being where, in all probability, there had never been but one person before."

This excursion, no doubt, suggested to Lord Edward his subsequent overland journey, direct from Fredericstown to Quebec. To modern adventurers, the exploit would appear a common-place essay, but at the time the expedition was devised and accomplished, few, excepting an Indian or Backwoodsman, would have voluntarily undergone the real and imaginary hardships attendant on the journey. Lord Edward's letters announce both the design and execution :

"I am to set out in two days for Canada; it is a journey of one hundred and seventy-five miles, and I go straight through the woods. There is an officer of the regiment goes with me. We make altogether a party of five,-Tony, two woodsmen, the officer, and myself. We take all our provision with us on tabargins. It will appear strange to you, or any people in England, to think of starting in February. with four feet snow on the ground, to march through a desert wood of one hundred and seventy-five miles; but it is nothing. You may guess we have not much baggage. It will be a charming journey, I think, and quite new. We are to keep a reckoning the same as at sea. I am to steer, but under the direction of a woodsman."

On the 13th of March, after a thirty days' pilgrimage, the young adventurer reached Quebec. A few short extracts will describe the journey:

"The officer and I used to draw part of our baggage day about, and the other day steer, which we did so well, that we made the point we intended within ten miles. We were only wrong in computing our distances.

*

*

*

*

"I must, though, tell you a little more of the journey: after making the river, we fell in with some savages, and travelled with them to Quebec; they were very kind to us, and said we were all one brother'-allone Indian.' They fed us the whole time we were with them. You would have laughed to have seen me carrying an old squaw's pack, which was so heavy, I could hardly waddle under it. However, I was well paid whenever we stopped, for she always gave me the best bits, and most soup, and took as much care of me as if I had been her own son: in short, I was quite l'enfant chéri."

A final expedition he made, via Detroit and Michilimackinack, to New Orleans, from which port he subsequently embarked for Europe, seems to have confirmed his Indian predilections, and led to his adoption into the Bear Tribe-an honour upon which Lord Edward, it is said, prided himself no little.

Three years of his short and adventurous career passed in England and Ireland, without any important occurrence to mark them. In 1792, when France declared herself a republic, "Lord Edward, unwilling to lose such a spectacle of moral and political excitement, hastened over to Paris, without communicating his intentions even to the duchess," and to that fatal visit his subsequent misfortunes may be traced.

His wild and hasty attachment to French principles-his introduc

tion to Madame de Sillery (de Genlis)-his marriage to Pamela, her daughter, by the Duke of Orleans-his dismissal from the British army-his return to Ireland with the fair Frenchwoman, his brideare matters of mere personal memoir.

One extract from a letter we will add, and accompany it with the comment of his biographer.* The picture is both sad and beautiful.

"My little place is much improved by a few things I have done, and by all my planting;-by the bye, I doubt if I told you of my flower-garden, I got a great deal from Frescati. I have been at Kildare since Pam's lying-in, and it looked delightful, though all the leaves were off the trees,-but so comfortable and snug. I think I shall pass a delightful winter there. I have got two fine large clumps of turf, which look both comfortable and pretty. I have paled in my little flower-garden before my hall door, with a lath paling, like the cottage, and stuck it full of roses, sweetbrier, honeysuckles, and Spanish broom. I have got all my beds ready for my flowers; so you may guess how I long to be down to plant them. The little fellow will be a great addition to the party. I think when I am down there with Pam and child, of a blustering evening, with a good turf fire, and a pleasant book,-coming in, after seeing my poultry put up, my garden settled,-flower-beds and plants covered for fear of frost, the place looking comfortable, and taken care of, I shall be as happy as possible; and sure I am I shall regret nothing but not being nearer my dearest mother, and her not being of our party. It is, indeed, a drawback and a great one, our not being more together. Dear Malvern! how pleasant we were there: you can't think how this time of year puts me in mind of it. Love always your affectionate son.

"E. F."

