'■4 r *>-:; Mi r si ^i:t.--^f-': 55^rKi !/0^^ THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY From the collection of James Collins, Drumcondra, Ireland, Purchased, 1918. 941.5 F585 6 '-y. .^ \ -s. » \ > ■-v-*^ " / / / V7 f • f r .i>* " BELPHEGOR, or the DEVIL thmed ESQ' " " Yet do I remember the time past, I muse upon my works, Tea, I exercise myself in tlie worlu of yilc\i.edn.e5a."—PsalrM. f" ) THE SHAM SQUIRE; AHO :• THE INFORMERS OF 1798. ▼ITH JOTTINGS ABOUT IRELAND SEVENTY YEARS AGO. BY W. J. FITZ-PATRICK, J.P., iVTBoa 01 " cuEioaa familt butort, ob irklano bkioui tub tnno>- A •■4VIL TO TBM BBAM SQUIBB/' ASB BIOORArBBR OF BUUOF OOTU, MBO OUUrCOBBT, ItAOT MOBOAH, WtO. Sixljj (5bition, WITH A MASS OF NEW MATTER, UrCI.V»Dra MB. DICKBT'S KARBATnrB, AH XXrOSDRK OF DR. COHLAH, THR mOBMBi TBB CUUiRH FATRRS, RKTRLATI0M8 FROM THR HOTR-BOOR OF A DBCURRD FBIRBT, AHD FROM THR PAPRRR OF THR lATH MB. RRMMU, CROWH BOUCROR. " Truth b itranger than flcUon." DUBLIN: W. B. KELLY, 8, GRAFTON-STREET, LONDON: SIMFKIN. MABSHALL & CO. i ' • ■ AND ALL B00K8EI.LIKS. .1872. b.< ^ F S'Sst In ^ TO READERS OF THE SIXTH EDITION. To this, the Sixth Edition of " the Sham Sq[liire," much new matter has been added, including tha striking narrative of Mr. Adam Dickey, the quaint Cullen Papers, the exposure of Dr. Conlan the Informer, and the disclosures of the late Rev. Roger Hayes. But the mine we' have opened in <* the Sham Squire" is, indeed, so rich, that it seems perfectly inexhaustible.* For example, a bundle of papers, drawn almost at random from the archives of the late Mr. Kemmis, Crown and Treasury Solicitor, furnish in themselves some curious evidences corro- borative of this remark. One letter, dated 1830, is found addressed to the then legal representatives of the Sham Squire, signed " Corsine," and ** Wilfred Molloy," threatening that if Mrs. Molloy, his niece, who had been promised £20 a-year, but who, as sh« alleges, had never received more than twenty shilr * A mimber of other very curious revelations in reference to " the Sham Squire," chiefly communicated by his own family and dia- pntombed from hidden sources, and, not included in the present volume, appear in its Sequel, " Curious Family History," &c., recently much enlarged, touching which the Irish Times said : — " Astonish* ing as were the revelations made in " The Sham Squue," the narra* Uvea in this volume are stiil more citraordinajy." 435274 '' lY TO READERS OF lings, were not forthwith provided for, she would expose a certain fraud in connection with a Pension of Concordatum, and bring its paymewt to an abrupt end. So the reader may infer that mu(;h of rascality as has been told, we could, if desirab e, unveil fui- ther villanies. The exposure suggested by Wilfred Molloy we could have made four y^ars ago quite as now ; but there is still a delicacy to as completely 36 observed in dealing with the details, and we feel that the time has not 3'et come, nor is the present page the place, for writing with unreserve the history of ihat singularly successful fraud. The leading facts were communi- cated to us by the late Rev. Sir Chris ;opher Bellew, Bart., from exclusive sources of information, to which he had peculiar facilities of access, and an indirect allusion to the circumstances may be found at p. 247 of " the Sham Squire." It may be added, that some details regarding '* Mrs. Molloy," and her bribery of the Police, appear at page 101 of our " Curious Fa- mily History." The Kemmis family filled office under the Crown during successive generations, and their voluminous archives, which have been, only with n the last few months, unlocked, furnish interesting lights for those who explore the bye- ways of Irish history. Our statement, at p. 30, that the Sham Squire ma- nipulated the jury panel of Dublin w: th some dexte- rity is verified by letters of Higgins, also preserve^ THE FIFTH EDrriON. V among tlie Kemmis juipers. One, dated 178G, writtcu in a fine dasliing hand, cautions Mr. Kemmia^gainst allowing a certain citizen to exercise liis privilege as a juror; and the Sham, in conclusion, offers his cor- respondent mysterious aid and information. But other facts, far more curious than this, are disclosed by the Kemmis archives. A narra- tive of the villanies of the Sham Squire, to be issued in six monthly parts, price one shilling each, and compiled by the Proprietor of an ultra-Orange newspaper in Dublin, well-known as the Evenvng Packet, was privately announced in 1830, as being in preparation. The intimation seems to have been con- veyed to the then legal representatives of Higgins, who occupied a prominent and distinguished position, and it is impossible to mistake the motive which prompted the dark whisper. A printed prospectus of the projected exposure was enclosed (we suspect that a second copy of the said prospectus was never struck off), but the nature of the arrangement, if any, by which the book was suppressed, does not appear ; nor can this be reijretted. Such a narrative — of which we doubt if a single line was ever written — could never have proved well authenticated historical evidence, begun, as ours has been, from pure motives, and con- scientiously prosecuted. On the contrary, we fear it was but low and exaggerated oral scandal, ga- thered with an unworthy object "We regret to be obliged to record suc-h things of Nicholas Murray w TO READEHS OF Mansfield, who died with, perhaps, a better name among liis friends than in the earlier part of his career he enjoyed. He had been prominently connected with the unreformed Corporation of Dub lin, and belonged to the same ultra-Orange clique ■which included the practised duellist, Mr. D'Esterre, who at last paid a fatal forfeit by Mr. O'Connell to mortal combat, challenging Hr. Mansfield started the Evening Packet with th(3 chief mis- sion of writing down the reputations o;: Mr.- O'Con- nell, Mr. Henry Grattan, Bishop Doyle, Mr. Shiel, jind other co-operators in the national the time. Addison says, that every hoiest man sets as high a value upon his good namo as upon life itself; and it seems to us that Mr. Mansfield's mission did not differ very widely from the formidable rule of his friend Mr. D'Esterre. It may, perhaps, be added, as not de\|-oid of inter est, that Mr. Mansfield was examined brated inquiry into the conduct of Mr. on the cele- [Hiorh-Sheriff Thorpe, who was accused of having ex]3ressed satis- faction at the Bottle Riot, specially got up to insult and maim the Liberal Viceroy, Lord Wellesley.* Mr. Mansfield is found replying to the second querv asked hiin, as to the situation he filled and only clerk in the Sheriff's office !" * A notice of some of the disclosures elicited on in " Curious Family History," &c., a volume of sixth edition, similax in spirit, style, and aim, to " "I am chief He received t! lis inquiry occurs ours, already in ita> Th|e Sham Sqmre." 5* , THE SIXTlf EDITION. VII this appointment in 1814, and he afterwards became Perpetual Under-ShcrifF of the City of Dublin" — an office previously held by the Sham Squire, Tlie remainder of Mr. Mansfield's evidence which filln near twenty pages, displaj-s a larger amount of intel- iigencethan might be inferred from the above reply The gentleman who, in 1850, succeeded Mr. Price as editor of the Pachd, tells us that Mr. ^lansfield was his own editor, but that his voice exceeded his pen in power, as evidenced by several wordy personal con- flicts between him and that master of indignant elo- quence, Daniel O'Connell. Mr. Mansfield received from the old Corporation, on excessively moderate terms, the premises in College-green long known as the office of the Evening Packet, and it was not with- out a delay of several years that the new Corpo- ration, although they brought an ejectment against him, succeeded in dislodging their formidable op- ponent. Both of the legal representatives of the Sham Squire, to whom Mr. Mansfield addressed hisL Pro- spectus, are since dead, and '\ve feel that no objec- tion can now be fairly attached to our allusion to a circumstance without some notice of which the pre- sent volume would be incomplete. KiLMACUD Manor, Sxilloegajt, Co. Dublin, November, 1869. Shortly will be Published, BY THE SAME AUTHOR, HISTORIC DISCLOSURES OF TEE DAYS OF TONE AND EMMETc *«* Tb? parties who received £1,000 for the betrayal of Einni«i will bo froiul, for the first time traced aad iUentiflcd. PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. The object which originally led me to commence researches in reference to Erancis Higgins, "the Sham Squire," was to remove a misapprehension which pervaded almost the entire press of Great Britain and Ireland. For SLKty-one years the name of the person who received the reward of £1000 for the betrayal of Lord Edward Eitzgerald remained an impeuetrablo mystery, although historians have devoted much time and labour in seeking to discover it. Among other revelations, recently published in the " Com- wallis Papers," we find that "Erancis Higgins, pro- prietor of the Freeman's Journal, was the person who gave all the information which led to the arrest and death of the Patriot Chief." In the following pages, however, it wiU appear that Higgins was not the actual Betrayer, but the employer of the Be- trayer, a much respected "gentleman," who, although in receipt for forty-five years of a pension — the price of Lord Edward's blood — was not suspected of the treachery. The AthencBum, after justly reprobating some of the duplicity practised in 1798, observed : — X PEEFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. "The Freeman's Journal was a patriotic print, and advocated the popular cause, and its proprietor earned blood-money by hunting down the unfortunate Lord Ed- ward Fitzgerald !" "Truth is stranger than fiction," however; and khe Freeman's Journal, when owned by Higgins, was not only the openly and notoriously subsidised organ of the then corrupt Government, but the most violent assailant of the popular party in Ireland. The Times, noticing the United Irishmen, said — " They beHeved themselves to be embarked in a noblo cause, and were cheered on the path that led to martyr- dom by the spirit-stirring efEusions of a press which felt their wrongs, shared their sentiments, and deplored their misfortunes. Alas ! the press that encouraged was no more free from the influence of Government than the advocate who defended them. Francis Higgins, proprietor of the Freeman's Journal, was the person who procured all the intelligence about Lord Edward Fitzgerald. When we reflect that the Freeman's Journal was a favourite organ of the United Irishmen,* that in that capacity it must have received much secret and dangerous informa- tion, and that all this information was already bargained for and sold to the Irish Government before it was given, we can appreciate at once the refinement of its policy, and the snares and pitfalls among which the path of an Irish conspirator is laid." The misapprehension under which the paragraphs of the Times and Athenaeum were written, found a ^)rompt echo in the Mail, Nation, Post, and other iiillueutial Irish journals. The Nation gave it to bq * The orgau of the United Irishmen was the Press, I'ltRPAijR TO TIIR SECOND EDITIOiT. XI understood that Higgina, having become a secret traitor to liia party, published " next morning thun- dering articles against the scoundrel who betrayed the illustrious patriot;" and in a subsequent num- ber added : " What fouler treachery was ever prac- tised than the subornation of the journals and tho writers in whom the people jjlaced a mistaken con- fidence, whereby the unsuspecting victims were made to cram a mine for their own destruction !" These statements excited a considerable sensation. The Irish provincial press reiterated them, and lo- cally fanned the flame. The Meath People, after alluding to Higgins, said : " Shame, shame for evef on the recreant who had patriotism on his pen point, and treason to the country in his heart ! " I felt that this statement, if unrefuted, would soon find its way into the permanent page of history. A short letter from me, explanatory of the real facts, was gladly accepted by the conductor of the Freeman's Journal, who introduced it in the following wordsj less by one too flattering observation : — "We publish to-day a most interesting letter from William John Fitzpatrick, The sad fate of the gallant Lord Edward excited peculiar and permanent interest in the minds of all who priced chivalry and patriotism ; and when the * Cornwallis Papers' disclosed the name of the Government agent who had tracked the noble chief to his doom, a host of reviewers, ignorant of the history of th« time, and anxious only to cast a slur on the patriots of k bygone century, wrote beautiful romances about the be trayer of Lord Edward. The reviewers, without exception, have represented Higgins as the confidant of the United Irishmen — as a 'patriotic' journalist, who sustained th«. popular party with his pen, and sold them for Castle gold. Xll rHEFACE TO THE SECOND EDnlOJN. . Mr Fitfpfttriok diMipatCR tlio ronmuoo by nliowlng who and what Uigglns was — that ho wm tho public and un- disguised agent of the English Government; that bi$ journal, instead of being 'patriotic,* or even friendly to the United Irishmen, was the constant vehicle of the most virulent assaults upon their character and motives; that he waa the ally and friend of the notorious John Scott ; that, as a journalist, he waa the panegyrist of Sirr, and his colleague. Swan ; and that he never mentioned the name of an Irish patriot — of Lord Edward, O'Connor, Teeling, or their friends — without some such prefix as Uraitor,' * wretch,* ' conspirator,* * incendiaiy,' whiliB the Government that stimulated the ristolt, in order to cany the Union, is lauded as ' able,' * wise,* ' humane,* and ' lenient; I ' These events are now more than half a century old ; but, though nearly, two generations have passed away since Higgios received his blood-money, it is, as justly remarked by Mr Fitzpatrick, gratifying to have direct evidence that the many high-minded and honourable men who were, from time to time, suspected for treachery to their chie^ were ^nnocent of his blood." Having, in the letter thus referred to by tho Free- tfian, gluucod rapidly at a few of the more startling incidents in the life of " the Sham, Squire," which elicited expressions of surprise, and even of in- credulity, I conceived that I was called upon to give liis history more in detail, and with a larger array of authorities than I had previously leisure or space to bring forward. From the original object of this book, I have in the present edition wandered, by pressing into the mosaic many curious morceaiue fllustrative of the history of the time; while in the Appendix will be found some interesting and im- PBEFAGE TO THE SECOND EDUIOK. • •• portaut momorabilia, whioh could not, witbottt in- juty to artistic effoot, appear in the tozi Owing to the recentlj discovered Fenian con- spiracy, and the attent^n which it has excited, this work possesses, perha;^, more than ordinary in- terest; but, lest it sholold be supposed that I was influenced in my choice of the subject by its aptness to existing circumstancfis, I am bound to add that the book was written, and in great part printed, before the Fenian moveinent obtained notoriety. In conclusion, I have only to observe that I feel the less hesitation in publishing these details, from the fact that the two marriages which Mr Higgins contracted produced no issua KoiuouD Uanob, Stilu>r(Un, Co. Dvamt, N'wmitr 28, 18i6& I L' I PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. A SECOND edition of this bo^ having become ex- hausted in a few weeks, I am galled upon to prepare a third for the press. The malter is entirely recast, and some curious Addenda, not hitherto used, with valuably original documents, are now welded into the text, i^mong the latter I beg specially to 'direct attention to the historic importance of the Cope and Eeynolds papers,* now first published, and which have been kindly placed at my disposal by Sir Wil- liam H. Cope, Bart. I Since the publication of this book, I found to my surprise that I had got a few readers so illo- gical as to assume, first — that because I condemn the Government of a bygone century, i am neces- sarily opposed to the present Government ; and ■secondly, that my sympathies are with the Eevolu- tionists of '98. The policy of the present Govern- ment presents a thorough contrast to that of theii remote predecessors, and in my opinion merits sup- port. As to the rebellion of '98 I merely say, with the reigning premier. Earl Epssell, that "it. was wickedly provoked, rashly ^Ibegun, and cruelly crushed; "t nor do I go so far as the cabinet * See Appendix, pp. 227-247. t Preface to M>»«re'fl Menioini, toL L, p. 18, ■ XYl PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDlTIOH. minister, Lord Holland, who, in his " Memoirs of the Whig Party," writes: — "More than twenty years have now passed away. Many of my political opi- nions are softened — my predilections for some men weakened, my prejudices against others removed ; bii my approbation of Lord Edward Fitzgerald's actions remains unaltered and unshaken. His country was bleeding under one of the hardest tyrannies that our times have witnessed.*' The true moral which I have sought to incul- cate has been so accurately perceived by an old and influential journal, Saunders s News Letter, that I am tempted to quote a passage -or two for the behoof of the illogical few to whom I have referred : — " When," asks this journal, " will the people learn that secret confederacies can do no good, that informers will always be found to betray them, and that no plot which deals in signs and signals, can enlist the sympathy of those whose co-operation would be really valuable? The very interesting work of Mr Fitzpatrick, recently published, 'The Sham Squire and the Informers of 1798,' gives some striking instances of the impossibility of treasonable associations being secure from the spy and the false companion, and the wider the conspiracy, the greater the certainty of detection There never yet was an illegal secret confederacy which had not members ready tc betray their asso- ciates, either to purchase safety, or to make a profit for themselves." But there is another class of readers who, with- out holding either of the iUogical objections just noticed, entertain an opinion of this book equally PREFACE TO THK THIUD ElJlTIOif. XVIJ> erroneous. They assume that I have sought to dis- honour Ireland by showing it as always abounding iu spies, betrayers, &c. : but they can have hardly read the emphatic passages with which the volum* closes * I have been hitherto noted for embalming the memory of some of Ireland's worthies ; •!• and it is surely quite consistent and patriotic to stigmatise the representatives of a perfectly opposite character, This course, moreover, serves to sliow my historic impartiality. Contrasts are often agreeable and usefiri. " Look upon this picture and on this," says Shake- speare. Plutarch, the prince of biographers and moral philosophers, in his introduction to the life of Deme- trius Poliorcitesand another person remarkable for his vices, says : "We shall behold and imitate the virtu- ous with greater attention, if we be not unacquainted with the characters of the vicious and the infamous." Portraits of unscrupiilous statesmea and politicians are no doubt introduced for the better illustration of the eventful epoch iu question ; but the sketches are by no means confined to. Irishmen. * See pp. 327-329. f The Caledonian Mercury, in noticing the life of Bishop Doyla •aid : — " Mr Fitzpatrick has a commendable patriotic desire to do and have justice done to the more eminent of Ireland's sons. H» entertains the belief that Ireland, unlike most other natitnu^ idol- ises their great men while they live, and neglects their memory when they are dead ; He cannot help regretting that neither by ^storied urn or monumental bust,' nor in the written pages of the world's history, have illustrious Celts received that measure of juB- tice and honour to which they are entitled; he has, therefore, in these, as in previous volumes, furnished satisfactory evidence ot kis own determination, if not to do the whole work required, at least to lay the foundation upon which the temple of Irish worth and genius may be reared, and its niches becomingly filled. For thii he lib entitled to the gratitude of ever; true patriot.!* CONTENTS, CHAPTER L tAmm Tl»« great Annailey Trial — Wonderful Adventures. — Murder of Patrick Higgins. — Early Struggles and Stratagema of the Sham Squire. — How to Catch an Heiress. — ^AJl is not Gold that Glitters. — ^A Jacuit Outwitted. — Judge Robin- son. — John Philpot Curran.— -The Black Dog Prison. — Uprise of the Sham Squire. — Lord Chief-Justice ClonmeL — Sham Statesmen as well as Sham Squires. — Irish Ad- ministrations of Lord Temple and the Duke of Rutland. — The Beautiful Duchess. — ^Anecdotes, . . • . 1 CHAPTER II. Peculation. — The Press Subsidised and Debauched. — How to get up an Ovation for an Unpopular Viceroy, — Lord Buck- ingham. — Judges Revel at the Board of the Sham Squire. — ^A Pandemonium Unveiled. — Lord Avonmore. — A Great Struggle. — The Regency. — ^Peerages Sold. — John Hagee. — Lord Carhampton. — Mrs Lewellyn. — Squibs and Lam- poons. — The Old Four Courts in Dublin. — Dr Houlton.— - The Duke of Wellington on Bribing the Lish Press, . 81 CHAPTER m. Lord Clonmel and the Fiats. — Richard Daly. — ^Persecution of Magee. — ^A Strong Bar. — Caldbeck, Duigenan, and Egan. — The Volunteers to the Rescue. — Hamilton Rowan. — Ar- tist Arrested for Caricaturing " the Sham." — ^A neat Stroke of Vengeance. — More Squibs. — Ladies Clonmel and Bar- rington. — The Gambling HeU. — Inefficiency of the Police. — Magisterial Delinquencies Exposed. — Watchmen and Watches. — Mr Gonne's Chronometer. — Juggling Judges. —Outrages in the Face of Day. — Ladies unable to Wdk pM Streets^ 8§ ^X CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. Magee's Vengeance on Lord Clonmel. — Hely Hutchinson. — Lord Clare. — The Qods of Crow Street — Renewed Effort to Muzzle Magee. — ^Lettrea de Cachet in Ireland. — Sei- lures. — (Jeorge Ponsonby and Arthur Browne. — Lord Clon- mel crushed. — His Dying Confession. — Extracts from his Unpublished Diary. — Deserted by the Sham Squire. — Origin of his wealth. — More Turpitude, ... 8ft CHAPTER V. Hairbreadth Escapes of Lord Edward Fitzgerald. — Testi- mony of Lords Holland and Byron. — A Dark Picture of Oppression. — Moira House. — Presence of Mind. — Revolt- ing Treachery. — Arrest of Lord Edward. — Majors Sirr and Swan. — Death of Captain Ryan. — Attempted Rescue. — Edward Rattigan. — General Lawless. — Lady Louisa Conolly. — Obduracy of Lord Camden. — Death of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, . . . . . • /.'w • ^^^' /'»'. CHAPTER VI. A Secret well Kept.— The " Setter" of Lord Edward Traced at Last. — Striking in the Dark. — Roman Catholic Barristers Pensioned. — A Lesson of Caution. — Letter to the Author from Rev. John Featherston Haugh. — Just Debts Paid- with Wages of Dishonour. — Secret Service Money. — An Ally of " the Sham's" Analysed. — What were the Secret Services of Francis Magan, Barrister-at-law ? — Shrouded Secrets Opened, 120 CHAPTER VII. , W«f: Higgins Guiltless of Oliver Bond's Blood? — Walter Cox. — Reynolds the Informer. — Insatiable Appetite for Blood- money. — William Cope. — A Dark and Painful Mystery. — Lord Wycombe Walks in the Footsteps of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, and Spies Follow in the Footsteps of Lord Wycombe, , . Ht, CHAPTER VIII. Eflbrt of Conscience to Vindicate its Authority. — Last Will and Testament of the Sham Squire. — A Tempest Roars Round his Death-bed. — Kilbarrack Churchyard. — A Touch- ing Epitaph. — Resurrectionists. — The Dead Watchers. — The Sham Squire's Tomb Insulted and Broken. — His Be- questi^ ....•«..• 151 C0NTKNT8. XXI APPENDIX; buko ^ > JOTTINGS ABOUT IRELAND SEVENTf' YEAES AGO. MM Baratariana, ''. 168 Toping Seventy Years ago, 168 Hon Lord Buckingham Punished Jephson and Purchased Jebb, 1 72 Slang Satires on Shamado and hia Friends, . .. . v' ITS The Irish Yeomanry in 1798, 178 Mr Mac/eady's Statement, 181 Jemmy O'Brien, . IBS General Lawless, ' . 186 Lord Edward Fitzgerald, 189 John and Henry Sheares, . . , . • ' -• • 190 The Reign of Terror in Ireland, . . • • /• • 192 General Cockbum's " Step-ladder," . . . I. . * 193 Lord Chancellor Clare, . . . . . . 195 -^ ' The Right Hon. John Poster, 197 Archbishoj) Agar — Lord Castlereagh, .... 198 The Right Hon. John Beresf ord — Mr Secretary Cooke — The Marquis of Drogheda, 201 Lord Glentworth — Lord Carhampton — John Claudius Seresford, . 202 Lord Enniskillen — Mr Lees — ^Lord Carleton, . . 203 Sexton Perry, 204 The Hon. Isaac Corry — The Marquis of Waterford, . 205 Lord Annesley — Lord De Blaquire, .... 206 Lord Londonderry, . . . . , . . 207 Lord Norbury, 208 Lord Kiugsborough, . . . . . . . 209 Lord Downshire, 210 Lord Dillon — Lord Ashtown, 211 Bishop O'Beime, ....... 212 Bishop Beresfo^i — Mr Alexander, .... 21S % Xxii CONTENTS. FlO* Sir Thos. Judkin Fitzgerald, - . . ; I . 217 Major Sirr, 21£ Major Swan — Major Sandys, 221 John Giffard, . . . . . ... . 222 Lieutenant HepenstiJl, 223 Alexander Knox, 225 Captain Armstrong, ....... 226 Lord Camden, 227 Reynolds the Informer and Mr William Cope, . . . 227 " Deeds relating to Higgins, Magan, and Others, Preserved in the Registry Office, Dublin," 246 MacNally and Turner, 248 John Pollock, 253 Walter Cox— Dr Brennan, 258 Abstraction of Papers from the Castle Archives, . . 263 MacGuickan, the Treacherous Attorney to the United Irish- 271 men. Treason in Ulster — Houlton, 268 Duggan the Informer, ....... 271 Cockaigne the English Spy, 286 Sir Jonah Barrington, ...••.. 289 Emmet's Insurrection, ....... 295 The Mystery enshrouding Emmet's Grave, • . . 298 The Sham Squire's Bequests, ..•••. 801 Judge Robert Johnson, 303 O'Connell "a United Irishman," 307 The Rebellion in Wicklow — Fusilade at Dunlavin, . . 308 Reminiscences of the Rebellion, 813 The Rebellion in Kildare, .... . . 321 Projected Rebellion in Cork — Secret Services of Father Barry, 324 Informers not Confined to Ireland, .... 327 Supplemental Note about Mr Waller and Miss Monro, . 331 • Posthumous Papers of Brother Luke Cullen — Croppy Biddy, . 327 • The Rebellion in Antrim — Mr. Dickey's Narrative, . 837 • The Rebellion in Louth — Dr. Conlan, the Informer, . 352 • Sir T. Judkin Fitzgerald — Further Revelations, . . 365 • False Trustees, 367 • Alexander Knox — Curious Correspondence, . . . 369 Dolly Monroe, 372 • The O'Hara Family on the " Sham Squire," ... 373 Informers Everywhere, ....... 375 Th» papers indicated by an asterisk now appear for the fitat time. ^^ THE SHAM SQUIRK CHAPTEE I. The great Annesley Trial — Wonderful Adventures. — Murder of Patrick Higgins. — Early Struggles and Stratagems of the Sham Squire. — How to Catch an Heiress. — All is not Gold that Glitters. — A Jesuit Outwitted. — Moral, that clergymen shoxild be slow in introducing suitors without inquiry. — Judge Robin- son. — John Philpot Curran. — The Black Dog Prison. — Uprise of the Sham Squire. — Lord Chief-Justice Clonmel. — Sham Statesmen as well as Sham Squires. — Irish Administrations of Lord Temple and the Duke of Rutland. — The Beautiful Duchess. — Anecdotes. The great Annesley trial, which took place at Dublin in November 1743, disclosed a most exciting episode in the romance of histoiy. A few of its salient points are subjoined for the better illustration of our narrative, with which, as will be seen, the trial has Bome connexion. A son was bom to Lord and Lady Altham of Dun- maine, in the county of Wexford ; but they lived un- happily together, and the lady, having been turned adrift on the world, at last died a victim to disease and poverty. James Annesley, her infant son, was intrusted by Lord Altham to the charge of a woman named Juggy Landy, who lived in a wretched hut near Dunmaine. Lord Altham. after a few years, removed with his son to Dublin, where he formed a connexion with a Miss Kennedy, whom he tried to introduce t<^^iety as his wife. This woman, who I m he was heir-at-law, young Annesley was alleged to be dead. On the death of Lord Altham, his brother attended the funeral as chief mourner, and assumed the title of Baron Altham ; but when he claimed to have this title registejed he was refused by the Ulster king-at-arms "on account of his nephew's being reported still alive, and for want of the honorary fees." " Ultimately, however, by means which are stated to have been * well known and obvious,' he succeeded in procuring his regis- tration. ** But there was another and a more sincere mourner at the funeral of Lord Altham than the successful in- heritor of his title. A poor boy of twelve years of age, half naked, bareheaded and barefooted, wept over his father's grave."* Young Annesley was speedily re- cognised by his uncle, and forcibly driven from the place. The latter soon after instituted a series of daring attempts to get so troublesome an obstacle to his ambi- tion and peace of mind out of the way. Many efforts made to kidnap the boy were foiled by the prowess of a humane butcher, who took him under his protec- tion ; and on one occasion this man, by sheer strength ' of muscle, and a stout shillelah, successfully resisted the united efforts of half a dozen emissaries despatched by Lord Altham. In an unguarded moment, how- ever, Annesley was seized in the street, and dragged on board a vessel in the Liffey, which sailed for * Gentleman's Magazine, vol. xiv,, p. 39. THE INFORMERS OF *9i. ;# America, where the boy was apprenticed em a plan^ tation slave, and in which capacity he remained for thirteen years. Meanwhile the uncle, on the demise of Lord Anglesey, succeeded to his title and vast estates. The boy made many attempts to escape, and on one occasion nearly lost his life from the effects of several stabs he received from the negro sentinels. The daughter of a slave-driver became passionately attached to him ; he, however, failed to reciprocate her passion; and at last escaped to Jamaica, where he volunteered as a sailor on board a man-of-war. He was identified by some of the officers ; and Admiral Vernon, who commanded the fleet, wrote home an account of the case to the then Prime Minister, sup- plied Annesley with money, and treated him with the respect due to his rank. As soon as these matters reached the ears of Lord Anglesey, he left no effort untried to maintain possession of his usurped title and wealth; and "the most eminent lawyers within the English and Irish bars were retained to defend a cause, the prosecution of which was not as yet even threatened." On Annesley's arrival in Dublin, "seve- ral servants who had lived with his father came from the country to see him. They knew him at first sight, and fell on their knees to thank Heaven for his pre- servation ; embraced his legs, and shed tears of joy for l^is return." Lord Anglesey proposed a compromise with Annes- ley, but an unexpected incident occurred which the usurper resolved to turn to good account, and thus avoid the expense of an arrangement. A fowling- piece exploded accidentally in Annesley's hand, and killed a man to whom he owed no enmity. Lord Altham exerted his influence to the uttermost, both on the inquest and at the trial, in endeavouring to get his nephew adjudged guilty of wilful murder. He sat with the judges on the bench, browbeat the witnesses, and laboured to entrap them- into unguarded admis- -i. U. 4 THE SHAM SQUIRE AND sionts. Although Lord Altham expended onp thousand pounds on the prosecution, Annesley was triumphantly acquitted.* A still more memorable trial, in which James Annesley was plaintiff, and Kichard, Earl of Anglesey, defendant, was heard before the Chief-Justice and Barons of the Exchequer, on November 11, 1743, and lasted nearly a fortnight. A number of witnesses in the interest of Lord Anglesey were examined, with the unworthy object of attempting to prove Annesley illegitimate ; but although the jury found for him, he failed to recover his title and property, as the power- ful interest of Lord Anglesey succeeded in procuring a writ of error, which set aside the verdict. Before a new trial could be brought on Annesley died without issue, and his uncle remained in undisturbed posses- sion of the title and estates. f Patrick Higgins, father of the " Sham Squire," was an attorney's clerk, who had been sent into the country to collect evidence for the trial. " He arrived in Dub- lin from the country late on a winter's night," writes a correspondent, " and was known to have in his posses- sion some valuable papers relating to the great Annes- ley case, and it is supposed that he was waylaid, murdered, and disposed of by parties interested in getting possession of those papers." J That worth frequently fails to meet its deserts in this life, and that chicane too often makes the fortune of the perpetrator, is painfully evidenced in the his- tories of James Annesley and Francis Higgins. In the year" 1754, a bare-legged boy, with cunning ♦ For full details see Howel's State Trials. 15 Geo. II., 1742, vol. xvii., pp. 1093-1139. + Gentleman's Magazine^ vol. xiv., pp. 39-42. Sir Walter Scot! w alleged to have taken this history as the groundwork of " Guy Mannering," although he has not admitted it in his explanatory introduction to that novel. See Lockhart's Life of Scott, chapter xxxiv. (edition 1845.) ■• Letter of J. Curran, Esq., dat«tl Hathmines, November 22, 1865. THE INFORMERS OF '98. 5 eyes, might have been seen carrying pewter quarts in Fishamble Street,* Dublin, which was then a popular locality, owing to the continual ridottos, concerts, and teats of magic, which made the old Music Hall aa object of attraction. This boy became the subse- quently influential Justice Higgins, or, as he was more frequently styled, kie Sham Squire. Fisliamble Street is recorded as the scene of his dehut by John- Magee, in 1789 ; and^this account we find corroborated by a traditional anecdote of Mr R , whose grand- mother often told him that she remembered he' father, Mr Smith, of Fishamble Street, employing Higgins, "a bare-footed, red-haired boy," to sweep the flags in front of his door. Our adventurer was the only survivor of a large family of brothers and sisters, the children of Patrick and Mary Higgins,t who are said to have migrated from Downpatrick. J He himself was born in a cellai in Dublin, and while yet of tender years became suc- cessively "errand-boy, shoe-black, and waiter in a porter house." The number of times which Higgins used his broom, or shouldered pewter pots, it would be unin- teresting to enumerate, and unpiofitable to record. Passing over a few years occupied in this way, Mr Higgins is re-introduced to the reader, discharging his duties as a " hackney writing clerk" in the office of Daniel Bourne, attorney-at-law, Patrick's Close, Dub- lin. § He was born a Roman Catholic, but he had now read his recantation, as appears from the Offkicd Register of Conversions, preserved in the Record. Tower, Dublin Castle. || Nevertheless, he failed to rise in the social scale. Having become a perfect • Dublin Evening Post, No. 1789. . t Will of Fj^ancia Higgins, Prerogative Court, Dublin. t Dublin Evening Post, No. 1837. § Ibid., No. 1765. H This record, which seems unknown to most Irish biographers, contains the names of Barry Yelverton, afterwards Lord Avonmore, Leonard ^Iilt•^'al]y, and sev*"al other men of mark. Thaukii to Sit 6 , THE SHAM SQUIRE A,ND master of scrivenery, a strong temptation smote him to turn his talent for caligraphy to some more sub- stantial account than £16 per aniiuiu, the general salary of hackney writing clerks in those days.* Higgins had great ambition, but without money and connexion' he was powerless. Accordingly, to gain these ends, we find him in 1766 forging, with his cunning brain and ready hand, a series of legal in- struments, purporting to show that he was not only a man of large landed property, but in the enjoyment of an office of some importance under Government. Trusting to his tact for complete success, Higgins, full of daring, sought Father Shortall, and, on his knees, hypocritically .declared himself a convert to the Roman Catholic Church. The iron pressure of the j^enal code had not then received its first relaxation ; Catholics were daily conforming to the Establish- ment; Father Shortall regarded Mr Iliggins's case as a very interesting and touching one, and he affec- tionately received the convert squire into the heaving bosom of the sufTering Church of Ireland. "And now, holy father," said the neophyte, " I must implore of you to keep nx^^ conversion secret. My parent has got a property of £3000 a year, and if this matter iranspires I shall be disinherited." The good pastor assured him that he would be as silent as the grave ; he gave liim his blessing, and Higgins retired, hug- ging himself on his dexterity, and offering mental congratulations on the prospect that began to open to his future success. When this religious intercourse had continued for some time, Higgins' told his spiri- tual adviser that the ease of his soul was such as in- duced him humbly to hope that the Almighty had piCcepted. the sincerity of his repentance. "If any- Bemard Burke, the courteous and efficient custodian of the records, many valuable MSS. are constantly turning up, to tho great satis- jfiftction of historical students. * Paullner't Dublin Journal, January 24, 1767. THE INFmtMERS 0^ '98. ~ 7 thing he now wanting to my complete happiness/* he added, " it is an amiable wife of the true religion, whose bright example will serve to keep my frail resolutions firm ; as to the amount of fortune, it is an object of little or no consideration, for, as you are aware, my means will be ample."* His engaging manner won the heart of Father Shortall, who re- solved and avowed to befriend hini as far as lay in his power. Duped by tlie hypocrisy of our adven- turer, the unsuspecting priest introduced him t© the* family of an eminent Catholic merchant, named Archer. To strengthen his footing, Higgins ordered some goods from Mr Archer, and requested tliat they might be sent to 76 Stephen's Green, the house of his uncle, the then celebrated Counsellor Harwai'd, M.P. Mr Archer treated his visitor with the respect due to the nephew and, as it seemed, the heir pre- sumptive of that eminent person. The approach to deformity of Higgins's person liad made Miss Archer shrink from his attentions ; but her parents, who re- joiced at the prospect of an alliance so apparently advantageous, sternly overruled their daughter's re- luctance. The intimacy gradually grew. Higgins accompanied Mr Archer and his daughter on a country excursion : seated in a noddy, they retm-ned to town through Stephen's Green, and in passing Mr Harward's house, Higgins iu a loud tone expressed a hope to some person at the door that his imcle's health continued to convalesce.f When too late Mr Archer discovered that no possible relationship ex- isted between his hopeful son-in-law and the old coun- sellor. It is als.0 traditionally stated that Higgins tmned to profitable account an intimacy which he had * Sketches of Irish Political Characters. By Henry Mae- D>ugall, M,A., T.C.D. Lond. 1799, p. 182. t Tradition communicated bj* the late Very Rev. Br Yore.. 8 THE SHAM SQUIRE AND fprmed with the servants of one of the judges,' His Ib^^dship having gone on circuit, a perfect " High Life Below Stairs " was performed in his absence ; and Higgins, to promote the progress of his scheme, Bucceeded in persuading his friend, the coachman, to drive him to a few places in tlie judicial carriage. The imposture was too well planned to fail ; but let us allow the heai-t-broken father to tell the tragic tale in his own words : — " County of the City \ The examination of William Archer, of Dublin, to wU. I ^jf Dublin, merchant, who, being duly sworn and examined, saith, that on the 9th day of Novem- ber [1766] last, one Francis Higgins, who this examinant now hears and believes to be a common hackney writing clerk, came to the house of this examinant in conjpany with a clergyman of the Church of Rome,* and was intro- duced as a man possessing lands in the county of Down, to the amount of £250 per annum, which he, the said Francis Higgins, pretended to this examinant, in order to deceive and cheat him ; and also that he was in consider- able employ in the revenue ; and that he was entitled to a large property on the death of William Harward, Esq., who the said Higgins alleged was his guardian, and had • We are indebted to John Cornelius O'Callaghan, Esq., author o£ •' The Green Book," and historian of " The Irish Brigades in th* Service of France," for the following tradition, which he has oblig- ingly taken down fiom the lips of an octogenarian relative: — "The Rev. Mr Shortall (I believe a Jesuit) became acquainted with Hig- gins through the mediuni of religion ; the fellow having pretended to become a convert to the Catholic Church, and even so zealous a one as to confess himself every Saturday to that gentleman, in order to receive the Blessed Sacrament the following day 1 This having gone on for some time, Mr Shortall formed a hiph opinion of Higgins, and spoke of him in such terms to the parents of the young lady he was designing to marry, that they were proportion- ately influenced in his favour. After the ' fatal marriage ' Mr Shortall was sent to Cork, and was introducvd there to my mater- nal grandmother and her sisters, to whom he used to mention how bitterly he regretted having been so imposed upon. The story luade such an impression on my mother as a chUd, that, shortly after she came to Dublin, she went to iSee the 'Sham Squire'^' ^mb^ in Kilbarrack churchyard * ."■■(' THE INFORMERS OF '98. 9 adopted him. In a few dap after this introduction (dur- ing which time he paid his addresses to Miss Mary Anne Archer, the daughter of this examinant) he produced a state of a case, all 6f his own handwriting, saying, that he was entitled to the lands of Ballyveabeg, Islang, Ballahau- era, and Dansfort, in the county of Down ; and the more effectually to deceive and cheat this examinant and his daughter, Higgins had at the foot thereof obtained the legal opinion of the said William Harward, Esq., that he was entitled to said lands under a wUl mentioned to be made in said case. Higgins, in order to deceive this exa- minant, and to induce him to consent to a marriage with his daughter, agreed to settle £1500 on her, and informed examinant that if said marriage were not speedily per- formed, his guardian would force him to take the oath to qualify him to become an attorney, which he could not think of, as he pretended to be of the contrary opinion ; and that as to the title-deeds of said lands, be could not then come at them, being lodged, as he pretended, with It Wniiam Harward, Esq. But that if examinant thought ^'^ "proper, he would open a window in William Harward's ^ house, in order to come at said deeds, let what would be the consequences. Examinant was advised not to insist on said measure, and therefore waived it ; and relying on the many assertions and representations of the said Hig- gins, and of his being a person of consideration and pro- perty, and particularly having great confidence in the opi- nion of so eminent a la^vye^ as William Harward^, tbia examinant having found on inquiry the same was the handwriting of Harward, agreed to give Higgins £000 as a portion with examinaut's daughter, and one half of thw examinant's substance at his death, which he believes may amount to a considerable sum, and executed writings fo/ the performance of said agreement. And upun said mar- riage Higgins perfected a deed, and thereby agreed to set- tle the lands above mentioned on the issue of said marriage, together with £1500 on examinaut's daughter. Soou after the marriage, the^ examinant being informed of the fraud, he made inquiries into the matters so represented by the said Higgins to facilitate said fraud, and the exami- nant found that there was not the least colour of truth in k ,.ti 10 THE SHAM SQUIRE ANI> any of the pretensions or suggestions so made by Higgina> and that he was not entitled to a foot of land, either in this kingdom or elsewhere, nor of any personal property, nor hath he any employment in the revenue or otherwise. Notwithstanding the repeated assurances of the said Hig- gins, and the said several pretences to his being a person of fortune or of business, he now appears to be a person of low and indigent circumstances, of infamous life and char- acter,* and that he supported himself by the craft of a cheat and impostor; nor is the said William Harward either guardian or any way related to Higgins, as this ex- aminant is informed and verily believes." Mr Harward, whose name has been frequently ^ mentioned, became a member of the Irish Bar in Michaelmas Term, 1718, and was the contemporary of Malone, Dennis, Lord Tracton, and Mr Fitzgibbon, father of Lord Clare, and sat for some years in the Irish Parliament. At the period when Higgins took such strange liberties with his name, Mr Harward was in an infirm state of health; he died, childless, in 1772.t A person named Francis Higgins really held an ap- * From a contemporary publication, " Irish Political Characters/ p. 180, we learn that when Higgins acted as an attorney's clerk hia talents were not confined exclusively to the desk. " His master's pleasures found an attentive minister in Sham, and Sham found additional profits in his master's pleasures." + The biographer of Charlemont mentions Harward as " deservedly celebrated for the acuteness of his vmderstanding, his pleasantry, and his original wit" He would seem, indeed, to have been fonder of Joe Miller than of Blackstone. - We find the following anecdote ii the Life of Edmund Malone : — " Harward, the Irish lawyer, with • the help of a great brogue, a peculiar cough, or long h-e-m, waa sometimes happy in a retort. Harward had read a great deal of law, but it was all a confused mass ; he had httle judgment. Having, however, made one of his best harangues, and stated, as he usually ^id, a great deal of doubtful law, which yet he thought very sound. Lord Chief-Justice Clayton, who, though a most ignorant boor, had got the common black-letter of Westminster Hall pretty ready, as Boon as Harward had done, exclaimed, ' You don't suppose, Mr Har- ward, that I take this to be law ?' ' Indeed, my lord,', replied Har- ward, with his usual shrug and cough, ' I don't suppose you do ! ' ** THE INFORMERS OF '98. ^ 11 pointment in the revenue, and our adventurer availed himself of the coincidence in carrying out his impos- ture. In the Freeman's Journal of October 21, 1766, we read : — " Mr Francis Higgins, of the Custom- house, * to Miss Anne Gore, of St Stephen s Green, an accomplished young lady with a handsome for- tune." The following is a copy of the true bill found bj" the grand jury against Higgins : — " The jurors for our Lord the King, upon their oath, say that Francis Higgins, of Dublin, yeoman, being a person of evil name, fame, and dishonest conversation, and a common deceiver and cheat of the Hege subjects of our said Lord, and not minding to gain his livelihood by truth and honest labour, but devising to cheat, cozen, and defraud William Archer of his moneys, fortune, and substance, for support of the profligate life of him, the said Francis Higgins, and with intent to obtain Mary Anne Archer in marriage, and to aggrieve, impoverish, and ruin her, and with intent %& impoverish the said William Archer, his wife, and all hi» family, by wicked, false, and deceitful pretences, on thff 19th November, in the seventh year of the reign of King George IIL, and on divers other days an^ times, with force and arms, at Dublin, in the parish of St Michael, the more fully to complete and perpetrate the said wicked intention* and contrivances, did fraudulently pretend to the said WiUiani Archer that — [here the facts are again recited in detail] The said F. Higgins, by the same wicked pre^ tences, procured Mary Anne Archer to be given in mar- riage to him, to the great damage of the said William Archer, to the great discomfort, prejudice, injury, and dis- quiet of mind of the said Mary Anne and the rest of the family, to the evil example of all others, and against th« peace of our said Lord the King, his crown and dignity." There is a painfully-interesting episode connected with this imposture which the foregoing documenta * The old Custom-house stood on tho site now occupied by Wei }ington Qu»7. 