The military organization engrafted on the civil was conftituted in the following manner: The fecretary of each fubordinate fociety compofed of twelve, was appointed their petty or non-commiffioned officer; The delegate of five focieties to a lower baronial committee was commonly appointed captain of a company, confifting otf the five focieties who had delegated him, and who made the number of fixty privates; and then the delegate of ten lower baronials to the upper or diftrict committee was commonly appointed colonel of a battalion, which was thus compofed of fix hundred: The colonels of battalions in each county fent in the names of three perfons to the executive directory of the union, one of whom was appointed by them adjutant general of the county, whofe duty it was to receive and communicate military orders from the executive to the colonels of battalions, and in general to act as officer of the revolutionary ftaff. They were required to inform themfelves of, and report, the fcate of the rebel regiments within their refpective diftrictls, of the number of mills, the roads, rivers, bridges, and fords, the military pofitions, the capacity of the towns and villages to receive troops, to communicate to the executive every movement of the enemy (meaning the king’s troops) to announce the firll appearance of their allies (meaning the French) and immediately tocollect their force. A military committee was alfo appointed by the executive directory, to prepare a regular plan for affifting a French army fhould it land, or to form a plan of an infurrection, fhould it be ordered, even without their affiftance. A regular and well digefted plan of infurrection was actually formed, and reduced to writing in April, 1797, which was given up only for the time, on the alfurances of the executive directory of the union, that they would foon receive fpeedy and effectual affiftance from France, The directory gave orders that every perfon, who had the means, fhould furnifh himfelf with fire arms and ammunition, and that fuch perfons as could not afford it, fhould fupply themfelves with pikes;

which orders were obeyed very generally through the provinces of Ulfter, Leinfter, and Munfter. In the province of Connaught they proceeded no farther in this fyftem of treafon, than in adminiftering oaths to the people, having been obftrufted by the vigorous exertions of government, till the rebellion broke out in open acts of hoftility.*

In the month of December, 1796, a French fleet with fifteen thoufand troops for the invafion of Ireland arrived in Bantry-bay; but having been difperfed by a ftorm, and having loft about one-fourth of their fhips, their intention was defeated. It is generally believed, that this plan was firft fuggefted to the French government by Mr. Tone, then refiding in France, but at the inftance of the Irifh directory, who accepted the propofal of the French directory. This negotiation, which took place between the month of June, 1795, and the month of January, 1796, was tranfacted by Edward John Lewins, the accredited agent and refident ambaffador of the Irifh rebellious union to the French republick, and who was fent to Paris as fuch in the fummer of 1795.†

The plan of the invafion which the French attempted at Bantry was fettled at an interview which took place in Switzerland, in the fummer of 1796, between lord Edward Fitzgerald, Mr. Arthur O’Connor, and general Hoche.

From the difaffection of the lower clafs of people during the infurrection of the white boys and right boys in Munfter, it was a matter of general aftonifhment, that they remained tranquil and apparently loyal, while the French hovered on the coaft; but the acknowledgment of one of the Irifh directory before the fecret committee of the houfe of lords fully accounts for it.

He declared upon oath, that, in the month of October or November, 1796, the French republick announced, by a fpecial meffenger to the Irifh union, that the hoftile armament was in a ftate of preparation; but in a few days after the departure of the meffenger from Paris with this intelligence, the Irifh directory received a letter from France, which was confidered by them as authentick, ftating, that the projected defcent

* Report of the fecret commiltee of the Lords in 1798.  † Ibid. page 9.

was poftponed till fpring, when England and Ireland would be invaded at the fame time.

This threw the Irifh directory off their guard; in confequence of which no meafures were taken to prepare the people of Munfter for the reception of the French. It is, however, to be feared, that the popifh multitude would have rifen in many parts of Munfter, if the French had made the projected defcent; for a ftrong fpirit of difaffection appeared in different parts of the counties of Cork and Kerry, early in the years 1793 and 1794, particularly in the counties adjacent to Kinfale, Dunmanway, Bandon and Dingle, in which the people committed fuch fhocking enormities, even in the day, that, on the eleventh of March, 1794, the lord lieutenant iffued a proclamation againft them, and offered rewards for the difcovery and profecution of them. In the county of Limerick alfo, alarming infurrections and dreadful outrages were committed in the year 1793; and great numbers of the lower clafs of people ufed often to affemble there, to form combinations and adminifter illegal oaths.

