their own theories, partly feeling their way by a tortuous road towards a Union, had taken a step which made the Union a certainty, but no less certainly made inevitable, as preliminary to it, a desperate and bloody insurrection.1 1 Major Hobart left Ireland at the close of this session, to be created Lord Hobart, and to be sent as Governor to Madras. Richard Burke was so indignant at an appointment which he regarded as a sign of the Cabinet's approval of Hobart's conduct in Ireland, that he actually remonstrated with Dundas, and sent Hobart a copy of what he had said, with a very curious letter: "Brighton, October 28. "My Lord, On the entrance to a political and criminatory discussion, to disclaim motives of personal animosity is a proceeding that may be liable to inconvenience. It may appear like mean affectation, or an ungenerous desire to extenuate the hostility which necessarily belongs to adverse discussions. On the other hand, not to disclaim those motives is to forego the satisfaction warranted by the most vulgar example of doing my part at least to divest the contests we engage in from every mixture of private asperity. The former inconvenience seems to me to be the least. I do not, therefore, hesitate to assure your lordship that I act on the present occasion solely upon public grounds, and without any resentful recollection of any occurrence in Ireland less pleasant which might be attributed to your lordship. I allude particularly to the treatment I received in the House of Commous on the day of Sir Hercules Langrishe's proposition. And if there is anything in my letter to Mr. Dundas which may appear peculiarly invidious and offensive to you, it does not proceed from personal ill will, but is, as I conceive, necessitated by the circumstances which do not allow me to remit anything of the strength of my case. "In the next place, I have to assure your lordship that the sole objection I have to your appointment to the Government of Madras that it operates as a sanction and ratification to those measures which I feel myself under an indispensable obligation to criminate, as the only means to obviate the ill effects upon the peace and welfare of Ireland, upon his Majesty's Government there, and upon the unity and strength of the empire. "Mr. Dundas will inform your lordship that I have never ceased to represent the measures of your Government in the same point of view that I do now, which, if he has not informed you of, it is not my fault; and if your lordship will recollect the conversation I had the honor of hav-. ing with you at your house in the Phoenix Park, you will not be surprised that I arraign your conduct criminally, and particularly in the capacity of a servant of the Crown. Many other measures have since occurred which I have the misfortune of considering in a still more serious point of view. Your late appointment is no further the occasion of the step I am now taking than that it hastens the execution of a first intention to render these affairs the subject of public discussion in this kingdom; and as, by the marked recognition of the measures of the Irish Government implied by that appointment, it induces me to lodge a series of criminal charges against that Government in the person of your lordship. "After what I have said at the beginning it is almost unnecessary for me to express that I do not decline any sort of public or private responsibility which may attach to the course which I have taken, or may hereafter take. The charges I shall pursue by such methods as shall appear to me most advisable to give them solemnity and effect. "I have the honor to be, &c., "Rt. Honble. Lord Hobart." Hobart, inclosing the letter to Nepean, says: "Every circumstance induces me to agree with you in thinking him entirely mad, and I only regret that the discovery was not made some time ago."— MSS. Ireland. S. P. O. October 1793. SECTION III. THE air was charged with revolution. Each week brought news from France which set the patriots' pulses bounding. Lord Moira, who was now the hope of the Irish incendiaries, allowed himself to play with their expectations. They gave him a dinner in Dublin, and an ardent orator spoke allusively of the great work which might lie before him. Moira, not disclaiming the possibility, replied, "that when he appeared it would be as a rainbow to notify to distant countries that the tempest was over. "1 But for the present the Convention Bill, backed by the militia, drove in the disaffection. The United Irishmen confessed themselves baffled, but "vowed revenge." Hamilton Rowan was reported as having grown "morose, sullen, and determined." 2 Thomas Muir, who was tried afterwards at Edinburgh for treason, had paid the society a visit in Dublin. The society in return voted an address to their Scotch brethren, and Rowan was sent over in charge of it. A prosecution was already hanging over him for a treasonable address. The Chancellor, finding forbearance thrown away, sent a warrant after him to Scotland. He was arrested, brought back, tried, and sentenced to two years' imprisonment, and to pay a fine of 5007. 1 "Major Hobart to Evan Nepean, August 27, 1793.” —S. P. O. The conspir There was now an interval of calm. ators were frightened. The session of 1794 was a blank. The Opposition in Parliament was disheartened and divided, all but the most reckless patriots having been sobered by the bloodshed of the past summer. William Ponsonby tried a Reform Bill again. It was extinguished by a decisive division of 142 to 44. The revolutionary peace party was equally unsuccessful. Grattan had promised Parnell that if the Place and Pension Bills were conceded, he would make no further "vexatious opposition."1 He redeemed his word by speaking in favor of the war and by repeating what he had said in 1782, that in a foreign contest Ireland was bound to stand or fall with Great Britain. The authority of Grattan was decisive with all who were not consciously disloyal.2 The supplies were voted. All necessary business was hurried over, and in the general desire to leave the Executive untrammelled, Parliament was prorogued on March 25. The Executive had need to be free. Driven from the open field, the United Irishmen were now preparing for rebellion. The eye of the Castle was on them. From the very first, traitors among themselves carried their most secret whispers to the Secretary. Every step on which they ventured was known, but so known only that it could be watched, not interfered with. Informers' evidence was not producible in a court of justice. Occasionally the conspirators were startled at their work by some public proclamation which proved that they were betrayed. The informers 1 "E. Cooke to Evan Nepean, February 7, 1794.” — S. P. O. 2 "I never saw greater marks of chagrin painted on countenances than on those of Geo. Ponsonby, Curran, Egan, and the lawyers in opposition, when Grattan declared his resolution to support the war.". Ibid. in such cases were removed from Ireland, and settled with a pension in another country. Sometimes the information came from England. A week after Parliament rose the Viceroy was warned to be on the lookout for a dangerous visitor. The French Directory were anxious to discover the resources of the advocates of liberty in England and Ireland. They had employed a Protestant clergyman named Jackson, a friend of the famous Duchess of Kingston, and an ardent disciple of the new doctrines, to feel the pulse of the two countries and ascertain what kind of reception might be expected by an invading force. Jackson came from Paris to London in February, and there renewed his acquaintance with the Duchess of Kingston's attorney, a man named Cockayne. He was indiscreet enough to reveal the nature of his mission. Cockayne carried the information to Pitt, and at Pitt's suggestion he voluntered to accompany Jackson to Ireland, and communicate his movements to the Castle. The pair arrived in Dublin on the 1st of April. Jackson called at once on a second old acquaintance, MacNally, a popular barrister. MacNally invited. him and Cockayne to dinner, where they met Simon Butler, Ed. Lewines, another United Irishman, and several more. The conversation was free and treasonable. Jackson asked to be introduced to Hamilton Rowan, who was then in Newgate. The prison rules were construed lightly in favor of gentlemen of 1 Mr. Collins, a silk mercer, of Dublin, was one of the first of these useful betrayers of the secrets of the United Irishmen. He was a member of the Dublin lodge; and, from the day of his election, was in communication with Lord Westmoreland. After Rowan's imprisonment, his further residence in Ireland was unsafe. 2007. a year was settled upon him, and he was recommended for a situation in the West Indies.. -"Cooke to Nepean. Secret. May 26, 1794." |