It is obfervable, that the defenders exifted as an organized and armed body, at least three years before the united Irifhmen; for their plan, or profpectus, found on captain Sharky, in the county of Armagh, was dated the twenty-fourth of April, 1789; and as there were fimilar focieties in the county of Louth, affiliated with them, we may prefume that it required fome time to bring them to a perfect ftate of organization; and reference is made in that profpectus to oaths which they had taken formerly.
It appeared alfo, that they exifted at the fame time in the counties of Antrim, Down and Monaghan; as general Euftace was fent there to fupprefs them. The united Irifhmen held their firft feffion at Belfaft, in the month of October, 1791; in Dublin, in the month of December.
The former, who were exclufively papifts, never appeared in any county except where popery predominated. They never exifted in any part of the county of Down or Antrim, except in the barony of Iveagh in the former, and in Carey and Glenarm in the latter, in which Roman catholicks are numerous. The only fpring of action with them was a hatred to proteftants. The main object of the united Irifhmen was, to unite the prefbyterians, and, if poffible, the members of the eftablifhed church with the Roman catholicks, for the purpofe of overturning the eonflitution. Their oaths were quite difterent. The Catholick committee fhewed much zeal in promoting this junction; but the exterminating fpirit which their fectaries fhewed during the rebellion, in the counties of Dublin, Kildare, Carlow, Wicklow, Wexford, Mayo and Sligo, proved that they were not sincere, and that they meant to eftablifh exclufively their own religion on the abohtion of every other. We may fairly conclude then, that they meant merely to lull the fears and fufpicions of the prefbyterians, and not to unite with them.

Samuel Neilfon, the moft aclive member of the union, declared, that the affiliated fyftem began in fpring 1792, and that it was not completed in Ulfter till the tenth of May, 1795.* The flow progrefs of the organization in that province arofe from the very great difficulty of uniting the prefbyterians and papifts, between whom there exifted fo great an antipathy, that it is more than probable it never could have been accomplifhed, if the leading confpirators had not prevailed on the clergy of both to forward the intereft of the union; and yet, we have very good reafon for faying, that the amalgamation of the two fects was fo imperfect, that the united Irifhmen and defenders in the Northern counties continued as feparate bodies, even fo late as the end of the year 1797. For, at a meeting of the former, held at Belfaft, it is ftated, “that the provincial committee promifed to give to the county committee, the number of defenders in the kingdom;”† and the zeal of the latter muft have been very great, when it was faid, “that a defender up the country promifed to give four thoufand guineas for the ufe of the united Irifhmen; and all he afks is, three or four of the united Irifhmen as fecurity for that fum.”‡

In the fame provincial report, it is faid, “the orangemen in the county of Tyrone are taking the arms from the defenders.” This fhews a laudable zeal in the orangemen in difarming this banditti, and the intereft which the united Irifhmen took in their concerns.

We find alfo, in a provincial report, at the fame period, that it was confidered as a matter of mornent, “to make friends of catholicks and orangemen, as it is doing a great deal of good in Armagh.”§ This was the grand object of the united Irifhmen and Catholick committee in the North. This meeting was held at Belfaft the twenty-feventh of December, 1797.

In the fame report it appears, that at a meeting of captains on the thirty-firft of July, 1797, at Downpatrick, great fears were expreffed, that the catholicks and diffenters would become two feparate parties.” ||
In May, 1797, orders were iffued by the executive directory, that all the captains in the different baronies fhould affemble to chufe field officers,

* Examination before the secret committee of the houfe of lords, Appendix, No. V. † Ibid. Appendix, No. II. p.27.    ‡ Ibid.    § Ibid, p.29.     || Ibid. Appendix, No. XIV. p.103.

and that office was performed by Jofeph Leflie, in the barony of Loughinfholen, in the county of Derry; but having fummoned proteftants only, the Roman catholicks remonftrated warmly, and he was obliged to change the day for affembling, and to fummon indifcriminately perfons of both perfuafions. Though the two orders co-operated, they never were cordially united. The maffacres in the province of Leinfter evinced the fecret defigns of the Romanifts, and, by opening the eyes of the Northern prefbyterians, completely difunited them.

The inhabitants of Glenarm, in the county of Antrim, who were papifts, were organized according to the defender fyftem. During the rebellion, they were advancing in a body to join a party of united Irifhmen on Belair-hill, who were headed by one Achefon, a prefbyterian minifter; but when the Glenarm rebels difcovered them, they difbanded, and faid, they never would fubmit to be commanded by a proteftant.* The fame circumftance occurred in the rebel camp at Carrickbyrne, Vinegar-hill, and Gorey, in the county of Wexford, where the priefts and the other popifh leaders denounced proteftants, and defired that they fhould not be admitted into their ranks; but we cannot have a ftronger proof of the insincerity of the Romanifts, and their determination to extirpate every order but their own, than the wanton and cold-blooded murders committed by them in the counties of Dublin, Kildare, Wicklow, Carlow and Wexford; and the earneft intention which they fhewed to do fo in Mayo and Sligo, and which they would have effected, but for the humane interference of the French.

By the following refolution, feized by Mr. Fox in a committee of united Irifhmen at Belfaft, and dated the eleventh of April, 1797, it appears, that they did not confider the defenders as united with them:* “Refolved, that the provincial (meaning committee) form a plan for the fupport of poor families, that they get us the number of defenders in the kingdom, who are not united Irifhmen, and if they will act with united Irifhmen.”†

Charles McFillin, a papift, declared upon oath, before Sir George Hill, baronet, that he attended as a delegate at a provincial meeting at

* To this the falvation of that part of the county of Antrim was imputed.   † Secret report of the houfe of commons» Appendix, No. II. p.31.

Garvagh, in the county of Derry, in November, 1796; and that he was chofen a delegate, at four or five provincial meetings; and the reafon he affigns for it is, to infpire the Roman catholicks with confidence, as the fyftem was to unite all religious perfuafions, to overturn the conftitution. McFillin was the only papift at thefe provincial meetings, and there was confiderable jealoufy between the two orders.*

In almoft every inftance where the prefbyterians confiderably exceeded the papifts in point of number, the latter were apparently loyal, or at least did not enter into the union; and they frequently, when thus circumftanced, were the only perfons who gave information againft the confpirators, but more from motives of fear, hatred, or envy, than a pure and genuine fpirit of loyalty. McFillin’s evidence is to be accounted for on no other principle.

In the fame manner, where the Roman catholicks very much predominated in point of numbers, the prefbyterians were faithful. For this reafon, fmall colonies of the latter in Meath, Cavan, Longford, Mayo and Sligo, were not only loyal, but very active againft the defenders.

In fuch parts of the counties of Down and Armagh, where there were many of both orders blended together, the antipathy which always exifted between them, produced ftrife and bloodlhed, in the fliape of defenderifm and peep-of-day boys: But it is obfervabl’e, that while the county of Armagh was dreadfully difturbed by them, the town of Lurgan and its vicinity were perfectly tranquil, becaufe it abounds with proteftants of the church of Ireland, the only fect who have been fteadily and uniformly attached to the king and conftitution.

Both the defenders and united Irifhmen in their turn attempted to organize the county of Fermanagh, and they made fome progrefs, and formed fome plots there; but perceiving the futility of their fchemes, they defifted, becaufe they knew that the proteftants of the eftablifhed church are fo numerous, fo loyal, and courageous, that they would have been cut to pieces, had they attempted to rife in rebellion, which was the ultimate object of their machinations.‡

* Secret report of the houfe of commons, Appendix, No. VI. p.77. ‡They knew what achievements were performed in the year 1641, by the bravery and loyally of the Ennifkilleners.

