related that, returning to the church, Lady Campbell found the coffin as described, its solitary mark of identification being the letters traced by the pauper's hand.

So Edward FitzGerald lived and died and was buried.

There is a legend of his race which tells how, every seven years, there may be seen an Earl of Kildare, who rides across the Curragh on a white charger, silver-shod. And the people say that when the shoes of the horse are worn off, his master will return to destroy the enemies of Ireland. But whether or not, in days to come, any Geraldine shall ever again set himself to carry on the old tradition, it is certain that no purer or more gallant and chivalrous spirit will ever rise to champion the oppressed than breathed in Lord Edward FitzGerald.

Whether he is to be regarded as hero or criminal, patriot or traitor, must be determined, as Southey declared, by a reference to the maxims of eternal morality and positive law. It is a question each man I will decide for himself. But whatever the answer may be, it cannot be denied that he was, in the phraseology of the same writer, a martyr of rebellion. It is as a martyr that his memory has been kept green by the Irish people.

"For Edward's precious blood," said O'Connor bitterly, "not even the semblance of an inquisition has been had."

He was wrong. For the blood of Edward Fitz

Gerald inquisition has been made by every generation of his countrymen since the day when he lay dead in his Newgate cell.

And who shall pronounce him wholly unfortunate? He died, indeed, in the flower of his manhood, a champion of a lost cause, a soldier in the ranks of a beaten army. But his life was given for that which he held to be worthy of the sacrifice. Living, he was surrounded by a band of comrades who, whatever might be their failings, were as free from petty jealousies of class and creed, ignoble personal ambitions, and sordid private grudges, as any that ever gathered under the banners of his ancestors; and he died-more fortunate than some who have occupied his place in the affections of a generous, warm-hearted, and unstable people— encompassed by the love and the fealty of the nation. he served.

APPENDIX A

FUNERAL OF LORD EDWARD FITZGERALD

THE following letters from Lady Louisa Conolly are curious evidence of the indifference and negligence of the ministerial officials with regard to Lord Edward's funeral. The first was docketed by Lord Henry FitzGerald : "From Lady Louisa Conolly, in consequence of a complaint made to her of the indecent neglect in Mr. Cook's office, by Mr. Leeson. A guard was to have attended at Newgate, the night of my poor brother's burial, in order to provide against all interruption from the different guards and patroles in the streets :-it never arrived, which caused the funeral to be several times stopped in its way, so that the burial did not take place till near two in the morning, and the people attending [were] obliged to stay in the church until a pass could be procured to enlarge them."

LADY LOUISA CONOLLY TO THE HON. JOHN

DEAR SIR,

LEESON.

CASTLETOWN, June 13th, 1798.

I received both your letters, and acquainted the Lord Lieutenant with the neglect in Mr. Cook's office, as I thought it right that he should know it, to prevent mischief for the future

on such occasions. The grief I have been in, and still do feel, is so much above any other sensation, that the want of respect to my feelings on that melancholy occasion was not worth any notice.

Dear sir, your humble servant,

L. O. CONOLly.

LADY LOUISA CONOLLY TO WILLIAM OGILVIE, ESQ.

. . . The dear remains were deposited by Mr. Bourne in St. Werburgh Church, until the times would permit of their being removed to the family vault at Kildare. I ordered everything upon that occasion that appeared to me to be right, considering all the heart-breaking circumstances belonging to the event; and I was guided by the feelings which I am persuaded our beloved angel would have had upon the same occasion, had he been to direct for me, as it fell to my lot to do for him. I well knew that to run the smallest risk of shedding one drop of blood, by any riot intervening upon that mournful occasion, would be the thing of all others that would vex him most; and knowing also how much he despised all outward show, I submitted to what I thought prudence required. The impertinence and neglect (in Mr. Cook's office) of orders (notwithstanding Lord Castlereagh had arranged everything as I wished it) had nearly caused what I had taken such pains to avoid. However, happily, nothing happened; but I informed Lord Camden of the neglect, for the sake of others, and to prevent mischief on other occasions, where a similar neglect might have such bad consequences. You may easily believe that my grief absorbed all other feelings, and Mr. is too insignificant even to be angry at. At any other time than this his impertinence might amuse one, but now it passes unnoticed.

APPENDIX B

THE BILL OF ATTAINDER

THE Attorney-General, Toler, brought in a Bill of Attainder, for the purpose of confiscating Lord Edward FitzGerald's property, on July 27th, 1798. After much discussion it was read for the third time in the Irish House of Commons, and passed by a majority of 42 to 9. Having also been passed by the House of Lords, it was sent to England in September for the Royal Assent, which it received in October, in spite of a petition presented to the King by Lord Henry FitzGerald, as guardian to the children, and the Duke of Richmond, Charles James Fox, William Ogilvie, Henry Edward Fox, and Lord Holland, as their near relations. A separate petition was also presented by their grandmother, the Duchess of Leinster. The sequel as regards the estate may be told in Moore's words. "Lord Clare having, with the approbation of the Government, allowed the estate to be sold in Chancery-under the foreclosure of a mortgage to which the Attorney-General was made a party-Mr. Ogilvie became the purchaser of it for £10,500; and having, by his good management of the property, succeeded in paying off the mortgage and the judgment debts, he had the satisfaction, at the end of a few years, of seeing the estate restored