12 THE SHAM SQUIRE ANIi do not tell, and we give it on the authority of the late venerable divine, Dr Yore, who was specially con- nected with the locality. As soon as the marriage between Higgins and Miss Archer had been solem- nised, he brought her to some lodgings at Lucan. The bride, after a short matrimonial experience, found that Higgins was by no means a desirable husband ; and having watched her opportunity to escape, fled, with almost maniac wildness, to Dublin. Higgins gave chase, and came in sight just as the poor girl had reached her father's house. It was the dawn ot morning, and her parents had not yet risen ; but she Bcreamed piteously at the street door, and Mrs Ar- cher, in her night-dress, got up and opened it. - The affrighted girl had no sooner rushed through the threshold than Higgins came violently up, and en- deavoured to push the door open. Mrs Archer re- sisted. She placed her arms across the ample iron sockets which had been formed for the reception ot" a wooden bolt. Higgins applied his strength. Mrs Archer cried wildly for relief and mercy ; but her son-in-law disregarded the appeal, and continued to force the door with such violence that Mrs Archer's arm was crushed in two. On the informations being sworn, Higgins was committed to prison. We read that on January 9, 1767, the citizens of Dublin witnessed his procession from Newgate, in Cutpurse Row, to the Tholsel, or Sessions' House, at CMst Church Place, then known as Skinner's Eow.* The Hon. Christopher Robinson, Second Justice of the King's Bench, tried the case. It was unusual in those days to report ordinary law proceedings ; and there is no published record of the trial beyond three or four lines. But the case excited so strong a sensation that its leading details are still tradition- ally preserved among several respectable familiea * Dublin Evening Pt^, No, 1829. ■i THE TNFOI!Mr.i:S OF '08. 13 Faulkner s Journal of the day records: — ''At aa rdjoiirnment of the Quarter Sessions, held at the rholsel, January 9, 1767, Francis Higgins was tried and found guilty of several misdemeanours."* At the commission of oyer and terminer following, we find that Higgins stood his trial for another offence committed subsequent to liis conviction in the case of Miss Archer. The leniency of the punishment inflicted on Higgins, which permitted him to re- gain his liberty within a few weeks after having been found guilty of ^'several misdemeanours, will not fail to surprise the reader. But a violent hatred of Popery prevailed at that time ; and even the bench of justice often seemed to rejoice when it had, the power to give a rebuff to those who had r^-^%; iected the allurements of Protestantism, and clu^'*' " tv^ith fidelity to the oppressed Church, f With refer- ence to the Archer case, we find that Judge Eobinson ■* Faulkner's Dublin Journal, No, 4144. + About 1759, Laurence Saul, of Saul's Court, Fiehamble Street, a wealthy Catholic distiller, was prosecuted for having harboured a young lady who had sought refuge in his house to avoid being compelled by her friends to conform to the Established Church. The Lord Chancellor, in the course of this trial, declared that the law did not presume an Irish Papist existed in the kingdom ! Saul, writing to Charles O'Conor, says i-^-" Since there is not the least prospect of such a relaxation of the penal laws aa would induce one Roman Catholic to tarry in this place of bondage, who can purchase a settlement in some other land where freedom and security of property can be obtained, will you condemn me for saying, that if I cannot be one of the first, I will not be one of the last to take flight ?" Saul then bemoans the hard necessity of quitting for ever friends, relatives, and an ancient patrimony at a time of life when nature had far advanced in its decline, and his constitution by conistant mental exercise was much impaired, to retire to some dreary clime, there to play the schoolboy again, to- learn the language, laws, and institutions of the country, to make new friends — in short, to begin the world anew. " But," he adds, " when religion dictates, and prudence points out the only way to preserve posterity from temptation and perdition, I feel this con- sideration predominating over all others. I am resolved, as soon as possible, to sell out, and to expatriate." Saul retired to France, and died there in 1768. — Oilbert'i Dublin; Afemoin of Charlu O'Comyr. \ 14 THE SHAM SQUIRE AND in his charge to the jury observed, that Higgins could not be heavily punished for attempting false pre- tences, and flying under false colours in the family of Mr Archer, inasmuch as, if they believed the prisoner at the bar to be the important personage which he represented himself, their own conduct presented a deception in not acquainting the prisoner's pretended guardian and uncle with the matrimonial inten- tions, which, unknown to his family, he entertained. " Gentlemen," added the judge, " that deception has existed on both sides we have ample evidence. 'Tis true this Sham Squire is guilty of great duplicity, but so also are the Archers.' * In thus fastening upon Higgins that stinging nickname which clung to him throughout his subse- quent highly-inflated career, Judge Kobinson unin- tentionally inflicted a punishment more severe than a long term of imprisonment in Newgate or the Black Higgins exhibited great efirontery in the dockj Mid, appealing to the juiy, asked if there was one man among them who would not do as much to possess so fine a girl.f Judge Eobinson was a bad lawyer and an un- popular judge. When proceeding to the Armagh assizes, in 1763, he found a gallows erected, and so constructed across the road that it was necessary to pass under it. To the " Heart-of-Oak-Boys" Judge Kobinson was indebted for this compliment. | He was called to the bar in 1737, and died in Dominic Street in 1786. Mr O'Regan, in his "Memoir of Curran," describes Robinson as small and peevish. A member of the bar, named Hoare, sternly resisted the moroseness of tlie judge ; at last, Robinson' •harged him with a design to bring the king's cofo- ♦ Tradition communicated by Mr Gill, publisher, Dublisk. t Dublin Evening Post, No. 1765. X Hardy 'a Life of Charlemont^ voL i., p. 199. THE INFORMERS OF '98. .%t ij. mission into contempt. " No, my lord," repliecl Ho«i»^ •' I have read that when a peasant, during thfe troublef of Charles I., found the crown in a bush, he showed it all marks of reverence. But I will go further ; for though I should find the king's conmiission even ! .j upon a hramhle, still I shall respect it." Mr Charlei Phillips tells us that Judge Kobinson had risen to his rank by the publication of some political pam- phlets, only remarkable for their senseless, slavish, and envenomed scurrility. This fellow, when poor Curran was struggling with adversity, and straining every nerve in one of his infant professional exer- tions, made an unfeeling effort to crush him. Curran had declared, in combating some opinion of hig adversary, that he had consulted all his law books, and could not find a single case in which the prin- ciple contended for was established. " I suspect, sir," said the heartless blockhead, "that your law library is rather contracted I " Curran eyed the judge for a moment in the most contemptuoui silence, and then said : " It is very true, my ford, that I am poor, and the circumstance has certainly rather -■' ~^ ' ■' • *■ " In one of your late papers mention was made that the ' pT Sham had taken oflf the roll the record*^of his conviction in the case of Miss Archer; but if you wish to produce another record of his conviction, you will find one stiH V remaining, in a case wherein the late John Peck was plain- T tiff, and the Sham and the late Mark Thomas, a revenue officer, were defendants. Sham being liberated from New- gate on Miss Archer's affair, sought out the celebrated Mark Thomas, who at that time kept a shop in Oapd • Sketches of Irish Political Characters, p. 182. .:.-- ■•J 18 THK fllTAM AQtttnr, ANtl Street fot tbe purpose of registering humbers in the then English lottery At Id. per number. Thomtis found Sham a man fitting for his purpose, and employed liiiU as clerk during the drawing, and afterttrards as setter and informer ih revenue ihatters. " Sham'is business was to go to unwaiy ^ocers, and sell them bags of tea by way of smuggled goods, and after- wards send Thomas t» seize them and to levy the fines by information. One evening, however. Sham and Thomas being inebriated, they went to John teck's, in Corn Mar- kets to search for run tea. Words arose in consequence : Shain made a violent pass at Feck with his tormentor (an instrument carried by revenue officers) and wounded him severely in the shoulder. Peck indicted them both : they were tried^ found guilty, and ordered a year's imprison- ment in Newgate, where they remained dtiring the sentence of the court. " The time of confinement having passed over, they were once more suffered to prowl on the public. Thomas died shortly after, and Sham enlisted himself under the banners of the late Charles lleilly, of Smock Alley, who then kept a public housie, trith billiard a!iid h^ard tables. Reilly considered him an acquisition to prevent riotous persons spoiling the play; for Sham at that tiine ^as not bloated, and was well knowh to bo a perfect master in bruis- ing, having carefully studied that art for two years in New- gate under the noted Jemmy Stack. " Sham having lived some timp at ilailly'Si contrived by means of his cunning to put lleilly; iii the Marshalsea, and at the same time to possess hinlself of Reilly's wife, his house, and his all. The unfortunate lleilly from bis suffer- f'ngs became frantic and insanck and his wife died miserably. Sham still holds the house in Smock Alley. It is soin»- times let out for a b 1, at other times his worship occupies it as a warehouse for the disposal of hose." * Mr Gilbert, in his " History of Dublin," (vol. ii., p. 113,) refers to " Reilly s" with other gambling houses of the worst character, which continued to exist in • Lublin Evening Pott, No. 1836, TIIR lUFOftlvtRIlS OF '98. 19 . Smock Alley till the olbsd of thb last century. " Tlie police, in 1790, on breaking into a house in this alley/ found numbers of false dice; and discovered in the cellar a quantity of hiiinin bbnes, with the skeleton of a- man who had apparently feillen; a victim' to the proprietors of the heUv ' ' ' ' ' ' ^ ' ■''' ' ' For the assault on f*6ck^ described by thfe " Gray- headed Attorney,"' we learn that Higgins " was pub- Mcly led by the common hangmian tkroUgh the streets of Dublin ' to tlid Court of King's Bench; and while ia durance vile had no other subsistence than bread and water, save what he extorted by his piteous talfi, afiid' piteous countenance exhibited through the grated bars of a Newgate air-hole." * The next glimpse we get of Mr HigfjinS is in the year 1775, exercising the • ciiaft* of a hosier at *' the Wholesale and B/etaiLGonnemkra Sock and Stock- ing Warehouse, Smock' Alley," f' and ^ as a testimony to his importance, elected president of the Guild of Hosiers^; Iii 1780 we find his services engaged by Mr'Baviii Gibbal, conductor 'of the Freeman's Joui^ iiM^ and 6no of the proprietary of Pu^s Occurrences. The PuWc Me/jfist^, or Freeman's Journal^ Btoo- wonted excitation by the appearance of her Grace and out-riders in front of Mrs Dillon's door. She en- tered the shop, but Mrs Dillon was not behind the counter. " Shall I caU her ? " inquired an agitated shopman. " No," said the Duchess, " I shall go to her myself;" saying which she entered the parlour, and received a graceful bow from the lady of the Koad, just as, in latter times, the fashionables of London did in Hyde Park; and upon that magnificent drive I have frequently seen three or four coaches-and-six, and eight or ten coaches-aud-four, passing slovely to and fro in a long procession of other carriages, and between a double column of well-mounted horsemen. Of course, the populace were there, too, and saluted with friendly greetings, always cordially and kindly acknowledged, the lords and gentlemen of the country party, who were neither few in number nor insignificant in station The evenings of those Sunday mornings were commonly passed by the same parties in promenad- ing at the Rotundo. I have frequently seen there, of a Sunday evening, a third of the members of the two houses of parliament. — Moore mentions in his " Memoirs," (i. 10,) that about the year 1790, a curious toy called "a quiz" became fashionable with tba class of pedestrians to whom Lord Cloncurry alludes. " To such a ridiculous degree," he writes, " did the fancy for this toy pervade at that time all ranks and ages, that in the public gardens and in the streets, numbers of persons, of both sexes, were playing it up and down as they walked along." The subsequent Duke of Wel- lington, when in Ireland in 1797, was much given to playing with this toy ; and Lord Phmkett said, that while serving on a com- mittee with him he never for a moment ceased the puerile indut genoe. The early life of " the iron Duke," if honestly told, would exhibit him deficient in ballast. Having had some warm worda with a Frenchman in Dubl n, he wrested from his hand a cane, which was not returned. The Frenchman brought an action for the robbery of the cane, and Wellesley was absolutely tried in the Sessions House, Dublin, for the offence. He was acquitted of the robbery, bat fouml guilty of the assaults THE INFORMERS OF '98. 29 house. " There is no exaggeration in tlie descrip- tion/' said the Duchess, as she peered into the dove- ]ike eyes of Mrs Dillon ; " you are the handsomest woman in the three kingdoms." The duchess had many devoted admirers who loved to flatter her with extravagantly fulsome compli- ments, " Counsellor" Walsh \n " Ireland Fifty Years Ago," mentions that Colonel St Ledger having seen » the duchess wash her mouth and fingers one day after dinner, he snatched up the glass and drained the con- tents. *' St Ledger," said the duke, " you are in luck; her Grace washes her feet to-night, and you shall have aaiother goblet after supper." A career so dissipated as that of the Duke of Rutr-f ="- land was not likely to last long. He died in thev-.i*f- government of Ireland from the eflfects of a fever in- duced by intemperance, and the imposing pageantry which marked the funeral procession was consistent with the splendour of his memorable regime. He who writes the history of the Rutland vice- royalty should consult the files of the Sham Squire's journal. Higgins was its organ and eulogist; but, setting aside political considerations, the Duke pos- sessed tendencies which specially recommended him to the cordial appreciation of Higgins. The services of Shamado did not pass unrewarded. During the Rutland viceroyalty, he received the office of under- fiheriff for the county of Dublin,* one, in those days, of considerable emolument. Mr HiggAs had a busy time of it. Presiding in court with all the assumption of a judge,he notonlytried aU the forty-shilling causes, but much larger questions, under the writ of Scire Fdcias. He executed the writs which had been issued by the superior courts, superintended the gibbeting of crimi- fials, and throughout the popular tumults, whicli lo- cally raged at this time, he no doubt frequently figured at the head of his posse comitattis, or sheriff's guard. * Wilson's Dublin Directory for 1787, p. 112. 30 Till", SHAM StJUlUK AND Nefarious pracllcos had long dop^raxled the office of ehcriir, but iu 1S23 thoy received a decided check by the parliamentiuy iiuj[niry into the conduct of Mr Sheriff Tliorpe, The partiality with which sheriffs habitually packed juries for particular cases was then unveiled ; and it transpired that they pledged them.' solves, before their election, to take a decided part in, politics against every Catholic. " Catholics," observed Mr O'CoiHiell, " would rather submit to great wrongs than attempt a trial in Dublin." Competent witnesses were examined at the same time ; and the Edinburgh llcview, noticing their evidence, said that " no one cmdd fail to be equally surprised and disgusted with the abominable course of profligacy and corruption which is there exhibited." That the Sham Squire was no better than his predecessors and successors, we have reason to believe. Mr Pliggins became every day a richer man. From the publication of the Government proclama- tions alone he derived a considerable income. When we know that the sum paid in 1788 to Mr Higgins for proclamations was £1600, according to the par- liamentary return, it is not surprising that the popular organs of the day should have complained that " Signor Shamado" received from the Government annually, more than a commissioner of liis Majesty's revenue.* * Dublin Evening Post, No. 1765. The archives of the Board of Inland Revenue, Dublin, contain some documents illustrativt. of the sub^idiBatioQ of the Irish press at this period. THi; INIORMKKS OF '98. 31 i CHAPTER II. Peculation. — The Press Subsidised and Debauclied. — How to get np an Ovation for an Unpr>pular Viceroy. — Lord Buckingham. — Judges lievel at the Board of the Sham Squire. — A Pande- monium Unveiled. — Lord Avonmore. — A Great Struggle. — The Regency. — Peerages Sold, — John Magee. — Lord Carhatnpton. — Mrs Lewellyn. — Squibs and Lampoons. — The Old Four Courts in Dublin. — Dr Houlton. — The Duke of Wellington on Bribing the Irish Press. The viceroy's leisure in the last century was heavily taxed by unceasing applications from Lord Clonmel and his unpopular colleagues to authorise and sign proclamations on every imaginable infraction of the law, Mr Griffith, on January 23, 1787, complained in his place in Parliament that the "newspapers seemed under some very impro|^r influence. In one paper the country was described as one scene of riot and confusion ; in another all is peace. By the pro- clamations that are published in them, and which are kept in for years, in order to make the fortunes of some individuals, the kingdom is scandalised and dis- graced through all the nations of the world where our newspapers are read. The proclamations are a libel on the country. Was any offender ever taken up in consequence of such pubhcations ? And are they not rather a hint to offenders to change t^eir situation and appearance ? He did hope, from what a right honourable gentleman had said last year that this abuse would have been redressed, but ministers have not deigned to give any answer on the subject."* On 2d February following, Mr Corrj^ animadverted to ■ the same effect. Foreigners would mistake the * Irish Pari. Register, voL viL, p. SlT-S. w 32 THE SHAM SOUIRv: AND chnracter of our people, and look upon us as a savage nat'on ; hence the low price of land in Ireland, and the difficulty of raising money. He denounced the bills furnished by newspapers as a gross attsmpt to waste the public funds. Hussey Burgh declared that more proclamations were to be found in the Dublin Gazette, in the time of profound peace, long before the Eight Boys created a disturbance, than in th« London Gazette during the rebellion 1 Mr Wolfe ob- BMTed that Government absolutely abetted the Eight Boys; they had inserted Captain Eight's manifesto in the middle of a Government proclamation, and so sent it round the kingdom much more eflectually than Captain Eight ever could have done, and that without any expense to the captain. Mr Forbes '* thought it hard that the payment of the Frt^eman's Journal should be disputed; for he was sure that the proprietor was a very generotis man. An innlceeper in the town he represented regularly received that paper. On his inquiring what he paid for it, and who sent it. the innkeeper replied that he did not know. A Mr F. H., some worthy gentleman, God bless him, had sent it to him, and never troubled him for payment or anything else ! "* Here two things are obvious ; first, that the editor of the " Parliamentary Ecgister" held Mr Higgins in such fear that he dared not report his name ; se- condly, that " F. H." considered himself so overpaid by his peculating employers, that he could well afford to push his paper into an enormous gratuitous circu- lation. In January 1788, the Marquis of Buckingham, who had previously ruled Ireland as Lord Temple, resumed the viceregal reins. An historic writer, al- luding to Higgins, says : — " This man, ready for any job for which he should be paid, under some natural suspicions that the return of the • Irish Pari. Register, vol vii., pp. 83s 88, 89. TIJE INFOBMERS OF '98. . 33 Marquis of Buckingham to assume the viceregeuc^ of Ire* land would not be attended by any particular demonstra- tions of joy, had hired a mob to wait his arrival, and had supplied a proper number of them with silken cords and har- ness to draw Mm in his carriage to the Castle, under the fastidious deceit of mercenary popularity and triumpL"* Of this chief governor, Mr Grattan observes : " He opposed many good measures, promoted many bad men, increased the expenses of Ireland in a manner wanton and profligate, and vented his wrath upon the country." t Such being the case, it is not sur- prising that Lord Bulkley, m a letter to his Excel- lency, dated June 14, 1788, should remark : " I saw yonr brother, Marquis, who told me that he heard with the greatest concern that your popularity in Ire- land was falling apace, and that the candles were out."t By way of counterbalance, Higgins swung the censer with more than ordinary energy. According to - the Post, a cheque from the treasury for £1030 was > graciously presented to the Sh|mi Squire at this period, in testimony of his eflScient st5)port of Lord Bucking- ,< ham's administration. § The daring and dastardly experiment of bribing \i the press was then of recent introduction in Ireland. ^ I A letter from Mr Eden, afterwards Lord Auckland, addressed to Lord North, and dated " Phoenix Park, August 27, 1781," says :— _ ^^, "We have hitherto, by the fowe of good words and ;*^;f'l''" with some degree of private expense, pre^rved an ascend- ancy over the press not hitherto known Ijere, and it is of an importance equal to ten thousand times its cost, but we are without the dieans of continuing it."0 * Plowden's Historical Review ; Gilbert's Dublin, iii. 27. t Memoirs of Henry Grattan, voL iii., p. 146. t Oourt and Cabinets of G^eorge III., yoL L, p. 896. London ; 1853. § DvUm Eventing Post, Nos. 1806-1808. n Correspondence of Right Hob;. J. C. Beresford, L, p. 170. Mr Eden was Chief Secretary fur Lreraid from 1780 until 1782 j createc^ D ..^ ^ 34 THE SHAM SQUIRE AND Birt Higgins had too much natural taste for the " art and mystery" of legal lore, as well as for bills of costs, to forego the emoluments of an attorney-at- law for the editorial desk, however lucrative. We find him figuring as solicitor for prisoners in several cases which excited much noise at this time — instance the " Trial of Kobert Keon, gentleman, for the mur- der of Oeorge Nugent Reynolds, Esq." * Retaining the absolute control of the FretfmmCs Journal, Hi^ns, in order that he might bo able to devote more time to his profession, engaged Doctor Houlton as his sub-editor, and Q«orge Joseph Browne, barrister, but originaUy a player,t and 0. Brennan, formerly a fierce democratic writer in the Evening PostX as contributors. In a short time the Freeman's Journal became an important and influential organ of the Irish Government. The Sham Squire's society is said to have been courted by high authorities in the law and the state. In the great liberal organ of the day it is alleged that "judges aie the companion* of his festive hours" — that "judges revel at his bo«ird,%,nd are his associates." § But the most startling feature in this epoch of the Sham Squire's life, is the allega- tion repeatedly made by the Post, that Higgins, at 1769, Baron Auckland; died, 1814. Modem statesmen seem to hold conflicting opinions as to the expediency of subsidising news- papers for political ends. The memorabU trikl of Birch v. Lord Clarendon in 1850, revealed that hard cash had been given to the editor of the World for writing down the Young Ireland Party. Cavour, on the other band, whtf'was for many years befora-his death tiie daily butt of journalistic abuse, disdained the purchase of the grefls. " One day," writes his secretaiy, M. Artom, " somebody tried to show him the advantage of founding a semi-official journal, which should have the province of defending the policy of the Qcvemment. He replied, ' If you want to bring the best and soundest ideas into discredit, put them into officious or official fnrm. U you have a good cause to defend, you will easily find writers who, without being paid, will defend it with more warmtb and talent than paid journalists.'" • Dublin, 1788. 163 pages. Reported by George J. Browoa. + Duhlin Evening Pogt, No. ^793. ' t Jlfid', No. 1774. 5 Ibid., No. 1758. THE IXrOBMERS OF "98. ^ ilie very period of which we write, was the proprietor of, or secret partner in, a gambling house of^the woret poasU!>le description. In prose and verse, this public nuisance received energetic denunciation. " Where ia tke muse that lash'd the Boiaa:n crime* ? Wherd no«^ iis Pope with all bis poignant rbymea t Where's Churchill now, to aim toe searching dart. Or show the fouln^ of a villain's heart ? Where is the muse to tune the piercing lay. And paiot the hideous monster to the dajr 1 Alas 1 ail gone I let every virtue weep : Sfaamado lives, and Justice lies aslieep. How shaU I wake faer — will not all the cries Of midaightf revels, that ascend the skies> The soundiol; diee-boz, and the shrieking [ — ^] • The gfoats df all the miserable poor, Undon« add plunder'd by this outcast taitk, Will not these wake her ? " Ac, ftc. The satiric bard proceeds to describe Shamado raising the unhallowed fabric in Crane Lane : — " Henceforth, he cried^. no watehman shall presume To check the pleasures of each festive room ; Henceforth, I say, let no policeman dare, No sheriff, alderman, or e'en lord mayor. No constable, or untaught bailiff rude. With hideous visage, on these realms intrude. a( He said, and striking with a golden wand, The doors obey the impulse of his'hand ; The porttds back upon their hinges flew, And many a hazard-table rose to view. On every table did a dice-box stand. Waiting impatient for the gamester's hand. Full many a couch prepared for soft delight. And a few lamps gleam'd out a gUmmering light." * But we have quoted sufficient as a specimen. In a subsequent number the editor asks : — I* Will not a day of retribution come for all this accuraa- lation of villany and enormity at which the blood runs cold 1 Oh that we had a Fitzgibbon judge. Then would not longer the Newgate felon, the murderer of wretdied pareatsj the befarayer of virgin ininocence, the pestiferous defiler of the mawiage coach, Sham his fate, and defy the la«v8 of God and man*" t • Duhlin Evening PoOi No^l7A9 f Rid., No. 1767. 36 THB SHAM SQUIEK AND In the Directory for 1788 is recorded Mr Higgin's removal from the obscurity of Boss Lane to 72 Stephen's Green, South, one of the fine old Huguenot houses, of which Grattan occupied one. From the above date, we find his professional practice extended from the King's Bench to the Common Pleas, besides acting at the Tholsel or Sessions' Court — ^the very edifice in whose dock he stood & fettered malefactor a few years before. Chief Baron Yelverton, afterwards Lord Avonmore, presided in the Exchequer, and dis- countenanced the unpudent pretensions of the Sham Squire to practise in that court. Yelverton, as one of the illustrious patriots of 1782, had not much claims to the favourable consideration of the Sham Squire. He was accordingly lampooned by him. On May 3, 1789, we read : — " Counsel rose on behalf of Mr Higgins, who had been ordered to attend, to answer for certain scandalous para- graphs reflecting on that court. " Chief Baron Yelverton said, * If you had not mentioned that affair, the court would not have condescended to re- collect its insignificance, but would have passed it by, as it has done every other paragraph^ whether of praise or censure, which has appeared in that paper, with the most supreme contempt. Let the fellow return to his master's employment. Let him exalt favourite characters, if there be any mean enough to take pleasure in his adulation : let Lim continue to spit his venom against everything that is praiseworthy, honourable, or dignified in human nature : but let him not presume to meddle with the courts of justice, lest, forgetting his baseness and insignificance, they should at some time deign to inflict a merited punishment.' " * Yelverton's opinion of the Sham Squire's insignifi- cance was not endorsed by Inspector-General Ajmyae Griffith, who, in his tracts published this year, after retm-nini,' thanks to the "establifihed Bishops of * Dublin Evening Pott, No. 1767. THE INFOEMEnS OF '98. 37 Dublin, Cashel, Cloyne, and Kildare," and other personages who had patronised him, acknowledges his obligation to Francis Higgins, Esq.* To render the career of the Sham Squire more distinct, and the interest of this book more general, we shall here make a slight historical digression. A most important and embarrassing struggle be- tween England and Ireland took place in 1789, in reference to the regency which Greorge the. Third's mental aberration had made necessary. The Prince of Wales at this period professed not unpopular politics, and favoured the Catholic claims. Mr Pitt, apprehensive that the regency might prove fatal to his ambition and to his cabinet, powerfully resisted the heir-apparent's right to the prerogative of his father, and declared on 11th December 1788, that " the Prince of Wales had no better right to admin- ister the government during his father's incapacity than any other subject of the realm." f An address to his Koyal Highness from the Irish Parliament re- quested that he would " take upon himself the govern- ment of Ireland during the continuation of the kings indisposition, and no longer, and under the title of Prince Kegent of Ireland, in the name, and on behalf of his Majesty, to exercise, according to the laws and constitution of that kingdom, all regal powers, juris- diction, and prerogatives to the crown and govern- ment thereof belonging." Ireland called upon the prince, in virtue of the federative compact, to assume at once the sceptre of authority; but Mr Pitt's follow- ers furiously struggled against it. Grattan headed the independent party in the Conmions. Mr PeDiam, afterwards Lord Chichester, after speaking of what he styles "the tricks and intrigues of Mr Pitt's faction," says, "I have not time to expr^ how strongly the prince is affected by the confidence and * Adveitisement to Miscellaneous Tracts. ♦ The Prospect Before Us, 1788, p. 4. 38 THE BHAM SQUISE AND •tiljQQhmeAt of the Irish Parliament. I Ipiave onlj timie to Bay in his own words, * Tell Grattan that I am a most determined lyishman.'" The Duke of Portiand, writing to Mr Grattan on the 2l8t Feb- njiary 1789, says :^" I heg most sincerely to oon- gratulftte you on the decisive effect of your distin- guished exertions. Your own countiy is sensible and worthy of the part yeu have taken in defence and Erotection of her constitution. The prince thinks imself no less obliged to you ; and whenever this deluded country becomes capable of distinguishing her true friends, she will contribute her quota of applause and gratitude." * " The probability of his Majesty's recovery," writes Sir Jonah Barripgton, " had a powerful influence on placemen and oflScial qconexions. The viceroy took a decisive part against the prince, aiid made bold and hazardous attempts upon the rights of the Irish Pai^isanent." T?he recently-rpublished Buckingham c(»rFespondenQe t confirms ^ix Jcmah's st«tesment Every day a bulletin announcing the monarch'a con- valespencie reached the viceroy. The good ne^s wa« oaai&f Circulated among his supporters. Mr Fitz- gibbon was promised ^e seals and a peerage if he suQceeded for Mr Pitt, Each member of the Opposi- tiu^ was menaced, tl^t he shoiAtd be made the " vtciim c/Ma vote," Lures were held out to the wavering- threats hurled at the independent. This ^traordinary threat elicited that spirited pro*- teal; fajnitiarly Ipwwn ai? "the Bound Bobin, to * Life and Times of Hemry (^rattan, l^ kisson, vcH. iM., pp. S7ft-4. t Mamoirs of tke Court and Cabinati ol Gtooige 1X1*, firpm Original Family Ilocumooita, bj th« Dvtk« of B»ckgiyh»W Mid CJwidos, 1853.^ The noble editor of i^ese valu«q^e stajte papers adiqits that " tHe Parliament of Ireland preserred the unqaeetiMi- able right of deciding tha ifegeDcjr in their grwU way. Th0 pottitioo of Lord Buokingl^am," h^ fu^^ " had beeojoae pecmiazly ^mbarntoa- in^. What course shbuld be taken in the event of buortance, as to give th« most serious disquietude to the Administration." — YoL ii., p. 101. >-^^ THE INFOEMEES OP '98. 39 wliich the Duke of Leinst^, Lords Chaxlem(»^ Shannon, Granaxd, Boss, Moira, and a host of other influential men, affixed l^eir Bignatiire& The docu- ment dwelt on the recent threat of making indiyi- duals " the victim of their vote," and stigmatised it " as a reprobation of their constitutional conduct, and an attack upon public principle and the independence of FarUament ; that any adnunistration taking or per- severing in such steps was not entitled to their confi- dence, and should not receive their support." The address to the regent having passed both the Ix)rds and Commons, it was presented to Lord Buck- iagham for transmission ; but the viceroy declined to have anything to say to it, and thus Parliament was" reduced to the necessity of forwarding the address by the hands of delegates. Previous to their departure the following resolution was carried by 115 toi 83 : — " That His Excellency's answer to both Houses of Parliament, re<|uesting him to transmit their address to his Boyal Highness, is ill-advised, contains an un- warrantable and unconstitutional censure on the jwo- ceedings of both Houses, and attempts te question the imdoubted rights and privileges of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and of the Commons of Irelajid. ' The viceroy, as a last resource, endeavoured to multiply his partisans by the most venal means. Mr Fitzgibbon gave it to be understood that half a million of money had been placed in his hands for corrupt purposes ; and as the first law oflScer of the crown made this disgusting avowal, he casually confessed that one address of thanks to Lord Townshend, a few years before, had cost the nation £500,000.* Grattan, who was an eye-witness of all these dis- reputable proceedings, observed at a later period :— " The threat was put into its fullest executioii ; the canvass of the minister was everywhere — ^in the • The corrupt policy and proceeduifs <^ the Townahend adminu< tntion receivMl effective exposoza in » pufaUoatioa cdled borate- riatuL—See Appendix. f^r H 40 THE SHAM SQUIBE AND House of Commons, in the lobby, in the street, at the door of the parliamentary undertakers, rapped at and worn by the little caitiffs of Government, who offered amnesty to some, honours to others, and cor- ruption to all; and "where the word of the viceroy was doubted, they offered their, own. Accordingly,! we find a number of parliamentary provisions were- created, and divers peerages sold, with such effect, that the same parliament which had voted the chief governor a ciimmal, did immediately after give that very governor implicit support." * " They began," said Uurran, " with the sale of the honour of the . peerage — the open and avowed sale for money of the l)eerage to any man who was rich and shameless enough to be the purchaser. It depraved the Com- mons, it profaned the sanctity of the Lords, it poi- soned the sources of legislature and the fountains of justice, it annihilated the very idea of public honour or public integrity I " Curran did not speak thus strongly from any cankering feeling of wounded pride at slights received from the Government. De- scribing the events of 1798, his biographer tells us : — " To Mr Curran it was communicated that his sup- port of the Government would be rewarded with a judge's place, and with the eventual prospect of a peerage; but, fortunately for his fame, he had too much respect for his duties and his character to sacrifice them to personal advancement." f Grattan. Curran, and Ponsonby offered to prove on evidence the startling charges to which we have referred ; but the Government, knowing that it had been guilty of an impeachable offence, shrunk from the inquiry. The peerages of Kilmaine, Cloncurry, and Glent worth were, beyond doubt, sold for cash in 1789, and the proceeds laid Out; for the purchase of members in the House of Comtnbns. • Life and Times of Henry Grattan, voL iii., p. 33& + Life of Ciirraa, by Lis son, voL L. p. 240. THE INTOEMERS OF '98. 41 Mr Wright, in his " History of Ireland," prononnces Mr Jolmson's to be the ablest speech on the Gk)vem- ment side during this struggle. He quotes it in full ; but the effect is spoiled by Mr Jolmson's confession to Thomas Moore in 1831, that he had always sup- ported Grattan's policy until the regency question, when he ratted, and at once became the recipient of state favours. *' In fact," added the ex-judge Johnson, " we were aU jobbers at that time/'* The struggle between the viceroy and the Parlia- ment was a sadly exciting one. Political profligacy stalked, naked and unblushing, through the Senate and the Castle. Vows, resolutions, rules, reputations, and faith were daily broken. Meanwhile, the royal physicians opined that the king would soon be re- stored to health. " Your object," says the Secretary of State, in a letter to the viceroy on Feb. 19, 1789, " your object will be to use every possible endeavour, by all means in your power, debating every question, dividing upon every question, moving adjournment upon adjournment, and; every other mode that can be suggested, to gain tiine 1 "f Sheridan's politically penetrating eye saw thorough the ruse. " I am per- fectly aware," he writes in a private letter to the prince, " of the arts that will be practised, and the advantages which some people will attempt to gain by time."t These expedients, coupled with the ener- getic efforts daily mado by a venal press and niinister, at last triumphed ; and the king was now, to quote the words of Lord Grenville in writing to the viceroy, " actually well 1 *' The struggle was therefore at an end, but not the results of that struggle. The master of the rolls, the treasurer, the clerk of permits, the postmaster-general, the secretary at war, the comp- troller of stamps, and many other public servants of • Diary of Thomas Moore, vi., p. 55. t Buckingham Cotrespondence, voL IL, p. 117. * Life of Shericlaa, by Thomas ICoore, chap, xiil f J I 12 THE SHAM SQUmS AlCD importance, were summarily expelled from office. The Duke of Leinster, one of the most respected Dffioers of the crown, received a supersedeas, tc^ether with Ijord Shannon. The influential family oi Pon- Bonby, long the unwavering supporters of Government; but who on this occasion joined the legislature in asserting its constitutional independence, were also cashiered- But the promotions and appointments vastly exceeded the dismissals. Of the former, which induded a iong string of creations in the peerage, there were forty — of me latter, fifteen only. Em- ployments that had long remained dormant were revived, useless places invented, sinecures created, salaries increased ; while such offices as the board of stamps and accounts, hitheito filled by one, became a joint ooncern. The weighmastership of Cork was divided into three parts, the duties of which were discharged by deputies, while the principals, who pocket^ the gross amount, held seats in Parlisment. In 1790, one nundred and ten placemen sat in the House of Commons I On February 11th in that year, Mr Forbes declared that the pensions had been recently increased upwards of £100,000. In 1789 an additioaial perpetuity of £2800 was saddled on the country. The viceroy, however glad of his victory, had not much reason, one would tnink, to hb proud of the means whereby that victory was attained. But an examination of his correspondence shows the utter un- jorupulosity of his heart. Writing to Lord Bulkley, he observes : — "In the space of six weeks I have secured to the crown a dedded and steady majority, created in the teeth of the Duke of licinster. Lord Shannon, IjOTd Granard, Poafionby, Conolly, O'lfeil, united to all the republjcaaisli, the faction, and the discontent of the House x4 Commons ; and having thrown this aristocracy at the feet of the king, I have taught to the British and Irish Government a lesson which ought never to be fcH'gotten; and Ibave the pride to V \ ' '4 r ^■.■ CHE INFOBMEfiS OF '98, 4ii jrecoUect, that the whole ol it is fairly to be oaeaak^d 4)0 the steady decision with which ib« BUxm was met, and to the zeal, vigour, and industry of iome id tiie sfaeadieflt friends that ever man was blessed with/' Amongst " the steadiest friends" by whom the vice- roy was '' blessed," the Sham Squire deserves menticxL He worked the engine of the press with unflagpng vigour, and by means of a forced droulation he suc- ceeded to some extent in inoculating the public mind with the virus of his politics. It was Lord Bucking- liam's policy to feed the flame of Shamado's pride and ambition; and we are assured by John Magee, that so essential to the stability of the Irish Govwmn«Dt A smuggled turkey or illegal hare. ) Those I commit who have no bribe to give, — Rogues that have nothing don't deserve to live. Then nimbly on the turning of a straw, I seem to be a pillar of the law ; See even nobles at my tables wait. But think not that (like idiots in yonr plays) My friendship any saves but him who pays; Or that the foolish thought of gratitude Upon my callous conscience can intrude; And yet I say, not Buckingham himself Could pardon one, unless I touch the pelf ; There 'snot a robber hang'd, or pilferer whipt, Jill at my word he 's halter'd or he 's stript."+ By the Act 5 George the Second (c. 18, s. 2) no attorney can become a justice of peace while in prac- tice as an attorney; but in the case of tiie Sham Squire all difficulties were smoothed. Some of the most influential political personages of the time tra- velled out of the way in order to mark their approval of Mr Higgins's elevation. The letter to which we have already referred, signed " An Old Gray-headed Attorney," and published on July 23, 1789, records that Francis Higgins had the honour of being first " introduced as a justice of his Majesty's peace for the * Before Lord Lifford accepted the seals, then estimated as worth £12,000- per annum, they had been ofEered to Judges Smyth, Aston, and Sewell, of the English Bench, and declined. He was the son of William Hewit, a draper in Coventry, and began life as an attorney's clerk. See Irish Political Characters — London, 1799, p. 58 ; also SleatoT'a Dublin Chronicle, 17»8-9, pp. 240, 550, 1256. Lord Liffoid'a personality was £150,000. t Dublin Evening Po$t, No. 1742. 4G THE SHAM SQUIBE AND cotBEkty of Dublin, to' tbe bench assembled at Kttm^n" ham, by the good, the virtuous, the humane Earl Car- hampton; that peer who so truly, nobly, and gallantly added to the blushing honour of a before unsullied fame, by rescuing from a gibbet the chaste Mrs Lewel- lyn. Mr Eiggins was also there, and there accompanied by that enUghtened senator, independent placeman, and sound lawyer. Sir Frederick Flood, Bart"* Lord Carhampton, Gov^nor and Gustos Rotulo- rum of the dounty Dublin, who regarded Hoggins with such paternal patronage and protection, has re- ceived scant courtesy from tlie historians of his time. As Colonel Luttrel, he first attained notoriety a* the Middlesex elisction, where he acted as unconstitutional a part as he afterwards did in Ireland in his mili- tary capacity. Mr S«ott, oa this occasion, publicly declared that Luttrel " was vile and infamous." Lut- trel did not resa:it tiie insult, and his spirit was called in question. An unpopular Cabinet and subservient Senate tried to force him, with 296 votes, instead of Mr Wilkes, with 1143 votes, on Middlesex as its reiMreseatative ; but a later Parliament cancelled the un«»ffititutional record. " There is in this young man's conduct," wrote Junius to Lord North, " a strain o£ prostitution, which for its singularity I can- not but admire. He has discovered a new line in the human character. He has disgraced even the na«ie of Luttrel." These shafts told ; and we leani that pcriicies of insurance on Lord Carhampton's life were opened at Lloyd's Coffee-house, in London.! Unpopu" lar to loathing in England, and hooted from its sWes, • Fradetick Floods Esq., KC, M.P. for Wexford, received hia baroBtftcy (wliick ii now extinct) on June 3, 1780. ■ Sir F. Flood liaoi Bat in the English Parliament. He was a commissioner of the Stamp Office. For a notice of Sir F. Flood see "^ A Review c^ th« Principal Characters of the Irish House of Commons," by Falkland^ (i.<<,,J[ohti Robert Scott, B.D.,) London, HdS, p. 50 ; also Barring' ton's Personal Sketches, i. 207. f O'Callaghan's History of the Irish Brigades, vol. L, p. 364. THE INFOEMEKS OF '98. 47 Luttrel came to try his fortune in Ireland, where, hav- ing openly joined the Beresford party in their system of coercion, he daily sank lower and lower in popular estimation. Lord Carhampton's utter contempt for public reputation was evidenced in every act. Flip- pant and oflfensive in his speech — arrogant, haughty, and overbearing in his manner — steadily opposing, an perverse principles, generous sentiments and pub- lic opinion— Lord Carhampton soon acquired an un- enviable character and fame. But even had his lord- ship had the purity of a Grattan or a Fox, he would have vainly attempted to cast o& a hereditary stigma of unpopularity which was originally fastened on his family by Luttrel, the betrayer of King- James. The picketings, free quarters, half-nangings, flog- gings, and pitch-cappings, which at length fanned the flame of disaflfection into open rebellion, were under- stood to be mainly directed by Lord Carhampton. In 1797 the Kev. Mr Berwick, under whose windows men had been flogged, and in some instances left for dead, having humanely procured proper surgical treatment for some of the sufferers, was sent for by Lord Carhampton, who told him " that he had heard he was mterfering with what was going on ; that it was shameful for him ; and that if he persevered he would send him in four days on board the tender!"* Thirteen hundred of the king's subjects had been already transported by Lord Carhampton without trial or sentence.f Under the auspices of this peer, who at last at- tained the rank of commander-in-chief, the army were permitted to riot in the mosf demoralising Mcenee. Cottages were burnt, peasants shot, their wives and daughters violated. | G^nqral Sir Ealph i • Grattan'a Memojis, voL iv., p. 334. t Plowdenifl History of Ireland, Tol. ii., p. 372.^ ;' J Speech'; of Lord Moira, Nov. 22, 1797. Se^ also Speeches of Lord Duuaany, Sir L. ParBons, and Mr Vaudeleul-. k-- 48 THE SHAM SQUIRE AND Abercrombie viewed the state of the army with dis- gust, and declared that- they had become " formidable to all but the enemy.' As a commander, Lord Carhampton was ruthless and capricious. The Lord-Lieutenant on several occasions interfered, but Lord Carhampton refused to obey him.* At last so detested did he become, that his own labourers con- spired to assassinate him in cold blood. But one named Ferris, having turned informer, the mur- derous design was frustrated, and the ringleaders hanged. In the letter of " A Gray-headed Attorney," frotn which we have taken an extract. Lord Carhampton's name is mentioned in conjunction with that of a woman named Lewellyn, who seventy years ago en- joyed an infamous notoriety in Dublin. A young girl, named Mary Neal, having been decoyed into a house by Mrs Lewellyn, met with some ill-usage, for which Lord Carhampton got the credit. Against Mrs LeweUyn, as mistress of this house, the father of the girl lodged informations. But in order to avert the prosecution, a friend of Mrs Lewellyn, named Edge- worth, trumped up a counter-charge to the effect that ^eaU, his wife, and daughter, had robbed a girl, and thus got warrants against them. " She had interest enough with the gaoler," writes Hamilton Eowan, " to procure a constable who, in the middle of the night, took the Neals to Newgate, and locked them up in separate cells." Mrs Neal, it seems, was enceinte; and in the morning, on opening the cell, she and an infant, of whom she had been delivered, were found dead.f Neal was tried for the alleged robbery, but the case failed. Meanwhile, Mary Neal remained Jangerously ill at a public hospital, where, adds Mr Kowan, " she was protected from the examinations and interrogations of some persons of high rank, Barrington's Rise and Fall of the Irish Nation, p. 261. t Autobioi;raphy of A. Hamilton Bowan, p. 95. «r THE INFOBMEBS OF '98. 