In fome parifhes in the diocefe of Dromore, where the majority of the inhabitants are of the eftablifhed church, and in others where they form a large portion of them, the people are moral, fober, and induftrious; becaufe thofe who are inclined to be difaffected, knew that the proteftants would rifk their lives and fortunes in fupport of the conftitution, and in the prefervation of peace and good order.

When the French were at Colooney, and fhewed an intention of marching towards the metropolis, the Roman catholicks in the vicinity of Belturbet, in the county of Cavan, shewed a difpofition to rife, in order to join them; but as the proteftants of the eftablifhed church in that county are numerous, loyal, and well armed, and as they were moftly united in Orange lodges, they would have cut the infurgents to pieces, had they rifen there; they retired then to the Ballinamore mountains, about feven miles diftant, and affembled there. Though the county of Cavan was in general very much difturbed by the defenders, they, for the above reafon, never dared to appear in the neighbourhood of Belturbet.

I mentioned before, the zeal of the prefbyterian minifters and the popifh priefts, to unite both their orders in the confpiracy.
This appeared in a very ftriking manner in the year 1797, particularly in the difturbed parts of Armagh and Down, whofe inhabitants were fo hoftile to each other, as peep-of-day boys and defenders, and to reconcile whom the united Irifhmen and Catholick committee shewed fo much earneftnefs.

In the fummer of 1797, an itinerant friar continued to preach in thefe counties, at Portaferry, in the barony of Lecale, and thence to Newtownards, to the populace of both perfuafions, both in popifh chapels, and in the fields; and to recommend to them union and fraternity, on grounds of chriftian benevolence.

His audience was always very numerous; but Mr. Savage of Portaferry, having been informed that he preached feditious doftrines, threatened to commit him to prifon, unlefs he quitted the country immediately.

I mentioned before that doctor Dickfon, a prefbyterian minifter, at Portaferry, gave evening ledtures to his flock, in the year 1797, as he faid, to enlighten them; but they were in fact political difcourfes,

fimilar to thofe delivered by Thelwal, and were calculated for no other purpofe, but to diffeminate republican principles. It turned out afterwards, that he was an adjutant-general in the rebel army, for which he has been tranfported.

Many Northern gentlemen of fagacity have affured me, that they confidered the prefbyterians as sincere in fraternizing with the Roman catholicks, for the purpofe of forming a republick; and for this reafon, that if the government were fubverted by their united ftrength, they could not hope to fubjugate, and make them fubfervient to any finifter defigns which they might have entertained from the great fuperiority of their numbers.

When Dickey, a rebel leader, and a diffenter, was on the point of being hanged at Belfaft, he declared, that the eyes of the prefbyterians had been opened too late; and that they were convinced by the maffacres perpetrated by the Romanifts in the province of Leinfter, that they muft have had to contend with them, if they had fucceeded in overturning the conftitution.

A gentleman of great fagacity and judgment, who took a very active part in checking the progrefs of the confpiracy in the North, gave me this as his decided opinion: “That the Catholick committee hoped to fucceed in their ambitious fchemes, by alarming the government through the defenders; but finding that the prefbyterians would oppofe them with fuccefs, they endeavoured to gain them over to affift them in fubverting the conftitution, though in fact they only meant to lull them, till their object was accomplifhed, and then to have extirpated proteftants of every denomination.”

The clerk of the crown informed me, that he afked the reverend doctor Porter, a prefbyterian minifter, at Newtownards, a fhort time before he was put upon his trial, how a perfon of his education and connections came to be embarked in fo dreadful a rebellion? and he candidly acknowledged, that republican liberty was his object; and that when he faw that the French were actuated by nothing but a defire of conqueft and plunder, and not by the generous defign of promoting univerfal liberty, which they evinced by their treatment of the American deputies, he refolved to renounce his connection with the confpirators; but he found it too late, as his life would have fallen a facrifice to any attempt to do fo.

He at the fame time attempted to defend his conduct, on the ground that every perfon had a right to form his own opinion on the eligibility of what kind of government he would wifh to live under. This doctrine has been inculcated by Price and Prieftley. This man was hanged in the rear of his conventicle at Gray Abbey.

I ftated before, that the flow progrefs of the organization of the North arofe from the great difficulty of uniting the prefbyterians and papifts. The following: aneedote will illuftrate it

A Romanift, who had been an active leader of the defenders, being in converfation, in the year 1794, with a prefbyterian, who was much addicted to French republican principles, in a mountainous parifh of the county of Tyrone, informed him, that the Romanifts had received orders from their committee, to confider the prefbyterians in future as brethren, and that they were both to fraternize. On which the latter, who had a gun in his hand, afked him to affift him in driving fome cattle from the mountains: To which the Romanift replied, “What! truft myfelf alone - with a prefbyterian with a gun!” So rooted was the antipathy of the Romanifts to the diffenters!

Samuel Neilfon ftated in his evidence before the fecret committee of the houfe of lords, that the military organization began in Ulfter in the autumn of 1796, and that the object of it was to carry meafures by force; and they muft have collected arms with great celerity, for it appears, that before the clofe of that year, the confpirators had, in Belfaft alone, five hundred and twenty-fix guns, three hundred and ninety-nine bayonets, eighty-eight piftols, five hundred and fixty-feven pikes, twelve thoufand one hundred and thirty ball-cartridges, fifteen thoufand nine hundred and fifty-three balls, five hundred and fixty-fix pounds of powder, fix cannon and one mortar; and in the county of Antrim, twenty-three thoufand and fifty-nine men, two thoufand fix hundred and fifty-nine guns, nine hundred and eighty-two bayonets, two hundred and four piftols, two thoufand three hundred and forty-eight pikes, eighty-five fwords, eighteen thoufand two hundred and fifty-three ball-cartridges, two thoufand three hundred and fifty-eight balls, fix hundred and twenty-eight pounds and an half of powder, eight cannon and one mortar.*

* Report of the fecret committee, Appendix, No. II. p.23, 44.

The reader may conceive, to what extent the people were armed, when, in the county of Kildare alone, fourteen thoufand nine hundred and feventy-three pikes were furrendered in the year 1797, in confequence of the pardon offered by government to the repentant, and of the falutary rigour and coercion exercifed againft thofe who were obftinate in guilt; and it was not doubted but that a much greater proportion was retained.

In other counties it was not doubted, but that the preparation for arms was as extenfive as the organization itfelf, from the number feized in different parts of the kingdom, which amounted to no lefs than one hundred and twenty-nine thoufand.*
The adoption of the military organization produced fuch an encreafe of robbery and affaffination in the Northern counties, as to induce a neceffity of enforcing the infurrection law in them; and accordingly Down and Armagh were proclaimed in November, 1796, Derry and Donegal in February, 1797

Regular returns were made by the baronial to the county, and by the county to the provincial committee, and by them to the executive, of the quantity of arms and ammunition in their poffeffion; and of the fums of money in their treafurers’ hands.
For this, and the manner of making the returns, I fhall refer the reader to the report of the secret committee, beginning at Appendix, No. II. p.21.

They had a regular chain or gradation of officers, from a general down to a ferjeant; and about the latter end of the year 1797, or beginning of 1798, they inftituted the office of adjutant-general, whofe duty may be feen in the report of the fecret committee, Appendix, No. XVII. p.142.

They ufed unremitted endeavours, and fpared no expence in defending the confpirators who were to be tried; for which purpofe, a fub-committee attended regularly at every affizes to fuperintend the appropriation of the money collected for that purpofe.

John Hughes was fent by Mr. James McGuchin, an attorney, to Dublin, in order to get a licenfe for counfellor Curran to be concerned for the prifoners, then in the feveral gaols, on the North-Eaft circuit, in the Lent affizes of 1797, charged as united Irifhmen; and he paid him £50 as a retaining fee, and £200 for different licenfes to plead,

* Report of the fecret committee, Appendix, No. XXXIX. || Ibid. Appendix, No. XV. p.116.

