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THE 
 
 LIFE, TIMES, AND COTEMPORARIES 
 
 OF 
 
 LORD CLONCURRY. 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM JOHN FITZPATRICK, ^ 
 
 MEMBER OF THE ROYAL DUBLIN SOCIETY. 
 
 "I know Lord Cloncurry well; and, knowing him, I respect and admire him. 
 He is a true and practical Patriot. High in life, and possessed of a large and 
 independent fortune, he rejects the vicious and tasteless example of those Mho 
 dissipate their wealth in foreign countries. His fortune is spent at home. His 
 useful and honourable life is devoted to the good of Ireland, to the performance of 
 his duties as a nobleman, a citizen, and a magistrate."— Lord Charlemont, 1819. 
 
 " Ireland has not a better friend or one more devoted to her service than Lord 
 Cloncurry. He sets a splendid example ; possessing a munificent fortune, and 
 expending every shilling in his native land. The poor man's justice of peace; the 
 friend of reform; in private society— in the bosom of his family — the model of 
 virtue; in public life worthy of the admiration and affection of the people."— 
 Laniel 0> Conn ell, on! June, 1824. 
 
 BOSTON COLLEGE LIBRARY 
 
 CHESTKUT HILL, MASS, 
 
 DUBLIN: 
 JAMES DUFFY, 7, WELLINGTON QUAY 
 
 1855. 
 
DUBLIN : 
 
 PRINTED BY J. M. O'TOOLE, 
 
 13, HAWKINS'-STREET. 
 
HIS GRACE 
 
 AUGUSTUS FREDERICK DUKE OF LEINSTER, 
 
 §ok Z\nke anb premier ftlarquis ano (farl of $rrlano. 
 
 WHO, 
 CO-OPERATING FROM HIS EARLIEST YOUTH WITH THE LABOURS 
 
 OP 
 
 AS A CATHOLIC EMANCIPATOR, A RESIDENT LANDLORD. 
 AN ACTIVE MAGISTRATE, AND A GENEROUS EMPLOYER, 
 HAS LONG SINCE SECURED TO HIMSELF 
 THE HONOUR AND ESTEEM OF ALL GOOD IRISHMEN, 
 
 %\t Jfollofoing |Jages 
 
 ARE, WITH HIS GRACE'S OWN PERMISSION, 
 AND IN THE HOPE 
 
 THAT THEY MAY NOT ALTOGETHER DISAPPOINT THE RESPECT 
 
 ENTERTAINED BY HIM 
 FOR THE MEMORY OF HIS DECEASED FRIEND, 
 
 llesptetfullg fnacribei*, 
 
 BY HIS GRACE'S VERY HUMBLE AND OBLIGED SERVANT, 
 
 WILLIAM JOHN FITZPATKICK. 
 
 1755 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The idea of writing this book was first suggested 
 to me by the following passage in a letter from Dr. 
 Eichard Grattan,* an old friend and correspondent 
 of Lord Cloncurry, to the editor of the Nation 
 newspaper, shortly after his lordship's death : — " It 
 occurs to me," said Dr. G-rattan, " that a memoir 
 of the public life and times of Valentine Lawless, 
 Lord Cloncurry, would be a valuable present to 
 Ireland. That this work will be forthcoming there 
 can be no doubt ; but our great object should be 
 to have it well done, and in a way, through him, 
 to diffuse generally the sound principles and the 
 enlarged and liberal views by which he was so 
 eminently distinguished. There can be no want 
 of materials ; Lord Cloncurry was a fluent writer, 
 and corresponded with almost every one who in- 
 terested himself in promoting the welfare of Ire- 
 land. * * * The testimonial to Lord 
 Cloncurry should be the history of his own life, 
 
 * Senior Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland, and Ex- 
 King's Professor of the Practice of Medicine. 
 
Vlii PREFACE. 
 
 read and studied by every Irishman, so as to im- 
 press his character, as much as possible, on the 
 public mind of Ireland." 
 
 I am sure there is no Irishman who will not 
 agree with the opinion expressed by Dr. G rattan. 
 Perhaps, no life of the last generation, except 
 O'Connell's, has so wide an historical interest. 
 That Lord Cloncurry was always foremost, from 
 1795 to 1853, in every movement tending to the 
 amelioration of our condition, or the increase of our 
 national spirit, is a fact well known, not only 
 to Ireland, but throughout Europe and America. 
 Identified by station and estate with the aristo- 
 cracy, yet his greatest pride was to take a lead in 
 the ranks of the oppressed people ; a man of ample 
 fortune, which he spent in the encouragement of 
 noble designs, or generous charities, and who passed 
 through every phase of a political career, from the 
 rebel's dungeon to the Viceroy's camarilla, yet 
 retained an unimpeached fidelity to Ireland through 
 all. 
 
 Having obtained access to a large mass of 
 unpublished and interesting correspondence rela- 
 tive to his lordship's life and times — finding that 
 no one else was likely to undertake the task, and 
 encouraged by the advice of several friends, whose 
 opinion I valued, I at last determined, though with 
 considerable diffidence, to weave the materials which 
 were rapidly accumulating in my hands into such 
 an unvarnished and, I trust, truthful and impartial 
 
PREFACE. ix 
 
 narrative, as my untried abilities were capable of 
 producing. 
 
 I, of course, in the first instance, met with the 
 objection that a volume, entitled a The Personal 
 Eecollections of Lord Cloncurry," might seem to 
 have forestalled my undertaking ; but I do not 
 believe that any person who now goes to the trouble 
 of comparing the one book with the other will re- 
 main of that opinion. No two works upon the same 
 subject could well be more dissimilar in design and 
 construction. "The Personal Kecollections" were 
 rather a series of reminiscences of his lordship's 
 early friends, and of fragmentary sketches of the 
 most important epochs of his own life until 1832, than 
 a complete biography ; and the modesty of a writer 
 who speaks of himself interfered with its fulness, 
 not less than the absence of lights from other 
 external and cotemporary sources. I have endea- 
 voured not merely to follow the direct line of Lord 
 Cloncurry's life, but to illustrate it by notices of the 
 events in which he bore a part, and by the charac- 
 ters and evidence of the men with whom he 
 associated. His lordship's times were eventful — 
 they were times of which we have, unfortunately, 
 little authentic history ; and their consideration 
 consequently occupies a much larger portion of my 
 work than is usual in the biography of an indi- 
 vidual. 
 
 The earlier chapters, with the exception of the 
 first, were written almost immediately after the 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 death of Lord Cloncurry. For the many blemishes 
 that I am well aware characterize them, I solicit 
 the reader's kind indulgence. 
 
 On the vast amount of new, and, I should hope, 
 interesting matter which this volume contains, I 
 shall not here expatiate. Of the letters, I will 
 merely observe, that out of one hundred and 
 seventy-two only four appeared in the "Personal 
 Recollections of Lord Cloncurry," and those I have 
 always been particular to acknowledge. With, 
 perhaps, one half dozen exceptions, the entire 
 collection in his lordship's work were addressed 
 by different parties to himself. In the following 
 pages that arrangement has been reversed. A man's 
 private letters have ever been considered the true 
 lights of biography. As many as I considered 
 necessary to illustrate effectively Lord Cloncurry 's 
 patriotic career, and the very eventful times 
 through which he passed, I have given — some to 
 show the generous philanthropy which was a con- 
 stant characteristic of his life. 
 
 In addition to the interesting correspondence 
 referred to, further lights, in the shape of extracts 
 from the most effective of Lord Cloncurry's speeches, 
 have been brought to bear upon those portions of 
 his political career, which, from lapse of time, have 
 become either wholly or partially obscured. 
 
 In tracing the political and private life of Lord 
 Cloncurry, after his liberation from captivity in 
 1801, I have found the "Personal Recollections" 
 
PREFACE. xi 
 
 little or no guide. His lordship's patriotic career 
 I carefully followed through the newspaper files 
 from 1797 to 1853; and I can with truth affirm 
 that not a single page escaped my scrutiny. 
 No man, save him who has travelled over the same 
 ground, could possibly form a just idea of the 
 labour and tediousness attendant on such an 
 undertaking. 
 
 Many of the letters introduced in my book ex- 
 hibit the characteristics of private communications. 
 But it must be remembered that they refer for the 
 most part, to political events which have long since 
 passed away, and are addressed to parties whose 
 connexion with the press rendered it expedient at 
 the time to stamp the word " Private" on them. 
 
 To those relations of Lord Cloncurry, not of 
 his immediate family, who furnished me with 
 much interesting information for the work, and to 
 the friends and correspondents of Lord Cloncurry, 
 who placed a liberal selection from his lordship's 
 letters at my disposal, I beg to return my best 
 thanks. They will find the materials, it is hoped, 
 judiciously used. And as a new edition will 
 shortly be prepared, I take the liberty of here 
 suggesting to correspondents the expediency of 
 furnishing me at once with any unpublished letters 
 of Lord Cloncurry's that may chance to remain in 
 their possession. 
 
 WILLIAM J. FITZPATRICK. 
 
 South Hiix Avenue, Mount Merrion, 
 March 1st, 1855. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 How Sir Hugh de Lawless came to Ireland, and what brought him thither 
 — Shanganagh — Provost, Guardian, and Bishop Lawless — Genealogy of 
 the Family— Their landed Property — King James the Second secreted in 
 Puck's Castle — Stands Godfather for his Host's Son and Heir — Walter 
 Lawless attainted — James Lawless of Shankhill — Pedre ac nuck — Robert 
 Lawless — His romantic and eventful History — Birth of Nicholas, first 
 Lord Cloncurry — Sent to Rouen University — Completes his College Course 
 and returns to Ireland — Purchases Galleville — Subjected to more Slights 
 than Courtesies — Marries Margaret Browne, of Mount Browne — Their 
 Offspring — Renounces the Roman Catholic Religion, and purchases an 
 Estate in Ireland — Death of Robert Lawless — His Commercial Establish- 
 ment — Data connected therewith — Singular Anecdote respecting the Con- 
 version of Nicholas Lawless — Elected M.P. for Liffbrd — His tardy 
 Appearance in the Field — Created a Baronet of Ireland — Critical Situation 
 of England in 1776 — The American War — Diffidence of Sir Nicholas 
 Lawless in the House — Governmental Bias of his Votes — The Marquis of 
 Buckingham Lord Lieutenant of Ireland — Regency Question — Unparalleled 
 Corruption practised — Peerages purchased — Anecdote — Elevation of Sir 
 Nicholas Lawless to a Barony — His Debut in the House of Lords — 
 Incident at Crow-street Theatre — Laughable Epigram on Lord Cloncurry 
 — The two Viceroys, Westmoreland and Fitzwilliam — Solicits the latter 
 for Promotion in the Peerage — Request declined — Consequent Revenge of 
 Lord Cloncurry. 
 
 In the twelfth century, when Dermod Mac Murrough, 
 King of Leinster, triumphantly carried off the beautiful 
 Dearbhforguill, wife of O'Rourke, Prince of Brefni, and 
 thereby incurred the indignation of that potentate — when 
 all Ireland vowed vengeance on his head for the out- 
 rage, and Roderick O'Connor, as the mightiest of its 
 kings, undertook the task of crushing the abductor — 
 when battle raged, and blood gushed fresh and scarlet 
 from the staunch old hearts of the Leinster soldiery — 
 when, driven to desperation, Dermod Mac Murrough 
 rushed panic-stricken from Ireland, and flung himself at 
 
 B 
 
2 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 the feet of King Henry the Second, craving his protec- 
 tion and swearing temporary allegiance — when his 
 Majesty, yearning in spirit to possess himself of Ire- 
 land, conjured MacMurrough to be composed, and assured 
 him that he might calculate on sufficient assistance to 
 enable him to recover the kingly position he had lost — 
 when these and other events were being enacted, an 
 armament, for the express purpose of invading Ireland, 
 and of rendering her thenceforward subject to English 
 domination, was actively in preparation at Milford Haven, 
 and awaiting only the preconcerted signal to crowd all 
 sail, and steer direct for Waterforcl. 
 
 The ambition of Mac Murrough blinded his mental 
 vision, and he saw not through the cajolery of King 
 Henry. Not confining his desires to the recovery of 
 Leinster, Dermod ambitioned to become supreme mo- 
 narch of all Ireland. Henry encouraged this feeling, 
 and gave him every reason to understand that his inter- 
 ference should not be otherwise than friendlv. 
 
 On the 18th October, 1172, this disinterested and 
 valuable ally, with a fleet of some hundred ships, weighed 
 anchor from Milford Haven, and, after a short voyage, 
 glided almost unobserved into the harbour of Waterford. 
 The army of King Henry, on this occasion, consisted of 
 four hundred knights and several thousand men-at-arms. 
 Amongst the former was Sir Hugh de Lawless,* of 
 Hoddesdon, County Hertford, the ancestor of Valentine 
 Lord Cloncurry. 
 
 It does not come within the scope of this work to 
 follow the progress of King Henry's movements. Let it 
 suffice to say, that by means of cajolery, rather than by 
 force of arms, an English footing was permanently 
 established in Ireland. Perhaps the wiliest expedient 
 resorted to by his Majesty was the consummately inge- 
 nious manner in which he worked upon the Irish Synod, 
 at that time sitting in conclave atCashel. Henry's intimacy 
 with Pope Adrian (who was a brother- Saxon) stood him 
 in good stead, and by dint of producing certain Bulls 
 
 * The ancestor of Sir Hugh de Lawless was David, Duke of Normandy. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 3 
 
 from kis Holiness, an almost bloodless conquest resulted. 
 "It is evident," observes Plowden, " that, through the 
 influence of the Synod, the whole nation was induced to 
 submit to Henry with a facility which no other means 
 would have secured to the invader." 
 
 No sooner had the Norman knights set their feet upon 
 the verdant island, and gazed around upon its golden 
 valleys and fertile pasture lands, than they at once found 
 themselves filled with an inordinate desire to become 
 possessed of something more than the mere vision of 
 such luxuriance. They smacked their lips at the glit- 
 tering prospect, and, in the abject subserviency of selfish 
 expectation, prostrated themselves before their gracious 
 and beneficent monarch. Henry received these advances 
 with complacency : he was desirous of rewarding the 
 services of his faithful knights ; and, as he had no land 
 to spare in England, he gladly distributed amongst them, 
 with a lavish hand, the Irish manors, which he only 
 knew by name. 
 
 One there was, situated in the vicinity of Dublin, that 
 made the Norman mouth, of Sir Hugh de Lawless, water. 
 It went by the name of the Manor of Shanganagh, and 
 was, in sooth, a most ethereal spot. Slumbering beneath 
 the mountain parish of Killiney, and sheltered by the 
 umbrageous foliage of Old Connauoht, the vale of Shan- 
 ganagh, with outstretched arms, while embracing a creek 
 of the dark blue ocean, grasped into a focus all the na- 
 turally picturesque beauty of that eminently rich district : 
 
 " How pleased, how delighted, the rapt eye reposes, 
 On the picture of beauty, this valley discloses, 
 From that margin of silver, whereon the blue water 
 Doth glance like the eyes of the ocean foam's daughter ! 
 To where, with the red clouds of morning combining, « 
 
 The tall "golden spears"* o'er the mountains are shining, 
 With the hue of their heather, as sunlight advances, 
 Like purple flags furled round the staffs of the lances ! 
 
 Sweetest of vales is the vale of Shanganagh ! 
 
 Greenest of vales is the vale of Shanganagh ! 
 
 No lands far away by the calm Susquehannah ! 
 
 So tranquil and fair as the vale of Shanganagh !" 
 
 Golden spears is the literal translation of an old Irish name applied to the 
 Sugar Loaf chain of mountains adjacent to Shanganagh. 
 
4 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 So sings Denis Florence M'Carthy. He does not over- 
 rate its beauties, and that is saying a great deal. 
 
 Sir Hugh de Lawless heard of the exquisite scenery of 
 Shaiwanao-h. He resolved to test the truth of these re- 
 ports, and made a personal pilgrimage to the spot. To 
 modify the words of Caesar, he came, saw, and (was) con- 
 quered. Yes! the Norman found himself speechless with 
 admiration before its beauties. Shan£ana«Ti had taken 
 his heart by storm, and he would that very day wait upon 
 King Henry, and conjure him to make it his for ever- 
 more. His Majesty heard the request, complied with it, 
 and from that moment Shanganagh became the property, 
 or as the attorney said, who drew up the deed of settle- 
 ment — the "fee simple'''' of Sir Hugh. 
 
 We can imagine the knight, as he posted off to see 
 King Henry, carolling away in the following style : — 
 
 " When I have knelt in the Temple of Duty, 
 Worshipping honour, and valour, and beauty — 
 When like a brave man, in fearless resistance, 
 I have fought the good fight on the field of Existence ; 
 When a home I have von by a long life of labour, 
 By the thoughts of my soul, or the steel of my sabre, 
 Be that home a calm home where my old age may rally, 
 A home full of peace in this sweet pleasant valley ! 
 
 Sweetest of vales is the vale of Shanganagh ! 
 Greenest of vales is the vale of Shanganagh ! • 
 May the accents of love, like the droppings of Manna, 
 Fall sweet on my heart in the vale of Shanganagh." 
 
 The old age of Sir Hugh de Lawless did find a home in 
 the vale of Shanganagh, and what is more, " the accents 
 of love fell sweet on his ears" the while. He married,* 
 erected a castle near the water's edge, and lived, and died, 
 after " a long life of labour," within it. 
 
 The dichotomised ruins of this old castle are still visi- 
 ble, and may be observed from a great distance. 
 
 f By a very old family escutcheon, which remains in the possession of the 
 Lawless family of Shankhill, we find that Sir Hugh had a son named 
 Richard. Beneath this heraldic device is an unfurled scroll, bearing the fol- 
 lowing inscription: — " Sir Hugh Lawles, Knight, sent a deede sealed with 
 his amies, dated ye first yeare of King Edward ye 3rd, unto his son Richard 
 Lawles, of all his lands of ye manor of Shanganagh." 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 5 
 
 It would be tedious until we come to the seventeenth 
 century to trace, with any degree of accuracy, the genea- 
 logical descent from Sir Hugh de Lawless ; but we may 
 observe, en passant, that Richard Lawless, from 1310 till 
 1313, held the office of Provost or chief magistrate of Dub- 
 lin.* His adjudications appear to have been of a singular 
 character. In 1310, famine stalked throughout the land, 
 and a "cranoge of wheat,"t as the Annals of Dublin 
 tell us, " sold for twenty shillings." The bakers entered 
 into a combination to impose orpthe public, by means 
 of using false weights, and to a great extent succeeded 
 in carrying out their object. The imposture, however, 
 came to the ears of Richard Lawless, and having had 
 the men of dough brought before him, he sentenced them 
 to be drawn on hurdles through the streets, tied at horses' 
 tails. 
 
 In 1347, we find that King Henry appointed Robert 
 Lawless (probably the son of Provost Richard Lawless), 
 one of the public guardians of the peace in Dublin, with 
 power to assess and array its military force as required, 
 and to head the municipal guard in resisting the hostility 
 and invasion of the native " Irishry."J 
 
 In 1354,§ Stephen Lawless was consecrated Bishop of 
 Limerick, and died on Innocents' Day, 1359. The fa- 
 mily were then in possession of large estates in Dublin 
 and Wicklow. " In the fourteenth and fifteenth cen- 
 turies," observes Dalton, in his History of the County 
 Dublin, " the Lawless family were in possession of Shan- 
 ganagh, Kilruddery, Corkagh, and Old Connaught;|| but 
 
 * It was not till 16G5, that the chief magistrate became honoured with 
 the title of Lord Mayor — Sir Daniel Bellingham being the first who bore it. 
 
 f In 1333, wheat was sold in Dublin at 6d. per bushel! 
 
 X Rot. Pat. in cane. Hib. (Dalton). 
 
 § " Stephen Lawles, Chancellor of the Cathedral of Limerick, succeeded 
 Bishop Rochfort, and was restored to the temporalities by the king, on the 
 13th May, 1354. He died on Innocents' Day, 1359."— The Whole Works 
 of Sir James Ware concerning Ireland, Revised and Improved. Entirely 
 translated from the original Latin, by Walter Harris, Esq. — 2 vols, folio. 
 Dublin. 1764. 
 
 I From the Lawless family these townlands passed over to the Walshes, 
 who, as " Irish rebels and Papists," are frequently alluded to in the old 
 chronicles of Dublin. 
 
6 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 in 1473,* the Vicars of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, 
 petitioned Parliament, stating that they and their prede- 
 cessors were seised of the seigniory of Shanganagh from 
 time immemorial, had leased it to Thomas Lawless, and 
 had also leased eighty acres within said seigniory to Edmund 
 Walsh, who disowned their authority, and would pay no 
 rent." 
 
 Shanganagh, about this time, passed out of the family; 
 but the Lawlesses were too much attached to the old pro- 
 perty not to re-establish themselves as soon as possible in 
 its immediate vicinity. This they did by erecting a castle 
 at Shankhill, and a dwelling-house at Cherry wood — town- 
 lands situated within a stone's throw of Shanganagh. In 
 the fifteenth century, the Lawlesses were in possession of 
 considerable landed property in Kilkenny. 
 
 From an old family document we learn that another 
 branch of the family were, for upwards of a century, 
 seated at the Castle of Rawebuck, or Roebuck, in the vi- 
 cinity of Dublin, where they continued to reside until 
 about the year 1690. 
 
 On the 9th May, 1608, Walter Lawless, of Talbot 
 Inche, County Kilkenny, obtained from his gracious Ma- 
 jesty, King James the First, the princely grant of seven 
 manors, situated in the counties of Tipperary, Waterford, 
 and Kilkenny .f According to the old deed of transfer, 
 these manors " possessed the right of patronage, and were 
 to be held for ever, in capite, by knight's service." { Lin- 
 gard speaking of James's munificence in 1608 (vol. vi. 
 chap. 2), says, that his entertainments were of the most 
 costly description, and his presents to those who claimed 
 reward for their services, or had the good fortune to 
 
 * Inquisition in Cane. Hib. 
 
 f King James' Letters Patent were drawn up in the sixth year of his reign, 
 and dated at Dublin, 19th May, 1608. From them we find that his Ma- 
 jesty " granted the several manors following, to wit, the manor of Clonmell, 
 Killsheallane, Lisronagh, Killfiakill, Corketenny, Danagh, and Ballicallan, 
 with divers lands, tenements, rents, customs, services, and right of patronage, 
 to the said manors respectively belonging, and therein particularly recited 
 and mentioned, situate, lying, and being in the counties of Tipperary, Water- 
 ford, and Kilkenny. To hold to the said Walter Lawless, his heirs and as- 
 signs, for ever, in capite, by knights' service," &c. 
 
 £ This tenure was abolished in England by 12 Charles II. c. 21 (Blackstone). 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 7 
 
 attract his favour, were valuable and profuse, beyond pre- 
 cedent.* Walter Lawless was one of tliose men who 
 are born to be lucky. He attracted the royal favour, and 
 received seven boons. 
 
 The wife of Walter Lawless was a daughter of Robert 
 Wrothe, Esq., of Kilkenny. By her he had one son, 
 Richard, a prominent member of the Supreme Council of 
 the confederate Catholics of Kilkenny, in the civil wars 
 of 1641. In this capacity Richard Lawless greatly dis- 
 tinguished himself, as some old historians tell us, by 
 warmly opposing the massacre of the Kilkenny Protes- 
 tants, when proposed to the Council by Torlogh Oge 
 O'Neil.f Richard married Margaret, daughter of Patrick 
 Denn, Esq., of Grenan, County Kilkenny, and died in 
 1670, leaving issue two sons Walter and Thomas. Walter, 
 the eldest, married a daughter of John Bryan, Esq., of 
 Jenkinstown, County Kilkenny, and had issue five sons. 
 If Walter Lawless, of Talbot Inche, was born to be 
 lucky, certes his namesake and grandson was doomed 
 to be unfortunate. In the Irish wars of 1689, he took 
 a leading part in favour of James the Second, was 
 attainted, and forfeited to the Crown all the valuable 
 manors he derived from his father in Tipperary, Water- 
 ford, and Kilkenny; but previously, on the precipitate 
 flight}: of James from England, when all his army 
 rallied round William of Orange, and proclaimed him 
 their sovereign, we find that the royal plate of the fugi- 
 tive monarch was deposited with his staunch friend and 
 
 * Thus, for example, at Lady Vere's marriage he made the bridegroom a 
 present of lands to the yearly value of £1200. At the marriage of Lord 
 Haddington with Lady Kadcliffe, he paid off his debts amounting to £10,000, 
 although he had already given him £1,000 per annum inland (Winwood, ii. 
 217), and sent to the bride a gold cup, in -which was a patent containing a 
 grant of lands of £600 a year. (Lodge, hi. 254, 336 ; lioderie, iii. 129). 
 — Lingard's England, vol. vii. 
 
 f " Turlogh Oge O'Neil, brother to the arch rebel Sir Phelim, and the 
 Popish citizens of Kilkenny, petitioned the rest of the Council, that all the 
 English Protestants there should be put to death ; whereupon Alderman 
 Richard Lawless, in excuse answered, that they were all robbed before, and 
 he saw no cause that they should lose their lives." — Note to the 7 vol.Editiou 
 of Lodge. Dublin. 1789. P. 61, vol. i v. 
 
 X Macaulay mentions that the king, immediately before his flight, ex- 
 claimed — " None but the Irish will stand by me.' 
 
8 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 supporter, Walter Lawless, in the same manner that his 
 most important papers were entrusted to the care, as 
 Macaulay tells us, of the Tuscan minister. Probably, 
 when Walter Lawless was reduced to the necessity of 
 flying from Ireland, and became involved in the common 
 ruin of all James's influential followers, the deposited plate 
 was made a present to him by his master. Be this as it 
 may, the plate remained in the possession of his descen- 
 dants, and within a few years a portion of it, emblazoned 
 with the royal arms of the Stuarts, might be seen at 
 Lyons — the seat of Lord Cloncurry. 
 
 Richard, the eldest son of Walter Lawless, fell at the 
 siege of Limerick, in 1691. Patrick, his second son, served 
 with distinction in the armies of his Spanish Majesty, Philip 
 the Fifth, was appointed, during the Orleans Regency, 
 Ambassador Extraordinary to the Court of France, created 
 Knight of the Equestrian Order, and finally, inaugurated 
 Governor of Majorca, which office he continued to fill, 
 with honour and reputation, until his death. The third 
 son, John, having manifested strong feelings of loyalty 
 towards James the Second, was attainted at the same time 
 as his father, Walter Lawless. The two younger sons 
 died before reaching their majority. 
 
 Immediately on the flight of James from England, 
 O'Neil, Earl of Tyrconnell, summoned together the 
 Irish loyalists, and not only exhorted but commanded 
 them to arm, at once, in defence of the inalienable rights 
 of their lawful sovereign. Thirty thousand trusty men, 
 officered by such staunch Catholic partisans as Walter 
 Lawless, were soon disciplined and organized. James, 
 from the Court of Louis the Fourteenth, sent Tyrconnell 
 constant assurances, that at no distant day he would 
 proceed to Ireland in order to take the personal com- 
 mand of this army. But time elapsed, and not till the 
 23rd March, 1689, did his Majesty arrive at Kinsale. Here 
 he disembarked with 1,200 members of the Irish Bri- 
 gade, who, mounted on their palfreys, escorted him to 
 Dublin. To say that James was received with kingly 
 honour in the metropolis, could convey no idea of the en- 
 thusiasm, pomp, and solemnity, which greeted his arrival. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 9 
 
 Everybody seemed to vie with every other body, in ex- 
 pressing the most unbounded manifestations of loyalty 
 and affection. At length, Duke Schomberg, with 40,000 
 Huguenots, joined the legions of Northern Protestants, 
 who had so intrepidly defended themselves at Derry* 
 during the previous summer, and with this effective 
 force marched straight to attack the hapless Stuart. Va- 
 rious engagements, with various fluctuations of fortune, 
 succeeded, until the arrival of the Dutch usurper, with 
 an overwhelming force, effectually terminated — at least 
 in James's estimation f — the unequal contest. After 
 the defeat at the Boyne, James retreated with the rem- 
 nant of his army to Loughlinstown, in the County Dublin, 
 where, according to history, they remained encamped for 
 five successive days. Disguised successfully, and attended 
 by a trusty body guard, the monarch, while his army re- 
 mained bivouacking, made the best of his way to Puck's 
 Castle, then the seat of his faithful adherent, Thomas 
 Lawless. 
 
 This edifice stood, and still stands X (but of course con- 
 siderably ruined), in the vicinity of Shanganagh and 
 Loughlinstown, and within about three-quarters of a mile 
 from Shankhill, where Thomas Lawless's family were, for 
 two or three generations, subsequently seated. The owner 
 
 * Mr. O'Callaghan, a gentleman who has toiled long and arduously to dis- 
 cover the real facts respecting the Williannte campaign, avers, that the so 
 often vaunted " Resistance of Deny' 1 was, in a military point of view, rather 
 an affair of position and artillery, than of men and courage. 
 
 f Tyrconnell and his forces continued to offer a vigorous resistance till 
 October, 1691, when they honourably capitidated on their last bit of terra 
 fimna — the city of Limerick. The violation of the Treaty, by Act of Parlia- 
 ment, is only of a piece with the entire history of British misrule in Ireland 
 since the master trick of 1170. 
 
 % The very peculiar state of Irish society in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and 
 sixteeth centuries rendered such strong frontier residences as Puck's Castle 
 necessary. It was customary, at these periods, for hordes of men, under the 
 O'Tooles, to leave their territories and march on the palesmen of Loughlins- 
 town, Shanganagh, Shankhill, and Bray, very much, it may be supposed to 
 their annoyance and discomfiture. These harassing incursions appear to 
 have been kept up until James the First ascended the throne. A flight of 
 stone steps leading to the roof Puck's Castle, is still in excellent preservation. 
 A fine view of land and sea is commanded from the summit. 
 
 Robert Cowley, writing to Lord Cromwell, in 1537. -peaks of the O'Tooles 
 as a sept " who most noveth about Dublin."' 
 
 B 2 
 
10 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 of Puck's Castle was a younger brother of Walter Law- 
 less, of Talbot Inclie, who, through his attachment to 
 James, lost, as has been already seen, divers valuable ma- 
 nors in Tipperary, Waterford, and Kilkenny. According 
 to the family account of the matter, which has been com- 
 municated to us by the only surviving daughter of John 
 Lawless of Shankhill, King James was received at Puck's 
 Castle with such thorough Irish hospitality, that in gra- 
 titude for the kindness and protection shown him he gra- 
 ciously volunteered to stand godfather for Mrs. Lawless's 
 then expected child. Being obliged, however, to leave 
 the castle before the birth of the little stranger, James 
 deputed his natural son, the Duke of Berwick (honourable 
 mention of whose name so frequently occurs in the 
 Jacobite chronicles), to stand as proxy on the occasion. 
 This his Grace did, and the long expected child having 
 turned out to be a son, was accordingly christened James 
 in compliment to the sovereign. 
 
 The version we have given of this interesting story is 
 that current amongst the old members of the Lawless 
 family. Of the veracity of its salient points there cannot 
 exist a doubt. 
 
 She who presented her lord with this interesting young 
 scion (who, as " King James the Second's Godson," has 
 long been remembered with pride in the family), was the 
 daughter of James Butler, of Kilkenny, a respectable 
 country gentleman, who held considerable landed pro- 
 perty in that county. That he was related to the out- 
 lawed Barons Dunboyne (whose patronymic is Butler) 
 there can be, we believe, little doubt. The maiden name 
 of Mrs. Lawless, of Puck's Castle, appears to have been 
 Elizabeth. Her husband, Thomas Lawless, died in 1704. 
 
 James Lawless was their only son. He inherited the 
 entire of his father's property, and with a portion thereof 
 erected a castellated mansion on Shankhill, near Shan- 
 ganagh, of which the shell is still standing, and likely to 
 continue so.* Having arrived at the age of manhood, he 
 
 * On the death of old John Lawless, in 1790, Mrs. Lawless and her 
 family left Shankhill and removed to Duhlin. Since then it has not been 
 inhabited by any member of the Lawless family. Up to the year 1851, 
 
CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 11 
 
 led to the hymeneal altar Frances, daughter of John 
 Usher, of Crumlin, Esq., and had issue by her, two sons, 
 Peter and John. After this marriage dates the period at 
 which the Lawlesses adopted the rural church-yard of 
 Crumlin as their family burial-place. 
 
 Having heard that some of their tombstones were still 
 to be seen at Crumlin, we lately repaired thither ; but, 
 after a tedious search, were only enabled to discover two. 
 One, completely overgrown with moss, bears the fol- 
 lowing inscription: — "I.H.S. This stone and burial- 
 place belongeth to Mr. Edward Lawless, of Crumlin, and 
 his posterity. Here lyeth the bodies of two of his 
 brothers and three of his sisters — 1760." The second 
 tombstone, of more modern aspect, and several yards 
 distant from that just spoken of, informs " Old Mortality" 
 that it is "The family burial-place of John Lawless, of 
 Shankhill, whose remains are here interred. He departed 
 this life the 10th day of January, 1790, aged sixty-five 
 years." The old sexton informed us that some members 
 of the Cloncurrv branch remained interred here likewise, 
 but were, in 1799, by a special order from the Consistorial 
 
 Court, removed to Lyons. 
 
 ****** 
 
 It comes neither within the limits nor objects of this 
 work to give a biographical account of each member of 
 the rather extensive family of the Lawlesses.* For this 
 reason we will not enter into any particulars concerning 
 how the scion of an old and respectable family found 
 himself a poor, forlorn, moneyless mountaineer, nobly 
 endeavouring to battle against his unpropitious fortune 
 by the pursuit of an honest, though not very aristocratic 
 calling. His story carries an excellent moral with it, 
 and should be studied by those who hope, through 
 integrity of purpose, to become happy and prosperous 
 men. We earnestly request the reader's attention to a 
 
 Shankhill Castle appears to have heen a board and lodging house. Shank- 
 hill is also known by the name of Rathmichael, and extends over 2,808 
 acres. 
 
 * Philip Lawless, of Warrenmount, alone, had twenty-one children, of 
 whom only two survive, viz. : Barry Edward Lawless, Esq., solicitor, and 
 Jane, his sister. 
 
12 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 history that will not only instruct, but interest to in- 
 tensity. 
 
 The history of the boy Robert Lawless, and of his son 
 and heir, is perhaps one of the most romantic and extraor- 
 dinary that ever appeared in any work other than fiction. 
 In publishing it to the world, we consider ourselves per- 
 forming a good and an useful act. The life of Robert Law- 
 less will show what can be accomplished through untiring 
 industry, strict honesty, frugality, and moral rectitude. 
 
 The father of Robert Lawless, Pedre ac nuck, or " Peter 
 of the Hills" — a name by which he was, early in the last 
 century, known — left him an orphan at an early age. 
 From Pedre ac nuck it does not appear that Robert inhe- 
 rited so much as the value of one solitary farthing, either 
 in chattels or cash. Friendless and moneyless, he had to 
 shift for himself; and manfully he did so, as the sequel 
 will show. 
 
 Some vain and inflated intellects may perhaps consider 
 that, in making public the history of Robert Lawless, 
 Ave are lowering the prestige of the noble subject of 
 this memoir. What stuck-up foppery ! what miserable 
 folly ! In our mind, the fairest chapter in Lord Clon- 
 curry's genealogy is the life of Robert Lawless, the poor 
 mountaineer. From the exertions of this honest man 
 originated that fortune which placed a coronet on his 
 less noble though more aristocratic son, in 1789. The 
 worth of Robert Lawless skipped a generation, and de- 
 scended to Valentine, whose life we shall chronicle. 
 
 We can safely aver that the history of Robert's early 
 life is now only known to very few parties. Our infor- 
 mation is derived from the descendants of the family of 
 Valentine Browne (whose daughter, Nicholas first Lord 
 Cloncurry married), and is confirmed by the Lawlesses 
 formerly seated at Shankhill Castle, County Dublin. 
 John Lawless, of Shankhill, was not (as Sharpe's and De 
 Brett's Peerages erroneously allege) the father of Robert, 
 the poor mountain boy. John's sons were: — William, 
 afterwards surgeon, and ultimately general in the service 
 of France ; Barry, of Cherry wood, near Bray, gentleman ; 
 and Philip, a respectable brewer in Warrenmount, Dub- 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 13 
 
 liii. All have long since been gathered to their fathers. 
 Each edition of De Brett, from the first to the twenty- 
 second, contains this singular and glaring inaccuracy. 
 
 " Peter of the Hills," although the only brother of 
 John, never possessed any residence that could properly 
 be called his home. In early life he boarded and lodged 
 entirely with his brother. To follow the remainder of 
 his history would be foreign to our subject. It lies before 
 us as we write, but, on reflection, we do not consider 
 it necessary to insert. 
 
 The following are amongst the most prominent facts 
 in the early history of Robert Lawless. To modify the 
 words of Beattie, it both 
 
 "Points a moral and adorns our tale." 
 
 One fine frosty morning, in the year of our Lord 1720, 
 a little boy from the mountains, accompanied by a small 
 ass-load of turf and firs, might be seen wending his 
 way through the Liberty of Dublin, where three or four 
 of his principal patrons resided. His best customer, 
 however, was a respectable woollen-draper in High- 
 street, who not only bought his turf, but occasionally a 
 hare or two, which the boy was in the habit of setting 
 snares for, or otherwise catching in the hills. All ac- 
 counts agree in stating that Lawless was an extremely 
 intelligent youth, of strict morality, honesty, and recti- 
 tude, and, what was looked upon at the time as a singular 
 fact (considering his very humble sphere in life, and the 
 few opportunities in those days of receiving instruction), 
 he knew how both to read and write. That his relatives 
 at Shankhill never had the slightest intercourse with him 
 is certain. He was thrown completely on his own re- 
 sources, and he quailed not (to his praise be it spoken) 
 beneath the burden of an unpropitious fate. If any man 
 deserved to see his son made a noble, surely it was 
 honest, upright Robin Lawless ! 
 
 The good woollen-draper, who had a personal know- 
 ledge of Robin for a considerable time, at length took 
 a most immoderate fancy to him, and proposed that he 
 should enter his service as a shop-boy, sleep at night 
 
14 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 under the counter, open shop in the morning, and run of 
 errands during the day. That Robert Lawless was but 
 too happy to agree to the good woollen-draper's proposal 
 it is unnecessary to say. He thanked him heartily for 
 his benevolence, let both ass and turf go to the deuce, 
 and, rubbing his frost-bitten fingers until they 'glowed 
 congenially with the flush of satisfaction on his counte- 
 nance, plunged earnestly and at once into the work he 
 was engaged to execute. 
 
 The intelligence and ready parts of Lawless stood his 
 friend. He daily improved himself, and in a few years 
 rose to be foreman, and finally partner. On the death of 
 his principal, in 1731, he married the widow, who was 
 by many years the junior of her first husband. This 
 lady was the daughter of Dominick Hadsor, one of whose 
 ancestors had filled the office of Lord Mayor of Dublin. 
 She knew that Robert Lawless, though apparently of 
 humble birth, had good blood in his veins, and hesitated 
 not to accept his proposal as freely as Lawless did that 
 of her deceased husband. Up to the year 1784, one of 
 Hadsor's family (probably a son) may be found in the 
 " Commercial Directory." For instance, " George Hadsor, 
 lace-seller, Castle-street," appears in that for 1763. In 
 1784, however, the name of Hadsor vanishes in toto, 
 and during the seventy years which have since elapsed 
 has not once reappeared. 
 
 The alliance of Mary and Robert Lawless was, like 
 most other marriages, blessed with offspring. On the 
 30th October, 1733,* a little stranger made his bow upon 
 
 * Playfair's Irish Peerage, published during the lifetime of Nicholas Lord 
 Cloncuny, states the year of his lordship's birth to be 1785, and that of his 
 sister Mary, 1736. Each party is thereby made two years younger than they 
 were in reality. Such trifling perversions of truth, during the lifetime of 
 certain parties, are we suppose venial, when that peculiarly delicate subject, 
 age, is in question; but surely, when death has consigned them to the 
 winding-sheet, this absurdity ought to cease. In all the published editions 
 of De Brett, and other Peerages, the two years continue to be struck off their 
 respective ages. The only genealogical chart in which we find the births 
 correctly stated, is the remarkable old document already spokeu of, and which 
 we will be happy to show any individual curious in such matters. It was 
 drawn up in 1789, and has all the appearance of having been in the posses- 
 sion of Nicholas, first Lord Cloncurry. The writing (half text hand, and 
 half Roman) affords a fine specimen of caligraphy. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 15 
 
 the stage of life. This was Nicholas, first Lord Cloncurry. 
 In less than a year after (October loth, 1734), another 
 little stranger, but of the softer sex, appeared, and was 
 speedily baptized by the style or title of Mary Elizabeth. 
 This, reader, was the mother of Margaret, first Countess 
 of Clonmel. 
 
 In 1740, the LifFey was completely frozen over by an 
 intense frost, which continued for near three months. 
 We can imagine Mr. and Mrs. Lawless, and the children, 
 participating in the festivities that took place upon the ice, 
 and immediately after sharing the universal gloom which 
 famine and pestilence produced throughout the land. 
 
 Although almanacs and registries annually appeared 
 in Dublin from the commencement of the eighteenth 
 century, still no directory of any kind whatever was 
 published till 1761. This is the first wherein the names, 
 occupations, and addresses of the merchants and traders 
 of the metropolis are given, and on page 41 of the work 
 referred to, we find " Robert Lawless, Woollen-Draper, 
 High-street." 
 
 Robert Lawless spared no expense upon the education 
 of his children. A self-taught man himself, he well knew 
 the inestimable advantages which a sound education is 
 so much calculated to produce ; and after having given 
 Master Nicholas what instruction the times permitted at 
 home, placed him under the care of a distinguished divine 
 in the Catholic College of Rouen, in Normandy. The 
 ruthless penal laws were then in the zenith of their 
 strength, and the fact of a Catholic undergoing instruction 
 in Ireland was a circumstance quite sufficient to rouse 
 the choler of our rulers, and bring down on the head of 
 the instructor a persecution as merciless as undeserved. 
 
 Nicholas Lawless inherited the ready parts of his father, 
 and the progress made by him through the University 
 was creditable and rapid. In 1755, he completed his college 
 course, and with a good supply of French and general 
 lore in his head, returned a finished scholar to Ireland. 
 
 Nicholas had not seen his parents for a considerable 
 time, and with palpitating heart he repaired to the old 
 house in High-street. A cead mille afailthe greeted his ar- 
 
16 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 rival. He flung himself into the arms of his parents. He 
 was glad — very glad to see them, but his heart was in 
 Rouen. 
 
 Yes, his heart was in the old abbey church of Rouen ; 
 his inclinations were entwined around the Gothic town, 
 its picturesque timber-framed houses, its tesselated pave- 
 ments, its graceful river, and its umbrageous walks. He 
 yearned after the clear blue sky of France — absence from 
 those scenes only strengthened his affection for that 
 country ; he expressed a passionate desire to return, and 
 as he was an only son, and the idol, consequently, of his 
 parents, Robert Lawless unhesitatingly acceded to the not 
 very patriotic wish of the impulsive young Celt. 
 
 The splendid manor of Chateau Galleville, in Nor- 
 mandy, was just advertised to be sold. It stood in the 
 immediate vicinity of Rouen, and nothing could have 
 appeared better suited to the wants and wishes of Mr. 
 Nicholas Lawless. As a member of the proscribed 
 religion, Lawless was, of course, incapacitated from pur- 
 chasing an estate in Ireland, and the combination of 
 inclination with necessity, in this instance, was considered 
 by the family as a most fortuitous and happy circumstance. 
 The deeds of assignment having been perfected, Lawless 
 lost no time in establishing himself in the Castle of Gal- 
 leville. All went smooth at first — no one could be happier, 
 but after a time he found his pleasure doomed to become 
 mingled with alloy. The old gentry of Rouen, as some 
 accounts have it, regarded him in the light of an upstart 
 and an intruder. Chateau Galleville was long the resi- 
 dence of one of the first families in France ; but pecuniary 
 embarrassments having effectually immeshed them, dis- 
 possession resulted, and thus it was that the chateau 
 became advertised to be sold. It would appear, however, 
 that the quondam occupant had sufficient influence 
 remaining, despite his pecuniary difficulties, to prejudice 
 Mr. Lawless's neighbours against him, and render his 
 position as irksome as possible. One of Lord Cloncurry's 
 
 oldest friends, the late Sir S B , was frequently 
 
 in the habit of observing, that perhaps the greatest 
 annoyances to which the Normans subjected Lawless 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. V) 
 
 while at Galleville, was the continual execution, almost 
 under the very windows of his drawing-room, of all the 
 capitally convicted criminals of the district. An array 
 of gibbets cannot be said to form a very agreeable or 
 interesting prospect, and no wonder is it that Mr. Lawless 
 should soon have become heartily sick of this abomi- 
 nable persecution. He abandoned the chateau for a 
 time, but did not give it up in toto yet. Weeks — 
 months elapsed, and he returned, but only to find himself 
 
 burned in effigy. Sir S B always told the 
 
 above anecdote with the utmost seriousness, and pro- 
 nounced it to be the account generally circulated and 
 believed at the time of Lawless's return to Ireland. 
 
 While the accompanying pages were passing through 
 the press, we incidentally learned some curious data, 
 
 calculated to throw considerable light on Sir S 's 
 
 extraordinary story respecting the executions at Chateau 
 Galleville. The late General Sir George Cockburn, 
 K.C.B., drew up, some years before his death, an un- 
 varnished but interesting history of the various members 
 of the Cloncurry family. From that document (which 
 never fell, nor ever will fall, into the clutches of a prin- 
 ters devil) it appears that Nicholas Lawless, when pur- 
 chasing Galleville from the lord of the manor, neglected 
 a very important matter, namely, the purchase of the 
 seigneurial rights connected with it. There are many 
 readers who will require to be reminded of the peculiar 
 nature of " seigneurial rights." In principle they may 
 be said to have been identical with the old Scotch local 
 jurisdiction, which it was agreed, at the period of the 
 Scottish Union, should be preserved unaltered and intact 
 by virtue of a compact expressly entered into. Years 
 elapsed — many denounced its continuance — many advo- 
 cated it ; and the stormy debates during the agitation of 
 the question attest what a diversity of opinion existed on 
 the subject. The dissentients finally triumphed. 
 
 Attached to every French and Scottish manor were, 
 in the olden time, certain seigneurial prerogatives which 
 none but the lord of the seigniory could exercise. Should 
 the manor be disposed of for 90,000 francs, its seigneurial 
 
18 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 rights usually fetched about quarter that sum. To pur- 
 chase one without the other was considered a most un- 
 satisfactory and unbusiness-like bargain, and means were 
 generally adopted to annoy the man who bought the 
 manor minus its rights. Nicholas Lawless purchased 
 Chateau Galleville, but declined acceding to the seig- 
 neur's terms for his jurisdiction, and hence the annoyances 
 of which he complained. During the period of Lawless's 
 
 tenancy, Monsieur B constantly exercised, to his 
 
 no small discomfiture, those rights and prerogatives 
 inherent to a Gallic seigniory. He stopped at nothing cal- 
 culated to annoy him, even to the gibbeting of the county 
 criminals under the very windows of his drawing-room. 
 
 Even in Ireland, if we mistake not, the family of Lord 
 Talbot de Malahide possessed (if they chose to exercise 
 it) the seigneurial right of trying and executing for high 
 treason within the compass of their own estate. 
 
 Extraordinary as may appear the causes we have men- 
 tioned, in ultimately inducing Mr. Lawless to turn his 
 back on France for evermore, we consider the story 
 much more plausible than the family account of the 
 matter, which Lord Cloncurry, by publishing it in his 
 " Recollections," would seem to have believed implicitly. 
 As the event happened six years before his birth, he, of 
 course, could not be supposed to have any personal 
 knowledge of it, and he, doubtlessly, communicated to 
 the public that version which his father had commu- 
 nicated to himself half a century before. From the 
 work referred to, it would appear that his father sold 
 Galleville, and changed his religion, on account of having, 
 as he thought, detected the Church making invidious 
 distinctions in the distribution of her honours among the 
 faithful. One day, at Mass, in Rouen, the cure of the 
 cathedral gave the honours of the censer to a neighbour- 
 ing seigneur, before bestowing them on Lawless, and as 
 that gentleman considered that the seigneur had no right 
 to be incensed before himself, he flung up the French estate 
 in disgust, and returned a true blue Protestant to Ireland. 
 To use an abominable pun, he was incensed at what he 
 conceived to be a studied slight, and resolved then and 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 19 
 
 there to resent it. " He returned to Ireland," observes 
 his lordship, " conformed to Protestantism, and thereby 
 became qualified to hold a territorial stake in the 
 country." 
 
 In arriving at this stage of the proceedings, however, 
 we have been rather premature. The doings of several 
 years remain to be outlined, ere we continue our account 
 of his adieu to France, and to the faith in which he had 
 been born and reared. 
 
 In 1761, during one of Mr. Nicholas Lawless's visits to 
 Ireland, it was his good fortune to meet in society Miss 
 Margaret Browne, the only child of, perhaps, the richest 
 mercantile man in all Dublin, Mr. Valentine Browne, 
 of Mount Browne. Whether Nicholas Lawless became 
 enamoured of her person or her purse, tradition does not 
 state. Certain it is, he fell over head and ears in love 
 with her, and after a short acquaintance, contrived to 
 avail himself of a propitious opportunity to make a warm 
 declaration of love, and an offer of his hand and heart. 
 The young lady at first rejected his advances, but Lawless 
 was not a man to be daunted by ordinary obstacles, and 
 he followed up the original attack with address, deter- 
 mination, and spirit. In the prime of life, and possessed 
 of an attractive person, with manners glittering with 
 continental polish, and a tongue teeming with native 
 " blarney," but so far refined by intercourse with French 
 society, as to lose all vulgar coarseness, and gush forth 
 pure and crystalline — it may well be supposed that Mr. 
 Lawless was altogether a rather dangerous gentleman for 
 any young and inexperienced girl to test her strength 
 against. The result need scarcely be told. Margaret 
 Browne had never taken any vows of celibacy. She was 
 a woman, and like the generality of her kind, a little 
 susceptible to adulation and flattery. It was not in her 
 nature to resist such gallant overtures ; Mr. Lawless skil- 
 fully improved on the impression, and after a short con- 
 flict, found himself standing in the dignified position of 
 victor. % 
 
 Miss Margaret Browne was very naughty. This all 
 went on unknown to her papa. He remained in tranquil 
 
20 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 ignorance of the whole transaction, and never before felt 
 so happy, or fonder of his child. With a father's pride 
 he gazed upon her form ; and, as the old man's eyes looked 
 dimly into the future, he saw, or fancied he saw, coro- 
 netted suitors prostrate before his child. He saw her 
 strolling through bright Utopian palaces — the rugged 
 paths of life receded from his vision. He was a happy 
 man, was Valentine Browne ! 
 
 Margaret knew that it would be perfect folly to ask her 
 papa's consent ; he would never agree to it. Ally his 
 daughter to a woollen- draper !— - a dukedom would be 
 scarcely an equivalent for her fortune. Margaret was 
 knowing ; she determined to marry Lawless first, and ask 
 leave afterwards. 
 
 So she did. On All-Hallow's Eve, as some accounts 
 have it, in the year of our Lord 1761, Dublin was thrown 
 into a state of unparalleled excitement by ascertaining 
 for certain that " Robin Lawless's son" had actuallv had 
 the audacity to carry off from her father's house the cele- 
 brated Catholic heiress, Miss Margaret Browne. It could 
 hardly be credited. To think of Mr. Nicholas Lawless's 
 presumption excited the indignation of old and young. 
 His namesake could hardly have attempted anything 
 more daring. Not since the unprincipled bakers were 
 drawn on hurdles through the city, by order of Provost 
 Lawless, was the quiet region of Mount Browne and 
 James's-street thrown into a state of greater excitement. 
 What between expressions of commiseration for Mr. 
 Browne* on the one side, and groans of indignation for 
 
 * Mr. Valentine Browne was an opulent brewer. He resided in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Kilmainham. His brewery stood adjacent to that thoroughfare 
 well known by the title of Mount Browne. 
 
 During the last century, it was usual " to christen" streets after the most 
 respectable citizen or merchant who resided in it. In 1733, William Usher, 
 of Usher's Island, was Sheriff of Dublin. Byrne's-hill, in the Liberty, derives 
 its name from Edmund Byrne, an eminent brewer, whose house is still 
 standing at the extreme end. The derivation of Buck Jones's Road may be 
 similarly accounted for. 
 
 Play fair's Family Antiquity, vol. v., pronounces Valentine Browne to have 
 been a descendant of Lord Kenmare's family. If so, Sir Valentine Browne, 
 who was Auditor-General of Ireland in the reigns of Edward the Sixth and 
 Queen Mary, must have been an ancestor of his. 
 
CLONCURRT AND HIS TIMES. 21 
 
 the abductor (for as such lie was considered) on the other, 
 his house that night presented a singular scene. Mr. 
 Browne was oppressed with grief. We need scarcely say 
 that he peeled no apples or cracked no nuts that night. 
 It was the gloomiest All- Hallow's Eve he had ever 
 passed. 
 
 Mr. Thomas Callan, formerly of Prussia-street, brewer, 
 and afterwards of Osbertstown, County Kildare, gentle- 
 man, stood in the relationship of cousin-germain to Miss 
 Margaret Browne. He was an opulent merchant, like 
 his kinsman of Mount Browne, and entertained, in com- 
 mon with that gentleman, quite as lofty notions as to 
 whom the fair young heiress ought to connect herself 
 with for life. We have been informed by Mr. Callan's 
 daughter, that the indignation of her father at the intel- 
 ligence knew no bounds. How little he thought, and 
 how little did Valentine Browne think, that the woollen- 
 draper's son would one day become not only a baronet, 
 but a peer of the realm. Such is life ! 
 
 But let us hurry over this. Browne, though somewhat 
 vain, and occasionally impulsive, possessed much of the 
 philosopher, and more of the politician. He saw no use 
 in keeping up a coolness towards his child, and, after a 
 time, forgave both herself and her gallant caro sposo. 
 
 Enlivened by the charming society of a young and 
 blooming wife, Nicholas Lawless returned to Normandy, 
 fully determined, for the time to come, not to notice any 
 of those slights or insults to which his Gallic an neigh- 
 hours were in the habit of subjecting him. This ab- 
 sentee movement on the part of Lawless can hardly be 
 said to have arisen from any unpatriotic tendency. Most 
 gladly would he have purchased an Irish estate, and 
 thereon remained for the rest of his days ; but as Catholic 
 Ireland lay, at that time, prostrate beneath the burden 
 of the penal code and the hoof of English tyranny, there 
 was no course open to him but to seek in France, or 
 some other clime, those privileges of landed jiroperty, of 
 which a despotic law debarred him at home. 
 
 Of all the various members of the family, none appear 
 to have watched the approach of maternity in Mrs. Law- 
 
22 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 less with a greater degree of anxiety than her worthy 
 father, Valentine Brown. With dismay, however, he 
 perceived that one, two, three, four, and five years elapsed, 
 and still no sign of what both himself and his son-in-law 
 daily offered up their prayers for. A jubilee, at length, 
 was celebrated — a child was born. Mary Catharine Law- 
 less, afterwards the wife of " Jerusalem Whalley," opened 
 her eyes to the world. This auspicious event took place 
 in the month of August, 1766. The ice having been 
 thus broken, numbers of little brothers and sisters followed 
 in rapid succession. On the 12th September, of the 
 ensuing vear, Valentina Alicia Lawless made her appear- 
 ance. This was the Honourable Lady Burton of after 
 years. On the 21st January, 1769, Charlotte Louisa, 
 the subsequent wife of Edward Lord Dunsany, appeared. 
 In 1771, Master Robert Lawless, the son and heir, was 
 born; and on the 19th August, 1773, Valentine Brown 
 Lawless, second Lord Cloncurry. Only the two elder 
 sisters, however, were born in France. In 1767, Robert 
 Lawless, of High-street, Dublin, expressed his desire and 
 intention of retiring forthwith from business. The old 
 gentleman was particularly anxious that his son should not 
 let so old and so respectable an establishment merge 
 into the management of strangers. Nicholas took the idea 
 up warmly, and having disposed of Chauteau Galleville 
 to advantage, returned with Mrs, Lawless and her two 
 little ones, to Ireland. 
 
 Our full conviction is, that Nicholas Lawless was glad 
 of any excuse to bid an eternal adieu to France. The 
 slights and annoyances which have already been adverted 
 to did not mitigate in earnestness as time progressed. 
 
 Their departure took place in 1767, soon after the birth 
 of little Valentina, and immediately after the death, at 
 Chateau Galleville, of Mrs. Patrick Lawless,^ the wife of 
 a gentleman, who, in Thomas-street, Dublin, had been 
 
 * Mary Lawless was allied in marriage to Pat. Lawless immediately after 
 
 attaining her sixteenth year. The nuptials took place on the 30th September, 
 
 1752, while her brother Nicholas was at school in Normandy. Their only 
 
 daughter, Margaret, inherited an enormous fortune. It proved a valuable 
 
 • windfall to John Scott, afterwards Lord Clonmel. Mrs. Lawless, however, 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 23 
 
 for many years carrying on a bank, under the firm of 
 Coates and Lawless. Her demise occurred at the early 
 age of thirty-three, on the loth October, 1767. It caused 
 a great shock to the family, and produced some tempo- 
 rary confusion amongst their affairs. Mrs. Lawless's death 
 was remarkable as occurring on her own birth-day, and 
 on the anniversary of her brother's marriage with Margaret 
 Brown — these three events having all, singular to say, 
 taken place on the loth October.* People in those days 
 were much more disposed to superstition than at present. 
 The idea of such a tragic event happening at the very 
 moment that the anniversaries of Lawless's marriage, and 
 that of his sister's birth, were about to be celebrated with 
 suitable festivity and rejoicings, filled both master and 
 mistress with an amount of mysterious horror that is as 
 difficult to describe as it was on their part to overcome. 
 They regarded it in a sort of ominous light, and resolved 
 to remain no longer in France, hopelessly contending 
 with ill-luck, and the prejudices of an uncongenial people. 
 Old Robin Lawless, after having made the necessary 
 arrangements, retired from the bustling mercantile 
 region of High-street, to what, in these days, was consi- 
 dered a place of solemn dignity and grandeur — Chancery- 
 lane !f Here he passed the remainder of his days in 
 
 had two other children who died young. According to the peerages, her issue 
 consisted only of Margaret; but the family document, to which we have already 
 more than once made reference, distinctly mentions the original number to 
 have been three. 
 
 * The old MS. genealogical chart, whose details we believe to be much 
 more worthy of credence than De Brett, distinctly says, that the marriage 
 of Nicholas Lawless with Margaret Browne took place on the 13th October, 
 1761. De Brett, in every edition of his Peerage, alleges the nuptials to 
 have been celebrated on the 31st October, 1761. There is nothing more 
 usual in printing than an occasional typographical transposition, and we are 
 inclined to think that in this instance the " 31" should be " 13." 
 
 Since the above note was written we observe that Mr. Playfair, in his 
 " Family Antiquity," speaks of the marriage as having taken place on the 
 13th October. 
 
 f A more squalid, dilapidated thoroughfare than Chancery-lane is at pre- 
 sent it would be difficult to discover. How it ever coidd have been a fashion- 
 able dwelling-place appears strange, since its breadth, in some parts, is so very 
 narrow, that opposite neighbours might, if desired, give each other a cordial 
 shake hands from the windows of their respective drawing-rooms. 
 
24 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 comparative retirement. On the 16th March, 1779,* his 
 honourable career was, at length, brought to a close by a 
 general disruption of the constitution, which a kick, re- 
 ceived a short time previously from a favourite horse, in 
 no small degree accelerated. Robin lived to see his son a 
 baronet, but not a peer. Pity that those honest old eyes 
 were unable to feast upon that golden coronet which, 
 in 1789, surmounted the escutcheon of his son. 
 
 But we anticipate. Nicholas lost no time in occupying 
 the position and premises vacated by his father, and by dint 
 of adhering to the old gentleman's advice and hints, had 
 little difficulty in setting the machinery of the place once 
 more in motion. He had objections, however, that the 
 High-street establishment should re-open in his own name, 
 and accordingly entered into partnership with a Mr. John 
 Lawless, a man possessed of much shrewdness, tact, and 
 practical experience, and related, moreover, to himself. 
 In this individual 1 s name the woollen-drapery business 
 was carried on till 1796, as may be ascertained by refer- 
 ence to the old directories. 
 
 Everybody knew, however, that Nicholas Lawless was 
 the principal proprietor of the establishment, although 
 his private residence was in Merrion-square ; indeed, 
 he made no attempt to disguise it himself, for long after 
 Lord Harcourt created him a baronet, he personally 
 attended the fairs and markets in the counties of Wick- 
 low, Wexford, and Kildare, in the prosecution of his 
 mercantile speculations. It was no unusual sight to see 
 him with his three-cocked hat and courtly attire, standing 
 in the middle of a knot of country clowns, while he 
 endeavoured to conclude a hard-fought bargain with the 
 principal, for the purchase of half-a-dozen load of wool 
 packs.t 
 
 * " The said Robert Lawless having, for upwards of thirty years, carried on 
 the woollen-drapery business in the city of Dublin, on a very extensive scale, 
 acquired thereby a considerable fortune, with the fairest character ; and on 
 the 16th March, 1779, died at his house in Chancery-lane." — Old Genealo- 
 gical MS. of the Cloncuwy Family. 
 
 f The late Lord Cloncurry never made any disguise about his father having 
 been engaged in commerce. In the second chapter of his Personal Recol- 
 lections, he mentions, that Nicholas, the first Lord, " entered to a large 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 25 
 
 It may, perhaps, be interesting here to insert some 
 data respecting the members of Lord Cloncurry's family 
 who engaged in commerce in Dublin. We are indebted 
 for it to Wilson's Directories. 
 
 The first Directory, as already mentioned, which 
 ever appeared in Dublin, was that for the year 1761. 
 Therein we find " Robert Lawless, woollen-draper, 
 High-street," and his name and commercial occupation 
 may be found in the succeeding Directories till 1767, 
 when Nicholas Lawless returned to Ireland. From the 
 year 1767 to that of 1787, " John Lawless, woollen- 
 draper, No. 2, High-street," appears. In 1788, the 
 address is No. 2, High-street, and 23, Dame-street. From 
 1783, an asterisk (*) prefixed to the name distinguishes 
 Lawless as a wholesale merchant. 
 
 In 1789 (when Nicholas Lawless became an Irish 
 peer) " John Lawless, woollen-draper, 23, Dame-street," 
 only appears. In 1790, " John Lawless, woollen-draper 
 and carpet manufacturer," is the designation. In 1791, 
 the Lawlesses once more return to the old locality. 
 From that year till 1796, the address is "23, Dame- 
 street, and 3. High-street." But in 1796 and 1797, John's 
 name disappears in toto, and " Mary Anne Lawless, 
 woollen-draper and carpet manufacturer, 10, Dame-street," 
 is found in its stead. The commercial career of this 
 lady appears to have been a short one. Throughout the 
 following vear her name may be searched for in vain. 
 The Dublin Directory underwent, during 1798, a sad 
 thinning. Amongst others, the family of Lawless bade 
 an eternal adieu to its pages, though not, we must add, 
 from the same causes that led to the withdrawal of 
 Oliver Bond, Napper Tandy, Addis Emmett, and Dr. 
 M'Nevin. No woollen-draper of the name of Lawless is 
 
 extent, and with considerable success, into the banking and woollen trades." 
 The Right Hon. John Wilson Croker, in the Quarterly Review, gave his 
 lordship a rather rough handling on the publication of these Recollections. 
 With their general tone and spirit he entertained little sympathy. For the 
 purpose of raising a laugh at the expense of his Lordship, he analysed several 
 of his sentences, and amongst the number the one above quoted. " For 
 banking and woollen trades." observed Croker, " read blankttiug.''' 
 
 C 
 
26 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 discoverable in the Directory for several succeeding years. 
 It may then be inferred that Lord Cloncurry's family 
 entirely relinquished business in 1798. 
 
 The reader must not jump at the conclusion that the 
 present house, No. 2, High-street, is that whilom inha- 
 bited bv Robert Lawless. The numbers have undergone 
 some alteration since that period. About thirty years 
 ago, three old houses stood between Christ Church and 
 Michael's Church, at the top of Winetavern-street, form- 
 ing thereby a continuation of High-street. The central 
 one was the woollen-drapery establishment of the Lawless 
 family. About the year 1820, the three old houses were 
 taken down. Their venerable neighbour, Christ Church, 
 underwent some pseudo-improvements at the same 
 period. 
 
 It now behoves us, at a respectful distance, to follow 
 Nicholas Lawless through the uphill pathway of his most 
 eventful history. On his return from France in 1767, 
 he applied himself with much industry to business, and 
 not only took an active part in the management of the 
 High-street concern, but entered into partnership with 
 a Quaker banker of respectability, well known in his day 
 by the name of John Dawson Coates. With this gentle- 
 man, Patrick Lawless* had been for many years pre- 
 viously connected. 
 
 * Pat. Lawless lived in a large house on the Coombe, in Dublin, not far 
 from Mr. Byrne's, of Byrne's Hill. Although he never read his recanta- 
 tion, but on the contrary, to the day of his death, called and considered 
 himself a Roman Catholic, he was only nominally a member of that 
 persuasion. This observation will be illustrated by two facts. His children 
 (for he had three, although only one attained maturity) he got christened by 
 the Protestant Rector of St. Catherine's ; this Avas Margaret who became the 
 wife, in after years, of Lord Clonmel. The second proof of his lukewarmness 
 towards the Catholic faith was the indifference he manifested throughout his 
 life to frequenting its sacraments. For some weeks previous to his death, in 
 1784, he laboured under serious indisposition, and the anxiety of his Catholic 
 relatives for his salvation increased day by day. The Rev. Mr. Dunne, the 
 Parish Priest of St. Catherine's, Meath-street, entertained certain apprehen- 
 sions, in common Avith them, concerning his fate, and as he knew Lawless 
 intimately, did not hesitate to call personally upon him, and endeavour, by 
 means of exhortation and argument, to arouse him to some sense of the danger 
 of his position. Father Dunne had not much success on the first visit, or 
 even on the second, but odd numbers, they say, are remarkable for luck, and 
 
CLOXCUERY AND HIS TIMES. 27 
 
 The bank of Coates and Lawless (of which the walls 
 are still standing) was situated between Nos. 35 and 37, 
 Thomas-street, Dublin, and is the identical house now 
 occupied by Mr. Arthur O'Connor, a soap and candle 
 manufacturer. From his connexion with the banking 
 company, as also with the woollen-drapery establishment 
 in High-street, Nicholas Lawless realized a considerable 
 fortune. In 1778, his connexion with the former com- 
 pletely terminated, and from that year till 1793, we find 
 the business carried on under the solitary name of John 
 Dawson Coates. Since then it has become the alternate 
 residence of chandlers and haberdashers. 
 
 We have heard from some hoary -headed octagenarians, 
 that " Friend Coates's bank" (as they knew to their cost) 
 never completely discharged the entire of its agreements. 
 It does not appear to have become notoriously bankrupt, 
 but certainly, for a considerable period after the cessation 
 of its business, in 1793, the proprietors were busy paying 
 off both large and small sums to their multifarious credi- 
 tors. 
 
 The strangest proceeding in the life of Nicholas Lawless 
 remains yet to be told. It is a delicate matter to handle, 
 and many folk would probably be inclined to let it repose 
 unmolested ; but having promised in the first instance to 
 " deliver a round unvarnished tale, 1 ' and neither extenuate 
 nor asperse, nothing shall induce us to gloss it over. 
 Too many historians wreck their reputations by falling 
 into this fatal, but most common error. 
 
 it appears that the third was in some degree successfid. He promised Father 
 Dunne that he would on the next morning make his confession, and as soon 
 as permitted approach the Communion. The zealous pastor returned home 
 overjoyed. At an early hour next morning, he set out for the Coombe — 
 reached Lawless's house, entered it, and found him dead ! 
 
 Pat. Lawless was a strange, incongruous character in all matters relative 
 to religion. He revolted at the idea of following his kinsman's example, by 
 becoming a Protestant ; but deliberately placed himself beyond the pale of 
 the Catholic Church by the non-observance of its sacraments and customs! 
 Such characters are not uncommon. 
 
 Of Pat. Lawless's branch was Robert Lawless, of London, concerning 
 whom some particulars, extracted from the Annual Register for 1806, may 
 be found in the Appendix. 
 
28 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 One morning, very soon after his arrival from France, 
 Nicholas Lawless, to the no small astonishment of his 
 friends, and the infinite horror of his Catholic relatives, 
 announced himself a convert to the Church of England. 
 Almost simultaneously with this proceeding, he pur- 
 chased, for what was considered a nominal sum, the 
 valuable estate of Rathcormac, in the County Cork, then 
 in the possession of Roger O'Connor's family. It was 
 designated in the rental as " the borough of Rathcormac," 
 and proved a highly remunerative investment for Mr. 
 Nicholas Lawless. In connexion with this period of 
 Lawless's history a curious and interesting anecdote is 
 related, which, as it does not happen to be generally 
 known, we can have, of course, no hesitation in inserting. 
 
 It is, we believe, a fact, that some Roman Catho- 
 lics have read their recantation and become Protestants 
 from conviction ; but it is also indisputable, that num- 
 bers, for worldly objects, especially in the penal days, 
 became Protestants likewise. In the latter category, must 
 be placed Nicholas Lawless. We do not make this startling 
 assertion either flippantly or unadvisedly; it has been 
 the result of long and diligent inquiry on our part. In 
 renouncing the faith in wdiich he had been born and 
 reared, Mr. Lawless was not actuated by conviction, but, 
 on the contrary, from motives of cold, calculating policy. 
 Although no honourable man can revere his principles in 
 this instance, it is impossible to deny his worldly sagacity. 
 Had he remained a Roman Catholic, it is not very pro- 
 bable lie would ever have become Lord Baron Clon- 
 curry. 
 
 The precise position of Lawless's own feelings, shortly 
 after conforming to the Establishment, and purchasing 
 the very tempting borough of Rathcormac, in the County 
 Cork, will probably be best illustrated by the following 
 well-authenticated anecdote. It comes from Matthias 
 J. O'Kelly, Esq., a gentleman well known to, and de- 
 servedly respected by, the citizens of Dublin. We have 
 obtained full permission to mention his name in con- 
 nexion with it; and this fact will, no doubt, stamp — if 
 it needed any such proof — its authenticity. Nicholas 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 29 
 
 Lawless and the late Mr. O'Kelly were intimate friends, 
 and reposed much confidence each in the other. 
 
 Perhaps we ought to preface the anecdote by ob- 
 serving, that one of the principal articles of the Roman 
 Catholic belief is, that out of the pale of " Mother 
 Church," save in cases of invincible ignorance, there is 
 no salvation. 
 
 The father of our informant married Mary, daughter 
 of Mr. Thomas Flood, the proprietor of Galway'sWalk* — 
 a nice secluded plantation and pleasure-ground, which 
 at that time extended from Watling-street to StephenV- 
 lane. On Mr. Flood's death, his son-in-law, Mr. O'Kelly, 
 became the proprietor of this property ; and it was while 
 one day sauntering through its shaded pathways, that the 
 following singular colloquy between Nicholas Lawless and 
 Mr. O'Kelly took place : — 
 
 " Lawless," said he, " I have to congratulate you on 
 the remarkably nice estate which you have just con- 
 trived to become possessed of. Upon my honour, it is a 
 beautiful thing, and many a man will be disposed to 
 envy you." 
 
 " Aye, aye," replied the future nobleman — " no doubt, 
 no doubt. I grant you it is a dainty spot ; and you may 
 be very sure it took a pretty strong hold of my fancy, 
 when I absolutely ventured to risk body and soul for it/"] 
 
 This reply is so expressive, that any explanation on 
 our part would be almost unnecessary and uncalled-for : 
 but we may observe, en passant, that if a Roman Catholic 
 
 * The origin of the name of " Galway's Walk" appears to have been as 
 follows : — John Lord Galway, for many years previous to his death, laboured 
 under either much bodily infirmity, or much bodily laziness. Whichever it 
 was, it matters little now. Whenever he left home, it was generally in ;i 
 pal.ankeen borne on men's shoulders. For Mr. O'Kelly 's pleasure-grounds he 
 entertained a considerable penchant, and would not desire more agreeable 
 occupation than to pass three or four hours of the dav in traversing " Gal- 
 way's Walk." 
 
 f We trust it is unnecessary to observe, that this fearful sentiment, and 
 the very harsh language which expresses it, are not in the least exaggerated ; 
 and that, in recording the anecdote at all, we merely pursue that course 
 which a biographer must pursue, if he chooses to discharge his duty impar- 
 tially. There will be noble traits enough recorded, Heaven knows, before 
 this work reaches its termination, in connexion with the representative of 
 Nicholas Lawless. — W. J. F. 
 
30 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 in those days purchased an estate, he would run very im- 
 minent risk of losing it before the lapse of many weeks, by 
 the hateful " discovery" process, then of such lamentably 
 frequent occurrence. 
 
 The family of Lawless were outrageous at his apostacy, 
 — that of Valentine Browne equally so. Old Robin Law- 
 less, formerly of High-street, was still living, and he felt 
 the affliction — for as such it was regarded — acutely. 
 Whether Mrs. Lawless conformed with her husband we 
 have been unable decidedly to ascertain ; but when it is 
 recollected how thoroughly and completely they were 
 identified, both in thought and sentiment, the chances 
 are that she did. From the year 1768, Lawless's pros- 
 perity was of railway speed. In 1799 it reached its ter- 
 minus. Then it was that Nicholas Lawless departed to 
 the other world. 
 
 A simple but expressive anecdote will forcibly illus- 
 trate the burning sense of indignation which animated 
 every member of the Lawless family, as soon as their 
 kinsman flung off the Helot's chains. Mr. Luke Lawless, 
 of James's-street, brewer, was one of Robert Lawless's 
 wealthy relatives. We have been informed by Dr. 
 
 D , of Dublin, who for many years was on terms of 
 
 familiar intercourse with his (Luke Lawless's) family, 
 that he has heard them repeatedly declare, while chatting 
 over old family matters, that their father and mother, so 
 long as Nicholas Lawless remained a Catholic, constantly 
 boasted of the existing relationship ; but that, the 
 moment he apostatized, they indignantly — to use their 
 own phrase — " cut the connexion" for evermore, and 
 would never after acknowledge as relatives any members 
 of his branch. 
 
 Ratlicormac was purchased by Nicholas Lawless on most 
 advantageous terms — in short, " a dead bargain." After a 
 few years, an eligible opportunity appeared for disposing 
 of it on equally favourable terms to himself. Lieut.-Col. 
 William Tonson, of the 53rd Regiment of Foot, Go- 
 vernor of the Cork garrison, and previously Member 
 of Parliament for the borough of Tuarn, took a most 
 immoderate fancy to Ratlicormac, and offered Lawless a 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 31 
 
 sum for liis title thereto, which he appears to have had 
 very little hesitation in accepting. Colonel Tonson, 
 having become proprietor of the borough, had little diffi- 
 culty in getting himself elected its representative. In 
 1776, he was accordingly, at the general election, re- 
 turned therefor; and on the 13th October, 1783 (having 
 rendered the Crown important services throughout the 
 octennial existence of Parliament), we find him elevated 
 to the peerage by the title of Baron Riversdale of 
 Rathcormac. 
 
 With the proceeds of the sale, Mr. Lawless purchased 
 the valuable estate of Abington, in the County Limerick, 
 and the handsome villa and grounds of Maretimo, County 
 Dublin. This delightful residence, situated at the Black 
 Rock, is well known to our citizens. Both properties still 
 remain in the possession of the family. 
 
 Lawless, however, possessed much too active and am- 
 bitious a disposition to content himself with solely exer- 
 cising the rights, and performing the duties, of a landed 
 proprietor. With Margaret Browne's dowry at his back, 
 with coffers brimming over with the profits arising from 
 his banking and agrarian speculations, not to speak of the 
 balance in favour of the woollen-drapery establishment, it 
 may well be supposed that Lawless was not altogether 
 unqualified to contest an election, and to defray the heavy 
 expenditure usually attendant thereon. Accordingly, we 
 find him, at the general elections of May, 1776, trium- 
 phantly returned with the Hon. Abraham Creighton* for 
 " the independent borough" of Liftbrd, in Donegal, and in 
 the Parliament which met on the 11th of June, making his 
 first appearance as a senator. The idea of offering himself 
 a candidate appears to have been quite a sudden thought. 
 Upon reference to the file of the Freeman s Journal for 
 1776, the reader will find that numbers of addresses to 
 
 * This gentleman was a younger son of the Earl of Erne. He was born 
 in 1734, and filled for several years the office of Registrar of Forfeitures. 
 Sir Jonah Barrington honours (?) him with a niche in his " Black List" — an 
 enumeration of those who, in 1799 and 1800, voted against the Union, but 
 suddenly wheeled round at the eleventh hour, upon being offered money or 
 office. The Hon. Mr. Creighton (to use Sir Jonah's words) was " privately 
 purchased." 
 
32 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 the electors of each borough, town, and county, appear 
 for at least two months before there is any sign of Lawless 
 joining in the fight. Upon what chances and trifles do 
 the destinies of men hang, and the tide of fortune turn ! 
 Had he remained quietly superintending the improve- 
 ments at Abington, instead of plunging into the noisy, 
 dusty bustle of an Irish election, it is very certain that 
 neither himself nor his descendants would ever rejoice in 
 being addressed as " My Lord." 
 
 Whatever course Mr. Lawless pursued to ingratiate 
 himself at once into governmental favour we know not. 
 If any understanding really did take place, a veil of 
 mystery obscures it from the glance of the biographer. 
 Lawless's ambition was effectually awakened. Golden 
 dreams enraptured him. How true it is that " coming 
 events cast their shadows before !" These he observed 
 advancing, and he bowed down and worshipped them. 
 He heard everybody talking of the approaching crea- 
 tions, and he took care it should not be his fault to omit 
 making every needful preparation for the winning and 
 wearing of title and honours. 
 
 If Lawless's object were really to find favour — which 
 is probable — in governmental sight, he succeeded in 
 securing it with a vengeance. Not ten days elapsed from 
 the date of his return until it was decided by both 
 British and Irish Cabinets that Nicholas Lawless should 
 be created a baronet. In the London Gazette of July 3, 
 1776, we find the following official announcement of the 
 creation : — 
 
 "St. James's, July 2. 
 
 " The King has been pleased to order letters patent to be passed under the 
 gre3t seal of the kingdom of Ireland, containing his Majesty's grant of the 
 dignity of a Baronet of the said kingdom, unto Nicholas Lawless, Esq., of 
 Abingdon in the County Limerick." 
 
 How the eyes of Mrs. Lawless must have glistened as 
 she read this flaming paragraph. 
 
 The situation of England at this period was critical in 
 the extreme. The hitherto apathetic American colonies 
 which, with pride and satisfaction, she had beheld for so 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 33 
 
 many years swelling majestically with strength and 
 wealth, suddenly started to their feet and girded them- 
 selves for battle. 
 
 " Hark! hear ye the sounds that the wind on her pinions 
 Exultingly rolls from the shore to the sea, 
 With a voice that resounds through her boundless dominions — 
 Tis Columbia that calls on her sons to be free. 
 
 " In the breeze of her mountains her loose locks are shaken, 
 Whilst the soul-stirring notes of her warrior-song 
 From the rock to the valley re-echo — ' Awaken — 
 Avraken, ye hearts that have slumbered too long!' " 
 
 Columbia's force was formidable, but Lord Cornwall is 
 blenched not. He gathered together what British arms 
 could be mustered, and, vowing vengeance for having 
 been put to so much trouble, marched ten thousand 
 strong to crush the rebel foe. Great was the slaughter 
 on the plains of Roxburgh and the heights of Winter 
 Hill. The English retreated, and established themselves 
 in Boston. But George Washington commenced a spi- 
 rited bombardment, and struck terror, as well as bullets, 
 into the hearts of his enemy. Boston, at length, became 
 too hot to hold them, and the British general determined 
 to evacuate it by sea. This he did, in the most undig- 
 nified manner possible, on Patrick's Day, 1776; and, 
 while his rear was embarking at one side, the Americans, 
 at the other, poured like an impetuous current of molten 
 lead into the town. 
 
 That day the thirteen colonies declared themselves 
 independent, and the star-spangled banner floated gaily 
 on the wind. 
 
 From April, 1775, till March, 1776, England and 
 America were in open war. The leading W nigs of Great 
 Britain and Ireland opposed its continuance upon prin- 
 ciple. They denounced the policy previously pursued 
 by England; and in their discussions all but justified the 
 American revolt. Ireland was not slow in upraising her 
 threatening voice. The analogy between America and 
 that country was too striking not to attract the notice of 
 
 c 2 
 
34 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 its patriots ; and speedily a change both in their attitude 
 and tone became glaringly observable to his Majesty's 
 ministers. Ireland had been long exhorted to bide her 
 time, — repeatedly reminded that England's difficulty 
 was her opportunity; and at last that happy moment 
 seemed as though it had arrived. But, alas ! it was in 
 appearance only ; for rarely before was the condition of 
 poor Ireland more sadly depressed, or the tension of her 
 muscles so miserably unstrung. 
 
 The American war, although it tended considerably at 
 first to excite the Irish spirit, effected a reaction by im- 
 poverishing the country. Previous to the war Ireland 
 exported large quantities of linen to America. This 
 prolific source of wealth, however, which had so long 
 fertilized the land, now dried up, and the face of the 
 country became arid and unproductive. The pockets of 
 the people were empty, and their dishes little better. At 
 length some political economists decided on a plan for 
 increasing, in some degree, her national wealth. Ireland 
 prepared to send provisions to America. Had she suc- 
 ceeded in carrying out this most judicious project, not 
 only would approaching famine have been averted, but 
 an immense increase of wealth must inevitably have 
 flowed into her empty lap. 
 
 England, however, with cruel sang froid, laid an em- 
 bargo on the exportation, and this well-matured project 
 for national amelioration accordingly fell defeated to the 
 ground. The gloomiest results succeeded her veto. 
 Land, wool, and cattle fell in value to the lowest ebb. 
 When landlords felt the depression acutely, it is hardly 
 matter of wonder that tenants should have declared them- 
 selves unable to pay their rent. Public credit was almost 
 extinct, and the ghost of famine again appeared. Minis- 
 ters were besought for aid, but they refused to hearken. 
 Lashed into energy by such repeated and studied in- 
 sults, the Irish Commons at length adopted the first 
 step towards attaining that glorious state of civil liberty 
 which, in 1782, was achieved by the bloodless show 
 of sixty thousand Volunteer sabres. Some of the oldest 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 35 
 
 ministerial members joined the opposition, loudly com- 
 plaining that the real grievances of Ireland were not 
 fairly made known to the King ; and calling upon the 
 Viceroy to represent them to his Majesty, as a duty 
 incumbent on him at all hazards to discharge. 
 
 The first octennial Parliament had been only in exist- 
 ence four years out of the eight to which the law re- 
 stricted it, when the British Cabinet found it advisable, 
 on account of the spirit of independence of the members, 
 at once to dissolve it. The manly resistance to British 
 dictates, which characterized its last session, alarmed the 
 Government. There must be a new Parliament, said 
 they, and it won't be our fault if that body is not judi- 
 ciously constituted, now that we have the elements of its 
 manufacture fairly in our hands. The next must be a 
 pliant Parliament. Never was there one more urgently 
 needed. 
 
 The general election accordingly took place, and bri- 
 bery and corruption, as is usual on such occasions, stalked 
 unblushingly through the land. Government beheld the 
 returns with pride and satisfaction. The majority were 
 men whom they thought they could calculate on. To 
 enslave the members of both Houses, an unprecedented 
 quantity of promotions and creations were speedily de- 
 cided on, and almost as quickly effected. Ministers 
 beheld in the last session some of their oldest partisans 
 wavering, menacing, and " ratting? and now, in order 
 to infuse a fresh spirit into the new Parliament, five 
 viscounts were created earls, seven barons viscounts, 
 and in one day no less than eighteen new barons, 
 fresh and glitterino: from the herald's mint, ascended the 
 baron's bench ! Foremost amongst the baronets (who 
 were comparatively few in number) was " Sir Nicholas 
 Lawless of Abington, County Limerick," as the pompous 
 letters patent thought fit to style him. Not since the 
 famous promotion of twelve in the days of Queen Anne 
 was there anything like such creation or advancement. 
 The expedient was successful ; and Government, with 
 pride and gratification, watched the salutary effect which 
 
36 CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 resulted from having set in motion this and other engines 
 of enslavement.* • 
 
 Upon reference to the Irish parliamentary debates of 
 the last century, it is easy to perceive that the voice of 
 Sir Nicholas Lawless was rarely heard resounding through 
 the vaulted House of Commons. His votes were, for the 
 most part, recorded in silence, and his views of debated 
 topics expressed in whispers. Whenever he did rise to 
 speak he manifested no small diffidence. This may be 
 collected from the few parliamentary speeches delivered 
 by him which remain on record. For instance, on Febru- 
 ary 24, 1785, he observed, whilst advocating the dissolu- 
 tion of Lord Charlemont's Volunteers, " Sir, a plain man 
 like me rises with great disadvantage to deliver his opi- 
 nion after the eloquent gentleman who has just spoken, 
 or, indeed, most of those who have risen on the question. 
 What I shall say by way of excuse is, that I wont 
 detain the House beyond a very few minutes." Again, 
 he says, on another occasion — " Unaccustomed to speak 
 often in this House, I rise with some disadvantage after 
 the Right Hon. gentleman." It is quite true that Sir 
 Nicholas Lawless seldom spoke ; but whenever he did 
 so, it was well done,f and to the purpose. Indeed his 
 speeches, taking them for all and all, read better than 
 many now-a-days delivered in the British House of Com- 
 mons. If pertinence and earnestness may be considered 
 recommendatory qualifications in an orator, Sir Nicholas 
 possessed them in a high degree. " His parliamentary 
 conduct," says The Gentleman s Magazine for September, 
 1799, " was always favourable to the measures of the 
 
 * Amongst them the system of pensioning was not forgotten. Early in 
 1778, we find the patriotic members of the House protesting warmly against 
 " the rapid and astonishing growth of the pension list." 
 
 By the way, no lexicographer with whom we are acquainted, save Dr. Noah 
 Webster, ventures to give that signification of the word Pension — which 
 is but too truly, in many instances, the correct one — to wit: " An allow- 
 ance or annual payment considered in the light of a bribe.''' 
 
 f His best speech was, we think, on Feb. 18, 1785, when, while praising 
 the Volunteer army for their past services, he urged that Ireland should now 
 turn her thoughts to the cultivation of the arts of peace, lay aside the pomp 
 of military parade, encourage the artisan to set his loom in motion, and the 
 countryman to substitute the ploughshare for the sword. 
 
CL02JCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 37 
 
 present Administration ; and he was a very respectable, 
 though not an eloquent speaker." We need scarcely 
 remind the reader that the Administration alluded to was 
 an essentially Tory one. It is not correct, however, to 
 assert that his conduct was always favourable to Tory 
 regime, as we in the sequel shall show. But, certainly, 
 from 1776 till 1789, when Lord Buckingham trans- 
 planted him to the House of Peers — not a particularly 
 green House, so far as nationality was concerned — Sir 
 Nicholas's votes and speeches were governmental alike 
 in substance and tone. 
 
 It is said by men of his day that after Sir Nicholas Law- 
 less's elevation to the baronetcy his demeanour was ob- 
 served to become haughty and imperious. Of the very 
 ridiculous extent of this pride more than one instance 
 might be related. The following anecdote is sufficiently 
 illustrative of it. In the summer of the year 1778, Sir 
 Nicholas and Ladv Lawless engaged apartments in a 
 respectable lodging-house at Windy Harbour, near Dun- 
 drum, conducted by a Mrs. Dempsey. The locality was, 
 in those days, much more fashionable than at present, 
 and numbers resorted to it during the summer and au- 
 tumn months. Amongst others who engaged apartments 
 at Mrs. Dempsey 's in 1778, was the late Edmund Byrne 
 of Byrne's Hill, a gentleman well known and respected 
 in his time. During the period of his sojourn at Windy 
 Harbour, it seems to have been a favourite practice with 
 Sir Nicholas to saunter up and down the gravel walks of 
 Mrs. Dempsey 's garden. Nothing was easier, however, 
 than to disturb him in this exercise, as should any other 
 lodger venture to cross the hallowed precincts of the 
 enclosure, it would be the immediate signal for Sir 
 Nicholas to beat a precipitate but majestic retreat to the 
 privacy of his chamber. Mr. Byrne derived some very 
 wicked pleasure in offending the dignity of the baronet. 
 " Bessie," he would often say to a member of his family 
 resident at Mrs. Dempsey 's, " do watch me from the 
 lobby-window till you see how I turn Sir Nicholas Lawless 
 out of the garden." Saying which, Mr. Byrne would 
 descend, scarcely able to suppress his laughter, and lei- 
 
38 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 surely saunter through one of the pathways. But hardly 
 would he have time to advance half-a-dozen paces, than 
 the honourable baronet might be seen to suddenly wheel 
 to the right about, and, stiff as buckram, steer direct for 
 the house. This eccentric movement on the part of Sir 
 Nicholas reminds one of the barometrical man, who 
 always glided into his house directly that his lighthearted 
 neighbour strolled into the garden to enjoy the fine wea- 
 ther. The family of Mr. Byrne have repeatedly heard 
 him relate this anecdote. 
 
 In 1787, the Marquis of Buckingham, as Viceroy, 
 assumed the helm of Irish Government. " Little was it 
 supposed," observes Sir Jonah Barrington,* " that the 
 most important and embarrassing of all constitutional 
 questions between the two countries was to take place 
 during his administration." What man familiar with 
 Irish political history is there, who has not heard of the 
 celebrated " regency" commotion, which, during George 
 the Third's aberration of intellect in 1789, eventuated in 
 the expulsion of William Duke of Leinster, Lord Shan- 
 non, and other independent men from office ; while it 
 placed barons' coronets galore on heads which strongly 
 developed the bump of enslavement. The Prince of 
 Wales at this juncture, and for many years previous, 
 professed a line of politics, and retained a class of ser- 
 vants, essentially different from those subsequently adopted 
 by him. As the husband of a Roman Catholic (Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert), the Irish helots entertained considerable 
 hopes that his Royal Highness would, sooner or later, 
 exert himself in knocking off their chains. 
 
 "Mr. Pitt well knew," says Sir Jonah, " that his own reign, and that of 
 the Cabinet he commanded, were in danger — that they coulrl endure no 
 longer than some tatters of the royal prerogative and restraints on the Regent 
 should remain in his hands as minister, by which he could curb the regency, 
 which might otherwise be fatal to his ambition and his Cabinet. He, there- 
 fore, resisted, with all his energy, the heir-apparent's right to the prerogative 
 of his father, and struggled to restrain the Prince from many of those essen- 
 tial powers of the executive authority." 
 
 Through a state necessity the Prince found himself 
 reluctantly obliged to submit to the restraints imposed 
 
 * " Rise and Fall of the Irish Nation." Paris edition, page 324. 
 
CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 39 
 
 on him by his own rather arrogant and overbearing ser- 
 vant. A large proportion of the Irish Parliament bridled 
 with indignation at the aggression, and refused to obey the 
 dictates of the British Minister. An address to his 
 Royal Highness, " from the Commons of Ireland in Par- 
 liament assembled," was drawn up. In respectful lan- 
 guage, it requested that he would be pleased to take 
 upon himself the government of Ireland during the con- 
 tinuation of the King's indisposition, and no longer ; and 
 under the title of Prince Recent of Ireland, in the name, 
 and on behalf of his Majesty, to exercise, according to the 
 laws and constitution of that kingdom, all regal powers, 
 jurisdiction, and perogatives to the Crown and Govern- 
 ment thereof belonging." Ireland, with one voice, called 
 upon his Highness, in virtue of the federative compact, 
 to assume at once the sceptre of authority. Grattan 
 headed the independent party in the Commons, and the 
 Prince, as may be perceived, felt grateful to him for his 
 exertions.* Debates arose more noisy and embarrassing 
 than, perhaps, had ever before agitated the echoes of the 
 Irish senate house. 
 
 " The probability of his Majesty's recovery," proceeds Sir Jonah, " had a 
 powerful influence on placemen and official connexions. The Viceroy (Lord 
 Buckinghan) took a decisive part against the Prince, and made bold and 
 hazardous attempts upon the rights of the Irish Parliament." 
 
 In the recently published correspondence of Lord 
 Buckingham,! we find dozens of letters, daily addressed 
 
 * Mr. Pelham, afterwards Lord Chichester, in a private letter to Grattan, 
 after speaking of what he styles " the tricks and intrigues of Mr. Pitt's faction," 
 says, " I have not time to express to you how strongly the Prince is affected by 
 the confidence and attachment of the Irish Parliament. I saw him for an 
 instant at Carlton House, and he ordered me to write to you ; but I have only 
 time to say in his own words, — ' Tell Grattan that I am a most determined 
 Irishman.' " 
 
 The Duke of Portland, writing to Henry Grattan on the 21st February, 
 1789, says: — "I beg most sincerely to congratulate you on the decisive effect 
 of your distinguished exertions. Your own country is sensible and worthy 
 of the part you have taken in defence and protection of her constitution. The 
 Prince thinks himself no less obliged to you; and whenever this deluded country 
 becomes capable of distinguishing her true friends, she will contribute her 
 quota of applause and gratitude." The two interesting letters, of which the 
 above are extracts, appear in Mr. Grattan's Memoirs of his father. 
 
 f Memoirs of the Court and Cabinets of George III. from original Family 
 Documents, by the Dukeof Buckingham and Chandos, 2 vols., London, 1853. 
 
40 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 to that Viceroy by his brother, Lord Grenville, the Eng- 
 lish Secretary of State — all giving the most decided ac- 
 counts of the Monarch's convalescence. This correspon- 
 dence extends from December, 1788, to February 24, 
 1789. There cannot exist a doubt, that the substance of 
 these bulletins must have circulated widely amongst 
 Lord Buckingham's friends in the Irish Parliament, and 
 so stimulated their hostility to the Regency. They were 
 of course well aware, that in the event of the question 
 falling, by the recovery of the King, promotions and 
 creations would recompense their labours. And they were 
 neither mistaken nor disappointed. Attorney-General 
 Fitzgibbon was openly promised the Seals if he succeeded 
 for Mr. Pitt. Each member of the Opposition* was 
 menaced, that he should be made the " victim of his vote." 
 Lures were held out to the waverin^f — threats hurled 
 at the independent. 
 
 Half a million of money \% such was the sum which 
 
 * It was this unmanly threat that called into existence that spirited protest* 
 familiarly known as " the Round Robin." To this document the Duke of 
 Leinster, Lords Charlemont, Shannon, Granard, Ross, Moira. and a host of 
 other noblemen, at once affixed their signatures. They were backed by Cur- 
 ran's, Grattan's, Ponsonby's, Forbes's, Bushe's, Burgh's, and Hardy's. The 
 document dwelt much on the recent threat of making individuals "the vic- 
 tim of their votes," and stigmatised the pursuit of such a course "as a repro- 
 bation of their constitutional conduct, and an attack upon public principle 
 and the independence of Parliament ; that any Administration taking, or per- 
 severing in any such steps was not entitled to their confidence, and should not 
 receive their support." 
 
 f Mr. Wright, in his rather English History of Ireland, tells us that per- 
 haps the most able speech delivered on the side of the Government was Mr. 
 Johnson's. As a testimony to its ability, he transcribes it from beginning to 
 end. The speaker was no other than the "Ex-Judge, Robert Johnson,'' so 
 well known in after years. In 1831, Tom. Moore, had, as appears from his 
 Diary, a most amusing interview with the old judge. He adverted at some 
 length to the past history of his political life. Until the agitation of the 
 Regency question he was an ardent supporter of Henry Grattan. At that 
 exciting juncture he wheeled round, and forthwith became the recipient of 
 Government favours. "In fact." said the judge to Mr. Moore, with peculiar 
 naivete, " we were all jobbers in those days." 
 
 X It was in allusion to the ministerial bribe and threat that Grattan some 
 years after thundered as follows: — "It is in vain to equivocate; the words 
 were uttered ; the minister may have forgotten, but the people remember 
 them. The threat was pat into its fullest execution; the canvass of the 
 ministery was every where — in the House of Commons, in the lobby, in the 
 street, at the door of the parliamentary undertakers, rapped at and worn 
 
CLOXCURRY AND HIS TI3IES. 41 
 
 Fitzgibbon was deputed by Pitt to announce as remain- 
 ing in bis bands for purposes of corruption. And as the 
 law officer of the Crown made this ingenuous avowal, he 
 casually observed that a solitary address of thanks to 
 Lord Townshend, some time anterior, cost the nation no 
 less than five hundred thousand pounds ! 
 
 Lord Buckingham felt somewhat uneasy at the pro- 
 gress made by the Irish Parliament in asserting and 
 carrying into effect their wishes.* He, however, enter- 
 ainecl great hopes that his Majesty would, like King 
 Richard, be " himself again," before they could, in defi- 
 ance of England, proclaim the Prince their Regent. 
 Time was the great object, and he had recourse to every 
 stratagem calculated to protract it.j The shrewd advice 
 given by Lord Grenville to his brother, the Viceroy, at 
 this period, as appears from their recently published cor- 
 respondence, is most amusing. " I think," he writes, in 
 his letter of February 19th, " that your object will be to 
 use every possible endeavour, by all means in your power, 
 debating every question, dividing upon every question, 
 moving adjournment upon adjournment, and every other 
 mode that can be suggested, to gain time I" 
 
 The address to the Regent having passed both the 
 Lords and Commons with an overwhelming majority, 
 
 by the little caitiffs of Government, who offered amnesty to some, honours to 
 others, and corruption to all; and where the word of the Viceroy was doubted 
 they offered their own. Accordingly, we find a number of parliamentary 
 provisions were created, and divers peerages sold with such effect, that the 
 same Parliament who had voted the chief governor a criminal, did imme- 
 diately after give that very governor implicit support." 
 
 * The noble editor of the Buckingham Correspondence admits that " the 
 Parliament of Ireland preserved the unquestionable right of deciding the Re- 
 gency in their own way." " The position of Lord Buckingham," he goes 
 on to say. "had become peculiarly embarrassing. What course should be 
 taken in the event of such an address being carried?*** The predicament 
 was so strange, and involved constitutional considerations of such importance. 
 as to give the most serious disquietude to the Administration.'" — Vol. ii., 
 page 101. 
 
 t That clear-sighted character, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, saw at a glance 
 through this wretched policy. " I am perfectly aware," he writes in a 
 private letter to the Prince, " of the arts that will be practised, and c the 
 advantages which some people will attempt to gain by time ; but I am 
 equally convinced that we should advance their evil views by showing the 
 least impatience or suspicion at present." — Life of Sheridan by Thomas 
 Moore, chap. xii. — Regency. 
 
42 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 was presented to Lord Buckingham for transmission to 
 his Royal Highness. The Viceroy, however, declined 
 in the most peremptory manner to have anything to say 
 to it, and thus Parliament was reduced to the necessity 
 of forwarding the address by the hands of delegates. 
 Previous to their departure, Grattan moved and carried 
 as the opinion of the House, " That the answer of the 
 Lord Lieutenant in refusing to transmit said address is 
 ill advised, and tends to convey an unwarrantable and 
 unconstitutional censure on the conduct of both Houses." 
 
 It is not surprising that this vote of censure, coming, 
 as it did, from both Lords and Commons, should have 
 shook the Viceroy on his throne. Whether the Prince 
 assumed the Regency or not, it was utterly impossible he 
 could any longer hold the reins of Government. But 
 like a stag at bay, he resisted to the death. Every pos- 
 sible mano3uvre that could have the effect of vexing the 
 (Opposition, he resorted to before his flight. He became 
 unpopular to loathing. It was intended to illuminate 
 the canital on the night of his departure, but some days 
 previous to that event he retired to Mr, Lees' villa, at the 
 Blackrock, and from thence escaped by sea to England, 
 unnoticed — f 
 
 " Unwept, unhonoured, and unsung."* 
 
 The following events, however, occurred anterior to 
 his flight. 
 
 The King " ivas now" to use the words of Lord 
 Grenville, " actually well."^ 
 
 The excitement and discussion consequent on the hos- 
 
 * Mr. Plowden, in his " History of Ireland," observes, that the Viceroy's 
 friends "gave out" at the time that his health was so impaired by the 
 fatigues of a troublesome Government, as to oblige him to undergo removal 
 to the ship, in a litter, on men's shoulders. " I told you two months ago," 
 wrote his Excellency about this period to his brother, " that my friends 
 would not blush for me ; that I might be beaten, but that I would not be 
 disgraced. I write to you now, with the transports of the warmest exulta- 
 tion and of honest pride, to tell you, that on Saturday night I closed the 
 Session in the Commons, having thrown out every measure brought forward 
 by Opposition." As the Viceroy was borne off in his litter, he might well 
 have exclaimed, with Pyrrhus, "Another such victory and I'm undone !" 
 
 t " Buckingham Correspondence," page 115, vol. ii. (italics in original.) 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 43 
 
 tile attitudes assumed by statesmen and patriots accord- 
 ingly came to a dead full stop. All thoughts of creating 
 his Royal Highness Regent were now at an end. The 
 fire of triumph flashed and reflashed from the eyes of 
 Mr. Pitt's dependants, and their countenances might be 
 seen to glow in a precise ratio as the cold pallor of con- 
 sternation mastered those of the others. 
 
