Ireland " — the colonels of
militia !' " — Barrington : " Personal Recollections of his Own
Times."

224 A CHAPTER OF UNION DISAPPOINTMENTS

letters, ' a Ministerial Bankrupt,' and speaking of the
necessity of adhering to all his engagements for the sake
of his own honour. Several other letters passed between
the Lord Lieutenant and Lord Glandore, who seems to
have been extremely anxious to retain his regiment ; and
when at last he sent Colonel Crosbie a letter to be
delivered to the Lord Lieutenant expressive of his unwill-
ingness to delay any longer Col. Crosbie's appointment,
it was accompanied by a letter to Col. Crosbie which
marks in strong terms his reluctance to give up the
regiment, and desiring him, if in his conversation with
Lord Cornwallis he could make any impression, or open
any prospect, not to deliver it.

" To this letter, dated March 6, 1801, Col. Crosbie
wrote an answer in which he complains of Lord Glan-
dore's conduct as rather unkind, and adds that nothing
but pecuniary engagements into which he had entered
in the expectation of Lord Glandore's resignation would
have induced him to accept the appointment, so much
against his Lordship's wishes ; that he was so desirous
of accommodating Lord Glandore that he would even
have accepted of a ' Blackguard Pension ' for Mrs.
Crosbie, if it could have been had. This refers to an
application Glandore had made for a pension of £300
per annum for Mrs. Crosbie."*

The proposition Lord Glandore now made to Hard-
wicke, so that the Kerry Militia might be restored to
him, was that either a civil office should be found for
Crosbie, or that the regiment should be divided into two
battalions, and that he should have the command of the
first. Hardwicke goes on :

" In respect to his first proposition, I told him that
with every disposition to promote his views, the engage-
ments of the Government, to which I was executor, still
precluded me from making any arrangement for Colonel
Crosbie. That, however, I could safely say that, con-
sidering all that had passed, his own wishes so strongly
expressed, and Colonel Crosbie's assurance, I thought
his Lordship entitled to expect that if Colonel Crosbie

* These pensions to ladies, of which there were, at the time,
several on the Irish Establishment, were supposed to have been
given for services that are not regarded as political.

THE HUMILIATION OF LORD GLANDORE 225

should obtain any situation from Government his resign-
ing the Kerry Mihtia to Lord Glandore should be proposed
to him as a condition. That I saw no early prospect of it,
but thought it right to say that Colonel Crosbie had spoken
to me upon the subject of some consideration for himself.
" Lord Glandore observed that though Col. Crosbie
was now a distressed man, he was heir to an estate of
;^3,ooo per annum, on the death of a gentleman eighty
years of age, and that he thought there would be no
difficulty in procuring for him the title of Baronet. Lord
Glandore then spoke of his own services : his moving the
Address on the Union, etc., etc., and stated that since
the year 1790 he had received no favour whatever from
Government."

Glandore's desire to return to the command of his
beloved Kerry Militia was not gratified. No place could
be found for Crosbie, as the Union engagements had the
first claim on the Lord Lieutenant. About six months
later I find him writing to Hardwicke on the subject of
a fresh grievance. He was what was then called governor
of the county of Kerry. In May, 1803, the Irish Execu-
tive decided to divide the office, and, of all men in the
county. Colonel Crosbie was selected for the joint position.
Glandore protested that never again during the Adminis-
tration of Hardwicke would he trouble himself to forward
the interests of the Government in Kerry. " After the
sacrifice of my command of the Kerry Militia," he says,
" I might have been saved this humiliation." To this
angry letter the Lord Lieutenant returned the following
civil reply :

" Phcenix Park,

" 20th May, 1803.

" My Lord,

" I cannot help feeling particularly hurt at your
Lordship's letter of the 20th ulto., which was delivered
to me on Tuesday the 17th inst. by the Knight of Kerry.
I am perfectly unconscious of any intention to offend your
Lordship by the appointment of Colonel Crosbie of the
Kerry Regiment of Militia to be a Governor of the County
of Kerry, and am, therefore, much concerned that your
Lordship should assign that appointment as a reason for
your determination to decline any further concern in

226 A CHAPTER OF UNION DISAPPOINTMENTS

the management of the interest of His Majesty's Govern-
ment in that county during the time I shall continue at
the head of it.

" Whether I shall be successful or not in convincing
your Lordship that no personal disrespect could possibly
be intended towards you in appointing Colonel Crosbie
to be a Governor of the County of Kerry, I am by no
means certain ; but it is very far from being indifferent
to me whether I am successful or not in this attempt,
because I can assure your Lordship with perfect truth
that I am much concerned at the manner in which you
have considered it, and at the determination you have
expressed. At all events, I most explicitly declare to
your Lordship that the measure of appointing those
Colonels of Militia who were not already Governors of
Counties to that situation was intended solely to facilitate
the execution of the Militia Laws ; and it can never be
supposed that a general measure which was adopted for
the publick service at a very critical period, when I was
called upon to raise the Militia with as little delay as
possible, could for a moment have been construed into a
ground of offence by any individual.

" When your Lordship communicated to me the cir-
cumstances which led to your resignation of the Kerry
Regiment, and your wish to be restored to it, I endea-
voured to explain the difficulty of accomplishing your
wishes upon that subject. I should not, however, be
the less gratified in finding the means of restoring your
Lordship to the situation you resigned by the injustice
which your Lordship has done me in imputing to me what
I certainly have never felt, a want of respect and atten-
tion for your Lordship, and a disposition to add to the
mortification you have felt from your resignation of the
Kerry Regiment."

The subsequent development of the affair is described
in the following letter from William Wickham, Chief
Secretary, to Lord Glandore, and Glandore's reply :

" Phcenix Park,

" 2Sth January, 1804.

" My Lord,

" I have laid before his Excellency 5^our letter
to Sir E. B. Littlehales,* of the 9th instant, informing him
that you had received a packet from the Tralee post-office,

* The Military Under-Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant.

GLANDORE WITHDRAWS FROM PUBLIC LIFE 227

addressed to the Governor and deputy Governor of the
County of Kerry, and that your Lordship had imme-
diately transmitted it unopened to Colonel Crosbie ; and
observing that it would save both time and trouble to
address the Lord Lieutenant's commands relating to the
business of the County of Kerry, immediately and in the
first instance to that gentleman, as your Lordship must
adhere to the resolution made upon the occasion of his
Excellency having thought proper to appoint Colonel
Crosbie to be a joint Governor of the County of Kerry,
not to act while that Commission existed ; and that your
Lordship had explained to his Excellency your motive
for the line of conduct which you felt obliged to adopt.

" I am desii^d to inform your Lordship that his Ex-
cellency had flattered himself that the answer which he
wrote to your Lordship's letter of last spring, explaining
the grounds upon which Colonel Crosbie was appointed
a Governor of the County of Kerry, in common with
every other Colonel of Militia in Ireland who was not
previously a Governor, had been perfectly satisfactory to
your Lordship, and had done away, as it was his Ex-
cellency's wish to do, and as his Excellency conceives
that it might have done, any idea that the smallest slight
or disrespect had been intended towards your Lordship,
His Excellency is, therefore, much concerned that your
Lordship should still entertain a feeling which cannot, in
fairness and candour, be considered as warranted by his
conduct towards you ; and regrets still more that at a
moment which calls for the exertion and aid of every
individual, your Lordship should on your return to Ire-
land take a step which must be considered as a resigna-
tion of your situation as Governor of the County of Kerry,
in which your exertions have been so useful on former
occasions, and where no one is better entitled or better
qualified to hold the situation.

" His Excellency, therefore, desires me to say that,
from motives of respect and regard to your Lordship, he
will postpone accepting your resignation till he is dis-
tinctly assured that your Lordship, in these times, has
really determined, for the reasons you set forth, to decline
all the duties that belong to the situation."

Glandore's reply is dated " Ardfert Abbey, Wednesday,
8th February, 1804." He says that the Lord Lieu-
tenant's letter had entirely removed from his mind any

15—2

228 A CHAPTER OF UNION DISAPPOINTMENTS

feeling that a personal incivility to him was intended in
the appointment of Colonel Crosbie to be joint Governor
of Kerry. But he held that such an appointment was
altogether unnecessary, as the Militia Act provided for
the absence of the Governor of a county in all cases. He
goes on :

" Another circumstance which has its weight with me
is the figure I must exhibit in the face of my county,
joined with an associate where I was accustomed to take
the lead and to preside alone. Much of my influence in
the county is of a personal nature, and lies, in a great
degree, in the southern and remote parts of the county,
where I have no property, and amongst gentlemen who
are as independent as I am. If I lessen myself in the
eyes of my countymen I lose my use with their esteem ;
and if I degrade myself I cannot serve my King. This
consideration I need not press upon a nobleman remark-
ably attached to his county honors, and who will natur-
ally feel for a man of equal rank with himself.

" If this county has been heretofore exempted from
the embarrassment of having a number of Governors
appointed for it, it may be owing to this cause, amongst
others, that it has come forward with such effect at every
important crisis from the time when it was the first
county in Ireland to express its reprobation of the armed
Convention of 1783, down to the period of the Union,
when it declared in favour of that great measure.

" From a thorough conviction that the office of a
Governor of the County does not permit of participation,
and that the duties of it cannot be discharged with a
divided authority, I think I consult the public service, as
well as my own honor, by retiring, conscious that in doing
so I cannot incur the reproach of a derehction of my duty,
but that I am compelled to take that step from the
peculiar circumstances in which I am placed."

* * *

In the List of Union Engagements — "Civil " section —
will be found the case of George Browne, who was pro-
mised a permanent employment of the value of £400 a
year, and was recommended by Denis Browne, member

THE CASE OF GEORGE BROWNE 229

for Mayo.* " Not done " is the Lord Lieutenant's note
to the engagement. Why the engagement was not per-
formed is related in the following letter from Hardwicke
to the Marquis of Sligo, the cousin of George Browne :

" Private.

" Dublin Castle,

" February 27th, 1803.
" My dear Lord,

" In consequence of your Lordship's letter of the
2ist inst. reminding me of the engagement to Mr. George
Browne, which I had received from Lord Cornwallis, I
desired Mr. Marsden to offer him the two places of Customer
of Waterford and Ross, the first being £250 per annum,
besides a salary of £15 on the Civil List, and the second
amounting in fees to about £50, with a salary also of £15
per annum, making together about /I330 per annum.
This is the account which appears on the books of the
office ; but as the fees appear to be increasing, and as the
offices are perfectly sinecure, and require no residence or
attendance in any particular place, I conceive they are
well worth the acceptance of a gentleman who has an
engagement for four hundred pounds per annum, on the
expiration of his present employment of Commissioner
for Suffering Loyalists. Mr. Browne, however, has de-

* Wolfe Tone, in his " Memoirs," writing on October i, 1792,
refers to a consultation with John Keogh, the leader of the Dublin
Catholics in the movement for emancipation, as to their plan for
holding in Dubhn of a Catholic convention representing the entire
nation : " Has had a letter from Myles Keon requiring somebody
of the Committee to go to Ballinasl'oe to meet the Catholic gentry
of Mayo and Galway. Denis Browne playing tricks in the
former county. Recommends a separate petition, and condemns
the plan. He is damned kind ! Wishes, if he could, to act the
patron to the Catholics that he might make a sale of 3,000,000
of clients at the Castle. A blockhead without parts or principles !
But it won't do. The Catholics here smoke him. Last winter
they used to stare at me for speaking contemptuously of him,
a man who was brother to a Lord and a Member of Parliament.
They have got over all that now. Wonderful improvement in
their sentiments." On October 26, 1792, Tone writes : " Denis
Browne has been playing the rascal in Mayo. Procured a
meeting on the i6th, and knocked up our plan by securing the
measure of a separate petition from that county. Damn him !
Yet he talks of his love for the cause, etc. The Cathohcs were
in a horrible rage. More and more losing their respect for the
brothers of Lords and Members of Parliament."

230 A CHAPTER OF UNION DISAPPOINTMENTS

clined the offer, which I am sorry for ; first, because there
is great reason to beUeve the two places exceed in value
the amount at which they stand in the office books ; and,
secondly, because it is, of course, uncertain how soon it
may be in my power to propose another situation for his
acceptance."

Sligo, replying from London, March 5, 1803, says :

" When your Excellency takes into consideration that
George Browne's promise of provision is of full ten years'
standing, which I am ready to prove to you, and that it
preceded every agreement made by Lord Cornwallis, I
hope you won't think him unreasonable and unwarrant-
able in being disappointed at an offer considerably inferior
at what he was led to expect, after waiting the perfect
convenience of Government for its fulfilment. It is,
however, his own act, and whatever his opinions are, if
expressed in any manner of disrespect, I beg to be en-
tirely separated from any concern whatever in them. I
believe that your Excellency will find that of the
employments offer'd to Mr. Browne there must be a
deduction of sixty pounds for a deputy, which leaves him
somewhat short of £200 a year for his life, without a pros-
pect of raising — a situation not so comfortable as imme-
diately to reconcile the mind of a man of very moderate
expectations from some share of disappointment. Had
it been your Excellency's convenience to have named
him to Crosbie's place, an arrangement might have been
made between him and my brother-in-law, John Mahon,
that would have given much happiness to the family.*

Evidently there was disappointment also among the
Irish Members of Parliament, for Lord Sligo goes on to
write :

" The Irish here murmur in private a good deal ; their
situations are not comfortable ; they consider them-
selves not taken notice of. Party men blow the coals —

* It was this sinecure of Customer of Waterford and Ross
which ultimately fell to Donellan, brother-in-law of Lord Fingall
(See " The Catholics and the Union.") The post which George
Browne desired, the sinecure of the Weighmastership of Cork, at
£600 a year — vacant through the death of Crosbie — was given to
Sir Vere Hunt in satisfaction of his Union engagement. (See
" The Scramble for Place.")

SIR RICHARD MUSGRAVE 231 -

I have seen it going forward — and ere it is long be assured
they will be a troublesome set to manage."

* * *

Still another disappointed supporter of the Union was
Sir Richard Musgrave, Bart., the well-known author of
" The History of the Rebellion of 1798." For a quarter
of a century he was a prominent member of the Irish
Parliament, noted for his fanatic prejudice against his
Catholic fellow-countrymen. He was an out-and-out
supporter of the Union, and got his reward from Lord
Cornwallis in the post of the Collectorship of Dublin ;
but he looked upon the oihce as a very inadequate return
for his services. Accordingly, he laid his grievance
before Hardwicke :

" I take the liberty of addressing your Excellency on
the subject of the Memorial, of which I had the honour
of presenting you a copy. I sat twenty-five years in the
Irish Parliament, and I can appeal to Mr. Hamilton, the
predecessor of Mr. Cooke, whether I did not during that
period display the most ardent zeal in serving the Crown,
particularly as a country gentleman, in consequence of
which the Government had such confidence in me that
they called upon me at different times to hll the office of
Sheriff in the County of Waterford ; but particularly in
the year 1786, a most perilous season, when the insurrec-
tion and disturbances of the Rightboys, a Popish banditti,
as alarming as those of the Whiteboys, their predecessors,
or of the Defenders, who succeeded them. I was so for-
tunate as to gain the approbation of Administration,
having restored peace and social order without the loss
of a single life.*

* " Whilst he was High Sheriff for the County of Waterford
an old man was sentenced to be whipped at the cart's tail for
some political offence, when, the executioner not being in readi-
ness, the High Sheriff — a Baronet and Member of Parliament —
took up the cat-o'-nine-tails, ordered the cart to move on slowly,
and operated himself with admirable expertness, but much
greater severity than the hangman would have used ! Thus
did he proceed to whip the old man through the streets of the
city, and when the extreme point was reached, and he was
scarcely able to lift his arm, he publicly regretted he had not a
little further to go." — Barrington : "Personal Sketches and
Recollections of his Own Times."

232 A CHAPTER OF UNION DISAPPOINTMENTS

" In the years 1794 and 1795 I wrote and published
some pamphlets in London in support of the Constitu-
tion against Republican principles, and to evince the
policy and necessity of the War, and they met the public
approbation, which appears by the Reviews, particularly
the Monthly of May, 1795. In the years 1797 and 1798,
I wrote more in the publick prints against treason and
sedition than any individual in Ireland, under the well-
known signature of Camillus, and my essays were so
much approved of in London that the Editor of the Sun
reprinted some of them. For my attack on two dis-
tinguished personages, who promoted rebellion in Ireland,
I take the liberty of referring your Excellency to the
Dublin Journal of June 23rd and July 12th, 1798, which
are to be seen in the Castle.

" The Duke of Portland, whose friendship and esteem
I have enjoyed all my life, informed me that my services
should be amply requited, and his Grace recommended
me to Lord Camden, who promised to give me an employ-
ment ; but the number of his engagements and his sudden
and unexpected departure from Ireland prevented him
from fulfilling his intentions, but he recommended me to
Lord Cornwallis.

" To carry the Union it was necessary to dispense the
favours of the Crown in such a manner as to gain the venal,
to silence the factious, and to obtain the co-operation of
those who opposed it from selfish and sinister designs. As
my attachment to Government was well known, and as
I offered unconditionally to support the Union, I was, of
course, postponed in the list of expectants to those who
could bully and threaten and make a bargain beforehand,
which I abhorred. I obtained an employment with more
labour and responsibility and less emolument in propor-
tion than any under the Crown."

Musgrave goes on to say that his salary as Collector of
Dublin was £490 ; that he had an allowance of £130 for
the collection of hearth money, and another allowance
of £200 for two clerks, making a total of £820 a year.
But so heavy was the work of his office, owing to the in-
crease in new taxes, that he was obliged to employ four
clerks, to whom he paid £400, so that his salary amounted
only to £420. He further states that the Collector of
the County of Dublin had £1,500 ; that the Collector of the

REV. THOMAS BROOKE CLARKE 233

Port of Dublin had £2,000 ; and that those officials had
little to do, and did it badly. Two years later, in De-
cember, 1804, Musgrave sent a fresh memorial to the
Lord Lieutenant, again claiming a better situation in
recognition of his services to the State, " particularly,"
as he says, " since the dissemination of French principles
has threatened the subversion of our Constitution."
The business of Collector of Dublin had so much increased
of late, he says, that he never left his office without feeling
greatly fatigued.

" I am responsible for £600,000 a year," he goes on,
" every shilling of which I must pay out of my own
property if I do not collect and account for it ; and a
considerable part of the Revenue which I collect consists
of sums under five shillings. I recovered lately, by a
finesse, large sums of money which were due for malt
and wine in 1803, and which were considered as irre-
coverable."

Nothing further, however, was done for Sir Richard
Musgrave.

Even the Rev. Thomas Brooke Clarke, D.D., was left
among the disappointed. I am disposed to think that
Hardwicke entertained a contempt for him, despite, or
perhaps I should say because of, his fulsome protesta-
tions of attachment to the Lord Lieutenant, and his
offers of service on every occasion that afforded an
excuse for bringing himself under the notice of his Ex-
cellency. At any rate, Hardwicke sent him the following
cold acknowledgment of his last application — so far as
I can discover from the contents of the Viceroy's Post-
bag — for preferment in Ireland :

" Dublin Castle,

" 8M June, 1804.

" Dear Sir,

" If you had been acquainted with the real state
of the engagements by which I am unavoidably bound,
you would have been convinced of the impossibility of
my applying any of the preferments, which may become

234 A CHAPTER OF UNION DISAPPOINTMENTS

vacant by the succession to the see of Clonfert, in the
manner you would wish. In saying this, I wish you to
understand that I am in no degree surprised or hurt at
your having made the apphcation contained in your late
letters, but that the objects which you may have supposed
to be at liberty are, from circumstances, not properly
within my power."

Clarke, however, was still most warmly thankful, and
still his Excellency's most humble admirer. Here is his
letter :

" Alsop Buildings, Marylebone.

"22 June, 1804.

" My dear Lord,

" Accept my thanks for your Excellency's kind
letter, which is perfectly consonant with that goodness
so well known and esteemed by me during four-and-
twenty years. Certainly, the implicit confidence which
I placed in the reiterated promises of preferment made
to me by Mr. Dundas for services solicited by him on this
condition, and for the completion of which he repeatedly
pledged his own name and the name of Mr. Pitt, never
permitted me to suppose at the moment that to this com-
pact, formed with one of His Majesty's Ministers on the
public faith of Government, it was necessary to demand
a formal writing, whereby the Irish Government would
become bound, as a Party, to secure my preferment.
Consequently, as no such written engagement was handed
over to your Excellency, though you are not wholly with-
out knowledge of Mr. Dundas's arrangements with me,
nor of my services, for the better performance of which I
relinquished other occupations, on the solemn previous
assurances of Mr. Dundas that I should be amply re-
munerated, and have sustained a loss, notwithstanding,
of two years' income, which I have felt deeply, not only
in my fortune, but in what no fortune can compensate
for — my feelings.

" Yet, my Lord, I am devoid of every claim on the
Viceroy of Ireland. I therefore approached your Ex-
cellency lately on the sole ground of personal kindness,
and benevolent promises made to me, in case an oppor-
tunity should occur during your Viceroyalty. But I
really was not aware that the mortgages handed over
to you were of such an extent or nature as to embrace
the vacancies made by episcopal preferments during

"HUMANITY MARTIN" 235

your Excellency's Government, or T certainly should not
have presumed to intrude myself on your remembrance,
whatever my anxiety might have been lest objects great
in number and moment should have concealed my little
concern from your Excellency's view.

" Be assured, my Lord, that my confidence in your
goodness is deeply rooted in a long knowledge of it, and
that I have the honor to be with high respect and faithful
attachment, your Excellency's obliged, sincere, and
humble servant,

" Thos. B. Clarke."
* * *

The famous Richard Martin of Ballinahinch, co. Gal-
way, " the animals' friend," makes a strange and unex-
pected appearance in the Viceroy's Post-bag. He was
one of the greatest of the Irish landlords, his estate of
200,000 acres extending — as he used to boast — thirty
miles from the door of his castle. A member of the Irish
House of Commons, he supported the Union, and con-
tinued to represent the county of Galway in the Imperial
Parliament until 1826. In the Parliamentary annals of
the first quarter of the nineteenth century he figures as
a whimsical member ; but in 1822 he carried the first
Act of Parliament " to prevent the cruel and improper
treatment of animals," an achievement that will ever
shed a halo round his name. " Humanity Martin " was
the title bestowed on him by George IV. He was one of
the founders of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
to Animals, at a meeting held at Slaughter's Coffee-House,
St. Martin's Lane, on June 24, 1824 ;* and his portrait

* " It was a thin meeting — that I recall ; but the Irish-
heartedness of Martin gave it warmth, fervour, and energy.
I do not believe there was another person present so sanguine
as to think that Parliament would ever be the protector of a
' lower world.' Yet the advocates had not long to wait. It is
but a faint remembrance I have of the scene, but I can clearly
call to mind Dick uttering an oath, essentially Irish, ' That by

J he'd make 'em do it !' and somehow he did. Thus the wild,

energetic, heedless, and usually unreasoning Irishman is for this
act classed, and rightly so, among the benefactors of his country
and all other countries of the Old World and the New." — S. C.
Hall: " Recollections of a Long Life. "

236 A CHAPTER OF UNION DISAPPOINTMENTS

hangs in the board-room of the society in Jermyn Street.
In the Viceroy's Post-bag Martin is conspicuous among
the sleepless hunters for places in return for services to
the cause of the Union. The truth is that, though he
was almost the feudal sovereign of Connemara, he was
ever in pecuniary difficulties. His estate, wide as it
was in extent, yielded him but little income, so heavily
was it mortgaged.

To begin with, here is a letter to the Viceroy from Lord
Dunlo — Martin's colleague in the representation of Gal-
way — complaining of Martin's conduct at a county
meeting to express, in an address to the King, its abhor-
rence and condemnation of the Emmet Insurrection of
1803 :

" Private.

" Galbally,

"August 14, 1803.
" My Lord,

" I think it my duty to inform your Excellency
that an address will be forwarded to you from a meeting
of the county of Galway, called for the purpose of address-
ing his Majesty on the late treasonable insurrection in
Dublin, and for the purpose of expressing the loyalty
of the inhabitants of the county, and their hearty co-
operation with Government against every enemy, foreign
and domestic.

" The result of this meeting was, however, somewhat
dissimilar to that projected. The address was, with the
exception of the last paragraph (marked in the enclosed
copy), proposed by my Lord Clonbrock, and with that
exception would have formed such an address as ought
to have been presented to his Majesty in the present
crisis.* Mr. Martin, my colleague, thought otherwise,

* The paragraph referred to, added to the address on the
motion of Mr. Martin, is as follows : " We beg leave to assure
your Majesty that it is the opinion of your faithful subjects that
the removal of every civil distinction arising from religious
difference of opinion between your Majesty's Catholic and other
subjects in this kingdom would materially tend to invigorate
every exertion of the loyal, and to defeat even the pretext of
the wicked to subvert our happy Constitution." It must be
mentioned that Martin supported every motion in favour of
Catholic Emancipation in the Imperial Parliament.

MARTIN AND CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION 237

and whether with a mistaken view of raising his own
popularity, or from some other cause which I confess
myself unable to divine, he has thought it necessary to
stir a question which, whatever may be the sentiment
of the individual, few men would wish to have agitated
at the present period.

" To the address, as originally framed, it was thought
that no dissenting voice could be found among the gentle-
men of the county ; but upon its proposal those who
were most anxious that a moment should not be lost in
those expressions of loyalty for which the times so im-
periously call were somewhat surprised at a motion
being made by a friend of Mr. Martin's that a committee
should be appointed to draw up an address, and con-
ceiving that something more than ordinarily disloyal had
given rise to a motion of this sort, in naming the com-
mittee they were only intent upon choosing those of
known attachment to our happy form of Government.
The majority of the persons chosen were of this descrip-
tion ; but not dreaming that any proposition could be
made foreign to the requisition, the majority was likewise
either Catholic, or too nearly so to be distinguished by
any other appellation. Mr. Martin's amendment to
the original address, moved by himself, was a matter of
absolute surprise ; and in consequence of the formation
of the committee was carried after much altercation ;
and as fighting such a battle at the meeting in so Catholic
a town as Galway could only tend immediately to dis-
turb, and among the rabble, privately convened for the
purpose of following the leader, would have been un-
attended with success, it was thought prudent to let
the matter pass in utter silence upon the report. The
representatives of the county are, therefore, to forward
the address ; and I have left my signature to a letter
for this purpose with Mr. Martin at Galway, in order that
the address may be conveyed to your Excellency for
the purpose of transmission.

" With respect to this county there is little to regret
in this procedure. Almost the whole of the respecta-
bility of the county are hostile to an addition to the
address which seems to propose a kind of condition for
their loyalty, and very many of the most wealthy and
respectable county gentlemen of the Catholic persuasion,
altho' at the time they gave a tacit assent to the propo-

238 A CHAPTER OF UNION DISAPPOINTMENTS

sition of Mr. Martin, have since much regretted their
not having withstood it to the utmost of their power.
The evil does not, then, exist as pecuharly affecting this
county, but it does exist in its probable effects upon
others. The thing to be apprehended is the bearing of
such an amendment upon other counties of Ireland, and
that in this moment of addresses to the Crown, neces-
sarily called forth from present circumstances, this our
address to his Majesty may furnish an example of dwellin^^
upon the same point, and consequently calling forth
other counties, some of different sentiments, as strongly
to state their feelings, and by equal consequence foment-
ing those religious feuds which have too often proved a
curse to this island, and the existence of which can at no
time be more dangerous than at the present moment.

" Your Excellency will be pleased to give directions
that the official answer to the joint letter transmitting
the address may be directed to Mr. Martin and myself
at Galway."

Ten months later Hardwicke sent the following letter
to Sir Evan Nepean, the Chief Secretary, who was in
London at the time attending to his Parliamentary
duties :

" Phcenix Park,

" June 17, 1804.
" My dear Sir,

" Mr. Martin, one of the members for the county
of Galway, who called upon me by appointment two or
three days ago, made a very long statement of grievances,
with a view to ascertaining upon what footing he was to
stand with the present Government, and whether his
support was thought to be worth having. After com-
plaining of the marked preference which had been shown
to his colleague. Lord Dunlo, and his family, he pro-
ceeded to state that before the Union Lord Castlereagh
proposed to him a place at the Revenue Board, and that
he had a positive promise of being placed there on the first
vacancy. That, however, from consideration of the
Government, and knowing how much they were pressed,
he waived his pretensions in favour of another person.
That he was afterwards appointed to the Board of
Accounts, Lord Castlereagh telling him that it was in
order that he might have a place tenable with Parlia-

MARTIN AS A PLACE-HUNTER 239

merit, and that he should be afterwards removed to a seat
at the Revenue Board.

" He further stated that his present colleague, Lord
Dunlo, then Mr. Trench, was hostile to the Union, and
supported an address from the county of Galway against
the measure. Afterwards, when by the persuasion of
Lord Castlereagh, Lord Dunlo agreed to support the
Union, he found himself considerably embarrassed by
the pledge he had given to the county, and by the line
he had taken, and that without his, Mr, Martin's, assist-
ance he could not have been at liberty to support the
Union. Mr. Martin then stated that, notwithstanding
what had passed before, he procured an address at a
meeting of the county of Galway in favour of the Union,
which justified Mr. Trench in changing his opinion and
in voting for the measure.

"The first disappointment he met with was being obliged
to quit his office without obtaining another tenable
with a seat in Parliament. It was true that he had been
permitted to recommend a successor who had given him
£4,000 for it. But he has certainly been refused every-
thing he asked, amongst other things, a place for Mr.
Coney — either an Assistant Barrister's place or a Com-
missionership of Appeals — notwithstanding what he
considers a promise from Mr. Abbot ; that upon this
point he had received an answer from Mr. Wickham
which he considered as more than uncivil ; a seat at
the Linen Board, the County Regiment, which is to be
perpetuated in one family ; and, in short, whilst his
colleague and his family have been loaded with favors,
he is put in the " poussiere " by him — as he expressed it —
and slighted by the Government.

" I endeavoured to convince Mr. Martin that it was
not owing to any unwillingness to oblige him that he
had not been gratified in the particular objects he had
mentioned. In the first place, the place at the Board
of Accounts was not tenable with a seat in Parliament,
under the Act which passed after the Union, and the
best was done for him that could be done under the cir-
cumstances of the case. With respect to the Linen
Board, there had been engagements which prevented his
appointment ; and as to the Regiment, I thought Lord
Dunlo had a strong claim to it.

" When he said that he wished to travel on with the
Government and to support it, I said that I was glad to

240 A CHAPTER OF UNION DISAPPOINTMENTS

hear it, for that I rather apprehended from his adding to the
county of Galway address to the King last August a para-
graph upon a subject which, it had not then been wished
to bring forward, it had been conceived he had intended
to oppose the Government. He defended this by saying
that he meant, certainly, to show that he was hurt ; that
Lord Dunlo had drawn up an address which had never
been communicated to him till it was proposed and read
in court at the county meeting ; that in the address after
the breaking out of the War in May, 1803, he had pro-
posed what he thought a proper draft for the address,
and one that had been much approved ; but the Bishop
of Waterford had proposed to leave out a paragraph
which tended rather to express approbation of the
Peace ; that he conceived the Bishop's object was to
ingratiate himself with the party who had opposed the
Peace, and which he thought might come into power in
consequence of the War.

" The result of the conversation was that he proposes
to go to England, and that he would support the present
Ministry if he could obtain the promise of a seat at the
Treasury Board. I told him that I knew of a promise or
two for those situations ; that at any rate I should
make no engagement till I could communicate with Mr.
Pitt, either directly or through you ; that I would imme-
diately write to you an account of his object, and that you
would explain to him the difficulties as well as the favour-
able chances ; but that I could not write to you if he had
made up his mind to go into Opposition. He concluded
by saying that he had by no means determined to oppose
Government, and that he wished to support it if he was
properly treated. Now, I fear it will be difficult to
obtain Mr. Martin's support upon these conditions, for
Sir J. Stewart and Knox have both claims for one of these
offices ; and Sir Lawrence Parsons is, I believe, a candi-
date also. Knox has an engagement for restitution to
the Revenue Board, a thousand per annum ; but the
equitable construction of his engagement is an office
tenable with Parliament. How these and other preten-
sions are to be reconciled with Martin's claims I know
not. He further added that he had great power in the
county of Galway ; that Lord Dunlo's family would not
be able to bring in a member on Lord Clancarty's death ;
but that he (Martin) could turn the scale, and that
Bowes Daly would probably be the man."

HARDWICKE ON MARTIN'S CLAIM 241

The following, which is described by Hardwicke as
" Secret Mem. for Nepean," is dated December 17, 1804 :

" Lord Dunlo's letter contains a very fair statement of
the county of Galway, and a very fair one of his own
situation. It also shows the necessity of securing Martin,
if any means can be found. As to the regiment of Militia,
I apprehend Martin only brings it forward because from
knowing the difficulties and objections which stand in
the way of such an arrangement he conceives, b}^ making
a point of it, he shall place himself upon higher ground
for something more solid. In truth he would derive
little emolument from it at present, which is what he
wants, and none after the War.

"As to a sinecure place which can be considered as
at all attainable, there is no other than that held by
Mr. Vesey Knox, viz., one of the Weighmasterships of
Cork, which he has offered to relinquish if the lives of
his elder brother's two sons were inserted in the patent
of Prothonotary of the Common Pleas, instead of his
own — i.e., of Mr. Vesey Knox. If this would secure
Mr. Martin I think, considering his influence in Galway,
it would be worth the price ; but before the question is
asked, on the other side, how far the King's consent
would be given to such an extension of the reversion,
it will be necessary to ascertain whether Mr. Knox will
agree that his brother, Vesey Knox, shall resign the
Weighmastership of Cork, independently of its being
given to George Knox, in satisfaction, or towards the
satisfaction, of his engagement. I think he would be
likely to object to it upon that ground, unless a mode
were found of accommodating George Knox at the same
time, which might be done by giving him the vacant
seat at the Board of Treasury.

" But Martin would probably say that a place of
£600 per annum, though a sinecure, would be short of
his expectations, and then would come the question of
making up the difference. This can only be done by
a secret engagement, or by a direct sum of money equiva-
lent to it, and there are ample means for either from
the savings of the King's Civil List, which amount now
to between eleven and twelve thousand pounds. This
money ought to be paid without loss of time to the
King's Privy Purse ; and as much of it as may be wanted
for such secret purposes returned immediately for such

242 A CHAPTER OF UNION DISAPPOINTMENTS

an application. Should any such plan, which, of course,
requires the greatest secrecy and management, be brought
to bear it might be expedient to pay Martin by instal-
ments.

" There seems to be no other mode of securing Martin ;
for the Privy Council and a seat at the Treasury are
e<|ually out of the question, and he wants something
more solid than the former."

The next letter on the subject is one dated May i8,
1805, from Hardwicke to N. Vansittart, who had, mean-
time, succeeded Nepean as Chief Secretary for Ireland,
and was then in London. It is marked " Private and
Confidential." From it we learn that Lord Clancarty
was dead, and that a vacancy in the representation of
Galway county was created by the succession of his
son, Lord Dunlo, to the earldom. Bowes Daly was in
the field ; the Government candidate had not then been
selected, but there was to be a contest, and it was
certain that the winner would be the candidate who
was supported by Martin. The Lord Lieutenant goes
on :

" It is still said that Mr. Martin is not engaged to
Mr, Bowes Daly, and that he would be ready to make
his bargain with the Government, if his terms could be
complied with. Before the meeting of Parliament
Mr. Martin had several conversations with Sir Evan
Nepean for the purpose of offering himself to Govern-
ment ; and though a specific offer was made to him
it was not found possible to fix him in support of
Government. The offer that was made to him was the
office of Weighmaster of Cork, worth £600 per annum,
and tenable with a seat in Parliament. It was to be
obtained, and is still to be obtained, from Mr. Knox,
the present possessor, by giving an equivalent to his
elder brother in the extension of the reversion of the
office of Prothonotary of the Common Pleas — now held
for the lives of the Honourable Thomas and the Honour-
able Vesey Knox, his brother — to his two sons, either
by adding them to the Patent, or, if thought preferable,
by substituting them in the place of the Honourable
Vesey Knox. This offer was made last year, by way

THE APPEASEMENT OF MARTIN 243

of facilitating the satisfaction of the engagement to
Mr. George Knox, who has since been made a Lord of
the Treasury ; and upon the same terms the office
might still be opened. Mr. Martin, however, required
a thousand per annum ; and here, I believe, no equiva-
lent was proposed. As, however, Mr. Martin wished
to be purchased, and conceived the Government wished
to purchase him, it was supposed that if the money
arising from the savings of the Civil List had been sent
over means might have been found to have satisfied
Mr. Martin as to the remainder of his expectations.

" Whether anything passed between him and Sir
Evan Nepean upon this subject I know not. But I
mention such particulars as came to my knowledge, lest
you should not have been informed of them ; and that
Mr. Martin's interest in the county of Galway, which I
believe would be decisive, should be thought material,
and I consider it to be more so than his personal vote in
Parliament.* No time is to be lost, if any overture is
to be made to him."

Two days later the Lord Lieutenant sent a despatch
to Vansittart in London " by express," announcing that
" Mr. Eyre has consented to oppose Bowes Daly." " As
Mr. Martin," his Excellency says, " is pledged to support
him, and his agent has instructions to that effect, it is
extremely possible that Mr. Bowes Daly may fail."t

* " He was almost idolized by the people over whom he ruled
in wild Connemara. I heard this anecdote from one of his
descendants. A rumour reached the district that the packet
in which he was crossing from England to Ireland had been
wrecked. Amid the lamentations, dismay, and confusion of the
household in Ballinahinch, one aged woman retained self-
possession, and was heard to say : ' No one need be afeared for
the master, for if he was in the midst of a raging sea the prayers
of widows and orphans would keep his head above water.' " —
S. C. Hall : " Retrospect of a Long Life."

t Martin was defeated at the Galway election of 1826, and
withdrawing to Boulogne to escape his creditors, he died there
on January 6, 1834, aged seventy-nine years. The Ballinahinch
property was sold under the Encumbered Estates Act, which
followed the terrible famine of 1 847-48. Martin's grand-daughter,
Mrs. Bell Martin, a novelist, once known as " The Princess of
Connemara," died, according to Webb's " Compendium of Irish
Biography," in indigent circumstances in New York in 1850.

* * *

16 — 2

244 A CHAPTER OF UNION DISAPPOINTMENTS

But perhaps the most curious story of all the Union
engagements is told in a letter of complaint to the Viceroy
from the Honourable George Knox, M.P. for Dublin
University (a son of Viscount Northland,* in the Irish
Peerage), whose name appears in the correspondence
relating to Richard Martin. On reference to the List
of Union Engagements — "Civil" section — it will be seen
that his case is thus mysteriously referred to : " Mr.
George Knox — Dismissed from the Revenue Board.
Promised restitution, ;^i,ooo per annum," and to it
Hardwicke has the following note : " Not done, because
seat at the Revenue Board is incompatible with his
seat in Parliament. Query — How can this debt be
paid now ?" The matter is made clear in Knox's letter.

In the Irish House of Commons of 1799 there were
seventy-two members who either held places or pensions
under the Crown, or were Generals or Staff Officers, f
The vast majority were place-holders or pensioners.
Among them was George Knox, J one of the members
for Dublin University, who held the office of Commissioner
of the Revenue, at a salary of £1,000 per annum.

So much is needed by way of preface to the letter.
It is dated " Dublin, January 26, 1804," and thus begins :

"It is but too evident to me that from the lapse of

* This title is now merged in the Earldom of Ranfurly. The
eldest brother of George Knox, who succeeded to the title of
Northland, was created Earl of Ranfurly. Another brother
was Dr. Knox, Bishop of Killaloe, whose Union engagement is
dealt with in " The Hunt for Bishoprics."

t The number of placemen and pensioners was increased in
the session of 1800. The protest against the Union, drawn up
by the Opposition in the form of an address to the King, says :
" Of those who voted for the Union we beg leave to inform your
Majesty that seventy-six had places under the Crown, and
Others were under the immediate influence of constituents who
held great of&ces under the Crown."

I George Knox was a follower of Henry Grattan in the Irish
House of Commons. During the discussion in Committee of the
famous Act of 1793, which extended the franchise in counties to
Catholic forty-shilling freeholders, Knox, then member for the
borough of Dungannon, moved as an amendment that " Roman
Catholics should be permitted to hold seats in Parliament." It
was rejected by a majority of 94 — for 69, against 163.

THE STORY OF GEORGE KNOX, M.P. 245

time, and from the changes which have taken place in
the Irish Government, my claims are insensibly wearing
out of the recollection of Administration, and that
although the longer they remain unsatisfied the greater
force they ought naturally to acquire, yet they are
likely from being so long postponed to be altogether
forgotten and never discharged."

Knox, therefore, asks his Excellency's indulgence
while he describes, at length, the nature of his claim on
the Government :

" Previous to the proposition for a Union having been
submitted to the Irish Parliament by Lord Cornwallis,
Lord Abercorn was assisting Government with eight
votes in the House of Commons. Four members were
returned for his two boroughs ; one seat had been fur-
nished to him by Lord Belmore in return for his not
contesting the county of Tyrone ; my father furnished
him with two from his borough of Dungannon, and I, as
a member for the College, was of his party in the
House.

" My election for the College had taken place at a
time when the name of the Union seemed to be as un-
popular at the Castle as throughout the country, and
when a resistance to separation was the great and only
object of the Government. One of my anti-clients,
more deep-sighted than the rest, asked me, previous to
his giving his vote, what I thought of the Union. My
answer was that I thought a Union of Crowns and a
separation of Legislatures the best Constitution for
Ireland ; that I did not foresee any case in which I should
change my opinion ; but that if it ever should become
bond fide a question between Union and Separation, I
should decide for the former. This answer was ex-
tremely well received, and was considered as a blow to
the Separatists at the time. As there never appeared
to me to have arisen afterwards a question, bond fide
between Separation and Union (whatever might be
urged argumentatively and taking remote consequences
into view), I continued to adhere to the sentiments which
I had expressed upon the hustings.

" As soon as the Government had come to a deter-
mination on the subject of the Union, notice was given
to all placemen, and to me among the number, that if

246 A CHAPTER OF UNION DISAPPOINTMENTS

they did not vote for the measure they would be turned
out. This declaration caused a great outcry. Some
were actually dismissed. Others kept their places and
gave up their opinions. Lord Abercorn, who thought,
considering the great strength which he furnished the
Government, that he had a right to require an exception
in favour of his friend, insisted that I should be allowed
to retain my office on pain of turning his force against
the Government. Accordingly, when I left the Priory,
in order to be present at the meeting of Parliament, he
directed me to desire his Members to vote against the
Union if I should be deprived of my office ; notwith-
standing which, my first act on my arrival in Dublin was
to send in my resignation, and thus release Lord Abercorn
and the Government from any embarrassment on my
score. I need not tell your Excellency what commenda-
tions my conduct received from Lord Cornwallis and
Lord Castlereagh on that occasion ; but your Excellency
no doubt knows that that transaction was made one of
the charges against me at my last election, and was con-
sidered by the democratic party a forfeiture of my claims
to the representation."

The question of the Union was first brought forward
on the Address in reply to the King's Speech at the open-
ing of the session 1799. Knox says that all Lord Aber-
corn's members but he voted for it. The Government,
as we know, were defeated in this first encounter.

" Elated with their victory, the Anti-Unionists deter-
mined to pursue their advantage," Knox goes on, " and
by keeping the Anti-Unionists together to form a body
which should overpower the Administration and effect
a change of Ministry."

Lord Corry (the son of Lord Belmore), an Anti-
Unionist, moved that the House should at once resolve
itself into a Committee on the State of the Nation, and
announced his intention to propose in Committee an
address to the King declaring that a separate independent
Parliament was essential to the progress and prosperity
of Ireland. The expectation was that the motion would
be carried by the same majority as had expunged from

KNOX AND THE ANTI-UNIONISTS 247

the Address the passage in favour of the Union. But
Knox — according to himself — frustrated this movement
to form the Anti-Unionists into a regular Opposition
against the Government.

" I," says he, " at the hazard of my seat and of my
popularity, rose the earliest in the debate, and in the
warmest manner declared my dissent from the motion.
The consequence was that it was lost, and no attempt
was afterwards made to organize any systematic Opposi-
tion party out of the Anti-Unionists. Here again I was
told I had saved the Government."

He then goes on :

" When the time came for appointing a Commissioner
in my room, I was sent for by Lord Cornwallis who in-
formed me that it was with the greatest regret that he
was obliged, in order to carry into effect a general prin-
ciple, to deprive of his place a person who had been of
such material service to the Government ; but he added
that ' the moment that the question was decided one way
or the other, that moment I should be reinstated.' And
Lord Castlereagh, whom I saw by his own desire the day
following, bid me be assured that the Government were
determined that I should be no loser, notwithstanding my
resignation of my office.

" The Union was brought forward next Session and
carried,* and, shortly after, Lord Cornwallis and Lord

* Knox opposed the Union to the end. On February 14,
1800, in the last session, he deUvered what I.ecky describes as
" a short but very remarkable speech " against the Union. He
even predicted that a discontented and unguided Ireland might
one day become, in the English-speaking world, as formidable a
source and centre of aggressive Jacobinism as France had been
on the Continent, and that the poison of its baneful influence
might extend to the farthest limits of the civilized globe. It was
a bold and, as many must have thought, a most extraordinary
prediction. Could there, it might be asked, be any real com-
parison either for good or for evil between a small remote island
in the Atlantic and the great nation which had for centuries
exercised a dominant influence over the ideas and fortunes of
Europe, and which had acquired in its recent transformation a
volcanic fury that had shaken Christendom to its basis ? Yet
he who has traced the part which Irish Jacobinism has played
during the last generation in those great English-speaking

248 A CHAPTER OF UNION DISAPPOINTMENTS

Castlereagh retired from office, and your Excellency and
Mr. Abbott were appointed to succeed them. When I
called upon your Excellency to know what instructions
Lord Cornwallis had left on my subject, I was both
astonished and mortified to find that I was not to be in
the contemplation of Government until every person
who had voted for the Union had been provided for, and
when your Lordship showed me, with expressions of
regret, a long list of prior claims, and that it should
appear after all that the length of time I had been with-
out office was not to be taken into consideration, nor any
regard had to the services I had performed, that I was
not to be restored the moment the question was decided,
nor that I was, in consequence of the favourable conduct
which I had pursued towards the Government, ' not to
be a very great loser.' "

Knox admits that he had been offered by Hardwicke
the office of Secretary to the Treasury, with a salary of
;^i,ooo a year, in satisfaction of his claim ; but he was
compelled to refuse it, he explains, on the ground that
its acceptance would involve the resignation of his seat
in the Imperial Parliament for Dublin University, and,
as he was certain to be opposed on seeking re-election,
he was doubtful whether he would ever return again to
Westminster. Moreover, as he desired to remain in
Parliamentary life he could not go back to his old place
on the Board of Revenue — even if the post were offered
to him — for by an Act passed at the time of the Union
the members of the Board were disqualified from sitting
in the Imperial Parliament. What he wanted was a
sinecure, such as the office of Postmaster - General for
Ireland, to which in those days no duties seem to have
been attached. In conclusion he puts the following
question to the Lord Lieutenant :

nations on which the future of the world most largely depends,
who has examined the principles and precedents it has intro-
duced to legislation, the influence it has exercised on public life
and morals, and on the type and character of public men, Tna.y
well doubt whether the prediction of Knox was even an exaggera-
tion.— Lecky: " Ireland in the Eighteenth Century."

THE VICEROY AND KNOX 249

" Had I made any stipulation with Government either
at the time that I resigned my office, or at the introduc-
tion of Lord Cornwalhs's motion, can anyone beheve that
they would not gladly have promised me more than I at
present ask ?"

The Lord Lieutenant's reply, which is dated January 27,
1804, is not very sympathetic. He tells Knox plainly
that he has no grievance. Was he not offered the post
of Secretary to the Treasury, worth £1,000 a year ?
His Excellency's desire was to fulfil to the letter the Union
engagements of his predecessor. " That I have adhered
to those engagements in the strictest sense," he says,
*' has been commended repeatedly by Lord Cornwallis."
He should personally be very happy to have the oppor-
tunity of fulfilling Knox's claim in a manner satisfactory
to the hon. gentleman ; but he was unable, in the interest
of the public service, to promise him the reversion of the
office of Postmaster-General.

Knox wrote, in rejoinder, another long letter. One
extract will show its temper. In it he alludes to the
appointment of William Conyngham Plunket as Solicitor-
General :

" I have endeavoured to merit the favour of Govern-
ment during your Excellency's Administration. By re-
ferring me to Lord Cornwallis's engagement, and to a
strict interpretation of that, your Excellency tells me
fairly that my efforts have been unsuccessful. I witness
an elevation of one of the most inveterate foes of Govern-
ment to one of the highest offices in the State, and yet it
seems to excite surprise that I should ask for a reversion
of an office comparatively of no consequence, and bearing
to it in emolument the proportion of about one-third.
From this I learn that the way to Court favour is through
a labyrinth of which I have not the clue, and that when
I think my object is nearest to its attainment I find my-
self in a path which leads me insensibly away. It is time
for me, therefore, to cease to disquiet myself or to trouble
your Excellency. What I have written I leave to your
Excellency's cool reflections, and whatever they may
produce I shall submit to, at least with silence."

250 A CHAPTER OF UNION DISAPPOINTMENTS

However, over a year later, in March, 1805, George
Knox was offered and accepted the post of Lord of the
Treasury. On seeking re-election for Dublin University
he was opposed by Mr. Forster (nephew of the last Speaker
of the Irish House of Commons), but with all the influence
of the Irish Administration on his side, he was again re-
turned to Westminster.

* * *

" When your Excellency is gone I am not sanguine
enough to hope that my State claims will be much re-
garded." So Knox wrote to the Lord Lieutenant, and
though he himself was provided for before Hardwicke
left Ireland, his words came true with regard to the un-
satisfied claims on the List of Union Engagements. On
March 12, 1806, Hardwicke wrote to Lord Grenville, the
Prime Minister of the new Whig Administration, telling
him the whole story of the engagements which had been
entered into by Cornwallis for the purpose of carrying
the Union, and which, with the sanction of the King,
had been accepted by the Addington Government.

" I trust it is unnecessary to say," he writes, " that I
have endeavoured to discharge these engagements faith-
fully, as far as my means have permitted. Indeed, the
application of every object of patronage to the satisfaction
of these engagements, during a period of nearly five years,
have prevented me from attending to many claims of a
very deserving nature incurred during my own Adminis-
tration."

He asked, in conclusion, that the remaining Union
Engagements, happily few in number, should be so far
sanctioned by the Prime Minister and the Duke of Bed-
ford, who was to succeed him as Viceroy of Ireland, as
"to insure their being satisfied as opportunities shall arise."

Earl Spencer, the Home Secretary, replies from White-
hall on March 19, 1806 :

" My dear Lord,

" Lord Grenville having shown me the private
List of Engagements which your Excellency wishes to
leave with your successor on his arrival in Ireland, I can

THE WHIGS AND THE UNION ENGAGEMENTS 251

only say on the subject of it that I should have great
satisfaction, as far as in me lies, to promote any of your
Excellency's objects contained in it ; but though I under-
stand from Lord Grenville that there will be no objection
to your putting the List into the Duke of Bedford's
possession, it will be quite impossible for us to give any
assurances respecting the fulfilment of those engagements,
though I am persuaded that the Duke of Bedford will
have every disposition to pay as much attention to them
as the various and pressing demands on him will permit."

Thus we come to the end of the strange and eventful
story of the liquidation of the Union engagements by
the Earl of Hardwicke.

BOOK II
THE EMMET INSURRECTION

CHAPTER I

ON THE EVE OF THE INSURRECTION

At a social party of students in Trinity College, Dublin,
towards the close of the eighteenth century, which was a
time of revolutionary ideas in Ireland, a lad named
Thomas Moore, destined to be the country's national poet,
played on the piano the martial strains of the ancient
Gaelic air, to which, years later, he wedded the song " Let
Erin remember the days of old." " Oh, that I were
marching to that air at the head of 20,000 men for
Ireland !" exclaimed one of the youths. It was Robert
Emmet, the enthusiast and patriot, whose romantic
and tragic story is one of the saddest, yet dearest, memories
which Ireland cherishes from her unhappy past.

* * *

Emmet was born on March 4, 1778, in St. Stephen's
Green, still the most fashionable residential quarter of
Dublin, his father being one of the State physicians to
the Viceregal Court. The family was originally English.
They came from Kent to Ireland in the wake of Crom-
well's army for the suppression of the Catholic rebellion
of 1641, and in the subsequent confiscation of the pro-
perties of the defeated Irish Chiefs received a substantial
grant of land in Tipperary. To call a man a " Crom-

252

THE EMMET FAMILY 253

wellian " is even to-day one of the supremest terms of
aversion and contempt in the mouths of the peasantry.
Yet from a CromweUian brood came Robert Emmet, their
adored pohtical martyr. The boy entered Trinity
College in October, 1793, at the age of fifteen. He was
gentle, serious, earnest, " wholly free," as his fellow-
student Thomas Moore says, " from the frailties of
youth," fond of scientific studies, and noted in the de-
bating society of the college for a gift of genuine oratory.
His person was small and lean and wiry. The face was
pallid and slightly pock-pitted. Under a brow broad
and high, the eyes, gray in colour, were heavy lidded,
small and searching ; the nose, prominent, straight, and
thin, ended in a sharp point ; and the under lip of the
mouth protruded like a challenge of defiance. The pre-
dominant expression was intense gravity, grim earnest-
ness, softened by the wistful, elusive expression of a
dreamer of dreams.

Dr. Emmet was so enamoured of the principles of the
French Revolution, then permeating deeply the middle
classes in Ireland, that he resigned his lucrative office
as State physician. " Emmet," said his friend, Henry
Grattan, rather unkindly, " had his pill and his plan ;
and he mixed so much politics with his prescription that
he would kill the patient who took the one, and ruined
the country that listened to the other." He inspired his
two surviving sons, Thomas Addis and Robert, with the
conviction that the best and most natural form of govern-
ment was the republican, and that until an Irish Re-
public was established real progress and true liberty in
the country was impossible. Thomas Addis Emmet,
who first practised as a physician in conjunction with his
father, and subsequently joined the Irish Bar, was one
of the ablest members of the Directory of the United
Irishmen which organized the Rebellion of 1798. Robert,
fourteen years younger than Thomas, and only nineteen,
was also in the conspiracy. In April, 1798, an inquiry

254 ON THE EVE OF THE INSURRECTION

was held by Lord Clare, as Vice-Chancellor of Dublin

University, to ascertain the extent of the revolutionary

movement among the students of Trinity College. Robert

Emmet declined to attend for examination. In a letter

to the Board he denounced the inquiry as an attempt to

force the students to act the hateful part of informers.

He demanded the removal of his name from the books of

the College. This was refused, and he was expelled as

contumacious.

* * *

The Rebellion of 1798 was suppressed, and two years
later the Union of Great Britain and Ireland was effected.
For the first two years of the Hardwicke Administration
a great calm seems to have settled upon Ireland. Here
is a letter from the Viceroy's Post-bag, written by Lord
Castlereagh on August 18, 1801, from Harrogate, where
he is " taking the waters," raising a paean of rejoicing over
the wonderful success of the Union :

" I sincerely congratulate your Excellency upon the
present tranquillity of Ireland. The Union has already
apparently discharged the public mind of a greater portion
of the political mischief which has incessantly disturbed it
for the last twenty-five years than its most sanguine friend
could have expected. The politics of Ireland no longer
afford a field for separate speculation and exertion, and
there remains in fact but one great question which can
hereafter produce any particular fermentation in that por-
tion of the United Kingdom. Whatever may be the fate
of the question, I rejoice to observe that the Catholic body
have shown no disposition at this moment, by pressing
their objects, to add to our embarrassments during a
period of War."

The absence from the Hardwicke correspondence of
alarmist reports from country magistrates at this period
is also evidence that all was well in the provinces.
There is one report from a magistrate, but though it is
endorsed " secret information," it is more amusing than
perturbing in its character. It purports to relate the

THE EXPERIENCES OF AN INFORMER 255

curious experiences of Frederick Henry Hampden Button,
" late a quartermaster in the corps of artificers and
drivers attached to the Royal Irish Artillery," which
were told on oath before Mr. Francis Carleton, a justice of
the peace, in the town of Newry, on August 30, 1801 :

" That on the evening of the loth day of July John
Russell came up to him on the Canal quay, near to the
Infantry Barracks, and placed himself before deponent
in a very insulting and daring posture, staring deponent
fully in the face and out of countenance, when deponent
asked him if he wished to speak or say anything to him.
Said Russell answered with a disdainful sneer, ' Speak to
you ! speak to you ! What should I have to say to you,
you informing vagabond ?' Deponent replied, ' Then,
sir, please to let me pass without insulting mc,' and
walked on. Said Russell walked up close to deponent,
and putting himself in an attitude as if he were going to
strike at deponent, said, ' Sure, no honest man will let
such an informing rascal as you pass without insulting
you.' ' Then, sir,' replied deponent, ' I will have recourse
to Law. I hope there are laws existing that will protect
me from insults.' Said Russell answered, ' You Law !
you Law ! You be damned, you informing vagabond !
Your day is over. You abandoned wretch. Your day
is over, and your reward awaits you.' Deponent asked
what reward awaited him, and was answered by said
Russell, ' The reward that awaits every informing rascal
like you,' and said, ' I suppose you have pistols about
you ?' Deponent answered, ' No, sir, I have not ; per-
haps you have ?' Said Russell answered, ' No, you
scoundrel, I dare walk without them.' Deponent re-
plied, ' So dare I.' Deponent then attempted to turn
away from said Russell, who said, ' Come, sir, walk on
here.' Deponent said, ' Where, sir, would you wish that
I should walk to ?' Said Russell answered, ' Come on,
sir, out of the sight of the barrack.' Deponent asked
for what purpose he would wish him to go out of sight of
the barrack ? Said Russell answered, ' Until I trample
you under my feet. Sure I could put you to death in one
moment.' Deponent then hastened away from said
Russell, who repeatedly called aloud after him, ' Go be
damned, you informer !' and language to that effect."