"In reading these simple and,-to an almost feminine degree,fond letters, it is impossible not to feel how strange and touching is the contrast between those pictures of a happy home which they so unaffectedly exhibit, and that dark and troubled sea of conspiracy and revolt into which the amiable writer of them so soon afterwards plunged; nor can we easily bring ourselves to believe that the joyous tenant of this little Lodge, the happy husband and father, dividing the day between his child and his flowers, could be the same man who, but a year or two after, placed himself at the head of the rebel myriads, negotiated on the frontiers of France for an alliance against England, and but seldom laid down his head on his pillow at night without a prospect of being summoned thence to the scaffold or the field."

*Moore's Life, &c.

CHAPTER III.

FIRST FRENCH ATTEMPT AT INVASION IN 1796.

Ir has been asserted, that before the United Irishmen entered into any correspondence with the French Directory, the Defenders had been anxious to obtain foreign assistance, and had applied to the authorities in Paris, through some members of their society, who had been obliged to expatriate themselves and seek refuge abroad. Many circumstances go to prove that the application to the Directory had been made, but, as the agents were not accredited, the overtures were rejected. One of the obligatory stipulations in the Defenders' oath was, that the person who took the test "should join the French if they invaded Ireland;" and Jackson's mission to Ireland, in 1794, had no immediate reference to the United Irishmen, although he corresponded with several members of that society. In 1796, the leaders of the Union first turned their attention seriously to the advantages they would derive from an alliance with the Republic, and consequently, Lord Edward Fitzgerald held a conference with General Hoche, in Switzerland, to induce the Directory to supply an invading army, the munitions of war, and money to maintain it. Ten thousand men, forty thousand stand of arms, and a loan of three hundred thousand pounds, were required.

Previous to the mission of Lord Edward, Tone had landed from America, presented letters of introduction to La Croix, the foreign minister, and placed himself in communication with the secretary, an Irish refugee, called Madgett. In a subsequent interview with Carnot, the state and strength of parties were discussed, and a memorial to the Directory recommended. The result did not meet Tone's expectations -the assistance offered by the French Executive was totally insufficient and the attempt was to be merely a stolen march.* But although every consideration, military and political, pointed out the absurdity of a paltry demonstration, and proved that ruin must have resulted, the weak but ambitious envoy of the United Irishmen appears to have desired little beyond au emeute, no matter how disastrous that wild and unorganised outbreak should prove to the country and the cause.†

"Madgett in the horrors. He tells me he has had a discourse yesterday for two hours with the minister, and that the succours he expected will fall very short of what he thought. That the marine of France is in such a state that Government will not hazard a large fleet; and, consequently, that we must be content to steal a march: that they will give 2,000 of their best troops, and arms for 20,000 men; that they cannot spare Pichegru nor Jourdan; that they will give any quantity of artillery; and, I think he added, what money might be necessary. He also said they would first send proper persons among the Irish prisoners of war, to sound them, and exchange them on the first opportunity. To all this, at which I am not disappointed, I answered, that as to 2,000 men, they might as well send twenty." -Tone's Memoirs.

† As to the project of La Croix, Tone had a sufficiency of common sense to con

Subsequent communications with the French authorities induced them to enlarge their offers of assistance. A field-park of thirty guns, a brigade-say 7,000 men-and 50,000 stand of arms, were tendered and accepted-and Lazarus Hoche, one of the best of the revolutionary generals, was appointed to command the expedition.

The defective condition of the French marine delayed the equipment of the fleet, and the attempt, therefore, could not be promptly carried into execution. Villaret, then in chief command of the squadrons intended for the Irish descent, displayed so much indifference, that on Hoche's remonstrance, he was superseded, and succeeded by Morard de Galles. indeed, the marine authorities appear to have taken small interest in the outfit of the expedition, and the most flimsy excuses were resorted to. The following extract from Tone's Journal speaks little for the activity of the Port admiral: "He (Colonél Shee) also, says that Bruix, who is charged with the execution of the naval department, and in whose zeal the General had great confidence, has cooled exceedingly within these few days, so much, that to-day, when the General called on him, and was pressing him on our affair, Bruix, instead of answering him, was dandling one of his little children. The excuse now is, that we are waiting for some charts or plans, which must be washed in watercolours and will take two days." At last, on the second of December, the preparations were announced to be complete, and the embarkation commenced, the expedition numbering 15 sail-of-the-line, 10 frigates, and 7 transports, which were afterwards augmented, the whole comprising 15,000 troops, with 40,000 extra stand of arms, a field-park of 29 pieces, 60,000 barrels of powder, and 7,000,000 cartridges.