It fhould be recollected, that the white boys continued to commit outrages till the year 1790, in the county of Cork; and as we know that the firft object of their inftitution was to join the French, we cannot fuppofe that they would have remained loyal had they effected a defcent. The popifh multitude in the counties of Mayo and Sligo, took oaths of allegiance, and promifed to be faithful and peaceable, a fhort time before the French landed; but they joined them the inftant they did fo.

On the fecond of January, 1796, the houfe of Mr. Harman, member for the county of Longford, at Bawn, in faid county, was forcibly entered in the night by a party of ruffians, who barbaroufly murdered him.
In confequence of the military organization which took place in the autumn and winter of 1796, the province of Ulfter became dreadfully difturbed by the eagernefs of the difaffected to procure arms.

This will appear by a proclamation which iffued the fixth of November, and which ftates, “That divers ill-affected perfons had entered into illegal and treafonable affociations, in the counties of Down, Antrim, Tyrone, Londonderry and Armagh; and for effecting their treafonable defigns, had affaffinated divers loyal fubjects, and have endeavoured, and threaten, to affaffinate all others who fhould endeavour to detect their treafon, or fhould enrol themfelves under officers commiffioned by his

majefty, for the defence of the kingdom, and have alfo procured arms and ammunition: That fome evil-minded perfons broke open the king’s ftores at Belfaft, and took thereout ten barrels of gunpowder; and that many large bodies of men have embodied and arrayed themfelves under a pretence of fowing corn and digging potatoes.”

In the month of November, 1796, the counties of Down and Armagh were proclaimed: In the month of February, 1797, parts of the counties of Donegal, Derry and Tyrone.

The difaffected inhabitants of Belfaft, who oppofed the eftablifhment of the yeomanry with as much zeal as the Romanifts did in Dublin, refolved in the month of January, 1797, not to take up arms till the French landed on their coast and then only to repel foreign and domeftick enemies.

Thirty-feven gentlemen of that town and its vicinity, to their eternal honour, protected againft that ftriking inftance of difaffection.

On the fifth of February, 1797, Robert and William Simms, proprietors of the Northern Star, by whofe inflammatory publications they never ceafed to roufe the people to a ftate of rebellious frenzy, were arrefted and committed to Newgate in Dublin; and the former has been since tranfported to Fort George in Scotland.

In the beginning of the year 1797, immenfe quantities of arms were feized in the province of Ulfter by general Lake, and the general officers under his command; and in this he received material affiftance from Sir George Hill, who shewed uncommon zeal, and ufed the moft unabated exertions, often at the rifk of his life, in fuppreffing treafon and fedition.
It appears that the following number of arms was feized by the different general officers in that year, in the provinces of Leinfter and Ulfter only:

It appeared from the letters of the generals, that many arms were feized or furrendered, which are not included in this return; as ia many places they remained in the poffeffion of the yeomen.*

* Report of the fecret committee. Appendix, No. XXXIX. p.298.

On the thirteenth of March, 1797, general Lake iffued a proclamation by the advice of government, ftating the atrocities committed, and recommending to the people to come in, furrender their arms, and return to their allegiance; he affured fuch perfons of protection.* He promifed the moft inviolable fecrefy to informers, and the amount of any arms which might be feized in confequence of their fecret information.

On the twenty-feventh of February, 1797, Mr. John Cummin of Caftlebeg, in the county of Antrim, was barbaroufly murdered, and his houfe was robbed of arms, on account of his loyalty; though general Lake’s proclamation, and his fpirited exertions, were allowed to have materially contributed towards checking the progrefs of the confpiracy, and to have ftruck terror into the rebels.