 While the mingled glories of triumph and revenge were 
 yet effervescing within the brains of those who had pros- 
 trated themselves in slavish subserviency before Pitt and 
 his colleagues during the late proceedings, Lord Bucking- 
 ham publicly announced that the strongest marks.of govern- 
 mental favour should be shown to them for their devotion, 
 proportionate as the Opposition would be made to suffer 
 acutely for the independent spirit of its tone and acts. 
 Accordingly, at the magic wave of his lordship's wand, 
 out marched from office the Master of the Rolls, the Vice- 
 Treasurer, the Clerk of Permits, the Postmaster-General, 
 the Secretary at War, the Comptroller of Stamps, and 
 many other important officers. The Duke of Leinster, 
 one of the most respected officers of the Crown, was dis- 
 missed,* also Lord Shannon. The influential family of 
 Ponsonby, long the unwavering supporters of Govern- 
 ment, but who on this occasion joined the Legislature 
 in asserting their constitutional independence and rejec- 
 tion of all subserviency to the views or dictates of an 
 alien Parliament, were also cashiered. But the promo- 
 tions and appointments far more than counterbalanced the 
 dismissals. Of the former there were forty, while of the 
 latter only fifteen. Employments that had long remained 
 dormant were revived, useless offices invented, sinecures 
 created, salaries increased. The Board of Stamps and 
 Accounts, hitherto filled by one, became a joint concern. 
 
 * In the following sentences of a letter to the Viceroy, Grenville blows hot 
 and cold on the policy of the dismissals. " Nothing is clearer to my mind than 
 the propriety of the step you have taken in dismissing Ponsonby ; of the 
 intimation which you have given Lord Shannon of the necessary consequence 
 of his present couduct ; and of the measures you have adopted for securing 
 to yourself efficient assistance, by the removal of Fitzherbert, and by the 
 nomination of Hobart. * * But I must entreat you to reflect that this 
 line of conduct is only to be justified on the supposition of your being to re- 
 main in Ireland." 
 
44 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 The staff of officials on the Ordnance and Revenue Boards 
 was considerably augmented. The annual pension list I 
 swelled in the proud possession of thirteen thousand 
 pounds additional, and what by right should have flowed 
 into the pockets of such old and active servitors as the i 
 family of Ponsonby, rilled to repletion the coffers of raw, 
 inexperienced men like Trant and Beresford. The office 
 of Weighm aster of Butter in Cork became divided, not i 
 into two but three parts, the duties of which were per- 
 formed by deputies at the rate of about £200 each. The 
 principals who received the gross amount held seats in 
 Parliament. This drew from George Ponsonby, as we 
 are reminded by Mr. Grattan,* the remark in one of his 
 speeches, that 110 placemen sat in the House, and out of 
 the gross revenue of the country, one-eighth was divided 
 amoncr Members of Parliament.! 
 
 Lord Buckingham was proud of his victory. In a 
 private letter to Lord Buckley, published in " The 
 Court and Cabinets of George III. (London, 1853)," he 
 observes : — 
 
 " In the space, then, of six weeks, I have secured to the Crown a decided 
 and steady majority, created in the teeth of the Duke of Leinster,J Lord 
 Shannon, Lord Granard, Ponsonby, Conolly, O'Neill, united to all the re- 
 publicanism, the faction, and the discontents of the House of Commons ; 
 and having thrown this aristocracy at the feet of the King, I have taught to 
 the British and Irish Government a lesson which ought never to be forgotten ; 
 
 * Life and Times of Henry Grattan, by his Son, vol. iii. 
 
 t Speaking of these doings in 1796, the Hon. V. B. Lawless, afterwards 
 Lord Cloncurry, said : — " Places without number or utility have been created, 
 and pensions immoderate and indecent bestowed on those whose merit was 
 opposition to the good of the country, or notoriety in blasting the growth of 
 public or private virtue." 
 
 J In a previous letter he speaks of this unanimity as " an infamous com- 
 bination." Pelham, in his letter to Grattan, speaks of " laying open the 
 tricks of Mr. Pitt's faction." It is most amusing to place the letters of the 
 jarring parties in juxta-position. By Hardy's "Life of Charlemont" we 
 find that Edmund Burke, writing to his Lordship, on April 4, 1789, said, 
 " I am charmed with what I have heard of the Duke of Leinster. I am 
 happy to find him add a character of firmness to the rest of his truly amiable 
 and respectable qualifications. Ponsonby then is, it seems, the proto -martyr. 
 I never saw him until the time of your embassy, but I am not mistaken in 
 the opinion I formed of him, on our first conversation, as a manly, decided 
 character, with a right conformation of mind, and a clear and vigorous 
 understanding." 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 45 
 
 and I have the pride to recollect, that the whole of it is fairly to be ascribed 
 to the steady decision with which the storm was met, and to the zeal, vigour, 
 and industry of some of the steadiest friends that ever man was blessed 
 with." 
 
 Amongst " the steadiest friends that ever man was 
 blessed with," we must not neglect to particularize Sir 
 Nicholas Lawless. He stuck to Mr. Pitt through thick 
 and thin. He flung the influence of his vote and his 
 example into the scale in favour of Lord Buckingham. 
 He praised that Viceroy's virtues,* and censured those 
 who disapproved of the policy he thought fit to pursue. 
 In short, Sir Nicholas found as much favour in govern- 
 mental sight, as disfavour in that of Grattan and Pon- 
 sonby, who, it will be seen hereafter, adopted measures 
 to annoy him, in common with his bro titer barons, 
 Glent worth and Kilmaine. 
 
 The list of creations and promotions in the peerage, 
 made out by his Excellency, the Marquis of Buckingham, 
 cannot be said to have been of very limited dimen- 
 sions. Indeed such was its length, that apprehensions 
 were entertained lest the royal assent should have been, 
 in a moment of shame or indignation, withheld. But 
 Pitt undertook to urge, in his own persuasive man- 
 ner, their necessity on the sovereign, who, after some 
 hesitation, graciously signified his acquiescence. " With 
 respect to your peerages," writes Grenville to Lord Buck- 
 ingham, on the 15 tli May, 1789, "I have, as I promised 
 
 * Mr. Bushe thought the present a bad time to place confidence in Govern- 
 
 1 ment. * * * * Sir Nicholas Lawless declared that Lord Buckingham's 
 
 virtues, his close inspection into public expenses, and his hatred of peculation 
 
 and fraud, had created more enemies than any part of his political conduct. — 
 
 Debates on February 2btb, 1789. 
 
 Sir Nicholas was on familiar terms with Lord Buckingham, and had him 
 frequently to dinner at Maretimo. In connexion with one of these enter- 
 tainments an amusing anecdote is related. Jephson, well known as the 
 author of the " Count of Narbonne," and soubriqued " Roman Portrait 
 Jephson" held, for a number of years, the offices of Viceregal Poet Laureate 
 and Master of the Horse ; and was invited with the Viceroy, on one of the 
 occasions referred to, to Maretimo. During dinner, Mr. Jephson, whose wit 
 was always bubbling over, had the singular daring, when he thought himself 
 unobserved by Lord Buckingham, to mimic his Excellency. A mirror in the 
 opposite wall proved a tell-tale. With a look of scathing indignation Lord 
 Buckingham commanded the quailing laureate to begone, and henceforward 
 to consider himself dismissed from office. 
 
46 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 you, got Pitt to state them to the King, who has con- 
 sented to them, marquisates and all. You may now, 
 therefore, recommend them as soon as you please, and 
 1 will take care there shall be no further unnecessary 
 delay." A somewhat shrewd observation, for one of not 
 particularly sound judgment, was made by the King on 
 the occasion of this interview. " He is willing to en- 
 gage," continues Lord Grenville, " that these should all 
 be done without delay, but seems much to wish that the 
 promotions and creations should be separated, in order 
 that they may not, by coming together, appear to fill 
 too a large a column in the Gazette. There must, there- 
 fore, be an interval of a fortnight or three weeks. You ^ 
 will judge whether the promotions or creations should 
 come first." 
 
 - We have all heard of the political corruption that 
 characterized the days of Walpole and of Pelham ; but 
 it is a matter of considerable doubt to us if the system 
 of venality openly prosecuted in the British and Irish 
 Parliaments, during the close of the last century, did not 
 actually eclipse in enormity the Walpole intrigues. 
 
 That peerages were actually sold for money, so late as 
 1789, there cannot exist the shadow of a doubt. By this 
 proceeding his Majesty's ministers were guilty of an im- 
 peachable offence. They not only attempted to under- 
 mine the constitution, but actually and deliberately 
 violated the laws. Added to this serious misdemeanour, 
 they created fourteen new places for the purchase of 
 M.P.'s, which, as an eminent authority observed, was 
 virtually and indeed an overt act of treason against the 
 State. If precedents were necessary in order to the pro- 
 secution of the minister, numerous instances might be 
 cited. In the reign of Charles I. his Grace of Bucking- 
 ham was impeached for the very crime of which the Pitt- 
 Administration stood confessedly guilty. He sold a peer- 
 age to Lord Roberts for £10,000. Similar trafficking 
 took place in 1789. 
 
 Grattan,* Curran, and Ponsonby offered to prove this 
 
 * See Appendix. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 47 
 
 startling assertion upon evidence, and made that cele- 
 brated motion in the House which filled a profligate 
 Government with terror and dismay. Having offered 
 evidence of the most conclusive character, they begged 
 leave to move — 
 
 " That a Select Committee be appointed to inquire, in the most solemn 
 manner, whether the late or present Administration entered into any corrupt 
 agreement with any person, or persons, to recommend such person, or persons, 
 to his Majesty as fit and proper to be made Peers of this realm, iu conside- 
 ration of such person, or persons, giving certain sums of money to be laid 
 out in procuring the return of members to serve in- Parliament, contrary to 
 the rights of the people, inconsistent with the independence of Parliament, 
 and in violation of the fundamental laws of the land."* 
 
 Mr. Grattan, in his Memoirs of the Life and Times 
 of his father (vol. iii., page 291), tells us that the three 
 peerages which Grattan and Ponsonby offered to prove 
 had been sold, and the money laid out for the purchase 
 of members in the House of Commons, were those of 
 Kilmaine, Glentworth, and CLONCURRY.f 
 
 * Irish Parliamentary Kegister, vol. x., page 274. 
 
 t In 1739, a small pamphlet, supposed to have been written by Miss 
 Grattan, appeared. The object was to satirize the recent corrupt proceed- 
 ings of the Pitt and Buckingham Administrations, which it did by means of 
 (as they were then considered) witty parodies on the songs of " Love in a 
 Village." The dramatis persona, and general dimensions of the composition, 
 are far too extensive to permit much more than allusion here. A portion of 
 the second Act we subjoin, as it introduces the name of Sir Nicholas Lawless. 
 
 " ACT II. — Scene I. — Presence Chamber at the Castle. 
 
 Marquis solus. * * * 
 
 " For counsel I'll fly to Fitzgibbon too high, 
 To Th — r — t — n, Hobart, and Cooke ; 
 But to soften ray cares, and forget State affairs, 
 I'll laugh with Brown, Lawless, and Luke." 
 (Kilmaine, Cloncurry, and Mountjoy.') 
 
 In a subsequent scene we find " folding doors, which open and discover 
 the levee room, with hacks, trimmers, runners, hirelings, &c, who advance 
 singing a chorus." * * * 
 
 " Second Lord in Waiting (Nicholas Lawless, Lord Cloncurry) loquitur : 
 
 " Nor place, nor pension, is my plan, 
 Large sums I can afford, Sir ; 
 But, as I'm not a gentleman, 
 
 I fain would be a lord, Sir." (Nor place, &c, da capo.) 
 
 The piece (with some intermediate matter) concludes with " a grand 
 chorus of seven expectant lords." 
 
48 CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 Was inquiry stifled ? We rather think so. The mo- 
 tion of the patriotic triumvirate was crushed into nothing- 
 ness by an overwhelming avalanche of placemen and 
 pensioners. 
 
 We are not in a position to state the exact sum which 
 Sir Nicholas Lawless handed the British minister for 
 his peerage ; but we can have no doubt that it was 
 considerable. Had he not aided the Government, 
 however, with his voice and his vote, the said sum of 
 money, large as .it was, would, doubtless, have been 
 
 inadequate to its purchase. The late Sir S B 
 
 informed us that he heard him on one occasion express 
 the greatest indignation, upon receiving the intelligence 
 that his daughters, the Honourables Valentina, Mary, M 
 and Charlotte Lawless had not the precedence at certain 
 court balls and drawing-rooms during Earl Camden's 
 viceroy alty. Our informant smilingly added, that his 
 lordship took occasion to refer, with some warmth of 
 manner, to the exorbitant sum which the wily minister 
 extorted for his peerage, and exclaimed, that he did not 
 see why the d — 1 he should not, in common right and 
 decencv, get every possible value, in the shape of ho- 
 nours, out of whatever Administration occupied the Castle. 
 In Lord Cloncurry's Personal Recolleetions, a letter from 
 his father to the Duke of Portland, dated August 20, 
 1799, appears. " If I have obtained any honours," said 
 Nicholas, Lord Cloncurry, in that letter, " they have cost 
 me their full value. 1 ' 
 
 In the Journals of the Irish House of Lords (Januarii 
 21°, 1790), we find the following somewhat elaborate 
 account of Lord Cloncurry's debut as a Peer of the 
 Realm : — 
 
 " Sir Nicholas Lawless, Baronet, being by Letters Patent, dated the twenty- 
 second day of September, in the twenty-ninth year of King George III. created 
 Baron of Cloncurry, in the County Kildare, was this day in his Robes intro- 
 duced between the Lord Willes, and the Lord Harberton, also in their Robes ; 
 the Yeoman Usher of the Black-Rod, and Ulster King of Amis, in his Coat 
 of Anns, carrying the said Letters Patents preceding : — His Lordship pre- 
 sented the same to the Lord Chancellor,* on his knee, at the Woolsack, who 
 
 * Fitzgibbon, afterwards Earl of Clare. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 49 
 
 gave them to the Clerk of the Parliaments, which were read at the Table ; 
 his writ of summons was also read. 
 
 Then his Lordship came to the Table, and took the oaths, and made and 
 subscribed the oath of abjuration,* pursuant to the statutes, and was after- 
 wards conducted to, and took his place at the lower end of the Barons' 
 Bench."f 
 
 Soon after the elevation of Sir Nicholas Lawless to the 
 peerage, he paid a visit to the Theatre Royal, Crow-street, 
 dressed in the pink of the then fashion, and decorated 
 with a star indicative of his rank. The piece was a 
 pantomime, and the subject, Don Quixote. At the very 
 ludicrous scene where Sancho is tossed by the village 
 clowns in a blanket, Lord Cloncurry was observed to 
 laugh so heartily as to be well nigh in danger of tumbling 
 off his seat — rather a ludicrous proceeding, it must be 
 confessed, when the buckram-like dignity of his lord- 
 ship's movements is taken into account. The idea was 
 indeed truly laughable, and in the prolific mind of the 
 notorious Lady Cahir (who happened to be in an ad- 
 joining stall), it speedily took root, and threw out blossoms 
 of characteristic wit. Beckoning his lordship into her 
 box (at least, so the story has it), she exclaimed: — 
 
 " Cloncurry, Clone urry, 
 Come here in a hurry — 
 And tell why you laugh at the squire? 
 Now altho" he's tossed high, 
 I defy you deny 
 That blankets have tossed yourself higher." 
 
 Another account which has been furnished us of this 
 matter says, that a reporter for one of the morning papers, 
 who was seeing the pantomime in the pit, observed his 
 lordship's paroxysms of laughter, and mentally composed 
 the following version, which appeared, as we transcribe it, 
 in the Freeman's Journal of the ensuing morning. Both 
 
 * Even- reader may not be aware, that the oath of abjuration asserts the 
 right of the present Royal Family to the Crown of England, and expressly 
 disclaims such right in the descendants of the Stuarts. Sir Nicholas eagerly 
 subscribed to the oath. Nice behaviour this, in a descendant of "Walter Law- 
 less, who lost seven estates by his attachment to King James. 
 
 f The words in italics as well as the frequent capitals occur in the 
 original. 
 
 I 
 
 D 
 
50 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 accounts are equally amusing, and do not in the least 
 blunt its epigrammatic point: — 
 
 " Clonciiriy, Cloncurry, 
 Why in such a hurry 
 To laugh at the comical squire ? 
 For though he's tossed high, 
 Yet you cannot deny 
 That blankets have tossed you still higher." 
 
 On 5th January, 1790, John Earl of Westmoreland 
 arrived in Ireland as Lord Lieutenant. The conduct and 
 policy of his Administration have been variously criticised; 
 some historians praising it, and others censuring. For 
 instance, Mr. H. Grattan* distinctly asserts, that his object 
 in coming to Ireland was " to govern by corruption — j 
 that he both avowed it and practised it;" while Sir Jonah 
 Barrington,f on the other hand, avers that, although many 
 have charged the Westmoreland Administration with 
 jobbing, it really was less so than that of any of his pre- 
 decessors. 
 
 Lord Westmoreland was, perhaps, the most convivial 
 Viceroy that had ever been deputed to the Government 
 of Ireland. His table literally groaned beneath the weight 
 of luxury and splendour. Little economy crept into the 
 management of his Viceregal household. Unlike many 
 of his successors, the salary he received was spent in Ire- 
 land. His hospitality was proverbial, and those whom he 
 invited entertained him in return. In the latter category 
 we must not omit to classify Nicholas Lord Cloncurry, 
 who appears to have been honoured by his Excellency's 
 jovial company on one or two occasions in Mornington 
 House. 
 
 With the higher orders Lord Westmoreland was a 
 popular Viceroy, but in the estimation of the masses, he 
 held but a very indifferent position. They understood 
 not his courtly blandishment, nor did some of those who 
 basked in its sunshine, the craft that lay behind it. 
 
 Lord Cloncurry had frequent intercourse with Lord 
 Westmoreland. He appears to have construed his liabi- 
 
 * Life and Times of Henry Grattan. Colburn, London, 1842, vol. iii, 
 page 441. 
 
 t Rise and Fall of the Irish Nation, page 338. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 51 
 
 tual smile into an evident sign of special favour. He was 
 once a baronet, 'tis true, and now a baron, but being 
 a baron was no reason why he should not like to be vis- 
 count, and when a viscount, perhaps an earl. Lord 
 Cloncurry yearned for promotion in the peerage. His 
 ambition was not yet appeased. He hoped Lord West- 
 moreland would recommend him for honour. His Ex- 
 cellency smiled, and smiling, left the country. 
 
 Lord Fitzwilliam succeeded the courtly Viceroy. Owing 
 to his avowed desire to emancipate the Catholics, Lord 
 Fitzwilliam was precipitately and insultingly recalled, 
 after a short administration of three months' duration. He 
 arrived on the 4th of January, and on the 8th we find 
 Lord Cloncurry importuning the new Viceroy for an 
 earldom or rnarquisate. That a matter of closet secrecy 
 like this, should, after the lapse of more than half a cen- 
 tury, come to our ears, will possibly surprise many a 
 reader. It can be, however, satisfactorily accounted for. 
 Some of the papers of the late Lord Fitzwilliam have 
 found their way into the possession of a distinguished 
 member of the Royal Irish Academy, well known and 
 respected for the important services conferred by him on 
 the literature of his country. Amongst them is the "Precis 
 Book" of the Earl of Fitzwilliam. To this we have been 
 given access, and under date the 8th January, 1795, we 
 find the following entry in the Viceroy's handwriting : — 
 " Lord Cloncurry desires a promotion in the Peerage. 
 Begs to know if recommended by Lord W. n Westmore- 
 land is the party referred to. 
 
 A few pages further on Lord Cloncurry is again dis- 
 covered importuning his Excellency. Official duties 
 required the attendance of Lord Fitzwilliam in London. 
 He went ; and Lord Cloncurry followed ! Among the 
 " Applications to the Lord Lieutenant in England" (as it 
 appears in the Precis Book), one is particularly underlined 
 as " Personal" and distinctly mentions the applicant to 
 be " Lord Cloncurry," and his object nothing more nor 
 less than " Promotion in the Peerage''' 
 
 The applications were carefully recorded, but the 
 needful remained undone. Lord Cloncurry saw his 
 
.52 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 nephew,* from being plain John Scott, created Viscount 
 Earlsfbrt, and afterwards Earl of Clonmel. His lordship 
 thought that, from having so long supported Government, 
 he had quite as good a right to receive promotion ; but 
 in this expectation he was doomed to be disappointed. 
 When he became, in 1789, plain Baron Cloncurry, he 
 had reached the zenith of his aristocratic honours. 
 
 It would appear that from the time he found it hope- 
 less to obtain the distinction which he had so long solicited, 
 the bias of his politics became much more democratic. 
 In May, 1797, the celebrated Requisition to the High 
 Sheriff of Kildare, calling on him at once to convene a 
 meeting of his bailiwick, for the purpose of praying the 
 
 King "TO DISMISS HIS PRESENT MINISTERS FROM HIS * 
 
 counsels for ever," appeared. The tone was unusually 
 spirited for the craven times in which the document was 
 penned, and the conduct of the subscribers proportion- 
 ately so. The first signature is that of the patriotic Duke 
 of Leinster ;f the second, " Cloncurry ;" the third, Lord 
 Edward Fitzgerald ; and the fourth, George Ponsonby. 
 An old proverb tells us, " Show me your company, and 
 I'll tell you what you are." 
 
 The sheriff slavishly fawned upon those ministers, and 
 refused to convene the meeting as requested. But the 
 original requisitionists, including Lord Cloncurry, were 
 not to be defeated, and announced their intention of 
 holding the meeting % whether he, Mr. Latouche, liked 
 it or no. Thereupon Government became alarmed, and 
 issued a proclamation, wherein they threatened to disperse 
 it by military force. 
 
 * So related from having been married to Margaret, daughter of Pat 
 Lawless, and niece of Lord Cloncurry. 
 
 t Father, of course, to the present peer. 
 
 % The reader will find this meeting noticed at some length in Chapter V. 
 The Hon. Valentine Browne Lawless, afterwards Lord Cloncurry, acted as 
 secretary to it. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 Birth of Valentine, Lord Cloncurry — His Delicacy in Childhood — Sent to 
 School, and at once inaugurated into the Office of " Fag" — Conies home 
 an Invalid — Dr. Burroughs — King's School at Chester — Mornington 
 House — Graduates in Alma Mater — The Historical Society — Dr. Elring- 
 ton — His Eccentricity of Intellect and Disposition — His controversial Con- 
 test with Dr. Doyle — Lawless visits Switzerland — Parson Meuron — His in- 
 ordinate Attachment to "worldly Dross" — Beckford — Lausanne — Geneva — 
 Its Drawbacks — Letter to his Mother — Altercation with Mr. Bailly — The 
 Irish Brigade. 
 
 The year 1773, remarkable for having given birth to 
 Francis Jeffrey, Louis Philippe, Simonde de Sismundi, 
 and Madame de Cottin, also introduced to the light of 
 day Valentine Browne Lawless, the subject of this me- 
 moir. The town residence of his father was, until 1790 
 (when he removed to Mornington House), in Merrion- 
 square, Dublin, and here the Hon. Valentine was born, as 
 appears by the parish register, on August 19th, 1773. 
 His debut upon the great stage took place somewhat pre- 
 maturely, and, as not unusually happens, he continued to 
 be, for several years afterwards, a delicate and debilitated 
 i child. Being a younger son,* however, this circumstance 
 does not appear to have given his parents that uneasiness 
 which might, under other circumstances, be expected, and 
 accordingly we find him, at the age of eight years, sent off 
 to a boarding seminary at Portarlington, where he was 
 treated with considerable roughness by his school-fellows, 
 and made to fill the not very enviable office of " fag." 
 Poor Valentine was not very long at this academy when 
 he found himself, one morning, shoved, with much dex- 
 terity, from off the top of a pent-house, by a youngster 
 
 * Robert, the eldest, was at this time living. 
 
54 CLONCUItRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 named Fred. Faulkner, whose exertions were amply recom- I 
 pensed by " Val's" discomfiture, and the wry faces atten- j 
 dant on a dislocated elbow. Years after, when the rough ; 
 Portarlington schoolboy developed into manhood, and ; 
 inherited the honours of a patrimonial baronetcy, great 
 was the consternation of his friends, one morning, upon 
 discovering Sir Frederick murdered in his room — 
 murdered by the same* cruel hand that cast an inof- 
 fending child from the summit of a pent-house two-and- 
 forty years before. 
 
 Attributable, in some degree, to the confinement at- 
 tendant on this accident, Valentine's frame became a 
 prey to a severe scrofulous complaint, which tormented 
 him unceasingly for four or five years, and finally left a * 
 prominent mark upon his face which never, to the day 
 of his death, disappeared. The unremitting attentions of 
 his mother, during the existence of this protracted illness, 
 inspired him for ever afterwards with feelings towards her 
 of the most ardent gratitude and affection. 
 
 As soon as Valentine's precarious state of health per- 
 mitted, Sir Nicholas placed him under the surveillance of 
 old Dr. Burroughs, an eccentric clergyman, whose semi- 
 nary lay in close proximity to the family villa of Maretimo. 
 It went by the name of Prospect House, and received a 
 fair amount of patronage from the Irish elite. Amongst 
 Lawless' school-fellows here was the late Lord Bishop 
 of Deny (Dr. Ponsonby), who only preceded him to the 
 grave by eight-and-forty hours. Lords Ponsonby and 
 Shannon, and the late Knight of Kerry, were also cotem- 
 poraries with Lawless at this school. 
 
 There appears to have been much more of the bon vivant 
 and gambler than of the Dominie Sampson in old Dr. 
 Burroughs' eccentric composition. A capon smothered in 
 oyster sauce presented far greater attractions to the Rev. 
 pedagogue than the choicest stanzas of Homer or Euri- 
 
 * His suicide took place at Naples, in 1823. As we have recorded a fact 
 not particularly creditable to the baronet, we shall, by way of counterbalance, 
 observe, that he voted manfully against the Union ; and although in com- 
 paratively straitened circumstances, refused every species of bribe, both 
 pecuniary and titled. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 00 
 
 pides ; and the rattle of roulette, or the tumult of the dice- 
 box, were sounds that fell far more joyfully upon his ears 
 than even the creditable answers of his own pupils at the 
 annual scholastic examinations at Prospect. The late 
 Lord Cloncurry, in his " Personal Recollections," says 
 that " he well remembers the anxious haste with which 
 the Rev. gentleman was wont to close the daily business 
 of the school, in order that he might be at liberty to re- 
 pair to Dublin, and there participate in somewhat more 
 congenial occupations." Crow-street Theatre, Ranelagh 
 Gardens, Lefevre's Lottery Office, or some of the fashionable 
 club-rooms of the city, were proverbially favourite places 
 of resort with Dr. Burroughs. 
 
 This eccentric dignitary must not be confounded with 
 the Rev. Dr. Burroughs, Tom Moore's tutor, and spoken of 
 by him in his fragment autobiography.* Mr. Moore's 
 Dominie held a permanent appointment in Trinity College 
 at the time that Valentine's was " magister" of Prospect 
 Seminary. Which of the two were the more eccentric, it 
 would be a matter of some difficulty to decide. The 
 celebrated old slang soncr — " The Nisrht before Larry was 
 Stretched,"! was written by Moore's tutor. 
 
 From Prospect Seminary, Master Valentine was trans- 
 planted, after a sojourn of two years, to the King's School 
 in Chester, Dr. Bancroft principal. Whilst here he re- 
 sided almost entirely with Bishop Cleaver, , whose ac- 
 quaintance Lord Cloncurry cultivated during the admi- 
 nistration of his patron, the Marquis of Buckingham. J 
 Their acquaintance had, by this time, ripened into friend- 
 ship, and Valentine, no doubt in consideration of it, was 
 treated by the prelate with much kindness and attention. 
 Witli a view of being entered of Brazenose College, of 
 
 * Memoirs, Journal, and Correspondence of Thomas Moore, vol. i. 1852. 
 f The following remarkable couplet will possibly recall it to the reader's 
 mind : — 
 
 " Larry tipped him an illigant look, 
 And pitch' d his big wig to the d — 1." 
 Everybody may not know that the " him" alluded to was a Protestant 
 clergyman, who, in the act of administering spiritual consolation to Larry, 
 received the ungodly rebuff described in the text. 
 J Dr. Cleaver was secretary to Lord Buckingham. 
 
56 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 which the bishop had a short time previous been elected 
 principal, Valentine was brought by his lordship to 
 Oxford ; but naturally preferring to become a member of 
 the Irish University, he made application to his father, 
 who, after some dignified hesitation, complied with the 
 request. According to the entries in the College book 
 of admission, Lawless became a student of " Old Trinity" 
 at the age of 17, in 1790, and three years afterwards gra- 
 duated as Bachelor of Arts. This latter event occurred on 
 a day, long after alluded to with pride by Lord Cloncurry, 
 as that wherein he entertained, for the first time, at Mor- 
 nington House, the Earl of Westmoreland, when Lord 
 Lieutenant of Ireland. Amongst his Excellency's aides-de- 
 camp present on this occasion was Mr. Wesley,* a modest, 
 unassuming young subaltern, well known to Buonaparte, 
 in after life, as Arthur Duke of Wellington, and Prince 
 of Waterloo. Such was the mighty Iron Duke, before he 
 wreathed his brow with budding laurels by the subjuga- 
 tion of Tippo Saib. 
 
 Mornington House, the scene of the festive entertain- 
 ment on the day that Valentine graduated in A hna Mater, 
 was whilom the town residence of Mr. Wellesley's parents ; 
 and within its walls, we have every reason to believe, 
 their hopeful son first saw the light of day.f It was a 
 handsome mansion in Upper Merrion-street, abutting, as 
 a corner house, upon an expansive area, but long since 
 completely enclosed with buildings. Mornington House 
 was purchased by Nicholas Lord Cloncurry, in 1790, 
 for £8,000, and is now (1854) valued by Thorn's Offi- 
 cial Directory at £256 ; or for ten years' purchase, £2,560. 
 So much for " Ireland before and after the L T nion." 
 
 Whilst the arch-ministerial scheme was in contempla- 
 tion, and restlessly fermented, among the brains of 
 hungry placemen, Viscount Castlereagh, that most im- 
 
 * Up to the year 1797, " the Iron Duke" spelt his patronymic — Wesley. 
 This, sounding, in all probability, too Methodistieal for the soldier's taste, 
 he altered to the more aristocratic orthography of Welle sley. 
 
 t Dangan Castle, County Meath, so long pronounced to be his Grace's 
 birth-place, has of late years resigned in favour of the Merrion-street 
 mansion. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 57 
 
 maculate of statesmen, rented, it from Lord Cloncurry 
 and, aided by his venal colleagues, concocted within its 
 walls that execrable conspiracy which eventuated in the 
 annihilation of our dearest liberties. Repeated con- 
 ferences, accompanied on each occasion by Bacchanalian 
 orgies, were held in Mornington House for three or 
 four years anterior to the passing of the Act of 
 mion. 
 
 The progress of Valentine Lawless through the L ni- 
 versity of Dublin was not altogether couleur de rose. A 
 bitter personal hostility existed at that period between 
 the youthful patriotism of a large proportion * of the 
 collegians and the intolerant bigotry of the academical 
 heads. They not unfrequently came into collision, and 
 the crash on such occasions fulminated awfully. 
 
 Lawless had little more than begun the noviciate of 
 his college course when he joined the interesting and 
 intellectual meetings of the Irish Historical or Debating 
 Society,! wherein the seeds of nationality, already sown 
 in his mind, speedily began to germinate and fling forth 
 blossoms. The objects of this excellent institution 
 were most commendable. It professed to nurture mutual 
 respect among the rising generation of Irishmen, to 
 stimulate the rivalry of their young ambition, and direct 
 it into proper channels ; to suppress all anti-Christian 
 jealousies, stifle sectarian -animosities, and put a stop to 
 those unfortunate prejudices of caste and creed which so 
 long contributed to retard the prosperity of Ireland and 
 to stunt the development of her energies. 
 
 Amongst the many friends for life whom the Hon. 
 Valentine Lawless enlisted in his favour at the Irish 
 Historical Society's meetings, may be noted the late 
 Edward Lawson, Barrister-at-Law, for whom he gene- 
 rously provided, in the evening of his life, a comfortable 
 competence many years after. Though of humble origin, 
 Lawson was regarded by his brother associates with the 
 
 * This house is now the office of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners 
 t This excellent society has been recently revived by the present Provost, 
 who neither regards it, like Dr. Elrington, as a " Jacobite Club," nor appre- 
 hends that the collegians will become proficients in necromancy. 
 
 D 2 
 
58 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 profoundest respect, as much for his remarkable talents 
 as for his intrinsic worth. 
 
 The Historical Society was virulently opposed by 
 every enemy to national progress. Foremost in the 
 phalanx of educated bigots strutted, with pompous infla- 
 tion, the Rev. Dr. Elrington, Valentine's college tutor, 
 and afterwards both Provost of Trinity College and 
 Bishop of Ferns and Leighlin. In language the most 
 earnest, he vowed that this nursery of genius, friendship, 
 and patriotism should be then and there " put down ;" 
 and ere the lapse of any very considerable period, the 
 influential D.D. had the satisfaction of witnessing its 
 complete annihilation. Cloncurry, in one of his retro- 
 spects, daguerreotypes Elrington as " a learned man, but 
 stupid and blockish, and thoroughly imbued with the 
 narrowest bigotries of his class and position." His 
 unequal controversial contest with the great Dr. Doyle 
 will, doubtless, be in the recollection of the reader. 
 Like the Kilkenny cats, nothing but the tails can be 
 said to have remained after this terrific combat. In 
 1834, while yet undecided, the Roman Catholic Bishop 
 of Kildare and Leighlin, and the Protestant Bishop of 
 Leighlin and Ferns, died. Nothing remained behind to 
 tell the tale of triumph beyond a couple of controversial 
 pamphlets. 
 
 The mind of Dr. Elrington appears to have been of 
 most peculiar mould. In 1810, if he did not completely 
 lock up the College Library, he certainly subjected the 
 graduates to such restrictions in their access to it, that 
 with difficulty a visit could be, once in a way, obtained. 
 This grievance having been brought forward at a visita- 
 tion, the Provost was called on for his defence. He 
 replied, that latterly the utmost circumspection had be- 
 come necessary, as the collegians were actually taking 
 to the study of the black art, and would, probably, 
 soon be trying experiments after the manner of Dr. 
 Faustus !* 
 
 * Doctor Madden, who obtained access to those papers of the notorious 
 Major Sirr, which were purchased by the Trustees of Trinity College, and 
 are now preserved in its Library, prints, in one of his appendixes, a letter 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 59 
 
 In 1792, Valentine Lawless went to Switzerland, and 
 passed several months very pleasantly at Neufchatel, in 
 the family of a Protestant clergyman named Meuron. 
 He had but one fault to find with the worthy old parson — 
 an inordinate love of lucre, and the £Ood things of this life. 
 During the period of his domestication with him he 
 found his finances somehow rapidly diminishing; and 
 this he very plainly gave his friends to understand in a 
 letter home, dated June 30, 1793. " I can't at present 
 think of making anv tour," he writes, " j\Ieuron having 
 so completely fleeced me before I left him that I came 
 off a third poorer than I expected." 
 
 What Valentine lost in money at Neufchatel he more 
 than gained in the acquisition of some rather distinguished 
 acquaintances. Whilst here he cultivated the intimacy 
 of that excellent and liberal Prince, the Duke of Sussex, 
 his Grace of Leeds, the Earls of Morley, Annesley, 
 Digby, and Cholmondeley, and, though last not least, 
 the vivacious cava sposa of Voltaire's old executor, M 
 de Perou. At the house of this lady Lawless appears 
 to have been a frequent guest. 
 
 One morning about this period, the simple inhabitants 
 of Neufchatel were well nigh paralysed with wonderment 
 at beholding the arrival of a dazzling retinue of lacker?, 
 horses, and carriages, the property of Mr. William 
 Beckford, the popular author of Vatheh. Modern tour- 
 ists, who consider themselves intensely bored if accom- 
 panied by even a solitary portmanteau, will open their 
 eyes wide with astonishment to hear that Beckfords 
 travelling menage, on this occasion, consisted of thirty 
 horses, about half-a dozen carriages, and a proportionately 
 large retinue of servants. Of all men, however, Beckford 
 could, perhaps, best afford to live in this princely style. 
 
 from Dr. Provo-t Elrington, wherein he gives a full description to the Major 
 of Robert Emmet's appearance and gait. " In 1798," observes his old pre- 
 ceptor, " he was near twenty years of age ; of an ugly, sour countenance : 
 small eyes, but not near-sighted ; a dirty brownish complexion ; at a dis- 
 tance looks as if somewhat marked with the small-pox ; about five feet six 
 inches high ; rather thin than fat. but not of an emaciated figure ; on the 
 contrary, somewhat broad made ; walks briskly, bnt does not swing his 
 arms !" The picture is a monstrous caricature. 
 
60 CLOKCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 At the time we speak of lie had just inherited from his 
 father, Alderman Beckford, a net property equal to 
 £100,000 per annum. Lord Cloncuriy always spoke in 
 the warmest manner of Beckford's munificent hospitality 
 during the period of his stay in Neufchatel. 
 
 A very short time after their intercourse in 1793, 
 Beckford proceeded to Portugal, where he purchased the 
 estate of Cintra, and erected that magnificent mansion, 
 the desertion and ruin of which, some years afterwards, 
 Byron so beautifully describes in the first canto of" Childe 
 Harold "— 
 
 " There thou, too, Vathek ! England's wealthiest son, 
 Once formed thy Paradise." 
 
 After an agreeable sojourn at Neufchatel, Mr. Lawless 
 proceeded to Lausanne, a Swiss town picturesquely 
 situated on three steep hills which boldly project from 
 Mont Jorat, and command around a view of the neigh- 
 bouring country, which for variety of scenery and general 
 effect, is not to be surpassed in Europe. As, however, the 
 interior of the town is far from pleasing* — the streets 
 being narrow, steep, and ill-paved — it is not surprising 
 that Valentine Lawless should have taken up his quar- 
 ters in a rural cottage on the northern shore of the Lake 
 of Geneva, where he participated in all the advantages 
 arising from frequent access to a garden abounding in 
 trees that literally groaned from the weight of apricots and 
 peaches ; and whose branches, as if grateful for what they 
 bore, kissed that earth from which they derived vitality. 
 So enervating and oppressive appears to have been the 
 heat during Mr. Lawless' residence near Lausanne, that 
 he could do little else throughout the sultry summer's 
 day than remain quiescent in a bath, and gaze enrap- 
 tured on the lake beneath, unconscious of a ripple. At 
 night he found it unsatisfactory to go to bed, and impos- 
 sible to go to sleep, owing to the entire firmament being 
 one vivid sheet of flame from the reiterated flashes of 
 
 * Gibbon, whom it was no easy matter to please in regard to the beautiful 
 and picturesque, resided in Lausanne, singular to say, for the ten last years 
 of his existence. 
 
CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 61 
 
 forked lightning. " I believe," wrote Lawless in a letter 
 home, during his residence near the lake, " that I am the 
 only Englishman here that has not got a fever." Admit- 
 tedly a more delightful residence it would be impossible 
 to select than the neighbourhood of Geneva ; but, alas ! 
 what serious drawbacks to its attractions were thev — 
 heat, sunstrokes, lightning, and influenza ! 
 
 From a letter he addressed to his mother about this 
 period we are induced to make the following extracts ; 
 chiefly, we confess, in order to show the warmth of that 
 filial love with which he ever regarded one of the most 
 estimable and amiable of parents. A painful malady that 
 gradually sapped her strength, and finally crushed her 
 spirit, had a short time previous made its insidious entry 
 into her frame, and to which, after repeated onslaughts 
 that gathered new strength at each attack, she at length 
 succumbed, on February 10, 1795. 
 
 THE HOX. V. B. LAWLESS TO HIS MOTHER. 
 
 No. 1.] "Lausanne, June 30, 1793. 
 
 •• In the midst of the pain, both of body and of mind, with which, spite 
 of your virtues, God has been pleased to visit you, you still have, dearest and 
 best of mothers, showed more anxiety for the well-being of me, to whom you 
 not only gave life, but whose health you have, by so many years of care and 
 difficulty, established, than for your own recovery ; for which if I did not 
 perpetually beseech the Almighty, I should be truly unworthy of such a 
 mother. How I wish for a letter in which you will yourself assure me of your 
 perfect re-establishment, and how I pray that on my return to Ireland. I may 
 see you stronger and happier than w T hen I left you. 
 
 " Be not uneasy on my account ; for your parting advice made too strong 
 an impression on me to suffer me to transgress. * * * 
 
 •• I hope I shall be able to clothe and feed myself without running into 
 debt — a thing I have not as yet done, though it is much the fashion here. 
 Mr. Annesley,* who my Lordf said had but £300 per annum, has £600, yet 
 
 * The Hon. William Eichard Annesley, afterwards Lord Annesley. He 
 died in 1838. 
 
 f Nicholas Lord Cloncurry had the repittation of being a man extremely 
 fond of his money. We do not believe that he allowed Mr. Lawless as much 
 as would appear from this letter. From the wording of the sentence it is 
 evident that he must have remonstrated at the small amount ; and this, pro- 
 bably, drew from his father the remark, that young Annesley had only £300 
 instead of £600 a-vear. It is well known that Lawless, whilst a law student 
 in London, was kept rather low in regard to pocket money. 
 
 Sir Nicholas, although fond of his money, disliked above all things, to owe 
 any. It was his wish that all accounts should be promptly furnished. A 
 
62 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 he owes upwards of £200 in this town, without having ever travelled. I had 
 already told you that £400 a-year would be enough for me whilst not travel- 
 ling, and so it will ; but for this I shall not be able to take one or two mas- 
 ters I would wish for. One of them is a Mr. Mortimer, acknowledged the 
 best master in Europe for finances, eloquence, and .modern history. 'Twas he 
 that taught Isaac Corry. He now gives lessons to Lord Morpeth, who is my 
 neighbour, and a very accomplished, agreeable young man ; and also Mr. 
 Annesley, who, I am afraid, will not profit much. He costs a louis per week : 
 when I am a little richer I shall take him. * * * 
 
 " Farewell, dear, dear mother ; may God strengthen, and bless, and reward 
 you for your goodness and kindness to me. Your ever truly affectionate 
 and dutiful son, 
 
 " V. B. Lawless."* 
 
 His personal adventures in Lausanne were of very 
 minor interest, and, to a biographer, most provokingly 
 limited in number. Perhaps the least insignificant was 
 an altercation that took place between him and a young 
 " cannie Scot," named Bailey, upon the superiority of 
 their respective countries, viewed morally, physically, 
 politically, and socially. Words grew high, and oph- 
 thalmic fire flashed as freely as the flint of an Affghan 
 matchlock. An explosion should take place, sooner or 
 later, and accordingly Mr. Bailey flung his gauntlet on the 
 floor, and, with a countenance of purple ferocity, sug- 
 gested the propriety of bringing their quarrel to an issue 
 by duelling. An amiable young clergyman, however, 
 named Fowler, and much respected in after life as the 
 Lord Bishop of Ossory, benevolently undertook to act 
 the part of peace-maker, which he rilled so creditably, 
 that both belligerents were soon prevailed upon to shake 
 hands and separate. Fowler not only expatiated on 
 the unseemliness of two British subjects, in a foreign 
 country, proposing to fight a duel on such a ludicrous 
 and trifling pretext, but eloquently remonstrated with 
 
 tailor, long in the habit of supplying him with clothes, omitted to send in 
 his bill as soon as requested. Sir Nicholas despatched a special messenger 
 to beg he would make no further delay. The tailor smiled, and very sin- 
 cerely wished that all his customers were as certain to pay. Sir Nicholas 
 heard the tailor's reply with indignation. He sent back the messenger to 
 say that never while he lived would he (Snip) get another order from him, 
 and to consider himself from that hour dismissed. The bearer of this mes- 
 sage was Thomas Braughall, a well known political character in his day. 
 He told the anecdote to a near relation of the writer. 
 * See •' Personal Recollections of Lord Cloncurrv." 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 63 
 
 them on the gross and anti-Christian character of their 
 warmth. 
 
 It would appear, however, from what we are about to 
 add, that the Rev. Mr. Fowier did not make a habit of 
 practising what he preached. On one occasion, about 
 this period, when a revolutionary toast was proposed at a 
 public dinner-table at Geneva, we find the loyal church- 
 man starting fiercely from his seat, and hurling a glass of 
 calcavella at the head of the Gaul who occupied the 
 presidential post of dignity. The entire party, much to 
 their discomfiture, passed the remainder of the night in a 
 Genevese guard-house. 
 
 Added to the new acquaintances made by Mr. Lawless 
 in Neufchatel and Lausanne, we must not omit to men- 
 tion several officers of the Irish Brigade, who, in conse- 
 quence of the utter subversion of the family of Bourbon, 
 were compelled to emigrate, and " bide their time" in an 
 adjacent country. These men, who were invariably the 
 offspring of Irish fathers and French mothers, have been 
 described by Cloncurry as the finest models of men he 
 ever recollected to have seen. Their fathers, exiled for 
 loving the old land " not wisely, but too well," it may 
 be supposed that the sons were not altogether devoid of 
 sympathy for her afflictions, or that they hesitated to 
 express it to Mr. Lawless. Another class of men, Gallic 
 like the brigadiers, peopled Neufchatel at the period Ave 
 are describincr We allude to those nationalists — the 
 partisans of minor factions — who suddenly found them- 
 selves hurled far and wide bv that revolutionary explosion, 
 which had just asserted itself with a shock that well-nigh 
 shook the universe to its centre. " Surrounded bv such 
 society," wrote Lord Cloncurry, more than half a century 
 after, " it was natural that my thoughts should dwell 
 upon the rights of men, the abuses of party domination, 
 and especially of that form of the latter which had so long 
 held Ireland back in the progress of civilization. Thus 
 ray residence in Switzerland sent me home to Ireland 
 more Irish than ever. I lamented her fate, ardently 
 desired to be able to aid in ameliorating it, and be- 
 
G4 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 came filled with a passionate love of country, which 
 neither persecutions nor disappointments, nor even the 
 efflux of time, have, I am happy to say, rooted out of 
 my heart." 
 
 After various flying tours, and various sojourns along 
 the banks of the Rhine and elsewhere, Mr. Lawless re- 
 turned to Ireland, and made a bold commencement of 
 that political career which in the following pages it shall 
 be our duty to chronicle. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Tone establishes the Society of United Irishmen — James Xapper Tandy — 
 The Northern Star — Volunteer Convention — Whig Club — Roman Catholic 
 Apathy — Separation not the original Object of the Union — M'Xevin, 
 Emmet, and O'Connor — The Union Test — Prosperity of Ireland after 
 1782 — The Catholic mercantile Body — England at Peace in 1792 — Catho- 
 lic Petition spurned from the House — England's Fears in 1793 — Catholic 
 Petition granted — Vampire Spies — Blood and Confidence sucked from the 
 People — Anniversary of the French Revolution celebrated in Belfast — 
 Address to the Republic — Dr. Drennan — Emancipation and Reform — 
 Protestant Sympathy — Alarm of Government — Faction Societies — Orange- 
 men, Peep-o'-Day Boys, and Defenders — Secret Committee ; its baneful 
 Effects — Newel — Orange Oath — Bond and Butler fined and imprisoned — 
 The Irish National Guard — The People cajoled — Gunpowder Bill — Con- 
 vention Act — Rev. Vfm. Jackson — Escape of Hamilton Rowan — Wide- 
 spread Oppression — Arrival of Lord Fitzwilliam — The dark Horizon of 
 Ireland's Destiny for a Moment radiated — His Excellency recalled — Despair 
 of the People — Their fondest Hopes w r recked — Pratt, Earl Camden — Com- 
 mencement of the Reign of Torture — The Hon. V. B. Lawless joins the 
 Society of United Irishmen — Base Policy of the British Minister — Death 
 of Margaret Baroness Cloncurry — Battle of the Diamond — Reign of Ter- 
 ror — Licentiousness of the Troops — Rivers of Blood overrun the Country. 
 
 Before we enter on the connexion of Mr. Lawless with 
 the Society of United Irishmen, in 1795, it may be well 
 to take a retrospective glance at the political aspect and 
 position of Ireland for four years anterior to the recall of 
 Lord Fitzwilliam. 
 
 In October, 1791, Theobald Wolfe Tone, and a few 
 other spirited young nationalists, founded the Society of 
 United Irishmen. The germ of this formidable organi- 
 zation having been established in Belfast (where it 
 speedily took root), Tone repaired to Dublin, in order 
 to form there a co-operating club of Irish patriots. This 
 he succeeded in accomplishing, and James Napper Tandy* 
 
 * "Tandy was an opulent and influential merchant." — Autobiography of 
 Hamilton Rowan. 
 
66 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 having been inaugurated Secretary, correspondence was 
 at once opened with their brethren in the North. 
 
 No one could possibly have displayed more untiring 
 activity than did Theobald Wolfe Tone, in 1792, whilst 
 labouring to effect a coalition between the Catholics and 
 Dissenters. That year was the busiest in his political 
 career. He knew no rest. Actuated by the creditable 
 motive we have spoken of, he was constantly repairing 
 from Dublin to the North, and from the North back 
 again to Dublin, not to speak of his frequent missions to 
 Connaught and Munster, in order to stimulate into action 
 the apathetic Catholics. Tone was likewise connected 
 with the Catholic Committee, then slowly progressing 
 under the auspices of Keogh and Braughall. The poli- 
 tical views of both societies may be said to have con- 
 verged at this period towards the one great object. 
 
 The friends of national progress, well knowing the 
 importance of the press as a vehicle for the dissemination 
 of opinion, entered into arrangements with Samuel 
 Neilson, a young Northern of considerable ability and 
 patriotism, for the editorial management of a morning 
 newspaper. To place so powerful an engine on a firm 
 basis, twelve spirited citizens of Belfast subscribed £250 
 each, or altogether the munificent sum of £3000. " On 
 its appearance," says Tone, " it instantly rose to a most 
 rapid sale ; the leading Catholics through Ireland were, 
 of course, subscribers, and the Northern Star was one 
 great means of accomplishing the union of the two great 
 sects, by the simple process of making their mutual sen- 
 timents better known to each other." 
 
 Adhesions, though slowly at first, soon began to hurry 
 in, and Government, with concern and astonishment, 
 beheld the ranks of the confederation swell. They knew 
 not what to make of it, and in their anxiety to obtain 
 knowledge of the intended modus operandi, had recourse 
 to an old and favourite expedient. They collected from 
 the scum of society an unprincipled gang of ruffians, of 
 whom Jemmy O'Brien may be regarded as a type — men 
 who, for the sake of temporary lucre, were avowedly 
 willing to doom their souls, if necessary, by deliberate 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 67 
 
 perjury, so that the object of consigning a few national- 
 ists to the gibbet (no matter whether guilty or not guilty) 
 could be, by any stratagem, effected. 
 
 Two clubs, professedly of a national character, had 
 existed previous to the formation of the United Irish 
 Society. One was the Volunteer Convention of 1783 ; 
 the other the Whig Club. The former, with all its 
 display of patriotism and brotherly love, hesitated to 
 connect the question of Catholic Emancipation with 
 Parliamentary Reform ; and the latter, although 
 composed almost exclusively of Emancipators, in their 
 individual capacity, yet, as a body, contrived but too 
 successfully to exclude that most popular of questions 
 from the subject matter of their debates and confe- 
 rences. 
 
 The people, for a time, regarded the members of both 
 Volunteer and Whiff Clubs as the legitimate guardians 
 of their rights. But eventually their eyes opened, and 
 all popular confidence became alienated from both bodies. 
 Other and more intrepid leaders rushed to the rescue. 
 They denounced the so-called Parliamentary friends of 
 the people, and upbraided them with having forgotten 
 their duty. As the tone and action of these leaders 
 suited the temper of the times, new disciples were 
 not slow in rallying round their standard of " Erin go 
 Bragh." 
 
 It was a spirit-stirring watchword — " Emancipation — 
 Reform — We ask no more, and will have no less !" 
 ■ The higher order of Catholics, however, held aloof, 
 fearful of losing whatever little advantages they 
 possessed, and plunging themselves still deeper into the 
 dark and troublous sea of slavery and oppression. " Who 
 knows but King George may take pity on our misery," 
 they would say; "we will repose our confidence in the 
 beniffnitv of his Government, and trusting that better 
 days are in store for us, inoffensively pursue the quiet 
 tenor of our way." 
 
 So far from separation being the ultimate object of 
 this league, when originally started in Belfast and Dublin, 
 we have very excellent authority for stating that nothing 
 
68 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 was contemplated at the outset more treasonable in design 
 than Parliamentary Reform and Catholic Enfranchise- 
 ment. Our authorities for this assertion are Dr. 
 M'Nevin, Thomas Addis Emmet, and Arthur O'Connor — 
 men of unquestionable integrity and veracity.* This 
 respectable triumvirate have left upon written record 
 their conscientious belief, that no such object as separa- 
 tion from England was agitated either in public or private 
 debate, until the society was in existence for a consi- 
 derable period. " Its views," they added, " were purely 
 and in good faith what the test of the Society avowed." 
 Every Irishman who desired to become a member of the 
 union repeated this test; and that there was nothing 
 particularly sanguinary in it, will be evident to all upon 
 perusal. " I promise," so the test ran, " to aid in pro- 
 moting a union of friendship between Irishmen of all 
 religious persuasions, and to forward a full, fair, and 
 adequate representation of the people in Parliament." 
 
 The ten years which succeeded the Declaration of Irish 
 Independence in '82, were years of unusual prosperity, 
 both in Ireland and Great Britain. England, during that 
 decade, was at peace with all the world, and apathetically 
 dozed in the consciousness of snug security, whilst her 
 golden treasures were filling amain. In Ireland, as the 
 immediate result of the Dungannon Convention, national 
 amelioration was palpably evident, and Catholics every 
 day, to the no small horror of our rulers, rapidly increased 
 in wealth, number, and influence. The property daily 
 acquiring by that body stimulated their ambition to re- 
 cover the ancient rights of which they had been robbed, 
 and every hour found them more and more impatient for 
 some change of policy tending to affect their position in 
 the social scale. 
 
 Accordingly, early in 1792, we find a petition drawn 
 up by the Catholic body, humbly craving for the elective 
 franchise, and that the profession of the law might be 
 opened to them. Hardly one member of the House of 
 Commons could be found who would undertake to move 
 that this petition, signed as it was by three million of 
 
 * Memoir delivered to the Irish Government. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 69 
 
 names, should be laid upon the table. An equal difficulty 
 was experienced in procuring another to second it. At 
 length, after considerable delay, the preliminaries were 
 arranged, and the motion made. Pallid with consternation 
 at effrontery so daring, David Latouche, M.P. for Kil- 
 dare, started to his feet. We verily believe, that had a 
 sword depended from his side, he would have drawn it to 
 resist. In a short speech, he moved that the memorial 
 be spurned from the House ; and his friends, to a man, 
 having backed him in this hostility, the ill-starred petition 
 found itself expelled, with a degree of overt acrimony and 
 contempt that aroused even the indignation of the Pres- 
 byterians of the North. They knew, however, that it 
 would be indiscreet to show it, and accordingly confined 
 themselves to a moderate remonstrance. This having 
 been in due course presented, Sir Boyle Roche* called 
 upon the House " to toss it over the bar, and kick it into 
 the lobby, as coming from a turbulent and disorderly 
 set of people !" England, it must be remembered, was 
 now at peace with all the world, and feared no unplea- 
 sant Irish consequences from this little bit of insolence. 
 
 Things, however, were not destined to go on in this 
 way for ever. Towards the close of 1792, the scene, 
 amidst a peal of thunder, shifted. France was seen, in all 
 the grandeur of a distant tableau, crushing her adversaries 
 in every possible direction, while England, on the other 
 hand, apprehensive of approaching retribution, might be 
 observed quaking behind her national defences. The all- 
 consuming lava of republicanism threatened portentously 
 to overwhelm every European state. The cannon at 
 Gemappe, as it mowed down the Austrians in thousands 
 upon thousands, was heard reverberating at St. James's. 
 The wisdom of conciliating the Catholics was at length 
 felt and understood, and in the latter end of 1792 — in 
 the early part of which ministers had so contemptuously 
 rejected the petitions alike of Catholic and Dissenter — 
 
 * Sir Boyle Eoche, if not a bully like Egan, was at least one of the great- 
 est bull progenitors in the House. On one occasion he annoimced, with 
 admirable gravity, that " he for one was quite prepared to give up, not 
 merely a part, but the whole of the Constitution to preserve the remainder." 
 
70 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 those same ministers introduced a bill to relax the penal 
 code, and early in the following year another.* 
 
 The justice, however, as Mooret observes, that is wrung 
 from fear, but adds contempt to the former sense of wrong, 
 and the whole history of the concessions doled out to 
 Catholics in this, and the ensuing year, but exhibits in 
 its fullest perfection that perverse art in which Irish 
 "rulers have ever shown themselves such adepts, of throw- 
 ing a blight over favours by the motive and manner of 
 conferring them — an art which unhappily has had the 
 effect of rendering barren, thankless, and unblest some of 
 the fairest boons bestowed by England upon Ireland. 
 
 By the bills we have referred to, Catholics might, if 
 they chose, become stuff-gowned barristers, but the dignity 
 of king's counsel was still reserved for the ascendancy. 
 The doors of the grand jury-box, and of the military mess- 
 room, were no longer closed against them — they might 
 append " J. P." to their name, and practise as attorneys, 
 and, though last not least, they became eligible to par- 
 ticipate in the advantages of the elective franchise. These 
 concessions were, of course, solely the abortive offspring of 
 fear, which the sanguinary achievements of the young Re- 
 public hurried to a head. A large portion of the United 
 Irishmen were now avowedly republican, whilst, on the 
 other hand, the general body discountenanced physical 
 force. The Government spies had amalgamated with them, 
 and became, as it were, blended into their very existence. 
 With avidity the}'- entered into every plot, and willingly 
 took the oath of secrecy, in order the better to worm 
 themselves into the confidence of the conspirators. That 
 informations were daily lodged with the Secret Committee, 
 as to the progress of the treason, is not surprising ; and that 
 exaggeration invariably inflated them, still less so, since it 
 soon became an established motto, that the more alarming 
 the disclosure the more valuable the boon. In this way 
 the vampires sucked both confidence and blood from the 
 lips and veins of a too confiding people. 
 
 * O'Connell's "Memoir of Ireland," Philipps' " Curran and his Cotempora- 
 ries," Pari. Debs., &c. 
 
 f Life of Lord Edward Fitzgerald. 
 
CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 71 
 
 As the red flame of revolution extended throughout 
 Europe, Government gradually became more alarmed, 
 and in the above instalment of the debt of "justice to 
 Ireland," exhibited their anxiety to secure some portion 
 of Irish gratitude A few popular demonstrations too — 
 chiefly in the North — were not without effect in in- 
 spiring our rulers with a little wholesome dread of retri- 
 bution. That of the 14th July, 1792, is perhaps the 
 most important. The town of Belfast, by an imposing 
 feast and procession of her Volunteers, celebrated the 
 anniversary of the French Revolution. The mottoes 
 and devices were essentially democratic. One of them — 
 " Our Gallic brethren were born July 14, 1789, alas ! we 
 are still in embryo" — had nearly as much effect in 
 arousing governmental alarm as though a mine were 
 found laid beneath the Castle of Dublin. On the termi- 
 nation of the pageantry, the inhabitants, to the number 
 of 6,000, assembled in the Linen Hall, and voted an 
 address to the Gallic Republic. This, according to Tone, 
 was executed in admirable style by Dr. William 
 Drennan. Four years at least elapsed ere this revo- 
 lutionary spirit became generally blended into the 
 existence of Ireland. 
 
 Earlv in 1793 the members of the Union, in an 
 eloquent address, called upon all creeds and denominations 
 of Irishmen to rally round their bright green banner, 
 and resolutely co-operate with them in the great and 
 common cause. Parliamentary Reform and Catholic 
 Emancipation were conspicuously held up as the objects 
 to which their exertions should, with one grasp, converge. 
 
 It is not to be wondered at that a society, having 
 avowedly for its objects, political, religious, and national 
 enfranchisement, should soon have become in Ireland uni- 
 versally popular. With redoubled activity, men of all castes 
 and creeds forwarded their adhesions to the league, and 
 the concern of Government in an equal ratio increased. 
 Singular to say, a large proportion of the adhesions were 
 those of patriotic Protestants, and what is stranger still, 
 the greater number of the leaders in the insurrectionary 
 movement subsequently, as well as in 1848, were 
 
72 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 members of the English Church. How many British 
 bigots are there who ignorantly consider the names 
 " Rebel" and " Papist 1 ' as synonymous. 
 
 In order to in some degree counteract the benefi- 
 cial effect which the Union organization was expected, 
 by its members, to produce on the British minister, se- 
 veral adverse bands and societies, connivedatby the ruling 
 powers, were observed, in 1793, to start into existence. 
 Of these, perhaps, the most destructive was that body of 
 armed miscreants known as Orangemen, whose object, ac- 
 cording to their oath, appears to have been the extirpa- 
 tion, by every means in their power, of the Irish Roman 
 Catholics.* 
 
 Another very mischievous association which made its 
 debut at the period of which we write, was that familiarly 
 designated " Peep-o'-day Boys." Scouring the Popish 
 districts at the dawn of morning, and earring off, sans ce- 
 remonie, any fire-arms which the " Papishes"^ might, for 
 personal protection, be possessed of, appears to have been 
 the usual occupation of this body. In vindication of their 
 rather intolerable conduct, they would occasionally pro- 
 duce an old mildewed penal statute, which prohibited 
 members of the Catholic communion from retaining arms, 
 even for self defence, in their possession. 
 
 On the other hand, a body of Catholic peasants, calling 
 themselves, and with some show of reason, " Defenders," 
 now came unsolicited to the rescue ; and when we take 
 into consideration the maddening cruelties which were, 
 for some time past, being daily perpetrated by the Orange- 
 men and " Peep-o'-day Boys," it must be admitted that 
 the existence of this society was not altogether uncalled 
 for, had its members confined themselves to what they 
 were organized to effect, and not retaliated with cruelty 
 when favoured by opportunity. 
 
 * The Press newspaper of Oct. 17, 1797, pronounces the following to be a 
 correct copy of the Orange oath: — "I, A. B., do hereby swear, that I will 
 be true to the King and Government, and that I will exterminate, as far as 
 I am able, the Catholics of Ireland." 
 
 f The manner in which the vulgar Orangemen of the North were in the 
 habit of pronouncing the word " Papist." 
 
CLONCURRY AXD HIS TIMES. 73 
 
 Also, in 1793, was originated that unscrupulous inqui- 
 sition known as the Secret Committee, which having first 
 put the suspected parties on the solemnity of their oaths, 
 would then interrogate them with admirable sang froid, 
 as to the acts, desires, and intentions of their associates. 
 The examinations, however, of the suspected confederates 
 were productive of comparatively trivial disaster when 
 compared to those of such men as Newel and O'Brien. 
 As Mr. Cooke rewarded them munificently for their evi- 
 dence, it may well be supposed that they did not econo- 
 mize it. They swore on the Holy Evangelists, and then, 
 veracious and perjured, disgorged it indiscriminately. 
 Alas ! what a mass of murderous evidence was, by these 
 means, elucidated ; and, oh, what a sea of innocent blood, 
 as it surged around their councils, cried piteously to 
 Heaven that It might yet avenge ! The published nar- 
 rative* of John Edward Newel, a repentant reformer, is 
 well worthy the attention of all who doubt that perjury 
 polluted the witness table of the Secret Committee. 
 
 The component elements of this modern Star-chamber 
 appear to have been chiefly noblemen, opposed to the Ca- 
 tholic claims — noblemen who, during the summer of 1792, 
 contemptuously designated the Catholic Committee " The 
 Popish Congress/' Air. Oliver Bond and other United 
 Irishmen, having had the daring to allege in public that 
 the researches of the Committee were not confined to the 
 professed purpose of its institution, but directed mani- 
 festly to the discovery of evidence in aid of prosecutions 
 1 previously commenced, and utterly unconnected with the 
 
 * " At two o'clock I was admitted to the room where the Secret Committee 
 were sitting. After the usual formularies I was placed in a high chair, for 
 the benefit of being better heard. 1 went through the subject of the exami- 
 nations, improving largely on the hi/its and instructions Cooke had given me; 
 propagating circumstances which never had, or I suppose will happen; in- 
 creased the number of the United Irishmen, their quantity of arms and ammu- 
 nition ; fabricated, stories which helped to terrify them, and raised me high in 
 their estimation. I told them of laws framed to govern the Republic when they 
 had overthrown the present Government, many of which they approved of 
 highly, though they had no foundation but the effusion of my own brain. I 
 embellished largely,' 1 '' ff-c, $c. — See " Life and Confessions of John Edward 
 Newell, written by himself. London : printed for the author, 1798." Dr. 
 Madden pronounces the authenticity of the work to be unquestionable. 
 
 E 
 
74 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 cause of the disturbances it was appointed to investigate,* 
 both lie and the Hon. Simon Butler, Chairman of the So- 
 ciety, were sentenced, by the House, to pay each a fine of 
 £500 to the Crown, and undergo, in addition, six months' 
 imprisonment. Bond's counsel endeavoured to distinguish 
 the legislative from the judicial function of the House of 
 Lords, and denied its right to administer an oath, in the 
 former capacity. The fines imposed were defrayed by the 
 voluntary subscriptions of the United Irishmen. 
 
 Among the various expedients proposed by the Union- 
 ists for presenting a formidable front to Government, was 
 a revival of the old Volunteer system, which, under the 
 auspices of Flood and Grattan, had produced such bene- 
 ficial results to Ireland. This they successfully established 
 in Belfast, In Dublin, some attempts were made to ori- 
 ginate an armed body on a similar principle, to be called 
 the " Irish National Guard," or " Battalion ;" but, on the 
 evening previous to the first meeting of the corps, a pro- 
 clamation from Government suddenly appeared prohi- 
 biting it. 
 
 The Parliamentary Session of 1793 opened with what 
 was very unusual — a smile of conciliation towards Ca- 
 tholic Ireland. A proposal, stated to have originated in 
 the bounty of the Crown, was made to Parliament, that 
 it should then and there take into consideration the con- 
 dition of his Majesty's Irish Catholic subjects. The plea- 
 surable feelings entertained by that much oppressed body 
 may be imagined upon beholding a deputation from the 
 " Popish Congress" amicably closeted with the minister 
 for several successive days, " negotiating," says Moore, 
 " for their admission to power on a far wider basis than 
 that from which, but a few months before, the same mi- 
 nister had so contemptuously dislodged them." 
 
 With joy and gratitude the poor down-trodden Catho- 
 lics beheld the gladsome dawn of what appeared to be a 
 much more just and liberal policy than that which had 
 animated the previous conduct of their rulers. Catholic 
 
 * Its proposed object was to investigate the misdemeanours committed by 
 " Peep-o'-day Boys." 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 75 
 
 Emancipation — unconditional and unfettered! Oh, could 
 it be possible that the long-craved boon was at length about 
 to be conceded ? Poor helots ! they were well nigh over- 
 come with joy as they strained their eyes, blood-shot from 
 Ions: and anxious watching, into the mists of the future. 
 And how much was this satisfaction augmented upon learn- 
 ing that the no less vital question of Parliamentary Reform 
 bid fair to pass triumphantly through Lords and Com- 
 mons. For the first time, Government appeared to see 
 the feasibility of such a measure, by formally appointing a 
 Select Committee, whose business it would be to inquire into 
 the state of the representation. To discern its corruption 
 required no microscope ; and as the people were frilly 
 cognizant of this, they awaited, with some anxiety, to 
 hear the upshot of the investigation. 
 
 Grief and disappointment, the overwhelming despair of a 
 " hope deferred, "crushed into atoms their expectanthearts. 
 A number of severe Acts were passed this Session. One 
 of them — the Gunpowder Bill — designed, as Mr. Grattan 
 said, to put down the Irish Volunteers, gave great um- 
 brage to the popular party. It was on this occasion that 
 Lord Edward Fitzgerald stood forth almost alone against 
 the Treasury benches, denouncing, with Demosthenic 
 energy, this iniquitous Act, which, strictly speaking, was 
 nothing more or less than a modern addition to the ancient 
 penal code. Another of the coercive measures of the 
 Session was Lord Clare's celebrated Convention Act, which 
 nearly twenty years afterwards was made subservient to 
 • the overthrow of the Catholic Board. Its object on this 
 occasion was avowedly to suppress the Society of United 
 Irishmen. Such proceedings were not particularly qualified 
 to soothe the ruffled spirit of Catholic Ireland, much less to 
 secure to King George the gratitude and affection of his 
 Irish subjects. 
 
 For a considerable time that species of agitation, usually 
 known as " constitutional," was diligently pursued ; but it 
 required something more approximating to the intrepid 
 demonstrations of '82,* to wrest any right of moment 
 
 * It is needless to remind the reader, that not until the Volunteers brought 
 their cannon before the Senate-house, were the rights of Ireland conceded by 
 the British Minister. 
 
76 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 from the grasp of sucli a Government. As the perfect hope- 
 lessness, however, of " talking agitation" became apparent 
 to them, a change gradually " crept o'er the spirit of their 
 dream." 
 
 Early in 1794, the Rev. William Jackson, a clergyman 
 of the Established Church, was arrested on a charge of 
 high treason, the first indictment of the nature preferred 
 against any Irishman since 1691. Having been commis- 
 sioned by the French Republic to sound the United Irish- 
 men as to their willingness to join them, should an inva- 
 sion be attempted, he repaired to Ireland, but executed 
 his mission on the way thither with such consummate in- 
 discretion that discovery resulted, and eventually death. 
 This catastrophe, however, was brought about by his own 
 hand. Having been convicted of high treason, and just 
 as his counsel was on the point of moving for an arrest of 
 judgment, Jackson, whilst standing in the dock, dropped 
 lifeless to the floor. By a post mortem examination, it 
 was ascertained that a large dose of poison had been swal- 
 lowed. Jackson's conduct throughout his long and pro- 
 tracted imprisonment was mostheroic and exemplary. Tone 
 states it as his conviction that Jackson might, if he chose, 
 have undoubtedly saved himself by turning king's evi- 
 dence against many who were seriously compromised in 
 the matter. In fact a proposal of the nature was formally 
 made to him, but he spurned it indignantly, and hurled 
 it, reeking with corruption as it was, back in the tempter's 
 face. 
 
 It may be well to mention that exactly one year an- 
 terior, when France had declared war against her power- 
 ful rival, the Republican Government despatched a 
 similar emissary to Ireland, with a letter of introduction 
 to Lord Edward Fitzgerald. His lordship, as he referred 
 him to Mr. Oliver Bond, gave him, it would appear, but lit- 
 tle encouragement. The embassy, accordingly , returned to 
 France, without having any very satisfactory intelligence 
 to communicate to the Comite de Scdut Publique* 
 
 Jackson's reception a year later was essentially differ- 
 
 * Which Thomas Carlyle thus translates and expounds: — "A Committee 
 of public salvation, whereof the world still shrieks and shudders." 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 77 
 
 ent — thanks to the paternal Government of the day. By 
 every system of imaginable coercion, a mercenary Execu- 
 tive employed its leisure hours in fomenting discontent, 
 and enkindling, with sardonic ecstacy, the slumbering 
 embers of that furnace which was soon to burst forth 
 with so much heat and fury. Many of the Union leaders 
 received the proposal with delight, entered into the spirit 
 of the scheme with avidity, and awaited the realization 
 of the project with that trepidation and anxiety of which 
 the peculiar circumstances of the case cannot fail to con- 
 vey a forcible idea. 
 
 Up to the year 1794 the meetings of the Union, or 
 Society of United Irishmen, were held openly ; but by 
 one of the recently introduced coercive statutes, the 
 military and police received strict orders, and full power, 
 to disperse them as illegal. " The whole body," says 
 Moore, "thus debarred from the right of speaking out 
 as citizens, passed naturally to the next stejD of plotting 
 as conspirators." 
 
 On the 29th January, 1794, Archibald Hamilton 
 Rowan, a Protestant gentleman of rank, was committed 
 for two years to Newgate, and fined the sum of £500. 
 Rowan's offence was, that he rejoiced in the appellation 
 of United Irishman, and unhesitatingly expressed his 
 views on two or three occasions. In striking the* jury, 
 he urged strong objections against two, on the grounds 
 of their having been heard declare, that " Ireland would 
 never be quiet until Napper Tandy and Hamilton Rowan 
 were hanged."* In support of this allegation he offered 
 proof, but the Bench at once overruled the flimsy objec- 
 tion. 
 
 Aided by his faithful attorney, Matthew Dowling, 
 Rowan soon succeeded in escaping from Newgate. A 
 wherry, manned by two honest sailors, named Sheridan, 
 was at readiness for him at Howth. They did not know 
 Rowan, nor he them. In spite of turbulent billows, the 
 party were, before next evening, half-way to France. 
 On Rowans disappearance, proclamations appeared, offer- 
 
 * "Autobiography of Hamilton Rowan," Dublin, 1840. Page 189. 
 
78 CLONCURRT AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 ing £1500 for his apprehension. One of them found its 
 way into Sheridan's possession, who, resting on his oars, 
 commenced to scrutinize the traitor. " You are right, 
 boys," said he, "I am Hamilton Rowan ; but you are 
 Irishmen." " Never fear," replied the noble fellow ; "by 
 , we will land you safe." And so they did. 
 
 From this date State prosecutions succeeded each other 
 with electrical rapidity. Juries were packed with more 
 than ordinary profligacy — iniquitous judgments pro- 
 nounced with unfaltering tongues. Oppression, robed in 
 the black pall of death, stood scowling in the market- 
 place, the field, the cottage, the bye-way, and the street. 
 With increasing pertinacity and aplomb, hired informers 
 wormed themselves into the secrets and homes of the 
 peasantry. A licentious soldiery, formidable in their 
 filth, even to their own commander,* cast themselves on 
 the people, and for every mark of hospitality shown, 
 responded with an imprecation, and oftentimes something 
 worse. The reign of torture, however, had not yet com- 
 menced. 
 
 The memorable naval victory obtained by England 
 over her Gallic enemies, on June 1st, 1794, was not 
 particularly calculated to serve the interests of Ireland. 
 If Madame Britannia was haughty before, she now be- 
 came a hundred degrees more supercilious and unbearable ; 
 and with a flambeau in one hand, and a scourge in the 
 other, made preparations for her descent on the homes of 
 the peasantry. Flushed with a splendid triumph abroad, 
 she chuckled at the menacing attitude assumed by the 
 Irish republicans at home, and as their organization pro- 
 gressed, regarded it with some of that singular affection 
 which a great she-wolf might be supposed to experience 
 when gazing on a promising young lamb doomed even- 
 tually to be its prey. 
 
 We have now arrived at the year 1795. On the 4th 
 of January, a day of unusual rejoicing in Dublin, the 
 amiable and benevolent Earl Fitzwilliam, by a momentary 
 
 * Sir Ralph Abercrombie. Shortly after he threw up the command, dis- 
 gusted with their licentiousness. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 79 
 
 triumph of the Whigs, made his grand inaugural entry 
 as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. A gleam of hope and sun- 
 shine radiated for an instant the dark horizon of Ireland's 
 destiny. It did not require a clairvoyant's power to fore- 
 see that Lord Fitzwilliam was the man who, above all 
 others, might reasonably be expected to throw open to 
 Catholics the gates of the Constitution. The people 
 received the venerable peer with the most enthusiastic 
 manifestations of delight, for his estimable character had 
 been borne on the wings of Fame before him, not to the 
 perfumed salons of the great, but into the lowly dwellings 
 of the poor and oppressed. Many an old Popish Helot, 
 bedridden from infirmities, and patiently awaiting his final 
 summons from above, was seen to raise himself with reno- 
 vated energy upon his couch, and smiling in the proud 
 consciousness of having emancipated children, listen to the 
 intelligence almost too good to be credited. When the 
 Treaty of Limerick was deliberately violated by Act of 
 Parliament, these old Helots were babies in their nurses' 
 arms. Good Heavens ! what a life was theirs — what a 
 long, dark, troublous, miserable existence ! checquered 
 by hardly one spot of happiness, political or domestic — one 
 ray of sunshine to cheer them on their pilgrimage. Poor 
 Helots, at last you may rejoice. The century of bondage 
 is drawing to a close ; your time is nearly up ; the good 
 Fitzwilliam has arrived, and he bears in his hand the 
 scroll of your emancipation. 
 
 The policy of Lord Fitzwilliam was to conciliate 
 rather than persecute, and he privately determined that 
 it should not be damaged or interfered with by any 
 of the old agents of the English interest in Ireland. 
 He accordingly lost little time in dismissing from office 
 John Claudius Beresford, John Toler, afterwards Lord 
 Norbury, the " hanging Judge," and a few others. Those 
 men had made themselves obnoxious to the Roman 
 Catholics by their extreme sectarian views, and the 
 bigotry which animated their general conduct and de- 
 meanour. Duly empowered by the British Cabinet, for 
 what reason we know not, to complete the political 
 enfranchisement of Irish Catholicism, Lord Fitzwilliam, 
 
80 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 witli a smiling countenance and a firm grasp, assumed 
 the reins of Government in Ireland. 
 
 Grattan at once announced the purposes of Lord Fitz- 
 william's Administration. The call of that great com- 
 moner to the Councils of the Viceroy* was hailed by 
 every Catholic in the land as a certain earnest of the 
 boons which they so eagerly longed for and so confidently 
 expected. Lord Fitzwilliam at once proceeded to put 
 matters into train, and acted upon any suggestion of 
 Mr. Grattan's that appeared to him founded upon pru- 
 dence and justice. 
 
 It may be well imagined that the Catholics of all 
 classes and circumstances, after having endured, for seven 
 hundred years, every possible description of insult and 
 persecution, at length, in 1795, looked forward with 
 rejoicing hearts to the not far distant cessation of the 
 torture. With the full sanction of Government, and 
 unopposed by a single murmur of dissatisfaction from any 
 part of the country, Grattan obtained leave to introduce 
 a bill, having avowedly for its object the complete eman- 
 cipation of four million of Irish Catholics. Oh ! with 
 what joy unutterable did they look forward to the 
 cheerful dawn of morning, after that long, dark night of 
 slavery and horror, of incubus and troubled dreams, 
 which thrills even the historian as he gazes back upon 
 it through the vista of records, history, and tradition. 
 The bill was prepared; with palpitating hearts the peo- 
 ple awaited the unloosening of their chains ; but, oh ! can 
 it be credited, just as Grattan was on the point of pre- 
 senting it, the British Minister stretched forth his hand, 
 and with demoniac cruelty, dashed the cup from their 
 lips. Intimation was conveyed to Lord Fitzwilliam of 
 his approaching recall. He in vain expostulated on the 
 danger of retracting the concession, and with some 
 warmth declared, that he at least would not be the 
 person " to raise a flame which nothing but the force of 
 arms could put down." His remonstrances being favour- 
 able to Ireland, were, of course, disregarded. Instead of 
 
 * .. 
 
 Memoirs and Correspondence of Viscount Castlereagh," vol. i. page 11. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 81 
 
 endeavouring to conciliate the people, they preferred 
 goading them into insurrection, and the upright and 
 generous Fitzwilliam was replaced by hirn whom John 
 Magee incurred the vengeance of the law for designating — 
 " The cold-hearted and cruel Camden."* 
 
 Fitzwilliam's earnest wish to conciliate the Catholics, 
 and the generous advances made by his lordship towards 
 that much-oppressed body, flings a lustrous halo around 
 his character and name, far more brilliant and enduring 
 than the dazzling honours and appliances which will long 
 be remembered as identified with the period of his vice- 
 regal rule in Ireland.! Long after these shall have faded 
 from public recollection, the bright old name of William 
 Wentworth, Earl of Fitzwilliam, will be found inscribed 
 in golden lines on the tablets of every Irish memory. 
 
 On the day of the good man's departure from Ireland 
 every shop was closed — all the wonted din of a populous 
 city stilled. In fact, the country was in mourning, and 
 its people in tears. The citizens of Dublin, anxious to 
 manifest their love and veneration, drew his carriage to 
 the water side, and invoked benedictions on his head. 
 Among those who paid him this flattering compliment 
 were some of the most opulent mercantile men in Dublin. 
 Thus terminated the short but memorable Viceroyalty 
 of Earl Fitzwilliam. 
 
 This sudden, unexpected, and capricious recall cannot, 
 we think, fail to excite some wonder in the minds of all 
 impartial readers. On what grounds was Lord Fitz- 
 william's Viceroyalty declared to have terminated? 
 Simply because, like the good Marquis of Anglesey, he 
 
 * This was one of the veracious but uncomplimentary epithets applied to 
 Lord Camden, by the spirited proprietor of the Evening Post, and which lie 
 was subsequently made to expiate by a fine of £500 and two years' im- 
 prisonment in Xewgate. The defence of John Magee was O'Connell's 
 greatest bar effort, and should be studied by every Irishman. It is a 
 masterpiece of historical retrospect, of forensic argument, and impassioned 
 eloquence. 
 
 f " During the short time Lord Fitzwilliam continued in the Lieutenancy 
 of Ireland, Dublin Castle exhibited a splendour which had never before been 
 displayed in that kingdom. The magnificence of all his appointments, 
 while they bespoke the dignity of the proprietor, furnished the means of 
 industry and of happiness to thousands." — Public Characters for 1799. 
 
 E 2 
 
82 CXONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 manifested more affection than was strictly British towards 
 the Catholic inhabitants of Ireland. 
 
 A few days after the above melancholy event, Pratt, 
 Earl Camden, who had just inherited the great title of a 
 greater father, arrived in Dublin. So violent was the 
 feeling of the people against their new ruler, as to be 
 found imperatively necessary to call out the military, 
 horse and foot, before he could venture to proceed to 
 Dublin. Little time was lost in reinstating to office 
 the BeresfordsandTolers,and in expelling contemptuously 
 every Whig and Catholic who had crept into petty power 
 during the Fitzwilliam Administration. This, dear reader, 
 was one way of conciliating an angered people, and of 
 extinguishing the flame of Irish discontent. It is quite 
 invaluable, that Saxon recipe — a recipe in the possession 
 of the Hanoverian, Plantagenet, and Brunswick families 
 from time immemorial, and which they would not relin- 
 quish for the re-possession of America. 
 
 It is universally admitted, that the treacherous recall of 
 Lord Fitzwilliam had more effect than any of the pre- 
 ceding insults in bringing the Irish struggle to a crisis. 
 " Within three months after his dismissal," observes Bar- 
 rington, " Lord Clare had got the nation into full training 
 for military execution." The greatest excitement pre- 
 vailed, and the utmost fury characterized the movements 
 of the mob. The Chancellor in his carriage was assailed. 
 Amongst other missiles, a stone alighted on his lordship's 
 forehead, w 7 hich, had it been hurled with somewhat 
 more force, would have rid the people, as Sir Jonah 
 Barrington said, of one of its greatest enemies. He escaped 
 in the melee, but the mob, foaming with fury, repaired to 
 his house in Ely -place, and threatened to reduce it to a 
 ruin. From thence they proceeded to attack the Custom- 
 house, where that most obnoxious individual, Mr. Com- 
 missioner Beresford, resided. Nobody was so blind as 
 not to see, at a glance, what sad disaster the recall pro- 
 duced. " Its natural effect," writes Mr. Moore, " was to 
 reinforce instantly the ranks of the United Irishmen with 
 all that mass of discontent crenerated bv such a defiance 
 of the public will, and we have it on the authority of the 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 83 
 
 chief leaders themselves, that out of the despair and dis- 
 gust of this moment, arose an immediate and immense 
 accession of strength to their cause." Up to this period 
 neither M'Nevin, Fitzgerald, Emmet, nor O'Connor had 
 joined the ranks of the United Irishmen. 
 
 Mr. Pelham, afterwards Lord Chichester, accompanied 
 Lord Camden, as his Chief Secretary, to Ireland. On the 
 first night of his official appearance in the House, Henry 
 Grattan, though with considerable misgivings, brought 
 forward the Catholic question. The wary sentinel, true 
 to his colours, at once started to his feet, and emphasizing 
 every word, went on to say, that " what the Catholics 
 sought was incompatible with the existence of a Protestant 
 Constitution — that concession must stop somewhere — it 
 had already reached the utmost limit — it could not be 
 allowed to proceed — and here he would plant his foot, 
 and never consent to recede an inch further." " The 
 debate," observes the Castlereagh memoir, " was conti- 
 nued through the night, and until eight in the morning, 
 with most unusual warmth and eloquence, but the question 
 was lost. From that moment the popular feeling, with 
 its desperate decision, and a system of horrors com- 
 menced." 
 
 As we have elsewhere observed, it was just at the time 
 of Fitzwilliam's recall that the Hon. Valentine Browne 
 Lawless returned to Ireland. Amid such stirring and 
 exciting scenes he did not remain an idle or an uncon- 
 cerned spectator. His holiest sympathies were enlisted 
 in the cause of Ireland — he saw her people prostrated to 
 the dust, and an arrogant oligarchy riding roughshod over 
 them. He saw the injuries his country had received, 
 and the insufferable insults which followed up those 
 injuries. He heard of the national confederation of 
 Irishmen, and resolved to fling himself heart and soul 
 into its strength.* 
 
 * Lord Cloncuny, in after life, frequently declared, that when he gave in 
 his adhesion to the United Irish Society, he had no objects in view beyond 
 Parliamentary Reform and Catholic Emancipation. We have already men- 
 tioned, that during this year the tone of the organization materially and 
 ostensibly changed. It must, therefore, appear strange, that his lordship 
 shoidd have openly lent his countenance to the movement, if not an advo- 
 
84 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 Lawless was one of those impulsive characters, who, 
 the moment they resolve, invariably act. Accordingly, we 
 find him in the summer of 1795 regularly enrolled a mem- 
 ber of the Society of United Irishmen, and by every 
 means in his power labouring to further its objects. He 
 could find nothing objectionable in the Union Test, and 
 of course had no hesitation in repeating it. 
 
 We are assured by Lord Cloncurry, in his " Personal 
 Recollections," that up to 1795 " this liberal opposition," 
 as he mildly defines it, " was altogether untouched by 
 treason." In this opinion his lordship was manifestly 
 mistaken. A very vast deal of treasonable spirit pervaded 
 the confederation at this juncture. Every hour found 
 them more and more disgusted with the policy of their 
 rulers. Every day fresh and gratifying accounts of the 
 wide-spread progress of the French Revolution came to 
 their ears. Its example stimulated their enterprise ; they 
 felt themselves renovated for a battle — they thought of 
 the triumphs of Benburb, Clontarf, andBeal Natha Buidhe, 
 and longed with unabating ardour to be free. Even 
 some sixteen months anterior, wdien Tone saw the hope- 
 lessness of achieving the mighty objects of his ambition, 
 by John Keogh's easy-going, and subsequently most 
 unpopular policy, he was heard to declare his republican 
 sentiments openly. What is still more conclusive, he 
 committed them to paper, where they may, to this day, 
 be found recorded: — "Ten thousand French," he sullenly 
 soliloquises, in his Journal of March 27, 1793, "would 
 accomplish a separation." But that nothing in the least 
 approaching unanimity prevailed on this momentous 
 
 cate for separation. Yet strange as it may seem, such, nevertheless, we 
 believe to be the fact. Lord Cloncurry, although an United Irishman, was 
 no separatist. Many, however imagined, from some ambiguous sentences to 
 which he subsequently gave expression, that although not a separatist in 
 1 797, he, at all events, was in 1849, when he expressed himself as follows : — 
 " It was no prompting of vulgar ambition that impelled Lord Edward 
 Fitzgerald, but a strong conviction at first that Ireland could neither be free 
 nor prosperous unless her legislature were puriried, and her people all made 
 equal in the eye of the law; and afterwards, when the hope of effecting 
 these reforms vanished — a belief that no remedy remained but a separation 
 from England, and a committal of her destinies for good or for evil. I shared 
 at the time in his first-formed conviction, though in his more mature con- 
 clusion I did not THEN participate!" &c, fee. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 85 
 
 question, will be evident from the following passage, 
 extracted from the same day's diary : — " War unpopular 
 here — trade very bad — credit rather better than in 
 England." This, it must be remembered, was written in 
 1793. Matters had now assumed a much more formidable 
 aspect. 
 
 The spirit of faction never raged with greater fury 
 than in 1795, when Camden, scourge in hand, assumed 
 the reins of government. 
 
 The burnings, pitch-torturings,* half-hangings, pick- 
 etings, tarrings, and scourgings to which the unfortunate 
 people were notoriously subjected for long anterior to 
 the rising of '98, must be in the recollection of every 
 well-read Irishman. The goading system was daily in 
 requisition, ripening discontent into rage, and provoking 
 rage to retaliation. The people, driven from their homes, 
 were hunted as wild beasts, slaughtered sometimes, tor- 
 tured always. Whatever little property they possessed 
 fell into the hands of the despoiler. Fencibles, Hessians, 
 and Ancient Britons (so many monsters in human form), 
 were turned by their officers loose upon the wives and 
 daughters of a virtuous peasantry, incited to the practice 
 of every infamy and outrage, and commanded to pitch- 
 cap, flog, and torture with gunpowder and fire, those 
 husbands, fathers, sons, or brothers, w r ho ventured to 
 raise their feeble voices in opposition to the system. 
 Government afforded the people no protection, and there 
 was not one solitary magistrate — w T ith perhaps a single 
 exception — who would take a deposition! against any of 
 the licensed persecutors. 
 
 The Union w T as of course the ulterior object of this 
 
 * This requires some explanation. A cap, well anointed with hot pitch, 
 was applied to the shorn head of the victim. When cold, the operator 
 dragged it off and (unless he failed most miserably) the scalp accompanied 
 it. Another torture consisted in shaving the hah close, in the form of a 
 cross, filling up the furrows with gunpowder and filings of iron, and then 
 applying a lighted match to the margin. This was considered a salutary 
 custom, inasmuch as it expressed a caustic sarcasm for Popery, and occa- 
 sionally led to confessions of apparently past transgression. Whether true or 
 false seems to have mattered little. 
 
 f This fact is stated by Madden, in his " Connexion between Ireland and 
 Great Britain Considered." 
 
86 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 policy. Indeed the Duke of Portland himself very plainly 
 said as much, so early as 1795, when he recommended 
 Lord Fitzwilliam to retrace his steps on the Catholic 
 question. 
 
 The ministerial scheme, which was wily and deep laid, 
 may be thus epitomised. In secret conference it was 
 arranged to filch from poor Ireland, the very moment she 
 would be found prostrate and exhausted from a series of 
 ineffectual struggles for freedom — when too much stricken 
 down to entertain one atom of hope for future regenera- 
 tion — when so miserably debilitated from loss of blood as 
 to be unable to offer any resistance to the outrage— it 
 was then, we say, proposed to filch, with characteristic 
 treachery, from the breast of Ireland, her brightest and 
 most valuable gem — the possession of her domestic Par- 
 liament. 
 
 " Sir," exclaimed Lord Castlereagh, in an unusual 
 burst of candour, during M'Nevin's examination before 
 the Secret Committee, li means were taken to make the 
 United Irish system explode? A truer sentence never 
 emanated from his lips. In order to bring about the 
 Union measure it was necessary that the flame of rebel- 
 lion should be fed ; and that Government were not back- 
 ward in acting so will, we think, be tolerably evident to 
 any person who takes the trouble of reading those books 
 of Madden and Moore, which treat more particularly of 
 that eventful period of Irish history.* 
 
 In asserting that the people were driven into insurrec- 
 tion by a system of persecution encouraged by Govern- 
 ment, it is possible we may be accused by some of 
 partiality, and by others with a wanton exaggeration 
 of facts. " Even though, you may produce authorities," 
 may possibly exclaim some critic, " it will be found that 
 they are Irish ones, and doubtless partisans." It is with 
 no small satisfaction that we can, in reply, refer such 
 
 * The Secret Committee's Beport for 1798 contains, amongst others, the 
 following pregnant passage : — " It appears, from a variety of evidence laid 
 before your Committee, that the rebellion would not have broken out so soon 
 as it did, had it not been for the well-timed measures adopted by Govern- 
 ment, $c. n 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 87 
 
 parties to the recorded sentiments of some of the most dis- 
 tinguished cabinet ministers of England, amongst whom 
 the late Lord Holland and the present Lord John Russell 
 must not be overlooked. " The fact," writes Lord Hol- 
 land, " is incontrovertible, that the people of Ireland were 
 driven to resistance by the free quarters and excesses of 
 the soldiery, which were such as are not permitted in 
 civilized warfare, even in an enemy's country."* Lord 
 John Russell, on a late occasion, observed, in reference 
 to the rebellion, that " it was wickedly provoked, rashly 
 begun, and cruelly crushed."! 
 
 Heavy as these painful considerations weighed upon 
 the sensitive, susceptible, and patriotic mind of Valentine 
 Lawless, when in 1795 he returned to his native and 
 much suffering country, they were soon thrown into com- 
 parative insignificance by the occurrence of one of the 
 severest domestic calamities that could possiblv assail a 
 young, unmarried, warm-hearted man. A sainted and 
 estimable mother, regarded by Valentine from his earliest 
 youth with a filial affection proportionate in ardour to 
 the maternal love for him, yielded up her spirit with a 
 fortitude and resignation worthy of no one more than the 
 Lady Cloncurry. 
 
 * ; ' Memoirs of the "Whig Party during my Time," by the late Edward 
 Lord Holland, 2 vols., 1853. His lordship goes on so say: — •"Trials, if 
 they must so he called, were carried on without number, under martial law. 
 It often happened that three officers composed the court and that of the 
 three, two were under age, and the third an officer of the yeomanry or mi- 
 litia, who had sworn, in his Orange Lodge, eternal hatred to the people over 
 whom he was thus constituted a judge. Floggings, picketings, death, were 
 the usual sentences ; and these were sometimes commuted into banishment, 
 serving in the fleet, or transference to a foreign service. Other less legal, 
 but not more horrible, outrages were daily committed by the different corps. 
 Even in the streets of Dublin a man was shot and robbed of £30, on the 
 loose recollection of a soldier's having seen him hi the battle of Kilealley, 
 and no proceeding was instituted to prosecute the murderer. Lord Wycombe, 
 who was himself shot at by a sentinel between Blackrock and Dublin, wrote 
 to me many details of similar outrages which he had ascertained to be true. 
 Dr. Dickson (Bishop of Down) assured me that he had seen families re- 
 turning peaceably from Mass assailed, without provocation, by drunken 
 troops and yeomanry, and the wives and daughters exposed to every species of 
 indignity, brutality, and outrage, from which neither his remonstrances, nor 
 those of other Pkotesta>~t gentlemen, could rescue them.^ 
 
 f Preface to Memoirs of Thomas Moore, page 18, vol. i. 
 
88 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 This was the master- trial of our hero's life. We doubt 
 if any of his subsequent afflictions — some of which were 
 painful enough, Heaven knows — ever equalled it in 
 poignancy and weight. 
 
 On the 21st of September that, in Ireland, celebrated 
 collision, known as " the Battle of the Diamond," occurred 
 between the Orangemen and Defenders. The latter were 
 defeated with a loss of forty-five killed and a vast number 
 wounded. Flushed with victory, and burning to realize 
 the enormities of their oath, the Orangemen were not 
 backward in following up the advantage. This they did, 
 literally with a vengeance. Blood-stained Ulster was soon 
 scoured clean of every bleeding Papist, and Orange lodges, 
 and Grand Masters, and Deputy dittos, began to start up 
 in every possible direction. Their homes no longer te- 
 nable, the poor Papists took to flight, and selected as 
 asylums the counties of Mayo and. Sligo. Here they re- 
 mained, like stags at bay, Government, in the distance, 
 with savage yells encouraging the pursuing bloodhounds 
 to fall mercilessly on their prey. 
 
 Lords Carhampton and Castlereagh exerted themselves 
 notably. The former seized upon every man who it 
 was conjectured entertained feelings of disaffection to- 
 wards the Government, and sent him off to the fleet* to 
 fight for King George ; while the latter, less humane, em- 
 ployed his leisure moments in the more congenial occu- 
 pation of filling the cells of Irish gaols, not only with 
 patriot denouncers of British misrule, but with many 
 against whom not even the shadow of suspicion could be, 
 in equity, attached. 
 
 On the 28th December thirty upright magistrates of 
 the County Armagh, horrified at the Orange outrages 
 which were, under their very eyes, perpetrated with im- 
 punity, resolved — " That the county appears to this 
 meeting to be in a state of uncommon disorder; that the 
 Roman Catholic inhabitants are grievously oppressed by 
 
 * Lord Holland, in his " Memoirs of the Whig Party," mentions, what 
 we had heard repeatedly before, that numbers of poor Irishmen, suspected of 
 disaffection, were " sold at so much per head to the Prussians." 
 
CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 89 
 
 lawless persons unknown, who attack and plunder their 
 homes by night, and threaten them with immediate de- 
 struction unless they abandon immediately their lands 
 and habitations." In the face of this earnest appeal to 
 Government — for as such it may be considered — the 
 Attorney-General had the consummate coolness to bringr 
 in a bill on January 28, 1796, for "the more effectual 
 prevention of insurrections, tumults, and riots, by persons 
 calling themselves Defenders, &c." After having drawn 
 a rather laboured picture of the appalling state of districts 
 frequented by Defenders, he wound up by moving a 
 long string of resolutions. Grattan rose in reply. The 
 statement, he said, of the Right Hon. gentleman was 
 partial. He did, indeed, expatiate very fully and justly 
 on the offences of the Defenders ; but with respect to 
 another description of insurgents, whose barbarities had 
 excited o-eneral abhorrence, he was silent. He had omitted 
 Armagh. Their object was the extermination of all the 
 Catholics in the country. It was a persecution conceived 
 in the bitterness of bigotry. Mr. Grattan moved the 
 addition of some words that would include the Orange- 
 men ; but he might have spared himself the trouble, for 
 his amendment was rejected. 
 
 In a work of this kind it would, of course, be impos- 
 sible to go through, in detail, the various movements, 
 defensive and otherwise, made by the popular party, and 
 the numberless aggressions on the part of the Govern- 
 ment. The atrocities committed under the ministerial 
 eye towards the latter end of the eighteenth century, and 
 allowed to proceed, unreprobated and unchecked, would 
 fill an encyclopaedia to enumerate. The reader, if he be 
 of a sensitive temperament, may congratulate himself 
 upon being spared the harrowing recital. If painful to 
 read, it would be a hundred times more painful to inves- 
 tigate and chronicle. We leave the doings of the lordly 
 Camden to his imagination, and trust that he may neither 
 exaggerate nor diminish them ! Should he require a more 
 accurate picture than the outlines of his own imagination, 
 we would beg to refer him to Plowden, Hay, Barrington, 
 or Teeling. 
 
90 CLONCtfRRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 We are, perhaps, wrong to identify the cruelties prac- 
 tised so much with Lord Camden personally, for his many 
 supporters, to a man, allege that he neither was ambi- 
 tious, wicked, nor unprincipled. An empty-headed pup- 
 pet — an ingeniously devised automaton in the hands of 
 Mr. Pitt, that simply acted as that great Dictator willed, 
 and danced away, so long as its machinery continued 
 wound, conveys, according to some writers, a tolerably 
 fair idea of his artificial lordship. But oh, he was a 
 dangerous tool. " From the day of his arrival," says Sir 
 Jonah Barrington, " the spirit of insurrection increased, 
 and in a short period during his lordship's Government 
 more blood was shed, as much of outrage and cruelty was 
 perpetrated on both sides, and as many military executions 
 took place as in ten times the same period during the 
 sanguinary reign of Elizabeth or the usurpation of Crom- 
 well or King William." 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Hon. Valentine Lawless commences House-keeping with his Grand- 
 father — Browne's penchant for an animated Political Discussion — His Pa- 
 nacea for Ireland's Ills — His Enrapturement at the Young Patriot's 
 Denunciations of Saxon Misrule — Lawless becomes successively a Yeoman 
 and a Special Constable — The Camp at Loughlinstown — Lawless' s Visits 
 thereto — Hospitality of Colonel the Duke of Leinster — Lawless his Guest 
 beneath the Canvass — Sampson — Daring Attempt to enkindle the Flame of 
 Nationality Vithin the Heart of the Camp — William Aylmer — The Evening 
 Visiters at Valentine Browne's, Thomas BraUghall, John Burne, and Mat. 
 Dowling — Mr. Lawless studies for the Bar, and enters himself a Student 
 of the Middle Temple — John Macnamara — Lawless dines in Company 
 with William Pitt — Startling Announcement — The Legislative LJnion 
 Project exposed by Valentine Lawless — Mr. Cooke's Retaliation — Extracts 
 from " Thoughts on the Projected Union" — Flattering Encouragement to 
 young Pamphleteers. 
 
 We cannot rightly understand how when Lawless re- 
 turned home from Switzerland, in 1795, he should have 
 selected his grandfather to reside with in preference to the 
 " governor," who kept a comfortable house and table 
 within a hundred yards of Mr. Browne's. This appears 
 the more extraordinary when we call to mind that the 
 family of Lord Cloncurry was not, by any means, a large 
 one. Certain it is, that immediately on his return he 
 commenced house-keeping in one of the small houses of 
 Merrion-row, with his old and venerable grandfather, 
 Valentine Browne, who had long since retired from busi- 
 ness, and now verging on his eightieth year, thought of 
 nothing but politics and prayers. Unlike the generality 
 of octogenarians, ne entertained a strong penchant for 
 sitting up late at night in debating a controversial point, 
 or talking over the various political events of the day. As a 
 proud, indomitable Roman Catholic, the untitled descen- 
 dant of nobility, but by nature ennobled, he naturally 
 smarted under the iniquitous oppression of the penal 
 
92 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 hoof, which, in his case, only increased that spirit it 
 sought to crush out. Many were the interchanges of kin- 
 dred sentiment on Irish wrongs and grievances, that sym- 
 pathetically flowed from the patriotic kinsmen, as tete-a- 
 tete they sat of a winter's evening, brooding over the dark 
 and troublous past, and sanguinely hoping for future sun- 
 shine. The veteran politician dearly loved an argument, 
 and the moment grace was over, and the cloth removed, 
 he was ready for the fray. Browne saw through the base 
 but clumsily devised policy of England, and in what it 
 must, sooner or later, eventuate. This and other consi- 
 derations filled the good man with sorrow; but the con- 
 templation of that discord and division which ever 
 characterized the Irish as a people, inspired him with 
 perhaps the gloomiest feeling. For the removal of this and 
 other grievances he had many pseudo-nostrums, some tole- 
 rably sound in theory, others vague and visionary. Among 
 the latter may be classified his constant saying, " curtail 
 the clergy." The reduction of that body he regarded al- 
 most in the light of a Catholicon for some of the many ills 
 that weakened his country. In this way numberless even- 
 ings wentover. Wheneverthe old Helot clankedhis chains, 
 by the enunciation of a long drawn sigh, or a guttural mur- 
 mur of impatience, it would be the immediate signal for 
 Lawless to hurl anathemas on Poyning's Statutes, Derrnod 
 M'Murrough, De Ginkle, et hoc genus omne; or to launch 
 forth in an impassioned diatribe on Saxon misrule, trea- 
 chery, and domination. The Camden Administration was 
 not forgotten. With a Demosthenic eloquence and force, 
 that at once delighted and astonished the old gentleman, 
 he would denounce that mercenary Government which 
 was doing all that in its power lay to foment an insurrec- 
 tion, and submerge our unhappy country in a whirlpool of 
 blood. 
 