49 which did them no credit, in order to intimidate her, and make her acknowledge that she was one of thope depraved young creatm-es who infest the streets, and thus to defend Lewellyn on her trial" Mrs Lewellyn was tried for complicity in the viola- tion, and received sentence of death. Edgeworth was convicted of subornation of perjury, and ordered to stand three times in the pillory, and to be imprisoned for one year. Both culprits were shortly afterwardfl pardoned and liberated by the viceroy 1 Several pam- phlets appeared on the subject. Hamilton Eowan wrote — "An Investigation of the Sufferings of John, Anne, and Mary Neal;" another writer published — " The Cries of Blood and Injured Innocence ; or. The Protection of Vice and Persecution of Virtue," &c., addressed " to his Excellency the Marquis of B ." Dr Boyton also entered the lists, and was called out by Lord Carhampton. Kowan espoused the cause of Mary Neal with Quixotic fervour. He challenged to mortal combat every man who dared to asperse her fame. He accompanied her to the castle, and pre- sented a petition to the Lord-Lieutenant, praying that, as- Lewellyn's " claim to mercy was founded on the principle of Mary Neal beiug soiled with guilt, which her soul abhorred, such a communication of the evidence might be made as she may defend her- seii against." The viceroy, however* declined to grant iht jrayer: and the etatne of Justice over the castle gate was thereupon supposed to say — " Since Justice is now but a pageant of state, Kemove me, I pray you, from this castle gate. Since the rape of an infant, and blackest of crimei^ Are objects of mercy in these blessed times. On the front of new prison, or hell let me dwell in. For a pardon is granted to lladame Lewellyn." John Magee declared that the Sham Squire's influ- ence in hkh (Quarters had been exerted to the utter- most in effectmg the liberation of Mrs Lewellyn and E 60 THE SHAM SQUIRE AND her obliging friend Edgeworth. The Post of the day, in a parody on the Rev. Dr Burrowes' slang song, " The Night afore Larry was Stretched," tells us that, " Oh t de night afore Edgwort was tried, De council dey met in despair, George Jos — he was there, and beside, Was a doctor, a lord, and a player.* Justice Sham den silence proolaim'd, De bullies dey all of them harken'd ; Poor Edgwort, siz he, will be framed, His daylights perhaps will be darken'd, Unless we can lend him a hand."t Several stanzas to the same eflfect are given. At length — some further squibs intervening — a valentine from Maria Lewellyn to the Sham Squire appeared: — " With gratitude to you, my friend, Who saved me from a shameful end. My heart does overflow ; 'Twas you my liberty restored, 'Twas you that influenced my lord. To you my life I owe. " t Mrs Lewellyn was not the only frail member of her family. Her sister, who kept a house of ill fame,§ iell from one crime to another, until at last, \n 1765. it was deemed necessary to make a public example of her, and the wretched woman was burned alive in Stephen's Green I But perhaps the best sath'e on the " Sham'* which appeared in the Post, is an ingenious parody, extend- ing to fourteen stanzas, on a then popular slang song, " The Night afore Larry was Stretched," by the Rev. Dr Burrowes, and which, by the way, is said to have * Counsellor George Joseph Browne and Dr Houlton, assistant editors of the Freeman s Journal; Lord Carhampton, and Biohan7 Daly, lessee of Crow Street theatre. + Dublin Evening Post, No. 1757. t Ibid., No. 1762. § Female immorality seems to have been regularly punished in the last century. In the Freeman^ Journal of December 6, 1766, we read — " Alice Rice was pilloried at the Tholsel, pursuant to her wntence, for keeping a house of ill famf in Essex Streets" THE INFOBMEBS OF '98. 51 lost him a bishopric. Pandemonium, Beelzebub, and a select circle of infernal satellites, developing a series of diabolical plans, are described. In the ninth verse Shamado is introduced : — " From ErebuB* depths rose each elf, who glow'd with infenud de- sire, But their prince judged it fit that himself should alone hold con* fab with the Squire." The eleventh stanza is pithy— " 'Tis well, said Shamado, great Sire I your law has been always my pleasure ; I coneeire what your highness desires — ^'tis my duty to second the measure. The deeper I plunge for your sake, the higher I raise my condi- tion; Then who would his fealty break— to a prince who thus feeds hit ambition, And gratifies every desire f f ** Through life I've acknowledged thy aid, and as constantly '{asted- thy bounty. From tiie Newgate solicitor's trade till a sub-sheriff placed in the county. Shall I halt in the midst of my slns^ or sink fainting and trem- bling before 'em. When my honour thick-spreading begins — ^when, in fine, I am one of the quorum, , And may in t^ie senate be placed ? "* In May 1789, Justice Higgins gave a grand enter- tainment to his patrons and support^iB in- Stephen's Green. All Dublin spoke of it; the papers of the day record it. Magee ridicusted the Sham Squire's pretensions. He called upon Fitzgibbon* the new chancellor, to reform the magistracy, and for a state- ment advanced in the following passage Magee was prosecuted by Higgins ; but of tms anon. " Can it be denied — nay, is it net known to every individual in this city— ^that the proprietor of a flagitious gam:- bling-house — ^the groom-porter of a table which is nightly crowded with all that is vile, base, or blas- phemous in a great capital — ^that the owner and pro- * Dublin Evening Pott, No. 174i. 52 THE SHAM SQUIRE AND tector of this house is a justice of peace for the county Dublin?"* Mr Higgins had no longer any necessity to bribe the judge s coachman to drive him through the streets in the judicial carriage. The Sham Squire had now a gorgeous chariot of his own. In the Post of June 4, 1789, we find a description of it, — i.e., a dark chocolate ground, enlivened by a neat border of pale patent yellow ; the arms emblazoned in a capaciou i mantle on each panel. In front, behind, and under the coachman's footboard, the crest is handsomely engraved on every buckle of the silver-plated hamess.f In this shining equipage, with as puffed a demeanour as Lord Clonmel or Sergeant Toler, Mr Higgins drove to the courts. We read, " Mx Higgins ap- peared in his place yesterday at the courts. He was set down in ms own carriage immediately after that of the attorney-general." % And in a subsequent num- ber, it is reproachfully remarked, that Higgins sits on the same bench with Sergeant Toler, arrayed in chains of gold, and dispensing justice, § The ostentatious manner of the Sham, and his impudent swagger, ex- cited a general feeling of disgust. He openly ' ' boasted of his influence at the seat of power, and bragged that the police magistrates || lived on terms of the closest intimacy with him." 1 On Sunday, June 16, 1789, the celebrated pulpit orator, Walter Blake Kirwan, afterwards Dean of Kil- lala, and originally a Roman CathoHc priest, preached an eloquent sermon on morality in St Andrew's Church, and, according to the Post of the day, took occasion, in the course of his homily, to lash the proprietors oJ the flagitious gambling-house in Crane Lane. ** Hig- gins denied that he was the proprietor of it ; but the Po^t persisted in declaring that if not the avowed • DuUin Evening Pott, No, 1759. t lUd., No, 1770. t Ibid., No. 1767. § Ibid., No. 1779. || Ibid., No, 1783. ^ Ibid., No. 1760. *• Ibid., No. 1777. TBE INFOBMEBS OF '98. 53 owner, he was the secret participator in its profits. This \ale pandemonium was said to yield £400 a year to Mr Higgins.* In vain were the authorities im- plored, year after year, to suppress it. At length the iollowing curious "card," as a last resource, was published : — " The Freemen and Freeholders of the Parish of Saint Andrew's take the Uberty to demand from Alderman Warren, their representative in Parhament, and president at the Police Board, why some measures are not taken by him im- mediately and effectually to suppress that nursery of Vice — ^that receptacle for vagrants — that hell of Dublin — the gambHng-houi^e in Crane Lane. The alderman, has foden so repeatedly apphed to on the subject that it is high time that Freeholders, who know and respect themselves, should no longer be trifled with. Eeports are now current, and circulated wii^ » 6otifidenee that renders mattention some- what more than censurable. A magistrate and a dty repre- sentative ought to be above suspicion. The Freeholders are aware that infamous house is not in timr district, yet they know how their re^esentative ought to act whether as a mail or a magistrate. His future conchtct shall alone determine their votes and influence.'' t Weeks rolled over, and sfeiH nothing was done. At length a correspondent, who signed himself " An Attorney," threw out tiie following astute inuendo: — " Alderman Nat and Level Low are in gratitude bound act to disturb the gambling-house in Crane Lane, as the Sham is very indulgent to thran by not calling in two judgments which he has cm. their lands." | The sumptuousness of Mr Francis Hi^ns's enter- tainments excited much comment. Judges, as we are assured, revelled at his board. § The police ma- gistrates bajsked in the sunshine of his smile ; || but it is at least gratifying to learn that tiiere were some * Dublin Evening Post, "So. 1782. J Ibid., No. 1789. S Ibid., No. 1756. f Ibid., No. 1756. Ibid., Na I7f6. <^ .:|- 54 THE SHAM SQUIRE AND high legal functionaries who indignantly scouted the Sham Squire's pretensions. Magee observes, " To the honour of Lord Fitzgibbon, (Clare,) be it recorded, •;^.^, '&at he never dined with Higgins on his public days, ' or suffered his worship to appear at any table which his presence dignified."* Higgins, meanwhile, surrounded by a swarm of, toadies and expectants for place, with a loose ^wn wrapped like a toga around him, would sometimes swagger through Sie hall of the old Four Courts. * He is traditionally described as having been one of the ugliest men in existence ; and the following con- temporary portrait, though somewhat exaggerated, serves to confirm that account : — " Through the long hall a uniTeraal hum Proclaims at length the mighty man is come. . Clothed in a morning gown of many a huc^ With one sleeve ragged and the other new; While obvious eructations daub his chin With the remaining dregs of last night's gia; With bloated cheek and little swinuh eye, And every feature f orm'd to hide a lie ; While every nasty vice, enthroned within. Breaks out in blotches o'er his freckled sUn." The bard, after describing Enmity, Treachery, Du- plicity, and other disreputable qualities, adds :^ " And artful Cunning, simpering the while, . Conceals them all in one unmeaning smile. • •••■• He comes, and roimd him the admiring throng Catch at the honey dropping from his tongue; Now promises — excuses round him fly ; Kow hopes are bom — and hopes ai quickly die ; Xlow he from b ds his daUy rent receives, And sells indemnity to rogues and thieves." f The hall of the Four Courts, through which Francis Higgins was wont to stalk, is not the stately j^iestibule now known by that name in Dublin. Tl^ ■ old Four Courts stood adjacent to Christ Church; its hall, crowned by an •ctangular cupola, was long • Dublin Evening Pott, No. 1798. t /Wet, No. 1746. * THE INFOBMERS OF '98. 55 and narrow, and entered by a door leading from the lane known as " Hell." The chancellor, on enter-, ing, was always preceded by his mace-bearer and tipstaffs, who were accustomed to call out, " High Oourt of Chancery," u^on which the judges rose, and remained standing until the chancellor had taken his seat.* Daniel O'Connell had some reminiscences of the old Four Courts and prison. The gaoler, it will be remembered, was the Sham Squire's father-in-law: — " As we drove along Skinner's Kow, O'Connell pointed out the ruins of the old Four Courts, and shcWed me where the old gaol had stood. ' Father Lube,' said he, ' informed me of a curious escape of a robber from that gaol. The rogue was rich, and gave the gaoler £120 to let him out The gaoler then pre- pared for the prisoner's escape in the following man- ner: he announced that the fellow had a spotted fever, and the rogue shammed sick so successfully that no one suspected any cheat. Meanwhile the gaoler procured a fresh corpse, and smuggled it into the prisoner's bed ; while the pseudo-invalid was let out one fine dark night The corpse, which passed for that of the robber, was decently interred, and the trick remained undiscovered till revealed by the gaoler's daughter, long after his death. Father Lube told me,' added O'Connell, ' that the face of the corpse was dappled with paint, to imitate the disco- lourment of a spotted fever/ " f To reduce the overcharged importance of the Sham Squire, Magee published, in June 1787, an outline of his escapade in the family of Mr Archer. On June 30, a note appeared from the " reverend gentlemen of Rosemary Lane," stating they had no official or other knowledge of an imposture alleged to have • aUbert'sDublin, voL I, pp. 136, 137. t Penonal Recollsctioiu of O'Connell, by W. J. O'lTtil Dwint. ▼ol i., p. 110. 56 THE SHAM SQUIRE AND been committed twenty-three years previously on the late Mr Archer by Mr Higgins, and adding, that during Mr Higgins's residence in Smock Alley, bis conduct had always been marked with propriety and benevolence. " This sprig of rosemary," observed the Post, " may serve to revive the fainting inno- cence of the immaculate convert of St Francis." But in the following number a different aspect is given to the matter, thus : " We have it from autho- rity that the advertisement from the reverend gentle- men of Kosemary Lane chapel is a sham; for confir- mation of which we refer the inquirer to any of the reverend gentlemen of said chapel." * How far this may be in accordance with the truth, it is not easy to determine. Mr Higgins was not without some redeeming qualities. He regularly attended divine service in tne Protestant church of Saint Andrew, and he occa- sionally dispensed sums in charity. But for all this he received little thanks and less credit. In a tren- chant poem levelled at Higgins, numbering some fifty lines, and alleged to be from the pen of Hussey Burgh, we find : — " The cunning culprit understands the times, Stakes private bounty against public crimes. And, conscious of the means he took to rise, He buys a credit with the spoils of Tic6." t The Sham Squire's duties were onerous and varied. He not only presided, as we are told, with the sub- sequent Lord Norbury, at Kilmainham,J but often occupied the bench of the Lord Mayor's court, and there investigated and confirmed the claims of per- sons to the rights and privileges of freemen. § Mr Higgins had, ere long, nearly the entire of the newspaper press of Dublin in his influence ; || to • Dublin Evening Post, No. 1782. t Hid., No. 1794. t /Wd., No. 1779. S/6ui.,No.l789, 11 lUd., No. 1796. THE INFORMERS OF '98. 57 quote Magee's words, they were all " bowing down to Baal,"* or, as Magee's poet described the circum- stance: — " Now hireling scribes exert the venal pen. And in concerto shield ^ds^best o£ men." And again :■ — " Nay, e'en Shamado is himself on fire, And humdrum Houlton tunes his wooden lyre; But virtue their resentment cannot dread. And Truth, though trampled on, will raise her head." t Dr Houlton, the Sham Squire's sub-editor, whose name frequently appears in the local squibs of the day, is noticed in Boaden's " Life of Mrs Jordan," as "a weak man with an Edinburgh degree in physic, who wrote for a morn|ng paper, and contributed a prologue so absurd tliiat it has been banished from tibe play," % From Kaymond's " Life of Dermody " we learn that Houlton humanely befriended the unfortunate poet. The doctor lost nothing by his comiexion with Higgins. The same work in- forms us that he received " a medical appointment under the L-ish Government," and that his boose in Dublin was as showy as his style, having been put through a process of decoration by Daly's head scene-painter. § The "Literary Calendar of Living Authors," published in 1816, mentions that Hotdton was a native of England, " practised in Ireland with some success," brought out some musical pieces on the Dublin stage, wrote poems for newspapers, and songs for Vau^iall ; and through the pataronage of Hook brought out at Drury Lane Theatre, in 1800, his opera called " Wilmore Castle," which having been danmed, he retorted in a pamphlet entitled " A Keview of the Musical Drama of the Theatre Koyal, • Dublin Evening Post, No. 1796. t Ibid., No. 17i3. t Boaden's Life of Mrs Jordan, voL iL, p. 62, § Raymond's Life of Dermody, voL L, p. 26, et- seq. i 58 THE SHAM SQUIRE AND Drury Lane, Tending to Develop a System of Private Influence Injurious to the Public." 8vo. 1801. Houlton as a poetaster was useful on the Sham Squire's Journal, which freely employed satirical poetry in assailmg reputations. In 1789 the bill furnished by Higgins to the Trea- sury amounted to £2000; but the viceroy, we are told, cut it down to £1000.* * Jhiilin Evening Pott, No. 1761. This pa3rment may have been on account of proclamations inserted as advertisements ; but the Duke of Wellington's correspondence, when Irish Secretary, makes no disguise that all money paid en such grounds was for purposes of cdrruption. This arrangement was partially relinquished from the deatii of Pitt ; but in 1809, on the restoration of tiie old Tory regime, we find a Dublin journalist petitioning for a renewal Sir A. Wellesley, addressing Sir Charles Sazton, the under-secretary, alluded to " the measures which T had in contemplation in respect to newspapers in Ireland. It i» quite impomble to leave them en- tirely to themtelvet; and we have probably carried our reforms in respect to publishing proclamations as far as they will go, excepting only that we might strike off from the list of those permitted to publish proclamations in the newspapers, both in town and country, those which have the least extensive circulation, and which depend, I believe, entirely upon the money received on account of proclama- tions. / am one of thote, however, who think that ii will be very dan- germu to allow the press in Ireland to take care of Utdf, particularly tt it has so long been in leading strings. I would, therefore, recom- mend that in proportion as you will diminish the profits of the better kind of newspapers, such as the Correspondent and the Fres- mam's Journal, on account of proclamatioiui, you shall increase the sum they are allowed to charge on account of advertisements and other pvMieatians. It is absolutely necessary, however, to keep the charge to»(Atn the sum of ten thousand pounds per annum, voted by F^liament, which probably may easily be done when some news- papers will cease to publish proclamations, and the whole will receive a reduced sum on that account, even though an increase should be made on account of advertisements to the accounts of some. It will also be very necessary that the account of this money should be of a description always to be produced before Parliament. — Ever youra^ 4c., Abthub Weixmlit.'' . THB INFOBMEES OF '98 59 CHAPTER in. Lord Clotunel and the Fiata. — Richard Daly. — Persecution of Mage» — ^A Strong Bar. — Caldbeck, Duigenan, and Egan. — The Volun- teers to the Rescue. — Hamilton Rowan. — Artist Arrested for Caricaturing " the Sham." — ^A neat Stroke of Yemgeance. — More Squihs. — Ladies Clonmel and Barrington. — ^he Oambling Hell. — ^Inefficiency of the Police. — M^^terial Delinquencies Exposed. — Watchmen and Watches. — Mr Gonne's Chrono- meter. — Juggling Judges.— Outrages in the Face of Day. — Ladies unable to Walk the Streets. Magee continued in his efforts to take down the Sham Squire's pride and swagger. Squib after squib exploded. * There lives a Squire near Stephen's Green, Crockledum he, crockledum ho, And in Kewgate once was seen, Bolted down quite low. And though be now is 4 Just- Ass, ..- There was a day when he heard mass, Being converted by a lass, There to erots and go. On stocking-making he can jaw, Clockety heel, tippety toe ; Now an attorney is at law, Six and eightpence, ho ! " t These squibs Mr Higgins regarded as so many "infernal machines," and he resolved to show his own power, and to be revenged at the same time. Lord Chief-Justice Clonmel was known to entertain a strong prejudice against the press, especially such newspapers as adversely criticised the administration. In the authorised report of the parliamentary debates on April 8, 1784, his views on the subject are forcibly but curtly conveyed, viz. — " jf%e Prime Sergeant ex- pressed Ms thorough detestation of newspapers and '* Until 1793 Catholics were excluded from the mag^ttarisl bench. t Dublin Eveimn Post, No. 1796. 60 THE SHAM SQTTIBE AND public assassins of character.""^ We have already seen that Lord Clomnel, long after his elevation to the bench and peerage, maintained friendly relations with Higgins, m memory of auld langsyne. " His lordship's house," observes- a correspondent, " stood on the west side of Harcourt Street, near the comer of Montague Street. He possessed also very extensive pleasure-grounds on the east side of Harcourt Street, stretching behind the entire south side of Stephen's Green. A subterraneous passage under f Harcourt Street opened communication with those grounds, which joined the garden at the rear of Fi'ancis Hig- gins's mansion in Stephen's Green; and there is a tradition to the eflfect that some of the chief's inquisi- tive neighbours often used to see him making his way through the pleasure-grounds for the purpose of con- ferring with the Sham Squire.";); Higgins is said to have directed Lord Clonmel's attention to Magee's lampoons, in many of which the chief himself figured subordinately. His lordship expressed indignation at liberties so unwarrantable, and seems to have encouraged the Sham Squire to follow up a plan of legal retribution, wMch the active brain of Higgins had been for some time concocting. In the various onslaughts which Magee made upon the Sham Squire, some passing prods were bestowed on Richard Daly, the lessee of Crow Street theatre, on Charles Brennan, a writer for the Freemcm's J'our- nal, as well as on a certain member of the female sex, whose name we omit iii consideration to her now respectable teJatives. With all these parties Higgins was believed to be on terms of close intiiiiacy. Li June 1789, four fiats, marked with the exorbitant ^m of £7800, were issued against Ma^ee by Loifd Clonmel in the King's Bench, at the suit of Francis ^ * Irish Pari. Debates, voL iii., p. 155. t MS. Letter of Dr T , 20th August 1869. J Tradition communicated by M S .Esq THE INB-OEMERS OF '98, 61 Higgins and the three other persons to whom we have alluded. The Evening Post of June 30, 1789, announces that " Magee lies on the couch of sickness in the midst of a dungeon's gloom," and publishes a long appeal from Magee to Lord Clonmel, which closes thus : — " I again demand at your hands, John Scott, Baron Earlsfort,* a trial by peers, by my fellows, free and inde- pendent Irishmen. Thou hast dragged^ citizen by thy officers thrice through the streets of this capital as a felon. Thou hast confined before trial, and hast deprived a free Rubject of his franchise, tiiat franchise for which his fathers bled on the walls of Derry, the banks of the Boyne, and the plains of Augrim. " John Scott, Baron Earlsfort, I again demand from the«, thou delegate of my Sovereign Lord the King, a trial by jury." On July 3, 1789, the trial of John M^ee, at the suit of Francis Higgins, was heard before Chief- Justice Clonmel. The Sham Squire, notwithstand- ing his reliance on the partiality of the judge and j^ur^, found it advisable to retain a powerful bar, which included the Prime Sergeant, Mr Caldbeck, K.C. ; t John Toler, afterwards Lord Norbury ; % Sergeant Duquerry,§ Kecorder Burston,]! Dr Pat * Mr Scott was created Baron Earlsfort in 1784, a ViBcount in 1789, and Earl of Clonmel in 1793. T Caldbeck seems to have been as small as Tom Moore, and a great wit. His great grandson, Mr Wm. F. Caldbeck, has given us the following traditional anecdote of him : — " But you littie vaga- bond," said the opposite counsel one day, "if you don't be cautious 111 put you in my pocket," " Whenever you do," retorted Cald- beck, "you'll have more law in your pocket than ever you had in your head." J For a notice of Lord Norbury, see Appendix. § Sergeant Duquerry, a forensic orator of great power, " died at the top first," like Swift, Plunket, Magee, Scott, Moore, and many a stately oak. For several years before his death, Duquerry groped in utter idiocy. II Beresf ord Burston will be remembered as the early friend of Moore. See Memoirs of Moore,, vol. L, p. 79. 62 THE SHAM SQUmE AND Duigenaxi, * John, nicknamed " Bully " Egan, f Gteorge J. Browne, (Higgins's colldboraieur^ with Messrs Ponsonby, Curran, Johnson, and the Hon. S. Butler. That the last three persons should have acxsepted briefs in the case, seems singular, considering their democratic bias. Curran's name is the history of his life ; Mr Johnson's is nearly forgotten ; but we may remind the reader that although a judge, he libelled the Hardwicke administration, was tried for the oflfence, retired from the bench, and shortly before his death published a treasonable pamphlet, j The Hon. Simon Butler became in 1792 a leading mem- ber of the Society of United Irishmen, was fined £500, and condemned to a protracted imprisonment in Newgate. * Dr Patrick Duigenan, originally a Catholic of low degree, hav* ing "conformed" and continued year after year to oppose the Catholic claims, with a virulence and violence now almost incredible, was appointed by the Archbishops of Armagh and Dublin, to pre- side as their judge in the Ecclesiastical Courts. He was twice married, and each time to a Catholic. He died in 1816. f John Egan's proficiency in vulgar wit and rough invective is traditionally notorious. If a somewhat tmregulated indulgence in this tendency obtained for him many enemies in early life, he had the satisfaction of finally making all Ireland his debtor, by his truly independent conduct at the period of .the Union. Trampling down the metaphorical sophistries of the Qovemment spokesman, "i^ galloped,' writes Sir Jonah Barrington, " like a dray-horse, over all his opponents, plunging and kicking, and overthrowing idl before him." Tempting proposals were made to him if he would support the Union. He was offered to be made Baron of the Exchequer,, with £8500 a year ; but Egan, although far from being rich, spumed the venial offer, and died soon after in comparative want. — Egan was fond of bathing at the Blackrock. One morning, having violently flung his enormous carcase into the water, he came into collision with some other person who was performing a similar lave- ment. " Sir," screamed a mouth out of the water, " I presume you are not aware against whom you have so rudely jostled." " I didn't care if you were-Old Nick," replied Egan, floundering about like a great sea monster. "You are a bear, sir," continued the mouth, " and I am the Archbishop of Dublin," " Well," retorted Egan, not in the least abashed, " in order to prevent the recurrence of such accidents, I would simply recommend you to get your mitre painted on your back," t See Addenda. THE INFOEMEES OF '98. 63 No good report of the trial, Higgins v. Magee, is Bccessible. We endeavoured to give the Sham Squire the benefit of his own report, but the file of the Free- man for 1789 does not exist even in the office of that journal. A very impartial account may be found in the Cork Evening Post of the day, from which we gather that Higgins proved the infamous gambling house in Crane Lane to belong to a Miss J. Parley. This evidence, however, did not alter Magee's opinion, and he continued to insist that the Sham Sqmre was a secret participator in its spoils. Poor Magee had not much chance against a bar so powerful and a judge so hostile. Strictly speak- ing, he had no counsel retained ; but we &id that "for the traverser there appeared as amici curicp, Mr Lysaght, and Mr A. Browne of Trinity Collie." The latter gentleman, member for the University of Dublin, and subsequently Prime Sergeant of Ireland, made a very able statement on the law of fiats. Aa a lawyer, Browne was far superior to Lord Olonmel, whose indecently rapid promotion was owing solely to his parliamentary services. In the following session of Parliament, Mr Browne, in conjunction with Mr, afterwards Chancellor, Ponsonby, brought forward a masterly exposure of the unconstitutional conduct adopted by Lord Clonmel at the instance of Francie Higgins. This exposure with its salutary results wifl. be noticed at the fitting period ; but meanwhile we wiU introduc^here a few of the salient points in Mr Browne's able statement on the law of fiats. He expressed his amazement that a nation so astute in guarding through her statute book every avenue to oppression, should have passed unnoticed and left unguarded this broad roadr to tyranny. He was amazed how it could suffer a plaintiff to require bail to the amount of perhaps £20,000, where very prob- ably the damages afterwards found by a jury, if any, might not be twenty pence. Having shown that fiats, ) 64 THE SHAM SQFIEE AND in Lord Clomners acceptation of the term, were utterly unknown to the common law, he added, " I am not sure whether, if Francis Higgins abused his adversary's counsel for two years together, they would be able to swear to twopenny worth of damages ; and therefore, when any man swears so positively, either he is particularly vulnerable, and more liable to dam- age than other men, or he is a bold swearer, and the judge ought not to listen to him." Mr Browne cited Blackstone, Baines, Gilbert, and a vast array of high legal authorities, to show the unconstitutional act of Lord Clonmel, in issuing fiats against Magee to the amount of £7800. It appears that even in the case of assault and battery, moderate fiats had been re- fused by the bench. Having, with great erudition discharged an important argument to show that special bail in this and similar actions was not re- quirable, Mr Browne proceeded to prove that, even allowing it to be requirable, the present amount could not be justified by reason or precedent. The bail could only with propriety amount to such a sum as would be sufficient to insure an appearance. To imagine that Mr Magee would abscond and abandon his only means of earning a livelihood, was simply ridiculous. Mr Browne censured the manner in which Lord Clonmel prejudiced the case — " telling the jury be- fore the trial began what the damages were, which in the opinion of the judge they ought to give," — and Mr Browne adduced high legal authorities in proof of the error committed by Lord Clonmel. He then contrasted some of the few cases on record in which fiats were issued, with the cause then under discussion. Sir WiUiam Drake, a member of Farlia- mait, was charged with being a traitor. The words against him were of the most scandalous nature. His life and property were at stake: he brought his action, and on application special bail from defendant THE INFOKMERS OF '98. Q5 was refused. Another case was that of the Duke of Schomberg, a peer high in favour with his king and country. He was accused by a miscreant named Murray with having cheated the sovereign and the army. Can any words be conceived more shocking when applied to such a man? Chief-Justice Holt, as great a friend to the revolution and to the liberties of the country as ever sat on a judicial bench, felt the same indignation, but he could not prejudice the cause. He was ready to punish the man if convicted, but he did not consider him convicted beforehand. He ordered Murray to find bail — two sureties in £25 each, and the man in £100. In the last generation, £50 for a duke — in the present, £7800 for an adven- turer and a player 1 * At the close of the prosecution against Magee, at the suit of Francis Higgins, it was made the subject of bitter complaint by the prisoner that he had been refused the privilege of challenging his jurors, and the benefit of the Habeas Corpus Act. f The Lord Chief-Justice having summed up and charged, the jury retired, but returned in half an hour to ask the bench whether they might not find the traverser guilty of printing and publishing, with- out holding him responsible for the libel. His lord- ship rephed that the jury had nothing to do with the law in this case, and that it was only the fact of publishing they had to consider. The jury then desired a copy of the record, but the request was refused. Having retired a second time, the jury at length brought in their verdict, " Guilty of printing and publishing." Lord Earlsfort declined to accept the verdict. One of the jurors replied that the difficulty they found in giving a diff'erent verdict was, that they • Browne's Arguments in the King's Bench on the Subject of Admitting John Magee to Common Bail. Dubhn, Gilbert, 1790. t BMin Evenina Post, No. 1784. F ^6 THE SHAM SQUIRE AKD coul(J not reconcile it to their consciences to find a man guilty under a criminal charge, who had not been permitted to confront his accusers or his jurors, or to listen to the accusations against him, that he might be prepared for his defence. Therefore, as the jury had only seen the accusations on one side, without the defence of the accused, they could not feel thanselves warranted in , pronouncing a man gaUty under a charge of criminal intentions. Lord Earlsfort replied that the very reason why they ought not to hesitate, was the one they used in support of their scruples, namely, " the traverser's making no defence to the charge against him." He desired that the jury might again retire. A juror said that they had already given the matter full con- sideration, but the Chief-Justice interrupted him, and the jury were ordered to return to their room. Mr Browne, M.P., addressed a few words to the bench, but was stopped short by his lordship, who declared that he had already given the matter full consideration, and had made up his mind. The jury having again deliberated, returned with a verdict of guilty.* This prosecution did not muzzle Magee; In the very number of his journal which contains a report of the trial reference is made to " the marquis, who, witii that condescending goodness that agitates his heart when he can be of any use to Mr F. Higgins, his famUiar friend, and he who in former days em- tributed not less to the festivity of his board, than generously catered for his pleasure," &c. And in Magee's Evening Packet, Shamado is again reminded, of the awkward fact " that he has been at a public trial, convicted of crimes which the cordial squeeze of his friend Jack Ketch alone can expiate." f The trial of Daly versus Magee soon followed. Dr * DMin Evening Post, No. 1784. f Magee's Evening Packet, No. 621. THE INFOKMEES OF '98. 67 Pat. Duigenan, "Bully" Egan, with Messrs DuqtfeiTy, Smith, Burston, Butler, Brown, Fleming, Ball, Cur- ran, and Green, were retained for the prosecution. Mr Kennedy, treasurer to the Theatre Royal, Crow Street, was examined as a witness for Mr Daly. We extract a few passages :— " Were you ever witness to any liots in the theatre ? Very often. The people used to cry out from the gallery, ' A clap for Magee, the man of Ireland^ — a groan for the Sham ! a groan for the Dasher [Daly] — out with the lights, out with the lights ! ' I have frequently, at the risk of my life, attempted to stop those riots." It further appeared that men used sometimes to come into the galleries with bludgeons and pistols. Mr Dawson, a person whom Mr Daly was in the liabit of Bending to London, with a view to the en- j^agement of actors, was next examined. It tran- spired that Daly, in consequence of his unpopularity, 'bund a difficulty in obtaining performers. " Is Mr Higgins proprietor of any paper ? ^. I do not know. Q. Is he proprietor of the Freeman's Journal ? A. I have heard so. Q. Is there not a very particular intimacy between Mr Daly and Mr Higgins 1 A. Have I a right, my lord, to answer that question ? " Court — No, I must object to that question. I think it wrong to endeavour to involve this case in any party or prejudice, • Dvblin Evening Poa, No. 1801. t Qrattan's Memoirs, toL iii, p. 456. THE INFOEMERS OF '98. 81 tarily discharged the duties of watchmen. But the occupation assorted badly with the fiery spirits on whom it devolved, and the streets were soon again abandoned to their so-called legitimate guardians. In the day-time the streets were always wholly unpro- tected. The first appointment even of a permanent night-watch was in 1723, when an act was pas-sed under which the difi'erent parishes were required to appoint ' honest men and good Protestants' to be night watches. The utter inefficiency of the system must have been felt ; and various improvements weie from time to time attempted in it, every four or five years producing a new police act — with how little success every one can judge who remembers the tattered somnambulists who represented the ' good Protestant watchmen' a few years ago. Several at- tempts had also been made to establish an efficient civic magistracy, but with such small benefit that, until a comparatively recent period, u large portion oi the magisterial duties within the city were [)erforme(l j; by county magistrates, who had no legal authority jfl • whatever to act in them. An office was kept in the i neighbourhood of Thomas Street by two gentlemen in the commission for the county, who made a yearly ^ income by the fees ; and the order to fire on the mob who murdered Lord Kil warden, iso late as fOS, was given by Mr Bell, a magistrate of the county wnd not the city of Dublin. Another well-known member of the bench was Mr Drury, who halted in his gait, and was called the ' lame justice.' " ,0n the occasion mentioned by Mr Walsh, Drury retired for safety to the garret of his house in the Coombe, from whence^ as Curran remarked, " he played with considerable efi'ect on the rioters with a large double-barrelleif telescope." It is to be regretted, however, that irregularity and imbecility are not the worst charges to be brought against the justices of Dublin, even so late as fifty a I ■ 82 THE SHAM SQUIRE AND yearp ago. Frank Thorpe Porter, Esq., late police magistrate of Dublin, has preserved official tradition of some of his more fallible predecessors. Mr Gonne having lost a valuable watch, was urged by a private hint to remain at the outer door of the police office, and when the magistrate came out, to ask him the hour. The "justice" took out a watch, and an- swered the question. Its appearance at once elicited from Gonne the longest oath ever heard before a justice. " By ," he exclaimed, " that watch is mine ! " " Gonne obtained his watch," adds.Mr Porter, " and was with great difficulty prevented from bringing the transaction under the notice of the Government. The system bv which the worthy justice managed occa- sionally t.. possess himself of a valuable watch, or some other costly article, consisted in having two or three drawers wherein to keep the property found with highwaymen or thieves. If the prosecutor iden- tified the delinquent, he was then shown the right drawer ; but if he could not swear to the depredator s person, the wrong drawer was opened. The magistrate to whom tliis narrative refers was dismissed in a short time for attempting to embezzle fifty pounds."* Before the establishment of the petty sessions system in Ireland, magistrates in the safe seclusion of their closets were often betrayed into grossly dis- reputable acts. A parliamentary inquiry, in 1823, into the conduct of Sheriff Thorpe, exposed, in pass- ing, much magisterial delinquency. Mr Beecher said, " It was no uncommon thing, when a friend had incurred a penalty, to remit the fine, and to levy a penalty strictly against another merely because he was an object of dislilce." Major * Some notice of the embezzlements accomplished by Baron Power and SSfr Jonah Barrington, both judges -on the Iri^ bene}: will be fotuvLin our Appendix. THE INFORMEES OF '98. 83 Warburton proved that a female had been sent to America by a magistrate without any legal proceed- ing whatever. Major Wilcox established the fact that some justices of the peace were engaged in illicit distillation, and that they took presents and bribes, and bail when other magistrates refused ; that they took cross-examinations where informations had been already taken by other magistrates. " They issued warrants against the complaining party in the first instance, at the suggestion of the party complained against." It further appeared that some magistrates took fees in money, and not unfrequently rendered official services in consideration of having their turf drawn home, or their potatoes plai^ted. The Kev. M- Collins, afterwards Bishop of Cloyne, proved that Magistrates corruptly received presents of corn, cattle, potatoes, and even money. Mr O'DriscoU alleged that there were several magistrates trading on their office ; they " sell justice, and administer it favourably to the party who pays them best." "It is a convenient thing," said Connell, "for a man to have the com- mission of the peace, for he can make those he dis- likes fear him, and he can favour his friends." In Mr Daunt's " Conversations of O'Connell," the details are given of a certain justice who threatened to flo<: iind hang the sons of a widow to whom his worshfij owed £2000, unless she pledged herself to ^^incel thu bond ! * With magistrates like these, and with powcrlefsi IKjlif^e such as we have described, it is no wonder that a walk in the streets of Dublin should have been en- compassed with peril. Stephen's Green, the residence • For full details, see toI. ii., p. 131. In one of O'Connell't, pub lie letters, he made toncning reference to the fact, that he had kn jwn peasant girls sometiraes diiven to surrender what ought tu be dearer than life, as part ot an nnholy compact with magistrate* who had threateuai the life or liberty of a father or brother 1 84 THE SHAM SQUIKE AND of the SViam Squire, was eflpecially infested with footpads, who robbed in a munuer peculiar to them- selves. " So late as 1812," says the author of " Ireland Sixty Years A^o," " there were only twentv-six small oil lamps to light the immense square or Stephen's Green, which were therefore one hundred and seventy feet from one another. The footpads congregated in a dark entry, on the shady side of the street, if the moon shone ; if not, the dim and dismal light of the lamps was little obstruction, A cord was provided with a loop at the end of it. The loop was laid on the pavement, and Jthe thieves watched the approach of a passenger. If he put his foot in the loop it was immediately chucked. The man fell prostrate, and was dragged rapidly up the entry to some cellar or waste yard, where he was robbed and sometimes murdered. The stun received by the fall usually prevented the victim from ever recognising the rob- bers. We knew a gentleman who had been thus robbed, and when he recovered found himself in an alley at the end of a lane off Bride Street, nearly nalced, and severely contused and lacerated by being dragged over the rough pavement."* When men fared thus, it may readily be supposed that ladies could not venture out alone. " It is deemed a reproach," says an author, writing in 1775, " f or a gentlewoman to be seen walking in the streets. 1 was advised by my bankerif to lodge inCapel Street, near Essex Bridge, being in less danger of being * Almost equally daring •utrages on the liberty of the subject teere nightly practised, with Cininivance of the law, by "crimp Bergeants," who by brutal force, and sometimes by fraud, secure-l the unwary for foreign enlistment. Attractive womea were e . ployed to seduce persons into conversation preparatory to the crin.p sergeant's seizing them in the king's name. Startling details o. these outrages, which were often marked by bloodshed, will be found in the Dublin newspapers of 1793 ai'd 1794, passim. See also the Irish MoMnic Mayaziiie lot 1794, pp. 94, 190^284,883, 462, 570. THE INFOEMERS OF '98. 85 robbed, two chairmen * not being deemed snfficir'nt protection." t Twenty years later found no improvement. The " Anthologia Ilibernica " for December 1794, p. 47G, furnishes new proofs of the inefficiency of tlie police. Robbery and bloodshed " within a few yards of the guard-house in Fleet Street" is descrilKjd. It does not always follow that idleness is the mother of mischief, for we find that combination among the workmen of Dublin also attained a for- midable pitc)) at this time. The Dublin Chronicle of January 28, 1792, records : — " On the several mornings of the- 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th inst., a number of armed persons, journeymen tailors, assembled in a riotous manner about the house of Mr Millea, Ross Lane ; Mr Leet, Merchant's Quay ; Mr Walsh, Cjistle Street; Mr Ward, Cope Street; and the houses of several other master tailors, and cut, maimed, and abused several journeymen tailors who were peaceably j^oiug to their respective places of employment; one of tsaid men, named Michael Hanlon, was killed on the spot, in Cope Street ; two have had their hands cut off ; sev^al others have been cut and bruised in such a manner as' to be now lying dangerously ill ; and some journeymen are missing, who, it is reported, have been murdered and thrown into the river." I • Sedan-bearers, familiarly styled "Cliristiaii ronies." There ii a well-known story in IreL-vnd of a Conuaughtnian, who, when en- i tering a sedan chair, found that the bottom had, by some accident, fallen out of it, but, nevertheless, he made no demur, and walked to his destination in the chair. On getting. out he remarked to the men who assumed to convey him, "Only for the huDOur of ti'o thing I might as well have walked." J t rhiloBophical Survey, p. 4ub. T 1^^ U /" .s^|i«i,??i THE IN70SMEBS OF '98. 87 out, only served to make the contrast more striking. But alas 1 this exquisite oasis the vindictive pro- prietor of the Post resolved to lay waste. As an uuiwrtant' preliminary step he purchased from Lady Osborne a large tract of ground immediately adjoin- ing Lord Clonmel's villa, and forthwith dubbed • it Fiat Hall.* Magee speedily announced, but wit!) some mental reservation, that in honour of the birth- day of the Prince of Wales he would give, at Dunleary, a grand Bra Pleasura, to which he solicited the company of all his friends, private and political, known and unknown, washed and unwashed. Various field sports, with plenty of Silvester Costigan's .whisky, were promised as an inducement. " At?one o'clock," to quote the original advertisement, " the ball will be kicked on Fiat Hill. Dinner on the tented field at three o'clock. Table d'hote for ladies and gently- mcn. Cudgel-playing at five, with cool umpires U) prevent ill temper and preserve good humour." f The late Lord Cloncurry's robust memory has fur- nished us with the following grai)hic sketch of the singular scene which took place upon this occasion. " I recollect attending," writes his lordship, " and the fete certainly was a strange one. Several thousand people, including the entire disposable mob of Dublin of both sexes, assembled as the guests at an early hour, and proceeded to enjoy themselves in tents an I booths erected for the occasion. A variety of sport.s was arranged for their amusement, such as climl^iiig poles for prizes, running races in sacks, grinning through horse-coUars, and so forth, until at length, when the crowd had attained its maximum density towards the afternoon, the grand scene of the day was produced. A number of active pigs, with their tails shaved and soaped, were let loose, and it was an- nounced that each pig was to become the property of • Dublin Evening Post, No. 1798. t Ibid. B8 THE SHAM SQUIHE AND any one who could catch and hold it by the slippery member. A scene impossible to describe immediately took place : the pigs, frightened and hemmed in by llie crowd in all other directions, rushed through the bodge which then separated the grounds of Temple Hill from the open fields ; forthwith all their pursuers followed in a body, and, continuing their chase over tb.e shrubberies and parterres, soon revenged John ]\Iagee upon the noble owner." Another pen, more powerful but not more accurate than Lord Cloncurry's, tells us that " Lord Clonmel r( 'treated like a harpooned leviathan — the barb was ill his l^ack, and Magee held the cordage. He made the life of his enemy a burden to him. Wherever lie went, he was lampooned by a ballad-singer, or laughed at by the populace. Nor was Magee's arsenal composed exclusively of paper ammunition. He rented a field bordering his lordship's highly-improved and decorated demesne. He advertised, month after month, that on such a day he would exhibit in this field a grand Olympic pig hunt ; that the people, out of gi-atitude for their patronage of his newspaper, should 1 )e gratuitous spectators of this revived classical amuse- ment ; and that he was determined to make so amazing .1 provision of whisky and porter, that if any man went home thirsty, it should be his own fault. The plan completely succeeded. Hundreds and thousands as- sembled ; every man did justice to his entertainer's hospitality ; and his lordship's magnificent demesne, u]>rooted and desolate, next day exhibited nothing but the ruins of the Olympic pig hunt."* So far Mr riiillijis. t The Court of King's Bench had not yet opened for term, and Lord Clonmel was tranquilly ♦ Cmran nnd his Contemporaries, by Charles Phillips, p. 87. + Sir .! .itih Barringto'h describes the scene to much the same effect, will I this addition, that Magee introduced " asses dressed up with wigs and scarlet robes, and dancing dogs in gowns and wigs as barristei-a." > • it - 1 y THE INFORMERS OF '98. 