On the feventeenth of March, the loyal inhabitants of the county of Donegal affembled at Raphoe, entered into ftrong refolutions for their mutual defence, and for defeating the machinations of the united Irifhmen, and offered large rewards for their apprehenfion and profecution.

On Monday the thirteenth of March, lord Camden fent a meffage to both houfes of parliament, ftating, “That an organized fyftem of robbery and murder exifted in the province of Ulfter, which bid defiance to the exertions of the civil power; and that, by the firm and temperate conduct of the general of the diftrict, a confiderable quantity of arms had been taken; and that he hoped, by a continuance of vigorous meafures, the conftitutional authority of the civil power would be reftored.”

In the debate which took place on this meffage in the houfe of commons, the oppofition in general, but Mr. Grattan in particular, condemned with much acrimony the falutary fyftem of coercion which government had adopted, and imputed the difturbances to the provocation which his majefty’s loyal and peaceable fubjects had received from wanton and unneceffary acts of feverity; and yet it has been univerfally allowed, that the feeblenefs of the infurrection in the North, on the general rifing, was owing to thofe feafonable and vigorous exertions, and to the fpirit difplayed on that occafion by the yeomanry and the loyal inhabitants of Ulfter; which is fully ftated in the report of the fecret committee of the houfe of commons.

* This shewed the benign and conciliating difpofition of government, notwithftanding the vile calumnies uttered againft them, by the difafteded both in and out of parliament.

† Page 8, of the year 1798.

The partizans of the united Irifhmen propagated, with unabated induftry, the moft impudent falflioods and calumnies, reprefenting the meafures which the government and the parliament were compelled to refort to, for the fuppreffion of midnight robbery and affaffination, as a grofs and unneceffary violation of the conflitution, and as the real fource of thefe complicated evils.

The main object of the fyftem of terror which they endeavoured to eftablifh by their midnight attacks, was, to drive country gentlemen from their houfes, or to enforce their connivance or fupport; a courfe which was purfued with fatal fuccefs in France. Dreadful outrages ftill continued to be committed in all the Northern counties.

In the month of April, 1797, a number of armed men entered the village of Glafslough, in the county of Monaghan, plundered many houfes of arms, and committed other enormities there.

About the fame time, one McDonald, at Gifhall, near Dromore, was affaffinated, becaufe he faid he could make difcoveries of the united Irifhmen.

In the month of March, the reverend Mr. Hamilton, late a fellow of the college, and who had retired on a living in the county of Donegal, was murdered at Sharon, the houfe of the reverend doctor Waller, in that county, with horrid circumftances of barbarity, by a party of armed ruffians, who fired wantonly into the windows, by which they fhot Mrs. Waller; and afterwards having compelled the fervants of doctor Waller to force Mr. Hamilton out of the houfe, they mangled his body with wounds.

† Report of the committee of the houfe of lords of 1798.

168]

From the time of the failure of the French expedition to Bantry in December, 1796, the difaffected, to keep up the fpirits of their party, circulated reports, that the enemy were foon to attempt another defcent; and the executive directory of the Irifh union thinking that they were rather dilatory in their preparations, fent Mr. Lewins, their confidential agent, to urge the neceffity of being expeditious. In the fummer of that year, fearing that a premature infurrection in the North, before the fuccours from France arrived, would defeat their profspects, they fent a fecond agent, doctor McNevin, in June, 1797, to prefs the French to haften the armament; but meeting with fome difficulty in going to Paris, he gave the minifter of the republick, refident at Hamburgh, a memoir, to be forwarded to the French directory.* This memoir fhewed the defperate defigns of the Irifh confpirators, and their great anxiety left the vigorous meafures purfued by government in the North would difconcert their projects. This agent was authorized to affure the French republick of being repaid all the expences attending any future armament fhe fhould fend to Ireland, as well as of the laft which mifcarried; and that the refources for that purpofe were to be raifed by the confifcation of the lands of the church, and of the propeny of all thofe who fhould oppofe them. He was alfo empowered to raife, either in France or Spain, £500,000. or at leaft £300,000. A larger fupply of arms was folicited by the agent than the firft, on account, as he ftated, of the encreafing number of their adherents, and the difarming of the North, where above ten thoufand ftand of arms, and as many pikes, had been furrendered to the king’s troops.