The following report was made to a county of Down committee, of law expences on the trials of confpirators, June 8th, 1797:

At a provincial meeting held at Randalftown, December the fourteenth, 1797, it appeared, that the executive committee “had advanced £137. 8s. for conveying thirteen prifoners from Belfaft to Dublin, in the benefit of the habeas corpus act.” They had alfo advanced £185. 4s. for the prifoners’ trials in Armagh and Carrickfergus; and as they could not get money to defray the expence, they had thoughts of forming a lottery, the benefit of which was to be applied to faid purpofes;‡ but on the feventeenth of January, 1798, they rejected that plan, as it encouraged immorality in the people, and refolved to raife money by fubfcription. ||

I mentioned before that they endeavoured to baffle juftice by ftrlking terror into all loyal fubjects, and procuring fuch of them as had taken an active and confpicuous part in executing the laws, to be murdered. To render this fyftem more certain, they publifhed, in the fummer of 1797, a paper, entitled, The Union Star, which appeared at irregular periods; and of which the object was, to point out for affaffination fuch perfons as had been eminently ufeful in developing the fecrets, or in checking the machinations of the confpirators. Each number began with the following paragraphs:

“As The Union Star is an official paper, the managers promife the publick, that no characters fhall be hazarded, but fuch as are denounced

* Report of the fecret committee, Appendix, No, XIV. p.100. || Ibid. p.ic* ^. || Ibid. p.109.

by authority, as being the partners and creatures of Pitt, and his fanguinary journeyman Luttrell, (meaning the earl of Carhampton.) The Star offers to publick juftice the following deteftable traitors, as fpies and perjured informers. Perhaps fome are more lucky than the reft, may reach his heart, and free the world from bondage.”*

This paper was fecretly, and in the night, difperfed in the city of Dublin, and in different parts of the country, but without any printer’s name annexed to it; and it pointed the dagger of the affaffin to the breaft of many a loyal fubjeft.*

They alfo fet on foot, in the winter of 1797, a newfpaper, called The Prefs, for the purpofe of vilifying the government, of reprobating its leading members, and of inciting perfons to murder them; of condemning, as founded in tyranny, every falutary meafure adopted for checking the progrefs of rebellion, and of traducing every loyal man who had courage enough to affift in doing fo.

So fure were the leaders of the united Irifhmen in Dublin that they had attained the grand object, that of uniting perfons of different religious orders, that the following paragraph appeared in The Prefs of the twenty-fixth of December, 1797:

“The catholicks and prefbyterians are united in indiffoluble ties, like dying martyrs, in a common caufe, priding themfelves in mutual good offices, and for ever abjuring the barbarous fanaticifm that made them hate each other. From the proteftants of the eltablifhment, every man of worth, of talent, or of honour, has ranged himfelf by their fide; and nothing now remains, againft Irifh union, but twenty-five thoufand, aa near as may be, of bigots, hirelings, and dependents; juft enough to furnifh the lord lieutenant with addreffes.”

One of the main defigns of thefe infamous prints was, to paint England in the blackeft colours; to vilify her conftitution, as founded in defpotifm; and to reprefent her people as knavifh, artful and tyrannical: An extraordinary return to that glorious nation, for having., given to the favages of Ireland their conftitution,|| as far as a kingdom, in her fuboulinate ftate, could participate of it for having attempted to reclaim her people from

* Report of the fecret committee. Appendix, No. XXVTI, p.117.
|| The union has given it to them in the fulleft extent. Without it, they were flaves, depending on the breath of a minifter for the freedom they enjoyed.

downright favagery, and for having introduced among them every art that can adorn or improve civil life! Thefe inveftives againft England were uttered to encourage a feparation from her.

Much to the difgrace of government, this infamous paper, called The Prefs, was fuffered to diffeminate treafon and fedition, from the beginning of October, 1797, till the fixth of March, 1798; when, in confequence of information received that Mr. Arthur O’Connor, the fworn proprietor and owner of it, had been feized at Margate, in the actual attempt of taking his paffage for France, with Quigley the prieft of Dundalk, on whom treafonable papers were found, alderman Alexander, on Tuefday the fixth of March, feized the papers and printing materials of The Prefs.

Another feditious print inftituted at Cork by the united Irifhmen, and called The Harp of Erin, did infinite mifchief in Munfter.

To injure public credit, they publifhed printed notices, not to ufe excifeable commodities; not to take bank notes; and not to purchafe quitrents, as government had propofed to fell them. In thefe they faid, “In our opinion the iffuer of thefe notes is a bankrupt, who in all likelihood muft fhortly fhut up and run away. When the government goes down, thefe fine notes of theirs, with ftamps of hundreds and thoufands upon them, will not fetch a penny a pound in a fnuff-fhop.”

I think it right to inform the reader, that there is a more equal intermixture of proteftants of the eftablifhed church, of prefbyterians and papifts, in the counties of Donegal, Derry, Tyrone and Armagh, than in any other part of the kingdom; for this reafon the difaffected fhewed more boldnefs of enterprize and vigour of exertion in them, than in moft other parts of the kingdom, during the progrefs of the confpiracy; for the prefbyterians engaged in it, were men of fome education and improved intellect, and directed the operations; and the perfons who executed them were of the lower clafs of Roman catholicks, who were defperate and fanguinary;* but the rebellion, had it broken out in them, could not have been very deftructive or of long continuance, the yeomen and orangemen were numerous, and were vigilant and active in detecting and baffling the fchemes of the traitors; befides the maffacres in the province of Leinfter made fuch of the prefbyterians, as were difafteded, unite with the

* The reader will not be furprifed at this from the maffcres which took place in the province of Leinfter.

A practice, which I before mentioned, of affembling the people to dig the potatoes, or reap the corn of their leaders, took place often in thofe counties. It anfwered two purpofes, that of trying the fincerity of the people, and of convincing them of their ftrength, by the facility with which a number of them could be colletted in a fhort time. No lefs than fix thoufand perfons affembled to dig an acre and a half of potatoes, the property of one McClury, near Newtownlimavady in the county of Derry.

This body was regularly divided into companies, which were fubdivided into ten, with officers appropriated to each divifion.

This McClury was tried for having, with a numerous gang of affaffins, murdered one McClusky, and burnt his houfe, in the county of Derry, becaufe he would not join in a combination againft the rector of the parifh.

The jury, from motives of fear or corruption, acquitted him, though his guilt was evident; on which the lord chief baron recommended to the next of kin to bring an appeal of murder. It often occurred that the witneffes and jurors were afraid to do their duty.

The executive directory formed the higheft expectations of fuccefs in the beginning of the year 1797, from the number and zeal of their partizans, who were well armed and organized.

Robert Moore, of the city of Derry, ironmonger, who had been deputed from the county of Derry to the provincial meeting of Ulfter as their delegate, attended the next county meeting in November, 1796, at Garvagh, in order to impart to them the orders of the provincial. He informed them, that the French were expected immediately; that they muft array themfelves in companies of one hundred men each, with a captain, two lieutenants and five ferjeants; that they muft exercife conftantly, and procure arms by every means in their power; and he particularly recommended pikes.

They immediately began their nocturnal depredations in the counties of Tyrone, Derry, Donegal and Armagh, fo that no night paffed without fome dreadful enormities committed by them. To compel people to j-oin them by terror, they demolifhed or burnt houfes and haggards, deftroyed cattle, dragged people from their beds, cropped off their ears, ducked, maimed, or murdered them.

ln December, 1796, they deftroyed the property and cut off the ear of one Lanaghan, in the barony of Loughinfholin, and county of Derry; at the fpring affizes of 1797, he profecuted three of them, but the jury acquitted them, it is fuppofed, from motives of terror.

