jailer, who prevailed on the military commander to detain this fellow, who had been taken up only as a suspicious stranger, he might have escaped.

Brigade-major Fitzgerald was sent to me from General Hunter, to inquire particularly into my situation, and I demonstrated it to him, from most authentic and convincing documents, in such a manner, that I cannot convince the world of his conviction of the iniquitous practices of the committee against me, better than in his own words, in a letter written to me at a subsequent period, which is inserted in the Appendix, No. II.

I presented in all thirteen or fourteen memorials to be liberated or tried, but the active malevolence of my persecutors prevented them from being attended to. In the month of January, 1799, I made an application to be removed to Dublin. A writ of habeas corpus was accordingly issued from the court of King's Bench, ordering the sheriff of the county to bring me up, and a notice was served on the attorney-general to come forward, if he had any charge against me. This was however superseded by a secretary's warrant being sent to General Grose; he detained me upon it, and, although I then became a state prisoner, I had none of the advantages or indulgences allowed people in that situation, and of which, from my state of health, I stood in utmost need. The suspension of the habeas corpus act obliged me to put up with my situation, and I must have remained a prisoner, God knows how long, had not my persecutors overshot their mark, by endeavoring to smuggle me off in a manner contrary to every law known or enacted in this country; not resting content with having me a state prisoner, from which situation I could not have extricated myself, if not enabled by their iniquity.

me.

The prisoners which had been first tried by courtmartial in Wexford, and sentenced to transportation, previous to the passing of the law that legalized trial by court-martial, were held over till the spring assizes of 1799. My name was returned in the crown-book as under sentence of transportation, and I should have been sent off immediately after the assizes, along with all the rest of the proscribed, had I not made an application, by letter, to Judge Chamberlain, denying that I had ever been tried, or petitioned for transpor tation; and that, as he himself had granted a writ of habeas corpus, to have me removed to Dublin the January before, I considered myself under his protection, and that of the court of King's Bench; and hoped that my situation, as unfortunate as unmerited, which I was ready to prove, would induce him not to sanction any sentence of transportation against My letter was delivered to him as he was going into court, and he held it in his hand, while he publicly declared from the bench, that, "although he did not usually attend to private letters in his judicial capacity, yet he had received a letter from Mr. Hay, a prisoner then confined in the jail of Wexford, and that, if the contents of it were true, his situation must be deplorable indeed; and he added, that if nothing appeared against him, he would liberate him next day." The letter at the request of the grand jury was delivered to them, and it was now found absolutely necessary, for my detention, to procure informations against me. Accordingly a magistrate came down to the jail, and called for a noted informer, (since condemned to be hanged for murder, but whose sentence was commuted to transportation, for his services,) brought him into the jailer's apartments, in an adjoining house, called the bridewell, over which I was confined, and the ceiling under me was so bad,

that, listening with attention, I could hear a great deal of what passed below stairs. In such a situa tion, it is natural to suppose I availed myself of this advantage, and could distinctly hear the informer threatened to be hanged if he would not swear against me; and it was promised that his life should be spared if he would. Conversation followed now and then in a higher tone, so that I was able to understand that the informer would not swear to the examinations first proposed and brought ready written, in the magistrate's own handwriting, and he now, out of fury and disappointment, tore them to pieces. Threats, however, at last prevailed on the murderer to swear to other examinations framed in a more palatable form against me. The name of another gentleman I also heard mentioned; but the point of swearing against him was not insisted on. When the magistrate departed, I asked to be let out to walk, and accosted the informer on meeting him, to know how was it possible for him to swear any thing against me? He told me, that as he had heard me say I was not afraid of any thing that might be sworn against me, he thought it no harm, as it was to save his own life; and that certainly what he had sworn could not affect mine. After minutely relating the story of his being so obliged to swear, (and which perfectly coincided with what I was able to hear,) he put me in the way of getting the scraps of the torn examinations, which I immediately set about arranging, and have them now pasted together in regular order, as an existing, incontrovertible proof of the subornation, and unravelling the whole of the nefarious plot formed against me, as well as exposing the atrocious deed of the magistrate. This I meant to have proved on my trial, by producing the identical magistrate, and putting the document into his hand

for avowal; but my lawyers would not suffer me to produce any evidence, when counsel for the crown gave up the prosecution; otherwise the public would have been in possession of several transactions in a far fuller manner than I can set forth at present. I was nine months confined before any charge on oath was made against me; and this, it must be thought, was sufficient time to bring forth any human conception, and ought then to have naturally entitled me to a political delivery.

The grand jury now found bills of indictment against me for high treason. There were several ladies and gentlemen at tea with me, and some of my fellow-prisoners, (who were afterwards honorably acquitted,) in the evening, when a gentleman came to visit me, as he had done several times before, and, in the presence of the whole company, he declared that he had been hooked in to prosecute me. He mentioned, that, while listening to the trials in the courthouse, he was summoned before the grand jury, where he was questioned about a conversation he had unguardedly held respecting me, which it was represented as his duty to swear to, and he was bound over to prosecute. He however imagined that what he had sworn could not injure me, and he then related to us many other circumstances that completely did away what he had said before the grand jury. Several others also came and informed me, that upon being summoned and sworn before this tribunal, they were asked if they knew any thing concerning me during the insurrection; and that they acknowledged they did, with gratitude, as I had saved their lives or properties, or comforted them in one way or other in their afflictions. It was then put to them on their oaths whether I could do so without having great authority? But this they considered I had not, as

they declared that it was for giving them information of their danger, and advising them how to act, they were indebted to me, and on stating that they knew nothing against me, they were dismissed. I was brought down to the court-house to be arraigned, and when the indictment was read, I declared myself ready for trial upon getting a list of the witnesses to be produced against me. This Mr. Justice Chamberlain ordered to be given to me, but said I should not be tried those assizes, and would not listen to any argument I could urge, but instantly remanded me back to jail. I have been informed, and have good reason to believe, that my persecutors represented they had not entertained an idea that I should not be transported, and were therefore totally unprepared to proceed against me; and that what made me so anxious to hurry on my trial was, that the evidence they had to produce against me was not in Wexford; but that, against the ensuing assizes, they hoped to be able to convict me!!"

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Some time after this, in the summer of 1799, a distinguished gentleman of property, and constant grand juror of the county of Wexford, mentioned publicly in the canal passage-boat, on his way to Dublin, that "Mr. Hay wanted several times to be tried by court-martial, which was unfortunately prevented, as a military tribunal would pay too much attention to ladies and officers as witnesses for Mr. Hay; but that a Wexford jury would not be so squeamish. It was a providential circumstance that Mr. Hay had himself demanded a trial by jury, as it would inevitably prove fatal to him, instead of the boon of transportation intended for him." This and many such declarations the assertors are since ashamed of.

On all occasions that I possibly can, I avoid mentioning names, as I consider several have been led