It appears alfo, that an attempt was made at the fame time, to procure the affiftance of fuch Irifh officers as were then in foreign fervicet as

* Report of the fecret committee of the houfe of commons of 1798, p.15.
† This was done in the civil war of 1641. See Borlafe and Temple.

might be prevailed upon, by receiving high rank, to engage in the fervice of the union; but, from the over-caution of the agent, nothing was effected in that way.

A fecond memoir was prefented by this confidential agent on his arrival at Paris, in which he endeavoured to fhew the French directory the neceffity of forwarding the invafion at that critical juncture, when the minds of the Irifh were fo favourably difpofed to join the French, and to co-operate with them in feparating the two kingdoms, and in eftablifhing a republick in Ireland.

Though the Irifh directory were defirous of obtaining affiftance from France, they were unwilling to admit fuch a body of troops as would enable her to conquer and keep it in her own hands; but the French fhewed a decided indication to fend fo great an army there as would enable them to fubdue and retain it as a conqueft.*

The demands of the firft agent were, for any number not more than ten thoufand, nor lefs than five thoufand, with forty thoufand ftand of arms, and a proportionate fupply of artillery, ammunition, engineers, and experienced officers.†

Previous to this laft miffion from Ireland, a confidential perfon was fent over by the French directory to collect information refpecting the ftate of Ireland; but having failed to obtain the neceffary paffports in London to enable him to go there, he wrote over to requeft that one of the party might meet him in London; and accordingly a perfon repaired to him immediately with every neceffary intelligence; and the fecret committee of the house of commons have given it as their opinion, from various fources of information, that this perfon was the late lord Edward Fitzgerald.‡

The directory gave the agent, fent to Paris, the ftrongeft affurances of affiftance; and accordingly preparations of a very extenfive nature were made, both at Breft and in the Texel, for the invafion of Ireland; and in the autumn, the executive of the Irifh union received advice that the troops were actually embarked in the Texel, and only waited for a fair wind.

* Report of the fecret committee of the houfe of commons of 1798, p.16, 17, 18.   † Ibid.    ‡Ibid. p.18.

In confequence of this communication, great preparations were made by the Irifh rebels, in the beginning of October, 1797, when it was announced to the different focieties, that the fleet was on the point of failing.* The French troops had been actually on board, commanded by general Daendells, but were fuddenly difembarked.

The Dutch fleet, contrary to the opinion of their own admiral, as is generally believed, was obliged to put to fea, at the inflance of the French government; which led to the ever-memofable vi61:ory of the eleventh of October, 1797, obtained by lord Duncan.

Early in the year 1798, the Irifh executive directory received advices from France, that fuccours would be fent to Ireland in the month of April; but notwithftanding the ftrong temptation prefented by the rebellion, which broke out on the twenty-third of May following, the French government never fulfilled their promife,

I fhall now return to the internal affairs of Ireland, and fhew the reader the means which the confpirators purfued for forwarding the rebellion, having given him a brief account of their foreign negotiations.

On the eighth of April, 1797, a meeting was held in the Exchange of Dublin, fuppofed to confift of the freemen and freeholders of the city, convened by the fheriffs, purfuant to publick notice, for the purpofe of petitioning his majefty to remove his minifters for ever; but the majority of that gregarious herd confifted of traitors, who wifhed to create difturbance and combuftion.

The queftion of adjournment was moved; but as a numerous rabble, who were not freemen or freeholders, fuddenly rufhed into the hall, the fheriffs refufed to put the queftion.

The mob and their leaders neverthelefs agreed to the petition, and it was prefented by Meffrs. Grattan and Curran to the viceroy; who faid, that he would forward it, agreeable to their wifhes, but accompanied with a ftatement of the circumftances which took place at the meeting.