89 rusticating at Teflaple Hill. Pallid with consters nation, he rang an alarm-bell, and ordered his post- chaise, with four of the fleetest horses in his stable, to the door. The chief-justice bounded into the cha- riot with an energy almost incompatible with his j'ears ; the postilions plied their whips ; the chaise lattled amid clouds of dust down Fiat Hill ; the mob, with deafening yells, followed close behind. Lord Olonmel, almost speechless with terror, repaired to the castle, sought the viceroy, swore " by tJie Eter- nal " * that all the country south of Dublin was in a state of insurrection ; implored his Excellency to sum- mon the Privy Council, and to apply at once for ex- traordinary powers, including the suspension- of the Habeas Corpus Act. f The appeal of the chief-justice prevailed ; and on September 3, 1789, we find Magee dragged from his home by a strong body of the weak and inefficient ]iolice of Dublin and consigned to Newgate. | He was j)reviously, however, brought before Sir Samuel Brad- street, Recorder of Dublin, on the charge of having announced that " there would be thirty thousand men at Dunleary." The judge required personal bail to the amount of £5000, and two sureties in £2500 each, for five years,§ a demand not so easy for a printer in a moment to meet. Such mandates as these, amount- ing in some instances to perpetual imprisonment, soon brought but too fatally the administration of justice into contempt. No unnecessary harshness seems fo have been shown to Magee during his incarceration. Unlike the case of Lord Cloncurry, he was permiti-ed the use of pen, ink, and paper — ^a concession as {x^ceptable to him as it was creditable to the Government. He constantly * A favourite exclamation of Lord (aonmel's. Vide Rowan's Autobiography, p. 208. t Ifeminiacence communicated hj the kite Rev. Dr O'Hanlon. 1 Dublin Evening Poat^ No. I»n9. § lUd., No. 1814. 90 IHE SHAM SQUIRE AND wrote letters for the Post signed with his name, and bearing the somewhat inflammatory date of " Newv gate, 22d October, fiftieth day of my confinement," — varied, of course, according as time progressed ; and he was not diffident in adversely criticising the policy of the viceroy, as well as some leading members of the Privy Comicil, including Lord Clonmel. " The man who vilifies established authority," says Junius, " is sure to find an audience." Magee was no excep- tion to the rule. He became an intensely popular favourite; and the galleries of Crow Street theatre used nightly to resound with " A cheer for Magee, the man for Ireland 1 " and ** A groan for the Sham ! " * Magee 8 letters made frequent reference to the suf- ferings to which the Goverament had subjected him. Thus, in No. 1789, he tells us, " I have been four times fiated, and dragged through the streets like a felon — three times into dungeons 1 " • But having, on October 29, received a notification from Government declaratory of its willingness to accept the sum of £4000 as bail " to keep the peace for five years to- wards Lord Clonmel," Magee bade adieu to prison, and, accompanied by Hamilton Rowan, attended the court and gave the reossible to procure bail." On January 28, 1790, Magee was onoe more committed to prison. • Dublin Eveninff Post, No. 1839. t Ihid., No. 1834. jytid., No. 1844. I 92 THE SHAM SQUIBE AND The inequitable practice of the court allowing the « plaintiff three terms before requiring him to try his 1 action, afforded Higgins and Daly the power of keep- ing their opponent in prison for nineteen months in , default of bail. Magee, meanwhile, behaved with ^ much eccentricity. Having sent his compliments to « Lord Clonmel, with an assurance that his health was much improved since " he had got his heels out of ^ Newgate," the chief-justice ordered an inquiry to be immediately instituted as to the means by which he had effected his escape ; but it was found that he ^ merely alluded to the custom he had adopted of sit- ting with his feet cased in scarlet slippers protruded .; through the window of his cell. He also contrived to injure Lord Clonmel severely by bribing persons '? to turn a large body of scalding water upon the judge while in a public bath.* The chief -justice was a bad subject for a trick of tliis sort. " My size is so much increased," he writes in his private diary, " that I have broken two carriage springs." f Magee ac- cused Daly of having killed a billiard-marker, avowed his intention of having him hanged for the murder ; and, from what he styled his " Fiat J)un- geon," sent the patentee's wife a picture of Higgins, begging she would oblige him by affixing in her ^ cabinet " the portrait of the most infernal villain yet unhanged, except the murderer of the honest marker." | Owing largely to the unflagging denunciations of Magee, the Police Board, in September 1789, at- c; tempted some \ngorous reform, and at last noctur- nal gambling-houses were menaced with extinction. Magee, even in the gloom of his dungeon, exulted over the threatened downfall. The " Gambler's Soliloquy" went on to say: — ♦ Gilbert's History of Dublin, vol. iii., p. 31. + Unpublished Diary of Lord CloDtneL i Gilbert, vol. iii., p. 81. '■{■ THE INFOKMEES OF '98. 93 * Tea I this is a fatal, dreadful revolution ! A change repugnant to the dear .delights Of night-enveloped guilt, of midnight fraud, And rapine long secure ; of dexterous art To plunge unthinking innocence in woe, And riot in the spoils of beggar 'd youth 1 Sad revolution I Hence come lethargy, Come inactivity, and worse than all. Come simple honesty ! The dice no more Shall sound their melody, nor perj'ry's lint Swell at the nod of dark collusive practice ! Gaols lie unpeopled, and rest gibbets bare, And Newgate's front board take a holiday I Crane Lane, thou spot to Pandemonium dear, Where many a swarthy son of Chrisal's race My galligaskin lined," &c. * Alderman Carleton made four seizures. " And yet," said the Post, " as fast as their implements ai o seized, their tables demolished, and their gangs dis- persed, the very next night new arrangements and new operations are on foot. Who but the protected proprietor of this infamous den — who but a ruffian who can preserve his plunder in security, and set law and gospel at defiance, would dare at such audacious perseveranpe ?"t One of the banquets given about this time by the Sham Squire was specially immortalised by the po})!!- lar poet Ned Lysaght, but we have not been able to find a printed co})y. The song was, however, traditionally preserved by the late Chief-Justice Doherty, Chief- Justice Bushe, and Sir Philip Crampton, all of whom were wont to swell its merry chorus. The lines be- gan by describing " the Sham's feast in Stephen's Green," and the guests who were present, — " Including, as we've all heard tell, Carhampton, Flood, and Lord Clonmel ; With Haly-gaily, Langford Rowley, Dash -at him — Fiat-him — 4 Galloping dreary Dunn. " The chief merit of the lines lay in preserving almost verbatim the original gibberish chorus of the • Dublin Evmiug Post, No. 1813, t Ibid., No. 1827. it I 94 TTTE SHAM SQUIRE AND ^ well-known Ronj^ in O'Kcefe's opera, " The C.istlo of Andalusia." " Haly-gaily " alludes to Hely Hutchinson, f provost of Trinity College, Dublin, of whose ambitious ^ disposition Lord Townshend remarked, " that if his I Majesty gave him the whole kingdoms of England I and Ireland, he would beg the Isle of Man for a cabbage garden." Having obtained a peerage for his wife, he became ancestor of the Lords Donough- more. The Eight Hon. Longford Rowley, M.P. for Meath, was an equally influential personage. " Dash- at-him^fiat-him," alludes to Daly, who killed the^ marker by a dash of a billiard ball, and imprisoned Magee on af^if. ** Galloping dreary Dunn," refers, we believe, to George Dunn, the governor of Kilmain- ham gaol. Meanwhile Mr Higgins's ready pen continued to rage with fury against all whose views did not ex- actly chime with those held by his employers. A contemporary journal says : — *' Squire Higgins, whose jirotected system of virulent and unremitting slander crows in triumph over the community, does not scruple to avow his indifference to anything which prosecution can do, guarded as he is by the intimate friendship and implicit confidence of the Bench. lie openly avows his disregard of Mr Grattan's prosecu- tion for a libel now pending against him, and says tliat he shall be supported hy the Castle."* Mr Higgins having libelled a respectable official in the revenue, legal proceedings were instituted ; but one of the Government lawyers refused, in December 1788, to move, although fee'd in the cause. Poor Magee's cup of bitterness was at last filled to the brim, by ai proceeding which is best described in his own letter to Lord Chancellor Clare. There is a ..singular mixture of tragedy and farce in the ener- ^tic efforts which were now openly made to extin- guish him:— .. ^^ ^ Dublin Evening PoafTSo.lSiS. /v'."*»i ... *fci.-S i f^t i THE IKF0BMEB8 07 '98. 96 Nkwoatb, Oet. 1. " My Lord, — I have now been confined in this prison of the felon, housebreaker, and murderer, twenty-nine days— twenty-one of which time mostly to my bed. ' Judge, on my rising yesterday, to be served with a notice to appear to-morrow at the House of Lords, on a charge of lunacy, and that by some interested persons, who, without even the sha- dow of relationship, have secured my property, and tliat to a very great amount, and refused by these very people even ten guineas to procure common necessaries in a prison. Bail I cannot produce ; my chnracter as a trader is blasted ; my projxjrty as a citizen eml)ezzled ; my intellects as a man suspected by a false and slanderous charge of insanity ; every engine employed by a designing, needy, and despe- rate junto, for the absolute deprivation of my pro- perty ; total destruction of all that those who respect themselves prize more even than life. My Lord, I claim the interposition of your authority as the first in law power — I supplicate your humanity as a man, a parent, a husband, that I may be permitted to con- front my accusers at the House of Lords on to-mor- row." To justify the charge of lunacy against John Magee, it was alleged, among other pretexts, that he had established boat-races and foot-ball matches at Dunleary, and presided over them " in a round hat and feathers." * We cull a few passages from the newspaper re- port: — •There is an anecdote of Magee traditionally preserved in liio office of the Evening Post, illnstrative of his uuawed demeanour ifl the presence of Lord Clonmel, by whose domineering manner even the Bar were often overborne. Magee stood up in court, and ad- dressed a few observations to the Bench in justification of his hosti- lity to Francis Higgins. Bnt having styled him the " Sham Squire," • Lord Clonmel interrupted Magee, declaring that he would allow no nicknames to be used in that court. " Very well, John Scoi^" re- plied the editor "£ the Post, resuming his seat ».. . • • ' w^ V,, 96 THE SHAM SQUIHE AND ** The Chancellor — ' Mr Magee, have you anything to say? " • Ab to what, my lord ?' "'You have heard the matters with which you are charged. I am called upon to issue a commission to try whether you are insane or not. If you are found insane, I am then to appoint a guardian of your person and a guardian of your property, and you will beconje a ward of the Court of Chancery. Have you an attorney V " ' No, my lord. Some time ago I sent for Mr Kenny aa my solicitor. He came to me, and found me sick in bed. I opened my case to him, and he promised to call upon me next day ; but the first intimation I hud of Mr Kenny aftei wards was, that he was preparing briefs against me for this prosecution. Does your lordship choose that I should sail witnesses % My own physician is here.' " ' Has he made an affidavit V " ' He has, my lord.' " The chancellor declared that there was not the shadow of ground for issuing a commission. Supposing all the charges true, they only amounted to acta of extravagance and indiscretion. If he was to grant a commission of lunacy against every man who did an extravagant, an un- wise, or even a bad thing, he was afraid he should have a great many wards. He had observed Mr Magee during the whole tinie he had been in court, and he saw nothing insane about him. He must therefore refuse the application." Magee's triumph began to dawn from this day. In the Journals of the Irish House of Commons (vol. xiii., pp. 179 80) we find it " ordered that the proper officer do lay before the House an attested copy of the affida\ it filed in the Queen's Bench, on which the chief-justicv ordered that a writ should issue, at the suit of Francis Higgins and others, against John Magee for £7800." On March 3, 1790, the entire case was brought before Parliament by George Ponsonby, afterwards Lord Chancellor of Ireland. He showed that the practice of issuing fiats under such circumstances was unconstitutional, and a direct violation of the Bill of Rights ; and he reminded the Hou"«, that wfiHer -, X THE INFORMERS OF '98. 97 Warren Hastings, to acknowledge it, and thus the property fell into the Clonmel family." * But we must not lose sight of the Sham Squire. We now find him accused of " purloining a document from the office of the King's Bench, and committing erasures and alterations thereon, for the purpose of securing the conviction of a defendant, and depriving him of the benefit of a fair plea against judgment." " This," adds the Post, " is of a piece with the noto- rious theft committed on the grand jury bag in the town-clerk's office, a few weeks since, of the bills against the markers and other vagabonds of the Crane Lane gambling-house. If such felonious audacities are suffered to escape with impunity, the dignity, the law, the equity of the Bench, and the lives and pro- {)ertiej3 of the honest part of the community are no onger safe against the daring acts of cunning and villainy." f Mr Higgins denied the charge ; but the * In Walker's Hibernian Magazine for July 1797, we read, p. 97". — "Edward Byrne of MuUinahack, Esq., to Miss Roe, step- daughter to the Earl of Clonmel, and niece to Lord Viscount Llan- dafif." Hereby hangs a tale. Miss Roe was understood to have a large fortune, and when Mr Byrne applied to Lord Clonmel for it, his lordship shuffled, saying, " Miss Roe is a lapsed Papist, and I %vail myself of the laws which I administer to withhold the money." Mr Byrne filed a bill, in which he recited the evasive reply of Lord ClonmeL The chief justice never answered the bill, and treated Mr Byrne's remonstrances with contempt. These facts transpire in the legal documents held by Mr H , Too often the treachery manifested by the rich in positions of trust, at the calamitous period in question, contrasted curiously with the tried fidelity observed by some needy persons in a similar capacity. Moore, in his Memoirs of Captain Rock, mentions the case of a poor Protestant barber, who, though his own property did not exceed a few pt unds in value, ac- tually held in fee the estates of most of the Catholic gentry of the county. He adds, that this estimable man was never known to betray bis trust. + DuLlin Evening Post, No. 1843. THE INFORMERS OP '98. 105 subject, notwithstanding, was brought before Parlia- ment on March 5, 1790, when Arthur Browne stated, that in " the suit, Higgins against Magee, it had ap- peared to the perfect conviction of every man in court that two -erasures and certain alterations had been made in the record ; that a circumstance so momen- tous had astonished and alarmed all present, the court especially, who had promised to make a solemn in- vestigation of it, and ' probe it to the bottom.' He had since heard from some friends, that it would not be proper to commence an inquiry until the suit, in which this record was involved, should be finally determined : no such objection had been offered by the court at the time of discovering the forgery ; nay, the court, on the instant, had certainly commenced an inquiry, though he never heard they had carried it further. " This dark and wicked transaction did, at the time of its being discovered, greatly alarm the Bar; and in consequence a numerous and most respectable meet- ing of barristers took place, at which meeting he at- tended, and there did promise, that if the Court of King's Bench did not follow up the inquiry with effect, he would bring it before Parliament : it cer- tainly was the business of the Court of King's Bench to have taken it up ; but they not having done so he was resolved to keep his promise, and never los€ sight of it till Parliament should decide upon it. " The inquiry was, whether the public records of the highest court of criminal judicature, by which the Hfe and property of any man in the realm might be affected, were kept with that sacred care that no man could have access to alter or erase them ? And whether the officers of that court were so honest and so pure that they would not allow of anv corrunt access?"* ^ ^ - * Irish ParL DebateB, toL x., p. .382. I 1 1- 106 THE SHAM SQ17I2S AND CHAPTER V. Htirbreadth Escapes of Lord Edward Fitzgerald. — Testimony of Lords Holland and Byron. — A Dark Picture of Oppression. — Moira House. — Presence of Mind. — lie vol ting Treftcbery. — Arrest of Lord Edward. — Majors Sirr and Swan. — Death of Captain Ryan. — Attempted Rescue. — Edward Rattigan. — General Lawless. — Lady Louisa C!onolly. — Obduracy of Lord Camdeo. — Death of Lord Edward Fitzgerald. Some critics have been good enough to say that oar narrative possesses the interest of an effective drama. At tliis stage of its progress we proj)ose to let the curtain drop for an interval, during which eight years are supposed to have elapsed. Once more it rises, disclosing the dark and stormy period of 1798. The scene is Leixlip Bridge at the dawn of morning, with a view of the Salmon Leap. Nicholas Dempsey, a yeoman sentinel, is seen, with musket shouldered, pacing to and fro. A young man dressed as a peasant with frieze coat and corduroy knee-breeehes, approaches the bridge driving before him half a dozen sheep. Accosting the sentinel, he asks if there is any available night park at hand where he could put his tired sheep to rest. The yeoman scans his face narrowly, and to the surprise, and probably confusion of the dj"over replies : — " Ko, my fo^x?, there is no pasturage in this neighbourhood." No other words pass ; the sentinel resumes his beat, and the drover proceeds on his way.* • We are indebted for this hitherto unpublished anecdote to Mr Ennis of Kimmage, the grand-nephew of Nicholas Dempsey, whose cartridge-box and sash are still preserved at Kimmage House as a memento of the man and ee Mr Macready's statement in Ajtpendix. ] 14 THE SHAM SQUIRE AND was probably occasioned by bitter chagrin at being baulked in a profitable job, said : " I have been most uneasy ; did anything happen ? I waited up till one o'clock, and Lord Edward did not come." Miss Moore, wlio, although a woman of great strength of mind, did not then sus])ect Magan, replied: "We were stopped by Major Sirr in Watling Street ; we ran back to Thomas Street, where we most provi- dentially succeeded in getting Lord Edward shelter at Murphy's," * Mr ]\Iagan was consoled by the ex- planation, and withdrew. The friends who best knew Magan describe him as a queer combination of pride and baslif ulness, dignity and decorum, nervousness and inflexibility. He ob- viously did not like to go straight to the Castle and sell Lord Edward's blood openly. There is good evidence to believe that he confided all the informa- tion to Francis Higgins, with whom it will be shown he was peculiarly intimate, and deputed him, under a pledge of strict secrecy, to make a good bargain with Mr Under-Secretary Cooke. After Lord Edward had spent a few hours lying in the valley of the roof of Murphy's house, he ven- tured to come down. The unfortunate nobleman had been suffering from a sore throat and general debi- lity, and his appearance was sadly altered for the worse. He was reclining, half dressed, upon a bed, about to drink some whey which Murphy had pre- pared for him, when Major Swan, followed by Cap- tain Ryan, peeped in at the door. " You know me, * Communicated by Edward Macready, Esq., son of Miss Moore, May 17, 1865. Miss Moore, afterwards iirs Macready, died in 1844. One of her last remarks was : " Charity forbade me to express a suspicion which I have long entertained, that Magan was the be- trayer; but when I see Moore, in his Life of Lord Edward, in- sinuating that Neilson was a Judas, I can no longer remain silent. Major Sirr got timely information that we were going to Usher'a Island. Now this intention was known only to Magan and me; even Lord Edward did not know our destination until just bo£ox« starting. If Magan is innocent, then I am the informer." TTTK INFORMERS OF '08. 1 15 my lord, and I know you," exclaimed Swan ; *' it will be vain to resist."* Tliis lo^ic did not convince Lord Edward. He sprang from the bed like u tiger from its lair, and with a wave-bladed dagger,. which he had concealed under the pillow, made some stabs at the intruder, but without as yet inflicting mortal injury. An authorised version of the arrest, evidently suj)- plied by Swan himself, apy)ear8 in The Express of May 26, 1798: — "His lordship then clased upon Mr Swan, shortened the dagger, and gave him a stab in the side, under the left arm and breast, having first changed it from one hand to the other over his shoul- der, (as Mr Swan thinks.) Finding the blood run- ning from him, and the impossibility to restrain him, he was compelled, in defence of his life," adds Swan's justification, " to discharge a double-barrelled pistol at his lordship, which wounded him in the shoulder. He fell on the bed, but recovering himself, ran at him with the dagger, which Mr Swan caught by the blade with one hand, and endeavoured to trip him up." Captain Ryan, with considerable animation, then pro- ceeded to attack Lord Edward with a sword-cane, which bent on his ribs. Sirr, who had between two and three hundred men with him, was engaged in placing pickets round the house, when the report of Swan's pistol made him hurry up-stairs. "On my arrival in view of Lord Edward, Ryan, and Swan," writes Major Sirr, in a letter addressed to Captain Ryan 8 son, on December 29, 1838, "I beheld his lordship standing, with a dagger in his hand, as if ready to plunge it into my friends, while dear Ryan, seated on the bottom step of the flight of the upper stairs, had Lord Edward grasped with both liis arms by the l^s or thighs, and Swan in a somewhat simi- lar situation, both labouring under the torment of their wounds, when, without hesitation, I fired at • Tht Exiar*»i, Maj 26, 1798. i 16' THE SHAM SQUIRE AND Lord Edward's dagger arm, [lodging several slugs in his shoulder,] and the instrument of death fell to the groimd. Having secured the titled prisoner, my first concern was for your dear father's safety. I viewed dis intestines with grief and sorrow."* Not until a strong guard of soldiery pressed Lor^, Edward violently to the ground by laying their heavy muskets across his pei«on, could he be bound in rrote some very clever political tracts, and was silenced with a pen- sion ; Mr Lynch married a widow with a pension, which was doubled after his marriage ; and Mr Bellew is in the receipt of £U00 a year, I aid to him quarterly. " Lord Castlereagh was well aware of the importance of securing the support of the leading Roman Catholic gentry at the union, and the place of assistant-barrister was promised to Mr Bellew. It became vacant : Lord Castlereagh was reminded of his engagement, when, beliold ! a petition, signed by the magistrates of the county to which Mr Bellew was about to be nominated, is presented to the Lord-Lieutenant, praying that a Roman Catholic should not be ap- pointed to any judicial office, and intimating their determination not to act with him. A pension equivalent to the salary of a chair- man was given to Mr Bellew, and he was put in the enjoyment of the fruits of the office, without the labour of cultivation." + All the Catholic barristers, with the object of averting suspi- cion or persecution, became members of the Lawyers' Corps. Among others, Daniel O'Connell and Nicholas Purcell O'Qorman, Itoth United Irishmen, belonged to the corps. O'Connell served aa a private in the corps. The uniform wa« blue, with scarlet facings and rich gold lace. — See Memoir of O'Con- nell, by his son, vol. i., p. 13. In Mr Daunts Recollections of O'Connell, vol. ii., p. 99, O'Connell is found pointin^out a house in James's Street, which, when a member of the Lawyers' Corps, he searched for " Croppies." For an account of O'Connell'a connexion with the United Irishmen see Appendix. THE INFORMERS OF '98. 13o A "brother barrister and old friend of Mr Magan'a informs us that he enjoyed some chamber practice ; but, though he sometimes appeared in the hall, equipped for forensic action, he never spoke in court, t Mr Magan, as one of the first and few Roman Catho- ^ lie barristers called on the relaxation of the Penal Code, is very likely to have been consulted during the troubled times, by his co-religionists who were implicated in the conspiracy. The influential leaders of the United Irishmen were mostly Protestants, and Leonard MacNally, who generally acted as counsel to the body, having deserted the Catholic for the Protestant faith, failed to command from Catholics that unlimited confidence which a counsel of their own creed would inspire. " Mac," writes Mr Secretary Cooke, addressing Lord Castlereagh, " Mac was not much trusted in the rebellion." * Counsellor Magan, on the contrary, was not, for nearly half a century, susjiected.i- Ma.> Nally lived in Dominic Street, and later in Harcourt Street — a considerable distance from the more dis- turbed part of Dublin ; but Mr Magau's chamber for consultation lay invitingly open at No, 20 Usher's Island, in the very hotbed of the conspiracy. The discoveries to which we have referred were made towards the latter end of the year 1802. On December 15, 1802, one secret payment of £500 alone is slipped into the hand of "Counsellor Magan." "In the month of March, [1803,"] writes Lord Hardwicke, the then viceroy, " Government received information of O'Quigley's return, and others of the -S exiled rebels, and that they were endeavouring to sound the disposition of the people of the county of * CornwalliB Correspondence, vol. iii., p. 320. t The Irish Bar was sadly dishonoured in those days.— See Ap- pendix for the secret services of Leonard MacNally, and of that prince of duplicity, Samuel Turner, barrister-at law, whose prv perty was insincerely threatened with attainder by the crown. ] ^C^ THE SnA.M SQUIRE AND Dublin, A oonfidential agent was in confieqnence sent into that county, whose accounts were very satis- factory as t;0 the state of the people, and of the un- willingness of any of the middle class, who had pro- }>erty to lose, to engage in any scheme of rebellion."* Whether Francis Magan was the confidential agent Ihus sent into the country we know not ; but it is at least certain tliat in the month of April 1803, he is found within forty-seven miles of Dublin, and receiv- ing money for ]iolitical espionage. " The Account of Secret Service Money applied in Detecting Treasonable Conspiracies," contains the fol- lowing entry : — " April 2, 1803, Magan, by post to Thilipstown, £100."t The Philipstown assizes were held at this time. But so far from any important political trials being in progress there, from which Magan, in his legal capacity, might gather a secret, no business what- ever was done, and as the newspaper report of the day records, the cliairman received, in consequence, a pair of wbite gloves trimmed with gold lace. We must look elsewliere for Mr Magan's secret services at Philipstown in 1803. Thomas Wilde and John Mahon were two of Em- met's most active emissaries, and in a statement of Duggan's supplied to Dr Madden, it is stated that they proceeded to " Kildare, Naas, Maynooth, Kil- cullen, and several other towns," in order to stimulate the people. The formidable character of Wilde and ]\Iahon was known to Major Sirr, who in a memoran- dum preserved with his other papers, states that their * Tliis original ^fS. Rtatement of Lord Hardwiclce's, of which Di- Mailil^n afterwa'ds had the use, we fully transcribed in 1855. t An entry in tli" same form introduces the name nf M'Gucken, tlif trenrliornns atV.rney for the United Irishmen, whose exploits wilj bpi fnnnri in our Appendix: — *■ ".Taiis.ai-y 1, 1801, M'Gucken, per port to Belfast, £100." TRE INFORMERS OF '98. 137 retreat is sometimes. " at the gaoler's in PliUipsfxywn, uho is married to Wilde's sister." • Francis Magan, it is not unlikely, when one hun- dred pounds reached him by post at Philipstown in 1803, was quietly ascertaining the locale of Wildo and Mahon. A letter from Captain CaulfieVj, written on Dee. 37, 1803, but to which the date " 1798" has been by pome oversight affixed in Dr Madden's valuable work on the United Irishmen,* is also preserved among the r^irr papers, and details the progress of a search for AVilde and Mahon, first at Philipstown, and finally at Bally common, within two miles of it. Yeomaniy- and dragoons surrounded • the house ; a hot conflict ensued, " and," confesses Captain Crailfield, " we were immediately obliged to retire. . . . The villains made their escape. The gaoler of Philipstown and wife are in confinement" John Brett, the maternal grandfather of the pre- sent writer, resided with his family, in 1798, at 21 Usher's Island. No evidence of sedition existed figainst him, unless that furnished by the old aphorism, "Show me your company, and I can tell who you are." John Brett was peculiarly intimate with Con MacLaughlin, and much intercourse existed between their famihes. James Tandy, son of the arch rebel, Napper Tandy, was also a frequent visitor, and IVIr Brett possessed the friendship of Oliver Bond. One morning Mr Brett's family were startled at the news that Major Sirr, with a chosen guard, was demand- ing admittance at the street door. Miss Maria Brett, the aunt of the writer, cognisant of only one act of political guilt, ran to her music-book, tore out a strongly national song, and flung the leaf, crashed up, on the top' of a chest of drawers. Major Sirr entered precisely as this silly achievement had been completed, and found the young lady palpitating * Lives and Times of the United Irisb.mea. \ui. L, p. 522. 138 THE SHAM 3QUmB AND beneath the weight of her giiilty secret. A search 5or pikes was immediately commenced ; drawers were rifled, wardrobes upset, beds diligently searched, anQ, in the midst of the confusion, wliat should turn up but the national song ? which, had it been suffered to remain in the music-book, would never have ex- cited attention. Major Sirr solemnly put on his 8jx!ctacles, and read tlie democratic sentiments with a visage much longer than the lines in which they were enshrined. The search was resumed with renovated vigour, and from the beds in the sleeping rooms the soldiers now proceeded . to uproot some recently dug beds in the garden. Major Sirr, baffled in his hopes and bitterly chagrined, withdrew ; but he had a dex- terous stroke of vengeance in store for John Brett. Next day an enormous detachment of soldiers' wives arrived, bag and baggage, at Usher's Island, loudly demanding hospitality, and producing an official order for that purix)se. Mr Brett was obliged to submit to the troublesome incubus, which remained for several weeks billeted upon his family. He could never guess the source which had suggested to the Govern- ment the expediency of searching the house ; but tve are inclined to harbour the suspicion that the hint must have come from his vigilant neighbour next door, Mr Francis Magan. The files of the popular journals during the earlier part of the present century would, if diligently con- sulted, exhibit Francis Magan* as a zealous Catholic patriot. Thus, Mr Magan's name may be found, in conjunction with those of Lords Fingal, Netterville, and Ffrench, Sir E. Bellew, Sir H. O'ReiUy, Daniel • It is not unlikely to Magan that the Duke of Wellington refer« in his letter to Sir Charles Saxton, dated London, 17th Novemb'r 1 808 : — " I think that as there are some interesting Catholic quea- tioiis afloat now, you might feed with another £100." — IritA CviTcspondenee of the Duke of Wdlington, pp. 485-6. .-'L THE INFORMERS OF '98. 139 O'Oonnell, Dr Droragoole, " Barney Coyle,"* Con MacLaughlin,* Silvester Costigan,* .Fitzgerald of Geraldine,* and others, convening an aggregate meet- ing of the Catholics of Ireland on the 26th of Decembet 1811, to address the Prince Regent " on the present situation of Catholic affairs." A few days previously, Lords Fingal and Netterville had been successively '\ forced from the chair at a Catholic meeting by Mr Hare, a police magistrate. Among the denouncers of the Government at the aggregate meeting was Leo- nard MacNally ; and M'Gucken, the false attorney to the United Irishmen, took an equally patriotic ])art at Belfast, f Mr- Magan also passed for an incorruptible patriot at the period of the Union. His name may be found, with MacNally 's, among " the virtuous minority" , who, at the Bar Meeting, opposed the Union. ^ The few surviving friends of Mr Magan describe him as a prim and somewhat unsociable being, though moving in good society. He looked wise, but he never showed much proof of wisdom, and it was more than once whispered in reference to him, " Still waters run deep." For the last twenty years of his life he rarely went out, unless in his official capacity as commissioner. He never married, and lived a recluse at 20 Usher's Island. He became shrinking and timid, and, with one or two exceptions, including Master C , did not like to meet old friends. Since the year '98, it seemed as if his house had not been painted or the windows cleaned. The neighbours wondered, speculated, and pried ; but Magan s win- dows or doings could not be seen through. | From this dingy retreat, festooned with cobwebs, * Those persons had been United Irishmen. t See Appendix. .. f , t " The neighbours used to say that there was a mystery about ' ' . the Magans which no one could fathom."— 2/e««r from Silve»l€r 140 THE SHAM fiQTTIHE a:^ Mr Mngan, almost choked in a stiff white cravat, would, as we have said, occasionally emerge, and pick his steps stealthily to tlie courts in which he held oflfice. This demeanour may have been owing to a secret consciousness of dishoncnir, and was doubtless aggra- vated by a shrewd suspicion expressed by the late Mr Joseph Hamilton. To explain this, a slight digression is necessary. In 1830 appeared Moore's life of Lord Edward Fitz- gerald, and it may be conceived with what trepida- tion Mr Magan turned over the leaves, fearful of find- ing the long-sealed secret told. " Treachery," writes Moore, " and it is still unknown from what source, was at work." Here the Counsellor, no doubt, bi-eathcd freely, especially when he read — " From my mention of these particulars respecting Neilson, it cannot fail to have struck the reader that some share of the suspicion of having betrayed Lord Edward attaches to this man." Hamilton Rowan and the friends of Neilson indignantly spurned the imputa- tion, which Moore, further on, sought to qualify. Mr Joseph Hamilton made some inquiries, and the result was a suspicion that Mr Magan was the informer. He failed to find that evidence which we have since adduced ; but his suspicion was deeply rooted, and he avowed it in general society. In 1843 Mr Magan died. He was generally re- garrled as an honourable man ; and an eminent Queen's counsel stood beside his death-bed The accompanying letter reached us from the gentleman to whom we allude: — " I never, directly or indirectly, heard anything of Ihe alleged charge against Frank Magan during his Jife. I was on habits of intimacy with him to the day of his death, and was with hiin on his death-bed. He always bore a high character, as far as 1 could ever learn, either at the bar or in . society. Mr I TflE INFOEMERS OF '98. 141 Hamilton, to my surprise, wrote to me after liis death, cautioning me against taking any of the money to which, he supposed, I was entitled as a legatee. I waa not one, and never got a penny by the poor fellow. I can say no more." Mr Hamilton thought that it was beneath his cor- respondent to accept a bequest derived from so base a source. Mr Magan s will, drawn up hurriedly on his deatli- bcd, in January 1843, and witnessed by his con- fessor, Kev. P. Monks, occupies but a few lines, and bequeaths the entire of his property to Elizabeth, his sister. Unlike his friend, the Sham Squire, who desired that his remains should be interred with public pomp, Francis Magan directs that his body may be baried with as much economy and privacy as decency permits.* Miss Magan, an eccentric spinster, continued to reside alone at Usher's Island after her brother's death. She found herself, on his demise, possessed of an enormous sum of money ; and she became so penurious, anxious, and nervous, that the poor hidy was in constant fear of being attacked or robbed. From almost every person who approached her she shrunk with terror. Miss Magan felt persuaded that ^ designs on her pwrse, to be accomplished by either [ force or fraud, were perpetually in process of concoc- tion by her narrow circle of friends. Death at last released Miss Magan from this mental misery. She left considerable sums in charity, and, amongst others, twelve thousand pounds, as the late Rev. Dr Yore assured us, for founding a lunatic aaylumatRichmond. With the death of this lady the family of which slic was a member became extinct, and we therefore fcv-l the less hesitation in mentioning their names. It may, perhaps, be said that any new suggestions or remarks regarding jlie informers of '98 should be * Becurds of the Prerogative Court, Dublin. .^- ] 42 THE SHAM bljUlRE AND ioft to Dr Madden, who has devoted much time and space to the subject. But Dr Madden himself does not seem to hold these narrow sentiments. In the " United Irishmen," (vol. ii., 44G,) he throws out 8u- THE INFORMERS OF *\)S. 143 and delegate from the province of Leinster in th«i rebel army, settled his terms, writes Mr Curran, " namely, 500 iniineas in hand, and personal indem- nity."* One by one he propocuted his colleagues to con- viction. In contradiction to Mr Cope's evidence, wit- nesses swore that they believed Reynolds unworthy of credence on oath. Curran lashed and lacerated him. " He measures his value by the coffins of bis victims ; and in the field of evidence appreciates his fame, as the Indian warrior does in fight, by the number of scalps with which he can swell his triumphs. He calls upon you by the solemn league of eternal justice to accredit the purity of a conscience washed in its own atrocities. He has pro- mised and betrayed — he has sworn and forsworn ; and whether his soul shall go to heaven or to hell, he seems altogether indifferent, for he tells you that he has estab- lished an interest in both. He lijis told you that he has pledged himself to treason and to allegiance, and that both oaths has he contemned and broken." f JL.' Mr Curran imagines that the reward of Eeynolds did not exceed five hundred guineas. The " Life of Reynolds," by his son, would fain persuade the reader that his emolument had been still smaller. The MS. book of secret service money expenditure, now in the possession of Mr Halliday, and printed by Dr Madden, reveals, however, that Reynolds received, not only in 1798, £5000 in ioui payments, but in the following year a pension of £1000 a year, besides which he long enjoyed several lucrative offices mider the Crowu. bassy in seats reserved for them close by the anibasfsador and Lad; Elizabeth; and that at his parties Lady Douglas, (of Blackheath notoriety,) Mrs and the Misa IJeynolds, &;c.. form a portion of th*t company for the entertainment of whom the ambassador's salary 't| swelled out to £14,000 a year." * Life of Curran, by hia son. First edition, voL ii., p. 128. t + Ibid., voL ii., p. 1S4. '" f 150 THE BHAM SQUIRE AND The total amount of money flunsf to satisfy his in- satiable cupidity was about £45,740. * The delivery of " a live lord" into the jaws of death proved so pi'ofitable a job to Francis Higgins, that we find him soon after in hot scent after another. John, Earl of Wycombe, afterwards Marquis of Lans- downe, was committed more or less to the fashionable treasons of the time : he sympathised with the men and the movement of '98 ; and as the late John Patten, "Y a near connexion of Emmet's, assured us, his lordship was fully cognisant of the plot of 1803. Had llig- gins been alive during the latter year, Lord Wycombe might not have escaped the penalty of his patriotism His movements in Dublin and elsewhere were watched most narrowly by the Sham Squire. In despair, how- ever, of being able to gain access to Lord Wycombe's confidence or society, we find Higgins saying, " Lord Wycombe, son to the Marquis of Lansdowne, is still in Dublin. He has gone to Wales and back again to Dublin several times. His lordshii) has given many l)arties in the city, it is said, but they have been of a close, select kind." t Higgins and his confederates, like ' ' setters," pointed, and the scarlet sportsmen of the line immediately fired. Lord Holland, in his Memoirs of the Whig Party, mentions that his friend. Lord Wycombe, was fired at by common soldiers on the highways near Dublin, and narrowly escaped with his life. J * Lives and Times of the United Irishmen, by R. R. Madden, M.D. Vol. i., p. 425, et seq. f Freeman's Journal, August 6,1798. His lordship's movements are further indicated by the same journal on August 9 1800. t See p. 107, arUe, THE INFOUMEBS OF '98. 151 CHAPTER VIII. Effort of Conscience to Vindicdte its Authority. — Last Will and Testament of the Sham Squire. — A TempcHt Roars Round his Death-bed. — Kilbarrack Churchyard. — A Touching Epitaph — Resurrectionists. — The Dead Watcher. — The Sham Squire's Topib Insulted and Broken. — His Bequests. Charity, it is written, covereth a multitude of sins. Let us hasten, therefore, to record a really meritorious act on the part of Mr Higgins. Anxious to tlu^ow the* utmost amount of light on a career so extraordinary* as that of Francis Higgins, we examined in the Pre- rogative Court hia ," Last Will and Testament." From this document — which, by the way, was the subject of considerable litigation after his death — we learn that the Sham Squire s conscience was not hopelessly cal- lous. On the contrary, while yet comparatively young, it seems to have given him a good deal of uneasiness ; and it may not unreasonably be inferred that, un- scrupulous as we have seen Mr Higgins, his early life was checkered by sundry peccadilloes now irrevocably veiled. Whatever these may have been, they contri- buted to disturb the serenity of his manhood, and conscience seems to have made an energetic effort to assert its authority. Unable any longer to bear the reproachings of his ill-gotten wealth, Mr Higgins, on September 19, 1791, then aged forty-five, mustered up courage and bequeathed a considerable portion of it to charitable purposes. It is amusing to trace the feelings of awe which, in the last century, filled our ancestors previous to attempting a voyagp across St George's Channel ! Mr Higgins's will begins by saying that as he meditates a voyage to England, he thinks it prudent to prepare his will ; and in humble \r>2 THE SHAM SQUIT?!! AND Riippll cation at the feet of the Almighty, and hy way of making atonement for his manifold transgressions, ho is desirous of leaving large sums of money to charitable purposes. But before he proceeds to specify them, the vanity of the Sham Squire shows itself in a conmiand to his executors to commemorate his memory in a proper manner, on a slab "well secured with lime, brickwork, and stone," in Kil- harrack Churchyard. To defray the cost of this monument, Mr Higgins left £30, and a further sura for his funeral. He adds, that in case he should die in England, his remains are to be removed to Ireland and " })ublicly interred." To a lady who had been of considerable use to Mr Higgins, and had chmg to him with great fidelity, but who had sufTered seriously from this circumstance, he bequeathed not only £1000 as compensation, but all such property as might re- main after paying the other bequests ; and to his housekeeper, Mrs Margaret Box, he loft £100. But, perhaps, the most remarkable item in tlie will is £1000 which he bequeathed to be laid out on landed security, in order that the annual interest might be applied to the relief and discharge of debtors confined in the city marshalsea on Christmas eve in each year.* This generous bequest has served, we trust, to blot out some of the Siiam Squire s achievements, not alone at the hazard table, but by means of sundry pettifogging quibbles and doubles. Having been the means in early life of considerably increasing the number of inmates at the Lying-in Hospital, Mr Higgins now creditably bestowed £100 upon that institution. To an asylum for ruined merchants, known as Simpson's Hospital, he bequeathed £.50, and ordered that a particular wai-d in it should be '^edicate^to his memory. To the Blue-Coat Hospital, • See Appendix for some correspondence on the alleged non- execution of tliis bequest. The four Courts Marshalsea of Dublin, previous to its removal westward, st^ood in Werburgh Street. THE INFORMERS OF '98. 153 where his friend Jack Giffard* and other kindred Bpirits passed their youth, Mr Higgins left the sum of £20. The Catholic and Protestant Poor Schools were rememhered with impartiality by Higgins, who had been himself both a Catholic and a Protestant at different times. He bequeathed £10 to each of the Pi ofc38tant schools, as well as a like donation to the Catholic Charity Schools of ** Rosemary Lane, A dam and Eve, Bridge Street, and Lazor Hill." To Mr (afterwards Colonel O'Kelly, of Piccadilly, London, the owner of the celebrated race-horse " Eclipse ") £.300 was left, " and if I did not know that he was very affluent," adds Higgins, " I would leave him the entire of my property." Father Arthur O'Leary. one of Curran's " Monks of the Screw," was also advan- tageously remembered by Mr Higgins.f To that accomplished ecclesiastic he bequeathed the sum of £100; but O'Leary never lived to enjoy it, and passed into eternity almost simultaneously with the Sham Squire, in January 1802. To George J. Browne, assistant editor, £.50 was bequeathed, in order to jiurchase mourning for Mr Higgins, as also certain securities held by Higgins for money lent to Browne. Several other bequests in the same shape and under similar circumstances are made. Some young people, who shall be nameless here, are advantageously men- tioned,! probably on natural grounds. William, * For a notice of Giffard, see the 32d note to General Cockbum'a Step Ladder, Appendix. t Mr Grattan, in the Life of his father, (ii. 198,) mentions that O'Leary was very intimate with Colonel O'Kelly, and lived with him. O'Leary had a pension from the Crown for writing down the White Boys. Mr Grattan adds, on the authority of Colonel O'Kelly, that Mr Pitt offered O'Leary considerable remuneration if he would write in support of the Union, but the friar refused. i In the third volume of 'the Cornwallis Correspondence, one of the name is found obtaining a pension of £300 a year at the s»rae time that Francis Higgins's services received similar recognition. A Christian name borne by the junior recipient is stated in the sama work to have been "Grenville;" he was probably bom during the Ticeroyalty of George Grenville, Lord Buckingham, of whom Higgins was a parasite and a slave. See p. 66. ante. &c. 154 THE SHAM SQUIRE AND James, and Cliristoplier Teeling * are named execu- tors ; but it appears, from the records of the Probate Court, that they declined to act. In those days there was no stamp duty; and the sum for which Higgins's residuary legatee administered does not appear. The will was witnessed by George Faulkner. In September 1791, Mr fiiggins declares that he has £7000 in Finlay's bank ; " but my property," he adds, *' will, I believe, much exceed this sum when all is estimated." Mr Higgins having lived for eleven }'ears subsequent to the date of liis will, during which time he laboured with fiercer zeal, and reaped even ) icher remuneration than before, it may be inferred that his property in 1802 was not far short of £20,000. Little further remains to be told regarding the Sham Squire. In 1799 we catch a parting glimpse of him in a work descriptive of the actors in the Union struggle. " From his law practice, his gaming- table contributions, and newspaper," says this work, *' the Sham now enjoys an income that supports a fine house in a fashionable quarter of a great city, whence he looks down with contempt on the poverty of many persons, whose shoes he formerly cleaned." f Mr Higgins did not long live to enjoy the price of poor Lord Edward's blood. On the' night of January 19, 1802, he died suddenly at hi§- house hi Stephen's Green, aged fifty-six. " It is as Jiwiul a storm as the night the Sham Squire died," was aiplijnse in the mouths of many old persons while the calami- tous hurricane of 1839 swept Dublin. We arc in- ibrmed by Dr J , that his grandfather took liia children to the window on the flight of the 19th of January 1802, to view the extraordinarily grand * Is this the party whose name appears in the Secret Service Money Account, viz. : — "Nov. 5, 1803, chaise for C. Teeling froui the Naul, £1, 6s." t Sketches of Irish Political Characters, p. 148. THE INFORMERS OF '98. 