many executions followed. Of three Irishmen who accompanied Humbert, in his wild and daring expedition, one only succeeded in avoiding discovery and escaping-while his companions, as might have been expected, paid the penalty of treason with their lives. And yet to both-Matthew Tone and Bartholomew Teeling-much public sympathy was extended. Both, during Humbert's occupation of Castlebar, had conducted themselves towards the loyalists with the greatest humanity and kindness-and during trial, and at the place of execution, their demeanour was manly, and their fortitude unshaken.

Their defence was one not to be recognized-they pleaded that they were aliens, and exhibited French commissions. Teeling spoke with modesty and firmness-and although he adduced no argument to justify his treason, the impression his address made upon the auditory was highly in his favour.

"The trial closed-the court, after some deliberation, pronounced sentence of death, and the sentence was finally approved by his Excellency, the Marquis Cornwallis. Teeling had over-valued the high character of the viceroy-he was deaf to every application for mercy, though solicited by some of the most zealous supporters of the government, who voluntarily came forward, and had the manliness to declare, that the execution of the sentence would be an eternal blot on his administration. A near relative addressed a memorial to his excellency, praying respite of the sentence for twenty-four hours, to the end that the law officers of the crown might be consulted, as to the competency of a military court to decide on cases of high treason, when the civil tribunals were open, and in a case where the accused had no commission from the crown. An interview with his excellency was found impracticable, but the memorial was delivered to an officer of his establishment, whose high and confidential situation rendered him a desirable channel of communication. This officer was a man of humanity, and evinced much sensibility on the occasion. Your friend,' said he, ought to be saved.' He pronounced this with a most emphatic tone of voice, and retired to present the memorial to his excellency. He returned-and after expressing in general terms his feelings of sympathy and disappointment, concluded with this mysterious observation: Mr. Teeling is a man of high and romantių honour. Unquestionably,' was the reply. Then I deplore to teil that his fate is inevitable-his execution is decided on.' you Whilst the west of Ireland was still in partial insurrection, a second attempt to disturb the returning tranquillity of the kingdom was made on the northern coast. This trifling descent is thus noticed by an official despatch from the postmaster, addressed to the chief of his department, and dated—

'

"Rutland, Sept. 17th, Monday, eight o'clock in the morning.

"I yesterday (by post) informed you of a French brig coming into our harbour, and landing three boats full of men; there were a number

* Charles Teeling's Personal Narrative.

of officers, among whom was the redoubted J. N. Tandy,* a brigadier, and commander of the expedition. Tandy, being an old acquaintance, was communicative; he says positively, that France will not make peace with Great Britain upon any other terms than Irish independence. He appeared dejected on hearing of the fate of the late French descent, and of the discoveries made by Bond, M'Nevin, Emmet, &c., but said that they will certainly attempt to land twenty thousand men, and perish all, or succeed. He was astonished when I told him that very few had joined the French. They took every pains to convince the people that they were their best friends, and such stuff. They took a cow and two swine, for which they paid, and this morning, after firing a gun, went to sea, towards the N. East. I have despatched an express (a second one) to the collector of Letterkenny, and am in hopes that some of the Lough Swilly fleet will intercept them. They met several cruisers between England and France, but outsailed them all; they came north about. They were full of arms; the officers of the port were detained aboard them from morning (yesterday) until ten o'clock at night; they report them full of arms, a park of artillery, accoutrements for cavalry, clothing, &c. &c. They expected that the whole country was up, and that they had nothing to do but join their friends. The natives here all fled to the mountains, and seem not at all inclined to join them. We have not a military man nearer than Ballyshannon, forty miles, or Letterkenny, twenty-five, although there is an excellent new barrack here, ready to receive one hundred men They had a great number of Irish on board-their force, about two hundred and fifty men; and are perfectly acquainted with the coast. Their drift is evidently to encourage disaffection. I was a prisoner in my own house four or five hours, until the post came in; they had sentinels on every point of the island, to prevent intelligence being immediately despatched. I am just informed, by one of the officers, that they were determined to land their arms here, but, upon a consultation, after they found their countrymen had been defeated, they altered their plan.

