CHAP. I. 1797. 1797. number of 15,000, and everything was ready for a descent as soon as the way was cleared across the Channel by the fleet, under De Winter, specially intrusted with that duty. But the British fleet, with Lord Duncan at its head, lay between. The Dutch fleet, under De Winter, came out of the Texel, and the battle of Camperdown Oct. 11, took place, which utterly destroyed the hopes of the Republicans in that quarter, and, in the most perilous year of its existence, saved England from the danger of foreign invasion. If we are to give credit to the poetic biographer of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, that nobleman, on his way to Paris to negotiate the treaty with the Directory, dined at a nobleman's in London, in company with Mr Fox, Mr Sheridan, and several leading English Whigs, to whom he deems it probable the designs of the con- reagh Corspirators were divulged. It is to be hoped his combined resp. i. Irish zeal and poetic fervour has led Mr Moore to estimate Moore's unduly the views of these illustrious English statesmen i. 165, 166. on this occasion.1* At length the battle of Camperdown deprived the United Irish of their best-grounded hopes, yet they were * "In order to settle all the details of their late agreement with France, and, in fact, to enter into a formal treaty with the Directory, it was thought important by the United Irishmen to send some agent whose station and character should, in the eyes of their new allies, lend weight to his mission, and to Lord Edward Fitzgerald the no less delicate than daring task was assigned. About the latter end of May he passed a day or two in London, and dined at a member of the House of Lords, as I have been informed by a gentleman present, where the company consisted of Mr Fox, Mr Sheridan, and several other distinguished Whigs, all persons who had been known to concur warmly in every step of the popular cause in Ireland, and to whom, if Lord Edward did not give some intimation of the object of his present journey, such an effort of reserve and secrecy was, I must say, very unusual to his character."MOORE's Life of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, i. 165, 166. Emmett and the other State prisoners say on this subject:-"After the intended descent [on Ireland] had failed, it occurred to some members of the Opposition and their friends in the City, and to some of the most inconsiderate of the United Irish, that one more attempt should be made in favour of parliamentary reform. . . . No greater connection than that of private acquaintance and friendship ever subsisted beween any of the members of the Opposi tion and the United Irishmen, except in this instance, and for the accomplishment of this purpose. In consequence of these joint efforts, a meeting was held at the Exchange, which declared in favour of reform."-Memoir of Emmett, O'Connor, and M‘Nevin, State Prisoners; Castlereagh Corresp. i. 367. 1 Castle 363-376. Fitzgerald, СНАР. I. 1797. 38. in 1797. March 13, 1797. not discouraged, but resolved to proceed alone. Having in vain endeavoured to urge the Directory to send them assistance, some of the more zealous leaders commenced First rising a rising in the March following; but it was not general, of the rebels or attended with much danger. General Lake, on 13th March in that year, issued a proclamation, ordering a general search for arms, of which, according to the rebel accounts, there were 100,000 in Ulster alone; but it was not successful, as the quantity found, from the facility of concealing them in bogs and peat-stacks or the like, May 17. was by no means great. On May 17, a proclamation, offering a general amnesty, was published to all who should surrender and deliver up their arms within a month; but it too failed in producing any pacification. In effect, the search for arms was productive of the very worst results, and contributed more than any other circumstance to spread hatred at the English rule in the whole island. The regular military force being so small, it was only by the militia and yeomanry that the search could in general be made; and it was just setting one portion of the population, in the highest state of exasperation, to lord it over the other. The living at free quarters, and the domiciliary visits in search of arms, conducted by these zealous but over-excited and disorderly bands, were too often executed with an amount of harshness and cruelty which awakened an uncontrollable thirst for vengeance. Above all, the custom, which soon became too common, of inflicting military flogging in order to compel the disclosure and surrender of arms, excited universally the most indignant feelings, and has more than any other circumstance fixed hatred at the British Government in Ireland. So inherent is this abominable practice in the British military establishment, that it has continued down to times when it might have been expected to have given way to the increasing humanity of the age. It excited the horror of all Europe from its frequent use in suppressing a recent revolt in the Ionian Islands; and when I. 1793. the truth comes to be told in regard to the Indian revolt, CHAP. it will be found that it was inflicted in India under circumstances, and with a frequency and severity, for which not even the massacres of Cawnpore and Delhi can afford any apology.