256 ON THE EVE OF THE INSURRECTION

But England was still at war with France ; the menace
of a French invasion hung over Ireland, and the Irish
Executive was not disposed entirely to accept this tranquil
aspect of things as a sure indication of the real state of
feeling in the country. Marsden, the Under-Secretary,
asked for a report from his trustiest and most important
secret agent. This was Leonard MacNally, barrister-at-
law. He was popularly known in these troublous times
as " MacNally the Incorruptible." Years after he had
gone to his rest in all the odour of sanctity, Catholic
and Nationalist, it was discovered that he had been in
the pay of the Government as a secret agent for £300 a
year. Himself a United Irishman, he entertained the
leaders of the conspiracy right royally at his hospitable
board, and reported their conversations to Dublin
Castle. The black-hearted scoundrel, retained for most
of the prisoners charged with high treason in 1778, sold
the secrets of his briefs to the Crown.* The Viceroy's
Post-bag contains numbers of his reports to Marsden, all
endorsed " secret intelligence," and all signed with the
initials " J. W." Here is one :

" Carlow, Kildare, Queen's County, King's County,
" West and East Meath,

" 20th August, 1 80 1.

" Every observation applicable to the political situa-
tion of any of the one above counties, with very little
variance, is applicable to them all. Meath and Kildare
continue to retain the strongest symptoms of disaffection,
which I impute to their vicinity to the Metropolis.
Among the lower orders, and I have had innumerable
conversations with those in whom I could confide, I find
but one opinion, which is that the miltary are too strong
for the peasantry, unless the French made a landing in
great force. In that case I have no doubt but a great
majority would join them in their march ; but it appears
to me a settled determination that the people would not

* MacNally was the author of the well-known song, " The
Lass of Richmond Hill," which was set to music by James Hook,
father of Theodore Hook, and sung by Incledon at Vauxhall
Gardens in 1790, and attained immense popularity.

" MACNALLY THE INCORRUPTIBLE " 257

rise but where the French appeared. I am also convinced
that there are still great quantities of concealed arms, but
from the length of time they have lain by, most probably
in damp places, the firearms can be of little use.

" Among the middling orders (rich farmers, etc., men
who can afford to meet and drink together) the spirit of
disaffection still subsists, and often breaks out, but not
a word falls that looks like an intent to act.

" The Yeomanry, who boast much of their services
during the Rebellion, are more prompt than any others
in abuse of Government, and in abuse of the Union.
They openly declare they would not again give assistance,
and I believe most of them speak sincerely. The promise
of approaching plenty will, I venture to say, go very far
in softening the minds of the peasantry. Their wages
are now very high, and they begin to feel the benefit of
peace and industry.

" I put as a query, Is it prudent to leave in the hands
of even the Yeomanry who are inactive the arms delivered
to them by Government ? If an invasion should render
a requisition of men necessary, ought not all those who
refuse coming forward be called on to deliver up their
arms ? Would not an inspection of the arms of the
Yeomanry aU over the country be a prudent measure ?
It might be executed without inconvenience when the
harvest is in.

" There has been a rumour respecting the county of
Wexford. I saw a friend from Enniscorthy this day who
assures me all is quiet over there.

"J. W."

* * *

No one had better means of ascertaining the real
feelings of the people than MacNally ; and from his
reports it is clear that there was still some discontent and
bitterness, and the spirit of treason beneath the surface
which would flame out at the landing of a French army.
But all the principal conspirators of 1798, who had escaped
hanging, were safe in the fortress of Fort George, on the
Moray Firth, Scotland, as State prisoners. These in-
cluded Thomas Addis Emmet, Arthur O'Connor (a
wealthy aristocrat, the nephew of Lord Longueville),
Thomas Russell (an ex-captain of the British Army),

258 ON THE EVE OF THE INSURRECTION

W. J. Macnevin (a Dublin medical doctor), Samuel
Neilson (a Belfast merchant), and Thomas Dowdall (an
ex-clerk of the Irish House of Commons).

Still, even in a fortress in Scotland these Irish con-
spirators found means to advance their revolutionary
schemes. Among a few other political prisoners of
less notoriety at Fort George was Robert Hunter, of
Belfast. In November, 1801, he wrote to a Belfast magis-
trate named Skinner, informing him that on October 3
he had sent a letter to Lord Pelham, the Home Secretary,
disclosing a plot of the principal prisoners, headed by
Emmet and Neilson, for the dissemination of republican
principles in Scotland, and especially for sapping the
loyalty of the Scottish regiments of Militia, in view of a
French invasion of Great Britain. Hunter asked Skinner
to recommend him to the Home Secretary as a person
likely to give trusty information. " You are the only
person who knows my intentions," he says. " I there-
fore to you confide my honour, relying on you acting
towards me as a friend and a gentleman ; and trust for
the sake of myself and dear family you will use your
endeavours to get me clear of prison, for really my heart
is almost broke with trouble ; and stipulate on no account
for me to prosecute, but to tell all I know, and to
Government to make what they please of it." Skinner
forwarded Hunter's letter to Pelham, with one from
himself, in which he relates what he knows of the prisoner.
He states that during the Rebellion of 1798 he was ap-
pointed by the Crown to examine some prisoners arrested
in Belfast, among whom was Hunter. " Though it was
not possible to prove his guilt," Skinner adds, "it appeared
very evident that he had been engaged in all the plans of
the United Irishmen, and had been employed by them
to carry communications from one society to another,
which he had done for a length of time with the greatest
address." Hunter, though he took an oath never again
to interfere in politics, was banished to Fort George.
Therefore Skinner was of opinion that the information
offered by Hunter might be of service to the State.

THE '98 PRISONERS AT FORT GEORGE 259

The prisoners were not rigorously confined to Fort
George. They were permitted to take walks and drives
in the neighbouring country ; and at least Emmet had
his wife and children living with him in the fort. How
information of Hunter's disclosures to the Home Secre-
tary reached them through Mrs. Emmet, and the result,
is told in the following letter of Hunter to Pelham :

" Fort George,

" 5//? November, 1801.

" My Lord,

" My letter to you of the 3rd October turned out
just as I dreaded. The Governor thought proper to
open it, and by some means its contents was made known
to the officers in the garrison, and one of their wives — an
Irish patriot, Mrs. Cameron — was four times here looking
for Mrs. Emmet on the 5th ; and on Tuesday communi-
cated to her the outlines of my letter. In consequence
the alarm was given, and all writings, papers, etc., were
destroyed, and messages sent off on the occasion.

" By the Governor's orders the two messes joined that
day ; wine was ordered and drunk to excess. I did not
like their talk and noise, but withdrew early. I was
followed to my room, and asked about my letter to your
Lordship. I said your Lordship had heard I was guilty
of tampering with the Militia ; that Lieutenant Cold-
stream, a friend here, had informed me so, and advised
me to clear myself of the imputation, and which I had
done by my letter of the 3rd ulto. to you. I kept my
head, and really did not know the moment my life would
be attempted, because they knew well it was not this new
occurrence in Scotland, but the whole of their doings, I
could reveal. Not that I fear any man in point of
courage, or my character ; but it was always their
system, terror and dark assassination. I have entirely
withdrawn from them, but at mess ; and, I declare to
you, my heart is almost broke by their treatment and
doings ; for my suffering since December, 1798, has been
great, all since I was sworn not to intermeddle with
politics or the King's Government.

" I will just now, my Lord, tell you in plain honest
language, you are to fear and dread the principles of about
ten men here. The rest are broken down by confine-
ment and ill-fortunes. At the head of a faction is Emmet

17 — 2

26o ON THE EVE OF THE INSURRECTION

and Neilson, men of abilities and talent. They are at
present crazy in consequence of Peace coming on, and
you are a God to Bonaparte and the French Government ;
but the consolation is it's only an armed truce and will
last no time. At all events, it may put back their liberty
for Ireland for some time, but in the end they know and
are certain their Union will triumph.

" I think it was unfortunate I had no private way to
communicate what I knew to you, and when I did to be
exposed by the foregoing reason. Indeed, I should not
now write on this topic but I have a prospect of a lady
taking this free of the governor to Ireland. And speak-
ing of that country, it is a misfortune I cannot acquaint
you with their plans and schemes, acted upon by their
confederates, in hopes of invasion. My time nor my
opportunity here will not admit of it ; but if you will
have the goodness and humanity to comply now with
my request, I will make everything known to you again
in my power, but not to be exposed ; to enlarge me on
bail, either to reside in Belfast or Liverpool. Security
would be given in the former place, and if you wish my
own here. According to your own desire, I could then
obey your call, and it would remove suspicion, for it is
totally impossible to move here without my fellow-
prisoners' knowledge. I beg you will excuse this
liberty."

All these communications were forwarded by the Home
Office to Dublin Castle with a covering letter from Sir
George Shee, Pelham's private secretary, dated Decem-
ber 5, 1801, in which he says : " As Hunter is ordered to
Ireland his Excellency will have it in his power to take
such steps respecting the intelligence he has given, and
offers to give, as the case seems to require." But there
appeared to be httle further need for the service of in-
formers in Ireland. The war between Great Britain and
France was at an end. All the political prisoners at
Fort George were released in November, 1801. The
principals were banished from the kingdom. The others
were permitted to return to Ireland on giving bail for
their good behaviour.

* * *

LORD MASSEREENE 261

The year 1802 went by without even a ripple of dis-
loyalty on the surface of things in Ireland. The only
document in the Viceroy's Post-bag for that year to indi-
cate there was a spirit of mischief abroad v/as a letter
from Lord Massereene, an Ulster peer, complaining that
he had received threatening notices. But Massereene
was a persistent grumbler. He had voted for the Union,
and not only had he been ignored in the distribution of
honours and places, but he seems to have failed even
to obtain compensation for the loss of a pocket borough.
He writes to Hardwicke :

" Antrim Castle,

" November 11, 1802.

" My Lord,

" A circumstance of a curious nature procures
me the honor of addressing your Excellency. I must
entreat your indulgence, my Lord, if I am troublesome.
That possibly may be the case ; but I trust the very
great peculiarity of the predicament in which I stand will
plead my excuse.

" Government (I mean not your Lordship's, G — d
forbid I should be misunderstood. I allude to that which
preceded your arrival in this country) ; Government, I
say, my Lord, has so refus'd me, abandon'd me, stripp'd
me of all it could, chosen me as an object of its derelic-
tion ; in a word, such has been the line of conduct which
it has been pleas'd to adopt in regard to me, that now the
miscreants of this part of the country (and little else
than miscreants are there here) are persuaded that any-
thing may be undertaken against a man mark'd for such
dereliction by a Government. Enclos'd are two papers,
literal and exact copies of two papers, one of which was
sent to me by the post, the 3rd of last month, and the
other, the ist of this present month. No less than five
papers have been, some sent, some stuck on a pillar or
wall, within one month ; one a scurrilous song, and all
demonstrating an inveterate malevolence.

" I leave the whole to your Excellency's consideration,
and beg leave to submit one observation, viz. — is it
exactly right that a man whose loyalty has ever been as
conspicuous as the sun in the firmament, who has fought
the King's and the Nation's quarrels, who has spared

262 ON THE EVE OF THE INSURRECTION

neither his time nor his fortune, who has risk'd his life,
who has been indefatigable in supporting and keeping
up the interest of the King and his Government, and
incurr'd the detestation of the whole country for these
reasons, should be mark'd for dereliction, depriv'd of his
dignity, robb'd of a part of his property, and as utterly
laid aside as any man ever was, by that Government
which he has defended and supported ? Tho' I might,
yet will I say no more. You, my Lord, are endow'd with
that candour and genius which have ever been hereditary
in all the Yorkes.

" To conclude, let me observe that a great historian
remarks that the moment after the Emperor, Charles 5th,
sign'd his abdication, the very numerous company of
grandees then present with the new Emperor adjourn'd
to another department, leaving Charles alone by his fire-
side. The fire being almost extinguished Charles rung
the bell for some more fuel ; and three times did he ring
before any footman had the attention either to come to
him, or even to think about him, who some minutes
before could have made the empire tremble by a frown.
If so with a ci-devant monarch, judge, my Lord, of the
situation of a peer ci-devant, possessing a seat in Parlia-
ment descended to him from a long train of ancestry, now
robb'd of everything, in recompense for his loyalty and
attachment to his King, by him manifested in both his
military and civil capacities, stripp'd of his borough,
robb'd of his compensation money, etc., etc., etc.

" I repose my case and my interest in the hands of
G — d first, and next in the hands of the Earl of Hardwicke,
and have the honour to be, my Lord, your Excellency's
most obedient and most humble servant,

" Massereene."

One of the threatening notices enclosed by Lord Mas-
sereene was an invitation to dinner in the following
form :

" Myly and Mylys calf present ther compts to the Earle
of Masreen expects the plasur of his company for Diner
the 2nd of November on Donagor Hill as the know he is
so fond of fish will have a nise dish of well drest pikes.

" Myiy.

"Donagor, 2gth October."

HARDWICKE ON THE CONDITION OF THE COUNTRY 263

The Viceroy sent Massereene a few soothing lines.
These stupid anonymous notices were beneath his con-
tempt ; and to take notice of them would simply be
playing the game of the writers.

* * *

Early in 1803 it became apparent that the renewal of
hostilities between Great Britain and France was in-
evitable, and the Viceroy was consulted by the Ministers
as to the state of feeling in Ireland. Writing from Dublin
Castle, March 11, 1803, to WiUiam Wickham, Chief
Secretary, then in London, Hardwicke says :

" There is no reason to believe that any regular system
of disaffection exists, though it is probable that many
would join and assist an invading force. In the North,
however, I understand there are no persons of any pro-
perty who can be considered as disaffected. Though
inclined to be Republican and formerly well wishers to
the French cause there is no reason to believe that they
would now wish for a change through French assistance.
This idea of the North has been confirmed to me by
several gentlemen, and amongst others by Mr. Stewart
of Killimoon. At the same time we must act upon the
principle of defending this country as well as we can
independently of the disposition of the inhabitants."

The same confidence in the peaceable or quiescent dis-
position of the people is displayed in a letter from the Lord
Lieutenant to the Home Secretary, dated March 26, 1803 :

" From the best accounts which I can obtain of the
state of the country it does not appear that any of the
lower order of farmers — many of whom were concerned
in the Rebellion — are suspected of any treasonable or
seditious inclination. In some instances I have under-
stood that the common people are not very well affected
towards their immediate superiors on account of the high
price which they are supposed to have demanded for
their provisions, during the periods of scarcity. Upon
the whole, I do not find that the present situation of
publick affairs has given rise to any circumstances which
are deserving of particular notice, or that would justify
apprehensions in respect to any part of the country."

264 ON THE EVE OF THE INSURRECTION

Ulster was the only part of Ireland about which the
Executive entertained any doubts, for it was there
that the republican principles of the United Irishmen
had found the most numerous and most ardent body of
supporters. But all the reports received by the Viceroy
from that province agreed that there had been a complete
change in the political opinions of the Protestants and
Presbyterians since the Rebellion of 1798. One of the
most interesting of the reports comes from a magistrate
named William Richardson, of Moy. It is dated May 2,
1803, and from it I give a few extracts :

" We are far more tranquil than I ever remember us.
Harassed by political discussions for thirty years past,
we have now forgot the existence of such things. Par-
liamentary reform was our first furious question. That
was followed by revolutionizing schemes, upon which the
reformists split — one part saw the precipice and quietly
retired among the loyalists ; the other part pressed
forward to Rebellion, which failing, political innovation
was nominally, and, I believe, really given up by both.

" The Union followed, and it was most amusing to
the indifferent bystanders to see the unwearied exertions
of the anti-Unionist leaders fail in procuring even atten-
tion. Meetings were called, at which almost nobody
appeared, and resolutions (sufficiently inflammatory) of
which no one had heard were published. The Union
leaders were more cunning, and contented themselves
with procuring signatures, of which, probably, they made
a great merit, but their advantage was simpl}^ this, that
it was easier to sign than to attend meetings. This silly
appeal to the people did not make the Union so much as a
topick ; and if it is supposed to be carried either with
or against the liking of the people it is a compleat mis-
take. I have dwelt upon this to show how little in-
flammable material we have among us."

Richardson goes on to say that the religious feud between
Protestant and Catholic which had distracted Ulster was
at an end, and that the issue was now between Loyalist
and United Irish. He then makes a curious statement
about the part played by Freemasonry in the political

RENEWAL OF THE WAR WITH FRANCE 265

conflict, which will be new to students of this period of
Irish history. He adds :

" Catholicks and Protestants over the North are in
profound peace with each other ; but the tail of the
United Irish has rallied in Freemason Lodges. With
these, Orange Lodges, when they meet at fairs, do and will
come to blows, and the question between them — your
Lordship may rely upon it — is political and not religious.
I have pressed your Lordship before on the subject of
these Freemason Lodges, every day growing more
numerous, and more suspicious by their guard against
anything Orange. That Freemasonry contributed to
the French Revolution has been denied, but that its
ready-formed organization served it, most decidedly is
certain. Orders were through this medium instantly
conveyed through every part of France. That the same
use is at this moment making of our Freemasonry I have
satisfied Sir Charles Ross.

" In general, a more tranquil state than the North is
in at present can hardly be conceived. The most un-
popular process of law can be executed in any part of it
by a single constable, nor do I see any material from
which disturbance among ourselves is likely to arise."

* * *
On May 14, 1803, Pelham, the Home Secretary, wrote
to the Lord Lieutenant conveying the momentous in-
telligence that on that afternoon a messenger had arrived
in London from Paris bringing the news that on the 12th
inst. Lord Wliitworth, the British Ambassador, was on
the point of leaving the city. General Fox, brother of
Charles James Fox, was immediately despatched to
Ireland as Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in that
country, on the outbreak of hostilities. On May 28, 1803,
Hardwicke sent the following " Private and Confidential "
letter to Wickham, Chief Secretary, in London :

' My dear Sir,

" I received this morning your letter of the 25th,
and regret with you, for myself as well as for the publick,
that no account has been preserved of Mr. Pitt's speech
in the debate of Monday. I consider it a very serious
loss at this time, because if the French sentiments con-

266 ON THE EVE OF THE INSURRECTION

tained in Mr, Fox's defence of Bonaparte's conduct should,
unfortunately, prevail in the nation at large, we should
have little chance of success in the War, and had better
at once resign ourselves to our fate. I flatter myself,
however, that some attempt will be made to collect the
substance of so valuable a speech, and that Mr. Pitt
himself will assist in preserving it as an antidote to the
wickedness of his old antagonist.

" General Fox arrived here yesterday se'nnight. By
connecting his name with that of his brother I by no
means wish you to infer that there is the smallest resem-
blance in their politicks, for from what I have seen of
General Fox — as far as I can judge from so short an
acquaintance — I think we shall go on extremely well if
he remains in this country. He does not appear to be
reserved, and seems desirous of being civil to those with
whom he is likely to be connected in business."

* * *

Meanwhile, magistrates in various parts of Ireland were

invited by the Executive to furnish reports of the state

of their various districts. They were all of the same

tenor — the people were peaceably absorbed in their own

affairs. Here is a letter from the Marquis of Sligo, in

reference to the condition of Mayo, addressed to Marsden,

the Under Secretary :

" Westport House,

" June 30, 1803.

" Considering the situation of affairs at present we
cannot be too vigilant as to all that passes around us. I
have two cards to play here — one which relates to the
publick safety, and the other the preservation of my own
political weight in the county, without which my powers
of being useful in other points would be much lessened. I
mention this, because tho' from the experience I have of
your discretion I will explain to you without reserve
every atom I can ascertain, I do it in the confidence of
not being quoted unnecessarily, nor of being brought
forward where my communications might give umbrage
to the most important of my friends. I don't know that
such difficulties may occur ; I trust they will not ; but
the caution may not be useless even with respect to others.

" I believe I see and I know as much of the lower people,

REPORTS FROM THE WEST OF IRELAND 267

and especially of the suspected, as any other man of my
class of life in Ireland, and I can confidently say, and
assert that to this day my conviction is that not one of
them wish for an invasion ; but on the contrary I believe
that if they were told it was to be, I am persuaded they
would in their minds be sorry for it ; and the greatest
alarmists here are of the same mind with me to the fullest
extent of this assertion. That the disaffected of the
middle class have changed their opinions I am also clear.
And from those facts I do positively say that in the event
of the Militia being drawn away, the Yeomen will pre-
serve the publick peace ; and if well chosen as to the
Corps, kept up and exercised two days in the week, I
will venture to pronounce them as much force as those
parts want, even in the event of the Enemy being landed
in the Kingdom. I have much to lose here, not only in
property but in personal comforts, and many of them
more valued from being of my own creation. If, there-
fore, I mislead it will not be intentional."

From Lord Ashtown, a Galway peer, came the following
reassuring report of the state of his county to the Viceroy :

" WOODLAWN,

" July 4th, 1803.

" My Lord,

" Agreeably to your Excellency's commands I sit
down to give some account of the state of this part of
the country, as far as I have been able to observe, or
learn from those with whom I have conversed. I have
the satisfaction to state that this part of the co. Galway
is perfectly quiet, and I have reason to suppose that the
disturbances in Connemara, as reported to your Ex-
cellency, have been much exaggerated. I find the lower
classes of people as peaceably disposed and as attentive
to their business as usual — finishing their potatoes, in
which they have been unusually retarded by the back-
wardness of the season, and cutting their turf.

" They also get drunk and break heads now and then,
as usual, at fairs and hurling matches. Your Excellency
may, perhaps, remark that this is an extraordinary proof
of a peaceable disposition, and such as none but an
Irishman would give. It is, however, unquestionably
true, that for some months previous to the late Rebellions
when they were mediately to disturb the publick peace,

268 ON THE EVE OF THE INSURRECTION

drunkenness was almost unknown, and private quarrel,
extremely rare. On the whole I am induced to believe
that there is no organization at present on foot ; and that
we shall not have any rising in this part of the country,
unless the French should land in considerable force, and
that even in that case they will be cautious how they join
them.

" While I am on this subject I shall beg leave to suggest
an idea, that I am sure has not escaped your Excellency's
attention, or that of Government on the other side, of
the importance of which I am strongly persuaded. It is
to make some Parliamentary provision for the Roman
Catholick clergy which would give them an interest in
the present order of things, and make them exert their
influence, which is still very great, in support of it. It
might now be done with a good grace, and I have reason
to think it would be thankfully received, but in time of
actual insurrection would be imputed to fear. I ask
pardon for obtruding my sentiments on this subject, but
the strong conviction I feel of the utility of the measure
must plead my excuse."

* * *

Nevertheless, at this very time, June, 1803, preparations
for an insurrection were in full swing in Dublin without
the knowledge of the Executive.

CHAPTER II

THE INSURRECTION

At the head of the new conspiracy was the young en-
thusiast, Robert Emmet. The failure of the rebelHon
of the United Irishmen in 1798, the execution or banish-
ment of all its leaders, the cowed and prostrate condition
of the country after the rigorously repressive measures
of the Irish Government, did not deter this extraordinary
youth from planning, two years after the Union of Ire-
land and Great Britain in 1801, another attempt to
establish an Irish Republic. The Irish Executive knew
nothing definite of the preparations for this fresh insur-
rection until it burst about their astonished ears on
July 23, 1803. Then there was no lack of information.
Then the whole scheme was unfolded to them by some
of the terror-stricken conspirators on whom the law suc-
ceeded in laying its heavy hand. In the Hardwicke cor-
respondence there is a most interesting official paper on
the Emmet insurrection, prepared by William Wickham,
Chief Secretary, in December, 1803. "Account of the
Insurrection in Dublin on the 23rd July, 1803, and the
circumstances by which it was preceded " — so runs its
title — "prepared from the evidence in the late State
Trials, from the secret examination of several accom-
plices, and from various secret documents, particularly
from intercepted letters and other papers found in the
possession of several of the conspirators." With the
help of this document, the " private and confidential "
correspondence between the Viceroy and the Cabinet in

269

270 THE INSURRECTION

London, and the secret papers of the Home Office, we

are enabled to follow the development of the plot. It is

an exciting tale of adventure and romance, a tale of the

deepest human interest.

* * *

Here, to begin, is an extract from William Wickham's
secret histor}-' of the conspiracy :

" Early in the year 1801 Mr. Robert Emmet went
over to the Continent with a mission to the French
Government from the Executive Directory of the United
Irishmen here. He was accompanied by a Mr. Malachi
Delany of the County of Kildare, now in custody on sus-
picion of being concerned in the last insurrection. Delany
had been formerly an officer in the Austrian service,
and was deeply engaged in the Rebellion of 1798. They
travelled through England and embarked at Yarmouth
for Hamburgh, Emmet (against whom there was no
charge) under his own name, and Delany under the name
of Bowers.

" They resided some time at Hamburgh, until at last
they obtained passports from General Angereau, com-
manding the French Army on the lower Rhine, and pro-
ceeded to Paris. At Paris they had communications
with the French Government, in the course of the year
1801. What was the particular object of these com-
munications is not known, but whatever it was they were
put an end to by the Peace which was soon after con-
cluded, when Emmet left Paris and came to Brussels to
meet his brother, Thomas Addis Emmet, who had been
discharged from Fort George.

" He returned to this country in November, 1802,
where he remained unmolested, as he had done before,
there being no charge against him, this circumstance of
his having been sent on this treasonable mission having
only been discovered since the Insurrection of the 23rd
of July."

Young Emmet was debarred from joining any of the
professions by his expulsion from Trinity College in 1798
for his connection with the revolutionary movement.
He therefore turned to trade.

EMMET'S PLAN 271

" When Emmet came over in November," continues
the narrative of the Chief Secretary, " he appHed him-
self, together with Patten, a nephew of Mr. Colville, the
Governor of the Bank, to the tanning business, which they
were to learn from a notoriously disaffected, but a very
ingenious man of the name of Noms, whom they took
into a sort of partnership, Patten furnishing the money."

If the venture failed, they were determined, all three,
on emigrating to America. But Emmet was turned by
the death of his father, and the outbreak of war between
Great Britain and France, irrevocably from the prosaic
if peaceful ways of industry to the romantic if hazardous
career of a revolutionist. Under the will of his father
he received in April, 1803, a sum of £3,000, and with this
money at his back the boy revolutionary proposed to
wrest Ireland from the grasp of the strongest and most
wealthy Power in the world. But he had no misgiving
as to the success of his scheme. Was it not, for one
thing, absolutely new and original ? He was not so
foolish as to follow the example of the United Irishmen
by attempting to establish a well-organized revolutionary
society, with clubs in every part of the country, and
counting its numbers by the hundred thousand. That
scheme had proved abortive because of the scope it
allowed to traitors, who reported every move in the game
to the Government. His plan was, first, to spend his
fortune on the manufacture and collection of munitions
of war in the metropolis, taking but a dozen tried and
trusty friends into his confidence ; then, when all his
preparations were completed, to summon a thousand
desperate men to his aid from the disaffected in and
around Dublin, arm them from his stores, and, surprising
the unsuspecting and consequently unprepared Irish
Executive, plant the flag of revolution on the battlements
of Dublin Castle. This much accomphshed — and to the
romantic youth it was but a little thing — Ireland, at the
sound of his trumpet, would shake off her fetters, and
arise a free and independent Republic.

272 THE INSURRECTION

Emmet accordingly confided his scheme only to a few
subordinate leaders of the Rebellion of 1798 in Dublin,
and in Kildare and Wicklow, two counties adjoining the
metropolis. These were to have the men ready to
respond to his call when he passed the word that the
day had come to rise. His two chief confederates of
his own class were Thomas Russell, the fellow-prisoner
of his brother, Thomas Addis Emmet, in Fort George,
and William Hamilton, an Irish officer in the French
Army, who was married to Russell's sister. Another
powerful ally was Michael Dwyer, an insurgent leader,
" on his keeping " in the Wicklow hills for his connec-
tion with the Rebelhon of 1798. But in the immediate
work of manufacturing arms and gunpowder his trusted
confederates were not more than eight workmen in the
humblest walks in life. The two principals were Michael
Quigley, a bricklayer, and Nicholas Stafford, a baker.
Quigley had been concerned in the Rebellion of 1798,
and after a term of imprisonment was released on con-
dition that he left the country under the Banishment
Act. He went to Paris, where he worked at his trade
for a time, and became acquainted with Russell and
Hamilton. On their invitation he joined the conspiracy,
and returning to Dublin about April, 1803, was appointed
by Emmet his first lieutenant. One day he accidentally
met Stafford, the baker — an old acquaintance — and
induced him to give his services to the cause. Two
depots were taken in the most crowded centre of Dublin
— one in Patrick Street and the other in Marshalsea
Lane, off Thomas Street. It is stated in Wickham's
narrative that such was the secrecy with which Emmet
conducted these initial operations of his plot that not even
his chief fellow-conspirators knew exactly the situation
of the depots. Emmet himself so completely disappeared
from his social circle at the beginning of April — on re-
ceiving the money left him in his father's will — that the
secret agents of the Executive were unable to discover
what had become of him, or to determine whether he
was in Dublin, or in the provinces organizing, or had

SAMUEL TURNER, THE SPY 27^

left Ireland altogether. He took a lonely coiintr}^ house
in Butterfield Lane, Rathfamham, just outside the city.
Here he lived in absolute seclusion as " Robert Ellis,"
with a faithful girl servant, named Anne Devlin, niece
of Michael Dwyer, and here he was visited at night by
his principal agents. He does not seem even to have
ever inspected his depots in Patrick Street and Marshal-
sea Lane. Of the eight workmen employed in the manu-
facture of the warlike stores, only Quigley and Stafford
were aware that he was at the head of the movement,
and knew where he was to be found. To them he gave
the necessary money for the purchase of materials, and
for the payment of five shillings a day to the mechanics
employed in the depots. From them he received regular
reports as to the progress of the work.

The Government, as I have said, had no information,
definite and trustworthy, of the mine which was thus
being secretly laid for explosion under their very feet.
In the intimate and confidential letters of Lord Hard-
wicke to his brother, Charles Yorke, the Minister for
War — just about to be promoted to the Home Office in
succession to Lord Pelham — the Viceroy roams over a
variety of subjects, public and private, speaking his
mind freely about all to " my dear Charles "; but I
cannot find the least apprehension expressed, now that
war had broken out again between Great Britain and
France, that trouble was brewing among the disaffected
in Ireland.

It is true the spies of the authorities reported that
another insurrection was being organized, but their
information was most indefinite. The Viceroy's Post-
bag contains several secret communications from one
of these agents signed " Belfast," and addressed to
Marsden, the Under-Secretary. This was a barrister-
at-law named Samuel Turner, an ardent and active
patriot, who had betrayed the Ulster Executive of the
United Irishmen to the Government in 1798, had fled to

274 THE INSURRECTION

France with other rebel fugitives, and returned to Ireland
after the Peace to continue his role as spy, still unsus-
pected as a traitor by his fellow-revolutionaries. Here
is one of his reports to Marsden :

" 31s/ May, 1803.

" Sir.

" From every circumstance which has occurred
since my return here, I am satisfied that Russell or some
others of the Fort George exiles have returned, and are
at present in Dublin. Late on Saturday night, William
Metcalf, with whom all along I have been so intimate,
and the person of the greatest confidence with the people,
called on me to acquaint me that a person was specially
sent from the Executive in Dublin for him to attend
them there without delay ; but some apprehensions
being entertained as to the truth of the message and the
messenger, he (Metcalf) thought it advisable to consult
with me, and now from every enquiry he is satisfied and
determined to attend.

" This man was formerly of Ballymena, his name is
either Ross or Cross, and has been for some time in
Dublin ; is of the lower order, and has but little to say,
is pretty well-clothed and has money with him to defray
expenses ; offered Metcalf some, but I ordered him to
refuse it. I have promised to assist Metcalf, and he intends
setting off on Friday on foot for Dublin. He meets me
there, and of course I will get all the information of what
is doing.

" He tells Metcalf that he will introduce him to the
entire Executive, and that he will see many whom he
knew, and some who have been abroad. Speaks of an
immediate business, and fears something may take place
before he returns. He is now gone to Ballymena, and
returns here on Thursday. Says we are to have 10,000
French immediately. Has with him a person who was
sent to Scotland on the same business, and who is re-
turned. Metcalf is to carry with him the Scotch reports
(they are to be delivered verbally). I will, I expect,
know them.

" Metcalf has just parted from me, and is to see me before
he goes, and will then appoint to meet him in Dublin, on
about the 12th. I can't leave this sooner. He goes to
James Hooper who lives in the Liberty, an old friend of

TURNER'S REPORTS TO THE GOVERNMENT 275

mine. I don't know where there he hves. I should
think he ought not to be arrested until I see him in Dublin,
for through him I will be able to ascertain everything."

On this report there is a note by Hardwicke as follows :

" This person can't give any satisfactory information ;
but tells Marsden he'll know everything when he arrives
in Dublin."

" Belfast," again writing from Belfast, sent Marsden
the following report, dated June 4, 1803 :

" Sir,

" Metcalf was with me at a late hour last night,
and from him I understand the person with whom he was
to travel to town had returned here. He had not then
seen him, and consequently I could not know all I ex-
pected. They were to leave this place early this morn-
ing, and from Metcalf's not calling to-day I conclude they
are gone. Metcalf will remain in Dublin until I go up.
This we have settled ; and unless some of my old friends
Emmet, Lawson, Wright, and Teeling, whom O'Hanlon
after he escaped from the Tower endeavoured, and in a
degree led to believe that I was the means of their arrests,
will prevent me seeing him there, I will be able to ascer-
tain everything from him. Yet, I think he will not
credit anything that might be said without acquaint-
ing me.

" The messenger's name is Scott, and not Ross, as I
stated ; and the person who was in Scotland is one
Witherspoole, from the neighbourhood of Castlereagh
near this town (Co. Down). I don't find he has brought
with him any particular reports from Scotland. He says
they are doing well there, and would assist us if a Rising
would take place ; but I can't find whether he was par-
ticularly sent there or not, and am inclined to think he
was not. Yesterday I saw William Minis from Saint-
field ; he came here for news ; he says that part of the
country is quiet, but anxiously waiting for invasion.
They have had no meetings lately. The spirit yet con-
tinues to a great extent.

" A great number of the inhabitants here are joining
the different Yeomanry corps. I am at present on a
delicate footing with regard to this. If I don't join a
corps I'll be despised and discountenanced in my pro-

18—2

2/6 THE INSURRECTION

fession* by the gentlemen of the country ; and, on the
other hand, if I do, I can't serve you. I hope altogether
I am to be considered and that a handsome recompense
will be allowed me, either pecuniary, or by an employment.
What I get is not near adequate to my expenditure.

" I intend leaving this for town by the latter end of the
ensuing week. Charles Teeling is here. I was speaking
with him ; nothing from him political ; our interview
was but short, and merely by accident.

" I gave Metcalf some money to assist him up, as he
refused to accept any from Scott lest he should be a spy.
Metcalf must not by any means be arrested."

On July 2, 1803, " Belfast " is in Dublin, and writes to
Marsden :

" Metcalf, I presume, is gone home. He hasn't called
since. He called one evening before I saw you, but I
happened to be abroad. He told me when I saw him he
would immediately leave town if he was not introduced
to the Executive ; and it was agreed that if he was to
be introduced he was to call on me. I, therefore, con-
clude that he is gone. I leave this for the North to-
morrow evening. Any commands sent in the former way.
You shall hear from me on my arrival there. I received
the cash from McP."

" Belfast," on July 8, 1803, thus writes from Belfast
to Marsden :

" Sir,

" Metcalf is again returned here, and I find Hooper
is also down expecting a command. Metcalf returned
here on Thursday last. I haven't since seen him. I
understand that he is ordered by the Executive not to
communicate much with me. He is now in the County
Down gone towards Loughin island, endeavouring to
persuade the people to a general rising. He gives out
that Dublin is immediately to be attacked, and has no
doubt but it will be taken. Every means is used to rouse
the people. Sometimes he tells them if they don't turn
out they will all be put into requisition by the Govern-
ment, and at other times represents to those the less

* There is a note to this in Hardwicke's handwriting — " An
Attorney."

MACNALLY'S INFORMATION 277

ardent that he comes also through me. He was yesterday
about Saintfield, and is expected in town to-morrow.

" The idea of a general insurrection has spread much
through both counties. Some will turn out, but I find
from Mr. Minis, to-day, from the neighbourhood of
Saintfield, that the greater number as well as himself
look upon it as a desperate enterprise. He tells me the
County Down will certainly look to me. I have em-
powered him if the leaders chose me, to say that I will
take the command at some time, telling him (as he thinks
himself that we must be defeated) to prevent the people
as much as possible from doing anything rashly. He is
to come expressly to me if any determination is likely to
take place. From the minds at present of the people
they will wait the result of the attack on Dublin.

" I have written for Bones to Ballymena, and expect
to see him about the latter end of the week. With him I
will be able to concert some measure to prevent Metcalf
and his companion having much influence. Metcalf
gives out that leaders (experienced officers) will attend,
and even turn out with three men, but can't tell what
plan is meant to be pursued. Goes entirely on the
old system" of 1799, formed by young Emmet, etc.*

" I wrote you some days ago the conversation I had
before I left Dublin. I repeat again, the only and prin-
cipal allegation here in not turning out is the want of
arms, li you mean to arrest Metcalf instruct Mr. Skinner
the magistrate as no doubt he can have full information
to convict him. I should wish to know how I am to act
upon this occasion. At present I have the strongest
party. I have no doubt but Metcalf will call upon me
when he returns. He understood that Captain Russell
is still in the country, and is to command here."

The only other secret agent from whom the Govern-
ment received a report was Leonard MacNally, or " J. W."
He was as vague as " Belfast," and as ignorant of what
was really going on. Under date July 19, 1803, he
reports to Marsden :

" I find from the most minute inquiry which I con-
stantly keep alive, that all the respectable Catholics and

* There is a note to this in the handwriting of Hardwicke,
which runs : " This was by communicating to very few, and not
by visiting."

2/8 THE INSURRECTION

those of the middHng rank are decisively against insur-
rection, even in the case of invasion. Clone assured me
this morning, which is the occasion of my writing, that
an emissary from France has been in Dublin, and still
remains here, and has had conferences with several per-
sons v/ho have come to Dublin specially for that purpose,
from almost every county. He cannot specify names,
but he assures me the fact was communicated to him from
a person who had the information from young Emmet.

" I daily see different people from the Home Circuit
counties, who were implicated in the last Rebellion, and
the report of them all is that there is neither system nor
organization in the country. They, however, allow that
an invasion is expected, in which case they admit a rising
would take place whenever the enemy appeared.

" I can assure you that the disaffected in Dublin look
forward to a serious rising in London, in case England
should be attacked. They speak of no less than fifty
thousand disaffected in that Metropolis."

* * *

To these unsubstantial reports the Irish Executive,
naturally, attached little credence. They had no in-
former inside the inner ring of the conspiracy. Even
the personal appearance of Emmet was unknown to
their police. The town Major was Sirr, a capable and
daring officer, who had had the experience of counter-
mining and breaking up the conspiracy of the United
Irishmen five years before in Dublin. Yet this keen-
eyed and alert watch-dog of the law had never to his
knowledge seen Emmet. Impressed by the statements
of " Belfast " and " J. W." that " Young Emmet " was
the head and front of whatever movement there might
be among the disaffected, he obtained a description of
the youth's appearance from Dr. Elrington of Trinity
College, who in 1798 was his tutor in mathematics. It
is not very flattering to the young revolutionary :

" June yth, 1803.

" Dear Sir,

" Miss Bell having mentioned to me that you
wished for a description of Robert Emmet I send the
best I can get of what he was five years ago. I know no

EXPLOSION IN THE PATRICK STREET DEPOT 279

person who can give you an account of the alteration
that may have taken place in his figure since.
" Believe me, dear Sir, yours very truly,

" Thomas Elrington.
" In 1798 was near twenty years of age, of an ugly
sour countenance ; small eyes, but not near-sighted ; a
dirty-brownish complexion ; at a distance looks as if
somewhat marked with small-pox ; about five feet six
inches high, rather thin than fat, but not of an emaciated
figure ; on the contrary, somewhat broad-made ; walks
briskly, but does not swing his arms."

* * *

On the morning of Saturday, July 16, 1803, a most
untoward accident happened to the conspirators. An
explosion occurred in the Patrick Street depot. One of
the workmen was killed. But, worse calamity, the sus-
picions of the authorities were aroused, the place was
examined, and its stores of pikes, blunderbusses, rockets,
and gunpowder seized. The Lord Lieutenant sent the
following report of the affair to Addington, the Prime
Minister :

" Private.

" Phcenix Park,

" July 20, 1803.
" My dear Sir,

" The accounts which have recently come to my
knowledge in regard to the intentions of the disaffected,
and particularly in regard to their proceedings in Dublin,
are by no means so satisfactory as they were some time
ago. It still appears that there are no leaders of any
consequence ; but it is equally true, and it is a fact which
ought not to be concealed from the Government in Eng-
land, that agitators are certainly at work, and that there
is reason to believe, whenever an opportunity offers of
striking a blow, that the Metropolis will be the principal
object of insurrection. All our intelligence of late has
gone to that point, and I must add that the accounts re-
ceived from the country, and particularly from the North,
within a day or two, are less favourable than they were,
the hope and expectation of a rising gaining ground in
those parts, according to information given by persons
who from their connexions with the disaffected must be

28o THE INSURRECTION

supposed to know their secrets. A rising is also talked
of wherever and whenever the Enemy may happen to
land.

" A circumstance occurred a few days since which, as
connected with any scheme of insurrection in the Metro-
polis, is not uninteresting. On Saturday evening an
explosion took place at an house in Patrick-street, by
which two men were badly wounded. One of them is
since dead. They appear to have been employed in
manufacturing gunpowder, and had made use of a
machine, which was lately purchased to bruise oats, for
the purpose of preparing and grinding the ingredients.
The men were of the lowest order ; but the survivor has
not made any discovery of his accomplices, some of whom
are known and, of course, watched.

" Connected with this accident, another circumstance
occurred on Sunday, the 17th inst. About 4 o'clock in
the morning of that day two men were observed by the
watchmen carrying a large cask from Patrick-street.
The two watchmen enquired to what place they were
carrying the cask, to which they replied, ' If you wish to
know you will see presently.' They then turned the
corner of Kevin-street, and set down the cask at the door
of an house inhabited by one Palmer, a grocer. The
two men, after having set down the cask on the pave-
ment, went away, and Palmer, who came down apparently
to receive the cask, on perceiving the watchmen, shut the
door of his house and walked away to another street.
The watchmen then took up the cask and were conveying
it to the Watch-house, when they were met by four or
five men who took the cask from them, and afterwards
were joined by others who fired at the watchmen and pur-
sued them, ridiculing the idea of their supposing they
could retain possession of it. As this happened in the
neighbourhood of the Coombe, where there is a barrack,
the watchmen applied for assistance, but the guard de-
clined interfering without the order of the magistrate.
The two men therefore escaped, and the only information
obtained of the contents of the cask is from the accident
of a part of it having burst by the shock of being set
down on the pavement, when several ball cartridges
are stated to have dropped out, and some rings used for
the fixing of pikes to the handles.

" Palmer was taken up and examined yesterday. His

THE VICEROY'S REPORT ON THE SITUATION 281

house had been searched on Sunday morning, but nothing
was discovered which could give rise to any suspicion ;
and as he knew it was impossible to prove anything
against him, or even to detain him, he gave no informa-
tion whatever, nor any explanation of his being up and
dressed at so early an hour of the morning. Palmer is
the father of a notorious rebel, and was a short time
previous to the Rebellion actively employed himself in
posting up seditious handbills in different parts of Dublin,
and still remains there ; and it is said that he has had
conferences with several persons from the country, of
which, however, there is no certainty.

" Our information states that the disaffected in Dublin
look forward to a serious rising in London, in case England
should be attacked, and that there are no less than 50,000
disaffected persons in the Metropolis. An emissary of
rebellion in the County of Antrim gives out that Dublin
is expected to be attacked, and that there is no doubt of
success. In addition to this expectation which he holds
out to induce the people to rise, he tells them that if they
don't turn out they will be put in requisition by the
Government. The idea of a general insurrection is said
from the same quarter to have spread much through
the Counties of Down and Antrim ; but it is also stated
that it is considered by the greater number as a desperate
enterprize.

" It is certainly true, so far as we can judge from all the
information received from various quarters, that there are
no leaders of any consequence or influence. But though
an insurrection upon that account may be less formidable
and not so ably conducted, that circumstance of itself
is by no means a security against it, and leaders may rise
up from the lowest class under whose guidance much
mischief may be effected. I wish, therefore, to suggest
to your consideration that great inconveniences may
arise from the want of a power being vested in Govern-
ment to take up suspected persons. I am aware of the
general objection to any supervision, however partial, of
the Habeas Corpus Act, and that it is desirable to avoid
it if possible for any part of the United Kingdom,' if it
can be done with safety ; but on the other hand it 'may
be urged that it is better to prevent mischief by detaining
those who are preparing for insurrection, than^toHrust
it to their subsequent detection and punishment, and it

282 THE INSURRECTION

can hardly be expected that disaffection should have
entirely ceased in this country, or that the enemy should
not use every means to revive and increase it."

In consequence of the Patrick Street explosion Emmet
decided to make the Marshalsea Lane depot his habita-
tion, in order that he might personally supervise the
further progress of operations. He also decided to
hasten the day of the insurrection, and accordingly ap-
pointed the evening of the following Saturday, July 23.
Saturday was market-day in Dublin, when it was the
custom for crowds of the surrounding agricultural popu-
lation to come in to sell their produce ; and, besides, the
streets on that evening were usually thronged with artisans
and labourers, so that the assembly of the rebels at various
points of the city, for the simultaneous attack on the
Castle and the military barracks, was likely to pass un-
noticed. Therefore, on Friday, July 22, Emmet sent
commands to his confederates in Dublin, Kildare, and
Wicklow, to be ready with their men at allotted posts
within the city at nine o'clock on Saturday evening,
when arms would be distributed to them and instruc-
tions issued as to their respective operations in the
capture of Dublin.

What passed in the depot meanwhile is thus graphi-
cally described in the Chief Secretary's narrative :

" Until a week before the Insurrection not more than
a dozen persons on the whole were admitted to the Depot,
and no more than seven or eight were there at any one
time. These persons, though chiefly of an humble class
in life, were entirely confidential, and of known attach-
ment to the cause. They brought in from time to time,
in small bundles or baskets, or under their great-coats,
pikeheads, pistols, blunderbusses, and ammunition.
Boards were brought there of a length and thickness
to be cut into pike handles, and a few beams which were
afterwards hollowed in different ways — some to contain
pikes, some to be charged with combustibles and laid
in the streets to impede or destroy the military. The
lease of the depot having been taken by a working car-
penter, Henry Howley, for the express purpose of

LIFE IN THE MARSHALSEA LANE DEPOT 283

making it his workhouse, no danger was apprehended
from bringing the beams or boards in the most pubHc
manner, or from the noise of the tools used in manufactur-
ing them, more especially as any work that could excite
suspicion was done on one of the lofts, to which the only
access was by a ladder and a small hole in the floor,

" As the quantity of pikes increased, these securities
being considered insufficient, a partition of brick and
mortar was built from the ground floor through all the
lofts to the top of the building. This partition stood
parallel to one of the walls at the distance of about six
feet. On each loft a door was made in it of a very peculiar
kind. It was small, and consisted of a frame of timber,
in which bricks were laid in mortar. When shut it
seemed to be part of the wall, so that no door appeared,
and any person coming in might suppose the partition
to be one of the walls of the building. Behind this
partition the pikes when finished were deposited.

" At one time the landlord desired to see the premises,
which alarmed Quigley and his party not a little ; but
having contrived to postpone him till the next day, and
having in the meantime sent to Emmet for directions,
they by his desire placed a trap door, with a lock and key,
on the hole leading to the lofts, and resolved to say that
the upper part had been let to a country man for corn
stores. The landlord having no particular suspicion did
not return.

" At one time two deserters were brought secretly,
with their muskets, into the Depot, which they did not
afterwards leave until the night of the Insurrection.
During that time they were employed chiefly in making
cartridges. At another time one of the Depot men
brought in two muskets carefully concealed. These four
muskets, so brought in, were the only arms of that kind
they had. There were but twelve blunderbusses in the
Depot until the day of the Insurrection, when six more
were brought in. There were not at any time more than
3,000 pikes, twelve cases of pistols, and there was no
sword but Mr. Emmet's. A rich General's uniform was
prepared for Emmet ; and a few other uniforms for the
Colonels, laced also but not so richly, and several without
lace for persons of inferior class. They were all green
faced with white ; the cloth for all was got at the shop of
Allen & Hickson." jt » ^t

284 THE INSURRECTION

About eleven o'clock on Saturday morning, July 23,
ten of the leaders of the disaffected in Kildare arrived
in Dublin. " They are all known to the Government,"
says Chief Secretary Wickham in his report, written in
December, " and most of them are now in custody."
Emmet met them at the White Bull Inn, Thomas Street,
from which there was a back passage to the depot in
Marshalsea Lane. The Kildare men were all substantial
farmers. Their natural impulsiveness and irresponsi-
bility as Irishmen were somewhat toned down by the
phlegm and caution which Mother Earth imparts to
those in close relations with her. They had heard of
Emmet, of course, but they had never seen him before,
and these veterans, many of them, were not impressed
by the youth of the revolutionary chief. The rumour
had gone abroad that the Dublin leaders of the con-
spiracy had refused to act. The countrymen accord-
ingly insisted upon being introduced to their city con-
federates. They were not going to trust their lives and
liberties, they said, to a raw, enthusiastic boy. But
Emmet peremptorily refused to produce them ; first,
because it was only too true that the Dublin leaders —
mainly shopkeepers — had proved unreliable ; and,
secondly, and mainly, because, as things were now ap-
pearing desperate, he chivalrously desired to hide as
far as possible the identity of the men implicated in
the plot.

The Kildare farmers then demanded to be shown the
depot of arms. To this Emmet agreed. He conducted two
of the band to the neighbouring arsenal in Marshalsea
Lane. He pointed out to them the piles of pikes — sharp
and deadly weapons they had proved to be in the hands
of the infuriated peasantry during the Rebellion of 1798 —
their hafts hinged in the centre, so that they might be
doubled up and secretly carried beneath a great-coat.
He showed them also an immense store of musket ball-
cartridges. So far so good. But in the way of fire-
arms there were only eighteen blunderbusses and four
muskets, which had been brought in by two army

THE KILDARE CONSPIRATORS 285

deserters. The only sword in the place was one that
Emmet had procured for himself. Some extraordinarily
primitive weapons were exhibited. There were 104 quart
bottles filled with gunpowder, fitted with fuses and
quilted round with musket bullets, to do duty as hand
grenades. There were eight logs of deal, 10 feet long
and I foot square, bored in the centre, charged with
gunpowder and stones, to supply the place of cannon.
Emmet also showed the Kildare farmers 1,000 rudely-
printed copies of the address of " The Provisional Govern-
ment to the People of Ireland," which the youth himself
had composed. It was a flamboyant production. But
it emphatically declared that during the revolution life
and property were to be held sacred. The first of the
thirty decrees it promulgated was that tithes for the
support of the clergy of the Established Church were for
ever abolished, and that Church lands were the property
of the nation. Finally, Emmet, with boyish pride, dis-
played the gorgeous uniform which he was to wear that
evening as Commander-in-Chief of the Forces of the Irish
Republic.

But these unimaginative, unromantic tillers of the
soil scoffed at the boy's arsenal and his proclamations,
and even at his magnificent dress. " Be the wars," they
reported to their comrades in the White Bull Inn, " they
wor made a nice game of be the youngster ! They wor
to attack the Artillery barracks, nothin' else, with a few
ould blunderbusses ! Oh, the divil was in it, intirely !
It was to put the rope round the necks of dacent men the
boy wanted ! As they v/orn't fools, they would have no
hand, act, or part in the business!" "The whole of
them returned to their homes," writes Chief Secretary
Wickham, " sending back their followers whom they
met on the road."

* * *

What were the Irish Executive doing on that fateful
Saturday, July 23, 1803 ? It is clear that the danger
they feared was not an insurrection, but a French in-

286 THE INSURRECTION

vasion. On July 12 General Fox, Commander of the
Forces, set out on a tour of inspection in the West, to
see that the military were prepared for a probable repe-
tition of the French descent on the coast of Mayo under
General Hambert in 1799. Two days later occurred the
explosion at Emmet's depot in Patrick Street. The
Lord Lieutenant sent a hurried despatch to General Fox,
informing him of the incident, and urging the necessity
of precaution and watchfulness on the part of the military
forces in Dublin. This letter miscarried in some way,
and never reached the Commander of the Forces. Late
on the night of July 22 General Fox returned to Dublin.
Next day, Saturday, July 23, at two o'clock, he called
by arrangement on the Viceroy at the Viceregal Lodge,
Phoenix Park, for a consultation on the state of the
country. Hardly had they sat down to discuss matters
when the Viceroy received the following disquieting
note from Marsden, the Under-Secretary, written in
Dublin Castle at two o'clock :

" My Lord,

" On coming to town I find a considerable degree
of alarm in the apprehension of a rising this night or to-
morrow morning in Dublin. I have reason to think that
something serious is intended. I wish your Excellency
would come to town with General Fox in your carriage,
which I would not request upon any light grounds."

The Lord Lieutenant and the Commander of the Forces
set out immediately for Dublin Castle. Marsden told
them that a person in the secrets of the disaffected had
informed him there was to be an outbreak that night,
though he was unable to give any particulars of the nature
of the plot ; that Mr, Aldennan Manners had reported
that a priest told him that morning " that a person
whom he would not name had communicated to him
intelligence of an intended rising," and that several
people had informed him that considerable numbers of
men were observed, in the course of the morning, coming
into town, particularly from Kildare. This was the

THE FIRST NEWS OF THE CONSPIRACY 287

sum total of the knowledge possessed by the Executive
of the insurrection a few hours before its explosion.

All were agreed that there was not the remotest pos-
sibility of a rising attaining to any degree of success in
the metropolis, with its garrison of 3,000 men — infantry,
cavalry, and artillery. The idea of an attack upon the
Castle was considered especially ridiculous. It not only
had its own strong guard, but in Parliament Street —
within a stone's-throw of its chief entrance — there was a
barrack with an infantry regiment, while the Royal
Barracks, where the bulk of the garrison was stationed,
was at the other side of the river, within a quarter of an
hour's ride. Disturbances might take place on the out-
skirts of the city, but nothing more serious was appre-
hended. However, General Fox undertook to send
directions to the military in the various barracks and
guard-houses to hold themselves in readiness during the
night to suppress any popular tumult. Marsden also
arranged to stay in the Castle all night, instead of sleep-
ing in the Under-Secretary's lodge in the Phcenix Park.
But it is significant of the complete absence of any in-
formation or any suggestion as to the probable form
the rumoured insurrection would assume, should it come
to a head, and of the ease of mind of the Lord Lieu-
tenant, that his Excellency decided to return to the
Viceregal Lodge — than which, owing to its remoteness
from town, there could hardly have been a more incon-
venient or a more insecure place for the head of the
Government in the event of a rising — and on the way
back, between five and six o'clock, he actually drove in
his carriage through a thoroughfare off which was Mar-
shalsea Lane — the headquarters of the insurgents — with
its stores of powder and ball and pikes.

At nine o'clock half a dozen of the principal officers of
the garrison, including General Sir Charles Asgill, com-
manding in the Dublin district, and Brigadier-General
Dunne, of the Royal Barracks, assembled on the summons
of General Fox at his headquarters, the Royal Hospital,
Kilmainham. They were told by the Commander of the

288 THE INSURRECTION

Forces of the rumour at the Castle that a rising was to
take place that night. " For my part," he added, " I
cannot give much credit to it ; and, indeed, the general
opinion of the civil authorities seems to be that it is
almost impossible such an event could take place in
Dublin." " Well," said Sir Charles Asgill, " I have been
in Ireland during the whole of the late Rebellion, and I
have seen very extraordinary things happen, so that it
is best to be on the alert and prepared for everything."

Accordingly, the officers were dismissed to their posts
with the injunction to keep their men " ready to get
under arms on any alarm, and on no account to be per-
mitted to take off their accoutrements until one hour
after daylight." Sir Charles Asgill was sent by General
Fox to the Castle to inquire whether Marsden had any
fresh information. James Street and Thomas Street lie
in a direct line between the Royal Hospital and the
Castle. As Asgill was riding down James Street he saw
a crowd of men armed with pikes in conflict with a com-
pany of soldiers. His first thought was to go to the aid
of the military, but changing his mind, he decided to
return to the Royal Hospital to inform General Fox
that the insurrection had begun. He was surrounded
by a party of the mob, brandishing their pikes and
shouting, and it was with difficulty that, putting spurs
to his horse, he succeeded in forcing his way through
them. Two of the other officers, riding the same way
to their barracks, had also to fly for their lives.

Just as Asgill got back to the Royal Hospital with his
alarming news a note from the Lord Lieutenant was
delivered to the Commander of the Forces. Written at
ten o'clock, it stated that Lieutenant-Colonel Aylmer, of
the Kildare Militia, had just called at the Viceregal
Lodge to say he had been told that the peasantry of
Maynooth, co. Kildare, were marching on Dublin, and
that they intended to attack the Lodge on their way.
" At the same time that he thought it right to com-
municate the information he received, he admits,"
added the Viceroy, " that he feels a difficulty in giving

THE FATEFUL EVENIxMG 289

credit to it." That Hardwicke shared in Aylmer's in-
creduHty is shown by his surprise at the action of General
Fox in ordering — after he had left the Castle — that the
military guard at the Viceregal Lodge (usually a sergeant
and twelve men) should be increased.