155 wnvulsion of the elements which raged. Dense black clouds rushed across the lurid sky, like the charge of the Black Brunswickers at Waterloo, while piteous moanings "of the night wind filled the air: and it has always been a tradition in the family that the sight derived additional solemnity from the fact ot its association with the last agony and death of the Sham Squire. To the lonely graveyard of Kilbarrack he be- queathed his body. A more picturesque spot, " Where erring man might hope to rest," it would be hard to select. Situated at the edge of the proverbially beautiful bay of Dublin, the ruins of Kilbarrack, or, as they are anciently styled, " the Abbey of Mone," have long existed as a monument of that primitive piety which prompted the Irish mariners of the fourteenth century to erect a chapel in honour of St Mary Star of the Sea, wherein to offer up an orison for their messmates, who had perished beneath the waves.* In accordance with Mr Higgins's expressed wishes, a large tabular tomb was erected over his remains in 1804. Beside it repose the ashes of Margaret Law- less,- mother of the patriot peer Cloncurry, and near it lies the modest grave of John Sweetman, a leading " United Irishman," from whose house adjacent Hamilton Kowan escaped — crossed in an open boat from Kilbarrack to the Bay of Biscay, where it passed through the British fleet — and although £1000 lay on his head, was safely landed in France by the faithful fishermen of Baldoyle, who were well aware of his identity. But the Sham Squire's ambi- tious-looking tomb is the monarch of that lonely • Au interesting notice of Kilbarrack appeAa in Mr D'Altcn's History of the County Dublin, pp. 113-118, but he does not sug- gest the origin of its name, i.e., Kill Beradi^ or the Church of St Berach, a disciple of St Kevin. V 156 THE SHAM SQUIRE AND graveyard, and it is impossible to pass without one's attention being arrested by it. It records that " the legal representiitivcs of the deceased deem it but just to his memory here to inscribe, that he has left be- quests behind him, a memento of philanthropy, liber- ality, and benevolence to the poor and distressed, more durable than can sculptured marble perpetuate, ns it will hist for ever, and be exemplar to all those to whom Heaven has intrusted aflluence." [Here the chief bequests are enumerated in detail.] " Reader," adds the epitaph, '* you will judge of the head and heart which dictjited such distinguished charity to his fellow-creatures, liberal as it is impar- tial, and acknowledge that he possessed the true benevolence which Heaven ordains, and never fails everlastingly to reward." This epitaph suggests a curious comment on the question asked by a child after spelling the inscrip- tions in a chnrchyard, " Mamma, where are the bad men buried ? " The lonely and desolate aspect of the hallowed ruin which Higgins chose as his last resting-place, contrasts curiously with the turbulence of his guilty life ; and Old JMortality could not select a more fit- ting sight for the moralising ruminations in which he loved to indulge. Francis Higgins was wise in his generation, and astutely kei)t his own counsel. Some of his sins we have told, but the bulk are probably known only to the Searcher of hearts. Of the guilty secrets which were buried in Higgins's heart, how many have found a vent in the rauk heartsease and henbane, which spring from his grave. " Where," writes Nathaniel Hawthorne, describing a dialogue between a doctor \nd his patient, " where did you gather these herbs »vitli such a daric flabby leaf ? " " Even in the grave- yard," answered the physician ; " they grew out of his heart, and typify some hideous secret tiiat was THE INFOEMEKS OF '98. 157 buried with him, and which he had done better to confess during his lifetime." " Perchance he earnestly desired it, but could not." ** And wherefore," rejoined the physician, " where- fore not, since all the powers of nature call so ear- nestly for the confession of sin, that these black weeda liave sprung up out of a buried heart, to make mani- fest an unspoken crime ? " But why speculate upon it? It is not. certain, after all, that the storied urn of the Sharh Squire really enshrines his ashes. The deserted position of Kilbarrack graveyard rendered it, some years ago, a favourite haunt with those who, under the nickname of " sack-'em-ups," effected premature resurrections for anatomical purposes ; * and possibly the heart of Higgins may have been long since the subject of a lecture qu aneurism of the aorta, f Through life he was the subject of popular execra- tion, and in death this enmity pursued him. An * The Irish Penny Magozine for January 20, 1833, containa a picture of Kilbarrack cLuiohyard undergoing spoliation at tht» hands of medical Htudeuts, who have succeeded, meanwhile, in blip- ping a sack over the head of " the dead watcher." The latter is made to tell a long story descriptive of his feelings previouf' auu subsequent to this denouement : — " One time I would picthur to myself the waves appn- .etching like an army a-horseback, and shaking their white tops for feathers; and then I would fancy I saw the dead people startuig up out of their graves, and rushing down helthur skelthur to puriect their resting-place, shouldering human bones for fire-arms — they grabbed thigh-bones, and arm-bones, and all the bones they could cotch up in their hurry, and when they would make ready — present — back the waves id gallop nimble enough, but it was to wheel about agin with more fury and nearer to the inemy, who in their turn would scamper back agin with long strides, their white sheets flying be- hind 'em, like the cuUegiou chaps of a windy Sunday, and grinning frightfully through the holes which wanst were eyes. Another time I would look across to Howth as it riz like a hi^ck joint be- tune me and the sky; and I would think if the devil that is chained down below there at full length in a cavern near the light- house was to break loose, what a purty pickle I d be in." t It has been remarked by Dr Mapother and other physiologists, that aneurism of the aorta is peculiarly liable to overtake the de- «i^ng, selfish, and wruAglj ambitious man. It kills suddenly. 1 58 THE SHAM SQUIRE AND nlderman of the old corporation, who resided at Howth, declared, in 1820, that in riding into Dublin he could never pass Kilbarrack without dismounting from hia horse for the purpose of ridiculing and insulting the Sham Squire's grave. The loathing in which Hig- gins had been held wreaked its vengeance in more formidable demonstrations. Many years ago some persons unknown visited his tomb, and smashed off the part on which the words, " Sacred to the memory of Francis Higgins," were inscribed. The thickness of the slab is considerable, and nothing short of a ponderous sledge-hammer could have effected this destruction. The same eccentric individual who, in the dead of night, wellnigh succeeded in depriving an obnoxious statue of its head,* is likely to have been cognisant of the malign joke played on the Sham's mausoleum. No one better knew the depth of his rascality than Watty Cox, who, in the Irish Magazine, makes reference to both his turpitude f and tomb. Of the latter we read, that in " Kil- barrack churchyard the remrins of the Sham are deposited under a magnificent tomb and splendid inscription, unequalled in the history of sepulchral literature, "t Nearly two generations passed away, and unless by a few families, all memory of the Sham Squire became obliterated. Tourists visited Kilbarrack ; and disciples of Doctor Syntax, moved by the touch- ing epitaph and the romantic scenery around, per- chance dropped a tear upon the stone. Pedestrians made it a halting-point and resting-place ; the less matter-of-fact mused on Erin's days of old " Ero Ker faithless sods betray 'd her," cleared the moss out of the inscriptions, and prayed * The statue of William III. in College Green. + See Irish Magazine for October 1810, p. 436, &0. ♦ Irish MagaziTie for November 1813. THE INFOKMERS OF '98, 159 for the nameless patriot and philanthropist whc mouldered below.* All remembrance of his life haci died out, although a tradition of his sobriquet still floated about the locality ; and by degrees the history of Higgins degenerated into " the beautiful legend of the Sham Squire ;"t which at last was cruelly disturbed by the publication of the Comwallis cor- respondence, the researches of the present writer, and some patriotic scribe who, since our first disclosures * On September 15, 1853, a gentleman publigbed a letter in iha Freeman, requesting to know, not only the name of the penon un whom so eulogistic an epitaph bad been written, but the fate of the trust-money named in it. " It is gross ingratitude," he added, " and practical materialism, to allow the tomb and memory of such a philanthropist to perish for want of a suitable monument to mark his last resting-place ; and I should only hope that, among so many benefited, one, at least, may be found, to turn to the grave of their eommon benefactor." A letter in reply went on to say " This will hardly satisfy your correspondent in regard to the trust bequesi ror poor debtors, or ofifer any apology or explanation of why the tomb of such a charitable testator should be left so totally neglected and defaced by the highway." Twelve years later found another Jona- than Oldbuck poking among the stones of Kilbarrack, and address- ing a similar query to the Irish Times. Tho subject excited con- siderable sensation, and became invested with almost romantic in- terest. Several leaders, as well as letters, appeared. " Kilbarrack," wrote the editor, " is as lonely and desolate a ruin as ever an artist painted. A stray goat or sheep may be seen browsing upon ilie old graves, half covered with drifted sand ; or a flock of sand-larks sweeps through the wide and broken arches. Round the forsaken tombs grow in abundance heartsease, veronica, and the white hare- bell. There are pretty laoascs on tne gray walls ; but the aspect of the ruins oppresses the heart with a sense of melancholy loneli- ness. Sometimes, when the storm blows inshore, the waves dash in spray over the ruined walls, and weep salt tears over the tombs." '* An Humble Debtor," dating from the Four Courts Mar^alsea, and citing as his text, " I was in prison, and ye visited me not," (Matt. XXV. 43, 44,) went on tt> say, " Your journal for the last tew days has given great consolation to the inmates of this prison, by ^ts insertion of letters bearing on the hitherto almost unknowa , Denefactions of Francis Higgins, of good memory." The gentleman thus addressed was of opinion that the money, il invested in land, ought to yi^ld now, at least, £50 per annum. t " The legend of the Sham Squire," full of romance, and bear- ing no resemblance to the authentic details which we have gathered, appeared in 1856 in a aerial published by Mr Chamney. IftO TIDi SIlAil SQUIHE, ETC. on this subject, has iuscribed across the imposino' ^aph^KUimounted by a picture of a pike and a "HKEB LIES THE MONSTBB BIGGINS, LORD EDWARD FITZGERAXD'b INrOAMKil." APPENDIX SUGGESTED BY ALLUSIONS IN THE FOREGOIKG TEXT. -*, APPENDIX. BARATARIANA. This bonk has always possessed peculiar interest foi historic students of the period to which it refers ; ami several communications have appeared from time to time in Notes and Queries touching it. In reply to an inquiry,* the late Right Hon. J. Wilson Crolcer promised to con- tribute particulars as to the writers of " Baratariana," t but failed to do so, although he lived for several years subse- quently.| "That promise not having been fulfilled," ob- served a writer, " permit me to ask from some of year Irlsli correspondents materials for a history of this very curious volume ;"§ and Abhba expressed h hope that " Mr Fitz- patrick would be induced to furnish us with a key to the characters which figure in the booL" || In accordance with these suggestions, we gathered from a variety of sou; id sources, well authenticated, though perhaps nut impuriaut details. Sir Hercules Langrishe, Mr Grattan, (then a yoiing bar- rister not in Parliament,) and Mr Flood, were, accorJiuf: to the "Memoirs of Flood," (p. 79,) the principal writers of "Baratariana." In ''^Grattan's Life" (vol. i., p. 18-5) there is an account of a visit to Sir Hercules in 1810 ; and the octogenarian is found repeating with enthusiasm som« of his flash passages in " Baratariana." The contributioua of Sir Hercules to this bundle of political pasquinades ire noticed in Grattan's elegy on the death of the patriot baronet, {vide vol i., p. 188.) The Lte Hon. Major St^n * First Series, vol. x., p. 185. t Ibid., vol. i., p. 35?. X Ibid. § Second Series, vol. viii., p. 52. || Ibid., p. 139t 164 API'ENDIX Iiope iufonned us that Mr St George, a connexion of his, held the very voluniiuniis jUM't-TS ol Sir H. Langrishe, and uot tlie jiresent baroaetT Tney threw, he said, great light ii the political history of the time, and he promised to give us access to them if desired. The articles written by Grattan were, as his son informs us, (vol. i., p. 185,) — " Tosthumous," ** Pericles," and the dedication of " Bara- tariana." He read them to his friends, and they were struck by his description of Lord Chatham. Gilbert's "Dublin" (vol. i., p. 294) tells us, what the "Life of Flood" does not, that the articles signed " Synderct)mbc " Vvere from Fh)od's pen. The volmiie of " l\iblic Charac- ters for 1806," in noticing William Doyle, K.C., and Mas- ter in Chancery, remarks (p. G4) that he was " universally :idm;red for his brilliant wit," and that "he contributed largely to ' Baratariana.' " To the second edition of the book, published in 1773, there is a])peiided the following so-called key ; but the difficulty is to recognise, at this distance of time, the names which have been initialed, and to supply them : — 1. Sancho, Lord T d. 2. Goreaiinelli, Lord A y. 8. Don Francisco Andrea del ) r>. n t:, a B} Kt. Jtlon. r B A B. uniperuso, J 4. Don Georgio Butic.arny, . . Sir O e M y. 6. Don Antonio lit. Hon. A y M e. C. Don John Alnagero, . . . lit. Hon. J — n H y H— ^ — n. 7. Don Philip Rt. Hon. P -p T 1. 8. Count Loftonso, . . . . L. L s, now E. of E y. 9. Don John, lit. Hon. J n P y. 10. Don Helena, E tH u, Esq. 11. Donna Dorothea del Men- ) -w. |^ rose, j ■ 12. Don Godf redo Lily, . . . G y L- U, Esq. 13. The Duke Fitzroyola, . . Duke oi G :i. 14. Cardinal Lapidaro, . . , The late Prim. S e. 15. The BUhop of Toledo, . . j ^"^ ^—^ \-^' ^^^ ^^^°P 1 6. Don Edwardo Swanzero, . E d S n, Esq. 1 7. Don Alexandro Cuninganibo ) o n del Tweedalero, f .. j Surgeon C m. 18. Donna Lavinia, Lady St L r. 19. Don Ricardo R d P r, Esq. The first named is George Viscount Townshend, who rf\.f BARATARIANA. 10. '> becime Lord Lieutenant of Irclan children. 4 SLANG SATIRES ON SHAMADO AND HIS FRIEND& By desire of the Publisher and others, we give, un- abridged, in this Appendix the songs from which, at ppi SO, 51, we quoted a few stanzas. The following is ex- * Memoin of Qrattui, b/ his son, voL iL, p. 175. 174. APPENDIX. liuinod from the dusty file of the Dullin Evening Post of April 4, 1789. A tradition ascribes the autliorsbip to a gentleman, long and familiarly known in Irclaud as *' Pleasant Ned Lysaght :" — THE INFORMERS. Tune — " The night before Larry vxu stretch'd." Paxoehoniuh's dread court was coii?ened by mandates from Beel- zebub's see, And a hoiTible gloominess reign'd through the vault at its bov> reign's beck; Tha chiefs were arranged near his throne; each imp took his speci- fied station ; All impatient until it was known whether anything threaten'd the nation, Or their friends had relinquish'd their yoke. At length the grim despot arose, (perceiving the fears of the meeting,) His infernal intent to disclose ; and thus he began, after greeting : — " Chiefs, things of the highest import, well worthy, I deem, your attention, Have occasiou'd this summons to court for holding a weighty con- vention, As I always take counsel in need. " To you I need hardly avow that my joys spring from mankind's undoing, -^ And your duty will urge you, I trow, to assist in a scheme I 've been brewing. Occasion most apt for my ends having started to try your alle- giance, ^ shall shortly diatinguish my friends by the promptitude of theij obedience ; Then, see that my will be observed. * Sweet confusion, if I have success, shall reward every care and endeavour, And the station of Premier shall bless the devil who proves tue moat clever. SATIRES ON SnAMADO AND HIS FWENDS. 1 75 Tlien look to yuar agonta on eartb, $06 vjlX who roay b««t b« relied on, To a plan we ourselves will give birth, — do you March out whoiu you can confide in, And let them be drawn to our aid." Then Beelzebub paused for reply; but their tumult assail'd him like thunder, Each having some friend in his eye, they near split hie tympanumB asunder. Albeit though used to much din, their zeal overleap'd all precedent. Till the sov'reign, with horrible grin, looked to tilence the mufct disobedient, And awed the demoniac crew. His Demosthen' gave in black rolls of their pets in onr capital city. And Beelzebub smiled at long scrolls, when 'twas moved to select a committee. He himself named Shamado as head ; others rank'd in their order of merit. y — ra and ns then led; and Iton to the assembly submitted, — All these were allow'd good and true. " My plan, then, concisely is this : Shamado must counsel Dick — j, his wigeon. To ensure — hit, miss, — and do you help to forward his pigeon. This signal must set on our crew, who eagerly strain for probation. And (honour now bid an adieu) let each urge his black informatioo. The rest is committed to fate." Hell rung with the loudest applause, and Beelzebub's pridi^ warn inflated ; The idea was his — his the cause ; every demon was likewise elated. The court then dissolved in a blaze ; each fiend laid his plan of proceeding. And, taking their devious ways, exulted, with hope of succeeding. In every malevolent aim. >7 From Erebus' depths rose each elf, who glow'd with infernal desire ; But their prince judged it fit that hinM'^H should al<«ie hold confab with the Squire. J 176 APPENPIX. Olose intimatai long though tkoy atood, thm case call'd for greater demerit, And conscience, though purged from all good, might have wanted hit famUiar $pirit ; For there 's nothing like aid from a chum. A.t his elbow the prince itraight appear'd, surrounded with sulphur- ous vapour, Juf>t as Shamado foundation had rear'd of a lie for his infamous paper. Mutual greetings soon pass between friendd who are rarely or ever asunder ; So Beelzebub mentiou'd the ends of th' assembly as holdien just under, And told him the state of the case. " 'Tis well," said Shamado. " Gracious sire, your law has been always my pleasure ; 1 conceive what your highness desires, — 'tis my duty to second the measure. The deeper I plunge for your sake, the higher I raise my condition; Then who would his fealty break to a prince who thus feeds his ambition. And gratifies every desire f *' Through life I 're acknowledged thy aid, and ai constantly tasted thy bounty,- — From the Newgate solicitor's trade, till a sub-sheriff placed in the county. iShall I halt in the midst of my sins, or sink fainting and trembling before 'em, When my honour thick-spreading begins — when, in fine, I am one of the quorum. And may in the Senate be placed. " No, my liege. Since thy favour increase. T am tied by their strong obligation ,* And, as vacant young minister's place, let your faithful engage in the station." The sov'reign, well pleased with the bit, sent an imp in his suite with a bullet. Told his counsel to make out the writ, and Shamado, the justice, would fill it, — The littMt on earth iur the ciiai^ge. SATIRES ON SHAMADO AND UlS FRIENDS. 1/7 Now the bustle of ciDce began, and the Devil, content with 'b chief menial, Set him loose for the rapine of man, as he acted from motiv&i. congenial. Like principles run through the group, each eagerly works in hia function, And their prince must confess such a troop never served him before in conjunction, 4.nd never again may be join'd. A NEW SONG TO THE TUNE OF "LARRY." {From the Dublin Evening Post of May 5, 1789.) Oh, de night afore Edgwort was tried, De Council dey met in despair, Geo Jos — was there ; and beside Was a doctor, a lord, and a player.* Justice Sham den silence proclaim'd, De Bullies dey all of dem harkeu'd ; Poor Edgwout says he will be framed; His daylights peihaps will be darkeu'd, - Unless we can lend him a hand. ¥ " Be de hokey ! " says Geo, " I 'm afraid I can't get him cut of his trouble; His blinkers I know they will shade. If his lordship don't tip him de double. To de Castle I 'd have him to go; He 'a de man dat can do such a job dere^ And get out de red-coats you know ; '^p And den we can keep off de mob dere, Hia peepers derby we can save." • -i, No sooner he 'd spoke de word whole, , But de colour edged off from dere faces. J, \ Says R0SCIUS+ " Now splinter your soul. , ^ | I 'd, by B, throw aces ; | • For a key to these characters, see p 50. t Richard Daly. (See po. 72, 75, 92, 91, &a} N 173 APPENDIX. Ay, rather be nick'd three times o'er. Supposing 'twas on de last etuke. Den hear you say so any more ; 'Twas a lie dat yourself you did make, To go for to frighten de Sham. * I 'm sorry such falseness to see Of a boy diit was bred in our school; You dog, if it was not for he, You 'd often gone hungrj' to . And now for a damnable tief To go and invent such a lie, I put your poor master in pain." Away den de Qii.ick he did fly, And de Council bruk up like a shot. , Says Sham, " He 's a boy of my own, By the ties of relation endear'd, — A fellow dat 's proof to de bono, Nor conscience nor devil e'er ftar'd. Young lloscius, I know, will subscribe, Becase dey have often play'd hazard ; De Sheriff we '11 try for to bribe. And not let 'em pelt his poor mazzard, To go for to mark it wid shame." Says the Quack, " Now blister my limba, But I send him a great deal of pity ; What signifies people's nice whims ? We know he can swear very pritty. In his paper he shall have de daub. I '11 tell Bucket de people will bless him, If now he will comfort poor Bob, When de laws of de land do distress him ; But I 'm told they will tell do wL^-le truth.* THE IRISH YEOMANRY IN 1798. (P. 106, ante.) The connivance of Dempsey, the yeoinan, at Lord Edward's escape is the more singular, when we remember that he belonged to a body which was notorious for its im- placability to suspected persons. The personal narratives of JTav, Clouey, Teelinjg, O'Ke^ly, the historic r^earches THE IKISH YEOMANRY IN 1798. 179 of Gladden, and the traditions of the people, furnish abun- dant anecdotes of their brutality. The following reminis- cences, ^communicated to us by the late Mrs Plunkett of Frescati — the early residence, by the way, of Lord Edward Fitzgerald — as they do not happen to have been i)rinted, may be given here. Mrs Plunkett was a Miss Barrington of the county Wexford, and belonged to an old and respec- table Protestant family. Previous to the outburst of the rebellion there was a noted bridewell at Geneva, in the county Wexford, wherein persons suspected of treasonable tendencies were incar- cerated, and from thence removed soon after to some dis- tant place of transportation. The betrothed of one young woman and the husband of another were cast into this prison. The women were permitted to visit the captives ; they exchanged clothes, and the men passed out unrecognised. When the young women were discovered occupying the cells, nothing could exceed the rage of the local yeomanry. They assembled a mock court-martial, found the fair conspirators guilty of having aided and abetted the escape of traitors, and then sentenced them to be tossed naked in a blanket. The yeomanry carried their decision into eflfect. They roughly tore the garments from theypung women, stripped them stark naked, and then prostrated them on the blanket which was jjrepared for their punishment. They were tossed unmercifully, amidst the brutal laughter of the assembled yeomanry. A Scotch regiment present had the manly feeling to turn their backs. The married woman was pregnant, and died from the eflfects of the treatment she received. The younger girl, a person of gre*t beauty, , was seriously injured both in body and mind. Mrs Plunkett frequently said, that on the approach of the yeo- manry, flushed with victory and revenge, Father Bren- nan, a near neighbour of hers, fled, leaving a deaf and dumb girl in charge of the chapel-house. Mortified at not finding the priest, and irritated at the girl's silence, the yeomanry cut out her tongue, which had refused to obey them, and placing her upon a dimghill, slowly tortured her to death ! About the same time, and in the saihe county, tl^e yeomaniy, after having sacked the chapel iind huii*^-Hl the 180 APPENDIX. priest, deputed .me of thexv corps to enter the confessional and persouiite the uood pastor. In tlie course of the day some youiig men on their way to the battle of Ouhir^ dropped in for al)S(>lution. One, who disclosed his iuten- tion, and craved the personated priest's blessing, was re- torted upon with a curse, while the yeoman, losing patience, flung off the soutane, revealing beneath his scarlet uniform. The youth was shot upon the spot, and his grav.e is still shown at Passage. The height to which party rancour ran was disgusting. Brunehaut, who condennied her foe to drink out of a mur- dered parent's skull, found imitators of her idiosyncracy in Ireland. Mjj^ G , the daughter of a Wexford terror- ist, directed many of the tortures which were so exten- sively practised ; and our informant knew her to gtir a t)Owl of punch with a croppy's finger ! Miss (jr was subsequently burnt with yeomen and others in tlie barn at ScuUabogue — an act which hag oast indelible stigma on the rebellicm in Wexford — and her screams were heard long after all others had ceased. A female servant of Airs Barrington's surprised her mis- tress, long after the rebellion, by confessing, " It was I went for the lighted turf which set fire to the barn at Scullybogue." Lord Cornwallis, the more humane viceroy who suc- ceeded Lord Camden, notices, in a letter to General lloss, the "ferocity and atrocity" of the yeomen, and that they take the lead in rapine and murder. He adds ; — " The feeble outrages, buriiings, and murders which are still committed by the rebels serve to keep up the sangui- nary disposition on our side ; and so long as they furnish a pretext for our parties going in quest of them, I see no prospect of amendment." » . " The conversation of the principal persons of the country all tend to encourage this system of blood ; and the con- versation even at my table, where you will suppose I do all I can to prevent it, always turns on hanging, shooting, burning, Ac, &c. ; and if a priest has been put to death, the greatest joy is expressed by the whole company. So much for Ireland and my wretched situation."* * Memoirs and Correspondence of the Marquis of Cornwallis, ToL ii., p. S<58. MR MACREADY'S STATEMENT. ]81 MR MACREADY'S STATEMENT. [After we had received from Mr Macready a verbal statement of the facts recited, (p. 113, nit given on hearsay by the late Lord Cloncurry, and quoted by Dr Madden, which represented Lawless effecting his escape in the guise of a butcher, carrying a side of bevf on his shoulder, we instituted inquiries as to the real facts, and the parties exclusively competent to state them ; and with this object we had an interview, in 1854, with the late Mrs Ryan of Upper Gardiner Street, then in her eighty-second year. GENERAL LAWLESS. 18/ After tlie break-up of the Executive Directory by the ancats at Oliver Bond's, a new one, composed of John and Henry Shears, William Lawless, and others, started into existence, dcterniined to carry out the pliina of the original founders. l^oclamations appeared, and several arresta were made ; but Lawless, owing to his own tact, and the presence of mind of his friends, escaped. Lawless was proceeding to his mother's house in French Street at a rapid pace, through Digges Street, when his sister, per- ceiving his ap[)roach, appeared at the drawing-room wia-" dow, iind motioned him to retire. The house was at that moment undergoing a search by Major Sirr and his myr- midons, and had Lawless come up, his life would, dou1>t- "icss, have paid the forfeit. It is a significant fact that, on the following day, Henry Sheares was arrested in the act of knocking at Lawless's door. The family of Mr Byrne, of Byrne's Hill, in the Liberty, was then staying at their country residence, near Kimmage, where 'Mr Byrne and Ills daughters, of whom our informant, Mrs Ryan, was one, provided Lawless with an asylum. He was concealed in a garret-bedroom, comnjunicating with a small clothes . closet, into which he retired at every approach, even of the servants, who were quite unconscious of his presence. Days rolled over, and the search, but without avail, con- tinued. Military and yeomanry scoured the country round. Major Sirr was so active, that some swore he possessed the alleged ornithological property of being in two places at once. The Lawyers' corps having been on duty near Kimmage, it was suggested that Mr Byrne's house should be searched ; but a gallant nephew of Lord Avonmore, who commanded, refused to sanction this proceeding, in consequence of Mr Byrne's absence, and the presence of several ladies in the house. Lawless thanked his stars ; but the fears of the family were greatly excited by the proximity of his pur suers, and they resolved at all hazards to remove him to Dublin previous to making one desperate effort to reach France. Word was sent to Philip Lawless, an eminent brewer, residing at Warrenmount, the elder brother of William, to send his carriage to Mr Byrne's to convey him tc town. Mrs Eyan^then Miss Byrne, dressed Lawless in a loose 188 APPENDIX. whWe wrapper of her own, and a close beaver bonnet. Aa Lawless possessed a pale, sallow countenance, Miss Byrne applied some effective touches, not of ordinary nnige, but of lake paint, to his cheeks. The outlaw, accompanied by Mrs Ryan and her two sisters, entered the carriage and proceeded openly at noon-day to Dublin. The rebellion had not yet burst forth. No opposition was offered to the ordinary transit of vehicles. When half way to Dublin, a party of yeomanry scowled into the carriage, but not de- tecting anything suspicious, suffered it to proceed. Having .arrived at the residence of Mrs Lawless, the outlaw sent for a suit of sailor's clothes and donned them ; but his long pale face was far from disguised. To effect this desidera- tum, Lawless placed upon his head an immense coil of cable, which he so arranged that a large portion descended upon his forehead, and went far to baffle recognition. As he proceeded with this burthen in the direction of Roger- son's Quay, the redoubtable Major Sirr passed him closely, but the disguise was so perfect, that no suspicion seems - to have been excited. Lawless gained greater confidence from this moment, reached the. wharf, embarked on board ft merchant vessel, and a favourable wind soon wafted him to the shores of France. He entered the military service of that country, gained distinction, lost a leg, and died a general in 1824. One of the Irish refugees. Colonel Byrne, addressing ' the present writer in a letter dated " Paris, Rue Mon- il taigne, February 18, 1854," says : — I " Lord Clonciirry committed a mistake in his ' Personal Recollections ' respecting General Lawless having lost his leg at Flushing, in August 1809. He lost it at the battle of LovA'enberg, in August 1813. It appeared ridicuh)us that a colonel with but one leg should be put at the head of a regiment of infantry in a campaign by Napoleon." • Colonel Byrne adds : " T have made notes of the principal events and transactions that came within my knowledge during the insur- rection of 1798, as well as that of 1803. If I thought their publica- tion could in any way tend to benefit my native country, I would cheerfully get them printed ; but I am well aware that the present time is not a propitious moment. I trust a time may come when the publication of such documents will be encouraged. Tiiey will ■how the efforts and sacrifices t-hat were made to procure the inde- LORD EDWAKD FITZGERALD. T89 In Ireland Lawless had been a physician of great promise, and filled the chair of Physiology and Anatoui)' at the College of Surgeons. Another eminent medicai man, Dr Dcase, Professor of the Practice of JSurgery, was also deeply implicated : but he lacked the moral energy of Lawless, and, on tilnely information reaching him that a warrant was in progress for his apprehension, lie retired to his study, and died, like Cato, by his own hand. A tine white marble bust of this physician, insciil>ed " Wil- liam Dea.se, obiit 17"J8," is preserved in the Hall of the College of Surgeons. The old man's brow, furrowed by years of earnest honest labour, and the intelligent exines- sion of his eye, prematurely quenched, awaken painful emotions.* William Lawless possessed a cultivated literary taste ; and in the Irish Masonic Magazine for 1794, many poems from his pen may be found. He had been a member of the lloyal Irish Academy ; but Faulkner's Dublin Journui for 1802 announces his expulsion on political grounds. LORD EDWAPtD FITZGERALD. A late eminent writer, Mr Daniel Owen Maddyn, author of " Ireland and its Rulers," " Revelations of Ireland," " The Age of Pitt and Fox," " Chiefs of Parties," &c., in a letter to the author, written a few days before his death, stiongly recommended that the present work, of which we gave him an outline, should be entitled, •' Lord Edward Fitzgerald and his Bloodhounds," and enclosed a story which he rightly considered would form an interesting note. The story, whether true or false, ran to this effect : — " Lady C — — was ^xtremely anxious to disco vei where her father was interred, so as to give him decent pendence of Ireland." Colonel Byrne has since paid the debt oi. , nature, and the work in question has been published under the aus- pices of his widow, a sister to the late Francis Homer. • A stoiy la told to the effect that Dr Dease, having made a fat^ mistake in professional treatment of a patient, c6mmitted suicilie; / but the true circumstances of his death we believe to be as above Ci^'^n, «*ud this account we find corroborated by Dr Madden. 190 APPENDIX. sojinlture. It w.as said that he had been buried in various pLu'os ; but on exaniiuing them, it* was found that the information was erroneous. After much investigation, she was at last referred to one old man, who, it was stated, could tell her. " She accordingly went to this pauper's house, and found a man in bed, and no sooner did lie see her than ho said, * I know who you are — you must be the daughter of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, you are so like him.' She told him the object of her visit, and then he related to her that he had lingered about Newgate when her father died, and that after nightfall he saw six men bearing out a shell, and that he followed them until they came to Werburgh'a Church, and that he saw them take the coffin into the vaults of the church, and that, unperceived by them, he Btole into the vaults after them, and saw where they de- posited the coffin. From intensity of feeling, in the wihf- ness of grief for his lost master, he stayed all that night in the vaults, and in order to mark the coffin he scratched the letters ' E. F.' on the lid. In doing this he used a rusty old nail which he had picked up. He had great difficulty afterwards in forcing his way out through a grated window. " He then put his arm into his breast and took' out a rag of cloth, gave Lady C-; the identical nail, and told her to go to Werburgh's Church. She went there with htr friends, and in the vaults she discovered the coflfin exactly as it had been described by her informant, and the letteis * E. F.' incised on it several inches long. '* Such," adds .Mr Maddyn, *' is the story told me by a member of the bar — a Tory, and a man moving in capital society." In the churchyard of St Werburgh is also buried Major Birr, by whose hand Lord Edward fell See Appendix, p. 220. JOHN AND HENRY SHEARES. The Brothers Sheares were natives of Cork, whither the younger had proceeded, early in May 1798, for the pur- JOUN AND HENRY SIIEAKES. 191 pose of organising that county. An energetic co-oiierator iu this movenicnt was a silversmith named Conway, o native of Diibliu. The treachery of this man was so art- fully concealed that his most intimate friends never sus- pected him. *' If those who join secret societies," writes a Cork correspondent, " could get a peep at the records of patrioiic perfidy kept in the Castle, they would get some in-iiglit into the dangerous consequences of meddling with them. There is a proverbial honour amongst tliieves ; there seems to be none amongst traitors. The publication of the olK- cial correspondence about the end of the last century made some strange revelations. In Cork, there lived a watch- maker, named Conway, one of the directory of the United Irishmen there. So public and open a professor of dis- loyal sentiments was he, that on the plates of his watches he had engraved as a device a harp without a crown. For a whole generation this man's name was preserved as ' a sufferer for his country,' like his ill-fated townsmen, John and Henry Sheares. The * Coniwallis Correspondence,' (vol. iii., p. 85,) reveals the fact that Conway was a double- dyed traitor ; that he had oflfered to become a secret agent for detecting the leaders of the United Irishmen, and tliat the information he gave was very valuable, particularly as confirming that received from a solicitor in Belfast, who. whilst acting as agent and solicitor to the disaffected party, was betraying their secrets to the executive, and earning, in his vile role of informer, a pension, from 1799 to 1804, of XI 50, and the sum of XI 460, the wages he received for his services." The fate of the Sheares has been invested with some- thing of a romantic interest ; and nut a few traditional ac- counts describe their end as not less saintly than that of Charles the First. Into, their case, as in that of other political martyrs, some romance has been imported ; and as ti-uth is stranger than fiction, we miay tell an anecdote communicated to us by the late John Patten, brother-in- law of Thomas Addis fenmet. The She;ireses, though nominally Protestants, were tinged with deistical ideas. " 1 heard it stated," observed Mr Patten, " that when the hangman was in the act of adjusting the noosn round the I i02 APPENDIX. neck of John Slicares before proceeding to tlie sciitTold, he exclainiod, * D — ii you, do you want to kill me before jny time ? ' I could not credit it, and asked tlie Jlev. l>r Gamble, who attended thciii in their last moments, if the statement were collect. ' 1 aui sony to «ay,' replied Dr Gamble, * tliat it is perfectly true. 1 nijself jjie.ssed my ]iand aLjaiiist his mouth to prevent a repetiliou of the im- ^'necation.' " THE TwEIGN OF Ti:UROR IN IllELAND. (See p. 107, ante.) Exi;option has been taken to imj)ressions of the reign of ti'iTor in Ireland, whether derived from traditional sources ■which possess no personal knowledge of it, and, on the jirinciple tliat a story never loses in its carriage, may be jiiiiiie to exaggeratiitn ; or from the testimony of partisan jiarticipators in the slriigi;k', who slill smart from the com- bined etfocts of wrong received and unsatisfied vengeance. The Viceroy, Lord Coiiiwallis, is at least a witness above suspicion. In a letter dated April 15, 17D9, he writes : — " On my arrival in this country I put a stop to the burning of houses and murder of the inhabitants by the yeomen, or any other persons who delighted in that amuse - meat; to the Hogging for the j)uri)ose of extorting confes- sion ; and to the free-quarters, which comprehend universal rape and I'obbery throughout the whole country." And on the 24th July 1708, we are assured, "except in the in- stances of the six state trials that are going on here, there is no law either in town or county but martial law, and you know ent)ugh of that, to see all the horrors of it, even in the best administration of it. Judi;e, then, how it must be conducted by Irishmen, heated with passion and re- venge. But all this is trilling compared with the uumber- Icss nmrders which are hourly committed by our people without any process or examination whatever."* To either of the objections just noticed, advanced by persons who are sceptical as to the extent of the Irish lleign of Terror, General Sir George Cockburn, who fought * Coiiejii)ouJeiir-*' of iliii'^ui- Coruwallis, vol. ii., p. S68. GENERAL COCKBUKN'S '* STEP-LADDIfR,' 193 against the rebels, is not open. From his representative, Phineas Cockburn, Esq., of Shangana Castle, we have re- ceived several interesting MlSlS. in tlie aut(»grai)h of the General, which possess much interest for the students of the calamitous period of '98. " Sampson's papers," observes General Cockburn, in a letter to Lord Anglesey, " contained details of most hor- rible outrages on the people, of cruelty and foul deeds. Of course violence begets violence, and. though the people in many cases were driven to retaliation, it was not before murder, burning, destruction of j/ropcrty, often on sus- picion of being suspected, and flogging, drove them to despcuation.'' The following curious paper has, with others, been placed at our disposal by Mr Cockburn : — **IHE STEP-LADDER, OR A PICTURE OF THE IRISH GOVERN- MENT AS IT WAS BEFORE LORD CORXWALLIS S AR AND DURIKO THE SYSTEM OF TKRROR, ETC. No. 1. — The Cabinet, viz., No. 2. — Under-strappers to do., I No. 3. — Strong supporters of do., of Orangeism, jobbing and corruption, No. 4. — Servants to Faction, viz.. the ' The Chancellor, . Sijeaker, . C. Casliel (Archbishoj: Castlereagh, J. Eeresford, Commiss: E. Cooke, . Drogluda, . Glentworth, Carhampton, J. Claudius Eeresford Enniskillen, Lees, i Carleton, . , Terry, i Isciac Cony, '' Waterfora, Aiiuesley, . . Elaquire, . Londonderry,', Toler, V, Kingsborougb. . IVAL, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 U 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 194 APPENDIX. No. 5. — Very mischievous men, and enemies to liberty, No. 6. — R n Magis- trates, always ready to murder, burn, &c., No. 7. — Miscreants, . No. 8. — Spies, viz., . . No. 9. — Turnkey and Gaol- er to the Faction, iDowushire, . .22 Dillon, ... 23 Trench, . . .24 Dr Duignan, . . 25 O'Beirne.Bp of Meath, 26 Tuam (Archbishop), . 27 ^ Alexander, Mem. Derry, 28 /■Burns, Meath, \ Finley, do., Cleghorn, do., S. H. Mannix, Cork, Fitzgerald, Tipperary, 29 Jacob, do, Tyirel,* Kildare, Kiiipe, do., Griffith, do., \Blaney, Monaghan,; Sirr, . . .30 Swan, . . .31 Sands, . . .32 Giffard, ... 33 Hempenstall, Lt. M., 34 Spectacle Knox, . 3J Higgins, . . .36 r Armstrong, . . 37 < Reynolds, . , .38 (Cope,t . . .39 40 JGodfry," . * This entry hns elicited, since publication, a protest from the re- presentatives of the late Captain Tyrrel, J.P , of Ballinderry,- county Kildare. We have instituted inquiries on the subject, and find that this family were always oopular. General Cockburn probably refei-s to anothe'* party. t Another remonstrance has reached us from Sir William H. Oope, Bart., who, not unnaturally, complains that the word "spy " should be applied to his late grandfather. As the phrase occurs in a document written by General Cockburn, it is impossible to alter it; but we can have nodiflBculty in saying, that although Mr. U >^ a urged Beynolda to res-rt to bet»i^'ai uud es^>i«^uagc, he wjj LOi':D CLA.IE, , 195 A few remarks in illustration of tlie persons eiivimerj'.tcil in the " Step- Ladder " of General Cockburn serves to dis- close a condensed history of the time. 1. Lord Chancellor Clare was the son of John Fitzgibbon, who had received his education for the Roman Catholic priesthood, but preferring civil to canon law, conformed, with a view to becoming a member of the bar. The subse- quent Lord Clare was appointed attorney-general in 1784, and five years later attained the topmost rung of " the step- ladder," from whence he looked down with supercilious scorn on those by whose aid he had risen. He rapidly covered all Ireland with his partisans. Both houses of Parliament became his automatons. Of coercion he was an uncompromising advocate. In 1784, as alleged by Plowden, he introduced a bill for demolishing Roman Catholic chapels. In Parliament he defended the use of torture. In private, as his letters to Lord Castlereagh show, he upset the bill of Catholic relief, which, according to Mr Pitt's promise, was to have accompanied the Act of Union. But it should be remembered by the assailants of Lord Clare's reputation, that, unlike many of the influential men enumerated in General Cockburn's " step-ladder," he, at least, was politically consistent, and did not commence his career in the ranks of the tribunes. In action he was impulsive, fearless, and. despotic. Rushing to a political meeting convened by the High Sheriff of Dublin, and at- tended by one friend only, this, the most unpopular man in all Ireland, interrupted a democratic orator in his address, commanded the mob to disperse, almost pushed the high sheriff from the chair, and threatened an ex officio informa- tion. The sheriff', panic-stricken, dissolved the meeting. If hissed in the street. Lord Clare pulled out pistols.* He powerfully contributed to carry the Union. His ambition was indomitable, and he aspired to transfer his boundless influence to the wider field of England. He had placed several viceroys in succession beneath his thumb. Might himself neither a spy nor a betrayer. Sir William Cope's able indication of his grandfather from General Cockburn's accusa- tion of " Spy," will be found at the conclusion of our notes to th« « Step-ladder. ■• * Unpublished Diary of Lord Clonmel, p. 449. 196 APPENDK. ' he not also atUin an ascendency over the personage whom they represented 1 " If I live," said Lord Clare, when the measure was brought before the House of Peers, " if I live to see the Union completed, to my latest hour I shall feel an honour- able pride in reilecting on the little share I may have had in contributing to effect it." His first speech in the British Parliament met with in- terruption and rebuffs. He abused tlie Catholics, ridiculed his country, was called to order by Lord Suffolk, rebuked , by the Lord Chancellor, resumed, was again called to order, lost temper, and stigmatised the opposition as " Jacobin.( and levellci'S." " We would not bear this insult from an equal," exc'ivimed the Duke of Bedford; " shall we endure it at the hcin.^s of mushroom nobility V Even Mr Pitt was disgusted. •' Gt»od Q — d," said he, addressing Mr Wilber- force, " did ever you hear, in all your life, so great a rascal as that?" Mr Grattan mentions, in the memoirs of his father, that this anecdi^te was stated by Mr Wilbe'rforce to Mr North. Crestfallen, Lord Clare returned to Ireland, where he found a number of hungry place-seekers awaiting his arrival. " Ah," said he, as he began to calculate his influence, and found it wanting, " 7, that once had aU Ireland at my dis- posal, cannot now nominate the appointment of a gauger." His heart broke at the thought, and on January 28, 1802, Lord Clare, after a painful illness, and while yet compara- tively young, died.* His death-bed presented a strange picture. Charles Phillips says he ordered his papers to be bumedjt as hundreds might be compromised. In Grattan's • A few days after the Sham Squire's demise. Lord Clare, not- withstanding his avowed tendency to foster political profligacy, pos- Bessed the redeeming virtue of having snubbed the Sham Squire. t It has been mentioned by the Atken(Bum, (No. It34) as a signi- ficant fact, that nearly all those who were concerned in carrying the Union had destroyed their papers, and Lord Clare, Sir Edward Littlehales, with Messrs Wickham, Taylor, Marsden, and King, were instanced. It is also remarkable, that all the MS. reports of the eloquent anti- Union speeches, with the MSS. of many pamphlets hostile to the measure, were purchased from Moore the publisher, and burnt by order of Loixi Castlereagh. See Grattan's Memoirs, voL v., p. 180. Lord Clonmel, in his last moments, expressed much anxiety tr> destroy his papers. His nephew. Dean Scott, who assisted in the •ondagration, assured Mr Grattan that one letter in particular com- MB FOSTEE. 