"I have the honour to be,

"Your very obedient servant,

"FRANCIS FOSTER, P. M., Rutland. "On their leaving my house, the general (Rey) took a gold ring from his finger, and presented it to Mrs. Forster, as a token of fraternity."

Two proclamations were issued by the commanding officers of the expedition, and both headed

*"James Napper Tandy was indicted at the spring assizes of 1793, held at Dundalk, in the county of Louth, for having distributed seditious handbills the preeding summer, to encourage the people of that county, then much infested by the Defenders, to rise; but having, through his attorney, Matthew Dowling, discovered that there were strong charges for high treason against him, he fled, forfeited his recognizance, and never afterwards appeared, until he was brought a prisoner from Hamburgh, but when he landed in the north in 1798.”—Musgrave.

LIBERTY OR DEATH!

Northern Army of Avengers. Head Quarters first Year of Irish Liberty.

"UNITED IRISHMEN,

the

"The soldiers of the great nation have landed on your coast, well supplied with arms and ammunition of all kinds, with artillery worked by those who have spread terror among the ranks of the best troops in Europe, headed by French officers; they come to break your fetters, and restore you to the blessings of liberty.

"James Napper Tandy is at their head; he has sworn to lead them on to victory, or die. Brave Irishmen, the friends of liberty have left their native soil to assist you in re-conquering your rights; they will brave all dangers, and glory at the sublime idea of cementing your happiness with their blood.

"French blood shall not flow in vain. To arms! freemen, to arms! The trumpet calls, let not your friends be butchered unassisted; if they are doomed to fall in this most glorious struggle, let their death be useful to your cause, and their bodies serve as footsteps to the temple of Irish liberty.

"GENERAL REY,*

"In the name of the French officers and soldiers

now on the coast of Ireland."

Tandy, the nominal commander of the expedition, in his address to the disaffected, was violent in his denunciations of vengeance upon all opposed to him. His proclamation was in keeping with his characterfull of words, "signifying nothing." Of all the rebel leaders, probably Tandy was the most contemptible. In language, a swaggering demagogue-in heart, a rank coward. He had already lost caste in having forced a quarrel upon Toler, the attorney-general-and when hostile conclusions were expected, to the great scandal of his party, he shewed himself a poltroon, and came out of the affair discreditably. He had, to use Shakspeare's words, "a killing tongue and a quiet sword"-and the document he issued to the Rutland islanders might be regarded as a piece of bombastic impertinence, did it not, like the sanguinary manifesto of John Sheares, admit not the apology of insanity, but betray a deep malignity of purpose, which needed but an opportunity to be displayed.+

* General Rey was a very able and a most gallant soldier. He was subsequently engaged in most of Napoleon's campaigns, and terminated a creditable career of arms by a brave and skilful defence of San Sebastian, when that fortress was carried by assault in 1813.

For the truculent manifesto drawn up by John Sheares, a most "lame and impotent" apology is offered by his biographer :

"This violent and most infuriated production is the composition of a man phrenzied by political excitement. Before we pronounce it to be the production, however, of a man of a mind naturally malevolent, sanguinary, and vindictive, we must take the madness of the times into account; and we should compare this document with some of the proclamations that preceded it on the other side, issued under circumstances which admitted of more leisure for calm consideration."-Madden.

"UNITED IRISHMEN

"What do I hear? the British government have dared to speak of concessions! Would you accept of them?

"Can you think of entering into a treaty with a British minister? a minister, too, who has left you at the mercy of an English soldiery, who laid your cities waste and massacred inhumanly your best citizens; a minister, the bane of society and the scourge of mankind? Behold, Irishmen, he holds in his hand the olive of peace; beware, his other hand lies concealed, armed with a poignard. No, Irishmen, no, you shall not be the dupes of his base intrigues; unable to subdue your courage, he attempts to seduce you,-let his efforts be vain.