" I have just learned," says his Excellency in a P.S.
to the letter, "that you have given directions for augment-
ing the guard here to an officer and thirty men. I con-
clude from it that you have received some further
information which induces you to think it advisable, and
that, as alarm has been given, that precaution will not
greatly add to it."

The reply of General Fox to the Viceroy, written in
sprawling, shaky characters, is as follows :

" Royal Hospital,
" July 23, 1803. 11 o'clock p.m.

" My dear Lord,

" At the moment I was honoured with your Lord-
ship's letter the firing in James-street commenced, and
I was of course anxious to ascertain the cause of it before
I answered your Excellency. The account given by the
officer commanding the detachment of the 21st Regiment
in James-street is that a body of men with pikes dashed
suddenly upon his party, and that upon his firing upon
them part of them threw down their pikes and the whole
dispersed. One of the privates was severely wounded,
two men made prisoners and fifteen pikes taken.

" It is impossible for one to say or presume to give any
opinion how far it may be advisable for your Excellency's
family to remain in the Park or go to the Castle. If I
was to give any it would be to remain at the Lodge this
night. I have given orders to Colonel Cotton with his
patrole to pay particular attention to all the avenues of
the Park, and have directed your Excellency's Guard to
be augmented to a Captain and 60 men."

* * *

At nine o'clock that fateful evening of July 23, 1803,
the great hour had come for Robert Emmet — the hour
of his rapturous patriotic dreamings ; the hour of a

290 THE INSURRECTION

great national awakening and uprising, when he should
place himself at the head of a thousand determined men,
and set out to seize Dublin Castle in the name of the
Irish Republic. But what a consummation of his hopes
and ambitions, of his months of feverish preparation for
the great revolution ! The Dublin men refusing to rise,
the Kildare farmers gone home in disgust ! But Emmet
was determined that, whoever might be wanting, he, at
least, should see the thing through. He put on his grand
uniform as Commander-in-Chief of the Forces of the
Irish Republic. The coat was green, with heavy golden
epaulets. There was a white waistcoat, and tight panta-
loons of the same colour, and Hessian boots. In the
crimson sash round his waist were a brace of pistols, and
by his side hung a sword. On his head was a beaver
cocked hat with white feathers. His two chief Generals,
Michael Quigley the bricklayer and Nicholas Stafford
the baker, also wore green uniforms, but they paled
before the glory of their young leader's regimentals.
Emmet had all the assurance of youth in its own invinci-
bility, and he readily put it to the touch. Forced by cir-
cumstances to a premature rising, before his elaborate
and well-thought-out plans were ripe for execution, yet
no thought of failure or death seems to have disturbed
him. It was a beautiful summer evening, and in the
soft setting sunshine and the radiant blue skies he saw
not the shadow of the gallows, nor the glint of the execu-
tioner's knife. So, drawing his sword, he sallied forth
from the depot in Marshalsea Lane, with firm step, erect
front, and joyful heart, to certain outlawry and a shame-
ful death !

Following Emmet as he appeared in Thomas Street
from Marshalsea Lane were about a hundred men, twenty
or so provided with blunderbusses, and the others armed
with pikes. There was much shouting and yelling. The
peaceable marketing crowds in that busy thoroughfare,
highly puzzled, asked each other " What's up ?" The
inhabitants crowded the windows and looked down on
the scene with amazement. Soon a panic set in. The

EMMET AT THE HEAD OF THE INSURGENTS 291

shopkeepers, interrupted at their busiest hour, hurried
to put up their shutters, as they cursed the youth in the
green and gold and white uniform — the patriot and
dreamer — who, in setting out to make them free, had
spoiled their evening's takings. Drunken ruffians poured
out of the low inns and, arming themselves with pikes,
joined the insurgents, bent solely on pillage and murder.
Emmet, turning to the left, towards Dublin Castle, drew
up his followers in Francis Street, and had them counted
by Quigley and Stafford. About 300 they numbered,
but not more than 100 were reliable. The youth then
addressed them. He said that, as they were not strong
enough to capture Dublin Castle, he proposed to lead
them to the Wicklow mountains to await a more favour-
ing chance for establishing the Irish Republic. What
was that ? Take them away from Dublin, where there
were Sassenachs to be piked ! And to the desolate,
hungry Wicklow hills ! Did anyone ever hear the like ?
Who was this gossoon who dared say so ? To the devil
they pitched the youngster, and his green and gold uni-
form ! The yelling mob thus hurled their indignation at
the boy. Let him run away, the coward, to the Wicklow
mountains if he liked ! They could get on very well
without him in piking the Sassenachs ! Just then a
dragoon rode up Francis Street, from the direction of
the Castle. He was an orderly, leisurely on his way to
the Royal Hospital, the headquarters of the Commander
of the Forces. Poor fellow ! he was to be the first
victim of the insurrection ! With savage cries, the mob
surrounded him, flung him from his horse, and piked
him as he lay on the ground. Emmet was overwhelmed
with horror by the cruel deed. This was not insurrec-
tion as he had imagined it — with banners flying, drums
beating, bugles blowing, his gallant followers in deadly
grapple with gallant foes ! Collecting ten of his chief
supporters — including Michael Quigley the bricklayer
and Nicholas Stafford the baker — he fled from Francis
Street to his house in Butterfield Lane. They reached
the place just at eleven o'clock. Young Anne Devlin

19 — 2

292 THE INSURRECTION

was there, praying for the success of the rebelHon.
" Who's that ?" she called out, on hearing the noise
in the yard. " It's me, Anne," replied Emmet, coming
into the girl's view. She saw his green and gold and
white uniform. But what a contrast to its gallant
bravery was that face of sorrow beneath the cocked
hat and white feathers ! " Oh, bad welcome to yez !"
cried the girl bitterly in an Irish exclamation. " Is the
world lost by ye, cowards that yez are, to lead the people
to destruction, and then to lave them !" '' Don't
blame me, Anne ; the fault is not mine," was Emmet's

dejected reply.

♦ * *

The mob broke up into several parties after Emmet
had fled, and for two hours held complete possession of
James Street, Thomas Street, and Francis Street, almost
the entire route between Dublin Castle, the seat of civil
government, and the Royal Hospital, the headquarters
of the military. Their principal leader was a soldier
named James Bannan — one of the two deserters who
had been in hiding for days in the depot at Marshalsea
Lane — and in his red coat he was a conspicuous figure
in the turbulent scenes that followed. There was a
barrack in James Street occupied by 150 men of the
2ist Regiment, or the Royal North British Fusiliers.
The senior officer on duty, suspicious of the movements
of the mob in James Street, but without even the re-
motest idea that an insurrection had broken out,
despatched Lieutenant Brady, with a company of the
regiment, to fetch Colonel Brown from his lodgings on
Usher Quay. A body of pikemen rushed suddenly upon
the soldiers as they were marching through James Street.
They soon fled, however, flinging away their weapons,
before the musketry fire of the " red-coats." Mean-
while, Colonel Brown, on the way to the barracks,
accompanied by a servant, fell into the hands of another
party of the rebels, and was piked to death by their
leader, Henry Howley the carpenter.

THE MURDER OF LORD KILWARDEN 293

A private carriage came along Thomas Street, driving
in the direction of the Castle. In it were two gentlemen
and a young lady. It was stopped by the mob. " What
do you want ?" demanded the elder of the gentlemen.
" I am Kilwarden, Chief Justice of the King's Bench."
The judge — one of the most humane dispensers of the
law in a rather brutal age — was immediately pulled out
of the carriage and piked. He resided at Newlands, a
few miles outside the city, and, hearing the rumours of
an insurrection, decided that as a member of the Privy
Council his post was at the Castle. The other gentleman,
the Rev. Richard Wolfe (Kilwarden's nephew), was also
cruelly murdered. The young lady was the judge's
daughter. With the departure of Emmet, the rebeUion
had fallen into the hands of the offscourings of the lowest
quarters of Dublin. But the Irish instinct of respect for
women was alive even in the breasts of this rabble. In
all the horrors of 1798 in Wexford the peasants laid not
a hand immodestly upon any women of their opponents,
while their own wives and daughters and sisters were
being outraged by the miUtary. " Run away with you,
miss, and God save you !" cried the insurgents to Miss
Wolfe — after they had foully murdered her aged father
before her eyes — and the unhappy young lady, dis-
traught and hysterical, hastened unmolested to the
Castle.

Another section of the mob attacked a guard-house,
occupied by a few companies of the 21st Regiment, in
the Coombe, the back lanes of Thomas Street, but were
easily repulsed. There were two or three other murders
within the area of disturbance. But by eleven o'clock
detachments of infantry and cavalry arrived, and stamped
out what remained of the smouldering embers of the
insurrection. About thirty of the rebels were killed.
The Yeomanry were also called out, and passed the
night searching the houses of the district. By morning
the prisons were crammed with suspected persons.

294 THE INSURRECTION

The following hurried despatch from Marsden, Under-
Secretary, to Lord Pelham conveyed the first news of
the insurrection to Whitehall :

" Dublin Castle,
" July 23, 1803, II o'clock p.m.

" My Lord,

" I am much afflicted to be obliged to inform your
Lordship that a very serious degree of Insurrection has
broken out in Dublin, and its vicinity.

" For some days past we had heard that a rising was
talked of, and it was asserted by many that it would take
place. Such precautions were taken as the circumstances
appeared to warrant, but the mischievous disposition
which prevails at present is beyond what was calculated
upon.

" Early this day we heard from the neighbourhood of
the capital, particularly on the Kildare side, that the
country people had forsaken their labour under an idea
of marching to Dublin. The sensation excited by this
in Dublin and in the country increased in that degree
during the day that the mobs in the streets towards
evening assumed a very formidable appearance.

" General Fox and Sir Chas. Asgill concerted measures
with the Lord Lieutenant to make the best disposition
of the forces in the garrison that circumstances would
admit of, and the Yeomanry collected and their services
were made use of.

" As yet order is in no degree restored, and I am dis-
tressed beyond measure to acquaint your Lordship that
I heard Lord Kilwarden has been stopped in his carriage
in Thomas Street, and has been put to death ; and I
believe his son has shared the same fate. A magistrate
of the name of Clarke has also been shot at in the street,
and is badly wounded.

" I write this to your Lordship without being able to
communicate with the Lord Lieutenant, who is in the
Park. I shall send another messenger in the morning to
inform your Lordship of what further occurs in this most
distressing business.

" I do not hear of any other personal injury of con-
sequence but what I have mentioned.

" Your Lordship's very obedient and humble servant,

" A. Marsden.

" Right Hon. Lord Pelham

A CONTRAST IN HUiMAN NATURE 295

" Miss Wolfe was in the carriage with her father and
brother, and she says that both were killed. It may not
be fact ; but the tide will have fallen if I detain the
messenger."*

* * *

The next day, Sunday, July 23, the Lord Lieutenant
received two letters which afford a curious contrast in
human nature. One was from Colonel Napier, Pay-
master of the Forces, to whom we have already been
introduced, f

" Castletown,
" Sunday morning, 8 o'clock.

" My Lord,

" I am sorry to inform your Excellency that my
servant has just come from my house at Celbridge.J
which was attacked by a party of men with arms about
six o'clock. Their number, he tells me, amounted to
about fifty. They demanded his arms, threatening to
shoot him in case of refusal, and they obtained a fowling-
piece and two carbines, with which, they made off towards
Clare or Maynooth. They asked him if there were any
other houses in the neighbourhood where they were likely
to find arms, and told him they wanted nothing else.
One of them, who appeared to be a leader, was dressed in

* From " Ireland, Private and Secret, 1803." — Home Office
Papers.

t Sec Chapter IX, " The Distribution of Honours."
+ The Napiers resided at Celbridge Abbey, co. Kildare, a
house rich in historic and literary memories, associated with
the names of Dean Swift and of Henry Grattan. Celbridge
Abbey was, early in the eighteenth century, the residence of
Bartholomew Van Homrigh, who was Lord Mayor of Dublin in
1698, and the father of Esther Van Homrigh, the " Vanessa " of
Swift's peoms. Dean Swift was for years a frequent guest and
visitor at Celbridge Abbey. And then, some sixty or seventy
years later, Celbridge Abbey was the residence of Colonel Marlay,
the uncle of Henry Grattan. When Grattan's Liberal politics
and patriotic leanings became so displeasing to his father as to
render home-life unpleasant, he frequently retired to Celbridge
Abbey, where he was always received with affection by his uncle,
Colonel Marlay, and another uncle, Dr. Marlay, Dean of St.
Patrick's, and afterwards Protestant Bishop of Waterford, who
sympathized with him in his views of political affairs, which were
repugnant to his father, the Tory Recorder of Dublin. There
is a grotto in the grounds of Celbridge Abbey overlooking the
Liffey which was a frequent resort of Swift and " Vanessa," and,
in a later generation, of Henry Grattan.

296 THE INSURRECTION

a sort of green uniform faced with orange. My servant
being an old Scotch soldier, I can depend upon his in-
telligence, which I would have conveyed to your Excel-
lency in person had I not been convinced that you would
prefer my staying here to take measures for defending
this house, where there are a considerable number of
arms.

" I shall try every means of gaining further informa-
tion on this serious subject, as I am well acquainted with
the topography of the country. Your Excellency will find
me prepared to receive and obey whatever instructions
you may deem it necessary to give me ; and I trust that
any risk which might attend the execution of whatever
you may deem expedient for the King's service, and the
safety of the public, will not make you hesitate a moment
in accepting my services, as I must think my life well
disposed of in a cause where a lenient and impartial
administration of justice has left the disaffected no
excuse for their wild and wicked extravagance.

" I have the honour to remain, my Lord, your Ex-
cellency's obliged and obedient servant,

" Geo. Napier.

" P.S. — I this moment hear that the villains are re-
turning, and are at the border of the wood. If they
come here I hope we shall receive them warmly."

The other letter was from the Rev. Dr. Kearney,
Provost of Trinity College :

" Provost's House,

"Trinity College, Dublin,

" /w^y 24th, 1803.

" My Lord,

" At such a crisis as the present I am ashamed to
intrude on your Excellency with a request.

" I have two sons in Orders for some years, unbeneficed.
I have been an awkward solicitor for their advancement,
and have had no success with the Bishops hitherto,
except in a slight instance for the eldest. The horrid
murders of last night have left a living vacant, held by
my lamented friend, Lord Kilwarden's nephew. Should
your Excellency think proper to confer it on the Reverend
Thomas Henry Kearne}/, I shall feel a great private
obligation added to my unfeign'd and high respect.

THE PROVOST OF TRINITY COLLEGE 297

" I shall only add that my situation is attended with
as great expenses as that of a bishop, and I am utterly
destitute of any patronage.

" I have the honour to be, my Lord, with warm and
perfect esteem, your Excellency's faithful, obedient,
humble servant,

" John Kearney."

CHAPTER III

WAS THE EMMET INSURRECTION A POPISH PLOT ?

On Sunday the Lord Lieutenant sat down in Dublin
Castle to prepare accounts of the insurrection for London.
The following is his official report to Lord Pelham, as
Home Secretary :

" Private.

" Dublin Castle,

" 24th July, 1803.

" My Lord,

" It is with the greatest concern that I am under
the necessity of informing your Lordship that an Insur-
rection of a very serious nature broke out yesterday
evening in the city of Dublin, and tho' it was fortunately
suppressed by the exertion of the officers and troops
composing the garrison, and by the zeal and alacrity with
which every Yeomanry corps came forward in the course
of the night, was attended with some circumstances of
a very atrocious nature, which it is my painful duty to
relate to your Lordship.

" In the course of yesterday morning a report reached
me that an attack was intended on the city of Dublin in
the course of the night, and in consequence of information
to the same effect being communicated to me at a later
hour of the day, I consulted with General Fox as to the best
steps to be taken for the security of the city.

" In the afternoon a general alarm seemed to prevail,
but no act of violence was committed till between 9 and
10 o'clock, when an attack was made upon Lord Kil-
warden's carriage in Thomas Street, between the Royal
Hospital and the Castle, as he was coming to town from

298

THE VICEROY'S OFFICIAL REPORT 299

his house near Rathcoole. The whole of that part of
the street was filled with people, most of whom were
armed with pikes or firearms. A party of them,
upon stopping the carriage, forced Lord Kilwarden
and his nephew, Mr. Richard Wolfe, to get out, and
stabbed them with pikes in presence of his daughter,
who escaped to the Castle almost in a state of insensi-
bihty.

" It is also with great concern that I am obliged to
acquaint your Lordship that Colonel Browne of the 21st
Regiment of Foot was murdered on his way to the barrack
in James's Street and that two men of the i6th Light
Dragoons were killed on passing thro' the street on
duty.

" The only regular attack that was made in any part
of the town was upon the barrack of the 21st Regiment
in James's Street, where, after two discharges of musquetry
from the Guard, the assailants retired, leaving several
pikes, a few prisoners, and one man badly wounded.
Several persons were also killed in Thomas Street, many
of whom could not be ascertained, and are supposed to
have come from the country.

" A considerable number of pikes, several barrels of
gunpowder and a quantity of ammunition were found, in
the course of the night, in a house in the neighbourhood of
Thomas Street, with a great number of proclamations
and handbills recently printed, and which, it was said,
were to have been issued this day.

" In the midst of this unhappy detail, I am happy to
acquaint your Lordship that the mail coaches, both
those of the country and those which arrived in town,
either escaped or resisted the attack which was made upon
them near Dublin. The only one that was attacked was
fired at in the town of Maynooth, but by the intrepidity
of the guards, it effected its passage through the town
without being stopped.

" I have thought it my duty, with the concurrence of
the Chancellor and the Commander of the Forces, to place
upon permanent duty all the Yeomanry Corps of the
city and county of Dublin ; and notwithstanding their
recent formation I can with great truth bear testimony
to the spirit and alacrity with which they have under-
taken the service which they may be required to per-
form."

300 WAS THE INSURRECTION A POPISH PLOT ?

Pelham's reply shows that the King and the Cabinet
were dissatisfied with the meagre information of the in-
surrection contained in the Lord Lieutenant's despatch :

" Stratton Street,
" 28th July, 1803, 10 o'clock p.m.

" I have it in command to inform your Excellency that
his Majesty has been pleased to send a message to both
Houses of Parliament, a copy of which is enclosed ; and
his Majesty's confidential servants have thought it neces-
sary to propose to Parliament for the Suspension of the
Habeas Corpus Act, and a Martial Law Bill similar to
the one which was in force during the late Rebellion in
Ireland. It is hoped that Parliament will be induced to
dispense with the usual forms of proceedings, and that
these Bills may receive the Royal Assent to-morrow.

" His Majesty approves of the measure which your
Excellency has adopted of putting the Volunteers and
Yeomanry Corps upon full pay, and relies upon your
Excellency's vigilance and attention being directed to
every measure of precaution and vigour which the situa-
tion of the country may require.

" Various reports have reached London in private
letters. It is, therefore, important that your Excellency's
dispatches should enter into details, as far as may be
consistent with the exertions you must be called upon
to make at this moment ; and it is to be hoped that in
the progress of the inquiries that your Excellency may
have instituted the origin of this daring and seemingly
unexpected convulsion may be discovered.

" A very important printed paper, entitled ' The Pro-
visional Government to the People of Ireland,' has been
communicated in a private letter, and your Excellency
has said in your letter of the 24th that proclamations
recently printed, and which were to have been issued on
the following day, had been found in the course of the night
of the 23rd ; but as your Excellency did not transmit
any of these proclamations, I wish to be informed whether
any papers of the description I have mentioned were
amongst those alluded to by your Excellency."

The message of the King to Parliament, a copy of
which was enclosed, runs :

THE VICEROY'S CONFIDENTIAL LETTERS 301

" His Majesty feels the deepest regret in acquainting
this House that a treasonable and daring spirit of Insur-
rection has manifested itself in Ireland, which has been
marked by circumstances of peculiar atrocity in the city
of Dublin.

" His Majesty relies with perfect confidence on the
wisdom of his Parliament that such measures will be
forthwith adopted as are best calculated to afford protec-
tion and security to his Majesty's loyal subjects in that
part of the United Kingdom, and to restore and preserve
general tranquillity."

* * *

The Viceroy is more outspoken and interesting in his
unofficial " private and confidential " communications to
his brother, Charles Yorke. Writing on Sunday morning,
July 23, his Excellency says :

" With an increased Guard, which appeared to be very
necessary, I remained with my family at the Park till
this morning, when I came to town at an early hour to
meet the Chancellor, who was escorted by a party of the
Lawyers' Corps from Kilmacud in the course of the
night. By living at the Castle I am more in the way of
intelligence and of business, with less inconvenience to
those with whom I shall have to transact it. We have
this day issued a Proclamation, which gave rise to some
discussion whether Martial Law should not be proclaimed
thro' the country. But as we have no proof of treasonable
Insurrection in any other part of the country, I think it
would have been improper to have suspended the Cir-
cuits, and to have created so great an alarm in England
as such a declaration of general rebellion in Ireland would
necessarily have excited. I was therefore happy that
the Chancellor and myself, supported by Mr. Fitzgerald,
the Attorney - General, and the Archbishop of Dublin,
persuaded the Council to suspend any Proclamation of
greater violence and extent till to-morrow, when we may
expect some information concerning the state of the
country,

" Everything has been quiet this day, and I am likely
to pass the night undisturbed. The rebels have mostly
left the town, and it is said that they will try a battle
at Naas, after which, if they succeed, they will attack

302 WAS THE INSURRECTION A POPISH PLOT ?

Dublin. They do not seem to have been ably com-
manded, and indeed everything shows that this Insur-
rection was the work of a rabble without leaders."

On the 25th the Viceroy writes that there had been no
further disturbance in Dublin.

" It is also a satisfactory circumstance," he adds, " that

the mail coaches from the country arrived in due course

this morning, without having been attacked, and that the

guards report the country through which they had passed

everywhere quiet."

* * *

Meanwhile, it was freely said the Government had been
caught napping. The civil department had no previous
information of the conspiracy ; the military department
was unprepared to cope with the sudden emergency.
Though the scene of the insurrection was within a few
minutes' ride of the Royal Barracks, two hours elapsed
before the garrison was turned out. The gentry, especi-
ally, were extremely indignant. They declared that if
they had their native Parliament adequate measures
would have been taken for their protection.

" It is unfortunate," the Lord Lieutenant admits in
a " private and confidential " letter to Charles Yorke,
on July 26, "that such a conspiracy should have been
formed and brought to such a point without being dis-
covered, and that it should be possible for a secret of
such a nature to be so well kept. Some people find fault
and affect to blame both Marsden and Wickham, for too
great a degree of credulity on the state of the country.
As to Wickham, he has been absent for some time ; but
from what he saw at Limerick he has no great reason to
trust to vague rumour.* Marsden has all the connexions
and correspondents who gave information in the Re-
bellion, and knows them all well." He adds : " I had
some vague information of risings in Belfast and Dublin ;
but it was not of a nature to act upon, and the writer

* In 1 802 reports were received from Limerick of the existence
there of a political conspiracy. The Chief Secretary held an
investigation on the spot, and found that the movement was
agrarian, and directed entirely against landlords and tithe
proctors.

FEELING AGAINST THE IRISH EXECUTIVE 303

desired a sum of money at the same time, which appeared
to explain his motives. In addition to this, the vague
rumours which many people are fond of circulating make
one less disposed to credit those which are real."

In another communication to Charles Yorke the
Viceroy states that Patrick McCabe, a chandler of
Francis Street, who had been arrested, confessed that
he was one of the leaders of the insurrection ; but as-
serted positively that, though he breakfasted on Satur-
day morning, July 23, at a public-house near Island
Bridge with three others for the purpose of concerting
a plan of attack on the artillery barracks of the district,
he was not apprised of the intention of rising on that
day, or informed of the existence of the depot of arms
and ammunition in Marshalsea Lane.

" If this is true it is a curious circumstance," comments
the Viceroy ; " but if such a system of secrecy is observed
amongst those who are to execute a plan of insurrection,
at the same time that it diminishes our chance of pro-
curing good information, it must greatly diminish their
chance of success at any point."

The feeling of indignation against the Irish Executive,
however, continued to swell.

" One cannot wonder at the lo3^al inhabitants and
landlords of Ireland being highly exasperated and
alarmed at the prospect of another rebellion," the Viceroy
writes to his brother on July 29. " They are certainly
rather too impatient for punishment, and would be in-
clined to very violent measures ; but I am sorry they
should draw the comparison between the security they
would have enjoyed at such a moment from the decisive
and early measures of their own Parliament in College
Green, and the danger of their case not being so well
understood by a Parliament sitting in Westminster."

Charles Yorke, writing to the Lord Lieutenant on
August 2, 1803, says :

" I ought not to conceal from you that very insidious
attempts are making in various quarters to make the
world believe that the Irish Government were surprised,

304 WAS THE INSURRECTION A POPISH PLOT ?

that you had no intelHgence or paid no regard to it, and
that no proper miHtary precautions were taken in the
course of Friday and Saturday morning. These repre-
sentations are contained in many private letters, many
of which appear to be written by people who are no
friends to the present Administration, and I guess that
Cooke* and his friends have been sufficiently active in
propagating these stories.

" Another circumstance which has been dwelt upon,
and which I confess gave me considerable uneasiness,
was the total want of any official details as to what really
did pass in the course of the 23rd. I hope, however,
when I go down to Whitehall to-day to find that some
are arrived, for in truth it is very necessary. Hitherto
Government have been able to publish literally nothing to
quiet people's minds, or to set them right. The newspapers,
therefore, with their exaggerated or false private state-
ments, are completely in possession of the publick ear."

In the same " private and confidential " communica-
tion Charles Yorke relates that he has been offered pro-
motion from the War Office to the Home Office — in suc-
cession to Lord Pelham — with a seat in the Cabinet.

" After all, I must own to you," he says, " that I feel
very little inclined, indeed, to this same elevation.
Nothing should induce me to consent to it but the idea
that u'C should be co-operating, and that I might be able
to make the remainder of your Government more easy
and comfortable."

Looked at from any other point of view, he could see
nothing encouraging in the situation. Addington was a
weak Prime Minister, and Pitt, anxious to return to
office, was hostile to the Administration.

" Again," continues Charles Yorke, " with the excep-
tion of Lord Castlereagh, Lord Hawkesbury, and Lord
Hobart, the Cabinet is absolutely detestable ; and I
cannot comprehend how it will be possible for me to
get on with Lord Westmorland, his manners are so
disagreeable and repugnant to my feelings."

* Edward Cooke was Under-Secretary for Ireland under Corn-
wallis, and on the appointment Hardwicke resigned, because he
was not made Chief Secretary.

GEORGE III. AND THE IRISH EXECUTIVE 305

The Lord Lieutenant, replying on August 5, recognises
the force of his brother's objections to entering the
Cabinet as Home Secretary.

" You will certainly find in the present Cabinet," he
says, " some of whom you cannot have a very high
opinion, and with whom you cannot act very cordially,"
He goes on : " On the other hand, you will certainly be
a support to the Administration in the Cabinet, and in
the Home Oflfice you will have an opportunity of being
particularly useful to Ireland ; for the disadvantage of
a weak, inefficient and hostile Secretary of State is greater
than you can conceive, without having been called upon
to consider all the points on which it bears. So long,
therefore, as I remain in my present office, which, at
present, I could not with propriety think of leaving
(unless it should be thought advisable for the public
service), I shall feel a great comfort and support in having
you at the head of the Home Department. But I would
not have you lay too much stress upon that consideration,
so far as it affects me personally, though I assure you
that I feel all the kindness of it."

On August 4 Charles Yorke was able to convey to
the Lord Lieutenant the gratifying intelligence that
Geroge IH. and his Cabinet held the Irish Government
blameless in the matter of the Insurrection.

" Addington desires me to tell you," says Charles
Yorke, " that yesterday in the closet the King said to
him that he was perfectly satisfied that there had been
no remissness whatever on the part of the Irish Govern-
ment, and that he was much displeased at the reports
that had been propagated upon the subject. I am also
desired to mention that the King said this of his own
mind, and without having been led to the subject by
Addington. God bless you !"

In the following letter Charles Yorke conveys to the
Lord Lieutenant the news that he is Home Secretary :

" Private and Confidential.

" Charles Street,
" My dear Lord, " ^"^"""^ '^^^' '^°^-

" I was detained so late at St. James's yesterday
that I did not get home till six o'clock with the Seals,

3o6 WAS THE INSURRECTION A POPISH PLOT ?

which, by-the-bye, Lord Pelham never sent, as had been
settled ; and the King, after wasting some time, was
under the necessity of sending the Duke of Portland to
fetch them. My companions have not contributed much
to my rest last night, assisted by a good deal of feverish
indisposition caused by the extreme heat of the weather,
and the agitation and hurry of the last four or five days.
God send me health and spirits equal to the task, for in
truth I find them very unequal to it in these times ; and
there is nothing that can support me under it than the
idea that I am acting with you and assisted by Pole
Carew.* I certainly said everything that could be said
to Addington to induce him to select somebody else who
was likely to be of more use, but in vain.

" The King was extremely gracious to me as usual,
and spoke very kindly about you. At the same time it
was easy to perceive that some impression had been made
on H.M.'s mind to the disadvantage of some of the sub-
ordinates in the Irish Government, particularly Marsden,
as if he had neglected to collect and furnish proper in-
telligence of the plans of the disaffected. I said what
appeared to be proper to remove these impressions, and
to place circumstances in a just point of view ; and, I
am in hopes, with some effect."

The Lord Lieutenant, in a letter of congratulation to
his brother, says :

" For myself I need not say how material a change
for the better, both on public and private grounds, I
shall feel for your appointment to the Home Depart-
ment ; and whenever you have time to look back into
the despatches both to and from the Office you will see
how little support I received, how meagre the corres-
pondence has been on the part of Lord Pelham, and how
little advantage the public has derived from his services

as Secretary of State."

* * *

An inquiry into the origin of the conspiracy was at
once instituted by the Lord Lieutenant. Was it religious
and Catholic, or political and republican ? That was the
question which agitated the mind of the Viceroy. His

* An Irish official whom Yorke had appointed his principal
private secretary.

SIR RICHARD MUSGRAVE ON THE INSURRECTION 307

Excellency, of course, received many letters on the subject.
Here is an interesting communication from Sir Richard
Musgrave, the Customs official, and the author of a
" History of the RebeUion of 1798 " :

" Custom House,

" July zgth, 1803.

" My Lord,

" I take the liberty of addressing your Excellency
on the following occasion. I have been frequently asked
since last Saturday night whether I had not given infor-
mation to Government of the intended rebellion before
its explosion ; and I uniformly declared, what I now say,
that I had no suspicion of it until I saw Mr. Humphrey
French, a wine merchant in Dame Street, about nine
o'clock on that night, and he informed me that he fell
into the hands of a body of pikemen, near the Canal ;
that they stopped and threatened him, and asked him
his religion, and that he believed they would have mur-
dered him, but that he falsely told them that he was a
Papist. It would have been highly criminal in me to
have withheld any information of that kind, had I been
in possession of it. But that dreadful plot had been
concerted with such deep dissimulation that I had not
the most distant suspicion of it till the eve of its explosion.

" Some Protestant mechanics have informed me that
many of their Popish neighbours exultingly boasted
about ten o'clock on Saturday night that no Protestant
would be left alive in the city of Dublin at one o'clock. I
have been well assured for some months past that great
numbers of the leaders in the late Rebellion of 1798 had
frequently come to Dublin, and had meetings, particu-
larly from Kildare and Wicklow. Roger O'Connor,* who
and whose family were so conspicuous in that dreadful
business, has been recently in town for days together,
and used to meet persons of similar principles at the house
of a man notoriously disaffected.

" I have undoubted authority for saying that the Popish
multitude all over Ireland have not in the smallest degree
changed the sanguinary principles, and the treasonable
opinions, which they manifested in the Rebellion of 1798 ;
and I am convinced that the Popish clergy never will

* Roger O'Connor, a county Cork gentleman, was the father
of Fergus O'Connor, M.P. for Nottingham, the leader of the
Chartists.

20 — 2

3o8 WAS THE INSURRECTION A POPISH PLOT ?

suffer them to abate. The late infernal plot had been in
contemplation many months, and it was known to the
Popish multitude in the Metropolis and in a circuit for
many miles round it, and it did not transpire until it
was on the point of exploding. Such singular secrecy
could not have been maintained so long, unless the Popish
priests had enjoined it under the strongest sanctions of
their religion. I am thoroughly convinced that there is
not a Popish priest in the archdiocese of Dublin that
was not privy to it, and did not promote with the utmost
zeal the dreadful rebellion which was lately intended.
And yet Dr. Troy,* with that dissimulation which was
ever a characteristic of Popery, particularly in all the
Irish rebellions, publishes a pastoral exhortation to pro-
mote loyalty and obedience to the Protestant State !

" The Popish multitude, under pain of eternal damna-
tion, are obliged to disclose to their clergy in their con-
fession boxes the inmost secrets of their hearts. Could,
then, the fabrication of pikes and of various implements
of war, could a manufacture of gunpowder, could large
sums of money to form a military chest be collected
among the people, without the knowledge of the Popish
priests ? Doctor Troy was actively concerned in the year
1792 in the proceedings of the Catholic Committee, or Back-
lane Parliament, even after the Lords Kinmare, Fingall,
and a few loyal Popish gentlemen had been expelled
from it, because they endeavoured to inculcate modera-
tion. He signed all their declarations and protestations,
expressing the warmest loyalty and indicative of the
purest principles of the Christian religion ; and yet,
though a plot was formed at so early a period for the
subversion of the Constitution, and the massacre of the
Protestants, Doctor Troy did not disclose it to Govern-
ment. On the contrary, he was actively employed among
the agitators of 1795, when the Kingdom was convulsed
from one end to the other, and the Metropolis was con-
stantly in eminent danger.

" Soon after the Papists obtained the elective fran-
chise, a concession which has been so fatal to the peace
of Ireland, and to the security of the Empire, Doctor
Troy published a pastoral letter, trusting to enkindle
fanaticism in the multitude, and avowing many of the
most dangerous doctrines of Popery. It was so very

* The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin.

THE EXTERMINxVnON OF PROTESTANTS 309

exceptionable that his own sectaries bought up the whole
impression and destroyed it. However, I procured one
copy.

" The most striking difference between the former
Rebellion and the present is this — a total exclusion of
Protestants. In the conspiracy which preceded the
Rebellion of 1798, the Popish conspirators prevailed on
a few Protestants in Dublin who were republicans to
join with them, and by flattering them they persuaded
them to appear more active and ostensible than any
members of their own religion ; by which they masked
their sanguinary design of exterminating Protestants of
every description, which they manifested universally on
the explosion of the Rebellion,

" The Popish conspirators of that day had two oaths.
One was calculated to inveigh Protestants ; the other,
suited to their own flock, contained an obligation to
murder all Protestants, and on the present occasion they
have adopted exclusively the latter. The new system
was embraced soon after the late Rebellion — I mean of
1798 ; and the above-mentioned oath has been univer-
sally taken by the Popish multitude. A rebel has acknow-
ledged this in an affidavit which I have now before me,
and which was sworn the 6th of June, 1803. It contains
the following words : ' That he was sworn an United
Irishman in the late Rebellion ; and that on or about the
month of September last he was sworn to the new rebel
test oath, according to the system now established by
United Irishmen, to the following effect : to be true to
and assist the French on their landing ; to overturn the
present Constitution, to murder the Protestants of the
country and to possess themselves of their property.'

" But oaths are unnecessary, because the first and
most sacred duty of a priest is to inspire the children
of his communion with a bitter and fanatical hatred of
an heretical State, and of their Protestant fellow-subjects ;
and for this reason the mass of the Irish Papists never
cease to thirst for the blood of Protestants of every de-
scription. The great misfortune is, and has been, that
Englishmen are unacquainted with, and cannot be per-
suaded to believe, that the principles of Irish Papists are
so malignant and deep-rooted ; and therefore they think
and hope that they may be conciliated and made loyal to
the State by being admitted within its pale. But the

3IO WAS THE INSURRECTION A POPISH PLOT ?

fatal concessions granted to them in the present Reign
prove beyond a doubt that this will be a sisyphean
attempt. Nothing can palliate the conduct of the British
Cabinet towards this kingdom for forty years but their
radical ignorance of what I have stated. I have given a
short sketch of this in my History, page 41.

" I shall conclude with congratulating your Excellency
on the narrow escape which the Government and the
loyal subjects have had, and of assuring you that I believe
the desperate design of the Irish Papists is for the present
completely defeated.

" I have the honour to be with the utmost respect,
your Excellency's most obedient humble servant,

" RiCHD. MUSGRAVE.*"

The very next day, July 30, Musgrave, writing again
from the Custom House, the scene of his official duties,
sent the following letter to Dr. Lindsay, the Lord Lieu-
tenant's private secretary :

" Dear Sir,

" I beg leave to communicate to you for his Ex-
cellency's information that Father Neil, parish priest of
Ballymacoda, near Youghall, in the county of Cork, was
transported to Botany Bay, for having given absolution

* " Sir Richard was literally insane on all political subjects,
his imagination being occupied night and day with nothing but
Papists, Jesuits, and rebels. Once in the dead of the night his
lady was awakened by a sense of positive suffocation, and, rousing
herself, found that Sir Richard was in the very act of strangling
her ! He had grasped her by the throat with all his might, and,
muttering heavy imprecations, had nearly succeeded in his
diabolical attempt. She struggled, and at length extricated
herself from his grasp, upon which he roared out, making a fresh
effort : ' You infernal Papist rebel ! You United Irishman !
I'll never part with you alive if you don't come quietly !' In fact,
this crazy Orangeman had in his dream fancied that he was
contesting with a rebel whom he had better choke than suffer to
escape, and poor Lady Musgrave was nearly sacrificed to his
excess of loyalty. In her robe de chamhre and slippers she con-
trived to get out of the house, and never more ventured to return,
as she now clearly perceived that even her personal safety could
not be calculated on in her husband's society " (Barrington :
" Personal Recollections of his Own Times.") Musgrave allowed
his wife £700 a year for her separate maintenance ; but in the
Hardwicke Correspondence there""" are several letters from her
brother to the Lord Lieutenant complaining that the allowance
was not paid regularly.

THE POWER OF THE PRIESTS 311

for murder in 1798. See appendix xi., page 47 of my
History. He returned lately, and he is now disseminat-
ing treason and sedition in the vicinity of Cloyne, in the
county of Cork. He usually mounts a hayrick, when
with his arms expanded and his eyes turned to heaven,
he is surrounded by many thousand fanatics, in whom
the sight of him kindles such a degree of false zeal that
I am persuaded he could induce them to commit any
atrocity, or to face any danger, how great soever. They
appear before him sighing, groaning, crying, and beating
their breasts.

" About nine o'clock on Saturday night the 23rd inst.,
a relation of mine, passing over the lower ferry, saw a fire
on the mountains to the south of Dublin ; and having
asked what it meant, a fellow, half-drunk, said ' there is
to be a Rising in Dublin this night.' It is a positive fact
that heaps of turf were piled on many mountains to the
south and west of Dublin ; and there were persons ready
to set fire to them had the insurgents succeeded in getting
possession of the Metropolis. In a few days I shall learn
how far they extended.

" Though the Irish Protestants have been in a woeful
state of persecution, as long as I can remember, the
Papists have succeeded in representing them as their
persecutors. It is astonishing what a number of writers
and missionaries they have employed in England for that
purpose. Government have been so far imposed on by
them that they have given pensions to some of the most
dangerous incendiaries whose names I can mention.
One of these was Father Hussey, whom Mr. Plowden,
a great blockhead and a bigot, praises in a most extra-
ordinary manner in his voluminous and stupid work on
Ireland, which I have bought for the purpose of answer-
ing it.

" Nothing endears the Popish priests to their flock so
much as their punishment for crimes, how heinous so-
ever, under a Protestant State. Miracles are supposed
to be wrought by the clay of Father Sheehy's tomb, near
Clonmel. When at Lord Lismore's I have seen numbers
of the Popish multitude round it on their knees. Neil is
regarded at present as a saint. Thus the blood of Father
Gurnet, the Jesuit, received on a cloth, was supposed in
Elizabeth's reign to work miracles in England and even
in Spain. See in my History an account of that glorious

312 WAS THE INSURRECTION A POPISH PLOT ?

martyr, Father Nicholas Sheehy, page 33 of the text, and
page 3 of the appendix. I remember all the enormities
perpetrated by him, as described by me. It was said,
and believed by the besotted multitude, that all the jury
who convicted him died untimely and unnatural deaths ;
but I extracted their names from the Crown Office, and
inserted them in the 3rd edition of my History, and
proved that they all died in their beds.*

" On Saturday night the Attorney's corps rallied at
the Castle, and mustered strong. On seeing them drawn
up in the Castle yard I said to myself, if these men were
Papists, instead of depending on their loyalty to defend
the Government we must have had persons to watch
them."

Musgrave adds :

*' I have been so much overcome with watching and
fatigue, that I have scarcely strength or sight to guide
my pen, which I hope will plead my excuse for the incor-
rect manner in which this is written."

Two days later, on August i, 1803, he sent another long
and very extraordinary letter to Dr Lindsay, from which
I give an extract :

" On Thursday, the 21st of July, Doctor Troy and his
brother dined at the house of one Reilly, a mean huckster
at Lucan, in company with the titular Bishop of Kilkenny,
two priests of the name of Ryan and Dunn, and Bernard
Coyle, a noted rebel, who had been imprisoned, but was

* Rev. Nicholas Sheehy, parish priest of Clogheen, co. Tipperary,
v/as beUeved by the Government to be the organizer of a band of
Whiteboys, who perpetrated many outrages in his parish. In
1764 an informer named Bridge disappeared, and although his
body was never discovered, it was concluded that he had been
murdered. Father Sheehy was evading arrest on the charge of
high treason, but surrendered on the condition that he would be
tried in Dublin and not in Clonmel. The trial did take place in
Dublin in 1765, and the prisoner was acquitted. He was im-
mediately arrested for complicity in the murder of Bridge, was
brought to Clonmel, despite the engagement of the Government,
was tried there with his brother Edmund, with the result that
both were convicted and hanged on March 15, 1766. His grave
near Clonmel is still an object of pilgrimage to the peasantry.

ARCHBISHOP TROY 313

liberated without being tried by Lord Cornwallis. This
was the man who fought Mr. Ogle.*

" It was considered as a singular and suspicious cir-
cumstance that Doctor Troy should dine in the house of
so low a person, where the accommodation was so bad,
as there was a good inn and a hotel at Lucan. The
titular Bishop of Kilkenny is a suspected person, and
there was a serious alarm that a rising would take place
in that city. These two priests reside at Lucan, and I
believe were concerned in conducting Lord Edward Fitz-
Gerald to Dublin, for which one of them got a very good
living from Doctor Troy. Lord Edward FitzGerald
approached Dublin to head the Rising here through
Lucan and Leixlip, in the guise of a pig-driver. These
two priests assisted him in his progress, and one of them
had him at his house. Coyle recently became a bank-
rupt, and would therefore be glad of a scramble.

" Immense numbers of the Popish multitude came to
Dublin from Lucan and Leixlip and their vicinities on
Saturday the 23rd inst. In short, all the chapels on
Sunday the 24th were deserted. I desired the person
who communicated this circumstance to me to let me
know what appearance they made yesterday, and this
morning he writes to me that they were very much
crowded yesterday.

" Last Saturday an English lady went into a shop in
Sackville Street to buy some articles. She said that she
and a few friends had come to make the tour of Ireland,
but that the disturbed state of the country deterred them
from doing so. A Popish priest who happened to enter
the shop said : ' The disturbances are occasioned by the
Protestants, who will never stop till they wade in the
blood of Roman Catholicks.' This incident was related
to me by two persons who were present. The Popish
priests never cease to instil such notions into their flock,

* George Ogle was a celebrated member of the Irish Parlia-
ment, a man of fashion, and a song- writer. His best -known com-
positions are " Banna's Banks " and " Molly Asthore." Although
a Whig and a follower of Henry Grattan, he was opposed to
Catholic emancipation. He was challenged to a duel by Barney
Coyle, a whisky distiller and member of the Catholic Board, in
1778, for having in the Irish House of Commons said that "a
Papist could swallow a false oath as easily as a poached egg."
Several shots were exchanged, but neither party was hit. Ogle
afterwards declared that he had been misreported, that the
remark referred to " rebels," and not to " Papists."

314 WAS THE INSURRECTION A POPISH PLOT ?

but they might be contented by the hberahty, the bene-
volence, and humanity of the Protestants, whom they
denominated Orangemen, ever since the union of the
Protestants under that name for the defence of the Con-
stitution.

" To counteract such abominable opinions, I used to
associate much with Roman Catholics in my country,
and I prevailed on a priest to dine and sleep often at my
house. But in the year 1795, when the conspiracy which
preceded the Rebellion of 1798 had made a great progress,
he deserted me altogether. I asked him the reason of it,
and he told me as a secret, after having drunk a large
quantity of port wine, that his Bishop desired him not to
associate with Protestants."

* * *

The most prominent Catholic in Dublin associated
with the movement for Catholic emancipation was John
Keogh, a wealthy woollen merchant. He had publicly
repudiated the Rebellion of 1798, and he was now a very
old man. In these circumstances it was most unlikely
that he would have associated himself with young
Emmet's rash and hopeless enterprise. But he fell
under the suspicion of the Executive, and accordingly
his house was visited by the Yeomanry and his papers
seized. The result is thus reported by the Lord Lieu-
tenant to Charles Yorke, under date July 30, 1803 :

" Marsden had much conversation with a man of the
name of Keogh, a wealthy R.C. merchant of this City.
His house was searched yesterday in common with almost
every other in the town for arms, and his papers were
also seized. He complained of this mark of distinction,
which was owing to his having been connected with the
last Rebellion with Emmet and others, but admitted that
the Yeomen treated him with civility. The papers con-
sisted of nothing but a correspondence with his three
sons, one of whom is settled at Fribourg, another in
Holland, and a third in Liverpool. He spoke very fully
and with apparent openness to Marsden, declaring his
positive belief that the Roman Catholics as a body had
no knowledge or concern in the conspiracy, and admitting
that in the general confusion and struggle all those who

LORD SLIGO ON THE SITUATION 315

possessed any property must of course sacrifice it with
that of the Protestant gentlemen, drawing from thence
an argument against the probabihty of their being so
imphcated. He did not consider the plot as formidable,
and considers it as having been very unskilfully
managed."

* * *

As to the attitude of the Catholic population in the
West of Ireland, the Marquis of Sligo sent the following
report in reply to a communication from Under-Secretary
Marsden :

" Westport House,

" August ist, 1803.

" The late occurrence furnished us too fair an oppor-
tunity to leave us in the smallest doubt with respect to
the publick mind of Ireland. Intended by the disaffected
to feel the general pulse, by a small share of observation
we could also avail ourselves of it. If the knowledge
obtained produces attention to our wants, it may have
been sent by Providence for our safety, and may rescue
the Empire from destruction.

" All appears around us tranquil. The publick mind
alone seems alive to our danger, and one ignorant of all
but appearances would wonder from whence came such
cause for apprehension. The unequivocal result of my
observations is that in the event of a serious French in-
vasion of Ireland the lower order of Catholicks would join
the French, and that those possessing property of that
persuasion will for a considerable time stand neuter,
privately wishing it well, and ultimately joining to
overturn the Establishment. All now is industry, and
none seem anxious for disturbance. But my eyes are
opened beyond being deceived. The priests in whom
I confide agree in that opinion. They knew it before.
I have only become acquainted with it from what has
recently happened. The priests now are doing their
duty. They have thundered curses against all who
disturb the publick peace, or profess rebellious principles.
But I have found out that but one chapel of this province
had returned thanks for the Peace, and the priest who
there officiated has been turned out of his parish by Dr.
Dillon, titular Archbishop of Tuam, and one of the most
daring and dangerous villains of his cloth.

3i6 WAS THE INSURRECTION A POPISH PLOT ?

" What alarms me most is that England is not enough
aware of our situation, nor of what she has to expect
herself from an invasion from this side, formed from the
mass of the people of this country, as brave and more
warlike and more disciplined than the people of England.
Be assured this will be and must be the mode they will
adopt for attacking Great Britain, and if ever she is
subdued, it will be from Ireland. The French have only
to land the men here ; they will be supplied with every-
thing. Driving the coast is impracticable. Who could
it be done by ? The Papists won't do it, and the only
chance of the Protestants is by standing together to
save and defend themselves. The mountains add to
the difficulty of starving an enemy in Ireland. If I
want my own sheep from hence, ten men would scarce
collect them in a week. How can provisions be de-
stroyed ? It would take a good army to dig a moderate
potato-field, and when dug potatoes could not be easily
rendered useless. Neither fire nor water would do them
much injury,

" There did not appear to me to be any expectation
here at all of the riot in Dublin ; and if there was concert
among the disaffected I believe on that occasion those
of these parts were in perfect ignorance. An emissary,
the morning after the news, came here from Galway
spreading reports of a meeting among the troops at
Athlone and other alarms. He very narrowly escaped
my hands. The same day, the rebel chiefs from Conne-
mara crossed the Killery harbour (between Galway and
Mayo) and came armed into the mountains of Mayo,
which they had not ventured on for the last three years.
They were not joined by followers, and shall be out of
Mayo or in the jail of it before to-morrow night.

" But it is a shame that outlaws, murderers and traitors
should be allowed to remain openly everywhere in the
King's dominions unmolested. I understand Father
Miles Prendergast has been sent by a subscription from
the Bishops and priests to Rome ; but John Gibbons,
junr., and Valentine Jordan, and two or three others
whose names I could not spell or write, being Irish, still
live openly in Connemara, and thus they could and should
be driven from it.

" Col. Martin and Mr. Geoghegan are those who have
most influence in those parts. Both of those gentlemen,

CURIOUS STORY OF THE LIMERICK MILITIA 317

I believe, have Yeomen corps paid by the Crown. Was
it intimated to their leaders that their corps should be
put down if those outlaws were not secured or driven out
of the district within a week ? I have no doubt of the event.
And is it right the King's pay should be continued to
three or four hundred men, not capable of driving from
their skirts half a dozen proclaimed outlaws and rebels ?
I beg not to be understood as speaking disrespectfully
of anyone. Mr. Geoghegan I have known for many
years, and I know him to be a worthy man. But delicacy
to anyone is out of the question when the general good
is endangered by it. These chiefs have not been joined
by any followers. They will shoot three or four loyalists
probably, and then go to their home again."

Davis Browne, M.P., brother to the Marquis of Sligo,
writing to the Lord Lieutenant from Mount Browne,
CO. Mayo, under date August 13, 1803, says :

" I am happy to be now able to assure your Excellency,
from sources of observation and information that cannot,
I think, be mistaken, that this populous and extensive
county is entirely free from all conspiracy, or concert
of mischief, and that the great body of the people
anxiously wish for peace."

He then goes on to tell a most curious story :

" I have felt so happy in having it in my power to give
your Excellency these assurances of the state of this part
of the kingdom, and at the prospect I think we have of
security to all dear to us, that I had almost forgot the
object of troubling you at present. It is to inform your
Excellency that a most wicked attempt was lately made
by some soldiers of the County of Limerick Militia,
quartered at Ballinrobe, to disturb our tranquility.

" An account came to our Assizes at Castlebar that a
conspiracy had been discovered in the neighbourhood
of Ballinrobe to burn the barracks, massacre the officers
and loyal inhabitants ; that the rebels met in great force
near that town, headed by a gentleman of the neighbour-
hood ; that in consequence the Regiment had been out
several nights and had taken up a number of people. This
occasioned at Castlebar and through the county the most
serious alarm, women and children preparing to leave,
and great confusion every way was occasioned by it.

3i8 WAS THE INSURRECTION A POPISH PLOT ?

" I felt it my duty to repair directly to Ballinrobe,
where, with other magistrates of the district, we inquired
into this alarming business. There were fifteen persons
in custody all charged with high treason. It appeared
to be entirely void of any sort of foundation. The wit-
nesses on whose depositions these proceedings had been
taken, on close examination, acknowledged that they
had fabricated the whole story for the hope of obtaining
rewards from Government. To a mind moral and
correct as your Excellency's it is unnecessary to dwell on
the depravity of those wretches ; but the publick danger
from such is of great consequence. If such charges are
believed and acted on, it leads the people to look to a
foreign enemy for relief from oppression, and the Govern-
ment as hostile to them. Such in every way misleads, for
if from the frequency of false alarms we are led to doubt
every information that is offered, real danger may arise,
be overlooked, and be destructive.

" Your Excellency will determine what should be done
in this business, and I shall feel confidently that you
will decide wisely ; but I am of opinion that a striking
example should be made of those false witnesses ; that
they should be tried by a martial court, and punished as
it shall direct."

On the other hand, I find in the handwriting of Lord
Hardwicke the following account, marked " Secret and
Confidential," of an interview the Bishop of Elphin had
with him at the Castle as to the disposition of the Catholics
in the West of Ireland :

" The Bishop of Elphin, who is one of the most shrewd
and intelligent men in Ireland, makes a very unpleasant
report of the present temper and views of the Roman
Catholicks in the province of Connaught. When he first
knew the country the disposition of the Roman Catholicks
was favourable to monarchical government. The people
were generally loyal and orderly, and if a sheep were
stolen from a gentleman's demesne the priests were active
in discovering the thief. At present they are entirely
changed. Their disposition is republican, and their
object to get possession of the country and to effect a
separation from England. The Bishop asserts that he
has had communications to this effect from more than one
priest in the County of Roscommon, to whom he has

THE BISHOP OF ELPHIN ON THE CATHOLICS 319

had opportunities of shewing acts of kindness. The
tenor of these communications has been that no credit
is to be given to any pretended exhortations to loyalty
delivered in the Roman Catholick chapels; that they
are intended as a blind ; and that as soon as a French
army of sufficient force to maintain themselves in the
country shall effect a landing the people will universally
rise.

" The Bishop has the worst opinion of the disposition
of the Irish. He thinks that no dependence is to be
placed in their professions or in their present appear-
ances ; that they will act the fox as long as it is necessary,
and that whenever an opportunity offers the tiger will
break loose. In answer to a question I put to him whether
he was of opinion that the stipend which had been pro-
posed for the Popish priests would so far connect them
with the State as to answer the object, and induce them
to preach different doctrines, he replied that the Popish
clergy would not at the present moment accept of any
stipend from the Government, as they conceive it would
diminish their popularity with the people.

" I asked the Bishop of Elphin whether he did not
consider the lower Irish as labouring under a grievance
from the total want of any legal provision for the poor
who are disabled from work either by age or sickness ; and
whether this might not operate to increase the discon-
tent. He replied that he did not believe that had much
effect ; and in answering this question he made an
observation which, after what he had before said of them,
is entirely creditable to the Irish character, that the lower
orders of people were very kind to their families and
relations.

" I asked him what he considered to be the disposition
of the Roman Catholick gentlemen of property. He
said that some of those who were advanced in life were
loyal and well disposed, but that their sons were to a
certain degree more or less tainted with republican prin-
ciples. That from the conduct of the three first Dukes
in Europe it was impossible to argue that men would be
deterred by personal interests from following the dictates
of folly and passion. The conduct of the Duke of Orleans
in France, the Duke of Leinster in Ireland, and the Duke
of Norfolk in England, proved the fallacy of such reason-
ing. The latter, he understood, was to have the Garter,
which, certainly, is better than a halter.

320 WAS THE INSURRECTION A POPISH PLOT ?

" The Bishop said he was very sorry to make such a
report (which he did in great confidence), but he firmly
believes it to be true, and that there is no remedy but a
strong force."

Lord Redesdale, the Lord Chancellor, was also con-
vinced that the Emmet insurrection was intended to be
a religious war for the extirpation of the Protestants.
He seems to have written to that effect to Lord Carleton,
at this time, for he sends to the Viceroy the answer he
received from that judge, as follows :

" I am truly thankful for your having given me the
gratification of receiving your last letter. Until now I
had not received any hint that the Roman Catholicks
had, as such, taken any distinguished part in the Re-
bellion, except by one letter which stated to me some
of the leading ideas of an oath of association which was
said to have been administered in some parts of Ireland,
and which were evidently Roman Catholick. But it
having been surmised that the oath was fabricated by
the Orangemen in order to discredit the Roman Catho-
licks, I know not how far its authenticity could be relied
on to furnish any well-founded inference. However,
you have had such ample opportunity of investigating
the subject, and must be possessed of so extensive a
fund of intelligence relating to it, that I have no scruple
in giving my full assent to what you have stated ; and I
do so the more readily because your statement corre-
sponds with what appeared to me to have probably been
the case.

" The bigotry of Mr. Burke (who nearly thirty years
ago began to stimulate the Roman Catholicks to demand
the repeal of the Popery Laws in Ireland), the lax
political and religious principles of Lord Melville, and
the reluctance of the British Cabinet on some former
occasions to submit to the trouble of thinking on the
state of Ireland, and of fairly investigating the conse-
quences likely to result from giving way to the demands
of the Roman Catholicks, have led to that part of the
difficulty of the present day which arises from the con-
duct and requisition of that body of men. I have long
been most fully convinced that the restitution of the
forfeited estates, the downfall of the Protestant religion,

PITT'S ENGAGEMENTS TO THE CATHOLICS 321

and the substitution of the Popish religion in its place,
were the objects to which the Roman Catholicks directed
their steady attention. The equivocal expression of
' Catholic Emancipation ' was used only to veil their
real designs, and now even that disguise seems to have
been laid aside, and their real objects to be avowed in a
tone of threat and denunciation, calling on the people of
the United Kingdom to determine whether they will
relinquish the established religion of the State.