197 Memoirs it is stated, on the authority of Lord Clare's nephew, that he bitterly deplored having taken any part in effecting the Union. Plowden states that he vainly called for the assistance of a Catholic priest ; but we have never seen the allegation confirmed. His funeral was insulted by nmch of the indecency which attended Lord Castlereaghs in Westminster Abbey. In one of Lord darn's s])eeches he declared, that he would make the Catholics as tame as cats. Dead cats were flung upon his hearse and his grave. Lord Cloncurry, in his " Recollections," says that he was obliged to address the infuriated populace from the balcony of Lord Clare's house in Ely Place, ere they could be in- duced to relinquish the unseemly hooting which swelled the death-knell of John, Earl of Clare. 2. " Mr Foster, we leam, was for several years not only the supporter, and indeed the ablest supporter of the admin- istration, but the conductor and manager of their schemes and operations."* He sternly opposed tlie admission of Catholics to the privileges of the constitution ; but Ireland must always remember him with gratitude for the deter- mined hostility with which, as Speaker of the Irish Parlia- ment, he opposed the Legislative Union. Feeling that the papers of ilr Foster (afterwards Lord Oriel) would throw great light upon the history of the Union, we asked the late Lord IMassareene, who represented him, for permission to see them, but it appeared that the Honourable Chichester Skeffington " seized" the archives after Lord Ferrard's death, and Lord Massareene never saw them after. pletely revealed Lord Castlereagh's scheme to foster the Rebellion of '98 in order to carry the Union. The purchase of Lord De Blaquire's papers by the Government appears in our notice of that personage. Mr Commissioner Phillips tells ns that the debates on the Union called into operation all the oratorical talent of Ireland, but their record haa been suppressed, and that the volume contain- ing the session of 1800 is so inaccessible, that it has been sought for in vain to complete the series in the library of the House of Lorda Whether by accident or design, the materials for a true history of the Union are yearly becoming less. The late Lqrd Lond^nde^•y has recorded that the ship which was conveying a chest of the most valuable of his brother Castlereagh's papers foundered, and the papers were lost ! Beview of the Irish House of Commona, p, 129, 198 APPKNDIX. 3. Charles Agar was appointed Archbishop of Cashel in 1779, translated to Dublin in 1801, and created Earl of Normanton in 1806. Long before he obtained these high promotions, Lord Clonmel clearly saw that he was a very ambitious man. When we learn that his Grace acquired £40,000 by a single renewal fine, the statement that he amassed a fortune of £400,000 is not surprising.* Lord Normanton would seem to have been more active as a »>rivy councillor than as a prelate, for Archbishop Magee neclared that " the diocese of Dublin had been totally neglected" by his predecessors. + A savage biographical liOtice of Archbishop Agar apjiears in Cox's Irish Maga- zine for August 1809, pp. 382-4, together with some lines beginning : — " Adieu, thou mitred nothingness, adieu, tf Thy failings many, and thy virtues few." Yet amid the sectarian strife of that day it is pleasant to find " C, Cashel" in amicable epistolary correspondence with his rival, Dr James Butler, Roman Catholic Arch- bishop of the same diocese. | 4. Lord Castlereagh, who, falsifying the hyperbolical apothegm of Dr Johnson that " patriotism was the last refuge of a scoundrel," began political life in the ranks of the patriots. Of his hostility to the lordly ii\j;erest, and identifi- cation with the reform or popular party, the autobiographies of Teeling and Sampson furnish curious particulars. His •electioneering agent on those principles was Neilson the Rebel. Lord Castlereagh's subsequent career is too notori- ous to require special detail. Dr Madden calls him the Robespierre of Ireland, and says that his memory has " the faint sickening smell of hot blood about it." lord Cornwallis writes of him in 1798 — "I have every reason to be highly satisfied with Ijord Castlereagh, who is really a verj' uncommon young man." This " uncommon young man " exerted himself certainly in an uncommon way. He writes, in a letter marked "Most Secret," dated Dublin * Dalton'a Archbishops ol Dublin, p. 851. + Charge delivered October 24, 1822, p. 33. X Renehan's Irish Church Hist'jry, edited by Rev. D. M'Cartbjr p. 34& i LORD CASTLEUEAGH. 1S9 Castle, Januaiy 2, 1799, and printed in the " Comwallis Papers," — " My dear Sir, — Already we feel the want, and indeed the absolute necessity of the prirtt-uni mobile. We cannot give that activity to the press which is requisite. We have good materials amongst the young barristers, but we cannot expect them to waste their time and starve into the bargain. I know the difficulties, and shall respect them as much as possible, in the extent of our expenditure ; but, notwithstanding every difficulty, I cannot help most earnestly requesting to receive £5000 in bank-notes by the first messenger." This letter is addressed- to one of tne Government officials iij ^jondon, and ample remittances came forthwith. Ireland, when weak and prostrate from loss of blood, was robbed by Lord Castlereagh of its virtue and its parliament. The corruption he practised to silence opposition has been sometimes denied ; but little attempt to disguise it appears in his own correspondence, not- withstanding the ample weeding which it admittedly underwent. " It will be no secret," writes the unprincipled states- man, " what has been promised, and by wluxt means the Union has been secured. His appointment will encourage, not prevent, disclosures ; and the only effect of such a pro- ceeding on their (the ministers') part will be, to add the weight of their testimony to that of the anti-unionists in proclaiming the profligacy of the means by which the mea- sure has been accomplished."* The " Cornwallis Papers " are much less reticent than the printed correspondence of Lord Castlereagh. Mr Wick- ham writes, on January 7, 179'9, in reply to Lord Castle- reagh's appeal for money, that " a messenger will be sent off to-morrow with the remittance [£5000,] particularly required for the present moment;" and that "the Duke of Portland has every reason to hope that means will soon be found of placing a larger sum at the Lord Lieutenant's dis- i>osaL'' Lord Castlereagh, on January 10, thus acknow- edges the money : — " The contents of the messenger's de- spatches are very interesting. Arrangements with a vie\r to further communications of the sanse nature will \x. * Memoirs and CorrespondeDce of Viscount Castlereagh, voL iii p. 331. ?00 APPENDIX. highly adv ante. 9. Of Lord Carhampton we have already spoken fully. See pp. 46-49, ante. 10. John CLiudius Beresford, son of Mr Commissioner r»eresford, already noticed, succeeded him as a member of "the Irish Backstairs Cabinet" He expressed a wish for the rebellion, that Mr Pitt might see with what promp- titude it could be crushed. In conjunction with Major Sirr, Mr Beresford maintained a battalion of spies, which octogenarians sometimes refer to as " Beresford's Blood- hounds." He largely helped to stimulate the rebellion of '98 by a generally coercive policy, which was cruelly fol- lowed up by the administration of torture. This was practised under the personal direction of John Claudius Beresford, both at the riding school in Marlborough Street and on the site of the present City HalL When Lord Castlereagh endeavoured to ignore the charge, Mr Beres- ford in Parliament not only admitted but defended the vile practice. He was secretary to the Grand Lodge of Orangemen, and infused their views into almost every department of the Irish Government. The capriciousness of popular feeling in his regard was quite as remarkable as the mercurial movement of his own chequered career. Having creditably filled the oflBce of Lord Mayor of Dublin, his carriage was drawn through the streets by the same mob which had often previously execrated him. The vicissitude which marked the later career of John Claudius Beresford strikingly contrasts with his power anterior to the union. In partnership with Mr Wood- mason he opened a bank at No. 2 Beresford Place, Dublin. One day the bank broke, and Beresford was a bankrupt, cut by those who had formerly cringed. A man's good fortune often turns his head; but bad fortune as often LORD ENNI8KILLEN. 203 ■verts the heads of his friends. Beresford was, perhaps, an illustration of both ends of the apothegm. Some persons who had known him in his glory pitied the dd attenuated man, with bent back and threadbare clothes — a well-known spectacle in the streets of Dublin for many years after, preaching in silent exposition, "Sic transit gloria mundi ! " John Claudius Beresford strongly op- posed the Union, not, we fear, on patriotic grounds, but because it was likely to stem the torrent of his own ambition. His character was not without some good points, and he is said to have been charitable in disburse- ment, and of private worth in his family. In the Imperial Parliament he represented the County of Waterford, the great stronghold of his race, further noticed in our sketch of the Marquis of Waterford. 11. Lord Enniskillen, a vigorous speaker in the Irish Parliament, presided at a drum-head trial of a yeoman, named Wollagan, for murder, and acquitted him. "It was an atrocious murder," writes Plowden ; " every aggra- vating circumstance was proved. No attempt was made to contradict any part of the evidence : but a justification of the horrid murder was set up, as having been committed under an order of the commanding officer, that if the yeomen should meet with any whom they knew or sus-. pected to be rebels, they needed not be at the trouble of bringing them in, but were to shoot them on the spot, that it was almost the daily practice of that corps to go out upon scouring parties." Lord ComwaUis, the new viceroy, condemned the verdict, and disqualified Lord Enniskillen from sitting on any new court-martiah* 12. Mr John Lees, a Scotchman, accompanied Lord Townshend to Ireland as private secretary. He was appointed Secretary at War and Secretary to the Post- Office in Dublin, and in 1804 received the honour of a baronetcy. 13. Lord Carleton, the son of a trader in Cork,t who, as Lord Clonmel, in his unpublished diary, tells us owed all to his patronage, and whom he concludes by abusing as " an ungrateful monster,'' wais appointed Solicitor-General * Plowden's History of Ireland, vol ii., p. 614. f Sleater'j Dublin Chronicle for IJdl. 2f»4 APPENDIX. ?n 1779, Gbief-Justice of the Common Pleas in 1787, Baron in 1789, and Viscount eight years later. In his policy on the question of the Legislative Union, Lord Oarleton was not consistent. We find him at first giving his sentiments decidedly against it, and a few weeks later twowing himself a supporter of the measure. Sir Jonah Barrington, in his "Personal Sketches," (L 475,) writes : — " Lord Curleton, as Justice of the Common Pleas, had rendered himself beyond description obnoxious to the disaffected of Ireland, in consequence of having been the judge who tried and condemned the two Coun- sellors Sheares, who were executed lor treason, and to whom that nobleman had been testamentary guardian by the will of their father." The latter statement thus em- phatically italicised by Barrington, is one of the startling myths in which he habitually indulged. The will of Mr Sheares contains no allusion whatever to the Chief-Justice. 14. Sexten Pery was originally a patriot of ultra energy, and of considerable influence with his party. During the corrupt administration of Lord Townshend, Perry was seduced from his popular principles. In the year 1771 he was appointed Speaker, and in 1785 created Viscount Perry. Lord Clonmel, himself a most clear- , sighted critic, writes of Perry in his tJnpublished Diary : — " He seems to me the best model oi worldly wisdom now extant ; he is never oflF his guard." * The Diary shows that Lord Clonmel, who also began his earner as an ardent patriot, made Perry his constant study and model. Mr O'Regan, of the Irish Bar, writing in 1818, bemoans that Perry, Malone, and Avonmore should have no bio- grapher : " What records have we of those who flourished for the last fifty years, the most memorable period q^ our history ? Where, then, in what archives are deposited monuments of our illustrious dead ? Where, but in ' Lodge's Peerage,' are to be found any traces of Lord Perry ?" + We are able to answer one of the questions asked by the biographer of Curran. The historic investigators of ihe life of Perry and his times may be glad to know that • Unpublished Diary of John Scott, Lcjrd Clonmel, p. S50. "t" Memoirs of Curran, preface, p. xv. CORRY AND GUATTAN. 205 at Dungannou Park, the residence of the youthful Lord Ranfurley, is preserved an immense collection of lettere addressed to the late Lord Perry when he was Speaker of the Irish House of Commons * 15. The Honourable Isaac Corry, Chancellor of the Irish Exchequer, and M.P. for Newry, where his father was a respectable trader, joined the Whig Opposition, and for several years distinguished himself by the violence of his patriotism : but during Lord Buckingham's administration he was appointed Surveyor of Ordnance at a salary of £1000 a year, which was followed by further promotion. Official peculation had attained a fearful pitch at this time. In the Ordnance and Treasury, the grossest frauds pervaded almost every departmept The public stores were plundered with impunity in open aay. The arms, ammunition, and military acci:)utrements, condemned as useless, were stolen out at one gate, and brought in at the other, and charged anew to the public account. Journeymen armourers, who worked in the arsenal, seldom went home to their meals without conveying away a musket, a sword, or brace of pistols, as lawful perquisites, and sanctioned by the con- nivance of the superiors. Clerks in subordinate depart- partments, with salaries not exceeding .£100 per annum, kept handsome houses in town and country, with splendid establishments ; some of them became purchasers of loans and lotteries : all exhibited signs of redundant opulence, t During the debate on the Union, Grattan, with, we think, less point than usual, stung the vulnerable ministerialist by calling him " a dancing-master ;"' Corry challenged his satirist; they left the House, and before the debate ter- minated, Corry was shot through the arm.f 16, The Marquis of Waterford was the leading member of the powerfully influential family of the Beresfords. In conjunction with his brother he hurled, by their might, the * Letter of Henry Alexander, Esq., guardian of Lord Ranfurley, dated Carlton Club, July 7, 1860. + Plowden's History of Ireland, voL ii, p. 279. X Orattan cultivated unerring aim in conjunction with accurate eloquence. In the secluded woods of Tenahinch he might be some- times seen declaiming with Demosthenic energy, and the next hour lodging bullets in particular trees which still bear marks of the havo& 20G APPENDIX. liberal viceroy, Lord Fitzwilliam, from office, and provoked from tl)e latter a remark in the English House of Peers, to the effect, that it was impossible to effect any good in Ire- land unless the power of the Beresfords could be destroyed.* Not until 1826 was this desirable consummation achieved. At the Waterford election in that year, the Beresfords re- ceived, from the forty-shilling freeholders, their death-blow. " I did not think," said Shell, " that there was so much virtue under rags." This telling stroke was planned and inflicted by Dr Kelly, K. C. Bishop of Waterford. 17. Lord Annesley was a person of some influence in 1798, and following years, but he did not long enjoy his )>()wer. Lord Annesley died without issue, December 19, 1802, — the year which also terminated the lives of the Sham Squire and Lord Clare. 18. Sir John, afterwards Lord De Blaquire, represents one of the Huguenot families of whom we have spoken, p. 71, ante. Patronised by Lord Harcourt, he accepted the office of bailiff of the Phoenix Park, to which the small salary of £40 a year was attached, with the use of a little lodge, a garden, grass for two cows, and half-a-crown per head for all cattle found trespassing in the Park. The first piece of his cleverness was shown in contriving to make the salary £50 per annum for his own life and that of the king's two eldest sons ; with liberty to graze cattle to an unlimited extent. Sir John was a pluralist in sine- cures, and amongst the rest filled the ofiice of Director of Public Works.+ He applied for a more comfortable re- sidence, which the Board of Works built for him at the public expense of £8000. Sir John, however, was not yet satisfied. The garden being small, he successfully petitioned for a larger one, whereupon he took in about * Lord Clare, writing to the Right Honourable J. C. Bereeford, saya : — «» The more I consider the fl.agrant and unwarrantable calumnies which he [Lord Fitzwilliam] deals out so flippantly against you, the more I am decided in my opinion that you ought in the first instance to bring an action against him for defamation, and lay it in the city of London. He had fifty copies of thia memoir made out by the clerks in the different offices in the Castle, which were distributed by his order." — Beresford Correspondence, vol. i! . p 88. t r.iiiiiiigton's Personal Sbo+.«hc3. toL L, p. 194. SIB JOHN DK BLAQUIirK. 207 ten acres, which he surrounded by a wall, also at the ex- pense of the nation.* But it is De Blaquire's connexion with the Legislative Union, and the rare astuteness with which he promoted the success of that measure, on which his fame as a diplomatist historically rests. " Sir John Blaquire is disposed to exert himself very much,"t observes Lord Castlereagh in communicating the good news to the Duke of Rutland, on January 7, 1799. " The entrance to * a woman's heart," said the first Napoleon, " is through her eye or ear; but the way to a man's heart is down his throat." De Blaquire illustrated the wisdom of the apo- thegm. " He enjoyed," says Sir Jonah Barrington, " a revenue sufficiently ample to enable him to entertain his friends as well, and far more agreeably, than any other person I had previously met. Nobody understood eating and drinking better than Sir John De Blaquire ; and no man was better seconded in the former respect, than he was by his cook, whom he brought from Paris. "J Lord Comwallis, in recommending De Blaquire for a peerage, writes : — " Sir J. Blaquire governed this country for some years, and he has since held his rank in Dubliu as a political character of no small consequence. § For some notice of the intrigues with which De Blaquire had secured influential support to the Union, see "The Rise and Fall of the Irish Nation." A few years ago, one of his descendants found a trunk of old dusty papers csilcu- lated to throw great light on the history of the Union. This gentleman is said to have offered the entire trunkful to the Wellingtpn government for £100 ; his proposal, it is also said, was eagerly accepted ; and we have heard him ridi- culed by his friends for being so silly as not to have stipu- lated for a couple of thousand pounds, which would have been acceded to, they allege, with equal alacrity. 19. Lord Londonderry, father of Lord Castlereagh, was an active agent in checking the popular plots of the time ; but that his lordsliip was not without misgivings as to the result^ may be inferred from the fact, mentioned in the • Irish Political Characters, 1799, p. 150. + Memoirs and Correspondence of Lord Castlereagh, toL ii., p. && + Personal Sketches by Sir Jouah Barrington, voL i., p. 193. I Comwallis CorresDO"deDce, Letter of July II. 1800. ■-.- r '?08 APPEiJDlX. " Castlereagh Papers," (ii 331,) that he would not take bank-notes in payment of rent. 20. John Toler, afterwards Lord Norbury, it will be re- membered, was counsel for the Sham Squire, in the case Higgina v. Magee. It may without much injustice be said of him, that for thirty years he performed the triple i-ole of bully, butcher, and buffoon. His serrices in the first capa city proved useful to the then guvemment, and helped him far more than his law to judicial elevation.* His old pas- sions and prejudices clung to him as a judge ; he browbeat timid counsel ; and has been* known to suggest mortal combat by remarking " that he would not seek shelter be- hind the bench, or merge the gentleman in the Chief Jus- tice." His relish for a capital conviction was undisguised; a document before us mentions the almost incredible fact, that at a single assize, he passed sentence of death on one hundred and ninety-eight individuals, of whom one hundred and ninety-seven passed through the hands of Galvin, the hang- man. With the black cap on his head, he joked as freely as though it were a cap and bells. " Ah, my lord, give me a long day," craved a wretched culprit on a certain 20th of June. " Your wish is granted," replied the judge, " I will give you until to-morrow, the longest day in the year \" Lord Norbury's charges transcend description. " Flinging his judipiial robe aside," writes Mr Shell, " and sometimes cast- ing off his wig, he started from his seat and threw off a wild harangue, in which neither law, method, or argument could be discovered. It generally consisted of narratives of his • Mr Toler'a powers of invective were quite startling. • When h.- jttered such language in Parliament as this, the licence of hU tongue elsewhere may be conceived : — "Had he heard a man uttering out of those doors such language as that of the honourable gentle- man, he would have seized the ruffian by the throat, and dragged him to the dust." (Pari. Deb.) An extraordinary licence of language was permitted by the Speaker in these days. A tradition of the; period thus describes the denun- ciation of a certain family : — " Sir, they are all rotten from the aonourable member who has just sat down, to the toothless hag that is now grinning at us from the gallery," — ^the allusion being to the honourable member's mother. Lord Castlereagh was upbraided with impotency by Grattan, in the presence of Lady Castlereagh, who occupied a seat in the Speaker's gallery duriiv one of the debAteb uu the Union. LOED NOIIBURY. 209 early life, which it was impossible to associate with the subject, of jests from John Miller, mixed with jokes of his own manufacture, and of sarcastic allusions to any of the counsel who had endeavoured to check him during the trial." Sir Jonah Carrington mentions that he has seen his " racket court " * convulsed with laughter by the ai>pear- ance of the chief in a green tabinet coat with pearl bullous, striped yellow and black veot, and buif bxecichcs — the cos- tume of Hawthorn in " Lovi; in a Village," a character per- sonated by Lord Norburyat Lady Castlereagh's niasfpier;ide ; and he found the dress so cool that he frequently, in alter years, wore it under his robes. Ou this particular occasicju it was revealed accidentally by Lord Norbury throwing b^ick his robes, owing to the more than ordinarily heated atmosphere of the court. Lord Norbury could sometimes say a good thing. The villanies of the Sham Squire had brought the attorne}'s craft into deep disrepute. A shilling subscriiition was raised to bury a poor solicitor . " Here is a guinea," said Lord Norbury ; " bjjry one-and-twenty of them." " That Scotch Ei'oom deserves an hhh stick" exclaimed Lord Norbury, in reference to Lord Brougham, who had brought before Parliament some unconstitutionul conduct of which he had been guilty ; and at a later j)eriod, it ap- peared, from the same source, that the old chief had fallen asleep on the bench during a trial for murder. ■ In lU'll he resigned, and iu it~31 he died. The 1 :e Mr Brophy, state dentist, who was present at Lord Noibury's funeral, informed us that w hen lowering the coffin by ropes into a deep grave, a voice in the crowd cried, " Give him rope galore,^ boys ; he never was sparing of it to others." As a landlord, Lord Norbury was by no means bad ; and in his own hiiu.' e he is said to have been gentle and forbearing. 21. Lord Kingsborough had always been prominently zealous in promoting that system of coercion^ which, as * This was a designation of Lord Norbury 's own. " What '■ your business ?" a witness was asked. "I kctp a racket court." " So do I," rejoined the Chief-Justice, puffing. 1" Avglicf. in plenty. 7 Plowdeu 3 Hist, of Ireland, toL ii, p. 475. 210 APPENDIX. Lord Castlerengh admitted, nimed to make the United Irish conspiracy explode.* Wlieu tlie rebellion broke out, Lord Kingsboroiigh, as colonel of the North Cork Militia, pro- ceeded to join his regiment in Wexford, but was captured by the rebels, who held possession of the town. Mr Plowden, in his History, states that Lord Kingsborough owed his life to the personal interposition of Dr Caulfield, Roman Catholic Bishop of Ferns. But from a statement made to us by John Plunket, Esq., of Frescati, whose father held rank in the rebel army at Wexford, it would appear that Lord Kingsborough's deliverance was not wholly owing to the Bishop. Lord Kingsborough and an English officer were about to be hung at " The Bnll's Iling," when they pledged their honour to Mr Plunket, that, if then liberated, they would do him a similar service on a subsccpient occasion, which they assured him could not be far distant. Lord Kingsborough and his friend wrote two letters to this effect ; but when Mr Plunket wivs afterwards found guilty by a court-martial, the documents could not be found. His wife waited on Lord Kings- borough to hope he would renew the letter, but the peer declined to interfere in any w.ay on behalf of Plunket ; while the other officer, whose life had been spared at the same time, honourably kept liis word. Our informant adds, that ^Ir Plowden, when engaged on his History, obtained an interview with the late Mrs Plunket in order to gather authentic details of the events of which she had personal knowledge, but as they were then of recent occur- rence, she declined to assist him.t Lord Kingsborough subsequently attained celebrity by shooting a person whom he detected offering undue familiarities to his sister. Lord Kingsborough, his son, died a pauper in the Four Courts Marshalsea. 22. General Cockburn regards Lord Downshire as a rotten rung in the step-ladder, and styles him "a very mis- chievous enemy to liberty." We think, however, that his hostility to the Union goes far to redeem his shortcomings. His policy on this question so displeased the Government that he was dismissed from the lieutenancy of his county, * Moore's Life of Lord E. Fitzgerald, p. 110, Paris edit. t Communicaited by John Plunket, Esq., Frescati, Feb 17, 1866. POLITICAL SEDUCTIOIT. 2U from tlie colonelcy of his redinent, and even expelled from the Privy Council It was further proposed to institute u parliamentary inquiry into the conduct of Lord Downsliire. 23. Lord Dillon also pursued a policy in 1800 which covers a multitude of political sins. At a meeting of in- Hucntiiil anti-unionists in Dublin, he proposed that a joint- . stock purse should be formed for the purpose of out-bribing the dovernment.* UntilJuue 1709, Lord DiUon exercised his j)roperty and influence, both considerable, in favour oi the Union. 24. Mr Trench formed, under curious circumstances, a majority of one in favour of the Union. His vote and voice disclosed a very painful instance of tergiversation and seduction. Mr Trench declared, in presence of a crowded Jlouse, that he would vote against the minist* r, {vnd support Mr Ponsonby's amendment. "This," observes Sir Jonah Barrington, who was an eye-witness of the trans- j action, " appeared a stunning blow to Mr Cooke, who had f been previously in conversation with Mr Trench. He was immediately observed sidling from his seat, nearer to Lord Castlereagh. They whispered earnestly ; and, as if restlesi* I'f'.^^yp*^, and undecided, both looked wistfully at Trench. At length' ^ ' ^ ' ^ the matter seemed to be determined on. Mr Cooke retired i i to a back seat, and was obviously endeavouring to count • the House — probably to guess if they could that night dis- pense with Mr Trench's services. He returned to Lord , Castlereagh ; they whispered, and again looked at Mr Trench. But there was no time to lose"; the question was approaching. AU shame was banished ; they decided on the terms, and a significant glance, obvious to everybody, convinced Mr Trench that his conditions were agreed t(». Mr Cooke then went and sat down by his side : an earnest but very short conversation took place ; a parting smile ^ completely told the House that Mr Trench was satisfied. J These surmises were soon verified, Mr Cooke went back to Lord Castlereagh ; a congratulatory nod announced his satisfaction. But could any man for one moment sup- pose that an M.P. of large fortune, of respectable family, and good character, could be publicly, and without shame or compunction, actually seduced by Lord Castlereagh • Plowl'»n'R History of Ireland, vol. ii., p. 551, 212 APPENDIX. under the eye of two hundred and twenty gentlemen t In a few minutes Mr Trench rose to apoh)gi.se for having in- discreetly dechired he would support the amendment. He lidded, tliiit Jie had thought better of the subject ; that he had been eonvinced he was wrouir, and wo.uld support the miuiater." Mr Trench accordingly became Lord Ashtowu. 23. Dr Duigenan has been already noticed at p. 02, 0711". '20. Of Bishop O'Beirne much has been written, but we never saw in print st)me curious details embodied in a let- ter, dated April 22, 1857, and addressed to us by the late Mr William Korde, Town Clerk of Dublin. "I can furnish," writes Mr Fmde, "an interesting anecdote of the early his- tory of tlia' ,cutleman, which I learned when very young, living within two miles of the see house of the diocese of Meath. Dr O'Beirne was never ordained a Homan Catholic priest, but was educated at the Irish College of Paris with a view to his becoming a i)ru'st. His brother, Hev. Denis i O'Beirne, was educated at the same time and in the same . . college, and died parish priest of the town of Longford, of which his brother was the rector. The name of the parish f :^ in the Church is TempIemichaeL The history of the bishop f in early life was, that having suspended his studies, owuig to ill-health, he returneil home for a couple of years, and was returning to the college, when the following incident, which altered his destinies for life, occurred to him : — He was travelling on foot through Wales, when the day became very boisterous and rainy, and took shelter in a poor inn on the wayside, and after ordering his dinner, which was a small bit of Welsh mutton, he went into a little sitting- room. In scmie time two gentlemen came in also for shel- ter, (they were on a shooting party, and were driven in by the violence of the storm,) and asked the woman of the house what she could give them for dinner. She replied she had nothing but what was at the fire roasting, and it was ordered by a gentleman in the next room, adding in a low tone, she believed he was an Irishman ; whereupon one of the gentlemen exclaimed, * Damn Paddy — A* have ronst mutton for dinner while we must fast ; we will take it,' whereupon O'Beirne walked down from his room, and asked who damned Paddy, and insisted upon getting his Bisnop o'beirne. 213 dinner, and added they fihould not have it by force, l)nt if they would take share of it on his invitation lie would lieely give it, and they were heartily welcome ; on which they ace pted the invitation, provided he would allow them to give the wine, which tliey assured him was very good, not- withstanding the appearance of the place. They all retired to the sitting-room, and the two gentlemen V)egan convers- ing in French, whereupon O'Beirne interrupted thcui, and i]ifi)rmed them that he understood every word they uttered, and they might not wish that a third person should kngw what they were speaking about, and then the conversation became general, and was carried on in Frenoli, of which O'Beirne was a perfect master. They inquired of hiui what were his objects in life, when he told tliem his his- tory — tliat he was a farmer's son in Ireland, and his destiny was the Irish Catholic pricstlmod. When they were part- ing, one of the gentlemen asked would he take London on his way to Paris, to which he replied in the affirmative. He then gave him a card with merely the number and the street of his residence, and requested he wvernor- General of Canada, — the Duke of Richmond was, but not till after O'Beirne was a bishop. I remember his two daughters living, some twenty or thirty years ago, a few miles from this. O'Beirne, in 1780, wrote a comedy called * The Generous Impostor,' which was acted only about six times. In a good life ^ of him in the ' Annual Register' for 1822, it says that it was with Lord Howe he was in America during the American war ; and it is there said that the Howes introduced him to the Duke of I'ort- land. Excuse my remarking this; but your work is so BISHOP o'beirne. 2l5 interesting, that anything that adds to its accuracy may be acceptable to you."* For half a century the opinion expresried by Sir William Cope very generally prevailed, that some Roman Catholic priest performed the perilous duty of marrying the Prince of Wales to Mrs Fitzlierbert, for, from that lady's strong religious convictions, it was assumed that no clergyman but one of her own Church woul tial services to Oovemment which I have done, besides by my confinement I am totally prevented from obtaining and giving further knowledge. You told me the Lord Lieutenant never wished to know me but to do me a ser- vice, now is the time. For God's sake don't keep me longer in su;^)ense. gett me released." (No signature.) " William Cope, Esq., Dame Street, Dublin." , (An exact transcript. It is on a shabby half-sheet of paper, and in parts very illegible. The word omitted — " you," probably — ^tom by the wafer in opening.) The biographer of Eeynolds, after describing his liberation from Athy gaol, writes, (voL ii, p. 174:) — "Upon his arrival in Dublin, my father was carried before the Privy Council, when he was told by the Lord Chancellor that the Government were not previously aware that they were indebted to him for the timely information they had re- ceived froQi Mr Cope, or he should not have been molested by them." And at p. 207, the biographer returns to the period of his father's arrest and imprisonment at Athy ; and he adds, that when Colonel Campbell sent to Dublin for further orders in reference to Eeynolds, " then it was that Govern- ment firist knew him as the man whose timely horror at the conspiracy had arrested the miseries it was preparing for his country." We are further told, (p. 206 :) — " Mr Cope toas the only person known to Government as the channel of information nntil my father was brought to Dublin in custody from Athy." But when these passages were penned, it was probabljr xkot supposed that the facts recorded in Mr Cope's indorse- ment on Secretary Cooke's letter would see the light. In that statement Mr Cope distinctly refers to important in- BITBrOLDS. 245 formation personally given by ReynolcU before the Privy Council six wed» anterior to the arrest at Athy. " I now send you," writes Sir W. Cope, " a letter from Mrs Reynolds, which is valuable, as it shows the erron«' ousness of the statements in Reynolds's ' Life ' by his son, that he made no terms with Government for his informa- tion. She was evidently acting for him ; and a letter of his, which I also send you, shows that she was empowered to act for him in these money matters :"-— MB! BETNOLDS TO MB COPE. " Mt dsab Mb Cope, — The terms which would satbfy my mind are :— ** Immediately after the tryal is over, Mr Reynolds to be enlarged, and letters of introduction to be given to him to any part of England he may thinik it most advis- able to retire to,: of Ms being a genaii»man,Aayal in his principles, and a friend to the King and Constitution, and recommending him and &miiy to the particular atten- tion of the Qentry of the place, and in the meantime to be allowed every indulgence for his health and ease of mind, in order to alleviate as much as possible the un- pleasantness of his confinement « The annuity to commence 25th June 1798, so that be may be entitled to receive ^ a year 24th December next, the £5000 to be paid to him immediately after the tryaL '* I have to mention to you a carcumstance which, if it could with convenience be done, it would, as yon well know, be of the utmost advantage to us, to advance nn- till the tryal is over a loan of £1000 pound. We want it to go on with Sir D. Gi£Ebrd's law-suit, and to discharge our Debts in this Country, which we wish to pay off before we go to England; as we intend to go off immediately after the ^al, we shaQ not then have time to getde these matters. I think this mi^t be done Uuo yon without mudi DifficQll7.->-Toar obUged " Habbiett Retooww."* * Mr Beynoldi had married, Marek 25, 1794, Haniatt, dsn^^iter of William WithsringtOB, ^q. of DubUa; aoaOnw of whoM dMi|^- ters became the wife of Theobald Wolfe Tone 246 APPENDIX. TROMAB REY170LDS TO MR OOPE. My dear Mr Cope, — I have scarse an instant to write to tell I am ordered to go off this night ; the Packett sails «t seven o'clock. / mutt go alme. But we * will, I hope, meet in London. I have several other places to go to. I have been almost all day receiving orders. Pray give my sincerest respects to Mrs Cope and the Young Ladies. / have desired Harriett to Receive the 300 Bills, and I will write to her about ihem from England. I have not time ^o speak to her of anything. — Your ever Devoted Thos. Retnolds. Monday evening, half-past six. Thomas Moore, without sufficient evidence to warrant his suspicion, suggests that Reynolds was a very likely person to have betrayed Lord Edward Fitzgerald.t Thomas Reynolds, junior,^ conclusively vindicates his ; father from at least that act of turpitude, adding: "Had he even been inclined to commit so base an action, as that of be- tra3dng him, it could not "possibly have been in his power to have done it." § Most people will be of opinion that it was equally base of Reynolds to betray his colleagues as they sat in council at Oliver Bond's. The foregoing passage is a full admis- sion of Reynolds's baseness by the son, who, in two volumes filled with most scurrillous censure of Moore, Curran. HoweU, and every other writer who stigmatised the base- ness of Reynolds, undertakes to justify his name. DEEDS RELATING TO HIGGINS, MAGAN, AND OTHERS. (See p. 125, et seq) ^ Among the documents relating to Francis Higgins, pre* served in the Registry of Deeds Office, Dublin, are several * Eeynolds and his wife. Sir William Cope informs us that he ia almost certain his grandfather never met Beynolda in London, or^ ever saw Him afterwards. + Life and Death of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, vol ii, p. 48. Z Life of Thomas Beynolds, vol. ii., pp. 216, et seq. § Ibid., vol. ii., p. 228. i^.. HIGOINS AND MAGAN. 247 mortgage! from Thomas Magan to the Sham Squire, in- cluding one for £2300, and another for £1000. One of the witnesses is Francis Magan. Bichard Daly, the lessee of Crow Street Theatre, was also pecuniarily accommo- dated at different times by Mr Higgins ; and, in 1799, we find DjJy, then styled " now of the Isle of Man," mort- t aging his house in Harcourt Street to Shamado. We also nd a mortgage to Higgins from Charles Kendal Bushe in 1799, and several bonds of Sir John Ferns, and a pro- missory note of the Eight Hon, John Foster, " late Speaker cif the House of Commons," are recited in the nuirriage settlement of the lady who was chief legatee of Higgins, and whose name we have hitherto refrained from mention- ing. In the latter deed, dated Sept. 6, 1802, the remark- able fact also transpires, that this lady received, in recog- nition of the Sham Squire's services, a pension of £300 per annum, charged on the Irish Establishment. Owing to extraordinary circumstances, the pension continues to be paid to this Itour. On the 10th Pecember 1797, Lord Car- hampton, whose intimacy with Shamado, Magee detected in 1789, secured the Squire as a neighbour by setting to him the lands of Hartstown and Bamageath, near Luttrels- town. The lease of the Sham Squire's house in Stephen's Green describes it as next door to that occupied by the late Counsellor Harward. (see p. 7, ante,) and adjoining Lord Earlsfort's lawn. Kents seem to have been then compara- tively low. The Sham Squire guaranteed to pay for his house in Stephen's Green £30 fine, and £55 a year ; while the rent of his house in Boss Lane, " bounded on the north by Darby Square," was £38 per annum. With all his cunning, the Sham Squire blundered his will. "Two witnesses" seem to have been in those days insufficient ; and the property was legally adjudged to Francis Higgins, "formerly of Downpatric^ and now of Philadelphia," first cousin and heir-at-law" of the Sham Squire. Th? Court of Chancery was appealed to, and some arrangement seems to have been come to between the litigants ; for an assignment is preserved in the Registry Office from " the heir-at-law" of the Sham Squire to one of the parties to whom the property was bequeathed. 248 APPENDIX. MACNALLY AND TURNER. (P. 135, ante.) The "Comwallis Correspondence," publislied in 1859, confirms the allegation that Leonard MacNally, the con- fidential law-adviser to, and eloquent counsel for, the leaders of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, was in the pay of the unscrupulous Tory (Jovemment of that day, and basely betrayed the secrets of his confiding clients. MacNally had been himself a member of the Whig Club and the Society of United Irishmen, and went so far as to chal- lenge and fight Sir Jonah Barrington, who had indulged in stinging animadversion of it. He was apparently a stanch democrat, and enjoyed the most unlimited confidence of the popular party. He survived until 1820; and with such consummate hypocrisy was his turpitude veiled, that men who could read the inmost suul of others never for a moment suspected him. The late W. H. Curran, in the Life of his father, (I, 384, 385,) pronounces a brilliant eulogium on "the many endearing traits" in MacNally's character, and adds that he (W. H. Curran) is filled with " emotions of the most lively and respectful gratitude." We farther learn that " for three-and-forty years Mr Mac- Nally was the friend " of Curran, and that " he performed the duties of the relation with the most uncompromising and romantic fidelity." Years after, when the late D. Owen Maddyn urged W. H. Curran to bring out a new edition of the Life of his father, he replied that it would be difiScnlt to do so, as he should have to cancel the pas- sage to which I have referred, and indulge in severe reflec- tions upon the memory of MacNally, a near relation of whom was practising in the court where Mr W. H. Curran sat as judge. Curran'd regard for MacNally was steacfily consistent. In 1807, on tiie accession of the Whigs to power, Mr Curran exerted the large influence which he possessed to obtain a silk gown for his friend. The Duke of Bedford, however, who was then viceroy, having dis- covered the base compact which subsisted between his Tory predecessors and MacNally, rejected the claim. But the reasons for the refusal were not th«n Vijown, ar.d the HACNALLT AKD TUBNIiC. 249 popular pajrty regarded as a grierance tliifl treatment of their favourite counsel Churles PhiUips, who practised for many years at the same bar with MacNally, thus notices, in one of the last editions of "Curran and his Contemporaries," the report that MacNally had a pension : — " The thing la incredible. If I was called upon to point out, next to Ourran, the man most obnoxious to the Government, — who most hated them, and was most hated by them,— it would have been Leonard MaeNaJly, — ^that MacNally who, amidst the military audience, stood by Curran's side while he denounced oppression, defied power, and dared every danger !" After the death of MacNally,* his representative claimed a continuance of the secret pension of J&300 aryear, which he had been enjoying since the calamitous period o( the rebellion. Lord Wellesley, the first really liberal viceroy which Ireland possessed, demanded a detailed statemeitt of the circumstances under which Uie unholy agreement had been made, and after some hetdtatiou it was furnished. The startling truth soon became known. O'Conndl an- nounced the &ct publicly, and used it as an argument for dissuading the people from embarking in treasonable pro- jects. The MS. volume containing *' An Account of the Secret Service Money Expenditure," discloses the frequwt pay- ment of large sums to MacNally, irrespective of hif o]ftMi- sion, during the troubled times which preceded and fol- lowed the Union. This engine of corruption, as recorded by the same document, invariably, passed tlii«d|^ the hands of a Mr J. Pollock. It is suggestive of intensely mehmcholy ideas to ^ance over this blood-tinged record. The initials of MacNally perpetually rise like an infernal phantom through its pages. Passing over the myriad entries tiuou^unxt the intemd of 1797 to 1803, we come to the poiod (A Bobert Emmet's insurrection. In the " State Trials," we find MacNaUy, on September 19, 1803, acting as counsel tat £!mmef at the Special Commission. Under date Septemb« 14, 1803, " L. M., £100," appears on record in the SecaEet Service * MacNally must have died intestate, as we ean find no tiaee at his will in the Irish Probate CourL. ^^ 250 APPENDIX. Money Book. This retainer doubtless overbalanced poor Emmet's fee. The gifted young Irishman was found guilty, and executed. No one is permitted to see him in prison but MacNally, who pays him a visit on the morning of his execution, addresses him as « Robert," and shows him every manifestation of affection. On the 25th August 1803, «• Mr Pollock, for L. M., £1000," is also recorded. Some- times MacNally signed the receipts for Secret Service Money "J. W. ;" but besides that the writing in these documents is identical with his acknowledged autograph, the clerk's endorsement, " L. M. N." leaves no room for doubt. The original receipts were kindly shown to us in 1854 by Dr Madden. The masterly manner in which MacNally fortified his duplicity is worthy of attention. Persons usually the most clear-sighted regarded him as a paragon of purity and worth. Defending Finney, in conjunction with Philpot Curran, the latter, giving way to the impulse of his gene- rous feelings, threw his arm over the shoulder of Mac- Nally, and, with emotion, said, ''My old and excellent frien(^ I have long known and respected the honesty of your heart, but never until this occasion was I acquainted with the extent of your abilities. I am not in the habit of paying compliments where they are undeserved." Tears fell from Mr Curran as he hung over his friend.* Nine- teen years after, Ourran died with the illusion undispelled. From the FreemarCs Journal of October 1 3, 1 81 7, we gather that Judge Burton wrote from London to MacNally, as the old and tried friend of Curran, to announce the approach- ing death of the great patriot. + Sir Jonah Barrington insinuates that MacNally was an unpopular companion in society. The late Dr Fulton, addressing us in 1858, observed : — " Jm MacNally was a most agreeable companion — quite a little Curran ; and his political views were considered even more democratic than Cuiran's. He made a bet that he would dine at the mess of the Fermanagh Militia, an ultra-Orange body. He joined them unasked, and made himself so agreeable, and * Life of Curran by his son, voL i., p. 397. t W« contributed to Notes and QMeriea some portions of this paper. MACNALLY AND TURNER. 251 every man there so pleasant, tliat he received a gj^neral invitation to their mess from that day. He was a most pleasing poet, and wrote, among other effusions, the well- known song, * Sweet Lass of Bichmond Hill.' " Sir Jonah Barrington, who often sacrificed strict accu- racy to sensational effect, has given us, in his '* Personal Sketches," a monstrous caricature of MacNall/s outward man. Nevertheless, although, like Curran, of low stature^ he had, as we are informed by O'Keefe, who knew him intimately, " a handsome, expressive countenance, and fine sparkling dark eye." * Mr MacNally must at least have had a rare amount of what is familiarly termed "cheek." In his defence of Watty Cox at a public trial in Dublin, February 26, 1811, he says, "Few men become .... informers until they have forfeited public character." t The Duke of Wellington, in the following letter, prob ably refers to MacNally, whose insatiable cupidity is very likely to have prompted him to seek further recognition of his unworthy services by applying for some oflSce in the gift of the crown : — "London, Jutu 29, 1807. " My deae Sib, — I agree entirely with you respecting the employment of our informer. Such a measure would do much mischief. It would disgust the loyal of all de- scriptions, at the same time it would render useless our private communications with him, as no further trust would be placed in him by the disloyal. I think that it might be hinted to him that he would lose much of his profit if, by accepting the public employment of Govern- ment, he were to lose- the confidence of his party, and con- sequently the means of giving us information. .... — Believe me, ever yours most sincerely, " Aethub Wbllesley.