* 39. of the rebels. In January 1798, Arthur O'Connor, one of the leaders of the insurrection, went to London, in order to carry on Violent designs and a regular correspondence between the United Irish and proceedings the "London Corresponding Society," which, like them, was deeply engaged in treasonable designs. The members of this society were in the habit of meeting in an inn, in London, to discuss matters deemed too dangerous to be brought forward at the public meetings. O'Connor, and an Irish priest named O'Coigley, were constant attenders of these meetings; and at them, among other projects, a general rising in the metropolis and throughout the country was contemplated, involving the murder of the King, the royal family, and many members of both Houses of Parliament. Meanwhile the system of predial outrage and violence revived, and attained such a height, that the whole of several counties of Ulster and Leinster were proclaimed as in a disturbed state by the LordLieutenant. So daring did the rebels become, that in 1 Cornwallis open day a body of 200 of them took forcible possession 313 of Cahir, and the search for arms was made from house to house with as much rigour as by the military authori * "We speak from an intimate knowledge of the dispositions and hearts of our countrymen, when we declare the deepest conviction that the penal laws, which have followed in such rapid and doleful succession, that the house-burning, arbitrary imprisonments, free quarters, and, above all, the tortures to extort confessions, neither have had, nor can have, any other effect than exciting the most deadly rancour in the hearts of almost all the people of Ireland against those of their countrymen who have had recourse to such measures for maintaining their power, and against the connection with Britain, whose men and whose means have been poured in to aid them. The matchless fidelity which has marked the Union, the unexampled firmness and contempt of death displayed by so many thousands at the halberts, in the field, in the jail, and at the gibbet, exempt us from claiming any belief on our personal credit. If the hearts of the people be not attached by some future measures, this nation will most assuredly be again and more violently disturbed on the next coming of a foreign force."-Memoir of State Prisoners; Castlereagh Correspondence, i. 371. Corresp. i CHAP. I. 1798. Feb. 19. 40. the Exe cutive March 12, 1798. ties. At length, on 19th February, the Irish committee passed a formal resolution to pay no attention to any offers from either House of Parliament, and to agree to no terms but a total separation from Great Britain. This resolution, which was an open act of rebellion, Arrest of brought matters to a crisis, and Government determined to meet it in the most energetic manner. It was some Committee. time, however, before they knew where to strike at the leaders; and though they were aware that a formidable conspiracy was on foot in the metropolis, they were ignorant where its head was to be found. At length, having obtained the necessary information from one of their own leaders, the whole Leinster Executive Committee, fourteen in number, with the exception of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, were arrested on the 12th March. His lordship was accidentally absent from the meeting, and thus avoided apprehension at that time. He continued, however, notwithstanding the arrest of his confederates, indefatigable in his efforts to promote what he deemed the good cause; and having established a new executive committee, the plan of a general rising was arranged with the war committee, and fixed for execution on the 23d May. The signal for a general rising was to be the stoppage everywhere of the mail-coach. The authorities made several humane efforts to induce Lord Edward to save himself by withdrawing from the country; but his fidelity to his comrades and devotion to the cause led him to decline them all. The various barracks and posts of Dublin, the camp at Laughlomlow, and the artillery, were to be simultaneously attacked on that day as soon as the signal was given. 1 Narrative Government, however, were informed of their designs, as of Lord well as of the place of concealment of Lord Edward; and, Fitzgerald's on the 19th May, four days before the insurrection was Castlereagh to have broken out, preparations were made for arresting Papers, i. 458, 459. him, along with several other leaders, in the house of May 19. Edward Arrest ; one Murphy, in Thomas Street, Dublin.' 1. 1798. 41. arrest and May 19. A reward having been offered by Government for the CHAP. apprehension of Lord Edward, he had taken every precaution to avoid detection. He had narrowly escaped seizure when passing with some of his confederates along Lord E. Watling Street, when Mr Lake, a very active member of Fitzgerald's the Union, was taken, and this had made him doubly death. cautious in the place of his concealment. From the room in which he slept in Murphy's house there was a private staircase to the roof, which adjoined those of some other houses, in which the means of further retreat had been provided. His uniform had been sent there, and he was to have taken the command of the insurrection, fixed for the 23d. A Secretary of State's warrant was addressed to town-majors Sirr and Swan, and Captain Ryan, directing them, with eight soldiers, to proceed to the place of his concealment. On reaching the house, Major Sirr and the soldiers remained at the door to keep off the mob, while Captain Ryan and Major Swan ascended the staircase and entered Lord Edward's room. Major Swan was the first, and on seeing his lordship, who had not time to reach the hidden stair, he said aloud, "You are my prisoner." Lord Edward immediately aimed a blow at him with a double-edged dagger which he held in his hand, and wounded him slightly. Swan thereon called out, "Ryan, Ryan, I am basely murdered." Upon hearing this Ryan ran in, and, seizing Lord Edward, threw him back on the bed; but in doing so received a terrible wound in the bowels from Lord Edward's dagger. Ryan was unarmed, but a man of uncommon resolution; and, notwithstanding the wound he had received, which was extremely severe, he kept his hold of his prisoner during above five minutes that the contest lasted, in the course 1 Ryan's of which he received fourteen wounds from Lord Edward's Narrative; Castlereagh dagger. This frightful scene lasted till Major Sirr at Corresp.. length came in, attracted by the noise, with five soldiers; Moore's and, seeing Lord Edward still brandishing his double-edged i. 371-373. dagger, he fired his pistol at him, and wounded him on VOL. I. D 1 459-462; Fitzgerald, |