" A paper which was circulated on the resignation of
Mr. Pitt and others of the Cabinet, intimating that ' the
retiring Ministers were pledged to the Catholicks not to
accept of office again, except on the terms of everything
being ceded to that body of men,' has, I believe, greatly
contributed to accelerate the extension and ripening of
the mischief. It was said to have been sanctioned by
Lord Cornwallis and Lord Castlereagh. Its tendency
was highly mischievous, and its allegation of ' a pledge
having been given to the Catholicks,' if referred to an}^-
thing supposed to have passed whilst the Union de-
pended, was, I believe, absolutely untrue. Those two
Lords knew they were not authorized to enter into such
a stipulation. The Papists' influence on the subject of
the Union had not the weight of a feather, nor could
have called for such a compact, which could not have
been entered into without committing a gross breach of
faith with the Protestants, the real supporters of the Union.

" Lord Cornwallis, certainly, wished to have ceded
everything to the Catholicks, but he was aware that he
was not at liberty to carry his wishes into execution ;
and Lord Castlereagh wished to keep the question com-
pletely open, until his loss of office touched his resent-
ment, took from the natural coldness of his disposition,
for a moment suspended his discretion, and induced him
to give his sanction to a pledge, the futility of which his
acceptance of office has demonstrated. However, the
evil of the present day has been, I think, greatly enhanced
by that injudicious publication ; and the difficulties
which Ireland has to struggle with receive great increase
from the present conduct of the Catholicks, who now,
for the first time, publicly avow their real object, and
at the same time point out by the extent of their claims
the impossibility of their being ceded to them."^

322 WAS THE INSURRECTION A POPISH PLOT ?

One of the Catholic suspects was Dr. Hussey, the
Bishop of Waterford.* He had just died, and the Irish
Executive was most anxious to examine his papers.
The strange story of how this purpose was effected is
told in the following communications from Hardwicke
to the Home Secretary :

" Private.

" Dublin Castle,

" August 24th, 1803.
'' My dear Charles,

" Amongst the persons whom it was intended to
take up whenever the Habeas Corpus Act should be sus-
pended in Ireland, after the breaking out of the War,
Dr. Hussey, the late Roman Catholick Bishop of Water-
ford, was one of the most conspicuous. From the tenor
of his pastoral letter, published, I think, at the beginning
of the year 1797, and from everything that I had heard
of his conduct, bigotry, and principles, I could not help
feeling some degree of anxiety to secure his papers after
his death, more especially as it was known that he had
been in France, and had been reported that he had been

* Thomas Hussey, born in Ireland in 1741, was a very remark-
able ecclesiastic. Early in his career as a priest he took service
in the Court of Spain. In 1 767 he was appointed chaplain to
the Spanish Embassy in London. He became a Fellow of the
Royal Society, and was a member of the famous literary circle of
which Johnson was the centre. On the revolt of the American
colonies Hussey was sent to Madrid by the Ministers of George III.
to try to detach Spain from France, who took sides with the
colonists. Through the influence of Portland and Pitt, he was
sent to Ireland in 1794 as controller of Roman Catholic Military'^
Chaplains, for the purpose of checking disaffection in the Irish
regiments of the Line and the Militia, On the establishment of
Maynooth College for the training of the Irish priesthood in 1795,
he was appointed its first president, with the consent of the
Government, and a year later was made Bishop of Waterford and
Lismore. In 1797 he issued a pastoral letter to his clergy strongly
in favour of Catholic emancipation, and urging that the British
Government had no authority or right to exercise jurisdiction in
the spiritual affairs of Roman Catholics. So strong was the feel-
ing aroused in Government circles by the pastoral that Hussey
left Ireland, with the permission of the Pope, in 1798. While in
Paris he took part in the negotiations between Pope Pius VII.
and Napoleon which led to the establishment of the Concordat.
He died from a fit while bathing in the sea at Tramore, near
Waterford, on July 11, 1803, and was buried in the Roman Catholic
Cathedral, Waterford.

BISHOP HUSSEY OF WATERFORD 323

employed by Buonaparte in settling with the Pope the
Concordat for the re-establishment of the Roman Catho-
lick religion in France.

" I therefore desired Mr. Marsden to write to Brigadier-
General Meyrick upon the subject, and after ascertaining
who was Dr. Hussey's executor, to endeavour to secure
his papers. General Meyrick has effected the object,
without any violent seizure of papers ; and though there
are some circumstances that are rather curious, yet they
do not afford any proofs of Dr. Hussey having been
engaged in any treasonable conspiracy."

In this letter the Lord Lieutenant enclosed a copy of
the report received by Marsden from General Meyrick.
It is as follows :

" Private.

" Waterford,

" 14th August, 1803.

" Dear Sir,

" I had the honour of writing to you on the second
in reply to your letter of the first inst. respecting the late
Doctor Hussey. I thought the first point to ascertain
was in whose charge the papers then were ; and, secondly,
whether they had been examined, and by whom, since
his death. In making this inquiry much precaution was
necessary, and this has been the cause of my not sooner
acquainting you with the result.

" Having learned that the papers were in the posses-
sion of Mr. Quin, a Roman Catholick merchant, and
that a few only of them had been examined, I determined
to request I might be allowed to inspect them. Being
aware that this would be an invidious task in the eyes
of a number of people here, if it was conceived that I was
actuated by any suspicion of the late Doctor's loyalty, I
availed myself of a very prevalent opinion that he was
confidentially employed by Government, particularly by
the Duke of Portland, and that he was in the habit of
correspondence with the Duke, when Secretary of State,
respecting the affairs of this country. I therefore said
to Mr. Quin that ' he no doubt was apprized that there
had been a correspondence between Government and
the late Doctor Hussey.' He replied ' that he had
heard so, but that he believed all intercourse of that
nature had ceased for some time.' I replied ' that the

21 — 2

324 WAS THE INSURRECTION A POPISH PLOT ?

period of the correspondence made no difference, and
that I had reason to think (if not destroyed) letters
highly important to be kept secret would be found
amongst his papers.'

" After some further conversation of an immaterial
nature, I went with Mr. Quin, and the titular Dean
Hearn, to the late Doctor Hussey's house, and searched
every desk and trunk I could find, and examined every
paper. Most of the letters were of a private nature ; a
good many from the late Edmund Burke, one from a
priest of the name of Charles O'Connor, written from
Storne soon after the Doctor's famous pastoral letter,
in which he extols the principles and doctrines of the
above pastoral, and applauds the Rev. Doctor for leaving
the country, adding ' as it will serve to convince our
gentry that a Bishop has the courage to speak the truth,
and at the same time will convince them by doing so he
is subject to persecution and forced to fly the country,'
I should have taken this letter but that I thought it
would destroy the excuse I had framed for searching
the papers. I therefore brought away the two letters,
enclosed herewith, from the Duke of Portland. I am
extremely glad the one marked No. 7 was found, as it
seemed completely to convince both Dean Hearn and
Mr. Quin that I had full grounds for the suspicions I
professed.

" I have not been able to trace anything sufficiently
against Luke Murphy to make it advisable to take him
up. An English gentleman who lives next door to him
at Dunmore has promised to watch him closely, and to
give me notice in case in remarks anything suspicious."

* * *

At any rate, the leading Catholic gentry and prelates
presented to the Viceroy an address expressing their
utmost horror of " the late atrocious proceedings," and
their most devoted and loyal attachment to the King.
They said that it was " to the free and unbiassed deter-
mination of the Legislature " they alone looked for the
realization of their ardent desire to participate in the
full enjoyment of the benefits of the British Constitu-
tion. That address is the subject of the following official
letter from the Lord Lieutenant to the Home Secretary :

CATHOLIC ADDRESSES TO THE VICEROY 325

" Confidential,

" Dublin Castle,
K Crp " August 24th, 1803.

" It is my duty to acquaint you for his Majesty's
information that I have received three addresses from
the Roman CathoHcks of Ireland, in which they desire
me to convey to his Majesty their humble assurances of
attachment to his Majesty's royal person, family, and
Government, and their determination to stand or fall in the
common exertion which is called for in the present crisis.

" The first address, which originated in Dublin, was
intended to be general, and was sent to the principal
cities and towns for the purpose of receiving signatures.
But in consequence of a paragraph having been inserted
containing the following words, ' We beg to reiterate to
your Excellency the assurances of attachment which we
have so often expressed to our most gracious Sovereign,
and to the Constitution of this Realm ; and think our-
selves called on, at the present moment, to declare that
however ardent our wish may be to participate in the
full enjoyment of the benefits of that Constitution, the
excellence of which, in common with our fellow-country-
men of every description, we so fully admire, we never
can be brought to seek for such participation through any
other medium than that of the free and unbiassed deter-
mination of the Legislature,' a difference of opinion
arose as to the propriety of introducing any reference to
what is called the Roman Catholic question at the
present moment. The consequence has been that several
Roman Catholicks declined adding their signatures to
the intended general address, and that the Roman
Catholick inhabitants of Waterford and Kilkenny have
sent up separate addresses expressive of their loyalty to
the King, and their determination to unite in the common
cause, but omitting any allusion to the object of the
Roman Catholick laity of being permitted to hold offices
and to sit in Parliament.

" The general address was presented by a deputation
of twelve, consisting of Lords Fingall, and Gormanstown,
Mr. McDonnell, Mr. Connolly, Mr. Val O'Connor, and
other Roman Catholic merchants of this city, with some
gentlemen of the Bar, and Drs. Reilly and Troy, the
titular Archbishops of Armagh and Dublin.

" I conceive the circumstances which I have stated will

326 WAS THE INSURRECTION A POPISH PLOT ?

be considered as sufficiently important to justify me in
a departure from the usual course of communicating
such addresses only as are immediately intended to be
transmitted to his Majesty."

The Viceroy's reply to the Catholic deputation was
couched in the customary official terms. How pleased
he was to receive this gratifying declaration of the
attachment of the Irish Catholics to the Throne and
Constitution ! But the real views of his Excellency on
the subject are no doubt better expressed in the follow-
ing letter written by him to his brother :

" It is suspected by some persons whose letters I have
seen that Buonaparte has assured the Roman Catholics
that if they will undertake to aid him to conquer Ireland,
he shall establish a Roman Government, and it is thought
not improbable that he has made the Pope give his
sanction to the measure. I think Dr. Troy's pastoral
letter to the popish clergy of the Archdiocese of Dublin*
is the greatest piece of craft, dissimulation, and hypocrisy
that I ever read. It has the appearance of having been
written some time, and of being well weighed and con-
sidered. Nobody can give the least credit to his total
ignorance of the conspiracy. The students of Maynooth
are, I fear, among the disaffected. That seminary will
excite much indignation, and I think it will bear a ques-
tion whether the priests would not be more civilized by
a foreign education. f But this is, of course, private."

* * *

Chief Secretary Wickham imparts his views of the
Insurrection in the following " private and confidential "
communication to Pole Carew of the Home Office :

" Dublin Castle,
"Dear Sir, '• 27th August, 1^03.

" I send you inclosed by the Lord Lieutenant's
direction, for Mr. Yorke's information, copy of some
intelligence that has been received from a person in the

* A pastoral denouncing the insurgents in unmeasured terms.

t Before the estabhshment of Maynooth College, in 1795, the
Irish priests were trained in Roman Catholic colleges on the
Continent. Maynooth was subsidized by the Government on
the ground that a home training would obviate the danger of the
priesthood imbibing Jacobin and revolutionary ideas abroad.

SECRETARY WICKHAM ON THE INSURRECTION 327

North giving (among other things) an account of the
present mode by which the Rebels communicate with
each other. The whole system is evidently inferior to
that which was adopted, and carried to such perfection
by Lord Edward FitzGerald, Tone, McNevin, Emmet, and
their accomplices. It is ill calculated for giving effect to
anything but a tumultuous rising, and carries with it a
convincing proof that there is a general want of leaders
among the disaffected throughout the whole country.

" The Lord Lieutenant and the Chancellor are both
convinced that on the late occasion there existed no
general organized system of insurrection, and that the
confidence of the persons who planned it rested on the
efforts of individueils directed to particular points, and
on an exaggerated opinion of the courage and confidence of
the people at large, and of their willingness to engage again
in open rebellion whenever the standard should be raised.
" That no material change has been wrought in the
opinions and temper of the lower orders of the people,
except in the North, is very manifest, but it is, I think,
equally so, that the Rebellion has acquired no new
converts, and that many who were engaged in it before of
the middle classes are now most unwilling to take a part
in any new project. I think every day furnishes new
proof of the truth of what I am saying ; and I am very
much mistaken, indeed, if that point be not most satis-
factorily made out to the conviction of every reasonable
mind before the meeting of Parliament.

" If the Lord Lieutenant is not mistaken in this view
of the subject, the measure that his Excellency is adopting
of endeavouring to secure and detain all the remaining
leaders of the disaffected seems obviously pointed out
to us as that which is most likely, if not to reduce the
numbers of the disaffected in the country, at least to
render insurrection partial and tumultuary, which is
all that we can hope for some years to come.

" You will, no doubt, have read frequent accounts of
sentinels fired on at their posts, and suchlike alarming
accounts, and perhaps Mr. Yorke may have been surprised
that no report on the subject has reached his office. I
have much satisfaction in assuring you that not a single
instance of a sentinel having been attacked or fired upon
has occurred since the 23rd ulto., nor to my knowledge
has there been a single murther committed ; and but one

328 WAS THE INSURRECTION A POPISH PLOT ?

attempt to murther (except the attack on the mail coach
at Naas) since that day.

*' You will probably ask, why then are all the precau-
tions taken, about which we are now so much occupied ?
To which the Lord Lieutenant will answer that they are
intended, not only to reduce as much as possible the
power of doing mischief at a more favourable oppor-
tunity— I mean should the enemy effect a landing ; but
to give spirit and confidence to the loyal, and to augment
their numbers by convincing the timid that they may
safely join the standard of loyalty.

" We must give the enemy no breathing time. Every
day will produce new discoveries, and, I hope, give new
reason to the disaffected to mistrust each other. These
advantages must be followed up throughout Ireland.
The fugitives must be pursued into every corner,
rewards offered for apprehending them whenever they
escape ; so that the leaders, if not taken, shall find
nowhere any resting-place. Insurrection, wherever
it shews itself, must be instantly beat down and most
severely punished by military execution ; and above all
things those who harbor traitors and facilitate their
escape must be most severely punished. Let this system
be but steadily and unremittingly pursued for twelve
months, and large rewards and open protection and
encouragement to all who shall discover and apprehend
known traitors, and I think Lord Hardwicke may safely
answer for the peace of Ireland for some years to come
against all attempts to disturb it by the leaders of the late
Rebellion or their abettors and successors.

" Into what new parties this unfortunate country
may be divided, or what new pretexts may be found by
ambitious men of a new cast who will probably soon
start up, for working on the restless and discontented
spirit of the people, I cannot presume to foresee. I
speak only of the old Union, as it is called, which I persist
in thinking may by steady and determined conduct be
rendered no longer formidable to the peace and security
of the country. I should not, however, be surprised if
the measures now adopted should render the leaders
desperate, and force them to make some partial attempts
at insurrection.

" You will observe that all I have written supposes
that we are not to be disturbed by foreign invasion.
Such an event would certainly retard our progress ; but

HOW THE IRISH EXECUTIVE WAS IMPOSED UPON 329

if not ultimately successful would perhaps do us in the

event more real service than harm.

" I have the honour to be, with great regard, dear Sir,

" Most faithfully yours,

"Wm. Wickham."*
* * *

A strange story, showing how the Irish Executive was
imposed upon in this time of stress and difficulty, is told
in another despatch from Chief Secretary Wickham to
the Home Office :

" Dublin Castle,

" 28 August, 1803.

" My dear Sir,

" In my letter of the 25th instant I gave you a
hasty account of some persons having been arrested at
Dundalk. By the Lord Lieutenant's directions I now
communicate to you, for Mr. Yorke's information, the
following particulars :

" A person of the name of Houlton, who was formerly
in the Navy, but is now a notorious smuggler, and strongly
suspected of having been implicated in the Insurrection
of the 23rd ulto., as well as in the last Rebellion, gave
some information here of several disaffected persons at
Dundalk and Belfast, who were to have assisted the
people from Howth in an attack on the Pidgeon House, t
to be made in wherries, from Dublin Harbour. His
character was well known, and the suspicions entertained
against him were considered to be well founded ; but as
there was no proof of his guilt it was thought advisable
to accept an offer that he made to go down to the North
and procure information of the designs of the disaffected
at Dundalk and Belfast.

" He returned from Belfast in about a week, and
brought with him so strange a story that no credit would
have been given to it, but for the readiness with which
he offered to give a letter of recommendation to the
persons whom he had seen in the North in favour of any
confidential person that Government would send down
there. This offer was accepted, and a person sent down
to Dundalk who was received with open arms by the
individuals to whom he was addressed. He was carried

* From "Ireland, Private and Secret," 1803. — Home Office
Papers.

f A fort in which munitions of war were stored, on the river
Liffey, below DubUn.

330 WAS THE INSURRECTION A POPISH PLOT ?

from house to house (chiefly among the lower orders),
and was proceeding in his visit when he was arrested as
a suspicious person (together with one Bernard Haley, who
was accompanying him) by Mr. Straton, Lord Roden's
brother-in-law, who knew Haley to be an old rebel.

" This was a most unfortunate circumstance, as upon
a crowd of people getting together to see the prisoners,
a Yeoman recognised the person we had sent down, and
claimed him so openly that there was no hope afterwards
of re-establishing his credit with the disaffected, to the
chief of whom he was to have been introduced that night.

" He was with them, however, time enough to ascertain
a fact stated by Houlton, that a soldier of the 67th regi-
ment was engaged in the plot. Houlton sent this man
a piece of green cloth. The house of a taylor of sus-
picious character having been searched, a green uniform
was found in it, and on the taylor being taken into cus-
tody he declared that he had made it for a soldier of the
67th, who was identified, and proved to be the very man
to whom Houlton had sent the green cloth.

" But tho' everything that Houlton had stated with
respect to Dundalk proved to be correct, so far as our
inquiries went, there is reason to believe that there was
not a word of truth in his information respecting Belfast ;
and with respect to Dundalk it seems nearly certain that
he himself had given the plan into which the people there
so largely entered. I am inclined to hope and believe
that few, if any, of the soldiers of the 67th regiment had
been corrupted, except the man I have mentioned.

" It is not the less true, tho' the persons arrested are of
the lowest orders, that positive assurance was given to the
man that we sent down that he would be introduced
that night to persons of a superior description ; and that
whether Houlton was the contriver of the plot or no, he
had found at Dundalk a number of persons ready to
second him.

" The Lord Lieutenant will direct such proceedings
against the persons in custody as the law servants of the
Crown shall advise ; and should anything material occur
in the course of a further investigation of the business,
you shall not fail to hear from me.

" Believe me to be, my dear Sir, most faithfully yours,

" Wm. Wickham.*

" Reginald Pole Carew, Esq.

* From Home Ofl&ce Papers

CHAPTER IV

ROBERT EMMET AND SARAH CURRAN

Meanwhile, the information obtained by the Executive
convinced them that the chief organizer of the conspiracy
was Robert Emmet, and their agents were most vigilant
and active in their endeavours to track down the young
insurgent. One day a body of Yeomen surrounded
Emmet's house in Butterfield Lane. They demanded of
Anne Devhn to tell them all she knew about " Mr. Ellis."
" I know nothing about him ; I'm only a servant," she
replied. They swore at her that she lied, which, though
brutally said, was the truth. But not content with that,
they dragged her into the yard, backed her against the
wall with their bayonets, and stabbed her until the blood
flowed, vowing that they would kill her if she did not
tell them where Robert Emmet was hiding. " I'll tell
you nothing," she answered. Then they put a rope
round her neck, tilted up a cart, and, passing the halter
over the cross-belt of the shafts, pulled until the girl
was lifted from her feet. But not even the imminence
of death by strangulation could shake the constancy and
devotion of this humble servant-girl to the young master.
She fell unconscious to the ground, and was hustled off
to Kilmainham Prison.

The house of every relative and friend of Emmet in
Dublin was searched. Here is a letter from Lady Anne
FitzGerald to the Lord Lieutenant :

331

332 ROBERT EMMET AND SARAH CURRAN

" Gloucester Street,

" July 2gth, 1803.

" My Lord,

" I hope your Excellency will pardon the liberty
of this letter. But finding that some persons have
thought proper to say that I am aunt to the unfortunate
Lord Edward FitzGerald, and think in consequence I
would harbour Mr. Robert Emmet, so, of course, they
twice searched my house and garden yesterday. Nothing
certainly could be more polite than the Yeomen were.
But your Excellency may easily conceive how dreadfully
my feelings must be wounded at any person suspecting
that I, who am all loyalty, should be capable of harbour-
ing any traitor. No, my Lord, were he my nearest and
dearest relative, and capable of such conduct, he should
not find refuge in my house.

" I beg leave to mention to your Excellency that I am
sister to the present Earl of Kerry, who had, I believe,
the honour of being known to your Excellency, and
widow of the late Maurice FitzGerald, Knight of Kerry,
both well known to be strictly loyal subjects.

" My servants inform me that some deal sticks, which
I had for my flowers, were taken away, lest they might
be used as pike handles. If they will look over my
garden they will find hundreds of the same affixed to
different flowers. I mention this only for fear that your
Excellency should hear that any pike handles were
found.

" From all that I can judge by the conduct of my
servants, they are really sober, and in every respect well
conducted. They all know my sentiments of loyalty,
but as in these times there is no being certain of any-
thing, I should be very happy if your Excellency should
think it proper to order a couple of well-conducted
soldiers to guard my house, for as an unprotected old
woman I cannot help feeling most acutely that any
suspicion should fall on my house.

" Permit me to subscribe myself, your Excellency's
most obedient, very humble servant,

" Anne FitzGerald."

As an immediate answer to this communication was
not returned by the Viceroy, the lady was moved to
have handbills printed and distributed publicly, declaring
her loyalty, and her descent — though she was not the

THE SEARCH FOR EMMET ^^3

aunt of Lord Edward FitzGerald — from an ancient Irish
family. " She is incapable," she says, " of suffering her
house, carriage, or servants to give protection and shelter
to Mr. Robert Emmet, or any other traitor to his King
and country." A copy of this handbill she sent to Mr.
Latouche, a well-known Dublin banker, with an interest-
ing letter in which she explains the incident that gave
rise to the story that Robert Emmet had escaped from
Dublin in her carriage. These communications were for-
warded to the Lord Lieutenant by Mr. Latouche. Here
is the lady's letter :

" Gloucester Street,

" /w^y S^st, 1803.

" My dear Sir,

" The many ridiculous stories that I hear has
been propagated respecting the search made at my
house on Thursday for Mr. Robert Emmet, and the
not having had any notice taken of the letter I wrote
to the Lord Lieutenant, and sent by the Knight, has so
wounded my feelings that I could no longer resist from
publicly avowing my principles of loyalty, and making
it known from whom I am descended, for though cer-
tainly my rank is not so high as some have since Thurs-
day been pleased to raise it, yet as I have ever been
foolishly proud of being of the House of Lixnaw, I do
not at present wish to forfeit my title to it.

" The search I thought nothing of, because it is highly
proper that every exertion should be made to find out
so vile a traitor ; but I own I think when that was twice,
indeed I may say, thrice, made in the most minute
manner, even to the searching the clock ; and that my
servants took their oaths that no man had been in my
carriage that day, but that unluckily my footman,
having had dreadfully sore eyes, and the dust very great,
thought that as it was only an old carriage the coach-
maker had lent me, he might shelter himself in it, and
draw up the side blinds that he might not be seen, as
he knew how angry I should be if he went into it, as had
once before happened with my own carriage, and I then
declared that if ever he did it again I would turn him
off.

" What I suppose made them suspect anything of the
kind was my having requested of Mrs. Spring, on my

334 ROBERT EMMET AND SARAH CURRAN

hearing that Mr. Holmes was taken up, to take the
carriage, and go to Mrs. Temple's lodgings in Dawson
Street, and ask if they had heard anything of it.* I
know there can be no one whatever more loyal than
Mrs. Temple, and her late husband paid dearly for his
loyalty in America, as he lost his fine estate there, and
Government, in consideration of it, gave a small pension
to his widow and daughters. I mention this to show
that I could not suppose there was any harm in my
carriage going there, and as I had reason to think that
Mr. Holmes reprobated the former Rebellion I could not
help being shocked.

" I shall never deny the regard I ever had for Doctor
Emmet. I owe him my life, and I am convinced he
never knew till long after his son Tom was taken up
that he had gone the lengths he did. He in the most
solemn manner declared so to me, and, in truth, con-
demned it. I never saw Mr. Tom Emmet since he was
taken up, nor Mr. Robert since two days after the poor
Doctor's death, when I went to see his poor wretched
mother. And surely I who can never forget my own
sad loss must feel for anyone in a similar situation, and
perhaps with greater aggravation, for, alas ! her sons,
instead of blessings, as they might have been, have by
their conduct made themselves incapable of being so,
and must assuredly bring shame to her.

" My servants do not even know Mr. Robert Emmet,
as they assure me. I am told it has been reported that
Alderman Carleton said I had told him that both Mr.
Tom and Mr. Robert Emmet had dined with me a few
days before the search. At first I did not mind his
saying so to my servants, as it might have been done to
try to get them to own if they knew anything of him ;
but I really think that the Alderman should have taken
care that that falsehood should not be propagated. No
one, even if my rank was as high as they chose to make
it, is above censure. Nor has age so blunted my feelings
as to make me careless, because I know my innocence, of
what is said. This business has shattered me more than
had it not happened I am certain ten years taken from
my life could have done.

* Robert Holmes, barrister-at-law, who was married to
Emmet's sister, was arrested on suspicion of complicity in the
Insurrection, but was released without having been brought to
trial. The Temples also were relatives of Emmet.

A ROMANTIC LOVE EPISODE 335

" The enclosed I had hoped would have been early
enough at the printer's to have appeared in last night's
Evening Post ; but as it was not I have had these struck
off. May I request you will show one of them to the
Lord Lieutenant, in hopes that this publick avowal of
my principles (which will most assuredly make me a
marked victim to the Rebels) will convince his Excellency
that both me and all my House are what we ought to
be, as, I fear, from not hearing from the Castle, my letter
did not.

" I have many apologies to make to you for this long
scroll, but I have had so many proofs of your friendship
that I think you will pardon it, and compassionate my
feelings, which has actually deprived me almost of the
power of holding my pen. I shall hope to hear that Mrs.
Latouche's cold is better, and beg that you will ever
believe me to be, dear Sir, your much obliged and most
sincere friend,

" Anne FitzGerald.

" I much fear you can't make out this, but my agita-
tion is so great I can't write to be read.

" I beg leave to mention to you that the sticks I had

for tying hollyhocks and lillies to have been reported to

be pike handles."

* * *

It was not until August 25 that the Lord Lieutenant
was able to announce to the Home Secretary the arrest
of " young Emmet." The insurgent leader was captured
that evening in a house at Harold's Cross, a suburb of
Dublin. The Viceroy adds :

" There is every reason to believe that he was deeply
implicated in the affair of the 23rd ultimo, but I confess
I had imagined that he had escaped. His having re-
mained here looks as if he had been in expectation of a
further attempt."

Here the glamour of a romantic love episode is flung
around the story of the Insurrection. It was as a
lover, not as a rebel, that Robert Emmet lingered in
Dublin, while the sleuth-hounds of the outraged law were
eagerly searching to run him down. On the Monday night

336 ROBERT EMMET AND SARAH CURRAN

after the Insurrection the insurgent and his companions
fled from the house in Butterfield Lane to the Dublin
mountains. Anne Devlin, going up there a few days
later with letters, found Emmet, still in his uniform of
green and gold and white, sitting outside a cabin. The
patriot's trappings were soiled and bedraggled. But his
pride in them was dead for another reason. Being unable
to procure a change to everyday attire, he was tied to
the Dublin hills, while he pined to go back to the city
to see his sweetheart. Sarah Curran was her name.
She was the youngest daughter of John Philpot Curran,
the famous advocate, who had defended, with amazing
skill and devotion, the leaders of the Rebellion of 1798,
brought to trial before the ordinary legal tribunals. A
sweet shy young girl is Sarah Curran, as we see her in
Romney's portrait. Silky hair ripples over her white
forehead. The gleam in her dark eyes — the glow-
ing eyes of her witty and eloquent father — show that,
like her lover, she was a dreamer and enthusiast, and
though the curling lips are parted by a smile, the pre-
dominant expression of the face is sad. She was then
only twenty-one years old.

Early in August Robert Emmet effected a partial
change of his dress. He was able to cast aside the
cocked hat with white feathers, and the green and gold
jacket ; but he had still to retain the white waistcoat
and pantaloons and the Hessian boots. In this attire,
half military and half civilian, he returned to Harold's
Cross, on the outskirts of Dublin, and lodged with a poor
widow named Palmer, an old retainer of the Emmet
family. The house was on the highroad between the
Priory, the residence of John Philpot Curran, at Rath-
farnham, and the city. Emmet arranged a meeting with
Sarah Curran. He told her that he proposed, when the
pursuit slackened, to endeavour to quit the country for
America. But that was not to be. The authorities
received information that a young man, possibly Emmet,
was in hiding at Mrs. Palmer's, Harold's Cross. The
chief of the police, Major Sirr, rode out there at mid-

ARREST OF EMMET 337

day on August 25, attended by a soldier, and, entering
the house, found the young man just about to sit down
to dinner. " What's your name ?" asked the poHce
officer. " Cunningham," was the reply. " How long
have you been here ?" " I came only this morning."
Sirr then sought Mrs, Palmer, and was told by her that
the lodger's name was Hewitt, and that he had been
with her for several weeks. During the interview with
the landlady Sirr heard the noise of a scuffle at the back
of the house, and, hastening out, saw the young man
running off. Sirr ordered the sentinel to fire, and then
gave chase himself, regardless of the command. "The
guard's piece," says the Viceroy in a circumstantial
report of the arrest to the Home Secretary, " fortunately
missed fire, or it would have shot Major Sirr, who was
close to Emmet at the time." The police officer cap-
tured the runaway, and handcuffed him, expressing con-
cern that it was necessary to employ measures so rough.
" All's fair in war," was the young man's reply. Brought
to Dublin Castle, the prisoner admitted that he was
Robert Emmet. He was committed to Kilmainham
Gaol on the charge of high treason.

* * *

Wickham, the Chief Secretary, was away from Dublin
during the stirring events of July. He lay ill at his
house at Norwich. But on the 31st of the month he
wrote to Marsden from London, stating his intention to
proceed to Ireland as soon as possible. In a letter to the
Lord Lieutenant on the eve of his departure from London
he writes :

" I wish you would say a word in the newspapers
announcing my arrival with my family, to show that we
are not afraid, and accounting for my absence, such as
that I had been confined for three weeks, and unable to
attend to my duty in Parliament."

He was now installed in Dublin Castle, and to him we
are indebted for several of the most interesting communi-
cations in the secret papers of the Home Office which

338 ROBERT EMMET AND SARAH CURRAN

deal with the Emmet Insurrection. He sends to the
Home Office, on August 28, the following extract from
the depositions of Mrs. Ann Palmer, the lodging-house
keeper at Harold's Cross :

" About four weeks ago Robert Emmet took a lodging
in her house, and remained there until he was arrested
by Major Sirr. On his coming to the house he was
dressed in white cashmere waistcoat and breeches, and
a black stock and boots. He told her that he had lately
a very handsome uniform coat with a handsome epau-
lette, but the coat he wore on coming to her house, and
which he continued to wear there, was a brown coat.
The name he assumed was Hewitt, and every person
who called to see him inquired for him as Mr. Hewitt.
When she directed her son to make out a list of the in-
habitants of the house, to post on the door, as the In-
surrection Act directed, Emmet requested her to omit
his name, as he intended to stay in the house but a day
or two. He also told her that he was concealing himself
on account of the troubles ; and that in case of any alarm
at the front-door of the house he would escape out of a
back window, and hide himself in a corn-field at the rear.
He told her that the killing of Lord Kilwarden had
shocked his heart ; that he had left Thomas Street before
it occurred ; and that anyone that saw the Rebel Pro-
clamation knew there was an order in it against such
crimes. The only thing she heard Emmet lament, rela-
tive of the Rebellion, was the death of Lord Kilwarden.
She had often seen him write. He was in the habit of
writing different hands, sometimes larger and sometimes
smaller."*

Wickham's letter to Pole Carew, secretary to Charles
Yorke, forwarding Mrs. Palmer's testimony, is as follows:

" Secret and Confidential.

" Dublin Castle,

"28 August, 1803.

" My dear Sir,

" I send you enclosed copies of the two deposi-
tions that affect Emmet the most materially. Mrs.
Palmer was owTier of the house in which Emmet was

* From Home Office Papers, labelled, " Ireland, Private and
Secret, 1803."

THE EVIDENCE AGAINST EMMET 339

taken — the other deponent is her son. This information
was not obtained until the close of a very able and
judicious examination of these two persons, which lasted
from twelve at noon till past six. It was conducted by
the Attorney-General, in presence of the Chancellor,
myself, and Mr. Marsden.

" Mr. Yorke will observe that Mrs. Palmer says that
Emmet wrote several different hands. This is unfor-
tunately too true ; and if the prosecution against him
should fail, it will probably be owing to his act in chang-
ing frequently his manner of writing. We cannot, I
fear, convict him without producing as his handwriting
different papers written apparently by different persons.

" Those who know his handwriting in better days can-
not say that they believe the papers of which we are in
possession to be written by him. He was very much
beloved in private life, so that all the friends of his
family, even those who abhored his treasons, will be
glad of any pretext to avoid appearing against him, and
we shall be left, I fear, to accomplices in his own guilt,
who will give most reluctant testimony against the man
who was considered as the chief of the conspiracy.

" The only evidence that could at present be produced
against him is what follows :

" I. The original draft of the printed proclamation
found in his handwriting in a bureau, in which bureau
was also found a letter signed Thos. Addis Emmet,
written from abroad, directed to Mrs. Emmet, but be-
ginning ' My dear Robert,' and from the context evi-
dently addressed to Robert Emmet. This bureau was
found in the great depot of arms in Bridge-foot Lane.*

"2. An unfinished draft of a letter, of which I send a
copy enclosed, found in the room where he was taken,
in the same handwriting as the draft of the Proclama-
tion. The writer of this letter avows himself to be a
rebel.

" 3. Letters found in the same bureau with the draft
of the Proclamation, evidently written by him, but in a
different handwriting from that which he used when
writing the two last-mentioned papers. These letters
could unquestionably fix upon him the possession of the
bureau, but on account of the dissimilarity of the hand-

* This is Marshalsea Lane. It was sometimes called Bridge-
foot Lane.

22 — 2

340 ROBERT EMMET AND SARAH CURRAN

writing it will probably be thought most prudent not to
produce them.

" 4. A letter found upon him, copy of which I send
enclosed, which clearly proves him to have been one of a
party engaged in a conspiracy against the State.

" 5. The circumstances of his flight, his concealment,
his dress (military all except the coat), and his attempt
to escape when apprehended.

" 6. The evidence of the two Palmers. The question
of bringing forward secret information has been well con-
sidered and discussed, and there is but one opinion on
the subject — viz., that it were a thousand times better
that Emmet should escape than that we should close
for ever a most accurate source of information.

" 7. A material cypher, copy of which I enclose, found
also in the bureau, addressed to R. E.

" I am sorry to have to add that there is strong reason
to believe that a young man, most respectably connected,
of the name of Patten, nephew of Mr. Colville, the late
Governor of the Bank, is deeply implicated with Emmet.
He is in custody, having been committed for refusing to
answer questions respecting his knowledge of the place
of Emmet's concealment.

" A man of the name of Farrell, who was in the depot,
and whose examination I also inclose, refuses to identify
Emmet.

" The above are the strong points of the case against
Emmet, as it now stands. There are others of apparently
less moment that may, by possibility, produce still
stronger and more direct evidence than any of which we
are now in direct possession. I shall receive the Lord
Lieutenant's commands to write to you on that part of
the case from time to time, as we shall make any effective
progress in our inquiries. Emmet was certainly the
proprietor of the depot, and lived there occasionally for
some time before the breaking out of the Insurrection.

" It will not escape Mr. Yorke's observation that the
information we have received of the refusal of the people
to act on the late occasion, and of the difference of opinion
with respect to the time of rising, is confirmed by the
letter found upon Emmet. The expressions used, as
coming from a person evidently of consideration among
the disaffected, are very striking. ' The people are in-
capable of redress and unworthy of it. This opinion

SUPINENESS OF THE DUBLIN POLICE 341

he is confirmed in by the late transaction, which he thinks
must have succeeded, but for their barbarous desertion
and want of unanimity.^

" It is a melancholy thing that on such an occasion as
this the Government should receive no assistance what-
ever from the Police. Indeed, nothing can be in a more
deplorable state than it is now in. The whole is become
a job supported at an enormous expense to the public,
and rendering less service than is derived from Mr.
Justice Bell, and two or three more trading Justices to
whom Government of necessity is obliged to have recourse.
The Lord Lieutenant will probably recommend an appli-
cation to Parliament next year for the purpose of establish-
ing a totally new system, similar, as far as local circum-
stances will admit, to the plan now existing in West-
minster. It will meet with opposition from the
Corporation of Dublin, but from the Corporation only.
In the meantime a system has been established here
which is already working well, which is generally ap-
proved, by none more than the Corporation, and is
already found to be of material service. I mean the
plan for dividing the City of Dublin into districts, a copy
of which has already been transmitted to Mr. Yorke. I
now transmit for his information, by the Lord Lieutenant's
directions, a copy of the instructions under which the
gentlemen act who have undertaken this duty. They
are incorrectly printed, particularly towards the end.

" It is from Dublin and the County of Kildare that all
the mischief proceeds and spreads itself all over Ireland.
It is there that it must be attacked, and I trust extir-
pated. I trust there will be no question of local privi-
leges, when not only the preservation of the lives and
properties of the inhabitants of a great city, but the peace
and security of all Ireland, and in some measure of the
whole United Kingdom, depend on the good government
of this particular place from which I write. For without
Dublin even Kildare would cease to be formidable.

" My dear Sir, most faithfully yours,

" Wm. Wickham.

" P.S. — If Mr. Yorke or yourself should see the Chan-
cellor or the Attorney-General, the Lord Lieutenant
wishes that the above statement of the evidence against
Emmet, as it now stands, should be communicated to
them. It is possible that the Chancellor, whose services

342 ROBERT EMMET AND SARAH CURRAN

at this moment are invaluable to the Government, may
have written to them on the subject.

" P.S. — A material fact against Emmet is his having

desired that even his assumed name of Hewitt should

not be inserted in the list of persons inhabiting Mrs.

Palmer's house, which, under the provisions of the

Insurrection Act, she was obliged to affix to her door.

We are, besides, in possession of the list, in which Emmet's

name is omitted."*

* * *

Emmet retained for his defence John Philpot Curran,
the ablest advocate of the day, and the father of his
sweetheart. Curran was an intimate friend of the
Emmet family, and knew Robert well ; but he was
absolutely ignorant of the relations between his daughter
and the plotter and leader of the late Insurrection. The
news came to him in a dramatic manner, and with
crushing effect.

The letters which, as Wickham says, were found in
Emmet's possession when arrested were in a lady's
handwriting. As they showed that the writer was in
the closest confidence of Emmet, the Executive were
most anxious to discover her identity, but all their
investigations to that end were baffled until an extra-
ordinary act of indiscretion on the part of Emmet re-
vealed her as Sarah Curran. The letters, the originals
of which are deposited in the Home Office Papers,
" Ireland, Private and Secret, 1803," are as follows :

No. I.

" I have been intending these many days past to
write you a few lines, but was really incapable of convey-
ing anything like consolation, and altho' I felt that there
might have been a momentary gratification in hearing
from me, I feared that the communication of my feeling
would only serve to irritate and embitter your own.
Besides this, I felt a degree of reluctance to writing which,

* From " Ireland, Private and Secret, 1803." — Hume Office
Papers.

SARAH CURRAN'S LETTERS 343

after what has passed, may be rather inconsistent, but
which is increased by considering the extent of the
risque I run, as well as by the breach of propriety it
occasions.

" I do not know whether to consider it as a circum-
stance of congratulation, or rather an aggravation of my
unhappiness, that I cannot apply to myself the proverb
which says that the first step alone costs us anything ;
but I can say with truth, whether the acuteness of my
feelings be fruitlessly afflicting, or ultimately salutary in
their effects, that hitherto with me every subsequent
departure from duty has been attended with that self-
reproach which is generally attached to the first breach
of it. These sentiments alone interrupt the satisfaction
I feel in sharing every anxiety with you, and of pre-
serving to you, in spite of other mischances and dis-
appointments, the consolation of a friend.

" And such is the perfect confidence that I feel subsists
between us that I have no fear of misconstruction on
your part of any uneasiness I feel. On the contrary, I
know you share it, and cannot think it blameable. At
all events, I wish you to know me exactly as I am. I
cannot bear to conceal anything from you ; and at some
future time, perhaps, when your opinion of me should
be more influenced by judgement than any partial feeling,
I should wish you to recollect that the violation of pro-
mise or duty brought most abundantly with it its punish-
ment ; and that at a time even when I was sunk by dis-
appointment, without hope or future prospect of com-
fort, I almost shrunk from availing myself of the only
consolation which still remained, altho' the one I prized
above every other — that of sympathising with you, and
endeavouring to atone for what you had lost. After
all, in looking forward to any circumstance that might
ultimately unite us, should we not, like the rest of the
world, judge by the event ; and those sentiments which
I am now forced to consider as a perverse inclination,
not fed by any rational hope but rather strengthened
by disappointment, I should then hold forth to myself
as the triumph of resolution and constancy over tem-
porary disaster and opposition.

" I am afraid you heard no very gratifying account
by the last express of my health and spirits. I was so
certain of hearing from you early in the day, as she had

344 ROBERT EMMET AND SARAH CURRAN

promised, that I concluded the poor greyhound was
lost, or, still worse, might have been found. Altho'
I may laugh now, I assure you I then feared the worst,
and was never more unhappy. I shall never forget
the sensation of agony I felt while reading your letter.
I assure you that my head suddenly felt as if it was
burning, and for a few minutes I think I was in a fever.
As for your letter, I did not understand it at the time,
and had only a confused idea that you must leave the
country for ever, as your mother wished it. You must
therefore attribute to mental derangement my wish of
seeing you at present. Do not think of it, unless it might
be done with safety, which I think impossible At any
rate, in the present circumstances, is it not wiser to limit
myself to the gratification of knowing you are well and
safe ?

" I should wish particularly to know from you how
matters stand at present (if you would not be afraid) ;
particularly what are your hopes from abroad and what
you think they mean to do, and whether if they pay us a

visit we shall not be worse off than before. * (which

I hope you understand) is not, as he was formerly called,
' a sorry cur.' I believe he would lay down his life as
freely as if it were a counter if it would benefit this
country. He is very disponding, however, and says the
people are incapable of redress, and unworthy of it.
This opinion he is confirmed in by the late transaction,
which he thinks must have succeeded, but for their
barbarous desertion and want of unanimity. As to the
French Invasion, he thinks it may not take place at all,
and that their plan may be to wear down the English
by the expense of a continual preparation against it,
which must end in their destruction. This, however,
must be all conjecture. He thinks the quiet here is merely
temporary.

" I had almost forgot to mention the letter I so offi-
ciously wrote to inform you of the honour intended your
country residence by his Majesty's troops, which I
suspected the day before it happened ; and having with
my usual sapience written the letter and mentioned in
the outside cover the number of our house and name of

* The name in the letter was carefully scratched out, evi-
dently with a penknife, but whether by Emmet or by the
authorities it is impossible to say.

THE MESSENGERS OF THE LOVERS 345

street for fear of any mistake, I only waited for an
ambassador, when unfortunately for Homer he pre-
sented himself and was unlucky to be trusted. As he
approached the bridge, seeing what was going forward, —
about nineteen people whose pockets were searching — he
committed his precious deposit to his boot, and marched
up to the gate like another Achilles, vulnerable only in
the heel. His pockets were soon turned inside out,
where, to use an elegant phrase, the devil might have
danced a hornpipe without kicking his shins against a
halfpenny. His Horace was taken for the inspection
of Government, and he was sent back in disgrace.

" I forgot to tell you that the evening before, he had
been in the country where he quite domesticated him-
self. He waited for two hours in great anxiety for the
return of the young lady he wished to see, and whom,
upon a minute inquiry, he acknowledged he should not
know. The only regret of your worthy representative
is that he did not put him to some easy death upon the
spot, and try perhaps how the bones and body of a spy
would answer your cherry-trees. In this case he may
more easily take the will for the deed, as his pilgrimage
here upon earth will be considerably shortened by the
treatment he experienced from both parties, and I should
consider any interval of tranquility as a lightning before
death.

" I hope you are not angry with me for writing so much
about him ; but you ought to be obliged to me for making
you laugh — malgre vous. I believe you will find out that
I began and ended this letter in very different moods. I
began it in the morning, and it is now near two o'clock at
night. I passed the house you are in twice this day, but
did not see you. If I thought you were in safety I
would be comparatively happy, at least. I cannot help
listening to every idle report ; and although I cannot
suppose that the minute events which occur now can
materially influence the grand and general effect in view,
yet my mind is risen or depressed as I suppose them
favourable or otherwise. I cannot tell you how uneasy
I shall be until I know if you have got this. Let me
know immediately. / request you to hum it instantly. I
shall expect a letter from you to tell me if you are well
and in spirits. Try and forget the past, and fancy that
everything is to be attempted for the first time. I long

346 ROBERT EMMET AND SARAH CURRAN

to know how your wife and ten small children are. Good-
bye, my dear friend, but not for ever. Again I must bid
you bum this."

No. 2.

*' I know so well by experience the pleasure of hearing
in any way from a friend, that I have not resolution to
deny it to you, while I have it in my power. I feel
myself cheered even by the sight of your handwriting,
and find more consolation from your letters than from
any effort of reason on my mind. Your last, particularly,
made me quite happy when I received it. You know I
can laugh at the worst of times.

" Since that, however, I have had new causes for
anxiety — one which fills me with apprehensions, the

return of from England, which I expect soon. I

have not entirely resolved how to act yet, and fear I
shall not have magnanimity of mind enough to abide by
the consequences of the conduct I have chosen. The
more I consider this alternative I see it unproductive
of anything but humiliating reproach to myself. The
other, tho' not so dangerous, is scarcely less odious.
It is placing my whole reliance upon his opinion of my
integrity hitherto, and not questioning me at all, or, if
he does, giving me credit for candour I do not possess.
I have heard of a report that you and he had left Dublin
at the same time, which I think may be very injurious
to him. Perhaps, however, I may be alarming myself
causelessly.

" I long to hear from you again, and hope the messenger
will have a letter if she comes this day. I hate to desire
you to destroy my letter, as I know I should find some
difficulty in complying with such a request from you ;
but I think it very unsafe for you to keep it. At all
events you ought to be tired of it by this time ; besides,
you may keep this instead of it. I believe it is from the
same principle that the last child is always the favourite
that I would not give up your last letter for all the others.
Do not let this be any encouragement to you. Indeed,
I see plainly you are turning out a Rebel on my hands ;
but be assured that if I could lay hold of my handy work,
as you call it, it should be anything but a moment of
delight to you.

" I must not forget to tell you that I have heard a

EXAMINATION OF EMMET 347

great many things lately which in your great wisdom
you would not tell me of, which adds to my resentment,
and I long to see you for the purpose of mortifying you.
I enclose you a bit of Ribbon, which was not originally
intended for a willow, but which may break with dumb
eloquence the tidings of my inconstancy. I intend
shortly to make a worthy man happy with my heart and
hand, which unhappily for you do not always go to-
gether.

" Adieu, my dearest friend. I hope you will forgive
my folly, and believe me always the same as you would
wish. I am quite well, except that I sleep badly. My
thoughts are running almost equally on the past and
future. I remember when I was a child finding an un-
failing soporific in the 29th Psalm, which, except my
prayers, was the only thing I had by heart. It had this
advantage of anything an apothecary's shop affords,
that its effect increased every time, instead of growing
weaker."

On the cover of this letter Miss Curran writes :

" I am very uneasy about the Poems I wrote for you.
There were initial letters under them all. Tell me if
there is any danger of the writer."

* * *

On August 30 Emmet was brought before Redesdale,
the Lord Chancellor ; Wickham, the Chief Secretary ;
and Standish O' Grady, the Attorney-General, for secret
examination, as was the custom in those days in the case
of prisoners charged with high treason. At this time the
Executive were ignorant of the identity of the writer of
the papers found on Emmet. The following report of the
examination is deposited in the Home Office Papers :

Attorney -General. What is your name ?

Emmet. Robert Emmet. Having now answered to my
name, I must decline answering any further questions.

Informed that he was sent for that he might have an
opportunity of explaining what appeared suspicious in
his late conduct.

Is sure it is meant to give him the opportunity, and is
much obliged, but must still persist in declining. At the
same time wishes it to be understood that there is nothing

348 ROBERT EMMET AND SARAH CURRAN

which could come within the hmits of this society to ask
him which he could not answer with pride. It might be
a breach of confidence unless the limit was laid down ;
but if he once began there could be no stop. If he
answered one and not others he would draw an invidious
distinction, which he would not wish to do. Is aware
that an unfavourable conclusion must be drawn. Hopes
that no unfavourable conclusion can be drawn as to the
point of honor. Has laid down this rule to himself.

Have you been in France within these two years ?

I have already mentioned that I stop the examina-
tion.

Where did you first hear of the Insurrection ?

I decline answering any question.

Had you any previous knowledge of it ?

Same observation.

Were you in Dublin that night ?

Same answer.

Have you corresponded with any persons in France ?

No answer.

It is unnecessary, then, to put any question ?

Certainly.

Why did you change your cloaths ?

Asked Dr. Trevor's permission to borrow cloaths
[Major Sirr said of St. John Mason]. It would be infring-
ing on the rule already laid down to go any further.

Are you acquainted with a person of the name of
Howley ?

Same answer.

Have you gone by the name of Hewitt, of Ellis, of
Cunningham ?

Has only to mention what he has already said.

Are you inclined to answer as to your handwriting ?

No.

Did you ever see a Proclamation purporting to be a
Proclamation of the Provisional Government ?

I have only to make the same answer.

Have you seen the same in manuscript ?

I have only to make the same answer.

Have you seen the same in your own handwriting ?

Same answer.

By whom were the letters written that were found on
your person ?

As to the letters taken out of my possession by Major

EMMET'S EFFORTS TO SHIELD SARAH CURRAN 349

Sirr, how can I avoid this being brought forward ? Can-
not say whether they were committed to my care or not.
Would not say but they might be dehvered to keep, or
unopened. Would wish to give the benefit of those
letters without making public by whom written. If
the letters were years in his custody — suppose a friend
left those letters on a sudden. May I ask if the name of
the writer might be mentioned to me ? May I know by
what means those letters may be prevented from coming
forward ? Has anything been done in consequence of
those letters being taken ? May I learn what means, or
what has been done upon them ?

Attorney -General. You cannot be answered as to this.

Emmet. You must, gentlemen, be sensible how disagree-
able it would be to one of yourselves to have a delicate
and virtuous female brought into notice. What means
would be necessary to bring the evidence in those letters
forward without bringing the name forward ? Might the
passages in those letters be read to me ?

Attorney -General. The expressions in those letters go
far beyond a confidential communication between a
gentleman and a lady. There are evidences of High
Treason, and therefore their production is necessary.

Emmet. Might those be mentioned ?

Attorney - General. Producing some parts and with-
holding others never was done.

Emmet. May I not be told the utmost limit to go to
prevent the exposure ? Then nothing remains to be
done. I would rather give up my own life than injure
another person.

Attorney -General. We knew before you came into the
room that this was the line you would take.

Emmet. I am glad you have had that opinion of me.
Have any proceedings been taken on those letters ? I
will mention as near as I can the line I mean to adopt. I
will go so far as this. — If I have assurances that nothing
has been done, and nothing will be done, upon these
letters, I will do everything consistent with honour to
prevent their production. May I know whether anything
has been done ? Might I, in the meantime, have assistance
of counsel ? Might I then make one request — that until
my arraignment nothing has and nothing will be done ?

Attorney -General. You are at liberty to make the re-
quest ; but cannot receive an immediate answer.

3 so ROBERT EMMET AND SARAH CURRAN

Emmet. I can only repeat what I have already said,
that I would do anything to prevent the production of
those letters. Personal safety I throw out of the question.
With notions of honour in common, persons may have
different principles, but all might be agreed as to what a
person might owe to a female. Personal safety would
weigh nothing if the production of those letters could be
prevented.

Are you aware that they form evidence against the
person who wrote them ?

As to that, I do not know how far there can be proof
as to who wrote them, however, there may be opinions ;
and I am not aware how far similarity of handwriting
might be evidence. But if the person who is primarily
concerned does all that in him lies it is very unnecessary
and very cruel to proceed against the writer. I feel the
more acutely on this point, because it is the only act of
my life, within these five months, of which I have to
accuse myself.

Do you mean that the female who wrote those letters
only had opinions ?

I say it on my honor. I only say that a woman's
sentiments are only opinions and they are not reality.
When a man gives opinions it is supposed he has actions
accordingly ; but with a woman the utmost limit is only
opinion. I declare on my honour as a man that the person
had only opinions. I admit in the eye of the law it is
otherwise, but they may have laid down the law where it
is not necessary. The same sword cuts down a man as
a babe, but it is the mind of the man which teaches him
how to use it.

Do you know of any depot of arms or ammunition ?

I have mentioned the only point on which I will
speak.

Perhaps you consider the disclosure of names as incon-
sistent with your notions of honor ?

I will purchase honor with personal safety.

You cannot expect to draw forth any compromise on
the part of Government. However, if you could render
a service to Government by making a disclosure which
may entitle this person to some favour, it might be
attended to as far as respects that person, although not
extended to yourself. Is disclosing concealed arms dis-
honorable ?

EMMET'S AGITATION 351

I must adhere to my former rule.

As a matter of curiosity I may put to you a question —
Why Government should indulge you with consenting
to a partial disclosure of these letters, when you decline
on your part to make any satisfactory answer ?

It is not as an indulgence. I only ask it as if I was in
a situation of power I would grant a like favour. I wish
everyone in Ireland and England was as innocent as she
is. I know when I say it is the only criminal act ; that
the young woman's affections were engaged without the
knowledge of her friends, and in fact without her own.
My resolution is taken. I have mentioned that I will
never save honor at the expense of what I think my
duty. I wish I knew what is expected, that I might in
my own mind consider what is my duty.

Then I am to understand that nothing will induce you
to make a full disclosure ?

No ; I never will.

You must draw the line and say how far you can go. I
am not asking you where Mr. Dowdall may be appre-
hended. I am not asking you who visited you two hours
before you were taken.

May I not ask — although I am not told what I can do,
or how far I am to go — whether those letters lie there to
be used or not ? — whether any disclosure has been made
by them or any arrest has taken place ?

Would it answer your purpose to have the writer
brought into the same room with you ?*

It might perhaps answer yours better. [He rose from
his chair in much agitation.] In respect of the person
at whose house I was arrested, the lady was under per-
sonal obligations to a part of my family ; her sentiments
were not the same as mine. Their name might lead to a
supposed connection with a person of the name of Palmer
on the Coombe.

The person who had the gunpowder or to Mr. Patten ?

I do not mention the gunpowder ; I do not mention
who.

Some one under obligations to you ?

* A " N.B." to the report of the examination says : " This
was asked on the supposition that the writer of the letters was
Mrs. Holmes, Emmet's sister, and that the language of a love-
intrigue had been assumed as a means of misleading Government
in its search for her."

352 ROBERT EMMET AND SARAH CURRAN

Few people have obligations to me.

If you come to any resolution you may have an oppor-
tunity for a further communication.

In a case of this kind a person naturally wishes to have
the opinion of some one beside himself.

Who would you wish ?

It may be a very harmless person. To remove any
doubt I name an Englishman whom I never saw but
once and then not alone. May I ask to know whether it
will occasion any prejudice to him ?

Certainly not.

Counsellor Burton is the person.* May I ask another
thing from the honor of every person here present —
that no hint or suggestion wiU be thrown out of what I
have mentioned ? There are things such as informers
talked of. I hope that those things which go about may
go without any foundation. I wish I had been called
up sooner. Might I know whether anything has been
done to the person in whose house I was taken ? I
believe, gentlemen, there are occasions in which you
would not think it criminal in me to shelter any of
you.

You are aware that the persons in '98, among whom
was your brother, made disclosures, concealing only the
names of persons ?

I believe they of '98 were differently situated. The
object for which they spoke was to save the lives of others,
their own never having been in any danger. I know the
comparison you are going to draw, and that it will be
taken down (smiling).

You are aware how far they went in '98. There was no
minute circumstance relating to the plot which they did
not disclose ?

May I know when my arraignment will take place ?
Might I not be permitted to see the gentleman I men-
tioned, previous to it ?

Attorney-General. It certainly is unusual to permit a
person in your situation such an indulgence.

Chancellor. Mr. Emmet's feelings are a good deal
affected.

Emmet. I wish they were at an end. I wish you good-
morning, gentlemen.

* * *

* A " N.B." says: " Counsellor Burton is Mr, Curran's clerk."

THE CHARACTER OF SARAH CURRAN 353

I have examined with interest and curiosity those
letters of Sarah Curran for some indication of her char-
acter. They are extremely clever productions for a girl
of twenty-one, and are the more remarkable because
of the peculiar circumstances under which they were
written. Her lover was an outlaw, with the agents of
the Government eagerly on his track. Such a situation
would have been heartrending to most girls, and their
agony of mind must have been reflected in any com-
munication to the hunted lover.