The freemen and freeholders, on leaving the Exchange, protected againft any proceedings which fhould be held there afterwards.
This meeting was brought about by the minority in the Irifh houfe of commons, and the difaffected citizens of Dublin, at the inftance of the

oppofition in the Britifh parliament, for the purpofe of promoting their own ambitious defigns, at the expence of the peace and fecurity of the kingdom.

On the twenty-fecond of April, Sinclare Kelburne, the noted demagogue, of Belfaft, a prefbyterian minifter, was committed to Newgate in Dublin, with feventeen other perfons, on charges of a very ferious nature.

On the firft of May, between fix and feven thoufand perfons attending, a funeral, made a proceffion through a great part of the city. Having affembled in the earl of Meath’s liberty, they went down Aungier-ftreet and George’s-lane, through Dame-ftreet, and, paffing by the caftle, they proceeded to James’s church, where the corpfe was interred.

This device was made ufe of to infpire the lower clafs of rebels with confidence and courage, by fhewing them what numbers of their brethren could be collected in a fhort fpace of time.

In confequence of it, the lord mayor iffued a proclamation, prohibiting unlawful affemblies, under a pretext of attending funerals.

As the Belfaft News-letter, a paper printed there, was moderate and loyal, and in fome degree qualified and counteracted the feditious doctrines diffeminated by the Northern Star, the difaffected frequently ftopped the meffengers who went about the country to circulate it, tied them hand and foot, and robbed them of fuch papers as they had.

In the beginning of the year 1797, the county of Kildare was dreadfully convulfed by the united Irifhmen, who committed robbery and affaffination on proteftants almost every night.

In the month of March, a motion was made by a member of oppofition for repealing the infurrection law, though the advantages derived from it in checking the progrefs of the confpiracy were univerfally acknowledged.

In the month of April, lord Caledon’s houfe, in the county of Tyrone, was plundered of arms.

The county of Down was fo much agitated, that the magiftrates of it affembled at Hillfborough, on the twenty-eighth of March, entered into ftrong refolutions againft the nefarious proceedings of the united Irifhmen, and made a large fubfcription for fuppreffing them.
Ever since the introduction of defenderifm into the county of Cork, in the year 1793, its contagion continued gradually and filently to diffufe itfelf, and to poifon the minds of the lower clafs.

On the thirteenth of April, 1797, lord Bantry conveyed to the gaol ot Cork, four of thefe culprits, one of whom was the fteward of Roger O’Connor, in whofe pocket his lordfhip found the defenders oath; the tenor of which was to be true to one another; not to pay rent, tithes, or tithes; and to affift the French who were foon expected.

At the affizes of Omagh, in the county of Tyrone, held in the month of April, John Kinkaid, an active united Irifhman, was convicted of making a conftant practice of going to Romifh chapels on Sundays, and of fwearing the congregations, to ftand by each other; to join the French when they fhould land; to cut down tithes and taxes; and to kill the Orangemen and yeomen. At the affizes of this year, both in Leinfter and Munfter, great numbers were convicted of treafonable and feditious praftices.

On the thirtieth of April, 1797, the reverend Mr. Knipe, a proteftant clergyman, was murdered by a party of ruffians, who forcibly entered his houfe, near Clonard, in the county of Meath.

It had been the invariable policy of the leaders of the confpiracy to announce an effort as at hand, to keep up the fpirits of the people, though it was not ferioufly intended: However, in fpring 1797, a plan was ferioufly difcuffed by the leaders then affembled in Dublin, for commencing a general rifing, without waiting for foreign affiftance; but as this fcheme did not meet with the approbation of the Dublin part of the committee, it was laid afide; and, in confequence of it, a coolnefs took place between the Ulfter and Leinfter delegates, which materially retarded the progrefs of the confpiracy.*

May the thirteenth, the report of the fecret committee having been prefented to the houfe of commons, a violent debate enfued, in which a gentleman of the bar, connected with the oppofition, declared, that it was merely an apology for the violent coercive meafures adopted by government.

