and had so remained until the period I now speak of, when my grandmother found a mode of using it for her advantage. She therefore applied to Mr. Warren for the purpose of having the trust declared. This he refused to do unless she would give him a release from all claim on the cash-account. This infamous transaction would easily have been exposed and punished, but the sum was 8007. and upwards. My grandmother wanted the money; delay might prevent her from ever getting it, or at least for a long time; her hopes from a settlement of the cash balance to be made with a man who professed to have no property were very slight, and she complied with the nefarious demand: she signed the release, the trust was declared, and she recovered Hamilton's debt. The corroboration of this fact will be found in the trial of John MacCan, where Mr. Warren appeared as an evidence to attempt to discredit my father. On the dissolution of the partnership, Mr. Warren sought to establish himself as an attorney, but could not succeed, and, being totally unoccupied during the following three or four years, he plunged entirely into the vortex of Jacobinism, which at that period attained its acmé in Ireland, and in 1798 came forward as a witness in support of his party, with a detail of all the family anecdotes, little quarrels, and youthful follies, which had come to his knowledge under the roof of his friend and benefactor. But the account which was wrung from him in court, in his cross-examination, showed him in his true colours; even his old associates threw him aside, and abandoned him. The trial of MacCan was the first that came on, and he never was brought forward on any subsequent occasion. He again retired to the country, where he dragged on a disgraceful existence, deserted and despised by all parties, until the return of the Bourbons permitted the entrance of British subjects into France. He then repaired to Paris with a part of his family, and presented himself to the Duc de Feltre, as one related to that Marshal's family in Ireland. The duke received him kindly, and placed one of his sons in the French army. Mr. Warren soon after died of apoplexy, and was interred at the duke's expense. His wife had died long previously : they left a numerous family of sons and daughters, who also went over to settle in Paris. I have heard that the Misses Archdekin of Kilkenny, and the brother of Mrs. Warren, being all dead, a considerable fortune descended to one of Mr. Warren's sons, and trifling legacies to each of the other children; but of that I know nothing certain. I shall have to speak of Mr. Warren, and part of his family, more than once in the course of these memoirs. CHAPTER II. Mr. Reynolds's Property after settling the Affairs of the Firm-He prepares to quit Business-Purchases a Lease for three lives, renewable for ever, of the Castle and Lands of Kilkea-State of his Affairs on entering into Possession-Mr. W. C. Taylor's calumnious Accusation-Mr. Reynolds's Mother dies-Her Will-History of Peter Sullivan his Ingratitude Account of Elizabeth Cahill Mrs. Molloy and Miss Anne Fitzgerald-Account of Lieutenant Colonel Witherington-His Conduct and Character-Causes of his hatred of Mr. Reynolds-His Behaviour at Kilkea. 1794 to 1797. THE whole affairs of the house were now surrendered into my father's hands, encumbered with debts to the amount of 90007., viz., to Cope and Co. 5000l., to Jaffray and Co. 20007., to himself 10007., and in various acceptances 1000l. The provision he had to pay this was, machinery, valued at 30007.; stock, in raw and manufactured goods, 40007. ; and debts due to the house, all slow in collecting, 2000. The difficulty was how to bring this dull property into play, so as to pay the demands upon it, and to procure cash to pay the heavy weekly expenses, wages, bills falling due, &c. &c. He first sold off his tontine, which yielded 21007. net; he had 1500., which he had received as my mother's fortune; and he sold two houses in Park Street for 23007. All this produced about 60007. in actual cash. He advanced 10007. of this money to Mr. Cope, on condition of his accepting a lien on Giffard's property for all his demand. He prevailed on Jaffray and Co. to accept of a similar lien on the same property for their demand, so that he had to pay no more than about 10007. of engagements for the house, which would still leave about 40007. in cash. Thus his property stood: In actual cash at his banker's Stock, in raw and manufactured goods £4,000 4,000 all of which could be realized within a year if neces sary he did not owe a shilling, and he had further a mortgage for 30007. on Sir Duke Giffard's property, which took precedence of Messrs. Cope and Jaffray. Subsequent events prevented him from attending properly to this mortgage, and he only recovered about 17007. from his demand on it. He had also expectations from his claims on the late Mr. John Meade's estate in Jamaica, of which he was tenant for life, subject to the payment of Mr. Meade's debts, which were considerable; and he had furniture sufficient for three large houses, with abundance of plate, linen, &c. &c. On the death of old Sir Duke Giffard in 1797, the securities held by my father, Mr. Cope, and Mr. Jaffray, upon his property became available; and a question then arose whether the 1000l. paid by my father to Mr. Cope ought (as my father alleged) to be deducted from Mr. Cope's claim, or ought on the other hand (as Mr. Cope maintained) to be regarded as a bonus to him for having accepted the security. Sir William Gladdowe Newcomen, and others, were consulted by Mr. Cope, at the desire of my father, who was then in the country. They said that my father was right in strict law, but that in equity he was wrong. Old Mr. Alexander Jaffray, the same with whom he had travelled from Liege, wrote to him in the country, acquainting him with this opinion, and saying that it was also his own, and Sir William Gladdowe Newcomen's opinion, that he ought to consider this payment as a bonus to Mr. Cope. He received this letter at ten or eleven o'clock in the morning, and he was at Mr. Cope's house in Merrion Square at dinner on the same day, and submitted without hesitation to their decision. This was the affair adduced by Valentine O'Connor as the ground of his want of confidence in my father's oath given on the trials in 1798. On the other hand, my father's conduct in this matter gained him the warm friendship of Sir William Gladdowe Newcomen, which VOL. I. *H |