"Horrid crimes have been perpetrated in your country; your friends have fallen a sacrifice to their devotion for your cause; their shadows are around you, and call aloud for vengeance; it is your duty to avenge their death; it is your duty to strike on their blood-cemented thrones the murderers of your friends. Listen to no proposals, Irishmen, wage a war of extermination against your oppressors, the war of liberty against tyranny, and liberty shall triumph.

"J. N. TANDY."

The fate of this apostle of "war, to the knife," is briefly told. He was arrested at Hamburgh, conveyed to Ireland, arraigned at Lifford, threw himself on the mercy of the crown, pleaded guilty, and was permitted to transport himself.

To several circumstances his escape from capital punishment may be ascribed. The legality of his arrest in a neutral city was questionable -and when arraigned, the passions of the times had cooled down, and it might be considered that justice had already been amply vindicated. In this case, government exhibited a judicious lenity. Hundreds less guilty had been executed-but the hour for vengeance passed-and Tandy was spared to prove, by the obscurity in which he subsequently lived and died, how paltry are the qualifications necessary to form an Irish demagogue.

CHAPTER XXVII.

INFORME - RUPTION OF THE SOLDIERY-TRIALS OF THE SHEARESEXECUTIONS-DEATH OF OLIVER BOND.

THE frequent defeats and final dispersion of the rebels, had no effect in inducing the Irish executive to abate aught in the severity of the measures they had adopted towards the disaffected. The prisons were crowded with persons denounced by those infamous informers, Armstrong and Reynolds, Dutton and Newell,* with a host of subordinate villains, acting under the direction of police agents, themselves steeped deeper in iniquity even than the perjured wretches they suborned. Numbers, innocent in some cases, but generally, too guilty, through the instrumentality of these bad men, were brought hourly to the scaffold -and one of the most distressing tragedies, so frequent in these terrible times, occurred at this period in the execution of the Messrs. Sheares.

The chief agent employed in fostering the dangerous principles advocated by these unfortunate gentlemen, and, finally, in accomplishing their destruction, was a captain in the King's County militia. Arm

*Of all the wretches of that band of informers, who rioted on the wages of iniquity in those frightful times, the worst, the most thoroughly debased, the vilest of the vile, was Edward John Newell, a native of Downpatrick, a portrait painter by profession. Treachery seemed to be the ruling passion of this man's life. To every friend or party he connected himself with, he was false. He betrayed the secrets of the United Irish Society, professedly to prevent the murder of an exciseman named Murdock. He ingratiated himself into the confidence of Murdock, and then robbed him of the affections of his wife. He became one of the regular corps of ruffians, called the battalion of testimony, who had apartments provided for them at the Castle, within the precincts of that place which was the residence of the viceroy, and the centre of the official business of the government. Having sold his former associates to the government, and, by his own account, having been the cause of two hundred and twenty-seven arrests, and the occasion of the flight of upwards of three hundred persons from their habitations, and many of them from their country, in consequence of the informations he had laid against them, he next betrayed the government. published their secrets, and fled from the service of Mr. Cooke to that of the Northern United Irishmen."

The wretch met but the fate he merited-he was murdered. During this negotiation he remained mostly at M'Questen's, at Donegore, which he left one evening, in company with two professed friends, and he was never afterwards seen. He had become again suspected by the United Irishmen of being about to give them the slip, and he was therefore consigned to Moiley, then a cant term for assassination. The account says, he was thrown overboard from a boat in Garnogle; another, that he was shot on the road, near Roughfort.

"Mr. Gunning, another of the actors in the struggle of 1798, who recently died, informed me a few weeks before his death, that a Mr. White, of Ballyholme (about ten miles from Belfast), about fifteen years ago, had found there, on the beach, partly uncovered, some human bones; and from all the circumstances connected with the discovery, he believed them to be the bones of Newell, who was said to have been drowned there."--Lives of the United Irishmen.