But I cannot trace the slightest tremor in the bold, firm
handwriting of Sarah Curran's letters to Robert Emmet,
nor do their lucid and sprightly phraseology betray any
mental perturbation. Obviously, she was proud of her
lover as the head and front of a plot to establish an Irish
Republic. But did she realize the perils which menaced
him, now that the plot had failed, and that death was
the penalty he must pay should he fall into the hands of
the outraged law ? She seems to have regarded con-
spiracy as something like the childish game of hide-and-
seek. What fun it was ! And the romance of it !
Fancy Dublin in a terrible commotion, the Yeomanry
hunting everywhere for Robert, and she knowing where
he was hiding, and in possession of all his secrets ! In
these letters there are no gloomy anticipations as to the
end of it all — an ignominious death for one, and a few
years of broken-hearted existence for the other. Poor
girl ! This apparent unconcern may have been all pre-
tence. What appears to us as the unseemly gaiety, the
ill-timed witticisms of the letters, may have been but
the effort of a distracted mind to hide its own grief, and
give encouragement and hope to a banned and harassed
lover. Anyway, Sarah Curran was soon to be brought
into agonizing collision with the grim realities of the
situation. Soon the sinister figure of Major Sirr was to
appear in her very bedroom at the Priory to arrest
her, and search for compromising papers to help to
send her lover to the gallows. Then it was that the
winsome and light-hearted girl was heavily smitten

354 ROBERT EMMET AND SARAH CURRAN

with anguish and despair, to the very unhingement of
her mind. * * *

In the Home Office Papers there is a document which
further shows the dreadful anxiety of Emmet, before the
examination, for the safety of Sarah Curran. It was
written for the Castle by Dr. Trevor, who resided in
Kilmainham Gaol in the dual capacity of physician and
assistant-governor. Referring to Emmet, it says :

" When he came up for examination on Tuesday last
he expressed very considerable anxiety to prevent any
proceedings being taken against a particular person, and
that to protect that person he would sacrifice his own
personal safety. He was told that no such sacrifice was
desired, and that he was not required to furnish any
evidence against himself. But as he expressed such con-
siderable anxiety for that person, it was suggested to him
to consider how far his notions of honour, as he explained
them, would permit him to make such communications
to Government respecting the late Insurrection, further
depots of arms, ammunition, etc., etc., as might justify
the Government in acting towards that person with the
delicacy he required. So far the Government may be
induced to go upon receiving information equivalent to
the indulgence ; but it never entertained any idea of
receiving any information from Mr. Emmet which could
extend to protect him, or any of the persons engaged with
him, further than that particular person"

That harassing state of mind from which Emmet was
suffering was increased rather than appeased by the
ex'amination. After pondering over the situation for a
few days he sent the following letter to the Chief Secretary,
in which he deals with the suggestion that had been made
to him that, following the example of some of the leaders
of the United Irishmen — his brother, Thomas Addis
Emmet, among them — he should make a disclosure of
the conspiracy :

" Sir Sept. 3, 1803.

" I have heard of you as an honourable man, and
as such I commit myself to you without reserve. I have
weighed well the proposal that was made to me when I

PLOT FOR THE ESCAPE OF EMMET FROM GAOL 355

was before the Privy Council. I know how much I owe
to one whose peace of mind I have already too deeply
injured, but every way that I turn I find obstacles almost
insurmountable. Between the case that was held out
to me and the present I can find no parallel. What was
done then was neither done by one, nor for one, nor to
spare their own personal feelings, nor to obtain an object
of a private nature, totally unconnected with the public
act that was done. Give me the same advantages. Let
me have free communication with some friends ; let the
lives of others be spared ; let the documents affecting
another person be suppressed, and I will try how far in
my conscience, and according to wy notions of duty, I
ought to go. But I will stand my trial, for I will not
purchase my own safety. If this proposal can be agreed
to I request that the gentleman I mentioned may be per-
mitted to wait on me.

" I have the honour to be your very obedient humble
servant,

" (Signed) R. Emmet.

" Right Honourable William Wickham."

Emmet was told, in reply to this letter, that the

Executive would consider any statement he might desire

to make ; but they refused to bind themselves by any

conditions respecting it.

* * *

The next development of the drama was an attempt to
effect the escape of Emmet from gaol. The numerous
prisoners confined in Kilmainham on suspicion of being
concerned in the Insurrection included a gentleman
named St. John Mason, cousinto the principal conspirator.
Acting on the suggestion of Emmet that a substantial
bribe might induce George Dunn, the turnkey in attend-
ance on the political prisoners, to aid his flight from Kil-
mainham, Mason offered Dunn £500 for his assistance ,
and an additional £500 should Emmet escape. What
happened is best told by extracts from documents in the
Viceroy's Post-bag. Here is the report of the transaction
which George Dunn drew up for Dr. Trevor, and the
latter forwarded to the Chief Secretary :

23—2

3S6 ROBERT EMMET AND SARAH CURRAN

" Conceiving it my duty to prevent if possible the
execution of such a plan, and that the best mode of
doing so was not to immediately reject his proposal (by
which I should be precluded from all further informa-
tion), I told him I would consider upon what he men-
tioned. I immediately informed you thereof, and re-
ceived your directions how I should act, in consequence
of which I had another interview with Mr. Mason, and
said I would endeavour to comply with the request, upon
which he gave me a note to deliver to Mr. Emmet, which
I gave to you, and which you since informed me you
handed to Mr. Secretary Wickham. Mr. Mason then pro-
posed (with which I seemed to comply) that I should
procure the key from Mr. Dunn* while at dinner, and
let Mr. Emmet escape, and to inform him (Mr. Emmet)
thereof, that he might take such steps as he thought
necessary, which I accordingly did, and Mr. Emmet gave
me a note to Mr. Mason to procure clothes for the pur-
pose of disguise, which note I showed by your directions
to Mr. Dunn the keeper. I afterwards delivered it to

Mr. Mason, who informed me that would be with

him the following day, and procure what was desired.
In two days after Mr, Mason gave me several things to
carry to Mr. Emmet, which I immediately showed to
you, and then delivered them, except some articles which
you mentioned to me were improper to be conveyed to
him."

Emmet's note to St. John Mason — a copy of which
was sent to the Chief Secretary — is as follows :

" Ask G.f at what time Mr. D.| dines, and if he leaves
anyone at the door then. Though it might be a little
early, yet as he is longer away then than at any other
time, it would better enable us all to go out, and with
the change of dress would not be noticed. If it cannot
be done, then G. must watch the first opportunity after
dinner that Mr. D. goes down to the house, and let me
out immediately. I will be ready at the moment.
Don't let him wait till the guards are doubled, if he can
avoid it, but if he cannot do it before let me be on the
watch then, as D. will probably go to give them instruc-

* John Dunn, the Governor of Kilmainham.
t George Dunn, the turnkey.
I John Dunn, the Governor.

IDENTIFICATION OF SARAH CURRAN 357

tions whenjplacing them in the yards, as he did last
night.

" I am anxious not to defer it till to-morrow, as I
heard the officers who came the rounds consulting with
him about placing the sentries for better security, and
think I heard them mention me in the hall. D. also
came in at one o'clock last night, under pretence that
he thought he heard me calling. If it is delayed till
to-morrow it must be done at dinner-time. If sentries
are placed in the hall by day the only way will be, when-
ever D. goes down let G. whistle God save the King in the
passage, and I will immediately ask to go to the neces-
sary, and will change my clothes there instantly ; but
in this case G. must previously convey them there.
Send for a pair of spectacles (No. 5 fits my sight), which
will facilitate the disguise. After I am gone G. must
convey the clothes I wore away."

On the day of the night on which the flight from prison

was to be attempted, George Dunn informed St. John

Mason that the affair was hopeless, as the Governor,

whose suspicions had been aroused, had removed his

quarters to the side of the gaol in which the State

prisoners were confined.

* * *

The first overture was made to George Dunn on Sep-
tember 5, when Emmet's conditions for a disclosure of
the conspiracy were rejected by the Executive. On Sep-
tember 7 Emmet was told of the futility of any attempt
at escape. On the following night he wrote a letter to
Sarah Curran, and entrusted its delivery to George Dunn,
whose treachery neither he nor St. John Mason had yet
reason to suspect. The letter, within an hour, was
in the hands of the Chief Secretary at the Castle. It
revealed to the Executive the information which they
were most anxious to obtain — the identity of the writer
of the remarkable letters found on the person of Emmet
when arrested. Thus by an act of simple trustfulness,
by a curious lapse of caution and discretion — due no
doubt to his overpowering desire for news of his sweet-
heart— Emmet brought on himself the most crushing of

358 ROBERT EMMET AND SARAH CURRAN

all the disasters that fell heavy on him during his brief
career as a conspirator. The letter, which is openly
addressed to " Miss Sarah Curran," is as follows :•

" My dearest Love,

" I don't know how to write to you. I never felt
so oppressed in my life as at the cruel injury I have
done to you. I was seized and searched with a pistol
over me before I could destroy your letters. They have
been compared with those found before. I was threatened
with having them brought forward against me in Court.
I offered to plead guilty if they would suppress them.
This was refused. Information (without mentioning
names) was required. I refused, but offered since, if I
would be permitted to consult others, and that they
would consent to enter into any accommodation of that
nature to save the lives of those condemned, that I would
only require for my part of it to have those letters sup-
pressed, and that I would stand my trial. It has been
refused. My love, can you forgive me ?

" I wanted to know whether anything had been done
respecting the person who wrote the letters, for I feared
you might have been arrested. They refused to tell me
for a long time. At length, when I said that it was but
fair if they expected that I should enter into any accom-
modation that I should know for what I was to do it,
they then asked me whether bringing you into the room
to me would answer my purpose, upon which I got up
and told them that it might answer theirs better. I was
sure you were arrested, and I could not stand the idea
of seeing you in that situation. When I found, however,
that this was not the case, I began to think that they
only meant to alarm me ; but their refusal has only come
this moment, and my fears are renewed. Not that they
can do anything to you even if they would be base enough
to attempt it, for they can have no proof who wrote them,
nor did I let your name escape me once, nor even acknow-
ledge that they were written directly to myself. But I
fear they may suspect from the stile, and from the hair,
for they took the stock from me, and I have not been able
to get it back from them, and that they may think of
bringing you forward.

" I have written to your father to come to me to-
morrow. Had you not br^ttcr speak to himself to-night ?

MAJOR SIRR'S VISIT TO THE PRIORY 359

Destroy my letters that there may be nothing against
yourself, and deny having any knowledge of me further
than seeing me once or twice. For God's sake, write to me
by the bearer one line to tell me how you are in spirits.
I have no anxiety, no care, about myself ; but I am
terribly oppressed about you. My dearest love, I would
with joy lay down my life, but ought I to do more ?
Do not be alarmed ; they may try to frighten you,
but they cannot do more. God bless you, my dearest
love.

" I must send this off at once ; I have written it in the
dark. My dearest Sarah, forgive me."*

)iC 9|( 4i

The next morning, September 9, Major Sirr and a
party of Yeomanry appeared at the Priory, Rathfarn-
ham, with warrants to search the house for papers, and
arrest Sarah Curran. Sirr also bore the following letter
addressed to John Philpot Curran by the Chief Secre-
tary :

" Dublin Castle,

"Sept. 8th, 1803.

" Sir,

" It is with extreme regret that I find myself
under the necessity of informing you that the Lord
Lieutenant is obliged to direct that a search should be
made in your house for papers connected with the late
treasonable conspiracy. The Lord Lieutenant is per-
suaded that they have been concealed there without your
knowledge, but it is not the less necessary that the search
should be made with the utmost exactness.

" As the circumstances which lead to this investiga-
tion particularly affect Miss Sarah Curran, it will be
necessary that she should be immediately examined, and
if it would be less distressing to you that that examina-
tion should take place at your own house in town rather
than at the Castle, his Excellency will give directions to
that effect, in which case you will have the goodness to
bring Miss Curran there without delay, and inform me
as soon as you shall arrive."!

* Home Office Papers,
t Ibid.

36o ROBERT EMMET AND SARAH CURRAN

What happened at the Priory is thus graphically
described by Chief Secretary Wickham in a letter to
the Home Secretary :

" Secret.

" Dublin Castle,

"My dear Sir, " 9 Sept., 1803.

" The writer of the letter found in Mr. Emmet's
pocket is discovered. She proves to be Mr. Curran's
youngest daughter. This discovery has given rise to
some very unpleasant and distressing scenes. It became
indispensably necessary to search the apartment of the
lady for papers. She resided at her father's house in the
country near Rathfarnham, within a short distance of
Butterfield Lane. Major Sirr was sent down there this
morning with a letter addressed to Mr. Curran, of which
I send a copy inclosed. Unfortunately, Mr. Curran was
not at home, and still more unfortunately the young lady
was not up, tho' the rest of the family (two other daughters
and a son) were assembled at breakfast, so that the Major
entered the room where she was still in bed. This cir-
cumstance occasioned a scene of great confusion and
distress, and was also productive of some inconvenience,
for whilst the Major and the other daughter were giving
assistance to Mr. Emmet's correspondent — who was
thrown into violent convulsions — the eldest Miss Curran
continued to destroy some papers, the few scraps of which
that were saved are in Mr. Emmet's handwriting.

" I have the satisfaction to add that Mr. Curran is
satisfyed that Government has acted throughout with
great personal delicacy towards him, and that on his
part he has acted fairly towards Government, and that
he was unquestionably ignorant of the connection between
his daughter and Mr. Emmet.

" The Lord Lieutenant particularly requests that Miss
Curran's name may not be mentioned. It is difficult
that it should be long concealed, but it is desirable that
it should not be first mentioned by any member of
Government in either country.

" The Attorney-General, who has had the kindness to
go himself to Mr. Curran's house at Rathfarnham, gives
the most melancholy and affecting account of the state in
which he left the whole family."*

* Home Office Papers.

CONDUCT OF JOHN PHILPOT CURRAN 361

On Curran's return to his house that September 9,
1803, he learned for the first time of the relations between
his daughter and Emmet, and of the implication of his
daughter in the conspiracy. He was overwhelmed by
the news. His anger against Sarah was intense. This
great lawyer, this orator with the tongue of fire, this wit,
from whose recorded salhes the lapse of a century has not
evaporated the spirit of laughter, was, with all his genius,
a mean-souled creature. His conduct, as disclosed by
the Hardwicke Correspondence, was most despicable. It
was not for his daughter, suffering from the cruellest
pangs that can lacerate the ardent heart of a young girl
in love, that he was concerned. He was fearful lest his
prospects of promotion to the Bench might be imperilled.
He hastened in a mad rage to the Castle, saw the Attorney-
General — Standish O'Grady — vituperated Emmet, de-
nounced his daughter, tendered his person and his papers
to the Government, to abide any inquiry they might
deemx it expedient to direct. Accordingly, he appeared
before the Privy Council, and, after examination, was dis-
missed without a stain on his mean and contemptible
character.

The Lord Lieutenant — a kindly, generous man, as his
correspondence shows — decided that no action was to be
taken against Miss Curran. The poor girl for a time lost
her reason, and could not in any circumstances have
been removed to prison. The Home Secretary, writing
to his Excellency from Whitehall, September 16, 1803,
says : ^

" Your delicacy and management with regard to the
Curran family is highly applauded. The King is particu-
larly pleased with it. It is a sad affair. Mademoiselle
seems a true pupil of Mary Woollstonecraft."

The King's own comment in a note to the Lord Lieu-
tenant is : " Emmet's correspondence with the daughter
of Mr. Curran is certainly curious."

*- * *

362 ROBERT EMMET AND SARAH CURRAN

Poor Emmet ! He was indeed sorely stricken by the
discovery of his sweetheart's association with him in his
dreams and ambitions, his projects and efforts for the
overthrow of the British power in Ireland. He appealed
fervently to the authorities for the destruction of the
papers. He offered to plead guilty to the charge of high
treason and to walk to the gallows without a word —
giving up his right to address the court from the dock
and the people from the scaffold — if, in return. Miss
Curran and her relatives were spared the annoyance and
the grief of the public disclosure of these documents.

CHAPTER V

CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION OF CONDEMNED
CRIMINALS

I HAVE quoted in the last chapter a letter from Charles
Yorke to the Lord Lieutenant, in which he relates that
on the occasion of his receiving the seals of the Home
Office from the King, his Majesty censured the officials
of Dublin Castle for their failure to procure information
of the conspiracy before it exploded on July 23. To that
communication the Viceroy thus replied :

" Private and Confidential.

" Dublin Castle,

" August 2^rd, 1803.
" My dear Charles,

" From the confidential communication contained
in your last letter of the i8th inst., respecting the impres-
sion which appears to have been made on his Majesty's
mind respecting the want of intelligence of the plans of
the disaffected in Ireland, I think it highly necessary that
a very short and circumstantial detail should be trans-
mitted in an official shape of the Insurrection of the
23rd of July, and of the intelligence that had been pre-
viously obtained of the intention of rising. The truth is,
and I am more and more convinced of it, from every cir-
cumstance that has reached me, that an idea of an in-
surrection in Dublin likely to endanger the safety of any
part of the city, with a garrison consisting of the 21st,
23rd, 28th, and 62nd Regiments of Infantry, and the i6th
Light Dragoons, was perfectly ridiculous and absurd. I
cannot deny that many proper and obvious precautions
were omitted, and that I have borne in the publick opinion

364 CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION OF CRIMINALS

a share of the blame which is attached to the Government
generally, but which is owing only to a want of proper
notice being sent to the Barracks and to the officers of the
garrison.

" It is a delicate matter to state even common facts
when they amount to what, — if an inquiry were made, —
would constitute a charge. When General Fox left me
at the Castle, after Marsden had stated the grounds of
alarm, and of the agitation which prevailed, it was almost
half-past four o'clock ; and he observed that it was a very
fortunate circumstance that so sensible a man as Colonel
Vassal was field officer of the day. I understood that he
intended to send for him immediately. It turns out,
however, and I did not know this circumstance till very
lately, that he sent notes to Colonel Vassal, Sir Charles
Asgill, and General Dunne, to call upon him at the Royal
Hospital at a quarter-past nine o'clock. Previously to
that hour no directions were given by General Fox, and
Sir Charles Asgill, as well as General Dunne and Colonel
Vassal, were obliged to run for their lives in passing from
the Royal Hospital to the Barracks, through a part of
James's Street, in order to get to the Queen's Bridge. A
note was sent to Colonel Manley about the same time to
desire that he would have an eye to the Artillery Barracks ;
and it was on returning with his answer that a dragoon
was killed. Sir Charles Asgill went to the Barracks
between nine and ten from the Royal Hospital, without
any power to act on account of General Fox telling him
that he would follow him shortly. Colonel Beckwith,
however, observing that he ought to remain at the Royal
Hospital, he countermanded his horse, but without
sending orders to Sir Charles, who remained in expectation
of them upwards of an hour. In short, it was near one
o'clock in the morning before any troops were marched
from the Royal Barracks, and after the whole Insurrection
had been suppressed by two companies of the 2ist
Regiment.

" A narrative of what passed without, however, entering
into these particulars, which cannot be stated without
making matter of accusation, will be transmitted officially,
founded upon the paper I sent you some time ago.
Marsden also has made a statement to me which I have
desired him to put under the form of a letter to me ; and
the Chancellor has suggested that I should order an in-

DISCLOSURES ABOUT UNDER-SECRETARY COOKE 365

quiry to be made into the conduct of the Under-Secretaries
by himself, Wickham and the Attorney-General, that a
report might be made upon the subject as a future docu-
ment.

" I understand that Corry and Lord Limerick have been
two of the most violent against Marsden on the late occa-
sion. The latter is connected with a party at Limerick
who always endeavoured to represent that county in a
state of particular danger last winter, for which there was
no real ground ; and at that time I have always thought
that the representing of any part of Ireland in a state
bordering upon rebellion was likely to influence the
counsels of the French Government in any question of
peace or war.

" Cooke,* too, has of course been very active in dis-
seminating his opinion to the disadvantage of Marsden.
First, because he is probably very angry with himself
for having quitted his situation ; and secondly, because
Marsden knows some circumstances not much to his
credit, which, however, to the credit of Marsden, he has
divulged to none but those who must necessarily know
them. One was no less than Cooke having diverted from
its proper channel a thousand pounds charged to the
secret fund, and intended as a reward to the person who
discovered Lord Edward FitzGerald. This was discovered

* Edward Cooke was an Englishman. When Earl Fitzwilliam
went to Ireland in 1795 as Viceroy of the Whig Government,
Cooke was Under-Secretary of the Military Department of
Dublin Castle. " He was a Minister, not a clerk," said Fitz-
william. He was dismissed by the Lord Lieutenant — an act
which was one of the causes of the recall of Fitzwilliam within a
few months — and the succeeding Viceroy, Lord Camden, rein-
stated him in 1796 by appointing him Under-Secretary. Cooke
sat in the Irish House of Commons from 1790 till the Union for
the borough of Old Leighlin, Carlow. A pamphlet entitled
" Arguments for and Against an Union between Great Britain
and Ireland Considered," which was published anonymously
during the controversy, was written by him, and was regarded
as the most able statement of the views of tiie promoters of the
scheme. He was a supporter of Catholic emancipation, like
his chiefs Cornwallis and Castlereagh. He resigned his office
as Under-Secretary shortly after the arrival of Hardwicke in
Ireland, because of his disappointment in not having been made
Chief Secretary in succession to Castlereagh. Such was the
confidence of Castlereagh in Cooke that he retained his services
in all the various departments which he successively filled as
Minister.

366 CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION OF CRIMINALS

by Cooke's bond being found by an executor amongst the
papers of a Government spy who was employed to pay the
money to a subordinate person who has never received
it, and who has since been an appHcant for remuneration
for that important service. The other was a transaction
never explained ; but from which he appears to have
applied to his own use £500 that was to have been paid to
Sir Vere Hunt, and which was paid by Mr. Taylor, first
Clerk in the Civil Office, to Cooke himself for that purpose.
Sir Vere denies that he ever received it, and Cooke has
never answered either Marsden's or Taylor's letters of
inquiry upon the subject. Sir Vere, therefore, considers
himself as entitled to that sum from the Irish Government,
and is now a claimant for it, though already paid. These
anecdotes are to give you some idea of the grounds that
Cooke has for abusing Marsden, if it is true that he has
done so, and it is fair you should know them, though they
are not of a nature to be generally known. They are,
however, facts, and with other circumstances that I have
heard will fix my opinion of the man, and regulate my
conduct to him through life."

In a subsequent letter the Lord Lieutenant deals more
fully with the reward paid for the betrayal of Lord
Edward FitzGerald in 1798, and throws fresh light on
that secret service transaction :

" In the private account of disbursements for Rebellion
secret service a sum of a thousand pounds is charged by
Mr. Cooke for a person who gave the information which
immediately led to the apprehension of Lord Edward
FitzGerald. The money appears to have been paid to
one Higgins, an attorney, but he was, in fact, only the
channel through which it was to be conveyed to the
party himself, a barrister of the name of Magan, who had
correct intelligence of the proceedings and connexions of
the Kildare rebels.*

* Francis Magan, the betrayer of Lord Edward FitzGerald,
was the son of a woollen draper of Dublin, a graduate of Trinity
College, and a barrister-at-law. He was one of the leading mem-
bers of the United Irishmen in Dublin. Being in financial diffi-
culties, he was induced by Francis Higgins, proprietor of the
Freeman's Journal — known in the history of the period as " the
sham squire " — to betray, through him, the secrets of the organi-
zation. He supplied the authorities, through Higgins, with the

THE BETRAYAL OF LORD EDWARD FITZGERALD 367

" On the death of Higgins, between two and three
years ago, his executors came into possession of a bill or
promissory note of Mr. Cooke for a thousand pounds,
and shortly afterwards Mr. Magan stated that he had
never received any reward for the effectual service which
he had rendered in May, 1798. Upon this representa-
tion, which necessarily brought to my knowledge the cir-
cumstances of the transaction on which it was grounded,
I thought it right to authorize a payment to Mr. Magan
of £500, as the amount of the other bill, if recovered from
Mr. Cooke, would become the property of persons for
whom it was evidently never intended. Thus in one
instance the misapplication of this secret service money
has occasioned an additional charge upon the fund, and
has given rise to claims and applications which ought
now to have been set at rest, and which it is extremely
difficult to gratify.

" These circumstances, from the nature of the trans-
actions themselves, and as relating to a person that has
held and again holds a situation of great publick trust
and confidence, are of course known to very few ; to
none, I believe, but to those who became officially ac-
quainted with them. I think it right that you should
be apprised of them, as you would be if you were to look
into recent and interesting transactions here ; and though
I am very far from wishing to injure anyone, I will never
disavow my knowledge of the circumstances, if, being
known by others, their authenticity should be ques-
tioned."

The Home Secretary's official reply to the Lord
Lieutenant must have been gratifying to his Excellency :

" Confidential.

" Whitehall,
"My Lord, " 12th Sept., i^oz,

" Your Excellency's most confidential dispatch of
the 25th ulto., received here on the 30th, would have been
sooner acknowledged but from my wish that it should be

information which led to the capture of the outlawed leader
of the conspiracy, Lord Edward FitzGerald, in a house in Thomas
Street. Magan, whose treachery was never suspected during
his lifetime, died in Dublin in 1833. He left an endowment to
his parish church, SS. Michael and John, Dublin, for perpetual
Masses for the repose of his soul.

368 CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION OF CRIMINALS

circulated among his Majesty's confidential servants, in
order that a full opportunity might be given for con-
sidering and investigating the very important details
contained in it.

" I have now the satisfaction of being able to inform
your Excellency that the account which you have trans-
mitted of the state of the intelligence possessed by your
Excellency's Government respecting the plans and designs
of the rebels previous to the wicked and malignant In-
surrection of the 23rd July, as well as the principal cir-
cumstances which attended the atrocious transaction, is
considered as affording a complete and satisfactory
answer to all the insinuations which have been thrown
out against the activity, the diligence, and the informa-
tion of your Excellency's Civil Government ; and further
his Majesty has been graciously pleased to command me
to acquaint your Excellency that he is satisfied that no
blame whatever is imputable to it upon that unhappy
occasion.

" Much as the execrable assassination of that excellent
and venerable magistrate. Lord Kilwarden, as well as the
various other atrocities committed on that melancholy
night by a band of misguided and ferocious wretches, are
to be deplored, there appears no reason for supposing,
upon a view of all the circumstances which have come to
light, that such occurrences could have been wholly pre-
vented, for altho' the intention of rising in some part or
other of the city in the course of the night was known
and ascertained in the afternoon of the 23rd July, yet
it is not difficult to conceive that the precise point at
which the Insurrection was to commence might remain
concealed from your Excellency's Government, when,
as is evident from subsequent information, several of
the rebel leaders themselves were wholly unapprized
of it.

" I cannot conclude this dispatch," the Home Secretary
and the Lord Lieutenant's brother says, " without express-
ing my opinion of the judgment, firmness, and steadiness
manifested by your Excellency in the various proceedings
you have thought it proper to adopt for punishing the
rebels and their abettors, for the security and protection
of his Majesty's faithful and loyal subjects in Dublin and
its vicinity," * * *

THE FIRST OF THE EXECUTIONS 369

Meanwhile, a Special Commission was sitting in Green
Street Court-house, Dublin, for the trial of the prisoners
arrested in the Thomas Street district on the night of the
Insurrection.

The Viceroy writes unofficially as follows to the Home
Secretary :

" Private and Confidential.

" Dublin Castle,

" 1st Sept. ,180;^.

" My dear Charles,

" I have great satisfaction in acquainting you that
the result of the two first days of the trials has been per-
fectly satisfactory. Yesterday, Kearney, who was taken
in the attack upon the barracks in Thomas Street, was
found guilty upon the clearest evidence. The Attorney-
General's speech was extremely good, and as there is a
tolerable report of it in the Dublin Evening Post, I have
sent you the paper. The man was executed to-day at
one o'clock in Thomas Street. His conduct was not
improper, for though he denied his guilt he said to the
people, ' This is a bad business, boys. I advise you to
have nothing more to do with it.'

" Major Huxley went into the midst of the crowd in
the street, and did not observe any unpleasant symptoms
in the countenances of the people, nor was any rebellious
expression uttered in his hearing. There was, however,
very little said of any sort, and the guard, of course,
rendered any attempt at riot perfectly hopeless. Two
others have been convicted to-day."

Chief Secretary Wickham writes a fuller and more
interesting account of the demeanour of Kearney in his
last hours to Pole Carew, of the Home Office :

" Dublin Castle,

" 15^ Sept., 1803.

" My dear Sir,

" Kearney, who was convicted yesterday, was
executed in Thomas Street to-day at one o'clock. His
conduct from the time of his conviction exhibited a
strange mixture of religion and profaneness, of truth
and hypocrisy, of loyalty and of attachment to the cause
for which he suffered.

370 CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION OF CRIMINALS

" Nothing could be more outrageous and indecent than
his behaviour in prison, and at the prison door when he
was brought out to be put into the cart. On his way to
the place of execution he prayed most devoutly, without
an3^thing of affectation or of religious enthusiasm. At
the gallows he exhorted the people in a firm, manl}^ voice,
and with some degree of eloquence, to avoid drinking in
publick-houses, which he said had brought him to his
untimely end, and not to engage in seditious or rebellious
practices, which could bring them to no good. He then
solemnly declared that he dyed an innocent man, for
that the witnesses against him had sworn that he was in
Thomas Street, where he solemnly declared that he had
never been that night.

" The fact is that he was taken with a pike in his hand,
stepping out before the party that he was leading, and
exhorting them to attack the military, by a soldier of the
2ist, who darted out of the ranks, seeing the man
advanced before his fellows, seized him, and delivered
him to his corporal. As to this point nothing could be
more clear than the evidence. But the place where this
happened being near the junction of Thomas Street and
James Street — which in fact are one and the same, the
one being a prolongation of the other — this poor deluded
wretch rested his charge of perjury on the witnesses, and
his proof of his own innocence, on the question whether
the troops had actually quitted James Street and entered
Thomas Street before he was taken.

" There was a prodigious crowd at the execution, which
took place in a wide street very much resembling Broad
St. Giles's. Not the least tumult or disorder, nor any
Irish groan, or sign of disapprobation of any kind.

" All is quiet and submission ; and if I am not very
much mistaken, indeed, all will remain so.

" Since I last wrote we have procured evidence against
Emmet which will make out the compleatest case of
circumstantial evidence that I ever remember to have
heard or read of. We trace him to the mountains in the
green uniform of which we have heard so much, and in
the character of a French General speaking broken English
to his followers. Two persons in whose house he took
refuge, with his followers, in the above disguise, have seen
him in Kilmainham Gaol, and sworn to him positively,
notwithstanding his change of dress, as the French General

FRESH EVIDENCE AGAINST EMMET 371

whom they saw in the mountains. They had first de-
scribed him so accurately in this room that no one who
had heard them, and who knew Emmet's person, could
suppose it possible that they could be mistaken.

" As soon as I have a little leisure you shall receive a
copy of Emmet's examination before the Chancellor, the
Attorney-General and myself. It is very curious, tho' it
makes no new discoveries.

" I send you a copy of a letter I received half an hour
since from the Solicitor-General on the subject of the trials
of to-day.

" A little patience, and Mr. Yorke and all Lord Hard-
wicke's friends will see his Excellency's character rise
out of this temporary cloud in a manner that will leave
to them nothing to regret, and entirely confound all his
enemies.

" Believe me to be, my dear Sir, most faithfully yours,

" Wm. Wickham.

" P.S. — I believe we have found a man who can identify
Emmet as one of the officers in green uniforms who were
in the depot. It is most provoking to think that eleven
men who were taken in the depot were so mixed in the
prison with fifty other prisoners that no one can now
venture to identify them."*

The following is the letter from James M'Clelland,
Solicitor-General, to which the Chief Secretary refers :

" Thursday evening, 1st Sept., 1803.

" My dear Sir,

" I am just returned from the Commission Court,
and have received your note. There were two prisoners
tried to-day, and both found guilty. The first was called
Roach, and his case exactly resembled the case of yester-
day. He was taken by the same party of the army, and
nearly at the same time as Kearney, who was convicted
yesterday.

" The second prisoner tried to-day was a man of the
name of Kirwan, who was proved to have assembled a
party of rebels in his house in Plunket Street on the night
of the 23rd of July, and to have sallied out at their head.

" He was defended by Mr. Curran, who made a most

* From Ireland, " Private and Secret, 1803." — Home Office
Papers.

24 — 2

372 CONFESSION 4ND ABSOLUTION OF CRIMINALS

extraordinary speech. He set out with praising Govern-
ment, congratulating the court on the loyalty of the great
majority of the people, professing his own loyalty, abusing
Buonaparte for his causing the present Rebellion, and
advising the mob, as an old friend, against their present
folly. So far his speech did him credit. But then, for-
getting all he had said, he occupied the court nearly an
hour in proving no Rebellion existed, and then sat down,
having totally forgotten his client in the transaction.

" I once thought it would have been necessary to have
spoken to evidence, in reply to Mr. Curran ; but the latter
part of his speech was so extravagant, and the witnesses
produced for the prisoner were guilty of such gross con-
tradictions, that I declined speaking.

" I think there could not be two more satisfactory
convictions than took place to-day."

* * *

Denis Lambert Redmond, a coal factor, with a large
place of business on the Quays, was one of the few Dublin
traders intimately associated with the conspiracy. In
the elaborate plan of campaign drawn up by Emmet the
duty assigned to Redmond was to lead a large force of
the rebels from the Quays to an attack on the Castle,
while Emmet himself advanced from Thomas Street.
On the night of July 23, after the collapse of the insur-
rection, Redmond fled from Dublin, and was arrested a
few days subsequently as he was about to leave Newry
in a vessel bound for America.

On September 4 Dr. Trevor of Kilmainham Gaol writes
as follows to the Chief Secretary :

*' Redmond proposes to make a full discovery of all the
sources from which money was advanced to the rebel
chiefs ; of all persons concerned ; of the place and
manner of procuring ammunition, and of everything done
within his knowledge either in France, England or Ireland.
But, as a preliminary to this, he requires an interview
with R. Emmet of an hour in order to settle with him the
conditions of such explicit confession, and have his assist-
ance therein."*

* Home Office Papers.

THE REBEL LEADER REDMOND 373

To this the Chief Secretary returned the following
reply :

" The proposed interview with Mr. Emmet is totally
inadmissible. With respect to the terms on which any
discovery is to be made, Government will bind itself only
to this, that such discovery shall not in any way be made
use of on the trial of Mr. Redmond. As to everything
else, Mr. Redmond must rely on the discretion of the
Government, which will be regulated by the importance
of the discovery, and the use that may be made of it. It
is also thought fit to apprize Mr. Redmond that his trial
must proceed to-morrow morning, unless some previous
communication from him to Government shall induce a
change."*

On September 5 the Viceroy writes to the Home Secre-
tary that Redmond had that morning shot himself with
a pistol just as he was about to be removed from New-
gate Gaol to Green Street Court-house for trial. His
Excellency proceeds :

" He placed the pistol to his head, just above the ear,
but the surgeon who examined the wound reported that
the ball had not entered the skull, and that he might
possibly recover. This evening, I am informed that he
has made application in writing for some whey, and has
shown other symptoms of sensibility, so that he may
possibly yet survive to take his trial.

" We are endeavouring to ascertain the means by which
he became possessed of a pistol ; and it appears that this
morning he was visited by a Mrs. Hatshell, his aunt,
Redmond, his cousin, a surgeon, Curran his counsel and
McNally,! an attorney. It is probable that the pistol
was brought by one of the two first. At any rate, the
prison, which is entirely under the jurisdiction of the city,
is very ill administered."

" A paper was found in his pocket of a most wicked
and malignant description, which appears to have been
written this morning. I enclose a copy of it, the only one
which has been made, for I do not think it is of a nature

* Home Office Papers.

t This McNally was a son of Leonard MacNally, barrister-at-
law and Government spy.

374 CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION OF CRIMINALS

that ought to be made pubHck. The prisoner who was
tried to-day, of the name of Clare, whose conviction was
thought the most doubtful, was found guilty."

The following is the document which was found in
Redmond's pocket. It is dated " New Prison, August 5th,
1803," but obviously the month should be September :

" To the Government.

" Remember that you have destroyed my property, my
liberty, and what is more you have drove me to a state of
desperation beyond conception, by your sanguinary pro-
ceedings this time back. For God sake stop your murder ;
that is, I mean, what you call executions. I do not mean
to resort to threats or menaces, for you well know how
you stand. You may rest assured there will be a retalia-
tion, and that shortly. For God's sake, I again beg of
you not to be bringing innocent men into trouble. I
will repeat it again, that there never was so wanton an
attack made upon any poor young man. It is enough
to disgrace the most savage nation. It is too well known
to the publick, and I am sure will never be forgot.

" What supposed lenient measures ! O my God, will
ever that day arrive when the liberty of the citizen will be
realized. Farewell, you tools of oppression. I will not
give you that satisfaction you so wantonly expected in
taking my life. I will be remembered when you are all
forgot. Adieu, you poor wretches. You will shortly
meet the fate of all tyrants.

" Citizen Denis Lambert Redmond.

" May God forgive me, as you have drove me to it.
O poor Emmet. He's deceived and betrayed into the
hands of a lawless enemy.

" O my dear friends, all is not over, thank God. May
God protect all the friends of Liberty. May God deliver
Mr. Emmet from the hands of his enemies, so I say.

" The very tortures that I have seen exercised by the
miscreants of Despotism on those poor men, who were
executed these few days back, previous to their being
executed, is beyond all the conception of liberal ideas.
Fellows grinning and laughing when they would ask a
question.

" Let my body not be ill used, but given to my friends,
that my dust may be with my poor father and mother.

REDMOND OFFERS TO MAKE DISCLOSURES 375

" Adieu, my fellow-prisoners, and may God protect you
in the hour of danger. Adieu ; adieu."

" My dear Lord," says Yorke, writing from Charles
Street, London, September 10, " yours of the 5th relat-
ing to Redmond, with its diabolical enclosure, is just
received. I hope his life will yet be preserved, to
be ultimately rendered up as an atonement for such
atrocious crimes."

The pious wish of Charles Yorke was fulfilled. Red-
mond recovered, and once more offered to make dis-
closures on condition that his life was spared. Dr. Trevor
reports to the Chief Secretary :

" September 30, 1803.

" Redmond is ready to give an account of his whole
proceedings from the loth July to the 23rd, as well as he
can recollect, except the names of the persons that he was
actually to command, who were of the inferior order.

" He will inform Government where he got acquainted
with the chiefs, as well as of the different plans for sur-
prising the capital, which he thinks Government is already
in possession of.

' After giving the foregoing information, and pleading
guilty to the indictment, he expects that his life shall be
spared, and sent within one month to any place, except
Botany Bay.

" He has no knowledge of any of the county of Wexford
men, or any other county. He is chiefly acquainted with
the lower order of Dublin men that are concerned ; he
thinks almost the whole of them.

" He will also inform the Government where the French
were to land. He says not in Bantry Bay.

" He will not be a prosecutor. The principal persons
engaged for Dublin are those already proclaimed. He
will inform of any other he can recollect.

" He was in company with four French officers. He
knows the names of two of them ; and one he believes to
be the rank of a General. He supped with them at the
Globe Coffee House. Mr. Emmet was of the party.

" There was a French officer to command in every
county in Ireland, and he believes that a great number
were in the country at the time of the Insurrection, and

376 CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION OF CRIMINALS

have since escaped to France. He also believes that the
principal Irish leaders engaged in the Rebellion have
reached France."*

The Chief Secretary, commenting on the statement
about the French officers, in the last paragraph writes :
" I incline to think that this language was holden by the
principal conspirators to keep up the spirits and hopes
of their followers ;" and with respect to the assertion that
the principal Irish leaders had reached France, he says :
" This is not true with respect to the great majority of
them." He further writes : " I am nearly satisfied there
were no French officers in Dublin. I also believe that
Redmond was not admitted into the conspiracy till very
late."

The Executive came to the conclusion that Redmond
could tell them nothing about the Insurrection which
they did not already know. " His offer," writes the Chief
Secretary, " was rejected on account of his persisting in
his refusal to disclose any names but those which were
already known to the Government."!

Redmond was brought to trial for high treason, and
convicted. What happened, the Lord Lieutenant tells
his brother in the following " private and confidential "
unofficial letter :

" Dublin Castle,

''Oct. sih, 1803.
" My dear Charles,

" The trial of Redmond came on to-day, and he
was convicted on evidence as clear as any of those who
have been found guilty since the opening of the Special
Commission. It is very extraordinary that after having
offered to disclose whatever he knew before the day was
originally fixed for the trial, and having attempted to
destroy himself after this offer was rejected, he should have
gloried in his guilt instead of attempting either to disprove
or to palliate it. I understand his speech to the Court,
after the verdict was pronounced, was entirel}' of that
tendenc}^ extolling the French Government, and repre-

* Home Office Papers. t Ibid.

CONVICTION OF REDMOND 377

senting it as the hope to which the people of this country
were to look to overthrow their own. He will be executed
to-morrow opposite his house on the Coal Quay, where
there was a bonfire on the 14th of July to commemorate
the French Revolution, which, it is highly probable, was
furnished by Redmond himself.

" Keenan was executed this day. Mackintosh, who was
hanged on Monday, confessed his guilt, but refused to
address the people. He was the person who hired the
house in Patrick-street, and who was taken at Arklow
after the 23rd of July. He came from Scotland about the
year 1793, and having married a sister of Keenan, died a
Roman Catholick. He had positively denied any know-
ledge of the conspiracy, and refused to give any informa-
tion whatever, tho' he might have saved his life and
returned to his own countr}^ in perfect safety."

* * *

In the course of the executions an interesting question
arose as to the demeanour of the convicts who were
attended to the scaffold by priests :

" Dublin Castle,

" Sept. loth, 1803.

" Sir,

" A question has arisen since the commencement
of the trials which, as deserving of importance from cir-
cumstances with which it is connected, I think it right
to communicate to you for the information of his Majesty's
confidential servants, in order that if it should be neces-
sary I may receive his Majesty's commands upon the
subject.

" The two first prisoners who were found guilty before
the Special Commission were not attended by any priest
either to administer the sacrament to them in prison,
or to receive their confession at the place of execution.
As soon as I learned this circumstance, which was entirely
unknown to me till after the second execution, I directed
an inquiry to be made into the cause of the omission,
and found that the sheriffs of the city had taken upon
themselves to prevent the attendance of a priest on the
prisoners in Newgate. Considering, however, that persons
who had been permitted by the State to be brought up
in a particular religion had a right to the consolation it
might afford in their last moments, and that no justi-

378 CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION OF CRIMINALS

fiable cause could be alledged for denying it, I directed
immediate orders to be given for the admission of priests
to the other convicts.

" Strong representations have since been made by the
sheriffs in consequence of their observations on the
different conduct of the prisoners who had been so cir-
cumstanced, as they have not been disposed to confess
or admit their crimes, and appear to consider themselves
as having satisfied every duty by communicating with
the priest, whilst the two convicts to whom I have
referred, not only admitted their guilt, but exhorted the
people to avoid the crime of rebellion. The others who
communicated with a priest exhorted the people to give
up their pikes and abstain from rebellious practices, but
have uniformly declared that they died innocent,

" Whence does the difference of the conduct of the
persons so circumstanced arise ? Is it that they mean
to deny the proof of their guilt, and to arraign the ad-
ministration of publick justice, or that they consider
themselves as perfectly absolved and restored to inno-
cence by the absolution of the priest ? Certain it is,
however, that representations have been made to me
that it is generally understood that the confession to the
priest answers every purpose and every duty, and super-
cedes the necessity of any confession to the Govern-
ment, or any admission of the crimes which have been
proved.

" I have thought these circumstances and the observa-
tions so stated of so serious a nature, that I have directed
Mr. Wickham to inquire of Dr. Troy into the truth of
these allegations, and beg leave to refer you to his account
of the substance of his conversation with Dr. Troy upon
the subject, herewith enclosed.

" I trust you will agree with me in thinking that I
could not have properly sanctioned a refusal to the
convicts of a priest of their own religion. It appeared
to me, therefore, that the middle way was not to
permit the priest to be alone with the prisoners at the
time of their receiving the confession and administering
the sacrament. But this seemed to be a point of so much
importance connected with the discussions that have
taken place, that I cannot help considering it as a ques-
tion of State, and have not thought it advisable to take
that step without knowing the opinion of His Majesty's

DECLARATIONS BY CONDEMNED PRISONERS 379

Ministers, and receiving his Majesty's commands. All
that I have thought myself at liberty to do, in a question
of so delicate a nature, is to ensure the attendance of a
priest of good and respectable character, and not to
suffer the interference of those priests with whom the
prisoners may have been in the habit of communicating,
and to whose assistance they would naturall}^ be desirous
of resorting.

" I cannot conclude without observing that the publick
declarations of innocence which are so frequently made
in this country by persons of the Roman Catholic re-
ligion, who suffer by the sentence of the Law, are by no
means confined to crimes of treason and rebellion, but
that they are generally made by all who suffer, whether
for crimes against the State or of any other description.
It would not, therefore, be fair to presume that the
priests inculcate concealment from improper motives, or
confine their injunctions to concealment (if such are
actually made) to crimes of treason and rebellion ; but
that the unfortunate culprits consider themselves re-
stored to innocence in consequence of the absolution of
their priests, without meaning to arraign the justice of
their sentence, or to deny their having committed the
crime for which they are condemned to suffer.

" If the subject appears to you to be of sufficient con-
sequence, I would suggest the propriety of putting some
questions to the Roman Catholic bishops in England,
and to ascertain from any of the emigrant French bishops
or clergy, with whom it may be thought proper to com-
municate, how far the practice of considering the con-
fession of a criminal to a priest as superceding the neces-
sity of a confession to the State obtained in France under
the old Church, or is understood to prevail in countries
where the Roman Catholic religion is established, and
whether in such countries the priest to whom confession
of a crime had been made would consider himself at
liberty to grant absolution until the same confession
had been reported to the Government or to the police
of the country.

" I have the honour to be, with great truth and respect.
Sir, your most obedient and faithful servant,

" Hardwicke.*

"The Right Hon. Charles Yorke.''

* Home Of&ce Papers.

38o CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION OF CRIMINALS

The following is the Chief Secretary's report :

" Dublin Castle,

"Sept. loth, 1803.

" According to your Excellency's desire, I have seen
Dr. Troy, the titular Archbishop of Dublin, and had a
long conversation with him on the subject of the received
opinions of the Romish Church with respect to what
they call the Sacrament of Penance, of which confession
and absolution make a part.

" I first asked him whether confession could be re-
ceived and absolution given in the hearing of a third
person, spiritual or layman ? To which he answered,
' No, not in any case.'

" I then asked him whether the priest receiving con-
fession considered himself at liberty to disclose the whole
or any part of what should be revealed to him, either to
the Government of the country, or to any other person ?
To this he answered that the priest was not only not at
liberty to disclose, but was bound not to disclose any
part of such confession either to the Government of the
country or to any other person whatever ; and that the
same rule held good whether the confession was or was
not sufficiently full and sincere to entitle the person who
made it to receive absolution.

" But he said that if in confession any plot against
the existing Government were disclosed to the priest he
would be bound to give information to Government that
such plot was in agitation, taking care to say nothing that
could in any way lead to a suspicion of the person from
whom, or the manner in which, the information had been
obtained.

" I then asked him whether such confession so made
to the priest, particularly in the case of a crime against
the State, was considered as a full atonement, so as to
entitle the penitent to absolution without a disclosure of
such crime being first made by him to the police or to
the Government of the country ? To this the Doctor
answered very distinctly that he did not consider the
confession to the priest alone, under such circumstances,
a sufficient atonement ; and that either the priest ought
to insist on such confession to the State or to the police
being previously made, or to enjoin the making such dis-
closure subsequent to absolution, in like manner as
penance is enjoined under similar circumstances, which

ARCHBISHOP TROY ON ABSOLUTION 381

latter mode he admitted to be the more usual practice
here.

" I then asked him whether, if absolution should be
denied to a prisoner on the ground of his refusing to
make to the Government of the country that disclosure
which he had already made to the priest, it would be
competent to the priest to state to Government the fact
that he had denied the man absolution, and if so, whether
he would be at liberty to state his reason for such denial ?
To this the Doctor answered that the priest could not,
consistently with the principles and practice of the
Romish Church, declare to the Government, or to any
other person spiritual or temporal (not even to the Pope),
that he had refused absolution to any individual, under
any circumstances whatever.

" I then asked whether if the priest had a thorough
persuasion in his own mind that a criminal had made a
full confession of his crime, and was sincerely penitent,
he could grant him absolution, tho' the form of confes-
sion could not be strictly performed in all its parts in
the manner required by the Catholic Church ? To this
he answered that he unquestionably might grant abso-
lution in such a case, as for instance where a man was
deprived of his speech by a stroke of the palsy, or any
other visitation of God, and that in such case he should
consider the Sacrament of Penance as complete.

" On putting this last question, I warned him that it
had a practical object in view — meaning that he should
understand that I looked to the possibility of its being
necessary that the priest should not be left alone with
the prisoners now under sentence of death, and I am
persuaded that he so understood me.

"Wm. Wickham."*

The Home Office Papers, " Ireland, Private and Secret,
1803," contain the draft of the Home Secretary's reply
to this important communication from the Lord Lieu-
tenant of Ireland. This very document appears to have
been laid for approval before the Cabinet, for it contains
on the margins written comments by several Ministers,
including " Eldon," the Lord Chancellor, and " H. A."
(Henry Addington), the Prime Minister. The following
is a copy of the draft :

* Home Of&ce Papers.

382 CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION OF CRIMINALS

" Whitehall,

"Sept. 28ih, 1803.

" My Lord,

" I should sooner have acknowledged your Ex-
cellency's confidential despatch of the loth inst. (re-
ceived here on the i6th), communicating some very inter-
esting and important information respecting certain
tenets of the Popish Church, with reference to the Sacrr-
ment of Penance and Confession, and to its effects upon
the minds of some of the ignorant and misguided Rebels
who have lately undergone the punishment due to their
crimes, had I not waited for the result of a communica-
tion which it was thought proper to make to some of the
most respectable clergy of that persuasion at this time in
England.

" Having in the course of yesterday been enabled to
meet with Dr. Douglas, one of the principal titular
bishops near London,* I had the opportunity of examin-
ing him very fully upon the subject, taking for my guide
the outline of the questions so ably and judiciously put
to Dr. Troy by Mr. Wickham. I have now the honour
to inclose for your Excellency's information the sub-
stance of that conversation, which I hope will prove
satisfactory, and not the less so because it appears to
differ in some material particulars from the doctrines
laid down by the Catholic Archbishop on your side the
water.

" Indeed, it appears to me that the principles avowed
by Dr. Douglas are much more consistent with the dic-
tates of genuine Christianity, sound morality, and true
policy, than those of Dr. Troy, which are indeed suffi-
ciently mischievous, and calculated, when combined with
Jacobin Plots, and the system of United Irishmen, to
give every possible effect to detestable intrigue and
treasonable conspiracies.!

" I have likewise the honour to transmit for your

* Note by the Lord Chancellor : "I think it necessary to
avoid using any such expression as ' Titular Bishop.' In this
country I have doubts whether it is not giving a sanction to a
name which it might be possibly thought a misdemeanour for
the person to arrogate to himself ; perhaps a few years ago a
very considerable misdemeanour. — Eldon."

t Notes by Ministers : " The censure upon Dr. Troy, con-
trasted with the commendation of the other priest, appears to
me more severe than the difference in their opinions would seem
to warrant." — W. " Is this paragraph necessary ?" — H. A.

THE VIEWS OF THE CABINET 383

Excellency's perusal an original paper containing answers
to certain questions proposed by me to that excellent and
respectable prelate, the Bishop of St. Pole de Leon, which
will be found to agree much more with the tenets of Dr.
Douglas than with those of the titular Archbishop of
Dublin. It is altogether a curious document, and worth
perusing.

" Having communicated your Excellency's letter with
its inclosure to his Majesty's confidential servants, I have
the satisfaction to find that we are of the same opinion
with respect to the judgment and propriety of the steps
taken by your Excellency with regard to the criminals
in need of the spiritual assistance of Catholic confessors.
It appears to be absolutely essential that the priests who
may be permitted to give their attendance in cases of this
nature should be persons of respectability, and whose
moral characters are known to be unimpeach'd.* They
should, if possible, be likewise such as are conscientiously
convinced that no criminal can be entitled to the benefit
of absolution who is not fully determined to make all the
atonement in his power by disclosing such wicked and
malignant plots as he may be privy to, either against the
Government of the country or the safety of individuals.

" With such a persuasion, and under the influence of
such salutary exhortation, no great mischief can be
apprehended from the admission of Catholic confessors
to condemned criminals. Where such persuasion and
exhortation is suppressed, or unavailable, the office of
the priest is nothing more than a mockery, and the
penitent cannot be considered as being in a state of mind
proper to receive the benefit of the Rite, such as it is.

" With regard to what your Excellency suggests about
the authorized presence of a third person at the time of
receiving the confession and absolution by criminals
under sentence of death, I confess that I cannot but con-
sider it a very delicate subject. With the consent of
the penitent there can be no question but that a third

* Note by the Lord Chancellor : "In the case of O'Coigley
[Father O'Coigley, an Irish priest, was convicted of high trea-
son at Maidstone in 1798 and hanged] at Maidstone, I believe
the person called the Titular Bishop of London in this paper,
but certainly some considerable member of that persuasion,
recommended, at the desire of Government, a priest to attend
him, and from that moment all information was lost. Lord
Redesdale will remember this." — E.

384 CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION OF CRIMINALS

person may be present at such confession and absolution,

but if he objects to it it appears to me that to insist upon

the intervention of another auditor, is, in fact, to deprive

him of the benefit of such spiritual assistance as he

requires, just as much as if the priest were altogether

prohibited from seeing him.*

" Charles Yorke."
* * *

There is another interesting side issue to the story of
the Insurrection. It deals with the action of the Duke of
Leinster at Maynooth on the night of July 23, 1803. His
Grace did not stand well with the Government. He was
the brother of Lord Edward FitzGerald, the leader of
the United Irishmen of 1798. He had opposed the
Union, and Kildare, where his property was situated,
and where his influence was predominant, was the most
disloyal county in Ireland. Here is a letter he sent to
the Viceroy, reporting the occurrences at Maynooth on
the night of July 23 :

" Carton,

" Ji'^h 24, 1803.

" My Lord,

" It is with infinite concern that I am to inform
your Excellency of a very extraordinary event that took
place last night at Maynooth. The town had been alarmed
in the course of the day by a report that the town was to
be attacked by a set of people, and that they intended to
stop the mail coach last night. As the report was so
universal, and so much talked of that I thought it could
not be intended, knowing that various reports were
spread. Had they only mentioned the mail coach I
should have informed the Post Office, but the report
mentioned there was also to be a Rising in Dublin, but
I did not think the reports came to me from good
authority.

" However, before ten o'clock, just at dark, a number

* Note by the Lord Chancellor : "I think it very dif&cult to
deny to the convict the assistance of the priest, of whom the best
opinion can be formed. I am tolerably certain, however, as I
understand the case of O'Coigley, that where a respectable
opinion is formed the effect of the attendance is likely, possibly,
to be the same, or nearly the same, as if any person had been
received. But still I think, under all the circumstances, the
assistance cannot be denied." — Eldon.

THE DUKE OF LEINSTER 385

of people sallied out of the different publick-hoiises,
better dressed, as I am informed, than the commonality
of labourers, marched about the town, arm in arm. After
some time they stopped a carriage, fired a pistol, and gave
a huzza, and then all was quiet and no noise heard. They
soon after parted, and the great part of them went off
towards Salins. About thirty, they say, stayed to
attack the mail coach, which, I understand, escaped by
the coachman driving ; that one of the guards is wounded.
There certainly was not much firing, as I had people up
all night watching. Indeed, I did not go to bed till day-
light.

" There being no troops at Maynooth, I since under-
stand they carried off two inhabitants with them, and
several horses ; that they went towards Kill on the great
Munster road, where they expect to be joined by the
people from the mountains. I should hope that your
Excellency will be so good as to order a part of the Army
to Maynooth, as I understand there are but very few at
Kilcock."

By order of the Lord Lieutenant an inquiry was held
at Maynooth, and the result is thus communicated by
his Excellency to the Home Secretary, Charles Yorke :

"Dublin Castle,

" August zgth, 1803.

" My dear Charles,

" You will receive by this mail an official letter
enclosing a report from the Solicitor-General on the
subject of the rising at Maynooth, on the evening of the
23rd of July, and the proceedings of the rebels in the
county of Kildare at that time. I think it, however,
necessary so far to explain the Solicitor-General's report
as to say that no imputation has fallen on the Duke of
Leinster of any previous knowledge of the Insurrection.
It is, however, difficult to suppose that some few members
of the College* were not acquainted with it.

" But though I have no belief that the Duke of Leinster
had any previous knowledge of the intentions of the people
at Maynooth, yet I am sorry to say that such has been the
state of the county of Kildare since the Rebellion in 1798
as to require at all times the particular attention of

* The college for the training of the Irish priesthood at
Maynooth.

386 CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION OF CRIMINALS

Government, and that there is a more general and rooted
spirit of disaffection in that county than in any other
part of Ireland. This circumstance, which is very unfor-
tunate on account of the vicinity of Kildare to the
Metropolis, is in a great measure, if not entirely, to be
attributed to the industry with which Lord Edward Fitz-
Gerald corrupted the whole of the county ; and to the
impression which has been very generally conceived by
the lower orders of people that the Duke of Leinster
approved of this conduct, an idea which originated in
the part taken by his brother, and which never has been
counteracted by any decisive line of conduct on the part
of his Grace.

" When it was first proposed by the magistrates to
proclaim the county the Duke of Leinster declared he
should set his face against it, but when it was distinctly
explained to him that it was necessary to enforce the
Insurrection Act in the counties near Dublin, he not only
acquiesced in it, but signed the memorial and brought it
to me himself ; and afterwards attended the Council, and
signed his name to the Proclamation. Indeed, so general
was the opinion of the magistrates upon the subject that
it would have been done at any rate ; but it was better
for the public, as well as for the Duke himself, that he
took the part he did."