 It may, perhaps, appear somewhat inconsistent, and 
 excite a certain amount of astonishment, to hear that 
 Valentine Lawless, although a sterling son of Erin, and 
 an United Irishman to boot, entered as an officer in one 
 of the many corps of yeoman cavalry which started into 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 93 
 
 life about this period. As soon, however, as the Govern- 
 ment began to employ them in ransacking the houses of 
 liberal persons, he indignantly threw up his commission, 
 and joined a respectable corps of special constables, 
 known as the Rathdown Association, whose general con- 
 duct and demeanour were more consonant with his tastes. 
 Noblemen and gentlemen formed its ranks indiscrimi- 
 nately. The preservation of the peace throughout the 
 populous district between Dublin and Bray was their 
 avowed duty and invariable occupation. 
 
 On Loughlinstown Hill, contiguous to Bray, amilinrv 
 camp had just been established, in order to prevent the 
 intercourse of the army with the disaffected of the metro- 
 polis. This Mr. Lawless was in the frequent habit of 
 visiting, chiefly with a view to enjoy the society of his 
 friends, William Duke of Leinster (then colonel of the 
 Kildare Militia), and General Crosbie, Commander-in- 
 Chief. His Grace, who had very little of the recluse or 
 ascetic in his composition, often sent our hero an invita- 
 tion to dine with him beneath the canvas. Nowhere, we 
 venture to say, were gayer messes than at Loughlinstown, 
 and in few places more agreeable reviews, balls, or soirees. 
 Long after the final dissolution of the County Kildare 
 Militia, and the departure of Lord Carhampton's forces 
 from Loughlinstown Hill, the neighbouring gentry — of 
 the fair sex especially — availed themselves of many op- 
 portunities to express their pleasurable reminiscences in 
 connexion with the camp. 
 
 Lawless, upon one of his periodical pilgrimages thither, 
 was accompanied by Counsellor William Sampson, a 
 friend of his, and one of the most ardent revolutionists of 
 the period. Sampson, who appears to have had two 
 motives in escorting Lawless to the field, watched his 
 opportunity, as he carelessly indulged in an after-dinner 
 saunter through the mazes of the camp, to distribute 
 a quantity of ultra-national ballads, tracts, and essays 
 amongst the soldiery. This was a daring act, and, had 
 he been detected, he would, most assuredly, have paid a 
 heavy penalty for his temerity. The first meeting be- 
 tween Sampson and William Aylmer took place on this 
 
94 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 occasion. Aylmer was, at tlie time of which we write, 
 a lieutenant in the militia, but inclining somewhat more 
 towards his country than his king. Two years after- 
 wards he headed, in the capacity of rebel general, one of 
 the sections of the United Irish army, which he furiously 
 hurled at the British column from the summit of the 
 Hill of Ovidstown one fine day in June, 1798. What 
 passed between him and Sampson on the occasion of their 
 introduction we know not — but it would seem as if the 
 persuasive arguments of the law} r er were attended with 
 all the success which a revolutionist of his stamp could 
 possibly desire. 
 
 Amongst the guests whom Valentine Browne was in 
 the habit of entertaining in Mernon-row, may be men- 
 tioned Thomas Braughall, a respectable silk merchant of 
 Dublin, well known in his day, and Matthew Dowling, 
 who, it will be recollected, assisted in the respective 
 escapes of Rowan and Tandy. Dowling, a liberal Pro- 
 testant, was Lord Cloncurry's solicitor, and Braughall, a 
 Roman Catholic, his land agent. Both one and the other, 
 without being guilty of sedition, were sterling nationalists, 
 and ever foremost in any popular movement. The 
 Catholic Committee, when under the auspices of John 
 Keogh, claimed Braughall as one of its most gifted 
 members. He drew up their petitions, and acted as 
 secretary, until death, in 1803, deprived the Board of his 
 services. The high opinion entertained by Theobald 
 Wolfe Tone of Braughall's abilities and worth may be 
 gathered from numerous passages in his diary. 
 
 In constant communication with Matthew Dowling 
 and Thomas Braughall, Mr. Lawless's democratical opi- 
 nions became every day more decided in their tone 
 and character. Braughall and Dowling, although not 
 actual rebels, approximated to it ; and, on the bursting 
 forth of the insurrection in May, 1798, were seized as 
 dangerous characters, under the Habeas Corpus Suspen- 
 sion Act. Upon examining a file of the Dublin Evening 
 Post lately, we were amused to observe two short succes- 
 sive paragraphs, having immediate reference to the 
 gentlemen in question. These appear in the number, 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 95 
 
 bearing date May 26, 1798, and speak volumes for the 
 light in which Government viewed their political acts 
 and sentiments. 
 
 " Mr. Thomas Braughall, late a merchant of this city, is taken into cus- 
 tody. Papers of a very seditious and inflammatory nature were, it is said, 
 found in his house."* 
 
 '• Mr. Matthew Dowling, an attorney, was arrested on Thursday night. 
 He was afterwards liberated. "f 
 
 Another individual, who formed a constant link of 
 the family after dinner circle (if such it may be called) 
 at Valentine Browne's, was John Burne, barrister- at-lkw 
 and subsequently one of His Majesty's Counsel of Ireland. 
 In early life he lived in Bride-street (not far from Robin 
 Lawless'); but in 1791, probably to be near his patron, 
 Lord Cloncurry, removed to the more aristocratic, though 
 less Wal region of Merrion Row, where he established 
 himself in the next house but one to that inhabited by 
 
 * A most egregious falsehood, as we are assured by the representatives of 
 Mr. Braughall. The papers were of a most innocuous character. That 
 which Government appears to have considered the most alarming was a letter 
 from the Hon. Valentine Lawless, full particulars concerning which will be 
 given anon. Had the emissaries of the Castle confined themselves to taking 
 Mr. BraughalTs correspondence, he would not, vexatious as was the act, 
 have allowed it to annoy him; but they abstracted other and more valuable 
 matters, even to money, which we have authority for stating were never 
 returned. Braughall died in 1803 from the effects of cold caught on the 
 top of a French diligence. For many years he earned on the silk trade in 
 No. 9, Bridge-street, Dublin, the house now occupied by Messrs. Vance and 
 Beers. In 1787 he removed to No. 7, Eccles-street, where he continued to 
 reside until his death. An old water spout, still attached to the Bridge- 
 street house, bears the inscription — "Thomas Braughall, 1755." Braughall 
 was a man of sufficient note in his day, to be thought worthy by 
 Walker's Hibernian Magazine (a Conservative journal) of a niche in their 
 portrait gallery. The picture is well executed, and represents a handsome, 
 gentlemanly man, in a bob-wig, poring over some sheets of manuscript. 
 Lord Cloncurry, in his " Personal Recollections," spoke of Braughall as " a 
 faithful servant and a good friend of his fathers." The former expression 
 gave offence to Braughall's family ; the latter failed to qualify it. 
 
 f Dowling, while in Newgate, addressed a letter to Lord Henry Fitz- 
 gerald, touching the situation of his unfortunate brother. " I am a prisoner 
 for a few days" said the postscript, " on what charge I know not." The 
 letter appears in Mr. Moore's Memoirs of Lord Edward Fitzgerald. Poor 
 Dowling's ruling weakness was a partiality for the bottle. Having drank 
 an immoderate quantity of French brandy, he died of its effects in Paris, 
 August, 180-4. A near relative of the author's was one of the few Irishmen 
 who followed him to the tomb. 
 
96 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 Brown and his grandson. This circumstance rendered 
 their intercourse, if possible, more frequent, and their in- 
 timacy still closer. Mr. Burne was, moreover, the con- 
 fidential friend and lawyer of Nicholas Lord Cloncurry, 
 an office which he continued to hold under the subject 
 of these pages until 1829, when death snatched him away 
 from his deeds and conveyances. A Protestant, like 
 Dowling, he entertained nought but liberal views towards 
 his Catholic fellow-countrymen. In 1820 he acted a 
 rather intrepid part with Valentine Lord Cloncurry in 
 resisting some unconstitutional attempts made by the 
 High Sheriff of Dublin to dissolve a legal meeting. Full 
 particulars of this exciting scene will be found recorded 
 in their proper place. 
 
 Before the expiration of the year 1795 Lawless repaired 
 to London, and entered himself a student of the Middle 
 Temple. From that date until 1797 he periodically di- 
 vided his attentions between the great metropolis and 
 Dublin. Amongst the numerous parties with whom 
 he became acquainted at Keufchatel, in 1792, was Air. 
 John Macnamara, the bitter personal opponent of Fox. 
 From that period until his visit to London, in 1795, 
 Lawless had completely lost sight of him. They met by 
 chance, and Macnamara, delighted to see his old acquaint- 
 ance, would not let him go until he promised to join a 
 dinner party in Baker-street, Portman-square, which it 
 was his intention to give on the day following. The party 
 went off as pleasantly as the generality of gentlemen's din- 
 ner parties. Toasts and wine were freely drank, jokes and 
 filberts cracked, and politics and grapes discussed. The 
 lion of the evening appeared to be a little, cocknosed, 
 gouty man, exceedingly loquacious, and rather remark- 
 able in his attentions to the claret and champagne. What 
 was Lawless's surprise upon discovering that this little, 
 cocknosed, gouty toper was no less a personage than the 
 Right Hon. William Pitt, Chancellor of the Exchequer, 
 Lord of the Treasury, and Prime Minister of England, 
 who, conjointly with some half dozen colleagues of infe- 
 rior capacity, had been long devoting his energies in 
 labouring to mature that calamitous conspiracy which has 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 97 
 
 branded with eternal infamy the Irish names of Clare and 
 Castlereagh. Mr. Pitt, in the course of the evening, be- 
 came communicative, and divulged, probably when under 
 the influence of wine, the grand ministerial scheme now 
 so soon to be realized. Lawless was thunderstruck. In 
 one short second his mind stretched far into the future, 
 and beheld the progress, achievement, and consequences 
 of the Union. He saw the grave yawning to receive his 
 bleeding country, and England, in the distance, making 
 preparations for the burial. What was he to do ? Assail 
 William Pitt with a storm of wrath, and dare him, at his 
 peril, to persist in the fell intention ? No ! he would 
 quietly return home, and write a book against the project; 
 expose the atrocious nature of the measure, and call upon 
 his countrymen, of every creed and class, to rally round 
 him and repel, by every constitutional means, so intole- 
 rable an aggression on their dearest liberties. Lawless 
 went to work in right good earnest. In the course of a 
 few weeks he had his pamphlet ready, and having en- 
 trusted its publication to John Moore, of College-green, 
 Dublin, withdrew from the busy throng of men, and, with 
 palpitating heart, watched what effect it should produce. 
 A manifest sensation was the immediate result. Copy after 
 copy disappeared from off the bookseller's counter with 
 pantomimic rapidity. " Thoughts on the Projected 
 Union" being admittedly the first blow at the ministerial 
 scheme, it was taken the most flattering notice of by Mr. 
 Under-Secretary Cooke, who, in a pamphlet of some fifty 
 pages, laboured hard to demolish his adversary's points. 
 Cooke's Essay was, of course, written by command, and 
 like the generality of commanded performances, histrionic 
 or otherwise, not particularly clever, lively, or interesting. 
 Believing that to see some extracts from the Essay will 
 afford the Irish reader as much interest as we ourselves 
 derived from their perusal, we make no apology for in- 
 troducing in this chapter some of the most creditable 
 portions. These will be read with increasing interest 
 when remembered that Lawless was little more than 
 emerging from his 'teens at the period of their compo • 
 sition. 
 
 P 
 
98 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 "The author of the following pages," he preambles, "animated by an 
 anxious desire of saving his country from an attempt he has long foreseen 
 and dreaded, is yet conscious of his inability to place the picture in its strongest 
 light. He hopes, however, to succeed so far as to put the matter in a way 
 of being discussed by persons more equal to the important task." 
 
 Having made his bow, and conjured the parliamentary 
 corruptionists not to prove unfaithful to their country in 
 the coming crisis, he plunges into that work which a sense 
 of duty imperatively calls on him, at all hazards, to ex- 
 ecute : — 
 
 " There are certain periods in political as well as in moral opinion, when 
 the man who is born free, as well as the philosopher who has spent his life 
 in the investigation of truth, feels himself equally called upon, by principle, 
 to make his thoughts public. 
 
 "The period is now arrived when every native of this island should fix his 
 attention on one of the most important subjects that has ever employed the 
 mind of an Irishman — to wit, an Union between this country and the king- 
 dom of Great Britain. I know there are many who, even yet, look on such 
 an event as merely ideal, and contrary to the wishes of the British Govern- 
 ment ; while others, perhaps, overvaluing our parliamentary virtue, and the 
 great danger that must attend such a measure, fancy it utterly impossible. 
 But those who build their security on the political self-denial of an English 
 minister, or the virtue of an aristocracy, but too much subject to British in- 
 fluence, know but little of the power of wealth and rank on the minds of men 
 educated to regard the mere sound of title as the feeling of genuine honour, 
 and to look on the pre-eminence of equipage as the true distinction of superior 
 virtue." 
 
 Gradually the tone of the pamphlet becomes bolder : — 
 
 " But what." he says, " can the most illustrious coiirage effect, darkened 
 by the obscurest ignorance of science? And what will not disunion itself ac- 
 complish without an auxiliary ? Within the last century this country has 
 become too populous and too much enlightened to be bullied by the comparison 
 of numbers, or its inhabitants unresistingly slaughtered through their igno- 
 rance of military tactics. * * * 
 
 "Such, until the auspicious year of 1782, was the brief political history of 
 this ill-fated country — a country, from its insular, far-detached situation, 
 formed by the Sovereign Architect for the most unconnected independence — 
 a country blessed by the Donor of good with the abundance of all the neces- 
 saries and comforts of life ; fortified by the ocean, garrisoned with Irishmen, 
 and stored by the united hands of Mars and Ceres." 
 
 In the following paragraph he grapples with his sub- 
 ject, and advances with seven-leagued strides to the 
 point : — 
 
 " To get rid at once, then, of the Parliament of Ireland, which is found 
 too untractable, even in its present imperfect state, the British minister is at 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. . 99 
 
 this instant engaged not (as in former Parliaments) in learning the sum that 
 may be necessary to influence the next delegation of the people in favour of 
 British interests, nor in procuring votes for or against a particular question, 
 but in finding the fe3-simple of your liberty and property by a permanent 
 purchase of the Parliament of Ireland." 
 
 Was there nothing of prognostication in all this? — 
 
 " I know there is no cause so bad to which private interest will not pro- 
 cure public advocates. I have no doubt, then, that an Union, fatal as it 
 must be to the welfare of this country, will find its supporters and defenders, 
 even among Irishmen.'''' 
 
 Having argued, retrospected, speculated, and antici- 
 pated at considerable length, he next applies himself to 
 the task of exposing, piece by piece, the shallow and de- 
 lusive terms on which it was natural to suppose Govern- 
 ment would treat with us for our national independence. 
 He laughs them to derision, and then exclaims: — 
 
 " As for the other ingredients that may compose this pleasing cement 
 of a Union, I take it for granted that they will be made up of such suppu- 
 rative materials, as will not only draw out the present symptoms of partial 
 inflammation, but extract the very blood and life from the entire kingdom." 
 
 Here Lawless stares into the future. He sees the com- 
 paratively few representative peers and commoners that 
 it will be in the power of Ireland to send to the Imperial 
 Parliament, and what trifling influence their votes must 
 have on any question affecting Irish interests. He sees 
 regiments of absentees pouring into England, and the 
 mania for London life daily strengthening in its grasp 
 round the fashion-led victims. 
 
 From the few extracts we have quoted, it will, we ap- 
 prehend, be tolerably evident that Lawless gave the subject 
 he was handling the most mature deliberation, and left no 
 stone unturned to find out the intentions and machinations 
 of the minister. With untiring industry he investigated 
 every crevice of the future, thought carefully over the 
 alleged advantages of a Union, weighed them in the ba- 
 lance, and found them — need we say it — wanting. So far 
 from increased prosperity resulting, he saw nothing before 
 us but prostration and inertia. Dublin, the second city in 
 the empire, and which had promised, in a few years, to vie, 
 
100 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 even in wealth, with the first in Europe, he beheld sink- 
 ing into ruin, the fine arts drooping, its manufactories idle, 
 its Exchange deserted, the current of wealth and fashion 
 stemmed, and the residences of its nobility converted into 
 public offices, iron stores, and mendicities. 
 
 We doubt if Cloncurry, in any of his subsequent writ- 
 ings, ever produced a more ingenious figure than the 
 following. Who would have thought that so unpictu- 
 resque an object as a boat canal, only second in hideous- 
 ness to a railroad, would ever lend its aid to a graceful 
 metaphor ?" — 
 
 "Our canals, formed at such an immense expense, and not yet finished, 
 would be rendered useless, for our capital being the heart from whence these 
 nourishing veins spread through the body of the nation, the breaking of that 
 heart must bring inevitable destruction on the commercial circidation of the 
 whole island. I wish I could here finish the sad and tedious catalogue of our 
 impending dangers ; but the brief plan of these few pages, and what is a still 
 greater impediment, alas ! the state of my own feelings, will not suffer me to 
 dwell minutely on the ruin of my country." 
 
 In the following we have an Irish Marius mourning 
 over the ruins of his country : — 
 
 " What a grievous sight will then present itself to your man of sciei*ee 
 when he looks on the map of the world, and fixing his eye on the delightful 
 spot that gave him birth, observing its happy situation for trade to every 
 part of the toorld, and its peculiar commercial advantages with respect to all 
 the western hemisphere ; its numerous harbours, superior to any in Europe, 
 its many and deep rivers — in short, its singular and entire requisites for the 
 most sovereign independence — I repeat it, what will be his sorrow when he 
 reflects that this island, the most delightful in the universe, had, within his 
 own memory, enjoyed the blessing of its own Government, was fertile for its 
 own inhabitants, traded for its own profit, and grew rich for its own magni- 
 ficence ! — but now, alas ! its harbours useless, its fields uncultivated, its towns 
 depopulated, and its capital in decay ! Will my independent coimtrymen 
 resign for ever the power of taxing themselves, the final adjustment of their 
 litigations, the framing and enacting of their own laws, the majesty of the 
 nation ? * * * * * 
 
 " All our great men (it matters not whether that greatness is applied to 
 title or fortune, or to the uncommon power of genius) — I say all the great 
 men would settle in England, either to seek for honours, to challenge re- 
 wards, or even to look for the humble comforts of society. * * * But 
 let me not calculate ; your destruction is too plain to require demonstration, 
 for the most dimsighted can perceive the ruin of your country through such 
 an alliance. 
 
 " To prevent, as far as lies in my power, this Union, which I cannot think 
 on without feeling the destruction of my country, I have taken the liberty of 
 publishing the foregoing pages, that the genuine lovers of Ireland may not 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 101 
 
 be wholly ignorant of a measure that will certainly and shortly be brought 
 forward. My object is to make my countrymen unanimous, and unanimous 
 in time, in an unanimous opposition to so fatal a proposal, come in what 
 shape it may." 
 
 In the sequel we find him anticipating the bubble 
 promises of Pitt: — 
 
 " I am well aware that allurements of a very attractive nature will be held 
 out to my brethren, the Roman Catholics — motives of seduction, which T 
 entertain no doubt they will resist — nay, abhor, when they know they will 
 be offered as the price of the sovereign independence of their country." 
 
 Poor Lawless! you were young and inexperienced 
 when these hopes were breathed. A year sufficed to show 
 how miserably you were deceived. 
 
 He continues his exhortations to the deluded Catholics. 
 He conjures of them not to be so foolish in regard to 
 their interests, and so treasonable to their country as to 
 sell the fee-simple of Irish independence for the anticipa- 
 tion of their approaching civic franchise. His advice was 
 disregarded. Fools ! that would not deign to hearken to 
 it — we had almost said you deserved to suffer. 
 
 " I would, therefore, earnestly recommend every Irishman to put aside 
 religious distinctions ; but I would particidarly conjure all those who at pre- 
 sent in city, county, or borough, enjoy the shadow of elective franchise, 
 to instruct* their representatives to oppose, with all their might, so de- 
 grading and disastrous a measure as an Union. This will be the only effec- 
 tual way to save the country, and to coimteraet the designs of the British 
 minister ; for every freeman should know that the Parliament is only a 
 delegation of the people. The people, speaking thus to their representatives, 
 cannot fail to be obeyed ; for no Parliament that sought its election from 
 the people can cease to obey the voice, the undoubted voice, of its electors." 
 
 Miserably deceived again ! Representatives of the 
 people ! — what a mockery of name ! 
 
 " I shall no longer, 1 ' observes Lawless, in conclusion, " intrude with my 
 anxieties and my fears, but conclude with reminding my readers of the 
 motto with which I set out, ' nous perclons la patrie, si nous nous divi- 
 sons.'' Faithful and steady to a connexion with England, which we prize, 
 still let us not sacrifice our country for her aggrandizement. Whatever dis- 
 advantages we at present labour under spring from an English Administra- 
 
 * County meetings could not at that time be held, as the military had 
 orders to disperse them, v.ith powder and ball if necessary. 
 
102 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 tion ; let us not, then, add an English Parliament. In spite of oppression, 
 in spite of martial law, let the people of Ireland be united as one man to 
 oppose the fatal attempt ; and let the people of England be assured, that if 
 they suffer themselves to be made the instruments of enslaving us, they will 
 in turn be themselves enslaved. * * * 
 
 " The trying moment approaches. I beseech the great Ruler of the Uni- 
 verse to give us unanimity, and to inspire every Irishman with this great 
 truth — that his individual welfare is inseparably connected with, and de- 
 pendent on, tbat of his country." 
 
 The foregoing extracts will possibly be objected to by 
 some readers, as unnecessarily numerous. To this we 
 have only to say, that our principal reason for making 
 such liberal use of the composition was in consideration 
 of its being Mr. Lawless's first essay in pamphleteering, 
 and not only to show how respectably he acquitted him- 
 self of the task, but that all may appreciate the extraor- 
 dinarily perfect foresight that characterizes it throughout. 
 As already observed, this pamphlet of Cloncurry's, if we 
 may be permitted to style him so, created on its appear- 
 ance a most marked sensation, and was promptly honoured 
 by a shower of special counter-arguments from the pen 
 of Mr. Cooke. Lord Cloncurry was repeatedly heard de- 
 clare, in after life, that Government never forgave him for 
 this singular display of daring. From that hour the eagle 
 eye of the Castle detective clung to him unceasingly.* 
 In secret council it was at length decided that, to get out 
 of the way so troublesome an enemj during the coming 
 " Union struggle" of might against right, would be most 
 judicious and essentially desirable. To accomplish this 
 desideratum ministers were not indolent in putting their 
 common shoulder to the wheel. 
 
 So you see, dear reader, his essay in pamphleteering 
 cost him something more than the expenses of publishing 
 and printing. 
 
 * Mr. Lawless was perfectly well aware of this fact. We have heard that, 
 when spending the evening at a friend's house, he would sometimes apologise, 
 jokingly, for an early departure, on the grounds of the inhumanity of longer 
 keeping his poor spy shivering outside in the cold night air. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Horizon of Ireland still clouded — Fiendish Policy of England — Lord 
 Moira's intrepid Speech in the British House of Peers — Unparalleled 
 Coercion — The Organization of United Irishmen assumes a more formidable 
 Aspect — Lord Edward Fitzgerald nominated Commander-in-chief — The 
 French Expedition to Ban try Bay — Tone's Diary — Critical Situation of 
 Ireland — In imminent Peril of being lost irrevocably to England — Ingenious 
 Ruse of Theobald Wolfe Tone — Obstacles to the Advance of the British 
 Troops — Panic in Dublin — Application by Government to Lord Cloncurry 
 for a Loan of £45,000 — His Lordship purchases Lyons from Michael 
 Aylmer — Another John Macnamara — Mr. Lawless rescues Lord and 
 Lady Russell from the Hands of Banditti — John Home Tooke — Lawless 
 his frequent Guest — John Beeves — Mr. Lawless supports The Press by 
 his Pen and his Purse — Constantly associates with the Leaders of the 
 popular Movement — Indignation of Nicholas Lord Cloncurry — Eng- 
 land spurns contemptuously some peaceable Overtures made by the 
 United Irishmen — Thomas Addis Emmet — Renewed Coercion — Free 
 Quarters — Grattan and Catholic Emancipation — Dr. Patrick Duigenan — 
 Lord Moira — Charles J. Fox — Mr. Pelham — Lake's Proclamation — 
 Manifesto from the Men of Ulster — Tragic Story of William Orr — Law- 
 less elected an Executive Director — A mischief-maker in the Family — 
 The Monster Petition of May, '97 — Exchange Meeting — Secession from 
 Parliament of the National Members — Lord Edward Fitzgerald's Address 
 to his Constituents — Murder of Dixon — Alarm of Lord Clonmel for the 
 Fate of Lawless — His Departure for England by Command of Lord Clon- 
 curry — Philipps's Portrait of Lord Clonmel — Olympic Pig Hunt. 
 
 Meanwhile affairs were anything but " looking up" in 
 Ireland ; goading, insult, and persecution continued to be 
 the order of the day. The people hunted down, tortured 
 capriciously, their habitations burnt, where were they to 
 run for shelter save into the phalanx of the confederation ? 
 Once within its magic circle, they considered themselves 
 secure, although then it was that danger more than ever 
 imperilled them. 
 
 The fiendish system of" picketing" — making men stand 
 barefooted upon a pointed stake, until syncope ensued — 
 was one of the most favourite stratagems resorted to for 
 extorting a confession. This inhuman torture was, in 
 many instances, pursued towards the same party, gene- 
 
104 CLONCURRY AND IIIS TIMES. 
 
 rally on the ground of mere suspicion, for two, three, and 
 four consecutive times, producing invariably the worst 
 physical results to the unfortunate sufferer. 
 
 Lord Moira stated this, and many other awful facts, in 
 the British House of Lords, on November 22, 1797. He 
 could vouch for their veracity from personal knowledge, 
 and added, that they were not particular acts of cruelty 
 exercised by men abusing authority, but formed part of a 
 wide-spread system. Nor was picketing the only species 
 of torture. " Men have been taken and hungup," ex- 
 claimed his lordship, " till they were half hanged, and 
 then threatened with a repetition of this cruel torture 
 unless they made a confession of the imputed guilt I*" Lord 
 Moira dwelt particularly, and at considerable length, upon 
 the invariable absence of proof, even a well-founded sus- 
 picion of delinquency. Every man was at the mercy of 
 a soldier's caprice. To this remarkable speech we will 
 again have occasion to refer. 
 
 There were many harrowing sights to be witnessed in 
 those days, but few, we venture to say, more terrific 
 than to glance around of an autumn night, from the sum- 
 mit of some commanding eminence, and observe the 
 countless house conflagrations! which would burst upon 
 your vision. The probability of some unfortunate inmates 
 becoming calcined, whilst they yelled for mercy, did not 
 render the contemplation less harrowing and awful. No 
 matter in what direction the spectator chose to look, a 
 dwelling, crowned by a diadem of golden flame, was sure 
 to rise, in grim magnificence, before him. Had Rosses 
 
 * It too often happened that men, to put an end to the torture, and dread- 
 ing approaching death or syncope, absolutely invented conspiracies, and 
 made disclosures, which, -when too late, received a contradiction upon oath. 
 
 t " If it was thought that any district had not given up all the arms it con- 
 tained, a party was sent out to collect the number at which it was stated ; 
 and in the execution of this order thirty houses were sometimes burnt down 
 in a single night. Thus an officer took upon him to decide the quantity of 
 arms which were contained in a particular district, and upon the judgment 
 thus formed, the consequences he had described followed. These facts he 
 coidd bring evidence to their lordships to prove. Many cases of a similar 
 nature he might enumerate. He wished for nothing more sincerely than to 
 be examined upon oath as to the state of Ireland, and to the facts which he 
 had brought forward. He had stated them before God and his country." — 
 Lord Mvirrfs Speech in the British House of Lords, Nov. 22, 1797. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 105 
 
 night telescope existed in those days, and the spectator 
 been fortunate enough to hold one, it would no doubt have 
 led to the discernment of a ring of Orange rioters, danc- 
 ing with demoniacal exultation round the blazing ruins of 
 the Papist's dwelling. 
 
 We have said that a night view from the summit of 
 an eminence would send a chill of horror through the 
 hardest heart. Upon consideration, we apprehend that 
 a survey of the kind would, to other than a " true blue," 
 be utterly impracticable, insomuch as martial law was in 
 full operation at the time, and any person not specially 
 licensed, who dared to venture out after nine o'clock at 
 night, ran very imminent risk of being either hung or 
 embo welled. With respect to the curfew, it was enforced 
 in many districts with such cruel rigour, that a father was 
 known to plead in vain for permission to light a candle, 
 in order that the mother might be enabled to attend her 
 little daughter who lay struggling in the agonies of death 
 adjacent. 
 
 Well done, Jeffreys Earl Camden ! You quake within 
 the folds of your viceregal robes if a farthing rushlight 
 is ignited to minister relief to a dying girl ; but, oh ! sin- 
 gular inconsistency, we find you basking before that sheet 
 of flame, which cries to Heaven for vengeance from the 
 summit of the peasant's cottage. 
 
 Before the recall of Lord Fitzwilliam gave to the na- 
 tional movement that additional impetus which dragged 
 along thousands who would have otherwise remained in- 
 active, the modus operandi was essentially different from, 
 what it afterwards became. Anterior to 1795, it merely 
 consisted of imperfectly organized individual societies, 
 very much scattered, and communicating with each other 
 by delegates. The vast augmentation of adherents in '95 
 and '96, and the increasing power of the Union generally, 
 demanded the establishment of a more solid and systematic 
 plan of action. Accordingly , district, city, county, baronial, 
 and provincial committees were set on foot, all admirably 
 disciplined in their way, and dovetailed into each other 
 with a neat mechanical precision that extorted even the 
 admiration of its enemies. Crowning this organization sat 
 
 f 2 
 
106 CLONCURRY AKD HIS TIMES. 
 
 the Irish Executive Directory, a select body of men re- 
 markable for their patriotism, judgment, discretion, and 
 humanity. From this council an order could be trans- 
 mitted through the entire range of the Union with a tele- 
 graphic celerity and accuracy little inferior to the more 
 scientific system of electric communication. The com- 
 mittees possessed the right of nominating all officers save 
 the commander-in-chief. The privilege of this nomina- 
 tion appears to have been reserved by the Directory to 
 themselves. In 1796, the commander-in-chief was de- 
 clared to be Lord Ed ward Fitzgerald, a brother of the Duke 
 ofLeinster, and one of the most popular men of the day. 
 
 The organization, when once under the auspices of 
 this noble officer (who had already served with distinc- 
 tion in the American war), progressed with Herculean 
 vigour. Its aspect, moreover, grew daily more fascinat- 
 ing, the tone of the leaders loftier and prouder, and at last 
 it became almost unfashionable not to join its ranks. 
 "The spirit of the Union," says Rowan's 'Autobiography,' 
 " passed through every class of society, lighting on the 
 bench and the pulpit, on the desk and the anvil, shooting 
 like an electric shock through whole ranks of the militia, 
 animating the breasts of women with heroic daring, and 
 infusing courage into the hearts, and vigour into the arms, 
 even of boys and children." 
 
 It was not until February, 1796, that any regularly 
 authorized communication was opened between the Irish 
 Executive and the French Directory. Few men appeared 
 better fitted for the office of negotiator than Theobald 
 Wolfe Tone, both in point of natural daring and diplo- 
 matic adroitness. Fraught with the importance of his 
 mission, he repaired to France one fine spring morn- 
 ing, and at once put himself in communication with the 
 Minister of War. To this dernier resort Ireland was 
 driven by the increasing persecutions which pursued her 
 people. Two most oppressive enactments, plausibly 
 designated the Indemnity and Insurrection Acts,* came 
 
 * When George Ponsonby heard that this Act was occupying the minds of 
 ministers, he exclaimed — "Sir, that bill, if persevered in, will be the grave 
 of the constitution." 
 
CLONCtJItRY AND HIS TIMES. 107 
 
 into force about this period. When one of the most 
 distinguished members* of the Irish Directory found 
 himself, two years afterwards, in the grasp of an angry 
 Government, and rigidly cross-questioned by the Secret 
 Committee, he informed that body, upon oath, that not 
 until the passing of these iniquitous enactments were the 
 Directory disposed to open any communication with 
 France. 
 
 There have been two most interesting volumes pub- 
 lished at Washington, and pirated in London, entitled 
 " The Diary and Life of Theobald Wolfe Tone." It 
 throws out into bold relief the salient points of that 
 period of Irish history which lies between March, '96, 
 and November, '98 ; and in all sooth we would strongly 
 recommend the reader to see it. In a work of this nature 
 we durst not even epitomize the mass of interesting 
 matter which Tone's Diary embodies. 
 
 Most Irishmen are cognizant of the thousand vexatious 
 contre-temps which seemed, as it were, to form into con- 
 spiracy in order to annihilate the French expedition to 
 Ireland in 1796. Concerning them we will not now 
 enter into further particulars than to quote a passage from 
 Tone's Diary of December 25th. He wrote it while the 
 remnant of the French fleet lay tossing about in Bantry 
 Bay:— 
 
 " Certainly we have been persecuted by a strange fatality, from the very 
 night of our departure to this hour. We have lost the Commander-in-Chief 
 (Hoche) ; of four admirals, not one remains; we have lost one ship of the 
 line that we know of, and probably many others of which w r e know nothing. 
 We have now been six days in Bantry Bay, within 500 yards of the shore, 
 without being able to effectuate a landing ; we have been dispersed four times 
 in four days, and at this moment, out of forty-three sail, we can muster, of 
 all sizes, but fourteen. There only wants our falling in with the English to 
 complete our destruction. "f 
 
 * Thomas Addis Emmet. 
 
 f At the very moment that Tone was scribbling the above paragraph, Dr. 
 Moylan, R. C. Bishop of Cork, was penning a pastoral letter to the faithful of 
 his diocese, wherein he implored of them, as Christians, on no account to 
 fraternize with the Gallic invaders: — " At a moment," observed his lordship, 
 " of such general alarm and consternation, it is a duty I owe to you, my 
 beloved flock, to recall to your minds the sacred principles of loyalty, alle- 
 giance, and good order, that must direct your conduct on such an awful 
 
108 CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 Had those imsubsidized allies of England, the winds, 
 permitted Grouchy to effect a landing, Cork must infal- 
 libly have fallen, with little more than the mere sem- 
 blance of resistance. It is a striking fact, that at that 
 very juncture, as Mr. Whitebread declared, stores existed 
 in the city to the amount of a million and a half — the 
 great supply for the British navy during the ensuing 
 year. While Tone and Grouchy were tossing in the 
 bay, 3,000 regular troops could with difficulty be mus- 
 tered to oppose a hostile landing. 
 
 The unaccountable desertion of the Irish shore by Sir 
 John Borlase Warren and his Agamemnons, at the very 
 period that their presence was most urgently needed, has 
 oftentimes elicited bursts of loyal indignation and astonish- 
 ment. The fact of an English admiral leaving Ireland so 
 long exposed to the mercy of this formidable enemy must 
 appear little short of madness. The secret is shortly this. 
 England, though long cognizant of the preparation of an 
 armament at the port of Brest, remained quite in the 
 dark as to whether Ireland or Portugal was its intended 
 destination. Several thousand copies of a proclamation, 
 addressed to the Irish people, were, by command of 
 General Hoche, printed at Brest for general distribution 
 in Ireland, whenever a landing should be effected. One 
 of the British spies heard of this proceeding, and called 
 at the printer's for a copy. Tone, with his wonted tact 
 and sagacity, at once directed the compositor to have 
 the words "Portugal"* and "Portuguese" introduced 
 wherever "Ireland" and "Irish" chanced to occur. The 
 idea was inimitable, and the ingenious substitution read 
 most plausibly. Supplied with a copy of the fictitious 
 proclamation, the spy posted off to the admiral of the 
 British fleet, who no sooner perused it than he declared 
 no time was to be lost, and forthwith started with all 
 hands for Portugal, where he calculated — to use a most 
 
 occasion. Charged, as I am, by that blessed Saviour ("whose birth with 
 grateful hearts we this day solemnize) with the care of your souls, interested 
 beyond expression in your temporal and eternal welfare, it is incumbent on 
 me to exhort you to that peaceable demeanour which must ever mark his true 
 and faithful disciples." 
 
CLONCURRY AXD HIS TIMES. 109 
 
 unnautical metaphor — upon receiving the French ad- 
 vance on the point of his bayonet. 
 
 From the quantity of snow which strewed the public 
 thoroughfares, it was a matter of no trilling difficulty to 
 establish rapid communication between Cork and Dublin. 
 Owing to this circumstance, a very considerable period 
 elapsed ere the news reached the metropolis. The reader 
 may probably inquire why communication was not opened 
 by water. The turbulence of the wind, as it dashed the 
 vast Atlantic billows with deafening roar upon the beach, 
 will, we think, be sufficient answer for that inquiry. 
 
 The earthquake felt throughout Ireland on the night 
 of the 10th November, 1852, was not more unexpected 
 and unwelcome than the arrival of the French squadron in 
 Ban try Bay. Every Protestant in Ireland at once grasped 
 his musket, put his trust in God, and kept his powder 
 dry. The Roman Catholic priesthood denounced the expe- 
 dition as a powerful temptation of the devil. They con- 
 jured of their respective flocks not to allow themselves to 
 be seduced from their allegiance, and threatened them 
 with sacerdotal displeasure should they violate it. The 
 people obeyed, and not only refrained from co-operating 
 with Tone and Grouchy, but absolutely aided the advance of 
 the British troops, by clearing away those vast impediments 
 of snow which rendered transit along the roads almost 
 impossible. When the news reached Dublin, the greatest 
 possible delight and the greatest possible consternation 
 ran electrically through the various phases of society. 
 The loyalists were, of course, awe-stricken — the dis- 
 affected elated. Not all the soporifics in the Apothecaries' 
 Hall could bring one twenty minutes' sleep to poor Lord 
 Camden that night, or any of his voluminous staff of 
 officials. Never before did they eat their Christmas 
 pudding with a mind so ill at ease. Bells rang, drums 
 beat to arms, and the distant din of many voices rose and 
 fell like the surging of a mighty ocean. Men that never 
 ailed before suddenly found themselves afflicted with 
 palpitation of the heart, and a singular disposition to 
 feverish restlessness. Never dreaming of the insurmount- 
 able impediments which cast themselves gratuitously in 
 
110 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 the way of Tone's expedition, they only thought of the 
 tantalizing obstacles which threatened to oppose their 
 own hostile movement towards the South. Four feet of 
 snow lay in flakes upon the ground, and so potent was 
 the cold that the knees of several Highland soldiers 
 became lacerated from the friction of their own kilts, 
 which, owing to the great frost that prevailed, were 
 stiffened into a state of unusual rigidity. 
 
 We have already adverted to the encampment on 
 Loughlinstown Hill. Its object was to provide against 
 any hostile descent on Dublin from the County Wicklow, 
 and at the same time to prevent communication between 
 the disaffected citizens and the wavering militia. The 
 encampment was extensive, and of course no easy matter 
 to remove, all circumstances considered, to the seat of 
 danger in Munster. So ludicrously unprepared were the 
 Castle authorities for a foreign hostile visit, that actually 
 not one solitary tenpenny could be found at this critical 
 moment within the four oaken walls of the military chest. 
 A pleasing dilemma truly ! 
 
 All this time poor Theobald Wolfe Tone was cursing 
 his stars, one hundred and twenty miles away, and 
 earnestly protesting in the face of heaven and earth that 
 never before did a conspiracy of contre-temps assail an 
 even temper with greater malignity and determination. 
 Reader, is it not a picture of human life ? Little he 
 thought of the numerous impediments which flung them- 
 selves with formidable stubbornness before the advance of 
 his Anglican enemy. 
 
 The greatest alarm prevailed. Dublin was in a fer- 
 ment. A council of war precipitately assembled. Hoary- 
 headed privy councillors, with an energy that appeared 
 incompatible with their years, might be seen rushing 
 frantically to the Castle, and there putting their sapient 
 heads together, in order to decide on the best course to be 
 pursued at the present conjuncture. All agreed unani- 
 mously, after a short but clamorous consultation, that the 
 dilemma was anything but agreeable, and that Ireland 
 stood in most imminent peril. " As the army must 
 march in an hour," said they, " it is indispensable that we 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. Ill 
 
 obtain the wherewithal forthwith. Not a solitary camac* 
 remains in the military chest." Names were mentioned 
 as parties likely to advance sufficient money for the pur- 
 pose, but none appeared so eligible as Nicholas Lord 
 Cloncurry. A deputation accordingly waited upon that 
 nobleman, to request that he would oblige His Majesty's 
 Government with a loan of £45,000 — the sum required 
 to break up the camp, and draft the army down to Bantry 
 Bay. His lordship received the deputation graciously, 
 and unhesitatingly drew a cheque for the amount. By 
 the time the principal was refunded to Lord Cloncurry, 
 an amount of interest had adhered to it almost equal to 
 one-eighth of the original sum advanced. 
 
 It was immediately after making the above pecuniary 
 advance to Government, that Nicholas Lord Cloncurry 
 entered into and concluded arrangements with Michael 
 Aylmer, Esq., for the purchase of the castle and extensive 
 demesne of Lyons, County Kildare, so justly and widely 
 celebrated for its picturesque and natural magnificence. 
 The sale took place in the last week of December, 1796, 
 as appears from the original deed, now in the possession 
 of Michael Valentine Aylmer, Esq., of Baggot-street, 
 Dublin, the representative of the Aylmer family, formerly 
 seated at Lyons. The antiquity of this sept is remark- 
 able. Lodge speaks of Radulph and William Aylmer, 
 as resident at Lyons so far back as the year 1300. " The 
 Aylmer family," says the Abbe M'Geoghegan, in his 
 History of Ireland, " were seated at Lyons, in the County 
 Kildare, about the end of the thirteenth century, and 
 deduce their origin from Ailmer, Earl of Cornwall, in 
 the reign of King Ethelred." The parent trunk, esta- 
 blished at Lyons, gave out, in the sixteenth and seven- 
 teenth centuries, the collateral branches of the Aylmers 
 of Donadea, now represented by Sir Gerald Aylmer, 
 and the Aylmers of Balrath, represented by Lord 
 Aylmer. 
 
 Mr. Lawless, meanwhile, divided his attentions equally 
 between Dublin and London, to which the pursuit of his 
 
 * A species of Irish halfpenny, well known to our fathers and grandfathers. 
 
112 CLONCURRY AXD HIS TIMES. 
 
 forensic studies now rendered frequent visits necessary. 
 His heart, however, was always in Ireland, and with the 
 organizers of the national movement. He corresponded 
 regularly with them, and daily devoured those newspapers 
 that dared, in spite of intimidation, to publish Govern- 
 ment atrocities, and speak the retributive resolve of 
 Ireland. Generous pecuniary aid proved, in a substantial 
 manner, his ardent sympathy with the progress of the 
 organization. 
 
 W T e have already mentioned Mr. John Macnamara as 
 one of Lawless's associates in London. This gentleman 
 must not be confounded with another of the same name, 
 by profession a conveyancer, and one of his most intimate 
 friends. Although an Irishman and a Papist, he was, 
 singular to say, habitually patronized by several members 
 of the Government,* both in his professional capacity, 
 and in that of " gossip-agent," or news correspondent. 
 It is amusing to think that, from Lord Cloncurry's 
 nephew, Chief Justice Clonmel, he enjoyed no less a 
 salary than £400 per annum, for merely communicating 
 to his lordship regularly and in detail, the progressive 
 march of political events. By Lord Cloncurry he was 
 paid for services of a similar nature, though not so volu- 
 minous, the sum of £100 a-year. Another branch of his 
 profession was that of land agent, which he filled with 
 much credit and emolument under Francis Duke of 
 Bedford. Valentine Lawless, as the son of one of his 
 respected patrons, received some attention from Mr. 
 Macnamara. His residence, situated near Croydon, was 
 a bond fide liberty-hall, where some of the best London 
 society might daily be seen seated round an ample 
 
 * Macnamara is frequently alluded to in the recently published Bucking- 
 ham and Grenville correspondence. In a " most secret" communication from 
 the latter, dated Whitehall Oct. 22, 1780, he says:— "You will have seen 
 by my last the delay which has arisen in examining Lord Xugent's papers, 
 on account of the absence of Macnamara." Occasionally further on. we find 
 him spoken of playfully as M'Xa. " He is the very person," writes Lord 
 Grenville, on May 15, 1789, " who has most strongly urged Thurlow on the 
 propriety of an English appointment, and who has suggested this curious 
 notion of Fitzgibbon's vmpopidarity. But I mention this, relying upon your 
 honour that you will not repeat it to any one, but particularly not to Fitz- 
 gibbon (Clare)." 
 
CLONCTJRRY AND HIS TIMES. 113 
 
 dinner-table, regaling n the good things which no one 
 could provide in better style or in more luxurious plenty 
 than this salaried newsmonger. 
 
 u Hospitality. 
 
 No formality. 
 All reality. 
 
 There you would ever see." 
 
 We are assured by Lord Cloncurry in his " Personal 
 Recollections," that it was no unusual event for the 
 Prince of Wales to drop in uninvited to these re-unions, 
 as well as men of the highest position in both Houses of 
 Parliament. To think of an Irish Roman Catholic, with 
 the chains of slavery still clanking to his heels, enter- 
 taining, in those penal days, not only the Royal Heir 
 Apparent, but the Lords and Commoners of Parliament, 
 is a phenomenon that will not fail to amaze some readers. 
 
 One Sunday night, on his return home from Croydon, 
 an incident occurred to which it may be well to give a 
 passing reference. Lord and Lady William Russell 
 were amongst Macnamaras guests, on the day we speak 
 of, but took their departure some twenty minutes sooner 
 than the rest of the company. Ere the metropolis 
 could be reached, it was necessary to brave Blaekheath. 
 with its formidable band of foot-pad captains. Lawless 
 arrived on the Common most opportunely. He came up 
 in time to rescue from peril the noble lord and his lady, 
 who, after a feeble resistance, were about to submit them- 
 selves meekly to a digital examination at the hands of 
 the Turpins. Hearing the noise of approaching footsteps, 
 which their guilty consciences at once converted into the 
 tramp of a patrol, the robbers took precipitately to their 
 heels, leaving Lord and Lady Russell, with the conco- 
 mitant booty, in undisputed possession of the field. We 
 believe it was this nobleman, who, many years after, died 
 by the hands of Courvoisier, his favourite valet. 
 
 One of the most noted acquaintances whom Mr. 
 Lawless formed, during the period of his residence in 
 London, was John Home Tooke. Their subsequent 
 intimacy, strange to say, sprung from a quarrel. Air. 
 
114 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 Lawless having consented to act as president at one of the 
 political dinners of the day, Tooke, in a sudden burst of 
 characteristic petulance — possibly through jealousy at not 
 having been himself invited to preside — proceeded to 
 discharge at him a series of caustic observations, which 
 soon provoked from the honourable president a retaliative 
 shower of the bitterest sarcasm. Words grew high, and 
 unpleasant consequences had begun to be apprehended, 
 when all of a sudden the disputants hoisted the white 
 flag, and proceeded right cordially to shake each other's 
 hand. Ever afterwards the veteran and youthful poli- 
 tician remained linked together by the strongest ties of 
 good-fellowship and affection. 
 
 Mr. Tooke, like Sheridan, possessed a most amiable 
 penchant for giving pleasant little dinner parties in his 
 villa on Wimbleton Common. Here Valentine Lawless 
 was a frequent and a welcome guest. The vivid flashes 
 of Curran's wit, the sparkling anecdotes and mots of 
 Perry,* and the eloquent bursts of republican sentiment 
 from Sir Francis Burdett, contributed in no small degree 
 to enliven these reunions.f 
 
 John Reeves ! no, we must not forget you, honest John, 
 Though always mistaken, occasionally unreasonable, and 
 as stubborn as a mule, yet your heart was in the right 
 place ethically and anatomically, and that we know of a 
 certainty, John. Years ago you died; years ago your 
 flesh amalgamated with the churchyard clay, and, like 
 every other bit of mortal flesh, was soon forgotten amid 
 the daily growth of new — but not the less incorruptible 
 on that account — lnunan substance. But while ultra- 
 Toryism exists, surely your name deserves to live. With- 
 out the aid of you and Arthur Young, it would most pro- 
 bably have tumbled into fragments in 1795. By the 
 labours of your mind, and the unceasing activity of your 
 pens, you succeeded in propping the tottering party. It 
 lived, and you died. 
 
 The political opinions of John Reeves were, to say the 
 
 * Editor of the 3forning Chronicle. 
 
 f See "Personal Recollections of Lord Cloncurry." 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 115 
 
 least of them, peculiar. In his celebrated pamphlet on 
 the Government of England, he advanced the rather 
 startling doctrine that it (the Government) was purely 
 monarchical, and could continue in all its functions, to 
 the end of time, without the existence of either Lords or 
 Commons. Both, he declared, derived their authority 
 from the King. He compared the Government to " a 
 goodly tree," whose stem was the Sovereign, and its 
 branches the Parliament. The latter might, he said, be 
 lopped off without injury to the tree. 
 
 For his sentiments on this subject the Whigs had him 
 prosecuted, but not to conviction. Acquittal stimulated 
 the Tory to additional exertion. 
 
 We will soon be approaching a period of Lawless's 
 career, with which Mr. Reeves is inextricably interwoven. 
 Most welcome is his name to a corner of this work, if 
 for no other reason than that he was the friend of Clon- 
 curry. 
 
 Mr. Lawless, as has been already seen, was a writer 
 of no ordinary vigour and ability. It is therefore not 
 surprising that his pen should have contributed as ex- 
 tensively to the columns of the Press newspaper (the 
 accredited organ of Irish independence) as did his purse 
 to its funds, and that by so doing he drew upon himself 
 the suspicions of a watchful Government. His name 
 having been eagerly seized upon by the subsidized spies 
 of the Castle as an important element in the manufacture 
 of one of those remunerative conspiracies which their fer- 
 tile minds were so au fait at concocting, it soon became 
 a familiar word throughout the Secret Committee, and to 
 no small extent stimulated the dreams of ambition which 
 excited and enraptured the " Battalion of Testimony." 
 
 Valentine, when in Ireland, passed his time almost ex- 
 clusively in the society of the popular leaders — a circum- 
 stance that occasioned Lord Cloncurry much umbrage 
 and uneasiness. Many a time the old gentleman warned 
 him to desist, and many a time his advice was disregarded. 
 By degrees Lord Nicholas waxed more and more wrathful, 
 and at length vowed, in a paroxysm of rage, that in the 
 event of his son's persisting in the line of conduct objected to, 
 he would disinherit him as sure as his name was Valentine. 
 
116 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 These menaces, however, alarming though they were, 
 appear to have been attended with but partial effect. If 
 his connexion with the Union for a moment relaxed, it 
 was only again to grasp it with a strong reaction of love 
 and determination. Never was he more thoroughly 
 happy than when conferring on the state of Ireland with 
 O'Connor, Sampson, Fitzgerald, Addis Emmet, Bond, or 
 M'Nevin. With each of these single-minded men he 
 remained on terms of the closest intimacy, until " circum- 
 stances, over which he had no controul," as apologists love 
 to say, put it completely beyond his power to continue 
 it. Lawless also knew poor Robert Emmet intimately, 
 and little thought, as he gazed upon the enthusiastic 
 countenance of the schoolboy, that six years more would 
 find him organizing an insurrection, and as a penalty, 
 pillowinsr his head on the block of the executioner. With 
 
 1 O 
 
 the somewhat more cautious patriots of the day — Grattan, 
 Ponsonby, Curran, and Plunket — Mr. Lawless was also 
 familiarly acquainted. 
 
 Can a more mercenary Government be conceived, 
 reader, than that which, towards the close of the last 
 century, sat legislating for Ireland in Dublin Castle? 
 After the failure of Hoche's expedition to Bantry Bay, 
 Lord Edward Fitzgerald, and some other influential 
 leaders of the organization, resolving to give their rulers 
 one more chance of cicatrizing the wounds they had so 
 deliberately opened, made formal proposal to his Majesty's 
 ministers that if, in the event of their conceding even a 
 modified reform, no exertions would be spared, on the 
 part of the leaders, in endeavouring to reclaim the alle- 
 giance of the people. As a deep-laid scheme, however, 
 was already concerted for the forcible effectuation of the 
 Legislative Union, this proposal met with nothing but in- 
 solent contempt. Can aught be conceived, we say, more 
 atrociously deliberate than calmly looking forward, 
 through the mists of years, to the extirpation, by fire and 
 sword, of fifty thousand* people, and all to accomplish a 
 disreputable purpose ? 
 
 * The number of people slaughtered, according to the official calculation, 
 in 1798. That the rebellion was the prelude to the Union, and intended as 
 such by the British minister, few, now-a-days, venture to deny. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 117 
 
 Thomas Addis Emmet, a member of the Executive 
 Directory, and one of the brightest ornaments of the Irish 
 bar, was interrogated rigidly by the Secret Committee, 
 in 1798. There were few voices more influential in the 
 national councils than that of Thomas Addis Emmet. 
 Humane, disinterested, warm-hearted, zealous, he glided 
 through the meetings of the Irish Union, remonstrating 
 with some, suggesting to others, and advising all. In 
 the course of his examination, he observed, parenthe- 
 tically, in reference to some question from Lord Clare, 
 " Will you permit me to add, upon my oath, that it was 
 my intention to have proposed to the Executive, and 
 I am sure it would have been carried, had there 
 existed any reasonable hope of reform, to send a mes- 
 senger to France, who would apprise the Council of the 
 difference between the people and the Government 
 having been adjusted, and not to attempt a second in- 
 vasion." England, however, had a deeper game to play 
 than the bloodless suppression of Irish disaffection. It 
 " knew a trick worth two of that," and therefore resumed 
 the work of torture with redoubled vigour. 
 
 The Habeas Corpus Act was suddenly declared sus- 
 pended, and martial law became more general in its 
 operation. As a necessary result of the former measure, 
 thousands of men, wholly innocent of all treasonable 
 intents and practices, suddenly found themselves loaded 
 with fetters, and thrust into prison in common with 
 the guilty. Those whom it was found impossible to 
 " convict by the ordinary course of law,"* were trans- 
 ported, without even the mockery of a drum-head trial, 
 and consigned, with ruthless barbarity, to the hulks. 
 
 " The work of repression," observes an English writer, f " was now carried 
 on by the military with great violence. The soldiers exceeded their duty to 
 a shameful extent, plundering and demolishing the homes of respectable and 
 loyal people, ill-treating women and children, and sometimes putting them 
 to death in a spirit of wanton and savage cruelty. Persons unarraigned were 
 arrested and sent on board tenders, others were flogged and tortured to extort 
 
 * In the "Castlereagh Correspondence" appear various clever expedients 
 for punishing " offenders who cannot be convicted by the ordinary course of 
 law" See vol. i. p. 163, &c, &c. 
 
 f Cassell's History of Ireland, vol. iii. p. 35. 
 
118 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 confessions ; men were mutilated, women violated, and whole villages and 
 populous districts were desolated with impunity. A regiment of cavalry, 
 called the Ancient Britons, under the command of Sir Watkins William 
 Wynne,* particularly distinguished themselves in the work of destruction, in 
 which they rioted like incarnate fiends." 
 
 " Mr. Pitt," says Sir Jonah Barrington, " counted on the expertness 
 of the Irish Government to effect a premature explosion. Free quarters 
 were now ordered, to irritate the Irish population. * * * It rendered 
 officers and soldiers despotic masters of the peasantry, their houses, food, 
 property, and occasionally their families." 
 
 On Feb. 17, 1797, the question of Catholic Emanci- 
 pation was, for the last time, brought before the Irish 
 Parliament by Grattan, who, in a speech of more than 
 ordinary power, moved that the admissibility of Catholics 
 to seats in Parliament was consistent with the safety of 
 the Crown, and the connexion of Great Britain with 
 Ireland. Ponsonby, Langrishe, Knox, and others, se- 
 conded his exertions ; but Dr. Duigenan, as Plowden has 
 it, " launched into a diffuse and infuriated philippic 
 against Popery, and abused all his Catholic countrymen 
 collectively." A division took place, when Grattan's 
 motion was found to be negatived by a large majority. 
 
 A speech of Lord Moira's in the British House of 
 Peers, on the 21st March, occupied much attention: 
 " It became the more interesting," observes Plowden ,f 
 " as that noble lord was known recently to have come 
 from Ireland; so that his judgment could not be misled, 
 from seeing the real state of that kingdom, nor his can- 
 dour and loyalty be suspected of misrepresenting it." 
 He drew a vivid picture of the coercion and cruelty 
 practised by the Anglo-Irish Government on the people 
 
 * Mr. Wright, an Englishman, in his " History of Ireland," p. 632, 
 relates the following interesting trait in the Ancient Briton character : — 
 " Information having been lodged that a house near Newry contained con- 
 cealed arms, a party of the Ancient Britons was sent to it, and found the 
 information to be false : yet they set fire to the house. It was the first mili- 
 tary conflagration in that part of the country, and the peasantry, supposing 
 that the fire was accidental, assembled from all sides for the purpose of 
 extinguishing the flames. As they came up in different directions, they were 
 attacked and cut down by the soldiers, and thirty of them were killed, 
 including a woman and two children. An old man of seventy fled from the 
 slaughter ; but he was pursued, and when overtaken, at a distance from the 
 scene of outrage, his head was deliberately cut off with a blow of a sabre, 
 while he was on his knees imploring mercy." 
 
 t Page 632. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 119 
 
 of Ireland, and concluded a most affecting oration with a 
 motion based upon the grounds that no possible good 
 could arise from the prosecution of the present system. 
 It was by temper, equity, and good faith, that the dis- 
 tractions of Ireland were to be appeased, and their 
 affections conciliated. The motion was negatived by a 
 majority of seventy-two. 
 
 Charles J. Fox,* a few days later, headed the forlorn 
 hope in the Commons. " About nine years ago," he 
 proceeded, " a regular system was devised for enslaving 
 Ireland. A person of high consideration was known to 
 say that £500,000 had been expended to quell an oppo- 
 sition, and that as much more must be expended in order 
 to bring the Legislature to a proper temper. This 
 systematic plan of corruption was followed up by a suit- 
 able system of coercion." Mr. Fox concluded a long 
 speech with an enumeration of Ireland's grievances, and 
 a denunciation of England's favourite policy.! In the 
 course of this debate, it was alleged by Colonel Ful- 
 lerton that General Hoche would surely find, in Ulster 
 alone, 50,000 United Irishmen, armed to the teeth, and 
 busily employed in secret discipline, in order to qualify 
 themselves for reinforcing the French army of invasion. 
 
 On the 3rd March, Mr. Secretary Pelham addressed a 
 long-winded document to General Lake — the notorious 
 butcher of '98 — declaring that some stringent measures, 
 in addition to those already employed for preserving the 
 public peace, were become imperative. A long series of 
 coercive mandates followed, by order of his Excellency. 
 All meetings from that date were strictly prohibited; 
 
 * Fox moved on this occasion that the King be petitioned to take into 
 his royal consideration the disturbed state of Ireland, and to adopt such 
 healing measures as might appear to his wisdom best calculated to restore 
 tranquillity. One of Lawless's most valued friends, Sir Francis Bur- 
 dett, seconded the motion, but the result was as unsatisfactory as in 
 that in the Lords. Mr. Pitt, and his strong party, hurled 220 against 
 84. 
 
 t As soon as the London morning papers, which contained a report of 
 these proceedings, fell under the observation of that violent champion of the 
 English inter-est, Dr. Duigenan, he repaired to College-green, and, with 
 characteristic ruffianism, pronounced Mr. Fox's allegations to be " lying and 
 malicious." 
 
120 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 armed or unarmed assemblages, botli were equally trea- 
 sonable in the estimation of Lord Camden. Thenceforth 
 General Lake became empowered to take the adminis- 
 tration of the law into his own guileless hands. 
 
 A proclamation forthwith appeared, from the pen of 
 that generalissimo, stigmatising the national Union as an 
 organized system of murder and robbery, and placing 
 every district over which he exercised the slightest au- 
 thority under the operation of martial law. All arms, 
 in the possession of parties not serving in a military 
 capacity, he commanded should be surrendered up ; and 
 in conclusion, declared that, for the encouragement of 
 such as chanced to be cognizant of the concealment of 
 arms, and were willing to approve, he would engage 
 to remunerate handsomely, and observe inviolable se- 
 crecy. 
 
 Lake's proclamation was promptly answered by a 
 popular manifesto, addressed by the men of Ulster to 
 their united brethren throughout Ireland : — 
 
 " Irishmen," it began, " our best citizens are entombed in bastiles, or 
 hurried on board tenders — our wives and our children are become the daily 
 victims of a licentious foreign soldiery ! Ulster — one of your fairest pro- 
 vinces, containing one-third of the population of the land — Ulster, hitherto 
 the pride and strength of Ireland, is proclaimed and put under the ban of 
 martial law ! The Government of the country has sentenced us to military 
 execution without trial, and the Legislature has sanctioned this illegal act 
 without inquiry. 
 
 "We are united in an organized system — not to promote murder, 
 but peace — not to destroy persons and property, but to save both from 
 destruction. Lastly, beloved countrymen, we are most solemnly pledged to 
 co-operate •with you in every temperate and rational measure for obtaining 
 the freedom of our country, by a full and adequate representation of all the 
 people of Ireland, without regard to religious distinctions. These are the 
 crimes of Ulster — they are the common crimes of Ireland. * * * Our inten- 
 tions have been, and still are, to obtain the great objects of our pursuit, through 
 the means of calm discussion and their own unquestionable justice. The com- 
 mon enemy knows that these are the most powerfid and irresistible weapons. It 
 Ls therefore that they have practised on us a system of reiterated aggression, 
 unparalleled in the history of civilized nations, for the purpose of goading us 
 into insurrection, or driving us to despair." 
 
 On the 10th May, Lord Castlereagh, while recom- 
 mending further severe enactments for the complete sup- 
 pression of disaffection, proposed to an overflowing House 
 that an address be presented to the Throne, thanking his 
 
CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 121 
 
 gracious Majesty for the measures which had been already 
 taken for restoring the due observance of the laws. In 
 a speech of Demosthenic vigour, it was clearly proved by 
 Henry Grattan that their system of coercion only stimu- 
 lated the growth of treason throughout Ireland. 
 
 Military government, in all its fearful rigour, was now 
 long established in the northern districts. Outrages of 
 the most barbarous nature — outrages which we hesitate 
 to name — were inflicted with brutal deliberation on the 
 people. Every shade of hope for future amelioration 
 expired within their breasts. Murder — real, cold-blooded 
 murder — was perpetrated before them, around them. 
 Women young, women old — wives, sisters, mothers — 
 babes who scarcely knew what passed, were not ex- 
 empted from the torture, and in some, alas ! in many 
 instances, glided into death beneath the reeking knife of 
 the licensed assassin. 
 
 The only newspaper, previous to the Press, which ven- 
 tured to give a detailed account of the governmental 
 atrocities committed, was the Northern Star. An enemy 
 of this kind was extremely troublesome, and the Camden 
 Administration came to the conclusion of crushing it 
 accordingly. The proprietors having been, under the 
 Habeas Corpus Suspension Act, consigned to dungeons, 
 a detachment of military proceeded to the printing-office, 
 and utterly demolished every portion of it. As the 
 commanding officer " looked again, and looked exulting 
 at the ruin he had'made," he is reported by Mr. Plowden 
 to have said: — " We may now do as we please, for as 
 the Star has ceased to twinkle, no other paper dares to 
 publish any act we do." This act of barbarity is believed 
 to have been provoked by the editor refusing to insert an 
 article at the request of the Government.* 
 
 The judicial assassination of William Orr, at the Car- 
 
 a The outrages committed upon property in Belfast baffle all description. 
 Amongst the most flagrant was the attack upon the house of Cunningham 
 Gregg. Esq., which Plowden and other impartial historians aver, was without 
 the slightest pretext or provocation. Every article within its walls fell a 
 victim to the rapacity of the King's troops. To deny, however, that the 
 populace, in some instances, retaliated by the perpetration of outrage and 
 wanton cruelty, would be most preposterous and unfair. 
 
 G 
 
122 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 rickfergus Assizes, in August, 1797, has, by establishing 
 a dangerous precedent, dropped a blot of indelible black- 
 ness on the annals of British and Irish adjudication. 
 Amongst the many new laws that came into force about 
 the period of this event, was one which rendered it 
 felonious to administer the United Irish oath. The first 
 victim that suffered beneath the operation of this Statute 
 was Mr. William Orr, an industrious farmer of worth 
 and respectability. The only witness against him was a 
 soldier named Whately, who solemnly swore in the 
 presence of his Maker, that an illegal oath had been deli- 
 berately administered to him by Orr, a short time 
 previous to the pending investigation. 
 
 The trial excited an unusual amount of interest. A 
 vast deal hung upon the decision of the jury, and many 
 an anxious countenance appeared in court that day. A 
 general impression seemed to get abroad that the prose- 
 tion of Orr was an experiment of strength on the part of 
 the Government against the people. Some of the best 
 counsel were accordingly retained for Orr, and great 
 hopes were entertained that the State prosecution would 
 fall, innocuous, to the ground. These hopes, however, 
 were doomed to be disappointed, and men beheld the 
 well-packed jury retire from the scene, with something 
 of an ominous expression in their countenances. The 
 doors of the jury-room having been locked, its inmates 
 were left to consider their verdict. Whately 's evidence, 
 notwithstanding the solemnity of his asseverations, ap- 
 peared to many as extremely questionable, but few had the 
 courage to give expression to their misgivings. Com- 
 mittal for contempt of Court was of much more common 
 occurrence in those days than in the present. 
 
 The Court was up betimes next morning. At six 
 o'clock, at the magic touch of the tipstaff, the bolts of the 
 jury-room receded from their sockets, and twelve legal 
 murderers swaggered into the box. " How say ye, 
 gentlemen — guilty, or not guilty?" The answer was in 
 the affirmative, accompanied by a recommendation to 
 mercy. 
 
 On the subsequent morning, Orr was brought up to 
 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 123 
 
 receive the sentence of the Court. As this was about to 
 be pronounced, one of his counsel (Mr. Sampson, of 
 Loughlinstown memory,) started up, and declared that a 
 matter had just come to his knowledge in connexion with 
 the verdict that could not fail to place his client in a 
 very favourable position. Sampson then produced a pair 
 of affidavits, signed by two of the most upright of the 
 jurors, protesting that during the night of their captivity 
 in the jury-room, spirituous liquors had been supplied to 
 them, and that at the period of " the finding," several of 
 the twelve were intoxicated to a most scandalous extent: 
 A few other jurors who disliked the formality of an 
 affidavit, made admissions to the same effect. One, even 
 went further, and declared that a prosecution for treason 
 was threatened to be commenced against him, if he did 
 not concur in a verdict of guilty. " At length," said his 
 advocate, " worn out by fatigue, overcome by drink, and 
 subdued by menaces, he did, contrary to his judgment, con- 
 cur in that verdict. This, for the time, proved a terrible 
 shock to the Crown, but, with characteristic fortitude, 
 they contrived to bear up against it. Judge Chamberlain, 
 true to his post, interrupted the counsel in his impassioned 
 appeal, declared that such a statement ought not to be 
 permitted — that it was evidently calculated to throw dis- 
 credit on the verdict, and therefore could not be the 
 foundation of any motion to the Court. The defence 
 thus overruled, fell to the ground, and Orr was re- 
 manded. 
 
 A painful duty devolved on Barry Yelverton, Lord 
 Avonmore, on the 30th August, 1797. It was to pro- 
 nounce sentence of death and execution on William Orr, 
 whom the British Government, for reasons of their own, 
 were resolved to immolate. During the enunciation, his 
 lordship's voice was heard to falter, and finally to become 
 barely audible. It did not require any great physiog- 
 nomical discernment to perceive that a mighty tumult 
 was raging within his breast. His lordship was pro- 
 nouncing an iniquitous judgment, and he knew it in his 
 heart. With an effort, however, he contrived to finish 
 it, but had no sooner done so, than the smouldering 
 
124 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 volcano burst with a thunder of sympathy, and the frame 
 of the old justice vibrated beneath the shock. The 
 workings of his internal system triumphantly achieved 
 the mastery. As genuine tears as ever sprang from 
 anguish rushed hurriedly adown his cheeks; and with 
 mute astonishment men beheld Lord Yelverton sob upon 
 the bench. 
 
 The firm demeanour of the prisoner, and the unwonted 
 sensibility of the judge, produced a singular sensation 
 in court. A cold thrill of horror ran through every 
 heart. Some of the least stoical of the jurymen under- 
 took to plead their victim's cause, and others, less honour- 
 able and humane, slunk criminally from the scene. 
 
 The denouement of the tragedy has yet to come. The 
 man who, for some paltry promotion, and still more petty 
 lucre, undertook to swear away the life of William Orr, 
 became suddenly oppressed beneath the weight of his 
 crime, and, flinging himself on his knees before a magis- 
 trate, acknowledged with shame and humiliation that the 
 entire amount of his testimony against Orr was false. 
 Thunderstruck, the magistrate listened to his tale. ■ He 
 put Whately upon his oath, and in the presence of God 
 made him confirm the truth of this startling announcement. 
 
 Petitions from every quarter of the land poured into 
 the viceregal chamber. Facts were put in their strongest 
 light, and language the most supplicatory was employed 
 to back them. The admissions of the witness — the evi- 
 dence of the jury — what power on earth could refuse the 
 prisoner mercy ? All to no effect, however. The law, 
 irregular as was the route, should take its course. A 
 respite — a wretched, miserable respite — was grudgingly 
 conceded, and on its expiration another; but nothing 
 further. The hopes of his family, which had just begun 
 to blossom, withered, and drooped, never again to rise. 
 Quick beat the pulse of an ardent people as the arrow of 
 despair rushed madly through their hearts. 
 
 A week or two of torturing suspense rolled over the 
 patient head of the hapless legal victim. While his 
 friends were praying the British Viceroy that the holiest 
 prerogative of the Crown might be extended to him, Orr 
 was employed in making his peace with Heaven. He 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 125 
 
 did not deign to supplicate with " lying lip" for mercy, 
 but silently communing with the great Omnipotent, 
 prepared his spirit for a plunge into mortality, and a 
 resurrection to eternal life. 
 
 The uplifted arm of the executioner, now stayed in its 
 downward course for several days, gradually began to tire, 
 and at length an early day was fixed upon for the judicial 
 assassination. Hearts beat quick as the day approached, and 
 the crood old town of Carrickferoais mourned for her son. 
 
 Lord Camden having been earnestly memorialized that 
 his clemency should be extended towards William Orr, 
 he directed Secretary Cooke to communicate to the 
 anxious friends and relatives, that patent but consolatory 
 forensic phrase — that threadbare cant in British courts of 
 judicature — " the law must take its course." It accord- 
 ingly did take its course, and on the 14th of October, 
 1797, this hapless victim to governmental caprice was 
 launched into eternity.* 
 
 Oh, England, England, where be your vaunted equity ! 
 You tell us it exists, but, alas ! we see it not. Whenever 
 you hear allusion made to the memory of Orr, reflect with 
 shame and humiliation on that celebrated axiom, so long 
 the boast of your immaculate lawgivers, that it were 
 better nine hundred and ninety -nine guilty persons es- 
 caped than that one innocent man should suffer. " Never," 
 exclaimed Orr, after reading his dying declaration, " was 
 I a traitor to my King. I die innocent — a persecuted 
 
 * The Press newspaper (No. 9) says : — " The inhabitants of Carrick- 
 fergus, man, woman, and child, quit the town this day, rather than be present 
 at the execution of their hapless countryman, Mr. Orr. Some removed to 
 the distance of many miles ; scarce a sentence was interchanged during the 
 day, and every face presented a picture of the deepest melancholy, horror, 
 and indignation. The military who attended the execution consisted of 
 several thousands, horse and foot, with cannon, and a company of artillery, 
 the whole forming a hollow square." What a contrast does this account pre- 
 sent to Charles Dickens's description of the English people at the execution 
 pf the Mannings. "I believe," he writes, "'that a sight so inconceivably 
 awful as the wickedness and levity of the immense crowd collected at 
 that execution on this morning coidd be imagined by no man. and could 
 be presented in no heathen land under the sun. * * * Fightings, 
 faintings. whistlings, imitations of Punch, brutal jokes, and tumultuous de- 
 monstrations of indecent delight when swooning women were dragged out of 
 the crowd by the police, with their dresses disordered, gave a new zest to 
 the general entertainment." — Dickens's Letter to the, Times. Nor. l'Btfi, 1849. 
 
126 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 man for a persecuted country."* And so every man in 
 Ireland, with a few insignificant exceptions, firmly be- 
 lieved him in their hearts to be.t 
 
 Ulster was the first place where the germ of the Union 
 organization took substantial root. Its progress in that 
 mighty district was rapid — electrical. Having conside- 
 rably the start over the other provinces in the race for 
 nationality, it, of course, reached the goal or zenith of its 
 excitement long before the baronial and County Com- 
 mittees of Leinster, Connaught, and the south. Had the 
 growth of the Union been strictly in unison — had their 
 every act and movement towards progression been simul- 
 taneous — what a different upshot would have resulted. 
 At the very moment that the confidence of Leinster was 
 beginning to blossom, and their determination to display 
 itself, Ulster was losing heart. When the French expe- 
 dition arrived in Bantry Bay, nothing could be more apa- 
 thetic in their regard than the peasantry of the south. 
 Not content with manifesting the greatest lukewarmness 
 towards their Gallic visiters, they made it a point to show 
 the British army the most marked hospitality as they pro- 
 ceeded on their march ; and, what is still more remarkable, 
 exerted themselves, notably, in clearing away the snow, 
 so that the roads might afford as few obstacles as possible 
 to the advance of the troops. Had the armament of '96 
 effected a landing in Belfast, Ireland would, in all proba- 
 bility, now be an independent republic. 
 
 The spirit of the Northerns, though at first awakened, 
 drooped by degrees beneath this load of oppression. 
 Their irritation at accumulated wrong, from a tone of 
 indignant remonstrance, subsided into " the composure 
 of settled despair." A well-timed proclamation offering am- 
 nesty, with some exceptions, to the disaffected, suddenly 
 
 * Plowden, vol. ii. p. 399. 
 
 t The London Courier of December 25th, 1797, contains the following 
 paragraph : — "Murder most Foul,! — The Irish papers which arrived this 
 morning contain the affidavits of the Rev. George Macartney, D.L., Magis- 
 trate of the county Antrim ; the Rev. James Elder, Dissenting Minister ; and 
 of Alexander Montgomery, Esq., stating that Hugh Whately, one of the 
 witnesses brought forward by the Crown against Mr. Orr, lately executed in 
 Ireland, had confessed that he had been guilty of perjury and murder ! ! ' r 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 127 
 
 found an extensive circulation. Its appearance was op- 
 portune, for the greater body of the people, harassed by 
 persecution, were beginning- to look forward to death as a 
 happy release from the evil power that pursued them. 
 Provided they gave security for future good behaviour, 
 and surrendered up to Lake their arms and ammunition, 
 a pardon was guaranteed. Thousands of broken spirits, 
 hurried by previous persecution to the precipice's brink, 
 clutched convulsively at the straw. Ten thousand stand 
 of arms rattled in amain, and protestations of allegiance 
 dinned the ro}^al ear. From the moment that Hoche's 
 expedition failed, the ardour of the northern United 
 men declined. Their hopes, from being tuned to the 
 highest pitch of tension, suddenly became unstrung. An 
 utter prostration of the system took place, and General 
 Lake, wreathed with bloody laurels, stood dignified, and 
 inflated, on the ruins of the Union. Meanwhile the organi- 
 zation, though dead, or nearly so in the North, extended 
 throughout Leinster, Munster, and the West. 
 
 We have already adverted to the Irish Executive Di- 
 rectory. None but men of the most sterling patriotism, 
 expanded intellect, and unimpeachable integrity, were 
 elected members of this body. Deliberating on every 
 step, and forming every project in connexion with its 
 progress, the Directory was, in more than one sense, the 
 head of the vast popular organization. To modify our 
 anatomical simile, it was the cardiacal seat of life — the 
 heart of the Union, which, when stabbed, deprived it of 
 vitality and strength — the life-blood which, so long as 
 circumstances permitted to circulate unruffled and unmo- 
 lested, purified the organization, and kept it free from 
 every particle of irregularity or disease. Whilst the 
 United Irishmen remained under the control of the 
 original Directory, their progress was sure and steady ; 
 but from the moment that its members were snatched 
 from their position, and either crushed into death or 
 consigned to dungeons, the contrary result, as might 
 naturally be expected, ensued. Hot-tempered, inexperi- 
 enced, headstrong men jumped eagerly into their place, 
 and, as Emmet observed before the Secret Committee, 
 
128 CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 consented to that partial insurrection which unfortunately 
 followed. 
 
 In the autumn of 1797 the Hon. Valentine Lawless 
 was, by the unanimous consent and desire of his country, 
 elected a member of the original Executive Directory. 
 The election took place, it appears, without his own 
 knowledge or even desire. Be this as it may, he attended, 
 in the month of October, for the first and only time, in 
 the capacity of Director, a meeting of the Executive, 
 holden at Henry Jackson's iron and brass foundry, No. 
 159, Old Church-street, Dublin. He freely expressed 
 his views on this occasion, but there is, unfortunately, no 
 existing record of their substance. How the wisdom of 
 Thomas Addis Emmet could ever have sanctioned such 
 an irregular election as the above, we cannot, for the life 
 of us, conceive. 
 
 Mr. Lawless, so far from making any disguise of his 
 innate nationality, gloried, it would appear, in displaying 
 it. Many, at the time we speak of, were rebels in their 
 hearts, and shrank from suspicion, but the subject of these 
 pages was not of the number. He never once thought of 
 appearing in public, either in London or Dublin, without 
 a complete outfit of " the colour of the true ;" even, as we 
 were assured by one who knew him well, to his very neck 
 handkerchief and stockings. In the present enlightened 
 days of black dress coats and Nichol paletots, this fashion 
 must appear somewhat ridiculous, but towards the close 
 of the last century there was nothing more usual among 
 the ultra-nationalists than publicly appearing in the ob- 
 noxious colour — green. That the custom, whenever 
 indulged in, gave great umbrage to all loyal subjects, is 
 exemplified in the well known anecdote related of Lord 
 Edward Fitzgerald and the military gentlemen of the 
 Curragh. Such incautious proceedings on the part of 
 Mr. Lawless produced the result that might naturally 
 have been expected. His "overt act of treason" became 
 public talk, and furnished the topic for calumny at many 
 an old countess's teapot conversazione. It was some con- 
 solation, however, that in proportion as one J^arty abused, 
 the other panegyrized him. Benedictions and maledic- 
 
CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 129 
 
 tions alternately descended on his head. Repeated inti- 
 mation was conveyed to his father that the evil eye of 
 Government was fixed upon him. Lord Nicholas ex- 
 pressed himself outrageous at the intelligence. He sum- 
 moned Valentine to his presence, and warmly rebuked 
 him. The old threat of disinheritance fell gloomily upon 
 his ears, and the propriety of immediate expatriation to 
 England was delicately hinted at by the infuriated old 
 gentleman. 
 
 One or two of the stories retailed to his father having 
 chanced to come second-hand to the ears of the young 
 nationalist, his blood flew up, and he declared that they 
 should not with impunity continue. He had his own 
 suspicions as to the identity of the tattlers. One was, 
 doubtless, Mr. Secretary Cooke, the gentleman who had 
 laboured to crush the strength of his anti-Union essay, 
 and to him he addressed a rather tart communication on 
 the rascality of " attempting to sow disunion in a private 
 family." " My conduct and my thoughts," said Lawless, 
 " have at least the merit of being open and above-board ; 
 I never concealed them from my father or any other 
 person, and I shall always be forthcoming if Government 
 thinks proper to make further inquiry into them." 
 
 By the following post a bland and cringing answer 
 arrived from Mr. Cooke, who, though, frigidly addressed 
 by Lawless as " Sir," now returned good for evil, by 
 commencing with a " Dear." He bitterly deplored not 
 being fortunate enough to see Mr. Lawless, when he 
 called at the Castle. Anything he had said arose from 
 personal regard and friendship for Mr. L. He begged 
 leave to assure him, very sincerely and very unaffectedly, 
 that he (Cooke) would be the last person to injure him 
 in the opinion of his father or any one else, and that it 
 would afford him much happiness to be of any service to 
 him in his power. In conclusion, he begged his Dear 
 Sir would ever believe him to be his most faithful ser- 
 vant, Edward Cooke. 
 
 This extremely plausible letter was the elaborated effu- 
 sion of an extremely plausible hypocrite. We have good 
 reason to believe that Mr. Secretary Cooke, although 
 
 g 2 
 
130 CLONCUREY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 professedly a friend, was one of the most dangerous ene- 
 mies that Lawless, during the earlier part of his career, 
 had to contend with. As there is no antagonist so deadly 
 in his aim as he that deliberately fires from behind an 
 ambuscade, so, in social life, the most dangerous enemy 
 is the man who, under the mask of friendship, endeavours, 
 in your absence, to subvert you in the estimation of your 
 dearest relatives and friends. 
 
 An interesting letter from Miss C. Lawless to Lord 
 Moira, and which we shall make use of at the fitting 
 time, expresses pretty freely her suspicions in respect to 
 the existence of some very gross duplicity on the part of 
 Mr. Cooke. 
 
 The first personal collision between the Hon.V. Law- 
 less and his Majesty's Government took place in the 
 month of May, 1797. The Legislative Union conspiracy 
 had been divulged, and the policy of torture seen through 
 by the people. Although much and deeply irritated, the 
 wise heads announced that they would not fight. " We 
 will prove a more formidable enemy," said they, " by pre- 
 senting an unshaken and dignified front, than in resorting 
 to the alternative of ineffectual retaliation. It is only in 
 our power to wound, while Government possesses the 
 license and the capability of slaying. We will throw no 
 stones or fire no shots, but, by the organized agitation of 
 influential opinion, harass them in their stronghold." This 
 view of matters appears to have been taken by a large 
 proportion of the County Kildare gentry in the summer of 
 1797. They endeavoured to organize a series of meet- 
 ings, petitions, and remonstrances. The Hon. Valentine 
 Lawless having been appointed secretary, unflinchingly 
 and ably discharged its duties. In the month of May he 
 took an active part in inciting the inhabitants of Kildare 
 to the preparation of such an aggregate petition against 
 the dreaded Union as was never before, for length or in- 
 iluence, produced in Ireland. It began, however, on an 
 humble scale, and in the following manner. A memorial, 
 signed by sixty-three names, addressed to Robert La- 
 touche, in his capacity of High Sheriff of Kildare, was 
 presented to that worthy (?) in May, '97. Its signatures, 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 131 
 
 as we perceive by the papers of the day, embraced those 
 of " Leinster," " Cloncurry," " Val. Lawless," " G. and 
 H. Ponsonby," " Lord Edward Fitzgerald," &c, &c, and 
 requested Mr. Latouche to convene a meeting of his baili- 
 wick in order to pray the King to " dismiss his present 
 ministers from his councils for ever, and to adopt such 
 measures as may once more secure to these countries the 
 blessings of interior peace." The High Sheriff replied 
 that such a meeting as they proposed to hold would tend 
 to disturb the peace and tranquillity of the country, and 
 that he could not, consistently with his duty, comply with 
 the requisition. 
 
 Lawless felt this insult, in common with his brother 
 requisitionists, but quailed not beneath the humiliating 
 retort. He conferred with Lord Edward, General Coek- 
 burne, and others, and the upshot was, their decision not 
 to be defeated by Latouche. In his capacity of secre- 
 tary, Lawless exerted himself with zeal and energy. He 
 travelled through the country organizing a monster peti- 
 tion, calculated not only to crush the arrogance of La- 
 touche (who essayed to strengthen his position by pub- 
 lishing a counter-petition, signed by some five-and-twenty 
 parties long since dead and forgotten), but to act effec- 
 tively on his Majesty's Government. The result of his 
 labours was, that on the 27th of May, 1797, a new and 
 spirited requisition appeared, signed by sixteen hundred 
 of the magistrates and inhabitants of Kildare, and headed 
 by no less a personage than the County Governor, Wil- 
 liam Duke of Leinster. In this capacity his Grace an- 
 nounced that meeting which Mr. Latouche slavishly 
 declined to do. 
 
 The Anglo-Irish Government became alarmed. They 
 dreaded the organized agitation of opinion, and issued a 
 proclamation wherein they " forewarned all persons from 
 meeting in any unusual numbers, under any pretence 
 whatsoever." What was Lawless and his confreres to do ? 
 They published a Remonstrance: — 
 
 " The liberty of complaining," said they, " is not only a natural right, but 
 the exercise of it ought to be allowed from motives of policy. In countries 
 where the rigour of "a severe despotism bridles the mouths of the people to 
 
132 CLOXCCRRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 that degree that a sigh is imprisonment and a murmur death, one dreadful 
 explosion has generally formed the beginning and the end of revolutions ! 
 whereas where the popidar voice is allowed to express itself, much of the 
 public resentment evaporates in words. * * * On this ground, there- 
 fore, the people of England, in their constitutional and legal capacity, have 
 always been allowed to petition their Sovereign. The Constitution has never 
 been safer than when the people have been clamorous ; and the people have 
 never long persevered in anv opinion which the event did not prove to be 
 riffht." 
 
 *&* 
 
 Notwithstanding the prohibition, the day for meeting 
 was, we believe, fixed ; but as it drew nearer and nearer, 
 a report, believed at first to have been without foun- 
 dation, gradually assumed a more alarming aspect and 
 complexion. Government, resolving to stifle this ex- 
 pression of public opinion, despatched a large military 
 force, under the command of Major John O'Connor, to 
 the seat of danger in Kildare. O'Connor, like the Em- 
 peror Aurelian, of canine notoriety, vowed direful ven- 
 geance on the rebellious town, and declared that the 
 simple fact of two County Kildare puppy dogs engaging 
 in personal conflict, on the day of the projected meeting, 
 would be the signal for him to make an instantaneous 
 hash of the populace and conspirators. 
 
 Having heard those reports, Lawless, unaccompanied 
 by a single friend, waited personally on Mr. Pelham, 
 Chief Secretary for Ireland, in order to ascertain from 
 the fountain-head whether it were really the intention of 
 Government to pursue so arbitrary a course as to disperse, 
 with powder and ball, a meeting peacefully assembled 
 for a legal purpose. " Horse, foot, and artillery," said 
 Lord Cloncurry, in one of his speeches at the Irish 
 Council, in 1847, "were poured into Naas ! I asked 
 Mi. Pelham what all those preparations were for; and he 
 said the preparations were made to prevent the meeting 
 taking place."' 
 
 It appearing evident to Mr. Lawless and his distin- 
 guished colleagues that nothing but bloodshed and mis- 
 fortune could result from holding this meeting in defiance 
 of Lord Camden's prohibitory proclamation, it was ad- 
 journed to Dublin, where the parliamentary Reformers 
 and Anti-L nionists fell into position, some weeks later, 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 133 
 
 beneath, the ample cupola of the Royal Exchange. At 
 this meeting, as appears from the newspapers of the day, 
 the Hon. Valentine B. Lawless presided. Parliamentary 
 Reform, Catholic Emancipation, and. the Legislative 
 Union, were the subjects that elicited the eloquence of 
 the meeting. Half a century afterwards, Lord. Cloncurry 
 made his conduct on this occasion the subject of reference 
 at the Irish Council : — 
 
 " I believe," said his lordship, " it is really within but a very few days of 
 fifty years since I presided at the first meeting of a political nature ever 
 attended by me in Ireland. There was at that time a meeting called in the 
 Royal Exchange, of the citizens of Dublin, and great excitement, great 
 anxiety, and a great disposition to despotism in the Government of the day 
 prevailed. We were surrounded by bayonets and muskets in the Royal 
 Exchange, when Ave met to petition against the proceedings that were 
 expected to take place for the purpose of carrying the Union.'" 
 
 Surrounded by muskets, we find the Hon. Mr. Lawless 
 taking the chair and opening the proceeding.-. The 
 papers of the day inform us that his conduct as chairman 
 was " spirited and determined." Mr. Wills was the 
 first speaker, and addressed Lawless in the following 
 words : — 
 
 " Sir. in these fearful times, when the electors of this city can only 
 assemble by the sufferance of the minister, by which you, Mr. Lawless, 
 well know they are now assembled — and, Sir, when it is doubtful whether 
 this meeting may not be dispersed by military force. I think it would be 
 ill-judged in me to trespass long upon your indulgence. I shall, therefore, 
 without further preface, propose to the consideration of my fellow-citizens 
 certain resolutions, which, I trust, are fully expressive of the sentiments of 
 a manifest majority of the electors of the metropolis." These he read. 
 
 The papers of the day tell us that Grattan was present 
 at this meeting, but did not speak. If he did not, Mr. 
 Joseph Leeson, M.P., did, and with much spirit too, as 
 will be evident upon a perusal of the following extract : — 
 
 " He had heard it stated that the virtuous minority of Parliament had 
 asserted with apathy the cause of their country. He had also heard that 
 vile and flagitious advantage would be taken of that apathy, and an attempt 
 made to effect an Union with Great Britain* — in aid of which purpose 
 so many hordes of foreign troops had, for a considerable time past, been 
 poured into this countr\ r . * * * If he could not defeat so base, so 
 insidious, and so ruinous a measure in Parliament, he would resist it out oi 
 
 * Capitals in the original report of the proceedings. 
 
134 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 doors ; and so long as he had blood in his veins, or a fellow-citizen to join 
 him, that blood shoidd freely flow in the cause of his country. * * * 
 He was fully aware that, for what he was now saying, he might be walked 
 into the next court-yard,* but nothing should deter him from declaring his 
 sentiments, or the severities of a Court prison shake his firmness therein." 
 
 It is tolerably certain that, had Ireland many such 
 men as Mr. Leeson, | ministers would not have succeeded 
 in effecting a Union. 
 
 On the 10th of May, 1797, took place that celebrated 
 withdrawal or secession from the Commons of all the 
 uncorrupted representatives of the people. Disgusted 
 with the foetid venality of Parliament, and jaded to ex- 
 haustion from the effects of a long series of energetic but 
 ineffectual struggles against corruption and state influ- 
 ence, Henry Grattan, Philpot Curran, George Ponsonby, 
 and others, at length consented to the discontinuance of 
 their attendance at the Irish Senate. This they were 
 mainly induced to do at the instance of a deputation, 
 consisting of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, the Hon. Valentine 
 Lawless, and Arthur O'Connor, who gave it as their 
 opinion, that any further visit to the House was nothing 
 but a mischievous mockery, a waste of precious time, and 
 a source of derision to their enemies. A few evenings 
 after, Grattan availed himself of a fitting opportunity to 
 inform the House of Commons generally, of the deter- 
 mination that he and his colleagues had unanimously 
 come to. " We have offered you our measure," said he 
 — "you will reject it; we deprecate yours — you will 
 persevere. Having no hopes left to persuade or dissuade, 
 and having discharged our duty, we will trouble you no 
 more, and, after this day, shall not attend the House of 
 Commons" (17 Pari. Deb. p. 570). Such was the perora- 
 tion of Grattan's memorable speech on Mr. W. Ponsonby 's 
 motion for parliamentary reform — a measure which that 
 gentleman and his colleagues considered the only effec- 
 
 * The Castle-yard. 
 
 t This Mr. Joseph Leeson was, if we are informed rightly, the father of 
 the present Joseph Leeson. Earl of Miltown, who, in 1807, succeeded to the 
 family peerage on the death of his lordship's grandfather, Brice, third Earl. 
 Less than a year from the date of the Exchange meeting, Mr. Leeson 
 married Emily, daughter of Archibald Douglas, Esq., who became, in 1811, 
 the second wife of Valentine Lord Cloncurry. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 135 
 
 tual means of ensuring the restoration of peace and 
 confidence among the people. 
 
 This was the last effort of the popular members to 
 bring forward the golden measure of Reform. An over- 
 whelming and clamorous majority defeated them, and 
 that great question, which whilom received the cordial 
 support of Blackstone, the eloquent approval of Chatham, 
 the helping hand of Flood, and the countenance of 
 Saville, found itself rejected by the House of Commons 
 with a degree of contempt that nothing but a popular 
 motion could succeed in evoking. Upon the dissolution 
 of Parliament, a short time subsequent to this event, we 
 find the somewhat questionable policy referred to above 
 still animating the minds of the national party. Amongst 
 those who declined offering themselves as candidates at 
 the new election were Lord Edward Fitzgerald and 
 Mr. Henry, of Straffan. Singular to say, the addresses 
 of both, on bowing their retirement from the representa- 
 tion of Kildare, were written by Mr. Lawless, who, since 
 the publication of his Anti-LTnion pamphlet, enjoyed the 
 reputation, amongst his friends, of possessing much 
 fluency in literary composition. Fitzgerald, although a 
 man of vast depth of comprehension, had but an indif- 
 ferent command of his pen. 
 
 Subjoined is the noble Geraldine's address. It does 
 not appear in any published memoir of his lordship ; and 
 our efforts to discover it (so many years having elapsed 
 since the period of its composition) were attended with 
 some delay and difficulty. The principal interest, pro- 
 bably, which the reader of this work will derive from its 
 perusal, is based on the knowledge of the fact that 
 Valentine Lawless wrote it: — 
 
 " TO THE ELECTORS OF THE COUNTY OF KILDAKE. 
 
 "I take this opportunity of thanking my fellow-citizens for the favour 
 they conferred on me at the last general ejection. I hope the conduct I have 
 pursued since met with their approbation ; it was dictated by the purest mo- 
 tives and most fervent wish for the welfare and happiness of Ireland. I shall 
 not offer myself at present a candidate, feeling that under the present circum- 
 stances there can be no free election in Ireland; any return made will be 
 only by sv.ff ranee of the nearest military commanding officer. What is to be 
 expected from a Parliament returned under martial law ? Looking to the 
 
136 CLOXCURRY ASD HIS TIMES. 
 
 true spirit of the English Constitution, I doubt if a body elected under such 
 circumstances can be called a Parliament, or its acts reckoned binding. I 
 hope my fellow -citizens of the County Kildare -will not look on my declining 
 to stand a candidate now as abandoning their interests. I trust to see the 
 day when I shall offer myself to represent them in a Parliament that will be 
 freely and fairly elected, aud can be venerated by all honest men. 
 
 " Though not your representative, believe me always your faithful ser- 
 vant. " Ed. Fitzgerald. 
 '• Kildare, July 14, 1797." 
 
 This singular step* on the part of Fitzgerald and his 
 colleagues was not an original idea. During the previous 
 year Mr. Fox and his party seceded from the British 
 Parliament, on similar grounds. Lord Holland, one of 
 themselves, and the nephew of Fox, pronounces this pro- 
 ceeding to have been " ill advised. 1 '! " That measure," 
 says his lordship, " in which Fox acquiesced more from 
 indolence than from judgment, originated chiefly with 
 Mr. Grey, Lord Lauderdale, and the Duke of Bedford." 
 
 It was not our intention to have pained the readers 
 feelings by any further description of the heartless cruel- 
 ties practised during the years '96 and '97 on the peasantry 
 of Ireland. We find, however, on reflection, that we 
 would be scarcely justified in silently passing over one 
 flagitious instance of military tyranny which some time 
 about this period fell under the notice of Valentine Law- 
 less, in his capacity of magistrate for the County Kildare. 
 
 The Insurrection Act, with all its maddening tenden- 
 cies, had long domineered despotically over the inhabi- 
 tants of Carberry, Cappagh, and Clonard. Temporarily 
 established in the centre of the proscribed circle was a 
 " flying encampment," swarming with Fencibles and other 
 dangerous vermin of the military tribe. Perpetually 
 stinging the hapless peasantry of the district with unpro- 
 voked and wanton tortures, this camp might be figura- 
 tively likened to a vast hive of hornet wasps, making 
 
 * The patriotic Charlemont was one of the few influential Irish politicians 
 who ventured to go against the popidar feeling by disapproving of the seces- 
 sion. — See Hardy's " Life of Charlemont/' page 386, vol. ii. 
 
 t Lord Lansdowne was outrageous. " Pray," said he, addressing Lord 
 Holland, " is your uncle aware of what he is doing. Secession means rebellion, 
 or it is nonsense." — Lord Holland's Memoirs of the Whig Party, vol. i. 
 London, 1853. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 137 
 
 constant and uncalled for onslaughts on the inoffensive 
 passers by. Captain Simon Frazer, on his return to the 
 11 Hive," on the evening of July 9th, 1797, from Kilcock, 
 where he had been indulging his appetite in the pleasures 
 of a hospitable table, found it necessary to pass through 
 the village of Cloncurrv, which, as the reader has no doubt 
 already surmised, was part of Mr. Lawless's fathers pro- 
 perty. Cloncurry and the neighbouring districts being 
 proverbially peaceable, were not declared under the ope- 
 ration of either martial law or Insurrection Act, and the 
 inhabitants had therefore full license to do as they pleased, 
 in respect to whatever hour they chose to rise or retire 
 to bed. 
 
 The summer sun, jaded after fifteen hours' active dutv. 
 was just upon the point of sinking into the rosy arms of 
 the west, when Captain Simon Frazer, attended by John 
 Ross, his faithful orderly, might be seen trotting their 
 palfreys into the quiet village of Cloncurry. With gesture 
 and expression not unlike Don Quixotte previous to his 
 valorous charge of the windmill, the gallant captain, fol- 
 lowed by his squire, proceeded to where an aged carpen- 
 ter, named Christopher Dixon, was engaged in repairing 
 an ass's cart. Amid much interruption, from maudlin 
 hiccough, the captain requested to be informed how he 
 (Dixon) dared, after sunset, to be out of doors. The old 
 man remonstrated with his interlocutor on the unreason- 
 able nature of the attack, and assured him that the district, 
 so far from being proclaimed, was proverbially peaceable. 
 To this the gallant officer replied that he (Dixon) was a 
 liar, and his prisoner, and calling for the assistance of 
 Ross, succeeded in strapping him to the crupper of his 
 horse. The trio then proceeded along to the distance of 
 some twenty perches, when the interposition of Cloncurry 
 turnpike gate necessitated a halt. Michael Finn, the 
 gatekeeper, not being at his post, but on the contrary in 
 bed, Captain Frazer thundered at the door, and swore 
 that if he did not open it instanter he would convey him 
 to Clonard, for being " a Defendering dog." The threat 
 
 ' O CO 
 
 had no need to be repeated, and the door was thrown 
 open. Dixon at once appealed to Finn for a confirmation 
 
138 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 of liis statement. The gatekeeper was thunderstruck at 
 Frazers display of tyranny, and endeavoured, but in vain, 
 to persuade him that Cloncurry and its neighbourhood 
 were altogether unoppressed by any such incubus as the 
 ruthless Insurrection Act. Availing himself, in the mean- 
 time, of the darkness and the confusion, Dixon contrived 
 to descend, unobserved, from the horse, and proceeded to 
 make his way homewards with as much celerity of gait 
 as an octogenarian is usually capable of employing. Ross 
 soon missed him, gave chase, and captured the fugitive. 
 Not content with capriciously torturing him, Ross, aided 
 and abetted by his captain, inflicted upon the venerable 
 frame of Dixon no less than sixteen dirk and sabre 
 wounds, of which eight were mortal, and then rode off to 
 the camp, in the proud consciousness of having achieved 
 a high moral duty, which could not but redound to the 
 credit alike of master and man. 
 
 The body having been found by Finn and another 
 man, they conveyed it to the house of a farmer named 
 Gahagan. Here a coroner's inquest assembled on the 
 morrow, and after a careful investigation the verdict of 
 " wilful murder" was unhesitatingly returned. Mr. 
 Thomas Ryan, a respectable magistrate, and for many 
 years land agent to Valentine Lord Cloncurry, prepared 
 a warrant for the apprehension of Frazer, and proceeded 
 to the camp in order to see it executed. The soldiery, 
 however, dearly loved their captain, and drove off the 
 obtrusive magistrate at the point of the bayonet. Foiled 
 in his endeavour to arrest him, Mr. Ryan applied to 
 Nicholas Lord Cloncurry to know what course it would 
 be advisable, in his judgment, to pursue. His lordship, 
 thus appealed to, suggested the propriety of applying to 
 Lord Carhampton, the Commander-in-chief of the Irish 
 Forces, and offered to send his son Valentine with him, 
 should he (Ryan) so desire it. He cheerfully accepted 
 the proposal, and both set off together for Lord Car- 
 hampton's residence. On the way thither they were 
 joined by Colonel, afterwards General, Sir George Cock- 
 burne, who felt much interested in the matter. 
 