In the month of December, 1796, a man unguardedly informed his family, that he faw a number of them exercifing in the night; which being reported to them, the moft moderate of them infifted on his leaving the country; but in attempting to do fo, he was murdered at Magilligan, in the county of Derry.

In January, 1797, Sir George Hill, with a party of the military, furprifed a body of rebels in the night, after they had plundered many houfes of arms near Derry, killed fome of them, and took others prifoners. Of the latter, a young man of the name of Bordman became approver. At the affizes, Sir George introduced him into a room, where the crown lawyers were, that he might relate to them the fubftance of his evidence. Seeing his examinations in the hands of Sir George Hill, he rufhed forward, fnatched them from him, tore them in pieces, and afterwards denied every thing he had fworn. He knew that he and all his family, who were numerous and refpectable, would have been affaffinated if he had profecuted.

Whenever the military affembled in the night, at Derry, to patrole the country in detachments, fignals were made by lights, through whatever diftrict they paffed. In the winter of 1796, and the beginning of 1797, before thofe counties were proclaimed, thoufands were obliged to compromife with the rebels, to deliver up their arms, and to take the oath of fecrefy, to fave their lives; and gentlemen of good landed property were among thofe who did fo. At laft the well-difpofed called out for protection, which the introduftion of the infurrection law, and the inftitution of Orange focieties contributed materially to afford them.

Anonymous letters were frequently written to loyal perfons, threatening them with deftruction, unlefs they became members of the union.

In the beginning of the year 1797, whole corps of yeomen were difarmed. At the fpring affizes of that year, very few delinquents could be convicted, as the witneffes and jurors, fome from terror, others from attachment to the caufe, acquitted them. At Omagh, Lifford, and Derry,* the

* The county towns of Tyrone, Donegal and Derry.

the acquittals were celebrated by bonfires in the night, for thirty miles round the country.

The day before the affizes at Derry, on the thirteenth of April, 1797, the county delegates held a meeting, and paid in large fubfcriptions, which had been previoufly collected for the ufe and defence of the prifoners in gaol, and appointed a fub-committee to manage and appropriate it.

In the winter of 1797, they became fo numerous and daring, that they ufed to patrole the country by night, in immenfe numbers, plunder houfes of arms, and cut down great quantities of afh trees to make pike handles.

In a diftrict called Fanet, in the county of Donegal, two thoufand of them affembled, and laid a plan to murder the reverend Mr. Hamilton, of which he received information upon oath from one of the party. He could not get a meffenger to convey a letter to Derry for a reinforcement of troops, and he had but a few foldiers in his houfe. He and a Mr. Smyth who commands a revenue cutter, difguifed themfelves in rags, as beggars, paffed the picquet guard of the rebels, which they kept conftantly, with the utmoft regularity, arrived fafe at Derry, and obtained an additional guard of one hundred men, which faved himfelf and his houfe for that time; but he was murdered in a fortnight after, within eight miles of Derry, by forty farmers who have since gone to America.

In fuch counties where the perfons poffeffed of property were proteftants of the church of Ireland, and of courfe were loyal, and the lower clafs of people were papifts, the confpiracy was not fo terrifick; becaufe the latter, who were engaged in it, wanted leaders of improved intellects.

Large fums of money were fent from Belfaft to Derry, to corrupt the military, and their fchemes were attended with very great fuccefs, particularly in the Tipperary regiment.

A plot of a very extenfive and dangerous nature for taking that town was difcovered, and that fome of the privates and non-commiffioned officers of that regiment were deeply engaged in it. Three or four publicans were to have intoxicated fuch of the foldiers as were not fworn. A chofen band were to have murdered the earl of Cavan, colonel Bagwell, and Sir George Hill, and to have feized the magazine.

The confpiracy was to have been carried into execution on a market day, when ten thoufand of the country people were to have entered the town under the pretext of bufinefs. Different perfons, both foldiers and peafants, concurred exaftly in their relation of this plot.

The great linen bleachers were almoft univerfally obliged to countenance the converfion of their overfeers and workmen to the united caufe, that they might continue their bufinefs; but fome did fo from pure attachment to it. Such of them as were ftedfaft in their loyalty were under a neceffity of difcontinuing their bleaching for the feafon.

As the reverend John Hill, brother of Sir George Hill, had diftinguifhed himfelf by great activity and courage in checking the progrefs of rebellion in the county of Tyrone, all the loyalifts in his neighbourhood lodged their arms in his houfe, which was guarded by four of the Queen’s county militia, and in which he had maintained his poft for many months.

One night in the month of June, 1797, when he happened to be abfent at Derry, five hundred rebels attacked his houfe, overpowered the guard, and carried off a large quantity of arms and ammunition, a confiderable portion of which had belonged to the military and yeomen; but Mr. Hill, at his return, partly by menaces, and partly by fevere and vigorous meafures, againft the rebellious inhabitants of the diftrict, compelled them to reftore the whole of what they had plundered.

In the barony of Ennifhowen, in the county of Donegal, (noted for defenders in the year 1793) the rebels cut down, and carried off, forty full grown afh trees for pike handles, and foon after difarmed half a yeomanry corps and many fmall parties of foldiers, as they went to their out-quarters in the country; but the burning of three houfes in that rebellious diftrict ftruck fuch terror into its inhabitants, that they returned all the arms they had taken, and furrendered many pikes.

The proclamation which iffued the feventeenth of May produced the beft effects in thefe counties; as it induced thoufands to repair to magiftrates to renounce their error, and to feek for protection.

In the month of January, 1797, the Ulfter provincial meeting was held at Stewartftown in the county of Tyrone, and they were very much offended becaufe a member of the executive did not attend. The famous father Quigley, afterwards hanged at Maidflone, being a member

of the provincial, faid he knew where they fat at that time, and he conduced them to Dundalk, where they were then fitting. The provincial infifted on feeing them, which they refufed, but fent one of their members to confer with them. One of the directory commonly attended each provincial meeting, to receive money, to iffue out orders to the inferior focieties, and to obtain reports from them; but the whole of them were never known to any of the inferior focieties. Quigley muft have been very deep in their confidence, when he was entrufted with the time and place of their affembling.

Bartholomew Teeling was at that time a member of the directory.

In the counties of Fermanagh, Tyrone, Derry and Armagh, there were fourteen thoufand yeomen, and moft of them orangemen; and they were fo loyal, and fo well difciplined, that general Knox who commanded at Dungannon reported in the fummer of 1798, that he would reft the fafety of thefe counties on their fidelity and bravery; and, much to the honour of the prefbyterians, three-fourths of them were of that order.

In Tyrone, there were about five thoufand yeomen, the majority of whom were prefbyterians; and there were about four thoufand two hundred orangemen among them. In fo large a body there were not more than from two hundred to three hundred papifts.

Though the prefbyterians lay under a general imputation of being difloyal, it appears that a great portion of them were fteadily attached to the conftitution, and were ready to draw their fwords in its defence againft foreign and domeftick foes. After many minute enquiries, I could not difcover an inftance of a prefbyterian yeoman having violated his oath of allegiance; but it will appear that many fhameful inftances of the kind occurred among the Romifh yeomen in Leinfter, Connaught and Munfler. Though many diffenting minifters of the counties of Down and Antrim were difaffected, great numbers of them are diftinguifhed for exalted piety and unimpeached loyalty.

I have been affured by many gentlemen of fagacity and found judgment, who are well acquainted with the North, that moft of the prefbyterians feparated from the papifts in the year 1797, fome from principle, fome becaufe they doubted the sincerity of perfons of that order; and others, forefeeing that the plot muft fail and end in their deftruction,

fook advantage of the proclamation of the feventeenth of May, and renounced their affociates. Numbers withdrew, becaufe they doubted of fuccefs without foreign affiftance.

