CHAP. I. 1798. 50. a peaceable state in a short time by force of arms. The "The proclamation circulated by the generals comContinued. manding in those districts which either are or have been in a state of insurrection, has, by the reports which I have received, been attended with very considerable effect; but it has been represented to me that the greater number dare not desert their leaders, who have it in their power to destroy them if they should return to their houses, and these leaders are rendered desperate, by not having a hope held out to them that even their lives would be spared. In the proclamation of general pardon throughout the country, which I have now asked leave from his Majesty to issue (with the approbation and concurrence of the Lord Chancellor), I propose to exclude from security of life only those who have been guilty of cool and deliberate murder, and to leave the leaders liable to banishment for such term as the safety of the State may require, to be extended in some instances to banishment for life; and it is proposed, after the report of a secret committee shall have been received, to require the surrender of three or four of the most dangerous persons, who are now supposed to be out of the country, within a reasonable limited time, under pain of an act of attainder. 66 CHAP. I. 1798. 51. The principal persons of this country, and the members of both Houses of Parliament, are, in general, averse Concluded. to all acts of clemency; and, although they do not express, and perhaps are too much heated to see, the ultimate effects which their violence must produce, would pursue measures that could only terminate in the extirpation of the greater number of the inhabitants, and in the utter destruction of the country. The words Papists and Priests are for ever in their mouths, and by their unaccountable policy they would drive four-fifths of the community into irreconcilable rebellion; and in their warmth they lose sight of the real cause of the present mischief-of that deep-laid conspiracy to revolutionise Ireland on the principles of France, which was originally formed, and by wonderful assiduity brought nearly to maturity, by men who had no thought of religion but to destroy it, and who knew how to turn the passions and prejudices of the different sects to the advancement of their horrible plot for the introduction of that most dreadful of all evils, a Jacobin revolution. . . . I should be very ungrateful if I did not acknowledge the obligations Marquess which I owe to Lord Castlereagh, whose abilities, temper, to Duke of and judgment, have been of the greatest use to me, and July 8, who has, on every occasion, shown his sincere and un- Cornwallis prejudiced attachment to the general interests of the i. 356 359. British empire."1 Such was the policy which, in the moment of victory over a formidable and bloodthirsty rebellion, Marquess Cornwallis and Lord Castlereagh concocted for its final 1 Cornwallis Portland, 1798; Corresp. 1798. 52. and Lord CHAP. extirpation, and the alleviation of its horrors. It may I. safely be said that their conduct on this occasion, and indeed throughout the whole of this fearful contest with the Amnesty rebels, was a model of firmness and clemency, such as can proposed alone extirpate from a state, when once introduced, the by Lord Cornwallis terrible evils of civil war. The mingled wisdom and Castlereagh. humanity of this becomes the more striking from the melancholy contrast which it presents to the fearful severities at first exercised during the Indian revolt fifty years. after. It was the earnest wish of both Lord Cornwallis and Lord Castlereagh "that the measure [the amnesty proposed] should have," in the words of the latter, “all the grace possible, and pushed as far as compatible with the public safety." There was an amnesty accordingly agreed to by the Government, but it was not of the liberal kind recommended by them, and prepared with the concurrence of the Irish Chancellor. On the contrary, the exceptions from it, as it was finally sanctioned by the English Cabinet and published by the Lord-Lieutenant, were so numerous as in a great measure to take away from the grace of this act of mercy. As it was, however, it did great good; and the more so that, as Lord Castlereagh had earnestly entreated, it was issued "pending the rebellion"-not, as in other cases, after its termination. The views of both Lord Cornwallis and Lord wallis Cor- Castlereagh on this subject are well stated in a letter 359,360. by the latter to the English Government, on July 30, which is given below.1* 1 Castlereagh Corresp. i. 243; Corn resp. ii. "I am very happy to find that the determination of the Lord-Lieutenant as to the Bill of Pardon has been such as will relieve the Duke of Portland from all anxiety on this subject. It is the wish of the Lord-Lieutenant that the measure should have all the grace possible, and that the principle of pardon should be pushed as far as may be at all compatible with the public safety. At the same time, his Excellency feels it necessary to advert to the peculiarity of this act of grace being granted pending the rebellion. In every other instance, the Bill of Pardon has followed the struggle, and the principal object in view has been the quieting of the minds of those who had been engaged in the treason. In the present case, the rebellion, though crushed in a military sense, is yet in organised force; and, in many parts of the kingdom, disturbances still exist, and the people retain their arms with an obstinacy that CHAP. I. 1798. 