and he succeeded for some time. The event proved he was right, as some of the same persons were afterwards taken there and put to death. The house in which I was for about ten days was often searched for arms and Orangemen. Mr. Hay, when in the house, endeavored to save me by attending the searchers, and conducting them to different parts of the house from where I was. When at last a party of those searchers found I was in this house, my destruction was considered inevitable had I remained there. I was conducted to the prison-ship as a place of safety, and I do believe, had it not been done I most probably would have lost my life. Considering the popularity of Mr. Hay, and he being a Catholic, I am surprised he was not obliged to take a command among the rebels, and I am confident he could have had a high one was he so inclined: I do not believe Mr. Edward Hay had any command in the rebel army, nor did I ever see him appear in arms of any kind and I consider it a fortunate circumstance for some of the Protestant loyalists that he was in Wexford during the rebellion, as I knew that he expressed his earnest desire, and I believe he exerted himself for the preservation of many of them. I think it but justice to give Mr. Hay this certificate, the substance of which I would have proved on his trial had I been called on, and to which I had been summoned. SOLOMON RICHARDS, Captain Enniscorthy Cavalry, and Magistrate of the county of Wexford

Solsborough, August 30, 1799.

I hereby certify, that on the 20th of June, 1798, while the massacres were perpetrating on the bridge of Wexford, Mr. Edward Hay came into the room where I was with other ladies; he was in tears, and

seemed much distressed at the cruelties that were going forward. I earnestly entreated him to use his influence to save the prisoners' lives. He replied it was in vain for him to try, as he had no influence with the people. I also know that he prevented twelve prisoners from being sent to Vinegar Hill, on a belief that they would be massacred there; and I do believe that he had no command in the rebel army. Given under my hand this 30th of August, 1799, MARTHA RICHARDS.

County of Wexford, to wit.

Mr. Thomas Taylor of the town of Wexford, merchant, who was a prisoner in the jail of Wexford during the rebellion, freely and voluntarily maketh oath on the Holy Evangelists, and saith he has known the prisoners to express the comfort and consolation they experienced from Mr. Edward Hay's deportment and manner towards them, and had always heard them express their joy on Mr. Hay visiting the jail. Deponent being an Englishman, and not long in Ireland, had no kind of acquaintance with Mr. Hay, but always approached him when he saw him conversing with his fellow-prisoners, and experienced the consolation of his conversation, although not addressed to him, but considered Mr. Hay the greatest friend to the loyalists, as the purport of his visits to the jail evidently was, to give general comfort to all he saw in distress, as he communicated his sentiments openly and candidly to them, and undeceived the prisoners with respect to many false reports that were circulated. Deponent has heard Mr. Hay express his horror and detestation of the barbarous proceedings of the rebels; and that he would lose his life or put a stop to the cruelties that were committing on

Vinegar Hill had he been there. Deponent remembers to have heard of an order for several prisoners to be sent to Enniscorthy, which order might have been complied with had not Mr. Hay gained intelligence that they were to be put to death; and at the earnest request of the prisoners from the neighborhood of Enniscorthy, Mr. Hay declared he would make such representations to the principal inhabitants of Wexford as to have them detained in jail as their only place of safety; on which occasion he has heard the prisoners express their utmost gratitude to Mr. Hay, whom they consulted on all occasions of distress, and from whom they received every possible comfort. Various reports were propagated, which tended to rouse and irritate the passions of the people to revenge-that the army had committed the greatest excesses, which alarmed the prisoners very much, who consulted Mr. Hay about a proposal they had drawn up to be forwarded to government, intimating their great danger, and hoping that the prisoners taken by the army might meet with the like good treatment that they did, otherwise reprisals might be made, and their destruction inevitable. Mr. Hay undertook the task of endeavoring to forward this proposal with the greatest alacrity, and conducted Captain M'Manus to consult with Lord Kingsborough, who accordingly wrote a letter in the name of all the prisoners, among whom were many officers and principal gentlemen of the county, which proposal was dispatched by an officer to be forwarded to the next commanding officer of his majesty's forces, but who would not be allowed to proceed farther than the rebel camp at Enniscorthy, and was obliged to return to Wexford, at which disappointment we considered our situation more critical than ever, and experienced in a greater degree the

consoling visits of Mr. Hay, who truly sympathized in our feelings, and felt this disappointment as much as any of us. Deponent never saw Mr. Hay appear with arms, or with any kind of green ornament, then usually worn by all descriptions of persons; and from what he has seen and every information he could learn, believes that during the rebellion Mr. Hay was solely actuated by principles of philanthropy, in any interference of his during that period. Sworn before me this 28th day of August, 1799, EBEN. JACOB.

THOMAS TAYLOR.

No. IV.

Extract from the debates of the House of Lords on the 10th of July, 1793, on the convention bill, as it appeared in the public papers.

LORD FARNHAM declared, "That he had received letters from the county of Wexford, perfectly agreeing with what had been mentioned by the noble lord on the woolsack. In that county the people had held meetings at night, and from parish to parish had sworn the inhabitants not to pay rents, tithes, or taxes, expressing their disappointment that they had not received ten pounds each man annually for the emancipation, but a lease for which they were obliged to pay."-He approved of the bill.

No. V.

At a meeting of the Catholics of the town and neighborhood of Wexford, on Tuesday the 30th of July, 1793, James Edward Devereux, Esq., in the chair.

We, the Roman Catholics of the town and neighborhood of Wexford, having acquiesced in the reso

lution and recommendation of our late general committee, notwithstanding the many degrading and injurious distinctions still existing against us, to act no more as a body, but as IRISHMEN, united by one will and interest, find ourselves most reluctantly compelled by different attacks, immediately pointed at our honor, to defend ourselves as a distinct people; our loyalty has been traduced, our views misrepresented, and our conduct defamed; we conceive that sinking under such infamous and audacious slander would be the ruin of our country, and bereave us of the affections of our king and our fellow-subjects, for we have learned from the history of all nations, but particularly from our own, that unrefuted calumnies lead from the extinction of the honest fame of a nation, to the final extinction of her liberties.

Resolved therefore-That it is a base and scandalous falsehood that the Catholics of Ireland ever entertained the thought or harbored the project, either in private or public, of severing the sister countries from each other, or of renouncing their loyalty and gratitude towards a sovereign, to whom, of all who ever sat upon the throne, they are the most indebted.

Resolved-That the Catholics of Ireland never sought any other boon but that of equal law and equal liberty, such as Englishmen possess, and such as is equally the right of Irishmen, and that they are satisfied forever to abide by one common fate with Englishmen, so that they may forever enjoy the common blessings of the constitution, as established in king, lords, and commons, under a separate legislature, and a common king.

Resolved-That the general committee of the Catholics never exercised the right of taxation in any one instance, nor any other right but in absolute subordination to the laws of their country; nor can