The feduction of the army became very common at this time. No lefs than feventy of the Monaghan militia were corrupted at Belfaft. At laft, the practice became fo common, fo general, and fo fatal to the military, that the following, among other regiments, offered rewards for difcovering and profecuting any perfons concerned in it The 9th dragoons, the 1ft fencible cavalry, the Angusfhire fencibles, the Kilkenny, Antrim, Longford, Tyrone, Wexford, and Waterford militia.

* Report of the secret committee of the houfe of commons, p.19.

The difaffected refted the fuccefs of their caufe very much on the attachment of the king’s troops to it. At a provincial meeting held ai Ballynahinch the twenty-third of November, 1797, orders were iffued to every county delegate, to procure an exact account of the number of military, whether regular regiments, militia, or yeomen, whom they might confider as their friends.

At a provincial meeting held at Armagh, the fourteenth of November, the number of the king’s troops with their refpective quarters, and ou how many in each they might depend, was prefented. From the following returns, it appears that their hopes from the difaffection of the king’s troops were very high: In the county of Antrim, four thoufand, of which feven hundred were friends to the people: In Tyrone, two thoufand feven hundred, and one thoufand were attached to them: In Down, one thoufand one hundred, of which one thoufand were friends: In Armagh, four thoufand two hundred, among whom they reckoned only two hundred friends: In Donegal, two thoufand, and feven hundred of them were friends.

The different delegates were afked by the fecretary, if they thought their counties could difarm the military within themfelves? and they all faid they could, except in Armagh.*

At a provincial meeting held at Randalftown, the fourteenth of December, 1797, it appeared, .that they expected an invafion by the French. Orders were iffued to every county delegate to procure an exact account of the number of military, whether regular regiments, military, or yeomen, and the quarters where they lay, and to bring it to the next provincial meeting; as alfo how many of them they could reckon their friends. The county delegates were to procure this information from the baronial members, at the next county meeting.†

At a meeting of colonels held at Rathfriland, the twenty-eighth of March, 1798, they were afked individually, whether they were able to difarm the military within the bounds of their own regiment? and they all agreed that they were.;
At a provincial meeting held at Belfaft the firft of April, 1798, it was faid that the national committee were determined to have a rifing, though the French expedition fhould be fruftrated. The Leinfter delegate

* Report of the secret committee of the houfe of commons, Appendix XIV. p.1^3 t Ibid. p.108.   † Ibid. p.120.

had received a letter from Bartholomew Teeling, who was one of their delegates in France, and he recommended a rifing at all events; as the citizens of Dublin, with the affiftance of the army, could at any time feize the caftle of Dublin.*

At a provincial meeting held at Armagh, the county delegates were afked, whether they could difarm the military in their refpective counties? and they faid, they could in Derry, Donegal, and Louth; but not in Down, Antrim, and Armagh, and the upper half of the county of Tyrone.† The reafon of this probably was, that in the three former the mafs of the people are papifts; but in the latter, the proteftants and Orangemen were numerous.

A very intelligent gentleman of the North affured me, that fuch of the linen merchants of the North as were members of the union, and wifhed for a revolution, imagined that it would be effected quietly, and without violence, as the army was attached to their caufe. Their property being perfonal, lying moftly in their bleach greens, they were averfe to any meafures that might end in rapine and plunder.

In the county of Tyrone there were five thoufand yeomen, of which above four thoufand were orangemen; and in that large body there were not more than two hundred Roman catholicks, and four-fifths of the body were prefbyterians.

There were regular returns made by the baronial members to the county delegates, by them to the provincial, and by the provincial to the executive, of the number of men organized and armed in their refpective diftricts, and of the money collected, and in the hands of the treafurers of each.

Thus lord Edward Fitzgerald gave a paper in his own hand writing to Mr. Reynolds, which was a return to a national committee held the twenty-fixth of February, 1798. It ftated the number of armed men in Ulfter, Leinfter, and Munfter, to be two hundred and feventy-nine thoufand eight hundred and ninety-fix; the fum of money in the hands of the treafurers to be £1,485. 4s. 9d.‡

It is not furprifing that the confpirators fhould be confident of fuccefs, when they were perfuaded that a great portion of the military were

warmly attached to their caufe; and that they could difarm thofe who continued loyal.