53. of the Protestant Dublin. 1 Such as it was, the amnesty, following as it did upon the battle of Vinegar Hill, and the repeated defeats of the rebels in the field, had the best effect. Numerous individual pardons were granted, which took persons im- Violence plicated out of the too wide excepted classes, and nearly and passions restored the act of grace to the proportions which had extreme been originally proposed by the Lord-Lieutenant and party in Lord Castlereagh. "Although," said Lord Cornwallis, on July 9, "there is no enemy here to oppose a large body of our troops in the field, we are still engaged in a war of plunder and massacre; but I am in great hopes that, partly by force and partly by conciliation, we shall bring it to a speedy termination." The chief difficulty Cornwallis which the Lord-Lieutenant experienced in this work of . 360. pacification arose from the violence and passions of the high Tory party about the Castle of Dublin, who had hitherto ruled Ireland. "The numbers of the rebels in each quarter," said he, on July 13, "are, from the best accounts that I receive, very small: they have very few arms, and, except as a band of cruel robbers, house-burners, and murderers, are very contemptible. Their importance, however, is purposely exaggerated by those who wish to urge Government to the continuance of violent measures, or, according to a fashionable phrase of some men of great consequence here, to keep Government up to their indicates the cause is not yet abandoned. Under this impression, his Excellency is of opinion that the pardon must be granted upon a principle of precaution as well as of clemency; and that, although it might be highly dangerous, by the terror of severe punishment, to drive numerous classes of men, however deeply implicated in the treason, to despair, yet that it is still necessary for the safety of the State to keep the leaders under the restraint of the law, holding out to them such a principle of compromise as shall not drive them to take up arms as the only means of preserving their lives, but shall leave Government at liberty to look to its own safety."-LORD CASTLEREAGH to MR WICKHAM, July 30, 1798; Castlereagh Correspondence, i. 243, 244. The exceptions from the amnesty were persons in custody before its publication; those guilty of murder or conspiracy to murder; yeomanry who have deserted, or administered illegal oaths; persons having had direct communication with the enemy; the county delegates; and the captains of forces actually in the field. The greater part of these exceptions were forced upon Lord Cornwallis by the English Government in London. Corresp. CHAP. I. traces. I apprehend that I am suspected of not being disposed to set my neck stoutly to the collar. . . . I 1798. have been under the necessity of acting from a conviction that, as far as it concerns the great mass of the deluded people, amnesty is more likely to succeed than extirpation; and, even in respect to the leaders of small note, to suggest that banishment for seven or ten years would answer all the purposes to the State of banishment for life or hanging, which latter is the most favourite kind 1 Marquess of punishment." "I have every reason to be highly to General satisfied with Lord Castlereagh, who is really a very uncommon young man, and possesses talents, temper, and Cornwallis judgment suited to the highest stations, without prejudices, or any views that are not directed to the general benefit of the British empire."1 Cornwallis Ross, July 9 and 13, 1798; Corresp. ii. 361, 362. The firm and resolute policy pursued by Lord Corn54. wallis and Lord Castlereagh at length produced the deCornwallis sired effect. The bands which still infested the country reagh on the gradually fell off; the principal leaders surrendered on Lords and Castle side of mercy. condition of their lives being spared; and at length, in the beginning of August, tranquillity was restored in every quarter. Lord Cornwallis firmly resisted every proposal to negotiate with any body of rebels having arms in their hands; and this determined conduct, coupled with the amnesty, produced a general submission. There remained the difficult and melancholy task of disposing of the prisoners who had been taken in open rebellion, and to whom no hopes of lenity had been held out. Their number was very considerable; and the Government had no small * "Lord Cornwallis has always declined entering into any formal treaty with rebels in arms; and he cannot but express his great disapprobation of your having accredited by your signature a proposal, highly exceptional and assuming in its terms, coming from leaders to whom the proclamation sent to you for publication did not apply. . . . It is his Excellency's command that you do return to them forthwith the proposal in question, and put an end to the armistice immediately; but, as there may have arisen some delay in the merciful intentions of his Excellency being made known, he is willing to extend the time for receiving their submission for twenty-four hours from the communication of your reply."-LORD CASTLEREAGH to GENERAL WILFORD, July 18, 1798; Cornwallis Correspondence, ii, 367. |