CHAP. activity in the saving of lives to loyalists could only XLV. be pleaded in their favour; but no such plea would

Fate of
Perry.

then, or long after be admitted. Innocence itself was
no competent protection. False witnesses were not
unattainable. To be accused was to be presumed
guilty. The man selected as a victim was, like a
hunted roe, from a system of terror, forsaken by
all; nor was time always allowed for witnesses to
come forward in his defence, if they dared to ap-
pear. Such seems to have been the case with John
Redmond, a priest who was hanged at Gorey. He
is said to have given three hundred guineas in charge
to an officer of rank, bequeathed verbally to his
brother in case of his death. If he had been ac-
quitted, the money might have been reclaimed.
any innocent person thus fell a victim, sycophants
would afterwards torture their invention to justify
the sentence; and in this they were supported by
terrorism. In some places such proceedings were
checked by officers of true military spirit, as at
Wexford by general Hunter, at Enniscorthy by gene-
ral Grose, and Ross by general Gascoyne. The troops
of the last, chiefly the first and Coldstream regiments
of guards, displayed a conduct very uncommon in
those times, and highly honourable to the character
of soldiers.

If

Of the Gentlemen implicated in the united conspiracy some found means to extricate themselves by fortunate circumstances, or by becoming informers, or by the affectation of a flaming zeal for loyalty, which they too frequently displayed by outrages on

men

XLV.

men genuinely loyal, the lovers of the existing con- CHAP. stitution and of equal justice. Others found extrication utterly impossible. This may be instanced in the fate of Anthony Perry, a protestant of a good estate, a well-informed understanding, agreeable manners, and an excellent private character. When he was renouncing his engagements, he was arrested and imprisoned at Gorey. To atone for his error he gave all the information in his power useful to government, yet was treated with the utmost harshness and indignity. Among other acts of cruelty, Thomas Honam, a serjeant of the North Cork militia, nick-named Tom the Devil from his habitual violence, cut away all his hair quite close to the head, and then burned all the roots of it with a candle. He was in the utmost danger, together with sixty other prisoners, of being massacred in the market-house, on the twenty-eighth of May, when ten were shot in the street; but was liberated by captain Hawtrey White, a brave yeoman officer, and a humane and active magistrate. Pursued to his house, whither he had retired to live in peace, by some yeomen, who plundered his effects and sought his life, he fled in the disguise of a beggar to the rebel host, the only refuge. To prevent acts of cruelty his exertions were perpetual. Separating at length from his associates, after their repulse at Hacketstown, he at tempted an escape to the north, but was taken and hanged at Edenderry in the King's county.

CHAP.

XLV.

Bill of amnesty.

1798.

Capitula

tion of leaders.

1798.

To prevent, as far as in his power, the further effusion of blood, the new viceroy issued a proclamation dated the twenty-ninth of June, and inserted in the Dublin Gazette on the third of July, authorizing his Majesty's generals to give protection to such insurgents, as being simply guilty of rebellion, should surrender their arms, abjure all unlawful engagements, and take the oath of allegiance to the king. To give the full sanction of law to a measure dictated by justice and policy, a message was delivered to the house of commons on the seventeenth of July, signifying his Majesty's pleasure to that effect; and an act of amnesty was accordingly passed in favour of all engaged in the rebellion, who had not been leaders; who had not committed manslaughter except in the heat of battle; and who should comply with the conditions mentioned above: but from the benefit of this were excluded James Napper Tandy, and about thirty more, mostly fugitives in France.

Partly through counsellor Dobbs, a member of parliament, the surviving chief leaders were admitted to a capitulation by government. The contract, signed by seventy-three persons, purported that, they should give all the information in their power of the transactions of United Irishmen both internal and with foreign states, without implicating any person whatsoever by name or description; that they should emigrate to some country particularized by mutual agreement; and that they should give security for their not passing into the territories of any

state

XLV.

state at war with Great Britain, and for their not CHA P. returning to Ireland without the permission of government. Oliver Bond, though under sentence of death, was included in this capitulation; but he died of an apoplexy in prison. Several principals of the Union, particularly O'Connor, Emmett Nac-Nevin, and Samuel Nelson, gave details on oath, in their examinations before the secret committees of both houses of parliament, in whose reports, published by authority of government, is contained a mass of information concerning the conspiracy. Whatever were the original terms of the contract, or by whatever subsequent events the contractors were influenced or affected, fifteen principal conspirators were detained in prison during the continuance of the war with France.

- In a pamphlet, styled a letter from Arthur O'Con-O'Connor's nor to lord Castlereagh, dated from prison, January pamphlet. the fourth, 1799, that minister is directly charged with a violation of the contract. One of the articles of accusation is, that the information, given by the prisoners of state, was garbled to serve the purposes of the ministry; and particularly, that of a hundred pages, delivered by O'Connor himself, only one was published in the reports of the secret committees. This publication, not otherwise than clandestinely sold and circulated, was considered as suppressed by government. Though the charges are strong, no reply has appeared; but from the humanity of this lord I am inclined to suppose some justifiable motives of expediency in his favour. The

2

honour,

CHAP. honour, however, of the marquis Cornwallis was expressly declared unimpeached by the writer.

XLV.

Prosecuti

ons.

1798.

This viceroy, vested with powers much beyond those of his predecessor, the supremacy of the military, as well as civil administration, and invigorated with a spirit superior to the influence of faction, made exertions in various ways to mitigate the effects of sanguinary persecution. He had commanded military licence to cease, and the sentence of each court-martial to remain suspended until, by an inspection of its minutes, he could form an opinion of its justice. By this a multitude of lives were saved; for, by necessary exceptions, an ample field lay open still, not only for the merited punishment of the guilty, but also for the indulgence of revenge, avarice, and sycophancy, in the involving of the innocent. No means of conviction were neglected. Strange as it may seem, acts of humanity were considered as proofs of guilt. Whoever could be proved to have saved a loyalist from assassination, his house from burning, or his property from plunder, was pronounced to have had influence among the rebels, consequently a rebel commander. Thus men of active compassion suffered, while others were shielded by a different conduct. "I thank my God that no person can prove me guilty of saving any one's life or property!" was the sudden exclamation of a catholic gentleman in a company where the notoriety of the practice was the subject of conversation. At Wexford the spirit of prosecution was carried to its height. Here for the

purpose