The prefbyterians of the counties of Down and Antrim, where they are very numerous, and where they were warmly attached to the union from pure republican principles, thought they could fucceed without the papifts.

Many perfons, defirous of palliating the treafonable defigns of the union, have faid, that the reafon of their eftablifhing a refident agent at Paris was, the rejection of a plan of reform which was propofed in the houfe of commons in 1797, which would have fatisfied the people; but the palpable falfhood of this affertion, is evident from the journals of the houfe of commons; for the leaders of the confpiracy have all agreed, that their agent was difpatched to Paris in April, 1797, with directions to negotiate a treaty with the directory of France; and the motion for parliamentary reform, to the rejection of which they afcribe the million of Lewins, was not made till the fifteenth of May.* They have alfo attempted to palliate the treafonable defigns of the confpirators, and the enormities committed by them, by afcribing them to the feverity of the infurrection law; but it did not pafs into a law till the twenty-fourth of March, 1796, and was not enforced till the fourteenth of November following; and it was enacted, in confequence of a fyftem of midnight murder, robbery and outrage, begun in the year 1792, and brought to maturity in the year 1796, under the influence of the Irifh union, the leaders of which began a correfpondence with the French directory, between the month of June, 1795, and the month of January, 1796;† which was long before either of the above events took place.

It fhould be recollected alfo, that fome of the leading members of the union were deeply concerned in the confpiracy with the reverend. Mr. Jackfon, who came here from Paris in the year 1794, to lay a plan for invading the kingdom.

The leading principle of the confpirators in the provinces of Munfter, Leinfter and Connaught, was to join the French and extirpate proteftants,

* Report of the fecret committee of the houfe of lords of 1798, p, 13 and 14. † Ibidem.

which the events that occurred in the courfe of the rebellion will prove in the two laft; and for a proof of this in the former, where the active and feafonable exertions of the magiftrates and the military prevented it from exploding, I fhall refer the reader to Appendix, No. XI. where he will find the ftate of the counties of Clare, Tipperary, the county and city of Waterford, and the county and city of Cork.*

In the year 1798, the moft unqualified treafon and fedition continued to be diffeminated in all the jacobin prints, and had a very great effect in inciting the people to commit crimes of very great enormity. In the metropolis, and in the counties of Dublin, Meath, Kildare and Wicklow, and in many parts of Munfter, affaffination and the robbery of arms were conftantly perpetrated, and the difaffected continued to form traitorous combinations.

The fpeech of the viceroy fet forth the woeful and alarming ftate of the kingdom; and both houfes of parliament, in their addreffes, affured his excellency of their attachment to the king and conftitution, and their determination to rifk their lives and fortunes in fupport of them, and in maintaining the connexion between the two kingdoms.

In the month of January, the King’s county was fo much difturbed, that the gentlemen and freeholders, affembled by the fheriff on the fifth of February, entered into ftrong refolutions, and fubfcribed large fums of money for fuppreffing infurrections and maintaining focial order.

On the ninth of February, colonel St. George and a Mr. Jafper Uniacke were murdered by a popifh banditti at Arraglyn, in the county of Cork, in the houfe of the latter.

This month, Mr. Doolin, a proteftant, was barbaroufly murdered in his own houfe, in the King’s county, while fitting in the evening with his family; and it was discovered that fome of his own domefticks were concerned in the horrid deed.

As the mafs of the people in Dublin was at this time infected with treafon, and as popifh fanaticifm feemed to be chiefly inftrumental in forwarding the progrefs of it, the proteftants formed Orange lodges, and united for their preservation in the month of January, 1798; and as the difaffected propagated malicious reports, that they had fecretly entered

* Doctor McNevin, a member of the directory and a Romanift, accounts for that in his evidence before the houfe of lords, by faying, that the Catholick priefts were well if cited to the caufe. Report of the fecret committee of the houfe of lords of 1798, Appendix, No. Ill,

into combinations hoftile to the Romanifts, both the orangemen of Dublin and thofe of the province of Ulfter, to vindicate themfelves from fuch afperfions, publifhed a declaration of their principles in the publick prints.*

In the month of January, a foldier of the Tyrone militia, while ftanding as a centinel at Tralee, in the county of Kerry, was affaffinated by a man difguifed in woman’s clothes.

On Thurfday the twenty-fourth of January, a young man of the revenue corps of yeomanry was fired at near Blackrock, from behind a hedge, and was very badly wounded.

In the beginning of February, two ruffians of the names of Come and Carbery, were committed to Mullingar gaol for having confpired to murder George Clibborne, efquire, captain of the Moate cavalry; and four more to Philipftown gaol, for having combined to affaffinate Richard Holmes, efquire, of Profped; two gentlemen diftinguifhed for their fpirited exertions in enforcing the execution of the laws. Thefe affaffins were fent from Dublin by the united Irifhmen, to commit thefe horrid crimes.

An attempt was made on the life of Mr. Darragh, of Eagle-hill, in the county of Kildare, an active magiftrate, who was fo obnoxious to the rebels on account of his zealous loyalty, and many plots were formed againft his life; but in order to provoke the vengeance of the difaffected, a report was circulated that he had taken an oath not to defift in his exertions, till he had waded up to his ankles in the blood of Roman catholicks. This report was propagated while he was abfent in England. At his return he made publlckly an affidavit, that he had never harboured fuch a fentiment. But this would not do; for he was condemned to die by a committee of aflaffination that fat in the neighbourhood.

When walking in his lawn, in the month of March, a man in the guife of a fuppliant, prefented him a paper, under a pretext of feeking for juftice; and when he was engaged in perufing it, he drew a piftol, and having fired it at him, the ball entered his groin; and while in a difabled ftate, and writhing with pain, he drew another piftol, and fired it into his back, with the muzzle fo clofe, that both the ball and the wadding entered his body, and has never been extradted. Ever since this misfortune he has dragged on a miferable exiftence, having fuffered a great

* See it in Appendix, No. V.

diftortion of his limbs, and being subject to dreadful fpafms, attended with excruciating pain.

At a provincial committee, held at Shanes-caftle, the firft of February, 1798, it was announced, “That three delegates had arrived from France; that the French expedition was going forward, and was foon expected; that three delegates had been fent from the united Britons to the national committee; and that from that moment they were to confider England, Scotland and Ireland, all as one people, acting for one common caufe; that there were legiftators now chofen from the three kingdoms to act as an executive for the whole; that they were now fure of obtaining liberty, though the French fhould never come; that the delegates fhould caufe the men to hold themfelves in readinefs, as the hour of action could not be far diftant; and that they fhould collect the names of all their enemies, and their places of residence.”* This was done moft effectually; and the loyal perfons were pointed out for affaffination in The Prefs and The Union Star.

On Saturday the feventeenth of February, the following advertifement was found by a gentleman ftuck againft the wall of St. Mary’s church, in Dublin:

“Liberty!” “Erin go braugh!”§ “You proteftant hereticks! Take notice, that mafs will commence in this church by the firft of May next; your blood fhall flow, and your fouls fhall be fent to the devil your grandfather.”