 Having succeeded in obtaining an interview with Lorcl 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 139 
 
 Carhampton, Mr. Lawless at once produced the warrant, 
 while Colonel Cockburne and Mr. Ryan endeavoured to 
 place in the most striking points of view the provisions 
 of the Insurrection Act, and the monstrous behaviour of 
 Captain Frazer, in first arresting an inoffensive labourer, 
 and then depriving him, in the most wanton manner, of 
 his life. Carhampton, who, there is little doubt, rather 
 relished the perpetration of an occasional cruelty upon 
 the Irish peasantry, positively refused, point blank, to 
 surrender up the bodies of either captain or orderly. " In 
 the presence of my friends, Colonel Cockburne and Mr. 
 Ryan," said Lawless, "I demand the person of Captain 
 Frazer, in pursuance of the provisions of the Mutiny 
 Act." Lord Carhampton bowed, and regretted his ina- 
 bility to interfere. " You may refuse to give him up," 
 said Lawless, as he left the room, " but I tell you Captain 
 Frazer is, ipso facto, cashiered." 
 
 Several days elapsed. The Fencibles* formed a hollow 
 square around their captain, and still resisted at the bay- 
 onet's point everything that had the semblance of a 
 magisterial advance. Determining, however, not to dis- 
 play " the white feather," in addition to his military one, 
 or, what is still more probable, anxious that the world 
 should see and appreciate the fearless intrepidity of con- 
 scious rectitude, the Fencible announced his intention of 
 delivering himself up to justice at the ensuing assizes. 
 These having been held at Athy, he marched straight for 
 that town at the head of his army, the band, the while, 
 belabouring on their kettle-drums, and roaring 1 through 
 their trombones, as only a Fencible band could roar and 
 belabour. As the air they^. selected was " Croppies, lie 
 down," it would appear that Captain Frazer intended his 
 entry should have more the appearance of an ovation 
 than a subjugation. In this absurd manner he strutted 
 
 * Amongst the many popular ballads that came into vogue about the 
 period of the rebellion was one exclusively devoted to satirizing the Inverness 
 Fencibles. It chorused thus : — 
 
 " Oh, did you see the Fencibles, 
 Commanded by insensibles, 
 Devoid of all good principles ? 
 
 Detestable they are." 
 
140 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 into Athy, determined, at all events, to overawe, as the 
 inability to obtain a prepossession in his favour began to 
 assail his guilty conscience with some potency. 
 
 The trial came off. Many witnesses were examined 
 as to the good and peaceable character of Dixon — his 
 general habits of morality and industry, and complete 
 exemption from all treasonable intents or practices. There 
 were also witnesses upon the other side, who gave a cha- 
 racter for all the virtues under heaven, especially the mi- 
 litary virtues, to Captain Frazer and his orderly- Amongst 
 them the Rev. Thomas Knipe, a parson magistrate, occu- 
 pied a prominent position. He knew Captain Frazer 
 long and intimately, and "solemnly declared him to be 
 a man of very great humanity." Counsellor Antisell 
 asked him if he believed Frazer to have been in liquor? 
 " I never saw him so," replied the parson, " but I certainly 
 heard he was what is generally called hearty." 
 
 Mr. John Toler, afterwards Lord Norbury, happened 
 to be the presiding Judge of Assize. The facts of the 
 case were soon dealt with, and proved to the satisfaction 
 of everybody ; but Tolers charge to the jury shot a red- 
 hot arrow of indignation through the heart of every friend 
 of poor Dixon or of Ireland. A more extraordinary 
 charge was, probably, never uttered in that or any other 
 court of law. Toler charged home for an acquittal. 
 " Gentlemen," said he, " Captain Frazer is a gallant 
 officer and a stranger, who in his recent ebullition of zeal 
 has merely committed a mistake. If Dixon was as good 
 a man as those witnesses have represented him to be, why 
 it is deuced fortunate for him to be out of this wicked 
 world ; but if, on the contrary, his political bias was as 
 bad as many others in the neighbourhood (and here he 
 looked very significantly at Lawless, who, in his magis- 
 terial capacity, sat beside the judge), it is undoubtedly 
 well for the country to be rid of him." Juries, generally 
 speaking, find a verdict in accordance with the judge's 
 charge. The captain's ovation was complete: the jury 
 acquitted him. 
 
 John Ross, the orderly, was then placed in the dock. 
 Reader, who think you was the first witness sworn to 
 give evidence on his behalf? No less a person than 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 141 
 
 Captain Simon Frazer. Ross had been in his service for 
 a considerable time ; he knew him to be a man of unex- 
 ceptionable character. 
 
 Toler having summed up, and once more charged home 
 for an acquittal, the jury brought in their verdict — not 
 
 GUILTY. 
 
 The number of the Press newspaper, which recorded 
 this singular trial, wound up its report* of the proceed- 
 ings with — " We could not obtain the judge's charge from 
 our brachographer, who said he was afraid to bring the 
 vengeance of power on him" 
 
 Meanwhile Valentine continued to identify himself 
 thoroughly with every movement tending, as he thought, 
 to the amelioration of his country, and on no occasion 
 shrank, either in public or in private, from expressing 
 his liberal and philanthropic sentiments. Chief Justice 
 Scott, Earl of Clonmel, a sort of ancient nephewf of Va- 
 lentine's father, regarded with a nervous and observant 
 eye those highly objectionable proceedings. Treason, 
 with a degree of aplomb, altogether unprecedented in 
 Ireland, stalked undisguisedly through the land. It 
 forced its way through prison barriers, fired the turnkeys, 
 dived into the loathsome hovels of the poor, strode through 
 the gilded corridors of the great, visited the church, the 
 senate, and the bar, and penetrated into nooks and corners 
 where nothing but the plague was ever known to reach. 
 Eleven cases of high treason " to be worked off" during 
 the ensuing term, remained in " mems" upon his Lord- 
 ship's tablets.^ Clonmel trembled for the fate of Valen- 
 
 * From the report referred to, and from a letter addressed by Lord Clon- 
 curry, in 1844, to W. J. O'Neil Daunt, Esq., M.P., containing a statement of 
 the facts, we have been enabled mainly to compile the above account. The 
 substance of his Lordship's letter is introduced by Mr. Daunt into " Ireland 
 and her Agitators," page 18. 
 
 f Lord Clonmel married the only daughter of Pat Lawless, and niece of 
 Lord Clone urry. In the event of the death of Lady Clonmel*s children, Philip 
 Lawless, of AVarrenmount, brewer, was, under the will of Lord Clonmel, be- 
 queathed a considerable sum of money. 
 
 + "Lord Clonmel continues to invigorate in the cool sea breezes. The ap- 
 proaching labours of the ensuing term call for renovation. The trials of 
 eleven persons for high treason will require strength of body and extension 
 of lungs." See the Press newspaper of December 21, 1797. 
 
142 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 tine. A red revolutionary tide rolled turgidly on, re- 
 ceiving in its progress, day by day, and hour by hour, 
 the aids of numberless tributaries, which at first only 
 approached slowly and doubtingly, but suddenly, as they 
 neared the tide, rushed, with singular fascination, into its 
 embrace. Clonmel, perceiving intuitively through the tele- 
 scope of his foresight, the bloody vortex to which the red 
 revolutionary tide was gradually tending — but which he, 
 fortunately, never lived to see* — expostulated, begged, 
 and conjured Lord Nicholas f to lose no time in forcing 
 away Valentine from his treasonable associates. His 
 father, alarmed by the ominous expression of old Clon- 
 mel's countenance, insisted on Valentine's immediate de- 
 parture for London, in order, as he said, to keep his term 
 at the Temple, and devote himself, heart and soul, to the 
 study of the law. Disgusted, as Lawless was, at the system 
 of misgovernment pursued by the Anglo-Irish adminis- 
 tration, and at the reign of terror attendant on it, it did 
 not require any very great exertion of parental authority, 
 on the part of his lordship, to induce him to leave Ireland 
 for the present. Accordingly, early in November, 1797, 
 we find all arrangements complete for the instantaneous 
 departure of Mr. Lawless. Before setting off, however, 
 Lord Cloncurry impressed upon him the necessity of 
 paying his devoirs to Lord Clonmel. 
 
 The mansions of Lords Clonmel and Cloncurry were 
 situated in close proximity to each other. To all tra- 
 vellers by the Kingstown road, the villa of Maretimo is 
 well known, and Temple Hill House, now the princely 
 residence of Mr. Robert Gray, hardly less so. Here old 
 Lord Clonmel in the evening of his life resided. Sur- 
 rounded by the stately elms of Seapoint and Temple 
 Hill, crowned by the clear blue sky above, and che- 
 rished by an amiable and fascinating wife, his lordship, to 
 use a vulgar but expressive phrase, would not call the Bri- 
 tish King his cousin. Clonmel had put over him a busy and 
 
 * He died on the 22nd May, 1798, a few hours previous to the com- 
 mencement of the insurrection. 
 
 f [Nicholas Lawless, Lord Cloncurry. Many of his friends recognised him 
 bv no other name. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 143 
 
 an eventful life — a life not " full of kindness and bliss," but 
 of legal drudgery, intrigue, wordy conflicts, and abject 
 subserviency to the powers that were. To say that, far 
 away as he was now removed from the busy hum of men, 
 and the unsalutary vapours of a crowded city, he should 
 have nestled, with a keen perception of enjoyment, into 
 the bosom of the country, would be to assert a platitude 
 as palpable as that he lived. The south side of Dublin 
 was, in those days, essentially different from what it 
 has since become. No house with any pretensions to 
 respectability dotted the landscape, from Temple Hill to 
 Dunleary. The dingy village of Black Rock, with its 
 old stone cross, was certainly in existence, but save 
 " Frescati," the charming residence of Lord Edward 
 Fitzgerald and his beautiful Pamela, there was no really 
 handsome country seat for miles around. A chaste, 
 soothing quietude, broken only by the occasional cawing 
 of a rook, the surging of the dark blue ocean, or the 
 buzzing of a bee in quest of honey, reigned glorious and 
 supreme throughout the rustic portion of the district. 
 No roaring locomotives, polluting the fresh atmosphere 
 with steam and smuts, rushed frantically to and fro at 
 the expiration of each quarter hour. No dense white 
 clouds of stale old dust, that alternately assumed the 
 shape of mud and powder every week for the last five- 
 and-twenty years, disported along the thoroughfare in 
 fiendish glee, blinding the unwary, and enveloping in 
 one vast sheet of mist the countless vehicles, cocks and 
 hens, furniture vans, asses' carts, dogs, horsemen, and 
 pedestrians, that seem to have, every day of their ex- 
 istence, some business of importance to transact upon the 
 Kingstown road. To sum up all, the honest denizens of 
 the district were, in those days, rarely scared by the 
 awful apparitions of county cess, poor rate, income, and 
 metropolitan police tax collectors, tugging energetically 
 at their door-bells, and intimating, in discordant accents, 
 that, if payment be not made within eight days, pro- 
 ceedings would be unrelentingly commenced. 
 
 On the morning of his departure for London, Valentine 
 repaired to Temple Hill House — or, as it was designated 
 
144 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 in those clays — " Neptune," for the purpose of taking an 
 affectionate farewell of the watchful guardian of his 
 worldly interests. We are inclined to think, however, 
 that a neighbourly feeling, and the consideration of 
 Clonmel being a near relative of his family, had more 
 weight in inducing Valentine to pay him this visit than 
 the lively interest taken by the old lawyer in keeping 
 him out of harm's way. 
 
 While Valentine is walking up the hilly road from 
 Maretimo to Temple Hill, we cannot employ the interval 
 better than by laying before the reader an amusing 
 sketch of Lord Clonmel, which appears in Mr. Phillips's 
 interesting work, " Curran and his Cotemporaries :" — 
 
 •• Amongst those who were most distinguished when Mr. Curran came to 
 the har, and with whom, afterwards, as Chief Justice, he not {infrequently, 
 came in collision, was Mr. John Scott, afterwards Lord Clonmel. This 
 person sprang from a very humble rank of life,* and raised himself to his 
 subsequent elevation, partly by his talents, partly by his courage, and, 
 though last, not least, by his very superior knowledge of the world. During 
 the stormy administration of Lord Townsend, he, on the recommendation of 
 the then Chancellor, was elected to a seat in the House, and from that 
 period advanced gradually through the subordinate offices to his station on 
 the bench. In the year 1770, and during the succeeding sessions, he had 
 to encounter, almost alone, an opposition headed by Mr. Flood, and com- 
 posed of as much effective hostility as ever faced a treasury bench. His 
 powers were rather versatile than argumentative; but when he failed to 
 convince, he generally succeeded in diverting ; and if he did not, by the 
 gravity of his reasoning, dignify the majority to which he sedulously 
 attached himself, he, at all events, covered their retreat with an exhaust- 
 less quiver of alternate sarcasm and ridicule. Added to this, he had a 
 perseverance not to be fatigued, and a personal intrepidity altogether invin- 
 cible. When he coidd not overcome, he swaggered ; and when he could not 
 bully, he fought. Successful as Lord Clonmel was in his political career, he 
 by no means looked back on it with satisfaction. It is recorded of him that 
 he said, on his death-bed, 'As to myself, if I were to begin life again, I 
 would rather be a chimney-sweeper than connected with the Irish Go- 
 vernment.' " 
 
 Here we take the liberty of interrupting Mr. Phillips 
 in his interesting reminiscences of Lord Clonmel, for the 
 purpose of introducing — rather obtrusively, we fear — an 
 observation of our own. The anecdote of his lordship's 
 
 * Mr. Phillips does less than justice to the pedigree of Lord Clonmel. 
 His lordship's father was the Rev. Michael Scott, and his grandfather a mili- 
 tary captain under William the Third, who fell in the act of leading on his 
 troops to victory. — W. J. F. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 145 
 
 penchant for the chimney-sweeping trade, in preference 
 to a connexion with the Irish Government, is indis- 
 solubly connected with the subject of this memoir. That 
 very extraordinary observation was not made upon his 
 lordship's death-bed, as Mr. Phillips supposes, but ad- 
 dressed to Valentine on the identical morning that he 
 waited upon his cousin at Temple Hill, preparatory to 
 his departure for England.* We make this allegation 
 upon the authority of Lord Cloncurry himself. 
 
 The correct version of the anecdote is as follows* 
 In the course of the last conversation that ever took 
 place between Clonmel and Valentine Lawless i.e., on No- 
 vember 17th, 1797, his lordship suddenly exclaimed, in a 
 burst of not very characteristic candour — " My dear 
 Val., I have been a fortunate man in life. I am a chief 
 justice and an earl; but, believe me, I would rather be 
 beginning the world as a young sweep." 
 
 Apologising to Mr. Phillips and the reader for this 
 interruption, we will now beg leave to resume the broken 
 thread of his narrative : — 
 
 " The asperities of his public conduct were, however, invisible in private. 
 He was stored with anecdote — seldom, certainly, very delicate in the selec- 
 tion ; but his companionable cmalities were well seconded by the fidelity of 
 
 * There is an interesting anecdote related in " Grattan's Memoirs" (vol. 
 ii. p. 146) of some curious revelations made by Lord Clonmel at this period. 
 Finding ill health oppress him, he sent for his nephew, Dean Scott, to exa- 
 mine his political correspondence, and destroy any portion of it that it would 
 be indiscreet to preserve. There was one letter, in particular, which Lord 
 Clonmel felt extremely anxious should be discovered by Dean Scott, and as 
 soon as possible committed to the flames. It completely revealed the base 
 policy of England in encouraging the growth of United Irishmen, in order 
 that the ministerial Union bark might, on a vast rushing sea of Irish blood, 
 be carried triumphantly along. The docmnent was soon found, and by an 
 easy process reduced to ashes. Dean Scott, years after, communicated this 
 fact to Mr. Grattan, in order that it might be used for the purposes of his- 
 tory, but he refused to give the writer's name or more of the contents, than 
 that " they allowed the United Men to go on, in order to carry the Union, 
 and that such was their design." Lord Clonmel, some eighteen months pre- 
 vious to his death, called on the Viceroy, and told him that as Government 
 were well acquainted with the extent of the united organization, it behoved 
 them at once to crush it, and thus avert the sanguinary horrors of an insur- 
 rection. His Excellency received him coldly, and from that day Lord 
 Clonmel was never summoned to the Privy Council. His lordship detailed 
 this circumstance to Dean Scott, early in 1798. — TV. J. F. 
 
 H 
 
146 CLONCURRY AXD HIS TIMES. 
 
 his friendships ; and it is told of him. that he never made an insincere pro- 
 fession, or forgot a favour. * * * 
 
 " The death of Lord Clonmel is said to have originated in a very curious 
 incident. In 1792, Mr. John Magee, the spirited proprietor of the Dublin 
 Evening Post, had a fiat issued against him in a case of libel, for a sum 
 •which the defendant thought excessive. The bench and the press were 
 directly committed ; and in such a case, had a judge ten-fold the power he 
 has, he would be comparatively harmless. The subject made a noise — was 
 brought before Parliament — and was at last, at least politically, set at rest 
 by the defeat of the Chief Justice, and the restriction of the judges in future, 
 in such cases, to an inferior and a definite sum. Discomfited and mortified, 
 Lord Clonmel retreated from the contest ; but he retreated like a harpooned 
 . .leviathan — the barb was in his back, and Magee held the cordage. He 
 made the life of his enemy a burden to him. He exposed his errors, denied 
 his merits, magnified his mistakes, ridiculed his pretensions, and continually 
 edging, without overstepping the boundary of libel, poured upon the Chief 
 Justice, from the battery of the press, a perpetual broadside of sarcasm and 
 invective. ' The man,' says Dr. Johnson, challenging Junius, ' who 
 vilifies established authority is sure to find an audience.' Lord Clonmel too 
 fatally verified the apothegm. Wherever he went, he was lampooned by a 
 ballad-singer, or laughed at by the populace. Xor was Magee's arsenal 
 composed exclusively of paper ammunition. He rented a field bordering 
 his lordship's highly-improved and decorated demesne : he advertised, month 
 after month, that on such a day he would exhibit in this field a grand 
 Olympic pig hunt: that the people, out of gratitude for their patronage of 
 his newspaper, shoidd be gratuitous spectators of this revived classical 
 amusement; and that he was determined to make so amazing a provision of 
 whiskey and porter, that if any man went home thirsty it should be his 
 own fault. The plan completely succeeded. Hundreds and thousands as- 
 sembled ; every man did justice to his entertainers hospitality ; and his lord- 
 ship's magnificent demesne, uprooted and desolate, next day exhibited 
 nothing but the ruins of the Olympic pig hunt* The rebellion approached — 
 the popular exasperation was at its height ; and the end of it was, that 
 Magee went mad with his victory, and Lord Clonmel died, literally broken- 
 hearted with his defeat and his apprehensions. The Chief Justice, towards 
 the close of his life, was delicate in health, and frequent reports of his death 
 were circulated. On one of these occasions, when he was really very ill, a 
 friend said to Curran, ' Well, they say Clonmel is going to die at last. Do 
 you believe it ?' 'I believe,' said Curran, ' he is scoundrel enough to 
 live or die, just as it suits his own convenience ! P " 
 
 * The pigs were declared to be the property of those who were sufficiently 
 fortunate as to catch them. The tails of the most agile having been carefully 
 soaped, the chase began. Judge of the ecstasy of Magee to find the usually 
 perverse quadrupeds doing exactly as he wished, by steering direct for Lord 
 Clonmel s parterres and shrubberies. The mob that followed in their wake, 
 the veiling and screaming, mav be easilv imagined, but with difficulty 
 described.— W. J. F. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Lord Clonmel fling? his Cousin on Charybdis -while endeavouring to k 
 him clear of Scylla — Lawless, Curran, and Bonham establish a Society of 
 United Irishmen in London — Generosity of Mr. "Lawless towards the Irish 
 Refugees — Chairman of the Meeting to compliment Lord Moira — His 
 Lordship's Letter to Mr. Lawless — Editorial Article from the Press in 
 Praise of Mr. Lawless — Mortification of Lords Clonmel and Cloncurry at 
 his democratic Eias — Benevolent Society of St. Patrick — Awkward Incident 
 — Father O'Coigly — He waits upon Mr. Lawless in London, and obtains 
 Money from him — Arrested with O'Connor at Margate — Exertions made 
 by Mr. Lawless to obtain Money for his Defence— John Joseph Henry's 
 mimificent Remittance — O'Coigly hung at Pennenden Heath — Lord Hol- 
 land on the Execution of O'Coigly — Arthur O'Connor's Conduct open to 
 Censure — Mr. Lawless acquires a Feeling of Distrust in him — Duel with Mr. 
 Huband — Extract from Letter of W. J. O'Xeil Daunt, Esq.. M.P., to the 
 Author — Furnival's Inn — English Spies in France — Bonham — Colonel 
 Despard — Arrest of the Leinster Delegates at Bond's — Reynolds, the In- 
 former — Arrest and Death of Lord Edward Fitzgerald — Lady Fitzgerald 
 concealed by the Sisters of Mr. Lawless — The New Directory — John and 
 Henry Sheares — Their Labours in endeavouring to hurry the Insurrection 
 to a head — Betrayed by Captain Armstrong — Their Execution — Arrest 
 of Neilson — Commencement of the Rebellion — Detailed Narrative of its 
 Progress — Lawless arrested and entrusted to the Care of a King's Mes- 
 senger — Repeatedly examined by the Privy Council — Letter to the Duke 
 of Portland in reference to Lawless — Liberated from Confinement — Forms 
 a Matrimonial Alliance — Letter from Colonel Cockburne. 
 
 To the infinite horror of the wary lawyer — Lord Clonmel, 
 and the infinite chagrin of the fidgety father — Lord 
 Cloncurry, they soon found that Master Valentine, on his 
 arrival in London, had, to use a vulgar but significant 
 Irish form of expression, " dropped out of the frying-pan 
 into the fire." In short, he at once connected him- 
 self with several ardent young patriots, not only of the 
 " United Irish," but of the " London Corresponding So- 
 ciety," and was, in the conception of many sapient loyal- 
 ists, rapidly earning the axe of attainder. How far his 
 treason extended, the reader will see anon. 
 
148 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 It would appear that the proverbially generous and 
 patriotic disposition of Mr. Lawless was not less known 
 in London than in Dublin. From the day of his arrival 
 he found himself hourly importuned for pecuniary aid- 
 sometimes to further the ends of nationality — sometimes 
 to relieve the necessities of certain compatriots of his that 
 during this period, and long anterior to it, thronged into 
 London before the reeking sabres of the Ancient Briton 
 cavalry, or the goading prods of the yeomanry bayonets. 
 The sword of extermination was at work in Ireland, 
 and thousands of unfortunates ran, panic-stricken, from 
 before it. 
 
 With a generous and patriotic object in view, a body 
 of young Templars, headed by Mr. Lawless, formed 
 themselves into a club or society, which, having been duly 
 inaugurated, they agreed to designate by the somewhat 
 alarming term — " United Irish." This done, a fund was 
 at once established in connexion with it, for the relief of 
 those unfortunate Irish refugees, who, there was reason 
 to apprehend, were in a state of great destitution. Pro- 
 minent amongst the associates stood Mr. Stewart, of 
 Acton — an Irish gentleman of large landed property, 
 Mr. Agar, nephew to the Archbishop of Dublin, Richard 
 Curran, eldest son of Philpot Curran, John Bonham, 
 afterwards Master of the Ordnance, and Mr. Tranor, the 
 intimate friend and private secretary of Lawless. This 
 club was not united by any bonds of connexion with the 
 Irish Executive Directory, or the vast organization over 
 which it presided. Poro curante and vive la compagnie 
 appear to have been its motto, and not Mourir pour le 
 Patrie, or Ca Ira. 
 
 It would, of course, be, at this distance of time, impos- 
 sible to ascertain the amount of money, or anything like 
 it, distributed by Lawless amongst his destitute fellow- 
 countrymen when resident in London during the winter 
 of '97. We have reason to know, that he never gave 
 except munificently, and that his acts of benevolence 
 were of as frequent occurrence as a pious old lady's dis- 
 bursement of halfpence to the objects of charity casually 
 encountered. One of his first acts of generosity, on 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 149 
 
 arriving in London, was to make up a subscription for 
 Peter Finnerty, the publisher of the Press, who, by an 
 adverse verdict, shortly before, had been reduced to a 
 state of misery little short of utter ruin. 
 
 Lawless, as already observed, arrived in London during 
 the month of November, 1797. In a public journal, now 
 rarely met with, we find honourable mention of him as 
 one of several barristers who assembled at the Temple Inn 
 on the 29th November, for the purpose of complimenting 
 the good Lord Moira. We allude to the Press news- 
 paper, which, had it not remained in the authors family 
 since the year of its suppression, would be no easy matter 
 to procure just now. In its impression for December 
 12, 1797 — bless us! what imperfect telegraphic commu- 
 nication they had in those days — we find the resolutions 
 passed at the meeting of the 29th ult., together with an 
 editorial article in reference to Lawless, written, most 
 probably, by Arthur O'Connor. 
 
 The Earl of Moira, on the 22nd November, made, as 
 has been already stated, a powerful speech before the 
 British House of Lords, wherein he called the attention 
 of his hearers to the terrific system of oppression and 
 extermination which, like a desolating plague, swept 
 through Ireland. Several Irish gentlemen (principally 
 Templars), anxious to thank the noble lord for his manly 
 and. patriotic speech, convened a meeting at the Temple 
 Inn, London, and at the conclusion of their proceedings 
 passed a .series of resolutions. The Hon. Valentine 
 Browne Lawless presided as chairman. We extract Lord 
 Moira's letter, and the editorial article succeeding it, from 
 No. 33 of the Press newspaper, a journal whilom ho- 
 noured with the personal attentions of the common 
 hangman.* 
 
 LORD MOIRA TO THE HO> T . VALENTINE LAWLESS. 
 
 No. 2.] " Donnington, Dec. 2, 1797. 
 
 " Sir, — I have been honoured -with the letter in which you transmit to 
 me the resolutions of the Irish gentlemen, students at the Temple. It gives 
 
 * Like Molyneux's " Case of Ireland Stated," it was sentenced to be burnt 
 by that personage. Peter Finnerty passed some time in the pillory for pub- 
 
150 CLOXCURRY ASTD HIS TIMES. 
 
 me peculiar gratification to find myself supported by such an opinion as to 
 the expediency of the statement which I made in the House of Lords. 
 Conversant as you respectively are with the situation of Ireland, your testi- 
 mony will sufficiently answer, that no time was to he lost in making public' 
 the condition of that kingdom. You have truly observed, that in my recital 
 I suppressed many of the grossest instances of outrage, with the details of 
 which I could not but be acquainted. My object was not to move indig- 
 nation, but to force Ministers to a due consideration of an intei'est the most 
 important to the British empire of any ever yet hazarded. That they 
 should attempt a vindication of the oppressions exercised, when they could 
 not venture to deny the facts, did not surprise me ; because, I could not ex- 
 pect a ready confession of an error so serious in its nature. My hope rested, 
 and rested here, that their reflection will tell them how impossible it is for 
 the people of England to regard with an indifferent eye a perseverance in 
 that frantic system. 
 
 " The generous spirit of this country will not wait to caleidate the fatal 
 effects which those violences may produce upon every relation that subsists 
 between the two kingdoms. It will decide from another statement ; it will 
 spurn a concurrence in this oppression, from a consciousness that the nation 
 which could with apathy see a capricious despotism established over a 
 neighbouring country must become near the point of inviting such a domi- 
 nion over itself. Now that the sufferings of Ireland have been made known 
 to the public, Ministers will foresee the consequence, and they will thence, I 
 trust, be induced to adopt a tone of conciliation, which, I doubt not, will 
 still be effectual. * * * * 
 
 " I have the honour to be, &c, 
 
 " Moira. 
 " Hon. V. B. Lawless.' 1 
 
 •We are happy to find from the above article of intelligence, that the 
 exertions of Mr. Lawless in the cause of his country have not ceased on his 
 passing into another. This distinguished young patriot, though the son of a 
 nobleman, is an honest, independent citizen, capable of judging for himself, 
 and seeking distinction where it is only desirable, in the field of generous 
 emulation. We congratulate our country on the prospect of so great an 
 accession of spirit and good sense to the profession of the law." * * * 
 
 From the foregoing it will he seen that Valentine, 
 upon his arrival in London, lost hardly a day in plunging 
 into the work expected at his hands by O'Connor and 
 Fitzgerald. In proportion as they felt gratified at his dis- 
 play of patriotism, his family were mortified. We can 
 well imagine old Lord Clonmel, upon hearing of his 
 cousin's proceedings across the water, sending frantically 
 for the newspaper which contained the report, and, with 
 
 fishing it. The paper itself, one of the most talented that had, previous to 
 1797, appeared, shared the same fate as the Nation, Tribune, and United 
 Irishman, in '48. 
 

 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 151 
 
 fingers trembling with nervous apprehension, adjusting 
 athwart his nose his gold-mounted spectacles preparatory 
 to an investigation for treason, in the recorded conduct of 
 his " giddy friend." 
 
 It was and is usual with " the Benevolent Society of 
 St. Patrick," annually to give, on the feast day of the 
 Irish apostle, a grand banquet in the Freemason's Tavern, 
 Great Queen-street, London. On its eighteenth anni- 
 versary (March 17th, 1798), an incident occurred, with 
 which our hero is identified, that gave rise at the time to 
 much censorious gossip at his expense. The Earl of 
 Moira and some other members of the Whig aristocracy 
 promised to attend the entertainment on this occasion. 
 Lawless was invited also, but as he happened to be labour- 
 ing under an attack of influenza, endeavoured to persuade 
 the stewards to accept his apology. This they refused 
 to do, and the valetudinarian was obliged to promise that 
 he would make an exertion and go. When the day 
 arrived, he found himself, as the story has it, if anything, 
 worse, and wavering as to whether he would go or stay. 
 Matters were precisely in this position, when Lord Moira, 
 on his way to the dinner, called on Lawless, at his lodg- 
 ings in St. Albans-street, and bore him off in triumph. 
 
 After dinner, several healths were proposed, and, 
 amongst the number, the Queen's. Lawless sat at the foot 
 of the table, and was observed to rise from his seat with 
 an effort the very reverse of alacrity. His dress, which 
 was, as usual, green, and, in consequence, more or less 
 obnoxious to a certain party, stimulated the slumbering 
 suspicions of some very loyal gentlemen present, who 
 immediately raised the war-whoop of " Put him out" — 
 " Chair" — " Order," &c, &c, to the no small discom- 
 fiture of Mr. Lawless,* who, according tohis own account — 
 and we should be sorry to disbelieve it — was totally inno- 
 
 * An influential paper, the Freeman' s Journal, shortly after the death of 
 Lord Cloncuny, in 1853, published a biographical sketch of the patriot peer. 
 It appeared to throw some doubts on the verity of Lord Cloncurry's own 
 version of the incident, " Making some mistake," says the Freeman, 4i when 
 the Queen's health was proposed, not satisfactorily cleared up by his lordship 
 some fifty years after — we suspect, because he could not — the Government 
 grew more intense in its suspicions, and he was soon after arrested." 
 
152 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 cent of any intentional disrespect towards her Majesty. As 
 soon as the storm of indignation had in some degree abated, 
 he rose from his seat, and, addressing the Earl of Moira, 
 assured him that there was nothing further from his 
 thoughts than to manifest contempt to the Queen of 
 England — that his tardiness in rising was to be attributed 
 to indisposition, and not to disrespect; and that even 
 supposing he were disposed to show it, he would not 
 select an opportunity for such a display when his valued 
 friend, Lord Moira, as the proposer of the toast, could 
 not but feel very naturally hurt. 
 
 What Irishman is there who has not heard of Father 
 James O'Coigly, who, in 1798, paid the usual penalty of 
 patriotism ? As the history of his latter days is indisso- 
 lubly connected with the Hon. Mr. Lawless, we may, 
 perhaps, be permitted to introduce here a few observations 
 in reference to them. 
 
 Descended from an ancient and distinguished sept, 
 O'Coigly was born in the hot-bed of Orangeism — the 
 County Armagh— in 1762. Here he continued to reside 
 until 1785, when his inclinations, led him to enter, as a 
 divinity student, the Irish College in Paris. In 1796 his 
 family were reduced, in common with many another, to 
 the hard necessity of flying from their homes by the 
 sword of the exterminator, which, under the vaunted 
 sanction of Government, was daily at its work, fleshing 
 unto death, and torturing to madness. The active and 
 naturally intrepid spirit of Father O'Coigly led him to 
 head the forlorn hope of Ireland, in endeavouring to 
 brin cr to justice the " Peep-o'-day" and " Immortal Me- 
 mory" banditti, whose atrocities we have already more 
 than once referred to. This line of conduct, no doubt, 
 accelerated the descent of their vengeance on his house. 
 In 1796, as we are informed by his own narrative,* a 
 body of Orange wreckers marched to his fathers dwelling, 
 and signified, their intention of reducing it to ruin. 
 O'Coigly 's aged and helpless parents, observing their 
 approach, immediately threw open both windows and 
 doors, in order to avoid the slightest semblance of 
 
 * The Life of the Rev. James Coigly, written by himself. Loudon : 1798. 
 
CLONCURRY and his times. 158 
 
 resistance. Their visitors, however, were more chagrined 
 than pleased at this proceeding, and gave rein to their 
 indignation by discharging one hundred rounds of ball- 
 cartridge into the house. This done, they proceeded to 
 drag from his chamber the prostrate body of old O'Coigly, 
 and with blunderbusses aimed at his head and breast, 
 threatenened him with instantaneous death, if he did not 
 consent, then and there, to renounce the fatal delusions 
 of Popery, and conform to that religion which they them- 
 selves professed. Seeing little of the meekness of the 
 Gospel, or of true brotherly love in the general demean- 
 our of those watchful guardians of his spiritual interests, 
 it may readily be supposed that the staunch old Papist 
 rejected with indignation their proposal, and in the face 
 of death declared that never would he consent to be 
 aught but a Catholic. The saints shook their heads, 
 declared it to be a bad case, and transferred their godly 
 labours to the house. 
 
 They sacked it mercilessly. Plate, cash, clothes, and 
 every portable article of value they removed. Furniture, 
 pictures, books, and manuscripts, formed the elements of 
 a mighty bonfire. Among the latter, were some valuable 
 autograph writings of James II., Tyrconnell, Sarsfield, 
 and others, which young O'Coigly had, with much 
 expense and labour, collected for materials to form a 
 history of the rebellion of 1741. After completely 
 gutting the place, the wreckers defiled off to the residence 
 of another member of the family, and there commenced a 
 series of similar outrages. Father O'Coigly rushed like 
 a maniac in quest of some upright magistrate who would 
 take his depositions, but, alas ! such men were rare, and 
 all his labours to bring the Orange perpetrators to punish- 
 ment proved unavailing. Maddened by the unrelenting 
 sting of persecution, and driven to desperation, O'Coigly 
 connected himself, in a moment of impulse, with the 
 Northern Society of United Irishmen. In his capacity 
 of delegate, he visited France in 1797. How far his 
 treasonable views extended, we are not in a position to 
 say ; but that he was more incautious than anything else, 
 is, we believe, highly probable. Early in '98, business 
 
 h 2 
 
154 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 demanded a second visit on his part to Paris. He set out 
 thither, but, as time will show, never reached it. 
 
 We beg particularly to call the reader's attention to the 
 following paragraphs, which we take the liberty of ex- 
 tracting from Dr. Maddens " United Irishmen," Vol. II., 
 Third Series: — 
 
 " Coigly, on his way to France, passed through London. He brought a 
 letter of introduction to an Irish gentleman then residing in London, in 
 Avhich he was described as a priest who had rendered himself conspicuous in 
 the North, in resisting the persecutors of the Catholic peasantry, and was 
 then flying to France to escape the fate of all those who interfered with their 
 outrageous proceedings. The account I am now giving was related to me 
 by the gentleman in question, a person whose veracity is not better known to 
 his countrymen, than his unfailing services to his country, whether in the 
 senate, on the magisterial bench, or in his capacity of a landlord, and pro- 
 moter of every measure useful to his country. 
 
 " Coigly was in great distress ; he was assisted by this gentleman, and 
 invited to his house on two or three occasions. Arthur O'Connor, who had 
 recently arrived in London, dined with this gentleman, when Coigly and 
 O'Connor met at his house, at dinner, for the first time. * * * 
 
 " At this period, the gentleman referred to, and every Irishman who fre- 
 quented his house, were vigilantly watched by agents of a higher department 
 than the police. That gentleman was well aware that he never went abroad 
 that he was not followed, at a convenient distance, by a special spy appointed 
 to watch his movements, as well as those of every person who visited him. 
 This circumstance throws some light on the nature of the clue which caused 
 the Bow-street runners to be in the footsteps of O'Connor and his party, 
 when they were arrested at Margate." 
 
 The anonymous gentleman alluded to by Dr. Madden, 
 in the foregoing paragraphs, was — need we say it — the 
 Hon. Valentine Browne Lawless. And, reader, who, 
 think you, was the writer of O'Coigly's letter of intro- 
 duction? No other than honest Mathew Dowling-, who 
 aided Rowan in his escape from prison, and two years 
 after gave the wink to Napper Tandy, at Carrickfergus, 
 to be off. 
 
 Lawless was forcibly struck with the imposing appear- 
 ance of O'Coigly. He never remembered to have seen a 
 finer-looking man, and every word of the harrowing nar- 
 rative of his afflictions poured deep and scalding into his 
 feeling heart. The eyes of Lawless suffused with tears. 
 The priest saw the impression he had produced, and im- 
 proved on it. He told him how his hoary -headed parents 
 had been hunted, by the lash of persecution, from 
 
CLONCURRY AND III3 TIMES. 155 
 
 Armagh ; how he took shelter in Dimdalk, but was soon 
 reduced to the necessity of abandoning it, in consequence 
 of the implacable hostility with which the Orange yeo- 
 manry pursued him, that now he was desirous of reaching 
 Douay, where erst he had been a professor in the Univer- 
 sity, and would require some pecuniary assistance to 
 defray the expenses of the journey. The letter from Mat. 
 Dowling corroborated these statements, and informed 
 Lawless, in conclusion, that a case of more genuine 
 distress could not possibly be met with. 
 
 Lawless not only placed ample assistance in O'Coigly 's 
 hands, but hospitably invited him to partake of his 
 bachelor's dinner on the day following. He thankfully 
 accepted it, and gained, by so doing, a very reputable, 
 although a somewhat dangerous, acquaintance.* Arthur 
 O'Connor, editor of the Press, was one of the guests. He 
 and the priest took to each other warmly in the course 
 of the evening, and, two or three days after, left London 
 together for Margate, en route for France, accompanied 
 by Benjamin and John Binns. Mr. Lawless, it would 
 appear, was wholly ignorant of the arrangements entered 
 into between the clergyman and O'Connor. He laboured 
 under the impression that O'Coigly merely accompanied 
 him to France in the capacity of private secretary. That 
 they had some deeper project in perspective than what 
 appeared to our young templar will, we think, be evident 
 from the sequel. 
 
 * " Before that period, I never saw O'Connor in my whole life. This can 
 be proved by the very person, now in London, who introduced him to me." — Life 
 
 the Rev. J. Coigly. London, 1798. 
 
 Appended to the first volume of the third series of Madden's " United Irish- 
 men," is a narrative drawn up by Mr. Binns, one of the party arrested at 
 Margate. At page 416, he writes : — " Coigly was acquainted with most of 
 
 the leaders of the United Irishmen. He was no stranger to L ; he made 
 
 him a United Irishman in his father's house, in Merrion-street, Dublin." 
 That Lawless is the party alluded to by Mr. Binns, there can be, we believe, 
 little doubt. His father's house, now the office of the Ecclesiastical Commis- 
 sioners, was situated in Merrion-street. The suppression of the name is also 
 a proof, Lord Cloncurry having been living at the time of publication. But 
 Mr. Binns is under error; if we are to credit the word of Lord Cloncurry, he 
 saw O'Coigly, for the first time, on his presenting the note of introduction from 
 Mat. Dowling. 
 
150 OXONCURKY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 Messrs. Fugion and Rivett, two notorious Bow-street 
 officers, having dogged, with unerring scent, O'Connor 
 and the priest to Margate, came to the conclusion that 
 decisive preparations for their immediate capture ought 
 then and there to be entered into. No time was to be lost, 
 as less than three hours would probably land them on the 
 shores of France. 
 
 O'Coigly was partaking of some breakfast at the King's 
 Head Inn, when the Bow-street runners rushed into the 
 apartment. Having been seized and searched, a dirk 
 was found upon his person. He manifested great cool- 
 ness, and requested that the constables would permit him 
 to finish his meal ere they subjected him to any further 
 examination. Rivett turned the pockets of a great coat 
 belonging to O'Coigly inside out, but nothing of im- 
 portance came to light beyond a memorandum book, 
 which contained, amongst some Latin certificates apper- 
 taining to his studies, a very extraordinary paper, headed, 
 " An Address of the London Corresponding Society to 
 the Executive Directory of France." The tenor of this 
 document was, according to the laws of England, un- 
 doubtedly seditious. In O'Connor's portmanteau, a sum 
 of money, amounting to £900,* a military uniform, and 
 some papers relating to Lord Edward Fitzgerald, were 
 discovered. Suffice it to say, that enough transpired to 
 make Government suspect the loyalty of the travellers. 
 
 Binns, O'Connor, and the priest, having been escorted 
 to London by a strong guard, they were examined by 
 the magistrates, who considered the evidence of a suffi- 
 cientlv conclusive character to warrant their committal.! 
 
 * See " Madden's Lives and Times of the United Irishmen," Third Series, 
 vol. ii., page 18. 
 
 f In connexion with the impi'isonment of Arthur O'Connor, at Maidstone, 
 in 1798, we beg to refer the reader to our Appendix, wherein an interesting 
 and well authenticated story, never before published to the icorld, appears. The 
 writer (Major Scott, of the 9lst Regt.) is perhaps the only person now living 
 who could tell it. His father, William Scott, was the barrister who defended 
 O'Connor and Binns at Maidstone. Scott's eldest sister married Lord Ox- 
 ford, and was mother of Lady Charlotte Harley, the " Ianthe" of Childe 
 Harold. Scott himself was a political disciple of Home Tooke. 
 
 Major Scott has written the story precisely as he used to hear his father 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIAIES. 157 
 
 The heavy tramp of the turnkey, after locking up his 
 prisoner, had hardly ceased to echo through the vaulted 
 passages of Maidstone jail, than the unfortunate O'Coigly 
 proceeded to indite a most affecting letter to the same 
 benevolent gentleman who had so generously aided him 
 on the recommendation of Mat. Dowling. The applica- 
 cation was now for funds to enable him to retain efficient 
 counsel for his defence. Reader, was the appeal unsuc- 
 cessful, think you ? Listen to what B. P. Binns, one of 
 the men of '98, says, in the course of a letter on the death 
 of his venerated friend, O'Coigly, published forty-two 
 years after that event. The blanks may safely be filled 
 up with the name of Lawless. 
 
 "I well recollect at the time antecedent to the trial of O'Coigly and others, 
 being present myself during the short period of ten days, between my libe - 
 
 ration by the Privy Council, and second arrest, that gave 300 guineas 
 
 to defend him, by a check on his banker, in the Chamber of Councillors, in 
 
 the Temple. Well, sir, Billy Pitt had arrested by his lettres de cachet. 
 
 and sent to prison, where he remained for three long years. In fact, the 
 personal liberty of every man was then at the caprice of Billy Pitt.'' 
 
 The sum of 300 guineas is, doubtless, an exaggeration, 
 as Lawless was living at the time upon a very moderate 
 allowance from Lord Cloncurry. He gave, however, 
 generously, by a cheque on his banker, and engaged the 
 professional assistance of a skilful attorney named Foulkes, 
 to whom he promised to be accountable for all incidental 
 expenses in the matter. The sympathies of Lawless were 
 awakened with a vengeance. Not satisfied with giving 
 the clergyman promises, and ipso facto gifts of personal 
 assistance, he addressed a touching letter to our old ac- 
 quaintance, Thomas Braughall, wherein he called upon 
 him, as an Irishman, and a Catholic, to subscribe for 
 the relief of a patriotic and distressed member of his priest- 
 hood, who lay ironed in the dungeons of Maidstone jail. 
 Lawless did not confine his applications to Roman Ca- 
 tholics. m He wrote to his esteemed friend, John Joseph 
 Henry, of Straffan, Esq. (brother-in-law of Lord Edward 
 
 tell it. O'Connor compromised the safety of a friend by detaining a sword 
 cane. The story does not redound very much to his credit, but is merely a 
 proof of thoughtlessness, not of treachery. 
 
158 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 Fitzgerand), expressing a hope that he (Mr. Henry) 
 would kindly send him something, however small, in aid 
 of the unfortunate clergyman. Mr. Henry's reply con- 
 tained something more substantial than words or sympathy. 
 That generous and patriotic Irishman placed at his friend's 
 disposal the munificent remittance of five hundred 
 pounds. This exceeded, by a very considerable amount, 
 the most sanguine expectations of Mr. Lawless, and not 
 considering it necessary to retain a larger sum than £50, 
 enclosed him the overplus by return of post. 
 
 In a subsequent letter to Mr. Braughall, Lawless more 
 than alluded to the generous act ; and in a half playful, 
 half affectionate manner, spoke of the donor as "little 
 Henry." Braughall was an old associate of Wolfe Tone's, 
 and incurred, in common with many other patriotic gen- 
 tlemen, the suspicions of Government. His house in 
 Eccles-street was, in May '98, searched, and his papers 
 seized, amongst which turned up Lawless's letter to him 
 on the subject of Father O'Coigly. The phrase, " little 
 Henry," after due analysis by the quid nuncs of the Castle, 
 was considered to allude to Henry Grattan, to whom the 
 epithet was, in some degree, applicable. The result was, 
 that Grattan, one fine morning, found himself placed under 
 arrest. But of this anon. 
 
 Of all the prisoners arrested at Margate, none appeared 
 to the English Government so scarlet with crime as the 
 Catholic clergyman, and they resolved to crush him sig- 
 nally and effectively, come what would. Arthur O'Con- 
 nor, although a much more dangerous character, they 
 appear to have been comparatively easy about. Both 
 John and Benjamin Binns had a good deal of treason in 
 their composition too, but Mr. William Pitt rushed fran- 
 tically past them in his hungry anxiety to seize upon the 
 priest. Ere O'Coigly could be prosecuted to conviction, 
 however, it was necessary that some person should be pro- 
 duced who would undertake \o swear positively to his 
 handwriting. The means employed to procure this de- 
 sideratum were, we much fear, not particularly scrupulous. 
 O'Coigly, in his own autobiographical narrative, written 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 159 
 
 in the interval between his conviction and execution, 
 expressed himself as follows : — 
 
 " Fugion and Rivett swore that the paper in question was found by the 
 latter in a pocket-book, in the pocket of that great coat, which I declare most 
 solemnly, in the face of my country and my God, was false, unless one of 
 them, or some other person, put it there. * * The last of these witnesses 
 was the notorious informer, Dutton, of Newry, who swore to my handwrit- 
 ing, and had the audacity to say that he had frequently seen me write, which 
 I declare to God is false." 
 
 These solemn protestations must be regarded as the 
 dying declaration of a dying man. To suppose that any 
 one, much less a minister of the Gospel, would, at such 
 an awful moment, dye his immortal soul in the crimson 
 guilt of perjury, is altogether so improbable, that readers 
 of every creed and party will, no doubt, unhesitatingly 
 credit O'Coigly's statement. 
 
 The anxiety on the part of Government to ensure his 
 conviction is evident from the following private letter 
 addressed by Secretary Wickham to Lord Castlereagh, 
 and which we take the liberty of culling from that valu- 
 able collection of State papers recently published under 
 the auspices of Lord Londonderry : — 
 
 " Whitehall, April 11, 1798. 
 " My Lord, — * * * * * * It is most exceedingly to be lamented 
 that no person can be sent over from Ireland to prove O'Coigly's handwriting. 
 Proof of that kind would be so extremely material, that I have no doubt that 
 the law officers would think it right to put off the trial, if they could have 
 any hope of any person being found in a short time who could speak dis- 
 tinctly to his handwriting." 
 
 The source of bitter lamentation to his Majesty's law 
 officers was effectually removed by the appearance of 
 Dutton, one of the mercenary informers of the north. 
 This man swore in the most positive manner that some 
 very ambiguous, and, to all intents and purposes, ex- 
 tremely innocent letters were in the handwriting of 
 O'Coigly ; and that he was enabled to do so from having, 
 while resident in Dundalk, seen him (O'Coigly) affix 
 his signature to some cards in connexion with a raffle 
 which had been set on foot for the relief of a distressed 
 family. 
 
160 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 Mr. Plumer professed to be tlie leading counsel for 
 O'Connor and O'Coigly, and made a speech of nearly five 
 hours' duration ; but the defence of the wretched priest 
 occupied scarcely as many minutes. The little that 
 Mr. Plumer did say in his favour ( ?) operated more to his 
 prejudice than anything else. 
 
 At the conclusion of the Attorney-General's speech, 
 O'Coigly addressed the Court, and solemnly protested that 
 the paper to which so much importance was attached 
 never belonged to him. It certainly did not belong to 
 O'Coigly, but he was, to a certain extent, culpable in 
 having it in his possession at all. At the request of his 
 friend, Dr. Crossfield, as Mr. Binns assures us, he con- 
 sented to oblige him by carrying the address of the Cor- 
 responding Society to France. Of the sentiments con- 
 tained in it O'Coigly was as innocent as the child in the 
 womb. The indictment charged him with bein^ an emis- 
 sary from the English Corresponding Society, detected in 
 the act of going to France, in order to open treasonable 
 communication with the Executive Directory. For this 
 act of treason O'Coigly was found guilty on weak and in- 
 conclusive evidence. Whatever his connexion mio-ht 
 have been with the Irish, he certainly had nothing to do 
 with the Enoiish Union Club. 
 
 o 
 
 But to return to the trial. " Mr. Justice Buller," says 
 Dr. Madden, " leaned heavily on O'Coigly, throwing 
 out many doubts of a favourable kind to the other pri- 
 soners." The consequence was, that the jury returned a 
 verdict of guilty against the priest, and not guilty against 
 his five fellow-prisoners — O'Connor, B. and J. Binns, 
 Leary, and Allen. 
 
 Previously to undergoing execution, O'Coigly was visited 
 by the Catholic chaplain of the gaol, who, according to 
 the narrative published in 1798, was commissioned by Go- 
 vernment to make certain overtures to the prisoner, which 
 he (O'C.) could not without dishonour meet. A Catholic 
 clergyman putting himself in confidential communication 
 with the King's ministers, before yielding spiritual assist- 
 ance to prisoners under sentence of death, commits an 
 outrage on decency and honour that could not be too 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 161 
 
 strongly reprobated. O'Coigly, in his narrative, speaks 
 of the chaplain's conduct in most unmeasured terms, but 
 with hardly less severity than it deserved. The great 
 object which the rev. gentleman had in view was to 
 prevail on his penitent to criminate O'Connor and the 
 other prisoners, by private information to Government 
 of their acts and intentions. He told him that, in case 
 he did as proposed, his (O'Coigly 's) life would not only 
 be spared, but himself, his parents, brothers, and family, 
 handsomely remunerated by a grateful Government; 
 while, on the other hand, if he refused, the vengeance of 
 that same Government would never cease to pursue them. 
 The chaplain dwelt at much length on the duty he owed 
 to his parents, but all to no avail ; the political fidelity 
 of O'Coigly could not be shaken. The rev. comforter 
 (whose name we purposely refrain from mentioning) 
 visited the prisoner on four successive occasions. It was, 
 we believe, on the last but one, that he conjured of him 
 to tell what would place his friends upon the scaffold. 
 
 " On my declaring," writes O'Coigly, "that I could not give him the 
 wished-for information, he said, in a very significant manner, that he was 
 very sorry it teas not in his power to promise me a reprieve, or even a respite. 
 I answered, that the first I did not expect, and the latter I did not wish 
 for." 
 
 On the 7th June, 1798, this singularly heroic man 
 was removed on a hurdle to Pennenden Heath, with the 
 halter of death thrown across his shoulders, and an iron 
 chain encircling his waist. O'Coigly 's behaviour was 
 most edifying. He looked neither to the right nor left, 
 but, with eyes rivetted on the sacred book of consolation, 
 thought only of preparing to meet his God. With his 
 last breath he protested his innocence of the crime for 
 which he was convicted, and declared, by the hopes he con- 
 fidently felt of salvation, that his life was " falsely and 
 maliciously taken away by perjury and subornation of 
 perjury." He forgave his enemies, and felt that justice 
 would be hereafter done to his memory. The gaol chap- 
 lain attended him. O'Coigly begged his pardon for 
 anything he might have said to his prejudice, and calling 
 upon Providence to have mercy on his soul, delivered 
 
162 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 himself up into the hands of the executioner. The drop 
 fell — O'Coigly swung into death — the liberated spirit, no 
 longer bound by English shackles, rushed through oceans 
 of space, and at length stood, paralysed and dazzled, in the 
 presence of that Great Judge, the omnipotent Maker of 
 Heaven, Hell, and Earth. 
 
 The head was cut off, and held aloft in triumph. 
 The body was interred on the place of execution. Re- 
 quiescat in pace. 
 
 We cannot more appropriately conclude the foregoing 
 melancholy episode than by laying before O'Coigly s 
 sympathisers the following reflections on his trial and 
 execution. They come from the pen of that eminent 
 statesman and minister, the late Lord Vassall Holland, 
 one of Lord Cloncurry's best and oldest friends. His 
 lordship wrote a work in 1806, and revised it in 1824, 
 entitled, " Memoirs of the Whig Party during My Time." 
 For obvious reasons, he felt, during his lifetime, a deli- 
 cacy in giving it publicity. Eleven years subsequent to 
 the noble author's death, after reposing for nearly half a 
 century in the family escrutoir of Holland House, we at 
 length find his "Whig Party" emanate "from its ob- 
 scurity, endorsed by the respectable firm of Longman, 
 Browne, Greene, and Longman: — 
 
 " As to the specific charge," says Lord Holland, " there was certainly not 
 sufficient proof against O'Connor. O'Coigly, with whom he had fallen in hy 
 accident, furnished the only evidence, in a paper which he imprudently 
 earned about him, and which was, to the full, as remarkable for its useless- 
 ness and nonsense as for its treason. The poor man, feeling that he had thus 
 endangered the companions of his journey, generously entreated them to 
 sacrifice him without scruple, if in any way it could contribute to their 
 defence. O'Coigly was condemned on false and contradictory evidence. I 
 do not mean to aver, as Lord Chancellor Thurlow assured me he did to 
 Judge Buller, who tried him, that ' if ever a poor man was murdered it was 
 O'Coigly J but simply to allude to a circumstance, which, in the case of a 
 common felon, would probably have saved his life. The Bow-street officer 
 who swore to finding the fatal paper in his pocket-book, and remarked in 
 court the folding of the paper as fitting that pocket-book, had sworn before 
 the Privy Council that the same paper was found loose in O'Coigly s great 
 coat, and, I think, had added that he himself had put it into the pocket-hook. 
 An attorney of the name of Foulkes gave me this information, and I went 
 with it to Mr. "Wickham, then, I think, Under-Secretary, who assured me 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 163 
 
 that the circumstance should be carefully and anxiously investigated before 
 the execution. But the order had gone down, and while we were conversing-, 
 the sentence was probably executed." 
 
 In the foregoing observations on Father O'Coigly's 
 arrest, trial, and execution, we have been induced to 
 outstrip somewhat our usual limits, in consideration of 
 the Hon. Mr. Lawless having taken such an active and 
 remarkable part in collecting money for his defence, 
 ministering to his wants, and sympathizing with his 
 afflictions. His assistance to the priest gave considerable 
 umbrage to the Government. In a short time after, he 
 was arrested, and the first question put to him by Mr. 
 Pitt, at the Privy Council, was, why he should have 
 given pecuniary relief to O'Coigly. 
 
 The only affair of honour in which Valentine Lawless 
 ever engaged himself took place at this period. In one 
 of the newspapers of the day, an article on the festive 
 and general proceedings of the United "Irish Society of 
 England appeared. Whatever the tone of the article was 
 we know not, but from the fact of Lawless expressing 
 himself in strong terms against the publication in conse- 
 quence, we are decidedly inclined to think that it could 
 not have been very complimentary. Mr. Huband, an 
 Irish barrister, and a frequenter also of Furnival's Inn, 
 chancing to overhear these expressions, waxed wrathful, 
 and resented them, it appears, as a personal insult. His 
 actual motive for doing so has not, as far as we know, 
 transpired. A challenge ensued, which, it may readily 
 be supposed, was promptly accepted. The belligerents 
 met at Norwood, exchanged four innocuous shots, and 
 declared themselves satisfied. 
 
 The above is, in its salient points, identical with the 
 version given by Lord Cloncurry, a few years previous 
 to his death, of the transaction. After the lapse of half 
 a century, it is often difficult to recollect the precise cir- 
 cumstances of a personal adventure. We are inclined to 
 think that his lordship's memory failed him, to a certain 
 extent, in this retrospect. The duel took place about the 
 same period as the Maidstone trials. O'Connor's conduct 
 thereat was animadverted on by many. We have seen, 
 
164 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 from the paragraph written by Lord Holland, that when 
 O'Coigly begged of his associates to sacrifice him without 
 scruple, if doing so would in any way relieve them or 
 further their cause, Arthur O'Connor unhesitatingly — or, 
 as Lord Holland has it — " religiously complied." We do 
 not go quite so far as his lordship, but we are certainly 
 of opinion that Mr. O'Connor's conduct was, more or less, 
 open to animadversion. 
 
 The following is the paragraph that, during the first 
 week of May, 1798, went the rounds of the newspapers. 
 It is descriptive of the duel ; and we need not point out 
 to the reader how much more plausibly it sounds than 
 the version given fifty years after the transaction, by 
 Lord Cloncurry, in his " Personal Recollections:" — 
 
 " On Sunday morning, the Hon. Mr. Lawless and Mr. Huband, accom- 
 panied by Mr. Agar, of the Tempie, and Mr. Smith, met at a field near 
 Norwood, to settle an affair of honour, which had arisen between them in 
 consequence of a dispute respecting the political conduct of Mr. Arthur 
 O'Connor, when, after each party had discharged a brace of pistols without 
 effect, the business was happily accommodated through the intervention of 
 the seconds." 
 
 On the 3rd May, 1854, the author of this work re- 
 ceived a letter from W. J. O'Neil Daunt, Esq., of Kil- 
 cascan (formerly M.P. for Mallow), which tends to throw 
 some light upon the causes which led to the hostile 
 meeting between Lawless and Mr. Huband. The following 
 is an extract from Mr. Daunt's letter : — 
 
 " It was, I think, in May, 1845, that I had a kind note from Lord C, 
 asking me to dine at Maretimo, and ' talk over the past affairs of Ireland.' 
 Our conversation turned on the period of the rebellion. I told him the pre- 
 parations made by Roger O'Connor at Connorville pretty much as you 
 have them in ' Ireland and her Agitators.' I also told him (what does not 
 appear in that book) that the gentleman from whom I had the detail was 
 my father, then a youth of seventeen or eighteen, who was Roger's cousin, 
 and a constant guest at Connorville. Speaking of Roger's brother, Arthur, 
 I said I always looked on him as a perfectly honest politician ; and that his 
 deliberate forfeiture of Lord Longueville's title and inheritance demonstrated 
 his honesty. Lord Cloncurry's words in reply, as nearly as I can recollect 
 them, were these: — ' Arthur O'Connor and I had been then very intimate ; 
 but I afterwards acquired a feeling of great distrust in him.' ' On what 
 grounds?' asked I. 'Really, at this distance of time,' replied Lord O, 'I 
 cannot recollect the exact details, but I thought he unfairly sacrificed 
 O'Coigly ; and without being able to give you the precise grounds of that 
 impression, I must say that the impression still remains.' It would appear, 
 however, from his work, that he afterwards thought otherwise." 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 165 
 
 There was an apartment in Furnival's Inn, London, 
 much frequented about this period, by the patriotic sons 
 of Erin, and the English sympathisers with their move- 
 ment. " It was the customary place of resort," says a 
 writer, " for those who were most deeply engaged in the 
 conspiracy : and secret consultations were here carried on, 
 with a view to projects deemed too dangerous and despe- 
 rate to be brought forward in any of the larger societies." 
 This description is somewhat exaggerated, and so is 
 the Secret Committee's ; but it is, at all events, certain 
 that sufficient treason characterized their proceedings to 
 afford " the detectives" a pretext for espionage, and the 
 Government of laying their interdict upon them. Lord 
 Castlereagh, in his "Report of the Committee of Secrecy," 
 thus adverts to the rendezvous in question. " The lead- 
 ing members of the disaffected societies were in the habit 
 of frequenting an occasional meeting, which w r as held at 
 a cellar in Furnival's Inn, and was first formed for the pur- 
 pose of reading the libellous and treasonable publication 
 called the Press" 
 
 There was a vast deal more than reading the Press, 
 and talking politics, done at Furnival's Inn. Singing and 
 carousing, joking and merry-making, were, on many oc- 
 casions the order of the evening, and not conspiracies for 
 the subversion of the empire, or the assassination of the 
 king. Lawless repeatedly assured his friends that when 
 he dropped into Furnival's Inn, at the closing of the thea- 
 tres, or the dissolution of a dinner party, he had no more 
 treasonable object in view than to hear a good song, or a 
 " merrie conceit ;" and that if treason were broached, it cer- 
 tainly was not with his knowledge, consent, or approval. 
 It is curious to think how Lawless could have been un- 
 conscious both of the character of the place, and of the 
 very imminent danger he ran in frequenting it. Yet, 
 such, nevertheless, we believe to be the fact. There cannot 
 be a doubt but that treason did occasionally pervade 
 the conferences of Furnival's Inn, and that to no incon- 
 siderable extent. 
 
 The frequenters of this club-room soon became marked 
 men, and were individually honoured by a special police 
 
166 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 spy, who daily reported to Government their movements 
 and proceedings. Of all the party thus dogged and scru- 
 tinized Lawless received perhaps the most unremitting 
 attention. Nor can it be wondered at, when he openly 
 and deliberately took such an active part in ministering 
 to the wants of the United Irish refugees. His ostenta- 
 tious display of green apparel, too, had considerable 
 effect in stimulating the suspicions of Government. 
 
 Pitt had his foreign spies as well as his domestic ones. 
 France was literally alive with them, and secret de- 
 spatches were daily forwarded to Whitehall and Downing- 
 street. A few of these mysterious documents have recently 
 seen the light of day in " the Castlereagh Memoirs and 
 Correspondence ;" but the names of the dishonourable 
 writers have been, in accordance with the dictates of edi- 
 torial judgment, suppressed. Mr. Pitt's detectives, with 
 a view to worm themselves into the confidence of the sus- 
 pected, feigned, with inimitable tact and dexterity, to be 
 emissaries from the Union. From a paper written about 
 this period, we cull a few extracts, in order to show with 
 what astonishing success the spies contrived to elucidate 
 every little fact, important and unimportant, connected 
 with the refugees. In the last paragraph will be found 
 an allusion to the subject of these pages. The patronymic 
 Lawless is written at full length, although in most of the 
 other references to him (with which the first volume of 
 Castlereagh is sprinkled), he is never spoken of otherwise 
 than as the Hon. Mr. L 
 
 " Teeling had a letter from , whom he met in London. * * * 
 
 OTinn's wife is coming over, and will bring some papers. * * Muir 
 got 10,000 livres, almost gone; expects to he sent over in three weeks on 
 mission by the French Government. * * Lewins has no money. * 
 J. Orr has received a remittance of £500. M'Skicky, an officer of some 
 merit, was under Tone, but they fell out. He is gone to Toulon with Lewis. 
 Tone is at Rouen, where there's 4,000 men, and ten gunboats building. Ten- 
 nent received £2,500 of remittance ; and when the French heard of this,both 
 Buonaparte and Barras sent for him. Part of the money belongs to the 
 Simses of Belfast, part to his brother, and £700 to himself. * * O'Mely 
 went with Lewins to the Hague. * * Colonel Despard, a Mr. Bonham, 
 Young Lawless, and Robert Simms, are the only persons in whom the 
 Irish at Paris said I ought to place any confidence, in case I either wrote or 
 came to England or Ireland." 
 
CLOXCURRY AXD HIS TIMES. 167 
 
 Mr. Bonham, it will be remembered, was one of the 
 frequenters of Fumivals Inn. In consequence, lie rarely 
 went abroad without the attendance of a special spy. 
 Ample line was given him for a while, but suddenly the 
 " wind-up" commenced, and, much to his astonishment, 
 Bonham found himself one morning lodged in Cold Bath 
 Fields jail. With respect to Colonel Despard, his history is 
 somewhat better known. Few, however, seem to be 
 aware that he was actually driven, nay, whipped, into 
 disaffection by perhaps the most insulting treatment ever 
 received from a Government. 
 
 Colonel Edward Marcus Despard was a native of the 
 Queen's County, in Ireland. Having received an ex- 
 cellent education, he entered the army, and served with 
 distinction in the American war. For his services in that 
 campaign, he was created, without purchase, lieutenant- 
 colonel, and, in 1784, elevated to the dignity of superin- 
 tendent of the English affairs at Honduras. Despard also 
 attained just celebrity as an engineer. He fortified 
 Jamaica with a decree of skill that elicited universal 
 approval. He may be said to have been popular with 
 everybody save the Spaniards, many of whose establish- 
 ments he captured triumphantly along the Musquito 
 coast. 
 
 Whilst co-operating with Nelson at the storming of 
 Honduras, he advanced, from his own private purse, large 
 sums of money, in order to further England's efforts to 
 reduce it. Parliament returned him a vote of thanks for 
 his generosity, but withheld, for reasons best known to 
 themselves, the reimbursements to which he was, in law 
 and equity, entitled. Some alleged, in extenuation, that 
 his public conduct, while at Honduras, was disapproved 
 of; but how this may have been, we cannot say. 
 
 Despard hurried over to England and pressed his 
 application on the notice of the House. His claims were 
 spurned with indignation and contempt. Stung with 
 rage, and maddened by disappointment, he expressed 
 himself in terms of unmeasured harshness against the 
 Legislature. Meanwhile his pecuniary affairs became 
 immeshed amid a complication of embarrassments, and 
 
168 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 Despard well nigh lost his reason with vexation. Believing 
 that allegiance to a Government which had so cruelly 
 maltreated him could not longer, in reason or equity, be 
 expected, he flung himself cordially into the ranks of the 
 United Irishmen, and hurled the defiance of his military 
 experience at the State. Little time was lost in preparing 
 a warrant under the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, 
 and in consigning him, ironed, to Cold Bath Fields' prison. 
 Here it was that Valentine Lawless first beheld Colonel 
 Despard. He visited him in the company of his fast friend, 
 John Reeves. The time was mid-winter, and the day one 
 of the coldest that ever blew. Judge of his surprise to 
 find this accomplished gentleman and eminent military 
 commander lying in a miserable stone cell, with barely 
 sufficient space to turn in, devoid of all furniture or ac- 
 commodation, save a wretched truckle bed, and destitute 
 of even the advantages of a furnished fireplace or glazed 
 window. Poor Despard ! How he, who had passed the 
 greater portion of his existence beneath the scorching rays 
 of a tropical sun, must have smarted beneath this cruel 
 treatment. 
 
 Durinsf the debates, some months afterwards, on the 
 propriety of continuing the suspension of the Habeas 
 Corpus, Mr. Courtney read a letter aloud from Mrs. Ca- 
 therine Despard. 
 
 " I think it necessary to state," she writes, " that he was confined near 
 seven months in a dark cell, without fire or candle, chair, table, knife, fork, 
 a glazed window, or even a hook. I made several applications in person 
 to Mr. Wickham, and by letter to the Duke of Portland, all to no purpose. 
 The 20th of last month he was removed into a room with fire, but not until 
 his feet were ulcerated by the frost. For the truth of this statement I appeal 
 to the Hon. Mr. Lawless and John Reeves, Esq., who visited him in prison, 
 and at whose intercession he was removed. The jailer will bear witness that 
 he never made any complaint of his treatment, however severe." 
 
 The sympathies of Valentine were, as usual, awakened. 
 He expressed the greatest commiseration for Despard's 
 sufferings, and resolved to provide for his wife and family 
 at Lyons, whenever circumstances suggested the propriety 
 of doing so, and certain other circumstances permitted 
 it. We trust it is not unpardonably anticipating, to 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 169 
 
 observe, that Lawless subsequently did afford Mrs. Des- 
 pard a comfortable asylum within the bosom of his own 
 family at Lyons. Less than five years after his visit to 
 poor Despard's dungeon, the wretched inmate was no 
 more. On the 21st February, 1803, a London mob were 
 edified by the executioner elevating vauntingly the 
 bleeding head of an ungrateful traitor to his country. 
 Thus inauspiciously terminated the career of Edward 
 Marcus Despard, which, at the outset, appeared so 
 radiant with promise. 
 
 We have been a complete absentee for some time. As 
 an Irishman, born and bred, we must not lose sight alto- 
 gether of our native country. 
 
 The ruthless minister, with merciless determination, 
 continued whipping the people from a trot into a canter, 
 and from a canter to a gallop. Matters were ra- 
 pidly hurrying to a crisis in Ireland, and Government 
 watched the growth of treason, not with affright, but 
 with a smile of placid self-complacency. Should the 
 Earls of Moira or Dunsany denounce that fatal policy, as 
 it rolled headlong forward, they were immediately put 
 down by an overwhelming avalanche of Treasury oppo- 
 sition. In proportion as the friends of Ireland denounced, 
 the friends of England eulogized. Chancellor Clare 
 declared that such speeches as Lord Moira's were encou- 
 ragements to treason. He spoke exultingly of the success 
 I attendant on the coercive policy, and declared it to have 
 been extorted from the Lord Lieutenant by the ministry. 
 The success attendant on the coercive policy was, 
 certainly, very remarkable. Plans for immediate revolt, 
 with or without French assistance, grew into embryo, 
 and from embryo to maturity. The people were drilled, 
 disciplined, and organized. The leaders, calm and col- 
 lected, sat in council, brooding over the thunder-cloud 
 which was soon, amid a hurricane, to burst asunder. 
 Tone, Lewins, Tennant, and Lowry, as delegates from the 
 Union, were actively engaged in hurrying to completion 
 the French expedition; and the London Corresponding 
 Society, assuming every day a more formidable aspect, 
 communicated sympathetically with their brethren in the 
 
 i 
 
170 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 West. Whenever the Irish people should rise en masse, 
 they promised to create a diversion in their favour, by a 
 simultaneous attack on the King, Lords, and Commons. 
 
 The outburst of the rebellion received a serious check 
 by the arrest of the Leinster delegates at Bond's, in 
 Bridge-street, March 12, 1798. As fourteen men sat in 
 council, talking over the mighty work which lay be- 
 fore them, Major Swan, attended by a strong posse of 
 constables, rushed into the apartment, and succeeded in 
 effecting an easy capture, not only of their persons, but 
 of several important documents, that furnished Govern- 
 ment afterwards with a key to the eclair cissement of as 
 many deep-laid plans. Having obtained the pass-word 
 by means of private information, Swan had little diffi- 
 culty in effecting an entrance. That night, Thomas 
 Addis Emmet, Dr. M'Nevin, and the brothers Jackson, 
 drooped beneath the weight of their chains and their 
 reflections. 
 
 A warrant was issued for the arrest of Lord Edward, 
 and another for Sampson, but both contrived, for a time, 
 at least, to baffle pursuit. A proclamation appeared. 
 Ministers offered One Thousand Pounds as a premium 
 for treachery. 
 
 The reader probably requires not to be reminded that 
 the capture at Bond's was the result of, perhaps, one of 
 the most diabolical strokes of treachery that ever fell to 
 the lot of an historian to chronicle. Thomas Reynolds ! 
 Oh, would that we could write his name in letters of 
 blood ! Were every disgusting epithet of opprobrium 
 collected from the refuse of our vocabulary, and hurled 
 in one foetid mass at the reputation of this Judas, 'twould 
 be only a speck to the dung-hill of obloquy under which 
 his character ought to be, for all eternity, buried. 
 
 A more deliberate and cold-blooded piece of treachery 
 (with the exception, perhaps, of Sheares' betrayal) is not 
 upon record in the Irish memory. By this act alone, 
 Reynolds consigned to the gibbet thirteen men, wholly 
 innocent of any moral crime, not to take into account at 
 least a dozen others, whose opinions were revealed by the 
 discovery at Bond's of their papers and memoranda. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 171 
 
 Reynolds was originally a silk-mercer in Dublin, but 
 having acquired, by the death of some relatives, a landed 
 property in the County Kildare, he took up his abode in 
 Kilkea Castle, near the Town of Mageney.* " He so 
 completely wormed himself," says Plowden, " into the 
 confidence of Lord Edward Fitzgerald and Bond, that in 
 1797 he was appointed a colonel, then treasurer and 
 representative of Kildare, and, at last, delegate for the 
 province of Leinster." A day rarely elapsed that he 
 was not ingratiating himself with Fitzgerald, partaking 
 of his hospitality, eagerly drinking down those secrets 
 too confidingly imparted, strengthening them in his recol- 
 lection bv careful note-taking when the momentary 
 absence of his entertainer from the room afforded an 
 opportunity, and, in the privacy of his own closet after- 
 wards, stringing them together into the form of a connected 
 narrative, in order, when the fitting time arrived, to lay 
 it before Lord Castlereagh and his colleagues. 
 
 It was fully expected that Fitzgerald would have been 
 present at the great Delegate Meeting of the 12th March, 
 but, owing to some circumstance — fortuitous or unfortu- 
 nate, it is impossible to say which — he was prevented 
 from attending. Mr. Thomas Reynolds, for the purpose 
 it would appear, of continuing to wear the mask of 
 friendship, and thus still further ingratiate himself into 
 the confidence of those whose bright red blood he had 
 already sold for brighter gold, entered into an express 
 stipulation with his employers, that the channel through 
 which the information came should remain, for the 
 present, at least, an inviolable secret. A few days sub- 
 sequent to the Bridge-street arrests, we find the wretched 
 Judas, calling in a friendly manner on the lady of him 
 whom he had already marked out for the axe of the 
 executioner. In the course of this interview, he con- 
 trived to glean many new facts, not previously in 
 his note-book, and having cordially bade adieu to Mrs. 
 Bond, retraced his stealthy steps to Dublin Castle, where 
 that same hand which but a few moments before had 
 
 * " £6,000 and a consulship rewarded his virtues, but could not increase 
 his dignity." — Thomas Davis. 
 
172 CLONCUKRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 been extended in the semblance of friendship towards the 
 rebel's wife, might now be seen claiming the stipulated 
 price for her husband's betrayal. Bond, however, did not 
 die a traitor's death. One morning, soon after his arrest, 
 he was found lifeless in his cell. Well-founded suspicions 
 attach to the jailer. 
 
 The seizure of the Delegates, and of so many important 
 members of the Executive Directory, proved a mortal 
 blow to the national organization. It was like aiming a 
 herculean stroke at a lion's head. The people who, a short 
 time previously , were all but ready for re volt, now remained 
 prostrate, paralyzed, and dismayed. Their fingers re- 
 laxing, muskets and pikestaffs fell, with panic-stricken 
 clash, to the ground. However, as the vacant berths in the 
 Executive were filled by Henry and John Sheares, 
 and other*fardent, impulsive young nationalists, the cou- 
 rage of the people returned — they grasped once more the 
 pikestaff and the musket, vowed vengeance on their 
 oppressors, and yearned for the fray. Meanwhile, Lord 
 Edward's locale remained, save to half a dozen favoured 
 followers, a profound mystery. 
 
 Whilst Fitzgerald lived to guide the rebellion he had 
 organized, great hopes were entertained of its ultimate 
 success. His military experience was considerable, and 
 he possessed a degree of intrepidity, disinterestedness, 
 foresight, prudence, and determination, rarely found com- 
 bined in any one individual. For years anterior to the 
 insurrection he was regarded by the people literally as 
 their idol. They venerated his name, adored his senti- 
 ments, drank down his words, and bowed before his man- 
 dates. Such a person could not fail to be eminently 
 qualified to lead the massive columns of a popular army. 
 The Government, well knowing his engineering skill, his 
 cool determination, his dauntless intrepidity, and the 
 mighty power exercised by him over the minds of the 
 people, left no means unemployed, whilst the fever of 
 disaffection hastened to a crisis, in endeavouring to have 
 his lordship placed under arrest. From the 12th of 
 March to the 19th of May, by a series of romantic ad- 
 ventures and hairbreadth escapes, he contrived success- 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 173 
 
 fully to elude pursuit. The house wherein he slept the 
 night before, would be searched by Major Sirr and his 
 myrmidons the day after. Detachments of military, and 
 posses of police, with warrants for his apprehension, would 
 march in grim array under the very windows of his bed- 
 room. On the 17th May he slept at Mr. Moore's, in 
 Thomas-street. On the nig-lit folio winsr, disguised as an 
 old countryman, he repaired to Murphy's,* in the same 
 street, from whence he observed, next day, a sergeant- 
 major and a party of soldiers halt before Moore's door, 
 previous to instituting a search within. This circumstance 
 occasioned his lordship great uneasiness, for it showed 
 him, alas ! that treachery, its source still unknown, was 
 toiling for his overthrow. 
 
 The general rising was now arranged to take place on 
 the night of the 23rd. Government were perfectly cog- 
 nizant of this fact, and, as the day approached, their 
 anxiety for the capture of Lord Edward increased. At 
 length the tempting lure of one thousand sovereigns did 
 its work. Late in the afternoon of the 19th May, 
 certain information of his lordship's hiding-place was 
 communicated to the Government. The moment that 
 Major Sirr received intimation, he hurried off to Thomas- 
 street, accompanied by Major Swan, a Mr. Ryan, and 
 some half dozen soldiers, in coloured clothes. Having 
 placed pickets round the house, Swan and Ryan glided 
 stealthily upstairs, to where his lordship (who happened 
 to be suffering from cold and sore throat) lay reclining, 
 half dressed, upon the bed. Swan was beginning blandly 
 to explain the object of his visit, when Lord Edward 
 sprang at him like a tiger, and, with the aid of a stiletto, 
 which he had secreted beneath his pillow, made one or 
 two stabs at the intruder, but without inflicting much 
 injury. The Major and his friend, finding that the cap- 
 ture could not be effected as easily as they at first sup- 
 
 * It was Surgeon William, afterwards General, Lawless who engaged 
 lodgings for Lord Edward in Murphy's house. One thousand potvnds was at 
 the time offered for his apprehension. Murphy well knew his lodger's 
 name and rank, but being of the order of patriots — sincere patriots — he urged 
 no objection against receiving him. Lawless stood in the relationship of 
 cousin to the subject of these pages. 
 
174 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 posed, proceeded to give battle. Swan fired, and Ryan 
 attacked his lordship with a sword-cane. But such on- 
 slaughts only acted as stimulants to Fitzgerald's ferocity. 
 He closed on his assailants, hurled them to the ground, 
 and attempted to escape from the apartment. 
 
 Swan and Ryan, however, fastened on his legs with the 
 strength of a vice and the determination of a rattlesnake ; 
 and, notwithstanding the repeated wounds inflicted on 
 their persons by Lord Edward, persisted in clinging to 
 him, until the arrival of Major Sirr and a party of soldiers 
 rendered escape hopeless, and further resistance impos- 
 sible. Sirr, who remained at the bottom of the house, in 
 order to take precautions against any attempt at rescue 
 by the mob, hearing the report of Swan's pistol, hurried 
 up stairs, and having there seen his colleagues covered 
 with blood, and prostrate at the feet of their powerful 
 enemy, he deliberately cocked his pistol, drew the trigger, 
 and lodged the contents in Lord Edward's right shoulder. 
 This, however, served as a mere momentary check. The 
 Geraldine staggered for a second ; but his courage making 
 one giant plunge within him, he snapped asunder the 
 encircling chains of approaching death, and flung himself 
 with redoubled intrepidity against the enemy. In the 
 struggle, a dastardly drummer contrived to creep behind 
 his lordship, and thus, comparatively secure, inflicted a 
 wound which contributed, more than any other, to em- 
 bitter the few remaining days of his existence. Mean- 
 while Ryan relaxed not a muscle, but clung with despe- 
 rate pertinacity as before. When his hands, from repeated 
 laceration, fell useless to the ground, he grasped Lord 
 Edward with his le^s. Wound after wound, to the 
 number of fourteen, Fitzgerald inflicted on this trouble- 
 some enemy; and not until a detachment of soldiery 
 pressed his lordship violently to the ground, by laying 
 their heavy firelocks across him, could he be bound in such 
 a manner as would render further resistance impossible. 
 
 Soon after, poor Lord Edward fortunately died in New- 
 gate. We say fortunately, for, had he lived a few days 
 longer, it would be only to have undergone the pain and 
 humiliation of a public execution. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 175 
 
 Thus perished one of the noblest, best, and dearest 
 friends that the Hon. Mr. Lawless ever had the happiness 
 of possessing. Throughout a long life afterwards he well 
 loved to make allusion, both in public and in private, 
 to the friend of his youth — Lord Edward Fitzgerald. 
 
 At the moment of her husband's arrest, in Thomas- 
 street, the Lady Pamela was secreted, unknown to Lord 
 Cloncurry, in Mornington House, Merrion-street. Hither 
 Lady Fitzgerald repaired, at the hospitable instance of 
 Mary, Valentina, and Charlotte Louisa Lawless, who re- 
 ceived their fair visitor with a truly Irish welcome. The 
 police spies followed in the wake of Lady Pamela, re- 
 ported her locomotion to Government, and maintained a 
 brisk espionage on Mornington House. Soon tiring of an 
 external scrutiny, they gruffly demanded permission to 
 search the place for papers. Pamela observed their ap- 
 proach, and hastily secreted in a bedroom some harmless 
 documents that chanced to remain in her possession, but 
 which she, in her innocence, considered it the more pru- 
 dent to conceal. As a matter of course, the papers were 
 found, and amongst them an ambiguous seal device, 
 designed by no less a person than Valentine Lawless. It 
 represented Britannia removing the Irish crown, with one 
 hand, from the summit of the national harp, and substi- 
 tuting in its stead a dagger ; while with the other she 
 industriously demolished the strings — an outrage which 
 the presence of two gigantic Irish wolf dogs (who fell 
 asleep most inexcusably at their post) appears to have 
 been unable to prevent. The sages of the Castle, ever 
 noted for jumping at conclusions, at once pronounced 
 Mr. Lawless's device to be the intended great seal for the 
 Irish Republican Protocol, and got it carefully copied by 
 a skilful draughtsman, in order to embellish the English 
 report of the Committee of Secrecy, then about to issue 
 from the press. The " key,"' or, more properly, the false 
 key, to its elucidation, was extremely amusing. Britannia 
 they pronounced to be Hibernia ; the Irish crown an 
 imperial diadem; and the wolf dogs — pigs. "In a 
 circle," says the Report, " Hibernia holds in her right 
 hand an imperial crown over a shield ; on her left hand is 
 
176 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 an Irish harp, over it a dagger, and at its foot lie two 
 hogs." The work observes, that this treasonable device 
 was found in the custody of Lord Edward Fitzgerald — 
 perhaps as accurate as most of its other statements. Mr. 
 Lawless, for many years of his life, continued to use the 
 seal in ordinary epistolatory correspondence. It was 
 engraved from the original sketch by Strongitharm, of 
 London. 
 
 In October, 1798, the royal assentwasgiven to the bill for 
 attainting Lord Edward Fitzgerald. The moment Lawless 
 heard of it, he addressed a series of letters to the tenantry 
 on his (Fitzgerald's) estate, wherein he implored of them 
 not to give Government the satisfaction of paying one 
 shilling rent. The tenants took his advice, and held 
 out so long and so resolutely, that at length the attainder 
 was reversed. This latter event took place when Lawless 
 had inherited the honours of the peerage. He was 
 declared trustee 'for Lord Edward's children, and the 
 estate became vested in himself and his executors. 
 
 After the arrests of the Leinster Delegates at Bond's, 
 sundry warrants were issued for the apprehension 
 of those who took a prominent part in the national 
 movement. Amongst the rest we must not omit to men- 
 tion William Murphy, the celebrated Irish millionaire, 
 who, it will be remembered, has only disappeared from 
 amongst us within the last few years. Both he and 
 Lawless knew much of the secret working of the organi- 
 zation, and, were they so disposed, could have brought 
 many a head to the scaffold. W r e have been assured by 
 those who possess accurate recollections of '98 that it was 
 generally rumoured at the time, and frequently whispered 
 since, that Murphy received the hint of a warrant 
 being out against him from the Hon. Mr. Lawless, and 
 through his exertions he was enabled to elude pur- 
 suit. Of the truth of this report we entertain considerable 
 doubts. When the tardiness of locomotion in those days 
 is remembered, and that Mr. Lawless was then living in 
 St. Albans-street, London, it must appear to all as highly 
 improbable that any communication could have taken 
 place between him and Murphy on the subject of the 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 177 
 
 warrant. Be this as it may, an honourable intimacy 
 between them sprung into existence about the period of 
 '98, and continued daily increasing in strength and soli- 
 dity until the scythe of death suddenly dissevered it in 
 1849. 
 
 Among the members of the new Executive Directory, 
 John and Henry Sheares occupied a prominent position. 
 Brothers by birth, and both barristers by profession, they 
 possessed considerable talents, forensic and otherwise, 
 that must have eventually placed them, had they lived, 
 in very exalted positions. But, young and ardent, like 
 Robert Emmet, they were hasty in their plans, and un- 
 guarded in their conduct. The great object with them 
 appears to have been, to seduce as many militia officers 
 as possible from their allegiance, and to prevail on them 
 to accept commissions in the army of Ireland. In this 
 apparently chimerical task they succeeded to an extent 
 that even astonished many of their own partisans. A 
 meeting of delegates from almost every militia regiment 
 in Ireland assembled in the house of Surgeon Lawless, 
 early in May, for the purpose of holding a conference 
 on the projected insurrection. The conclusion come to 
 on this occasion was, that the United Irishmen of Dublin, 
 Wicklow, and Kildare should, on the night of the 23rd 
 May, advance by three separate lines on the metropolis, 
 capturing in their progress the camp at Loughlinstown, 
 and the artillery at Chapelizod. 
 
 One of the many Irish militia officers whose conver- 
 sion the Sheareses looked upon as certain, was Captain 
 John Warnford Armstrong. This person, for the same 
 disinterested motives which induced Mr. Reynolds to pur- 
 sue, for several months, a train of systematic treachery, 
 to the prejudice of his confiding countrymen, procured 
 an introduction to the brothers, and having " acted well 
 his part," soon had the satisfaction of possessing their 
 confidence and their friendship. By them he was fre- 
 quently favoured with an invitation to dinner, and as an 
 object of no trifling importance would be probably gained 
 by accepting it, it would appear that he did so with much 
 alacrity. Amongst other matters they acquainted him with 
 
 i2 
 
178 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 their plans for attacking the camp at Loughlinstown, and 
 succeeded in obtaining from him a promise of assistance. 
 
 On one of the days that Armstrong partook of Sheares' 
 hospitality, it is recorded of him by Mr. Curran, that he 
 deliberately took his entertainer's children on his knee, 
 and proceeded to caress them with every manifestation of 
 affection.* Armstrong, however, has recently denied this 
 statement. 
 
 Base and treacherous as was Warnford Armstrong's con- 
 duct on this mournful occasion, it assuredly does not equal 
 in enormity Reynolds' deliberate betrayal of Bond and his 
 associates. Armstrong, a Protestant and a loyalist, took the 
 United Irishman's oath, not from conviction, but solely 
 with a view to worm out the secrets of John and Henry 
 Sheares. " Reynolds, the accursed," as Davis forcibly styles 
 him, was a Roman Catholic, and became " united," in the 
 firm belief, that he was, in so doing, performing a duty 
 to his country and to his God. So zealous did the 
 wretch appear to be for the spread of the organization 
 that we find him in high favour with Lord Edward, and 
 elevated successively by him to the ranks of colonel, 
 treasurer, representative, and delegate. This course Lord 
 Edward pursued with a view to reward him for his 
 exertions in the cause. Reynolds was for a considerable 
 time sincere ; but the tempter would not permit him to 
 continue in this upright course. A talismanic word was 
 whispered in his ear, and, lo ! the just man of yesterday 
 became the Judas of to-day. Base, we repeat, as was 
 Armstrong's behaviour, that of Mr. Reynolds surely 
 eclipsed it. 
 
 John and Henry Sheares were Protestants, and in 
 comfortable circumstances. 
 
 " Captain Armstrong," says Sir Jonah Barrington, "became acquainted 
 with the two brothers, pledged to them his friendship, persuaded them that 
 he would seduce his own regiment, gained their implicit confidence, faithfully 
 fulfilled the counterplot, devised secret meetings, and worked up sufficient 
 guilt to sacrifice the lives of both. They were arrested, tried, on his evi- 
 dence, convicted, and were hanged and beheaded in the front of Newgate. 
 They came hand and hand to the scaffold." 
 
 * Captain Armstrong is actually not yet dead ! He resides at Ballycumber, 
 near Clara, in the King's County. The writer of these pages, curious to 
 know if Armstrong were really living, wrote to a King's County gentleman 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 179 
 
 The execution of the brothers followed with rapidity 
 upon their conviction. With them the last of the gifted 
 leaders may be said to have disappeared. A wide-spread 
 gloom clung round the city before and after the event. 
 Ifyme and M'Cann, two other members of the new 
 Directory, were swinging lifeless on the gallows a few 
 days later. 
 
 Notwithstanding the frustration of almost every pre- 
 concerted arrangement made by the Popular Executive, 
 the storm of insurrection burst forth with awe-in- 
 spiring fury, on the night of the 23rd May, 1798. It 
 was confined to three counties, Kildare, Wicklow, and 
 Dublin. Away went the revolutionary bark, without 
 helm or rudder, dashing along the ocean of turbulence, 
 occasionally " running down" disciplined obstacles, but 
 much oftener shattering its own bulwarks against those 
 fatal rocks and quicksands, which an experienced helms- 
 man like Lord Edward Fitzgerald would have taken 
 every careful precaution to avoid. 
 
 Samuel Neilson, the once spirited editor of the " Northern 
 Star" had still his liberty. Fitzgerald, Emmet, M'Cann, 
 Byrne, Sheares, M'Nevin, gone — to whom, if not Neilson, 
 had the people to look ? This man, though possessed of 
 great firmness, patriotism, and courage, was singularly 
 excitable, flighty, and incautious. It is recorded of him 
 by Mr. Moore, that on the day of Lord Edward Fitz- 
 gerald's arrest in Thomas-street, Neilson stalked up to 
 Murphy, who was standing within his gateway, and in a 
 loud voice inquired, " Is he safe? Look sharp!" with 
 some other incautious exclamations of the same nature. 
 
 Neilson's great object was to begin the insurrection by 
 a vigorous attack on the prisons, and, if possible, setting 
 at liberty the members of the Executive, who lay ma- 
 nacled within. At this time neither Byrne, M'Cann, nor 
 
 for the desired information. He received a reply from liim on the 30th of 
 May, 1854, and the following is an extract from it: — "Captain Arm- 
 strong is still on the land of the living, and comes to Dublin to draw his 
 pension as regularly as clock work. He is upwards of ninety years of age ; 
 but as hale as some of the youngest amongst us. He is a magistrate, and 
 twice a week attends the petty sessions of Ballycumber. He has two 
 daughters, both of whom are married." 
 
180 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 the Sheareses, had fallen victims to the axe of the execu- 
 tioner. In his usual incautious manner, Neilson ventured 
 under the very walls of Newgate on the night of the 
 23rd May, between the hours of nine and ten o'clock, 
 in order personally to reconnoitre the premises. Gregg, 
 the jailer, who was likewise reconnoitering from the 
 grated windows of an upper cell, at once recognized the 
 countenance of Neilson, hurried down, and collared him. 
 Neilson drew forth a pistol, and resisted. A violent 
 struggle took place, and both rebel and loyalist came to 
 the ground. Gregg shouted for help, and had not long 
 to wait before two burly yeomen waddled to the 
 rescue. 
 
 In the course of Neilsons examination, it transpired 
 that, previous to his visit to Newgate, he had estab- 
 lished some formidable lines of pikemcn* in its vicinity, 
 and who only awaited their leader's word of command 
 to overpower the sentinels, to make a furious rush at the 
 gates. But the expected mandate came not, and the 
 hearts of the insurgents sank within them. 
 
 All the city lamplighters appear to have been con- 
 cerned in the treason. During the entire of the anxious 
 night of May 23, not one solitary lamp was lighted. 
 Few ventured abroad except on treason bent. An 
 ominous stillness pervaded every street. The city might 
 be likened to a slumbering volcano. 
 
 As the Government had reason to suppose that the 
 northern insurgents would make their descent on Dublin 
 by Dorset-street and Constitution-hill, all the available 
 militia and yeomanry of Dublin received commands to 
 establish themselves within the ample area of Smithfield. 
 The papers of the day inform us, so closely were they 
 packed, that hardly one man more could be stowed 
 into the market-place. " The cavalry and infantry," says 
 a writer, " were in some places so completely interwoven, 
 that a dragoon could not wield his sword without cutting 
 down a foot soldier, nor a foot soldier discharge his 
 musket without knocking down a trooper." 
 
 * Neilson's greatest force lay, awaiting his orders, in the " Barley fields,'' 
 now known as " Mount joy- square." 
 
CLONCURRY AXD HIS TIMES. 181 
 
 In Stephens-green was stationed another force. To 
 such an extent did disaffection plough through the ranks 
 
 -L O O 
 
 of the military camp at Loughlinstown, that it was 
 deemed advisable to place the corps most distinguished 
 for its ultra-loyalty, together with some artillery, in 
 Stephens-green, in order to intercept any aid of militia 
 or otherwise, that might perchance flow from the en- 
 campment. The corps alluded to was the City of Cork 
 Regiment. 
 
 According to a hastily concerted plan, a large body of 
 the Wicklow rebels were to form into column at Rath- 
 farnham,* on the 23rd May, and, at a given signal, to 
 march on Dublin and storm the Castle. Government, 
 however, having received private information of this 
 design, they concentrated their best military energies on 
 Rathfarnham, and, in a short engagement, routed the 
 insurgents. On the same night, it was arranged that the 
 rebel force on the northern side should assemble at 
 Santry, march on the metropolis, and, simultaneously 
 with the co-operating descent upon the seat of Govern- 
 ment, attack the barracks. The Lord Lieutenant re- 
 ceived, of course, private information of this scheme, and 
 the result was, that Lord Roden, at the head of his heavy 
 cavalry, and a detachment of infantry, were dispatched 
 to Santry. The rebel force were, upon the arrival of 
 his lordship, in a state almost bordering on despair. 
 Not one, out of a series of preconcerted signals, arrested 
 their attention. Nevertheless, they fought bravely, but 
 were eventually obliged to retire with loss. Several 
 dragoons fell in the melee, and a musket ball flattened 
 itself against Lord Roden's helmet. 
 
 During the skirmish, several prisoners were taken by 
 his lordship, and inarched as trophies into Dublin. Those 
 who escaped the sabres of his dragoons hurried to the 
 assistance of the Wicklow insurgents. The Rathfarnham 
 party retreated on Kildare, where the peasantry had 
 already risen en masse. 
 
 * The populace were certain of victory. A body of insurgents lay in 
 ambush, behind a wall in New- street, for the purpose of attacking the 
 military on their retreat from Rathfarnham. 
 
18 2 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 The Lord Lieutenant and Mr. Secretary Cooke were 
 gratified by a pleasing exhibition on the morning of the 
 24th May. All the dead bodies of the Santry men were, 
 bv command of Lord Roden, crammed into carts, and 
 conveyed triumphantly to Dublin. The good peer, 
 instead of ^ivin^ directions to have the mutilated trunks 
 interred, as was customary, on Arbour Hill, commanded 
 his myrmidons to stretch them out, as trophies of the 
 victory, on the pavement of the Lpper Castle-yard. 
 " There they lav." savs Sir Jonah Barring-ton, •• during 
 a hot day, cut and gashed in every part, covered with 
 clotted blood and dust, the most frightful spectacle that 
 ever disgraced a royal residence." 
 
 The exhibition on the bridges was not less repellant. 
 There temporarv scaffolds were erected, exclusive of the 
 ordinary lamp-post apparatus, and all the Santry and 
 Ratbfarnham prisoners might be seen expiating their 
 offences on the following morning. 
 
 Meanwhile, the fire of insurrection spread like an 
 ignited train of gunpowder, through Wicklow, Kildare, 
 and Dublin. The Belfast coach was stopped and burnt 
 in Fingal. The Connaught and Cork mails experienced 
 the same fate at Luc an and Naas. The interruption of 
 the mails appears to have been a preconcerted signal for 
 general insurrection. 
 
 There are men and women yet living who shudder 
 with horror at the recollection of the cruelties perpetrated 
 by Captain Richard Longueville Swavne. This man 
 was only quartered, with his army, for the space of two 
 days, in the village of Prosperous, yet in that short rule, 
 he burned, hunted, tortured, flogged, ill-used, and ter- 
 rified more, according to Duggan,* than any of his mili- 
 tary cotemporaries. His motto ought to have been the 
 well-known line from Hudibras — 
 
 •■Fire, and src-ord, and desolation." 
 
 Swayne and his men, after a busy day, retired to rest 
 on the night of the 23rd May. An eye-witness tells us 
 
 * See narrative furnished to Dr. Madden, by Bernard Duggan, one of the 
 leaders of the attack on Prosperous (•• United Irishmen," vol. ii. Third Series, 
 p. 96). This man is the Barnaby Dougal spoken of by Musgrave. 
 
CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIME- 183 
 
 that lie not only on that day burned fifteen houses, in- 
 cluding the chapel, but conveyed numbers of wretched 
 creatures home with him, to undergo execution on the 
 morrow. The peasantry, maddened with rage, resolved 
 that Swavne"s atrocities should terminate then and there. 
 Five hundred of them, under the command of Doctor, 
 brother of Sir Thomas Esmonde. Bart, made a night 
 attack on Prosperous barracks. Having dispatched the 
 sentinel, thev rushed into the guard-room, piked twelve 
 men, and shot the captain. Duggan tells us that the 
 cowardlv wretch, seeing intuitively the approach of retri- 
 bution, offered to fight henceforward in the ranks of the 
 people. After an energetic straggle, which terminated 
 in their favour, the insurgents came to the determination 
 of burning the barracks to the ground. This they com- 
 menced bv setting the doors on fire, and hurling in 
 blazing faggots of furze and s The career of the 
 
 consuming element was a short one. 
 
 Dr. Esmonde remained standing with his aide-de-camp, 
 during this harrowing scene, a: ral hundred ; 
 
 distance. The latter wr- ~ rgeant in the Sailing \eo- 
 manrv, but feigned to be a friend to the national cav. 
 The beginning of his treacherv was the circulation of a 
 ialse report. He told Esmonde that a large body of 
 cavalry was rapidly approaching, and that no time 
 should be lost in sounding a retrc Esmon<: 
 
 cordinglv withdrew the insurgents from Prosperous. 
 
 As soon as morning dawned, the faithful aide-de-camp 
 repaired to Captain Griffith, of the Sailins Yeomanry, and 
 gave information against his commander. Esmonde v - 
 placed under arrest, conveyed to Dublin, and hung on 
 Carlisle-bridge. He was a man throughout life uni- 
 versally beloved and esteemed ; and he would have died 
 - . had not his connexion with the United Irishmen 
 given the Government party a disgust to him persona U 
 It is unnecessary to say that, in the popular estimation, 
 he never stood really high until the hangman's halter 
 attested his uncompromising love of country. According 
 to O'Kelly s narrative o£ "98, his body found interment 
 beneath a barrack-yard dung-heap. 
 
184 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 On the 24th May was fought the battle of Old Kilcullen. 
 Erskine was an officer of the Swayne school. He rioted 
 in the ecstasy of free quarters, pillage, and spoliation. 
 Men heard him declare that neither himself nor his army 
 would eat a mouthful of breakfast until they made a meal 
 off the Croppies of Baliymore. Quite " cock-a-whoop," 
 he was proceeding to perform the threatened exploit, 
 when a body of insurgents flung themselves before him. 
 Erskine, at the head of his dragoons, charged the ob- 
 stacle. It was, however, fenced like a chevaux-de-frise, 
 and his advances were received on the points of 600 
 pike-heads. The cavalry retired without making any 
 impression, but speedily commenced a second onslaught. 
 The rebels rushed down the hill, and, meeting their 
 assailants hall-way, applied the pike so vigorously, that 
 only one sergeant and four privates escaped with their 
 lives. Erskine fell into a pool of water, and fought upon 
 his back, chopping away, with the fury of a dying tiger, 
 at the very pike-staff which impaled him to the earth. 
 
 Flushed with victory, the rebels proceeded to attack 
 Dundas, at Kilcullen Bridge. His force was a strong 
 one. Having heard of the fate of Erskine's party, they 
 thirsted in spirit for blood to quench the flame of their 
 vengeance. Fatigued and jaded after their recent exer- 
 tions, the rebels had the consummate folly to attack an 
 army of comparatively fresh soldiery. The fight waged 
 for a time with great fury, but at length the assailants 
 were necessitated to fly. Not, however, as Sir Jonah says, 
 till lanes were repeatedly cut through them with round 
 shot. 
 