The Home Secretary sent this communication to the
King, with the following note :

" Mr. Yorke most humbly presumes to submit the
enclosed letter from the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland,
received this day, and relating to the late seditious
practices in the county of Kildare, for your Majesty's
perusal."

" Whitehall,
" September 2nd, 1803."

His Majesty returned the letter with the following
endorsement :

" It is impossible to be more delicate than the Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland on the subject of the Duke of
Leinster, though Mr. Secretary Yorke must feel the
extreme weakness of the Duke's whole conduct. — G. R."

THE VICEROY ON LEINSTER'S CONDUCT 387

On September 4 the Lord Lieutenant sent the following
letter, marked " private and confidential," to the Home
Secretary :

" I had yesterday a visit from the Duke of Leinster,
who is much hurt at the reports which are circulating
against him, in consequence of the examination of a
person of the name of Collinson, son of the postmaster
at Maynooth. The information was stated in a paper
which I lately transmitted, and goes to the conduct of
one of his Grace's servants, who is said to have told the
rebels at Maynooth that if they would come to Carton
the arms would be delivered to them, and that they
would find supper on the table. The Duke said he must
justify himself to the public ; that he can no longer act
as a magistrate in the county of Kildare, etc., etc. I
advised him to do nothing hastily. That the informa-
tions given by those who are permitted to give informa-
tion are not publickly known unless they are acted upon
and the persons brought forward. The Solicitor-General's
inquiry as to the affair at Maynooth went not only to
facts relating to the attack on the mail coach, but to
the plans of the rebels of which it was not supposed his
Grace had previous knowledge. He added that he had
endeavoured to do his duty as a magistrate, but that he
would not fill the gaols. He proposed to converse with
Lord Redesdale upon the subject, to which I of course
assented.

" It is impossible exactly to know what the Duke of
Leinster means, for he converses so much in detached
sentences that he can be brought to no distinct point.
I believe he means well, but he is so much guided by
others and particularly by a Mr. Wogan Browne, who
was rather implicated in the Rebellion, that his conduct
is not only not useful to the public, but often embarrass-
ing to the Government. His compromise with the
people who attacked the mail coach at Maynooth on the
23rd July, and his receiving a few old arms and a pitch-
fork, are sufficient proofs of his want of judgment, firm-
ness, and decision. His county is, however, proclaimed,
and we shall act independently of any opinions he may
entertain upon the subject."

25-

CHAPTER VI

TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF EMMET

The Lord Lieutenant, in a " private and confidential "
letter to Charles Yorke, relating the discovery of the
writer of the letters to Emmet, says of John Philpot
Curran :

" Wickham has seen him, and he professes entire
ignorance of the connection between Emmet and his
daughter, but I think he must decline being counsel for
Emmet in a case in which his daughter may be impli-
cated. It is a very extraordinary story, and strengthens
the case against Emmet."

Curran threw up his brief for Emmet. He sent the
prisoner the following cold, curt note :

" Sept. loth, 1803.
" Sir,

" From the circumstances which you must sup-
pose have come to my knowledge, you could not have
been surprised at my intimation this morning to your agent
that I could not act as your Counsel. I write this merely
to suggest to you that if those circumstances be not
brought forward by Crown, which from their humanity
I hope will be suppressed, it cannot be of any advantage
to you to disclose them to your agent or Counsel.

" (Signed), J. P. Curran.*
"Robert Emmet, Esq."

The trial of the prisoner was consequently delayed, in
order that other counsel might be instructed. Ulti-
mately Leonard MacNally and Peter Burro wes were

* From "Ireland, Private and Secret, 1803 " (Home Of&ce Papers.)

388

CURRAN DECLINES TO BE EMMET'S COUNCIL 389

retained. It was MacNally, counsel for Emmet, whose
son was the prisoner's soHcitor, that suppHed the Irish
Executive with the information about Emmet referred to
in the following letter from Chief Secretary Wickham to
R. Pole Carew of the Home Office :

" Sept. 14, 1803.

" Inclosed I send you by Lord Lieutenant's commands
for Mr. Yorke's information two secret papers containing
some curious particulars respecting Emmet. They come
from a source upon which I can thoroughly depend.
Emmet was brought up to-day to plead. His trial comes
on on Monday. Counsellor Burton has refused to act for
him from a motive of delicacy. Emmet has in conse-
quence named Mr. Burrowes to be his Counsel. Mr.
MacNally is the other.

" I must not omit mentioning that I have the strongest
reason to believe that the person mentioned in the en-
closure (marked No. 2) as having gone to France on the
Tuesday after Emmet's arrest was specially instructed
to use every means in his power to prevail upon the French
Government to constitute the English prisoners now in
France hostages for such persons as might be taken up
by order of the Government here."*

The following are MacNally's communications :

" Enclosure i.

" Secret.

" Sept. 1 2th, 1803.

" Curran's refusing to act for Emmet will render him
very unpopular ; being assigned, the Party say he is
bound to act. Emmet, I have it from his agent, re-
ceived the account with perfect calmness, and without
the least agitation wrote him a long letter. I expect
there will be a motion on the subject this day in Court to
assign other Counsel.

" But of what use can Counsel be when, as I understand,
he will not controvert the charge by calling a single
witness ?

" Frank, the stockbroker of St. Andrew-street, says
that on the 22nd July there were not less than six priests

* From Home Office Papers,

390 TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF EMMET

at his office wanting to exchange bank-notes for guineas
under pretence of sending them to the North.

" Curran was cruelly agitated at the visit to his house ;
but speaks of the manner of doing it in very handsome
terms. He also feels greatly obliged to Mr. Wickham and
the Attorney-General."

" Enclosure 2.

" Secret.

" Sept. \2th, 1803.

" Emmet appears deeply affected on account of the
young lady whose letters are in the possession of Govern-
ment. He says he offered before the Privy Council to
plead guilty if they would suppress those letters, which
they refused and required him to give information with-
out mentioning names. That he declined this offer then ;
but proposed afterwards that if an accommodation was
entered into whereby the lives of others could be saved,
particularly of those condemned, he would require for him-
self only the suppression of the letters and stand his trial.
This, he says, was also refused, and nothing would satisfy
those he was before but individual information, which
he declined untill he could see Mr. Curran his then Counsel.

" He prevailed on a turnkey, the same evening, to

convey a letter to Miss S C , telling her to put

those letters she had in her possession out of the way, and
to deny having ever written to him. This messenger
was too late, and he was apprehended. He threw the
letter, he thought, into the river, but he supposes it fell
on the strand.

" On this subject his mind seems wholly bent, and
cruelly afflicted. For his own personal safety he appears
not to entertain an idea. He does not intend to call a
single witness, nor to trouble any witness for the Crown
with a cross-examination, unless they misrepresent facts.

" He expects that a person named Farrell, and another,
who were made prisoners at the depot in Dirty Lane, with
McCabe, will be witnesses against him.

" He received letters from France lately, but had not
the cypher to make out the contents ; but declares it
never was his intention that France should have a footing
in Ireland. I understand that a person went for France
on the Tuesday after Emmet was taken, on board a
neutral vessel from this port."

EMMET'S LETTER TO CURRAN 391

MacNally was wrong in his account of how Emmet's
letter to Sarah Curran fell into the hands of the Execu-
tive. He simply repeated the story of the ill-luck of the
turnkey, who was Emmet's messenger, which was told
to the prisoner by the gaol authorities. But as to that
the Government required no information from MacNally.
What was valuable to them was his disclosure of the
line of defence which Emmet intended to adopt. The
Executive also had an earlier intimation than Mac-
Nally's of the letter which Emmet had written to Curran.
It is a long letter, as MacNally describes it, and deeply
interesting :

" I did not expect you to be my counsel : I nominated
you becuse not to have done so might have appeared re-
markable. Had Mr. been in town I did not even

wish to have seen you, but as he was not I wrote to you
to come to me at once. I know that I have done you
very severe injury, much greater than I can atone for
with my life. That atonement I did offer to make before
the Privy Council, by pleading guilty if those documents
were suppressed. I offered more. I offered, if I was
permitted to consult some persons, and if they would
consent to an accommodation for saving the lives of
others, that I would only require for my part of it the
suppression of those documents, and that I would abide
the event of my own trial. This was also rejected, and
nothing but individual information (with the exception of
names) would be taken. My intention was not to leave
the suppression of those documents to possibility, but
to render it unnecessary for anyone to plead for me, by
pleading guilty to the charge myself.

" The circumstances that I am now going to mention
I do not state in my own justification. When I first
addressed your daughter I expected that in another
week my own fate would be decided. I knew that in
case of success many others might look on me differently
from what they did at that moment, but I speak with
sincerity when I say that I never was anxious for situa-
tion or distinction myself, and I did not wish to be united
to one who was. I spoke to your daughter neither ex-
pecting, nor, in fact, under those circumstances, wishing
that there should be a return of attachment, but wishing

392 TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF EMMET

to judge of her dispositions — to know how far they might
be not unfavourable or disengaged, and to know what
foundation I might afterwards have to count on. I re-
ceived no encouragement whatever. She told me she
had no attachment for any person, nor did she seem
likely to have any that could make her wish to quit you.

" I staid away till the time had elapsed when I found
that the event to which I alluded was to be postponed
indefinitely. I returned by a kind of infatuation, think-
ing that to myself only was I giving pleasure or pain.
I perceived no progress of attachment on her part, nor
anything in her conduct to distinguish me from a common
acquaintance.

" Afterwards I had reason to suppose that discoveries
were made, and that I should be obliged to quit the
Kingdom immediately ; and I came to make a renuncia-
tion of an}^ approach to friendship that might have been
formed. On that very day she herself spoke to me to
discontinue my visits. I told her that it was my intention,
and I mentioned the reason. I then for the first time
found, when I was unfortunate, by the manner in which
she was affected, that there was a return of affection, and
that it was too late to retreat. My own apprehensions,
also, I afterwards found were without cause, and I re-
mained.

" There has been much culpability on my part in all
this ; but there has also been a great deal of that misfor-
tune which seems uniformly to have accompanied me.

" That I have written to your daughter since an unfor-
tunate event has taken place was an additional breach
of propriety, for which I have suffered well. But I will
candidly confess that I not only do not feel it to have
been of the same extent, but that I consider it to have
been unavoidable after what has passed ; for though I
will not attempt to justify in the smallest degree my
former conduct, yet, when an attachment was once
formed between us— and a sincerer one never did exist —
I feel that, peculiarly circumstanced as I then was, to
have left her uncertain of my situation would neither
have weaned her affections nor lessened her anxiety ;
and looking upon her as one whom, if I had lived, I
hoped to have had my partner for life, I did hold the
removing of her anxiety above every other considera-
tion. I would rather have had the affections of your

PLUNKET'S SPEECH AT EMMET'S TRIAL 393

daughter in the back settlements of America, than the
first situation this country could afford without them.

" I know not whether this will be any extenuation of
my offence. I know not whether it will be any extenua-
tion of it to know that if I had that situation in my power
at this moment, I would relinquish it to devote my life
to her happiness. I know not whether success would
have blotted out the recollection of what I have done.
But I know that a man with the coldness of death on
him need be made to feel any other coldness, and that
he may be spared any addition to the misery he feels,
not for himself, but for those to whom he has left nothing

but sorrow.

* * *

On Monday, September 19, 1803, Robert Emmet was
arraigned for high treason in Green Street Court-house,
before a Special Commission — at which Lord Norbur}^,
Chief Justice of the Common Pleas (the " hanging judge "
of *98), presided — and a jury of Dublin citizens. The
Attorney - General (Standish O'Grady), the Solicitor-
General (James McLelland), and William Conyngham
Plunket, appeared for the Crown. The prisoner was
defended by Leonard MacNally and Peter Burrowes.
Witnesses were examined to prove that Emmet — as the
Attorney-General expressed it — was " the origin, the
life, and the soul " of the Insurrection. No evidence
was produced for the defence. MacNally said the
prisoner had no desire to take up the time of the Court
by making a defence, and had instructed his counsel not
to address the jury on his behalf. The death sentence
— in Emmet's opinion — had already been pronounced at
Dublin Castle. Though no witnesses for the defence had
been called, Plunket replied on behalf of the Crown. In
the course of his strenuous and eloquent resistance to the
measure of the Union in the Irish House of Commons,
Plunket had declared that if the Bill were carried he
would fling his allegiance to the winds, and bring his
children to the altar to swear eternal hostility to the
Union. His gratuitous speech at the trial of Robert
Emmet was intended by Plunket as a recantation of

394 TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF EMMET

these opinions, which, so far, had been an obstacle to
his promotion. Ireland, he declared, was enjoying the
blessings of a venerable Constitution, and growing rich
and happy under it. At such a time an infamous con-
spiracy was formed for the separation of Ireland from
Great Britain. " To sever the connexion between
Great Britain and Ireland!" he exclaimed, and went
on :

" Gentlemen, I should feel it a waste of words and of
public time were I to talk of the frantic desperation of
the plan of any man who speculates upon the dissolution
of that Empire, whose glory and whose happiness depend
upon its indissoluble connexion. But were it practicable
to sever that connexion, to untie the links that bind us
to the British Constitution, and to turn us adrift upon
the turbulent ocean of revolution, who could answer
for the existence of Ireland as an independent country
for a year ? God and nature have made the two countries
essential to each other ; let them cling to each other to
the end of time, and their united affection and loyalty
will be proof against the machinations of the world."

The jury, without leaving the box, found the prisoner
guilty. " Prisoner at the bar," said the Clerk of the
Crown, " have you anything to say why judgment of
death and execution should not be awarded against you,
according to law ?" Yes, he had something to say to
vindicate the principles for which his young life was
about to be sacrificed, and he said it in one of the noblest
speeches that have ever been delivered from the dock
under the shadow of the scaffold. Emmet looked death
in the face with the fortitude and serenity of twenty-
five. He was young, and therefore indifferent to his fate.
Being young, he desired to leave the world grandly, with
flying colours. It was now half-past nine o'clock at
night. The trial had begun at half-past nine o'clock in
the morning. For twelve hours Emmet had stood in the
dock. There was no interruption for refreshment, no
interval for rest. The proceedings had been pushed on
pitilessly by the judges to their grim and gruesome
finish. A sprig of lavender, handed to the prisoner to

THE SPEECH FROM THE DOCK 395

relieve the oppression of the heated atmosphere of the
crowded court, was snatched away by his guards. It
was feared it might contain poison. Unworthy sus-
picion ! The hangman's halter had no degradation for
that serene, indomitable young soul in the dock. So
with exalted spirits Emmet delivered, in vindication of
his policy, a deathless oration, which alone would have
preserved his memory green in Ireland for all time. He
spoke for an hour. His voice was clear and distinct, its
cadences being modulated to suit the sentiments, and as
he warmed to his address he moved rapidly but not un-
gracefully about the dock.

Perhaps the most remarkable passages in the speech
are those in which the young revolutionary repelled the
charge that he was an emissary of France, and that his
object was to establish French power in Ireland. He
said :

" Connexion with France was, indeed, intended, but
only as far as mutual interest would sanction or require.
Were they to assume any authority inconsistent with
the purest independence of Ireland it would be the signal
for their destruction. We sought their aid, and we
sought it — as we had assurance we should obtain it — as
auxiliaries in war, and allies in peace. Were the French
to come as invaders or enemies, uninvited by the wishes
of the people, I should oppose them to the utmost of
my strength. Yes, my countrymen, I should advise you
to meet them upon the beach, with a sword in one hand
and a torch in the other, I would meet them with all
the destructive fury of war. I would animate my
countrymen to immolate them in their boats before they
had contaminated the soil of my country. If they suc-
ceeded in landing, and if forced to retire before superior
discipline, I would dispute every inch of ground, burn
every blade of grass, and the last intrenchment of liberty
should be my grave. What I could not do myself, if
I should fall, I should leave as a last charge to my country-
men to accomplish ; because I should feel conscious
that life, even more than death, would be unprofitable
when a foreign nation held my country in subjection.
Reviewing the conduct of France towards other countries,

396 TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF EMMET

could we expect better towards us ? No ! Let not,
then, any man attaint my memory by believing that I
could have hoped to give freedom to my country by
betraying the sacred cause of liberty, and committing
it to the power of her most determined foe. Had I done
so I had not deserved to live ; and dying with such a
weight upon my character, I had merited the honest
execration of that country which gave me birth, and to
which I would give freedom."

Here is the memorable peroration, answering to
Burke's description of perfect oratory — " half poetry,
half prose ": ,

" I have but a few more words to say. I am going
to my cold and silent grave — my lamp of life is nearly
extinguished — my race is run — the grave opens to
receive me, and I sink into its bosom. I have but one
request to ask at my departure from this world : it is
the charity of its silence. Let no man write my epitaph ;
for, as no man who knows my motives dare now vindicate
them, let not prejudice or ignorance asperse them. Let
them and me rest in obscurity and peace, and my tomb
remain uninscribed, and my memory in oblivion, until
other times and other men can do justice to my character.
When my country takes her place among the nations of
the earth, then, and not till then, let my epitaph be
written. I have done."

Norbury sentenced him to be executed in Thomas
Street — the scene of the Insurrection — the next after-
noon. He passed for a wit, this judge. Yet he was a
callous — indeed, a brutal — man. There are stories told of
his unseasonable jests at the expense of men whom he
was consigning to the gallows. " Give me a long day,
my lord !" exclaimed one poor wretch as Norbury put
on the black cap. " You shall have it, my boy," replied
the judge, " for to-morrow is the 2ist of June, the
longest day of the year." But the pathos, the tragedy,
of the present scene touched him deeply, and on con-
cluding the sentence he burst into tears. As Emmet was
being removed from the dock, his counsel, Leonard Mac-
Nally, flung his arms around him and kissed him on the

THE KISS OF A JUDAS 397

forehead. It was the kiss of a Judas ! It is ever thus
in the records of Irish conspiracy — the vilest treachery
walks hand in hand with the noblest heroism. Surely,
in the black record of human baseness there is no
viler name than that of " Leonard MacNally the incor-
ruptible."*

The Lord Lieutenant, writing that night from Dublin
Castle a private letter to Charles Yorke, acquainting him
of Emmet's conviction, says :

" It is a most fortunate circumstance that the evidence
against this man was so complete, for singular as it may
appear, though we were in possession of several letters
and papers that were written by him, it was impossible
to obtain proof of his handwriting. He seems to have
practised the writing of different hands ; and though he
was educated at the College, and had resided so much in
Dublin, there was no person to be found who could prove
his handwriting in a legal manner."

The official despatch of the Viceroy to the Home Secre-
tary was as follows :

" Dublin Castle,

" Sept. 20, 1803.

" Sir,

" The trial of Emmet, which was brought forward
yesterday, terminated, as there was every reason to con-
clude, in a conviction upon the clearest and most satis-
factory evidence ; and it is universally admitted that a
more complete case of treason was never stated in a court
of justice.

" He produced no witnesses and made no defence, but
after the verdict of guilty was pronounced by the jury
he was permitted to address the Court before the passing

* Mr. Edward B. Fitton writes to me from Malvern,
September 13, 1903 : " My father was at a Dublin school when
about six years old with Robert Emmet and Tom Moore, the
poet. He always retained a great affection for Robert Emmet,
who was a fellow-student at Trinity College, as well as an early
school-mate. My father, with other members of the College
Corps of Volunteers, was in court at Emmet's trial, and he and
other students in uniform shook hands with the prisoner in the
dock when the trial was over, and got into serious trouble for
so-called disloyalty in having shaken hands with a convicted
traitor while wearing the King's uniform."

398 TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF EMMET

of the sentence. He admitted the facts that had been
proved, but disclaimed the character of a French agent,
and intention of reducing his country under the subjec-
tion of France ; but persisted in the opinion he had
entertained and the principles in which he had been
educated. He was more than once interrupted by the
Judge, and was prevented from proceeding to the con-
clusion of his speech, which appeared rather calculate!
to excite the indignation than the pity of those who were
present,"

* * *

Chief Secretary Wickham, writing to Pole Carew of the
Home Office about the trial, says :

" Mr. Yorke will have observed that the Attorney-
General, when he gave in evidence such parts of the
young lady's letter found upon Emmet as it was found
necessary to produce, stated boldly that the letter from
which the extract was made had been written by a
brother conspirator. Unfortunately, a barrister of the
name of Huband, who is said to have paid his addresses
formerly to the young lady, recognised the handwriting
when the letter was laid on the table."

Wickham adds :

" I ought to add that the discretion and ability of the
law servants of the Crown is the subject of universal
praise here. I hope you will have read Plunket's speech
with attention. It is not so well given as the Attorney-
General's, because of his rapid manner of speaking, which
made it more difficult to follow him ; but enough appears
to satisfy you that it must have been a most masterly
performance. There is, indeed, but one opinion on the
subject."*

Nevertheless, the trial of Emmet casts a black shadow
over the otherwise brilliant lustre of the Irish Bar. The
end of the eighteenth century and the opening of the
nineteenth is regarded as its most illustrious period.
Surely, it is also its most infamous ! In its ranks at
that time were men of imperishable renown, and piti-

* From Home Office Papers.

EMMET'S LAST HOURS 399

able creatures, self-seeking and base. John Philpot
Curran, cruel to his daughter because he thought her
relations with Emmet would spoil his chance of pro-
motion to the bench. William Conyngham Plunket,
atoning for his opposition to the Union by gratuitously
libelling Emmet in a speech to the jury. Leonard Mac-
Nally, betraying to the Government the compromising
statements of his trustful and unsuspecting client.
Each debased himself for preferment and pelf. What
an ignoble trio ! Truly, in Green Street Court-house,
Dublin, on that September 19, 1803, honour, purity of
motive, self-sacrifice, heroism, were to be found only in

the dock.

* * *

Emmet was brought back to Kilmainham Gaol at
midnight. He stayed up most of the night writing.
He wrote for his brother, Thomas Addis Emmet, one
of the leaders of the United Irishmen, and at the time
an exile in Paris for his complicity in the Rebellion of
1798, a long account of his military plans for the seizure
of Dublin — very coherent, very lucid — and a defence of
his policy, wonderfully vigorous, wonderfully buoyant,
for a youth with Death waiting at his elbow. Could
there be a more striking proof of his amazing courage ?
This extraordinary document was sent by the Lord
Lieutenant, not to the dear brother for whom it was
written, but to the Home Secretary.

" Sir," says his Excellency in the official letter which
accompanied it, " the enclosed paper, which contains an
account of the plans and objects of the late conspiracy,
as well as the means b}^ which it was intended to make
the attempt, being of the most important and interesting
nature, I think it right to send you the original in the
handwriting of Mr. Robert Emmet, in order that it may
be placed among the Secret Papers of the Office."

This historical document is included in the volumes of
Home Office Papers marked " Ireland, Private and Secret,
1803." I perused it with the intensest interest, and

400 TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF EMMET

marvelled at the fortitude and resolute purpose of the
young conspirator in devoting the dreary night hours
between his trial and execution to the preparation of
this elaborate and detailed story of his plot and schemes,
cogently composed, written in flowing characters, cover-
ing the four sides of a sheet of foolscap, with but few
erasures or alterations.

Emmet also addressed a communication to " the
Right Hon. W. Wickham, Chief Secretary for Ireland,"
acknowledging the delicacy with which he had been
treated by the authorities, admitting the mildness of
the existing Irish Administration, the interest of the Lord
Lieutenant in the well-being and contentment of the
people, but justifying, nevertheless, his attempt to over-
throw the British Government in Ireland on the ground
that its influence generally was baneful. The communi-
cation concludes with elaborate courtesy : " I have the
honour to be, Sir, with the greatest respect, your most
obedient servant, Robert Emmet." There was, besides, a
pathetic epistle addressed to his friend and companion,
the brother of her whom he so dearly loved, intended,
surely, for her :

" My dearest Richard,

" I find I have but a few hours to live ; but if it
was the last moment, and that the power of utterance
was leaving me, I would thank you from the bottom of
my heart for your generous expressions of affection and
forgiveness to me. If there was anyone in the world in
whose breast my death might be supposed not to stifle
every spark of resentment, it might be you. I have
deeply injured you — I have injured the happiness of a
sister that you love, and who was formed to give happi-
ness to everyone about her, instead of having her own
mind a prey to affliction. Oh ! Richard, I have no
excuse to offer, but that I meant the reverse ; I in-
tended as much happiness for Sarah as the most ardent
love could have given her I never did tell you how
much I idolized her. It was not with a wild or un-
founded passion, but it was an attachment increasing
every hour, from an admiration of the purity of her
mind and respect for her talents. I did dwell in secret

"MY LOVE, SARAH!" 401

upon the prospect of our union. I did hope that suc-
cess, while it afforded the opportunity of our union,
might be a means of confirming an attachment which
misfortune had called forth. I did not look to honours
for myself — praise I would have asked from the lips of
no man ; but I would have wished to read in the glow
of Sarah's countenance that her husband was respected.

" My love, Sarah ! it was not thus that I thought to
have requited your affection. I did hope to be a prop
round which your affections might have clung, and
w^hich would never have been shaken ; but a rude blast
has snapped it, and they have fallen over a grave.

" This is no time for affliction. I have had public
motives to sustain my mind, and I have not suffered it
to sink ; but there have been moments in my imprison-
ment when my mind was so sunk by grief on her account
that death would have been a refuge. God bless you,
my dearest Richard. I am obliged to leave off immedi-
ately.

" Robert Emmet."

In the morning came MacNally — the only " friend "
permitted to visit Emmet — with bitter news. There
was woe in his voice as he asked the youth would he
hke to see his mother. " Oh, what would I not give to
see her !" exclaimed Emmet. " Take courage, Robert,"
said MacNally ; " you will see her this night." As he
pointed upward, Emmet knew that death had visited
his sorrow-stricken mother — the mother who was so
proud of him, the mother to whom he was so devoted —
killed by the news of the doom of her son, " It is better
so !" Emmet cried, bowing his head. Emmet also had
a long conversation with MacNally about his plans and
their failure, which MacNally, as the following letter
shows, reported to Dublin Castle :

" Most Secret and Important.

" Dublin Castle,
" 25/A Sept., 1803, II p.m.
" My dear Sir,

" I have just had a long conference with the
person who was admitted to see Mr. Emmet, from whom
you have already received some most important and

402 TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF EMMET

most confidential communications. I have selected
what follows from many things that he told me, because
they appeared more immediately to deserve Mr. Yorke's
attention.

" Emmet advised him strongly on the day of his execu-
tion to get rid of all his property in paper, saying that the
French would certainly come in force, and that he only
wished his trial to have been put off for ten days, as he
thought they would certainly be here within that time.
He said that the plan recommended to Buoneparte by
the Irish in Paris was to land in Galway Bay, but instead
of pushing for Dublin to march to the North and secure
Londonderry, taking a position with the county of
Donegal behind them, and waiting there till they should
receive, by small detachments, such a force as would
enable them to threaten not only Ireland but Scotland.
In this situation they trusted that the South would rise
in the rear of the British Army.

" Emmet persisted in saying that he had only the
command of the Dublin District, and that he was ignorant
of the names of the Generals of the other Districts. This,
however, cannot be true, for we know that he was in
direct communication with RusseU, who was to have
commanded in the North, and that it was settled between
them that Dublin and Belfast should rise the same night.
It will also appear from a most curious and interesting
paper, which the Lord Lieutenant will transmit to Mr.
Yorke to-morrow, that he was in communication also
with the Commanders of Wicklow, Wexford and Kildare.
He persisted in saying that the money that had been
expended in preparing the Insurrection of the 23rd July
was entirely and only his own. It appears that he
carryd off a part of the thousand pounds that was brought
into the depot on Saturday afternoon (the 23rd July).
The rest was pillaged either by his own people or the
soldiers, except what was laid out in the purchase of
from forty to fifty blunderbusses. It is certain that the
prisoners are all miserably poor. Three and four guineas
are given with their briefs. In the year 1798 thirty
guineas were usually given to the leading Counsel.

" He persisted in saying that 300 men from Wexford
had arrived, and were actually assembled on the Coal
quay. He was told that this was scarcely possible, as
not one of the pikes collected at Redmond's house on

EMMET'S ACCOUNT OF THE INSURRECTION 403

the Coal quay had been used, and that the Wexford
leaders had all left Dublin to avoid having anything to
do with the business. He was reminded also that he
had been grossly imposed on in many other instances.
He admitted that he had in many instances been most
cruelly deceived. He continued, however, to express
his firm belief that the Wexford men were all there, and
read}^ to join him. He says that the number of pikes
collected at the great depot in Mass Lane* did not exceed
four thousand.

" It was Emmet himself who engaged Mr, Wilson,
the peace officer, the night of the Insurrection. His
account differs materially from Wilson's ; and yet when
it is considered that the night was uncommonly dark the
two stories may be reconciled. He says that when he
saw Wilson coming on very gallantly he stepped forward
himself, being then muffled up in his great -coat (exactly
as Wilson described the man who wounded him), and
ordered the pikemen to fall off to the right and left and
make way for the firearms, at the same time he struck
at Wilson with his sword, which was mistaken for a pike,
and wounded him in the belly. Wilson immediately
fired at him, but missed him. The watchmen fired
some other shots, which were returned by Emmet's
people, of whom he does not believe that one was
materially hurt, nor did any of them throw down their
pikes.

" He declared in the most solemn manner, and as a
dying man, that not more than ten persons knew that
the rising was fixed for the 23rd before the 21st or 22nd.
He says that most of those who came up to town did not
know of the day of the rising until the afternoon of the
23rd.

" Believe me to be, my dear Sir,

" Most faithfully yours,

" Wm. WiCKHAM.t

"Reginald Pole Carew, Esq."

There are other most interesting communications from
the Viceroy to the Home Secretary, dealing with the last
hours of Emmet :

* The lane off Thomas Street, in which Emmet's principal
depot was situated, is called at different times in those papers
Mass Lane, Marshalsea Lane, and Bridgefoot Lane.

t From Home Office Papers.

26 — 2

404 TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF EMMET

" Private and Confidential.

" Dublin Castle,

" Sept. 20//t, 1803.

" My dear Charles,

" The trial and conviction of Emmet are of so
much importance at the present moment that I have
thought it fit to send you an account of some circum-
stances attending it in a letter which, tho' confidential,
may be considered official. I was very anxious that he
should have a fair chance of being brought to a proper
temper of mind before his death ; and it is possibly
owing to this circumstance that Mr. Gamble, who is
really a man of most humane and religious character,
felt himself justified in administering the Sacrament
to a person who professed a general repentance and sense
of religion, tho' he did not admit the guilt of the crime
for which he suffered.

" In his conversation with Mr. Gamble and Mr. Grant,
Emmet admitted the lenity and moderation of the Govern-
ment, and that he had experienced as much of it as he
could possibly have expected in the situation in which
he had been placed ; that he felt there might be an
appearance of inconsistency in expressing such a senti-
ment, after having been the leader in a conspiracy to
overthrow the Government, but that as he disapproved
of the latter (meaning, probably, the form of Govern-
ment), the conduct of the individuals who administered
it could make no difference in his opinion ; and the more
it was likely to conciliate the people the more desirous
he would naturally be to lose no time in effecting his
object.

" From the account Mr. Gamble and the other clergy-
man gave he seems to have been a perfect enthusiast ,
and his conduct proves that tho' he possessed talents
his judgment was weak. He was anxious to disclaim
any knowledge of the murders and assassinations of the
23rd of July, and solemnly declared to Mr. Gamble and
Mr, Grant that, finding himself deserted by those he
expected to join him, he had left Dublin before the
murder of Lord Kilwarden. He assured those gentle-
men that no more than ninety men came to the depot to
receive arms, and that of these about eighteen or twenty
left him very soon in consequence of an alarm ; and that
finding himself so entirely deserted he went away with

THE RELIGIOUS BELIEFS OF EMMET 405

Dowdell and nine of his followers to a place beyond
Rathfarnham, and from there to the mountains- in
Wicklow."

The enclosure to which the Lord Lieutenant refers in
the above letter is to the following effect :

" Mr. Gamble, the clergyman who attends the prisoners
in Newgate, visited him yesterday evening and again
this morning in Kilmainham prison, in company with
the Rev. Mr. Grant, a clerg^^man who resides at Island
Bridge.

" In their report which they have made to me of what
passed on their communication with Mr. Emmet, they
state that though their conversation did not produce all
the good they had hoped, it had, nevertheless, the effect
of bringing him to a more calm and in some respects a
better temper of mind than they had reason to expect
from a person professing the principles by which they
supposed him to be directed. They repeatedly urged
to him those topics which were likely to bring him to a
just feeling and acknowledgment of the crime for which
he was to suffer, but were not successful in persuading
him to abjure those principles by which he was actuated
in his conspiracy to overthrow the Government.

" He disclaimed any intention of shedding blood,
professed a total ignorance of the murder of Lord Kil-
warden — before which he declares he had left Dublin —
and also professed an aversion to the French. He
declared that though persons professing his principles
and acting in the cause in which he had been concerned
were generally supposed to be Deists, that he was a
Christian in the true sense of the word, that he had re-
ceived the Sacrament, though not regularly and habitu-
ally, and that he wished to receive it then ; that what
he felt he felt sincerely, and would avow his principles
in his last moments ; that he was conscious of sins and
wished to receive the Sacrament. The clergymen
consented to join in prayer with him, and administered
the Sacrament to him, considering him as a visionary
enthusiast, and wishing him to bring his mind to a proper
temper and sense of religion.

" On their way to the place of execution they conversed
with him on the same topics, but could never persuade
him to admit that he had been in the wrong. In answer

4o6 TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF EMMET

to their question whether if he had foreseen the blood
that had been spilt in consequence of his attempt he
would have persisted in his design to overthrow the
Government, he observed that no one went to battle
without being prepared for similar events, always con-
sidering his attempt as free from moral reproach, in
consequence of what he conceived to be the goodness of
the motive that produced it.

" At the place of execution he was desirous of address-
ing the people. He intended to have declared that he
had never taken any oath but that of the United Irish-
men, and by that oath he meant to abide. The clergy-
men who were present explained to him that an address
to that effect might possibly produce tumult and blood-
shed, and that it ought not to be permitted. He was
therefore obliged to acquiesce, and did so without appear-
ing to be disturbed or agitated.

" I enclose copies of two letters which he wrote this
morning. One of the acts of kindness to which he par-
ticularly refers in his letter to Mr. Wickham was his
being removed from the cell at Newgate, in which he
had been placed after the sentence, to his former apart-
ment at Kilmainham, as had been originally intended.
He had alluded to this in his conversation with the
clergymen, and admitted that the general conduct of
those who administered the Government was likely to
conciliate the people, though he did not approve the
form of the Government, and the British connection,
both of which he had been desirous to overthrow."

* * *

As Emmet emerged from Marshalsea Lane, on the
evening of July 23, in his green and gold and white uni-
form, and with drawn sword, on his way, as he fondly
hoped, to make Ireland a nation, straight before him, in
Thomas Street, loomed St. Catherine's Church, a severe
and gloomy edifice. In front of this Protestant place of
worship a scaffold had been erected during the night for
the execution of the conspirator. It was a simple and
rude structure. A platform was made by laying a few
planks across a number of empty barrels. From this
platform rose two posts, 15 feet high, with another beam
placed across them, from which hung a rope with a

HOW EMMET MET HIS DOOM 407

running noose. Immediately beneath the cross-beam
and halter was a single narrow plank, supported on two
ledges, on which the condemned youth was to stand to
be launched into eternity. The main platform, being
about 6 feet from the ground, was ascended by a ladder.
A large force of military, horse and foot, surrounded the
scaffold. Outside their lines was a mass of sorrowing
spectators.

Emmet, on alighting from the coach at the foot of the
gallows, mounted alertly to the platform. In his de-
meanour there was not the slightest trace of fear. He
wished to address the people, as was the custom at public
executions. But in deference to the wishes of the clergy-
men— as the despatch of the Lord Lieutenant explains —
he made no speech. One sentence only did he address
to the weeping and moaning crowd, and that he uttered
in a firm and far-reaching voice : " My friends, I die in
peace, with sentiments of universal love and kindness
towards all men."

Then Emmet stepped on to the single plank beneath
the cross-beam. The masked executioner adjusted the
rope round his neck. The thin, sad face of the youth
was aflame with the glory of his sacrifice. But quickly
its light — the light, surely, that never was on sea or land —
was extinguished by the black cap which was drawn over
his head by the hangman. In his pinioned hands was
placed a handkerchief, the fall of which was to be the
signal to the executioner to tilt over the plank which
stood between him and death. " Are you ready, sir ?"
asked the hangman. '' Not yet," was the reply. There
was a momentary pause. The handkerchief still fluttered
from Emmet's hands. " Are you ready, sir ?" once
again the executioner asked, and again came the reply :
" Not yet." The youth was reluctant to loose his grasp
of the handkerchief, and thus bring the agony of this
most harrowing scene to its inevitable end. What was
the reason ? Up to that moment never had the courage,
the enthusiasm of Emmet — his exaltation in the glorious
triumph of death for a great cause — been so magnifi-

4o8 TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF EMMET

cently exemplified. Did his sublime fortitude collapse
at the last moment ? Was his soul seized on the verge
of eternity with the unutterable magnitude of his sacri-
fice, with the hollowness of earthly ambition ? Did the
black cap, which shut out the world from his eyes, bring
a rude awakening from his divine dream of being the
emancipator of a nation ? Did there come to him an
overmastering craving to sit a little longer at the glorious
banquet of life and taste of its sweet delights ? How
pleasant even the narrow monotonous round of daily
duties would be with Sarah Curran, far away from the
turmoil of revolutionary politics, in some remote, se-
cluded spot on the American Continent ! Did he feel
that, after all, the world has no more precious prize than
wife and children and a peaceful home ? Or was it that
a despairing rage took possession of him at the thought
that the great joy which flamed in his blood — his pas-
sionate love for Ireland — was about to be quenched in
him for evermore ? Who can tell ? He lifted his
pinioned hands, still grasping the handkerchief, as if
to pull off his head the accursed thing which shut out
the people for whom he was sacrificing his young life.
Perhaps he thought that if he could only see their tear-
stained faces they would nerve him to suppress the
desire to live that was surging in his blood, and to lose
himself willingly in the repellent taciturnity of death, in
the appalling mystery of eternal silence. It was said,
afterwards, he had heard there was to be an attempt to
rescue him. Perhaps he thought it was all but a hideous
dream, and that if he could wait a little longer this
horrible obsession would pass away. But there fell on
his ears no noise of commotion in the crowd, no shouts
of hope and encouragement — only the grief-laden, heart-
breaking Irish coine, that most agonizing wail of hope-
less sorrow.

" Are you ready, sir ?" asks the hangman for the third
time. But before the answer comes, before the hand-
kerchief falls, the sujjports of the plank are kicked away,
and Emmet is writhing at the end of a rope, in the

" THIS IS THE HEAD OF A TRAITOR !" 409

agonies of the most revolting and degrading of all deaths !
In half an hour the still quivering body is cut down, and
extended on a butcher's block, and from it the head is
rudely hacked with a butcher's knife. The brutal
fingers of the executioner grip its hair, and holding it
up, bloody and dripping, exposing the waxen features
and glazed eyes of the dishonoured thing to the moaning
crowd, he exclaims, as he parades the front of the scaffold,
" This is the head of a traitor !"

* * *
The Lord Lieutenant sent to the Home Secretary a
copy of a letter, addressed to Thomas Addis Emmet and
his wife, which Emmet wrote before setting out to his
execution. That also was never delivered. It runs :

" My dearest Tom and Jane,

" I am just going to do my last duty to my country.
It can be done as well on the scaffold as on the field. Do
not give way to any weak feelings on my account, but
rather encourage proud ones that I have possessed forti-
tude and tranquillity of mind to the last.

" God bless you and the young hopes that are growing
up about you. May they be more fortunate than their
uncle ; but may they preserve as pure and ardent an
attachment to their country as he has done. Give the
watch to little Robert. He will not prize it the less for
having been in the possession of two Roberts before him.
I have one dying request to make to you. I was attached
to Sarah Curran, the youngest daughter of your friend.
I did hope to have had her my companion for life. I did
hope that she would not only have constituted my happi-
ness, but that her heart and understanding would have
made her one of Jane's dearest friends. I know that
Jane would have loved her on my account, and I feel
also that had they been acquainted she must have loved
her on her own. No one knew of the attachment till
now, nor is it now generally known, therefore do not
speak of it to others. She is living with her father and
brother, but if these protectors should fall off and that
no other should replace them, treat her as my wife and
love her as a sister, God Almighty bless you all. Give
my love to all my friends.

" Robert Emmet."

4IO TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF EMMET

" The letter to his brother," says the Viceroy, " will
not be forwarded, but the message respecting Miss Curran
has been communicated to her father." John Philpot
Curran's reply to the communication emphasizes still
further the mean and despicable nature of the man. He
writes to Marsden, the Under-Secretary :

" Septi 2ist, iSo^.

"Sir,

" I have just received the honour of your letter
with the extract enclosed by desire of his Excellency. I
have again to offer to his Excellency my more than
gratitude, the feelings of the strongest attachment and
respect, for this new instance of considerate condescen-
tion. To you also. Sir, believe me, I am most affection-
ately grateful for the part that you have been so kind to
take upon this unhappy occasion. Few would, I am
well aware — perhaps few could — have known how to act
in the same manner.

" As to the communication of the extract and the
motive for doing so, I cannot answer them in the cold
parade of official acknowledgment. I feel on the subject
the warm and animated thanks of man to man ; and
these I presume to request that Lord Hardwicke and
Mr. Wickham may be pleased to accept. It is, however,
only justice to myself to say that even on the first falling
of this unexpected blow, I had resolved, and so mentioned
to Mr. Attorney-General, that if I found no actual guilt
upon her, I would act with as much moderation as possible
towards a poor creature that had once held the warmest
place in my heart. I did even then recollect that there
was a point to which nothing but actual turpitude, or
the actual death of the parent, ought to make a child an
orphan, but even had I then thought otherwise, I feel
that this extract would have produced the effect it was
intended to have and that I should think so now. I feel
how I should shrink from the idea of letting her sink so
low as to become the subject of a testamentary order of a
miscreant who could labour by so foul means and under
such odious circumstances to connect her with his infamy,
and to acquire any posthumous interest in her person or
her fate. Blotted, therefore, as she may irretrievably
be from my society, or the place she once held in my
affection, she must not go adrift. So far, at least, ' these

THE FATE OF SARAH CURRAN 411

protectors will not fall off.' I should therefore, sir, wish
for the suppression of this extract if no particular motive
should have arisen for forwarding it to its destination.

" I shall avail myself of your kind permission to wait
upon you in the course of the day, to pay my respects
once more personally to you, if I shall be so fortunate
as to find you at leisure.

" I have the honour to be, with very great respect,

" Your obliged servant,

" John P. Curran."*

Sarah Curran was banished by her father. She found
asylum with a respectable Quaker family, named Pen-
rose, in Cork. But within two years of the execution
of her lover she was married. It seems out of harmony
with the fitness of things — a most prosaic and common-
place conclusion of a pitiful romance. But it was just
the ending that Emmet would have wished. In his last
letter to his brother he indirectly, but clearly, expresses
the hope that his sweetheart should find a husband. To
the last Emmet was enshrined in her tenderest memories,
and her husband, a gallant soldier named Captain Stur-
geon— nephew of the Marquis of Rockingham — only
loved her the more dearly for her faithfulness to her
shattered romance. She lived for a few years with her
husband in Sicily, where his regiment was stationed.
The following announcement in the Gentleman' s Maga-
zine for 1808 tells of her premature death, and the realiza-
tion of her father's ambition for a judgeship : " May 5,
1808, at Hythe, in Kent, of a rapid decline, aged 26,
Sarah, wife of Captain Henry Sturgeon, youngest
daughter of the Right Hon. J. P. Curran, Master of the
Rolls in Ireland." She was buried with her father's
people in Newmarket, co. Cork.

* * *

By a cruel irony of fate the grave of Robert Emmet is
shrouded in doubt and mystery. After his execution,
Emmet's body was interred in the prison cemetery at
Kilmainham, but is said to have been removed at night

* From Home Office Papers.

412 TRIAL AND EXFXUTION OF EMMET

by some friends and buried with great secrecy in one of
the Dublin city churchyards. In the confusion of the
times these friends passed away without leaving any
authentic information of the grave. In 1903 Dr. Thomas
Addis Emmet of New York, grandson of Emmet's elder
brother, conducted a search with a view to discovering
the patriot's burial-place. The search was confined to
three places which various traditions have long asso-
ciated with the burial — the Emmet family vault in St.
Peter's Churchyard ; an uninscribed grave in St. Michan's
Churchyard, which for years had been accepted by the
majority of the Irish people as the authentic spot ;
and an uninscribed grave in Old Glasnevin Churchyard.
The ecclesiastical authorities of the Church of Ireland
readily granted the necessary permission, and elaborate
excavations were made in these three churchyards. In
St. Peter's Church a careful search failed to identify the
family vault of the Emmets. The uninscribed grave in
St. Michan's churchyard contained a skull and bones
which were declared by the doctors who examined them
to be those of an old man of tall stature, and Robert
Emmet was neither old nor tall. In the grave in the
parish churchyard of Glasnevin, where only a partial
examination was possible, no remains of any sort were
discerned. The riddle that has so long puzzled Irish his-
torians and antiquaries is, therefore, still unsolved, and
Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet's only conclusion was that by
exclusion the claims of St. Peter's Church were increased.

CHAPTER VII

THE FATE OF THOMAS RUSSELL

Thomas Russell, Emmet's chief lieutenant, had gone
to Ulster to raise the standard of revolt in the Protestant
and Presbyterian counties of that province. Edward
Baynes of Lisburn, writing to the Lord Lieutenant on
July 25th, 1803, encloses a written copy of a printed
proclamation, which, he says, was found the day before
near Belfast at a place where a body of rebels had as-
sembled on the night of Saturday the 23rd, with the
intention, it was thought, of attacking Belfast. The
proclamation is headed, " Thomas Russell, member of
the Provisional Government, and General-in-Chief of
the Northern District." It is dated " Headquarters,
July 23rd, 1803."

" Men of Ireland," it begins, " once more in arms to
assert the rights of mankind and liberate your country,
you see by the secrecy with which this eftort has been
conducted, and by the multitudes who in all parts of
Ireland are engaged in executing this great object, that
your Provisional Government have acted wisely. You
will see that in Dublin, in the West, in the North, and in
the South, the blow has been struck at the same moment.
Your Enemies can no more withstand than they could
foresee this mighty exertion."

It goes on :

" Your valour is well known ; be as just and humane
as you are brave, and then rely with confidence that God,
with whom alone is victory, will crown you with success.

413

414 THE FATE OF THOMAS RUSSELL

" The General orders that hostages shall be seized in
all quarters ; and hereby apprizes the English Com-
manders that any outrage contrary to the acknowledged
laws of War and of Morality shall be retaliated in the
severest manner ; and he further makes known that
such Irish as, in ten days from the date of this, are found
in arms against their country, shall be treated as rebels,
committed for trial, and their properties confiscated ;
but all men behaving peaceabl}^ shall be under the pro-
tection of the laws."

On the same day, July 25, 1803, "Belfast," the spy,
writes as follows to Marsden, the Under Secretary :

" Sir,

" Yours I received regularly on Saturday evening.
I presume by this time you find my statements true.
Metcalf was yesterday in town, and this morning ; but
since has not been seen. I apprehend he is gone to the
country. I am informed that only the parts of the county
Down which I have already mentioned will act, and par-
ticularly Loughlin Island. Metcalf I have not since seen ;
but his two particular companions — William Carroll, a
butcher, and Nevin Whitefield, a shoemaker, were with
me a considerable time last night. From these I under-
stand that the Rising was to take place this night or
to-morrow at farthest ; but that all would be ruled and
governed by the attack upon Dublin.

" I reproached Metcalf before those for not calling on
me. They told me he was so employed from one to the
other place that he had not time, and that they looked
upon me as too cautious a person, and consequently not
fit for this attack. They expressed great desire that I
would become more active, and that they would rather
have either of my brothers, as they conceived them more
desperate, but that I would always be looked up to.
Finding I was likely to lose a regular communication I
sent my younger brother (who has a great influence with
the Defenders) to Metcalf on Saturday evening, and he
by his direction and with my approbation left this to
command the Malone boys. He remained out amongst
them all night ; but there being no appearance of a general
Rising, and not knowing from whom they were to get
further orders, returned early yesterday morning. He
has since been in search of Metcalf, but can't find him.

REPORTS FROM THE SPY "BELFAST" 415

Metcalf speaks very freely to this lad, for, indeed, I am
sorry to say he is too determined a Patriot. He is to go
out if any Rising takes place, so that I'll be able to know
everything that may happen. They look much to the
non-arrival of the mail coach ; and this will govern their
conduct.

" A Mr. John Templeton of Malone, although not
suspected, will (if not already) be a very active person,
particularly in preparing plans for the military operations
of the rebels. He is a most sincere friend of Russell's,
and was on the last occasion the principal planner of
attack, etc. There are many more whom I shall point
out when you begin the arrests. All those whom hereto-
fore I have returned to you in and about Dublin, no doubt
by this you find principals. My elder brother is also here,
and of course will join the rebel army, and will no doubt
communicate with me. At present he is not concerned.

" The people in general seem all at a loss. Although
in many parts anxious for a Rising, yet they can't see
how it is to be effected, having no system amongst them.
Arms they have but few. I have under my own eye,
contiguous to my house, as I am told, a knowledge of
a quantity of pikes concealed since the last Rebellion.
These I shall take care of."

On July 26, 1803, " Belfast " writes :

" Sir,

" I wrote you last night, and I now write to
acquaint you of an interview I had to-day with Metcalf,
who came to me. He seemed much dejected and indeed
entirely disappointed, so much so from his appearance
that I think he is giving information. He told me Russell
expected the county Down to have risen with him on
Saturday night, but he was disappointed, and that they
intended to attack Belfast by the way I pointed out, that
is from Castlereagh Hill across the Lagan river, and up
the Mole at the rear of the Linen Hall. He excused him-
self in not calling on me, and said Dublin would again
and again be attacked by a strong determined body, and
no doubt this night. Said he would leave town and go
into the county Down, and if a Rising would take place
there to-night he would send me word.

" Russell was now he said in the county Antrim, and
to-night they would attempt something. Russell wished

4i6 THE FATE OF THOMAS RUSSELL

to take Downpatrick, and for this purpose lost his time
by going too far into the county Down. The other
General is not Emmet, but Hamilton. He is from
county Donegal, who is married to Russell's neice, and
was in the French Army for some time. Hamilton was to
command Antrim, and Russell Down. Emmet he tells
me is commanding in Dublin."

" Excuse this," he says in conclusion ; " I am surrounded
with persons." His conjecture that Metcalf was giving
information to the local authorities was unfounded. In
another report, dated July 28, he says the military are
searching for Metcalf. " He is not giving information,
as I thought. I have no doubt if taken but he will
develope the whole plan. No doubt he is in full posses-
sion of it."

* * *

The mission of Russell to the North was a complete
failure. What exactly happened is fully and graphically
described in a letter from the Solicitor-General, James
McClelland, from Carrickfergus — a town near Belfast —
to Marsden, dated August 9, 1803. The Under-Secretary
sent the letter to the Viceroy with the written comment,
" Very satisfactory." Here is the communication :

" Since my arrival in this country I have taken much
pains to acquire the most accurate information of the
state of it ; and have endeavoured particularly to ascer-
tain how Russell and his emissaries were received by the
people who were formerly disaffected. And I am happy
to state that the result of my inquiries has been perfectly
satisfactory. In every instance where Russell endeavoured
to collect a numerous meeting of the people, or to incite
them to join him, he has totally failed.

" The first place where he endeavoured to collect the
people was at Carmoney, situate between this town and
Belfast, a place remarkable in the year 1798 for the dis-
affection of its inhabitants. The meeting consisted of
but eleven or twelve, eight of whom were strangers, and
unknown to the inhabitants of the place. The three or
four of the inhabitants who attended the meeting declined
Russell's entreaties to join him, at which he expressed

RUSSELL JOINED BY THE CATHOLICS 417

great indignation, and suddenly left that part of the
country. This information was communicated next day
to a gentleman of the neighbourhood by a person present
at the meeting, and was stated to me by that gentleman.

" The next place where Russell attempted to convene
a meeting was at Broughshane, which was intended to
have been a meeting of all his friends in the county, and
considerable pains were taken for that purpose. How-
ever, the meeting did not consist of more than fifty, and
of that number a great proportion were strangers, who
appeared to be the agents employed by Russell in dis-
tributing his proclamations, etc. The people of this
country who attended the meeting were principally of
the very lowest orders in Society, A few farmers did
attend from curiosity, as it is alleged.

" Russell appeared dressed in a very splendid green
uniform. He urged the people strongly to take up arms,
promising them assistance from every part in this king-
dom, and declaring he was so confident of success that
if five hundred joined him he would publicly appear
with them in arms. His proposal was not acceded to, at
which he expressed great surprise and indignation. He
returned from the meeting to a cabin in the neighbourhood,
changed his uniform for a very shabby dress, and suddenly
left that part of the country. This information I received
from the quarter, and I believe it may be strictly relied on.

" The only description of people who are at all inclined
to join Russell are the lowest orders of the Catholicks.
Their clergy and the higher orders are generally con-
sidered here as loyal. This opinion with respect to the
Catholicks here is believed by all ranks of Protestants,
and has, I am confident, operated powerfully on the
minds of many of the Presbyterians, who from former
habits might otherwise have been still adverse to the
Government of the country.

" A considerable number of persons have been arrested,
and are in the custody of the Military at Belfast. I have
been endeavouring to get the charges against them
reduced into regular informations on oath ; but so far as
I have gone I have found nothing but suspicion against
the prisoners, which fully justifies the detention of them
on grounds of precaution, yet would not enable the
Crown to prosecute them with effect. There are two
exceptions to this general observation, but the evidence

41 8 THE FATE OF THOMAS RUSSELL

against the two persons I allude to cannot at present be
brought forward with advantage, as they cannot be tried
without bringing forward an informer who by remaining
concealed may be of further use."

McClelland also visited Down, and in his report de-
clared that his inquiry had satisfied him of " the general
loyalty " of that county. He writes :

" It appears that Russell in the latter end of July
determined to make an effort to raise an insurrection in
the county of Down. For that purpose he summoned
a meeting near Belfast, about the 19th or 20th of July,
of all those leaders he could depend on. But six or seven
attended him, and all of them men in low situations and
desperate circumstances. It appears that they despaired
on that consultation of exciting any Protestants to re-
bellion, and the only recourse they conceived left to
them was to attempt tempering with the inhabitants of
Loughlin Island, who were almost all Papists, and dis-
contented with some Orange societies in their neighbour-
hood. That attempt was made by Russell and all his
associates. For two days they continued in the parish,
using every exertion to excite a rebellion, in which he
completely failed, having been only able to assemble
seven persons on the 23rd July at the place appointed
for the rebels to meet.

" It appears he endeavoured to work on the religious
prejudices of the Papists against the Orangemen, but
failed ; and some of the people told him that Govern-
ment had protected them by prosecuting the Orangemen
whenever they committed any outrage, and mentioned
to him the prosecution against some Orangemen which
I had lately carried on at Downpatrick and succeeded
in ; and at length he was actually turned out of the
house (in the evening of the 23rd of July) where he
had principally endeavoured to excite to rebellion the
persons summoned to meet him on that day. On the
whole, I think the present state of the county of Down

safe and satisfactory^

* * *

Meanwhile, some characteristic letters of complaint
from Lord Massareene were received by the Lord Lieu-

LORD MASSAREENE'S COMPLAINTS 419

tenant, which illustrate the jealousies and feuds of county
magnates :

" Belfast,
"August \oth, 1803.

" My Lord,

" I had the honor of writing to your Excellency
four different letters within the last month. To none of
which has your Lordship thought it necessary to give
any answer. In one of my letters I requested you would
have the goodness, my Lord, to order one of your secre-
taries just to mention to me whether your Lordship had
or had not received my letters, but still (as before) no
answer, but a perfect silence. Without being in the
least unreasonable, my Lord, one may be a little astonished
at all this, the more so as I have always endeavoured to
trouble your Excellency as little as possible on trifling
matters.

" Now, my Lord, with the frankness of a soldier (the
only quality Government has been pleas'd to leave me
in) I must add that I plainly see that the cabal which has
eternally pursued me has found its way even into the
Castle. From Lord Hardwicke, certainly, I should not
have experienced the like was he left to himself, to his
own candor, to his own honor, to his own liberality.
You, certainly, my Lord, possess virtues which, me-
thinks, should seem to secure me from any such occur-
rences. But artful enemies, and virulent ones, may
bias the generous mind sometimes, if they possess its
confidence.

But this prelude, to be sure, is a long one, and possibly
may be a tiresome one. I'd fain hope not, tho'. But
now, my Lord, to proceed to other matters. Having
conducted some prisoners (sad miscreants) to Belfast, I
learn'd (judge, my Lord, of my astonishment) that a
Commission to raise 100 men — i.e., 80 infantry and 20
cavalry — had actually been made out to a man named
Thompson, a farmer and cloth merchant, living at Green
Mount, about a short mile from Antrim ; and that he
had actually got orders to have arms, etc., etc., for them.
Well, my Lord, this man your Lordship may be told is
naturaliz'd a Dane. You may also be told that he and
all his family never were, in the least, of the Loyal party,
but on the contrary.

" Well, in some of my letters I solicited and earnestly

27 — 2

420 THE FATE OF THOMAS RUSSELL

requested your permission to raise 250 or 300 men as a
legion to which I would give my name, assuring you, my
Lord, that that would suffice to guard Antrim and vicinity.
No answer ! But Farmer Thompson comes to Dublin,
and Veni, vidi, vici. He or his partisans (my enemies,
doubtless), and at once no sooner said than done. He
obtains a corps of 100 men, arms, etc., etc. Bravo, my
Lord !