In the month of February, the earl of Moira came to Ireland, with a profeffed defign of appeafing the difturbances which difgraced his native country, by recommending to government to difcontinue the fyftem of rigorous coercion which they had for fome time adopted, and to which he attributed thofe evils; and by advifing them to relax the penal laws recently enacted, and to ufe mild and conciliatory meafures, as the only means of reftoring peace and focial order; and on the nineteenth of February, after having expatiated on, and enforced thefe fubjects in the houfe of lords, and recommended catholick emancipation and parliamentary reform, which he reprefented as neceffary to allay the difcontents of the people, he moved, “That an humble addrefs be prefented to his

* Report of the fecret committee. Appendix, No. XIV. p.iii.  §This is Irifh, and fignifies, Ireland for ever!

excellency the lord lieutenant, to ftate, that, as parliament had confided to his excellency extraordinary powers, in order to fupport the laws, and defeat traitorous combinations in this country, we feel it our duty, as thefe powers have not produced the defired effect, to recommend the adoption of fuch conciliatory meafures as may allay apprehenfion and difcontent.” He was oppofed by the earl of Clare, who, in a moft eloquent fpeech* refuted his lordfhip’s affertions, and traced the origin of the riots and infurrections of Ireland to their real fource. His lordfhip’s motion was negatived on a divifion of thirty-five to ten.

Experience has since evinced how much his lordflhip was miftaken; and the following incident proves how vain, how futile, and abfurd it is, for any perfon of high birth and large fortune to expect to gain the affections of the populace by ftooping to flatter their prejudices. His lordfhip had courted popularity in the county of Down, where he had refided and his eftate lay; and nobody can doubt but that he really merited it, from his humane and beneficent difpofition: And yet, at a county meeting of united Irifhmen held at Saintfield on the fourth of February, 1798, the following paragraph appeared in the courfe of their proceedings on that day:

“Nothing particular was done, except that earl Moira’s character was difcuffed at full length, to know, whether he was a man that could be depended on, or not, by the people? It was agreed, that he was as great a tyrant as the lord lieutenant, and a deeper defigning one!”†

On the fifth of March, Sir Laurence Parfons, in a long fpeech in the houfe of commons, recommended an enquiry to be made into the caufes of difturbance, and into the demands of the people, that they may conciliate them by conceding thofe demands, if they were reafonable, or by convincing them of the contrary, if they were inadmiffible. He recommended parliamentary reform and catholick emancipation as the moft likely means to allay the diftractions which then exifted; and he imputed them to the fevere and unneceffary fyftem of coercive rigour which the government of Ireland had exercifed for many years past. He ended his fpeech with the following motion: “That this houfe do forthwith refolve itfelf into a committee of the whole houfe, to confider whence the

* It is fo full of information, that I would recommend it to the perufal of every friend of Ireland, and of the empire.
† Report of the fecret committee, Appendix, No. XIV. p.114.

difcontents in this country arife, and what are the moft effectual means of allaying the fame.” Lord Caftlereagh, in a long, an able, and an animated fpeech, contradicted his affertions, and refuted his arguments, by taking a retrofpect of the ftate of Ireland for many years preceding; and by deducing, from incontrovertible facts, that the only object of the traitorous combinations, unremittingly attended by nocturnal robbery and affaffination, was the fubverfion of the conftitution, and the feparation of the two kingdoms. On a divifion there appeared but nineteen members in fupport of the motion, and one hundred and fifty-fix againft it.

We cannot fufficiently applaud the wifdom and firmnefs of parliament, in refufing their affent to fuch wild and fatal conceffions, propounded by the earl of Moira and Sir Laurence Parfons; and if any proof of this were neceffary, it would be fupplied by a refolution entered into by the rebel provincial committees of Ulfter and Leinfter on the fame day, the nineteenth of February, 1798, and both in the fame words, one at Armagh, the other at Dublin: “That we will give no attention whatever to any attempt made by either houfe of parliament, to divert the publick mind from the grand object we have in view; as nothing fhort of complete emancipation of our country will fatisfy us.”

This dreadful confpiracy, which aimed at the deftruction of Ireland, its feparation from England, and confequently the fubverfion of the Britifh empire, was discovered and defeated in the following manner by the wifdom and mercy of Providence:

Mr. Thomas Reynolds, of the county of Kildare, where he had numerous and refpectable connexions, was bred to the bufinefs of a filk manufacturer, which he followed very extenfively for many years in the city of Dublin; but having acquired a landed property at Kilkea caftle, in his native county, he retired and refided there, fome years previous to the rebellion, and had confiderable influence among the Romanifts.

Lord Edward Fitzgerald and Oliver Bond, two leaders in the confpiracy, having, for thefe reafons, confidered him a proper perfon to affift in forwarding their treafonable defigns, practifed every art of feduction to attach him to their caufe; and having at laft fucceeded, be was fworn an united Irifhman at the houfe of Oliver Bond in Dublin, in the beginning of the year 1797, was induced to accept the commiffion of colonel,

the offices of treafurer and reprefentative of the county of Kildare, and at laft that of delegate for the province of Leinfter.

Soon after he was raifed to this elevated fituation in the union, having difcovered that the confpirators, inftead of intending to reform the abufes of the ftate, and to abolifh all religious diftinctions, which was their profeffed object at firft, meditated the fubverfion of the conftitution, the maffacre of the leading members of government, and of fuch perfons as fhould oppofe their defigns, he refolved to defeat them, by embracing the firft opportunity of communicating them to fome perfon in whom he could confide.

He had very great friendfhip and refpect for Mr. Cope, an eminent merchant of the city of Dublin, who, having lamented to him in the courfe of converfation, the crimes and atrocities which were conftantly committed, and which were undoubted fymptoms of an approaching rebellion, Mr. Reynolds, upon whom his converfation made a very deep impreffion, faid, that he knew a perfon connefted with the united Irifhmen, who, he believed, would defeat their nefarious projects, by communicating them to government, in order to make an atonement for the crime he had committed in joining them. Mr. Cope affured him, that fuch a perfon would obtain the higheft honours and pecuniary rewards that the adminiftration could confer; and that he would be admired and applauded by the moft virtuous and valuable portion of fociety. But Mr. Reynolds faid, that nothing could tempt him to come forward and avow himfelf. However, after the moft earneft and preffing folicitations repeatedly made on the part of Mr. Cope, for whom he had filial reverence, he faid, that his friend would appear in perfon, and difclofe the particulars of the plot, on the following conditions: That he fhould not profecute any united Irifhmen; that the channel through which the information came fhould be kept a fecret, at leaft for a time; that as his life would be in danger upon its being known, and he muft leave the country and go to England till matters were fettled, which would derange his affairs, and put him to confiderable expence, he expected to receive fome compenfation. Mr. Cope then told him, that he might draw on him for any fum not exceeding five hundred guineas. On that, he told Mr. Cope, that the Leinfter delegates were to meet at Oliver Bond’s, on the twelfth of March, to concert meafures for an infurrection, which

was fhortly to take place; but did not at that time acknowledge that the information came directly from him; but infinuated that it was imparted by a third perfon.

In confequence of this, juftice Swan, attended by twelve ferjeants in coloured clothes, arrefted the Leinfter delegates, thirteen in number, while fitting in council in the houfe of Oliver Bond in Bridge-ftreet, on the twelfth of March, 1798; and feized at the fame time the papers in Appendix, No. XII.* which led to the difcovery of the plot, and the intended infurrection; and on the fame day, Thomas A. Emmett, a barrifter, William James McNevin, Meffrs. Bond, Sweetman, Henry Jackfon and Hugh Jackfon: And warrants were granted againft lord Edward Fitzgerald, Richard McCormick and counfellor Sampfon, who were all leaders in the confpiracy; but the three laft made their efcape.

It is certain that the leaders of the confpiracy did not intend to bring forward an infurrection till the French came to their affiftance; and they meant in the mean time to continue to encreafe their numbers, and to add to their ftock of arms; but in the fpring of 1798, the delufion of the people was fo rapidly and fo extenfively yielding to the wife meafures of government, who, while they treated with feverity the obftinately guilty, in every inftance held forth mercy to the repentant; that the chief confpirators both in Dublin and in the provinces began to perceive that their caufe was lofing ground, and that they had no alternative but to hazard a general rifing, or to relinquifh their hopes.