The few days which elapsed between the commencement of the embarkation, and the expedition putting to sea, afforded Tone leisure to devise another project and it affords another proof of the wildness and inconsistency of his character. When Madgett had proposed to despatch 2,000 men and 20,000 stand of arms to Ireland, Tone very properly replied, that the Directory "might as well send twenty." In the very teeth of that declaration, he made the following proposal to the commander of the expedition:

vince him that such an effort would be ruinous. But as an Irishman formerly would row, although aware that it would eventuate in his being personally consigned to a watch-house, Tone, from his own revelations, preferred the outbreak to the end. The frivolous indifference with which he would have consented to forego the object of his mission-and instead of inducing the French Executive to make an imposing descent, be contented with a Buccaneering expedition, proves as little in favour of his diplomatic efficiency, as the means by which he would have covered physical weakness, speak for his humanity. These are his own words

"For one, then, I am decided. We have, at all events, the strength of numbers, and if our lever be too short, we must only apply the greater power. If the landing be effected on the present plan, we must instantly have recourse to the strongest revolutionary measures, and put, if necessary, man, woman, and child, money, horses, and arms, stores and provisions, in requisition: The King shall eat, though all mankind be starved.' No consideration must be permitted to stand a moment against the establishment of our independence. I do not wish for all this, if it can be avoided, but liberty must be purchased at any price; so Lay on, Macduff, and damned be he who first cries-Hold, enough!' We must strike the ball hard, and take the chance of the tables."

"That three, or, at most, four sail of the fastest going ships should take advantage of the first favourable movement (as a dark night and a strong gale from the north-east), and slip out with as many troops as they can carry, including, at least, a company of the Artillerie legère, steering such a course as, though somewhat longer, should be most out of the way of the English fleet; that they should proceed round the coast of Ireland, keeping a good offing for fear of accidents, and land the men in the North, as near Belfast as possible. If we could land 2,000 men in this manner, with as many stand of arms as we could carry besides, I have no doubt but in a week we would have possession of the entire North of Ireland, and we could certainly maintain ourselves there for a considerable time, against all the forces which could be sent against us.'

"

Of course, Morard de Galles refused to entertain a proposition which would have idly endangered part of a fleet, already inferior in strength and number to that which was cruising to intercept it— and on the 16th of December, the ships got under weigh.

The departure of the expedition was attended with events of evil augury. In standing out of the Goulet, with the wind right aft, several line-of-battle ships fouled each other—and in running through the Raz passage in the night, the Seduisant, a seventy-four, with 550 troops on board, struck on a sunken rock, and scarcely a hundred, including crew and officers, were saved. On the 17th the fleet were separated, and the general en chef and two admirals were reported missing. On the 18th, the weather continued thick, and according to orders, the French captains opened their letters of instruction. By these, in case of separation, they were ordered to cruise five days off Mizen Head-thence proceed to the Shannon-and in the event of not uniting the fleet or receiving further orders, the respective commanders were directed to run for the coast of France, and make Brest harbour if they could.

On the 21st of December, the French fleet (thirty-four sail) opened Bantry Bay, the place of rendezvous pointed out in the sealed orders of the captains. And a few extracts from Tone's journal will tell the history of the unaccountable failure which subsequently attended an expedition, which, with the exception of half-a-dozen ships, had actually reached the point for action that it aimed at.

21st. "Stood in for the coast till twelve, when we were near enough to toss a biscuit ashore; at twelve tacked and stood out again, so now we have begun our cruise of five days in all its forms, and shall, in obedience to the letter of our instructions, ruin the expedition, and destroy

Admiral Gardiner was watching De Galles with eighteen sail-of-the-line-and the reasons assigned by the French commander for rejecting Tone's advice were very conclusive. 66 First, if our little squadron fell in with the enemy, we must, to a moral certainty, be taken. Next, if we got even clear, and that the remainder of the squadron fell in with the enemy and was beaten, which would most probably be the case, the whole fault would be laid on him, as having weakened the main force by the detachment. And, lastly, that from the state of our preparations, being victualled and furnished for a short period, we must speedily sail, coute qui coute."