 On the mornincr of the 24th, a segment of the insur- 
 gent force proceeded to attack the town and jail of Naas; 
 but as the guard had, in anticipation, been augmented, 
 the assailants were repulsed. For twenty minutes, how- 
 ever, the issue of the battle was extremely doubtful. At 
 length the King's troops drove them into a narrow 
 avenue ; and here this undisciplined and comparatively 
 meagre force sustained, for a considerable time, charges 
 da capo from the Ancient Britons and Armagh Militia. 
 Throughout the rebellion, it was a notorious habit of the 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 185 
 
 Government to exasperate the number of deaths on the 
 popular side, as well as to stigmatize the people with 
 outrages which they never committed. Accordingly, we 
 find the rebel loss on this occasion to have been 110, 
 whereas not more than eleven lives were in reality sacri- 
 ficed. Some hours after the engagement, the troops 
 assassinated, in cold blood, fifty-seven of the inhabitants. 
 Many were dragged out of their beds and shot — others 
 cut down while endeavouring to escape from the names 
 of their own dwellings. Among the victims to military 
 vengeance and caprice was a most respectable landholder, 
 named Walsh. After having undergone the torture of 
 half hanging, his heart was extracted, roasted, and eaten 
 by three of the Suffolk Fencibles. 
 
 Next day, 400 insurgents, under the command of 
 Keogh and Ledwidge, marched on the village of Clon- 
 dalkin — a daring act, when remembered that it is hardly 
 distant four miles from the seat of Government. Lord 
 Koden, who had already wreathed his brow with laurels 
 by the Santry massacre, volunteered his services. Such 
 a petty force of undisciplined men as Ledwidge's could 
 hardly be expected to withstand a charge from the King's 
 cavalry. Their lines broke, each man consulted safety 
 in flight, and the sabres of the pursuing " Fox-hunters" 
 were not remiss in their duty. Keogh and Ledwidge 
 were captured, tried by court-martial, and executed. 
 
 On the day of the Naas defeat, a proclamation from 
 Generalissimo Lake appeared, ordering every citizen of 
 Dublin to be in bed after nine. All the courts of justice, 
 with, perhaps, one exception, were closed. That excep- 
 tion furnished a strange scene. Baron Metge sat on the 
 bench equipped in regimentals, and furnished with pistol, 
 sabre, and dirk. The jury looked like so many lines of 
 riflemen. The counsel pleaded in uniform, with their 
 side-arms. 
 
 The 24 th May witnessed several skirmishes. Amongst 
 them may be mentioned those of Hacketstown, Carlow, 
 Clane,* and Monasterevan. Owing to the want of 
 
 * At Clane, the military were Bear getting the worst of it. A large 
 body of the assailants, having equipped themselves in the uniforms and 
 
186 CLOXCURRY AXD HIS TIMES. 
 
 leaders, unanimity, discipline, and a preconcerted modus 
 operandi, nothing but failure resulted. At Monasterevan 
 the parish priest was " hung, drawn, and quartered." 
 The magistrates accused him, on what authority we know 
 not, of participation in treason. 
 
 At Carlo w, frightful carnage marked the now vie- 
 torious course of Government. According to the official 
 version, nineteen carts were constantly employed, for a 
 day and a half, in removing the dead to Graiguebridge. 
 Here 417 bodies were interred in three gravel pits. 
 Among the victims to governmental fury who fell during 
 the insurrectionary movement at Carlow, there were 
 none whose fate deserves more tearful commiseration 
 than that of the unfortunate Sir Edward Paul Crosbie, 
 Bart.* Throughout life he was a liberal and philan- 
 thropic man ; but of any treasonable, or even seditious 
 intent or practice, the child in the womb could not have 
 been more innocent. Sir Edward was dragged from his 
 
 DO 
 
 fire-side and slaughtered, in cold blood, at the request ot 
 some ultra-loyalists. To Sir Edward Crosbie's grand-niece, 
 the Hon.Mrs. Leeson, Lord Cloncurry was married in 1810. 
 Meanwhile, every exaggeration — every elaborated fic- 
 tion of Popish cruelty, perfidy, and superstition, were, as 
 Plowden assures us, eagerly collected, improved upon, 
 and circulated through the military ranks, for the pur- 
 pose, manifestly, of deadening humanity, and of stimu- 
 lating the ferocity of the troops. 
 
 accoutrements of the Cork Militia and Ancient Britons — spoils achieved on 
 the night of the Prosperous triumph — proceeded quite cavalierly to enter the 
 town. This very nearly proved a fatal deceit. 
 
 It is the intention of the present Sir Edward William Crosbie to publish, 
 at no distant day, a conclusive refutation of the calumnies on his father's 
 memory, which Musgrave, Maxwell, and other Protestant historians of the 
 rebellion, have so industriously put forward in their respective works. He 
 holds in his possession important documents for the purpose, which must 
 render the task a matter of no great difficulty. The Lublin Journal, of June 
 1st, 1798, appears to have given the first promulgation to the slander. We 
 extract the paragraph : — " From Carlow, we learn that Sir Edward Crosbie, 
 Bart., having been accused, tried, and convicted of an intimate and criminal 
 connexion with the rebel army, has suffered the punishment of death, under 
 martial law." In the Evening Post, of June 7, 1798, we read: — " Sir 
 Edward Crosbie was executed at Carlow, on Tuesday evening, and his head 
 has been placed on the top of the gaol." If ever any man fell a victim to 
 injustice and the malice of party, it was Sir Edward Paul Crosbie, Bart. 
 
CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 187 
 
 On May 26 was fought the battle of Tara. About 
 4,000 United Irishmen established themselves on the 
 hill, and awaited the approach of " the Sassenagh." But 
 the wary foe knew a trick worth two of attacking the 
 rebel army at that juncture. From their pickets they 
 ascertained that the rebels had mustered unusually strong. 
 A cunning plan for their dispersion was, after a short coun- 
 cil of Avar, decided on. Gunpowder and ball could not dis- 
 lodge them, but possibly whiskey might. Accordingly, 
 a cart, containing some puncheons of that spirit, was 
 prepared and sent on. The road ran, and still runs, 
 immediately under the hill. No sooner did the insur- 
 gents observe the whiskey puncheons, than they de- 
 scended en masse, and bore them off amid shrieks of 
 exultation. To their shame be it recorded, they drank 
 to drunkenness. Of this the king's troops were not slow 
 in taking advantage. They deluged them with bullets, 
 and mowed them down with grape. The rebels made a 
 rally, but, alas ! a fatal one. With stupid ferocity they 
 charged, pike in hand, through the lines of their own 
 friends, killing some and wounding others. 
 
 The Meath insurgents were at this engagement at- 
 tacked at least fourteen hours before they anticipated. 
 They sanguinely calculated on the men of Louth, Wick- 
 low, and Wexford, coming promptly to their assistance. The 
 bold design of attacking Trim and Naas, and the still 
 bolder one of laying open the communication of the 
 metropolis with Ulster, was by this defeat completely 
 disconcerted. 
 
 But another train of treason was laid, and on that 
 same 26th May (having been successfully fired) it rushed 
 with electrical ignition along the borders of Wicklow, 
 until, reaching the village of Boolavogue, in Wexford, it 
 suddenly asserted its vitality, with an explosion which 
 struck terror into many an anti-separatist's heart. On the 
 day of the rising, twenty farmers 1 houses, the chapel, and 
 the Catholic curate's residence, were burned. That all 
 this should have accelerated thelocal insurrection is not sur- 
 prising. From Boolavogue, where the people encountered 
 the Camolin Yeomanry, and killed their commander, 
 
188 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 Lieutenant Bookey, they proceeded in considerable force 
 to Oulart Hill, " headed by a man," says Cloney, " hi- 
 therto the least likely of any other priest in that county 
 to appear in arms — a quiet, inoffensive man, devot- 
 ing his time and energies to the spiritual instruction of a 
 peaceable flock ; but whose resentment was so justly 
 raised by the sanguinary persecution of his people."* 
 
 Expresses were speedily sent for troops to check the 
 progress of the movement, and accordingly the North 
 Cork Militia, commanded by seven officers, proceeded to 
 attack the Irish army on one side, while a body of yeoman 
 cavalry advanced on the other. Our limits do not permit 
 us to go into details. Suffice it to say, that so great was the 
 havoc made amongst the regular troops, that only the 
 colonel, a sergeant, two privates, and a drummer, escaped 
 with their lives. 
 
 Next day the insurgents marched on Camolin, and 
 effected the capture of a quantity of arms. From thence 
 they advanced to Scarawash Bridge, where they halted 
 for some time to obtain an accession of strength. Their 
 ranks soon swelled, and with an army of 6,000 pikemen, 
 and 1,000 musketeers, they proceeded in good order to 
 Enniscorthy. 
 
 But whilst triumph glowed in the countenances of the 
 Wexford men, the pallor of fear blanched the cheeks of 
 Perkin's force on the Curragh of Kildare. This body of 
 insurgents amounted to 2,000. Their commander, fore- 
 seeing nothing but defeat, sent a message to General 
 Dundas to say that his men would deliver up their arms, 
 provided they might return home unmolested, and that 
 the system of burning and free quarters should be 
 slackened, if not abolished. "The general," says Plow- 
 den, " sent for advice to Dublin Castle, and received per- 
 mission to assent to their terms." Thirteen cart loads of 
 pikes were accordingly delivered up. Immediately after 
 another rebel body made similar overtures. Major-Ge- 
 neral Duff undertook to receive their surrender. 
 
 * " Personal Narrative of the Transactions of '98," by Thomas (General) 
 Cloney. Dublin: 1832. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 189 
 
 The Curragh is a vast expanse of ground. Neither 
 ditch, hedge, tree, nor house, dots its surface for at least 
 three English miles. Duff commanded the rebels to 
 throw their arms in a heap, and then kneel down and beg 
 the King's pardon. Both mandates were complied with. 
 A dead silence prevailed. At length General Duff broke 
 it. " Charge," said he, " and spare no rebel." Havoc and 
 consternation spread themselves on all sides. To cut down 
 an unarmed multitude was no difficult task. The troops 
 consisted almost entirely of cavalry — Lord Roden's " fox- 
 hunters," General Dunn's black horse, and Captain 
 Bagot's yeomanry. "The number of victims who fell," 
 writes a personal actor in '98, " were 325. In one street 
 alone ofKildare, there were reckoned eighty -five widows 
 the following morning." 
 
 But to retrace our steps to Wexford. Government left 
 no available means unemployed to resist an attack on 
 Enniscortky. Captain Snowe and his North Corkians oc- 
 cupied the bridge, two regiments of yeomanry remained 
 within the town, while, at the cross roads, near Duffry- 
 gate, Captain Pounden's infantry took up position. 
 
 The insurgents wasted not their time in reconnoitering 
 or talking, but at once grappled with their powerful 
 enemy. One thousand men waded through the Slaney, 
 under a galling fire from the garrison above. A shower of 
 hailstones, however, could not have intimidated them less ; 
 and having gained the fortified acclivity, attacked Poun- 
 den's corps with such determination as to compel them to 
 retire, with loss, from their position. Other divisions ad- 
 vanced with similar tact and spirit, accomplishing, as they 
 did so, similar results. At length, after a hot conflict, of 
 four hours' duration, the garrison found themselves com- 
 pletely routed. Amongst the slain were three command- 
 ing officers. The rage of the yeomanry was intense. 
 They set fire to the town in several places, and proceeded 
 to the jail, fully determined to murder, in cold blood, the 
 prisoners within it ; but the turnkeys had fortunately fled 
 to Wexford, taking with them, in their precipitation, the 
 keys of the prison. 
 
 After the acquisition of Enniscorthy, the insurgents 
 
190 
 
 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 encamped on Vinegar Hill ; but the greatest division in 
 resolve pervaded their councils. Some were for attack- 
 ing Newtownbarry, others Wexford, and others for re- 
 maining statu quo. Intelligence promptly sped to Wex- 
 ford, that the " Croppies" were marching in thousands 
 upon it. Hostile preparations were accordingly made. 
 On the 29th Colonel Maxwell, with 200 men and artillery. 
 arrived from Duncannon Fort. Despatches came from 
 General Fawcett to say that he would be in Wexford 
 himself on that evening, accompanied by the loth Regt. 
 and Meath Militi The general set off for Wexford, as 
 arranged, but did not venture beyond Taghmon, seven 
 miles from his destination. He, however, sent on, rather 
 incautiously, in advance, a detachment of infantry, with 
 artillery, howitzers, and ammunition. Midway between 
 Taghmon and Wexford, the advance of his party became 
 suddenly intercepted by a large body of the rebels, who, 
 in less than twenty minutes, cut them all to pieces. 
 
 General Fawcett hearing of the calamitous fate of his 
 advanced guard, retreated rapidly to Duncannon Fort. 
 
 Colonel Maxwell, who had crossed the country to unite 
 his forces with those of the general's, was within an ace 
 of meetincr with a similar catastrophe. The insurgents 
 watched him, and almost surrounded his army ; but re- 
 sorting to a ruse cle gnerre, he eluded their grasp, and 
 succeeded in reachincr the town of Wexford. In this 
 skirmish Lieutenant- Colonel Watson fell. Eager to re- 
 connoitre, he proceeded to the summit of a hill, and was 
 shot down by one of the insurgent outposts. 
 
 Unanimity at length prevailed in the rebel camp, so 
 far as was exemplified in their determination to attempt 
 the capture of Wexford. With this object in view, they 
 took up position on the Three Rock mountain, an emi- 
 nence overhanging the town. The movements of the rebel 
 force were cautious. Amongst its members a very ge- 
 neral impression existed, that Wexford was inhabited 
 by a formidable garrison. Such, however, was not the 
 fact; and the yeoman, military, and militia regiments 
 which garrisoned it, began, on their side, to exhibit some 
 symptoms of incipient nervousness. A council hastily 
 
CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 191 
 
 assembled, excited tonsrues arsrued, and counter-argued • 
 the hopelessness of resistance became apparent, and a de- 
 cision, humiliating to the dignity of Kin£ George, was 
 arrived at, and carried out. A deputation of officers, in 
 full uniform, proceeded to the camp to announce the sur- 
 render of Wexford ! 
 
 They had hardly more than left, when the greater bulk 
 of the garrison fled precipitately from the town. " Officers 
 and privates," writes Edward Hay, who was a witness of 
 the scene, " threw off their uniforms, and hid themselves 
 wherever they thought they could be best concealed. 
 Some ran to the different quays, in the expectation of 
 finding boats to convey them off, and threw their arms 
 and ammunition into the water. All such as could accom- 
 plish it, ran on board the vessels in the harbour, having 
 previously turned their horses loose. Some ran to the 
 jail, to put themselves under the protection of Mr. Harvey. 
 Officers, magistrates, and yeomen thus severally endea- 
 voured to escape popular vengeance ; and in the contriv- 
 ance of changing apparel, as there was not a sufficiei 
 of men's clothes for all those who sought safety by these 
 means, female attire was substituted for the purpose of 
 disguise." 
 
 At this, to them, gratifying intelligence, the insurgents 
 poured into the town. The prison was, as usual, the first 
 
 » point of attraction. Within it Beauchamp Bagenal Har- 
 vey, of Bargy Castle, a Protestant gentleman of con- 
 siderable fortune, lay immured. They insisted on his be- 
 coming their commander. 
 
 The flying troops from Wexford committed fearful 
 depredations. Cabins were burnt, farm houses wrecked, 
 the peasantry shot, female innocence outraged. In fact, 
 the only chance a poor man had of his life was to fly into 
 the insurgent phalanx, or leave the kingdom, an alterna- 
 tive not always practicable. Gorey being no longer 
 tenable, its garrison and inhabitants retreated on the next 
 
 7 o 
 
 mornino- to Arklow. 
 
 We have now arrived at the 31st May. On that day 
 the Hon. Valentine Lawless was arrested in London on 
 suspicion of high treason, and of having aided and 
 
192 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 abetted certain United Irishmen, by association in their 
 meetings, councils, and conferences; connivance at their 
 designs, and occasionally assisting them with pecuniary 
 aid. To what extent Mr. Lawless was really guilty, the 
 reader is, we think, already aware. 
 
 Mr. Lawless's generosity towards Father O'Coigly may 
 be said to have placed the coping stone on his treason. 
 In fact, it was a matter of some doubt to the Government 
 which of the two were the greater criminal — he who in 
 person solicited French aid, or the man who encouraged 
 the proceeding with money and complacency. They re- 
 solved to extinguish both species of delinquency, and, on 
 the 31st May, 1798, we find the Hon. Mr. Lawless, by 
 virtue of a warrant signed by the Secretary of State, 
 arrested on a charge of suspicion of high treason. Fortu- 
 nately for Lawless, his place of confinement was neither 
 Cold Bath Fields nor Horsemonger-lane jail. A King's 
 messenger resided in Pimlico, and to the care of this func- 
 tionary the person of Mr. Lawless was, after having under- 
 gone a few hours' imprisonment in Bow-street, entrusted. 
 
 The Dublin Evening Post of June 5th, 1798, contains 
 the following paragraphs : — 
 
 "yesterday arrived a mail. 
 
 "London, June 1. 
 
 " Between eight and nine o'clock yesterday morning Tounsend, M'Manus, 
 and other officers arrested Mr. Agar, barrister-at-law, at his chambers, in the 
 Temple, on a warrant from the Duke of Portland. 
 
 " About 11 o'clock Mr. Curran called on Mr. Agar, and he was also taken 
 into custody. 
 
 " Mr. Stewart, a gentleman of considerable property in the north of Ireland, 
 who gave evidence on the trials at Maidstone, was about the same time arrested 
 in his lodgings. 
 
 "The Hon. Mr. V. B. Lawless, son of Lord Cloncurry, was also appre- 
 hended at his lodgings, No. 31, St. Albans-street, Pall Mall. 
 
 " The valet of Mr. Lawless was likewise taken into custody. 
 
 " About six o'clock in the evening, Mr. George Henry Trenor (Mr. Law- 
 less's secretary) was taken upon similar warrants in the Temple. 
 
 " These gentlemen are all from Ireland. Mr. Curran, Mr. Lawless, and 
 Mr. Trenor are, we believe, students of law. 
 
 " The gentlemen were all guarded by officers. Mb. Lawless and his 
 servant were confined at the Bow-street office. They were all iu very good 
 spirits. 
 
 " All their papers and letters were seized, and are this day, with the pri- 
 soners, to be examined before the Privy Council.'' 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 193 
 
 How Lord Cloncurry, in his " Personal Recollections," 
 could ever have fallen into such a singular mistake as to 
 imagine himself arrested on the 30th April, instead of the 
 31st May, appears to us inconceivable. It is to be pre- 
 sumed that an incident of the nature ought to make a 
 rather permanent impression on the mind of the ex- 
 periencer. Nevertheless, we find in the reprint of Lord 
 Cloncurry's petition to the Commons in Parliament as- 
 sembled, " That your petitioner was arrested on the 30th 
 day of April, 1798, by virtue of a warrant signed by the 
 Duke of Portland, one of his Majesty's principal Secre- 
 tary's of State/' At page 63 of the " Personal Recollec- 
 tions," second edition, his Lordship writes — " During the 
 short period of my detention, in May and June, 1798, 
 the crisis of the Irish rebellion had passed." Lord Clon- 
 curry is under error. As we observed before, his arrest took 
 place on the 31st May, and it was not until the month 
 of June that Pitt and Portland virtually placed him in 
 confinement. Another irrefragable proof that the arrest 
 was made on the 31st May, and not the 30th April, may 
 be found in the Castlereagh Papers and Correspon- 
 dence. In a letter from Mr. Secretary Wickham, bear- 
 ing date the 8th June, 1798, we find Mr. Lawless's arrest 
 officially announced. That letter is interesting, if it were 
 only for its allusions to Valentine Lawless. 
 
 [No. 3.] TO LORD CASTLEREAGH. 
 
 " Whitehall, June 8th, 1798. 
 
 My Lord — * * * His Majesty's confidential servants have found it 
 necessary to take into custody and detain several natives of Ireland now resi- 
 dent here, of whose intimate connexion and correspondence with the leaders and 
 inciters of the present rebellion in Ireland there was no room whatever to 
 doubt. But as many weighty reasons have occurred to render it expedient 
 that the examinations of these persons before the Lords of the Privy Council 
 should he defered for some days longer, his Grace has directed me to inform 
 your lordship, and to desire that you -would communicate this information to 
 
 the Lord Lieutenant, that the Honourable Mr. L , M. S., of Acton, and 
 
 Messrs A., C., and T., of the Temple, have been apprehended here. * * 
 It appears, as well from the secret information of which his Grace has long 
 been in possession, as from a late confidential report from Paris, with which I 
 have good reason to believe that your lordship is acquainted, and from most 
 secret though accurate intelligence received from Hamburgh, the whole 
 confirmed by the testimony of the two gentlemen recommended to Mr. 
 Cooke, that all these persons were more or less deeply implicated in the 
 
 K 
 
194 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 treasonable conspiracy in Ireland ; that they had all knowledge of the con- 
 nexion between the traitors in that country and the French Directory, or its 
 ministers, and had given aid and countenance to the agents who have at differ- 
 ent times been sent over from one country to the other ; that some of them 
 were engaged in direct correspondence with the enemy ; and that they were 
 all of them endeavouring to propagate their detestable principles among their 
 own countrymen here, with a degree of activity and zeal that rendered it a 
 duty incumbent on his Majesty's confidential servants, for the safety of both 
 countries, from the instant that the rebellion in Ireland had broken out, to 
 take effectual measures for preventing them from doing any further mischief 
 to either the one or the other. 
 
 " It is evident, under the present circumstances, and with the evidence of 
 the nature of that of which Government here is in possession, strong and de- 
 cisive as it is, that none of the persons can be brought to trial without exposing 
 secrets of the last importance to the state, the revealing of ichich mag implicate 
 the safety of 'the two kingdoms. * * There are some papers found in Mr. 
 Lawless's possession that tend directly to show his connexion with some of the 
 most desperate of the Republican party here, as well as with those who are in 
 habitual communication with the French agents at Hamburgh ; and his Grace 
 is in daily expectation of some material evidence from that place, tending more 
 directly to implicate that gentleman in a treasonable correspondence with 
 the enemy. * * * 
 
 " I have the honour to be, cvc, 
 
 '•William "Wickilam." 
 
 As no treasonable papers existed, of course, none were 
 found. With the exception of a visiting ticket of Arthur 
 O'Connor's, and a perfectly innocuous note from O'Coigly, 
 no documents fell into the hands of Government, con- 
 nected directly or indirectly with the United Irish So- 
 ciety, or the French agents at Hamburgh. We make this 
 assertion on the authority of Lord Cloncurry. 
 
 The first examination of Mr. Lawless is thus adverted 
 to by the English correspondent of the Evening Post, 
 who writes from London, on June 16, 1798. The im- 
 pression of the journal bears date the 21st inst. — five 
 days being the average consumption of time in those days 
 ere London news could appear in a Dublin publica- 
 tion : — 
 
 " Tuesday afternoon a council was held at the Duke of Portland's office 
 which lasted from two o'clock till six in the evening, for the examination 
 of the Hox. Mr. Lawless, Mr. Agar, Mr. Treanor, and Mr. Curran. The 
 three first underwent a long examination, when Mr. Treanor was discharged. 
 and Mr. Lawless and Mr. Agar were remanded to the care of messengers. 
 
 " On Wednesday, Messrs. Agar, Stewart, and Curran were brought up for 
 examination. Mr. Curran, after a short investigation, was discharged, and 
 the others remanded. The Hon. Mr. Lawless, being indisposed, was not 
 brought up." 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 195 
 
 A week subsequent to this, i. e., the 23rd June, the 
 London correspondent of the Evening Post writes : — 
 
 " The Hon. Mr. Lawless, Mr. Agar, and Mr. Stewart, who were, about 
 three weeks ago, taken into custody on warrants from the Secretary of State, 
 on suspicion of high treason, were, on Saturday (16th June), discharged on 
 their recognizances. The other gentlemen were discharged the week before 
 last." 
 
 If Lawless received his discharge at this time, it was 
 only to undergo immediately after the inconvenience of a 
 second arrest. He was no sooner liberated, than a Bow- 
 street runner blandly requested him to return, and make 
 the house of a king's messenger his home. This capri- 
 cious conduct on the part of Government appears to us 
 quite unaccountable. We are distinctly told by the Even- 
 ing Post, of June 30th, 1798, that on — 
 
 " Saturday, the Hon. Mr. Lawless. Mr. Agar, and Mr. Stewart were 
 brought up to the Secretary of State's office, to be examined, when they 
 were. again remanded into the custody of messengers. Mr. Agar was ad- 
 mitted to bail in the evening." 
 
 Lawless must have been immediately after discharged. 
 Until the month of April, in the year following, we find 
 no mention of his name in the newspapers. 
 
 So much for the public accounts of his examinations ; 
 come we now to the private ones. 
 
 Lawless had no sooner been captured in St. Albans- 
 street, than the Lords of the Privy Council expressed an 
 anxious desire to examine him. To their presence he was 
 accordingly summoned. There before him scowled the 
 solemn visage of Lord Chancellor Loughborough, after- 
 wards Earl Rosslyn, and whilom " Lawyer Wedder- 
 burne," his Grace the Duke of Portland, Mr. William Pitt, 
 and one or two others. After a few words of preamble 
 the examination commenced. Loughborough was the 
 principal and most skilful interlocutor ; but Lawless, very 
 much to the astonishment of the Board generally, refused, 
 point blank, to answer one of his lordship's queries. Ap- 
 preciating the old aphorism — " You may bring a horse to 
 the water but you cannot make him drink," and finding 
 Mr. Lawless to be as stubborn as a mule, the Privy Council 
 
196 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 gave the matter up, for the present at least, as a bad 
 job. Under these circumstances, he was removed, escorted 
 by a strong guard, to the house of one of his Majesty's 
 messengers. 
 
 Lawless had hardly been an entire week in durance 
 when John Reeves (to whom the reader has been already 
 introduced) paid him a friendly visit, and, in his capacity 
 of Bow-street magistrate, mentioned to him, on the part 
 of Lord Loughborough and colleagues, that they would 
 consent to liberate their prisoner on bail. This not un- 
 reasonable proposal Mr. Lawless peremptorily declined, 
 observing, that besides the injustice of demanding bail 
 from a person who could not be charged with crime, he 
 had a large fortune depending on his father's good opi- 
 nion, and would not submit to pursue any course which 
 might tend to convey a doubt of his innocence or loyalty. 
 Reeves, finding it hopeless to fight him out of this obsti- 
 nate determination, withdrew. 
 
 It was not once or twice that Valentine was brought 
 before the Lords of the Privy Council. They repeatedly 
 summoned him to their awful presence, and, with a view 
 to entangle his replies in the meshes of personal crimina- 
 tion, interrogated him rigidly. Another object was, no 
 doubt, by the elucidation of " unguarded admissions" to 
 inculpate, if possible, his friends and associates. Their 
 endeavours, however, proved futile. He remained as 
 obstinate as a mule ; and once more the Kings messenger 
 was intrusted with his care. 
 
 At length, during the last week of June — having 
 now been in detention for nearly three weeks — Lawless 
 was, for the last time, conveyed to the Council Chamber. 
 One final effort was made by Portland and Loughborough 
 to extort some satisfactory answer from the prisoner. All 
 to no effect, however. He was, if anything, even more 
 reserved. At last, the Privy Council, heartilv wearied 
 with his obstinacy, came to the determination of discharg- 
 ing him.* Mr. Reeves, who happened to be in an adjoin- 
 ing room, was called in, and he, at the Chancellor's 
 
 * Vide - : The Petition of Lord Cloncurry to the House of Commons." 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 197 
 
 suggestion, volunteered himself as bail for " the traitor." 
 This was, of course, accepted; and Valentine Lawless 
 became once more &• free man. 
 
 Having thus succeeded in winning the battle, Mr. 
 Lawless now descended — in familiar language — from off 
 his high horse. He advanced to the Lord Chancellor, 
 and offered to communicate to his lordship, candidly and 
 fully, whatever information it was in his power to furnish ; 
 that, in fact, he knew no secrets, and had, ergo, nothing 
 to conceal. Prompt advantage was taken of this conces- 
 sion, and one of the first interrogations put to him was, if 
 he were a member of that body denominated United Irish- 
 men. To this Mr. Lawless replied, that he certainly was, 
 before any law had passed tending to incriminate the acts 
 of the society. Among the other questions, eagerly put, 
 were, why he had given money to defend O'Coigly at 
 Maidstone ; what he knew about him ; and whether any 
 intimacy existed between him (Lawless) and Mr. John 
 Bonham. In the course of the examination, the Council 
 animadverted with considerable severity on his visits to 
 Furnivafs Inn. The investigation at length closed by 
 
 '""' 111 
 
 Lord Loughborough assuring Mr. Lawless that he con- 
 sidered him more incautious than criminal ; advised him 
 to be more careful for the time to come, and added that 
 Lord Cloncurry felt highly displeased at his having in- 
 curred the suspicions of Government. Mr. Pitt and the 
 Duke of Portland, with some suavity, observed, that they 
 regretted what had happened ; that he (Lawless) was evi- 
 dently led into indiscretion by an excess of good nature ; 
 that they had a respect for his father ; and hoped nothing 
 would transpire to prevent them from entertaining a 
 similar feeling for him. 
 
 Nicholas Lord Cloncurry, chancing to hear inci- 
 dentally of Lord Loughborough's friendly speech at the 
 Council, at once sat down and indited a letter of thanks 
 to that nobleman, wherein he expressed his grateful 
 acknowledgments to him for having addressed some 
 words of advice to his son, "a young man who he much 
 feared had been led into great indiscretion by the influ- 
 ence and example of those with whom he associated." 
 
198 CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 Simultaneous "with the arrest of Lawless, on the 31st 
 May, his private secretary. Mr. George Trenor, was 
 thrust into confinement, and the hardship he was neces- 
 sitated to undergo eventuated, though not for some time 
 afterwards, in death. Trenor acted as professor of elo- 
 cution in Dr. Burroughs' school, at the period of Lawle- 
 sojourn at that establishment. They appear to have 
 taken a mutual fancy to each other. Lawless showed 
 great benevolence to Trenor, and presented him with a 
 large sum of money, a short time previous to his death. 
 Christian Serry. an old and faithful Swiss servant of Mr. 
 Lawless's. was likewise seized on the memorable 31st 
 May, and treated with cruel rigour. He was expatriated 
 soon after, under the authority of the Alien Act, and 
 never heard of more. 
 
 But the 31st May witnessed arrests of a more important 
 nature than Christian Serry's, or Mr. Secretarv Trenor'-. 
 John Philpot Curran, William Duke of Leinster, and 
 Henry Grattan happened to be paying the Hon. Mr. 
 Lawless a mornino- visit at his lodgings in St. Albans- 
 street, when the Bow-street runners rushed into the 
 apartment with a warrant for his arrest. " Show me the 
 company you keep, and I'll tell you who you are ;" and, 
 on the strength of this aphorism, the constables ventured 
 to lay their ruffian hands upon the persons of the Duke 
 of Leinster and his patriotic friends. It is unnecessary 
 for us to observe, that Lawless, Curran, and Grattan were 
 regarded by the Tory party as so many traitors to their 
 king. 
 
 The letter written by Lawless, and addressed to Mr. 
 Braughall, wherein the phrase " Little Henrv" occurred, 
 stimulated considerably the suspicions of Government. 
 We have already had occasion to make reference to this 
 letter. It will be remembered that the writer panegy- 
 rized Mr. Henry's act of generositv, and spoke of him 
 playfully as *' little Henry Grattan, whose stature 
 never exceeded five feet four, was immediately set down, 
 in ministerial minds, as the party who enclosed £500 to 
 Lawless, in token of svmpathv for Father O'Coiglv. 
 
 Mr. Grattan, the supposed abettor of O'Coigly. was 
 
CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 1^9 
 
 accordingly summoned before the Privy Council. His 
 examination made a good deal of noise at the time ; but. 
 like a blank-cartridge, only ended in smoke. " Circum- 
 stances transpired," observed a newspaper of the day, 
 " which showed that Mr. Grattan had been mistaken for 
 an Irish gentleman of distinction, from whom some ex- 
 planations were required." Under those circumstances, 
 they permitted him to withdraw.* With respect to the 
 Duke of Leinster and Mr. Curran, their detention did 
 not exceed an hour in duration. 
 
 The moment that Lawless found himself a tree man. 
 he came to the resolution of leaving London. The most 
 agreeable part of the summer season had, during the 
 period of his detention, rolled over. Debility — the 
 invariable attendant on confinement — sapped his strength, 
 and nothing appeared so likely to restore it to its pristine 
 tone and vigour as a trip to the country. His natural 
 patriotism would, no doubt, have induced him to give a 
 preference to the picturesque parts of Ireland; but as Iris 
 father, who ielt greatly incensed, commanded him not, 
 on any pretext, to show his face within its boundary, 
 there was no course open to him but that which he 
 adopted. In the month of July he set out on an equestrian 
 excursion through England, which, not until the middle 
 of October following, can he be said to have brought to 
 a termination. At first, he visited some intimate acquain- 
 tances in Yorkshire, and afterwards, the fashionable 
 watering-places of Scarborough and Harrowgate. Scar- 
 borough, towards the close of the last century, was in the 
 zenith of its popularity, as the tact of Sheridan making it 
 the subject of one of his satirical dramas can attest. 
 During the happy period of his stav here, Mr. Lawless met, 
 tor the first time, Mary, the beautiful and accomplished 
 daughter of Phineas Ryal, Esq., an eminent banker, t 
 
 * The Dublin Evening Post of June 5th, 1798, thus notices the same 
 matter: — M In consequence of a mistake committed by the persons employed 
 to execute a -warrant against a person of consequence from Ireland, Mr. 
 Grattan was taken into custody, and brought to the Duke of Portland's 
 office. The moment the mistake was discovered, a proper explanation was 
 made to Mr. Grattan, and he was. of course, liberated.'* 
 
 f There were three brothers, partners, in the bank. Two still survive. 
 
200 CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 long resident in Clonmel. Her fascinating manners soon 
 placed in thraldom the heart of the ardent young Celt; 
 and their acquaintance gradually ripened into friendship, 
 and from friendship into love, until at length a matri- 
 monial engagement crowned the reciprocity of feeling 
 which existed between them. But when Lawless be- 
 thought him of the determined hostility which his father 
 would be sure to urge against the celebration of the 
 nuptials, his heart sank within him. Weeks elapsed, 
 however, and his hopes became brighter. Several influ- 
 ential friends undertook to intercede with Lord Cloncurrv. 
 and, after a voluminous correspondence with his lordship, 
 the marriage was at length sanctioned, on condition that 
 Lawless should complete his terms at the Temple, and be 
 called to the bar. To carry out this arrangement, he 
 accordingly, at the close of 1798, returned to the dull 
 region of Gray's Inn, looking forward through a long 
 black tunnel of time, to a bright little speck in the 
 future. 
 
 Amongst those who took an active part in endeavour- 
 ing to overcome the disinclination of Lord Cloncurrv to 
 the contemplated marriage, was Colonel, afterwards 
 General Sir George, Cockburne, whom the reader will 
 remember in connexion with Lawless's efforts to bring 
 Captain Frazer to justice, for the murder of Dixon, in 
 1797. Sir George Cockburne has only within the last 
 few years deported from amongst us. Throughout his 
 long and busy life, he ever acted in the same honourable, 
 disinterested, and consistent manner, winning for himself 
 the love of a warm-hearted people, and the respect of a 
 large circle of friends and acquaintances. The public 
 and private letters which General Cockburne has left 
 behind him, are all pervaded by a spirit of patriotism, 
 independence of tone, and manly contempt for the arch- 
 artificers of the Union, and their vile utensils, rarely to 
 be met with in the writings of a man who so long 
 received the pay of Government, and fought against his 
 countrymen in 1798. We have the written permission 
 of General Sir George Cockburne's son and representa- 
 tive, Phineas Cockburne, Esq., to introduce in this work 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 201 
 
 one of the letters relative to the contemplated marriage 
 of Lawless with Miss Mary Ryal. The young lady 
 stood in the relationship of sister-in-law to General 
 Cockburne. 
 
 [Xo. 4.] COLONEL COCKBURNE TO MR. LAWLESS. 
 
 "Dublin, 11th April, 1799. 
 
 •• My dear Lawless — * * * I have seen Burne ;* and I understand 
 from him that your father has positively consented ; but Burne says, has 
 never varied from his Jlrst declaration of the year. He thinks violence will not 
 do. and you must either submit to wait the end of the year, or try what 
 coaxing will do. As to your marrying without his leave, I hear from the best 
 authority, that he has made the most positive declaration to resist such a 
 step in the strongest manner ; and the year is so nearly out, that it really 
 would not be acting with your usual good sense, if you ran any risk of his 
 displeasure, Burne tells me he is determined to have you called to the 
 English bar, and therefore insists on your remaining in London till June ; 
 that you are then to come over to him, by which time he will have deter- 
 mined what property he will settle on you ; and Burne thinks that your 
 submission to his will in these particulars will certainly bring matters to a 
 conclusion by Julv. * * * 
 
 " Yours, 
 
 "G. C."t 
 
 Poor Lawless ! it did not require any stern exercise of 
 parental authority to insist on his remaining in London 
 till June. For six weeks before the arrival of that 
 month, the jaws of the Tower held him firmly between 
 its teeth. " Matters brought to a satisfactory conclusion 
 in July" — alas ! that time never came, and the lovely, 
 interesting girl to whom he was on the eve of being 
 allied with every human prospect of happiness, died of a 
 broken heart ! But we must not anticipate. 
 
 * The confidential friend and lawyer of Lord Cloncurry. 
 f Personal Recollections of Lord Cloncurry. 
 
 K 2 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Startling Revelation — Private Official Letter to Lord Castlereagh— Mr. 
 Lav-less stands unconeiously on the Brink of a Precipice — Progress of the 
 Rebellion in Ireland — Defeat of the King's Troops — Beauchamp Bagenal 
 Harvey — Pr ecipitate Evacuation of New Ross by the Military — Death of 
 Lord Mountjoy — Harvey succeeded in the Command by Father Philip 
 Roche — Excitement in Dublin — Battle of Arklow — Wexford held for 
 twenty-one Days by the People — The Rebel Camp on Vinegar Hill — 
 Attacked by General Lake, with 20,000 Men — Valour of the People — 
 Lake's Horse shot under him — M The Rascals make a tolerable good fight 
 of it" — Lord Kingsborough taken Prisoner — Dishonorable Conduct of 
 General Lake — Murder of Father Roche — Defeat of the Wexford Mili- 
 tia — Skirmish at Castlecomer — Sir Charles Asgill — Appalling Scene at 
 Gorey and "Wexford — Cornelius Grogan — A Sister's feelings brutally 
 outraged — Aylmer fights the Battle of Ovidstown — Lord Cornwallis arrives 
 as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland — Theobald Wolfe Tone — The second French 
 Expedition to Ireland — General Humbert — Kiliala captured by the French 
 — Battle of Castlebar— General Lake and Lord Hutchinson defeated with 
 great Slaughter — Lord Jocelyn taken Prisoner — Humbert's Army over- 
 powered bv 20,000 Men under Lord Cornwallis — Valorous Resistance of 
 "La Hoche"— Theobald Wolfe Tone taken Prisoner— His Trial and 
 Death — Termination of the Rebellion — Active Official Preparation to cam' 
 the Union — Mr. Pitt's three Agents — Lords Castlereagh, Clare, and Corn- 
 wallis — Mr. Lawless opposes the Union with his Pen and his Tongue — 
 Delicate State of Health of Lord Cloncurry — Second Arrest of the Hon. 
 V. B. Lawless — His Committal to the Tower — Cruel Rigour observed — 
 Letter to his Sifter — Months of Anxiety and Suspence — Lord Cloncurry's 
 Death accelerated by Slights received from Government — Alters his 
 Will — Memorials to the Duke of Portland, and Refusals ad libitum — 
 Lawless persecuted in his Dungeon -with unexampled Rigour — A wily 
 Visitor — Letter from Mr. Cooke — Apathy of the Irish National Press. 
 
 " The publication of the Castlereagh papers,"' observes 
 the Dublin University Magazine for October, 1849, 
 " reveals that the Government believed Lord Cloncurry 
 to be so deeply implicated in the worst treasons of the 
 United Irishmen, that it was actually proposed to except 
 him by name from the act of amnesty." 
 
 Startling and incredible as this assertion may sound, 
 it is true, nevertheless. On the 29th July, 1798, Lord 
 Castlereagh addressed a letter to Mr. Wickham, the 
 Under Secretary of State, wherein he enclosed the draft 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 203 
 
 of a bill of pardon, for the perusal of his Majesty and 
 the Duke of Portland. A list of several persons, whom 
 it would be desirable to indemnify, or exempt from 
 punishment, accompanied the bill. Full as many blanks 
 as names appeared, and those, it was presumed, would be 
 filled up by his Grace, who possessed, or was supposed 
 to possess, a vast deal more of secret information respect- 
 ing the Irish persons arrested in England, than either 
 Lord Castiereao'h or his faithful official — Edward Cooke. 
 
 O 
 
 The Duke, however, felt some delicacy in filling up the 
 blanks, and before he would think of introducing the 
 names of any Irish gentlemen who were arrested under 
 warrants bearing his signature, he gave directions to Mr. 
 Wickham to write for all the secret information that 
 could be collected in Ireland to their prejudice. 
 
 By the following letter it will be perceived that his 
 Grace regarded Mr. Stewart, of Acton, who was taken 
 into custody simultaneously with Lawless, as a confirmed 
 rebel to king and^country (although in reality he was not), 
 and suggested the propriety of exempting him from 
 pardon : — 
 
 [No. 5.] MR. SECRETARY WICKHAM TO LORD CASTLEREAGH. 
 
 " Private and Secret. 
 
 " Whitehall, August 9th, 1798. 
 
 M My Lord, — I have received the honour of your lordship's several 
 letters of the 28th and 30th ult., all of which I have communicated to the 
 Duke of Portland, together with the draft of the bill for his Majesty's most 
 gracious pardon.'' [Here a large portion of Mr. Wickham's letter is occupied 
 -with reflections on the supposed disloyalty of Mr. Stewart, of Acton. " From 
 the secret information in the Duke of Portland's possession." writes Mr. Wick- 
 ham, " his Grace can have no doubt that this gentleman is a very proper 
 person to be excepted from his Majesty's pardon." It was not the fault of 
 the Government that Mr. Stewart did not sutler in 1798. They endeavoured 
 to follow out the preliminary steps to attainder, but found that too many 
 difficulties flung themselves before their path to permit its accomplishment. 
 The chief one appears to have been, that Mr. Stewart was then at large in 
 the country. After dwelling at considerable length on the difficulty of 
 excepting him from pardon, the Secretary goes on to say:] — " The Duke of 
 Portland desires me to observe, that Mr. Lawless and Mr. Bonkam appear 
 to stand nearly in the same situation with Mr. Stewart, as far, that is, as 
 their respective cases are known to the Government, and as far as they are 
 affected by the circumstance of their having been taken into custody here on 
 a charge of treason, and afterwards admitted to bail ; and his Grace is of 
 opinion that the decision with respect to each of these three persons ought 
 to be governed by the same rule. They have all been the active agents of the. 
 
204 CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 United Irishmen in this country, and as such are extremely proper objects of 
 punishment. Bat unless they, or some one or more of them, have com- 
 mitted some overt act us Ireland, which may he proved by such evidence 
 as is required by the regular course of law. or at least by attainder in 
 Parliament, it is thought that it would be too much to except them, or any 
 of them, from an act of pardon ; nor, indeed, would it answer the end re- 
 quired ; as, conscious of the want of evidence against them, they would 
 probably come forward themselves and demand atrial; and, in every case, 
 the inserting the name of any of them in the exceptions of the bill must be 
 preceded by their being taken into custody, and sent over to Ireland to be 
 tried. * * * It is to be observed, that Benjamin Binns being in actual 
 custody, the objection made in the case of Messrs. Bonham, Lawless, and 
 Stewart, will not hold good with respect to him. * * * A bill of indem- 
 nity is liable to this obvious objection, that it would open a way to much 
 unplea.-ant discussion in Parliament, which it has hitherto been a principle to 
 avoid. * * * 
 
 " I have the honour to be, &c, 
 
 ••William Wickham." 
 
 [Xo. 6.] LORD CASTLEREAGH TO MR. WICKHAM. 
 
 "Dublin Castle, August ]2th. 1798. 
 
 "Sir, — * * * After a full consideration of Mr. S(tewart)'s ea?e, his 
 Excellency is of opinion that the evidence against him in this country will 
 not warrant his being transmitted to Ireland ; consequently, that is most 
 eligible, under all the circumstances, that his name should be omitted. Mr. 
 Lawless) and Mr. B(onham) stand, as you observe, in the same predica- 
 ment in point of criminality : and I am sorry to say, we are ecpially desti- 
 tute of evidence to prove their guilt. * * * 
 
 " I have the honour to remain. &c, 
 
 " Castlereagh." 
 
 How little did poor Lawless think when, care-worn 
 and haggard, he sprung into the saddle, and flung his 
 weakened constitution into the bracing air of the country, 
 that Lords Clare, Castlereagh, Cornwallis, and Co., were 
 putting their sapient heads together in Ireland in order 
 to determine whether the Hon. V. B. Lawless ought to 
 be included amongst those whose offences rendered it a 
 matter of prudence and propriety to exempt from the 
 benefit of his Majesty's pardon. Little did he think, 
 when tranquilly gazing upon the undulating landscapes 
 which rose on every side before him, that his movements 
 were a source of inquietude to ministers, and the circum- 
 stance of his then position* the subject of a voluminous 
 
 * The great difficuliy which the Duke of Portland experienced in exempt- 
 ing Stewart and Lawless from pardon was the fact of both having been for 
 some time at large on bail. 
 
CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 205 
 
 correspondence between Whitehall and the Castle of 
 Dublin. 
 
 Meanwhile we must not forget to draw our wonted 
 outline of the progress of Irish political events generally. 
 When last we heard from the Wexford rebels, they had 
 everything their own way. It is now the 4th of June, 
 and their success progresses. On that day the insurgents 
 posted themselves in great force on Corrigrua Hill. A 
 strong corps of the king's troops, with five field pieces, 
 for the purpose of making them evacuate their position, 
 arrived in Gorey. This force it was considered judicious 
 to divide evenly, and accordingly 750 men, under Gene- 
 ral Loftus, and an equal number under Colonel Walpole, 
 marched by different routes on Corrigrua. Just as Wal- 
 pole (who was a relative of the Viceroy's) reached Tub- 
 berneering, he found himself, to his no small consternation, 
 assailed, " fore and aft," by a perfect avalanche of high 
 treason. He fell upon the first onslaught, and the troops, 
 disheartened by the loss of their commander, fled in the 
 utmost disorder, leaving three pieces of ordnance in the 
 hands of the enemy. General Loftus, hearing in the 
 distance the din of battle, sent a reinforcement across the 
 fields to the assistance of his colleague. They were in- 
 tercepted, and never returned to tell the tale. Loftus, 
 appalled at the valour of the insurgents, abandoned the 
 district, and retreated on Tullow. 
 
 The acquisition of New Ross was now regarded by 
 the popular leaders as the great desideratum. It would 
 have opened the communication with their united bre- 
 thren of Cork, Waterford, and Tipperary. Barrington 
 tells us that the southern insurgents were prepared to 
 rise en masse the moment their friends should occupy 
 New Ross. To carry out their resolve, a large body of 
 men, under the command of Beauchamp Bagenal Harvey, 
 of Barguy Castle, marched to Corbet Hill, an eminence, 
 situated within a mile from New Ross. Harvey was a 
 Protestant barrister in good practice, and one of the most 
 respectable men in the country. Being small of stature, 
 however, and tiny of voice, he was badly fitted to act as 
 commander. His military experience was nil; but he 
 
206 CLOXCURRY AXD HIS TIMES. 
 
 possessed a sound understanding and considerable resolu- 
 tion. To General Johnson, the commander-in-chief, he 
 despatched, by Mr. Furlong, a flag of truce, requesting 
 that he would, as a friend to humanity, surrender the 
 town, aud thereby avoid rapine and bloodshed. Fur- 
 long set off upon his honorable mission, but had no 
 sooner come within gun shot of New Ross, than a sentinel 
 elevated his musket, and brouoht him lifeless to the 
 earth. Plowden says, that to shoot all persons carrying 
 flags of truce from the rebels appears to have been a 
 maxim with the regular troops. How different their 
 conduct from that of the insurgents! The reader will 
 remember with what complete safety the deputation of 
 officers from Wexford negotiated with their foe. 
 
 Exasperated at this wanton outrage, the insurgents. 
 without waiting for Harvey's orders, poured down like a 
 stream of lava on the town. Both infantry and cavalry 
 made a feeble resistance, and tied with precipitation, 
 leaving ordnance, baofcfao-e, and ammunition, behind 
 them. Amongst the slain was found the body of Lord 
 Mountjoy. Most of the officers made the best of their 
 way to Waterford. The rebels, intoxicated with victory, 
 proceeded to give themselves up to a less elevated species 
 of intoxication. All the gin shops and public houses of 
 the town were broken into. Drunken uproar reigned 
 supreme. General Johnson ascertained this fact and re- 
 turned to the fray. Surprising the rebels, he drove them, 
 panic-stricken, like a flock of geese, from the town. But 
 presently recovering their presence of mind they returned 
 to the assault, and attacked the garrison with such spirit 
 and determination as to necessitate once more their eva- 
 cuation of New Ross. Sanguinary experience ought, one 
 would think, to prove a salutary lesson. But it did not. 
 With consummate insanitv the rebels returned to riot 
 and intoxication. " Again dislodged/' says Plowden, 
 " by the same exertions as before, and a third time 
 rallied, but still more disabled by their intemperance, 
 they were at last finally repulsed, after a contest of about 
 ten hours." In this engagement 300 of the king's troops 
 were slaughtered, and 1,200 of the insurgents. 
 
CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 207 
 
 It was after tine battle of New Ross that some of tlie 
 run-away rebels are said to have set fire to the barn of 
 Scullabogue, where several Protestant prisoners were 
 confined. If thev really committed this act. it is a blot 
 of blood upon their escutcheon that never can be wiped 
 a wav. The leaders knew nothing of it. Binns, in a 
 narrative furnished to Dr. Madden, declared most posi- 
 tively that he has reason to know it was perpetrated by 
 Government incendiaries, in order to give the insurrection 
 the name of a " Popish rebellion." He offers proof, but 
 our limits warn us not to enter into it. 
 
 Disgusted with the insubordination of his army, Harvey, 
 after this ensfa^ement. resinned the command. He was 
 
 CO ' o 
 
 succeeded by Father Philip Roche, who possessed un- 
 bounded influence over the minds of the peasantry. 
 Clone v, one of the Wexford generals, deplores this change. 
 He is of opinion that it rendered the cause henceforward 
 a religious one. No Protestant, he says, would be disposed 
 to place himself under a priest's command. 
 
 Having been foiled in their endeavours to open com- 
 munication with Tipperary and Minister, by the subju- 
 gation of New Ross, the insurgents next decided upon 
 attacking Arklow. Had they succeeded in capturing 
 this town, nothing could have prevented them from 
 marching straight* on the metropolis, where 30,000 orga- 
 nized United Irishmen, drilled and armed, remained 
 watching their opportunity. Government were perfectly 
 well aware of the importance of this holding ; but, never- 
 theless, its garrison was limited, and the amount of their 
 ammunition and provisions small. 
 
 On the 8th of June 30,000 insurgents, under Father 
 Philip Roche, assembled at Gorey, a town situated within 
 a few hours' march of Arklow. With consummate impru- 
 dence, they vowed vengeance on the Arklow garrison, 
 and openly declared their intention of proceeding thither, 
 en masse i in the morning. Word to this effect sped to 
 Arklow, and the garrison immediately despatched an 
 
 * It must also be considered that numbers of the disaffected of both Wick- 
 low and Kildare would join them in their march to Dublin. 
 
208 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 express to Dublin. The alarm in the metropolis, at the 
 intelligence, was intense. Everybody knew that an im- 
 mediate reinforcement could alone save Arklow, and 
 prevent that metropolitan explosion which they had so 
 much reason to dread. Drums beat to arms, and several 
 regiments rushed frantically to the seat of danger. Every 
 expedient calculated to expedite their progress was had 
 recourse to. Carts, drays, floats, low-backed and jaunting 
 cars, were in requisition ; and Barrington tells us that even 
 the sumptuous carriages of the nobility were seized, or 
 tendered for the occasion. 
 
 The rebel force, having proceeded from Gorey to Cool- 
 greny, marched in two dense but irregular columns on 
 Arklow. The military had, of course, ample notice of 
 their approach, and were posted to the best advantage, on 
 rising ground. Each wing was terminated by two pieces 
 of heavy ordnance, which kept up a murderous fire 
 throughout the entire day. The insurgents disposed them- 
 selves in a parallel line, behind a small fence, and were 
 also provided with cannon ; but indeed these were little 
 better than an incumbrance, as their ammunition scarcely 
 lasted forty minutes. After a brisk interchange of fire, 
 without any hostile advance on either side, the insurgents 
 charged, captured one of the royal cannon, and despatched 
 the gunners. Hereupon the aspect of the battle assumed 
 a doubtful hue. The military receded from their posi- 
 tion, and shouts of victory from the rebels were begin- 
 ning to rend the air, when Father Michael Murphy, 
 while in the act of leading on a huge body of pikemen, 
 fell to the earth, torn into pieces by a cannon ball. His 
 followers, regarding this catastrophe in an ominous and 
 superstitious light, fell back appalled to their original 
 position. The royal ammunition chest was, at this junc- 
 ture, on the point of exhaustion, and there cannot be a 
 doubt but that if a spirited and simultaneous charge had 
 been made by the pikemen, utter defeat would have re- 
 sulted to his Majesty's forces. Long before the death of 
 Father Murphy, the insurgents' ammunition failed, and 
 sixteen hundred men who had no arms but firelocks, 
 finding themselves useless, proceeded to march, in an 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 209 
 
 irregular column, from the scene of action. The pike- 
 men soon followed their example. Hay tells us that at 
 the moment of this senseless panic some of the King's 
 forces had actually retreated. May it not, therefore, be 
 presumed that a signal triumph would have crowned the 
 popular effort, were it not for the reverend leader's death, 
 which caused more consternation amongst the ranks of 
 the people than if a thousand mines had opened beneath 
 their feet. 
 
 The loss of Arklow proved a fatal blow to the national 
 cause. Like Hougoumont on Waterloo, it might be aptly 
 styled " the key of the British position." Sir Jonah 
 Barrington considers this enslavement a drawn battle. 
 The fate of Ireland was decided by the battle of Arklow. 
 
 From the 30th May to the 21st June, Wexford re- 
 mained in the possession of the people. One Dixon, a cap- 
 tain of a trading vessel, who happened to be lying just then 
 in the harbour, left no means unemployed to stimulate 
 the popular vengeance against the Protestant garrison and 
 inhabitants. The consequence was that numbers suffered 
 death. 
 
 Since the 28th May a rebel camp had been established 
 on Vinegar Hill. This picturesque acclivity stands in 
 the vicinity of Enniscorthy, and commands a noble view 
 of the surrounding district. After the withdrawal of the 
 national force from Arklow, it was decided that the next 
 engagement should be fought on Vinegar Hill. Of this 
 decision Government received timely intimation, and 
 potent measures of a hostile character were resorted to, in 
 order to annihilate, with one energetic blow, the Wexford 
 effort at independence. Almost the entire available mili- 
 tary force of Ireland was draughted to the forthcoming 
 scene of action. Sir Jonah Barrington says that General 
 Lake Avould not hear of attacking them with less than 
 
 " TWENTY THOUSAND REGULAR TROOPS, AND A CONSLDER- 
 ARLE TRAIN OF ARTILLERY !" 
 
 A small earthen defence had been raised by the insur- 
 gents around the base of their position. Behind this two 
 thousand gunsmen remained posted, together with a few 
 pieces of half disabled ordnance. On the summit of the 
 
210 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 hill the peasantry might be seen in one black surging 
 mass, awaiting, with anxiety, the onslaught from General 
 Lake. " A great many women," says Sir Jonah, " min- 
 gled with their relatives, and fought with fury. Several 
 were found dead amongst the men, who had fallen in 
 crowds by the bursting of shells." 
 
 The news of General Lake's near approach well nigh 
 paralyzed the people with terror. During the short period 
 of his rule in Ireland he had acquired for himself the 
 name and character of " the People's Butcher." His ad- 
 vent sent a thrill through many a stalwart frame. Mean- 
 while men-of-war were suddenly observed cruising along 
 the coast, as well as gun-boats blocking up the entrance 
 into Wexford harbour. In short, Government were de- 
 termined to assail the rebel position from both sea and 
 land. The peasantry hurried in scores to the camp, 
 believino- that it were better to die nohtins; for their 
 country than to be slaughtered or burnt at home by au- 
 thorized military assassination or incendiarism. Plowden 
 observes, that from the summit of the Three Rock Moun- 
 tain, where many of the insurgents remained posted, the 
 house conflagrations, progressive and parallel with Lake's 
 advance, was, for fourteen hours, clearly perceivable. Sir 
 John Moore, who accompanied him, did all in his power 
 to prevent these atrocities, and even went so far as to put 
 to death some of the perpetrators. " This humane con- 
 duct," writes Plowden, " ill suited the intentions and 
 views of the terrorists. He was instantly ordered to 
 Wicklow." 
 
 At seven o'clock on the morning of the 21st June the 
 attack began with a brisk discharge of cannon and mor- 
 tars. According to Lake's preconcerted plan, all the 
 points of the rebel position were to be attacked simul- 
 taneously. Owing to either accident or design, General 
 Needham's division did not come up until the battle was 
 over. " It was astonishing," says Barrington, " with what 
 fortitude the peasantry, uncovered, stood the tremendous 
 fire opened upon the four sides of their position. A stream 
 of shells and grape was poured on the multitude ; the 
 leaders encouraged them by exhortations, the women by 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 211 
 
 their cries : and every shell that broke amongst the crowd 
 was followed by shouts of defiance." General Lake had 
 a narrow escape. His favourite charger, amid a volley 
 of bullets, sank lifeless to the ground. In this engage- 
 ment the general h\m$e\£ fell — but only to rise again. 
 
 An uninterrupted descent, for hours, of shells and 
 rockets on the rebel army, soon did its work. Their 
 lines broke, and a precipitate retreat commenced. Lake's 
 plan was to surround completely the insurgent position, 
 and this he would, no doubt, have been enabled to do, had 
 General Needham's division arrived in time. Not having 
 done so, however, a gap or opening occurred in the mili- 
 tary circle. Through this fortuitous avenue the rebels 
 were enabled, on the breaking of their line, to escape 
 to Wexford. In consequence of the hilly and wooded 
 nature of the adjacent country, neither the cannon nor 
 cavalry of General Lake were successful in crushing the 
 flying column. 
 
 In the Castlereagh Correspondence several letters appear 
 from General Lake. One, written the day after " Vinegar 
 Hill," says: — "I have taken Hay, one of their com- 
 manders. He will be tried this evening, and, most pro- 
 bably, executed. If I hear of any assembly of men you 
 may depend upon their having a complete drubbing ; but 
 I strongly suspect they will not try the chance of another. 
 The carnage yesterday was dreadful. The rascals made 
 a tolerably good fight of it? 
 
 When Lake admitted that the rascals made a tolerably 
 good fight of it, the determined character of their resist- 
 ance may be imagined. Mr. Hay did not suffer the 
 penalty of death. Had he done so, Ireland should have 
 been without one of its most valuable histories of the 
 rebellion. 
 
 Since the latter end of May, 1798, Wexford may be 
 regarded as the only county in Ireland virtually under 
 arms against its sovereign. When twenty thousand re- 
 gular troops were required to extinguish, in one solitary 
 county, the flame of rebellion, it may well be imagined 
 that, had the entire kingdom risen en masse, as originally 
 arranged, six hundred and forty thousand effective troops 
 could with difficulty have suppressed it. Ireland contains 
 
212 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 thirty-two counties, and that number, multiplied by 
 twenty thousand, amounts to, we believe, the above com- 
 putation. And it must be borne in mind that Wexford 
 is not by any means the largest county. In fact, it would 
 have been utterly impossible for England, in 1798, to 
 garrison Ireland with even forty thousand regular troops. 
 
 After the slaughter on Vinegar Hill the insurgents 
 retreated, with few exceptions, to Wexford. They had 
 many prisoners here, and amongst the number, Lord 
 Kingsborough. This nobleman undertook personally to 
 guarantee the acceptance of any reasonable terms which 
 the rebel garrison should propose to General Lake. It 
 was accordingly decided that proposals should be sent 
 from the inhabitants to surrender the town, and return to * 
 their allegiance, on condition that life and property were 
 spared. Lord Kingsborough considered this a fair stipu- 
 lation, and answered for its acceptance by General Lake. 
 Be this as it may, Lake declined contemptuously to enter 
 into any terms with rebels, but promised mercy to the 
 " deluded multitude," on their surrendering their arms 
 and leaders into his hands. In a letter from the General 
 to Lord Castlereagh, and published amongst his lordship's 
 correspondence, the former complains most bitterly of the 
 very unpleasant situation in which he has been placed by 
 Lord Kinofsborouo'h. 
 
 Relying implicitly on the noble prisoner's promises — 
 viz., that complete protection should be shown to person 
 and property — numbers remained in the town of Wex- 
 ford, unconscious of any reason to apprehend danger. 
 Melancholy experience soon undeceived them. The 
 gibbet and the dungeon respectively clutched its victims. 
 Father Roche met his death in an appalling manner. 
 Such implicit confidence did he repose in Lord Kings- 
 borough's assurances, that he left his army at Sladagh, 
 and proceeded, unarmed and unattended, to Wexford, in 
 the expectation of receiving, as he thought, a confirma- 
 tion of the conditions. Father Roche advanced for a 
 considerable distance within the lines before he was re- 
 cognized. Suddenly the cry of " Popish priest" resounded 
 on every side, and the unhappy man was, in the most 
 violent and ignominious manner, dragged from his horse, 
 
CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 213 
 
 pulled by the Lair, kicked, buffeted, carried to the camp, 
 and from tlience burled down to the gaol, in such a con- 
 dition as to be barely recognizable by his own parish- 
 ioners. The armed multitude whom he had left in the 
 expectation of being permitted to return unmolested to 
 their homes, now abandoned all idea of peace, and set 
 off, under the command of Father J. Murphy, to the 
 County Carlow. The Rev. Mr. Gordon, the Protestant 
 historian of the Wexford rebellion, pronounces Father 
 Roche to have been, while in authority, both generous 
 and humane. 
 
 Meanwhile the remnant of the Wexford forces, under 
 Father Murphy, proceeded through Kilkenny, until they 
 came to within a stone's throw of Goresbridge. Here 
 their advance was resisted by a party of the Wexford 
 Militia, who, after an ineffectual struggle, retreated witli 
 loss both of lives and prisoners. After this triumph the 
 rebels steered their course in the direction of the Queen's 
 County. On the way several of their prisoners were 
 barbarously put to death, with a view to gratify that 
 spirit of deadly hatred which the proverbial cruelty of 
 the Irish militia regiments had implanted within their 
 breasts. " It is lamentable," says Cloney, " to think that 
 men fighting for liberty should have disgraced themselves 
 by such barbarity." The executions referred to were 
 perpetrated contrary to the solemn prohibitions of the 
 reverend commander. 
 
 Next day his little army was effectually dispersed, 
 after a futile but determined attack on Castlecomer. 
 
 The murder of the Wexford Militia was avenged on 
 the 25th June, in Kilcomney, a peaceable and picturesque 
 district. Nearly 200 of the rustics were sabred, by command 
 of Sir Charles Asgill. Neither age, sex, infirmity, nor in- 
 nocence could obtain exemption from the common fate. 
 
 In Gorey, and other places, the system of extermina- 
 tion progressed with no less vigour and effect. Pigs preyed 
 upon the bodies of half- hanged men — in some the vital 
 spark still flickering irresolutely. Corpses strewed the 
 ground in every direction. As the insurgents advanced 
 through the country, their slumbering vengeance became 
 aroused by discovering along the roads men with their skulls 
 
214 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 split in twain — their bowels ripped open — their throats 
 severed from ear to ear, and the habitations which for 
 years sheltered themselves and families, smoking, from the 
 effects of recent conflagration. The dead bodies of 
 women were not unfrequently discovered ; and Hay, an 
 eye-witness, tells us, that the children of the dead parents 
 might be seen clutching at their mangled arms, and be- 
 wailing them with piteous cries. 
 
 In Wexford a frightful scene was also being enacted. 
 Harvey, Grogan,* Colclough, Prendergast, Kelly, and 
 Keogh, having been led out of their cells, were subjected 
 to tortures of the most fiendish exquisiteness, preparatory 
 to undergoing half-hanging and decapitation. After this 
 proceeding, their trunks were stripped of covering, treated 
 with brutal indecency, and then flung over the bridge. 
 The head of Kelly having been conveyed to the street 
 wherein his sister resided, was kicked about in foot-ball 
 fashion, and then elevated in the air before the windows 
 of her bed-room. 
 
 An act of of attainder was subsequently passed against 
 
 * Amongst the victims on this occasion to military vengeance, there "were 
 none whose loss was more universally deplored than Mr. Cornelius Grogan, 
 of Johnstown Castle. This gentleman was upwards of seventy years of age, 
 of a considerable personal estate, and of irreproachable reputation. " The 
 semblance of a trial," observes Sir Jonah Barrington, "was thought expedient 
 by General Lake, before he could execute a gentleman of so much impor- 
 tance. His case was afterwards brought before Parliament, and argued for 
 three successive days, and evidence was produced clearly exonerating him 
 from any voluntary error." Lake, in one of his letters to Lord Castlereagh, 
 flippantly alludes to Mr. Grogan. On the next day but one succeeding the car- 
 nage on Vinegar Hill, i. e. June 23rd, he tells his lordship, amongst other bits 
 of sanguinary gossip, that "a Mr. Grogan, a man of £6,000 per annum, is just 
 brought in. What there is against him I don't well know. I imagine sufficient 
 to convict him." The general was "glorious" in jumping at conclusions. 
 Bagenal Harvey, upon being led out of his condemned cell, met Grogan, and 
 shook him warmly by the hand — "Ah !" said he, "you die an innocent man. 
 at all events." In the Parliamentary investigation it appeared that the mem- 
 bers of the court martial had not been sworn ; that they were only seven, in- 
 stead of the usual number, thirteen ; that his material witness was shot down 
 by the military, whilst riding post haste to give evidence of Mr. Grogan's entire 
 innocence ; and that " while General Lake," as Sir Jonah says, " was making 
 merry at dinner, with his staff and some members of the Court that con- 
 demned him, one of the first gentlemen in the country (in every point far his 
 superior) was hanged and mutilated almost before his windows." Poor Gro- 
 gan, from age and infirmity, could with difficulty walk to the place of execu- 
 tion. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 215 
 
 the above parties by Parliament, notwithstanding that, on 
 inquiry, it transpired, that the court martial which tried 
 them had not been even sworn ! 
 
 After the massacre of the Curragh, there were few col- 
 lisions between the king's troops and united men in Kil- 
 dare. The only one deserving of notice here was that of 
 Ovidstown Hill. William Aylmer, ofPainstown, Esq., 
 a lieutenant in the County Kildare Militia, and one of 
 Mr. Lawless's most intimate friends, undertook to head 
 a section of the Kildare force. From his high respectabi- 
 lity and family influence, few men appeared better quali- 
 fied for the task. Upwards of 3,000 men flew to his 
 standard ; but unfortunately they were as unruly and un- 
 disciplined as their commander was an accomplished and 
 skilful tactitian. So far from being prepared to receive an 
 onslaught from the king's troops, they were about sitting 
 down to breakfast when the alarm was sounded. Ayl- 
 mer and Ware,* the two principal commanders, lost no 
 time in endeavouring to throw their self-willed and un- 
 disciplined force into some sort of order. The directions 
 of the former were, that the pikemen should make a 
 furious and compact charge wherever the cannon would 
 be seen to play from. Instead of obeying, they wheeled 
 behind a quick set hedge, from which the royal ordnance 
 soon effectually dislodged them ! The grape shot mowed 
 down the hedge, as a scythe would a meadow. Panic 
 ploughed its way through the courage of the people, and 
 more backs than faces were soon turned to the foe. In 
 this engagement 200 of the united army perished. O'Kelly 
 tells us, that he has heard many intelligent men, who 
 fought at Ovidstown, declare, that had the pikemen acted 
 in accordance with Aylmer's advice, the battle would un- 
 doubtedly have been lost to the British. Ovidstown is 
 situated within about an Irish mile from the Aylmer re- 
 sidence ofPainstown. 
 
 Amidst the shrieks of the dying, and the roaring of 
 artillery, Lord Cornwallis arrived as Lord Lieutenant of 
 Ireland. Camden, whom Pitt considered as a person 
 
 * Both Aylmer and Ware entered the Austrian service in after life. The 
 former rose to the rank of colonel. 
 
216 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 no longer useful to cany out the ulterior objec + s of his 
 ambition, was recalled. Castlereagh being a most handy 
 tool for excavating in political mire, was continued in the 
 office of Chief Secretary for Ireland. 
 
 Since the failure of the Bantry Bay expedition, the 
 active mind and body of Theobald Wolfe Tone knew no 
 rest. He was constantly on the foot, negotiating with 
 ministers, and endeavouring to stimulate the progress of 
 the promised armada. His mind was continually at work, 
 plotting ruses and expedients for the surprise and over- 
 throw of a mercenary enemy. At length, by dint of 
 incessant importunity, Tone succeeded in getting a new 
 armament prepared, under the command of an Irishman, 
 General Kilmaine. By the impatience of General Humbert, 
 who scorned all preparation, the French expedition was 
 again frustrated. Without waiting for the entire squadron 
 to be ready, Humbert started prematurely from Rochelle, 
 and with 1,000 men proceeded to Ireland. His little fleet 
 escaped the vigilance of the British frigates, and entered 
 Killala Bay, unmolested and undetected, by means of 
 hoisting English colours. The feint succeeded capitally, 
 and ten hundred Frenchmen captured the town with- 
 out even the shadow of resistance on the part of its garrison. 
 
 Thousands of the miserable, starved, ragged, and un- 
 armed peasantry of Connaught flocked round the Gallic 
 standard. General Humbert regarding this reinforcement 
 in a more important light than it deserved, decided upon 
 marching — via Castlebar — into the heart of the country. 
 He clothed the insurgents, and furnished them with arms. 
 
 Lord Hutchinson commanded the garrison at Castle- 
 bar. It was a numerous one, well armed and artilleried ; 
 and he laughed to scorn the idea that a handful of French 
 would presume to attack him. He intended on the mor- 
 row to proceed to Killala and exterminate them. And 
 to take his place General Lake arrived at the head of 
 6,000 men that evenin°r. 
 
 In the grey of an autumnal morning, the drums beat to 
 arms, and the cry of" the French are upon us," resounded 
 upon every side. The British forces evacuated Castlebar, 
 and took up position, with nine pieces of cannon, on an 
 eminence adjacent. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 217 
 
 The battle began. Cannons roared, swords gleamed, 
 voices yelled, bayonets clashed. The British line waver- 
 ed, and a retreat, by order of General Lake, was sounded ! 
 Barrington says, that the flight of their infantry was 
 as that of a mob. Lord Jocelyn's light dragoons made 
 the best of their way, like so many " Tarn O'Shanters," to 
 Tuam (upwards of forty miles), pursued by such of the 
 French as could get horses to carry them. His lordship 
 himself was taken prisoner. All the royal artillery were 
 captured. The battle has been satirically christened " the 
 races of Castlebar." 
 
 Humbert, however, soon began to see his consummate 
 folly in leaving Rochelle before the remainder of the 
 squadron was ready to accompany him. He had now but 
 900 men left, and an army of 20,000 troops, under Lord 
 Cornwallis (the military viceroy), was already in full 
 march upon him. Accordingly, after a rather sanguinary 
 skirmish with Lord Gort, and another with Colonel Craw- 
 ford, the general and his army surrendered themselves pri- 
 soners of war to the united forces of Lake and Cornwallis. 
 
 How so small a force could ever penetrate one hundred ' 
 and fifty miles into a country garrisoned by nearly 80,000 
 troops, including yeomanry and militia, and remain therein 
 seventeen days, appears to us little short of a miracle. 
 Yet so it was. Forty thousand insurgents were about to 
 assemble at the Crookedwood, in Westmeath, for the pur- 
 pose of effecting a diversion in their favour, when the news 
 reached them of an overwhelming force having necessi- 
 tated the surrender of their friends at St. Johnstown. 
 
 This dispiriting intelligence had not reached the shores 
 of France when General Hardy sailed from the Baye de 
 Camerat, with a reinforcement of 3,000 soldiers. The 
 principal vessel was " La Hoche," a seventy-four gun- 
 ship, of which Wolfe Tone and Commodore Bompart may 
 be said to have had the immediate command. There 
 were besides eight frigates and a schooner. As usual, 
 Ireland's dark destiny triumphed. Adverse winds, as in 
 1 796, came on, and the French armament was, fora second 
 time, dispersed. The " Hoche" and its companions, fell 
 under the surveillance of Sir J. B. Warren, and his 
 
 L 
 
218 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 " Agamemnons," and chase was immediately given.* Com- 
 modore Bompart, resolving to perish as dearly as possible, 
 prepared his ship for action. Six British ships of the line, 
 and three frigates bore down on him and opened a mur- 
 derous cannonade. Broadside after broadside poured into 
 the " Hoche. v For six long hours it resisted. " At length," 
 says Tone, " her masts and riggings swept away ; her 
 scuppers flowed with blood ; her wounded filled the cock- 
 pit ; her shattered ribs yawned at every new stroke, 
 and let in five feet water in the hold ; her rudder was 
 carried away." " And thus," adds Mr. Phillips, " barely 
 floating on the waters, a dismantled wreck she struck. 
 Honour to Bompart, honour to the brave." 
 
 The officers of the French fleet were immediately 
 seized, conveyed to Lough S willy, and marched from 
 thence, under a strong escort, to Letterkenny. Tone, 
 who held in the service of France the rank of Chef de 
 Brigade, was not at first recognized, and passed amongst 
 the rest as a French officer. England is indebted to 
 an old school-fellow of Tone's, Sir George Hill, of Derry, 
 for revealing his identity. Lord Cavan invited the French 
 officers to breakfast. Tone accompanied them, and was 
 sitting at table, unknown and unscrutinized, when his fel- 
 low-student entered with two constables. " Mr. Tone," 
 said the false friend, " I am very happy to see you." Tone 
 was of course instantly arrested, and conducted from the 
 room. Patiently he submitted to the taunts and insults 
 levelled at him by the English officers, and opened not his 
 mouth until they proceeded savagely to place him in 
 irons. At this outrage he flung off his uniform, and 
 exclaimed indignantly, "Fetters! no; they shall never 
 degrade the revered insignia of the free nation I have served. 
 For the cause which I have embraced, however, I feel 
 prouder to wear them than if I were decorated with the 
 star and garter of England." 
 
 * On the approach of Warren's fleet, a boat from the French schooner put 
 out for Tone, in order to take him out of harm's way ; but that lion-hearted man 
 refused to go, notwithstanding that his brother officers earnestly besought 
 him to avail himself of so favourable an opportunity for escape. ''No," said 
 he, in reply to their importunities, " never shall it be said that 1 fled, while 
 the French were fighting the battles of my country." 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 219 
 
 From Letterkenny lie was hurried to Dublin, and tried 
 by court martial, in the Royal Barracks. A Mr. Patter- 
 son acted as judge. To save time and trouble by the 
 examination of witnesses, Tone admitted himself a traitor 
 in its most extended sense. He made a noble and a 
 brilliant speech, vindicatory of his acts, and in conclusion 
 advanced only one request, viz. : that he might die a 
 soldier's death, and be shot by a platoon of grenadiers. 
 The mock judge indignantly scouted the request, and 
 gave directions that his prisoner should be hung, drawn, 
 and quartered. 
 
 Tone, on the night of his condemnation, recoiling at the 
 prospect of a halter execution, contrived, with a small 
 penknife, to inflict a very ugly wound across his throat 
 and windpipe. The gaol physician examined the wound, 
 and pronounced it to be not mortal, as the carotid artery 
 chanced miraculously to escape. Tone smiled a ghastly 
 smile. " I am sorry," said he, " to find that I have been 
 so bad an anatomist." For seven days he lingered in the 
 greatest pain. At length, death put a period to his 
 sufferings. 
 
 Thus terminated the Irish rebellion of 1798. " The 
 cost of exciting and prematurely exploding it," observes 
 Dr. Madden, in his Connexion between Ireland and 
 England, " is estimated at eighteen millions and a-half. 
 Some writers estimate the amount at twenty-one millions. ' 
 The loss of life was terrific. According to Plowden, 
 50,000 creatures were either shot or sabred by the 
 military. Moore says that the fact of so much money 
 and arms having been necessary to crush the partial rising 
 which took place, leaves awful room for conjecture as to 
 what might have been the result had the whole organized 
 mass, under its original leaders, been set in motion. 
 
 " It was," writes Plowden, in the Special Commission 
 from the British Cabinet, "for Lord Cornwallis to avail 
 himself of every rising circumstance to forward and bring 
 about a Union with Great Britain." Having exhausted 
 the muscular strength of Ireland by that system of phlebo- 
 tomizing which we have already dilated upon at perhaps 
 too much length, and thus rendered her energies against 
 
220 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 aggression powerless, the first and grand step towards the 
 accomplishment of a Legislative Union was achieved. Mr. 
 Pitt, however, had the adverse voices of a large mass of 
 the people yet to contend with. He racked his brains for 
 the best expedient to mitigate the storm of popular indig- 
 nation which it was not unreasonable to suppose would en- 
 sue on the first official promulgation of his scheme. To in 
 some degree conciliate the people was therefore now his* 
 object. After executing hundreds in cold blood, Lord 
 Cornwallis, on the suppression of the rebellion, proclaimed 
 u general armistice to all concerned in the " conspiracy," 
 leaders, as a matter of course, excepted, The ruse, to a 
 certain extent, succeeded. Thousands of grateful hearts 
 invoked benedictions, ad libitum, on the heads of Mr. 
 Pitt, and his Viceroy, Cornwallis. 
 
 Lord Camden, in one of his private letters to Castle- 
 reagh (p. 375, vol. i.), alludes confidentially to this change 
 of policy. " In order," he says, " that the appointment 
 of Lord Cornwallis should have as little as possible the 
 appearance of a change of system, Pelham was permitted 
 to remain in office, in the same manner he did with me ; 
 and your continuing to do the duty, seemed quite necessary 
 to that arrangement." 
 
 Immediately after the surrender of Humbert, in Sep- 
 tember, 1798, the long projected act of Union began to 
 engross the exclusive attention and consideration of 
 ministers. In an important private letter from St. James's, 
 dated Sep. 26, 1798, Lord Castlereagh is informed that 
 the leading points of the Union were actually at that 
 moment under cabinet consideration. The writer then 
 epitomizes the Union articles, and adds — " I mean them 
 only for your lordship's eye, in the strictest confidence." 
 In a letter from Camden to Castlereagh, endorsed, Oct. 
 11, 1798, lie says — " Mr. Pitt is eager and anxious to the 
 greatest degree about Ireland, and it is the subject on 
 which he contemplates most, and is the most uneasy''' 
 
 The instruments which Pitt employed to work out his 
 darling project of a Union, were Lords Clare, Castlereagh, 
 and Cornwallis. 
 
 Cornwallis began his military life by crushing Tippoo 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 221 
 
 Saib. His principal act in India was undoubtedly a 
 victory, but that in America proved, as England knows 
 to her cost, a dead and humiliating failure. Her colonies 
 were lost to her, and the British arms sunk into the foetid 
 quagmire of disgrace. Soldiers and commanders sur- 
 rendered themselves to Washington, prisoners of war. 
 .** Weary of the sword," says Sir Jonah Barrington, " he 
 was sent as a diplomatist to conclude the peace of Amiens ; 
 but out-manceuvred by Lucien Buonaparte, his lordship's 
 treaty involved all Europe in a war against England." All 
 his public measures failed except one — the Legislative 
 Union. 
 
 John Fitzgibbon, afterwards Earl of Clare, was the 
 younger son of a wealthy father, who would have be- 
 come, in his youth, a Roman Catholic priest, had not an 
 unforeseen circumstance occurred to prevent it. John 
 Fitzgibbon studied for the bar, and was called to it in 
 1772. His father and elder brother having made sudden 
 exits from this world, Fitzgibbon came in for a consider- 
 able fortune. This circumstance, combined with an ex- 
 tensive connexion, an unlimited amount of aplomb, some 
 solid professional attainments, and a slavish subserviency 
 to Government, soon thrust him forward through the 
 drudgery and subordinate gradations of the law, and finally 
 placed him squatted, in all the comfort and luxury of 
 £8,000 per annum, upon the Irish woolsack. And to 
 whom was Fitzgibbon indebted for his first legal elevation ? 
 To no less a person than Henry Grattan. When Fox heard 
 of this mark of kindness, he shook his head shrewdly, 
 saying, " Take care, Grattan, that in seeking to make a 
 friend, you are not strengthening an enemy." Fox's 
 prognostication was verified. Fitzgibbon became attorney- 
 general, " and, from that time forth," says Grattan, " both 
 his country and myself were the two peculiar objects of 
 his calumny." 
 
 Once upon the woolsack, his able, arrogant, ruthless 
 bearing knew no bounds. The House of Lords quailed 
 before him, and he became literally despotic in that im- 
 becile assembly. " Forgetting their high rank," says 
 Barrington, " their country and themselves, they yielded 
 unresistingly to the spell of his dictation." 
 
222 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 Perhaps the most remarkable letter in the entire body 
 of the Castlereagh correspondence* is that written by the 
 Earl of Clare, on the 16th October, 1798, to his unprin- 
 cipled coadjutor in the dirty work. It is a matter of 
 history that tempting but delusive promises were held out 
 to the Catholics in the event of their submission to the 
 measure of a Union. The Duke of Wellington himself 
 admitted this in the great debate of 1828. According to 
 the express promises and stipulations entered into at the 
 time, the Catholics were entitled to a total, unqualified, 
 and immediate emancipation, if they aided the Govern- 
 ment, or even remained inactive during the agitation and 
 progress of the measure. With what good faith these 
 promises were kept, Catholic Ireland needs not to be 
 reminded. 
 
 Until comparatively lately it remained a profound 
 mystery to whom Ireland was mainly indebted for having 
 cajoled her out of the stipulated bribes. It will be a 
 source of astonishment to many to learn that it was not 
 owing to his Majesty's coronation scruples, as popularly 
 
 * Mr Dear Lord, — I have seen Mr. Pitt, the Chancellor, and the Duke 
 of Portland, who seem to feel very sensibly the critical situation of our 
 damnable country, and that the Union alone can save it. I should have 
 hoped that what has passed would have opened the eyes of every man in 
 England to the insanity of their past conduct, with respect to the Papists of 
 Ireland ; but I can plainly perceive they were as full of their Popish projects 
 as ever. I trust, and I hope, that they are fairly inclined to give them up, 
 and to bring the measure forward unincumbered with Emancipation. Lord 
 Cornwallis has intimated his acquiescence on this point, and Mr. Pitt is de- 
 cided upon it. * * If I have been in any manner instrumental in persuad- 
 ing the ministers to bring forward this measure, unincumbered with a propo- 
 sition which must have swamped it, I shall rejoice very much in the pilgrim- 
 age which I have made." Mr. Elliot (an official of importance), writing to 
 Lord Castlereagh, on October 24, 1798, says — "The leaning of the opinion of 
 the Cabinet is against extending the privileges of the Catholic body at the 
 present conjuncture." [He then goes on to say that this sentiment proceeds 
 mainly from the difficulty which Government wovdd experience in opposing 
 the prejudices of its Irish friends, and adds] — " It is the argument chiefly relied 
 on by Lord Clare, and I plainly perceive it has operated powerfully on Mr. 
 PiWs mind. Mr. Pitt, however, says that his judgment is not yet formed on 
 the subject, and that some months ago it was favourable to the pretensions of 
 the Catholics." Lord Clare's wdly argument triumphed. Ere three days Pitt 
 became completely converted to his way of thinking. On October 27, 1798, 
 Lord Camden, writing to Lord Castlereagh, says: — "Mr. Pitt is inclined 
 most strongly to a Union on a Protestant basis." 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 223 
 
 believed, that Emancipation remained unconceded, but 
 simply in consequence of the strong and unwavering an- 
 tagonism of Lord Chancellor Clare. How this letter of 
 his lordship's has been suffered to see the light of day, 
 when the collection otherwise betrays evidence of such 
 frequent suppression, appears to us singular. 
 
 It was generally believed, and statements to this effect 
 may be foimd inscribed upon the page of history, that Mr. 
 Pitt resigned office in consequence of the non-performance 
 of the Emancipation promises. Is it not evident, from 
 this letter, that Mr. Pitt acquiesced in the views of Lord 
 Clare? The Chancellor, on his death-bed, informed 
 those about him that he had but one request to make : 
 " My correspondence must be burned," said he; " should 
 it be found after me, thousands may be compromised." 
 Lady Clare obeyed his wish implicitly. How little he 
 thought that one of his own " most secret" letters would 
 see the light, after the grass of half a century had grown 
 and withered, and grown again above his grave. 
 
 The third, and certainly the most important, instrument 
 in effecting the annihilation of Ireland's prosperity, was 
 Lord Castlereagh. This young nobleman had passed up- 
 wards of seven years in the Irish Parliament, but without 
 creating the slightest sensation, or attracting one particle 
 of notice. In private life his conduct was gentlemanly 
 and honourable ; in public, venal, artful, despicable, and 
 ruthless. It is a positive fact, that the commencement of 
 Lord Castlereagh's parliamentary career was patriotic. 
 " His first public essay," says Sir Jonah Barrington, " was 
 a motion to reform the Irish Parliament, and his last, to 
 annihilate it." It would have been impossible for Mr. 
 Pitt to select a better tool for effecting seduction than 
 Lord Castlereagh. Possessed of one of the handsomest 
 countenances in Ireland, his smile was fascination, and his 
 words persuasion. " The affability of his manner," writes 
 his brother,* " at once dissipated that timidity which in- 
 tercourse with high rank sometimes produces. In stature 
 
 * u 
 
 Memoirs and Correspondence of Lord Castlereagh," vol. i. page 82. 
 
224 CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 he was nearly six feet — his manners perfect — his features 
 commanding." 
 
 Aided by this most accomplished triumvirate, Mr. Pitt 
 proceeded to execute his work.* 
 
 But let us not forget to look after Mr. Lawless. 
 
 He was up and doing. The Union scheme ceased not 
 to agitate him. The intellect that in 1795 dictated the 
 first anti-Union pamphlet that ever emanated from the 
 press, was again at work, and on the same subject.! He 
 knew full well, in common with his friends, Grattan, 
 Curran, and Plunket, that such a measure was pregnant 
 with mischief to Ireland. He felt that it was the para- 
 mount duty of every honest man to speak his mind openly 
 and fearlessly upon a subject of such vital moment to the 
 interests of his country. Both friend and foe admitted 
 its importance, and sunk in more than criminal apathy 
 must that Irishman have been who could, amid such ex- 
 citing scenes, remain an idle or an unconcerned spectator. 
 The Rev. Dr. Hussey, afterwards Roman Catholic Bishop 
 of Waterford^ and who officiated, singular to say, in the 
 capacity of private secretary to the Duke of Portland, 
 gave Mr. Lawless a kindly hint that any noisy mani- 
 festation of anti- Union sentiment would be rigorously 
 punished by his Majesty's ministers. Lawless, although 
 he expressed himself in language strongly deprecatory of 
 the Union, sedulously refrained, for two reasons, from 
 doing so with vehemence, or even with warmth. The 
 first, and unquestionably most cogent, arose from the 
 
 * Pitt's project was first openly announced through the medium of an official 
 pamphlet, entitled, " Arguments for and against the Union considered." 
 Above one hundred others, on the subject of a Union, followed; but that written 
 by the Hon. Valentine Lawless, in 1796, had the start of them all. 
 
 f Although living in London, he addressed various anti-Union letters, 
 through the medium of the Irish neAvspapers, to his fellow-countrymen. One 
 of them he alludes to in a letter to his sister, dated Feb. 16, 1799. " I have 
 sent a short address," he writes, "to the people of Kildare, whom I saw called 
 by their rascally sheriff." [In answer to a subsequent communication from 
 Charlotte Lawless, respecting the nervous excitability of her father, he says] : — 
 " If you think I should not say a word at all of politics, my letter to Kildare, 
 which I sent to Mr. Dillon, should be stopped ; but it is so mild and gentle. 
 1 hardly think it can do harm or vex the poor invalid." 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 225 
 
 nervous horror that Lord Clon curry entertained of Valen- 
 tine taking any part in politics, lest the impulsive nature 
 of his patriotic temperament should carry him beyond 
 prudence, as on a former occasion, and thereby furnish 
 Government with a pretext for placing him in captivity. 
 Lord Cloncurry was at this time in a very delicate state 
 of health, and his nervous excitability throve apace on 
 this delicacy. Lawless's second reason for not making 
 himself remarkable in the political clubs and re-unions of 
 the day, was simply attributable to that natural dread lest 
 Government should, a second time, treat him as a male- 
 factor or a felon. The moment he received Dr. Hussev's 
 intimation, he wrote to the Duke of Portland, and to Iris 
 friend, John Reeves (who acted as one of the clerks of 
 the Privy Council), to say that from the time of his libera- 
 tion, in June, '98, he had studiously abstained from taking 
 any part in those proceedings for which Lord Lough- 
 borough, Mr. Pitt, and the other members of the Council 
 so severely rebuked him, on the occasion of his final 
 examination by that body. How far this explanation 
 pacified the vindictive Duke of Portland, was soon evi- 
 dent to Lawless, and will be to the reader. 
 
 Towards the latter end of December, 1798, Mr. Law- 
 less, as we have already chronicled, returned to London, 
 after a most agreeable sejour with the lovely object of his 
 affections, at Harrowgate and Scarborough. During the 
 period of his absence, the crisis of the Irish rebellion had 
 passed away. Either the axe of the executioner had 
 closed on its principal leaders, or the ponderous doors of 
 Fort St. George. The French expedition was scattered 
 to the winds. Ireland had fallen into a sleep of exhaus- 
 tion from her energetic but fruitless efforts to achieve 
 liberty and independence. Every gleam of hope was, for 
 the present, lost to her. All dread of a renewal of hos- 
 tilities ceased to agitate the royal mind. She had just 
 arrived at that stage of prostration and inertia when every- 
 thing — anything would be submitted to. Mr. Pitt saw 
 this, and at once made arrangements for the robbery of 
 her greatest prize, her most valuable gem. 
 
 Considering that the rebellion, the society of United 
 
 l 2 
 
226 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 Irishmen, and the French expedition were now numbered 
 amongst the things that were — in short, crushed effectu- 
 ally, and for ever, it will be to many a source of astonish- 
 ment to learn that the Hon. Mr. Lawless should have 
 been again arrested, and not only imprisoned in the house 
 of a King's messenger, as before, but formally committed, 
 under a strong guard, to one of the most loathsome dun- 
 geons of the Tower. 
 
 In the Dublin Evening Post of the 21st April, 1799, 
 we find the following morceau respecting the second arrest. 
 It conies from the English correspondent of that journal, 
 and is dated London, April 16 : — 
 
 " Mr. Lawless, Lord Cloncuny's son, who was arrested on Sunday by 
 Rivet, the Bow-street officer, was examined, we understand, yesterday, by 
 the Privy Council. He is now in the custody of a king's messenger." 
 
 Rivet was the " 184 B" of the last century. A more 
 " efficient constable," in the ordinary acceptation of that 
 term, it would be difficult to find. It is Rivet that Lord 
 Holland alludes to in the extract we have given from 
 his lordship's work relative to O'Coigly. 
 
 Lawless was confined to bed from a slight attack of 
 fever when Mr. Constable Rivet paid him an early visit 
 on the morning of the 14th April. The necessity for 
 immediate arrest appears to have been of such a pressing 
 nature, that no day but the Sabbath would answer his 
 Majesty's ministers to carry their arbitrary scheme into 
 effect. According to the petition presented by Lord 
 Cloncurry to the Commons some eighteen months sub- 
 sequent, it appears that the constable actually " dragged 
 him from his bed" The state of Mr. Lawless's feelings 
 upon once more finding himself immured within the close 
 four walls of a messenger's room, may be imagined. At 
 the very time of this detention he was under appoint- 
 ment to join his betrothed at Cheltenham. He felt 
 cruelly mortified, and justly. To think of all the time, 
 trouble, and expense, which were consumed in endea- 
 vouring to counteract the baneful effects of his former 
 imprisonment, proved likewise a maddening reflection. 
 His health was far from good. And at the very moment 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 227 
 
 that lie may be said to have succeeded in dispelling the 
 anti-matrimonial prejudices of his father, and had received 
 the parental approbation to lead his adored one to the 
 altar, the Duke of Portland issued a warrant, in virtue 
 whereof he was dragged from a fever bed, and consigned 
 for the space of two years to a dungeon, from which 
 he would not even then have been liberated were it not 
 for an accidental occurrence, which no one more bitterly 
 deplored than his Grace the Duke of Portland himself.* 
 Although it was clearly seen that no possible motive, 
 save the gratification of an old and sour malice, led to 
 this second arrest of Mr. Lawless, the Lords of the 
 Privy Council thought it judicious to go through the 
 form, at least, of examining their prisoner. When brought 
 before that dignified tribunal, Mr. Pitt at once opened 
 fire upon him, requesting to be informed why he should 
 have lent pecuniary assistance to Father O'Coigly, and 
 to what extent his acquaintance with John Bonham 
 reached. He was then taxed with having been in com- 
 pany with Colonel Despard at a certain remote period, 
 and reprimanded for visiting so foul a den of treason as 
 Furnivafs Inn. In conclusion, Mr. Pitt assured him, 
 as we learn from a letter addressed by Lawless to Mr. 
 Burne, that he had positive information of his having 
 been an active participator at a meeting in February, 
 1797, where plans were laid down for extending the 
 Union organization to London, by instituting United Irish 
 Societies, and other objectionable creations, in that city. 
 To the latter charge Lawless replied in the negative. 
 He begged to be confronted with his accusers, or libe 
 ated forthwith, as his prospects in life, he said, would be 
 seriously damaged by the nonfulfilment of certain en- 
 gagements, which he was then pledged to meet. Other 
 queries were put to him, but he refused to answer further. 
 In pursuing this course, he acted wisely. His counsel 
 advised him to answer no questions, as whatever he said 
 
 * See letter from the Duke of Portland, in Castlereagh Memoirs. &c, 
 vol. iv. page 74. 
 
228 CLONCORRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 would be so twisted and distorted, as to be made subser- 
 vient to his crimination. 
 
 After having undergone much " catechetical instruc- 
 tion " from Mr. Pitt, Lawless was remanded into the cus- 
 tody of messengers. Next morning we find him brought 
 before two sapient Bow-street magistrates, whose talent, 
 experience, and tact in cross-examination, were admit- 
 tedly unequalled. Nothing, however, beyond "yes," 
 or "no," could be wormed out of their prisoner; and 
 after a short delay at the police office, he was again re- 
 moved under the paternal care of Constable Rivet. Up 
 to this Lawless had not been imprisoned in a more 
 obnoxious manner than the apartment of a king's mes- 
 senger. He now became a state prisoner, and was com- 
 mitted to the Tower, as Desmond, Wallace, and Raleigh, 
 were before him. The " Morning Chronicle'' of May 11, 
 1799, favours its readers with the following little para- 
 graph in reference to the committal : — 
 
 " Mr. Bonham and the Honourable Mr. Lawless were on Thursday sent to 
 the Tower. The latter occupies the apartment in which Mr. Binns resided 
 when first taken up." 
 
 The " apartment" alluded to was the room belonging 
 to the lamp-lighter of the Tower. Although Benjamin 
 Binns (a very humble man) might have considered it 
 as comfortable as any that could be for one in his station, 
 and under the peculiar circumstances of the case, pro- 
 cured for him, it was scarcely the place, we think, to 
 domicile the heir apparent to a peerage. He soon be- 
 came thoroughly disgusted with his quarters. Lawless drew 
 up a petition to Colonel Smith (the Governor of the 
 Tower), praying to be removed to some apartment more 
 in keeping with the accommodation he had ever been 
 accustomed to receive. The colonel's bowels of compas- 
 sion were moved. He summoned the turnkey to his 
 presence, and gave directions that a more comfortable 
 apartment should be provided. A change was made; 
 but, whether it proved a change for the better, time will 
 show. If we are to credit the memorial of Lord Clon- 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 229 
 
 curry to the Commons in 1 800 — and we certainly see no 
 reason to throw a doubt on any of its allegations — this 
 so called comfortable apartment was a low garret room, 
 either enervating the inmate with summer heat, or chill- 
 ing him with downpours of winter rain. " In this 
 room," proceeds the memorial, " your petitioner has been 
 confined, with two other persons, for nearly two years, 
 and treated with greater severity than any prisoner in 
 the Tower ever has been." 
 
 To attempt any elaborate description of the persecu- 
 tions, sufferings, and privations, which the Hon. Valentine 
 Lawless was compelled to undergo throughout that pro- 
 tracted and iniquitous imprisonment, would prove a 
 painful and a difficult task. Suffice it to say, that he was 
 thrown, as thouirli he were some hardened malefactor, 
 into a loathsome cell, subjected to every species of intru- 
 sion, gene by the continual companionship of a pair of 
 snarling warders, even during his hours of rest, deprived 
 not only of the society of his nearest relatives, but of the 
 other political prisoners of distinction ;* capriciously for- 
 bidden the use of pen, ink, and paper ; tyrannically com- 
 pelled to forego every kind of reading, even to^a news- 
 paper; and subjected to a degree of contumely and in- 
 sult almost impossible to credit in the present refined 
 days of prison humanity. Even a physician durst not 
 visit Mr. Lawless without a special warrant from the 
 Secretary of State — a document which it was oftentimes 
 a matter of some difficulty to procure. The order touch- 
 ing the admission of Mr. Lawless's law advisers, appears 
 to have been even more stringent. On the 26th June, 
 nearly ten weeks after the second arrest, Mr. Foulkes, 
 the attorney, wrote to his client to hope that the fact of 
 his being denied access to him did not occasion incon- 
 venience or injury to his private affairs. As this letter 
 happened to be unsealed, and addressed to the Governor, 
 it reached Mr. Lawless. It is unnecessary for us to say 
 that all sealed communications became food for Colonel 
 Smith's fire. 
 
 * Two common persons, "a Manx and a Swede"' — were his fellow-pri- 
 soners. 
 
230 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 As the well-barred windows of our prisoner's cell 
 looked out upon the Tower ditch, the view need not be 
 supposed to have been particularly pleasing. Further 
 on, Tower Hill, with all its metropolitan concomitants, 
 rose before him ; and often, no doubt, led his mind into 
 a train of meditation on the fate of those men, who, like 
 himself, were once state prisoners within the walls of the 
 old fortress. He thought of the various victims to sedi- 
 tion whose blood had flowed in rivulets down that hill, 
 and wondered if the unrelenting vengeance of Govern- 
 ment would pursue him to the death, as it did in the 
 case of Lords Lovet, Surrey, and Essex. Such an exe- 
 cution could not have been in principle more unjust than 
 his imprisonment by order of the Duke of Portland. 
 
 The air in the neighbourhood of Thames-street and 
 Fish-street Hill had never the reputation of possessing 
 much salubriousness. On this occasion it was downright 
 malarious, being occasionally loaded with effluvia much 
 more favourable to the progress of typhus, than to ex- 
 pedite an invalid's recovery. The warders, or as they 
 were familiarly designated " Beef- eaters," who strutted by 
 day through Lawless's cell, and at night squatted them- 
 selves in the immediate vicinity of his pallet, not being 
 considered by the Duke as a sufficient guarantee for his 
 prisoner's safety, a colossal grenadier, armed to the teeth, 
 was deputed to promenade at all hours of the day and 
 night before the open door of the apartment. Poor 
 Lawless ! The only exercise they permitted him to take 
 were a few paces to-and-fro upon the leads above his prison ; 
 but even this trifling; indulgence he was soon obliged to 
 decline, in consequence of the unseemly shouts of " bloody 
 
 Irishman," " d d rebel," &c, with which the mob 
 
 below invariably greeted him, when brought out for 
 exercise in the custody of his guards. 
 
 The following letter to his sister is one of the first 
 written by Mr. Lawless from the Tower. The spirit of 
 Christianlike resignation which pervades it could not be 
 extolled too highly, nor the laudable endeavours on his 
 part to make the circumstances of his position appear 
 to Mary Ryal as little irksome as possible : — 
 
CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 231 
 
 [Xo. 7.] TO HIS SISTER VALEXTIXA. 
 
 " Tower, Sunday, May 19 tk. 
 
 " It will be as unwelcome a novelty to you, my dear sister, to receive, as 
 it is to me to write, a letter from a prison ; we must, however, submit to 
 necessity, and I endeavour to do so with the best possible grace. This day 
 ends the fifth week of my confinement, and you should have heard from me 
 before, were it not that I was under great restrictions. * * * I cannot 
 express to you the pain I feel for the situation of my poor M(ary). * * * 
 Write to her, I beg of you, my dear Yalentina ; assure her that I am quite 
 well, and full of hope that we shall soon meet. Tell her that I have got a 
 good and airy room, with books* to read, and that I never cease to think of 
 her ; but I will not write, because my letters shoxdd be inspected, which 
 would be an injury to her, in case she should withdraw her affection from 
 a poor branded rebel. * * * Let my father know that it will be the 
 greatest relief to me if he Avill rest assured that in word or act I have never 
 said or done anything illegal or unworthy of him.f In case I am tried I 
 shall make this appear ; but I am chiefly afraid of a long confinement. * * 
 I think Government owes it to his services, if not to justice or 
 humanity, to bring me to trial or to liberate me. * * * I get on 
 pretty well in the day time, but am very feverish at night. I am not 
 allowed newspapers, which to me is a great, as it is certainly a very useless, 
 privation. I hope the desire of getting me out will not induce my father to 
 do anything he would otherwise not approve of. I owe it to him, and to 
 myself, to prove the rectitude of my conduct. 
 