" Some time ago, about a month, I was order'd to
recruit 25 men to augment my corps. In a trice I had
them complete. Colonel Littlehales immediately sends
me word that orders were issued to the ordnance officers
to send arms and accoutrements for these men. But
what ? Vox et prceterea nihil, my Lord. No arms, no
pay, and no clothing ! Good G — d, is that shameful or
not, and whose the shame ? Let the world pronounce.

" Your Excellency surely never ordered all this from
yourself. Is there a loyal man would serve with this
fellow Thompson ? My Lord, I am so amazed that I
can scarcely believe my eyes and ears. Who, in the
name of all that is wonderful, could dare to advise you,
my Lord, to this affair ? Gracious G — d, surely my Lord
Hardwicke does not wish to arm all the rascals and
croppies in the country ! No, my Lord, no ; that's
impossible ; it cannot be supposed. Why, then, my
Lord, say, in the name of G — d, whether you will or will
not grant me to augment my corps to a little legion, or
whether you will or will not grant me a single man.
For the country's sake, for loyalty's sake, for the King's
sake, for Government's sake, and for G — d's sake, do,
my good Lord, countermand this order, and as you wish
for success to his Majesty's cause, stop this most erroneous
measure.

" You can easily say that you do not want any more
at present ; that the country is sufficiently garrisoned,
etc., etc., etc. Your Lordship can never be embarrassed
to find excuses. But as you are a noble friend to the
King and his cause, stop without delay this pernicious
measure, and a most pernicious one it is, G — d knows.
Then, my Lord, if you will grant me an order for a legion,
it shall be executed, as shall all your orders, most punctu-
ally.

" What would old George the 2nd say (who was a pro-
found military authority), if alive and was to see a noble-

ARREST OF RUSSELL 421

man, descended from a line of loyal ancestry, who has
expended fortune and time to support the cause of
Government, who has fought and expos'd his blood, his
bones, and his life, for his King, abandon'd, left aside,
and a puppy, croppy farmer and cloth bleacher promoted
to a military command ?

" Here let me close the horrid but true picture, and
assure you, my Lord, of the confidence with which I
have the honor to be, my Lord, your Excellency's obedi-
ent and most humble servant,

" Massareene."
* * *

Russell, after his failure in the North, returned to
Dublin, with the object of organizing an attempt to rescue
Emmet, and was in hiding in a house in Parliament Street,
under the very shadow of the Castle. He was discovered
and arrested on September 9, 1803. The Lord Lieu-
tenant thus conveys the news to the Home Secretary :

" We have taken Russell. He was at a house in Par-
liament Street, and in consequence of intelligence which
Marsden received this morning of a man being concealed
there who was not known. Major Sirr went to his room,
up three pair of stairs ; and after saying his name was
Harrison — which is the name of the gunsmith's wife at
whose house he lodged — he pulled a pistol from his breast,
pointed it at Major Sirr, who seized him, and called in
the person who attended him. Russell does not deny
who he is, and declares himself as ready to dye on the
scaffold as in the field."

The prisoner was lodged in Kilmainham Gaol, where
he was seen by Leonard MacNally, who sent to the Castle
the following report of the conversation :

" I stated to him that I was apprehensive the dis-
turbances of this country arose from religious animosities
of Roman Catholics towards the Protestants. This he
attempted to deny, but he admitted the murders com-
mitted at Scullabogue,* and which he defended by saying

* During the Rebellion of 1798, in Wexford a barn at Sculla-
bogue, in which a number of Protestants were confined, was
set on fire by some retreating rebels, and the prisoners burnt
to death or shot.

422 THE FATE OF THOMAS RUSSELL

that they were goaded to those excesses by the ravishings,
house-burnings, tortures, etc., etc.

" He stated that at this moment there were as many
tears shedding for Emmet as would bathe him, and that
he would be considered by the people as a martyr ; and
that if ever the French landed, when the people could
rise they would certainly revenge the deaths of all persons
who had been executed.

" He mentioned, let the people's grievances be re-
dressed, and the Government will have nothing to dread
from invasion. Assimilate Ireland and England as much
as possible ; let them appear as sisters, and not allow one
to be the oppressor. I here told him every step to render
both countries alike was now the object. He said when
that would be accomplished all would be well. He very
frequently, during our conversation, expressed the neces-
sity of rendering the lower orders of the people of this
country more comfortable, which if done it would be
impossible (he believed) for any set of men to urge them
to rise.

" I stated to him that it was really shocking to find
that a person who was this day executed could possibly,
at so awful a moment, think of setting forth or framing
a notorious falsehood, the certainty of which I was fully
convinced of by the positive assurances of Emmet. I
told him that the person attempted to save his life by
these falsehoods, who stated that the Insurrection was
aided personally by four French Generals. Russell re-
probated this conduct much, and implored God to for-
give him, and said I might rely on what Mr. Emmet
stated ; and that everyone must know what the unfor-
tunate man mentioned must be false. He suddenly
asked. Was it Redmond ? — whom he said he did not
know, and that his assertion was not at all founded.

" He spoke much on the situation of the people of this
country. I asked him what would quiet them com-
pletely ? He answered, take off the tythes, the taxes,
and prevent the landlords' oppression. He talk'd of the
leases not being granted in perpetuity. He said one
matter in this country was alone sufficient to alienate
the majority of the people — their paying the Church
Establishment, which was complained of by the Roman
Catholics and the Presbyterians. I asked him did he
mean that the Church Establishment should not be sup-

RUSSELL SENT TO ULSTER FOR TRIAL 423

ported ? He said he meant it should, but let the clergy-
be paid out of the Treasury, and that a great many of
the expenses might well be dispensed with.

" He again nearly recapitulated all our former con-
versation with much anxiety, at the same time very
cautious lest he might be overheard by any other
person."*

* * *

The Lord Lieutenant, writing to the Home Secretary
on September 24, 1803, states that a Special Commis-
sion, consisting of Baron George and Mr. Justice Osborne,
had been appointed " to clear the gaols " of the counties
of Down and Antrim. His Excellency says :

" Upon full}^ considering all the circumstances attend-
ing the case of Thomas Russell, who assumed in the North
the character of a General Officer of the rebel army, I
have thought it best to order that he should be tried
before this Commission. He might, it is true, have been
indicted in Dublin under the Act of 1798 for returning
to Ireland, after having been pardoned on condition of
banishment ; but considering the magnitude of his
treasons lately committed, and how great an object it
is to show how successfully they were exposed and
defeated, and also the strong desire expressed by several
gentlemen of the North to have him tried where the
example of his execution would have the greatest effect,
I have preferred sending him to the North to proceeding
against him as an exiled traitor.

" Should it, however, happen that the evidence of his
guilt in the North should not be sufficient to convict him
(of which, however, I am informed there can be little
doubt), he may equally be tried there or here for the
offence of being found at large in the country."

Russell was accordingly conveyed to Downpatrick for
trial. Three days before his trial he gave to Dr. Trevor
of Kilmainham, who accompanied him to Downpatrick,
a remarkable paper, which he desired should be forwarded
to the Irish Government. Trevor, in his letter to William

* From "Ireland, Private and Secret, 1803." (Home Office
Papers.)

424 THE FATE OF THOMAS RUSSELL

Wickham, Chief Secretary, dated " Downpatrick, i8th
October, 1803," says :

" Sir,

" This day Mr. Russell handed me the enclosed
paper, with a variety of comments, and stated that he
could bring forward many proofs of the necessity of the
latter part of his paper. He mentioned that it was
evident that you and the Lord Chancellor are quieting
the country by such means as have not been adopted by
any other Administration, which was felt by those per-
sons with whom he (Russell) acted. He added that he
respects your character most highly ; that there had
been more effectual steps taken during your residence
in Ireland to quiet this country than there had been for
a series of years before. He said that, of course, Govern-
ment know how to keep their own secrets, and that he
looked on me as a faithful friend of Government. He was
convinced from the state of the minds of the country
gentlemen it would be necessary that such a paper as the
enclosed should not be known as coming from him. He
this day appeared anxious relative to the three days after
his conviction, and said that he would make it appear
to the Solicitor-General that his paper required that time.

" He has not as yet mentioned a word relative to his
brother, and I have thought it best not to speak to him
on it lest he might suppose I was pressing for any other
object than the real one you intend towards his brother.

" His spirits seem to be the same as when in Kilmain-
ham prison. At the same time I can observe much
anxiety about him. The person who has the immediate
charge of the prison while Russell remains there is a
Captain Gordon, who mentioned to me that Russell
noticed the inclemency of the weather, and said it was
severe weather for duty, but he wished himself in the
creek of a rock. This I consider as sounding Capt.
Gordon under the idea of an escape. I conclude so on
account of the plans he had in view while he was in
Kilmainham jail. I have mentioned this circumstance
to the Solicitor-General, who will take the necessary steps."

Russell's paper, which is dated " Downpatrick, Oc-
tober 17th, 1803," states that the grievances which
principally affected the Irish people were : " ist, the
want of sovereignty in its Government ; 2nd, the tenures

RUSSELL ON IRISH GRIEVANCES 425

of land ; 3rd, taxes ; 4th, the mode of administering the
laws." " The first," he says, " is in the present state out
of the question, though it ultimately includes all the others,
and its want is more generally felt than is supposed."
With respect to the second grievance, the land, he writes :

" The second by the avarice of the land proprietors
keeps the people in a state of beggary, and consequent
discontent. I mean a great body of the people, and even
in the North which by manufacture is wealthier than the
rest of Ireland, it is felt by the mass as an intolerable
grievance, which they would run great risques to remedy.
I shall not consider the effect this has on the prosperity
of the State, but on individuals, i.e., the whole peasantry
and poor of the nation, who, as I before stated, are not an
ignorant race.

" I suppose it will be vain to expect any remedy for
this, as the common objection will be made that land is
private property. But land is a property different
from all others. All other property is derived from it ;
all other property has a terminable value ; but land will
be the same 10,000 years hence as now, should the
Creator continue it so long. Monopoly of land is, as
everything is derived from it, the greatest evil. The Jews,
whose laws were given from above, alone made this distinc-
tion. Land could not be sold for longer than seventy
years. It then reverted back to the old family, and its
accumulation was thus prevented. All other property
could be sold for ever. The way lands are held makes the
people slaves to the landlords. They are too poor to
emigrate, and have no way left but to submit or starve.
I cannot see why a law should not be made as to the
length of leases, as well as for any other purpose ; and
it might be so managed as the poor should benefit by it,
and yet the rich not lose."

With regard to taxes, he complained most of the op-
pression of " tythes," which were imposed on the Catholics
for the support of the Established Church.* " If the
Government choose an Establishment," he says, " let
them pay the parsons from their Treasury or otherwise,

* Tithes were not abolished until 1837, when the Tithe Com-
mutation Act of the Melbourne Government reduced them by
30 per cent., and made then a rent-charge on the landlords.

426 THE FATE OF THOMAS RUSSELL

as they think fit." Dealing with the administration of
the laws, he pointed out that the magistrates, from their
uncontrolled powers of punishment, were often local
tyrants. He says in conclusion :

" I do think Government would do well to appoint
magistrates, such as they could depend on, with salaries,
through the country ; and I am sure that if they acted
with common justice they would be esteemed by the
people a blessing, and the expense most cheerfully paid.*
I know that in many, many cases the people do look to
the Military officers of England for protection from the
oppressions of the gentry, and I do most earnestly, in
the name of humanity, exhort that they may be restrained.
What I have now said is in the hopes that some good may
arise. I think I know the country, and so long as the
present system lasts, I trust in God it will be governed
with an attention to the principles of justice and mercy.
My own opinion as to the connexion of the countries is
not now in point, though I shall reiterate what I said
before that their interests are now separate, but so long
as Providence continues the present Power, its interests,
as well as that of the people, requires that the poor should
be attended to, and that clemency, which never destroyed
a Government, should be shewn. God governs by mercy ;
let not man attempt it by severity."

* * *

Russell was found guilty of high treason by a jury of
County Down farmers. It is stated that the prisoner
said he was aware that six of the jurors, whom he had
known personally, had taken the oath of the United
Irishmen. He was publicly executed at Downpatrick
on October 21, the day after his conviction.

Chief Secretary Wickham, writing from Dublin Castle on
October 24, 1803, to Pole Carew of the Home Office, says :

" Mr. Yorke will perhaps be surprised at receiving no
account of Russell's execution. The fact is that nobody
thought it worth while to mention it, tho' we have re-

* The present system of stipendiary magistrates was established
by WiUiam Drummond, Under-Secretary for Ireland to the
Melbourne Administration, 1835-1840.

RUSSELL'S DEATH 427

ceived several communications from the North since it
took place. He behaved with firmness and propriety.

" He earnestly entreated that a few days might be
granted him for the purpose of finishing a religious work,
in the writing of which he said he was engaged ; on this
condition, provided also that the lives of all his ac-
complices in the prisons of Down and Antrim should be
spared, he offered to make a full disclosure of the plans
of the disaffected, without mentioning any names. It
was thought proper to decline this offer, on the ground
that unless he consented to give up the names of his
accomplices very little benefit could be derived from any
disclosure it would be in his power to make.

" It was observed to him that in asking for further
time he was evidently looking to the arrival of the French
before his execution could take place ; which he indis-
creetly admitted, saying that much blood would be
saved should they arrive in time to prevent his being put
to death."*

Russell was buried in the churchyard at Downpatrick,
where moulders the dust of the three great Irish saints,
St. Patrick, St. Brigid, and St. Columbkille. Over the
spot is a plain stone with the simple inscription : " The
grave of Thomas Russell."

* * *

Lord Massereene thus continued to worry the Viceroy
with his grievances :

" October \jth, 1803.

" My Lord,

"It probably would be useless (and certainly
somewhat importunate, at a time when your Excellency
must necessarily have much important business to occupy
your mind) were I to expatiate upon my own private
concerns. I will, then, only request your permission,
my Lord, to observe that when I had the honor of a
private audience from your Excellency, I mentioned the
dreadful state of this country, you could not imagine
that things were so bad as I represented them. I declar'd
at the same time that I wish'd heartily to be mistaken ;
but unless I was very eminently so that things were at
the height of desperation. Unfortunately, most unfortu-

* From Home Office Papers.

428 THE FATE OF THOMAS RUSSELL

nately, indeed, poor Lord Kilwarden, etc., etc., etc.,
evinc'd me, alas ! but too true a prophet. Well, my
Lord, no more on that head.

" But, my Lord, I requested a large augmentation of
my corps, and your permission to raise a legion of 200,
300 or more men ; to which, my Lord, your Excellency
did not think proper to give any answer, or any attention.
That my military conduct and attachment to my King
and his Government, and my indefatigable attention to
their service for seven years, merit some approbation, is
of sufficient notoriety. I think, my Lord, I can say that
without any presumption. Let me add, if you please,
my Lord, that in my humble opinion to give a large
respectable military corps to Noblemen, real gentlemen, —
officers on whose loyalty and attachment Government
can depend — I say, my Lord, to give corps to such
methinks would seem sounder policy than to raise new
corps and give them, — to whom ? — men you know not,
men unknown, clothmakers, clergymen, etc., etc., etc.
But your Excellency thinks otherwise, and your will, to
be sure, must be done.

" Several names I had cautioned your Excellency
against — Clarke's, Ledlie's, Macartney's, etc., etc. — were
in the list, I gave it to you, my Lord, with my own
hand ; and immediately after, to convince me of the
attention with which you honour'd my information —
oh, strange to tell !— you actually, my Lord, gave a corps
to Macartney, the Vicar of Antrim,* of which he now, to
the no small amusement of the public, is positively
captain. He now appears in the quadruple capacity of
Doctor of Laws, Vicar of the Church, Justice of the
Peace, and Military Captain. Cereberus had but three
heads, but Macartney has four ! The country is on the
titter, and, in faith, well they may, my Lord. Another
corps is given to one Robert Thompson, a merchant,
naturalised a Dane. (Curious enough you will own, my
Lord, but so it is.)

" Whilst all this takes place, no legion is given to me,
but an actual refusal to every article or thing I ask for, or
propose. I declare, my Lord, I have sometimes thought
that it would have been what is called a good list if I had

* This is the Dr. Macartney who claimed Church preferment
for his son on account of poHtical services rendered in connection
with the Trinity College Visitation in 1798. See Book I., " Those
Embarrassing Union Engagements."

THE CABAL AGAINST MASSEREENE 429

ask'd for no corps to myself, and had strenuously recom-
mended Messrs. Macartney, Thompson, Ledlie, Clarke,
etc., etc., etc. ; for probably then, my Lord, — to judge
analogically of the future by the past — my real wishes
would have been granted.

" I have a great respect for Lord Hardwicke. The
great Lord Hardwicke and my father had the same for
each other, in better times than these. But, my Lord, I
speak matter of fact, and my reasoning will, perhaps,
stand the test of examination. Why Government should
wish to return nothing but humiliation for my zeal,
attachment and services, I protest, must appear most
unaccountable to any unprejudiced man on earth. But
the Cabal, the" never resting omnipotent Cabal, has cer-
tainly found its way into the Castle. The good, the
kind Lord Hardwicke, tho' of stern wisdom and dis-
cernment, has not yet been able to prevent its dreadful
effects, unfortunately for me, most unfortunately, indeed.
I beseech again, once more, my good Lord, to have this
legion, and not to be left in this subaltern state, — a
strange state for a nobleman who has deserv'd so much
otherwise from his King and his Government.

" I have the honor to be, my Lord, your Excellency's
most humble and obedient servant,

" Massereene,
" Only Captain of Yeomen.''''

At last, on October 27, 1803, the Lord Lieutenant
replied to Massereene's letters. His Excellency was
much hurt that the noble Lord should think no attention
had been given to his requests.

" With respect to the very numerous corps which your
Lordship proposed to raise," continues Hardwicke,
" though it certainly afforded a strong proof of your
loyalty and publick spirit, yet in considering the propriety
of so large an addition to the Yeomanry force in a par-
ticular part of the country, it was necessary to determine
the question on general grounds, however desirous I
might be — as I certainly was— to gratify your Lordship's
wishes."

Dr. Macartney obtained his corps " on the expressed
recommendation of two gentlemen of approved loyalty,
one of them a general officer in his Majesty's service ";

430 THE FATE OF THOMAS RUSSELL

and as for Mr. Thompson, he was " a gentleman of con-
siderable property and respectable connexions, and the
report of his corps is very favourable." The Lord Lieu-
tenant assured Massereene, in conclusion, that there was
no disposition at Dublin Castle to treat him with any
want of respect or inattention.

Massereene's retort was the following extraordinary
communication :

" My Lord,

" I must inform your Excellency of an atrocious
affair which took place this night in Antrim. The
country being in a perfect state of rebellion, insurrection,
etc., etc., I conceiv'd it to be prudent (especially as this
town is threaten'd to be attack'd by the miscreant United
Men) to place a small piquet guard of two men at the
different avenues by which the town could be vulnerable.
This I did (although my corps has not yet been put on
permanent duty) for the means of preservation from
nocturnal assassination and to prevent surprise. All
this duty my trusty men perform'd with alacrity. I
communicated my conduct to Brigadier-General Camp-
bell, commanding our Northern District, who had the
goodness to approve of it.

" This morning a company of blackguards and wretches
below all description were assembled in the Market-
house by Macartney, the vicar of this place, and a paper
written by Macartney was sent to me proposing for the
town men to do the duty without my soldiers ; and to
give it an air of plausibility it was alledg'd that it would
ease my men who might be harass'd by continual nightly
watching, etc., etc. I evidently saw (for I knew the man)
that this was only an insidious plot to get me to sanction
their schemes by acting and co-operating with them.
They are rebels almost to a man. Such a tumultuous
bloodthirsty rabble I will be bold to say you never saw,
my Lord, nor did Europe, but in France and Ireland.
So I sent a respectable clergyman to tell them in answer
to their paper (which they thought very cleverly and
cunningly contriv'd) that I could not give my sanction
to any such associations, and self-created military bands,
that I conceiv'd them to be very improper, not to say
illegal ; that my Corps, whose fidelity, valour, good
conduct and discipline are so well known, and had kept

MASSEREENE'S PICTURE OF MACARTNEY 431

this town in the most dangerous times, was sufficient to
keep and preserve good order, and repel the attacks of
any enemy, and that I would never attempt to sanction
any levy of troops without being authorised by Govern-
ment.

" Immediately Macartney, in the distortion of a
paroxysm of rage, foaming at the mouth like a man in a
canine madness, after the most insane and wild frantic
declamation, declar'd he would have me broke of my Com-
mission. At every word he pronounc'd he was regal'd
by the loudest plaudits, and the most tumultuous roaring
and backing of the noisy mob. The clergyman declar'd
to me he thought himself in danger of assassination, and
if that infernal rabble of wild Irish rebels were to be
arm'd the most horrid consequences would ensue. Hos-
tilities between them and my men would be inevitable,
and blood, certainly, would flow copiously.

" Oh, my Lord, is it possible that Government would
ever confide a military department to this atrocious villain,
a man than whom a more mad exists not out of Bedlam,
a coward who ran away from Antrim when the battle
commenced, a friend to numbers of United villains, a
fellow void of honor, probity and every virtue ? My
Lord, I have to beseech your Excellency not to let him
have the slightest authority as a military man (which he
is not, and never was). To strike him off the list of
magistrates would be the wisest measure that could be
adopted in this town, at this crisis, and I most strenu-
ously beseech your Excellency's attention to this. And
next, for G — d's sake, my good Lord, let me have the
arms for my last 25 recruits and put us on permanent duty.

" The peace of the town will be preserv'd, and the
place defended from any enemy. I shall co-operate with
and under the direction of General Campbell, our Com-
mander ; and his and your Excellency's orders in all
things shall be punctually executed. But for G — d's
sake, my Lord, no innovator, and, above all things, no
infernal monster like Macartney, the Vicar not of Jesus
Christ but of Satan.

" I await your Excellency's orders with more im-
patience than I can express ; and have the honor to be,
with all confidence, my Lord, your Excellency's most
obedient and most humble servant,

" Massereene."

CHAPTER VIII

THE LORD LIEUTENANT GETS THE GARTER

On the conclusion of the Special Commission for the trial
of the Dublin prisoners, the Lord Lieutenant sent the
following official report of the results to the Home Secre-
tary :

" Dublin Castle,

" nth October, 1803.

"Sir,

" On Wednesday last the Special Commission for
trying the prisoners concerned in the late Insurrection
closed, not from having disposed of all the prisoners,
but because it was necessary that a new Commission
should now issue for the discharge of the ordinary public
business, which, of course, supersedes the former. The
prisoners yet to be tried are of a description not fit to
be passed over either from mercy or contempt. Others
may hereafter be apprehended who are of greater con-
sequence. But it is evident from what has appeared on
the trials, as well as by documents transmitted to your
ofhce from time to time, that the persons principally
concerned in the late outrages have been brought to
justice.

" It gives me much satisfaction to find that however
active and malignant the infatuated partisans of Mr.
Emmet have been, the extent of the conspiracy has not
appeared to be such as to warrant the supposition that,
any large proportion of the people of the country have
been corrupted ; and as scarcely a single outrage has
taken place anywhere since the 23rd of July — although
the scenes which passed in the Metropolis on that day
might well have excited to similar violences in the country

432

THE VICEROY ON THE EXECUTIONS 433

— I am sanguine in thinking that I have not been dis-
appointed in my opinion that the general disposition and
the loyalty of the people of the comitry was improved, —
an object to which I have so anxiously applied my exer-
tions here, and the failure of which would have occa-
sioned me so much real concern.

" The conviction of Mr. Emmet has been particularly
fortunate, as in his person the most guilty agent in the
conspiracy has suffered, and connected with his con-
viction the principal designs of his desperate associates
have been developed.

" Redmond, who has also suffered, was in the confi-
dence of Emmet, and although without any considerable
talents or education, yet from his enthusiastic turn of
mind he was to be considered as a most dangerous asso-
ciate in such a cause. Rourke, the son of an inn-keeper
at Rathcoole, had been deeply engaged in the Rebellion of
1798, and was supposed to have committed some murders
while he held a command among the rebels. He was
armed in the streets on the night of the 23rd July, and
his sanguinary disposition seems to have been the chief
recommendation to the rank of a leader which it is sup-
posed he held on the late occasion. Fourteen besides
these were convicted and have been executed. They
were all persons in inferior situations of life, and are only
of consequence from the relative importance of the parts
they were to act in the Insurrection.

" Kearney, the first person tried, was taken by the
King's troops in the act of encouraging and commanding
the pikemen to advance. Byrne, a baker, had been em-
ployed to reconnoitre the works at the Pigeon House, and
his Majesty's stores in Townsend Street. Kirwan, a
tailor, was much in the confidence of the leaders. He
was employed by them to make their laced uniforms,
and was apprised of all their signals. Hayes, who had
been in the Kildare Militia, and McCann, a publican,
were little inferior to Rourke in atrocity ; and Keenan,
a carpenter, was supposed to be one of the actual mur-
derers of Lord Kilwarden. Mackintosh, a carpenter,
besides being armed on the night of the Insurrection, was
an active agent in preparing the machines and the gun-
powder, which were to be made use of on the occasion.
He was proprietor of the house in Patrick Street which
served as a sort of workshop to the greater depot in

434 THE LORD LIEUTENANT GETS THE GARTER

Bridgefoot Street which Howley rented, who was also
convicted and executed, and who confessed his having
murdered Colonel Browne with his own hand.

" The other persons executed were guilty of little
more than being armed with pikes on the night of the
23rd July. Of these it was thought fit to make an
example in order to convince the populace that if they
became the instruments of treason they must expect to
suffer for it.

" Two only of the whole number brought to trial were
acquitted, Doran and McDermott ; and in the case of
the former the jury expressly declared that they were
satislied the prosecutor believed what he said to be true ;
and in the latter the counsel for the prisoner proceeded
on an admission to the same effect ; and in each case
the defence was expressly rested on a doubt whether the
witnesses might not be mistaken as to the identity of the
prisoners. These instances, therefore, brought no dis-
credit on the prosecutions, and have no other effect than
to shew with what integrity and correctness justice has
been administered.

" I wish I could add that the persons convicted had
acknowledged their guilt at the place of execution.
Emmet, Mackintosh, Redmond, and Howley, directly
avowed it ; many were silent, and others persisted in
denying the justice of their sentence. Of this, a striking
instance occurred in the case of Rourke, who was more
than usually solemn in the protestation of innocence,
though the Government are now in possession of a written
offer sent by him after conviction to make a full disclosure
on a promise that his life should be saved, an offer which
it was not thought proper to accept.

" I cannot close this despatch without expressing the
entire satisfaction I have felt in the very able and prudent
conduct of the Crown lawyers in carrying on those pro-
secutions. I believe instances have rarely occurred in
which a series of State Trials have been carried through
with so little interruption to the complete proof in each
case, and such entire satisfaction to a very able Bench,
to respectable and impartial juries, and to every descrip-
tion of persons not immediately connected with those
wretched men who have forfeited their lives. It will
be particularly agreeable to me if you will, at a fit oppor-
tunity, represent to his Majesty the services of the

CURIOUS PROPOSAL OF THE VICEROY 435

Attorney and Solicitor-General on this occasion, whose
exertions and conduct have done, great honour to them-
selves, and have been at the same time of very essential
benefit to the general interests, honour, and credit of his
Majesty's Government in this country."

Subsequently, the Lord Lieutenant, in a letter to the
Home Secretary, suggested that, following a precedent
which had been set after the Rebellion of 1798, the
prisoners still awaiting trial should be discharged on
condition that they joined the Army, His Excellency
writes :

" It will necessarily happen that after the trials a very
considerable number will remain in the gaols and military
prisons whom it will not be expedient to bring to trial,
but who stand in that degree of criminality that it would
be extremely dangerous to suffer them to be again at
large in this country, and many of whom were concerned
in the Rebellion which broke out here in the year 1798.

" They are men who, with few exceptions, would be
fit to serve in his Majesty's Armies abroad, and most if
not nearly the whole of them would probably be induced
to enlist to avoid a prosecution. I would therefore sub-
mit it to the consideration of His Majesty's Ministers
whether a mode should not, without loss of time, be
settled for having these men disposed of either by send-
ing them to join corps already in the West Indies, or on
such other service as shall be thought best, taking care,
however, as far as possible, that none of them by any
exchange of service should hereafter be allowed to return
into this country."

But, as the reply of the Home Secretary shows, the
Commander-in-Chief refused to sanction the proposal.
Charles Yorke writes, under date October 25, 1803, to
the Viceroy :

" I have submitted these letters to the consideration
of the Commander-in-Chief, and I beg leave to enclose
a copy of the answer I have just received from his Royal
Highness, by which your Excellency will observe that
his Royal Highness cannot feel himself justified in con-
curring in a measure from which he conceives mischief

28—2

436 THE LORD LIEUTENANT GETS THE GARTER

and inconvenience might ensue far greater than the com-
parative benefit which would result to the publick from
its adoption. Under these circumstances it will become
necessary to resort to some other mode of disposing of
the men in question. I know not whether it will be
judged practicable or expedient to receive them into the
service of the East India Company, but I will consult
with Lord Castlereagh on the subject, and will let your
Excellency know the result as soon as possible."

The Duke of York, Commander-in-Chief, in his letter
to the Home Secretary, encloses a copy of a communica-
tion which he directed to be sent to the military autho-
rities in Ireland, in 1802, explaining the reasons why he
was induced to put a stop to the practice of sending to
the regiments in the West Indies men taken up in Ireland
for treasonable practices :

"I am directed by the Commander-in-Chief to trans-
mit to you herewith for the information of Lord Hobart
extract of a letter from Lieutenant-General Grinfield,
commanding the forces in the Leeward Islands, relative
to the culprits sent from Ireland to serve as soldiers in
the West Indies, with copy of a return of the men of that
and similar descriptions which have been sent there since
the beginning of the year 1799. This is a subject which
the Commander-in-Chief requests to commend to Lord
Hobart's particular consideration as a growing incon-
venience to the Service and the public. The former is
demonstrated in the enclosed return, which shows the
great increase of that description of men in the several
Regiments remaining in the Leeward Islands who, being
proscribed from returning to Great Britain and Ireland,
must necessarily, as they become unfit for service, fall a
burthen on the public or be turned adrift in that country.
His Royal Highness therefore desires to submit to Lord
Hobart the expediency of discontinuing to send men of
the description in question as soldiers to the West Indies."

* * *

Emmet's first lieutenants, Quigley and Stafford, were
still at large. But on October 13, 1803, Wickham, the
Chief Secretary, writing to Pole Carew of the Home
Office, announces their arrest at a farm-house in the

MICHAEL gUIGLEY 437

county of Galway. " Quigley," he says, "is by far the
cleverest man I have yet seen or conversed with of all
the Rebels." He adds : " Stafford is, I think, almost
without exception, the finest-looking man I ever saw."
" They had, like Emmet," he says, " their black stocks on
when taken, and all the rest of their military uniform,
except the green coat."*

On October 29 Wickham writes to Pole Carew :

" After several communications with Quigley, some
direct, others carried on through Dr. Trevor, the physician
to the gaol, the gentleman has at last consented to make
a full disclosure of all he knows, without concealing a
name of any person, high or low, and without any stipula-
tion whatever on the part of the Government. He has
only expressed a strong desire that the lives of five persons,
all of whom he led into the conspiracy, may be spared,
if his disclosures should appear to the Government to be
made fairly and without reserve, and of sufficient im-
portance to merit such an act of mercy and favour.

" Of the five persons that he has named — viz., Stafford,
the two Perotts, Frayne, and Condon — two are already
engaged secretly in the service of the Government (one
of them being the very man who betrayed Quigley him-
self) ; against a third there is no evidence ; the fourth
has a young wife and eight small children, and both the
third and fourth are the sons of an Englishman of as
good and loyal a character as any man in the United
Kingdom. t When the father removed to the county of
Galway as gardner and land surveyor to Mr. Blake
of Ardfry, a gentleman of very large landed propert}^ in
that county, he unfortunately left these two young men
behind him in the neighbourhood of Maynooth, where they
fell into the hands of Lord Edward FitzGerald, whose
attentions to them they were unable to resist, and so
entered deeply into the Rebellion.

" The question of shewing mercy to Quigley has been
well and deliberately discussed. It was determined from
the first, considering the very important part he had
acted in the conspiracy, not to hear of any terms or
stipulations of any kind that he might attempt to insist

* From Home Office Papers,
t This refers to the two Perotts.

438 THE LORD LIEUTENANT GETS THE GARTER

upon either for himself or others. This was so distinctly
signified, and so often repeated to him, in answer to
every condition that he wished to attach to the dis-
closures he offered to make that he yesterday threw
himself and his friends on the mercy of Government,
and immediately gave me some local information of
considerable importance, the substance of which will be
communicated to you from time to time for Mr. Yorke's
information. At present we are busily employed acting
upon it.

" It is my own opinion that the knowledge that Quigley
is giving information to Government will do more towards
pacifying the country and terrifying the disaffected than
the execution of twenty men of his rank and station in
life ; whilst his known abilities and the confidence re-
posed in him by the party will make so considerable an
impression on the publick mind as to the importance and
extent of the discoveries it is in his power to make, that
I can answer for the publick opinion being strongly in
favour of the measure that the Lord Lieutenant has
determined to adopt of sparing his life if his disclosures
be sincere and full.

" I ought at the same time to add that I do not expect
very much of new matter from his disclosures ; and that
I look more to them as reducing our doubts and sus-
picions to certainty, than as likely to open much new
light on the proceedings of the disaffected."

* * *

Michael Dwyer, the insurgent leader, still held out on
the Wicklow hills. In reference to him the Viceroy sent
the following letter to the Home Secretary :

" Dublin Castle,

" \Ath Nov., 1803.
" Sir,

" I beg leave to send ^''ou inclosed the copy of a
Proclamation which issued on Tuesday last offering large
rewards for apprehending Michael Dwyer, the noted
rebel, who still maintains himself in the fastnesses of the
county of Wicklow, and has acquired an extraordinary
ascendency over the inhabitants of those parts.

" I am in great hopes, if neither the rewards offered
in the above Proclamation, nor the threats by which they
are accompanied, should be attended with success, that

SURRENDER OF MICHAEL DWYER 439

some more active measures which I have concerted
with the Commander of His Majesty's Forces will tend
ultimately to secure this man and enable me to bring him
to punishment.

" Before the Proclamation issued I offered him a
retreat from the kingdom with all his family and several
of his relations, a measure which I thought it right to
take, as well on account of the little hope I had been
taught to entertain of being able to apprehend him by
any ordinary means, as because his having taken an
active part in the Insurrection of the 23rd July seemed
to present a fair pretext for removing from the country
a very dangerous rebel by an act of lenity and indul-
gence which the loyal part of the country could not pos-
sibly disapprove. He thought proper, however, to reject
my offer, trusting, as I have reason to believe, to his
being able to make a new effort on the landing of the
French, an event which he is taught to consider as very
near, and represents to his associates as certainly to take
place before the winter."

I find in the Home Office Papers the following descrip-
tion of the insurgent leader :

" Michael Dwyer is aged about 34 years ; 5 ft. 10 inches
high ; very straight in the back ; short neck and square
shoulders ; a little in-kneed ; rather long-legged, with a
little rise on the shin-bones ; very long feet ; black hair
and dark complexion ; broad across the eyes, which are
black ; short cocked nose, wide mouth, thin lips, even
teeth, but stand separate ; very long from the nose to
the end of the chin ; full breasted and rather full faced ;
born in Imael, co. Wicklow."

At length, on December 14, 1803, Dwyer, his wife, and
several of his followers surrendered themselves to Captain
Hume, M.P., of Hume Wood, Wicklow. Brigadier-
General W. C. Beresford, sending the news to General Sir
Charles Asgill, Dublin, says :

" I have reason to believe that the assurances which
have been given to him that his life shall be spared have
been somewhat stronger than there has been warrant
for, as the fellow does not appear to have any anxiety or
doubt on that head. Capt. Hume, however, tells me

440 THE LORD LIEUTENANT GETS TLIE GARTER

that he has thrown himself unconditionally on the mercy
of Government, he promising him to use his personal
interest with Government to save his life. I cannot,
however, omit saying that if solicitations on this head
will or can be listened to, none deserve to be more attended
to than those of Capt. Hume, as his zeal, activity and
exertions have been unremitted and indefatigable.

" The account which Dwyer gives of the dispositions
of the people is to us very satisfactory, and the more so
as it is corroborated by every person with whom I have
of late conversed on the subject, as well as by the unasked-
for declarations and protestations of the people them-
selves."

The prisoners were tried and sentenced to transporta-
tion to Botany Bay. The last glimpse we get of them
on their way to Australia is afforded by the following
letter signed " John Conellan," and addressed to Alex-
ander Marsden, the Under-Secretary, from Madeira,
where the convict ship had called :

" The Captain has been remarkably attentive and
humane to the convicts, having taken the whole charge
upon himself to see the prison washed, scrubed and
swabed perfectly dry every day, and fumigating occasion-
ally. From the good conduct of the convicts, he has taken
the irons off twelve of them, and all the rest have but one
leg in irons. Their state of health in general is very
good, but we have not been free of fever since they came
on board. The greatest discontent that prevails among
them is the want of tobacco, which I understand was
ordered for them by you, but was neglected to be sent on
board from Cork ; but the Captain, always attentive to
their complaints, went on shore this day for the purpose
of buying as much tobacco as will be sufficient for them
until we arrive at Rio Janeiro.

" Dwyer's party have behaved very well. Their
women occupy one of the hospitals. The Captain has
been remarkably civil to them, particularly to Byrne's
wife, who is far advanced in pregnancy. He frequently
sends her fresh soup, mutton, etc., from his own table.
In short all the convicts, men and women, seem' highly
sensible of the Captain's humane attention to them, and
I hope they will continue to deserve it."

IRELAND AFTER THE INSURRECTION 441

It is interesting to learn that Michael Dwyer ulti-
mately joined the police, and for eleven years was High
Constable of Sydney. He died in 1826.

* * *

What was the condition of Ireland after the suppres-
sion of the Insurrection ? On that subject " J. W.," or
Leonard MacNally, thus reported to Dublin Castle :

" ^rd December, 1803.

" The suspension of the Yeomanry from permanent
duty has not been followed by the slightest instance of
an alarming nature. On the contrary, the City has been,
ever since that event, perfectly tranquil, neither robbery,
riot, tumult, nor indication of sedition, or even private
quarrel having appeared.

" The theatre is tolerably attended. The audience
peaceable and zealously loyal in their plaudits on every
occasion that offers, and, indeed, every sentiment in
favour of the British Constitution, the British Navy,
British bravery, etc., etc., is received and marked with
the most zealous approbation.

" The Rebellion I consider as completely down, unless
a foreign foe should succeed in landing. The country
gentlemen daily coming to Dublin to attend the Terms,
and daily receiving letters from the country, give the
strongest assurance that the peasantry are quiet, attentive
to industry, and, in many places, strong in their declara-
tions against the admission of a French force. I have
reason to believe that the Roman Catholic clergy have
been extremely serviceable in impressing the minds of
the common people with the dread of a French Govern-
ment, and I can assure you that the statements made
on this subject by the Counsel for the prisoners recently
tried for treason has produced very considerable and very
general effect.* Such is really the situation of the country,
that unless a general hypocrisy prevails, and veil the real
sentiments of the people, nothing can be more true or
better founded than what the King says in his Speech
respecting this country.

" Mr. Fox is egregiously wrong.! He founds his

* This, of course, is a reference to MacNally himself,
t Fox had said in the House of Commons that there was no
evidence of the conspirators having sought the aid of France.

442 THE LORD LIEUTENANT GETS THE GARTER

opinion on Emmet's declaration in public when on trial.
But sure Mr. Fox could never have read Emmet's speech,
in which my private note coincides with that published
by Mr. Ridgeway. He says : ' I am charged with being
an emissary from France for the purpose of inciting in-
surrection in the country, and then delivering it over to
the enemy '; and this he denies. But does he not say :
' It is true there were communications between the United
Irishmen and France,' and that at the moment he sjx»ke
' there was a new agent at Paris negotiating with the
French Government to obtain from them aid sufficient
to accomplish the separation of Ireland from England '?
The onl}/ question was whether she was to come as ' an
enemy or as a friend,' — in whatever way she was to come
to Ireland Mr. Fox must allow she was to come as an
enemy to England.

" Mr. Emmet assured my friend* on the day of his
execution, that his brother and others in Paris had nego-
tiated for a French force ; that if they came with a treaty
they ought to be joined, and that if Ireland was once
separated from England by treaty she ought to establish
her independence against both France and England by
beating the French out of the island, if they remained as
conquerors. Emmet had no objection to French aid by
treaty ; he only objected to France conquering Ireland
for herself.

" Mr. Fox's assertion is considered here with great con-
tempt by every man who has a knowledge of what was
the system of United Irishmen. The aid of France was
their great dependence ; without it they will not act.
Emmet, with a luxuriant imagination, an ambitious mind,
and a very weak understanding, acted from the impulse
of such a disposition ; and as he said himself, on the day
of his death, a hope of being able to head an Irish army
and render the aid of France unnecessary. But be assured
of this, his frantic conduct has been considered by those
United Irishmen who were of his brother's school as a
brain blow to their politics. Their object was not even
to give cause of suspicion to Government until a landing
from France were completely effected and to rise as the
French moved through the country. Emmet knew this,
and so did many of the fugitives in Paris.

"J. W."

* Here again MacNally is referring to himself.

EMMET'S SPEECH FROM THE DOCK 443

It was said in Paris that the version of Emmet's speech
in the dock pubHshed by Ridgeway was a fabrication in
the interest of the Government, especially the declara-
tion against the French, which, it was asserted, Emmet
had never delivered.* A later communication from
"J. W." deals with that subject. Dated February 8,
1804, and addressed " A. Marsden, Esq., etc.. Castle,"
it is endorsed " secret information," with the initials, no
doubt in Marsden's handwriting, " McN.":

" A Doctor Harnadge is arrived from New York, on
what business I know not. He brought letters and a
newspaper to my friend f from Charles Smith, late of
St. Mary's Abbey, an old and true friend to the Republican
party. He writes to my friend thus : ' 9th December,
1803. This day we have had an account of the execution
of Captain Russell. His death and R. Emmet's are
much regretted by the people of this truly happy land.
I am requested by a number of the most respectable
characters here to request of you to send out Mr. Emmet's
speech on his trial in manuscript that we may give it a
fair publication in our papers. I am very happy to
inform you that every good Republican in America not
only respects the Irish, but loves them.'

" In the newspaper, which is a Government print, is
a long elegiac poem to the memory of Emmet. And
Smith encloses a letter to Hans Dennison of Longford,
inviting him in the name of his brother in New York to
come out and reside there, and to bring his father with him.

" My friend intends sending the MS. of Emmet. Its
publication will contradict the assertion in the Moniteur
that Ridgeway's report is not genuine.

"J. W."

* From the diary of Thomas Addis Emmet : " Paris, October
20th, 1803. — Swiney has brought me the details of my dearest
Robert's trial and execution. His conduct is my only consolation
for his loss, but his speech, as given by the English Government,
would be very offensive here." " January 21st, 1804. — Mr.
O'Reilly arrived from Ireland, and brought me some extracts of
my brother's speech, which completely contradicted the abuse
he had been said to utter against the French. I therefore deter-
mined to lose no time in laying this before the Government,
together with more details he had given me respecting the political
and military situation of England and Ireland."

t My friend is, of course, MacNally himself.

444 THE LORD IJEUTENANT GETS THE GARTER

" Doctor Harnadge shall not be forgotten.
" Smith says : ' Dennison's relations here are the most
respectable of this State.' "*

* * *

In the debates in the House of Commons the Irish
Administration had been severely criticised for its lack
of previous information about the conspiracy, and the
hesitation and feebleness of the military measures for
its suppression ; and to the indignation of Hardwicke,
Addington's defence was half-hearted and apologetic.
General Fox had been recalled from Ireland, only to be
placed in command of the London district. This was
regarded by Hardwicke as another affront. But in
November, 1803, came something in the nature of a
salve to his feelings in an offer of the Garter by the
Prime Minister :

" Downing Street,

"Nov. 18, 1803.
" My dear Lord,

" Having felt it to be due to your Excellency's
station and services to bring under his Majesty's con-
sideration your just pretensions to the dignity of the
Garter, I have great satisfaction in acquainting you of
his Majesty's gracious intention that you should supply
the vacancy occasioned by the death of the Marquis of
Stafford.

" I will only add that his Majesty is fully aware that
no wish upon this subject has been expressed, nor the
slightest intimation given either by your Excellency or
any of your friends or connections."

* " Catholics may care to know, though they will hardly attach
much importance to the accession, that Leonard McNally, ' after
life's fitful fever,' sank into the bosom of Rome. Father Smith of
Townsend Street Chapel, on February 13, 1820, gave him the
last rites. This priest, having got word that ' the Counsellor '
wished to see him, went to his house in Harcourt Street, where
Mrs. McNally informed him that her husband was then asleep,
and must not be disturbed. McNally's son, who happened to be
coming downstairs at the moment, reproved his stepmother for
the indisposition she evinced to admit the clergyman, adding :
' Can't you let him go to the devil his own way ?' He then con-
ducted the priest to the sick man's room."— W. J. FitzPatrick :
Secret Service under Pitt,

THE GARTER 445

Writing from Dublin Castle on November 22, 1803,
Hardwicke thus accepted the honour :

" My dear Sir,

" I am really at a loss to express to you the grate-
ful sense I entertain of his Majesty's gracious intention,
which you have communicated to me in so friendly and
handsome a manner, to confer upon me the very honour-
able distinction of the Garter. Highly flattered as I
must necessarily have been at any period by so singular
a mark of his Majesty's favour, the value of it is greatly
enhanced by the moment, as well as by the manner, in
which it is bestowed, since I consider it as a proof that
my humble but anxious endeavours to pursue a system
in Ireland adapted to the circumstances of the time, and
suitable to his Majesty's gracious views and objects, have
not been entirely disapproved by my Sovereign.

" I must request you to lay me at his Majesty's feet,
and to convey my humble and dutiful, but certainly
inadequate, expressions of grateful acknowledgment."

Among the congratulations which the conferring of
this honour brought to Hardwicke was the following
characteristic epistle from Dr. Thomas B. Clarke :

" 24, Alsop Buildings, Mary-la-Bonne,
" 26//i Nov., 1803.

" My dear Lord,

" I am proud to acknowledge that I have more
obligation to your Excellency than to almost any other
man. For, during the honour of a long acquaintance,
during youth and manhood to this moment, and while
immersed in the proceedings of policy and State, you
have displayed one characteristic throughout — you never
deceived me. But, my Lord, I am not laudator temporis
adi se puero, though Time does bring on me, with no
unsparing hand, its alflictions, and menaces me by warn-
ings of speedy and more serious losses. For, whatever
years take from or bring on me, I rejoice that they will
never take from your Excellency public esteem or private
love, for the sense, virtue, and charity which have dis-
tinguished your government of Ireland And the most
honourable and adequate proof of this exists in the
gracious act of his Majesty, j/esterday, by conferring on
your Excellency the Order of the Garter,

446 THE LORD LIEUTENANT GETS THE GARTER

" I have reason to say that no man is better instructed
on the state of Ireland than his Majesty. I do therefore
most sincerely and with pride— for I feel no ordinary
interest in your well-doing and well-being — congratulate
your Excellency on this deserved mark of Royal approba-
tion. May Heaven preserve and prosper your Family,
your Government, your Life, your Health, and your
Friendships. Ireland has long wanted, and may it long
retain, such a model ; and we, who have the honor of
long knowing you, want the aid of such a friend and such
a man.

" Futurity, however, will possess you. And had I not
been so long studying in order to live, without yet being
able to live in order to study, I had formed the plan of
writing the history of a particular period, wherein the
importance of the events and the protection of your
Excellency's name, and others concerned in them, might
perhaps have handed down to posterity the author's
memory. But whether I live or die, with respect to the
present or future generations, be assured that I am with
the highest veneration and gratitude, fond of your
virtues, and bound by your kindness to be always, my
dear Lord, your Excellency's humble, obedient, and
faithful servant,

" Thos. B. Clarke."

Here, also, is an amusing letter from the Bishop of
Norwich, as Registrar of the Order of the Garter :

" December the gfh, 1803.

" My dear Lord,

" As an old acquaintance, and one always affect-
ing your Lordship's friendship, you will allow me to con-
gratulate with you on the late accession to your Honors.
As Registrar of the Order, it belongs to me to record your
election, and to attach to the record such historical facts
or fictions as my knowledge of you may furnish or in-
genuity invent. In the original Register called ' The
Liber Niger ' (a very proper name for a book of scandal,
tho' some people will tell you that it is so called because
covered with black velvet) there are found several curious
anecdotes and a good deal of scandalous history written
in passable Latin.

" At the close of the last Reign, or beginning of this,
the entries were ordered to be made in English, and the

ADDINGTON AND THE IRISH ADMINISTRATION 447

Registrar, of course, has lost his opportunity of making
known his classical talents, but his talent for lying is
left perfectly at large. I shall, therefore, take leave to
deliver your Excellency over to Posterity as the most
corrupt, abandoned and tyrannical Viceroy that ever
presided over an abused and virtuous people.

" From, my dear Lord, your sincere friend,

" C. Norwich.
" P.S. — It is my duty to mention to your Lordship that
his Majesty has authorised me to call upon you for Fifty
Pounds as a subscription to the fund established by the
Knights of the Garter for the repair of the painted
windows and other decorations of St. George's Chapel."

The reply of Hardwicke to this communication was not
couched in the same vein of humour. It betrays his dis-
satisfaction with Addington's weak and vacillating defence
in the House of Commons of the Irish Administration in
connexion with the Emmet Insurrection. Marked
" Private," and dated " Dublin Castle, December 19,
1803," it runs :

" The honour itself, for which I could never have been
in contemplation, except from the situation in which I
happen to have been placed, certainly received additional
value in my estimation from the moment at which it was
conferred. I will not, however, conceal from you that
some declarations respecting the 23rd of July (if we are
to believe reports of debates in Parliament) were lately
drawn from persons, who might have been better in-
formed, not strictly correct. This I conceive to have
originated from a desire to satisfy all parties, a policy
which, however commendable, generally fails of success,

" I have no wish to enrich the Liber Niger, I shall
therefore confide my character, whether it be recorded
in Latin or in English, to your hands. I shall always be
desirous of a continuance of your Lordship's friendship
and good opinion, because, without a compliment, I am
very sensible of their value."

* + *

The Lord Lieutenant was so angry because of the feeble
defence of his Administration by the Prime Minister in
the House of Commons that he had a long statement

448 THE LORD LIEUTENANT GETS THE GARTER

prepared asserting that the Irish Government had been
adequately informed beforehand of the conspiracy, and
that its outbreak on the night of July 23 was due entirely
to the absence of proper military arrangements by
General Fox, and copies of this statement he sent to his
particular friends in both Houses of Parliament. Among
the replies he received was this from Lord Warren-
Bulkeley :

" Private.

" PoYNTON, Stockport,

" Jan. 24, 1804.

" My dear Lord,

'' I had your kind and confidential letter of ye
14th, and you may depend on me that I shall not abuse
ye trust you have reposed in me ; and I hope no further
discussions will take place in Parliament on a matter
which may do much mischief and no good. But if they
do I shall speak in Society as a friend of yours, and
according to ye honest truths you have related to me,
without quoting your Lordship's name, for we all know
that discussions in Society on great political questions
and differences have much to do with those in Parlia-
ment, and vice versa.

" I will not disguise from your Lordship that great
industry has been used by ye most violent of The Orange
Party to represent ye affair of July as a compleat Re-
bellion, and a surprise on the Government of Ireland, for
which they were unprepared, and of which they were not
aware and informed ; and by The Catholics as a trifle, a
little riot, not worthy of ye name of Insurrection, much
less of Rebellion. In saying this I only relate to you
what The Sons of St. Patrick of different persuasions said
and do say, for many of them have fallen in my way in
Wales, where there are too many of them ; and you know
they differ with The Scotch — who are very guarded —
and let out their opinions whatever they are, wise or
foolish, right or erroneous, hasty or digested, to every-
body and before everybody ; and there are reasons which
occasion their being seldom contradicted, whether they
talk like men of understanding, like fools, or like knaves,
or like all three. I must, however, do them all ye justice
to say that in general they speak very handsomely of

LETTER FROM LORD WARREN-BULKELEY 449

your Lordship and Lady Hardwicke, and that you are
both very popular and respected characters in Ireland,

" I am afraid from your letter many circumstances
are very unpleasant to you ; but all successive English
Governments don't pay half attention enough to ye
affairs of Ireland ; and ye consequence of that neglect
on ye part of all English Cabinets your Lordship feels
ye effects of, as well as your predecessors, many of whom
I have heard have made bitter complaints and strong
remonstrances, but in vain. Telle cause Tel Effet, and
till The English Cabinet have a good system relative to
Ireland, and support that system without varying and
changing, and support their Viceroys in ye same manner,
The Unruly Spirit of the Irish cannot be kept down,
except by ye sword, ye firelock, and ye bayonet.

" The Orangeman and The Catholic of Ireland are, in
my opinion, so full of inveteracy and uncharitableness
than an angel from Heaven could not settle ye unfor-
tunate differences of opinion which agitate, inflame, and
separate them ; and I do most sincerely pity a liberal,
sensible, right-minded man like your Lordship who at
any time, and particularly ye times we now live in, is
placed in ye responsible situation you are, in ye midst
of such a people. However, ye greater ye risk and
danger, ye greater The Honor and Glory. I have no
doubt you will get through it with credit, as you have
hitherto done ; but your situation is a very difficult one,
as I am sure Fox and The Hutchinsons will push The
Catholic Emancipation ye ensuing Sessions, and ye agita-
tion of ye question, however small ye minority, or great
ye majority, will set ye common people of Ireland several
degrees more mad and bloodthirsty and murderous than
they are at present.

" Excuse all this nonsense on my part, my dear Lord ;
and with my compliments to Lady Hardwicke and with
every good wish, believe me, with much regard and
esteem, your sincere and faithful,

" Warren-Bulkeley."
* * *

In January, 1804, the Lord Lieutenant was startled
to learn from the Hon. George Knox, M.P. for Dublin
University, that in June, 1803, he had been the means
through which information of the existence of the Emmet

450 THE LORD LIEUTENANT GETS THE GARTER

conspiracy had been communicated to William Wick-
ham, the Chief Secretary, and that Wickham, probably
believing it to be unfounded, took no action. The in-
formation came from Peter Burrowes, a lawyer, who had
been one of the most active and eloquent opponents of
the measure of the Union in the House of Commons. In
confirmation of his story Knox sent to Hardwicke the
following most interesting extract from his private
Diary :

" June 1st, 1803, London. — Received the following
letter from P. Burrowes :

" ' May 2Zth,

" ' My dear Knox,

" ' Since I sealed my letter I have had a communica-
tion by mere accident which inclines me to think I mis-
informed you on the chief point of my letter. I am sorry
to say that I think there is an invisible revolutionary
Government in great forwardness and activity, and that
they have numerous partisans in the City of Dublin, and
all through Leinster, in the City of Limerick and other
parts. I believe also, notwithstanding Mr. Bell's assur-
ance, that Arthur O'Connor is the principal agent be-
tween the French Government and the emissaries here,
who are all men of inferior rank in life, but of boldness
and talents, natives of this country, and some of them
engaged, but not much noticed, in the battles which were
fought. I understand that several such men had quantities
of gold in Dublin, of which they were very liberal. The
person who spoke to me is a man of perfect veracity, who
would be received to any degree of confidence by the
party, who is rather of a Republican cast, but a man of
feeling and conscience, and perfectly awake to the final
inefficacy of a struggle and the misery which would
attend it. He is also a man having a family, and con-
siderable prospects in a profession. He has no scruple
of giving any information which may tend to defeat the
revolutionary objects, but will not do anything which a
man of principle and honor ought not to do. I know
him above twenty years, and am certain of his sincerity
and truth. If I should learn anything from him I really
know not any person through whom I could communi-

DISCLOSURES BY PETER BURROWES 451

cate it to Government without the hazard of some un-
pleasant consequences. My friend is a Roman Catholic,
and not a lawyer.

" ' Yours truly,

" ' P. BURROWES.'

" I answered that I should keep the secret, and speak
to the Minister. I showed Addington the letter in the
House, having previously torn oS the signature. He
expressed himself obliged, thought it a matter to be
attended to, and wished me to speak about it to Lord
Castlereagh.

" Friday, June T^rd, 1803, London. — Saw Wickham.
We settled that Burrowes should write to Marsden under
the signature of ' Junius.'

" Friday, June 10th, London. — Received a letter from
Burrowes. The design of the rebels is to prepare the
common people for a rising, but not to organize them ;
not to arm them individually, but to have depots of arms
for them when the insurrection was to begin. The great
object then to be to seize upon the Capital. The French
at the same time that they are to invade England are to
land somewhere between Wicklow and Dublin, which is
to be the signal for an attack upon the Capital from
without and from within. Left his letter at Wickham's.

" Monday, June i^th, 1803, London. — A letter from P.
Burrowes. He consents that his name should be known
to Wickham, and that he should communicate with him
or Mr. Flint. Another person, a friend of his, who ought
to know the proceedings of the disaffected, gave him a
different account from the former, and represents matters
more favourably ; but he has rather more reliance on
the sincerity of the first. Sent Burrowes' letter to Wick-
ham."

The paper containing these extracts from the diary of
George Knox has the following note in the handwriting
of the Lord Lieutenant :

" N.B. — Not one word of this letter of the loth of June
was communicated to Dublin until after the 23rd of July.
Nor did I ever hear of these letters till some time after

29 — 2

452 THE LORD LIEUTENANT GETS THE GARTER

Mr. Wickham's arrival in August. I never saw these
copies till February, 1804, when the subject had been
mentioned in Parliament, and when I procured from
Mr. G. Knox what I could not obtain from Mr. Wick-
ham's papers. — H."

