execution of this duty; yet the United Irish in Ulster would have obtained a general insurrection in the north, had the troops .embarked at Brest for the invasion of Ireland effected their debarkation at Bantry bay, on the coast of which they arrived in the end of December. But this armament, stated to have contained fifteen thousand men, was dispersed by a storm, and the attempt rendered abortive. The association in Ulster, also was for the present completely checked by the prompt proceedings of the king's troops; who collected vast quantities of rebel arms, and by the prudent offer of pardon to all who would surrender within a given time. The inferior societies in general discontinued their meeting. Ulster ceased to be completely represented in the provincial committee, and order was so restored throughout the province, that the execution of the law, by the end of August, was in general restored to the civil power, the longer interference of the military being found unnecessary.

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CHAPTER III.

WHILE the society of United Irishmen received so severe a check in the northern counties, it was extending with hasty strides its improved system of organization in those of the south; in order thoroughly to understand the nature of which, it will be necessary to review also its complete civil structure.

This organization of men, associated for the ostensible purpose of procuring a constitutional reform of government, was effected by the following very surprising scheme :-It consisted of an immense number of societies, "linked closely together, "and ascending in gradation, like the component parts of a "pyramid or cone, to a common apex or point of union." The inferior societies at first consisted of thirty-six, but were afterwards reduced to twelve members; as nearly as possible of the same neighbourhood. Whenever they exceeded that number, the superabundant members were dismissed, with orders to make fresh proselytes, and to form thereby a new society. Each society chose a secretary and treasurer, and five secretaries formed what was called a lower baronial committee, which had the immediate direction and superintendance of the five societies who contributed to its institution. From each lower baronial committee thus constituted, one member out of the five was delegated to an upper baronial committee, which in like manner assumed and exercised the superintendance and direction of all the lower baronial committees in the several counties. The next superior committees were, in populous towns, distinguished by the name of district committees, and in counties,by the name of

county committees, and were composed of members delegated by the upper baronials. Each upper baronial committee delegated one of its members to the district or county committee, and these district or county committees had the superintendance and direction of all the upper baronials who contributed to their institutior. Having thus organized the several counties and populous towns, a subordinate directory was erected in each of the four provinces, composed of two or three members, according to the extent and population of the district which they represented, who were delegated to a provincial committee, and had the immediate direction and superintendance of the several county and district committees in each of the four provinces ; and a general executive directory, composed of five persons only, was elected by the provincial directories, to whom the supreme and uncontrolled command of the whole of this complex machine was committed. The election of these five directors was conducted in a very singular manner. They were balloted from the members of the provincial committees, the secretaries of which alone knew the persons on whom the election devolved, and notified the appointment to no one except to the directors themselves. The manner of communicating the orders issued by this hidden directing power, was peculiarly calculated to baffle all attempts at discovery, being conveyed by not very easily discoverable chains of communication through the whole organized body. One member alone of the executive communicated to the secretary of each provincial committee the mandates of himself and his colleagues; by each secretary the order was transmitted severally to the secretaries of the district and county committees; by the latter to those of the upper baronial committees; from the upper baronial to those of the lower baronial committees; and by them they were communicated to the twelve members of their respective inferior or simple societies.

The military organization of this artfully-constituted union, was engrafted on that of the civil. The secretary of each subordinate society was appointed its noncommissioned officer serjeant or corporal, having a military command over twelve men; the delegate of five simple societies to a lower baronial committee was, for the most part, captain of these five, that is, of a company of sixty men; the delegate of ten lower baroni

committees to an upper or district committee, was generally colonel, or commander of a body of six hundred men, composed of the fifty simple societies under the direction of this upper committee. The colonels of battalions in each county transmitted to the executive directory the names of three persons of the union, one of whom was by them appointed adjutant-general of the county, whose duty it was to receive and communicate military orders from the directory to the colonels of battalions, and in general to act as officer of the revolutionary staff. They were obliged to inform themselves of the state of the rebel regiments within their respective districts, and to report the same to the principals of the union; together with the number of mills, the roads, rivers, bridges, and fords, the military positions, the capacity of the towns and villages to receive troops, to communicate every movement of the enemy (meaning the king's troops;) to announce the first appearance of their allies, the French; and immediately to collect their force. The plan of warlike preparation was completed by the appointment of a military committee, who were to devise the most effectual means of assisting the French, or, in case of an unaided rebellion, to direct the exertion of the national force. The directory issued orders that every person, connected with the association, who could, should furnish himself with fire-arms and ammunition, and if circumstances would not allow that, to provide himself with a pike; and that monthly subscriptions, according to the zeal and ability of the members, should be collected in the societies, in order to form a fund for the expences of the association. The numerous emissaries dispatched throughout the kingdom for the purpose of extending the union, were supported from this fund. These emissaries were instructed to address themselves to, and to rouze, by every possible means, the passions, the prejudices, the hopes, and the fears, of the lower classes with whom they had communion.

The Northern Star, and another newspaper, intitled the Press the former published in Belfast, the latter in Dublintogether with the Union Star, notwithstanding the greatest precautions taken by the government to circumscribe the publication of inimical literary productions, continued to employ every means in their power to inflame the public discontent

The Union Star which was privately printed, and circulated with the greatest industry, besides being pasted frequently on the walls, that as many as possible might have an opportunity of catching its spirit, was conducted in a mammer which the following extract may convey some idea of to our readers:

"Let the indignation of man be raised against the impious "wretch who profanely assumes the title of reigning by the "grace of God, and impudently tells the world he can do no

wrong-Irishmen! Is granting a patent, and offering premi"ums to murderers, to depopulate your country, and take your "properties, no wrong? Is taking part of the spoil, no wrong? "Is the foreign despot incapable of wrong, who sharpens the "sword that deprives you of life, and exposes your children to "poverty and all its consequent calamities? O man! or rather "less, O king! will the smothered groans of my countrymen, "who in thy name fill the innumerable dungeons you have "made, for asserting the rights of man, be considered no wrongs? "Will enlightened Irishmen believe you incapable of wrong, "who offer up the most amiable of mankind daily on the scaf"fold, or the gibbet, to thy insatiable ambition? Is burning "the villages of what you call your people, and shooting the "trembling sufferers, no wrong? Is taking the church into part"nership, and encouraging its idle voluptuous drones to despoil "industry of its reward, and teach a lying doctrine to sanction "their injustice, no wrong? Are the continual wars you engen"der and provoke, to destroy mankind, no wrong? Go, impious "blasphemer, and your hypocritical sorcerers, to the fate, phi"losophy, justice, and liberty, consign thee. It is inevitable; "thy impositions are detected. Thy kind have been brought "to justice. The first professor of thy trade has recently bled "for the crimes of the craft: his idle and vile followers, who "escaped the national axe, are walking memorials of justice, "begging a miserable livelihood over those countries, whose "tottering thrones encourage but an uncertain asylum. Ere "the grave, which is opening for thy despised person embosoms "thee, make one atonement for the vices of thy predecessors; "resist not the claims of a people reduced to every misery; in "thy name give back the properties that thy nation wrested "from a suffering people; and let the descendants of those