The above return, delivered to Mr. Reynolds by lord Edward, was confined merely to the men who were armed; for in the popish counties, all the farmers, peafants, and mechanicks to a man, were fworn, organized, and warmly attached to the union.
It appeared that the county of Kerry regiment required one hundred conftitutions in the year 1796.* This shewed that they muft have been very much difaffected.

They did not begin to organize Munfter till the fpring of 1797;† and as popifh fanaticifm gave wings to treafon, it was reported to be in a good ftate of organization the fourteenth of September following.‡

Neilfon fays, in his evidence before the committee of the lords, that the affiliated fyftem of organization began in 1792; and that Ulfter was completely organized the tenth of May, 1795.| It appears that there were four executives in November, 1797,§ one for each province.

To fhew how far popifh fanaticifm was concerned in the rebellion, what an impulfe it gave to the mind, and how much it extinguifhed all moral principle, I will relate a few circumftances of a confpiracy formed by James Dunn and Patrick Carty, with others, to affaffinate the earl of Carhampton, on the twenty-fifth of May, 1797; becaufe he had always evinced the moft unabated zeal and activity, both as a magiftrate and an officer, to maintain focial order in his neighbourhood, and in checking the progrefs of rebellion.

The former was a blackfmith and farrier, who lived on his lordfhip’s demefne, and in his fervice for many years, and had conftantly experienced the moft ftriking inflances of kindnefs from him.

Notwithftanding thefe obligations, James Dunn repaired to the houfe of Maurice Dunn, a relation in Dublin, who kept a cabaret, on Sunday the feventh of May, and offered to a committee of fixteen united Irifhmen who were then fitting there, to do out his friend and benefactor, the earl of Carhampton. This was a common cant expreffion among the united Irifhmen, for murdering a perfon.

* Report of the fecret committee, Appendix II. p.46; † Ibid. Appendix XXXI. p.272. | Ibid. p.280.  § Ibid. p.106.

When he made the propofal, one perfon faid it was great news; another, glorious news; another, the beft news he had heard a long time.

Left a concourfe of fo many people fhould excite fufpicion, they appointed feven perfons as a committee of affaffination to concert meafures with Dunn.

As money would be neceffary to procure weapons and horfes, application was made to one Burke, the fecretary of finance, who was clerk to Myles Duigenan, a grocer in Grafton-ftreet; but he poftponed granting their requeft, till Mr. O’Callaghan, at the head of the finance, fhould recover, being confined with ficknefs. It was at laft agreed, that Dunn and Carthy, a labourer on his lordfhip’s demefne, and feven more perfons, fhould affaffinate him on the fucceeding Sunday, the fourteenth of May.

Three of them on horfeback, having loofe coats with blunderbuffes under them, and fix mounted as yeomen cavalry with piftols, were to fire into his lordfhip’s carriage, as it paffed through a narrow road near Lutterelftown; and at the fame time to murder his fervants, and any perfons who might be with him. Ferris, who was at the head of the committee of fixteen, and the only proteftant member of it, ftruck with horror at the atrocity of the plot, difcovered it, and Dunn and Carthy were hanged.

While Dunn was in prifon, lord Carhampton went to fee him, and faid, Confidering the kindnefs I shewed you, I did not imagine you would have been concerned in an attempt on my life. To his lordfhip’s utter aftonifhment, he replied, without hefitation, that he thought it a good act. On afking him, whether he himfelf had propofed to murder him? he anfwered, that he never had; but that he was fworn to execute it; and if he were out again, he would perpetrate it if he could. He faid, though you might think it a good act to murder me, why fhould you fhoot a poor innocent poftillion? Why! faid he; to do the thing completely, He afterwards gave much the fame anfwers to the fame questions, to lord Carhampton in the prefence of the earl of Ennifkillen.