The arreft of the Leinfter committee, and of many other leaders on the twelfth of March, tended fo much to the difclofure of their fatal defigns, and to break the links of their organization, that the confpirators found themfelves under an abfolute neceffity of making a defperate effort. A plan was therefore digefted by the military committee for a general rifing, in which it was propofed to feize Dublin,† the camp at Laughlinftown, and Chapehzod, the ftation of the artillery, on the fame night; and the counties of Dublin, Wicklow, and Kildare, were to co-operate in this attack.‡ The infurrection being commenced in the metropolis and its vicinity, the fignal for announcing it to the

* Report of the secret committee, Appendix, No. XIX.  † Ibid. Appendix, No. XIV. ‡Ibid.

North and South, which would alfo rife, was to be the detention of the mail coaches.*

During the months of February, March and April, robbery and affaffination continued to be perpetrated in different parts of the kingdom, and fhocking outrages were committed in the metropolis, particularly in Francis, Thomas, and James’s-ftreet; where the centinels on guard were frequently fired at.†

On the twenty-eighth of February, Arthur O’Connor and father Quigley, and three more traitors, were arrefted at Margate, when they were on the point of embarking for France, whither they were going to accelerate an invafion of Ireland, which the French republick at that time meditated, at the inftance of the Irifh executive directory.

On the feventh of March, Sir Henry Mannix, who had made himfelf obnoxious to the rebels by his activity as a magiftrate, was fired at and wounded near the city of Cork; where the confpiracy was more extenfive and terrifick than in Dublin.
Major Allen was ferved in the fame manner in the county of Kildare.

On the thirteenth of March, Mr. Buckley, a proteftant, and noted for his loyalty, was murdered near Rathcoole, in the county of Kildare, and butchered with ferocious barbarity; and it has been difcovered, that fome of the popifh yeomen of that place were concerned in the perpetration of this horrid act. One of their bayonets was found flicking in his body. About the fame time Mr. Burchell of Kilteele in the fame county was affaffinated. This month a centinel was murdered on his poft at Armagh.

It would exceed the extent of my defign, and fill the reader with horror and difguft, if I were to enumerate the affaffinations which took place at this time.

Every night great quantities of pikes were difcovered in the metropolis by the magiftrates; and fo eager were the leaders of the confpiracy to encourage the fabrication of them, that blackfmiths were detected in the act of making them even in the day.
So prone to infurrection were the lower clafs of people in Dublin, that in the month of April, a numerous mob of rebels rofe in the

* Report of the secret committee, Appendix, No. XIV.
† The reader may form fome idea of the ftate of Dublin, from an affidavit in Appendix, No. XIII.

liberty, and attempted to pull down the houfes of fome loyal perfons there, but were prevented by the yeomen.

An active and intelligent magiftrate of the city of Dublin informed me, that when he was granting licenfes to fome publicans in March, 1797, they boafted, with a ftern and infolent air, that that was the laft time they would apply for them; and that they made the fame declaration in March, 1798. So fure was the mafs of the people, that a complete fubverfion of the government would take place!

On the thirtieth of March, the lord lieutenant iffued a proclamation, giving the moft pofitive and direct orders to the officers commanding his Majefty’s forces, to employ them with the utmoft vigour and decifion for fuppreffing the traitorous confpiracy, for the deftruction of the conftitution, and the eftablifhed government, which broke out into acts of open violence and rebellion.

On the fixth of May, Mr. Reynolds was arrefted at Caftledermot by a party of the military, and conveyed a prifoner to Dublin.

On the eighth of the fame month, the united Irifhmen, by fome means or other, having difcovered that he had revealed, and in a great meafure defeated their machinations, formed many plots againft his life. He therefore found it neceffary to put himfelf under the protection of government, who provided him with apartments in the caftle.

As the members of the union, during his refidence there, circulated the moft infamous calumnies againft his character, he refolved, in its vindication, and to bring thofe mifcreants to condign punifhment, to difclofe the whole of their plots, and to profecute them.

Sometime in the month of April, 1798, Matthew Dowling, Meffrs. Bird, Stoyte, O’Neil, Bacon the tailor, and others, held a conference at Harold’s Crofs, about carrying off the children of lord Camden, or lord Clare, as hoftages; but they preferred thofe of the latter. One of the parties made a full confeffion of this to alderman James.

About the fame time, major Sirr received a pofitive information, which I drew, of a confpiracy to fhoot the lord chancellor, as he went to the courts.*

On the twenty-fecond of April, alderman Jenkin arrefted thirteen united Irifhmen fitting in deliberation in a wherry in the port of Dublin; for they found it unfafe to hold, their committee in the city, from the

* It was planned by one of the traitors fent to Scotland.

great vigilance and activity of the magiftrates, who purfued and difcovered them in their lurking holes, and moft fecret receffes.

As it was difcovered through various channels of information, that lord Edward Fitzgerald was the principal leader of the confpiracy; and as it appeared by papers found in his writing defk, that his defigns were of a moft dangerous and malignant nature, a proclamation iffued on the eleventh of May, offering a reward of £1,000 for apprehending him.

As great numbers of people, charged with feditious and treafonable practices, had fled from different parts of the kingdom to Dublin, for the purpofe of fecreting themfelves, and eluding juftice, the lord mayor, on the fame day, iffued a proclamation, requiring all houfekeepers in the city or liberties thereof, to return a lift of fuch ftrangers as fhould be lodged or entertained by them.

On Wednefday the ninth of May, fheriff Hone feized fome pike heads in the houfe of Mr. Sweetman, who had been fo long the fecretary of the Catholick committee.

On the night of May the eleventh, juftice Swan, major Sirr, and captain Ryan difcovered and feized five pieces of cannon, two fix-pounders, and three four-pounders, in a brewer’s yard in North Kingftreet; and on Thurfday preceding, major Sirr feized in Bridgefoot-ftreet, five hundred pike handles, from nine to fourteen feet long.

It was obferved that the confpirators kept the pike heads and the handles feparate, at leaft in the metropolis, as they could mount them with the utmoft celerity; and the lofs of one did not involve that of the other.

On the twelfth of May, feven delegates were fent by the united Irifhmen from the metropolis to Chapelizod, to feduce the corps of artillery, and attempted to fwear them to fpike the guns; but much to their honour, they difclofed the infernal fcheme of thefe traitors, who were arrefted and committed. On the fame day a large quantity of arms was feized in a houfe on the Cuftom-houfe quay by juftice Swan, an active and intrepid magiftrate, by whofe zealous exertions the moft effential fervice was rendered at this alarming and critical juncture.

On the night of that day, a man of the name of Lynch was found murdered in Watling-ftreet.

On the night of the thirteenth of May, Mr. Sirr, the town major, and captain Ryan, two magiftrates diftinguifhed for their unabated zeal and undaunted courage, feized four pieces of cannon in a houfe in Townfend-ftreet, and next day a fwivel concealed at Ring’s-end.

On the eighteenth of May, juftice Drury feized a blackfmith in Thomas-ftreet at noon day, in the act of forging pikes; and he led him through the ftreets to the Caftle, with his head and fhoulders garnifhed with a number of them, and thence with two of his affiftants to prifon.

As lord Edward Fitzgerald had abfconded ever since the twelfth of March; as government had the ftrongeft reafons for thinking that he was unremittingly attentive in forwarding the confpiracy in which he was fo deeply engaged; and as he had always difplayed great courage, and confiderable abilities as an officer, they were under apprehenfions that he was doing very great mifchief wherever he happened to be.