In a letter to Lord Cathcart, the new Commander of
the Forces in Ireland, dated March 8, 1804, enclosing a
copy of this document, the Viceroy says :

" The paper containing intelligence of the intentions of

the rebels is very curious at present, because the truth of

it has been since, unfortunately, confirmed, and had it

been communicated on this side of the water, instead of

the other, it might have produced some advantage, as

the connexions of the writer were known to have been

such as would have given credibility to any information

from that quarter."

* * *

The fate of the actors in the drama who survived the
Special Commission can be told in a few words. Dow-
dall and Allan the draper were the only leading members
of the conspiracy who succeeded in escaping from the
country. Hamilton, Russell's brother-in-law, was not
brought to trial, as he, like Quigley, made a full disclosure,
on condition that his life was spared. He lay in Kilmain-
ham, with Philip Long, the rich merchant who supplied
the funds. Patten, Emmet's friend, Anne Devlin, St. John
Mason, and others, under the Act for the suspension of
Habeas Corpus. The Act was to expire on March 16,
1806. In February the Whig Government of Grenville
and Fox had replaced Pitt's last Administration. Hard-
wicke, on the eve of his leaving Ireland, urged that the
Act should be renewed.

"If it should be thought necessary at the present
moment," he wrote, " to require evidence either of
existing conspiracy, or extended disaffection, in order
to justify a further continuance of the Act, it must be
confessed that no such evidence can at this moment be
produced."

THE SURVIVORS OF THE INSURRECTION 453

But he thought that as long as the War with France
continued the Government of Ireland ought to be in-
vested with power to arrest and detain in prison persons
suspected of disaffection. In reply, Lord Spencer, the
new Home Secretary, writing from Whitehall, Feb-
ruary 17, 1806, said the Ministers were unanimously of
opinion that, in the circumstances, it was impossible for
them to propose to Parliament a further suspension of
Habeas Corpus. This was in the official letter. In a
" private and confidential " communication which accom-
panied it Spencer writes :

" With regard to Quigley, whose particular case you
have noticed in your private letter to me of the'. 12th
instant, it would, no doubt, be highly proper to adopt
some means by which the advantage derived from his
disposition and power to give useful information should
be secured to Government as far as may be ; and for this
purpose I take the liberty of suggesting that it would be
advisable to secure to him whatever remuneration your
Excellency may deem reasonable out of the Secret Service
Money ; and with a view to prevent suspicion of his
connection with the Government, I also take the liberty
of suggesting that it might be desirable to release him
among the last, which, at the same time, would give us
the advantage of any intelligence he might obtain pend-
ing the gradual liberation of these people, by the same
means as I understand him to have used ever since they
have been confined."

So in March, 1806, the prisoners were released. Quigley
took a farm at Rathcoffey, his native place in Kildare.
He was evicted in 1842, but being at the time too ill to
be removed, the bailiffs allowed him to remain to die
in his old home. Anne Devlin, in her later years a poor
Dublin washerwoman, unknown and unnoticed, survived
until 185 1.

" They who make half revolutions dig their own
graves," says Saint-Just. Every established Govern-
ment is compelled by the instinct of self-preservation

454 THE LORD LIEUTENANT GETS THE GARTER

to brand as " traitors " and to pursue to the death
those who by revolution seek its overthrow. But the
pathos of failure in a hopeless cause has an irresistible
fascination. To humanity it appeals with the glamour
of romance. The world will ever refuse to hold in execra-
tion the memories of those who give their lives on the
gallows for an idea. At any rate, in Ireland the tragic
story of Robert Emmet will endure for ever. He is
the dearest saint in the calendar of Irish political
martyrology. In the humblest cabins of the land may
be seen — with tlie pictures of the Blessed Virgin and
St. Patrick — rude portraits of Emmet, as he would wish
perhaps to be remembered — in his cocked hat and
feathers, his green and gold and white uniform, as Com-
mander-in-Chief of the Forces of the Irish Republic.

INDEX

Abbot, Charles, Chief Secretary
for Ireland, 3, 57, 59, 95, 156,
248 ; Lord Clare's behaviour, 62,
155 ; Cooke's abuse of, 63 ; Sir
John Parnell, 89 ; John Foster,
90 ; his correspondence with the
Primate, 98, 101-105, 115; Mr.
Grady, 163 ; McKenna and the
pension fund, 183, 184 ; Mr.
Dick Martin, 239

Abercorn, Lord, 43, 52, 245, 246

Aberdeen, Lord, 124

Acheson, Colonel, 195, 206

Adair, G., 47

Addington, Henry, Premier, i, 304,
305 ; his interview with George
IIL, 3 ; Hardwicke's promise to
Lord Charleville, 54, 60, 63 ; the
King's promise to Lord Thomond,
55"57. 59. 63 ; Hardwicke on
Irish cabals, 62 ; Hardwicke on
Creighton and Ross Castle, 68 ;
Sir John Parnell, 89 ; John
Foster, 91 ; the Primate and
Bishop Beresford, 98-101, 107,
109, 1 10, 1 1 2-1 1 8 ; on the Totten-
ham Loftus claim, 121, 122 ; Dr.
Butson and Lord John Beres-
ford, 125-130, 132-134, 137-142,
144 ; the lawyers and the Union,
151, 152 ; Lord Redesdale, 159;
Lord Llandaff, 197 ; Lord Sligo's
ambition, 198-200 ; his promise
to Templetown, 207 ; Lord
Roden, 209, 214 ; no longer
Premier, 211 ; Hardwicke's re-
port on the Emmet Insurrection,
279 ; Home Ofhce Papers, 381 ;
his weak defence of the Irish
Administration, 444, 447 ; Peter
Burrowes, 451

Agar, Dr. Charles, Archbishop of
Cashel, then Dublin, 94-96, 207

Alexander, Rev. Dr. Nathaniel,
Bishop of Clonfert, 43, 96-98, 100,
102-104, 107 ; Bishop of Killaloe,
132

Allan, the draper, 452

Allen and Hickson, 283

Alvanley, Lord, 90

Amiens, Treaty of, 12 ; Peace of, 221

Angereau, General, 270

Archdale, M.P., 50

Armit, Mrs., 52

Asgill, General Sir Charles, 287,
288, 294, 364, 439

Ashtown, Lord, on co. Galway, 267

Avonmore, Lord (Baron Yelver-
ton). 89, 156-158

Aylmer, Lieutenant-Colonel, 288'

Aylmer, Mr., 180, 181, 188, 190/ ,

Backlane Parliament, 308

Baker, M.P., Mr., 48

Bannan, James, principal leader of
mob in Emmet Insurrection, 292

Barrington, Sir Jonah, 86-88 ; his
Personal Recollections of his
Own Times quoted, 86, 88, 91,
93, 223, 231, 310 ; author of
The Rise and Fall of the Irish
Nation, 87

Baynes of Lisburn, Edward, 413

Beckwith, Colonel, 364

Bedford, Duke of. Viceroy of Ire-
land, 215, 250

Bell, Miss, 278

Bell, Mr., 450

Bell, Mr. Justice, 341

Bellew, Sir Patrick, 52, 182, 183

Bellew,Wilham, 52, 53, 176, 182, 183

Belmore, Lord, 245

Belvidere, Lord, 52

Beresford, John, " The King of
Ireland," 31, 32, 90, 96-98, 105,
115, 118, 126

455

4S6

INDEX

Beresford, George De La Poer,
Bishop of Kilmore, 43 ; the Pri-
mate's protests, 96-1 19

Beresford, Lord John George,
Bishop of Cork, Archbishop of
Armagh, 126-129, 138, 144, 145,
149, 150, 211-213

Beresford, Brigadier-General W. C,

439
Bethel, Isaac Burke, 10-12
Bishoprics, the hunt for, 120-150
Bishops, profligate Irish, 94-119
Bisset, Rev. — , 44, 143
Blackwood, Sir James, 196
Blake of Ardfry, 437
Blake, Henry James, Port Surveyor

of Galway, 82, 83
Blaquiere, John, Lord de, 49, 52,

91-93
Boswell, 98
Boyle, Lord, 16
Brady, Lieutenant, 292
Bridge, an informer, 312
Bristol, Earl of, Bishop of Derry,

43. 123
Brodrick, Dr. Charles, Archbishop

of Cashel, 96, 102
Bromhead, Mrs., 52
Brooke, M.P. for Donegal, 48
Browne, Arthur, Prime Serjeant,

35, 51, 153, 154, 163, 166-171
Browne, Colonel, 21st Regiment,

292, 299, 434
Browne, Denis, M.P. for Mayo, 50,

228, 229, 317
Browne, George, 50, 228-230
Browne, Wogan, 387
Brownrigg, Colonel, 58
Bruce, Captain, 86
Bruen, Colonel and Mrs., 47
Bulkeley, Lord Warren-, 448
Burke, Edmund, 320, 324, 396
Burke, M., 49
Burrowes, Peter, 69 ; counsel for

Emmet, 388, 389, 393, 450, 451
Burton, M.P., Colonel Francis N.,

46. 193, 194
Burton, Counsellor, 352, 389
Bute, Earl of, 97
Butson, Dr., Dean of Waterford,

122, 126, 128-130, 133-142 ;

Bishop of Clonfert, 144
Byrne, a baker, 433, 440

Callan, Lord, 48

Camden, Lord, Viceroy of Ireland

(1796), 14, 21, 22, 73-75, 154, 180,

232, 365
Cameron, Mrs., 259

Campbell,, Mr. 131

Cane, M.P., Captain, 48, 50

Cane, Bart., Sir John, 86

Carew, Reginald Pole, Charles
Yorke's secretary, 306, 326, 329,
338, 389. 398, 426, 436, 437

Carleton, Alderman, 334

Carleton, Francis, J. P., 255

Carleton, Lord, 320

Carroll, William, butcher, 414

Carter, Rev. — , Archbishop of Ar-
magh's chaplain, 113

Casey, Mr., 84

Cashel, Archbishop of, translated to
Dublin, 43

Castlereagh, Viscount, Chief Secre-
tary for Ireland, 2, 304, 436, 451,
the Union Engagements, 7, 15,
40, 140, 143, 163, 184 ; Lord
Donoughmore, 17, 18 ; Rev.
Philip Johnson, 24, 25 ; Dr. Thos.
Brooke Clarke, 30-33, 36 ; Lord
Wallscourt's reminder, 82;
Grady, 163 ; William Johnson,
172 ; Catholics and the Union,
176, 321 ; Joseph Peacocke, 194 ;
Lady Dufferin, 196 ; his promise
to Sir George Shee, 205, 206 ;
Mr. Martin, 238, 239 ; George
Knox, 246, 247 ; his paean of joy
over success of the Union, 254 ;
his confidence in Edward Cooke,

365
Cathcart, Lord, Commander of

Forces in Ireland, 452
Catholic Emancipation, 2, 4, 8
Catholics and the Union, 176-192
Cavendish, Sir Henry, Receiver-
General, 49, 204, 206
Celbridge Abbey, co. Kildare, 295
Chamberlayne, Judge, 53, 164, 166
Charles II., 201
Charleville, Charles William Bury,

Viscount, 54-57, 59, 60, 63-65
Chatterton, Sir James, 171, 172
Chester, Rev. Charles, and his

appeals to Hardwicke, 5, 6, 12,

130
Chester, Dean Robert, 6
Clanbrassil, Earl of, 78
Clancarty, Earl of, 49, 50, 120, 185,

186, 195, 196, 236, 238-241
Clanwilliam, Richard Meade, Earl

of. 37
Clare, John Fitzgibbon, Earl of,
Lord Chancellor of Ireland, the
College Visitation, 22 ; on Lord
Charleville, 56 ; a most powerful
advocate of the Union, 61 ; his

INDEX

457

behaviour to Hardwicke, 62, 63 ;
the Consular Exchequer, 69 ;
the lawyers and the Union, 154 ;
his death, 155-157, 159 ; his
salary and fees, 161 ; his support
of Baron Smith, 162

Clare, Lady, 53

Clarke, a Dublin magistrate, 294

Clarke, D.D., Thomas Brooke, 29-
36, 233-235, 445

Cleland, Rev. — , Precentor of Ar-
magh, 44, 142

Clement, Lord, 47

Clemlow, Mathew, 45

Clemlow, Rev. — , 45

Clonbrock, Lord, 236

Clonfert, Bishop of, 52

Commission for trial of Dublin
prisoners. Special, 432

Coldstream, Lieutenant, 259

Cole, Rev. — , 142

College Visitation, the, 21, 22

CoUinson, 387

Colville, Governor of Bank, 271,
340

Condon, 437

Conellan, John, 440

Coney, Mr., 239

Connolly, Mr., 325

ConoUy of Castletown, " the great
Irish Commoner," 201

Conolly, Lady Louisa, 201

Conyngham, Lord, 194

Cooke, Edward, Under-Secretary
for Ireland, 21, 63, 85, 166, 231,
304. 365-367

Cork Collectorship of Excise, 15-20

Cornwallis, Marquis, Viceroy of
Ireland, 3 ; his Union engage-
ments and promises, 7, 8, 21, 22,
40, 41, 68, 71-75. 120, 123, 138,
140, 143, 162, 193, 195, 218, 219 ;
Lord Donoughmore, 17, 18 ;
T. B. Clarke, 36 ; Lord Thomond,
57 ; Lord Roden, -j-j, 80, 81, 208,
210 ; the bribers and the bribed,
94 ; the Archbishopric of Armagh,
97 ; Dr. Alexander, 103, 107 ;
Lord Ely, 137, 146 ; his law pro-
motions, 154, 162, 165, 166 ;
Dr. Browne, 169 ; Catholics and
the Union, 176, 321 ; Dr. Troy,
177 ; his promise to Lord Ken-
mare, 179, 180 ; Myles Keon,
181 ; Bellew, 183 ; Sir Boyle
Roche, 188 ; Lord Llandaff, 197 ;
correspondence with Hardwicke
as to Sir George Shee, 203-206 ;
Lord Templetown, 207 ; Hugh

Dillon Massey, 220 ; plenipoten-
tiary at Amiens, 221 ; story of
the Kerry Militia, 223 ; Lord
Sligo, 229 ; Sir R. Musgrave, 231,
232 ; George Knox, 246-250 ;
liberates a rebel without trial,
313 ; wishes to cede everything to
the Catholics, 321

Cornwallis Correspondence, The, 40,
42, 95, 176, 183

Corry, Isaac, Chancellor of Irish
Exchequer, 76, 365 ; his duel
with Grattan, 78

Corry, Lord, 246

Cotter, M.P. (Tontine Office), 47

Cotton, Colonel, 289

Cottrell, Sir Clement, 13

Coyle, Bernard, a noted rebel, 312,

313

Craven, Lord, 5

Creighton, Lieutenant-Colonel John,
Governor of Heist Castle, 48, 67,
69, 70, 72

Criminals, confession and absolu-
tion of condemned, 363-387

Crosbie, Colonel, 222-228

Crosbie, Mrs., 224

Crosbie, W., Weighmaster of Cork,
83, 84, 185, 187-190, 230

Curran, John Philpot, 336, 399 ;
Emmet's advocate, 342, 359-361 ;
defends Kirwan, 371 ; and Red-
mond, 373 ; throws up his brief
for Emmet, 388-391 ; his treat-
ment of Sarah, 410, 411

Curran, Richard, 400

Curran, Miss Sarah, 388, 390, 391,
400, 409 ; and Robert Emmet,
331-362 ; her character, 353 ;
banished by her father : marries
Captain Sturgeon, 411

Daly, Bowes, 242, 243

Daly, Mr. Justice St. George, 51 ;

Baron of Court of Exchequer,

152, 167
Dalrymple, Sir John, 5
Delany, Malachi, 270
Dennison, Hans, 443
Denny, Sir Barry, 171
Denyer, Lord Clare's secretary, 161
Devlin, Anne, 273, 291, 292, 331

336, 452, 453
Dictionary of National Biography,

98
Dignities and titles, distribution of,

193-217
Dillon, Dr., titular Archbishop of

Tuam, 315

458

INDEX

Dobbs, Dr., Dean of Connor, 23, 46

Donegall, Marquis of, 23

Donellan, Mr., Customer of Water-
ford and Ross, 52, 176, 185, 186,
230

Donoughmore, Richard Hely-
Hutchinson, Lord, and the Cork
Collectorship of Excise, 16-20

Doran, 434

Douglas, Rev. Dr., 382

Dowdall, Thomas, 258, 351, 405,
452

Downes, Chief Justice, 167

Downshire, Lord, 25, 27, 69

D'Oyer Hundred Court at Cork,
171

Drummond, Under-Secretary for
Ireland, 426

Dundalk, Collectorship of, 76-78,
80-83

Dublin Evening Post, 369

Dublin Journal, 232

Dublin University, 35

Duff, Sir James, yy

Dufferin, Baroness, 50, 195, 196

Dundas, General, yj

Dundas, Henry (afterwards Lord

t Melville), 2, 29, 30-33, 35,90,234,
320

Dunlo, Lord. See Clancarty, Earl of

Dunn, a priest, 312

Dunn, George, turnkey of Kil-
mainham Gaol, 355-357

Dunn, John, Governor of Kil-
mainham Gaol, 356

Dunne, General, 287, 364

Dutton, Frederick Henry Hamp-
den, 255

Dwyer, Michael, insurgent leader,
2J2, 438-440 ; High Constable of
Sydney, 441

Egan, John, 88, 89

Eldon, Lord, 381-384

Elphin, Bishop of, 318

Elrington, Dr., Trinity College,
278

Ely, Marquis of, 1 21-123, 125, 130,
132-139, 144, 146, 148

Emmet, Robert, 22, 151, 167, 432-
434, 442, 443 ; his birth and
parentage, 252, 253 ; expelled
from Trinity College, 254 ; head
of the Insurrection, 269-271 ;
his confederates and plans, 272 ;
Dr. Elrington's description of,
278 ; hastens the Insurrection,
282 ; and the Kildare farmers,
284 ; the fateful evening, 289 ;

his flight, 291 ; Sarah Curran
and, 331-362 ; his arrest at
Harold's Cross, 335-337 ; com-
mitted to Kilmainham for high
treason, 337 ; secret examination
of. 347-35- ! attempted escape
from Kilmainham, 355 ; trial and
execution of, 388-412 ; his speech
from the dock, 395, 396 ; how
he met his doom, 407

Emmet, Dr., 252, 253, 334

Emmet, Thomas Addis, 253, 257,
259. 270, 334, 339, 354, 399, 409.
412, 443

Emmet, Mrs. T. A., 259, 339, 409

Emmet Insurrection, 252-297 ;
explosion in the Patrick Street
depot, 279 ; a Popish plot (?) 298-
330 ; Special Commission for trial
of prisoners, 369-377

Erne, Lord, 48, 67, 69, 70, 72

Evening Post, 335

Far r ell, 340, 390

Faulkner, M.P., Mr., 49

Ferns, Bishop of, 124, 147, 149

Fingall, Lady, 52, 185

Fingall, Lord, 52, 176, 183, 185,
230. 308, 325

Fitton, Edward B., 397

Fitzgerald, Attorney-General, 301

FitzGerald, Lady Anne, 331-335

FitzGerald, Lord Edward, 201,208,
313. 327. 332, 365-367. 384. 386.
437

FitzGerald, Maurice, Knight of
Kerry, 332

FitzGerald, Rev. Gerald, Vice-
Provost of Trinity College, 169

Fitzherbert, Mrs., j^

Fitzpatrick, W. J., Secret Service
under Pitt, 444

Fitzwilliam, Earl, Viceroy of Ire-
land (1795). 73. 365

Flint, C. W., 84, 451

Fortescue, M.P., Faithful, 46, 52

Fort George, Irish conspirators of
1798 imprisoned at, 257-259 ;
released, 260

Forster, Mr., 250

Foster, John, last Speaker of Irish
Parliament, 87, 90, 91

Foster, Collector of Excise at Cork,

17. 19
Foster, Colonel, 90, 91
Fowler, Dr., Archbishop of Dublin,

95
Fox, Charles James, 201, 266, 441,

442. 452

INDEX

459

Fox, General, Commander of the
Forces in Ireland, 265, 266, 286-
288, 294, 298, 364, 444, 448

Fox, Mr. Justice, 154

France, war with, 256, 263, 265,
271

Frank, Dublin stockbroker, 389

Frayne, 437

Freeman's Journal, 366

Freemasonry in Ireland, 265

French, Rev. Dr., 46

French, Humphrey, 75, 307

French, Sir Thomas, 52

Galway County, 236-241

Gamble, Rev. — , 404, 405

Gardiner, Lieutenant-Colonel, 72

Gataker, Mr,, 78

Gentleman' s Magazine, 41 1

Geoghegan, Mr., 316

George, Baron, 423

George III., and Catholic Emanci-
pation, 2 ; appoints Addington
Premier, 3-5 ; grumbles at Bill
of Union, 40 ; and the Irish
Peerage, 54-65 ; and Lords Tho-
mond and Charleville, 55-65 ;
appoints Stuart Archbishop of
Armagh, 97 ; and Mitford, 159 ;
Lady Sarah Lennox, 201 ; on
Emmet Insurrection, 300, 305 ;
censures Dublin Castle officials,
306, 363 ; on Emmet and Miss
Curran, 361 ; and Duke of
Leinster, 386

George IV., 73

Gibbons, junior, John, 316

Glandore, John Crosbie, Earl of,
222-227

Goodenough, Rev. Dr., 124

Goold, M.P., Thomas, 69

Gordon, Captain, 424

Gormanstown, Lord, 325

Gosford, Lord, 50, 195, 206

Gouldsbury, Rev. Ponsonby, 46

Grady, J. S., Counsel to Revenue
Commissioners, 51, 162-166,
182

Grant, Rev., 404, 405

Grattan, Henry, his duel with
Corry, 78 ; and John Egan, 88 ;
his Life quoted, 95 ; his follower,
George Knox, 244 ; on Dr.
Emmet, 253 ; atCelbridge Abbey,
295
Graves, Dr., Dean of Connor, 46
Grenville, Lord, 250, 452
Grintield, Lieutenant-General, 436
Gurnet, Father, the Jesuit, 311

Habeas Corpus Act suspended in
Ireland, 453, 454

Haley, Bernard, 330

Hall, S. C, Retrospect of a Long Life,
quoted, 235, 243

Hambert, General, 286

Hamilton (Russell's brother-in-
law), 416, 452

Hamilton, Mr., Under-Secretary
for Ireland, 231

Hamilton, M.P., Alexander, 48

Hamilton, M.P., Hans, 49

Hamilton, Sir John, 222

Hamilton, William, an Irish officer
in French army, 272

Harcourt, Lord, Viceroy of Ireland,

Hardwicke, Lady, 5

Hardwicke, Philip Yorke, Earl of,
first Viceroy of Ireland after the
Union, 4 ; his post-bag, 5 et seq. ;
an embarrassing heritage, 7 ;
his views on Catholic Emancipa-
tion, 8, 9 ; applications from
place-hunters, 10 ; the audacious
Bethel, 1 1 ; Rev. Charles Chester,
12, 130; Cork CoUectorship of
Excise — Lords Longueville and
Donoughmore, 15-20; Macartney,
21 ; Rev. Philip Johnson, 24 ;
Thomas Brooke Clarke, 29, 233,
445 ; Admiral Whitshed's letter,
36 ; Lord Clanwilliam's petition,
39 ; List of Union Engagements,
40-53 ; dispute with Cabinet as
to patronage, 54 ; contest for an
Irish peerage — Lords Charleville
and Thomond, 54-65 ; the
scramble for place, 66-93 ;
Colonel Creighton, 67 ; Bishop
O'Beirne, 72 ; Lord Roden and
the Dundalk CoUectorship, 76-
81; Lord Wallscourt, 81, iz ;
the interesting case of Sir Vere
Hunt, 83 ; Sir Boyle Roche, 85,
86, 189 ; Sir Jonah Barrington,

87 ; John Egan's hunt for a job,

88 ; Sir John Parnell, 89 ; John
Foster, the late Speaker, 90 ;
Lord Blaquiere, 91-93 ; Arch-
bishop Agar, 95, 207 ; the Pri-
mate and Bishop Beresford, 97-
119; the hunt for bishoprics,
120-150; Bishop Trench of
Waterford, 121 ; the Tottenham
Loftus claim, 122, 132-144;
Bishop Knox, 123-125 ; Lord
John Beresford, 126, 132 ; Dr.
Butson, 126, 132-144; the

46o

INDEX

Waterford claim, 145 ; lawyers
and the Union, 151-175 ; So-
licitor-General Plunket, 152 ; the
case of Edmund Stanley, 153, 173-
175; Lord Clare, 154; Lord
Redesdale's terms, 159; William
Johnson, 161, 165 ; J. S. Grady,
163 ; Grady v. the humble
Arthur Browne, 166-170 ; Chat-
ter ton's claim, 171 ; the Catho-
lics and the Union, 176-192 ;
Dr. Troy's nephew, 177 ; Lord
Kennare's brother-in-law, 179 ;
Myles Keon, a Catholic leader,
181 ; Bellew and M'Kenna, 183 ;
Lord Fingall's brother-in-law,
185 ; Crosbie the Sinecurist,
187 ; Matthew F. Lynch, 190 ;
distribution of titles and digni-
ties, 193-217 ; Colonel Burton,
194 ; supplementary honour en-
gagements, 195 ; Lord Llandaff,
197 ; Sligo's disappointment,
198-200 ; the Napier family,
201 ; Sir George Shee, 303 ; Lord
Roden's and Lord Waterford's
contest for the Ribbon, 208-217 ;
liquidation of Union Engage-
ments, 218-251 ; " The Lord
deliver me from James Knox,
Ranger," 219; Massey's claim,
220 ; the Kerry Militia, 223 ; the
humiliation of Lord Glandore,
225 ; the case of George Browne,
229 ; Sir Richard Musgrave, 231,
307 ; Humanity Martin, 235-
243 ; the story of George Knox,
M.P., 245-250 ; Emmet Insur-
rection, 252-297 ; Lord Massa-
reene's grievances and com-
plaints, 261, 419, 427-431 ; his
views on condition of Ireland,
263 ; renewal of war with France,
265 ; Lord Ashtown's report
from Galway, 267 ; " My dear
Charles," 273 ; Turner's reports,
275 ; e5cplosion in the Patrick
Street depot, 279 ; his report on
the situation, 279-281 ; first news
of the conspiracy, 286 ; the fate-
ful evening, 289 ; a contrast in
human nature — Colonel Napier
and Dr. Kearney, 295-297 ; offi-
cial report on the Emmet Insur-
rection, 298 ; his confidential
letters to his brother, 301 ; feel-
ing against the Irish Executive,
303 ; his brother Charles, Home
Secretary, 305 ; a Popish plot (?),

306 ; John Keogh, 314 ; Denis
Browne's story, 317 ; his inter-
view with Bishop of Elphin as
to West of Ireland Catholics, 318;
Redesdale's opinion of the Emmet
Insurrection, 320 ; Bishop Hus-
sey a Catholic suspect, 322 ; ad-
dress from the leading Catholic
gentry and prelates, 324 ; Lady
Anne FitzGerald, 332 ; Emmet's
arrest, 335 ; his decision about
Sarah Curran, 361 ; official neg-
lect, 363 ; Under - Secretary
Cooke, 365 ; betrayal of Lord
Edward FitzGerald, 366 ; the
Home Secretary's praise, 368 ;
the first of the executions, 369 ;
the rebel leader Redmond tried
and convicted, 373-376 ; declara-
tions by condemned prisoners,
377-379 ; views of the Cabinet,
382 ; Duke of Leinster's action
at Maynooth, 384-387 ; on J. P.
Curran, 388 ; Emmet convicted,
397 ; plans and objects of the
late conspiracy, 399 ; Emmet's
religious beliefs, 404 ; Russell's
arrest, 421 ; Special Commission
for trial of Dublin prisoners, 423,
432 ; his curious proposal, 435 ;
receives the Garter, 444 ; Bishop
of Norwich's congratulations,
446 ; Adding ton and the Irish
administration, 447 ; Lord War-
ren - Bulkeley, 448; George
Knox's diary, 449-452

Hardwicke Correspondence, 361

Harnadge, Dr., 443

Hatshell, Mrs., 373

Hatton, M.P., Commissioner of
Stamps, 47

Hawkesbury, Robert Banks Jen-
kinson, Lord, Home Secretary in
Pitt's second Administration, List
of Union Engagements from
Hardwicke, 42 ; the vacant
bishopric of Clonfert and Lord
Robert Tottenham Loftus, 135,
136, 146, 147 ; triumph of the
Lord-Lieutenant, 142, 143 ; Lord
John Beresford, Bishop of Cork,
1 50 ; the office of Prime Ser-
jeant, 170 ; the Irish Pension
Fund, 184; Lord Gosford, 206;
Lord Templetown, 207 ; the
vacant Ribbon — Waterford v.
Roden, 211, 212, 216, 217; an
exception, 304

Hayes of the Kildare Militia, 433

INDEX

461

Hearn, Dean, 324

Hely-Hutchinson, Abraham, Col-
lector of Clonmel, 16-18

Hely-Hutchinson, Christopher, 17

Hely-Hntchinson, M.P., Francis, 16

Hertford, Marquis of, 24-26, 47

Higgins, Francis, proprietor of Free-
man's Journal, 366

Hill, Rev. John, Prebendary of
Clonmethan, 44

Hill, Sir G., 44

Hobart, Lord, 52, 304, 436

Hobart, Major, 222

Holland, Lady, 201

Holmes, Gilbert, Dean of Ardfert,
46

Holmes, Robert, barrister-at-law,

334
Holmes, Mrs., 351
Homan, Rev. — , 45, 46
Home Office Papers ("Ireland,

Private and Secret," 1803), 329,

33«. 342, 354. 359. 371-373. 376,
379, 381, 388. 389, 398, 399, 403,
411, 423, 427, 437, 439
Hook, James, 256
Hook, Theodore, 256
Hooper, James, 274, 276
Houlton, a smuggler, 329, 330
Howley, Harry, a carpenter, 282,

292. 434
Huband, barrister, 398
Hudson, Rev. Edward, 27
Hume, M.P., Captain, 439
Hunt, Rev. — , 46
Hunt, Sir Vere, Weighmaster of

Cork, 48. 83-85, 187, 230, 366
Hunter, Robert, 258
Hussey, Dr. Thomas, Roman

Catholic Bishop of Waterford,

322-324
Hussey, Father, 311
Hutchinson of Alexandria and

Knocklofty, Baron, 16
Huxley, Major, 369

Incledon, Charles, 256

Inchiquin, Earl of. See Thomond,
Marquis of

Irish Pension Fund, 220

Irish representative peerage, con-
test for an, 54-65

Jackson, M.P., Colonel, 49
Jeffries, Mrs., 157
Jocelyn, Lord. See Roden, Earl of
Jocelyn, Hon. Percy, 79, 164, 211
Jocelyn's Fox-hunters, Lord, jj
Johnson, Mr. Justice, 51, 152, 162

Johnson, Rev. Philip, 24-28
Johnson, Dr. Samuel, 98, 322
Johnson, William, 51, 161, 162, 165,

166, 173
Johnston, General, 70
Jordan, Valentine, 316

Kearney, Dr., Provost of Trinity
College, Dublin, 44, 169, 296

Kearney, Rev. Thomas Henry, 296

Kearney, a rebel, 369, 433

Keenan, a rebel, 377, 433

Kelly, Mr. Justice, 51, 162

Kenmare, Countess of, 180

Kenmare, Sir Valentine Browne,
Earl of, 176, 179, 180, 187, 190,
308

Keogh, John, leader of the Dublin
Catholics, 229, 314

Keon, Myles, 181, 229

Kerry, Earl of, 332

Kerry, Maurice Fitzgerald, Knight
of, 332

Kerry Militia, 222-22S

Kilconnel, Lord. See Clancarty,
Earl of

Kildare farmers, and the Emmet
Insurrection, 284, 285

Kilwarden, Lord Chief Justice,
murdered during Emmet Insur-
rection, 44, 151, 156, 160, 167,
293, 294, 299, 338, 368, 404, 405,

433
Kinsale, 70

Kirwan, a tailor, 371, 433
Knox, M.P., Francis, 52
Knox, M.P., Hon. George, 48, 50,

153. 241, 244, 245-250, 449-451
Knox, James, Ranger of the Cur-

ragh of Kildare, 218, 219
Knox, Dr., Bishop of Derry, 123-

125, 244
Knox, Hon. Thomas, 242
Knox, Hon. Vesey, 240-242
Langrish, Sir Henry, 219
Latouche, Mr., Dublin banker, 333
Lawyers and the Union, 1 51-175
Lecky, Ireland in the Eighteenth

Century, 28, 42, 69, jy, 203,

247, 248 ; " a shameless traffic in

votes," 40 ; Leaders of Public

Opinion in Ireland, 95
Lee, Rev. Dr., Dean of Kilmac-

duagh, 46
Leigh of New Ross, Mr., 48
Leinster, Duchess of, 201
Leinster, Duke of, 208, 212, 216,

319 ; his action at Maynooth, 384-

387

462

INDEX

Lennox, Lady Sarah, 201

Leslie, Rev. — , 26

Leslie, Judge Advocate, 48

Limerick, Earl of, 50,83-85, 195, 365

Lindsay, Hon. and Rev. Charles,
Lord Hardwicke's private secre-
tary, 9, 82, 124, 131 ; Bethel's
appeal, 11, 12; the Rev. C.
Chester, 12 ; his visit to the
Primate, 109-111, 113; created
Bishop of Killaloe, 125 ; trans-
lated to Kildare, 130; Musgrave's
letters to, 310, 312

Lismore, Lord, 311

Littlehales, Colonel Sir E. B.,
Military Secretary to Cornwallis
and Hardwicke, 70, 74, 177, 219,
222, 226, 420

Llandafif, Earl of, 197

Loftus, Lieu tenant-General, 135,
140

Loftus, Lord, 121-123, 135-141,

143. 144
Loftus, Robert, Lord Tottenham,

122, 123, 132, 133-142 ; created

Bishop of Killaloe, 146-148
Londonderry, Lord, 27
Long, Philip, 452
Longueville, Lord, and the Cork

CoUectorship of Excise, 15, 16,

18-20, 257
Lynch, Matthew P., barrister-at-

law, 52, 176, 190-192

McCabe, Patrick, a Dublin chandler,
303. 390

McCann, a publican, 433

Macartney, Rev. Dr. George, 21-23,
428-431

McClelland, James, Solicitor-
General, 51, 165, 371, 387, 393;
Baron of the Court of Exchequer,
152, 162, 167, 435 ; the mission
of Russell to the North and to
Down, 416-418

McDermott, 434

Macdonnell, M.P., Colonel, 47

McDonnell, Mr., 325

McKenna, Theobald, barrister
(Memoir on Questions respecting
the Projected Union), 52, 176, 183,
184

Mackintosh, a rebel, 377, 433,

434

McNaghten, Mr., 23

MacNally, Leonard, barrister and
Government spy, " The Incor-
ruptible " (author of " The Lass
of Richmond Hill"), 256. 257,

^77- 399. 401 ; counsel for
Emmet, 388, 389, 391, 393 ; the
kiss of a Judas, 397 ; his report on
Russell, 421 ; on Ireland after
the Insurrection, 441-443
MacNally, attorney, son of above,

373
MacNally, Mrs., 444
MacNamara, M.P., Colonel, 47, 50
M'Naughton, M.P., 46
Macnevin, Dr. W. J., 258, 327
Magan, Francis, betrayer of Lord

Edward FitzGerald, 366
Magistrates, Stipendiary (Ireland),

426
Mahon, Colonel John, 182, 230
Manley, Colonel, 364
Manners, Alderman, 286
Manners-Sutton, Charles, Bishop of

Norwich, 446
Marley, Dr., Bishop of Waterford,

43. 295

Marlay, Colonel, 295

Marsden, Under-Secretary for Ire-
land, 18, 84, 337 ; Sir Vere Hunt,
85 ; his interview with Lord Kil-
warden, 160 ; with Grady, 163-
165 ; Dr. Troy's nephew, 177 ;
correspondence with Matthew
Lynch — how the Catholic move-
ment was suppressed, 190-192 ;
Lady Somerton's letter, 207 ;
James Knox, 219 ; Cornwallis at
Amiens : Massey's claim, 221,
222 ; the case of George Knox,
229 ; MacNally's reports, 256,
443 ; Lord Sligo's reports, 266,
315; "Belfast's" reports, 273-
277, 414 ; the Emmet Insurrec-
tion, 286-288, 294, 364 ; too great
credulity, 302, 306 ; John Keogh,
314 ; General Meyrick's report,
323 ; Edward Cooke, 365, 366 ;
J. P. Curran, 410 ; mission of
Russell to the North, 416 ; the
prisoners en route for Botany
Bay, 440 ; Peter Burrowes, 45 1

Martin of Ballinahinch, Richard
(" Humanity Martin "), 235-243,
316

Martin, Mrs. Bell, " The Princess of
Connemara," 243

Mason, St. John, 348, 3SS-3S7. 452

Massareene, Lord, 261-263, 418-
421, 427-431

Massey, Hugh Dillon, 219-222

Mathew, Father, " The Apostle of
Temperance," 197

Mathew, Lord, 197

INDEX

463

Maynooth College, 322, 326, 385
Maynooth rebels, the, 384-387
Meath, Bishop of, 49
Melville, Lord. See Dundas, Henry
Metcalf, William, 274-277, 414-

416
Metge, Baron, 88, 154
Meyrick, Brigadier-General, 323
Minis, William, 275, 277
Mitford, Sir John, afterwards Lord

Redesdale, 1 59-161, 320, 347, 387
Monthly Review, 232
Moore, Thomas, 252, 253, 397
Murphy, Luke, 324
Musgrave, Lady, 310
Musgrave, Sir Richard, Bart.

(History of the Rebellion of JjgS),

231. 233, 307-314

Napier, Colonel the Hon. George,
Comptroller of the Army Ac-
counts, 177, 201-203, 295

Napier, Lady Sarah, 201

Napier, Sir Charles, 201

Napier, Sir William, 201

Napoleon Buonaparte, 266, 322,
323, 326; 402

Neil, Father, of Ballymacoda, 310,

311
Neilson, Samuel, 258, 260
Nepean, Sir Evan, Chief Secretary,

138, 142, 169, 192, 238, 241-243
Nesbit, M.P., Colonel, 47, 50
Newcomen, Lady, 51, 195
Newcomen, Sir William, 195
Norbury, John Toler, Lord, Lord

Chief Justice of the Common

Pleas, 156, 393, 396
Norfolk, Duke of, 319
Normanton, Charles Agar, Earl of

(Archbishop of Dublin), 94-96,

207
Northland, Viscount, afterwards

Earl of Ranturly, 244

O'Beirne, Dr. T. L., Bishop of

Meath, 72-76
O'Beirne, Mr., Landwaiter on

Dublin Custom House Quay, 49,

73-75
O'Coigley, Father, hanged for high

treason, 383
O'Connor, Arthur, 19, 257, 450
O'Connor, Father Charles, 324
O'Connor, M.P., Fergus, leader of

the Chartists, 307
O'Connor, Roger, 307
O'Connor, Val, 325
Ogle, George, 313

O'Grady, Standish, Attorney-
General, 347, 361, 365, 369, 390,
393. 398. 410. 435

O'Hanlon, 275

O'Neill, Lord, 23, 24

Orangemen, 27, 28, 448

O'Reilly, 443

Orleans, Duke of, 319

Ormsby, Mr., Commissioner of
Stamps, 49

Ormsby, M.P., Captain, 49

Ormsby, M.P., C, ist Counsel to
Revenue Commissioners, 51, 164

Ormsby, M.P. for Carlow, 54

Osborne, Mr. Justice C, 51, 164,

423
Other, Mr., 10

Palmer, a Dublin grocer, 280
Palmer, Mrs. Ann, lodging-house
keeper at Harold's Cross, 336-339,
342
Palmer, Rev. Joseph, 45
Parnell, Sir John, 78, 89, 90
Parsons, Sir Lawrence, 240
Patronage, exercise of Viceroy's

54. 67, 69
Patten, 271, 340, 351, 452
Paul, Rev. — , 44
Peacocke, Joseph, 194, 195
Peerage, contest for an Irish repre-
sentative, 54-65
Pelham, Lord, Home Secretary,
Dr. Macartney's appeal, 22 ;
Lord Charleville's claims, 56, 60 ;
those Union Engagements, 66,
90 ; Dr. O'Beirne, 73, 74 ; Hard-
wicke's proposed translations,
95, 107 ; Dr. Beresford, 97, no,
114 ; Dr. Trench, 120, 121 ; Lord
Clare's death, 157; Sir John
Mitford, 158 ; Wilham Johnson,
161 ; Edmund Stanley's loyalty
and zeal, 173, 174 ; Lord Llandaff,
197 ; Sir George Shee, 203, 204 ;
Hunter's disclosures, 258, 259 ;
Hardwicke on condition of Ire-
land, 263 ; renewal of war with
France, 265 ; the Emmet Insur-
rection— Hardwicke's official re-
port, 294, 298-300 ; the Seals of
Office, 306
Penance, Sacrament of, 380-382
Penrose, a Quaker of Cork, 41 1
Perotts, the two, 437
Pitt, WilUam, 16, 29, 33, 40, 55,
68, 139, 184, 234, 304, 452;
resigns Premiership, 1-3 ; Catho-
lic Emancipation, 8, 9 ; resting

464

INDEX

on his oars, 30 ; on John Foster,
90 ; Premier again, 134, 206,
211 ; Lord Robert Tottenham
Loftus V. Dr. Butson, 136, 142-
145 ; Lord John Beresford, 149 ;
Templetown's claim, 207 ;
Waterford v. Roden, 211-213;
his death, 215 ; his speech v.
Napoleon, 265, 266
Pius VIL, Pope, 322
Plowden, Mr., the historian, 311
Plunket, William Conyngham, So-
licitor-General, 151, 152, 167,

249. 393. 394, 398, 399

Porter, Dr., 14

Portland, Duke of, Pitt's Home
Secretary, 55-57, 59, 60, 68, 81,
89, 94, 122, 123, 125, 133-135,
138-141, 143, 144, 146, 147. 232.
306, 323, 324

Powerscourt, Richard Wingfield,
fourth Viscount, 41

Prendergast, Father Miles, 316

Purcell, Mr., 79

Quigley* Michael, Emmet's lieu-
tenant, 272, 273, 283, 290, 291,
436-438, 453

Quin, a Roman Catholic merchant,
323- 324

Ranfurly, Earl of, 244
Rebellion of 1798, 254, 307
Redesdale, Sir John Mitford, Lord

Chancellor of Ireland, 1 59-161,

320, 347, 387
Redmond, Denis Lambert, rebel

leader, 402, 433, 434 ; his trial

and conviction, 372-377 ; his at-
tempted suicide, ^7^
Redmond, a surgeon, 373
Reilly, a huckster at Lucan, 312
Reilly, Dr., titular Archbishop of

Armagh, 325
Richardson, William, of Moy,

Magistrate, 264
Richmond and Gordon, Duke of,

201
Ridgway the publisher, 442, 443
Roach, 371
Roche, Sir Boyle, 52, 85, 86, 88,

180, 187-190
Roche, Tiger, 85
Rockingham, Marquis of, 411
Roden, Anne, Dowager Lady, 76,

77. 80
Roden, Earl of, 48, 76-81 ; Ribbon

of the Order of St. Patrick, 208-

217

Roman Catholics and the Union,
176-192 ; and the Emmet Insur-
rection, 306-330

Rose, Mr., 30

Ross, Sir Charles, 265

Ross, General, 94, 218

Ross Castle, governorship of, 69

Rossmore, Lord, 54

Rourke, 433. 434

Rowley, Clotworthy, 45

Rowley, Rev. John, 45

Russell, John, 255

Russell, Captain Thomas, 257, 272,
274, 402, 443 ; Emmet's chief
lieutenant, 413-427 ; on Irish
grievances, 424-426 ; his execu-
tion, 426 ; and burial - place,

427
Rutledge, M.P., 47
Ryan, Father, 312

Sacrament of Penance, 380-382

St. Brigid, 427

St. Columbkille, 427

Saint Just, 453

St. Patrick, 427, 454

St. Pole de Leon, Bishop of, 383

Saurin, 69

Scanlan, 76

Scott, the messenger, 275

Scramble for place, the, 66-93

ScuUabogue, the murders at, 421

Shannon, Lord, 16

Sharkey, M.P., Assistant Barrister
for CO. Roscommon, 5 1

Shee, Sir George, Secretary to the
Treasury, 49, 203-206, 260

Sheehy, Father Nicholas, 311, 312

Sheehy, Edmund, 312

Sheffield, Lord. 57, 198

Sirr, Major, Chief of Police, Dublin,
278, 336-338. 348, 353. 359. 360,
421

Skeffington, Colonel, Lieutenant-
Governor of Cork, 47

Skinner, a Belfast magistrate, 258

Sligo, John Denis Browne, Baron
Monteagle, Earl of Altamont, and
Marquis of, 198-200, 229, 230,
315 ; on the state of Mayo, 266

Smith, Charles, 443

Smith, Baron Sir Michael, 51, 89,
162

Smith, Mr., of Lisburn, 27

Smith, Father, of Townsend Street
Chapel, 444

Smith, Mrs., Lord Blaquiere's cook,

93
Smyth, Rev. Thomas, 45

INDEX

465

Society for Prevention of Cruelty
to Animals, founded, 235

Somerton, Lady, afterwards Count-
ess of Normanton, 207

Somerton, Lord, 207

Spencer, Earl, Home Secretary,
216, 217, 250, 251, 453

Spring, Mrs., 333

Stafford, Marquis of, 444

Stafford, Nicholas, Emmet's lieu-
tenant, 272, 273, 290, 291, 436,

437
Stanley, Edmund, Prime Serjeant,

51, 152-154, 173-175
Stanley, Dean, Westminster Abbey,

95
Staples, Rev. John Molesworth, 45
Stewart of Killimon, 263
Stewart, Sir J., 240
Stipendiary magistrates (Ireland),

426
StraHgford, Lord, Prebendary of
r Clonmethan, 44
Straton, Mr., Collector of Dundalk,

48 ; Navigation Board, 76, 81,

330
Stuart, William, Archbishop of

Armagh, 97-119, 146, 147
Sturgeon, Captain Henry, 411
Sun, 232
Sutton, Charles Manners, Bishop

of Norwich, 446
Swift, Dean, 99, 198, 295

Taylor, Mr., Clerk in Civil Office, 85,

366

Teeling, Charles Hamilton, leader
of Ulster United Irishmen (Per-
sonal Narrative of the Irish Rebel-
lion), 25, 275, 276

Temple, Mrs., 334

Templeton, John, of Malone, 415

Templetown, Lord, 207

Thomond, Morough O'Brien, Mar-
quis of , 55-57, 59, 60, 63, 65

Thompson, Farmer, 419-421, 428,

430
Tithe Commutation Act (Ireland),

425
Titles and dignities, distribution of,

193-217
Tone, Wolfe, Memoirs, 181, 229,

327
Tottenham, M.P.. C, 48
Townsend, Francis, 212
Trench, Dr., Bishop of Waterford,

43. 96
Trench, Hon. Power le Poer,

Bishop of Waterford, 120, 121

Trench, Richard, 49, 120

Trevor, Dr., physician and Assistant
Governor of Kilmainham Gaol,
348. 354. 372, 375. 423. 437

Troy, Dr., Roman Catholic Arch-
bishop of Dublin, 176-179, 308-
312, 325, 326, 378, 380-382

Troy, John James, Tide Surveyor
at Queensboro', afterwards at
Castletownsend, 177, 178

TuUamore, Baron, afterwards Vis-
count Charleville, 54

Turner, Samuel, barrister-at-law,
" Belfast," a spy, 273-277, 414,
415

Ulster, 264

Ulster United Irishmen, 25

Union Engagements, embarrassing,
1-39 ; List of, 40-53

Union lawyers and the Catholics,
151-175, 176-192 ; a chapter of
disappointments, 218-251

Usher, Rev. — , 46

Van Homrigh, Bartholomew, Lord
Mayor of Dublin in 1698, 295

Van Homrigh, Esther, Swift's
" Vanessa," 295

Vansittart, Nicholas, Chief Secre-
tary for Ireland, 85, 242, 243

Vassal, Colonel, 364

Vere, Aubrey de, 83

Wallscourt, Lord Joseph Blake, 49,
81-83

Walsh, M.P., Collector of Naas, 46

Warburton, Dean, 43

Warren-Bulkeley, Lord, 448

Waterford, Marquis of, 126-130,
144, 145, 149, 150, 177, 208-217,
223

Webb, Compendium of Irish Bio-
graphy, 243

Wemyss, M.P., Colonel, Collector
of Kilkenny, 48

Westmorland, Earl of, 7, 15, 87,

154. 304
Whiteboys, the, 312
Whitefield, Nevin, shoemaker, 414
Whitshed, Rear-Admiral, 36
Whitshed, Dr., Bishop of Raphoe, 36
Whitworth, Lord, British Minister

at Paris, 265
Wickham, William, Chief Secretary
for Ireland, Longueville v. Don-
oughmore, 18 - 20 ; Thomas
Brooke Clarke, 29, 31, 32 ; Ad-
miral Whitshed, 37 ; Sir Vere

466

INDEX

Hunt, 83-S5 ; Aylmer's wishes,
180 ; Fingall's brother-in-law,
185, 186 ; Lord SUgo's grievance,
199 ; Roden and the Ribbon,
210, 214 ; the humiUation of
Lord Glandore, 226 ; Humanity
Martin's claim, 239 ; Hard-
wicke on state of Ireland, 263 ;
renewal of war with France,
265 ; his secret historf of the
Emmet Insurrection, 269-271 ;
the Marshalsea depot, 282 ; the
Kildare farmers, 284 ; vague in-
formation, 302 ; view of the
Emmet Insurrection, 326-330 ;
Home Office Papers, 337-342 ;
Emmet's secret examination,
354 ; Dunn's report, 356 ; Sarah
Curran, 343-347- 360, 388, 390,
398, 410 ; Edward Cooke, 365 ;
Kearney's demeanour, 369 ; Red-
mond's offer, 373, 376 ; confes-
sion on the scaffold, 378, 382 ;
some curious particulars respect-
ing Emmet, 389, 390, 401-403 ;
Emmet's letter to, 400 ; Thomas
Russell, 424, 426 ; Quigley and
Stafford, 436, 437 ; Peter Bur-
rowes' information, 450-452

Wilson, the peace officer, 403

Winder, Edward, 52

Witherspoole, 275

Wolfe, Rev. Richard Straubenzie,

44. .293. 296, 299
Wolfe, Miss, 293, 295-299

Yelverton, Baron (afterwards Lord
Avonmore), 89, 156-158

York, Duke of, 58, 69-72, 435,
436

Yorke, Hon. Charles, War Minister,
9 ; Hardwicke's private letters
to " My dear Charles," 58, 63,
123, 273, 301-306, 322, 363, 369 ;
a piece of comedy, 64 ; Home
Secretary, 123, 132, 304-306 ;
John Keogh, 314 ; Dr. Hussey,
a Catholic suspect, 322 ; Hard-
wicke's curious letter, 326 ; in
praise of the Viceroy, 368 ; Red-
mond's attempted suicide, 373 ;
his pious wish, 375 ; confession
and absolution of criminals, ^yy-
379, 382 ; Maynooth and the
Duke of Leinster, 384-387 ; Em-
met's conviction, 397 ; an extra-
ordinary document, 399 ; Mac-
Nally's report, 402-404 ; arrest
of Russell, 421 ; the Special
Commission, 423, 432 ; Hard-
wicke's strange proposal, 435

Yorke, Lord Chancellor, 4

THE END

BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRIKTERS, GUILDFORD.

FROM MR. MURRAY'S LIST.

THE LIFE OF THE MARQUESS OF DUFFERIN AND AVA.

By the Right Hon. Sir A-lfred Lyall, K.C.B., G.C.I.E., D.C.L.,
LL.D. VVith Portraits, etc. Two vols. Demy 8vo.

This is the only biography of the late Lord Dufferin which has
the sanction and approval of his family, at whose request it has
been undertaken by Sir Alfred Lyall.

ESSAYS OF THE LATE LORD SALISBURY. Contributed
to the Quarterly Review. Two vols. Large crown 8vo.

THE CREEVEY PAPERS, 1768-1838. Edited by the
Right Honourable Sir Herbert Maxwell, Bart, M.P,
Seventh Impression. With Portraits. Two vols. Demy 8vo.
3 IP 6d. net.

■*,;.* With the exception of the correction of misprints and
errors, all the reprints of " The Creevey Papers " are the same as
the original edition.

GEORGE VILLIERS, SECOND DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM,

1628-1687. A Study in the History of the Restoration. By
Winifred, Lady Burghclere. With Portraits and Illustra-
tions. Demy 8vo. 2is. net.

" This careful and Well-balanced study ... is the fruit of ungrudging care and of a sound
taste." — Times.

SIR WILFRID LAURIER AND THE LIBERAL PARTY.

A Political History. By J. S. WiLLlSON. With Portrait. Two
vols. Large crown 8vo. 25s. net.

PERSONAL REMINISCENCES OF THE DUKE OF
WELLINGTON. By Francis, First Earl of Ellesmere.
Edited, with Memoir of Lord Ellesmere, by his Daughter, Alice,
Countess of Strafford. Second Impression. With Portrait.
Demy 8vo. ids. 6d. net.

THE CHRONICLES OF AN OLD CAMPAIGNER. M. DE

LA COLONIE, 1692-1717. Translated from the French by
Walter C Horslev. With Maps and Illustrations. Demy
8vo. 1 8s. net.

THE FRENCH NOBLESSE OF THE EIGHTEENTH

CENTURY. Translated by Mrs. Colquhoun Grant from " Les
Souvenirs de la Marquise de Crdquy," published in 1834. Second
impression. Demy 8vo. i2s. net.

Mme. de Cr6quy is alive and vigorous, and we are much mistaken if, in the new English
dress, she does not make thousands of friends." — Times.

ON THE OLD ROAD THROUGH FRANCE TO FLORENCE.

Reproductions in Colour of 48 Water-Colour Sketches. By
A. H. Hallam Murray. Accompanied by H. W. Nevinson
and Montgomery Carmichael. Medium 8vo. 21s. net. Also
an Edition of 1 50 Copies on large paper, 42s. net.

OLD TIME TRAVEL. Personal Reminiscences of the Continent

Forty Years Ago compared with Experiences of the Present Day.
By Alexander Innes Shand. With numerous Illustrations by
A. H. Hallam Murray. Square Demy 8vo. 12s. net.

" A work of travel almost unique of its kind." — Yorkshire Post.

gK CHEAP REVISED EDITION.

THE HEART OF A CONTINENT. A Narrative of Travels in
Manchuria, across the Gobi Desert, through the Himalayas, the
Pamirs, and Hunza, 1884-1894. By Col. Francis Edward
YOUNGHUSBAND, CLE., of the Indian Army, British Com-
missioner for Tibet Frontier Matters. Fourth Edition. With
Portrait of Author, a Map, and other Illustrations. Demy 8vo.
6s. net.

A NEW EDITION.

JOURNEY TO LHASA AND CENTRAL TIBET. By Sarat

Chandra Das, C.I.E., of the Bengal Educational Service,
Member of the Asiatic Society, Bengal, etc. With Map and
Illustrations. Demy 8vo. los. 6d. net.

"... most complete and authoritative account not only of the sacred city of Lhasa, but
of Central Tibet and its people." — Daily Chronicle.

LHASSA AND ITS GRAND LAMA UNVEILED. An Account
of the British Mission to Lhassa, 1903-1904. By Lieut.-Colonel
L. A. Waddell, CLE., LL.D., etc., Author of "The Buddhism
of Tibet," " Tribes of the Brahmaputra Valley," etc. Demy 8vo.

RUSSIAN AFFAIRS. By Geoffrey Drage, Author of " Cyril,"
" The Labour Problem," " The Unemployed," " The Problem of
the Aged Poor," "The Foreign Report of the Labour Commission."
Second Impression. With Maps. Medium 8vo. 21s. net.

" We know of no book which covers the whole ground so completely as Mr. Drage's, or is
so well calculated to put the general reader in posses*ion of the main facts ; and it is for the
general reader rather than for the specialist that he has avowedly written." — Times.

A HISTORY OF SOUTH AMERICA, 1854-1904. By

Charles Edmond Akers. With Maps, Portraits, and other
Illustrations. Medium 8vo. 21s. net.

IRELAND IN THE NEW CENTURY. By the Right Hon.

Sir Horace Plunkett, K.C.V.O., F.R.S., Vice President of the
Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland ;
Member of His Majesty's Privy Council in Ireland ; Commissioner
Congested Districts Board, Ireland. Third Impression. Large
Crown 8vo. 5s. net.

"... With such a book it is difficult to know where to begin and where to stop.
Sir Horace has something to say extremely valuable for all of us to ponder and digest. . . ."
— Daily Telegraph.

MODERN TARIFF HISTORY. Showing the Origin and
Growth of Tariffs in Germany, France, and the United States.
By Percy Ashley, M.A., Lecturer at the London School of
Economics in the University of London. With an Introduction
by the Right Hon. R. B. Haldane, LL.D., K.C, M.P. Demy
8vo. IDS. 6d. net.

LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W.

DATE DUE

UNIVERSITY PRODUCTS, INC. #859-5503

BOSTON COLLEGE

3 9031 00029461

Internet Archive Audio

Featured

Top

Images

Featured

Top

Software

Featured

Top

Books

Featured

Top

Video

Featured

Top

Mobile Apps

Browser Extensions

Archive-It Subscription

Save Page Now

Full text of "The viceroy's post-bag; correspondence, hitherto unpublished, of the Earl of Hardwicke, first lord lieutenant of Ireland, after the union;"

See other formats