 " If he had allowed me to follow my own plans, this would not have 
 happened ; but I am now so deep, that like Macbeth I must go through. 
 * * * I yesterday saw the captain, + and one or two friendly faces under 
 my window, but they deigned not to look up at the poor prisoner. Adieu 
 my dear V., let me hear from you soon, and believe me ever yours."§ 
 
 Lawless's apprehensions that his father, in the hope of 
 pacifying the wrath of the Duke of Portland, would 
 vote against the interests of Ireland, were soon but too 
 truly verified. Although Lord Cloncurry, from the 
 year 1796, leant much more strongly towards the 
 national party than to Mr. Pitt's, he committed in 1799 
 an act, in his parliamentary capacity, of which it is, we 
 regret to say, impossible to absolve him. He drove a 
 nail into the coffin of his almost exanimate country, by 
 depositing a vote in Lord Castlereagh's ballot-box. Ere 
 
 * Books were at first permitted, but afterwards withheld altogether. 
 The use of pen, ink, and paper, was also granted for a time — newspapers 
 never. Caprice appeared entirely to rule the course of his persecutors. 
 
 t We can easily collect that any movement of Mr. Lawless in the poli- 
 tical world could not fail to fret and irritate Lord Cloncurry, whose health 
 was declining with the prosperity of his country. 
 
 % Captain Manly, a friend of the Cloncurry family. 
 
 § Personal Recollections of Lord Cloncurry. 
 
32 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 the Act of Union passed, Lord Cloncurry was dead ; but 
 in the preliminary stages of that measure, he lent his 
 countenance to it cordially. The object, as we believe, 
 was to conciliate the Pitt and Portland party. 
 
 The ridiculous cause of his arrest, as currently reported 
 in Ireland, is referred to in one of the Hon. Charlotte 
 Lawless's letters to Lord Moira. " Since my brothers 
 arrest," she writes, " I have endeavoured to discover 
 whether there was any information, true or false, against 
 him, suspicion being all that was alleged, and his sup- 
 posed offence said, in this country, to relate to the mutiny 
 of the fleet; and in England, that information was sent 
 from this side the water ; and that being a United Irish- 
 man, and implicated in the rebellion, was imputed to 
 him, * * He undoubtedly gave offence by his inter- 
 ference in regard to Coldbath Fields, and by making 
 public his sentiments on the Union?* She then goes on 
 to say, that Lord Cornwallis, at her request, got all the 
 secret reports examined ; and the result was, the assurance 
 that no official information had gone from Ireland against 
 her brother. " This," said she, " directly contradicts an 
 assertion Mr. Cooke made to me." Cooke acted in the 
 capacity of Under Secretary, and was, perhaps, more con- 
 versant than any other official with the private commu- 
 nications between the Castle and the informers. This man 
 appears to have fattened on duplicity. 
 
 Immediately on the news of the second arrest reaching 
 Ireland, Lord Cloncurry addressed a letter to his Grace 
 on the subject. Its tenor was regret at the intelligence, 
 and anxiety for the fate of an only son. " God forbid," 
 he wrote, " that I should ever allow myself to consider 
 him as criminal. That he may have entertained vain 
 
 * Mr. Lawless pursued other courses, exclusive of the publication of 
 " Thoughts on the Projected Union," to manifest his determined feeling of 
 
 hostility towards Mr. Pitt's measure. "We have heard from Mr. S , an 
 
 octogenarian citizen of Dublin, that he was an eye-witness, in 1797, of Mr. 
 Lawless leading on an unarmed body of the populace, in order to force open 
 the door of the Koyal Exchange, where some Orange champions of the 
 English interest had assembled, with a view to express their approval of the 
 Union. Mr. Lawless put his own shoulder effectively to the door. Our 
 informant speaks quite positively of this circumstance. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 233 
 
 and idle notions of liberty and reform, I am perfectly 
 aware, from the principles of certain persons with whom 
 he kept company, and which I always disapproved of." 
 In conclusion, his lordship hoped that the Duke's warrant 
 for confining him was merely a measure of precaution, 
 and not of intended punishment ; and expressed a hope 
 that ministers would, in the belief that their prisoner had 
 undergone sufficient chastisement, allow him to return to 
 the bosom of his afflicted family. 
 
 Three months of anxiety and suspense rolled slowly 
 over, and still no answer from that usually fluent corres- 
 pondent, the Duke of Portland.* This apparently studied 
 slight weighed heavily on Lord Cloncurry, and his health 
 broke down beneath the load. On the 20th August, 
 nine days before his death, he wrote a second letter, 
 wherein he begged to recall to his Grace's recollection 
 the previous communication he had addressed to him. 
 Lord Cloncurry felt mortified at the Duke's silence. He 
 reminded him with what cordial activity he had sup- 
 ported the Administration of his Grace when Lord 
 Lieutenant of Ireland, and added, that he had some 
 reason to hope for, at least, the favour of an answer. 
 " Your Grace may know," said Lord Cloncurry 's preg- 
 nant postscript, " that I voted in the House of Lords 
 for receiving the proposition for a LTnion. I also gave it 
 my interest in the County Limerick, where I have some 
 property, and which, i?erhaps,few would have done, treated 
 as I have been? The Secretary of State received the 
 letter, but withheld a reply. The highly-wrought sensi- 
 bility of Lord Cloncurry underwent a second and still 
 more mortal stab. He rallied for a day or two, but only 
 to sink still deeper into a fatal reaction. From this mo- 
 ment his decline was down a -precipice. On the day pre- 
 
 * Lord Holland, in hi$ "Memoirs of the Whig Party," speaking of the 
 Duke of Portland, says :— V" When he was at the head of the Opposition, his 
 talent was confined to letter-writing ; and when that talent is accom- 
 panied (as it was with him) by a great propensity to the practice of it, it is 
 a blemish — not an ornament, a misfortune — not an endowment." His 
 Grace tergiversated. We have seen, in page 39 of this work, how warmly 
 he co-operated with Grattan on the Regency question. He was now (1799) 
 only second to Pitt in the great Tory Administration. 
 
234 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 vious to his demise, Miss Lawless wrote, in great agitation, 
 of mind, to John Reeves, apprising him of her fathers 
 approaching end, and the anxious wish, so repeatedly ex- 
 pressed by him, to see his son. She asked him if he were 
 not of opinion that the Duke of Portland would, upon 
 being informed of Lord Cloncurry's critical situation, per- 
 mit the prisoner, on proper security, to leave the Tower, 
 and pay the last duties of nliality to a kind and aged 
 parent. She added, that surely his Grace, in punishing 
 a little imprudence, did not ambition to destroy the hap- 
 piness of a private family. The rapid decline of her 
 fathers health she attributed to anxiety on his son's ac- 
 count. On the following morning (Thursday, 29th Aug.), 
 at five o'clock, Lord Cloncurry died. His death, which took 
 place at Maretimo, Black Rock, was materially accelerated 
 by a sudden attack of dysentery, which defied every effort 
 of medicine to check. He died in considerable pain, but 
 retained to the last his mental faculties. 
 
 Almost the first notification that Mr. Lawless received 
 of his father's death was contained in a respectful but 
 laconic epistle from the Duke of Portland, enclosing an 
 abstract of the bequests made in Lord Cloncurry's will, 
 and some papers drawn up by his lordship's attorney. 
 The natural affliction of Lawless, at suddenly finding 
 himself fatherless, swamped, of course, all other consider- 
 ations. As soon as the first paroxysm of grief had sub- 
 sided, a matter immediately connected with the disposal 
 of the property contributed to cause him much chagrin 
 and uneasiness. Lord Cloncurry, who was, on most points, 
 headstrong and self-opinionated, decided, a few days pre- 
 vious to his death, that a large portion of the family pro- 
 perty should not revert to Mr. Lawless, notwithstanding 
 that he stood in the relationship of only son. Lord Clon- 
 curry was, in the late rebellion, an eye-witness to the con- 
 fiscation of property belonging to men, who both in Court 
 and Parliament were proved not to have been voluntarily 
 guilty of any u treasonable practices." He saw his friend, 
 Cornelius Grogan, fall a victim to military fury and des- 
 potism ; his estates attainted, and his memory held up to 
 execration and contempt. " What if they should attaint 
 
CLONCDRRY AND HIS TIMES. 235 
 
 Valentine, too," soliloquised the old peer, as lie dashed 
 his pen over certain bequests he had previously made in 
 favour of his son, and left away from him a sum of be- 
 tween sixty and seventy thousand pounds. Lord Clon- 
 curry was a fortunate man through life. His suspicions, 
 surmises, views, and conclusions were, generally speakino-, 
 shrewd ; but we need not tell the reader that in this in- 
 stance he proved himself mistaken. 
 
 To the application from Miss Lawless that the poor 
 prisoner should be allowed to visit Ireland for a few days, 
 and pay the last tribute of affection to a dying father, the 
 Duke of Portland returned a frigid and unexplanatory 
 refusal. " The wish you have expressed for your brother's 
 enlargement," wrote his Grace, " cannot possibly be com- 
 plied with." Nothing daunted by this refusal, Miss Law- 
 less addressed a second application to his Grace, praying 
 that the release of her brother might, on another account, 
 be granted. She adverted to his health, and dwelt feel- 
 ingly upon its delicacy. " We have," said Miss Lawless, 
 " serious ground for alarm ; the painful feelings he has 
 had to combat during six months' confinement, preying 
 on a constitution which has made the most attentive care 
 necessary from his childhood, may be very fatal to him. 
 If permission to go to Lisbon, with whatever precaution 
 may be deemed necessary of bail, &c, could be granted, 
 I am convinced such an act of kindness would be of essen- 
 tial service to his health. Placed now at the head of his 
 family, he will be guarded in his conduct, and cautious of 
 the connexions he makes." A feeling allusion to his 
 matrimonial engagement concluded the letter. 
 
 His Grace's reply was, like the generality of official 
 letters, prompt, curt, and frigid. " Under the present 
 circumstances of Lord Cloncurry's case," said he, "it is 
 impossible that he can be liberated on the conditions you 
 mention." The Duke, however, in consideration, doubt- 
 less, of the gentle sex of his correspondent, so far relaxed 
 the muscles of his dignity, as to assure Miss Lawless, in 
 conclusion, that nothing but a desire not to increase her 
 late father's uneasiness could have prevented him from 
 
236 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 acknowledging his letters. The reader will nidge what 
 value is to be placed on the Duke's vindication. It strikes 
 us that the harrowing suspense, of long awaiting and never 
 receiving an answer, and the crushing consciousness of 
 experiencing a studied slight, would much more strongly 
 tend to fret and irritate, than a polite letter declining to 
 grant the supplicated request. " I sincerely hope," said 
 Lord Cloncurry, in his last letter to the ducal secretary, 
 " that your Grace will honour me with an answer, how- 
 ever shorts 
 
 A third application craved, that Counsellor John Burne 
 would be allowed, temporarily, to have access to the noble 
 prisoner. This request was granted, on condition that 
 Mr. Burne confined his conversation to subjects connected 
 with the private affairs of his friend. This trifling suc- 
 cess appears to have inspired the family of Lord Clon- 
 curry (for as such we must now continue to designate 
 him) with renovated hope. The Duke of Portland was 
 evidently not dead to every feeling of humanity. Embol- 
 dened by this reflection, we find a fourth application ad- 
 dressed to his Grace (but on this occasion by Mr. Burne), 
 soliciting permission for Lord Cloncurry to visit that pro- 
 perty in Ireland of which he had recently become the 
 owner. " The peculiar situation of this estate," proceeded 
 the lawyer, "and of his lordship's affairs, in consequence 
 of the death of his father, renders his presence in Ireland, 
 at this period, essentially necessary." Having dwelt 
 upon the rigorous confinement and restrictions which 
 were daily doing their work on his lordship's constitution, 
 Mr. Burne concluded with an apology for making an ap- 
 plication which want of pen, ink, and. paper prevented 
 the prisoner from making for himself. 
 
 The Duke regretted that his duty to the public would 
 not suffer him to consent to any such request. 
 
 A fifth application ! The petition for his lordship's 
 temporary enlargement having failed, Lord Cloncurry 
 commissioned Mr. Burne to apply for the indulgence of 
 pen, ink, and paper, the monthly magazines and news- 
 papers, provided that such accommodation could be 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 237 
 
 extended to him consistently with the Duke of Portland's 
 duty to the public. To this letter we find no reply. 
 
 His petition for "leave of absence" having been refused, 
 Lord Cloncurry decided upon sending to his sister, Char- 
 lotte, a power of attorney, vesting the entire management 
 of his affairs in her. This lady, afterwards the wife of 
 Edward Lord Dunsany, possessed a most massive intel- 
 lect, and proved herself of more substantial use to Clon- 
 curry, in his present dilemma, than would a room full of 
 land agents, conveyancers, and lawyers. Upon receiv- 
 ing the document alluded to from her brother, Miss Law- 
 less inserted an advertisement in the newspapers ordering 
 the tenants to pay their rents to certain agents whom she 
 named, and requesting all communications relative to 
 Lord Cloncurry to be addressed to her. 
 
 If Counsellor Burne was permitted to have an inter- 
 view with Lord Cloncurry on matters connected with his 
 private arrangements, it was granted in such a manner as 
 to deprive it of the name and nature of a private inter- 
 view. " I remained with him near three hours," wrote 
 Mr. Burne to Miss Lawless, " and during the whole time 
 two beefeaters and the jailer remained in the room." In 
 the course of this interview Lord Cloncurry expressed a 
 wish that his friends Reeves and Burne should dine with 
 him some, day during the ensuing week. Mr. Burne at 
 once communicated the invitation to Reeves, and that 
 gentleman made it his business to see Colonel Smith (the 
 Governor) on the subject. It is scarcely necessary to add, 
 that the application was spurned with true official con- 
 tempt. And the reader must bear in mind that all this 
 merciless persecution was levelled at an untried and inno- 
 cent man, against whom, as the Castlereagh papers now 
 undisguisedly affirm, no criminatory evidence could, by 
 possibility, be adduced, notwithstanding ample investiga- 
 tion, both at home and abroad, on the part of the Go- 
 vernment. To be placed in the felon's dock, arraigned 
 for high treason, and tried by a jury of upright men, 
 would have been a source of unfeigned gratification to 
 his lordship. We say gratification, for as Lord Clon- 
 curry knew perfectly well that he had never dabbled his 
 
238 CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 fingers in the basin of sedition, mucli less dyed his hands 
 in treason, he could expect nothing but acquittal from an 
 honourable tribunal. 
 
 The extremities of prison discipline soon did their 
 work on poor Cloncurry's frame. His health, day by 
 day, gave way, and the heads of friends and foes were 
 seen to oscillate despondently, as certain grave probabili- 
 ties occurred to them. Pending this, his lordship's grand- 
 father, Valentine Browne, died. His death, as may well 
 be supposed, was materially accelerated by the conscious- 
 ness of the unrelenting persecution to which his noble- 
 minded nephew — whom he dearly loved — was subjected, 
 and the humiliation attendant on that proceeding. 
 
 Amongst the few peers who kindly undertook to make 
 intercession with the ruling powers in favour of the 
 young nobleman, we must not omit to mention Barry 
 Yelverton, Lord Avonmore. He called personally on 
 the Duke of Portland ; pleaded Cloncurry's cause, as he 
 alone could plead ; but, alas ! "all to no effect. His 
 Grace was inexorable, and so was the minister whom he 
 served. With respect to the King, he was, at this time, a 
 harmless lunatic, and knew just as much about Lord Clon- 
 curry's case as that of Jack Myars, who lay immured in 
 the dungeons of Horsemono-er-lane Gaol, on a charge of 
 pickpocketing under unusually aggravated circumstances. 
 
 Weeks rolled over, and still the consuming fire of his 
 persecution abated nothing in its fury. That health, 
 which it cost him so much time, care, and anxiety to 
 re-establish, only a few months previous to his second 
 committal, was even now more cruelly shattered than 
 when he had before been liberated from confinement. 
 Mr. Burne advised his lordship to procure the medical 
 assistance of Sir John Hayes, one of the most eminent 
 physicians of the day. The baronet was sent for, and, 
 having obtained leave to see Lord Cloncurry, examined 
 him. He at once declared that both air and exercise 
 were essentially necessary, but, at the same time, 
 expressed a wish that Dr. Turton (one of the Tower 
 physicians) should be likewise obtained. This desire 
 was acceded to. Dr. Turton felt his lordship's pulse, 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 239 
 
 sounded his chest, tested the respiration auricularly, 
 and looked sagacious. " Although," said Mr. Burne, in 
 one of his letters to Miss Lawless, " Sir J. Hayes was 
 anxious to give such a certificate as, I think, must have 
 procured your brothers liberation, yet Dr. Turton 'posi- 
 tively refused F Sir J. Hayes then said that he 
 could not sign a certificate to which Dr. Turton refused 
 to put his name ; and thus a very important part of my 
 plan has been defeated, to the great gratification of some 
 professed friends here." 
 
 The professed friends alluded to were, as we believe, 
 Mr. Lees and Under-Secretary Cooke. In the letter 
 from the Hon. Charlotte Lawless to Lord Moira, which 
 we have alreadv alluded to, that clear-sighted and esti- 
 mable woman thus spoke of the false friends of her 
 brother : — 
 
 •• Mr. Lees,* and Mr. Cooke, f I do believe to be the decided, though con- 
 cealed, enemies of my brother. They had been intimate in our family as long 
 as I can remember ; and, until my brother was of age to see their views and 
 character, always affected to lead my father's opinions, and direct his deci- 
 sions on even* political question. I need not say how opposite was the part 
 my brother urged him to take. He succeeded for a time ; but by alarming 
 insinuations, and false construction of bis opinions, they so irritated my father 
 against him, that, aware of their conduct, he went to them separately, and 
 told them that if they persisted to interfere he would resent it. * * Mr. 
 
 * Government was not unmindful of Mr. Lees' services. Secretary Cooke, 
 in a letter to Lord Castlereagh, dated March 23rd, 1801, says: — "My Lord 
 Lieutenant has ordered Lees' son to be joined with him, and Hatton to be 
 counsel of accounts." 
 
 f Xewel, the repentant informer, in his published narrative, more than once 
 refers to Mr. Cooke. In one place bespeaks of having heen " hurried to the 
 chamber of seduction, to that arch-betrayer of every honest heart, the insi- 
 nuating Cocke !" " There," said he, " 1 met with all that sweetness of recep- 
 tion, that cringing servility, and fulsome flattery, such sycophants ever use 
 to those whom they wish to seduce to their own ends. To open the soid, to 
 give the tongue an unrestrained command, the wine was freely circulated. 
 The Secretary set his pens and papers ready for the work. * * During 
 nine hours I sat with Cooke : he drew out my examinations, the theory of 
 which was mostly true, but which his inventive genius highly embellished * * 
 Mr. Cooke, I call upon you is this not true ? Did you not make me enter in 
 my list men with whose very names I was unacquainted? Did you not make 
 me arrest the friend of the poor, the comforter of the afflicted, Dr. Crawford, of 
 Lisbum, only because I mentioned having once dined in his company ?" A 
 striking likeness of Mr. Cooke may be found in the Paris edition of Sir 
 Jonah Barrington's " Rise and Fall of the Trish Nation." 
 
] 
 
 240 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 Cooke acted, I believe, from resentment, and, perhaps, apprehension of my 
 brother's threat. Both, I am convinced, represented him to Government 
 as too dangerous to be left at liberty, and gave such a turn to the few acts of 
 imprudence his generous disposition led him into, as might, in some measure, 
 justify his arrest. Knowing we had no friends who had any interest to cause 
 an inquiry, they supposed he would remain forgotten in his prison : but when 
 they found that the zealous affection of sisters, fondly attached to the best 
 of brothers, of whom they have ever been justly proud, would make every 
 exertion to procure his liberation, they adopted the plan of appearing to 
 serve us." 
 
 Mr. Cooke paid Lord Cloiicurry frequent visits during 
 his confinement. His lordship often declared, in after 
 life, that he believed that gentleman's view in doing so 
 was to betray him into " unguarded admissions." Hav- 
 ng heard so much about Mr. Cooke, the reader, doubt- 
 less, will peruse a letter of his with some gusto. Surely, 
 11 La Tartuffe" appears peeping out of every line of it : — 
 
 [No. 8.] TO THE HON. CHARLOTTE LAWLESS. 
 
 " London, 6th November, 1799. 
 
 " Dear Miss Charlotte, — I was much flattered by your letter, because 
 it proved your conviction that I should ever be disposed to interest myself 
 where your wishes were engaged. It is, of course, a subject of real mortifica- 
 tion to me that my representations respecting your brother have not been 
 successful. Several circumstances have arisen, even since I have been in 
 London, which have contributed to increase the reluctance felt to grant him 
 his liberty. * * You may have' this consolation, that however Lord 
 Cloncurry's confinement may be irksome, it has not yet, in any degree, 
 affected his health. * * * With the most sincere regard, dear Miss Charlotte, 
 vours most faithful and humble, 
 
 11 E. Cooke."* 
 
 If Mr. Pitt and his colleagues were determined to 
 harass their prisoner with persecution, he was resolved, 
 in return, to worry them with petitions. At his lordship's 
 request, Mr. Burne drew up a memorial, addressed to the 
 Lords of the Privy Council, giving a detailed account of 
 his sufferings from the commencement, and requesting 
 that, in consideration of Lord Cloncurry's sudden death 
 and the consequent confusion which encircled his affairs, 
 memorialist would be permitted to go to Ireland for a few 
 weeks on bail, in order to throw matters into some sort of 
 
 * This and the other letters, relative to his lordship's imprisonment, from 
 which Ave have culled the foregoing extracts, appeared some years ago, in the 
 " Personal Recollections of Lord Cloncurry." 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 241 
 
 order. Etiquette demanded that the petition should 
 pass through the hands of the Duke of Portland, as Se- 
 cretary of State, and custom required that his Grace 
 should notify to petitioner the intentions of the council in 
 his regard. " They are of opinion," writes his Grace, 
 " on duly considering your memorial, that it is not ad- 
 visable, under present circumstances, that the prayer of 
 it should be complied with." 
 
 So within the walls of a gloomy prison poor Lord 
 Cloncurry was doomed to waste the vigour of his young 
 existence, till such time as the Privy Council did consi- 
 der it advisable to relax the pressure of his shackles. 
 Poor Cloncurry ! there he lay, unconvicted and untried ; 
 neglected and forlorn ; and treated with a severity of rigour 
 unexampled on any former occasion in the case of a person 
 imprisoned for security, and not for punishment. Were 
 even public expressions of sympathy made in his regard, 
 it might have contributed, in some degree, to smooth the 
 pillow of his affliction. But nothing of the kind took 
 place. The Irish newspapers were dumb ;* they feared 
 to open their lips in depreciation of the Portland policy ; 
 the people were paralysed. They stood inert and as- 
 tounded before the ministerial burglars, Clare and Castle- 
 reagh, who made daily inroads on the liberty of the consti- 
 tution, and who, with countenances of brass, and hearts of 
 remorseless adamant, offered bribes and coronets to cor- 
 rupt the sentinels stationed to protect from robbery the 
 virtue and independence of their country. Why there 
 was not some effort made, by even the friends and rela- 
 
 * Long before and long after this period, the Dublin Evening Post was the 
 organ of the national party in Ireland. We have in vain searched the pages 
 of this paper for some expression of sympathy with Lord Cloncurry's suffer- 
 ings. Since the little notice in reference to his arrest by Eivett, in April, 
 1799, until the 14th January, 1800, his name is never even once alluded to. In* 
 November, the Sun (ministerial paper) circidated a report that his lordship's 
 health was fearfully on the decline. This appears to have been the signal 
 for the Post to break silence — " We are happy," it says, " to contradict a 
 report some time since published in the London papers, that Lord Cloncurry 
 has been dangerously indisposed. His lordship is in perfect health, and has 
 continued so since his imprisonment in the Tower, notwithstanding the severity 
 of his confinement." This paragraph contained as much truth as the majority 
 of newspaper paragraphs, which certainly is not saying much in its favour. 
 
 M 
 
24.2 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 tives of his lordship, to awaken the torpor of a people 
 proverbially hostile to injustice, we cannot satisfactorily 
 account for. The rebellion of '98 was long ago suppressed. 
 Lord Cloncurry enjoyed his liberty during the greater 
 part of that inflammatory period. But now, forsooth, lest 
 he should raise his voice still higher against the ministe- 
 rial scheme, and expose the duplicity of Mr. Pitt and 
 his agents, we find him thrown into a humid dungeon — 
 all intercourse of his family cut off — and despotically 
 denied the means of any occupation which would contri- 
 bute to while away one tedious hour of his existence. 
 And all this crushing persecution " on suspicion" as the 
 Portland warrant said, " of treasonable practices/" How 
 any Irishman could be supposed (in England especially) 
 to be guilty of treasonable practices, at a time when 
 every ray of hope for national independence had been 
 shut out from Ireland's vision by the black thunder-clouds 
 of ill-success, appears to us inconceivable. The first anti- 
 Union pamphlet was not yet forgiven* — forgotten it could 
 never be. 
 
 * Lord Cloncurry was always of opinion, that his prolonged imprisonment 
 was solely attributable to his exposure of the Union project, in 1796. 
 Statements to this effect may be found in his lordship's letter to the Rev. 
 Mr. O'Malley, in 1847, which see. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Progress of the Legislative Union — The Irish People awaken at the eleventh 
 Hour, and, with a Shriek of Defiance, start to their Feet — Great Bar 
 Meeting in Dublin — Opposition from a Handful of briefless Barristers — 
 Anti-Union Resolutions — Debate in Parliament — Unblushing Tergiver- 
 sation of Mr. Trench, of Woodlawn, afterwards Lord Ashtown — Xobl° 
 Behaviour in Parliament of the uncorrupted Portion of the Representation — 
 Dismissals as in 1789 — Infamous Avowal of Lord Castlereagh — Sixty-one 
 new Titles — An uninterrupted Stream of Corruption pours along — 
 Grattan's determined Burst of Oratorical Resistance — Ambition of Lord 
 Clare — at first averse to the Union — His intemperate Language in the 
 English Parliament — Called to Order — His Attack on the Opposition — 
 Crushed hy John Duke of Bedford — His Humiliation — Abandons the 
 House of Lords for ever, and proceeds to Ireland, broken-hearted and 
 dismayed — Death of John Fitzgibbon, Earl of Clare. 
 
 It now behoves us to look after Lord Castlereagh, who, 
 radiant with smiles, and beaming with urbanity, is aiming 
 a deadly stab at the heart of his country. 
 
 Not until December, 1799, did the people of Ireland 
 awaken from that fatal lethargy into which Mr. William 
 Pitt had so adroitly plunged them. Just as the old year 
 was on the point of expiring, the people started up, 
 rubbed their eyes, and shrieked forth a shout of in- 
 dignation and defiance. Their sleep was too long, how- 
 ever, and their resistance came too late. Perhaps the most 
 important public meeting on the subject of a Union was 
 that of the gentlemen of the Irish bar, on the 9th De- 
 cember. It was convened in order to discuss its merits 
 and demerits. Saurin, who had unbounded influence in 
 his profession, opened the debate. He made an anti- 
 Union speech, and moved an anti-Union resolution. The 
 attack was followed up by Burroughs, Plunket, Burton, 
 Sankey, Bushe, Barrington, Joy, and a host of other 
 eminent King's counsel, who rose, in after life, to high 
 forensic positions. 
 
244 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 Lord Clare sent several briefless barristers to speak in 
 favour of a Union, and, amongst tire number, his nephew, 
 Mr. John Beresford. Their arguments were, for the most 
 part, vapid and unpointed. The last speaker on the 
 side of Ireland was Mr., afterwards Master, Goold. 
 His peroration produced a tempest of applause. " The 
 great Creator of the world," said he, " has given our be- 
 loved country the gigantic outlines of a kingdom. The 
 God of Nature never intended that Ireland should be a 
 province, and by G — ■ she neve?' shall." A division then 
 took place, when 32 votes appeared in favour of the 
 Union, and 166 against it. 
 
 Every man of this contemptible minority was, soon 
 afterwards, promoted by Lord Clare to the rank of judge 
 or commissioner, with salaries verging from £3,000 to 
 <s£6,000 per annum. A number of these notoriously parti- 
 san, vulgar, and incompetent justices were, for thirty years 
 after, familiarly known and ridiculed as " Union Judges." 
 
 Ireland was at last aroused to the perilous nature of 
 her position. On the 17th December, the Lord Mayor, 
 sheriffs, commons, and citizens met, and announced their 
 intention of resisting the contemplated aggression. On 
 the next day, the bankers and merchants of Dublin 
 assembled, and declared, that since the renunciation, in 
 1782, of English legislative power, our commerce and 
 prosperity had eminently increased. These blessings 
 they attributed to the wisdom of the Irish Parliament; 
 and they regarded with abhorrence any attempt to 
 deprive them of its services. The Fellows of Trinity 
 College, the gentry of the County Dublin, and the free- 
 holders of Westmeath, had also meetings respectively, 
 and protested against the Union, as hostile to the rights, 
 liberties, and independence of Ireland. The Gal way 
 resolutions were particularly strong. They denied the 
 power of the representatives of the people to vote away 
 the independence of the realm, and condemned the 
 transfer of the right of legislation to any foreign country, 
 without the general consent of the people, as equivalent 
 to a dissolution of the existing Government. But to 
 attempt to epitomize one-fourth of the anti-Union reso- 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 245 
 
 lutions would be utterly impracticable in tlie limits of 
 this volume. 
 
 Parliament opened, and tlie Union debates came on. 
 During tlie recess, Lords Clare and Castlereagh bad an 
 anxious and a busy time of it, corrupting, bribing, inti- 
 midating, and seducing. They had secured many votes, 
 but still barely enough to accomplish their detestable 
 purpose. A very remarkable instance of public tergi- 
 versation and seduction occurred during the first night's 
 debate. It turned a majority of one in favour of the 
 minister. Folk long suspected that Mr. Trench, of 
 Woodlawn, had been in negotiation with Lord Castle- 
 reagh. From his behaviour, however, on the night in 
 question, it was supposed that his conditions were too 
 extravagant for that nobleman. Mr. Trench declared, 
 in presence of a crowded House, that he would vote 
 against Pitt, and support Ponsonby's amendment. "This," 
 observes Sir Jonah Barrington, who was an eye-witness 
 of the transaction, " appeared a stunning blow to Mr. 
 Cooke, who had been previously in conversation with 
 Mr. Trench. He was immediately observed sidling from 
 his seat, nearer to Lord Castlereagh. They whispered 
 earnestly ; and, as if restless and undecided, both looked 
 wistfully at Trench. At length the matter seemed to 
 be determined on. Mr. Cooke retired to a back seat, 
 and was obviously endeavouring to count the House — 
 probably to guess if they could that night dispense with 
 Mr. Trench's services. He returned to Lord Castle- 
 reagh ; they whispered, and again looked at Mr. Trench. 
 But there was no time to lose; the question was ap- 
 proaching. All shame was banished; they decided on 
 the terms, and a significant glance, obvious to everybody, 
 convinced Mr. Trench that his conditions were agreed 
 to. Mr. Cooke then went and sat down by his side ; an 
 earnest but very short conversation took place ; a parting 
 smile completely told the House that Mr. Trench was 
 satisfied. These surmises were soon verified. Mr. Cooke 
 went back to Lord Castlereagh; a congratulatory nod 
 announced his satisfaction. But could any man for one 
 moment suppose that an M.P. of large fortune, of re- 
 
246 CLONCUERT AND HIS TIMES, 
 
 spectable family, and good character, could be public, 
 and without shame or compunction, actually seduced by 
 Lord Castlereagh, under the eye of two hundred and 
 twenty gentlemen? In a few minutes, Mr. Trench rose 
 to apologise for having indiscreetly declared he would 
 support the amendment. He added, that he had thought 
 better of the subject; that he had been convinced he was 
 wrong, and would support the minister." In less than six 
 weeks from that date, Mr. Trench rejoiced in the title of 
 Lord Ashtown. 
 
 Oh, that our volume were not an octavo but a folio, 
 in order that we might cull the beauties* of those masterly 
 anti-L T nion orations, which in 1799 awakened the echos 
 of the Irish Parliament. Speeches of equal power, point. 
 and brilliancv were never before heard within those 
 walls. Some of the greatest constitutional lawvers — 
 Plunket, Saurin, Bushe, Ponsonby, Curran, Ball — flung 
 the weight of their powerful influence into the scale in 
 favour of Irish legislative independence. The minions 
 of Government cowered and shrank before their burning 
 eloquence, like so many weeds in presence of a scorching 
 furnace. Mask after mask fell from the countenances of 
 the political dissemblers. The national party denounced 
 m. They exposed their perfidy, their tergiversation, 
 and their dishonour. They proved, on every principle 
 of law and justice, the utter incompetence of an Irish 
 Commons to pass, or even to receive, any Act of L nion 
 extinguishing their own existence, and betraving the 
 trusts they were delegated to protect. Among the patriots 
 not in the profession of the law, who spoke against the 
 Lnion, were Grattan, Parsons, Forbes, O'Hara, Con 
 Clements, Caulfleld (now Earl of Charlemont). Kim 
 borough, Cole. M'Donnell, &c. This latter gentleman, 
 who was a colonel in the army, resisted every species of 
 biibe. A peerage would, no doubt, have rewarded his 
 tergiversation had he forgotten the duties of an Irishman 
 and a Christian. Roused by Lord Castlereagh's violent 
 language in the House, he started up and " disclaimed all 
 future allegiance, if a Union were effected. He held it 
 a3 a vicious revolution, and avowed that he would take 
 
CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 247 
 
 tlie field at the head of his regiment to oppose its execu- 
 tion, and would resist rebels in rich clothes as he had 
 done the rebels in rags." We need scarcelv add that 
 beibre next evening he found an official dismissal from 
 the King's sendee awaiting his return home. 
 
 The Right Hon. J. Fitzgerald, who held the highest 
 law post — i. e. the Prime Sergeantey of Ireland — was also 
 unceremoniously dismissed from office. He refused, point 
 blank, to support the Union, and he suffered for his 
 honesty. St. John Daly, a briefless barrister, strutted 
 into his berth. The Right Hon. J. Parnell was Chan- 
 cellor of the Exchequer. Having been offered bribes of 
 every form and Hue in vain, he was requested by Lord 
 Castlereagh to vacate office, which he did. 
 
 Sir Jonah Barrington held the office of Judge of Ad- 
 miralty. Need we say that he flung the full force of his 
 eloquence and logic against the measure, and that by to 
 doing he lost his place. But it would be perfectly hope- 
 less to enumerate all the cases of this kind that occurred. 
 The creatures who voted against their country and their 
 conscience were rewarded in proportion as the indepen- 
 dent were punished. Titles were given to some, pensions 
 and place to others, and cash in hand to those who pre- 
 ferred it. "Well might the immaculate Castlereagh ex- 
 claim, in a burst o£ unguarded candour, on this occasion, 
 "half a million was expended some time since to break 
 down an opposition. TJie same, or perhaps more, may 
 be necessary now.™ 
 
 The million and a half, the Peerage, and the Bench, 
 soon accomplished what the touch of the magician would 
 be hardly able to effect : and on the 6th of February, 
 1800, we find the Act of Union carried, or, rather, 
 forced, by a majority of forty-nine in the Lords, and 
 forty-three in the Commons. Most of the noblemen ( 
 were, to their shame be it recorded, thanked with hard 
 cash — most of the Commoners with titular honours. 
 Sixty- oxe new titles recompensed their valuable ser- 
 vices. That is to say, four new titles of Marquis, six 
 new Earls, thirteen new Viscounts, three new ^ iscount- 
 esses (women have more political inffuence than might. 
 
248 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 perhaps, be imagined), thirty-three new Barons, and 
 twelve new Baronets. 
 
 An uninterrupted stream of corruption poured along. 
 From the highest pinnacle of society it flowed, besmear- 
 ing every grade downward, even unto the very beggars 
 in the streets and the felons in the gaols. All means 
 were resorted to to swell a petition in advocacy of the 
 Union. The paupers were bribed with halfpence to affix 
 their signatures — the felons with promises of pardon. 
 
 No wonder for Earl Grey to declare, when Prime Mi- 
 nister of England, that " no means could have been more 
 corrupt than those by which the Union was carried." 
 
 Reader, it did not come within the sc&pe of this volume 
 to trace, even with an outline touch, the progress of that 
 glorious national movement which eventuated in the 
 bloodless revolution of 1782. To the spirit and intellect 
 of Henry Grattan, Colonel of the Volunteers, Ireland 
 was indebted for that memorable achievement. A grateful 
 people styled him " the Father of his Country's Inde- 
 pendence." To use his own metaphor, he watched over 
 its cradle in '82, defended it from danger in '89, and at 
 length followed its hearse to the grave, in 1800. What 
 must have been the feelings of the great man when, dis- 
 gusted at the scenes of venality and perfidy which met 
 his eye on every side, and despairing of the sacred cause 
 which brought him thither, he sank, exhausted, into his 
 seat, after one of the most determined bursts of oratorical 
 resistance that had ever reverberated within the walls of 
 an assaulted Parliament. 
 
 We have been often asked, what could have induced 
 Lord Clare to exert himself so energetically in promoting 
 the Act of Legislative Union, when, by so doing, he was 
 rapidly bringing to a termination that gorgeous reign of 
 power, pride, and splendour which he created, with so 
 much labour, for himself in Ireland, and whose conti- 
 nuance, it was natural to suppose, he would like to luxu- 
 riate in. The answer is simply this. His ambition was 
 of colossal magnitude. It knew no bounds, and it saw 
 no goal at which to terminate the journey. The Earl, 
 however, knew, that it was only by certain steps or gra- 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 249 
 
 dations that any progress of importance could ever be 
 achieved. We are enabled to state, on the most unques- 
 tionable authority, that Lord Chancellor Clare was at 
 first averse to a Union. He, however, thought better of 
 it, as the restless plunges of the devil within him — his 
 own demoniac ambition — carried him away. The entire 
 face of Ireland he had long covered with his partisans. 
 Every lord in the House was his automaton. The move- 
 ments of every official in the Castle were guided by his 
 hand. The Viceroy bowed down before him, and the 
 Commons worshipped him. Deluded by the ignis fat uns 
 of his own ambition, he conceived that he might even- 
 tually rule the British Councils, as he had contrived to 
 govern those of Ireland. The Union carried, and a 
 splendid and more expansive field was opened to him. 
 " Let my influence be transferred," he soliloquised, " and 
 who knows but I may succeed in placing the King of 
 England beneath my thumb, with as little trouble as I 
 did his representative in Ireland. Stimulated by such 
 reflections, every scruple vanished, and the ambitious 
 Chancellor applied himself, " tooth and nail," to the ac- 
 complishment of a Union. 
 
 " If I live," said Lord Clare, when the measure was 
 brought before the House of Peers, " if I live to see the 
 Union completed, to my latest hour I shall feel an honour- 
 able pride in reflecting on the little share I mag have had 
 in contributing to effect it." 
 
 Had his lordship used the words, " the torment of a 
 guilty conscience," instead of " an honourable pride" it 
 would have been nearer the truth. Poor humanity ! 
 Wretched, foolish man, whilst he imagined himself 
 weaving the purple garment of wealth and authority, he 
 was, in reality, preparing the winding sheet for his own 
 corpse, his splendour,* and his power. Eager to grasp the 
 scroll and mace of British authority, the Earl of Clare no 
 sooner succeeded in prostrating his country to the earth, 
 than he rushed, with seven leagued strides, to join the 
 
 * An idea may be formed of the pomp in which he lived, by the fact of 
 his carriage alone costing £4,000. 
 
 M 2 
 
250 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 Imperial Parliament. His first appearance there was in 
 the month of February, 1801. He met with nothing but 
 rebuffs. The man who for years knew not what it was 
 to hear the slightest difference of opinion in antagonism 
 to his own, felt himself humbled to the dust by being 
 called to order twice in the course of fifteen minutes. 
 
 We extract the following epitome of the parliamentary 
 proceedings, on this occasion, from the Dublin Evening 
 Post, of Feb. 14, 1801. The Irish reader will observe, 
 with disgust and indignation, the but too successful 
 attempts of his lordship to cajole the Roman Catholics out 
 of their expressly stipulated Emancipation : — 
 
 " Lord Moira condemned the whole of the conduct of Government with 
 regard to Ireland. * * 
 
 " Lord Clare declared that there was no country in the world composed of 
 more combustible materials than Ireland, and that the Catholics did not care 
 one jot about Emancipation.* 
 
 " As he was proceeding on tl#s subject, he was called to order by Lord 
 Suffolk, and the Lord Chancellor admitted that it Avas proper to call him to 
 order !" 
 
 Upon referring to the Parliamentary Register, we find 
 that his lordship was again called to order before the 
 lapse of five minutes after Lord Suffolk's interference. 
 
 After a few crest-fallen appearances in the Upper 
 House, Lord Clare, finding the ground rapidly slipping 
 from under him, resolved to make one energetic effort, 
 like the wild and random grasping of a man tumbling 
 down a precipice, to recover the lost position, and bully 
 and browbeat those Saxon peers who twitted him. Ac- 
 tuated by desperation, he made a furious onslaught on the 
 Opposition in the Lords, and insolently' stigmatized that 
 respectable body as "Jacobins" and " Levellers." John, Duke 
 of Bedford, started to his feet. "We would not bear this 
 insult," said he, " from an equal, and shall we endure it 
 at the hands of upstart nobility ?" 
 
 * The speech, of which this was a summary, abused Ireland and Irishmen 
 violently. Even Mr. Pitt was disgusted with his own utensil's excess of 
 rascality. " Good G — d," said he, addressing Mr. Wilberforce, who was 
 standing near him, " did ever you hear, in all your life, so great a rascal as 
 that?" Mr. Grattan mentions, in the memoirs of his father, that this anec- 
 dote was stated bv Mr. Wilberforce to Mr. North. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 251 
 
 Dismayed, humiliated, and chagrined, his splendid 
 visions of power and prosperity dashed into atoms of mist, 
 he slunk from the House, and returned to end his days in 
 Ireland, a broken-hearted man. 
 
 Immediately on his return, he found the knocker of 
 his hall-door assailed as usual by hundreds of applicants, 
 craving for place and pension. " Ah," said he, as for the 
 first time in his life he began to calculate his influence 
 and found it wanting, " /that once had all Ireland at my 
 disposal, cannot now nominate the appointment of a 
 gauger." 
 
 His already broken heart split into a thousand fragments 
 at this reflection, and on the 28th January, 1802, John 
 Fitzgibbon, Earl of Clare, yielded up his spirit.* 
 
 On his death-bed, he bitterly deplored, to his surround- 
 ing relatives, that he should have ever taken hand, act, 
 or part in effecting so ruinous a measure as the Union. 
 
 This fact is given on the authority of his lordship's 
 nephew in Grattan's memoirs, and Dr. Madden stamps it 
 with authenticity, by the statement of having heard it 
 from his lordship's niece. 
 
 Poor human nature ! What a pitiable contrast does the 
 peroration of Clare's Union speech on the Woolsack form 
 to the peroration of that delivered on his death-bed of 
 down. 
 
 The fate of his colleague, Lord Castlereagh, is well 
 known. The wretched Judas put a period to his own 
 existence. 
 
 On the day of Clare's funeral, Lord Cloncurry re- 
 turned, a free man, to Ireland. " And thereby hangs a 
 tale," which, when the fitting time arrives, we shall lay 
 before our readers. 
 
 * Plowden states, that after Lord Clare understood his case to be hopeless, 
 he thought only of devotion, and, three times on the same day, partook of 
 the Sacrament, from the hands of his brother-in-law, the Archbishop of 
 Tuam. As his dissolution approached, the Earl vainly expressed an anxious 
 desire to be attended by a Catholic priest. This was the man who, in 1787, 
 attempted to introduce a Bill for demolishing Catholic chapels! 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Still in the Tower — Why the Members of the Peerage were silent in Lord 
 Cloncurry 's Eegard — Lord Cornwallis declares his Inability to interfere — 
 Lord Moira and Mr. Ponsonby modify Lord Cloncnrry's Petition — The 
 Latter loses his Temper and his Patience — Subjected to extraordinary 
 Intrusions — Affection of the Hon. C. Lawless for her Brother — The Duke 
 of Portland again petitioned — Cruel Rigour observed — Death of Mary 
 Ryal — Happy Night Dreams dispelled by the cold Reality of Morning — 
 A happy Day, but not a Wedding — George III.'s Insanity — Its Conse- 
 quences — Manly Conduct of Despard and his Friends — Mr. Bonham's 
 Tergiversation — Festivity — Marriage of Lord Cloncurry's two younger 
 Sisters — His Lordship arrives in Dublin — Frightful Scene at Lord Clare's 
 Funeral — Lord Cloncurry requested by Lady Clare to soothe the foaming 
 Indignation of the People — Lord Cloncurry filled with Melancholy at the 
 Prospects of his Country — Starts for the Continent — Paris — Nice — Be- 
 holds Georgiana Morgan for the first Time — Falls inextricably in Love 
 with her — Matrimonial Engagement — Incident at Leghorn — The Eternal 
 City — Love Making — " Marry in Haste, and Repent at Leisure." 
 
 The year 1800* opened, and found his lordship still a 
 state prisoner in the Tower of London. The excitement 
 
 * The name of Lord Cloncurry had now become indissolubly connected 
 with that of his prison. He was rarely alluded to unless as " Lord Cloncurry 
 of the Tower." In one of Tom Moore's letters to his mother, speaking of 
 the subscribers to " Anacreon,'' hesaj's: — "Do not be diffident in your appli- 
 cations. Hume has given me the name of Lord Cloncurry of the Tower" 
 
 We have referred, in page 166 of this work, to the many anonymous 
 communications from spies and informers, which appear among the Castle- 
 reagh papers. As the following extract from one of the more absurd is 
 chronologically in place, and contains, moreover, a familiar reference, we 
 insert it. The writer is said to have been a friend of Mr. Cooke's : — " I 
 have received information from a Papist. He hinted the business in acciden- 
 tal conversation, and I invited him to dine. Over a bottle of champaigne I 
 received the following information. * * In about two weeks there is likely 
 to be great confusion. Says Popish women are to take an active part, and 
 be armed ; thinks a massacre of all rich heads of families may be the object. 
 * * Says, that for some time back he is afraid to sleep at his farm, which 
 is near the demesne of Mr. Henry, of Straffan, and near Lord Cloncurry's 
 house. Says that Cloncurry house, and Henry's house, is the grand place 
 for nightly meetings. Both houses are only in the care of servants." It 
 never occurred to Mr. Cooke's friend, that the Papist might have been 
 "chaffing" him. — See Castlereagh Memoir and Correspondence, vol. ii. 
 p. 417. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 253 
 
 and bustle, consequent on the approaching Union, pre- 
 vented the Irish representative peers from taking up 
 Lord Cloncurry's case, and demanding an investigation 
 into the strange circumstances of his imprisonment. As 
 a member of the Irish peerage, that body were called 
 upon, by etiquette and right, to interfere ; but the all- 
 absorbing subject of a Legislative Union excluded, com- 
 pletely, every other topic of debate. 
 
 The Hon. Charlotte Lawless, hoping that an interfer- 
 ence, on the part of Lord Cornwallis, in her brother s 
 behalf, would be productive of satisfactory results, memo- 
 rialized his Excellency (who had the reputation of being a 
 benevolent man) to intercede for him. She entered into 
 all those explanations concerning his acts and intentions, 
 and the treatment lie met with, which have been already 
 laid before the reader, and, therefore, need not now be 
 repeated. The Viceroy, in a courteous letter, expressed 
 his concern that it was wholly impossible for him to 
 interfere. 
 
 George Ponsonby, early in this year, consented, at the 
 solicitation of Lord Cloncurry's family, to present to Par- 
 liament a petition from the noble prisoner. This, which 
 was at first drawn up by Lord Cloncurry himself, con- 
 tained many passages written under the influence of strong 
 irritation, which, if read aloud to the House, could not 
 fail to be productive of unfavourable results. Ponsonby 
 having pared the memorial of these objectionable passages, 
 consented to chaperon it. The worthy Earl Moira also 
 examined the petition. He made particular objection to 
 one paragraph, wherein Lord Cloncurry requested per- 
 mission to reside, temporarily, at Lisbon. " From that," 
 said Lord Moira, " it would appear as if my friend classed 
 himself with Neilson, Emmet, and M'Nevin, who acknow- 
 ledged criminality, and compounded for the penalty of 
 xpatriation." The wisdom of Lord Moira's observation 
 appeared to Mr. Ponsonby. The objectionable proposal 
 was, accordingly, expunged. 
 
 Whilst Lord Moira and Mr. Ponsonby were engaged 
 in modifying the petition, Miss C. Lawless received a 
 letter from her brother, enclosing the drafts of one to Mr. 
 
254 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 Pitt, and another to the public, both for insertion in the 
 public journals. The letter to Pitt was a furious diatribe, 
 branding him, amongst other accusations, as the arch- 
 corruptionist of the day. So intemperate was the tone that 
 no good could result from its publication. That addressed 
 to the public was, likewise, in many respects, ill-judged, 
 and Miss Lawless, with her usual good sense, came to the 
 determination of suppressing both, notwithstanding that 
 her brother declared, if she declined to do as requested, he 
 would authorize a person in London to have his wishes 
 fulfilled. For the first time, since his committal, Lord 
 Cloncurry lost both his temper and his patience. 
 
 The rigour of his confinement was, if anything, upon 
 the increase. Though the use of books and newspapers 
 was occasionally granted, he knew not the moment 
 Colonel Smith would capriciously withdraw them. Ex- 
 cept under pressing circumstances, the companionship of 
 his family and friends was strictly prohibited. Mr. 
 Edward Cooke, however, appears to have had easy and 
 frequent access to him. The evident motive of these 
 visits has already been referred to. But others besides 
 Cooke obtained admission. One morning, two notorious 
 
 ladies of the time, Mesdames J and P , subjected 
 
 him to an intrusion of a very extraordinary nature. Alter 
 a few words of gentle commiseration, they gave our 
 noble hero to understand that they had thus been enabled 
 to obtain an interview with him through the instrumen- 
 tality of a kindred spirit, who stood in the dignified posi- 
 tion of chere amie to the Duke of Portland, and who, 
 most probably, could effect his liberation, if appealed to 
 with becoming fervour and sincerity. After this preamble, 
 it was delicately insinuated, that the moderate considera- 
 tion of £500, in hand, would be the means of bringing 
 about his lordship's enlargement. It is scarcely necessary 
 to add, that the proposal was rejected with disdain and 
 indignation. 
 
 Their hunger for booty did not terminate in the 
 Tower defeat. No sooner had they left his lordship's 
 cell than they repaired to the lodgings of the Hon. 
 Valentina Lawless (who was then in London) and produced 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 255 
 
 a pencilled scrap of paper, purporting to be in tlie hand- 
 writing of Lord Cloncurry. The document requested 
 that Miss Lawless would present £500 to bearer, and 
 please to debit " Cloncurry" with same. The forgery was, 
 at once, detected, and the fair visitors, with as much dig- 
 nity as could be mustered for the occasion, withdrew. A 
 report was immediately circulated by them to the effect, 
 that had Lord Cloncurry 's sisters been generous, lie might 
 then have been free. 
 
 Were it not for the balmy words of affection and con- 
 solation with which the Hon. Charlotte Lawless constantly 
 endeavoured to heal the wounded sensibility of her bro- 
 ther, and soothe his irritation by advice and caresses, the 
 rigour of his imprisonment would have been well nigh 
 calculated to drive him mad. " If anything," wrote that 
 estimable woman, in one of her natural and ingenuous 
 letters, " could afford me a moment's pleasure, whilst your 
 persecution continues, it was the sight of a letter written 
 by you. O, my Val., do not let your admirable fortitude 
 forsake you ; something must, something shall be done, 
 ere long, depend upon it." Twelve months' incessant 
 captivity had now elapsed. His lordship was not without 
 hope that ministers would now consider him sufficiently 
 punished, were a touching and temperate statement of 
 his afflictions, insults, and privations submitted to them. 
 Lord Cloncurry, accordingly, petitioned the Duke of 
 Portland, but nothing more consolatory than the old 
 answer came. His Grace's reply fell like a deadening pall 
 upon the prisoner's hopes. Did they want to kill him 
 outright? Verily, it looked extremely like it. 
 
 Early in June, John Reeves, having obtained the 
 necessary warrant of admission, visited his lordship. He 
 wished to cheer his drooping soul with the intelligence 
 that some movement at Whitehall towards a reconsidera- 
 tion of the habeas corpus cases of confinement was, as he 
 had heard, in progress. " I should have been glad," 
 said Mr. Reeves, in a note to Miss Lawless, " to com- 
 municate this to him, but there are always persons in the 
 room while I am there, who convey to persons they like 
 
256 * CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 to gratify, everything I should say that looks a little in- 
 teresting." Mr. Reeves added that his lordship was desi- 
 rous to forward a congratulatory address to the king on 
 his escape from assassination, but, having no pen or ink, 
 could not, of course, do so. 
 
 Seventeen long and dreary months rolled over in this 
 way. Memorials were drawn up, presented, spurned, 
 and trampled upon. At length the Hon. Charlotte Law- 
 less undertook to plead her brother's cause in person, 
 and, as a preliminary, addressed some communications to 
 the Duke that ought to have softened a heart of adamant. 
 In one of these she mentioned that the amiable and in- 
 teresting girl to whom her brother was to have been 
 " married on the eve of his arrest," and who, from that 
 day, had gradually wasted away, was now pronounced 
 almost past recovery. " Her friends strongly hope," she 
 wrote, "some benefit from change of air. It is hardly 
 necessary to suggest, that seeing my brother at liberty 
 would be much more likely to save her life." The 
 petition was refused. Poor Mary Ryal fell beneath this 
 accumulated weight of sorrow, and ere many weeks 
 elapsed, the churchyard grass budded fresh above her 
 grave ! ■ 
 
 Counsellor Burne had, in September, 1800, business 
 of importance to transact with Lord Cloncurry. Imme- 
 diately on his arrival in London, he wrote to the Duke 
 for permission to see his prisoner. Not until after the 
 lapse of some days, and a second application having been 
 addressed to his Grace, was any acknowledgment re- 
 ceived. At length, the coveted licence was conceded. 
 " I remained with him three hours," wrote Mr. Burne to 
 Miss Lawless, " and read to him all the papers you gave 
 me, but he declined keeping any of them, for if he had, 
 they must have been inspected by the governor, with 
 whom he is much displeased." We merely mention this 
 trivial circumstance to show how truly miserable was 
 Lord Cloncurry 's position when every private letter, or 
 family document, had necessarily to be submitted to 
 Colonel Smith's scrutiny. It is but fair to add that, 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 257 
 
 betore the expiration of a month after Mr. Burne's arrival 
 in London, he obtained, in consideration of his calling, 
 a general order of admission to see Lord Cloncurry. 
 
 About this period Mr. Burne took upon himself to write 
 to the Secretary of State, without the authority or know- 
 ledge of Lord Cloncurry. He considered it too favourable 
 an opportunity for softening the obduracy of ministerial 
 hearts to be neglected. He expatiated with great feel- 
 ing upon the sad — the master calamity which had recently 
 befallen his lordship. "It is not easy," said Mr. Burne, 
 "to conceive a situation so truly pitiable as that of the 
 wretched young man who has sustained this irreparable 
 loss, embittered as it is by the reflection that he was the 
 involuntary cause of all." Mr. Burne might have spared 
 himself this trouble. The "enlargement" of his friend 
 could " not possibly" be granted. That Lord Cloncurry 
 knew nothing of this correspondence was fortunate. 
 Knowledge of its existence could not fail to enkindle in 
 his breast considerable irritation and resentment. Some 
 time previously he had come to the determination of 
 making no further effort at obtaining his liberty. His 
 pride could not brook another refusal. 
 
 Before he started for Dublin Mr. Burne visited Lord 
 Cloncurry in his cell, and urged him strongly to take 
 care of his health. This advice was unnecessary, for his 
 lordship assured him that the more he suffered the more 
 anxious he would be to take the care suggested, in order 
 that, at some future day, he might be able to assert his 
 innocence and show his resentment.* Mr. Burne en- 
 couraged this sentiment, in the belief that it would be 
 the means of preserving him. 
 
 On the evening of December 15th, 1800, the sinking 
 hopes of Lord Cloncurry once more started into bright 
 
 * This sentiment, in a milder form of expression, is embodied in his lord- 
 ship's petition to Parliament: — " A very large portion of his landed property is 
 out of lease, and uncultivated. His confinement has cost him above 
 £100,000 sterling, the life of a kind father and a betrothed wife. In short, 
 life would be no longer supportable to him if he did not hope for an oppor- 
 tunity to vindicate his character and to prove his wrongs." His lordship 
 added, that so great were his sufferings he would prefer the death of a traitor 
 a thousand times before them. 
 
258 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 vitality upon receiving the intelligence that a very ani- 
 mated discussion had on that day been entered into 
 relative to the propriety of continuing the suspension of 
 the Habeas Corpus Act. On the 19th December it was 
 renewed.* A division took place. The popular motion 
 was negatived, and the heart of his lordship fell again. 
 
 The cold grey dawn which enveloped the birth of 
 January 1st, 1801, still found Cloncurry, as it sluggishly 
 pierced through the loopholes of his dungeon, a hapless 
 prisoner in the Tower of London. Nearly two long years 
 had now elapsed since he had tasted the sweets of liberty 
 in the companionship of his friends, his relatives, and his 
 affianced one. A convict at the hulks could hardly have 
 been treated with greater severity of rigour. At night 
 he dreamt that happier bygone days had come again. 
 Morning broke, and the illusion was destroyed. " Oh, 
 Mary, Mary, my bride, where art thou? Father — 
 best of fathers, tell me if you live ! Grandfather, dear 
 grandfather, who early instilled into my youthful mind 
 a hatred of British misrule and oppression, look upon your 
 poor kinsman, and brighten the solitude of his prison with 
 your cheering voice." 
 
 Such, or such like, were the exclamations which 
 thronged to the threshold of poor Cloncurry's utterance 
 
 * Mr. Martin on this occasion observed, that " he had once given a vote 
 for the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, upon the presumption that the 
 power granted to ministers would be properly exercised ; but he thought 
 that power had been abused by keeping persons in prison for years together 
 without assigning any reason for so doing." Richard B. Sheridan said that 
 he believed there scarcely ever was a period when the loyalty, the temper, 
 the moderation, and the forbearance of the people were greater than at the 
 present. * * * He could not see what right the House had to detain 
 the persons in prison fur a single hour longer. Mr. Jekyl took the same 
 view as Mr. Sheridan. Jacobinism, he said, was dead, although ministers 
 might insist it was alive, by confounding it with that discontent which their 
 misconduct had produced, and which must continue while they remained in 
 office. In the Upper House Lord Eldon defended the continuance of the 
 tyrannic measure. Lord Holland opposed it. Their ancestors, he said, ever 
 regarded this Act as the greatest security of British liberty. The present 
 ministry had converted it into an instrument of oppression, and under its 
 suspension immured persons against whom they could allege no guilt, and 
 who, under the rigour of solitary confinement, without knowing their crime 
 or their accuser, languished for now near three years, without once being 
 able to obtain the benefit of a trial. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 259 
 
 during that intermediate state of sleeping and waking 
 which usually succeeds for a moment a happy — a deli- 
 ciously happy, dream. 
 
 Well might his lordship sing, in the translated words 
 of the German minstrel : — 
 
 " Begone thou flaunting clay, 
 
 Night come with all its sadness, 
 That I again may stray 
 
 Through such sweet dreams of gladness." 
 
 Meanwhile the friends of Lord Cloncurry were not 
 inactive. It was decided to memorialize the Privy 
 Council as a last resource ; and this they did. Mr. Fal- 
 kiner, however, who filled the office of Head Clerk to 
 that body, at once wrote to say, that as Lord Cloncurry 
 was committed under the Secretary of State's warrant, 
 he could not take any other notice of the petition than 
 by placing it in the hands of the Duke of Portland. 
 From 'the specimens of his Grace's humanity, with which 
 the reader is already acquainted, it need not be expected 
 that he exerted himself very energetically in his lordship's 
 favour. 
 
 Two dreary winter months of suspense and anxiety 
 elapsed, but no glad tidings came to cheer the drooping 
 heart of the persecuted prisoner. Were it not for the 
 bright auxiliary flame of hope which burned unceasingly 
 within his lordship's breast, the vital spark would proba- 
 bly long since have died out from bodily exhaustion. 
 Of all the days in Lord Cloncurry 's life (wedding ones, 
 as a matter of course, excepted) the 3rd of March, 
 1801, was, perhaps, the most happy and auspicious. 
 Owing to a governmental contre temps, not less vexations 
 than unexpected, ministers found on the day in question, 
 that to procure a renewal of the Act for suspending the 
 writ of Habeas Corpus would be utterly impossible. 
 Mr. Pitt had just retired from office, on the plausible pre- 
 text of discountenancing the already violated promise, 
 viz., that Catholic Emancipation should immediately 
 succeed the Union. Mr. Addington clutched the reins 
 of Government, and smiled complacently as he saw in 
 the distance approaching the Sidmouth peerage. Mean- 
 
260 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 while the madness of George III. suddenly assumed a 
 most decided character. Upon the promulgation of this 
 startling intelligence the attention of ministers became 
 exclusively directed towards the effectual " carrying on 
 of the Government." To procure a renewal of the Habeas 
 Corpus Suspension Act was found to be impossible, and 
 accordingly all the unfortunates whom the Duke of Port- 
 land buried in dungeon sepulchres, during the years '98 
 and '99, found themselves, to their no small satisfaction, 
 free, on agreeing to enter into recognizances for the sur- 
 render of their persons whenever and wherever called 
 upon by the Crown. Several of the Duke of Portland's 
 victims remained languishing in the dungeons of Fort 
 George and the Tower. Amongst the latter, exclu- 
 sive of his lordship, were Colonel Despard, Bonham, 
 Hodgson, and Lamaitre. Bonham was arrested simul- 
 taneously with Lord Cloncurry, and endured throughout 
 his imprisonment similar acts of petty tyranny and 
 oppression. All the prisoners having been brought up 
 before Mr. Richard Ford, of the Public Office, Bow- 
 street, were requested to produce their respective recog- 
 nizances. Despard, with his friends Hodgson and La- 
 maitre, indignantly refused to enter into any terms with 
 a Government who had acted towards them with such 
 brutality and injustice. " To make any promises," said 
 they, " would be to admit ourselves in error. Let us 
 manifest our burning sense of indignation at having 
 been subjected in the heart of ' the metropolis of British 
 freedom' to an imprisonment so unconstitutional and 
 unmerited." Those lion-hearted men were accordingly 
 entrusted to the care of messengers. 
 
 Lord Cloncurry, however, having repeatedly during 
 his imprisonment made a voluntary proposal for entering 
 into recognizances, did not hesitate to go through the 
 forms preparatory to liberation. Depressed as were his 
 spirits, and broken down as was his health, it would have 
 been in the highest degree criminal in him not to take 
 advantage of so excellent an opportunity for restoring 
 both. No one could possibly stand in greater need of 
 country air, exercise, and society, than Valentine Lawless 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 261 
 
 at this juncture. His constitution was literally shattered. 
 Yet he triumphed both over mortality and the Duke of 
 Portland. One year more — perhaps one month, of such 
 merciless persecution, and it is more than probable he 
 would have died beneath the lash. The Dublin Evening 
 Post thus chronicles his lordship's liberation : — 
 
 " It is with much pleasure we learn that Lord Cloneurry is among the 
 number of those who are at last relieved from imprisonment. The appear- 
 ance of his lordship indicates a suffering miud, which the numerous misfor- 
 tunes he has sustained, owing to his long confinement, may well account 
 for." 
 
 The magistrate offered to permit Bonham's enlarge- 
 ment, provided he could procure him two sureties for 
 £500 ; but Lord Cloneurry s would not be listened to on 
 lower terms than a personal bail of £5,000, and two 
 sureties in £2,000 each. Nothing illustrates more strik- 
 ingly than this the preposterous apprehensions entertained 
 by Government at Lord Cloneurry regaining his liberty. 
 They trembled to think how his lordship would comport 
 himself now that the turnkey's surveillance ceased to 
 restrain him. 
 
 The first joyful tidings received by Lord Cloneurry of 
 the termination of his imprisonment, were conveyed in a 
 polite but laconic note from Lord Castlereagh, who hap- 
 pened to be on business in London at the time. Full 
 license was given to his lordship to proceed to Ireland 
 whenever it suited his convenience to start. 
 
 On the morning of the memorable 3rd March, 1801, 
 when it became evident to ministers that a further sus- 
 pension was totally impracticable, the Duke of Portland 
 seized his pen, and wrote to Lord Cornwallis, the viceroy, 
 apprising him of the fact ; — 
 
 " My Lord, — Various events having rendered it impossible to apply to 
 Parliament for a renewal of the Act for suspending the Habeas Corpus, your 
 Excellency must be sensible that the traitors who are confined in Fort 
 George will be entitled to require to be remanded to Ireland. You will, 
 therefore, not be surprised at hearing of their return. I must not, however, 
 omit to apprise your Excelleney that it is intended that a bill should be 
 brought into Parliament as soon as circumstances will permit, for the further 
 
252 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 renewal of the suspension ; and, from the favourable account which has this 
 day been received of Ms Majesty's health, I trust this measure will not be 
 long delayed. " I am, &c, 
 
 " Portland."* 
 
 How little did Lord Cloncurry think, when elevating 
 his withered heart in thanksgiving to God, on the for- 
 tuitous termination of so iniquitous an Act, that it was the 
 full intention of ministers, the moment circumstances 
 proved propitious, to introduce a bill demanding its further 
 renewal. Thank God, circumstances did not prove pro- 
 pitious for seven-and-forty years after, notwithstanding 
 the fond hopes of William Duke of Portland, that " the 
 measure would not be long delayed." 
 
 One of Cloncurry's first steps, upon finding himself 
 free, was to give instructions to Mr. Folkes (O'Coigly's 
 attorney) to commence legal proceedings against his per- 
 secutors: not so much with a view to obtain redress for 
 the irreparable injuries inflicted, as for the purpose of 
 bringing the whole affair before a discriminating public, 
 and thus clearing his character from the political stains 
 with which he had reason to suppose loyalists considered it 
 darkened. His powerful enemy, however, proved, as 
 usual, too many for him. The actions for false imprison- 
 ment against the two Williams (Pitt and Portland) 
 received an effectual quietus by a bill indemnifying those 
 magnates from all the consequences of their arbitrary acts 
 — a bill which strode through both Houses of Parliament 
 in a single night. 
 
 A change had by this time come o'er the spirit of John 
 Bonham's dream. During the period of his confinement 
 in the Tower, he was treated with equal rigour as his 
 friend Cloncurry. Passionate, ardent, patriotic, and im- 
 pulsive, he entered it. A crushed and broken spirit 
 John Bonham left it. Sensitive from his childhood, he 
 withered beneath insult and oppression ; and, on the 
 rising of the Tower curtain, on March 3, 1801, his friends 
 and enemies could scarcely recognize in Bonham the 
 ghost of his former self. His manner had become sup- 
 
 * See the Correspondence of Lord Castlereagh, &c, vol. iv. p. 74 (con- 
 densed from original letter). 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 263 
 
 plicatory — his appearance crest-fallen. In short, to use 
 the words of Lord Cloncurry, " Bonham was a simple- 
 minded man, upon whose temperament Tower discipline 
 was calculated to make a lasting impression." Soon after 
 his discharge, Cloncurry wrote him a long letter, full of 
 sympathy, encouragement, and kind advice. Months 
 elapsed, and no acknowledgment came from Mr. Bonham. 
 At length the postman's knock was heard, and a letter, 
 bearing one of Bonham's superscriptions, was handed to 
 his lordship. " Alas !" said he, after thanking Lord Clon- 
 curry for his " truly kind and generous letter," " I am 
 compelled to own I was afraid to correspond with you. 
 Is it possible, then, that fear should have had such an 
 effect on a mind once not the weakest? Not fear of 
 death — for death I have suffered a thousand times ; but 
 fear of what must ever be intelligible to those who have 
 suffered the tortures of ' that many-chambered tomb.' ' 
 Mr. Bonliam concluded with an allusion to his " miserable 
 despondency and broken spirit." 
 
 Poor Bonham ever afterwards trembled to identify 
 himself with any party other than the Tory ! He shunned 
 popular politics as so many infernal machines on the point 
 of exploding. As whipper-in to the Conservative Op- 
 position, he succeeded Mr. Holmes in 1831. Not long 
 after, however, he fell a victim to the ascerbity of party. 
 Having supported a certain railway bill in Parliament, 
 he foolishly accepted as a gift some railway shares from 
 the company thus complimented. Years after the Whigs 
 charged him with corruption on the above grounds, and 
 the exposure which ensued terminated in his dismissal 
 from the Mastership of Ordnance. Sir Robert Peel felt 
 himself called upon by a sense of public dut3 r to cashier 
 Bonham, but he accompanied the act, as report has it, by 
 settling a life annuity on him out of his own private 
 purse. The baronet was a schoolfellow of Mr. Bonham's, 
 and remained throughout life much attached to him. 
 
 Cloncurry 's liberation was celebrated among his friends 
 by a general jubilee. In the midst of the festivity Sir 
 Francis Burton, twin-brother to the Marquis of Conyng- 
 ham, made love to the Hon. Valentina Lawless, popped 
 
264 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 the question, and was elevated to the highest pinnacle of 
 terrestrial happiness by hearing a whispered affirmative ' 
 emanate from her lips. As little delay as possible suc- 
 ceeded the soft negotiation. On the 4th June, 1801, the 
 nuptials were celebrated with fitting pomp and festivity. 
 In his capacity of Lieutenant-Governor of Canada, Sir 
 Francis Burton was in after life much respected. During 
 the previous summer Lord Cloncurry's sister, Mary, was 
 led to the Hymeneal altar by Thomas, better known as 
 Jerusalem Whalley,* of Whalley Abbey, Co. Wicklow. 
 Their married happiness was not of long duration. On 
 2nd Nov. 1800, Mr. Whalley died of rheumatic fever, at 
 Knutsford, on his way to London. His lady survived 
 him thirty years. 
 
 Lord Cloncurry passed several months in England 
 endeavouring to recruit his shattered health. From the 
 cheerful society of John Reeves his spirits received no 
 trifling stimulus. He was a constant visitor at his house, 
 and there met, for the first time, the subsequently cele- 
 brated Wm. Cobbett. Between the latter and Lord Clon- 
 curry an intimacy continued ever afterwards to exist. 
 
 On the 26th January, 1802, his lordship started for 
 Dublin, which since the morning he bade farewell to 
 Lord Clonmel, he had not once visited. Here he arrived 
 on the day of Lord Clare's funeral, viz., the 31st January, 
 and witnessed in connexion with it a strange scene. The 
 populace were perfectly well aware whom Ireland was 
 mainly indebted to for the murderous Act of Legislative 
 Union, and resolved, by a disorderly demonstration, to 
 mark their profound contempt for the memory of " Union 
 Jack."t Accordingly, when the richly decorated hearse 
 proceeded to shake its sable plumes through the public 
 streets, it was suddenly assailed from every side by a 
 perfect volley of dead cats, which the bad taste of a mob 
 selected as the most fitting mode of execrating the me- 
 mory of their deadly enemy. After much opposition 
 
 * Several amusing anecdotes of this most extraordinary character will be 
 found in the " Gentleman's Magazine," for Dec, 1800, page 1210, voL lxx. 
 t A slang nickname for John Earl of Clare. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 265 
 
 (there were no efficient policemen in those days to make 
 obstructions " move on") the hearse reached its destina- 
 tion, and preparations were made to inter the corpse of 
 Lord Clare. We have heard, but whether the statement 
 is true we cannot pretend to say, that no sooner was the 
 coffin lowered than a further volley of dead cats poured 
 into the churchyard, and, ere a shovel- full of earth had 
 been cast by the sexton, well nigh filled the grave. The 
 family of Lord Clare having heard of this indecent out- 
 rage, began to experience some apprehensions lest the 
 mob should make an attack upon the dwelling-house in 
 Ely-place ; and no sooner did the countess hear of Lord 
 Cloncurry's arrival, than she despatched a messenger with 
 a written request that his lordship would kindly come 
 and show himself from the balcony to the indignant mass 
 of people which surged beneath it. The Irish populace 
 have ever been notorious for their thorough knowledge 
 of politics ; and considering this, it is not surprising that 
 Lord Cloncurry should have stood particularly high in 
 their estimation. With his imprisonment, from the first 
 to the last day, they were familiar. They knew the 
 many efforts made by him to promote the amelioration 
 of their condition ; they knew that his " heart was in the 
 right place," and knowing it, they venerated him. It is 
 scarcely necessary to add, that no indignity was offered 
 to the house or family of Lord Clare. 
 
 Cloncurry lost little time in joining his sister Charlotte 
 at Maretimo. Passing through the village of Black 
 Rock, his reception was most gratifying. The news of 
 his approach had circulated through the neighbourhood. 
 Hundreds of the populace surrounded his travelling 
 carriage, which they insisted upon escorting into the court- 
 yard of Maretimo. At the hall-door stood William 
 Duke of Leinster, waiting to receive his patriotic friend ; 
 and when he descended from the chariot, and advanced 
 up the steps, the honest old nobleman fell upon his neck 
 and wept aloud before the people. They had not met 
 since the occasion of their arrest in 1798; and since that 
 period poor Edward Fitzgerald — Leinster's favourite bro- 
 ther — had yielded up bis spirit in the cause of Ireland. 
 
 N 
 
266 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 After a short sojourn in Ireland, his lordship became 
 filled with an intense melancholy. Numbers of men 
 whom he had left bright with hope at the rapid advent, 
 as they thought, of liberty and independence, were now 
 nowhere to be found. The unadorned head-stone told 
 the fate of some — the Banishment Bill of others. 
 
 " It is now half a century," wrote Lord Cloncurry on 
 the 29th August, 1852, in a private letter to Father 
 Maher, " since my first act, as a landlord, on coming to 
 Ireland from the Tower of London, was to give three 
 acres of Abington for a school, feeling that an educated 
 people never could be slaves." In addition to this act of 
 generosity, Lord Cloncurry handed the parish priest one 
 hundred sovereigns towards the erection of a new Roman 
 Catholic chapel adjoining the school. 
 
 The prolonged confinement his lordship had endured, 
 and the severity of the restrictions which accompanied 
 it, induced a painful local complaint that contributed 
 much to embitter his existence. As soon, however, as 
 he contrived to throw his deranged affairs into some 
 sort of order, he resolved upon trying a very excellent 
 remedy, namely, a lengthened continental trip. Carry- 
 ing out this resolution, we find him, accompanied by his 
 sisters Charlotte and Valentina, en route for the French 
 capital, in July, 1802. Amongst their fellow-passengers 
 were Kemble, the actor, and Lord Vassall Holland, the 
 subsequent statesman. Both made themselves agreeable 
 to the noble party, and from that day Cloncurry might 
 date the commencement of an intimacy betwixt Lord 
 Holland and himself, which continued cordial and unin- 
 terrupted until the scythe of death dissevered its bonds 
 eight-and-thirty years afterwards. 
 
 Napoleon Buonaparte, as First Consul of the Republic, 
 was now in high popularity. His name had long since 
 become a familiar " household word" throughout the 
 length and breadth of Europe. Lord Cloncurry had 
 been for years hearing of his spirited conduct and achieve- 
 ments, and expressed to the British Embassy a wish to 
 be permitted the honour of paying his devoirs to the 
 Consul. The ambassador politely declined to introduce 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 267 
 
 him, stating as his reason, that unless he (Lord C.) were 
 already presented at the Palace of St. James's, it was 
 impossible he could think of making his bow in the 
 Tuilleries. It was continental etiquette, he said, and the 
 Consul would foam with indignation were it violated. 
 We need scarcely remind the reader that, as a State 
 prisoner, it was incompatible with the restraints imposed 
 on his lordship to frequent the court-yard of the Tower, 
 much less the Court of St. James's. What was Clon- 
 curry's astonishment, some days after this colloquy, to 
 receive an invitation from Napoleon himself to inspect 
 certain military evolutions in the Champs de Mars, and 
 afterwards dine with him, sans ceremonie, in the Tuil- 
 leries. His lordship soon discovered that to Marshal 
 Berthier he was indebted for this flattering mark of 
 official attention. That officer acquainted Napoleon 
 with the circumstances of his lordship's then position, 
 and entered into an animated description of the various 
 trials and persecutions to which a not over-scrupulous 
 Government had thought fit to subject him, from 1798 
 to 1801. Napoleon, interested in his history, expressed 
 a wish to see him, and the invitation went accordingly. 
 
 Chaperoned by his relative, William Lawless (then 
 a French officer of some years' standing), Lord Clon- 
 curry soon obtained access to most of the fashionable 
 receptions and re-unions in Paris. Those given by Helen 
 Maria Williams were perhaps the pleasantest. The com- 
 pany present on such occasions consisted usually of one 
 part republicans, and two parts Irish refugees. During 
 his residence here, Lord Cloncurry became on terms of 
 intimacy with Kosciusko. 
 
 After a most agreeable sojourn in the Gallic capital, 
 the noble trio moved on to Switzerland, and from thence 
 to Nice, where the mildness of the climate induced them 
 to remain, statu quo, for the winter. Rome was their 
 ultimate destination, and thither they proceeded, via 
 Genoa, Leghorn, and Florence, as soon as the weather 
 permitted the resumption of their journey. 
 
 Their arrival at Nice was in December, 1802, and 
 their departure for Rome on the 1st February following. 
 
268 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 We recur to this matter because the period of Lord 
 Cloncurry's stay in Nice involved a very remarkable 
 chapter in the history of his life. It was there he met, 
 for the first time, Elizabeth Georgiana, youngest daughter 
 of Major-General Morgan — a gentleman of considerable 
 rank and fortune, and for many years Commander-in- 
 Chief in the East Indies. Added to an exterior of 
 seraphic beauty, Miss Morgan possessed a highly culti- 
 vated mind, and manners peculiarly fascinating. The 
 reader knows enough of Lord Cloncurry to be well 
 aware that his heart was not composed of very lapideous 
 materials. The bright halo of light which encircled 
 Miss Morgan was irresistible — the warmth of its rays 
 soon ripened their acquaintance into love, and Valentine 
 Lord Cloncurry fell on his knees before the beautiful 
 enchantress. The attachment was mutual. Miss Morgan, 
 who had barely turned sixteen, presented her lover with 
 all the ardour and devotion of a fresh young heart. He 
 felt the value of the possession, and was filled with pride 
 in the contemplation of it. 
 
 General* and Mrs. Morgan and their blooming daughter 
 had only arrived in Nice thirty-six hours before Lord 
 Cloncurry. On what trifling circumstances do the desti- 
 nies of men and nations sometimes hang. Had his 
 lordship left Paris two days sooner than he really did, it 
 is more than probable he would never have been married 
 to Elizabeth Morgan. 
 
 The indisposition of the Hon. Charlotte Lawless, and 
 her anxiety to see the Eternal City, led to their departure 
 for Rome at a somewhat earlier day than was at first 
 intended. In the proud consciousness of having won the 
 hand of one of the most beautiful and accomplished 
 creatures in existence, but more or less depressed at the 
 idea of even a temporary separation, his lordship left Nice. 
 The consideration, however, that the short month of Fe- 
 bruary only would intervene between the lovers' farewell 
 and the lovers' meeting, served to support his drooping 
 heart, and he braved disinclination to perform a duty. 
 
 * General Morgan was son to Nathaniel Morgan, Esq., of Warton Wythe, 
 Co. Carnarvon. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 269 
 
 On the 1st of February he left with his two sisters for 
 Rome. Early in the March following, General Morgan 
 and his family, according to promise, followed. 
 
 At Leghorn, on his way to Rome, Cloncurry received 
 a friendly hint from his friend Clarke, Duke de Feltre, to 
 lose no time in reaching the Papal States, as orders had 
 just been conveyed to him from head quarters to send all 
 the English prisoners to Verdennes, until France and 
 England ceased to stare so fiercely at each other across 
 the British Channel. This friendly hint, together with 
 the intelligence that banditti infested, to a more than 
 usual extent, the roads, expedited the hitherto slow pro- 
 gress of our travellers. The whips of the postillions and 
 the hearts of the ladies knew no rest. At length they 
 came upon the outskirts of the Campagna. Joy radiated 
 every countenance. The Eternal City, in all its massive, 
 classic grandeur, rose majestically before them. 
 
 February rolled over, and March arrived. Oh, that we 
 had the pen of Shakspeare to describe the lovers' meeting. 
 Not being so fortunate, however, we must leave it to the 
 reader's imagination. Perad venture he has had some 
 experience himself in love-makings, leave-takings, and 
 returns; if so, the grouping and colouring of his own 
 imagination will even prove more happy than would the 
 delineations of that master hand. A fertile mind can, at 
 a moment's warning, produce a gallery of paintings that 
 the Louvre could not emulate. Let us hope our reader 
 rejoices in such a possession. 
 
 They poured forth their love by the hour, and each 
 hour appeared but the fragment of a second. Lord 
 Cloncurry awaited their alliance with impatience. He 
 told the General so; but difficulties arose calculated 
 to retard it for a time. Marriage settlements — dispeller of 
 Hymeneal illusions ! — that unseemly intruder on connubial 
 bliss and sanctity — had to be talked over, decided on, and 
 copies of the rough draughts transmitted to Ireland, in 
 order to their execution with all due attention to legal 
 formula. In consequence of the distance, however, and 
 the absence from Dublin of the principal parties to the 
 agreement, considerable delay appeared likely to en- 
 
270 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 sue. This was no agreeable prospect for the lovers. 
 " Cloncurry," said General Morgan, observing his disap- 
 pointment, " if you trust to rny honour, I will trust to 
 yours." Between two such men this was sufficient. Lord 
 Cloncurry promised, on his arrival in London, to make an 
 adequate provision for the companion of his existence; 
 and General Morgan, on the other hand, gave Lord 
 Cloncurry his word of honour that the dowry should be 
 transferred to his lordship's name as soon as both should 
 arrive in London. 
 
 This understanding proved highly satisfactory to all 
 parties. The day was fixed for the celebration of the 
 nuptials. It was the 16th April, 1803,* The Rev. Mr. 
 Burgess, chaplain to the Duchess of Cumberland (who 
 was then in Rome), officiated. The parties present at the 
 wedding, as we know from unquestionable authority, 
 were the Earl of Mountcashel, and his brother, the Hon. 
 William Moore ; General and Mrs. Morgan ; Mr. Jackson, 
 the English minister to the King of Sardinia; Mrs. 
 Whalley, and the Hon. Charlotte Lawless. 
 
 There is an old aphorism which says, " Marry in haste 
 and repent at leisure." By the sequel we shall see how 
 sadly it was verified. 
 
 * Almost immediately after this event, his lordship's sister, Charlotte 
 Lawless, was led to the Hymeneal altar by Colonel Plunket, afterwards Lord 
 Dunsany. 
 
273 
 
 noted 
 to 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 William Conyngham Plunket before he was Chancellor — Robert Emmet 
 labours to organize an Insurrection — Buonaparte promises him Assistance — 
 Skirmish on the Night of the 23rd July — Murder of Lord Kilwarden — 
 Execution of Robert Emmet in Thomas- street — Lord Cloncurry's Residence 
 at Lyons searched for "Wounded Rebels — Letter to the Author from the 
 last of the United Irishmen — Lord Cloncurry cognizant of Emmet's Trea- 
 sonable Mission to Ireland — His Lordship's Occupations at Rome — Stands 
 for the first Time in the dignified Position of aFather — Effects the Liberation 
 of five poor United Irishmen sold by England to the Prussian Govern- 
 ment — Journey Homeward — A Thunderbolt hangs precariously above the 
 Heads of Lord and Lady Cloncurry, and threatens to annihilate for ever 
 their domestic Happiness. 
 
 Previous to the introduction of a remarkable letter 
 connected with Lord Cloncurry, and recently addressed 
 to the writer of this work by a man who once rejoiced in 
 being Robert Emmet's confidential agent, and who now 
 holds therank of Chef de Brigade in the French service, it 
 will be expedient to take a glance at the insurrection of 
 1803, and at the events which immediately succeeded and 
 preceded it. 
 
 During the memorable debate on the Legislative 
 Union, speeches were enimciated by some of the ablest 
 lawyers in the kingdom, wherein they denied the com- 
 petency of the people's representatives to vote away the 
 existence of that Parliament which they were delegated to 
 protect. Plunket, the subsequent Chancellor, and sundry 
 other massive intellects, proclaimed resistance to be a duty. 
 " For my part," said Plunket, " I will resist it to the 
 last gasp of my existence, and with the last drop of my 
 blood ; and when I feel the hour of my dissolution ap- 
 proaching, I will, like Hannibal, take my children to the 
 altar, and swear them to eternal hostility against the 
 invaders of my country's freedom. I warn you, do not 
 dare to lay your hands on the constitution. I tell you, 
 that if, circumstanced as you are, you pass this Act, it will 
 
272 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 be a nullity, and no man in Ireland will be bound to 
 obey it." 
 
 Robert Ernmet, an ardent and patriotic youtli, listened, 
 with beating heart and burning cheek, to language like 
 the foregoing. He registered a vow in heaven that no 
 means would he leave unemployed to promote an organi- 
 zation capable of resisting the operation of a measure, 
 which, to quote the words of one of our greatest lawyers, 
 " no man in Ireland would be bound to obey." Led by 
 every plausible assurance to expect prompt and powerful 
 military aid from France, Emmet exerted himself, notably, 
 in endeavouring to accumulate arms,* and to organize a 
 force capable of wielding them. 
 
 Several Irish refugees resided in Paris for years before 
 and after 1803. Some of the most influential opened 
 negotiations with Talleyrand Perrigord, for the imme- 
 diate outfit of a third Irish Armada. Every encourage- 
 ment appears to have been given them, both by 
 Buonaparte and his minister. In October, 1802, Emmet, 
 full of projects for the subversion of British power in 
 Ireland, set sail for Dublin. Napoleon, previously to his 
 departure, assured him that hostilities with England 
 would surely commence before August, 1803, and that 
 the long projected invasion might confidently be expected 
 in the course of that month. f Both countries, from the 
 middle of March,J 1803, were busily engaged in prepara- 
 tions for war. Every English shire sent forth its regiment 
 of militia. The masts of formidable armaments appeared 
 above the walls of the Brest and Calais Dockyards. Mr. 
 Pitt rushed frantically down to Walmsley and raised a 
 regiment of his own. Lord Castlereagh embodied a 
 yeomanry corps in Westminster. The greatest panic 
 
 * The principal arsenal was situated at the rere of the White Bull Inn, in 
 Thomas-street, and now forms a portion of the extensive soap manufactory of 
 Messrs. J. and J. Fitzpatrick. Upwards of 11,000 pikes, ball cartridge, hand 
 grenades, signal rockets, cannon powder, and false beams, were discovered 
 within its walls. 
 
 t Life of Robert Emmet, by R. R. Madden, M.D. 
 
 X " I have had a letter from Lord Forbes. From what he says, his uncle's 
 opinion seems to be that war is inevitable." Extract of a Letter from Thomas 
 Moore to his mother, dated March 24, 1803. — Memoirs, Journal, and Cor- 
 respondence. Vol. i. 1852. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 273 
 
 filled the English nation. Lord Grenville, ever noted 
 for the shrewdness of his foresight, almost feared to 
 direct his eve into the future. In a letter of his to the 
 Marquis of Wellesley, dated Jury 12, 1803, and inter- 
 cepted by the French Government, he expresses his fears, 
 lest the noble marquis (who was then from home) might 
 never again have a country to revisit. 
 
 Whilst Government w T as busily employed in making 
 military and engineering preparations for the protection 
 of England, Robert Emmet was, at the other side of St. 
 George's Channel, engaged in swearing in clubs of reso- 
 
 O 'CO # o 
 
 lute men. He formed two extensive arsenals in the heart 
 of the metropolis, and so perfect was the secrecy observed 
 in respect to them, that not until the failure of his insur- 
 rectionary attempt, was Government in a position to point 
 at them the finger of suspicion. It was Emmet's inten- 
 tion not to have applied the hostile match to the explosive 
 train of his conspiracy till August, when the French 
 frigates would have commenced their fire on the British 
 defences ; but, owing to a small depot in Patrick-street 
 having accidentally blown up on the 14th July, he 
 resolved upon making the attempt at once. This was the 
 first intimation which Government received of the brood- 
 ing rebellion. Their fears became aroused, though not 
 
 C . ' o 
 
 to the extent which Emmet imagined, and he felt that any 
 further delay, on his part, would be extremely hazardous. 
 He, accordingly, gave notice to a few trusty followers 
 that the 23rd instant would witness their attempt on 
 Dublin. Word to this effect was conveyed to the adjacent 
 counties; but nothing could have been more imperfect 
 than the organization of the popular force. Half of the 
 insurgents were not disposed to credit the report. Divi- 
 sion split their councils into fragments. Some were for 
 running at once to the attack — others for procrastinating. 
 Some laughed derisively at Emmet's abilities and re- 
 sources — others placed the most implicit confidence in 
 his tactics, arrangements, and advice. 
 
 The 23rd July came, and not more than eighty men 
 rallied to his standard. Poor Emmet's surprise may be 
 imagined upon beholding such a pitiful handful surround 
 
 n 2 
 
274 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 liim. Another would feel despair in such a situation, 
 but that was a sentiment not more foreign to his tempe- 
 rament than the existence of one ray of hope in the 
 breast of a doomed soul. A more sanguine disposition 
 never animated the heart of man. He accumulated 
 all the chances of success into one brilliant pris- 
 matic pyramid, but took no account of its instability, 
 or of the countless difficulties which lay between him 
 and the attainment of his wishes. Should one, perchance, 
 occur to him, he ran from its presence, as though it were 
 a hideous phantom sent by Satan to disturb him. 
 
 Emmet's greatest dependence for support was on the 
 Wicklow men, under Bernard Dwyer. The messenger 
 deputed by Emmet to bear the order to this man 
 neglected his duty, and never delivered it ; and for want 
 of means it was found impossible to convey a precon- 
 certed signal to Ulster. Emmet was standing in the 
 depot, surrounded by his men, when a false alarm, that 
 the army were upon them, was sounded. " If so," ex- 
 claimed he, "we will sell our lives pretty dearly, 1 ' saying 
 which, he sallied into Bridgefoot-street, at the head of his 
 little party, expecting to be joined by several hundreds 
 before he reached the seat of Government, on Cork Hill. 
 
 A more disorderly body than followed him it would 
 be impossible to conceive. Whatever their commander 
 bade them do, they were sure to disobey. If he ordered 
 them to act, they would remain quiescent ; if commanded 
 to refrain, they would perform. Before his party reached 
 the end of Thomas-street, the carriage of Lord Kil warden 
 suddenly appeared in the midst of them. The wretched 
 rabble — to their eternal shame be it recorded — notwith- 
 standing the frantic entreaties of Emmet to the contrary, 
 dragged the noble inmate forth, and, in the presence of 
 his nephew and daughter, piked him through the body. 
 A worthier private character, or a juster judge, never sat 
 beneath the canopy of the Court of King's Bench. 
 
 As Emmet witnessed this outrage, his heart sickened 
 within him, and, for the first time, the flame of his san- 
 guine temperament was observed to flicker. Disgusted 
 at the brutal conduct of the men who accompanied him — 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 275 
 
 we could hardly say followed — he fled from the scene to 
 the Wicklow mountains, where he decided upon remain- 
 ing until the insurrectionary movement assumed a less 
 impracticable aspect. Treachery, however, was in the 
 camp, and in the ensuing August Major Sirr arrested 
 him. His dying speech, upon being asked what had he 
 to say why sentence of death should not be passed upon 
 him, is altogether unequalled for eloquence and in- 
 tensity in the annals of Irish forensic oratory. We defy 
 any man of ordinary sensibility to read it, without drop- 
 ping a tear on the melancholy record. On the eve of his 
 long anticipated alliance with Sarah Curran, he expiated 
 in Thomas- street — the site of his visionary attempt — the 
 crime of loving Ireland, " not wisely, but too well." 
 
 Poor Robert Emmet ! In the veriest trifle (provided 
 he hoped for success) a wild and irresistible impulse 
 bore him impetuously onward. Those scales, which every 
 wise projector balances, in order that he maybe enabled 
 to test the preponderance of either his probabilities of 
 success or evil fortune, he rejected the use of altogether. 
 Confident in the strength of his own abilities (which 
 certainly were of no mean order), he laughed to scorn 
 the man who ventured to dissent from any project he 
 might have generated. Poor Emmet ! Well he loved 
 to spend a day erecting, in the supposed future of his 
 country, gorgeous chateaux d'JEspagne, and bright Utopian 
 palaces, which, the longer he contemplated, the more 
 magnificent grew their halo. Every adverse considera- 
 tion which might have the effect of throwing a shade of 
 dimness upon its brilliancy, he excluded from his 
 thoughts. Wrapt in an ecstasy, he gazed enraptured on 
 Success, and, with eyes averted, shut out the grim shape 
 of Failure from his vision. 
 
 " In 1803," says the Nation newspaper of November 3, 
 1853, "Robert Emmet made his attempt on 'Dublin. 
 In his memorable speech before his judges, he declared 
 that men beside whom he was as nothing were engaged 
 in that movement. Lords Meath, Wycombe, and Clon- 
 curry were surmised to be of the number, but we know 
 not on what authority." There is seldom smoke without 
 
276 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 fire. Lord Cloncurry, though not a conspirator in 
 Emmet's plot, was, nevertheless, fully cognizant of his 
 intentions. The two brothers, Thomas and Robert, 
 dined with him in Paris on the day previous to the 
 latter's departure for Ireland. His chances of success 
 appeared, on examination, meagre ; and various attempts 
 were made to dissuade the young enthusiast from plung- 
 ing into an undertaking so replete with bloodshed and peril. 
 
 Soon after the skirmish between Emmet's men and 
 the king's troops, information appears to have been con- 
 veyed to Mr. Clinch, one of the County Kildare magis- 
 tracy, that some arms, as well as several of the wounded 
 rebels, remained concealed in Lord Cloncurry 's mansion at 
 Lyons. This person was a tenant of Lord Cloncurry 's 
 own, but much more attached to the Castle than to his 
 landlord. Believing that to hurt the feelings of one 
 whom the Government thought proper to persecute 
 would be a judicious mode of finding favour in its eyes, 
 he strutted off at the head of some soldiery, and having 
 burst open the library door, plundered it of four fowling 
 pieces, a handsome silver tea-urn, and a quantity of 
 family papers, amongst which were some title-deeds, and 
 an inteiesting correspondence between his lordship and 
 Mr. Kir wan the geologist. The loss of this Lord Clon- 
 curry much deplored when preparing for publication his 
 11 Personal Recollections." 
 
 After rifling the study, Mr. Clinch urged the propriety 
 of a visit to the wine cellar, and was about to tear down 
 the door of this apartment also, when the officer in com- 
 mand (Colonel Coleman) interposed, and declared that 
 he at all events would not be privy to so uncalled-for an 
 outrage. Mr. Clinch, feeling the force of the observation, 
 withdrew. Restitution for the stolen property his lord- 
 ship never received, notwithstanding that Lord Hard- 
 wicke, when apprised of that fact, gave orders that every 
 article removed by Mr. Clinch and his myrmidons should 
 be at once restored. 
 
 The following letter to the author, from the last in- 
 fluential member of the society of United Lishmen, will 
 be read with interest: — 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 277 
 
 [No. 9.] COLONEL BYRNE TO WILLIAM JOHN FITZPATRICK. 
 
 "Paris, Rue Montaigne, IS, Faubourg St. Honore, 
 22nd February, 1854. 
 
 11 Deak Sir, — I received your letter along with Mr. 's note of the 
 
 5th. I shall always feel great pleasure if I can make myself useful to the 
 friends of that excellent Member of Parliament in any way, and now more 
 particularly to yourself, engaged, as you are, in the noble task of writing 
 the history of the late Lord Cloncurry, one of the truest patriots Ireland ever 
 had, and one who, to his last moment, never shrank from identifying himself 
 with those brave but unfortunate men, who sacrificed fortune, and everything 
 most dear to them in life, seeking to make Ireland independent. 
 
 " I first arrived at Paris in the month of August, 1803. Mr. Thomas 
 Addis Emmet had just been chosen by the greater part of the Irish refugees 
 then in France, to represent them with the First Consul The latter desired 
 Mr. Emmet to furnish him, in twenty-four hours after my arrival, with a full 
 and detailed account of the state of Ireland. I dined with Mr. Emmet that 
 day, in company with his great friend, Dr. MacNeven. We spent the 
 evening and the greater part of the night together : I telling all I knew or 
 could recollect, and vouching fur the facts that came within my own know- 
 ledge, and answeiing, of course, all their queries about men and things the 
 best way I could. Thus ended my mission. After this, Mr. Emmet desired 
 to know how my money matters stood. I not only told him, but showed 
 him the few guineas I still had ; which were few indeed, having had to pay 
 an exorbitant price for my passage from Dublin to Bordeaux, besides my 
 journey from thence to Paris. I had only thirty-nine pounds, some shillings 
 (and that by chance) in my pocket, the evening that the American ship in 
 which I left Dublin, set sail suddenly. The captain had intended to remain 
 three days longer in port ; but a favourable wind tempted him to be off. It 
 was fortunate for me that he took this resolution, for we arrived by it in 
 three days safely at the mouth of the river below Bordeaux. By the delay 
 of a day, I might have had all my preparations completed, and a larger sum 
 of money in my pocket ; but, then, I might not have got so soon to France. 
 
 "One day, about the beginning of December, 1803, previous to my 
 leaving Paris for Brest, to join the expedition which was expected to sail 
 forthwith for Ireland, I went to take leave of Mr. and Mrs. Emmet, and 
 their young interesting family. Mr. Emmet kindly asked me if I should not 
 want some money before setting out. I thanked him, and showed him four 
 or five half-guineas which I had still remaining ; and I told him, besides, 
 that I did not owe one sou in Paris. I had now my commission as a French 
 officer, and had nothing to dread. He then told me that he had been that 
 morning at the banker's, to get the amount of another remittance sent to 
 him by that truly generous, patriotic Irishman, Lord Ci-oxcurrt, for the 
 use of the Irish Refugees,* many of whom stood in the greatest want of it. 
 Mr. Emmet then opened a trunk, and showed me two small bags, containing 
 fourteen or fifteen hundred francs, in French silver five-franc pieces. Mr. 
 Emmet distributed that sum of money the same day, and, of course, took 
 receipts from those who received it. Many of them were the bravest of the 
 
 * The Irish refugees were, at' that period, and for some months anterior to 
 it, endeavouring to expedite the departure from Brest of Napoleon's long- 
 promised Irish armament — we will not say expedition, since its progress was 
 so slow. 
 
278 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 brave; and, had they been living when Lord Cloneurry published his 
 4 Recollections,' they would, I doubt not, have gladly acknowledged their 
 obligation to him ; finding, too, that though a British peer, he did not con- 
 ceal the generous part he had taken in the struggles and sufferings of poor 
 Ireland, from 1797 down to his last hour. 
 
 " Lord Cloneurry committed a mistake in the work referred to, respecting 
 the late General Lawless having lost his leg at Flushing, in August, 1809. 
 He lost it at the battle of Lowenberg, in August, 1813. It appeared ridi- 
 culous that a colonel with but one leg should be put at the head of a regiment 
 of infantry in a campaign by Napoleon. General Lawless's son, being 
 personally acquainted with Lord Cloneurry, I told him that I thought he 
 should write to his lordship on the subject of this error. He replied, that 
 he thought it would come better from me, as I knew the dates and the cir- 
 cumstances. I wrote to Mr. Duffy, as a sure mode of having the mistake 
 corrected. * * * With great pleasure I saw, in the second edition of 
 Lord Cloncurry's work, that he made all the corrections required, particularly 
 that concerning the brave William Aylmer. Indeed, it was only what 
 might be expected from so upright a man as his lordship. 
 
 " I met Lord Cloneurry sometimes at Paris, at Mrs. Putland's, and I 
 thought him a most unassuming, well-bred gentleman. I always considered 
 him an United Irishman, and thereby bound in honour to endeavour to 
 obtain a fidl and adequate representation of Irishmen of every religious 
 persuasion. But the history of the United Irishmen has never been written, 
 and perhaps it never will be fully known. Its principal leaders are dead, 
 and those still alive cannot meet to consult one another on their common 
 recollections, and to check the faults of memory, so as to make a clear, full, 
 and consistent story. Before Dr. MacNeven left the Irish Legion, in 1805, 
 to go to America, he took notes from the officers who had been concerned in 
 the affairs of 1798 and 1803. He intended to publish, at New York, a 
 history of those two epochs ; and he certainly possessed all the patriotism 
 and talents necessary for such an undertaking. To my own knowledge, he 
 collected, whilst in Paris, quantities of materials for the accomplishment of 
 such a work. The probable reason why he did not publish it in so free a 
 country may have been, that he thought it could not be productive of any 
 good to Ireland, in her distracted and unhappy condition. 
 
 " I have made notes of the principal events and transactions that came 
 within my knowledge, during the insurrection of 1798, as well as that of 
 1803. If I thought their publication could in any way tend to benefit my 
 native country, I would cheerfully get them printed ; but I am well aware 
 that the present time is not a propitious moment. I trust a time may come 
 when the publication of such documents will be encouraged. They will 
 show the efforts and sacrifices that were made to procure the independence 
 of Ireland. I hope, now that the Christians of Turkey are likely to be 
 emancipated, that those of every denomination in Ireland may be placed on 
 a perfect footing of equality, and that the Protestant ascendancy, which has 
 been so long the curse of Ireland, driving the best and bravest of her children 
 to the hard alternative of abandoning their religion or then- country, may be 
 so modified as to give fair play to all sects. 
 
 " As letters are occasionally liable to miscarry, I shall be anxious until I 
 hear that you have received this. 
 