^ " To James Trail, Esq." • Recollections of John O'Keefe, vol. L, p. 45. t Irish Magazine, April 1811, p. 45. t Who is the " Catholic orator" referred to in the following nota from Sir A. Wellesley to Lord Hawkeebury? (p. 291 :) — "DuBLiu Castle, Jan. 8, 1808. ** The extracts of letters sent to you by Lord GrenviUe, were sent 252 APPENDIX. The editor of the "Cornwallia Fapen," Mr Rom, in enum«rating, with others, (iii., 319,) one Samuel Tamer, who received a pension of ^£300 a year at the same time as MacNally, declares that he has been iinable to obtain any particulars of this man. There can be no doubt that Mr Turner belonged to the same Bch(K>l as MacNally. The old Bublm Directories, in the list of "Judges and parristers," record the name of Samuel Turner, Esq., who was called to* the bar at Easter Term 1788; and the fol- lowing paragraph, which we exhume from the London Courier of December 5, 1803, suggests a painful glimpse of the grounds on which Mr Tum&c obtained a pension at the same time as MacNally : — " On Friday last, Samuel Turner, Esq., barrister-at'law, was brought to the bar of the Court of King's Bench, in custody of the keeper of Kilmainbam prison, under a charge of attainder, passed in the Irish Parliament, as one concerned in the Bebellion of the year 1798 ; but having shown that he was no way concerned therein, that he had not been in the country for a year and seven months prior to passing that Act, — i.e., for thirteen months prior to the rebellion, — and therefore could not be the person alluded to, his Mi^esty's Attorney-General confessed th^ same, and Mr Turner was discharged accordingly." To return to MacKally : — A gentleman who conducted the leading popular paper of Dublin some forty years ago, in a communieation ad- dressed to us, observes: — "It was in 1811, during the prol<»)ged trial of the Catholic delegates, (Ix>rd Fingal, Sheridan, Burke, and Kirwan,) that doubts were first entertained of MacKaU/s fideli^. MacNally took a lead- ing part in the counsels of the delegates and their fri^idsi We observed that the Orange Attorney-General, Saurin, always appeared wondrously well prepared next day for the aigumenta which we had arranged. MacNally, nt to us by — TT— , the Catholic orator, two months ago. The mentioned is a man wAo was desirotu of being employed by Oovem- wunt as a spy, and his trade is that of spy to aU parties. He offered himself to ^ Lord Fiogal, and others, as well as to us, and we DOW intoh him elo mi j." somx POLLOCK. 253 doubt, used to oommtin!cat« to the law officers of the Crown all the seCTets of his confiding clients." MacGuicken, the luttomej of the United Irishmen, of whom t seem to have been always easy for reporters to obtain access to courts of law during the process of peculiar cases. The 25S . APPENDIX. Frteman of ^aly 12, 1817, devotes a leading article to the discussion of a petulant remark made by Lord Chief-Justice Norbury's registrar, Mr Jackson, to the eflFect that " he would prevent the court from being turned into a printing Mr S tells me that he remembers having noticed, with some pain, the once swaggering and influential John Pollock reduced to comparative poverty and prostration. ;Mr Pollock did not long survive his humiliation. In 1818 Leonard MacNally saw his seducer consigned to the grave. It may -be worth adding that Chief-Baron O'Grady claimed the right of patronage in the appointment of silc- cessors to Lord Buckinghamshire and Mr Pollock; and having named his son and brother to the overgrown sine- cures, much comment was excited, which resulted in an elaborate public trial of the judge's right. Saurin con- tended that the king, not the court, had the right of appointment. WALTER COX. (Pp. 122-124, aw— " Whether this book was originally printed in New York is for the present immaterial ; it is now in print in Dublin, and, no doubt, will be circulated through the country with indefatigable zeal. My information says it is the precursor of a French invasion ; and certainly the whole object of the book is calculated, and with great ability executed, in order to show the necessity of a separation of this country from England, and to procure a French army to be received here as allies. Your means of information are, no doubt, * Civil Correspondence and Memoranda of F. M. Arthur Duke of Wellington; edited by his son. WKITERS BRIBED. 2^39 most ample ; it may, however, not be improper in me to say to you that if you luxve Cox* (who keeps a small book- shop in Anglesea Street,) he can let you into the whole object of sending this book to Ireland at this time ; and 'further, if you have not Cox, believe me that no sum of money at all within reason would be misapplied in riveting him to the Government. I have spoken of this man before to Sir Edward Littlehales and to Sir Charles Saxton. He is the most able, and, if not secured, by far the most formidable man that I know of in Ireknd." He was "secured" accordingly; but Lord Mulgrave, afterwards Marquis of Normanby, on his accession to the viceroyalty, deprived Cox of his pension. Under the regime of the Duke of Richmond was also accomplished the seduction of an able Roman Catholic satirist, Dr Brennan, who con- tinued until his death to enjoy a pension of £200 a year for ridiculing in his Milesian Magazine the Catholic leaders of that day. A correspondent, Mr C. C. Hoey, sends us the following note touching Walter Cox : — " Scattered through the pages of Cox's (Watty) Irish Magazine from 1807 to 1814, now extremely scarce, may be found a great amount of uncollected infonuation that may be advantageously read with the light of the Welling- ton Correspondence. Though Cox waa finally bought up to silence, he did good service for his creed and country. In those years, and that principally on the veto question, the career of this man was extraordinary, and notwithstanding his weak points, he is entitled to a distinct biography. The "Shrewd Man' and the 'Gunsmith,' alluded to under Secretary Trail's letter, was no other than Walter Cox, Cox's father was a bricklayer, who was dragged to prison by order of Lord Carhampton, and sufiFered some indigni- ties and even torture, which never left the mind of his son, and finally made him resolve on turning author, to retali- ate for the severities he witnessed in 1798. Cox himself was originally a gunsmith ; he supplied military data to Lord Edward Fitzgerald, enjoyed his confidence as well as others in the Directory, and afterwards became his lord- * Mr Pollock was no stranger to Cox. See Jrish Magazine fat 1311, pp. 353, 434. 260 APPENDIX. ' • ship's biographer in the pages of his own magaziw. Cox, though a youth in 1792, held the command of the second company of the Goldsmiths' Corps of Volunteers, whose last parade was announced to take place in the burial ground of St Michael le Pole, Great Ship Street, but was prevented by a proclamation of the Government and a turn out of the whole garrison, similar to the Clontarf affair of '43. This, I believe, was the last attempted meeting of the volunteers in Dublin. Dr Madden inserts a query in the fourth volume of the last edition of his United Irishmen (p. 599) as to whether some Mr Cox, who received secret service money in 1803, was identical with Watty Cox; but it is not likely, as from Lord Hardwick's official vindication of his government, it appears that it was meditated in 1803 to place the formidable gunsmith under arrest as a danger- ous democrat. Cox suffered imprisonment and the pillory several times for his writings in the Irish Magazine; the most noted was " The Painter Cut; a Vision," of which|he was found guilty and sentenced to pay a fine of three hun- dred pounds, and enter into security himself for one thousand, with two others of five hundred pounds each, to keep in good behaviour for seven years, as well as suffer one year's confinement in Newgate. A great portion of the priesthood exerted themselves in striving to put down his Magazine for the part he took against the veto, and he attacked the Government so severely that Crown Solicitor Pollock suggested he should be bought up as being the most formidable character of the time. Archbishop Troy and Bishop Milner (who subsequently became an anti-vetoist) and Lord Fingal received no quarter at his hands. In his Magazine may be found a good deal of matter connected with those men, not to be found else- where. Sir Jonah Barrington comes in for a share of casti- gation for his shortcomings and backslidings ; he accw^es him of bringing forward a motion in the Irish House of Copimons " to confiscate the property of Dr Esmond, who headed the rebel force at Prosperous, and thereby deprived his infant children of bread." He says Sir Jonah Barring- ton printed his " History of the Union " in Dublin in 1802, but as he did not give it to the public then, we presume he gave it to another quarter. There is also some matter WALTER COX. 261 connected with the career of Reynolds, O'Brien, Hcpenstal, and many others, which I think has not met the notice of the historians of 1798. The admirably executed caricatures published in his Magazine were done by Mr Brocas, who afterwards was appointed head master of the Government School of Design, Royal Dublin Society. After lying for some years in Newgate, Cox was at last bought over. He resided for a while in the house No. 12 Clarence Street, off Summer Hill, which still goes by the name of * Cox's Cot,' and his name appears on some old leases connected with that quarter. lie finally retired to Finglas, where he spent many years, and mixed much in the sports and May-pole amusements of that old village. I am hunting up for some information concerning his latter days, and I find that there ts at present alive a nephew of his, a working bricklayer. Cox died in 1837, having been prepared for death by the Rev. Matthias Kelly, P.P. of St Margaret's, Finglas. From some letters of Cox not generally accessible, we select a few in illustration of his epistolary style : — "New York, December 18, 1819. " My deab Friend, — I am as uneasy as possible by re- maining here, and I am determined to leave this hideous climate and m^st detestable race of rascals, who call it their own, and boast of it as a gift of Heaven, though the wretches are hardly out of school when they die of old age, or are swept away by yellow fever, which has not spared any one within the range of its devouring limits on the sea coast, from Boston to New Orleans. The last summer I escaped by flying to Quebec — a distance of 562 miles ; and from its lofty walls I despatched a letter to you oa the 12th of October, and returned here on the 11th of November, to see the sickly wretched Yankees removing the fences that enclosed a considerable portion of this city, when, in their fright, they attempted to put limits to tb«> common enemy, as judiciously as the wise men of Gothain attempted to keep in the sparrows, by placing a stro'ng railing round their town. They have perished in thousands,, and, in my opinion, the yellow fever would confer a bless- ing on the human race by continuing its capers. '' A work of interesting cariosity, I have almost ready. ^ ■ 262 APPENDIX. to consist of two volumes, which, if I live until summer, will be in the Irish press. I have seen Mr O'Connell's letter to the Catholics, and have got it printed here. There never was a better or more seasonable State Faper^ a dignity it most eminently deserves. Remember me to your child; to B. Tell Mr James Crosbie, Attorney- General to toll-houses, that I hope he is alive and well ; but if he is dead, say nothing about it until I call in person. — Yours truly, " Walter Cox. " A considerable number of Dublin men are here, cap- tains, colonels, ronouucea to be perfectly accurate : — Spoke of the receii)ts for secret-service money. Dr Gray went to Conuaught in 1843 to see his father, who was ill, and called on the Rev. Joseph Darcy Sirr, rector of Kil- coleman, biographer of Archbishop I'leuch, and son of the notorious Major Sirr. Dr Gray found him examining a mass of old documents spread over his study table. "Here, you rebel repealer,"* said Mr Sirr, playfully, " scpae of these AviU interest you; they are chiefly the commiinica- *" Repealer" and " rebel" were not unfrequently regarded as syuo lymous words; and the organs of Earl de Grey and the Orangenic-L urged, in prose and verse, that the Repealers should be dealt with as Lords Camdeu, Castlereagh, and Clare dealt with tlie United Iriikmon. lu November 1843, the Packet sani; — " These, these are the secreui Of peace in our land — The scourge for the back, For the forehead the brand; The chain for the neck, And the gyves for the heel ; Till the Scaffold lets loose Tke baae bio^ of B-:»sal ! " 274 APPENPIX. tious of informers to my late father." Dr Gray read some of them over ; and having observed one particular letter, he started, saying, " I have seen that handwriting before ; '-an you tell me who is * D. ?' " The letter, comnuuiicatin.^ the result of some mercenary espionage to the Major, waa merely signed ** D." " There are nuvny other letters from the sanje party," observed Mr Sirr, " I cannot discover who he can be ; his letters extend over upwarat* of thirty years, and I think the writer has not less than thirty aliases. He was a most remarkable man ; and if you wish to unravel the mystery, you can have all facilities ; so sen-l home your conveyance, and remain for the day." Dr Gray embraced the proposal, and devoted several hours to following up the scent. He was familiar with the writing, though he could not recall to mind the jiame or indivi- duality of the writer. At last a receipt for a small amount was discovered, signed " B. Duggan," the date of which was about 1806. Dr Gray, in ecstacy, exclaimed: "I have him ! I know him well ! he was with me yesterday !" " Impossible ! " cried Mr Sirr, " he must be dead long since." A comparison of the iandwriting left no doubt of the identity of the scoundreL The spy, who had grown hoary, and to outward appearances venerable, in his in- famous jemployment, had repeatedly addressed letters to Dr Gray, breathing a strong spirit of patriotism and na- tionality. Dr Gray, as editor of a highly influential organ of 0'Cc«mell's policy, was specially marked out for game by the designing Duggan, who, for forty years, enjoyed the reputation of an earnest and zealous patriot, was ever sntertained at dinner by a member of the Catholic Asso ciation, and contrived to insinuate himself into the conftv dence of many of the national party. He was introduced by letter to Dr Gray, by a leading member of the Young Ireland section of the Repeal Asso- ciation Committee, who described him as a rebel of '98, who could assist Dr Gray by his personal memory of events in perfecting some notes on the history of the United Irishmen, on which Dr Gray was then engaged. Dr Gray soon ascertained that Duggan possessed much traditionary knowledge of the events and of the men of the period, and gave Duggan a small weekly stipend for A STARTLING DISCOVERY. 273 writing his " personal recollections," He observed befor* long that Duggan's visits became needlessly frequent, and that he almost invariably endeavoured to diverge from '98 and make suggestions as to '43. This tendency excitC'l more amusement than suspicion ; and the first real doubt as to the true character of Duggan was suggested to his mind thus. Duggan said he was about to commence busi- ness, and was collecting some subscriptions. Dr Gray gave hira[ two pounds ; and Duggan at once handed across a sheet of blank paper, saying, "I will have twenty pounds in three days, if you write the names of ten or twelve gentlemen on whom I may call ; they won't refuse if they see their names in your handwriting."* Almost in the same breath he named half a dozen members of the Repeal Association, most of them members of the Young Ireland section, adding, " I know these gentlemen will aid me for all 1 suffered since '98." The former efforts of Duggan to get into conversation as to present politics at once flashed across the Doctor's memory, and he politeljf declined to write the required list ; which, possibly,- van, designed by Duggan and his abettors to flourish at some future state trial, as the veritable list of the Provision^. Goverrmient of Ireland, in the handwriting of the proposer of the project for forming arbitration courts throitghout Ireland, as substitutes for the local tribunals that were deprived of popular confidence by the dismissal of a,l) magistrates who were repealers. It was during the eavae week that Dr Gray discovered Duggan's real character in the course of the visit to the parsonage already described All the facts as here given were rapidly told to his revereuvl fiiend, who, ascribing the discovery to a special providence, begged the "life" of Duggan, explaining that the papers before him showed that the fate of detected informers in '98 was death. The sincerity with which the good parsou pleaded for the life of Duggan was a most amusing episode in the little drama. His fears were, however, soon allayed by the assurance that Dr Gray belonged to the O'Counell section of politicians, and that the only punishment that awaited Duggan was exposure. The parson would not * v(r O'Callaghan informs us that Duggau also wLcit.d lum to »&.\ Uu signature to a documeut. 270 APPENDIX, be convinced ; and, under the plea that Dr Gray woe allowed as a private friend to see the papers that con- victed .Duggan, he extorted a promise that there should be no public exposure of Duggan, but allowed Dr Gray within this limit to use the information he acquired at his own discretion. Duggan was, in truth, a master of duplicity. In the Sirr papers he is found writing under various signatures. " At one time," said Dr Gray, " he personated a priest, and on other occasions a peddler and a smuggler. He wrote to Major Sirr for a hogshead of tobacco, and for £15 to buy a case of pistols for personal protection. In on(. year alone he got £500." "As soon," added Dr Gray, "as I discovered the character of this base spy, I returned to Dublin, and lost no time in apprising Duffy, Davis, Pigot, O'Callaghan, and every member of the national party, of the precipice on which they stood, and undertook to O'Connell that 1 would cause Duggan to make himself scarce without violating my promise to Mr Sirr that he should not be exposed to public indignation." A letter addressed to us on August 20, 1865, by Mr Martin Haverty, the able author of " The History of Ire- land Ancient and Modern," supplies an interesting re- miniscence : — " One day, during the memorable repeal year 1843, Sir John Gray invited me to breakfast, telling me that I should meet a very singular character — a relic of '98, but intimating that he had his doubts about this person, and that the object of my visit was chiefly that their interview should not be without a witness. " I may tell you that I never belonged to any political party in Ireland. I always felt an innate repugnance for 'Jie manner, principles, »fec., of the Young Irelanders, and was convinced that I loved my country at least as sincerely, tenderly, and ardently as any of them. I never had much faith in mere politicians, though my sympathies were O'Connellite, and Sir John Gray had perfect confidence in me. "We were after breakfast when Bernard Duggan was brought into the room. I was iutroduoixl to him as a EXPOSURE. 277 friend of Ireland, before whom he might speak freely. It was easy enough to bring him out. He spoke at random about the pike-training in '98— that the people were now ready enough to fight — they only wanted to be called out — and the pike was the best thing for them. He appeared to me ridiculously sanguine of success, and to regard the men of the present day as poltroons for not taking the field. "I believe I am too 'green' to detect dishonesty very readily ; and the first impression the scoundrel made on me was twofold — that he was a singularly hale old fellow for his age, and that he was an infatuated old fooL But j if I could have felt sure that he was an informer, I would v have shrunk from him as from a murderer. Sir John Gray evidently understood the fellow better, and seemed perfectly able for him." The grand finale of this curious episode remains to be told. Shortly after he introduced Duggan to Mr Haverty, and after the old spy had time to develop the views indi- cated in Mr Haverty's letter, the Doctor suddenly, with his eye fixed on him, as though he could read his inmost soul, exclaimed : " Barney, you think I do not know you. I know you better than you know yourself. Do you re- member when you were dressed as a priest at Dundalk 1" He writhed, and tried to turn the conversation. J^x Gray probed and stabbed him, one by one, with all the points which he had gathered from the informer's own letters to Major Sirr. It was pitiable to watch the struggles and agonies of the old man ; he was ghastly pale, and he shook in every nerve. He finally lost all self-command, and flung himself on his knees «,t the feet of Dr Gray, imploring mercy. He seemed to think that pikemen were | outside ready to rush in and kill him. " Give me," he saili, " but twelve hours; I will leave the country, and you wili never see me again !" He tottered from the robm, left Ireland, and did not return for many years. Amongst his first visits was one to Dr Gray, to whom he confessed his guilt, adding that he was near his end. He received some trifling relief, and shortly after died. Preserved with Duggan's letters to Sirr, a note in the autograph of the latter exists^ stating that Duggan, uo 278 APPENDIX. doubt, shot Mr Darragh, a Terrorist, at his own hall-door, in 1791, when in the act of pretending to hand him a let- ter ; and further, that Duggan was the man who attempted the life of Mr Clarke, in Dublin, on July 22d, 1803. In the London Courier, of the 30th July following, we find this paragraph in a letter from Dublin, descriptive of the ■ then stfite of Ireland : — " Mr Clarke, of Palmerstown, a magistrate of the county nf Dublin, as he was returning from Ids attendance at the Castle, was fired at, on the quay, and dangerously wounded, several slugs having been lodged in his shoulder and breast. The villain who discharged the blunderbuss at Mr Clarke immediately cried out, 'Where did you come from now?' It appears that two of them, taken by Mr Justice Bell and Mr Wilson, were residenters in the neighbourhood of Mr Clarke, and had come to this city from Palmerstown." That the man who, in 1803, was overflowing with in- dignant disgust at the idea of a magistrate discharging his duty by communicating at the Castle news of seditious pro- ceedings, should suddenly .tergiversate, and, throughout a period of nearly half a century, become a mercena^gf^^spy to the Castle, opens a wide field for thought to those who like to study weak humanity. We rather think that the long letter published in the Duke of Wellington's Irish correspondence, dated Nenagh, 6th Feb., 1808, is from Duggan. The letter is addressed to an understrapper of the Castle, not to the Duke, who, however, prefaces it by saying that it ** comes from a man who was sent into the counties of Tipperary and Limerick to inquire respecting the organisation o* Liberty Bangers." " They are damned cunning in letting any stranger know anythmg of their doings," writes the spy. " I assure you I could not find anything of their secrets, though I have tried every artifice, by avowing myself an utter enemy to due* present constitution, and even drinking seditious toasts, . though they seemed to like me for so doing, and still I could not make any hand of them anywhere, more than to ^'' find they are actually inclined to rebellion in every qiiarter . of the country through which I have passed. Even in the mountains they are as bad as in the towns." Duggan, during the political excitement of the Bepeal duggan's nakbative. 279 year, eontrived to get himself introduced to many of the popular leaders ; and when the intervention of a mutual friend was not attainable, he waived ceremony and intro- duced himself. Among others on whom he called in this xvay was John Cornelius O'Callaghafl, author of the Green Jiook, and designer of the Repeal Cards, to whom the At- torney-General made special reference in the state trials of the time. Mr O'Callaghan did not give Duggan much « ncouragement ; but, in order to strengthen his footing, Duggan presented him with the following ^IS., written entirely in his own hand, which is now published for the first time. The reader must bear in mind that the writer was originally a humble artizan, who had received no edu- cation beyond that furnished by a hedge school. It will be observed that he speaks of himself throughout, not in the first person, but as " Bernard O'Dougan." PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF BERNARD DUGGAN. " At the time that Mr Robert Emmet commenced hia '\ preparations for a revolution in Ireland, in the year 1803, he was after returning from France, and there came a few geintlemen along with him, Mr Russell, and Counsellor Hamilton,* and Michael Quigley,+ who had been nomi- nated one of the rebel captains of 1798, and had signed the treaty of peace along with the other officers of the rebel party of the camp that lay at Prosperous, in the county of Kildare ; where the Wexford and Wicklow men came and met the Kildare men, who were aU invited by a flag of truce from Government, and hostages given by the generals of the king's troops-r-namely. Major Cope and Captain Courtney, of the Armagh militia, who were kept in custody and in charge -»rith Bernard Dougan, for the space of two hours, until eighteen of the rebel oflScers of ihe Wexford, Wicklow, and Kildare, returned back after • Dacre Hainilton is noticed in Moore's Memoirs, (L 62,) as the «-'.4>. attached friend of Emmet, though " innocent of his plans." There ^' can be little doubt, however, that like Ruaael, who lost his head, ho " was fully implicated in them. — W. J. F. f Quigley survived until the year 1849. Successive noticea <^ turn appear In the Nation of that year, ^ 1Z7, et $eg. wjjning the nrticles of peace, which vrn^ then concluded between tlie Government and the people, .and which put an rnd to the rebollion. Tlie conditions were, a free pardon to all men acting in furtherance of the rebollion, exce[)t offtcers, who were to give themselves up to Government, and to remain state prisoners until Government thought it safe to let them go into any country they pleased, thnt ■waa not in war with his majesty, which conditions they liad to sign, and it was called the Banishment Bill. They got three days of a parole of honour, to take leave of their frisnds, before they gave themselves up as prisoners. The broach of any part of these conditions was, not only to for- feit thoir p;irdon, but to be treated in any kind of wny that the Government should think proper. Now, Mr Quigley broke these articles when he retun>od to Ireland after signing the Banishment Bill at his liberation and dc- j)arture according to agreement, which caused him to as- sume the name of Graham in all companies, and none knew to the reverse but his own companions who were in the depot, and his particular acquaintances in the country, who were all true to the cause of his return with Mi" Emmet ; and none ever discovered or infoTmed in any kind of way previous to the failure of the efforts for free- dom on the 23d of July 1803, which caused great con- sternation to the Government. The Secretary of State, Mr Wickham, cried out with astonishment, to think that such a preparation for revolution could be carried on in the very bosom of the sent of Government, without discovery, for so long a time, when any of the party could have made their fortunes by a disclosure of the plot, and re- marked at the Siime time, in j^resence of Mr Stafford, and the two Mr Parrots, John and William, that it was be- cause they were mostly all mechanical operatives, or work- ing people of the low order of society, that the thing was kept so profound ; and said, that if any or a number of the higher orders of society, had been connected, they would divulge the plot for the sake of gain. These expressions oc- curred at the castle,, when Quigley, Stafford, and the two Parrots were brought prisoners to Dublin from Artfry, in the co'ji.ty of Galway, where they fled to after the death of Mr Emmet. Bernard O'Dougan was also at EMMET WEAVES HIS PLAN'S. 281 Artfry, but had escaped from being arrested by hia going in a sailing boat across the Bay of Galway, to make out a place of retirement for the whole party, five in num- ber, until they would get an account from Dublin, where they sent a messenger, who had been arrested and detained a prisoner, although being a native of the county of Galway, and no way connected with Mr Emmet, only going on a mes- sage to Dublin for these five men, who passed oflf as bathers at the salt water. The messenger was only known to some of the party where he was sent, and could not be arrested with- out information of some of that party, who have been found out since, and will be treated of in another place. Mr Emmet wished to get acquainted with the men that dis- tinguished tliemisclves most in the year 1798, and he was aware that Quigley knew these men,, which was one cause for bringing him (Quigley) along with him from France. Mr Emmet had also the knowledge of the other men that had been in confidence in the year 1798 as delegates, some of whom he employed as agents to forward his plans. James Hope, from Belfast, was one that he, perhaps, got an account of from some of the United Irishmen that were in France. Although Hope did not distinguish himself in battle, he was trustworthy, and lived in Dublin at that time ; he was a true patriot, and he was soon found out for Mr Emmet, and sent to Bernard O'Dougan, who lived in Palmerstown. At this time, after O'D. had been Ul>e- rated out of Naao gaol, where he had been a state prisoner, he was obliged to quit the county Kildare, where he had been tried for high treason and the rebellion of 1798, the murder of Captain Swain, and the battle of Prosperoas. These facts were sworn against him and another young man of the name of Thomas Wylde, and proved to tha satisfaction of the court, as may be seen by Lord Long- ville's speech in the first Parliament after the union of Great Britain and Ireland, but were both honourably ac- quitted by the Amnesty Act, (though detained as state prisoners,) which had been framed according to agreement of the peace between the Govemraent and the rebels, as hath been explained heretofore, O'Dougan was called on also much at the same time by Quigley and Wylde, on the lame business as Hope had with him, giving bini to know 282 APPENDIX. what was intended by Mr Etumct On this invitation, EL O'Dougan came into Dublin and met Mr Emmet's party. At the same time there was but few in number, about five or six; but they were confident in the disposition of all such of their countrymen, as far as their influence went which was not a little at that time, that they would have numbers to join their cause, and was the chief part that did come at the day appointed. Henry Howley was brought by O'Dougan, and Edward Condon also. H. Howley took the dep6t in Thomas Street, with its entrance in Marshal Lane ; then John Bourk, of Naas, and Richard Eustace, from the same place, and also a young man of the name of Joseph White, from the county Kildare, near Rathcoffey ; there was another person of the name of Cliristopher Nowlan. These men continued to collect into the depot pikes from the different places where the smiths would leave them concealed, and also to bring in thfe tim- ber for the pike handles ; and also powder and balls, and to make them into cartridges, and put handles into the pikes. Tliese men, for the most part, were always at- tendant on the depot, preparing the pikes and cartridges, and bringing in guns, pistols, and blunderbusses, and all other requisites for rockets, ness, by the day, or by the sheet. He was to be paid so much a day for ensnaring and murdering his client and his friend ! Do you think the man deserving of credit who can do such things? No, gentlemen of the jury : I have stated the circumstances by which, in my opinion, the credit of Mr Cockaigne should be as nothing in your eyea.' SIR JONAH BARRINGTON. Sir Jonah Barrington, whose name we have frequently mentioned, published a work entitled " Personal Sketches,** containing many anecdotes illustrative of the Sham Squire's times ; but we h&fe been sparing in our references to that book, for, however pleasant as light reading, it is not wholly reliable as historical authority. The truth is, that Sir Jonah was in needy circumstances when the " Personal Sketches " appeared, and no doubt exaggerated his already hyperbolical style, in order to raise the wind still higher, though he says in his introduction : " It was commenced by no means for mercenary purposes," (voL i, p. 1.) It was remarked to us by the late Mr P. V. Fitzpatrick, who as a hon raconteur might be styled " Sir Jonah Barrington secun- dns," that he heard him tell the stories very differently trom (he sensational style of their subsequent appearance ; and u 290 APPENDIX. tliat he knew Thomas Colley Grattan, the novelist, to cTaim the chiet merit of-tlie "Personal Sketches," as having sng- gested the work and manipulated the MS. But even in personal conversation, as we have been assured by the lii*e John Patten, Sir Jonah's statements were always distrusted ; although a judge, he was not a man of truth or principle, and many pleasant anecdotes might be told illustrative of this remark, but the Blue Book ordered by the House of Commons to be printed the 9th of February 182!), pillories Sir Jonah on the most legitimate authority. This volume has not been consulted by the writers who have hitherto noticed the eccentric knight. Before examining it, we may observe that the result of the disclosures therein contained, was Sir Jonah's dismissal from the bench. This was inconvenient, as the salary dropped at the same time ; but his inexhaustible astuteness in a dilemma proved, as usual, wonderful. Barrington bethought him of a letter which he had re- ceived, many yeai-s beforo, from the Duke of Clarence, who was now ri^igning as William the Fourth. Birrington had shown considerable kindness to Mrs Jordan, at a time when his bar contemjwrary, Gould, and others, had tn.'ated J)er slightingly, and even introduced her to his own family. The duke wrote a warm letter of thanks to Barriiigtou, and expressed a hope that it might be in his power, at some future day, to attest his appreciation of kindness so disinterested. Barrington overhauled his papers — which, by the way, he sold as autographs a few years later — and having found the old letter in question, forwarded it to the king. A rather stiff reply came by return of post, to say that no one knew better than Sir Jonah Barrington the very material difference which existed between the Duke of Clarence and the King of England, and that it was impossible to recognise, in his then position, every acquaint- ance whom he might have known when acting in a com- paratively subordinate cajxicity. His majesty, however, who possessed a heart of unusual warmth, and a memory of past friendship singularly acute and retentive, wrote a private letter to Sir Jonah by the same post which con- veyed the official auawer, recognising the claim, and b«- ii LIGHT-FINGERED JUDGE. 201 gtowing upon him a pension from tho Privy Purse, exactly equal in amount with the forfeited stipend.* To come now to the Blue Book. Referring to the ship Nancy and its cargo, which were sold by the marshal under a commission of apj)raisement in December 1805, we read: — "It appears that in this cause alone Sir Jonah Barrington appropriated to his own use out of the proceeds £482, 8s. 8d. and £200, making together £682, Ss. 8d., and never repaid any part of either ; and that the registrar is a loser in that cause to the amount of £546, lis. 4d."t In the case of the Redstrand, Sir Jonah also netted some booty. On the 12th January 1810, the sum of £200 was paid into court on account of the proceeds in this cause, " and the same day," adds the report, " Sir Jonah Barrington, by an order in his own handwriting which has been produced to us, directed the registrar to lodge that sum to his (the judge's) credit in the bank of Sir William Grleadowe Newcoraen, which he accordingly did. Subse- quently a petition having been presented to the court by Mr Henry Pyne Masters, one of the salvagers, Sir Jonah wrote an order at foot of it, bearing date the 29th day of May 1810, directing the registrar to pay to the petitioner a sum of £40 ; and at the same time be wrote a note to 3klr Masters, requesting that he would not present the order for two months ; at the close of which period Sir Jonah left Ireland, and never since returned." — Ibid., p. 10. Sir Jonah's circumstances at this time were greatly em- barrassed, and his last act on leaving Ireland was one of a most unscrupulous character, as shall appear anon. In the Dublin Patriot, then edited by Richard Barrett, we read the following paragraph, which is quite in Sir Jonah's style, having evidently for its object the diversion of sus- picion from the real grounds of his exile. " His chest," it is true, was not in a satisfactory state, but it waa the money chest rather than the bodily trunk which seems to have been chiefly affected. ** Sir Jonah Barrington has resided at BonIogi»e for the * Communicated by the Tate P. V. Fitzpatrick, Esq. t S^gbteentb Beport o V Courts oi Jastiee m Irelaad, pb Ik 292 ArPRNOix. last thiT.e fpars. His health, we regret to state, is by no means perfect, but, on the contriiry, has for some years been very precarious. Under his patent he has the right of appointing surrogates to act for him — a right of which he cannot be deprived. The duties of his situation have been, and continue to be discharged, in his absence, by the very competent gentlemen who have been appointed, Mr Jameson, Mr MahafFy, and Mr Holwell Walshe." * The commissioners requested Sir Jonah's attendance in Dublin in order to give him every opportunity of vindi- cation ; but he declined on the plea of infirmity and the difficulty of transit, for which, in 1828, he may have had pome excuse. The commissioners, before closing their report, stmined a point, and enclosed to Sir Joniah copies of the evidence. On the 2d August 1828, after acknow- ledging the receipt of the minutes, he wrote : — '. " Be assured, not one hour shall be unnecessarily lost in transmitting to you my entire refutal ; and I am too im- l)atient to do away any impression that such evidence must have excited, that I cannot avoid anticipating that refutal generally, by declaring solemnly, * So help me God,' before whom age and infirmity must soon send me, that the whole and entire of that evidence, so far as it tends to inculpate me, is totally, utterly, and unequivocally false and unfounded." " This, and passages of a similar tendency in subsequent letters," observe the commissioners, " are, however, thq only contradiction or explanation of the foregoing facts given by Sir Jonah ; and, undoubtedly, although unsworn, so distinct and unqualified a contradiction would have had much weight with us, had the alleged facts been supported by the parole testimony only of the officer. But when we find the handwnting of Sir Jonoh himself supporting the statement of the tm'tness, we cannot avoid giving credit to his cndence, and must lament that the Judge did not adopt measures for reviving his recollection, previously to commit- iing himself to a general assertion of the falsehood of the entire evidence of Mr Pineau, so far as related to him, which is all that on this subject his numerous and very long letters have aflForded us." * See Patriot of December 29, 1822, «Tid Carrick's Morning Pott, J&Buaiy 1. 1828. A TREACHEROUS MEMORY. 293 Some of Sir Jonah's defalcations in the Court of Admi- ralty were made good at the time by the registrar, Mr Pineau, hoping to screen the judge from exposure, and trusting to his honour for reimbursement at a moment of less embarrassment. Mr Pineau wrote to remind him of the liability ; and in a letter dated Boulogne, 4th August 1825, we find Sir Jonah coolly saying : " 1 have no doubt you will believe me, I have not the most remote recollection of the circumstance in question."* And again: "Ago (closing seventy) and much thought has blunted my recol- lection of numerous events," The registrar drew up an elaborate statement of the cir- cumstances, with facts and figures, but Sir Jonah's memory was still unrefreshed. In a letter dated 5 Rue du Col^-sec, Paris, 3d Oct. 1827, he writes : " It is not surprising that (after closing twenty years) the concern you mention is totally out of my memory." f Any person who ha* read the works of Sir Jonah Bar rington cannot fail to have been struck with the marvellouj retentiveness of Ijis memory for minute details. " The Rist and Fall of the Irish Nation" was published in 1831— six years after his letters to Mr Pineau — and in 1831 appeared the memorable " Personal Sketches of his owr Times," in which, after alluding to a misunderstanding between Messrs Daly and Johnson, Sir Jonah adds : " Oae of the few things I ever forgot is the way in which that affair terminated : it made little impression on me at the time, and so my memory rejected it." % The embezzle- ment of considerable sums could only be rejected by an eminently treacherous memory, although Sir Jonah in his memoirs tells us : "I never loved iftioney much in my life."§ / Barrington's habitual exaggeration in story -telling would appear to be an old weakness. Describing the events of the year 1796, he says that " Curran and he" coined stories to tell each other ; the lookers on laughed almost • Report, p. 154. Italics in orig. t Report, p. 156. Sir Jonah goes on to say : " The Irish Govern- ment have NO sort of authority to order any returns from the oificert of my court, and 1 decline such authority." t Ibid. Personal Sketches, voL i., p. 405. § Ibid.. voL L, p. 227. ^ 294 APPENDIX. to convulsions.* An indulgence in exaggeration, Sir Jonah seemed to regard both as a predominant passion and e venial sin. Sir Richard Musgrave, we are told, " under- stood drawing the long bow as well as most people." + Sir Jonah possessed a large share of ** cheek," and both as a startling story-teller and successful negotiator in money transactions, this quality stood his friend. So early as 1799, the author of "Sketches of Irish Political Charac- ters "says: "He is supposed to have pretty much the same idea of blushing that a blind man has of colours." One very amusing illustration of Sir Jonah's astuteness as a trickster is not included in the Blue Book. He had j)ledged his family plate for a considerable sum to Mr John Stevenson, pawnl^roker, and member of the Common Coun- cil. " My dear fellow," said the knight, condescendingly, as he dropped in one day to that person's private closet, " I am in a d — 1 of a hobble. I asked, quite impromptu, the Lord- Lieutenant, Chancellor, and Judges, to dine with me, forgetting how awkwardly I was situated ; and, by Jove, they have written to say they '11 come ! Of course I could not entertain them without the plate ; I shall require it for that evening only ; but it must be on one condition — that you come yourself to the dinner and represent the Corporation. Bring the plate with you, and take it back again, at night." The pawnbroker was dazzled ; although not usually given to nepotism, he obligingly embraced the l)roposal. During dinner, and after it^ Sir Jonah plied " his uncle " well with wine. The pawnbroker had a bad head for potation,. though a good one for valuation ; he fell asleep and under the table almost simultaneously; and when he awoke to full consciousness, Sir Jonah, accompanied by the plate, had nearly reached Boulogne, never again to visit his native land ! Sir Jonah made another " haul " before leaving Ireland. Mr Fennell Collins, a rich saddler, who resided in Danjo Street, lent " the Judge ".£3000, on what seemed tolerable security; but one farthing of the money was never re- covered. A hundred similar stories might be told.:|: Every- body has heard of Barrington, the famous jtickpocket ; but • Personal Sketches, voL i., p. 381. f Ibid., vol. i., p. 211. t See Life of Thomas Reynolds, bj hie Sen, p. 853, voL iL, Jcc. emmet's DTSUREECnON. 295 the equally dexterous though more refined achievements of his titled namesake will be new to many. " The unrighteous borroweth, but payeth not again," saith Psalm xxxvii. 21. Sir Jonah could not even return a book. To assist him in his work on the Union, the late Mr Conway lent him, for a few weeks, the file of the Dublin Evening Post for 1798; but it never could be got back, and was afterwards sold with Sir Jonah's effects. We wish we could be sure that Sir Jonah's dishonourable acts were no worse than ptcuniary juggling. Dr Madden is of opinion that Barrington, although a pseudo patriot, deserves'to be classed among the informers of '98. In April 1798, he dined in Wexford at Lady Colclough's, and on the following day with B. Bagenal Harvey. Popu- lar politics were freely talked ; and on Sir Jonah's return t" Dublin, as he himself tells us, he informed Secretary Cooke that Wexford would immediately revolt. Nearly all h'lT Jonah's friends whom he met at the two dinner pr.rties ' — one a relation of his own — were hanged witliiji tiirce mouths ; and on his next visit to WexforJ, he recognised their heads spiked in front of the jail ! Colclough and Harvey were Protestant gentlemen of very considerable landed property in Wexford, Their discovery in a damp cave on the Saltee Islands, through the blood- hound instinct of an old friend, Dr Waddy, a physician of vVexvord, is invested with a painfully romantic interest George Cruikshank has executed an effective sketch of this tragic incident EMMET'S INSURRECTION. Emmet's revolt exploded on the evening of July 23, 1803. Mr Phillips, in " Curran and his Contemporaries," writes : — " Lord Kilwarden, the then Chief-Justice, was returning from the country, and had to pass through the very street of the insurrection. He was recognised, seized, and inhu- manly murdered, against all the entreaties and commands of *Emmet This is supposed to have disgusted and debili- tated him." 29G APPENPTX. A curions reason is assigned in a MS. before us for Lord Kilwarden " passing through the very street of the insur- rection." The MS. autobiography of the late Serenus Kelly, a well-known monk, was placed in our hands by the writer, on his death-bed, at Tullow,.in 1859. Serenus was in Lord Kilwarden's house on the ei^ening of his death : — .. /r - -, " Colonel Finlay sent a message to 'Lord^Kilwarden at seven o'clock on the evening of his lordship's lamented death, apprising him that Dublin was about to be disturbed by a second rebellion, and an attempt to take the Castle. Lord Kil warden ordered his carriage, and went over to speak to Colonel Finlay on the subject, to satisfy himself of the truth of the report. He took with him into Dublin his daughter and nephew, and directed the coachman to drive to the Castle through Dolphin's Barn, to avoid pay- ing turnpike from his seat, called Newlands, situate between Tallaght and Clondalkin, on the Naas road." [Here the usual details of the emeute are given.] " One of the in- surgents asked who came there. The coachman answered, ignorant of their design, ' Lord Kilwarden.' With that they pulled his lordship out, saying it was he condemned the Sheares,* and they gave him, upon the spot, fourteen pike stabs, of which he died about eleven o'clock next morning. Mr Downing, the gardener, went to see his lord- ship, and he heard Major Sirr say he would hang a man for every hair on his head : to which his lordship replied : » Let no man suffer in consequence of my death, unless by ^he regular operation of the laws.' " This was said about eight o'clock on Sunday morning while he lay in a guard-bed in Vicar Street, weltering in' his gore. As to Emmet, I did not wish to witness his execution ; but I saw the gallows erected, and a thrill o| horror pervaded my blood as I observed the noose, black and greasy from the numbers it had launched into eternity." The person who received .£1000, on 1st November 1803, for the discovery of Robert Emmet, still preserves his in- cognito. Dr Madden, quoting fl:om the Secret Service Money Record, says that "the above sum was paid%it». * The mob confounded Lord Kilwarden with Lord Carletoiu See p. 204, atUe. emmet's informer. 