On May the thirteenth, there was an engagement between the North Britains and defenders near Forkhill in the county of Armagh, where thirteen of the former were killed, and eighteen defperately wounded.

On the feventeenth of May, a proclamation iffued againft the commiffion of atrocities and difturbances in general, and offering pardon to all perfons who had been feduced, or entered into illegal affociations; provided they, before the twenty-fourth of June, appeared before a magiftrate, furrendered themfelves, took oaths of allegiance, acknowledged their errors, and entered into a recognifance to keep the peace, and be of good behaviour.

On the twenty-fecond of June, the time for taking advantage of this proclamation was extended to the twenty-fourth of July.

This wife meafure was attended with the moft falutary effects; for it induced thofe who had become united Irifhnen, from motives of terror, to renounce the connection; it confirmed in their allegiance thofe who were wavering; and it infpired the rebels with fear, left thofe who repented, and took the benefit of the proclamation, would betray them.

Notwithftanding this meafure of mercy and warning to the difaffected, in the latter end of the fame month a general infurrection in Ulfter was decided on, and the plan of attack for each county was arranged.* At the fame time the inconfiftency of the difaffected could be equalled by nothing but their effrontery and malignity, in accufing government of wanton and unneceffary feverity, by which the people were ftimulated to commit acts of outrage and licentioufnefs.

The practice of feducing the military ftill continued fo much, that in the fpace of one month, the following foldiers were fhot for treafonable plots: Four of the Monaghan, at Blaris camp; two of the Wexford regiment, at Cork; two of the Kildare, in the Phoenix park, near Dublin; and two of the Louth, near Limerick.

It was difcovered, that houfes of entertainment were kept open in Dublin, Cork and Athlone, at a confiderable expence, for the feduction of the foldiers. They were regaled there gratis, with the moft delicious fare; and even proflitutes were kept there to work on their affections.

In the month of May, feveral committees were furprifed in the act of forming treafonable plots in Dublin; and it was difcovered that the blackfmiths there were bufily employed in making pikes.

* Report of the fecret committee of the houfe of commons, Appendix XIV. p.123.

In the month of June, the pay of the military was encreafed, which at this critical time was a very politick meafure, as the united Irifhmen were endeavouring to feduce them with unceafing fedulity.

One Murtagh McCanwell, fent from the North to the South for that purpofe, was known to be fo expert, and had done fo much mifchief in that way, that a general court-martial, fitting at Limerick, offered one hundred and twenty-five guineas for difcovering and apprehending him. The defenders were fo terrifick at this time, in the counties of Meath, Weftmeath, Kildare and Longford, that many of the proteftants were obliged to fly to the metropolis for protection.

As the members of oppofition in the houfe of commons could not fucceed in their plans of parliamentary reform and catholick emancipation, and in defeating the falutary meafures of coercion which the government had adopted for the prefervation of the kingdom, they feceded from parliament in the month of May.

It was difcovered, that there was to have been an infurrection of the defenders on the night of the twenty-fourth of May, in the counties of Meath, Cavan, Longford and Monaghan, for the purpofe of murdering the army, the yeomanry, and all the loyal fubjects in them. It appeared that one of their emiffaries circulated four or five hundred letters, to apprize them of the precife time of rifing.

On the feventh of June, Mr. Barber a prefbyterian minifter, of Rathfriland, noted for turbulent and feditious principles, was committed to the gaol of Belfaft.

On the fourteenth of October, William Orr, a noted propagator of the doftrines of the united Irifhmen, was hanged at Carrickfergus; and as he was one of the moft active agents of the Irifh union, great efforts were made to fave his life; but when they failed, the judge who tried him was reviled, the jury and the witneffes were calumniated, and the government was univerfally vilified by the difaffected, for having, as they faid, facrificed the life of this honeft and innocent man to the vengeance and acrimony of party.

His death was deplored from one end of the ifland to the other, as much as that of father Nicholas Sheehy, a noted rebel, who was hanged at Clonmell in the year 1762; and all the difaffected, in memory of him, wore fome kind of emblem in rings, lockets, or bracelets.