 '• I am, dear Sir, &c, 
 
 " M. Bfrxe, 
 " Chef de Brigade, Officiere de la Legion d'Honneur." 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 279 
 
 Cloncurry's generous enclosure to Thomas Addis Em- 
 met, in aid of the patriotic Irish refugees, came from his 
 lordship while resident in Rome. This substantial mark 
 of patriotism, accidentally disclosed, is, doubtless, only of 
 a piece with many other similar ones, which, perhaps, 
 a mistaken sense of propriety considers it prudent to 
 conceal. 
 
 His lordship kept a characteristically hospitable table 
 during the eight-and-twenty months he spent in Rome. 
 Guests, he had galore, from the worthy Abbe Taylor,* 
 to the Prince Massimo. With most of the Cardinals, 
 York, Gonga, Erskine, and Gonsalvi, he was familiarly 
 acquainted. From Pope Pius VII. he received many 
 acts of kindness. When his Holiness was summoned to 
 Paris, in order to perform the coronation ceremony for 
 Napoleon Buonaparte, Cloncurry, and his brother-in-law, 
 Colonel Plunket, with a view to testify their respect to- 
 wards him personally, and to manifest their gratitude for 
 the kindness and attention shown them, accompanied his 
 Holiness on horseback as far as Viterbo, where he bade 
 them an affectionate farewell. 
 
 Amongst his lordship's varied occupations at Rome, 
 we must not omit to mention that he derived much re- 
 creation from excavating among the baths of Titus, and 
 elsewhere, in the hope of finding some old articles of 
 virtu. His exertions were, in a great degree, successful ; 
 but some of the most valuable of the discoveries were, 
 unfortunately, lost by shipwreck, in Killiney Bay, within 
 two hours' sail of the Irish metropolis. A portion of the 
 collection may now be seen at Lyons, the seat of Edward, 
 present Lord Cloncurry. Here the antiquary may like- 
 wise find a portico supported by four polished red granite 
 pillars, which the late lord, at considerable expense, re- 
 moved from Rome. They originally adorned the golden 
 house of Nero. 
 
 Lord Cloncurry's neighbours, on the Palazzo delle tre 
 Canelle, at Rome, might have observed his countenance 
 wearing an unusually important aspect, on the morning of 
 
 * Dr. Taylor was President of the Irish College of St. Isidore. There are 
 many still of opinion, that the marriage between George IV. and Mrs. 
 FitzHerbert was solemnized through his agency. 
 
280 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 April 7th, 1805. Then it was that his lordship stood, 
 for the first time, in the dignified position of a father. 
 For the Hon. Master Lawless, Anne, Duchess of Cumber- 
 land, graciously consented to stand sponsor. As the sister- 
 in-law of George, King of Great Britain and Ireland, Lord 
 Cloncurry, some time previously, suggested to the authori- 
 ties, the propriety of having her Highness's hotel protected 
 by a guard of honour. This appears to have been a for- 
 mula occasionally observed at that time, on the Continent, 
 in all cases where parties had royal blood in their veins. 
 His lordship, who possessed much influence with the 
 Pope, was at once informed that a royal guard would 
 be mounted, henceforth, at the residence of her Royal 
 Highness. 
 
 So grateful did the Duchess feel for this kind interfer- 
 ence of Cloncurry 's, that she volunteered to become 
 godmother to the little stranger, provided he should 
 assume, notwithstanding his being of the coarser sex, her 
 own cognomen of Anne. Two of perhaps the happiest 
 years in his lordship's existence were passed in Rome. 
 He nestled into the pleasures given him by God with a 
 still keener perception of enjoyment, as he thought of his 
 miserable time within the Tower, and contrasted the 
 past with the present. But, much as he loved the Eter- 
 nal City, he loved old Ireland better ; and, in June, 1805, 
 we find him making preparations for departure. His 
 journey homeward was circuitous. The Gallic cock and 
 the British lion scouled at each other fiercely ; and British 
 travellers in France, or French travellers in England, 
 ran imminent risk of finding their locomotion placed under 
 restraint. Proceeding along the coast of Italy, towards 
 the Adriatic Sea, he visited, accompanied, of course, by 
 Lady Cloncurry, the amphitheatrical town of Ancona, 
 and the ruins of Diocletian's palace, in Dalmatia. From 
 thence they moved on to Venice, and from Venice, across 
 the Austrian frontier, to Vienna. Here his lordship arrived 
 very opportunely to render an important service to five 
 unfortunate United Irishmen, whom the English Govern- 
 ment had sold, for hard cash, to the King of Prussia, as 
 soldiers. Feeling little sympathy with the Prussians, or 
 their cause, the poor fellows watched their opportunity 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 281 
 
 to desert, and arrived almost simultaneously with his 
 lordship in Austria. The Prussian Commander-in-Chief 
 at once made application for their persons to the civil 
 authorities of Vienna, and were it not for the active, zea- 
 lous, and benevolent interference of Lord Cloncurry in 
 their regard, they would most certainly have been sent 
 back to servitude. Having waited personally on the 
 British Ambassador, in the hope of being able to mollify 
 his heart, Lord Cloncurry so far succeeded as to procure 
 a passport for his poor compatriots, which would have 
 the effect of protecting them in the course of their journey 
 homeward. This was a great triumph. The poor men 
 accompanied their benefactor to Ireland ; and through his 
 humane exertions were enabled, free of molestation, to fly 
 into the outstretched arms of their wives and families. 
 Oh ! with what joy was the return of those husbands and 
 brothers greeted. You can imagine it, reader, and so 
 could Cloncurry. 
 
 From Vienna, his lordship's party (which had now 
 swelled to no insignificant extent)* proceeded to Dresden, 
 in order to avail themselves of a hospitable invitation from 
 Prince Xavier. Berlin was next visited, where, after a 
 short sojourn, we find them in full march through Den- 
 mark. From one of the northern seaports they embarked, 
 some for London, some for Ireland, all pleasurably antici- 
 pating the cead mille a failthe which awaited their arrival, 
 and little dreaming of the existence of that thunderbolt 
 which hung invisibly above the heads of Lord and Lady 
 Cloncurry, but was soon to fall, and rend into ten thousand- 
 fragments that domestic felicity which had extorted, for 
 nearly three years, the bad mans envy and the good 
 man's admiration. 
 
 * The party consisted of General and Mrs. Morgan, Lord and Lady Clon- 
 curry, their two children, and servants, the five United Irishmen, and Signor 
 Gaspare Gabrielli, an Italian fresco painter, whose services his lordship had 
 engaged for beautifying Lyons House. On the day succeeding their arrival 
 in London (Xov. 2nd, 1805), Lord Cloncurry fulfilled, with honour and 
 punctuality, the engagement he had entered into with General Morgan, by 
 settling a jointure of £1,000 per annum on Lady Cloncurry. General 
 Morgan was equally prompt and honourable in the discharge of his promises, 
 He handed Lord Cloncurry a cheque for £5,000, with a request to regard 
 it as merely a prelude to more. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 The Bubble Promises of Mr. Pitt — Curious Statement of the Knight of 
 Kerry — Mr. Cooke's Arguments in Favour of a Union — Ireland's Downward 
 Progress — Fearful Increase of Bankruptcies — Lord Cloncurry returns to 
 end his days in Ireland — His Lordship insulted by an English Chancel- 
 lor — Cloncurry's Retort — Interference of Lord Hardwicke — Cloncurry's 
 Revenge over Lord Redesdale complete — The Irish Administration of John 
 Duke of Bedford — Lady Cloncurry admired, respected, and beloved. 
 
 Catholic Emancipation,* the endowment of the Catholic 
 and Dissenting clergy, and an adjustment of the Tithe 
 system, were the inducements held out to deluded Ireland 
 as the immediate result, if not the accompaniment, of a 
 Legislative Union. All three were violated. That a 
 general enfranchisement of Catholics was guaranteed, any 
 person who takes the trouble of glancing at the journals 
 of the time, or the many historical works on the subject 
 since, may at once perceive. If he prefers to rest his 
 judgment on the private official documents of our rulers 
 themselves, he will find abundant evidence in the Castle- 
 reagh correspondence. 
 
 That an adjustment of the Tithe system was to accom- 
 pany the Union is not so generally known. " The evils 
 
 * In lately glancing over a report of the proceedings which took place at 
 the Kerry election of 1818, we considered the following paragraph worthy of 
 transcription: "The Knight of Kerry thanked his friend, Mr. O'Connell, 
 for giving him an opportunity of explaining his conduct on the Union ques - 
 tion. He bitterly regretted it ; and his only consolation was that he had 
 acted from honest motives, however mistaken. The mistake was occasioned 
 by the grossest and most unexpected violation of good faith : he had been 
 induced to vote for the Union by the solemn pledge of the British Cabinet to 
 attend to the rights and happiness of the Irish people. Lord Cornwallis had 
 shoum him a distinct promise, written and signed by Mr. Pitt, in which it was 
 expressly and unconditionally stated that the Union should be followed by a 
 total and unqualified emancipation of the Catholics of Ireland, and by an entire 
 and radical alteration of the Tithe system, by substituting a different provision 
 for the Established clergy.'''' 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 283 
 
 proposed to be cured by a Union," wrote Lord Castle- 
 reagh, in one of his letters to tlie Duke of Portland, " are 
 religious divisions. * * Additional motives in favour of 
 the measure have arisen, from an expectation that it 
 would lead to a regulation in respect to tithes, the most 
 comprehensive cause of public discontent in Ireland, and 
 an arrangement in favour of the Catholic and Dissenting 
 Clergy." 
 
 It would appear, however, that the evil, par excellence, 
 to be cured by a Union was the rapidly increasing pros- 
 perity of Ireland. Mr. Cooke committed to paper, at the 
 request of Lord Castlereagh, some of his most cogent 
 arguments in favour of this measure. They appear in the 
 third volume of the Castlereagh Papers (p. 54), and com- 
 mence as follow : — 
 
 "Will a Union make Ireland quiet? Who can judge for the future? 
 Yet, although we cannot command futurity, -we are to act as if futurity were 
 in our power. We must argue from moral causes to moral effects. If, then, 
 we are in a disadvantageous situation, we must look to these causes which 
 have brought us into that situation. What are they? First, the local inde- 
 pendent acting of the Legislature. Second, the general prosperity of the 
 country, which has produced great activity and energy.' 1 ' 1 
 
 There is no denying that a certain amount of progress 
 was made by Ireland after the Union. We allude to 
 that sort of progress which is exemplified in the precipi- 
 tate descent of a body down an inclined plane. Every 
 month brought fresh tidings to England of the misery 
 of the country. In 1801, famine stalked through the 
 land, and thinned the ranks of the people. So fearfully 
 scarce did wheat and other grain became, that Lord 
 Cornwallis circulated a proclamation forbidding, under 
 pain of governmental displeasure, the use of flour in patties, 
 pies, and puddings ! Lord Moira set the example ; none 
 but food of the commonest quality he permitted on his 
 table. 
 
 The withdrawal of wealth from Ireland, by the system 
 of absenteeism, produced, in very few years, a grim dis- 
 play of bankruptcies. No calculation has, we believe, 
 been made to ascertain their relative proportion, before 
 and after the Union, except one. In 1810, a liberal 
 
284 
 
 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 movement, headed by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, started 
 into active vitality, and demanded, in no craven phraseo- 
 logy, an immediate repeal of the Legislative Union. Mr. 
 F. W. Conway, afterwards editor of the Dublin Evening 
 Post, and whose correspondence with Lord Cloncurry 
 we will have occasion to use before the termination of 
 this work, acted as Secretary. Amongst other statements 
 tending to prove the destruction of trade, by the Union, 
 he gave the following: — 
 
 Jan., 1799, . . . 
 
 
 
 Jan., 1810, . . . 
 
 10 
 
 Feb., 1799, . . . 
 
 2 
 
 Feb., 1810, . . . 
 
 . 18 
 
 March, 1799, . . . 
 
 1 
 
 March, 1810, . . . 
 
 18 
 
 April, 1799, . . . 
 
 
 
 April, 1810, . . . 
 
 . 23 
 
 May, 1799, . . . 
 
 2 
 
 May, 1810, . . . 
 
 . 47 
 
 June, 1799, . . . 
 
 1 
 
 June, 1810, . . . 
 
 . 36 
 
 152 
 
 From the Parliamentary Reports it may be seen that 
 insolvency in Dublin has since been on the increase. And, 
 when the seat of Government has gone so sadly to decay, 
 how much must not Ireland, in general, have suffered 
 by the operation of the Union. In one year alone, 5,000 
 names appeared on the Bankrupt list. In the course of 
 five years, 20,000 took, in every sense of the word, the 
 benefit of the Act ; and, to the citizens of Dublin, the 
 Act of Union and the Insolvent Act very soon became 
 convertible terms. 
 
 When Lord Cloncurry returned to Ireland, in Novem- 
 ber, 1805, her downward progress became glaringly ap- 
 parent to his lordship, and filled him with feelings of the 
 most exquisitely painful nature. Every prognostication 
 expressed by him in " Thoughts on the Union" was 
 sadly verified. He wept in the contemplation of his 
 country's ruin. Sickened at the scene of hunger and 
 destitution, the rich moved off, in myriads, to England. 
 Thus, absenteeism, with its ill-effects, became daily on 
 the increase. Lord Cloncurry saw the evils which that 
 system was productive of, and resolved that he, at all 
 events, would live and die in the bosom of his country ; 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 285 
 
 and thus, by setting a good example, check, in some 
 degree, the vast outflood of aristocracy. 
 
 Full of the idea of devoting the remainder of his life to 
 the unostentatious discharge of his duty as a quiet country 
 gentleman, Lord Cloncurry returned, with his wife and 
 family, to Ireland. He built large additions to Lyons 
 House, and commenced active operations as an agricul- 
 tural improver. Being desirous of becoming a magis- 
 trate, as the neighbourhood possessed but comparatively 
 few, a communication was addressed by Counsellor Burne 
 to Lord Chancellor Redesdale, expressive of his lordship's 
 willingness to accept the commission of the peace. 
 Redesdale succeeded Lord Clare as Guardian of the Irish 
 Seals. He was successively Solicitor and Attorney- 
 General of England, at the time that Lord Cloncurry 
 lay immured in his Tower dungeon, and probably owed 
 him a little of that extraordinary pique celebrated in the 
 
 lines : — 
 
 " Those who injure us we freely may forgive, 
 But those we injure, never while we live." 
 
 The Chancellor replied in a stiff and sneering commu- 
 nication, stating, that when one of the law officers of the 
 Crown, his duty compelled him particularly to attend to 
 the conduct of Lord Cloncurry, and that he could not 
 think himself justified in putting any power into the 
 hands of such a "person? He added, that if he had 
 seen the errors of his conduct, the application should 
 come immediately from himself, with a candid avowal of 
 the change wrought in his sentiments. Cloncurry saw 
 this letter, and his answer was one of withering force. 
 " I own," said he, " I considered that a peer might, when 
 he pleased, become an acting magistrate; and, if respect 
 be no longer due to the Irish peerage, my property in the 
 country made it your duty to comply with my desire, 
 unless I had forfeited my rights by ill conduct, which, I 
 believe, you know I never did. I think it necessary to 
 state, that I have not changed my sentiments, and I hope 
 I never shall. They are, and always were, loyal and 
 patriotic sentiments, full of abhorrence for the men and 
 the measures which, in 1798, drove the unfortunate 
 
286 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 people of this country into rebellion — measures for which 
 the minister was indemnified by Parliament, as well as 
 for his treatment of me, the illegality and inhumanity of 
 which are not, I believe, unknown to your lordship." 
 [Here Cloncurry entered into a history of the various 
 steps of that oppression which pursued him so unre- 
 lentingly for such a length of time. He likewise vindi- 
 cated his conduct, and completely refuted the many lying 
 calumnies that sought to crush him beneath their weight.] 
 " I should feel myself debased," said he, in conclusion, 
 " by thus entering into explanation with your lordship, 
 did I not believe that your power is near its end. The 
 reign of bigotry and prejudice is over. I shall remain in 
 my country, from which you would have driven me, and 
 I shall cherish those sentiments you would have me 
 
 renounce." 
 
 In the course of the ensuing month, private communi- 
 cation was made, through influential channels, to the 
 Viceroy (Lord Hardwicke), though without Cloncurry 's 
 knowledge, expressive of the noble lord's desire to become 
 a magistrate of the county. His Excellency did not 
 hesitate to pursue that course which his own sense of 
 justice and propriety prompted. Lord Redesdale was forth- 
 with ordered to insert in the commission of the peace the 
 noble applicant's name, whether he (Lord R.) liked it or 
 no ; and the Chancellor's letter to Lord Cloncurry, an- 
 nouncing the needful as having been done, forms a strange 
 and amusing contrast, when placed in juxta-position with 
 his previous communication — one so pregnant of asperity, 
 the other overflowing with such obsequious politeness. 
 Cloncurry, however, who was always a very proud, as 
 well as a very vain man, no sooner read the letter, than 
 he sat down and concocted, with the assistance of John 
 Philpot Curran and George Ponsonby, a remarkably 
 trenchant reply to the Chancellor, wherein he em- 
 phatically declined to accept of any favour at the hands 
 of that officer. 
 
 The Viceroy availed himself of an opportunity, about 
 this period, to assure Lord Cloncurry of his thorough 
 sympathy with him in all the trials he underwent, and 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 287 
 
 offered, with, a view to render some sliglit compensation 
 for such injustice, to use his great influence across the 
 water in recommending him for promotion in the peerage. 
 This Lord Cloncurry, with characteristic taste, declined. 
 How different from his craven father, who, personally and 
 by letter, supplicated the Viceroys Westmoreland and 
 Fitzwilliam for " promotion in the peerage." 
 
 Lord Cloncurry 's glimpse into the futurity of Lord 
 Redesdale's political life proved perfectly correct. In 
 less than eight weeks from the date of his insolent refusal, 
 Lord Redesdale was removed from the Irish Chancellor- 
 ship. One of Cloncurry's best friends succeeded him.* 
 We allude to honest George Ponsonby, to whom the 
 Great Seal was delivered on March 1st, 1806. This 
 appointment formed an element in the composition of 
 Lord Bedford's Administration of " all the talents," which, 
 in 1852, was imitated by the Earl of Aberdeen in his 
 Coalition Cabinet. He was the second scion of the 
 Bedford family that wielded the viceregal sceptre. In 
 1762, his father was inaugurated Lord Lieutenant of 
 Ireland. 
 
 The national party entertained great hopes, upon the 
 accession of John Duke of Bedford to power, that some 
 boons of importance would be conceded to Ireland. 
 Their expectations, however, were doomed to be dis- 
 appointed. In 1807, on the recall of his Grace, the Duke 
 of Richmond assumed the helm of Government. His 
 
 * The usually impartial Plowden, in his " History of Ireland" (vol. ii. 
 p. 288), speaking of the removal of Lord Redesdale from the Chancery' 
 bench, at Fox's instance, writes : — " It was an inchoate act of justice to the 
 Irish population to put an early and an unequivocal mark of reprobation on 
 the man who had calumniated and insulted them with an ignorant and 
 malignant bigotry, which has not been experienced on any European theatre 
 for centuries." On the 4th March, 1806, his lordship appeared in court for 
 the last time, and took advantage of that opportunity to assure the Bar, that 
 when he came over to Ireland he thought he shoidd probably have spent the 
 remainder of his days there. "I proudly hoped," said he, "to have lived 
 and died amongst you, but that has not been permitted. * * * I have 
 been informed that a peremptory order has come to the Lord Lieutenant not 
 to suffer a moment to elapse in preventing the Great Seal longer remaining in 
 my hands. I know not whence this jealousy of me has arisen." Lord 
 Redesdale was much chagrined and agitated, and burst into tears several 
 times in the course of his address. 
 
288 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 heraldic motto — " En la rose je fleuris" — was an appli- 
 cable one. In opinion and sentiments lie was English 
 to the back bone. He, however, possessed an easy grace 
 and familiar suavity — qualities which have ever charac- 
 terized the house of Lenox, although never very strikingly 
 the English as a people. In short, to use the words of 
 Captain Mulligan, in reference to his friend Pendennis, 
 he was a viceroy of " polite manners, engaging affability, 
 and princely fortune." 
 
 Had the Duke of Bedford continued as Viceroy, 
 Dublin would, no doubt, have derived much benefit from 
 his presence. Few men entertained a more sovereign 
 contempt for money.* He scattered it with a lavish hand, 
 but he economized promotion — a grievous offence in 
 certain dead and gone conceptions. 
 
 Lord and Lady Cloncurry were frequent visitors at the 
 Bedford Court. The beauty of the one, and the dignity 
 of the other, soon obtained for both a large circle of 
 admirers. Lord Cloncurry spared no expense on the 
 decoration of his lovely wife. Folk who would otherwise 
 have remained at home, hurried to the Castle ball-room, 
 in order to catch a glimpse of the exquisite enchantress. 
 Rich in gold, in precious gems and jewels — rich, in the 
 halo of her own natural magnificence, Georgiana Clon- 
 curry leant gracefully on her lord. The light of the 
 throne-room — the theme of every tongue ; at home the 
 loving motherf — the domestic wife, Lord Cloncurry 
 felt the inestimable value of the possession, as proudly 
 he gazed on the companion of his life. 
 
 * As an instance of his liberality in England, we may mention that 
 upwards of £40,000 was expended by him in rebuilding Covent-garden 
 Market. 
 
 f It was on the morning following one of the Castle balls, that a venerable 
 friend of the author's met Lady Cloncurry and her two children at the house 
 of Dr. Clarke, an eminent physician, whither she had gone in order to consult 
 him on the propriety of weaning the youngest, afterwards Baroness de 
 Roebeck. Our informant was much struck at the interesting affection of the 
 young mother for her child, and the evidence it gave of such solid domestic 
 virtues. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 A TRAGEDY. 
 
 " The woman who deliberates is lost." — Addison. 
 
 Early in the year 1806, the greatest calamity that could 
 possibly befall a young and honourable man fell upon 
 the home of Lord Cloncurry. He lost the idolized 
 partner of his existence — not by the visitation of God, 
 but by a death infinitely more awful. With the history 
 of this mournful transaction many men still living are 
 familiar. Gladly would we drop the veil of oblivion 
 over its details, could we think that in doing so we were 
 discharging our duties as a faithful biographer. 
 
 Sir J — n P (in mercy to his descendants we sup- 
 press the name) was educated at the same school with 
 Lord Cloncurry, and both baron and baronet appear to 
 have been connected with each other by the bonds of 
 
 close and early friendship. P , though a man of 
 
 large fortune, contrived about the year 1800 to involve 
 himself, owing to his habitual improvidence, in embar- 
 rassments of a pecuniary nature. Pie had heard of the 
 proverbial generosity of his noble friend, and he resolved 
 to put it practically to the test. To Lord Cloncurry he 
 accordingly applied for a sum, which it is unnecessary to 
 assure the reader, was no sooner asked than granted. It 
 
 was considerable, and Sir J — n P gave Lord 
 
 Cloncurry his bonds for the amount. In 1802, when 
 Lord Cloncurry was about to leave with his sisters for 
 
 the Continent, he deposited P 's bonds in the hands 
 
 of Mr. Willoughby, his lordship's law agent, with posi- 
 tive injunctions never to incommode Sir J — n by the 
 slightest application for the payment of them. 
 
 o 
 
290 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 • 
 
 Some breasts would have been animated by a sense of 
 
 gratitude for such favours ; but, alas ! Sir J — n P 's 
 
 was not of the number. 
 
 During the two years' residence of Lord and Lady 
 Cloneurry at Rome, nothing could exceed in ardour the 
 mutual attachment which subsisted. The climax of this 
 world's joy was reached by the connubial felicity which 
 illumed their souls. In April, 1803, they had been married ; 
 in 1805 they bade adieu to Rome. During that interval 
 two lovely children sanctified their alliance. Those Lady 
 Cloneurry nursed herself. In fact, few in her exalted 
 station possessed more remarkable or more solid domestic 
 virtues. 
 
 The noble example she set in devoting to these, and 
 other domestic duties, the most brilliant moments of her 
 youth and beauty, excited the admiration of all who 
 knew her. Amongst those who were particularly struck 
 with it may be mentioned the Earl of Montcashel and the 
 Hon. William Moore. Both gentlemen resided, for the 
 entire time that Lord and Lady Cloneurry remained at 
 Rome, in the immediate vicinity of their dwelling. On 
 the memorable trial of February 19, 1807, Lord Mont- 
 cashel was summoned as a witness. A portion of his 
 evidence we subjoin, as it redounded to the credit of 
 Lord and Lady Cloneurry : — 
 
 Q. Were you in habits of familiar intercourse in the family of Lord 
 Cloneurry while he remained in Italy ? 
 
 A. I was, very much. I saw them constantly. There were not many 
 English there, and we were much together. 
 
 Q. Had they any children at Rome ? 
 
 A. They had two children. 
 
 Q. Can you state, my Lord, from the intercourse which you had with 
 Lord Cloneurry 's family, upon what terms they appeared to live ? 
 
 A. They appeared to live upon the most happy terms. He was very 
 much attached to her — shewed her every attention possible, and she ap- 
 peared fond of him and sensible of his kindness. 
 
 Q. They were happy together ? 
 
 A. Exceedingly so ; and for a young woman, she was extremely domestic 
 and attentive to her husband and her children. 
 
 Q. Are you able to say that they appeared a peculiarly happy couple ? 
 
 A. They appeared as happy as a couple considered happy could possibly 
 be. I never could hear of any difference between them. 
 
 Q. Do you recollect whether Lady Cloneurry happened to have any 
 severe illness during the time you were at Rome ? 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 291 
 
 A. I recollect her accouchement, but nothing more. 
 
 Q. Had you an opportunity of observing the attention of Lord Cloncurry 
 to his lady upon that occasion ? 
 
 A. I observed it to be that of an affectionate husband to his -wife. 
 
 Q. Had you an opportunity of observing Lady Cloncurry's deportment 
 in public and in private? 
 
 A. I had, in the familiar intercourse that friends have, and I saw nothing 
 but what was perfectly and uniformly correct. 
 
 The Hon. Mr. Moore, who had similar opportunities 
 of witnessing Lord and Lady Cloncurry's general de- 
 meanour during their sojourn in the Eternal City, was also 
 interrogated. Among other questions he was asked : — 
 
 Q. Upon what terms did they appear to you to live together ? 
 A. Perfectly happy ; very much attached to each other. 
 Q. What was Lord Cloncurry's conduct towards his lady ? 
 A. Extremely attentive and affectionate. 
 Q. What was the conduct of both towards their children ? 
 A. They were both very fond of their children. 
 
 The Hon. Colonel Burton was next examined. The 
 evidence of this gentleman went principally to show that 
 after Lord and Lady Cloncurry's arrival in Ireland, the 
 same affection and happiness continued to exist between 
 them. 
 
 Q. Were you frequently at Lyons since that time ? 
 
 A. Veiy frequently. 
 
 Q. Were they often at your house ? 
 
 A. Very often. 
 
 Q. Had you an opportunity of observing the conduct of Lord and Lady 
 Cloncurrv to each other ? 
 
 A. I had. * * * * 
 
 Q. As far as you observed, was, or was not, the conduct and disposition 
 of Lord Cloncurry that of a man remarkably fond of his wife ? 
 
 A. He was remarkably fond of her. 
 
 Q. Were they during that time what you would call an extremely happy 
 couple ? 
 
 A. They were so, to the best of my judgment. 
 
 John Joseph Henry, one of Lord Cloncurry's most 
 intimate friends, gave similar evidence. " They were 
 extremely happy," he said, " and could not possibly be 
 more so." 
 
 Q. Did you happen to see Lord Cloncurry after the affliction had befalleu 
 him? 
 A. I did. 
 
292 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 Q. How soon after ? 
 
 A. I cannot particularly state the day, but as nearly as I can recollect it 
 was a fortnight. 
 
 Q. Did it appear to make much impression upon his mind ? 
 
 A. Very much. He was in deep distress. 
 
 Q. What was the state of his mind ? 
 
 A. I will not call it distraction, but it was a debility of intellect, as well 
 as I can express it. 
 
 Q. You visited him after hearing of this matter ? 
 
 A. I did, at Lyons. 
 
 Q. Was your intimacy such as induced Lord Cloncurry to communicate 
 with you on the subject ? 
 
 A. He did, most freely. 
 
 (The counsel for the defendant objected to the witness being interrogated 
 relative to what passed between him and Lord Cloncurry.) 
 
 Gaspar Gabrielli, the artist wliom his lordship brought 
 from Rome, was also examined. Among other questions 
 he was asked: — 
 
 Q. Have you dined at Lord Cloncurry 's table at Lyons ? 
 
 A. Every day. 
 
 Q. What was the state in which Lord and Lady Cloncurry lived together 
 
 A. The greatest felicity in all extents. 
 
 Her ladyship's maid was next summoned. She had 
 been in General Morgan's family for many years, and 
 lived with Lord and Lady Cloncurry since the period of 
 their marriage. In the course of a rigid examination, 
 she was asked, what was Lord Cloncurry 's general con- 
 duct as a husband? "There never was a man more 
 attached," she exclaimed, " and he was one of the best 
 husbands I ever saw." Other answers given by her to 
 the Solicitor-General reflected equal honour on Lady 
 Cloncurry 's character, as a wife and a mother. 
 
 Our motive for introducing the foregoing extracts from 
 the evidence is, or ought to be, obvious. Repeatedly 
 have we heard it alleged, and, perad venture, the reader 
 too, that his lordship soon, very soon, indeed, had cause 
 to regret his alliance with Miss Morgan. A blacker 
 calumny was never uttered. From April, 1803, to April, 
 1806, there could not exist on the face of the globe a 
 happier or more devoted couple. Had the thousand 
 tongues of rumour which so industriously circulated the 
 above, ceased to wag its slanderous aspersions here, it 
 might have spared some pain to the already deeply 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 293 
 
 wounded feelings of Lord Cloncurry. But it could not. 
 The itching inclination of concanniers to erect a plausible 
 story on so tempting a basis, must needs be gratified. 
 Cloncurry — so said they — repenting of his hasty and ill- 
 judged alliance, suddenly bethought him of an expedient 
 
 to dissever it. He invited Sir J — n P to his 
 
 house (albeit that he knew him to be a dangerous man) ; 
 invited him again — yea ! after Lady Cloncurry had con- 
 jured him to let him come no more; and, finally, unac- 
 companied by his wife, left Lyons for Dublin. 
 
 For nearly half a century this wretched slander has 
 possessed a dull, irresolute vitality. Although repeatedly 
 contradicted, it has not yet died out. The body of a 
 worm, chopped and re-chopped into a hundred particles, 
 could not be more difficult to deprive of life. Within 
 the last few months we have heard the vile calumny of 
 1807 sent adrift once more upon the world, with its 
 primitive deformity so much concealed by decoration, as 
 to lose in a great degree the repulsive aspect of its first 
 appearance, but nevertheless possessing beneath a plausi- 
 ble exterior all the intrinsic hideousness of the original. 
 
 On the arrival of Lord and Lady Cloncurry in Ireland, 
 their society was immediately courted by the first aristo- 
 cracy of the country. Lady Cloncurry was admired — he 
 was beloved. The wooded domain of Lyons was a bliss- 
 ful region. The two long years of cruel persecution 
 which his lordship but a short time previously passed 
 within the cold grasp of a humid dungeon, lent an 
 additional zest to his present felicity. How marked the 
 contrast ! — how complete the transition ! What a happy 
 life was his ! 
 
 Rejoice, ye fiends and devils of darkness, for the eyes 
 of the lord of Lyons will soon be bathed in tears, and 
 his nuptial couch hung in mourning ! 
 
 The old schoolfellow and early friend of Valentine 
 Lawless, who erst had tasted the sweets of his salutary 
 advice and munificent generosity, contemplated with 
 envious eye the happiness we have described, and like a 
 wolf hungering for prey, yearned to have even a particle 
 
294 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 of the elements of such felicity in his clutches. A 
 more unlikely person than Lady Cloncurry to prove 
 unfaithful to him whom she had vowed to " love, honour, 
 and obey," did not exist perhaps in Christendom. Can 
 it be believed that such was the character which Sir 
 
 J — n P resolved by every art of hell to wither 
 
 and destroy. A bet, or agreement, was entered into, as 
 we have heard, between the monster and some kindred 
 spirit, that in the event of the utter and complete ruin of 
 Lord and Lady Cloncurry 's domestic happiness, a sum of 
 
 money would be placed to the credit of his (P 's) 
 
 account in a certain Dublin bank. In case of failure, 
 the operation was, of course, to be reversed. 
 
 We freely confess that so consummately diabolical and 
 deliberate does this proceeding appear to us, that we can 
 hardly bring ourselves to credit it. More than one party, 
 however, has vouched for its veracity. 
 
 ™ '^* W* ^ *T* *t* *F* ^" ^» "^ 
 
 We cannot follow the destroyer through the hideous paths 
 of his progress. We essayed to do so, but have turned 
 back in horror. 
 
 We, therefore, gladly pass over the repeated visits 
 
 of Sir J — n P to the house of his benefactor. 
 
 Gladly do we refrain from portraying the studied dis- 
 simulation of the serpent previous to effecting his mur- 
 derous design. 
 
 When forbidden the house by Lady Cloncurry, P 
 
 sought means to importune her with letters. Instead of 
 treating these with silent indifference, Lady Cloncurry 
 foolishly, we might say madly, replied to them. What 
 she, in her youthful innocence, considered most calcu- 
 lated to repel the insidious advances of the libertine, only 
 had the effect of giving him renewed encouragement. 
 Her letters to him teemed with virtuous indignation. 
 She spurned his vile overtures. Her attachment to her 
 husband she declared to be inalienable. She was the 
 happy mother of two children — the happy wife of an 
 honest man. 
 
 O blind, deluded, headstrong creature ! what consum- 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 295 
 
 mate infatuation to keep from the knowledge of your 
 natural protector the advances made by this assassin of 
 your peace ! 
 
 It behoves us to touch this portion of his lordship's life 
 with as light a pencil as possible. Let it suffice to say, 
 that a very few weeks witnessed the utter annihilation of 
 Lord and Lady Cloncurry 's domestic felicity. We can- 
 not, however, in common justice to his lordship, refrain 
 from giving Charles Kendal Bushe's eloquent description 
 of his generous conduct on hearing from Lady Cloncurry 
 the confession of her criminality. We extract it from a 
 work in very extensive circulation, and one that has 
 passed through several editions — " Curran and his Co- 
 temporaries," by Charles Philipps : — 
 
 " Gentlemen, it requires obdurate and habitual vice, and practised 
 depravity, to overbear the natural workings of the human heart. This un- 
 fortunate woman had not strength further to resist. She had been seduced — 
 she had been depraved — her soul was burdened with a guilty secret ; but 
 she was young in crime, and true to nature. She could no longer bear the 
 load of her own conscience ; she was overpowered by the generosity of an 
 injured husband, more keen than any reproaches; she was incapacitated 
 from any further dissimulation ; she flung herself at his feet — ' I am un- 
 worthy, 1 she exclaimed, ' of such tenderness and such goodness : it is too 
 late — the villain has ruined me, and dishonoured you : I am guilty.' Gen- 
 tlemen, I told you I should confine myself to facts. I have scarcely made 
 an observation, and will not affront my client's case, nor your feelings, nor 
 my own, by common-placing upon the topic of the plaintiff's sufferings. 
 You are Christians — men ; your hearts must describe for me, — I cannot. 
 I affect not humility in saying that I cannot — no advocate can : as I told 
 you, your hearts must be the advocates. Conceive this unhappy nubleman, 
 in the bloom of life, surrounded with every comfort, exalted by high honour 
 and distinctions, enjoying great property, the proud proprietor of an elevated 
 rank and a magnificent mansion — the prouder proprietor, a few hours before, 
 of what he thought an innocent and an amiable woman— the happy father 
 of children whom he loved, and loved the more as children of the wife whom 
 he adored — precipitated in one hour into an abyss of misery, which no 
 language can represent— loathing his rank, despising his wealth, cursing the 
 youth and health that promised nothing but the protraction of a wretched 
 existence — looking round upon every worldly object with disgust and 
 despair, and finding in this complicated woe no principle of consolation, 
 except the consciousness of not having deserved it. Smote to the earth, 
 this unhappy man forgot not his character : he raised the guilty and lost 
 penitent from his feet ; he left her punishment to her conscience and to 
 heaven — her pardon he reserved to himself. The tenderness and generosity 
 of his nature prompted him to instant mercy,* he forgave her — he prayed to 
 
 * "We believe there can be no necessity for longer withholding the fact, 
 that Lord Cloncurry would have forgotten and forgiven, and reinstated Lady 
 
296 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 God to forgive her. He told her she should he restored to the protection of 
 her father — that until then her secret should he preserved and her feelings 
 respected, and that her fall from honour should be as easy as it might. But 
 there was a forgiveness which she supplicated, and which he sternly refused. 
 He refused that forgiveness which implies the meanness of the person who 
 dispenses it, and which renders the clemency valueless, because it makes the 
 man despicable ; he refused to take back to his arms the tainted and faithless 
 woman who had betrayed him. He refused to expose himself to the scorn 
 of the world and his own contempt ; he submitted to misery ; he could not 
 brook dishonour." 
 
 Lord Cloncuny lost no time in writing to General 
 Morgan. Lady Cloncurry continued to be received at 
 the table of her lord ; and every one, save themselves, 
 remained in complete ignorance of what had passed. 
 Not even Lady Bruton, his lordship's sister, who was 
 stopping at the time at Lyons, received even a hint of 
 the catastrophe. In a few days Colonel Kyd, Lady 
 Cloncurry 's uncle, arrived from England by her father's 
 desire. She immediately left Ireland under the protec- 
 tion of that gentleman, and, to use the words of Bushe, 
 " her broken-hearted husband took leave of her for ever- 
 more." 
 
 We have said much on this subject, but much more 
 might, with propriety, be said. When the prevalence 
 of the wretched slander, alreadv adverted to, is taken 
 into consideration, the most fastidious ought not to com- 
 plain either of the prolixity of these details, or the un- 
 reserved nature of their language. So far from his lord- 
 
 ship encouraging the visits of Sir J — n P to Lyons 
 
 after having heard that his manner was offensively 
 familiar towards Lady Cloncurry, he pursued a course 
 diametrically opposed to it. Early one morning, during 
 
 the visit of P to Lyons, his lordship awoke, and to 
 
 his surprise found Lady Cloncurry weeping. He at first 
 imagined that this was merely occasioned by a frightful 
 dream, and thought nothing of it; but soon the existence 
 of a substantial sorrow became apparent to him. Lady 
 Cloncurry besought him (and this she did for the first 
 
 Clonciirry in that position, which through her foolishness, she had forfeited, 
 
 were it not for his well-beloved friend, J n P 1 C n, who urged 
 
 him, in strong and persuasive language, to the contrary. — W. J. F. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 297 
 
 time) to close the door of liis hospitality against P- 
 
 for ever. Although the hour was only half-past four, he 
 rushed like a maniac from his chamber to that occupied 
 by Sir J — n P . He thundered at the door, en- 
 tered the room, but found it empty. A fowling-piece, 
 which usually remained behind the door, was gone — the 
 baronet must therefore be out shooting. Cloncurry de- 
 scended the stairs, and, quivering with agitation, left the 
 house. Aided by the grey dawn of a summer's morning,* 
 he searched the thickly wooded demesne of Lyons. At 
 
 length, in a retired part of the grounds, Sir J — n P , 
 
 gun in hand, rose before him. Ere Lord Cloncurry gave 
 expression to his feelings, he procured, with admirable 
 
 presence of mind, the fowling-piece! from P , lest 
 
 the hot and ungovernable temper of his false friend 
 should lead him, in a moment of revengeful impulse, to 
 discharge it. 
 
 With a breast heaving with indignation, and eyes 
 heavily charged with big hot tears, Cloncurry gazed 
 upon the form of his deadly enemy. At length he spoke ; 
 P quivered like an aspen leaf before him. Clon- 
 curry was calm. " If you value the reputation of Lady 
 Cloncurry," exclaimed his lordship, " you will begone 
 from our sight for evermore. May God forgive you, 
 P ; I did not look for this."t 
 
 At this time Cloncurry was totally unconscious of the 
 extent of his false friend's criminality. He firmly be- 
 lieved that Lady Cloncurry was innocent, and that Sir 
 J — n P had merely, on one or two occasions, for- 
 
 * It was the morning of the 25th May. 
 
 t Lord Cloncurry procured the fowling-piece from P on the pretext 
 
 of desiring to fire at a rabbit. 
 
 X Some ultra-moralists may possibly censure the writer of these pages for 
 introducing a subject of such delicacy into the life of Lord Cloncurry. But 
 we heed not their animadversion. Should this book be sufficiently fortunate 
 as to reach a second edition, we promise them the details shall be repeated, 
 and in all probability some new ones added. 
 
 It is our duty to do justice, and to see justice done, to the character of 
 Lord Cloncurry. We are not aware how this could be effected, and omit 
 the refutation of a calumny, which, if permitted to circulate uncontradicted, 
 could not fail to compromise seriously his lordship's personal honour. 
 
 o 2 
 
298 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 gotten himself, by an extreme of gallantrie, in casual 
 drawing-room conversation. 
 
 After a few turgidly-articulated expressions of injured 
 innocence, the guilty, confounded, self-convicted* criminal 
 tied. " Lord Cloncurry," says Bushe, " returned to the 
 chamber where he had left his wife. With warm tender- 
 ness and noble generosity he besought her to be tranquil, 
 soothed her by his caresses, and assured her that the 
 villain who had disturbed her repose was banished for ever." 
 
 All this, it must be borne in mind, occurred previous 
 to the scene described in " Curran and his Cotempo- 
 raries." 
 
 Lord Cloncurry, it is true, had permitted Sir J — nP 
 
 to pay more than one, two, three, or even four visits to 
 Lyons. Nay, with his characteristic hospitality, he invited 
 him to come. But Lord Cloncurry had not the slightest 
 suspicion of him ; he had no reason to suspect his wife — 
 he had none to suspect his friend. He had no conception 
 that the man with whom he had been intimate from his 
 childhood, who was under personal obligations to him, 
 who had ever been hospitably and cordially received and 
 treated in his family, would violate every moral duty and 
 honourable principle. In his lady Lord Cloncurry had 
 the utmost, and, as he thought, the most deserved confi- 
 dence. Her excellent education, her extreme youth, her 
 devotion to her children, her antecedent passion for her 
 husband, the rank to which he had exalted her, the dis- 
 tinction by which she was honoured, the happiness of 
 every kind by which she was surrounded, would appear 
 to the most suspicious and jealous mind sufficient security 
 for her innocence.f 
 
 Aspiring to add the blood of the husband to the ruin 
 
 * The letters addressed by Sir J — n P- to Lady Cloncurry, and 
 
 afterwards to his lordship, on discovery having ensued, could not fail to 
 prove intensely interesting to a certain class of readers. Verbatim copies of 
 those letters remain in our possession, but little inclination have we to pander 
 to prurient tastes and vicious curiosity, by making this work the vehicle of 
 their dissemination. We do not conceive that any good object could be 
 gained by doing so. 
 
 t See the Solicitor-General's speech in the Court of King's Bench, Feb. 
 19, 1807. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 299 
 
 of the wife, Sir J — n P wrote to Lord Cloncurry 
 
 to say, that he would be ready and willing to engage 
 him in mortal combat at any moment's notice, should 
 he so desire it. The baronet knew enough of law to 
 know that he had subjected himself to an action, the 
 consequences of which could not fail to affect both his 
 character and his pocket. If Lord Cloncurry fell, which 
 
 was not improbable (P being a practised duellist), 
 
 the lawsuit would, as a natural sequence, fall to the 
 ground likewise. 
 
 This aggravated aggression on the part of Sir J — n 
 
 P having become known, informations were sworn, 
 
 and the baronet was arrested. He entertained some rather 
 natural feelings of distaste to " durance vile," and offered 
 bail in a considerable sum. This Chief Justice Dowries 
 accepted, and the roaring lion was once more let loose 
 upon the world. But haunted by the near approach of 
 retribution, he packed his portmanteau, and precipitately 
 fled to that refugium peccatorum — the Isle of Man. By 
 this proceeding his recognizances became, of course, for- 
 feited to the Crown. 
 
 By permission of the Court, Lord Cloncurry filed his 
 declaration, upon a common appearance, against him as 
 a fugitive, and on the 19th February, 1807, the memo- 
 rable trial of " Cloncurry versus P " came on before 
 
 Lord Chief Justice Downes and a respectable jury of 
 Dublin citizens. Lord Cloncurry had a strong bar re- 
 tained in his favour. Amongst them stood Charles Kendal 
 Bushe, afterwards Chief Justice, Sergeant Ball, John Burne, 
 K.C. (the old lawyer of the Cloncurry family), Mr. Quin, 
 K.C., Mr. Burton, K.C. (afterwards judge), and John Phil- 
 pot Curran, subsequently Master of the Rolls. Foremost 
 in the ranks of Sir J — n P 's counsel stood the redoubt- 
 able Peter Borrowes, and Mr., afterwards Baron, Joy. 
 Messrs. Scriven and Johnston completed the bar. The trial 
 extended over two days. Damages were laid at £100,000. 
 The utmost interest prevailed. The court, each day, was 
 crowded to suffocation. Not for years had there been 
 seen an equal array of learned advocates. The speeches 
 of Bushe and Borrowes, the antagonistic counsel, were 
 
300 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 masterpieces of eloquence and forensic argument.* Bur- 
 rowes made the very most of the defence. He endea- 
 voured, in the first place, to prove that a host of preju- 
 dices against Sir J — n P 's character had been 
 
 raised by calumny and misrepresentation for the pur- 
 pose of preoccupying the mind of the jury with a per- 
 suasion of his guilt. This, he said, combined with the 
 artful statement of Mr. Bushe, acted but too successfully. 
 Peter Burrowes, however, had not the aplomb to defend 
 the character of the baronet. His conduct he admitted 
 to be in itself highly reprehensible. Any lawyer will 
 readily understand the delicate nature of the defence into 
 which Burrowes entered after that preamble. It was the 
 defence usually made on such occasions. We do not 
 consider ourselves called upon, for many reasons, to 
 examine it. 
 
 LordDownes, towards the conclusion of his charge, leant 
 
 heavily on P . He declared himself to be " totally 
 
 unable to point out a single circumstance in the defendant's 
 conduct to go in mitigation of damages" — a strong decla- 
 ration coming from such a judge. 
 
 On the other hand, he extolled the conduct of Lord 
 Cloncurry. From beginning to end, he pronounced it 
 to be full of kindness and considerateness towards Lady 
 Cloncurry; that the whole history of their married state, 
 
 until the evil eye of Sir J — n P alighted on her, had 
 
 been one continued, uninterrupted current of mutual 
 affection. He called upon the jury to estimate the in- 
 jurv which the noble plaintiff had sustained, and to com- 
 pensate him, as far as that could, in reason, be done. 
 
 The jury left the box, and returned, after half an hours 
 conference, with a verdict for the plaintiff of £20,000 
 damages, and 6d. costs. 
 
 Having been, at length, secured by the strong arm of 
 the law, Sir J — n P gave what he could (but re- 
 luctantly enough), and his bond for the remainder. Up 
 
 * Two full reports of the trial were, in the spring of 1807, printed and 
 published in pamphlet shape, by two rival Dublin publishers. Their sale was 
 immense. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 301 
 
 to the year 1837, the damages do not appear to have been 
 entirely paid off. 
 
 On Wednesday, 8th March, 1837, we find a motion 
 made in the Rolls Court, by Mr. Litton, applying to have 
 the receiver extended over the defendant's estates, as the 
 sum of £7,250 15s. was due to Lord Cloncurry. The 
 following report of the proceedings appears in the Dublin 
 Evening Mail, of March 10, 1837: — 
 
 "Mr. Warren, K.C., objected to the application, and contended that 
 Lord Cloncurry, having accepted a deed for the sum of £5,000, could not go 
 back upon the original judgment, which he had abandoned. * * 
 
 " The Master of the Rolls decided that the receiver should be ex- 
 tended ; but the creditors of Sir J — n P , who opposed the motion, get 
 
 their costs." 
 
 One of the Tory journals of the day,* in reference to 
 this motion, discharged a rather offensive leader at Lord 
 Cloncurry. Had it confined itself to honest abuse, we 
 should not have considered the matter worthy of notice ; 
 but it descended to an unworthy and unwarrantable 
 falsehood. The damages, said this print, " were £5,000, 
 and the balance is an accumulation of interest arising 
 out of principle/" 
 
 Thomes Ryan, J. P., of Ballinakill, County Kildare, 
 Esq., succeeded Mr. Braughall as the confidential agent 
 of Lord Cloncurry. For years after Lady Cloncurry 's 
 separation from her husband and her children, she was in 
 the habit of addressing, to this gentleman, most anxious 
 letters of inquiry respecting them. Of this circumstance, 
 we believe, Lord Cloncurry was, to the day of his 
 death, ignorant. Mr. Ryan died in 1814, but his papers 
 are still in existence, and, amongst them, may be found 
 the interesting correspondence referred to. Were we 
 permitted to make historical use of it, nothing would more 
 completely redound to the honour and credit of Lady 
 Cloncurry ; but a mistaken feeling of propriety pre- 
 
 * In consequence of Lord Cloncurry 's unfashionable politics, the journal 
 referred to opposed him, on all occasions, virulently. We allude mainly to the 
 
 four-and-twenty years during which R S continued to edit it. Mr. 
 
 S was originally a Roman Catholic. 
 
302 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 vents the representatives of Mr. Ryan from sanctioning 
 its publicity, and the reader must, therefore, for the 
 present, make up his mind to the loss. In some future 
 edition of this work we hope to be in a position to 
 give it. 
 
 Nothing can be more painfully interesting than this 
 correspondence. Our eyes suffused with tears as we read 
 it. It breathes the holiest sentiments from the first to the 
 last, fond inquiries after the health of her children, their 
 juvenile progress in knowledge and religion; whether 
 they ever speak of their poor, poor mother; anxious aspi- 
 rations that they may be good and happy. Such is the 
 tenor of a correspondence which appears to have extended 
 over several years. In more than one letter, Lady Clon- 
 curry beseeches Mr. Ryan to endeavour to steal for her a 
 lock or two of Valentine's* and Mary'sf hair, in order 
 that she may place it next her heart, and sigh and cry 
 over it. 
 
 On returning to England, Lady Cloncurry at once 
 assumed her maiden name of Morgan. She associated with 
 her family, and a select circle of acquaintances, who loved 
 her for her sweetness and amiability of disposition. About 
 the year 1812, on the death of her uncle, Colonel Kyd, 
 who never had any issue, Miss Morgan became entitled 
 to a considerable property. Of this, a large portion was 
 disbursed by her in ministering to the wants of the poor, 
 who prayed that God would make her life a long and 
 happy one. 
 
 In 181 9 J (her marriage with Lord Cloncurry having 
 been previously dissolved by Act of Parliament) the Rev. 
 John Sanford, Rector of Nynehead, Somerset, made an 
 offer to Miss Morgan, of his hand and heart. He was 
 accepted, and the nuptials took place on the 2nd June, 
 1819. It is with no small pleasure we have it in our power 
 
 * The Hon. Valentine Anne Lawless. He died in 1825, aged twenty. 
 
 t Afterwards Baroness de Roebeck. 
 
 X The dissolution of the marriage, by Act of Parliament, took place on 
 April 7th, 1811, the birth day, singular to say, of her first born child, by 
 Lord Cloncurry. We allude to Valentine Anne, born in Rome, April 7th, 
 1805. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 303 
 
 to say, that uninterrupted happiness and serenity have 
 crowned this alliance. One child, a daughter, sanctified 
 it. In 1844, Miss Anna Horatia Caroline Sanford was 
 led to the Hymeneal altar by Frederick Henry, Lord 
 M n, an English nobleman of much worth, and con- 
 siderable fortune. His lordship is now (1854) the 
 happy father of six blooming children. 
 
 Sir J — n P survived until the 20th July, 1845. 
 
 Although twice married, he left no son to inherit his 
 title. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 The Duke of Richmond Viceroy of Ireland— Lord Cloncurry's Hospitality — 
 Anecdote — His Lordship's Second Marriage — Foundation of the Catholic 
 Association in 1747, and its progressive Gradations fron that Date — John 
 Keogh — Protestant Co-operation — Lord Fingal — Lord Cloncurry's Speech 
 at the Kildare Meeting of 1811 — Wogan Browne — Dr. Duigenan made a 
 Privy Councillor — Lord Cloncurry's Speech at the Catholic Banquet of 
 Dec. 17, 1811 — He sets in Motion the Machinery of Petty Sessions — Letter 
 to the Author — Narrow-minded Bigotry of Lord Chancellor Manners — 
 Lord Cloncurry subjected to a studied Insult — Banquet to Tom Moore in 
 1818 — Moore's Father — Amusing Anecdote — Death of the Hon. Charlotte 
 Lawless — Sir Thomas M'Kenny — The Iron Duke and the Tin Case — 
 General Devereux's Mission to Ireland in 1819 — Lord Cloncurry's Address 
 to his Recruits — The venal Flatterers of George IV. in 1820— Sir Richard 
 Steele — Exciting Scene at Kilmainham — Spirited Behaviour of Lord Clon- 
 curry — The Hon. Mary Lawless allied in Marriage to the Baron de Roe- 
 beck — George IV. visits Ireland in 1821 — Infatuation of the People — An 
 Orange Lord Mayor — Lord Cloncurry's Letter on Police — Robert Owen's 
 Philanthropic Mission to Ireland in 1823 — Lord Cloncurry's Private Let- 
 ters to him — Martial Law — Anecdote — The Kildare-place Society — Lord 
 Cloncurry a watchful Sentinel over the Interests of the Irish Catholic 
 Church — His Project fur the Reclamation of Bogs — Letters to Messrs. 
 O'Beirne and O'Connell — Death of Lord Cloncurry's eldest Son — Lord 
 Cloncurry's Letter to the Catholic Association in 1824 — Letters to O'Con- 
 nell, Father Sheehan, and Mr. Coppinger — The Wellesley Administration — 
 Extraordinary Advertisement — Lord Cloncurry's Donation of £100 to the 
 distressed Weavers of the Liberty — Forged Letter from Lord Cloncurry — 
 Its History — Lord Cloncurry's Labours to establish Inland Navigation — 
 Birth of the Society for the Improvement of Ireland — His Lordship's 
 Speech at the Inauguration — Dinner to Lord Killeen — " The Poor Man's 
 Magistrate" — Letters from Lord Cloncurry to the Duke of Manchester and 
 others. 
 
 Lord Cloncurry frequented the Bedford Court, but on 
 the arrival of the Duke of Richmond, his visits to the 
 Castle ceased. He appears to have been prejudiced on 
 political, not personal grounds, against that vivacious 
 Viceroy. His Excellency, however, for what motive we 
 know not, insisted upon making the acquaintance of Lord 
 Cloncurry, and privately came to the determination, that 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 305 
 
 in the event of the mountain declining to come to 
 Mahomet, Mahomet would go to the mountain. Ac- 
 cordingly, having previously met his lordship visiting 
 at Mr. Henry's, of Lodge Park, the Viceroy, with that 
 entire absence of formality for which he was remarkable, 
 signified his intention of calling next morning upon the 
 hospitable occupant of Lyons Castle. Tins he did, and 
 from that day henceforth both Duke and Baron continued 
 on terms of friendly intimacy. Little his lordship thought 
 in 1807, when shunning the Viceregal Court and person 
 of the Duke of Richmond, that a few years after would 
 find him standing in the relationship of father-in-law to 
 his Grace's brother, Lord Sussex Lennox. 
 
 The duties of hospitality, conjointly with those of the 
 magistracy, may be said to have engrossed the greater 
 part of his lordship's time for four or five years after his 
 return from Italy. In politics he did not, to any extent, 
 interfere. 
 
 Amongst the wits and worthies whom Lord Cloncurry 
 collected round him at this period, may be mentioned 
 Henry Grattan, Patrick Lattin, John Philpot Curran, 
 Chenevix the chemist, and Robert Jephson. When the 
 opinions of the two celebrated wits, Curran and Lattin, 
 clashed together in conversation, the shower of sparks 
 that fell was brilliant and electrical. In the society of 
 such men time passed swiftly, and certainly not unpro- 
 fitably. 
 
 Those whom we have named above as the frequent 
 guests of Lord Cloncurry at Lyons were, we believe, all 
 members of the Protestant Church. His lordship's hospi- 
 tality, however, appears to have been equally extended 
 to Catholics. The president and professors of Maynooth 
 College, the neighbouring pastors and prelates of the 
 Church of Rome oftentimes passed days, occasionally 
 weeks, within the castle. Connected with one of the 
 Maynooth " visitations," there is an amusing anecdote 
 related. We find it reported in the Dublin Evening Post 
 of January 12, 1811: — " At a time," said that journal, 
 11 when it is so much the fashion to calumuiate our 
 unhappy and persecuted country, and to make her appear 
 
306 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 to strangers in the most disadvantageous light, this true 
 and recent anecdote will be read with pleasure by all 
 good Irishmen." Dr. Everard, President of Maynooth 
 College, and afterward R. C. Archbishop of Cashel, was, 
 in December, 1810, together with four of the professors, 
 on a visit with Lord Cloncurry. " Although a good 
 Irishman," proceeded the Post, "the Rev. Doctor had lived 
 too long in England not to give some credit to the stories 
 so plausibly related to the prejudice of his countrymen, 
 and was deeply engaged in an argument with Bishop 
 Delaney on the subject of our inferiority to the sister 
 kingdom, when Messrs. Atkinson, the great manufacturers 
 of Celbrid<re, waited on this much-esteemed and hisfhlv 
 respected nobleman, to inform him of their severe losses 
 by the fire which recently destroyed a portion of their 
 extensive factory. His lordship inquired particularly 
 into the cause of the conflagration, and the conduct of 
 the townspeople on the occasion. ' Although we were 
 strangers in the town, 1 replied Mr. Atkinson, ' the whole 
 people left their beds in the dead of night, and assisted 
 us with the zeal and anxiety of brothers. To their 
 activity and honesty we are indebted for the large portion 
 of our property which has been saved. When a similar 
 misfortune befel our great establishment in our own 
 country (England), the people were indifferent, or rather 
 joyful spectators.' " 
 
 The triumphant aspect of Bishop Delaney 's counte- 
 nance at this intelligence may be imagined. " Ah ! 
 generous and maligned people," exclaims the Post, in 
 conclusion, "is it not enough to rob you of your rights, 
 without daily adding insult to the injury?" 
 
 At this time (1811) the Grand Canal, then regarded 
 as a Herculean undertaking, was set on foot. Lord Clon- 
 curry laboured warmly to advance its objects. On the 
 11th February we find him, amidst shouts of acclamation, 
 elected one of its directors. 
 
 Thomas Moore observes in reference to Brinsley She- 
 ridan, that he paid that sort of tribute to the happiness 
 of first marriage which is implied by entering on a 
 second. In Lord Cloncurry 's case this observation is 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 307 
 
 hardly applicable. That his first alliance was unhappy 
 in its most extended sense there cannot exist a doubt; 
 yet, nevertheless, in the summer of 1811, we find his 
 lordship becoming a Benedict again, by allying himself 
 in marriage to Mrs. Emily Leeson, mother of Joseph, 
 present Earl of Miltown. Mrs. Leeson was an old flame 
 of Lord Cloncurry's. Previously even to his acquaintance 
 with Mary Ryal, he knew her and loved her. Whether, 
 however, he entertained at that time any serious matri- 
 monial thoughts has not transpired. The year 1811 
 found Valentine Lord Cloncurry without a wife, and the 
 quondam* Emily Douglas without a husband. On the 
 20th June of that year (the union of 1803 having been 
 two months previously dissolved by Act of Parliament), 
 his lordship considered himself free to marry whom he 
 pleased, and accordingly led to the Hymeneal altar his 
 youthful love. 
 
 Immediately after this auspicious event, his lordship 
 appears to have been filled with renewed hope for Ire- 
 land. During the Tower martyrdom, his heart had sunk 
 within him, and for the ten years which succeeded it, he 
 felt but little hope in the regeneration of his countrymen. 
 With a fervent aspiration to heaven for success in the 
 good work, he now plunged heart and soul into the 
 sacred cause of Ireland. In October, 1811, we find his 
 spirited speech at the great Kildare Catholic meeting, and 
 on the 17th December following, another at the grand 
 banquet to the friends of civil and religious liberty, in 
 the Rotundo. Before submitting either to the reader, it 
 will not be out of place to glance at the previous progress 
 made in the bloodless struggle for Catholic Emancipa- 
 tion. 
 
 In 1747 the germ of the subsequently powerful Ca- 
 tholic Association was sown by Dr. Curry, Thomas Wyse, 
 and Charles O'Connor, of Ballinagar. Nothing could be, 
 at first, more paltry and vapid than their elements for 
 
 * Her father was Archibald Douglas, Esq., of Darnock, eldest son of 
 Lieutenant-General Douglas, who represented Dumfries in Parliament for 
 some time. To Charles Douglas, Marquis of Queensbeny, he stood in the 
 relationship of cousin. 
 
308 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 organizing a formidable agitation. The Catholic aristo- 
 cracy sneered at their efforts as wild and chimerical. The 
 clergy, pious, moral, and resigned, declined to interfere. 
 They had seen worse days, and feared lest any act of 
 indiscretion on their part should bring a return of them. 
 Well they remembered the time, when in the sight of the 
 gibbet, they disseminated the Gospel, and notwithstanding 
 its terror, instructed their flocks. It only appeared as 
 yesterday since bloodhounds pursued them to their 
 mountainous retreats, and dragged them forth bleeding at 
 the call of the exterminator. They trembled at the pos- 
 sibility of plunging still more deeply into persecution the 
 suffering Church of Ireland, and bowed their heads meekly 
 to the passing visitation. 
 
 Both clergy and aristocracy not only held aloof from 
 the movement, but deprecated it as idle and visionary. 
 Had it not been for that powerful and wealthy body, the 
 Catholic mercantile men of Dublin, Emancipation would 
 probably still remain secure in the hands of the obdurate 
 and defiant minister. Place-hunting in the eighteenth 
 century was, amongst Catholics, an unheard-of, because 
 an impossible recreation. Moneyless Papists had no 
 alternative but to plunge into honourable business, and, 
 by the sweat of their brow, earn for themselves a substan- 
 tial competence. Men of the first Catholic families were 
 reduced to this necessity. Under God it was the means 
 of accomplishing the regeneration of their race. Having no 
 favour to expect at ministerial hands, the Catholic mer- 
 cantile classes of Dublin, towards the end of the last cen- 
 tury, flung themselves into the existence of the Associa- 
 tion, and swelled it with their strength. Day by day 
 they hurled their massive reclamation at the Government. 
 Volley after volley poured against them, until at length, 
 in 1793, a breach was made, and Catholic grand jurors, 
 barristers, and justices rushed eagerly through it amid 
 shouts of exultation. 
 
 Foremost in the ranks of the mercantile agitators stood 
 John Keogh, of Mount Jerome. Singularly gifted by 
 nature, bold, deliberative, and judicious, he guided the 
 movement with a master-hand, and may be said to have 
 
CLONOURRY AND HIS TIMES. 309 
 
 wrung from Mr. Pitt tlie first of that series of small con- 
 cessions which, in 1793, gradually restored the hopes of 
 the Catholics. Just at the time when age and bodily 
 infirmities rendered Keogh's visits to the Association few 
 and far between, Daniel OConnell marched opportunely 
 to the rescue, and from that day became the leader of the 
 Irish Catholics. 
 
 Under the auspices of the giant agitator, the Catholic 
 cause daily assumed a more defined and formidable com- 
 plexion. The aristocracy, who, from contemptuously 
 sneering, suddenly admired and revered, began one by 
 one to drop into its ranks. If some prominent members 
 of that body merit to be spoken of slightingly, the Earl 
 of Fingal must not be included in the number. If 
 O'Connell was the animating spirit of the Board, the Earl 
 of Fingal may be said to have been its substance. Never 
 was the good peer known to have been absent from his 
 post. As chairman of the Association, his respected name 
 ever lent an air of dignity and importance to their 
 councils. Heart and soul he devoted himself to that 
 sacred cause, and if, some years afterwards, he should 
 have advocated a modification of the Veto, it undoubtedly 
 arose from a conviction that it was the wisest and the 
 best course of policy to pursue under the very peculiar 
 and trying circumstances of the time. 
 
 To the Catholic bar of Ireland the Association also 
 owed much. Knowing that promotion was impossible, 
 no mercenarv feeling of slavish timidity or homage 
 startled into pestilential life within the healthy organiza- 
 tion of their fresh, young minds. As eloquent speakers, 
 logical debaters, and vast repositories of Celtic lore, their 
 influence was tremendous, and the effect of their decla- 
 mation startling. Several Protestant barristers, too, to 
 their eternal honour be it spoken — men who felt acutely 
 for the unjust treatment to which their Roman Catholic 
 brethren were subjected — who saw them robbed deli- 
 berately of their rights, and their humble petitions for 
 restoration spurned contemptuously, advanced in a column 
 one morning to the Association, and declared themselves, 
 from that day, labourers in the good work. With what 
 
 
310 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 joy were they received ! What a cead mille failtlie was 
 theirs ! Amongst those single-minded Irishmen who, 
 spurning the allurements of place, pension, or promotion, 
 rallied to the relief of their suffering fellow-countrymen, 
 we should not be justified in omitting to make particular 
 mention of John Finlay and Denis Scully. Had they 
 and others slavishly fawned upon the Anglo-Irish adminis- 
 trations, instead of fearlessly asserting the wrongs of their 
 countrymen, horse hair and ermine would probably have 
 long since dignified their heads and decorated their 
 shoulders. 
 
 The oratorical thunder of the Catholic Committee so 
 far operated on the nervous system of ministers, as to 
 draw forth a pompous Government proclamation, stig- 
 matizing it as a treasonable and illegal convention. On 
 the 12th February, 1811, this document appeared, and 
 letters, addressed to every sheriff and magistrate in Ireland, 
 calling upon them thenceforward to disperse all branch 
 meetings of the Catholic Committee, were forwarded by 
 the Irish Secretary, Mr. Wellesley Pole. The Catholic 
 body had incautiously nominated county delegates to 
 draw up and present a petition to the King. Eighteen 
 years before, Lord Clare introduced and passed his Con- 
 vention Act, in order to effect the disorganization of the 
 United Irishmen. Never for a moment dreaming that 
 Government would dare to assimilate the objects of the 
 two confederacies — one being for many years as noto- 
 riously treasonable as the other was legal — the Catholics 
 met, and unhesitatingly expressed their views on the 
 propriety of forming a corps of delegates. Lord Fingal 
 took a prominent part in the debate, and was, finally, 
 himself elected, with several others, to the office under 
 discussion. Warrants having been issued, five delegates, 
 including his lordship, were brought before Chief Justice 
 Downes,* who, on the receipt of large bail for their 
 
 * This event occasioned considerable noise at the time. Several squibs on 
 the subject appeared. The following was the Dublin Evening Post's : — 
 " Five delegates are taken up. In Merrion- square, 
 Judge Downes, accepting bail, soon ends the strife. 
 At what the d — 1, then, do people stare? 
 
 These are the common ups and dow'ns of life." 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 311 
 
 appearance when called upon, allowed them, unattended, 
 to depart. Their trials soon came on, and delegation 
 was, from that day, annihilated. 
 
 Government considered that, by the suppression of the 
 Catholic Committee, the strength and voices of its ele- 
 ments would be effectually stifled. Not so, however. 
 Lord Whitworth had accomplished nothing beyond 
 altering the name of the confederacy from Catholic Com- 
 mittee to that of Catholic Board. Many new adhesions 
 thronged forward. County meetings, sympathetic with 
 the parent one in Dublin, were holden. Amongst those, 
 that of the County Kildare freemen and magistracy, in 
 1811, deserves particular mention. Here Lord Cloncurry 
 made his debut as a Catholic Emancipator. The triumph 
 of the people and of the popular press, at his adhesion, 
 was exuberant. 
 
 Several Protestant gentlemen of great respectability 
 were present. We have only to mention the names of 
 Wogan Browne, Robert Latouche, M.P. ; Col. Fitzgerald, 
 of Geraldine; and of John Joseph Henry, to substantiate 
 this assertion. It was at first intended that the meeting 
 should take place in one of the hotels of Naas ; but so 
 great was the number of those in attendance, that they 
 soon found it necessary to assemble in the Courthouse. 
 
 Dominick William O'Reilly, of Kildangan Castle, 
 Esq., occupied the chair. He no sooner observed Lord 
 Cloncurry (whose appearance was quite unexpected) 
 enter the room, than an ill-disguised expression of con- 
 sternation completely mastered his countenance. In 
 fact, Lord Cloncurry had become so notorious as a victim 
 to governmental persecution, that Mr. O'Reilly enter- 
 tained grave apprehensions lest his lordship's presence at 
 the meeting should bring down on his (Mr. O'R.'s) head 
 a State prosecution for participation in treason. It will 
 be observed, that Lord Cloncurry, in his speech, endea- 
 voured to remove the feeling of alarm from the chairman's 
 mind. 
 
 Mr. Henry, of O'Coigly memory, was one of the first 
 speakers, and deprecated an expression which had fallen 
 from Mr. Wogan Browne. Mr. Browne, in his speech, 
 
312 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 contended that, as the claims of his Roman Catholic 
 countrymen were founded upon strict right and justice, 
 " restoration" and not " concession" was the proper word 
 to be employed. This appears to have given some 
 umbrage to Mr. Henry. He maintained that it would 
 be quite impossible, except through mild and conciliatory 
 language, to obtain the great object of their wishes. 
 
 " Lord Cloncuny rose and said — Mr. Chairman, I did not come hither in- 
 tending to take any share in your debate, nor am I a person who would 
 countenance any improper proceedings. This meeting Avas convened for the 
 purpose of claiming those rights, of which the Catholics have been deprived, 
 and sorry I am to find that one of the best men, whom I, and every person 
 who know him, most highly esteem, has cavilled at the expression of my 
 respected friend, Mr. Browne. I concur in his sentiment, and I say, ' Do 
 not call it concession, but demand your right." 1 It may be said, Would you 
 use compulsion ? I am not a man likely to be disposed to agitate the people. 
 My stake in the country would prevent me from disturbing the peace of that 
 country in which I am so deeply interested; but I will maintain, that a man 
 demanding his rights cannot be said to use compulsion. [Hear, hear.] The 
 Catholics had that right confirmed by the treaty of Limerick. The Catho- 
 lics of Ireland were robbed of their rights. [Loud applause for several 
 minutes.] With the greatest humility, with modest respect, they have often 
 approached the Legislature for a restoration of their rights. Their petitions 
 were sometimes unheeded, sometimes listened to, sometimes rejected with the 
 greatest indignity ; and those few privileges which they now possess were 
 given through fear rather tha n a sense of justice. [Hear, hear.] The expression 
 of my friend (Wogan Browne) is justifiable when the insult he sustained is 
 considered. I know not Lord Manners ; I do not wish to know him. I do 
 not aspire to know that man, one of whose first official acts was to remove 
 from the Commission of the Peace one of the most enlightened, most correct, 
 and most respectable resident magistrates in Ireland, to make room, I sup- 
 pose, for what he considered genuine loyalty. I hope that my heart cannot 
 be exceeded in that spirit of genuine loyalty. But what is now called 
 loyalty is the seeking after place to satiate avarice, men obtaining office to 
 tyrannize over their fellow-citizens, to pillage their neighbours, — that is loyalty. 
 [Peals of applause for several minutes.] Here his lordship adverted to 
 the recent proceedings of the Catholics, and asked — Did not the history of 
 every country point out the policy of suffering the discontent of the people 
 to evaporate in freedom of speech, instead of resorting to restraint, which 
 only increased, not removed, the danger. ' I think,' continued his lordship, 
 ' the Government proclamation unjustifiable, and that it is only worthy of 
 such a man as Dr. Duigenan.* It certainly showed bad taste to make a Privy 
 
 * Doctor Patrick Dxif|!han was. beyond all doubt, the most ruffianly of 
 that formidable band of no- Popery denunciators which, under the maternal 
 wing of Castle patronage, poured forth volumes of insult and invective, when 
 the Catholic Committee was beginning to assume an aspect of importance. 
 One of the Duke of Richmond's first acts, upon becoming Viceroy, was to 
 make a Privy Councillor of "Paddy Duigenan." The popular indignation 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 313 
 
 Councillor of him. It was worse to put his name to the proclamation. But 
 look to the persons "who signed it. There are hut few who are not living on 
 the industry of the people. [Hear, hear.] As an individual I shall support 
 the Catholic cause, and I am happy to think that the time is not far distant 
 when the complete emancipation of my countrymen will take place. [Repeated 
 peals of applause.] 
 
 In explanation of Lord Cloncurry's observations rela- 
 tive to his friend Browne's ill-treatment by Government, 
 a few words are necessary. Wos'an Browne, of Castle 
 Browne (now the Jesuit College of Clongowes), was a ma- 
 gistrate of three counties, until Lord Chancellor Clare 
 visited him with a supersedeas, for having, on one occa- 
 sion, kicked foot-ball with a party of peasantry, of whom 
 the greater number were tenants of his own. Chancing 
 to pass a field where this harmless amusement was going 
 forward, he alighted from his horse, and, in a moment of 
 good-natured impulse, gave the ball one or two energetic 
 kicks. The chief offence was, we believe, that it hap- 
 pened on a Sunday. Browne, although an exemplary 
 Protestant, had very little of the Biblical in his composi- 
 tion, and thought that his tenantry might do much worse 
 upon the Sabbath than pass an hour in so innocent a 
 recreation. Chancellor Ponsonby, during the Bedford Ad- 
 ministration, restored Browne to his old position ; but that 
 blind and rampant bigot, Lord Manners, had no sooner 
 squatted his person on the Woolsack, than resolving to 
 follow punctiliously in the footsteps of Lord Clare, he 
 visited Browne with a second supersedeas. Death 
 snatched away poor Wogan Browne at a trying moment. 
 He died almost immediately previous to the achievement 
 of Emancipation. 
 
 at this insulting appointment was only equalled by that which, in 1830, con- 
 vulsed each grade of Catholic society, on the elevation of " Long Jack 
 Doherty" (as O'Connell used to call him) to the Irish Bench. The Right 
 Hon. Doctor Paddy Duigenan did not long enjoy his Privy Couneillorship. 
 He died in the act of sucking an orange, at his lodgings, in Parliament- street, 
 London, on the 12th April, 1816. Jt is a singular feet, that this man, one 
 of the most violent denouncers of Catholicity that ever lived, led to the Hy- 
 meneal altar a staunch Roman Catholic, in the person of Miss Mary Cusack, 
 of the County Galway. In appearance, Doctor Duigenan was coarse, vulgar, 
 and ruffianly. An excellent likeness of him appears in Sir Jonah Barring- 
 ton's " Rise and Fall of the Irish Nation." 
 
314 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 The grand banquet given by the Catholics of Ireland 
 to the friends of civil and religious liberty in the Round 
 Room of the Rotundo, on December 17, 1811, is an 
 epoch in the annals of the Catholic Emancipation struggle. 
 Upwards of eight hundred satdoAvn to dinner. Amongst 
 the company were, Meath, Dunsany, Downshire, Granard, 
 Rossmore, and, though last not least, Cloncurry. Henry 
 Grattan was, of course, present, as also Sir George Cock- 
 burne and General Mahon. The following is the best 
 report of Lord Cloncurry's speech on this occasion : — 
 
 " I do not know that I ever, in my life, felt so happy as in being thus 
 kindly noticed by so great a number of my beloved and very dear countrymen. 
 When I address my Catholic brethren, I feel that I address the people of 
 Ireland, as they have just been appropriately termed by an honourable and 
 enlightened gentleman [Mr. Stanhope]. I have heard this day the firing of 
 guns for the taking of Java, and will venture to assert, that its first article 
 of capitulation is a security for the free exercise of the religion of the con- 
 quered ; and if this be the case, why not extend the same benefits to the 
 conquerors [loud applause] ? Had the Catholics of Ireland instead of five 
 millions, been but five hundred thousand, and lent themselves as an instru- 
 ment to oppose the welfare of their country, their religion would have been 
 left the religion of the State, but as a whole people could not be traitors to 
 themselves, the Catholics have been excluded ; the strong arm of power has 
 been uplifted to depress you, but if you are true to yourselves, fear nothing. 
 Your cause is the cause of the empire [loud applause]. I am happy to hear 
 such deserved testimony borne to your merits and long-sufferings ; but my 
 advice is, that you shall never for any man, or set of men, relax in your 
 exertions. Persevere firmly and constantly, for by such means only you 
 will succeed [applause]. Perseverance, too, would accomplish a Repeal of 
 that infamous measure, the Union [unbounded applause]. No man should 
 have influence to induce you to desist from a powerful constitutional appli- 
 cation until you are released from civil degradation. Much, I believe, is 
 expected from that excellent nobleman, and distinguished Irishman, Lord 
 Moira ; but, surely, you cannot forget the Administration of Lord Fitz- 
 william [hear, hear]. You must remember how that respected nobleman 
 was duped ; may not, then, the good, unsuspecting nature of Lord Moira be 
 also deceived ? It is, then, to your own persevering constitutional exertions, 
 supported as you are by the Protestants of Ireland, that you are to look for 
 triumph. But whatever may be your lot, / will be found to the end of my 
 life your affectionate and attached friend and countryman. And never will I, 
 in any peril, or under any circumstances, desert the cause of my Catholic 
 countrymen. — [This speech was received with enthusiastic applause.]" — 
 Evening Post. 
 
 The experience of near half a century has shown the 
 people of Ireland that Lord Cloncurry's noble and patri- 
 otic promise was no oratorical squib of the moment ; no 
 empty, vapid, prismatic bubble, swelling magnificently 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 315 
 
 this minute, and bursting into nothingness the next. Oh, 
 ye modern perjured pseudo-patriots, compare those broken 
 vows of yours, which stifle, like broken foetid eggs, the 
 nostrils of all virtuous men, with the pure and incor- 
 ruptible ones of Lord Cloncurry. We have often heard 
 of consistent patriots, but none appear to us so deserving 
 of the title as the naturally ennobled nobleman who forms 
 the subject of these pages. 
 
 It may not be generally known that the system of 
 petty sessions, which, during the last thirty years, has 
 been so extensively adopted throughout the length and 
 breadth of Ireland, owes its origin mainly to the exertions 
 of Lord Cloncurry. On his return from the Continent, 
 in 1806, he spared no pains to remedy, as far as in him 
 lay, some of the many abuses which polluted the admi- 
 nistration of justice in Ireland. Until placed in the 
 commission of the peace, however, by Chancellor Pon- 
 sonby, in 1807, his lordship had few opportunities of 
 effecting any radical improvement. None of the abuses 
 alluded to appeared to him more urgently to demand 
 reform than the practice of magistrates adjudicating 
 singly in their own closets and sitting-rooms. It is tole- 
 rably well known that the constant occupations of such 
 chancellors as Redesdale and Manners consisted in super- 
 seding liberally disposed magistrates, and investing 
 bigoted ones with the commission of the peace. Their 
 authority, thus delegated for party purposes, produced, 
 too often, results of the most fatal and vexatious nature 
 to the interests of the poor man, and of the country 
 which crave him birth. Secure from the indignant frowns 
 of virtuous men, and proof against judicial interference 
 of any kind, those partisan magistrates pronounced what 
 decisions they chose in the tranquil seclusion of their 
 own closets. The issuing of summonses was a formula, 
 in those days, altogether unknown. Should a labouring 
 man receive ill-treatment from a master, he had no means 
 of securing his presence, for an investigation into the 
 case, but by obtaining a note from one of the said master's 
 brother magistrates, requesting that he (the master) would 
 kindly favour him with the honour of his company for 
 
316 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 the space of ten or fifteen minutes, whenever it would 
 suit his convenience to attend. The letter was, in many 
 instances, thrown aside unnoticed, and thus the unfor- 
 tunate complainant ■ lost both his time and temper in 
 dancing attendance, day after day, on him whose business 
 it should have been to watch over and protect the interests 
 of the poor. There were many variations in the incon- 
 veniences attendant on the absence of a public sessions- 
 house. " When a poor man was ignored," said Lord 
 Cloncurry, at the Irish Council, on June 22, 1847, " he 
 went to the nearest magistrate, and, perhaps, was obliged 
 to walk up and down for several hours before his hall- 
 door ere he could obtain an interview ; and when he did 
 make his complaint, there was very often great difficulty 
 in obtaining justice, the magistrate, perhaps, being a 
 friend of the person of whom the poor man complained." 
 Magisterial interference, so far from being a disinterested 
 duty, was, in the majority of instances, a matter of favour 
 and affection. No sort of honour or regularity charac- 
 terized the commission. Every man to his humour 
 appeared to be their motto. 
 
 Such a state of things could not continue, and Lord 
 Cloncurry 's was the first blow which fell upon the rotten 
 but leviathan fabric. By dint of indefatigable labour, he 
 contrived to get as many abuses abolished as improve- 
 ments introduced. After one or two nights 1 lucubration, 
 he devised the admirable system of petty sessions,* the 
 machinery of which his lordship was the first to set in 
 motion, at the village of Celbridge, in the County Kil- 
 dare. Lord Cloncurry experienced some difficulty at 
 first in prevailing on his brother-magistrates to co-operate 
 with him in the good work; but soon the depth and 
 wisdom of his project became evident to all thinking 
 men. They dropped in one by one, and, stimulated by 
 the good example of Augustus Duke of Leinster (who 
 
 * " The merit of introducing this system," says the University Magazine 
 of Oct., 1849, " Lord Cloncurry claims. If he be correct in this — and we 
 have no reason to doubt the correctness of the claim — he may confidently 
 assert his title to be considered as the author of the greatest and most 
 important reform in the law." 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 317 
 
 on reaching his majority, in 1812, at once joined Lord 
 Cloncurry at the weekly sessions), they attended with 
 regularity, and conducted themselves with uniform temper 
 and impartiality* Forty-three years have since elapsed, 
 but throughout that long period his Grace was rarely 
 missed from the Monday meeting of magistrates at Cel- 
 bridge. Lord Cloncurry, however, was always regarded 
 as the Father of the Court; and often would the Duke 
 jokingly address his notes to him as the Lord Chief 
 Justice of Celbridge and Lyons. 
 
 To expatiate on the advantages of open court investi- 
 tigations would be a waste of time and paper. They 
 are well known and appreciated. Since the establishment 
 by Lord Cloncurry of the system of petty sessions, less 
 than half-a-dozen magistrates rarely sit and adjudicate 
 together. Those red-hot bigots who, in cases of a party 
 or sectarian nature, would fain pronounce a partial 
 opinion, hesitate to do so from the sense of public shame. 
 That malevolent Orange bigotry, which would rage 
 unchecked in the closet, is, in common decency, sup- 
 pressed before a public tribunal. Some one has said that 
 the presence of an enlightened auditory, swallowing with 
 eagerness the words that fall, operates more powerfully 
 in keeping the unpaid justice in order than the scruti- 
 nizing eye of an invisible Almighty. The saying is a 
 startling one, but not altogether devoid of truth. 
 
 Soon after the establishment of Lord Cloncurry 's 
 system of petty sessions in Celbridge, he had the satis- 
 faction of seeing it authorized and ratified bv several 
 successive Acts of Parliament. The stamp of govern- 
 mental approval having thus been placed upon the budding 
 tree, its branches soon rapidly extended through the 
 land, producing, as they did so, salutary fruits. The 
 vineyard, however, will probably require to be watched 
 by the eye of a Cloncurry, lest weeds may, from neglect, 
 
 * Lord Cloncurry, in a letter to Nicholas Purcell O'Gorman, Esq., Q.C., 
 dated Dec. 25, 1824, says that, when the magistrates first held the petty 
 sessions at Celbridge, their conduct was much animadverted on by certain 
 parties, for u giving a ready hearing to the complaints of the vulgar." 
 
318 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 creep into it, or its crop of good fruit gradually dege- 
 nerate. 
 
 Lord Cloncuny long entertained another project on 
 the petty sessions principle, which he never had the hap- 
 piness of seeing realized. He much wished that all 
 agreements between landlord and tenant should be made 
 in open court — in short, at the weekly petty sessions of 
 the district. In presence of those magisterial landholders, 
 who should necessarily be in court, the landlord would 
 hardly have sufficient brass to ask an unreasonably large 
 rent, or the tenant to offer an unreasonably low one. In 
 Scotland, if we mistake not, all agreements between ser- 
 vants and masters are made in open court. The following 
 letter from Lord Cloncurry, although not chronologically 
 in place here, we insert, because of its immediate refe- 
 rence to the subject in question: — 
 
 [No. 10.] TO DR. RICHARD GRATTAN, EX-KING'S PROFESSOR OF TOE 
 
 PRACTICE OF MED1CIXE. 
 
 " Maretimo, April 9th, 1848. 
 
 " My dear Doctor, — * * * The subject of Tenant Right is chiefly- 
 discussed by middlemen, and by those who don't understand it. Why 
 should not bargains of land be made like any other bargains ? Daring 
 fifty years, I have had no disputes with tenants, and never refused a lease, 
 or charged for their improvements. If all lettings took place in open court, 
 landlords would be ashamed to charge too much, and tenants to break their 
 engagements. And then a law to prevent a lessee from sub-letting at- a 
 higher rent than he himself paid, would protect those who most want pro- 
 tection, viz. : the poor cottiers and the labouring classes. In open court, the 
 landlord and the proposed tenant could state what buildings and improve- 
 ments were wanted on the farm, and what each was to pay towards them. 
 If neither had the necessary funds, a third party might lend them, making 
 this loan a first charge on the farm, and let the entire arrangement be 
 registered by the Clerk of the Peace. You could easily prepare a bill which 
 would protect all parties, and cover the land with decent homesteads. * * 
 
 " Your faithful servant, 
 
 "Cloxcurry." 
 
 From the year 1812 to 1818, Lord Cloncurry does 
 not appear to have taken any prominent part in politics. 
 His reasons for pursuing this course will be found in the 
 speech delivered by him at the Moore Banquet, in 1818. 
 The exercise of his magisterial duties, his princely hospi- 
 tality, his agricultural tastes, and his munificent private 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 319 
 
 charity, engrossed his almost entire attention. With 
 respect to hospitality, his lordship carried it to a true 
 Hibernian pitch. In a letter, which shall presently 
 follow, the reader will see that, at this period, less than 
 forty individuals (servants, of course, included) rarely sat 
 down to dinner at Lyons Castle. 
 
 At Clondalkin, within four miles of Lyons, stands the 
 well known monastery and collegiate school of Mount St. 
 Joseph. Lord Cloncurry is identified with its early 
 history. As the following letter to the author, from the 
 respected prior, is illustrative of his lordship's philan- 
 thropic life at this period, we make no apology for intro- 
 ducing it : — 
 
 [No. 11.] 
 
 "Dear Sir, — It is praiseworthy to hand down to posterity the name and 
 virtues of such a character as the late Lord Cloncurry. It is to he regretted 
 that he has left no one of his class to take his place in asserting the rights of 
 poor Ireland. When this establishment was commenced, in 1813, Lord 
 Cloncurry took an active part in every way which was calculated to promote 
 its interest by his own liberal donation, and his influence with the public. 
 At that time there was no school nor opportunity for the poor in this district 
 to be educated, nor indeed for miles around it. In the course of a short time 
 this school was in full operation ; his lordship was elected, and consented to 
 act as president. After a short time he had the satisfaction of seeing two 
 hundred boys attending the school, and a hundred and five of the most destitute 
 and deserving clothed. The good peer was known frequently in public and 
 in private to remark with satisfaction the improvement he perceived in the 
 people of the neighbourhood. He laid the first stone of the chapel attached 
 to this monastery, and subscribed liberally towards its erection. His lord- 
 ship has also frequently sent pupils to our seminary and boarding school. 
 You can make use of any part of this communication you might wish, and 
 believe me, dear sir, yours sincerely, " George H. Lyons." 
 
 In 1814, his lordship, conjointly with the Duke of 
 Leinster and some of the resident gentry, established that 
 excellent institution, " the County Kildare Farming So- 
 ciety." Its object was to excite a profuse spirit of emula- 
 tion amongst the farmers, and to remove those prejudices 
 in favour of a bad system of husbandry still so fatally 
 prevalent throughout Ireland. In afield near Monastere van 
 the society was in the habit of occasionally giving some 
 agricultural fetes. Ploughing matches took place, and a 
 handsome silver cup was declared the property of the 
 winner. This, at that time novel sight, excited great 
 
320 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 merriment and wonder. Farmers came from all quarters 
 to witness it, and at the conclusion of the day's performance, 
 returned home buoyant with satisfaction, and determined 
 to profit by the agricultural improvements they had 
 witnessed. 
 
 The Grand Canal, from Dublin to Ballinasloe, of which 
 Lord Cloncurry was early a director and proprietor, may 
 be regarded as one of the most useful and national under- 
 takings that had been for many years set on foot m Ireland. 
 Just as it had begun to make some return on the vast 
 pecuniary outlay which its formation occasioned, hi9 
 Majesty's ministers announced their intention of establish- 
 ing a parallel canal, which was calculated to withdraw 
 much strength and substance from the national undertak- 
 ing. In the following letter Lord Cloncurry speaks of its 
 powerful rival as an "unnecessary canal;" and, so far as 
 we are capable of judging, his lordship was correct in 
 that assertion. In some parts of the country — Lucan 
 for instance — the distance between them did not exceed 
 three-quarters of a mile. Anxious, as usual, to consult the 
 native resources of his country, the good peer devotes a 
 portion of his letter to panegyrizing the Queen's County 
 collieries. " It were much to be wished," observed a paper 
 of the day, " that these noblemen and gentlemen, who hold 
 estates in Ireland, and spend their income out of it, 
 neglecting and impoverishing the country from which 
 that income is derived, would imitate the example set 
 them by the noble writer of the following letter, with 
 whose consistent patriotism the Irish public are well ac- 
 quainted:" — 
 
 [No. 12.] " TO THE EDITOR OF CARRICK's MORNING POST. 
 
 " Lyons, August, 1816. 
 
 " Sir, — * * I think it not only the duty, but the interest of every Irishman, 
 as well as of every canal proprietor, to encourage the national work ; and I 
 am sincere when 1 assert, that the Queen's County coal, brought by the canal, 
 is better, and, if well managed, much cheaper, than any brought from Eng- 
 land. In my kitchen, constructed by our very intelligent countryman, Mr. 
 Bellingham, and where dinner fur thirty or forty persons is daily provided, 
 the smallest quantity answers every purpose. 
 
 "The carriage of all goods by the canal is now as safe and expeditious as 
 it is cheap ; this is, indeed, more owing to the spirit and energy of the Messrs. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 321 
 
 Berry than to any regulations or laws we could make. Laws are very 
 good things, but without the exertions of resident and national gentry, they 
 will either be abused or evaded. As a mode of conveyance, I have travelled 
 in every part of Europe, and do not know of any so safe or pleasant, and so 
 cheap, as our boats, with so much cleanliness, civility, and good cheer. 
 
 " The canal, like all other property, must feel the effects of a twenty-three 
 years' war against the rights of humanity ; it is also much injured by the 
 Government carrying on a parallel and unnecessary rival within a few miles, 
 at the puhlic expense ; but in the canal the creditor will have some security 
 for his money in the worst of times, which may not be the case with other 
 debentures. — Sir, your humble servant, " Cloncurry." 
 
 Reader ! we see you comfortably reclining on the 
 amply-cushioned seats of a first-class railway carriage as 
 you skim the sentences of his lordship's letter. We see 
 you smile at the consummate absurdity of your fathers for 
 thinking the canal boat, in point of comfort, cleanliness, 
 speed, and good cheer, superior to any other mode of 
 conveyance, not only in Great Britain, but on the Con- 
 tinent of Europe. We see you laughing heartily, at the 
 everlasting security of canal share debentures. 
 
 It will be remembered that Lord Cloncurry, in 1811, 
 allied himself in marriage to Emily, third daughter of 
 Mr. Archibald Douglas. This lady, who was a widow, 
 married, on April 28, 1798, the Hon. Joseph Leeson, son 
 of Brice, Earl of Miltown. Their alliance, though fruitful, 
 was of short duration. It pleased Providence, in the year 
 1800, to summon to eternity Mr. Joseph Leeson ere he 
 inherited the honours of his father's peerage. Although 
 the period of their married life did not exceed twenty 
 months, three children sanctified the alliance. The 
 youngest (Cecilia Charlotte) did not appear until 1801. 
 The two others were boys, — Joseph, now Earl of 
 Miltown, and Henry Talbot, a comet in the Guards. 
 Both resided with Lord Cloncurry, who treated them 
 with uniform tenderness and affection. As their father 
 had died before succeeding to the peerage, they were not, 
 strictly speaking, entitled to enjoy the honours of earl's 
 children. Lady Cloncurry, naturally anxious to see them 
 take that place in society to which, by every principle of 
 equity, they w T ere entitled, deputed Mrs. Douglas, her 
 ladyship's mother, conjointly with the Countess Dowager 
 of Miltown, to wait personally on Lord Chancellor Man- 
 
 p 2 
 
322 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 ners, who it was considered durst not hesitate to con- 
 cede the coveted indulgence. Mrs. Douglas obtained 
 an interview with his lordship, and requested that, as 
 their guardian, he would kindly interfere in favour of the 
 Messrs. Leeson with the Viceroy, whose acquiescence in 
 the matter was now alone necessary, as the English Go- 
 vernment had already expressed themselves disposed to 
 further, as far as possible, the wishes of Lord Miltown's 
 family. 
 
 The Lord of the Great Seals listened for some minutes 
 to Mrs. Douglas's statement, and at length replied, much 
 to the astonishment of his fair visitors — " Madam, I can 
 do nothing in this business ; Lord Cloncurry is a Catholic 
 Emancipator, an enemy to the Protestant ascendancy, and 
 a most violent opposer of the Government/' " But, my 
 lord," she expostulated, " the favour is not for Lord Clon- 
 curry, but for the minor Earl of Miltown." " Lord Mil- 
 town, madam," rejoined the Chancellor, " is under Baron 
 Cloncurry 's protection; the favour would therefore be 
 granted to him." " Permit me to state it, as my opinion/' 
 continued Mrs. Douglas, " that Lord Cloncurry would 
 not give a crown piece for the indulgence, as it is natural 
 to suppose he would not particularly enjoy the notion of 
 his wife's children being placed above his own." " The 
 public," said Lord Manners. " are not to know that. The 
 favour would still appear as granted to him. Government 
 would be happy to oblige Lord Miltown, but as he is at 
 present living under the protection of Lord Cloncurry, it 
 would seem as though the obligation were conferred upon 
 him" Disgusted at the spirit of narrow-minded bigotry 
 displayed by Lord Manners, Mrs. Douglas was about to 
 withdraw hastily from the room, when the Countess of 
 Miltown addressed his lordship, and referred to the very 
 unpleasant situation wherein she had left Lady Cloncurry, 
 from illness brought on through anxiety of mind on her 
 children's account. " When a woman," said the gallant 
 old nobleman, warmly, " marries to injure her children's 
 prospects for life, she must submit to the consequences." 
 
 Lord Cloncurry was outrageous when apprised by Mrs. 
 Douglas of the Chancellor's avow r ed disinclination to grant 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 323 
 
 any favour to so " violent an enemy to Protestant as- 
 cendancy. Of all men he was perhaps the least disposed 
 to solicit favours from a Government constituted as the 
 Earl of Whitworth's. Smartinq- beneath the cutting re- 
 tort, his lordship addressed a long letter to Lord Man- 
 ners, wherein he observed that the only way he could 
 account for his marked hostility towards him was the 
 fact of his (Lord C.) having alluded, at the County Kildare 
 meeting, to the arbitrary and insulting removal of Wogan 
 Browne from the commission of the peace. Lord Clon- 
 curry, in conclusion, eloquently but trenchantly remon- 
 strated with the Chancellor on the gross injustice and 
 extreme offensiveness of his observations. This drew 
 forth a rather warm reply from Lord Manners. Lord 
 Cloncurry's letter, he said, was in the matter of it so 
 utterly unfounded, and in the manner of it so extremely 
 offensive, that he did not feel himself called upon to take 
 any further notice of it than by pronouncing it to be a 
 gross misrepresentation ! His veracity thus deliberately 
 impugned, Lord. Cloncurry saw no other course open to 
 him but to get Mrs. Douglas, who previously inlbrmed 
 him of what had passed at the interview, to certify by 
 affidavit the truth of her allegations. The singular dia- 
 logue already detailed was accordingly, under Mrs. 
 Douglas's direction, committed to paper, and that lady 
 felt no hesitation in making oath before Lord Cloncurry, 
 in his magisterial capacity, as to the general accuracy of 
 her statement. Duly signed and attested, a copy of the 
 affidavit was forwarded, under cover, to the Chancellor. 
 
 Those who had the felicity of knowing the late Lord 
 Manners are, we believe, in a position to affirm, that he was 
 not a man likely to withdraw an assertion, or apologise 
 for language spoken in the heat of passion. " I stated," 
 said his lordship, " that the language imputed to me, in a 
 conversation with Mrs. Douglas, was a gross misrepre- 
 sentation, and I persist in that assertion, notwithstanding 
 the affidavit made before your lordship, as a magistrate, 
 by Mrs. Douglas." 
 
 These, and other observations of the Chancellor, 
 Lord Cloncurry communicated to Lord Donoughmore, 
 
324 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 the well known friend of the Catholic claims. The counte- 
 nance of thehonest old peer flushed with indignation when 
 he heard them. " To have an opportunity," said he, " of 
 giving vent to those feelings, in my place in Parliament, 
 would be to me most gratifying; but, alas ! cui bono? In 
 this high prerogative time it is a worse than fruitless task 
 to kick against power. I therefore advise you not to go 
 to the trouble of striving to interest Parliament, in any 
 case of individual oppression, where the party playing the 
 tyrant, or the mis-administrator of justice, happens to be 
 an Orangeman, and a member of the faction who have so 
 long held the reins of power in their hands." 
 
 Lady Cloncurry, nothing daunted by these defeats, made 
 application to Lord Aylmer, a friend of her's, and a 
 nephew of his Excellenc3 T , to request that he would kindly 
 exert himself in her favour. Lord Aylmer cheerfully 
 undertook to do so, and full of hope, departed on his 
 mission. After a short absence he returned to Lyons 
 with the dispiriting intelligence, that owing to Lord 
 
 Cloncurry 's " d d politics," the application had failed. 
 
 Not until a somewhat juster Viceroy, Earl Talbot, took 
 up his position in Dublin Castle was the empty compli- 
 ment conceded to the children. Although a Tory in 
 principle, he did not consider it necessary to be avenged 
 on Lord Miltown's unoffending grandchildren, because 
 their step-father happened to be a Catholic Emancipator, 
 and an enemy to Protestant aacendancy. 
 
 On Monday, 8th June, 1818, Thomas Moore, then in 
 the zenith of his popularity, was entertained at a public 
 dinner in Morrison's Hotel, Dublin. Lord Charlemont 
 presided as Chairman. Some of the highest in the land, 
 as well as the most gifted, assembled to do honour to 
 Ireland's bard. In the latter category were Richard L. 
 Sheil, Charles Phillips, Daniel CVConnell, Peter Bur- 
 rowes, Charles Maturin, W. H. Curran, and Michael 
 Staunton.* Lord Cloncurry was, of course, present, and 
 
 * Moore's father was present, and" sat between the distinguished guest 
 and Michael Staunton. Esq., then Editor and Proprietor of the Weekly Register, 
 and now weJl known and respected as the Collector-General of Taxes. Mr. 
 Staunton has recently told us an amusing anecdote respecting a saying of 
 
« 
 
 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 325 
 
 responded eloquently to that high panegyric passed upon 
 him by Lord Charlernont, which serves to adorn the 
 title-page of this volume. His health having been drunk 
 enthusiastically, with three times three, 
 
 " Lord Cloncainy rose to return thanks. He said:— My Lord and Gentle- 
 men, I feel at once distressed and gratified by this unexpected mark of your 
 kindness. To receive such a tribute from such hands, I feel to be an honour 
 of no ordinary character. I am grateful for it ; I shall ever cherish in my 
 memory the recollection of this night. Your generous partiality binds me, 
 if possible, closer to a country for whose good I would think no sacrifice too 
 great. Lord Cloncurry then went on to say that he professed and he felt 
 a warm attachment to Ireland. It was a sentiment he had cherished 
 through life, and would sedulously retain, until the curtain of death fell 
 upon his labours. Of late years he rarely, if ever, mixed in public meetings, 
 lest his motives might be misrepresented, and his presence prove an injury 
 to the object sought ; but his wish was decidedly to join heart and hand 
 with his countrymen, in paying a tribute of respect and affection to the 
 poet whose genius shed so much glory on the literature of his country, and 
 to the man whose exalted patriotism* could sympathize with no party but 
 the ardent friends of Ireland. He was happy to see around him so much of 
 the talent, worth, and patriotism of the country. His lordship concluded a 
 concise and animated address by proposing the health of the noble chairman 
 and the company. " 
 
 Little did Cloncurry think, when participating in the 
 festivities of the Moore banquet, on June 8, 1818, that 
 his idolized sister, Charlotte Louisa, lay at that moment 
 dangerously ill at Pisa in Italy. The Hon. Charlotte 
 Lawless was, from her earliest youth, the favourite sister 
 of Cloncurry. His senior by four years, she may be said 
 
 the old gentleman's on this occasion. Throughout the entire evening com- 
 pliments and congratulations from rank and talent ceased not to pour on Mr. 
 Moore, senior. Unmoved and impassive as a statue he received them. The 
 keen eye of a Lavater might have vainly endeavoured to catch the slightest 
 movement of a facial muscle. His health was drunk ; but had Mr. Moore 
 been composed of Carrara maible, instead of Irish flesh and blood, he could 
 not have received it with greater imperturbability. Mr. Staunton, amongst 
 the rest, expressed to the father how proud and happy he ought to feel at 
 seeing his son so distinguished and so honoured. To these and other com- 
 pliments he listened unmoved for some time, and at length enuueiated in 
 slow and measured accents, and with the utmost gravity, " Hes a daycint 
 boy, sii — a daycint boy " The well-written letters which ajjpear from Mr. 
 Moore, senior, in the Memoirs of his son, and the occasional traits of his 
 tact and address, related of him by the bard, must elicit a smile when Mr. 
 Staunton's amusing anecdote is recollected. 
 