On the eighteenth of May, major Sirr having received pofitive information that he would pafs through Watling-ftreet that night; that he would be preceded by a chofen band of traitors, as an advanced guard: and that he would be accompanied by another, repaired thither, attended by captain Ryan, Mr. Emerfon of the attorney’s corps, and a few foldiers in coloured cloaths. The met the party which preceded him, and had a fkirmifh with them on the quay at the end of Watling-ftreet, n which fome fhots were exchanged; and they took prifoner, one of them who called himfelf at one time Jamefon, at another time Bond.

The arreft of lord Edward Fitzgerald, which was effected next day, the mneteenth of May, in the following manner, tended very much to defeat the malignant defigns of the confpirators, as he was the chief projector of the intended infurrection, and they entertained the higheft opinion of his courage and military abilities:

Government, having received pofitive information that he had arrived m Dublin and was lodged at the houfe of one Murphy, a featherman in Thomas-ftreet, fent major Sirr to arreft him. He, attended by captain bwan of the Revenue corps, and captain Ryan of the Sepulchre’s, and eight foldiers difguifed, about five o’clock in the evening repaired in coaches to Murphy’s houfe. While they were pofting the foldiers in fuch a manner as to prevent the poffibility of an efcape, captain Swan, perceiving

a woman run haftily up flairs, for the purpofe, as he fuppofed, of alarming lord Edward, followed her with the utmoft fpeed; and, on entering an apartment, found lord Edward lying on a bed, in his dreffing jacket. He approached the bed, and informed his lordfhip that he had a warrant againft him, and that refiftance would be vain; and he affured him, at the fame time, that he would treat him with the utmoft refpect.

On that, lord Edward fprang from the bed, and fnapped a piftol, which miffed fire, at captain Swan. He then clofed with him, drew a dagger, gave him a wound in the hand, and different wounds in the body; one of them under the ribs was deep and dangerous, and bled moft copioufly.

At that moment captain Ryan entered, and miffed fire at lord Edward with a pocket piftol; on which he made a lunge at him with a fword cane, which bent on his ribs; but affected him fo much, that he threw himfelf on the bed, and captain Ryan having thrown himfelf on him, a violent fcuffle enfued, during which lord Edward drew a dagger, and plunged it into his fide. They then fell on the ground, where captain Ryan received many defperate wounds; one of which in the lower part of his belly was fo large, that his bowels fell out on the floor. Major Sirr, having entered the room, faw captain Swan bleeding very much, and lord Edward advancing towards the door, while captain Ryan on the floor, and in the woeful ftate which I defcribed, was holding him by one leg, and captain Swan by the other, he therefore fired at lord Edward with a piftol, and wounded him in the fhoulder, on which he cried out for mercy, and furrendered himfelf. His lordfhip was then conveyed to the caftle, but was on the point of being refcued before he left Thomas-ftreet; for Edward Ratigan, a major of the rebels, affembled a great number of them, and gave them a confiderable quantity of carbines and pikes out of St. Catherine’s watchhoufe, of which he was a director, and called on them to refcue lord Edward; and which they would have effected, but that major Sirr received the affiftance of the Rainsford-ftreet guard, and the picquet guard of the caftle, confifting moftly of cavalry, for which he had feafonably fent a meffenger.

Samuel Neilfon confeffed afterwards, that he was in another quarter with five hundred pikemen, and that he would have attempted a refcue, had not the guards arrived in due time.

Edward Ratigan, and Patrick Gallagher a rebel colonel, feized Mr. Cufack, a loyal fubjeft of the Revenue corps, that evening, kept him a prifoner fome time, and threatened his life if he gave information of what he had feen of their conduct.

In confequence of this, major Sirr, who was fometime convinced of the difaffection of Ratigan, fearched his houfe on the Monday following, and having found there many ftand of arms, a large quantity of ammunition, and fome thoufand printed oaths of the united Irifhmen, demolifhed his houfe, and burnt a large quantity of timber which he found in his yard.

Captain Ryan received no lefs than fourteen wounds, of which he died a few days after, univerfally and defervedly lamented; as he was a man of great probity and firmnefs of mind, and a zealous loyalift.

The arreft of lord Edward vifibly occafioned a ftrong fenfation among the mafs of the people in Dublin, as their hopes of getting poffeffion of the metropolis on the approaching infurrection which they meditated, refted much on his valour and fkill as an officer. Numbers of them were feen going from one part of the town to the other, with a quick pace and a ferious countenance. Others were perceived in fmall parties, converfing with that ferioufnefs of countenance and energy of gefticulation, which ftrongly indicated the agitation of their minds. A rifing to effect a refcue was expected that night; the yeomen therefore, and the garrifon, which it was to be lamented was very thin, remained on their arms all night, and were fo judicioufly difpofed as to prevent the poffibility of an infurrection.

By the papers found in lord Edward’s writing-box, and on his perfon, the extent of the plot, and the malignant defigns of the perfons engaged in it, were difcoverable.*

Major Sirr found in his lodgings at Murphy’s a green uniform, turned up with black, and a curious cap of the fame colour, which he was to have worn when he headed the infurrection; and at the fame time the official feal of the Irifh union.
The plan for taking a city, found among lord Edward’s papers, alludes to Dublin, shews the bold defigns of the rebels, and how terrifick the

* See them in Appendix, No. XIV.

infurrection would have been, but that it was defeated by the vigilance of government.

Meffrs. Henry and Jahn Sheares, brothers, both barrifters, and natives of Cork, and Patrick Byrne, a bookfeller of Grafton-ftreet, were arrefted and committed on charges of high treafon, on Monday the twenty-firft of May. In the houfe of the former a magiftrate found a proclamation,* which shewed the fanguinary defigns of the rebels. It was to have been publifhed and circulated the morning after the intended infurrection and maffacre had taken place.

On the morning of the twenty-firft of May, lord Caftlereagh, by the defire of the lord lieutenant, wrote to the lord mayor to acquaint him, “That his excellency had difcovered that the difaffected in the city and neighbourhood of Dublin, had formed a plan of poffessing themfelves, “in the courfe of the prefent week, of the metropolis, and of feizing the “executive government, and thofe in authority within the city.”

The government and the loyal fubjects ftill continued in an awful ftate of fufpenfe, as the frequent difcovery of the fabrication of pikes, even at noon-day, and of treafonable committees forming plans of infurrection, unqueftionably evinced that the volcano was on the point of burfting.

On the twenty-fecond of May, 1798, lord Caftlereagh prefented a meffage to the houfe of commons, from his excellency the lord lieutenant, “That his excellency had received information that the difaftefted had been daring enough to form a plan, for the purpofe of poffeffing themfelves, in the courfe of the prefent week, of the metropolis, of feizing the feat of government, and thofe in authority within the city; that, in confequence of that information, he had directed every military precaution to be taken, which feemed expedient; that he had made full communication to the magiftrates, for the direction of their efforts; and that he had not a doubt, by the meafures which would be purfued, the defigns of the rebellious would be effectually and entirely crufhed.”

To this meffage, the houfe of commons voted an addrefs, “To affure his excellency that the intelligence which it communicated, filled them

* Appendix, No. XIII.

with horror and indignation, whilft it raifed in them a fpirit of determined refolution and energy; that they relied on the vigilance and vigour of his excellency’s government which they trufted would continue unabated, until the confpiracy, which fo fatally exifted, would be utterly diffolved.”

The fpeaker and all the members immediately waited on his excellency with the addrefs; and to fhew their zeal, and to encreafe the folemnity of the proceeding, they walked through the ftreets on foot, two and two, preceded by the fpeaker, the ferjeant at arms, and all the officers of the houfe.

The government and the loyal fubjects ftill continued in a woeful ftate of fufpenfe and tribulation, not knowing on what night the infurrection would take place; and it is probable that they would have been furprifed and murdered in their beds, but that it was fortuitoufly difcovered a few hours before the rebels were to have rifen.