297 Knlay's Bank to the account of Richard Jones : " and he adds that the circumstance of lodging the money in the hands of a banker leads to the conclusion that the informer was not of humble rank. " Who was this gentleman Bichard Jones?" asks Dr Madden. For whom was the money paid to account of Richard Jones ? " In the county Wicklow there was a family of the name of Jones, of Killencarrig, near Delgany. In 1815 there was ■\ brewery kept thei:e by a family of that name. They Jirere Protestants — quiet people, who did not meddle with politics. " In the county Dublin, at Ballinascomey, near where Emmet was concealed for some time, there was also a family of the name of Jones, small farmers, Catholics. " There was a gentleman of the name of Jones, the Right lion. Theophilus Jones, a member of the Privy Council, a ooUecter of revenue. He lived at Cork Abbey, Bray. He was a humane, good I^an ii^ ' the troubles,' and interested himself much for the people. "There were two attorneys of the name of Richard Jones living in Dublin at the period of Emmet's capture." — United Irishmen, vol. i. p. 392. As Dr Madden desires to ventilate this question, we will drop a suggestion, tending, perhaps, to throw some light on it. In the Dublin Et^ing Post of March 2, 1784, particular reference is made to Richard Jones, Esq., a very efficient justice of the peace, constantly on foot in sup- port of law and order, and praised by the Castle journals for his activity. There was also a very popular comedian, named Richard Jones, attached to Crow Street Theatre at this time. He mixed much in the liberal and Catholic society of Dublin, and must have been well known to Mr Long and Mr David Fitzgerald, both of Crow Street. The two last named, as appears from " The Life of Emmet," ^ere deep in the confidence of the young insurgent. J .•vt-^jjr- 293 APPENDIX. THE MYSTERY ENSHROUDING EMMETS GRAVE. Robert Emmet, wh«n asked if he had anything to say why sentence of death should not be pronounced upon Lim, delivered an eloquent oration, which thus concluded : — " Let no man write my epitaph ; for, as no man who knows my motives dare now vindicate them, let not pre- judice or ignorance asperse them; let them rest in obscurity and peace ! Let my memory be left in oblivion, and my tomb remain uniascribed, until other times and other men can do justice to my character. When my country takes her place among the nations of the earth, then, and not till then, let my epitaph be written. I have done !" Notwithstanding the interest attaching to the name of Emmet, the locality of his final resting-place and unin- scribed stone has been hitherto undetermined. A correspondent of the Irishman newspaper has re- quested information as to whether the " uninscribed tomb of Robert Emmet is the one pointed out in St Michan's churchyard ? I am aware that the question has been often SM^ asked, and, as appeared to me, not satisfactorily answered. I arrived at this conclusion owing to the absence of any in- formation by members of the Emmet family. My reason for asking the question iiS; being in the vestry of St Peter's, Dublin, some short time ago, I was told by the menxon- nected therewith that Emmet was positively interred flSse to the footpath, (left gate,) or near to where the old watch- house stood, and was ■ pointed out to them, as they stated, by some member or acquaintance of the family from America some few years ago. If there be nothing for it but the uninscribed tomb of Michan's, I would be inclined to think that Peters was the place, as tombs of the above descrip- tion are not so very rare." It is not the remains of Robert Emmet, the orator and insurgeut leader, but of his father, Robert Emmet, State Physician, which are interred in St Peter'si churchyard. The latter died on the 9th of December 1803, and was buried in St Peter's, three days afterwards, according to an official certificate furnished to Dr Madden. The mother of k MIDNIGHT BURIAL. 299 young Robert Emmet is likewise interred in the same grave. Another correspondent of the journal just quoted said :— "No allusion has been made to James's parish cemeterj. The sexton told me about two years ago that there was a registration of his having been interred there. This is not at all improbable, it being so near the place of his execu- tion. It is a sad thing that such discrepancy should exist." Owuig to this suggestion, we carefully examined the Burial Register of St James's Church, held by the parish clerk, Mr Falls, but no trace of Emmet's interment can be found in it. We had the pleasui-e, soon after, of a conversation with John Patten when in his eighty-seventh year. This gentle- man was the brother-in-law of Thomas Addis Emmet. He told us that having been a state prisoner in 1803, he was not present at Emmet's funeral. He had no authentic in- formation on the subject, but, according to his impression, Robert Emmet had been buried in Bully's Acre — also known as the Hospital Fields ; and that the remains were from thence, removed to Michan's churchyard, where the ashes of Bond and the Sheareses rest. He added that Doctor Gamble of St Michan's, the clergyman who at- tended Emmet in his last moments, was a not unlikely person to have got the remains removed from Bully's Acre to St Michan's. A literary friend of ours, Mr Hercules Ellis, was speak- ing of Emmet and the uninscribed tomb at a dinner party, when a gentleman present corrected the error under which he conceived Mr Ellis laboured respecting the place of his burial. " It was not in Michan's churchyard," he said, " but in Glasnevin, and I speak on the best authority, for my late father was the incumbent there at the time, and I repeatedly heard him say that he was brought out of his bed at the dead of night to perform the burial service over Emmet. There were only four persons present, two women and two men. One of the men he understood to be Dowdall, the natural son of Hussy Burgh, and one of the ladies Sarah Curran, who had been betrothed to Emmet. The corpse was conveyed through " Uttla uncrow door leading into th« 300 APPENDIX. old churchyard of Glasnevin from' the handsome demesjie of Delville, formerly the residence of Dean Delany." With interest awakened by this tradition we visited the classic grounds of Delville, and the old graveyard adjacent, accompanied by Mr Ellis, the great-grandson of the wife of Dean Delany, to the memory of both of whom a tablet, almost smothered in ivy, is set in the churchyard wall — the boundary which divides their former residence from their final resting-place. We learned from the gardener who acted as cicerone that there was a tradition precisely to the effect of the statement made by the clergyman's son. Our conductor having unlocked a narrow door which leads to the little cemetery, pointed out a grass-grown grave and uninscribed head-stone immediately to the left on entering. The entire aspect of the place forcibly recalled to our mind Moore's description of Emmet's grave : — " Oh, breathe not his naixie, let it sleep in the shade, Where, cold and unhonoured, his relics are laid ; Sad, silent, and dark, be the tears that we 8he4, As the night-dew that falls on the grass o'er his head. But the night-dew that falls, though in silence it weeps, Shall brighten with verdwe the grave where he sleeps." This description, by the early friend and college chum of Emmet, is entirely applicable to the picturesque green grave near classic Delville and the deserted village of Glas- nevin,* but is inappropriate to the huge flat flag, excluding every blade of grass, in St Michan's, Church Street, Dub- lin. It is not easy to understand how a tomb thus situ- ated could " brighten with verdure." Moore would appear to have had rather the grass-grown grave at Delville in his mind than the flat, dusty stone in a back street of Dublin. * Many a pleasant day Addison, as he tells us, passed among these picturesque grounds. Tickell, his executor, resided in the adjacent demesne, now known as the Botanical Gardens, and Par- nell the poet was vicar of a neighbouring hamlet Swift has cele- brated the beauties of Delville in prose and verse, to the inspiration of which Stella not a little contAbuted. In a retired grotto may ba seen a fine medallion likeness of Stella, in excellent preservation, from the artistic hand of Mrs Delany, with the inscription, " Fasti- gia despicit urbis," composed by Swift. Several old basement room* •re shown as the site of the private printing presses employed by Swift and Delany. ' THE SHAM SQUIRK'S BEQUESTS. 301 The following letter "from the late Dr Petrie, the father of Irish archaeology, tends the more to corroborate our views, as it was written before he had seen the above, or even heard the substance of it. The letter possesses addi- tional interest from the f^t that it is one of the last penned by Petrie : — " 7 Charlemont Place, i\7iw. 10, 1865. " My dear Sir, — ^According to my recollections and belief, derived from the best local authorities, the grave of pour Einmet is in the churchyard of Glasrievin, and is situ- ated at one side, the left, as I think, of a private doorway, which gave to the family occupying Delville House a direct ]ia.si>age to the church, and thus enabled them to avoid coming round through the town to the service. — Believe me, my dear sir, most truly yours, " George Petrie. " P.S. — The above was written before I read the printed paper which you enclosed." THE SHAM SQUIRE'S BEQtESTa (Fwfepp. 152-159.) After several letters of inquiry on the subject appeared, it was urged by the Irish Times, in a voluminous leading artiqle, that a royal commission should be appointed to in quire into the condition and revenues of the charities be- queathed by Higgins and others, and expressed a hope that Parliament would at once take the matter in hand. Complaint having been made that a letter which ap- peared in a morning paper from the Governor of the Four Courts Marshalsea, had been omitted from the Appendix to the first edition of this work, we now supply it, together with an answer which it elicited : — " 17, Mount Street, Grosvenor Square, Janvxiry, 4, 1865. *' Sir, — In your paper of yesterday I see an article on '■v.: ft). 302 APPENDIX. tlie bequests of two gentlemen to the Four Courts Mar- slmlsea, for charitable purposes. The will referred to pro- vided that each prisoner who had taken tJie pauper declara- tion should be provided with a dinner of beef and bread on Christmas-day and Easter Monday, and that the balance should be applied to discharging some of the poor debtors ; but at the time this will was made there were prisoners confined for sums considerably under three pounds. How- jver, there have been few there for several years under debts of ten pounds ; consequently, a short time after my appointment to my present position, (now thirteen years ago,) I brought the matter under the consideration of the three chaplainjb, and represented to them that if they thought proper to apply the balance after the dinners ro- ferred to, one or two prisoners could only be benefited in the manner pointed out. They accordingly decided that a sum of ,£1, 10s. (since raised to £2 in consequence of a change in the Stamp Act) should be applied for the pur- ]>03e of filing the schedules of tliose prisoners who had no means of paying the expenses of taking the benefit of the Insolvency Act, which was carrying out as far as possible the desire of the testators. Since this arrangement I have always obtained ample means for filing the schedules of all those whom I found deserving of the favour ; had I not done so, 1 should have requested the Lord Mayor for the time being to have curtailed the allowance of beef and bread on Easter and Christmas. His releasing a man from jtrison is of more importance than giving each pauper more than ten times as much as the testator designed. " I-u conclusion, T have to remark that the bequests with H'hich the Lord Mayor has nothing to do only pro- duce a small sum, and is n^ore at the disposal of the prison phaplaina on these occasions. It frequently is a source of regret to me that the will only refers to pauper prisoners, it frequently occurring that the most distressed inmates ojf 'ihe Four Courts Marshalsea are those who support them- jelves without the Government allowance, and have, alas ! loo often to subsist on two very scanty meals in the day. — I am, sir, your obedient servant, " E. H. Caulfikld, MarshaL" LOET> haedwktkb: J?03 •• Jctmtary 1 0, 1 8C5. **Sm, — As I was tlie first to call attention in your columns to the distribution of the charities, I beg to depre- cate the equivocal letter of the Governor tm the subject. } would suggest an application to Ms Excellency the Lord- Lieutenant, with a view to the exhibition of the wills on the walls of the prison, and an order to the Board of Charitable Bequests to see that they are carried out in their integrity." Mr Caulfield is under an erroneous impression in sup- j)osing that the Lord Mayor has " nothing to do" with the Iliggins Bequest. In his will, it is specially directed that tlie Lord Mayor for the time being shall distribute the charity. We are assured by the Secretary to the Board o* Charitable Bequests that they have got a copy of the Fham Squire's will, and do all in their power to make the Bequest be carried out in its integrity. Hitherto, the money so distrib»ited by the Lord Mayor has been errone- ously announced in the newspapers as the personal chari- ties of that functionary; but steps have been taken by the Board of Charitable Bequests, to prevent such borrowed plumes from being again displayed. JUDGE EGBERT JOHNSON, (P. 62, ante.') The history of Judge Johnson, whose name occurs lu a previous page as counsel for the ^am Squire, discloses some curious features. In " The Step-ladder'' of General Coekbume, we obtained a view of the Backstairs Cabinet, who carried on the govern- ment of Ireland, to the almost utter exdBsioD of the Yioe> roy, during the reign, of terror. This eUque was succeeded by another, less sanguinary but equally BaiscfcievGns. Lord Hardwicke, who became Lord Lieutenant in 1801, was a prim but pliant noufntity^ pecscnally amiable, though, easily 304 APPENDIX. made a tool of by designing men. He stood a vapid cipher in the niidst of a cluster of figures. Every newspaper in the country applauded his policy. Even the Dublin Even- ing Post, the long-recognised organ of Irish nationality, flang the censer with unceasing energy. Emmet's speech in the dock* — one of the most eloquent and touching on record — was suppressed by the Post, with the exception of a fe\^ garbled passages, more calculated to damage his posi- tion than to serve as his viudication.+ To the plausibility of Lord Hardwicke's government, men hitherto considered as stanch patriots fell victims. Grattan eulogised him ; Pluhket accepted office. The press teemed with praise ; the people were cajoled. One man only was found to tear aside the curtain which concealed the policy and machinery of the so-called Sardwicke ad- ministration. A judge, with £3600 a year from Govern- ment, was perhaps the last man likely to take this course. And yet we find Judge Johnson penning in his closet a series of philippics under the signature of " Juverna." He declared that Lord Hardwicke was bestrode by Mr Justice Osborne, Messrs Wickham and Marsdeu, and by " a Chan- cery Pleader from Lincoln's Inn," which was immediately recognised as Lord Chancellor Redesdale. Giving rein to his indignation and exjiression to his pity, he exhorted Ire- land to awaken from its lethargy. 'The main drift of the letters was to prove that the government of a harmless man was not necessarily a harmless government. The printer was prosecuted, bnt to save himself he gave up the Judge's MS. X Great excitement greeted this disclosure, and Judge Johnson descended from the bench, never again to mount it. • See p. 298, ante. + Frequent payments to "H. B. Code" appear in the Secret Service Money Book, in 1802-3. This individual was engaged to conduct the Post during the long and painful illness of John M igee ; but for paltry bribes he quite compromised its politics, until John Magee, junior, rescued the paper from his hands. Mr Code subsequently received, under Mr Beresford, an appointment of £900 a year in the revenue. A notice of him appears in Watty Cox's Migazine for 1813, p. 131. t Lord Cloncurry, in his " Personal Recollections," says, (2d edit., p. 2.53,) "The manuscript, although sworn by a crown witness to be in Mr Johnson's handwriting, was %|^ually written by his daughter. This uircumstance he might have ^Irdved; but as he could not do ae JUDGE JOHNSON. 305 A public trial took place, of which the report fills two portly volumes; and the Judge wa8 fouud guJdty. Before receiving sentence, however, the Whigs came into power, and Johnson was allowed to retire with a pension. But he considered that he had been hardly dealt with ; and. the prosecution had the eflfect of lashing the Judge into down- right treason. He became an advocate for separation, dressed a la milUaire, and wrote essays, suggesting, among other weapons of warfare to be used in "the great struggle of nati(mal regeneration," bows, arrows, and pikes. The " Jou^ nala and Life of Tone," the ablest organiser of the United Irish Project, was published at Washington in 1 828. Public attention was immediately called to it by a book, printed in English at Paris, entitled " A Commentary on the Life of Theobald Wolfe Tone," which has always been confidently pronounced as the work of Judge Johnson,* The Memoirs of Tone, and the Commentary which succeeded it, appear- ing at a crisis of intense political excitement, and display- ing conclusions of singular novelty and daring, produf«d a powerful impression. , The Duke of Wellington, then Pre- mier, assured Rogers that he had read the Memoirs of Tone, from cover to cover, with unflagging interest. But it is doubtful if the Duke would ever have seen it had not the " Commentary" reached him from the British ambassador at Paris. An interesting letter from the late Robert Cassidy, Esq., narrates the fact, previously a secret, that the mate* rial only came from Judge Johnson, ani that Mr Cagsidy edited the MSS. The letter was written in reply to ona from the present writer, mentioning that he had purchased, at the sale of Mr Conway's library, a volume of scarce pamphlets, containing the "Commentary" witJi Mr Cassidy's autograph, and offering it tu his acceptance. without compromising his amanuensis, the jury were obliged to return a verdict of guilty." We have been assured, however, by Miss Johnson herself, that the MS. was really an autograph of hei father's. She added, that the judge having taught her to write, their handwriting closely assimilated. * See Recollections of Lord Clonctury, p. 253 : Monre's Journal, vol vi., p. 146; Daunt's Recollections of O'Conueli, vol. L, p. 18; Irish Quarterly Beview, voL ii-. p. 10 ; Irish Monthly Ma/jazine, p> 120, Ac. X 306 APPENDIX. " MoNASTEREVAN, July 3, 1855. " Tlie Commentary on the life of Wolfe Tone was pub- lished under very peculiar and rather strange circumstance"?. The papers forming it were detached, and not arranged. In a state just out of chaos, they were intrusted to mo, to make such use of for the advance of this country as I migh>. deem useful. " The dedication, written in Paris, puzzled the few French printers able to print English,* Didot, under guarantees supplied by my banker, (D. Daly,) published the book almost malgre luL I had to attend more than one sum- mons at the Palais de (iVi-) Justice in 1828, to protect the printer. " The paper caused some sensation. Every ambassador in Paris paid for the sheets as printed — some for ten copies, before bound. One hundred copies were sold in sheets. " I had to correct the press for French compositors, and brought over fifty copies. I have made a look through my books this day, and, to my surprise, find I have not a copy of the original exeraplaire. " To rejiossoss the copy most probably lent Gonway, is desirable. I shall receive it from you, not as a restitution, but as a gift. — Yours faithfully, Robert Cassidy. " To W. J. Fitzpatrick, Esq." Judge Johnson was a fluent correspondent, and some of his letters on the capability of Ireland for effective warfare appear in the '* Personal Recollections of Lord Cloncurry." His grandson, Robert AUoway, Esq., now holds an interest- ing selection from the Judge's papers. It may scandalise surviving politicians of the old Tory school to hear that among his chief correspondents were John Wilson Croker and the King's brother, the Duke of Sussex. ♦ " They could not, for ♦he life of them, imagine why an English book, dedicated to all the blockheada in the service of his Britannic Slajesty, should be printed in an alien country."— /SuJsejTtent com- nunication from Mi- Cassidy. ■''■M X A *<■ OCONNELL. 307 O'CONNELL "A UNITED IRISHMAN." (P. 134, ante.) The uncompromising attitude of hostility maintained by jO'Connell towards the advocates of physical force, specially evidenced in his censure of the men of '98 at the Repeal Association on May 21, 1841, and which led to the resig- nation of somte influential repealers in America, imparts additional interest to the fact, hitherto hardly known, that he himself had been a United Irishman. We are in- debted to the late Mr Peter Murray, of the Registry of Deeds Office, Dublin, a, man of scrupulous veracity, for the following curious reminiscence of O'Connell in 1798 : — " My father, a respectable cheesemonger and grocer, re- siding at 3 South Great George Street, was exceedingly intimate with O'Connell, when a law student, and' during his earlier career at the bar. Mr O'Connell, at the period of which I speak, lodged in Trinity Place adjacent, an almost unexplored nook, and to many of our citizens a terra incognita. I well remember O'Connell, one night at. my father's house during the spring of 1798, so carried away by the political excitement of the day, and by the ardour of his innate patriotism, calling for a prayer-book to swear in some zealous young men as. United Irishmen at a meeting of the body in a neighbouring street. Coun- sellor was there, and offered to accompany O'Connell on his perilous mission. My father, although an Irishman of advanced liberal views and strong patriotism, was not a United Irishman, and endeavoured, but without effect, to deter his young and gifted friend from the rash course in which he seemed embarked. Dublin was in an ex- tremely disturbed state, and the' outburst of a bloody in- surrect'on seemed hourly imminent. My father resolveJ to exert to th6 uttermost the influence which it was well known he possessed 'over his young friend. He made him accompany him to the canal bridge at Leeson Street, and after an earnest conversation, succeeded in persuading the future Liberator to step into a turf boat which was then leaving Dublin. Thkt night my father's house was searched ,4: . by Major Sirr, accompanied by the Attorneys' Corps of j eo- 308 ArPENDnc. Tuanry, who pillnged it to their hearts' content. Tliere can bf no doubt that private information of CyConnell's tenden- cies and haunts had been communicated to the Government." Mr O'Connell's intimacy with Mr Murray is confirmed by Mr John O'Connell's memoirs of his father, p. 14; and 8ir Jonah Barrington, in the third volume of his " Personal Sketches," p. 396, gives a very animated description of the Backing of Murray's house by the Attorneys* Corps, or " Devil's Own." The " Personal Recollections of O'Connell," written by Mr Daunt, and mainly devoted to a record of convei-sations with his great leader, describe O'Connell as in Dublin during the spring and summer of 1798, and, lest some officious persons might endeavour to implicate him in their disaffection, . •' quitting the city in a potato b<.»t bound for Courtmnsherry," (voL i., p. 117.) But the cir« cumstauces detailed by Mr Murray are not given. THE REBELLION IN WICKLOW— FUSILADE AT DUNLAVIN. The Rev. John F. Shearman, late of Dunlavin, and now of Howth, has obligingly sent to us, since the publication of our previous edition, the following waifs and strays of the rebellion in Wicklow, gathered from aged witnesses of the events. Details of the more important events of the in- surrection in Wicklow can be found in Hay and Musgrave's Histories ; but the incidents gleaned by Mr Shearman which possess historic value do not exist in any accessible form. * ' The memory of these events," writes Mr Shearman, " is still green in Dunlavin, but few unless one in my position could elicit much information on a subject always danger- ous to touch in that locality. I append other episodes, for the truth and correctness of which I can give every guar- antee :"— Some days before this cruel execution, which took May 26,. 1798,. Captain Saunders, of Saunders's d FUSILADE AT PUNLAVW. 309 near Stratford-on-Slaney, reviewed hia corps^ and then an- nounced that he had private infonnafion of all those in It who were United frishmen. All who were Ruch were then ordered to step from the ranks. Many, in the belief that he had true information of their infidelity, came forward. One man, however, Pat Doyle by name, having got a hint from Captain Saunders's butler, who was a member of tlie corps, that his master had no reliable information, said, when his name was called, that he was no " United man," the remainder of them took the hint, and the gal- lant captain was thus foiled. The unfortunate men who so unintentionally betrayed themselves were pinioned and marched to the market-house of Dunlavin for confinement until their fate would be decided. Next day Captaia William Kyves of the Rathsallagh yeomen, being on the look-out for insurgents on the hUl of Uske, his horse was killed by a ball aimed at its rider. Ryves got home safely ; rode to Dunlavin, and then it was determined to shoot the prisoners of Saunders's yeomen, and those of the Narragh- mofe corps, numbering in all thirty-six men. Next day, the 26th of May, being the marketday of Dunlavin, these unfortunates were marched from the market-house to tli© fair green, on the rising ground above the little town Iq a hollow or pit on the north side, near the gate of the Ro man Catholic chapel on the Sparrowhouse Road, the vic- tims were ranged, while a platoon of the Ancient Britons stood on the higher ground on the south side of the green on the Boherbuoy Road. They fired with murderous effect on the thirty-six victims. All fell — dead and dying — ^amid the shrieks and groans of the bystanders, anaong whom were their widows and relatives. After this mur- derous task was completed, the military retired to the market-house for other acts scarcely less cruel and bloody. Flogging and hanging was the order of the day, to stamp out disaffection and strike terror into the hearts of the country people. At the green, when all was hnshed, while the life-blood was welling from the murdered victims, their friends and relatives powerless to soothe their pangs, and lurking in terror behind the neighbouring fences, the soldiers' wives came to rifle the mangled corpses of the idain. One poor fellow who was only wounded, when h« 310 APPENDIX. found his watch being taken from him, made a faint effort Ht resistance, but in vain ; the savage woman sent for her liusband, who quickly settled the matter by firing a pistol into the ear of the wounded man. Another, victim, Peter Prendergast, was also living, being wounded in such a wanner as that his bowels were exposed. He feigned death, was also plundered, and thus escaped. Towards evening the bodies of those who were not already carried away by their friends were taken to the cemetery of Tour- nant and there buried in a large pit. Prendergast was ' still alive, and a woman replaced his bowels, bound him round with her shawl ; he was carried home^ and lived to an advanced age. Some few persons still surviving have a vivid recollection of the cruel and savage scenes. An old man told the writer that he remembers his father taking him to the town on that day, when he saw men hanging in death's agonies between the pillars of the market-house. He remembers an event which it is well to record, as re- lieving the barbaric cruelty of the scene. One John Mar- tin, in a fight with a soldier, snatched his sword. He was seized and dragged to the market-house"to his doom. The .sword was taken from him and placed on a peg in the wall. A respectable Protestant friend interested himself for Martin, who eventually escaped injury ; and while his fate was a subject of altercation between the authorities, a soldier's wife took down the sword, and unperceived in the heat of the dispute cut the rope by which one Thomas Kgan, a smith, was suspended, writhing in the agonies of snfiFbcation. He fell unnoticed to the ground, revived, and escaped to Dublin. The following is a list of the slain, as far as ascertained : — John Keeravan, Daniel Keeravan, brothers, Uppertown, Dunlavin ; Laurence Doyle, Dunlavin ; Martin Gryffen, do., set. 21 ;* Duffy, Duffy, brothers, Ballin- glass ; Matthew Farrell, Stratford-on-Slaney j Michael Neil, Dunlavin ; Richard Williams, Ballinacrow ; Andrew . Ryan, Scruckawn; Keating, ^ Keating, bro- * Martin GryfPen came from Dublin the evening before to see his "), aged father. He was seized in the garden of his house while saying. .^ " bis prayers, and executed, though not implicated at all in the,mojv*-f ^j^' uienti ~ .:i^r: THE BEBELLION IN WICKLOW. 311 Ihers ; and El ward Slattery, Narraghmore; Andrew Trendergast, Ballinacrow ; Peter ^Kearney, John Dwyer,* and John Kearney, Donard ; Peter Headon, Killabeg ; Thomas Brien, Ballinacrow Hill ; John Doyle, Scruckawn ; Morgan Doyle and John Doyle, Tufekmill ; Webb, Baltinglass'; John Wickam, Eadestown ; Costelloe ; ' Bernlingham, Bermingham, brothers, Narragh- more corps; Patrick Moran, Tuckmill ; Peter Prendergast, Bumbohall;t Thomas Byrne, from near Dunlavin, was .lauged at the market-house in Dunlavin at this time. II. J/ay 24, 1798. — The Ancient Britons having shot twelve insurgents at Bally more-Eustace, came to Dunlavin the next day by a detour through Lemmonstown, in the county Wicklow. A farmer in that townland named M'Donald had four sons, concerning whom secret information had been given by one Fox, a miller from Hollywood. The military dashed into the house while M'Donald, his v ife^ and four sons, Kit, John, Harry, and Tom, were at dintiei The young men were dragged out of the house, and while preparations were being made to shoot them, one of the M'Donalds was compelled to put a burning turf into the thatch of the house, and while doing so his hand was shf)t oflF by one of the soldiers. In vain did the old man pro- claim the innocencie of his sons, while he showed a wiitten protection given them by Captain Byves of Rathsallagh. The two eldest were' ordered to kneel down, their aged parent falling on his knees beside them imploring mercy. They were murdered by his side, while their mother looked on, regardless of all danger from the raging fire behind her. The two younger M'Donalds escaped in the confu- sion, concealed by the smoke of their burning homestead. They were perceived, but escaped unhurt, amidst volleys of bullets from their pursuers, and found a safe retreat in the wild glens and recesses of Church Mountain. The murdered bodies of the young men were concealed, and on the following Sunday before daybreak their aged parents * John Dwyer of Donard was uncle to Michael Dwyer, the in- r^ surgent of Imaile in 1803. %:f^.^ + Peter Prendergast of Bumbo Hall was wounded, and escaped - *^^ M above. 312 APPENDIX. cjirried them in sacks for a Lusty burial in the old church- yard of Hollywood. •m. In the summer of 1812, my informant went with h\, servants to draw home turf from the bog of Narnvghmore. While they were loading their carts, a respectable young man was seen to approach, attended by a servant, who led into the bog a dray and horse, in i^hich was a coffin with some spades for digging. The young man seemed to look anxiously about him, and after some time began to open the surface of the bog. This very strange proceeding ex- cited the curiosity of the informant, who with his njen came to the place where the stranger was excavating. His labours soon unravelled to some degree the mystery of the coffin, A corpse in perfect preservation 'lay exposed, but of a tallow-coloured hue, owing to the niode and place of burial. The corpse was placed in the coffin, and the young man, before returning homewards with it, told those pre- sent that it was the body of his f^fther, who was shot in the " battle of the bog road" in the year 1798. He also told them that from time to time^in his dreams he thought he saw his father come to his bedside, telling him to re- move his remains, intimating alsa where they lay. Urged by the vividness and frequency of these nocturnal winn- ings, he at last came to the resolution to remove the re- mains to be mingled with their kindred dust in some cemetery in the neighbourhood of Kilkenny. The young man's name was Brennan; his father was an extensive carrier, and at the time of the skirmish happened to be coming from Dublin to Kilkenny with seven drays laden with merchandise. He was met on the bog road at Nar- raghmore, was detained by the military, his drays and horses drawn up for a barrier, from behind which they fired on the insurgents. Poor Brennan fell by a random bullet, and his mangled body found a hastily-made grave, where it lay for fifteen years, until removed for Christian inter- ment, by the hands of a devoted child, from its lone and nameless grave in the bog of Narraghmore. IV. In the August of '98, some yeomen passed tbrongb. / •■<- REMINISCENCES OF TETE REBELLION. 513 Donard and went to Kilbelet, io the house of Mr John Metcalf, • known by the soubriquet of " the Bully." He was descended of a respectable Yorkshire family, a sciou of which settled near Donard about a century before. Met- calf, learning his danger, fled up the side of Church Moun- tain. He was pursued and murdered on the mearings of the townland of Woodenboley. His assassins were two brothers who had been previously in his employment, and owing to some disagreement about their work, they left him. Taking to ilUcit courses, they were soon after con- victed of sheep-stealing and condemned to the rope, but with the alternative of joining the army, which latter they availed themselves of, to live, as it appears, for the com- mission of deeper crimes, for which they were allowed to go unpunished. V. At the battle of Old Kilcidlen, Captain ErsMne, while writhing in the agonies of death, by a sword-blow aimed at his assailant, cut right through the pike handle, while its blade pinioned him to the eartL " A long mound in the cemetery of New Abbey," adds Mr Shearman, " marks the spot where he and his men who fell in the conflict were buried.** KEMINISCENCES OF THE REBELLION. The same hand which conveyed the foregoing traditional details from the Rev. J. F. Shearman, also brought to us from a venerable old lady, Mrs Anstace O'Byme, a packet containing some curious reminiscences of the rebel- lion. We insert this document the more readily, inasmuch as it refers to persons and places already named in the text : — AN INFOEMEE's skeleton DANCING A JIG — ^LOBD lEDWASD-o BOND — SIKR — A CAMP FBOLIC IN '98. What strange sights children sometimes get to see I Some years more than half a century ago, the writer made one 314 APPENDIX. of a merry gronp of children ^ao were frequently brought on summer evenings, by the middle-aged attendant who had them in charge, to walk and play in "The College Park." I do not know if the term is still used in common jjajlanoe in Dublin, but it then denoted all the greensward comprised within the boundary walls of Old Tiinity, and appeared to be much greater in extent than now, and to hold trees of much larger girth than any to be found there at present One well-remembered evening our play was interrupted ; the little stragglers v^ere collected with a great air of mys- tery; powerful injunctions to silence were inculcated; we were told " we must be very good and quiet, as we were going to -see * The 'N " On the entire, my dear friend, I am inclined to think it will be found that the account given in your interesting book of this melancholy occurrence is the true and correct one, and that it is not, as your correspondent would faceti- ously represent it, that of tres betes nbires. " But, sad to say, however dishonouring it may be to our common humanity, such details furnish ample proof of the truth of the axiom, 'Truth is stranger than fiction.' Believe me, yours most truly, "Thos. M'Keevee." • The case of Abelard is not in point : bnt the History 6f Origen, >n eminent Father of the Church, furbishes 'i parallel.-^W. J. P. 372 APPENDIX. DOLLY MONEOE. We have received from an ex-member for Limerick an Interesting letter suggesting a few additional details at p, 167, which he is so good as to furnish. He writes: — " I have been interested and instructed by the perusal of * The Sham Squire,' and I hope it shall be extensively circulated in England, where it could not fail to disabuse the public opinion of that country of many erroneous im- pressions in regard to the qualities and the habits of the natives of Ireland, whose distrust in the law of the land is not unnatural where the administration of it has been con- nected with so much immorality. " As you have been evidently anxious to obtain the most accurate information relative to parties introduced into your narrative, I take the liberty of suggesting an addendum in your next edition of a note, p. 167, ' Baratariana.' One of ' the trusty friends' of Lord Townshend was Robert Waller, elder brother of George, clerk of the Minutes of Excise. He was member of Parliament for the borough of Dundalk, then a nomination borough under the control of Lord Roden, who was first cousin of Mr. Waller, who subsequently became a commissioner of the Revenue, when those officers had been multiplied for the purpose of parliamentary corrup- tion. Mr. Waller was created a baronet in 1780, and the title is still held by his great-grandson. I remember, in my juvenile days, to have seen a full-length portrait, at Rathfarnham Castle, of the beautiful Dolly Monroe, and a relative of hers told me that Lord Townshend pretended to her aunt, Lady Ely, that his object was to captivate Miss Monroe, and prevail upon her to become Lady Townshend, a delusion he kept up until Lady Ely had induced her lord to give his parliamentary support (about the strongest in the House of Commons) to Lord Townshend's adminis- tration; but, to Lady Ely's great mortification, the viceroy married Miss Montgomery, whose portrait, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, was certainly not as handsome as that of Mi«8 Monroe." THE o'haea family. 373 ■THE O'HARA FAMILY ON THE "SHAM SQUIEE/ At the request of the publisher, Mr. W. B. Kelly, we in- clude in our Appendix the following able letter, with which we have been favoured by Michael Banim, Esq., of the " O'Hara Family*" The letter is dated Kilkenny, March 31, 1869 :— ^ " I regard the two books, ' The Sham Squire' and its companion, 'Curious Family History, or Ireland Before the Union,' as first-class historical evidence. You quote in the last-named work Byron's adage, that * reality is more strange than fiction.' Both books show the verity of this saying with the self-demonstration of an axiom. Until I read your revelations, I eould scarcely imagine, fabricator of fiction as I have been, any thing like the intricacy and ingenuity of rascality you have exposed to view in the Sham Squire and in several of his compeers and abettors. But your book is not scandal, but high historical evidence. Looking on the Sham Squire and others whose portraits you have limned, in both your books, as the machinery by which the governing mechanists of the day manipulated, you have shown convincingly, and beyond contest, the mean shifts and the low degradation to which the art of govern- ing was reduced by bad Stai^lkien. You have demonstrated by your books, that fellowship with the devil in human guise was the companionship considered most befitting the ruling powers, and regarded as themost effiective machinery of government. If the adage, *jShow me your company, and I'll tell who you are,' be relevant to the days of the Sham Squire, you have more than suggested that he and those who encouraged him were rascals all, root and branch. That, in fact, Ireland was unde^: the control of a pack of hounds, who, by themselves and their terriers, looked on the government of a country to be a piece of malign sport, the country entrusted to them as their game, to be run down, and, if possible, devoured. You have produced tha conviction, that where the agents of authority were em- ployed because of their lowness in>the moral scale, that the employers of such disgusting underlings were as devoid of i 374 APPENDIX. rectitude as their tools, and tliat disrcg.ard of all principles of rectitude was the code of rule, " Ilefefence to the jjolitical surface gives no idea of the state of things pli()t{^graphically placed before us in the * Sham Scpiire' and its sequel as the distinct reality ; there is no pause for inferences, after your portraiture of the l)eriod. Tliere is nothing suppositious ; intrigues and in- triguers are stamped with the impress of reality. Such liistorical portraits as yours are now valued ; it is by such startling revelations as these that the truth will guide and control the future historian ; theories and disputable asser- tions will evaporate before the radiance of the truth. Plain statements of proven facts always extinguish the most inge- nious false colouring, or the most afflxient advocacy. A sen- sible jury judges by the evidence, not by the distortions of the advocates at either side ; you have ^arranged and pro- duced the evidence in court, and the ultimate result will be, according to the jurymen's pledge, ' a true verdict ac- cording to the evidence.' " In this point of view, exclusive of the intrinsic merit of your books, regarding them as sun paintings, your two works, the ' Sham Squire,' and its sequel, ' Curious Family History,' (fee, are invaluable as historic materials. The liistory of Ireland is yet to be written, so far as I have had the opportunity of examining ; the books published under that title are venomous accusations on the one side, or over- strained recrimination and defence on the othen We want the cool, dispassionate, and, therefore, conclusive history of the country. In my honest judgment, your ' Sham Squire' and its equally piquant companion volume, will, in the liands of the future historian of our country, throw light on the dark period in question beyond any hitherto exist- ing intelligence. " On this subject, the want of an impressive self -assert- ing history of Ireland, I could say much but I wiU not fur- ther indulge my crude observations. I must conclude by congratulating you on your success, and by thanking you on my own part, and on the part of our future historian,^ for your contributions towards an hereafter 'History of Ireland.' " Informers everywhere. . 375 INFORMERS EVERYWHERE. CONSPIEATOKS and informers will co-exist until the cradc of doom, and the wider the conspiracy the greater is the certainty of detection. Some of the seemingly staunchest hearts in Smith O'Brien's movement of '48, were false to their chief and colleagues; and when the crisis came, sug- gested to the police magistrates, that in order to preserve consistency and keep up the delusion, they ought to be arrested and imprisoned.* Even while we write, the ranks of the Fenian brotherhood, although knotted as it seemed by the most binding oaths of secrecy, are broken and betrayed by internal spies. Nor are the informers con- fined to Ireland. One of the American correspondents of the Times, in a letter dated Philadelphia, October 24, 1865, writes: "The Fenian Congress continues its sessions, and has so much business to attend to that they are pro- tracted far into the night. The green-uniformed sentinels still guard its doors closely, and ho|)e to keep the secret of the deliberations within. They have changed their weapons to loaded muskets, in order to terrify attempting intruders; but their watchfulness is of little avail, for not only are there informers inside in the interest of your Grovemment, but I learn that others assist in the deliberations who are in the interest of our own, and who send daily reports of the proceedings to Washington, that the Government may know in time the adoption of any measures tending to violate the peace between England and America." In concluding a book which deals largely with Irish informers, we have no desire to convey the inference that treachery or duplicity, for what Shakespeare calls " saint- seducing gold," is a specialty of the Celtic character. The records of every age and nation furnish ample illustrations of both, even in the most aggravated form. Philip of ^acedon said that he would " never despair of taking any fortress to which an ass might enter laden with gold." Pauaanias, King of Sparta, and commander of the Greeks • Communioated by P. T. Porter, Esq., ei-polico magistrate- 2b '3 -376 ArrRNDit. at the battle of Plataea, was put to death by 'his own -countrymen for intriguing to betray Greece to Persia. ' The physician of Pynrhus infortaied tko' Kbman general Fabricius, that he was ready to poison his royal master foz ■pay. Wallace was doubly betrayed, first by hid sei^ant, =^ stid finally by his false friend Sir J. Monteith, who received a grant of land/ in acknowledgment, from the English Privjr Council. The published letters of Lord Orrery, son ' of Boyle, the famous English adventurer, confess that he was set a& a regular spy over the Catholic plantations in Clarfe. King Charles the Second received large douceurs from the French monarch, and shaped his foreign policy •accordingly. Sidney was secretly subsidised by France, and Dalryniple's memoirs disclose many simUar cases. The private secretary of James the Third,* and conductor • of his correspondence, is found to have been in receipt of a debauching pension of £2,000 a-year from the British Minister Walpole ! — a fact admitted by Walpble's own son, •in *' Walpoliana." Louis XI. of France, accomplinhod his ends by bribing tho ministors of tlio King of Ciwtilo. Tlio publication of the French oflicial records shows to wlmt a great extent the members of tho English legislature were in the pay of Louis XIV. The History of Cockaigne, the vile betrayer of the Kev. William Jackson.f revieals that the informers of that time were not confined to Irishmen ; and Captain Armstrong, who fattened his sub stance on the blood of the Sheares, did not belong to an Irish family. We learn from Ntapier's narrativd of tho Peninsular war, that WelUngtbn had paid informers on Soult's staff, and Soult had similar channels of information through ofiicers on Wellington's J staflP. Nor does Scotland * Also kno^m as the CheTalior de St. George father of the Pre* 'tender, Prince Charles Edward. t V, 286, ante. % The Dake, in one of his conversations with Bogers, describes an informer, (»lled Don Uran de la Rosa, and sometimes Oz^Ue, who, dozing the progress of the Feninsalar war, was wont to dino with the English and the French altematelj. " When I was ambas- ndor at Paris/' added Wellington, "he came and begged me t» make interest with Soult for the settlement of his acconnts^ 'How can IP' I said, laughing, 'when we made such use of yoa -as we did ?' They were settled, however, if we could believe him. iNFOnMERS EVERYWHiRJ^. 377 tteem to have been specially fastidious. In A letter from the subsequent Duke of Wellington to James Trail, Esq., dated London, 18th March, 1808, he expresses a wish that a Scotch clergyman should immediately wait upon him, preparatory to proceeding, on a mission of espionage, to France and Holland ; and Dr. Madden, in his book on the Penal Laws, informs us that this person "was a very remarkable man, of the name of Robertson, employed by the Duke, on several secret missions of "^i very question-- able kind for a minister to have been engaged on." Barry O'Meara, the Boswell of Napoleon at St. Helena, was assured- by that pei-sonage that, of the many English spies which his executive had in pay, including a number of ladies, of whcyn some were of high rank, one lady especially, of very liigli rank, sometimes got so much as £3,000 a month. W6 could add numerous instances, and, doubtless, still mord startling details of the doings of spies and informers in foreign countries would have comie to light, had the sale of a series of secret-service letters and receipts been suffered; on Fcbrunay 17, 18GG, to take its course at Mr. Sotheby's.- The papers, which oxtondod from 1790 to 1827, And aeeltf to have been sold as waste by an ignorant offici&l at the Foreign Office, disclosed some curious instances of secret expenditure on the part of English ambassadors abroad ; but, by command of Lord Clarendon, the lot '#88 with- drawn I After hia death, a Frenchman oAme to rae in London, tivd when he had vapoured away for some time, dooloring that Os&Ile bad won everj battle and eaved Europe, he said, 'Here are his memoirs; shall we publish them or not ?' I saw his drift, and said, ' Do as you plooflo ; ho was neither more nor less than a spj.' I heard no> more of thnin or of hiiri." Foe full dotoils, see *' Aeoolleotiooi^"' fcy Samuel Kogers, pp. 198—201. THE END. ^^?*^- .Mkk(.'<.'a f^<'-\ .:»'t'j>. * ir / :^:^TL..:..^ ... .. ,,• ^j-.it,-^-' ■^^^\''^.\'^. •. "v^'t ■'^. :-t^<- •..:5S»-.«-' • ". ;. ^-.ew '^/■r^; xti-- v^.,:;^.:-;v: ■ fV -Jl^— >, :-*«.•*- I-, ■jifci' ■ * -j* 1 * •^"•*'■ ■"■■»' "^:"^. ■^iy t it'^.-- *■.•.•!>*,•>■.• J./