 * Had it been in Lord Cloncurry's power at this period to glance over 
 the leaves of Moore's Diary, he would hardly, we think, have given expres- 
 sion to this sentiment. 
 
326 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 to have given him his first instruction, and to have 
 directed his youthful ambition by the wisdom of her 
 precepts. The active and discreet part taken by Char- 
 lotte Lawless to relieve the sufferings of a persecuted 
 brother, and to throw her father's deranged affairs into 
 some sort of order, will be in the recollection of the 
 reader. Her affection for Valentine Lawless was re- 
 ciprocated. As already said, he idolized her, and to the 
 day of his death remembered her advice and her exer- 
 tions in his regard with mingled feelings of pride and 
 gratitude. In 1803 Charlotte Lawless became the wife 
 of Colonel Plunket, eldest son of Lord Dunsany. She 
 never lived to enjoy the honours of the peerage. On 
 June 10, 1818, death snatched her away, and in April, 
 1821, Plunket succeeded his father as Baron Dunsany. 
 
 On the 11th February, 1819, a great Protestant meet- 
 ing was held in the Rotunda, in order to petition Parlia- 
 ment to extend to Roman Catholics " an equal participa- 
 tion in the privileges of this free constitution." Sir 
 Thomas M'Kenny, Lord Mayor of Dublin, a man uni- 
 versally respected and esteemed, was called to the chair. 
 On his arrival, a deputation, consisting of the Duke of 
 Leinster, Lords Cloncurry, Charlemont, and Meath, and 
 the Right Hon. Henry Grattan, advanced to meet and 
 welcome him. The cause of Catholic Emancipation was 
 eloquently advocated on this occasion. Thousands filled 
 the Round Room, and applauded the speakers enthu- 
 siastically. An attempt was made by a few infatuated 
 bigots to disturb the harmony of the meeting. Promi- 
 nent in their ranks stood two police magistrates, and a 
 Master in Chancery, who, by their exertions, succeeded 
 in raising a perfect hurricane of opposition. Few Lord 
 Mayors in those days ventured to espouse the popular 
 cause — perhaps none, with the exception of Sir Thomas 
 M'Kenny. His conduct throughout the storjn was ad- 
 mirable. Attempts were made, to compel him to vacate 
 the chair; but, "Truth prevailed, and virtue was tri- 
 umphant." Defeated ultimately, the vile disturbers with- 
 drew in a body. Lord Cloncurry pronounced a brilliant 
 eulogium on Sir Thomas M'Kenny at this meeting, and 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 327 
 
 concluded by saying that it must be considered a rather 
 extraordinary circumstance, that while the people of 
 England were petitioning the Legislature for a revision 
 of the penal code, in order to ameliorate the condition of 
 the guilty, they should never cast a look to this country 
 with a feeling of kindness, or with a wish to relieve the 
 innocent. 
 
 The meeting here dissolved. Sir Thomas M' Kenny 
 found himself necessitated to leave by a private door, as 
 the people, in gratitude to his lordship for past services, 
 were congregated around the chief entrance for the avowed 
 purpose of taking the horses from the carriage, and by 
 the strength of their own muscles conveying him home. 
 The Lord Mayor, who was a man of quiet habits, dis- 
 liked this boisterous formula, and gave his friends the slip 
 most dexterously, by retreating through Rutland-square. 
 It fell to the Duke of Lcinster's lot to transmit to Govern- 
 ment the petition agreed to at this meeting, and, in order to 
 preserve it from injury, a tin box enclosed it. The Duke 
 of Wellino;ton, with characteristic curtness, acknowledged 
 the enclosure. " I have received," said his Grace, " your 
 petition, accompanied by a tin case." Whether this, or a 
 counterfeit letter from his Grace, which appeared in 
 Punch, many years after, were the most ludicrous, it 
 would be difficult to decide. " I have received," wrote 
 the Duke, " your letter, as also the envelope in which that 
 letter was enclosed." 
 
 In October, 1819, Lord Cloncurry published the first 
 of that excellent series of political letters which, through- 
 out his after life, he was in the habit of throwing off 
 periodically. A certain evening paper attempted, by a 
 sneering analysis, to bring the noble writer into disrespect. 
 Amongst other offensive epithets it accused Lord Clon- 
 curry of " an obliquity of understanding," and with being 
 " coarse, vulgar, and malevolent." It further asserted, 
 that his letter was " libellous of past times, slanderous of 
 times present, and absurd of times to come ;" that it had 
 "nothing of a gentleman's sense or feeling; but, on the 
 contrary, breathed the spirit of a mechanic." The letter, 
 which was an address to the English Reformers, displayed 
 
328 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 considerable tact and ability. His lordship could not avoid 
 referring to the corrupt practices of Government in effect- 
 ing a Union, and thereby drew down upon himself the 
 slanderous outpour of the Government print. During 
 this year Lord Cloncurry generously erected, at his own 
 expense, a Roman Catholic chapel and schoolhouse at 
 Lyons. 
 
 In 1819, an Irish legion, under the auspices of General 
 Devereux, who had been deputed to this country to 
 organize it, started into vitality and vigour. Its object 
 was to aid the patriotic exertions of South America in 
 endeavouring to shake off the Spanish yoke. Devereux, 
 notwithstanding that his name savoured somewhat of 
 Gallic orthography, was an Irishman born and bred. His 
 appearance was hailed with enthusiasm, and hundreds of 
 stalwart young Celts, with beating heart and kindling 
 eye, flocked to his standard. The General appeared in 
 all but regal splendour. Levees were daily holden in 
 Morrison's Hotel, and never does he appear to have left his 
 quarters without the attendance of an ample staff of aides- 
 de-camp. General Devereux was one of " Liberator 
 Bolivars" most distinguished officers. 
 
 On Monday, July 19th, 1819, a grand banquet was 
 given in Dublin, witli a view to compliment Devereux 
 and the cause of South American freedom. Lord Clon- 
 curry presided as Chairman, Counsellors O'Connell, 
 Finlay, M'Nally, Phillips, and Scully were present, and 
 delivered, in the course of the evening, eloquent ad- 
 dresses. Several of the General's Irish recruits were also 
 present. His lordship had a long list of toasts to propose. 
 Each of them he prefaced by a concise and animated 
 speech. Among the first was that of " Major General 
 Devereux, and may success crown his exertions to pro- 
 mote the freedom of another hemisphere." The General 
 returned thanks, and concluded a long oration on the 
 noble work which he and Bolivar had in hand by propos- 
 ing the health of Lord Cloncurry. It would be needless 
 for him to attempt to pronounce any eulogium on the 
 virtuous and patriotic nobleman who presided. " His 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 329 
 
 claim to our respect," said General Devereux, emphati- 
 cally, ' ; is not that he is a lord, but a noble man." 
 
 " Lord Cloncurry rose — He said that it had ever been his first thought 
 how best to serve his country, and it was a source of the greatest satisfac- 
 tion to him to reflect, that however humble his efforts, they were not altoge- 
 ther without effect. He preferred a residence in Ireland to all the allurements 
 which the most favoured foreign countries could possibly hold out, 'and,' 
 said his lordship, 'I have been doubly repaid in the regard and affection of 
 my countrymen testified on this, and, indeed, on many other occasions.' lie 
 was highly flattered at being called on to preside at so festive a meeting as the 
 present, where so large a portion of the talent, virtue, and respectability of 
 his countrymen were concentrated ; but it was particularly grateful to him 
 from the occasion of it. The object which they had met to celebrate was 
 one which shoidd have called him from his tomb, were it possible for the 
 mouldering clay to be reanimated — it was the cause of liberty ; it was to 
 forward and sanction the endeavours now making by the youth of his country 
 to promote the liberties of another hemisphere. Here his lordship referred 
 to a measure recently introduced to check the spirit of enterprise in his brave 
 fellow-countrymen — the Foreign Enlistment Bill. ' Born a peer of this 
 realm,' said his lordship, ' I have been robbed of my birthright, and of the 
 privileges which the British constitution guarantee to the peerage, otherwise 
 I should have raised my voice in the Legislature against the passing of this 
 law.' * * Lord Cloncurry concluded by addressing a few words to the 
 young men of Ireland, who had embarked in the cause of South American 
 freedom. ' Inculcate,' exclaimed his lordship, emphatically, ' upon the 
 minds of the inexperienced people you are going to assist the necessity of 
 union amongst themselves — without it they perish. We have, alas ! seen 
 and experienced the fatal consequences of disunion in our own green isle. Do 
 you warn them, from such an example, to avoid the causes which it has 
 produced. If, unfortunately, your efforts be misuccessful, if they will not 
 themselves preserve the freedom of their country, remember that you are 
 countrymen and freemen, be true to one another, be united, and preserve that 
 liberty for them, which they cannot do for themselves.' Lord Cloncurry re- 
 sumed his seat amid whirlwinds of applause." 
 
 In 1820 Grattan died. Soon after this sad event the 
 Duke of Leinster, Lord Cloncurry, and other friends of 
 the gifted patriot, assembled in the Exchange, and came 
 to the resolution, that " as the life of Henry Grattan was 
 devoted exclusively to the public good, his immortal ser- 
 vices during half a century, as the first patriot of his 
 country, and founder of her liberties, should be comme- 
 morated by a permanent testimonial. 1 ' A subscription 
 list was opened, and Lord Cloncurry, as might have 
 been expected, contributed handsomely to the fund. 
 
 George IV. was, during the existence of his regency, 
 
330 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 in high favour with the Irish people, because of the coun- 
 tenance which it was supposed he gave to the Catholic 
 claims ; but from the moment that he instituted legal 
 proceedings against his wife, he fell rapidly and ignobly 
 into well-merited unpopularity. This observation applies 
 mainly to the feeling prevalent amongst the national party 
 in Ireland. Hungry placemen and venal flatterers 
 abounded quite as much in 1820 as in 1855. Ere the 
 judicial proceeding against Queen Caroline had been well 
 concluded, the daily papers teemed with nattering adu- 
 latory addresses to his Majesty. Nothing could be more 
 transparent or fulsome. It smelt in the nostrils of all 
 virtuous and honourable men, and excited feelings of 
 disgust and indignation. Expecting to reap a golden 
 harvest they laid it on heavily, like agriculturists spreading 
 manure. 
 
 In December, 1820, a few days subsequent to what 
 Lord Liverpool designated " the delicate investigation," 
 Sir Richard Steele, High Sheriff of Dublin, convened a 
 meeting for the purpose of complimenting his gracious 
 Majesty. The place of assembly was Kilmainham Court- 
 house. He left no means unemployed to fill it with 
 partisan friends; but a large number, nevertheless, of the 
 popular party, including Lord Cloncurry, contrived to 
 take up position too. Their object was to move a counter- 
 address, pregnant with truth, but not necessarily with 
 disloyalty. 
 
 The High Sheriff, in a deep, sonorous voice, opened the 
 proceedings by reading and proposing his sycophantic 
 address. This was the signal for the popular party to 
 appear with theirs, and John Burne, K.C., begged leave 
 to move it. It is unnecessary to insert this document. 
 It condemned the late proceedings in the House of Lords 
 as dangerous and unconstitutional; censured the civil 
 councils of his Majesty's ministers, but expressed every 
 sentiment of loyalty towards the King himself. Sir 
 Richard Steele rather rudely interrupted Mr. Burne, and 
 with some warmth declared that he would hear no more 
 from him. He would put the question on his own address 
 and dissolve the meeting. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 331 
 
 We regret that it is only in our power to give a mere 
 outline of the proceedings on this interesting occasion. 
 The report loses much of its effect from the rather un- 
 merciful mutilation we have given it: — 
 
 " Messrs. Burne, O'Connell, and several other gentlemen insisted upon 
 addressing the meeting ere the -question coidd be put. But the Sheriff was 
 inexorable, and exclaimed — ' As many as are of opinion that this address do 
 pass, say aye!' A few voices shrieked forth 'aye ;' but each was instantly 
 drowned beneath at least a hundred noes. The Sheriff, however, declared 
 that he did not put the question in the alternative, and announced the meet- 
 ing as dissolved. All the ultra-loyalists accordingly withdrew, but strange 
 to say, the meeting, in point of numbers, appeared to suffer little diminution. 
 
 " Mr. O'Connell observed that the chairman had abdicated his post. He 
 had no right to dissolve the meeting until they had completed the business 
 for which they were convened, for which purpose he should move that Lord 
 Cloncurry do take the chair. The motion was immediately seconded, and put 
 and carried with acclamation. 
 
 " Lord Cloncurry came forward, amidst the enthusiastic plaudits of the 
 freeholders. 
 
 " The Sheriff said he would oppose Lord Cloncurry's taking the chair. 
 
 " Lord Cloncurry. — The freeholders of the county of Dublin have done me 
 the honour to call me to the chair, and 1 will cheerfully obey their commands. 
 I most solemnly protest against the illegal and unconstitutional conduct of 
 the Sheriff this day; he has assumed to himself the controul of the meeting 
 at which he was merely ministerial : he has endeavoured to stifle the public 
 voice and public opinion ; his conduct is inconsistent with every notion of 
 law or liberty, and I am happy to obey the call which directs me to give all 
 the resistance in my power to proceedings so arbitrary and unconstitutional. 
 
 "Here the Sheriff was understood to threaten to commit Lord Cloncurry if 
 he persisted in keeping the chair. 
 
 " Mr. O'Connell. — Prepare your prison, then, if it be large enough to 
 contain us all ; we will all accompany him. * * 
 
 " The Sheriff intimated that he would call in the military. He called 
 upon Lord Cloncurry at once to withdraw. 
 
 " Lord Cloncurry. — I will not withdraw; this is the freeholders' house, 
 built with the freeholders' money ; at their call I have taken the chair ; I am 
 a magistrate of this county ; no man shall use illegal violence in my presence, 
 unless he has a force superior to the law. In support of the law I am ready 
 to perish in this chair, and nothing but force shall tear me from it. 
 
 " The Sheriff said that the meetmg was an illegal meeting, and that he 
 would disperse it. 
 
 "Mr. O'Connell. — The meeting is a perfectly legal meeting ; let every 
 freeholder who values his rights remain, and if any man is prosecuted for 
 remaining here, let me be that man, for I have, and shall everywhere avow 
 that I have, advised and counselled you to continue the meeting. 
 
 " The Sheriff here withdrew ; the most perfect order and decorum still 
 prevailed. The Courthouse then exhibited one of the most crowded and 
 respectable meetings we have ever witnessed. 
 
 •• Mr. Burne addressed the chair, but had not uttered many sentences when 
 a side door was thrown in with a violent crash. Soldiers, commanded bv 
 one officer, entered, and were soon seen at every side of the meeting. They 
 
332 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 ordered the freeholders, in the most peremptory manner, to disperse. Violence 
 was offered to some individuals. 
 
 " Lord Clone uny kept his seat ; Mr. Curran placed himself by his side; 
 two soldiers, with bayonets in their hands, ascended the bench close to Mr. 
 Curran, who goodhumouredly, but firmly, put the weapons aside. The 
 officer, standing on the table, ordered Lord C Ion curry to withdraw. 
 
 " Lord Clone urn* replied that he was a magistrate, presiding over a legal 
 meeting of the King's subjects, that he would remain until the proceedings 
 were regularly brought to a close, unless he were removed by actual force. 
 
 " The officer said he must use force, and drew his sword, and force was 
 actually applied to Lord Cloncurry's person before he left the chair. 
 
 '"The freeholders being thus dispersed by open violence, assembled in im- 
 mense numbers in the hotel opposite. A chair was procured for Lord Clon- 
 curry. Mr. Burne moved the address, which was read and seconded by Mr. 
 O'Connell. The question was then put upon it by Lord Cloncurry, when it 
 was adopted amidst the acclamations of the freeholders that filled and sur- 
 rounded the house. 
 
 " Mr. O'Connell then moved that a committee should be appointed to lay 
 before the Lord Lieutenant the outrageous and illegal conduct of the Sheriff 
 on that day. He prefaced the motion in a short and animated speech, in 
 which he congratulated the freeholders on their triumph, which the very 
 violence of their opponents was the strongest proof of their having obtained 
 * * The motion was seconded and carried with acclamation. 
 
 " It was then moved that Counsellor Burne should take the chair, and the 
 thanks of the meeting were voted, amidst the most enthusiastic cheering, to 
 Lord Cloncurry for his resolute, manly, and constitutional conduct that day, 
 and for the uniform and undeviating patriotism of his wmole life. The meet- 
 ing then broke up. 
 
 " As Lord Cloncurry was departing there was an universal cry to chair 
 him into town, and he was surrounded for that purpose by a large group of 
 gentlemen near the gate of the Old Man's Hospital ; but his lordship succeeded 
 in preventing them from carrying their intention into execution by addressing 
 them in a short speech. 
 
 " He entreated them to forbear. They owed him no compliment, or, if 
 they did, their thanks amply repaid him. The approbation they had uniformly 
 bestowed upon his conduct was, to his mind, a reward superior to any monarch 
 could bestow. He would always live in Ireland. He was early attached to 
 the principles of liberty, the foundation of the British constitution. The 
 miseries of his native land only rendered those principles more dear to hiin, 
 and the events of that day served but the more to convince him of the value 
 of law and liberty, by showing how abject was the state of man when de- 
 prived of those blessings. A chairing, however innocent, might be construed 
 into a riot, and that construction might be written in blood. ' Let us,' said 
 his lordship, ' by our orderly conduct, furnish the strongest contrast to our 
 opponents, and not tarnish the victory we have gained this day by affording 
 them the slightest pretence for censure. Let us, my friends, depart in peace, 
 and not give a handle to our enemies for any additional act of violence.' 
 The people then gave his lordship three cheers, and retired, exclaiming, 
 ' Your advice shall ever be considered by us as a command.' ' 
 
 The indignation of the people at this daring attempt 
 on the part of Sir Richard Steele to outrage their feelings 
 with impunity knew no bounds. Lord Cloncurry and 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 333 
 
 his friends, who had been driven from the Courthouse 
 at the bayonet's point, were advised to take law proceed- 
 ings against the Sheriff. In March, 1821, his lordship 
 published an address to the freeholders of Dublin, wherein 
 he explained his reasons for not considering such a course 
 advisable: — " First," said he, "the proceedings might 
 easily be protracted far two years, at an enormous ex- 
 pense to you or me, whilst the taxes would probably 
 furnish means to defend the Sheriff. Secondly, it must 
 be recollected that juries are selected by sheriffs, and 
 they have not lately been in the habit of trying consti- 
 tutional questions, and to force such a study on any 
 judge in his old age would be altogether ill-natured. 
 Suppose some sly lawyer was to make the following 
 defence, how could I rebut it : — ' Either Lord Cloncurry 
 is a good or a bad man ; if the former, it was right of 
 the Sheriff to wish him out of this troublesome world ; 
 if the latter, it would be his duty to free the world from 
 him. I remember such a defence once made in a case 
 of murder, and the defendant was acquitted."* Other 
 reasons, expressed in a more serious spirit, followed. He 
 observed that if he thought it could at all tend to any 
 good result, he would straightway commence legal pro- 
 ceedings against the Sheriff at his own sole expense and 
 inconvenience. 
 
 So much for politics and public meetings. An occur- 
 rence connected with the private life of Lord Cloncurry 
 now claims our attention. On the 30th September, 
 1820, the hand of his lordships favourite daughter, Mary 
 Margaret, by Eliza Georgiana, first Lady Cloncurry, 
 was clasped in wedlock by John Joseph Henry, Baron 
 de Roebeck. The nuptials took place at L} r ons, and 
 were celebrated with much pomp and solemnity. After 
 the ceremony, the happy pair started for the Continent. 
 While spending the honejanoon in Paris it was the good 
 fortune of Tom Moore to meet them at the house of Mr. 
 Archibald Douglas, a relation by marriage of Lord 
 Cloncurry 's. We are informed by the bard, in his Diary 
 
 * Lord Cloncurry alluded to Toler's extraordinary charge on the trial of 
 Captain Frazer aud his orderly for the murder of Dixon in 1799. See page 
 140 of this work. 
 
334 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 of January 24th, 1821, that himself and Mrs. Moore, 
 Washington Irving, and Lord Miltown, were present at 
 dinner, and that the Baroness de Roebeck joined them 
 in the evening. " She is a young bride of seventeen," 
 writes Tom, " with the most perfect Hebe eyes and 
 cheeks I have seen for a long time " — a great deal from 
 Mr. Moore, who was a profound connoisseur in female 
 beauty. Little it was then supposed that three years 
 more would see an Act of Parliament dissevering that 
 union which appeared in 1820 so pregnant with the 
 elements of present and future happiness. 
 
 Meanwhile George the Fourth's popularity was rapidly 
 on the ebb. His English subjects began literally to 
 loathe him. Regarding Queen Caroline as a maligned 
 and persecuted woman, they looked upon him as the 
 maligner and persecutor. His Majesty felt the English 
 ground slipping from under him, and as a dernier resort, 
 he announced his intention of establishing at least a firm 
 footing upon Irish soil. That the royal visit to Ireland 
 in 1821 was more from motives of policy than affection, 
 is as evident as the day. Full well he knew the impul- 
 sive disposition of the Irish people, and how easy it would 
 be to deceive them by plausible acting. His Majesty's 
 advent was heralded across the Channel by ten thousand 
 trumpets, and the announcement was received with 
 shouts of enthusiasm and delight. The heart of every 
 Catholic beat quick and loudly, in the firm conviction 
 that his visit was the harbinger of great and happy poli- 
 tical changes. No English monarch had, since the days 
 of King James, visited poor Ireland, and George IV. 
 was the first who came to her in the spirit of of concilia- 
 tion. Joy was universal — unanimity animated every 
 heart. Setting the hope of political amelioration aside, 
 nothing was thought of but how to give his Majesty a 
 genuine Irish cead mille failthe. Triumphal arches were 
 erected, processions organized, deputations rehearsed, and 
 glowing accounts of his arrival written in advance for 
 the newspapers. At length he came. Booming of can- 
 non tore the air. His public entry was unquestionably 
 the most magnificent spectacle ever witnessed in Ireland. 
 The warm autumnal air resounded with the cheers of a 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 335 
 
 warmer hearted people. A sea of heads surged around 
 on every side. Poor people ! One of the most finished 
 actors that ever played upon the credulity of mankind 
 appears amongst you ! "With a countenance radiant with 
 smiles, and to all appearance beaming with philanthropy, 
 George, King of England, received the plaudits of his 
 subjects. In the royal button-hole an enormous bunch 
 of shamrocks — almost equal in dimensions to a head of 
 cabbage — was ostentatiouslv inserted. Anon he would 
 point to it and smile urbanely on the people. 
 
 On his arrival in the Phoenix Park, a deputation of 
 well-oiled marrow-bones at once prostrated themselves 
 before him. Addresses were read, and congratulations 
 offered on his Majesty's safe arrival. The royal hypo- 
 crite smiled, expressed an innate affection for his Irish 
 Catholic subjects, and declared that in return for their 
 kindness he would drink their healths collectively in a 
 glass of good Irish whiskey punch ! The people, daz- 
 zled with his splendour — captivated with his urbanity, 
 forgot all grievances and dissension, and effervescing 
 with loyalty, invoked blessings on his head. Never were 
 people more dexterously cajoled. No one appeared to 
 be exempt from the contagion. Even O'Connell — per- 
 haps the most clear-sighted intellect that ever shone upon 
 Ireland — was deceived. He offered pecuniary assistance 
 towards the erection of an Irish palace for His Majesty, 
 which, in the madness of the hour, the Irish public 
 seriously proposed to undertake. He suggested the for- 
 mation of a "Loyal Georgian Club," panegyrized the 
 king for his benevolent intentions towards us ; and, when 
 the hour of his Majesty's departure arrived, whom do 
 we find presenting a crown of laurels a genoux to the 
 monarch, but the future Liberator of Catholic Ireland — 
 Daniel O'Connell.* 
 
 The royal yacht glided from the harbour. " He stood 
 upon the deck," said Sheil, " and thence looked back and 
 saw the hills by which he was encompassed crowded to 
 the tops by hundreds of thousands who sent their bene- 
 
 * See "Fagan's Life of Daniel O'Connell," vol. i. p. 266. 
 
336 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 dictions along with him. Is it possible that at such a 
 moment his heart should not have melted within him? 
 Did not the tears of a generous sensibility rush into his 
 eyes ; and as the shouts of his people came from the re- 
 ceding shores across the waters, did he not exclaim — ' I 
 will do something for Ireland.' ' All, however, he did for 
 her was a letter from Lord Sidmouth, written by com- 
 mand, wherein conciliation was recommended, and nothing 
 promised. Ah ! poor deluded Irish people, when will 
 sad experience teach you sense? 
 
 Lord Cloncurry, although he expressed every feeling 
 of loyalty towards his Majesty, refused to join in the sub- 
 scription to erect an Irish palace. Ireland was in a state 
 of the greatest misery at the time, and his lordship, when 
 applied to, said, that if he had any money to spend, with- 
 out going into debt, it would, he was sure, best accord 
 with the wishes of the King if he were to give useful 
 employment to his starving people. " There are now 
 near £12,000 collected," said his lordship, " from the 
 officers of the Preventive Service and others. I would 
 recommend three ways of employing it; the two first 
 would do permanent good, and give bread for a year to 
 five or six hundred people ; the third would much tend 
 to restore peace to the country. First," said he, " remove 
 the fords in the Shannon, and make it a river instead of 
 a chain of lakes, bottling up the water within the country. 
 Secondly," make main drains through the Bog of Allen. 
 
 And, thirdly, build a palace on the Gold Coast for the 
 
 and the ,* and by a proceeding the reverse of ostra- 
 cism, get them to inhabit it." 
 
 A most flattering address from the High Sheriff, the 
 Lady Ponsonby, the gentlemen, clergy, freeholders, and 
 landholders of Kildare, was presented to Lord Cloncurry 
 in June, 1821. Men of all parties, who were eye-witnesses 
 to the important services conferred by his lordship on the 
 poor, in his capacity of magistrate, employer, and resident 
 
 * In the autograph letter of Lord Cloncurry's, which furnished us with 
 materials for this paragraph, his lordship makes use of blanks precisely as 
 they occur in the text. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 337 
 
 landlord, eagerly affixed their signatures to the document. 
 Lord Cloncurry's countenance glowed with satisfaction. 
 " Accept my warmest thanks," said he, " for your affec- 
 tionate and truly gratifying address. A man who is loved 
 by all his neighbours, of all ranks and of all persuasions, 
 may well be proud; he must have some good in him. 
 He might be covered with ribands and orders, and be 
 worse than worthless." 
 
 In December, 1821, Lord Cloncurry was induced to 
 accept an invitation to the grand inaugural banquet of 
 Sir J. K. James, Lord Mayor of Dublin, who thought fit, 
 in the course of the evening, to propose, notwithstanding 
 the presence of several Roman Catholic guests, a certain 
 well-known Orange toast, eulogistic of the memory of 
 William III. Cloncurry, disgusted at the bad taste of 
 this proceeding, turned down his glass and remained 
 seated. In acting thus, his lordship drew upon himself 
 a fierce discharge of vituperation from the Conservative 
 press, which he vainly endeavoured to lighten by the 
 publication of a moderate but argumentative public letter. 
 Individually he respected William III., as he was a liberal 
 Dutchman, and intended much good to Ireland, but as 
 corporators are not necessarily historians, they generally 
 give this toast from party motives, and hence he disap- 
 proved of it. 
 
 In January, 1S22, Lord Cloncurry addressed his cele- 
 brated letter to the Duke of Leinster, " On a Stipendiary 
 Police, and the present State of Ireland." Not being, at 
 that time, a representative peer, he had no more respectable 
 a mode of communicating his opinions to the Legislature 
 than through the medium of a public letter. It appeared 
 in all the newspapers of the day, and was afterwards, if 
 we mistake not, reprinted as a pamphlet. A more elabo- 
 rate document had never before emanated from his lord- 
 ship. Having begun by exposing the hitherto but too 
 successfully concealed corruption, and inconsistencies, ex- 
 isting in a large portion of the then system of Irish law 
 administration, from the barony constable and tithe 
 proctor to the custos rotulorum and justice of the peace, 
 his lordship entered into a careful investigation of various 
 
 Q 
 
338 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 minutiae, requiring correction, and interwoven with the 
 commission, that would hardly have occurred to other 
 than a profound thinker, and one who had the advantage 
 of his country and countrymen entirely at heart. Unlike 
 those empty, spouting demagogues, who pour forth de- 
 nunciations by wholesale on the working of certain sys- 
 tems, of which they may chance professedly to disapprove, 
 but, at the same time, respectfully decline the trouble of 
 suggesting such modifications as would effectually remove 
 the objection, his lordship, for every grievance and abuse 
 exposed, pointed out a safe and easy remedy. To attempt 
 an enumeration of them would be impossible. We do not 
 think they were less than thirty. 
 
 A senseless panic pervaded, at this time, the ranks of 
 his Majesty's Government, in England and Ireland, owing 
 to some grossly exaggerated reports that had reached 
 them, relative to the spread of Ribbonism. They firmly 
 believed three-forths of the country to be in an actual state 
 of organized revolt. Although a crime had not been 
 committed for many years within its limits, the Lord 
 Lieutenant thought fit to place his lordship's county 
 (Kildare) under the operation of the Insurrection Act. 
 Lord Cloncurry referred to this aggression, and, by means 
 of irrefragable proof, succeeded in convincing every un- 
 prejudiced understanding, that crime never prevailed to 
 a less extent, not only in Kildare, but throughout Ireland 
 generally. 
 
 Who were the peasantry indebted to for having circu- 
 lated these slanders ? Orange squireen magistrates in 
 quest of Castle favour. " No person," observed his lord- 
 ship, " not in the secret, can imagine the love our inferior 
 magistrates have for the Castle yard. Though the secret 
 service money can no longer be so freely lavished on the 
 contriver of a good plot, there still remains a smell of it 
 which possesses most attractive properties. Nothing 
 tends so much to keep away English capital, and to in- 
 crease the number of absentees, than the lies told of the 
 country by those who fatten on its misery and degrada- 
 tion." 
 
 The plan which his lordship carefully outlined for the 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 339 
 
 establishment of a stipendiary police, or constabulary, in 
 country parishes, their number, the style and formation of 
 their barracks, &c, excited much admiration. Towards 
 the close of his letter, he took a rapid but searching glance 
 at the wretched post office regulations, the tithe,* ab- 
 sentee, taxing, and excise systems, the objectionable 
 Education Society of Kildare-place, and other institutions 
 long since either abolished or modified. Altogether, a 
 more able or a more useful letter had not, for a consider- 
 able time, appeared. The greatest proof of the success 
 attending it was the shower of official reactionary para- 
 graphs and pamphlets that greeted its appearance. Their 
 vulgar and scurrilous tone could not fail to disgust any 
 dispassionate reader. Lord Cloncurry headed his letter 
 with a Latin motto — a frequent habit with him.f This 
 was clumsily satirized by a Government pamphleteer, 
 who offered " Some Remarks on Lord Cloncurry 's Letter 
 on Police." " Where," he says, " Lord Cloncurry found 
 the motto he made use of, or whether it is not one of his 
 own creation, it is impossible not to give him credit for 
 its very close connexion with the letter which it heads. 
 ' De omnibus rebus et quibusdam aliis — on everything 
 and somethingelse — was a well-chosen miscellany in which 
 his lordship appears to have emptied his lumber-room for 
 the purpose of presenting a new year's gift to his Grace 
 of Leinster." 
 
 The visit to Ireland, in 1823, of the celebrated English 
 philanthropist, Robert Owen, is, doubtless, in the recol- 
 lection of our Irish readers. The peculiar views of this 
 most kind-hearted and benevolent man are so well known 
 that to more than allude to them would be unnecessary 
 here. Mr. Owen is now in the eighty-fifth year of his 
 
 * In connexion with this subject his lordship strongly condemned the in- 
 creased power recently given to the magistracy of heariug tithe cases. The 
 bloodshed which constantly took place, when endeavouring to enforce pay- 
 ment of that cruel tax, is well known. Clerical magistrates adjudicating in 
 favour of their own tithe proctors was, for years after, of lamentably frequent 
 occurrence. Full particulars of the anti-tithe movement, in 1831-35, will 
 be found in their proper place. 
 
 f " Jam satis Ira? surmounted his letter to Smith O'Brien, in 1847. 
 Similar instances might be cited. 
 
340 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 age, and for nearly sixty of that period lie lias been 
 periodically pressing under the notice of a prejudiced 
 world, his mighty but somewhat Utopian project, for the 
 establishment of a " new existence of man upon the 
 earth." Mr. Owen is of opinion, that men should labour 
 in hundreds together, on the principle of the bee, or the 
 ant. In endeavouring to realize this scheme, Mr. Owen 
 expended nearly half his fortune at New Lanark, in 
 Scotland. The result gave him cause to hope that his 
 vast machinery and plan of working might, with beneficial 
 effects, be extended to Ireland. At that period, andfor long 
 anterior to it, she was overwhelmed with poverty, oppressed 
 with discontent, and torn by party animosities. An im- 
 mense quantity of unproductive waste land, and a superfluity 
 of good soil, existed in the country. There were labourers 
 galore; Mr. Owen addressed them, and proved that capital 
 was created by labour judiciously applied to land. He pro- 
 duced his authorities for the allegation, that 1,000 people, 
 by healthy and pleasant employment, when their powers 
 and industry were properly combined and directed, could 
 produce a most comfortable living, in all respects, for 3,000. 
 '• A stranger," said Mr. Owen, " possessing an experience 
 of more than thirty years practically devoted to the sub- 
 ject, offers to assist you with his time and his money ; 
 and he offers this assistance without even the desire of 
 any return, except the satisfaction of seeing or knowing 
 that you are in the actual possession of the happiness 
 which itishis highest wish you should permanently enjoy." 
 Many shrewd intellects approved of Mr. Owen's scheme. 
 Aided by them he established the Hibernian Philan- 
 thropic Society. General Brown and Mr. Owen contri- 
 buted each £.1,000 to its funds. Others offered tracts of 
 land for the purposes of the Society. Lord Cloncurry 
 was fascinated with Mr. Owen's project. He drew a 
 cheque in favour of the Society for £500. Hamilton 
 Rowan, Sir C. Molyneux, Sir F. Flood, Sir W. Braba- 
 zon and Dr. Macartney, put down their names for £100 
 each. 
 
 Previously, however, to the first meeting of the " Hi- 
 bernian Philanthropic Society," in May, 1823, Mr. Owen 
 
CLONCURRY AXD HIS TIMES. d41 
 
 visited Ireland, with a view, mainly, to sound the 
 opinions of Lord Cloncurry and other influential patriots, 
 in reference to the practicability of his scheme. He 
 came to Ireland for the first time in October, 1822. He 
 had frequent interviews with Lord CloncuiTj, who gave 
 him much and cheering encouragement. Whatever cor- 
 respondence passed between them, from that period until 
 1848, ?dr. Owen has kindly placed at our disposal. The 
 first letter in the collection runs as follows : — 
 
 [No. 13.] LORD CLONCURRY TO ROBERT OWEN, ESQ. 
 
 11 20th October, 1822. 
 
 " Dr. Sir, — T forgot to ask you where you are to be waited on in Dublin. 
 in order that I may join my friends in paying our respects to you next 
 Wednesday, which I shall do with great sincerity. 
 
 M I am to preside at a charity dinner in Dublin, on the 25th. Any time 
 after that, suiting your convenience and that of Captain McDonnell to give 
 me the pleasure of your company for a few days at Lyons, I shall endeavour 
 to present to you a few gentlemen well acquainted with the state of this fine 
 but unhappy island. 
 
 "With great respect, your humble Servant, 
 
 " Cloncdrry." 
 
 Mr. Owen accepted the invitation, and passed a week 
 with his lordship at Lyons. Soon after, he left for 
 England, but not until Lord Cloncurry promised to 
 watch over the young institution with a fatherly eye. 
 The following interesting letter will serve to show how 
 warm an interest his lordship took in its welfare and 
 growth : — 
 
 [No. 14.] LORD CLONCURRY TO ROBERT OWEN, ESQ. 
 
 "Poor Ireland! Lyons, Celbrifrje, January 2nd, 1823. 
 " My dear Sic,— Our progress is slow— I wish I could add, sure. We have 
 been at considerable expense printing and distributing. We have met some 
 extraordinary instances of good sense and zeal amongst the middle and low< r 
 orders. Some of their letters, descriptive of the present state of the wretched 
 peasantry, we will publish. Of our noble or wealthy subscribers, the number 
 has not increased one ; yet to them it is of the greatest and most vital impor- 
 tance to alter the condition and the feelings of the countiy at large. Depra- 
 vity, and a determined spirit of vengeance, seem to have taken firm root in the 
 breasts of the despairing uvultitude. Our riders think of no other remedy than 
 the sword and the halter. The whole revenue of the country will be swal- 
 lowed up to maintain a force which, after all, is totally inadequate to the 
 end in view. One would suppose that you would have been hailed in Ireland 
 as the true prophet, that you would have aided the saints in mitigating 
 Popery, the Catholics in blunting the fury of Orange insolence and cruelty, 
 half converting each to good will and industry. But, as yet, our parties only 
 
342 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 think how they can injure their opponents, not how they can serve them- 
 selves or their country. You have zealous and grateful friends, but unless 
 Parliamentary or private munificence of the British public assist us, nothing 
 effectual can be done, and ruin stares us in the face. When you were here, 
 the country was quiet for some miles round Lyons. It is now proclaimed to 
 a short distance of my hall-door. I was in Connaught since I saw you. 
 There the military were giving out small portions of potatoes to the starving 
 multitude, at the same time the bayonet ready to prevent a rush. All this 
 in a country the powers and the facilities of which you well know. 
 
 "Our petition went on as you directed. You, of course, have it before 
 now. I trust it may produce something; but Goulburne* will oppose. 
 He prefers giving £50,000 or £60,000 to convert our Papists, not one of 
 whom is converted, and the money is divided amongst the saints and the 
 hypocrites. Not a penny is expended to educate the ignorant Papist unless 
 he be first converted — not a penny to promote industry or useful labour, in 
 a country where each penny so expended would repay tenfold. You know I 
 am in less danger than most others, yet am I full of fears, if not for myself, 
 at least for my children and grandchildren. 
 
 " All unite in best wishes for you and yours with your affectionate Friend, 
 
 " Cloncurry. 
 
 "P.S.— Mr. Secretary Groves is very attentive and useful — the committee 
 seldom well attended — Alderman M'Kenny, Sir Win. Brabazon, Hamilton 
 Rowan, and Dr. Macartney the chief labourers. Circulars have been sent out 
 pretty generally." 
 
 In the foregoing letter, Lord Cloncuny informs Mr. 
 Owen that, since he last had the pleasure of seeing him, 
 the County Kildare was proclaimed to within a short 
 distance of his own hall-door. In connexion with the 
 arbitrary law that trampled down a peaceable people in 
 1823, there has been an interesting anecdote related by 
 Lord Cloncurry, which we should not consider ourselves 
 justified in altogether overlooking. In May, 1846, the 
 Irish Coercion Bill passed through both Houses. Lord 
 Cloncurry, in the earlier stages of its progress, published 
 a public letter, from which we cull the following ex- 
 tracts : — " It was my fate, as a magistrate," wrote his 
 lordship, " to be obliged to assist in the administration 
 of a law of nearly equal atrocity, some years ago. I will 
 mention one or two circumstances which occurred during 
 the first Administration of Lord Wellesley, not only a 
 great statesman, but a scholar of a most cultivated and 
 enlarged understanding, and a man of experience and 
 humanity, no way inclined to deny or to despise our 
 country. The barony of North Naas happened to be 
 proclaimed about 1823. It joined the barony in which 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 343 
 
 I resided, and of which I was the only magistrate. It 
 was, however, not proclaimed. The demesne lands of 
 Bishopscourt, where Lady Ponsonby resided, were in 
 my unproclaimed barony; and amongst her ladyship's 
 tenantry was a very respectable man named Kenny. He 
 was employed in hay-making on a summer's evening; 
 and wanting change to pay his men, Kenny left his own 
 unproclaimed barony, and while in the act of getting the 
 change, the police came in and arrested him for being 
 out of his house after sunset, though at that time broad 
 daylight. He was brought before me. I immediately 
 bailed him, though I doubted my right to do so. He 
 was tried at the next special sessions of ISaas, before a 
 full bench of justices, Sir. George Bennett presiding. 
 Only one magistrate joined me in refusing to convict. 
 Mr. Bennett told me how important it was that the 
 magistrates should act with unanimity — that, strictly 
 speaking, Kenny was from home after sunset; and that, 
 if I would preserve the unanimity of the court, he would 
 wait on the Lord Lieutenant, and have the prisoner libe- 
 rated. He did wait on his Excellency ; but Lord 
 Wellesley, instead of using his prerogative, reprobated 
 the verdict, said that it was contrary to the spirit of the 
 law and to common sense, and that they must reconsider 
 it. Meantime, Schoales, Assistant-Barrister, went his 
 circuit to the North, and next special sessions did not 
 take place for many weeks. When they did come on, 
 the magistrates refused to alter their verdict, and poor 
 Kenny remained in jail, and there might have stayed, 
 had not his good fortune brought Lord Fitzwilliam to 
 Bishopscourt. He accompanied me to the Castle, and 
 we obtained the liberation of Kenny. I write this to 
 show what can be done, even in a good county. I 
 believe I have accurately stated what had occurred, not 
 even suppressing my own shameful cowardice : ma is (as 
 my friend Judge Perrin knows) il faut hurler avec les 
 loups. 
 
 " That event took place many years ago, and I am 
 still ashamed of it. At the same sessions, an old tailor 
 was sentenced to transportation for being out of his own 
 
314 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 dwelling at night. It was proved that, according to the 
 custom of his trade, he was boarding and lodging at the 
 house of an employer, a respectable person. He would 
 have been acquitted, only some magistrate recollected 
 his having been active in 1798, twenty-five years before." 
 Meanwhile we must not forget to look after Mr. 
 Owen. In February, 1823, he returned to Dublin, and 
 found to his satisfaction that, under the auspices of Lord 
 Cloncurry, much work had been done. He at once made 
 arrangements for an aa-orresfate meeting to be held in the 
 Rotundo, for the purpose of fully expressing and explain- 
 ing his views. This came off on the 18th March. The 
 Duke of Leinster was present, as also Lords Cloncurry 
 and Meath, Archbishops Troy and Murray, Sir P. Cramp- 
 ton, Lady Rossmore, and the Lord Mayor. It was in- 
 tended that the meeting should have been promptly fol- 
 lowed up by a banquet, but some unforeseen circumstance 
 occurred to prevent it. Apropos to this contre-temps we 
 find the following amongst Mr. Owen's letters : — 
 
 [No. 15.] LORD CLONCURRY TO ROBERT OWEN, ESQ. 
 
 "31st March, 1823. 
 "My dear Sir, — lam, on the whole, better pleased that the dinner should be 
 postponed; but I hope that it will take place with triumphant unanimity- 
 after the 12th. The Duke's engagements, I fear, render his stay impossible. 
 Will you cool yourself by breathing the fresh air of Lyons for a while before 
 or after the meeting? It will much oblige your sincere and very attached 
 Friend, '• Cloncurry.''' 
 
 Like all public men, Mr. Owen was soon abused 
 to his heart's content. The priesthood, Protestant and 
 Catholic, protested that his system of amelioration would 
 strike at the root of revealed religion, and ou^ht, in con- 
 sequence, to be reprobated by all virtuous men. Secular 
 sages asserted that his scheme was wild and visionary. 
 Lord Cloncurry gave the subject deep and anxious con- 
 sideration, and vainly endeavoured to sec the grounds 
 on which those mighty objections were erected. He was 
 now much attached to Mr. Owen. Boldly he came for- 
 ward before an indignant public, and on his own buckler 
 received many of the blows originally intended for that 
 gentleman. Several clergymen, especially Dr. Singer, 
 
CLONCURRY AXD HIS TIMES. 345 
 
 afterwards one of the Protestant Episcopacy, expressed 
 themselves in very harsh language against Mr. Owen, 
 while endeavouring at the Rotimdo meeting to develope 
 his plans for the amelioration of the labouring and other 
 classes. Lord Cloncurry was indignant at what he con- 
 ceived to be an unseemly interruption, and with some 
 warmth observed that Mr. Owen's conduct appeared to 
 him more consonant to the Word of God than that of the 
 reverend gentlemen who attacked him. On the 7th 
 April, 1823, his lordship addressed an excellent public 
 letter to the Dublin Evening Herald, calculated to miti- 
 gate, if not allay, the storm of wrath which had now 
 begun to assail Mr. Owen with peculiar potency. " I 
 have had many conversations," said Lord Cloncurry, 
 14 with that excellent individual, and as few persons are 
 more conversant than myself with the situation of the 
 people of Ireland, I think I may venture to give some 
 opinion as to the practicability of his system. The age 
 of theory, of enthusiasm, and of ardent hope, is pretty 
 well over with me — not so the love of country, the 
 desire of serving her, or the deepest gratitude to those 
 who wish her well. My first sentiment, therefore, 
 towards Mr. Owen, is that of respect and thankfulness. 
 He had heard of our almost hopeless misery ; of our divi- 
 sions, and our blind and factious violence ; he left his 
 happy home, not to profit of our folly, or to live on our 
 labour, our tithes, or our taxes, but to give, according to 
 his means, relief, advice, and (he hopes) a remedy. I 
 have seen him inquire, with patient and earnest solici- 
 tude, into the circumstances of the poor and the indus- 
 trious, and I have observed the liberality with which he 
 ministered to their wants." Lord Cloncurry went on to 
 say that it is impossible for any man to turn his entire 
 thoughts for a length of years to one particular project, 
 without mingling a little enthusiasm with judgment, and 
 theory with practice. Some of Mr. Owen's views, he 
 admitted, were open to objection, but the greater number 
 of those intended to confer a benefit on Ireland had been 
 practically proved, and bore the test of close and arith- 
 metical examination. Lord Cloncurrv concluded with 
 
 Q 2 
 
346 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 an elaborate but simple exposition of Mr. Owen's plans 
 for the amelioration of Ireland. Mr. Owen presided at 
 three successive meetings in the Rotundo ; previous to 
 the formation of his " Irish Philanthropic Society." The 
 crowds who congregated within and around that capacious 
 edifice, in order to hear him develope his plans for popu- 
 lar amelioration, baffle all description. Hundreds were 
 obliged to return to their homes without being able to 
 obtain a glimpse of the platform. Ladies fainted even 
 in the reserved seats, and were obliged to be removed 
 on chairs through the windows and skylight. The first 
 meeting of the society was well attended. Numbers soli- 
 cited the honour of becoming life members, and spoke 
 warmly in favour of Mr. Owen's plans. At the close of 
 the proceedings Lord Cloncurry rose, and in a most feel- 
 ing and impressive speech entreated every lady and 
 gentleman present, who had been admitted members of 
 the Philanthropic Society, to diffuse in their respective 
 circles a knowledge of its principles, and of those vast 
 and permanent advantages which the labouring classes 
 must derive from its success. 
 
 In the foregoing pages we have adverted to many 
 benevolent, public and private, acts of Lord Cloncurry ; 
 but a vast number in the latter category will probably 
 never come to the knowledge of his biographer. We 
 have reason to know that a day never passed without 
 witnessing some generous and philanthropic proceeding 
 on the part of his lordship, which might vainly be searched 
 for among newspaper records. A few come to light 
 by chance occasionally. Thomas Moore, on August 21, 
 1823, dined at Lady Morgan's, in Dublin. Lord Clon- 
 curry and his brother-in-law, Dunsany, were present, as 
 also Hamilton Rowan, and John Burne, the barrister. 
 " Lord Cloncurry," writes Moore, in his Diary, " men- 
 tioned his having (successfully) interceded with Lord 
 Wellesley for the pardon of a man who had been, with 
 several others, found guilty of a murder at Athy, but 
 who, there was every reason to believe, was completely 
 innocent. A priest riding up to Dublin, for the same 
 purpose of intercession, died on his arrival from the over- 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 347 
 
 haste with which he had travelled." This little trait, 
 accidentally disclosed, is doubtless merely a specimen of 
 many million acts of humanity and benevolence which 
 characterized the routine of Lord Cloncurry's daily life, 
 and which, except to a few parties, have not been made 
 public. Were we as fond of exaggerated metaphor as a 
 certain Irish orator, laughed at by Moore in his Diary, 
 we would probably add that the trait alluded to may be 
 regarded as the accidental falling of a stone from the in- 
 visible summit of that lofty column of private charity 
 which the sfood man built to elevate his soul to heaven. 
 
 In 1820 the machinery of the once celebrated Kildare 
 Place Society was set in motion. Professing to instruct 
 for nominal remuneration the humbler classes of the Irish 
 people, it was the forerunner and basis of the National 
 System of education. The Roman Catholic hierarchv. 
 on condition that the religious tenets of the pupils were 
 in nowise to be tampered with, cheerfully gave the 
 society their countenance and support. Thousands of 
 schools at once started into existence. A large Parlia- 
 mentary grant crowned the institution. For a time its 
 proceedings gave very general satisfaction, but at length 
 the Catholic clergy were reduced to the necessity of 
 raising their voices against the modus operandi of Kildare 
 Place. Some time previously the heads of that society 
 thought fit to pass a resolution expressive of their deter- 
 mination, that the schools to which they extended aid 
 should have the Bible, without note or comment, daily 
 read aloud by the pupils, or else cease to receive support. 
 That Roman Catholics emphatically disapprove of the 
 system of interpreting the Bible according to individual 
 fancy and caprice is, we believe, notorious. They insist 
 upon the authorized interpretation of the Church. Hav- 
 ing heard of the startling decision come to at Kildare 
 Place, it is hardly matter of wonder that the Catholic 
 pastors of those parishes wherein the schools were situated 
 should have declared on their part that the Bible, from 
 its occasional ambiguity of tone, was not the book exactly 
 suited to the simple and undeveloped intellect of a school- 
 boy. The priesthood strongly expressed their disapproval 
 
348 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 of Catholic pupils continuing to attend these schools. 
 The children obeyed, and thus the poor Catholic, for 
 whom the legislature designed its benefaction, ceased to 
 derive benefit from a grant given for the general purposes 
 of education. 
 
 The objections at that time urged against the indis- 
 criminate circulation of the Bible, and its private inter- 
 pretation, were not confined exclusively to Roman Catho- 
 lics. Several dignitaries of the Established Church, with 
 the Lord Primate at their head, withdrew from the 
 councils of Kildare Place. They felt that the daily mul- 
 tiplication of sects in Great Britain, almost beyond the 
 number of texts in the Scripture, was mainly attributable 
 to its indiscriminate circulation, and the capricious inter- 
 pretation of ignorant and unreasoning intellects. 
 
 Disgusted at the gross violation of the promises ex- 
 pressly made by the heads of Kildare Place, a few 
 disinterested and upright men opened a subscription list 
 for the establishment of an Irish National Society, which 
 would diffuse the blessings of moral education without 
 interfering with the religious tenets of those whom it 
 instructed. The list of subscribers was published in the 
 newspapers, and we find the name of Lord Cloncurry 
 heading the list with the munificent donation of 
 £50. Not, however, for many years after did Govern- 
 ment place the coping-stone on this philanthropic under- 
 taking. 
 
 On Tuesday, May 7, 1824, was held the first great 
 meeting of the Irish National Society. Lord Cloncurry, 
 Archbishop Troy, Sir T. Esmonde, O'Connell, Hamilton 
 Rowan, and others, were present, and protested eloquently 
 and forcibly against the gross inconsistencies of Kildare 
 Place. Lord Cloncurry delivered an excellent speech 
 at this meeting. He observed that it was sometimes 
 customary with him to read aloud the Bible for the edifi- 
 cation of his family. From the fact of having repeatedly 
 on such occasions been necessitated either to close the 
 sacred volume, or pass on to another chapter, in conse- 
 quence of the likelihood of its language sometimes to 
 prove offensive to modest ears, he argued the unfitness 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 349 
 
 of placing it as a school-book in the hands of youth. 
 Having expressed his disgust at the breach of agreement 
 already referred to, and the insolent unfairness of the 
 society in attempting to vindicate so disgraceful a pro- 
 ceeding, his lordship descanted on the inutility, not to 
 say the danger, of even adults deducing their own con- 
 clusions from scriptural language. In the following ex- 
 tract we find his lordship calling upon Government to 
 establish the National System of education. His cries, 
 although for eight years unheeded, were ultimately not 
 in vain. 
 
 " I have great hope that Parliament will do some- 
 thing towards the education of the poorer classes in this 
 country. It is melancholy to contemplate the state of 
 wretchedness of a large portion of the Irish peasantry ; 
 and I am fully convinced that the great expense which 
 Government is put to for the maintenance of an armed 
 force in this country would be totally unnecessary, if 
 Catholic clergymen had the facilities of imparting the 
 blessings of education to their respective flocks. Well I 
 know the benefits to be derived from education, for in 
 the neighbourhood where I reside an address of Mr. 
 O'Connell's was published and circulated among the 
 peasantry, with the best possible effect. Reason will do 
 much with the Irish people. Kindness will do every- 
 thing — violence or cruelty nothing. A system of violence 
 and cruelty has been too long pursued towards Ireland." 
 
 Lord Cloncurry, on the first establishment of the Kildare 
 Place Society, desirous of giving it every support, applotted 
 a portion pf his estate for the purpose of erecting thereon 
 as many of their new schools as possible. Having soon, 
 however, understood that the Bible was ordered to be 
 read aloud during school-time,* without note or comment, 
 
 * Lord Cloncurry appears to have watched over the interests of the Roman 
 Catholic Church at this period, like a wary sentinel. O'Connell, who always 
 enjoyed the reputation of being quite an j ait in this capacity, knew nothing 
 of the breach of faith, on the part of Kildare Place, until his attention was 
 called to it by Lord Cloncurry. On 8th March, 1824, the future Liberator 
 spoke as follows, in the Catholic Association : — " I was myself a subscriber 
 for many years without attending the meetings, because they put forward 
 a notice that their objoct was to facilitate education, without interfering 
 
&50 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 and that such was in antagonism to the principles of 
 Roman Catholics, he applied to the Committee of Kil- 
 dare Place to know whether this extraordinary order 
 had really been issued. The gentlemen composing that 
 body replied that a recently introduced rule enforced the 
 observance of Bible-reading in schools. " If Roman Ca- 
 tholics," said his lordship, " consider private scriptural 
 perusal dangerous for adults, how much more so would 
 they for children. To obey your rule would be to violate 
 one of their own." A few days subsequent to this, Lord 
 Cloncurry, accompanied by the late Earl of Fingal, and 
 Mr. Randal M'Donnell, proceeded to the society's house, 
 and pointed out to the assembled Biblicals one of their { 
 own resolutions, which declared that the benefits of edu- 
 cation should be extended to all Christians, without 
 interference with their religious principles, and another 
 ordering the Bible to be used as a school-book, at certain 
 hours every day. " The one," said Lord Cloncurry, 
 " appears to me incompatible with the other. May I beg 
 that you will expunge this offensive regulation, and pro- 
 mise not to interfere with the religious principles of the 
 children." His lordship reasoned, for some time, with 
 the Biblical Committee, but soon was obliged to give up 
 the argument in despair, as, like Hudibras, for every why 
 they had a wherefore. 
 
 In the course of a few days, however, he felt himself 
 filled with renewed courage. Lord Cloncurry again 
 waited on the members of the Committee. He calmly 
 explained to them the regulations of the Catholic Church, 
 in respect to the private interpretation of Scripture, and 
 requested that, once for all, they would adhere to the ori- 
 ginal agreement. The Committee begged leave to assure 
 Lord Cloncurry, that Dr. Troy, the Roman Catholic 
 Archbishop of Dublin, approved of the system. Lord 
 Cloncurry, astonished, withdrew, and, accompanied by the 
 
 ■with the religious tenets of any. My attention was at last aroused by the 
 best of Irishmen, and one far beyond my eulogism. Lord Cloncurry in- 
 formed me, that in his neighbourhood the institution was perfectly useless, 
 relief having been refused to any school in which the Bible was not received 
 as a school book, without note or comment." 
 
CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 351 
 
 Duke of Leinster, waited on Dr. Troy, in order to ascer- 
 tain from that prelate whether such an opinion had really 
 been expressed by him. Dr. Troy, in reply, distinctly 
 assured his noble visitors that he neither gave, nor durst 
 give, any such approbation. Lord Cloncurry returned to 
 the Committee, and stated the result of his visit to Dr. 
 Trov. Judge of his astonishment at being- informed that 
 it was not Dr. Troy, but another Catholic Archbishop, 
 Dr. Everard, who sanctioned their system. Lord Clon- 
 curry again withdrew. As Dr. Everard resided in Water- 
 ford, a personal interview was, of course, out of the ques- 
 tion, and, under these circumstances, his lordship requested 
 O'Connell to write to him on the subject. " The answer," 
 said Lord Cloncurry,* " denying, most positively, the 
 assertions of the Committee, was produced to them, to the 
 Duke of Leinster, and to myself. After such equivocal 
 conduct, I thought it my duty to state the case at a ge- 
 neral meeting of the society. The persons employed by 
 the Committee on that occasion, and their conduct, is in 
 the recollection of the public ; as also, that a scurrilous 
 and indecent pamphlet, abusing me, was offered at the 
 door of the school-house to all persons who attended the 
 meeting. That this infamous libel was printed with the 
 funds of the society, I cannot say, but as it was distributed 
 within their precincts, it is natural to suppose it had the 
 approbation of the Committee, whom I had very unin- 
 tentionally convicted of falsehood." Disgusted at their 
 inconsistency, their duplicity, and their cant, Lord Clon- 
 curry at once proffered his resignation as a member. The 
 
 * See Lord Cloncurry's letter to the Catholic Association, dated Decem- 
 ber 25, 1824. His lordship concluded in the following words : — " I con- 
 clude by reiterating my opinion, that common fair play is all that is neces- 
 sary to secure the peace and good conduct of the people of Ireland. As the 
 Union has taken away all the chief proprietors, their absence must, as far as 
 possible, be compensated by furnishing employment and food to the people, 
 by a system of drainage and tillage, the building of villages, the institution 
 of modified poor-rates, the abolition of tithes, of corporation laws, of every 
 society giving a power to the few to oppress the many for religion sake. 
 Let the rudiments of education be put within the reach of the poorest, on 
 moderate terms, and in accordance with the religious feelings of their parents. 
 By such regulations peace will be secured, and what is called our overgrown 
 population will be our greatest blessing." 
 
352 CLONCURRY AXD HIS TIMES. 
 
 Duke of Leinster, wlio had been, for two years, president 
 of the institution, withdrew from the same causes. Num- 
 bers imitated their example. 
 
 Lord Cloncurry 's name was much before the public in 
 1824. On February 16th, he wrote a letter to the High 
 Sheriff of Dublin, on the subject of city tolls, which he 
 considered " to the full as oppressive in their nature, and 
 the mode of collection, as tithes." On 13th March, we 
 find him convening a meeting in the Commercial Build- 
 ings, to inquire into the practicability of draining and culti- 
 vating the several bogs of Ireland. The resolutions passed 
 at the conclusion of the proceedings show us that nearly 
 three million acres of unproductive bog soil existed, which 
 might, at a moderate expense, be converted into the pur- 
 poses of agriculture, pasturage, or planting. Furthermore, 
 there appeared to be two millions of acres of waste lands, 
 comprehended chiefly in mountain districts, and conver- 
 tible to similar purposes. At the conclusion of the meet- 
 ing it was resolved — " That the reclamation and improve- 
 ment of these immense tracts would afford an extensive 
 field for the profitable outlay of capital ; for the useful 
 occupation of a redundant, growing, and unemployed 
 population, and would mainly contribute to the tranquil- 
 lity and prosperity of the country." 
 
 Impressed by these considerations, and in the hope of 
 receiving the sanction of Parliament, and a helping hand 
 from Government, Lord Cloncurry and his colleagues 
 commenced the formation of a Joint Stock Company, for 
 the purpose of reclaiming the bog soil and waste lands of 
 Ireland. They decided that their capital stock should be 
 £500,000 in 20,000 shares of £25 each; and that no 
 person should subscribe for more than twenty. A com- 
 mittee, consisting of Lord Cloncurry, Baron de Roebeck 
 (his son-in-law), William Murphy, John Burne, K.C., 
 Peter Brophy, and other men of practical experience, 
 was formed in order to carry out the object of the meet- 
 ing. 
 
 For a time nothing could progress with steadier pros- 
 pects of success, but the British Government declined 
 extending towards it a helping hand, and after a deter- 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 353 
 
 mined resistance this laudable and ingenious project fell, 
 vanquished, to the ground. 
 
 In April, 1824, we find it announced by the public 
 papers that Lord Cloncnrry had just offered a premium 
 of £^'0 to the first person who should bring one hundred 
 tons of potatoes by canal and the Shannon to Limerick ; 
 and to a second (conveying a similar quantity) £10. 
 11 Why," said the Evening Post, " does not Lord Clon- 
 curry find more imitators? Government will lend the 
 money if they can get security." The counties of 
 Limerick and Clare were at this time in a fearful state 
 of destitution. 
 
 In 1823 the old Catholic Board underwent an entire 
 remodelling by O'Connell and Shiel. To the massive 
 intellect of O'Connell the Association may be considered 
 as mainly indebted for its strength. The men of Ireland, 
 who appreciated his invaluable services, resolving to show 
 him some mark of their esteem and admiration, decided 
 upon entertaining their gifted countryman at a public 
 dinner. Lord Cloncnrry took an active part in the 
 arrangements, and at once consented to occupy the chair. 
 But in consequence of a sudden and grievous domestic 
 calamity — we believe the unhappy married life of his 
 only daughter — Lord Cloncurry was obliged at the 
 eleventh hour to send an apology to his friend, Michael 
 O'Brien : — 
 
 [No. 16.] "Jum 1, 1824. 
 
 " My deak Sir, — A very heavy and unexpected domestic calamity will 
 prevent my meeting our respected friends on Thursday. Pray apologise for 
 me. 
 
 " At the best I felt very unequal to the situation in which their kindness 
 would have placed me, and which nothing but my paramount love for Ireland 
 could have induced me to accept. Feelings, if possible, more strong and 
 more painful, render me now incapable of the exertion. Dear Sir, your faith- 
 ful Servant, " Cloncurry." 
 
 The dinner took place, nevertheless. Three hundred 
 sat down, and Colonel Butler occupied the chair. 
 
 Towards the close of the year 1824 Lord Cloncurry 
 left Ireland for Devonshire, where he passed some weeks 
 very pleasantly in the house of a noble and respected 
 friend. Ireland was still the all-engrossing subject of his 
 thoughts. As a souvenir of Lord Clone urry's visit to 
 
354 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 Devon we print the following short note, which we find 
 amongst a large body of correspondence sent to us for 
 publication : — 
 
 [No. 17.] LORD CLONCURRY TO DANIEL O'CONNEEL, ESQ. 
 
 " Torquay, Devon, December 24, 1824. 
 
 " My dear O'Connell, — I have received a letter from London to say, 
 that some friends of Ireland, of high rank, wish to meet you in that city, and 
 they pay me the compliment of asking me to be of the party. Tell me when 
 you are likely to be in London, and nothing shall prevent my meeting you. 
 Perhaps you will visit Devon. The Cliffords, Currys, &c, &c, of this 
 county, are amongst the oldest and most respectable Catholic families in 
 England, and have truly Irish feelings. Ever most truly yours, 
 
 " Cloncurry." 
 
 O'Connell took the hint. He, together with Sir 
 Thomas Esmonde, The O'Gorman Mahon, Mr. N. P. 
 O'Gorman, Mr. Richard Lalor Shiel, and some others, 
 formed a deputation and proceeded to London. The 
 Catholic Association had been much calumniated, and 
 their main object in undertaking the pilgrimage was to 
 furnish any member of either House of Parliament with 
 information who might favour them with his inquiries 
 respecting the object, origin, and general proceedings of 
 the Catholic Association of Ireland. The deputation had 
 interviews with Sir Francis Burdett, Henry Brougham, 
 and many other influential men, and was altogether pro- 
 ductive of the best results. 
 
 On Lord Cloncurry's return from Devon a sad scene 
 presented itself to his view. Valentine Anne Lawless, 
 his first-born son, lay dangerously ill at Baron de Roe- 
 beck's residence, near Leixlip. In this manly youth the 
 fondest hopes of the venerable parent were concentrated. 
 His mind appeared completely fashioned after that of his 
 father. His soul glowed with patriotism, and as the vital 
 spark gradually died out, the white flame of nationality 
 blazed the stronger within him. In college he had dis- 
 tmguished himself by the pursuit and attainment of prizes 
 seldom sought by the nobiles of Alma Mater. His habits 
 were domestic, and unstained by any of those fashionable 
 vices which too frequently dilapidate the fortunes and 
 destroy the character of the rising aristocracy. After 
 a resolute resistance against the encroaching grasp of death, 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 355 
 
 Valentine Anne Lawless at length yielded up his spirit 
 to Him who gave it on January 24th, 1825. 
 
 " Our readers, on learning this melancholy event," ob- 
 served the Evening Post, while recording his death, " will 
 mingle with their sympathies for the excellent and worthy 
 father, thus severely stricken, a personal regret for the 
 loss of one whose inheritance was patriotism, and whose 
 talents and assiduity promised to give effect to his love 
 of Ireland. To him we were accustomed to look with 
 hopes not unmixed with pride, as to one reared and nur- 
 tured in principles and practices favourable alike to the 
 political and economic regeneration of our country. In 
 this heavy and unexpected affliction, we trust that Lord 
 Clou curry will find some consolation and support in the 
 recollection, that not one genuine friend of truth, honour, 
 or integrity in the land will be insensible to his suffer- 
 ings, or indifferent to the event which he has such 
 peculiar cause to deplore." 
 
 A few weeks previously to his departure for Devon, 
 Lord Cloncurry addressed that celebrated letter to the 
 Catholic Association, in which he recommended O'Connell 
 and Shiel to cease their agitation of the Catholic question 
 for a time, and join in a universal demand for Legislative 
 Independence. " If all Ireland," said his lordship, " were 
 polled, I do not believe, that out of the seven millions 
 one hundred votes would be against the repeal of that 
 finishing act of Ireland's degradation. In that repeal I 
 place my best, my almost only hope, of her regeneration." 
 For some time anterior to the achievement of Emancipa- 
 tion, Lord Cloncurry was of opinion that no Parliament but 
 an Irish one would ever concede either it or a modifica- 
 tion of the tithe system. He did not consider it possible 
 that the greatest warrior statesman of the age would 
 tremble on the pinnacle of his power lest the indignant 
 clamour of the Catholics around him should bring him 
 prostrate to the earth. Emancipation was granted in a 
 moment of panic. The trembling minister flung it as he 
 would a lump of meat to a ferocious dog. The conces- 
 sion arose from fear, not from a generous or benevolent 
 feelino*. " To have withheld it longer," confessed the 
 
35 G CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 great captain of his age, " would have cost me a civil 
 
 war." 
 
 Of the course of policy counselled by Lord Cloncurry 
 in 1824 we cannot approve. O'Connell would not hear 
 of acceding to his proposal ; neither would Shiel. Less 
 than five years more sufficed to show them that Lord 
 Cloncurry was wrong, and that they were right. 
 
 In the letter, however, to which we have referred, 
 Lord Cloncurry took occasion to assure the Association 
 that " a more constant or ardent friend to Emancipation" 
 did not exist. In proof of the sincerity of his sympathy, 
 he enclosed a generous subscription, but at the same time 
 expressed a hope that the Catholic rent and Association 
 would be employed in giving equal happiness to the Pro- 
 testant and the Catholic, to the liberal Dissenter, and 
 even to the often honest, but ever mistaken Orangeman. 
 
 On the recall of Lord Talbot, in 1822, his Excellency, 
 the Marquis of Wellesley, assumed the reins of Irish go- 
 vernment. Of all the viceroys that had exercised sway 
 in Dublin Castle since the gentle, but wily Administration 
 of Lord Cornwallis, none were so popular as the Marquis 
 of Wellesley. From him the rampant Orange faction 
 received little encouragement. He was a calm, moderate, 
 clear-sighted man, and saw with one glance the evil results 
 which their fanatical demonstrations and atrocities had so 
 repeatedly provoked. The Orange party were outrageous 
 at this novel line of policy. They nursed a deadly enmity 
 against their Viceroy, and whenever opportunity favoured, 
 squirted at his Excellency some unmistakeable samples of a 
 large existing supply within. On December 14, 1822, he 
 visited the Theatre Royal in state. By the great bulk of 
 the audience, his Excellency's reception was warm and 
 enthusiastic ; but with the Orange faction, who constituted 
 the minor portion, the case was different. From groans 
 and hisses, and thunders of Kentish fire, the malcontents 
 proceeded to open violence, and a large quart bottle was 
 hurled at the person of Lord Wellesley. This attempted 
 assault was followed up by another. A watchman's rattle 
 flew, groaning, into the Viceregal box. Both missiles 
 fortunately missed their object. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 357 
 
 Four years went over, and 1826 still found the noble 
 Marquis an object of contempt and hatred with the 
 Orange ascendancy. On February 17th, the following 
 hoax advertisement appeared in the Dublin Evening Mail* 
 We transcribe it verbatim : — 
 
 »J« " Private Chaplain's Office, 
 "Phcenix Pakk, Feb. 17, 1826. 
 
 " There will be a ' Kosary' at the Lodge on the evening of 
 Monday, the 20th inst. 
 
 ' The ladies and gentlemen who attend are requested to bring 
 their own beads, much confusion having arisen in consequence of 
 their neglecting to bring these necessary articles on former 
 occasions." 
 
 ^ With Lord Wellesley, throughout the six years of his 
 viceroyalty, Lord Cloncurry was on terms of close inti- 
 macy. The noble Marquis had been long known to his 
 lordship, as also to Nicholas, first Lord Cloncurry. Well 
 he loved to pass a day in the rustic seclusion of Lyons or 
 Maretimo, discussing with his hospitable host the various 
 political events of the time. Their communications were 
 not merely oral. The noble lords corresponded exten- 
 sively. 
 
 Lord Cloncurry meanwhile was not altogether oblivious 
 of his friend, Robert Owen's projects for ameliorating the 
 Irish popular condition. He now clearly saw, however, 
 that some Utopianism existed in the scheme, but never- 
 theless not enough to sink it. By a little judicious modi- 
 fication he entertained great hopes that one of Mr. Owen's 
 
 ■ The Evening Mail was first started in 1823. One of its prospectuses has 
 
 just come into our possession. Amongst other absurd, but plausible promises, 
 
 it vows to support the Administration of Lord Wellesley, whom it dignifies by 
 
 the term of excellent " Chief Governor." " Our business," it then goes on to 
 
 say, " shall be to soften all political asperities, not to provoke the acerbity of 
 
 party. We shall not excite the passions of one class, nor awaken the dormant 
 
 prejudices of another. We wuuld unite, not divide, a people whose hearts 
 
 are naturally susceptible of every social and benevolent impression." What 
 
 amount of truth animated these promises time has shown. From the first 
 
 day of its appearance until a comparatively late period, the course pursued by 
 
 the Evening Mail has been quite the opposite. Irishmen will probably not 
 
 soon forget the tmculence of pronouncing the lamentable tithe massacres of 
 
 1831 '-salutary blood-letting," with a host of other phrases calculated to 
 
 '•unite, not divide," Irishmen, and to completely soften down " the acerbity 
 
 of party." J 
 
358 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 co-operation plans could be made subservient to the welfare 
 of an impoverished population. On the 28th Feb., 1826, 
 we find him addressing the Dublin Co-operation Society 
 as follows: — " Without adopting in their full extent the 
 almost Utopian ideas of the benevolent Owen, I am now 
 more fully convinced than I was four years ago of the 
 great advantage it would be to Ireland to establish co- 
 operation villages on his plan. * * 
 
 " I know by long experience that our people only re- 
 quire remunerative labour to be a most contented, indus- 
 trious, and well-regulated people ; I know that for their 
 comfort, for the purposes of education, of police, and of im- 
 provement, they should be gathered into villages ; and I 
 know of no villages so well contrived as those projected by 
 Owen ; and I am certain that the population collected in 
 such would, by spade husbandry alone, support themselves 
 and pay a fair rent for land, with interest for the money 
 expended in their establishment. When we con- 
 
 sider the nature of our soil, the absence of all great pro- 
 prietors, and the present situation of our abundant and 
 scattered population, it is to me a matter of astonishment 
 that the Government dont prefer an experiment of the 
 kind, to the system of colonization, or to intrusting large 
 sums of money to pretended education societies, consisting 
 of fanatical dissenters, who perpetuate the ignorance and 
 irritation of the people." 
 
 Famine at this time strode through the land. On 
 April 25, a meeting of the inhabitants of Dublin was held 
 in the Royal Exchange, in order to devise some measures 
 to alleviate the appalling distress which so generally pre- 
 vailed. After stalking through the provinces, and con- 
 signing body upon body to the hungry jaws of the grave- 
 yard, the awful apparition marched straight on Dublin, 
 and proceeded to enthrone itself in the poorest part of 
 that impoverished city. Hunger and pestilence ravaged 
 the Liberties of Dublin. Messrs. O'Connell, Rowan, 
 Grattan, Latouche, &c, attended the meeting, but Lord 
 Cloncurry was the only peer present. His lordship spoke 
 at some length. He thought the Irish the most suffering 
 people m the universe, and the most undeserving of that 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 359 
 
 cruel fate. Ireland, so far from only possessing sufficient 
 resources for the support of seven millions, it could, if 
 fairly worked, give ample support to twenty millions. 
 Lord Cloncurry adverted to the English poor laws. 
 They were, he said, no doubt abused ; but still he would 
 go on his knees for their introduction into this country. 
 He would lose one-third of his rent by the repeal of the 
 corn laws, still he would willingly accede to the repeal of 
 these laws, to keep the food of Ireland within the bounds 
 of Ireland. 
 
 It is easy to spout forth sympathy for the distressed. 
 While famine decimated the land in 1826, the tongues 
 of demagogues wagged in every direction, denunciating 
 ♦England, and expressing frothy sympathy with Ireland. 
 The actual contributors of pecuniary relief were compara- 
 tively few. On the morning subsequent to his appear- 
 ance at the Exchange meeting, Lord Cloncurry addressed 
 a letter to the Lord Mayor, which, according to the 
 Evening Post of that day, "contained much invaluable 
 information on the best means of affording permanent 
 employment to the Irish people." What was the satis- 
 faction of the worthy Mayor upon turning over the leaf 
 of his lordship's letter to find a Bank of Ireland note for 
 ^100. " Though small," wrote Cloncurry, " in compa- 
 rison to the exigencies of the sufferers, a similar contribu- 
 tion from the peers of Ireland, proportioned to their rank, 
 will secure present relief." 
 
 In August, we find Lord Cloncurry again active. 
 After attending a dinner with the Earls of Leitrim and 
 Bective, given by the Catholics of Ireland to their Pro- 
 testant advocates, he convenes a public meeting for the 
 purpose of raising funds to support the unemployed and 
 destitute weavers of the Liberty. In his lordship's speech 
 on that occasion, he dwelt at much length on the imposi- 
 tions practised on the people in consequence of the recent 
 change of currency. 
 
 In 1825, a general election took place in Ireland. Mr. 
 Henry Grattan, junior, then a very young man, an- 
 nounced himself a candidate for the city of Dublin. The 
 name of Grattan acted like a talisman upon the people. 
 
360 CLONCURRY A"ND HIS TIMES. 
 
 They remembered the glorious triumphs which were iden- 
 tified with it; and with one acclaim they cheered the 
 young patriot on to victory. He was returned, but with 
 only a trifling majority; and, to the delight of the whole 
 country, succeeded to his lathers constituency. 
 
 By one of those irregular, unlooked-for twists which 
 occasionally occur in the machinery of Government, 
 Parliament was, in 1826, dissolved, and a general election 
 became once more necessary. Orangeland, during the 
 interval, foreseeing the probable course of things, spared 
 no labour to increase, by fair means and foul, the number 
 of its electors and freemen. Mr. Grattan, on his part, 
 was not inactive. He had recourse to every allowable 
 expedient for bettering his chances in the forthcoming 
 contest. 
 
 Mr. Patrick Andrews, of Dublin, was an old partisan 
 of Henry Grattan. He could bring five freemen (depen- 
 dents of his) to the poll at a moment's warning. Mr. 
 Grattan, junior, knew and appreciated his value. In the 
 election of the previous year he experienced some service 
 at his hands; and it was a source now of more or less 
 awkwardness to the young commoner when a slight mis- 
 understanding between them led to the estrangement of 
 Mr. Andrews' support. In 1826, on the approach of the 
 second general election, Mr. Grattan made application 
 to Mr. Andrews for his vote and interest. This the latter 
 refused to give, and as six votes at that particular junc- 
 ture were of no trifling importance, Mr. Grattan felt him- 
 self awkwardly and unpleasantly situated. 
 
 Mr. Andrews and his father held, in the County Kil- 
 dare, a tract of land under Lord Cloncurry. As a bene- 
 volent, and considerate landlord, both entertained a high 
 respect for his lordship. Lord Cloncurry was well known 
 to be a staunch supporter of the Grattan family; and, 
 considering this, it did not much surprise Mr. Andrews 
 to receive the following letter, dulv signed and sealed 
 a la Cloncurry. Mr. Grattans partisans were numerous 
 — some of them most active and persevering ; and from 
 one who knew every iota that passed calculated to affect, 
 however remotely, Mr. Grattans prospects of success in 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 361 
 
 the coming struggle, the forgery we allude to must be 
 presumed to have come. It was delivered to Mr. Andrews 
 soon after his refusal to assist Mr. Grattan with his vote 
 and interest : — 
 
 [Xo. 18] LETTER PURPORTING TO BE FROM LORD CLONCURRY TO 
 
 PATRICK ANDREWS, ESQ. 
 
 " Merrion-squore, 8th June, 1826. 
 " Mr dear Sir, — I beg leave to trouble you for your interest and sup- 
 port at Green-street, on Saturday next, on bebalf of Mr. Henry Grattan. 
 Your kind compliance shall be always gratefully recollected and acknowledged 
 to you and your father, by, dear Sir, yours very truly, 
 
 " Cloncurry." 
 
 That this letter never came from Lord Cloncurry the 
 reader, doubtless, needs not to be told. It was an auda- 
 cious and daring forgery. Mr. Andrews, however, did 
 not view it in this light ; and, fearful of provoking the 
 displeasure of a benevolent landlord, at once mustered 
 together the automaton freemen whose votes he com- 
 manded, and, on the day specified by his imaginary 
 lordship, proceeded to Green-street and voted for Grattan. 
 On his return home, he addressed the following letter to 
 Lord Cloncurry, with whom, although connected by the 
 ties of landlord and tenant, he never was on terms of the 
 slightest intimacv : — 
 
 [Xo. 19.] 3IR. ANDREWS TO LORD CLONCURRY. 
 
 "5, Usher s Island, June 15th, 1826. 
 
 " My Lord, — I have to acknowledge the receipt of your lordship's note 
 of the 8th instant, requiring my interest and support on behalf of Mr. 
 Grattan ; in answer to which, I beg leave to say, that your wishes were 
 punctually attended to by me. I now beg to apprise your lordship that I 
 have a similar interest in the County of Dublin, which, if desirable by you, 
 is equally at your command. 
 
 " Awaiting your answer, I have the honour to be, my Lord, your lordship's 
 very humble and obedient Servant, 
 
 " Patrick Andrews." 
 
 His lordship's admirable answer led to an eclaircisse- 
 ment. The foro-erv he alludes to is written in a most 
 unaristocratic, round, caligraphical hand, with the ex- 
 ception of the signature, which has all the appearance of 
 having been affixed by Lord Cloncurry. To counterfeit 
 it so well, the forger must have been well acquainted 
 with his lordship's autograph : — 
 
 R 
 
362 CLONCURRY AND HIS- TIMES. 
 
 [No. 20.] LOKD CLONCURRY TO MR. ANDREWS. 
 
 " Lyons, 21th June, 182G. 
 
 " Sir, — In answer to your very obliging favour of the 23rd, I beg leave 
 to thank you for your kindness towards rne, and, at the same time, assure 
 you that some person has very improperly used my name to impose on you. 
 
 " My wishes in favour of Mr. Grattan and Mr. Talbot* are most sincere 
 and respectful, but I never in my life attempted to influence a tenant of my 
 own in his vote, much less should I do so by a gentleman with whom I 
 have not the honour to be acquainted. 
 
 " I love my friends and my country, but I respect the law which forbids 
 peers to interfere in elections to the Commons. 
 
 ' ' Sir, your obliged, humble Servant, 
 
 " Cloncurry." 
 
 In Jul j, 1826, we find " Honest Jack Lawless" pro- 
 posing Lord Cloncurry president! of a new political so- 
 ciety, entitled the " Liberators of the Forty Shilling 
 Freeholders." The recent electioneering triumphs of 
 that body, no doubt, generated its existence. Apropos 
 to it we find the following amongst some letters to Mr. 
 O'Connell. It will be observed that his lordship reite- 
 rates the noble sentiment which he expressed, a few 
 weeks previously, to Mr. Andrews: — 
 
 [No. 21.] LORD CLONCURRY TO DANIEL O'CONNELL, ESQ. 
 
 " 2Qth July, 1826. 
 
 •'My dear O'Connell, — I enclose my freehold rent as a mark of my 
 anxious desire to promote the freedom of election. 
 
 " Though fond of my rights as a landlord, I never presumed to dictate to a 
 tenant on that subject. On the contrary, I would extend that sacred and 
 necessary privilege, make it of frequent recurrence, and by ballot render 
 unfair influence impossible. I see by the newspapers that I have refused to 
 be one of the order of Liberators, before I was invited to be so — a piece of 
 foppery of which my friends know me to be incapable. When I refuse to 
 join my countrymen in their endeavours to promote general union and 
 happiness, it must be from a consciousness of incapacity, not from want of 
 earnest though very humble, good will. 
 
 " Most truly yours, 
 
 " Cloncurry." 
 
 As the following letter from Lord Cloncurry, which 
 has been found amongst the papers of the late Father 
 Sheehan of Waterford, is chronologically in place here, 
 
 * Mr. Talbot was the candidate for the County of Dublin, and Mr. 
 Grattan for the city. 
 
 f His lordship was afterwards elected Knight Grand Master of the same 
 Society. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 363 
 
 we insert it. It breathes a fine spirit of patriotism and 
 philanthropy : — 
 
 [No. 22.] LORD CLONCURRY TO FATHER JOHN SHEEHAX, P.P. 
 
 " Lyons, August 24th, 1826. 
 
 " Rev. Sir, — I am most grateful for the civility of the Catholics of 
 Munster. There is not an individual who participates more joyfully than I 
 do their approaching emancipation, achieved by their own virtue and con- 
 stancy, in spite of the hypocritical manoeuvres of pretended friends, or the 
 more honourable hostility of sworn foes. At any other time I should most 
 gladly accept the invitation, and join in the patriotic exertions of the 
 Catholics of Munster, and the triumph of the forty-shilling freeholders ; but, 
 as a landlord and a citizen, I can now have no thought but of endeavouring 
 to mitigate the dreadful sufferings and more dreadful prospects of the poor 
 people of this deserted land. Of oats and potatoes, the only food which they 
 can aspire to, there is a smaller crop than I have ever known ; but it would 
 still be sufficient for their wants if exportation and distillation for the benefit 
 of tbe absentees and the excise did not enhance the price beyond the means 
 of those even who have employment. Disease and penury extend in every 
 quarter, and without hope of amelioration ; even England, to which we have 
 a right to look for assistance — seeing she is the cause of our suffering — even 
 England, that once happy and glorious island, is now paying in wretched- 
 ness tbe debt of Pitt's atrocity and vain desire of extinguishing the spirit of 
 liberty in every quarter of the world, but particularly in Ireland. 
 
 " To you, dear Sir, I return my best thanks for the obliging manner in 
 which you communicated the invitation of the Catholics of Munster. ' Un- 
 wearied and uncompromising' my exertions have been for near forty years, 
 and, though hitherto unsuccessful, I am more fully than ever convinced of 
 their propriety. England can only be saved by a radical reform, whilst 
 Ireland requires a perfect regeneration — a resident legislature, and a full, fair, 
 and adequate representation of all the people, without religious distinction.* 
 This is, and always was, my panacea ; but then, there are good and useful 
 palliatives — emancipation, education, remunerative labour, lopping off sine- 
 cures and unmerited pensions, calling in all arrears of the voluntary contri- 
 butions to the war against France, and equitable adjustment with the 
 fundholders, an absentee tax, and if the hands into which its management 
 might fall did not lead to more oppression, and plunder, a poor rate. 
 
 " Ever your faithful Servant, 
 
 " Cloxcurry." 
 
 Lord Cloncurry does not appear to have paid his first 
 visit to the Catholic Association until December, 1826. 
 He was wholly unexpected, and a perfect hurricane of 
 applause greeted him. Mr. Ronayne was deep in the 
 peroration of an eloquent and impassioned speech when 
 the patriotic peer entered the room. " I am rejoiced," 
 said he, " at the interruption. I am glad to see one of 
 
 * Lord Cloncurry did not forget, nor was he ashamed of, his United Irish- 
 man's oath. See the Union Test, page 68. 
 
364 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 the most independent, and decidedly the most honest 
 nobleman in Ireland, come forward amongst us." 
 
 The following letter to Counsellor Coppinger forms 
 a good companion to No. 22. The occasion that drew it 
 forth was similar. In tone the letter is not less patriotic ; 
 but its views hardly equal in soundness those expressed 
 in the previous communication. .The reader will be 
 amused to see that Lord Cloncurry's " unalterable con- 
 viction" at this period was, that emancipation never could 
 be obtained, nor would it be worth obtaining, save from 
 an Irish Parliament. In his letter to Mr. Sheehan he 
 congratulates the Catholics on their approaching emanci- 
 pation. As the following extracts from a letter of Mr. 
 Coppinger's to the author are introductory to his lord- 
 ship's communication, we subjoin them : — "In the autumn 
 of 1827 a great provincial meeting of the Catholics of 
 Munster was held in Cork, to which I was appointed 
 secretary, and subsequently a grand public dinner at 
 which the present British ambassador at Athens, Mr. 
 Wyse, presided. As secretary, I sent invitations for the 
 meeting and dinner to several Protestant noblemen and 
 gentlemen, M. P.s and others, who were most distin- 
 guished for their support of Catholic Emancipation ; and, 
 foremost among those friends of civil and religious 
 liberty, was the late patriotic and lamented subject of 
 your forthcoming memoir, to whom I addressed a warm 
 invitation, and received in reply the letter which I now 
 enclose. If, by so doing, I can aid you, in however 
 trifling a degree, in preparing a work which in your 
 hands, I doubt not, will prove highly interesting to the 
 admirers of the late noble Lord of Lyons, I shall be 
 gratified." 
 
 [No. 23.] LORD CLONCURRY»TO S. COPPINGER, ESQ., BARRISTER-AT-LAW. 
 
 "Lyons, Celbridge, 28tk August, 1827. 
 
 " Dear Sir, — I am sorry to be so circumstanced that I cannot avail 
 myself of the kind invitation of the Catholics of Munster for the 30th inst. 
 Pray make my most grateful acknowledgments to them, and assure them 
 of my unalterable devotion to their cause as founded in justice, and vitally 
 essential to the best interests of my country. 
 
 " Ireland can no longer be despised ; she can no longer be plundered with 
 impunity of her wealth and her rights. Her voice will be heard, and her cause 
 
CLOXCURRY ASD HIS TIMES. 365 
 
 respected, in every quarter of the globe. How glorious will it be to the 
 Catholics, if to them their country shall owe her restored prosperity ! if, 
 forgetting whatever is personal, they demand their own rights as pai-t only 
 of what is due to Ireland. Does any man doubt that a resident legislature 
 would long since have emancipated the Catholics V Does any man recollect 
 famine, contagion, or death by starvation in the midst of superabundance, 
 whilst we had to resist Parliament, corrupt as it was? 
 
 " I am an enemy to half measures. That they are not only dishonourable 
 but useless is, I am certain, at this moment felt, and will be so by the great 
 statesmen of England, who have lately sacrificed so much to the hope of 
 doing good. Much as I love my Catholic countrymen, I would not have 
 voted for the Union as the price of emancipation ; and I am strongly of 
 opinion that emancipation never can be obtained, or be worth obtaining, 
 but from an Irish Parliament. 
 
 " These, my unalterable opinions, have, under every circumstance, given 
 me the comfort of an approving conscience, and have gained me what I 
 value above all earthly possessions, the love of my countrymen. 
 
 " I beg leave, my dear Sir, to return verj T many thanks for your most 
 obliging letter, and remain, with great respect, &c, 
 
 " Cloncurry." 
 
 The year 1827 is remarkable in the life of Lord Clon- 
 curry, inasmuch as it was then he made public, for the 
 first time, his justly celebrated project of a ship canal 
 between Gal way and Dublin. On the 29 th November a 
 most numerous and influential meeting was held for the 
 purpose of considering its practicability and advantages. 
 The peer, the landholder, the merchant, the practical 
 and the professional man, assembled on that occasion. 
 Although some differences of opinion prevailed, all ap- 
 peared animated by one feeling — an anxiety to benefit 
 the community of which they formed a part. Lord 
 Cloncurry spoke well, and at more than ordinary length. 
 Limited as is the space to which this volume necessarily 
 confines us, we cannot, in justice to the good peer, avoid 
 giving some extracts from his speech : — 
 
 " It is generally admitted," said he, " that want of employment, or of 
 honest means of subsistence, is felt by the labouring classes in Ireland more 
 heavily than in any other country with which we are acquainted ; and that 
 in spite of a most productive soil, and of a very charitable population, famine 
 is no longer a stranger in our land ; but that, Tantalus- like, our poor, though 
 surrounded by abundance, are martyrs to the most abject want. Famines 
 from dearth we have heard of, but a famine in a plentiful country is like 
 some other pecidiarities only to be met with in Ireland, and only since the 
 Union." * * Referring to the projected ship canal, his lordship said : — 
 " It will tend to the improvement of the great central boggy district, con- 
 sisting of 884,000 acres, and nearly half as much waste land in Galway and 
 Mayo. It would, while doubling the fisheries and coasting trade of our 
 Avestern shores, make them entire part and parcel of Great Britain. On the 
 
366 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 other hand, it would pay England hy giving facility and security to her 
 trade, opening new mines of wealth, by the awakened industry of the people, 
 and by giving a naval station to the windward of all Europe. These are 
 my opinions, and they are not unsupported by other and abler men, many of 
 whom I am happy to see around me. * * I do not pretend to say that, 
 as a speculation, this canal would speedily pay ; neither have individuals the 
 capital to venture ; but I think that under our unhappy circumstances, seeing 
 that the yearly drain cannot be continued without some return, seeing that 
 misery and consequent insecurity increase yearly and daily, I know no means 
 so likely to palliate the evil as the employment of a large body of the people. 
 The bayonet or the spade being the alternative, I prefer the latter. Let us 
 not imagine that things can go on as they are. The constables now cost one 
 hundred times what they did when I was a boy, yet security is diminished. 
 No man can lament more than I do the necessity of calling on the people of 
 England at this moment for one farthing ; but as they favoured us with the 
 Union, they should share its consequences, and give us back, in some shape, 
 a part of the four millions annually sent to our absentees/' 
 
 Lord Cloncurry then proceeded to demolish some 
 weak objections urged against the practicability of his 
 project, and to read aloud several letters he had received 
 from eminent nautical men, expressive of their opinion 
 that a ship canal was deserving of serious consideration. 
 Lord Cloncurry also submitted the estimate of Mr. 
 Killaly, a distinguished engineer, for erecting the mighty 
 work proposed. Amongst the speakers were Lords 
 LlandafF, Miltown, and Killeen, General Cockburne, the 
 Lord Mayor, Messrs. O'Connell, Finlay, Grattan, Curran, 
 and Leader. 
 
 A respectable Committee was at once selected, to con- 
 sider and report upon the expediency of the scheme. 
 After mature deliberation, they submitted the result of 
 their inquiry to the public. They dwelt upon the 
 advantages of increased intercourse with America, the 
 augmentation of arable and productive land by drainage, 
 the considerable amount of time gained in an American 
 or West Indian voyage by means of the ship canal, the 
 cessation of danger in the Channel, whether arising from 
 storms or privateers, the employment of the starving 
 peasantry in forming the work, and lastly, its importance 
 as affording a most useful resource for national defence in 
 case of war. In conclusion, they solicited Government 
 to award them an annual grant, should the entire sum 
 necessary for its construction prove at that time incon- 
 veniently large. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 367 
 
 The estimate, which amounted to nearly five millions, 
 alarmed the minister. Deputations waited on him, and 
 petitions were presented, but each was invariably dis- 
 missed with an assurance that nothing could be more vague 
 and impracticable than the project. He refused to aid 
 them with one solitary sou, and buttoned his pockets as 
 he bowed each deputation frigidly to the door. Scotland, 
 about this period, received liberal Parliamentary aid to- 
 wards coast improvement and inland navigation. To the 
 Caledonian Canal alone a million of money was awarded 
 by England. But what right had poor Cinderella Ireland 
 to hope for aught from her haughty sister kingdom ? 
 
 For some months after the great Dublin meeting, both 
 governmental spokesmen and popular declaimers were 
 busily occupied in giving expression to their respective 
 opinions on the practicability of a ship canal between 
 Galway bay and Kingstown harbour. The ministerial 
 organs do not appear to have been particularly nice in 
 their selection of words relative to Lord Cloncurry and 
 his proceedings. The Morning Herald, with a shout of 
 defiance at Johnson's Vocabulary, severely censured Lord 
 Cloncurry for " bothering" the public. It was apropos 
 to this and other offensive expressions, that his lordship 
 addressed the following letter 
 
 » 
 
 [No. 24.] TO THE EDITOR OF THE " MOKNISG HERALD. 
 
 "Fentoris Hotel, Dec. 14, 1827. 
 
 "Sir, — Will you allow me, in answer to some observations in your paper 
 of Tuesday, to trouble you with a very few lines on the subject of the Dublin 
 and Galway ship canal ? When first I endeavoured to turn public attention 
 to that undertaking, I exerted myself to procure the best information in my 
 power from scientific and professional men, engineers, naval officers, and 
 masters of vessels, acquainted with the navigation of the Channel, and of 
 the Atlantic. * * 
 
 " I should be sorry ' to bother' any person. No Irishman ha3 ever com- 
 plained of me on that score. The only object I have in view is to serve my 
 own country, with the least possible cost to England. You know, Sir, by 
 general report, how severe and universal are the distresses^of the working 
 classes in Ireland. That distress has increased every year since the Union, 
 and if it be not now checked the most ruinous consequences must result. 
 Ireland can, at present, do nothing for herself. I am heartily sorry to call on 
 England, under her present difficulties, to assist us. She must, however, 
 feel that she is deeply interested, and, perhaps, she may also acknowledge 
 that she is somewhat to blame. Let her consider and determine what 
 remedy, or, if you will, what nostrum she will administer to her suffering 
 
368 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 sister — emigration of a million, at a cost of twenty millions ; an army of 
 sixty thousand bayonets, with some doubt of its efficiency ; or the employ- 
 ment of thirty thousand spades, at the expense of a million, to form the 
 proposed canal. I favour the latter, because I believe it would greatly serve 
 both countries ; but I only solicit investigation and inquiry in the first in- 
 stance. As a speculation, it may be as amusing and more useful than the 
 depth of the Polar Sea, or the generative powers of the elephant. 
 
 " In promoting quiet discussion, I have no selfish object in view, and 
 sincerely lament the circumstances which have prompted me either to intrude 
 on the time of the public, or the space of your journal. — I am, Sir, &c, 
 
 " Cloncurry." 
 
 Months elapsed. Lord Cloncurry, ardent and impul- 
 sive, still agitated his favourite project, and pressed its 
 advantages on the attention of an unmoved and imper- 
 turbable Legislature. His arguments were laughed at, 
 and his petitions spurned. They declared themselves 
 unable, from the extent of the national debt, to bestow the 
 smallest pecuniary trifle on Ireland, and vindicated this 
 proceeding with so much plausibility that even Lord Clon- 
 curry himself saw, or fancied he saw, the impracticability 
 of the ship canal, under existing circumstances. In the 
 Freeman's Journal of March 24, 1828, we find an able 
 letter from Lord Cloncurry on this subject, wherein, after 
 defending himself from some aspersions of the Morning 
 Herald, which declared that " knaves were goading on 
 his lordship to agitate the ship canal," he writes: — I 
 did hope that so much of it would been begun this very 
 year, as would have connected Dublin with Kingstown, 
 and Galway with Ballinasloe. But, on contemplating the 
 financial embarrassments of England, I ceased to urge 
 the subject, though fully convinced of its paramount im- 
 portance to both countries ; and I gave way to gentlemen 
 of greater talent, who brought forward less costly mea- 
 sures of relief, and of which I entirely approve, without 
 giving up my own opinion as to the greater project. I 
 rejoice, Sir," he continued, " that from my humble endea- 
 vours on that subject has arisen the ' Society for the Im- 
 provement of Ireland, 1 and I am not without hope, that 
 from the exertions of that society much good will arise, 
 by pointing out to my countrymen the extent of their 
 own resources, if properly directed ; and to the people of 
 England, the advantages she must gain by the prosperity 
 of Ireland." 
 
CLONCUERY AND HIS TIMES. 369 
 
 The project of a ship canal was accordingly abandoned 
 by Lord Cloncurry; but it took such a grasp of some 
 speculators minds, that, for long after, we find modifica- 
 tions of the idea periodically suggested by them. Perhaps 
 the most ingenious was that mooted bv a Mr. Dawson. 
 We may observe that the cost of executing the plans, 
 maps, and surveys connected with the original scheme, 
 amounted to £300, which, with the exception of £50, 
 contributed by the Duke of Leinster, emanated entirely 
 from Lord Cloncurry 's private purse. 
 
 The Society for the Improvement of Ireland may be 
 regarded as the offspring of Lord Cloncurry 's Herculean 
 project, and its birth may be dated from April, 1828. 
 Some of the "ablest intellects in the country formed its 
 Committee. They decided that it should sit in Dublin 
 at stated periods, and in particular for some weeks before, 
 and frequently during the sitting of Parliament, so as to be 
 prepared to inform and assist the Legislature and Govern- 
 ment upon means of procuring encouragement and relief 
 for the people of Ireland, as might seem best suited to 
 preserve domestic tranquillity, ensure national happiness, 
 increase the strength, anc l consolidate the resources of the 
 empire at large. 
 
 A special Committee of peers and gentlemen, headed 
 by Lord Cloncurry, having drawn up the views of the 
 society, and laid them before the Lord Lieutenant, his 
 Excellency observed that the more comfortable the people 
 could be made, the more the laws would be respected. 
 He hoped that his Administration might be the means of 
 extending domestic tranquillity by adding to the pros- 
 perity of the country : and, in conclusion, informed the 
 deputation, that in the event of their excluding politics 
 from their councils, the society should not be interfered 
 with by Government, Nay, more, he promised to pro- 
 mote their object, in any manner consistent with his 
 official station. We may add, that in those days very 
 few associations of a national character were permitted to 
 exist in Ireland. 
 
 There was thus a constitutional communication esta- 
 blished between the Government and the people, and the 
 
 r 2 
 
370 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 most beneficial results were confidently looked forward 
 to by all true Irishmen. The society at once went to 
 work, and soon devised and recommended such means as 
 might be capable of increasing Irish capital, from new 
 and untouched resources, without having recourse to 
 foreign aid. It was not many weeks in existence when 
 Lord Rossmore addressed a letter to the Committee, on 
 the subject of the Catholic question; but they informed 
 his lordship, in reply, that however important to the 
 permanent improvement of Ireland its settlement might 
 be, the Society considered they were precluded, by their 
 established plan, from entertaining any such political 
 question. Lord Cloncurry knew well, and he declared 
 so, that their only chance of success was in the exclusion 
 of politics. Introduce the Catholic question as one of 
 their topics, and the}'" would become, in algebraic phrase, 
 an evanescent quantity. Those members opposed to 
 Emancipation would resign, and they who were its advo- 
 cates very soon merge the character of the patriot economist 
 in that of the political partisan. Every week regularly 
 the society met in the Mansion House, Lord Cloncurry 
 almost invariably occupying the chair, and addressing to 
 his colleagues short but animated speeches of shrewd sug- 
 gestion and able argument. For more than twoyears Lord 
 Cloncurry was at his post, suggesting to a deaf, but not 
 dumb, minister, such practical measures as were calculated 
 to encourage agriculture, foster and support our manu- 
 factures, aid the fisheries, reclaim the waste lands, extend 
 inland navigation, and open communications into remote 
 and hitherto neglected districts. 
 
 Lord Cloncurry 's speech at the inauguration of the 
 society deserves to be given : — 
 
 " Ireland," said his lordship, " wanted no assistance to promote her welfare, 
 unless the union of her own people. It would benefit Ireland, and convey 
 great assistance to England too. He would call the attention of Irishmen 
 to those great sources of wealth which Ireland so pre-eminently possessed — 
 her rich soil, and her navigable rivers and seas. [Cheers.] He would rather 
 call the attention of his countrymen to these, than look to England for the 
 establishment of trades, which she might, as she did, take away at her own 
 pleasure or caprice. There were twelve millions of acres in Ireland ; two of 
 these were reclaimable bog, more than two millions were entirely neglected, 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 371 
 
 and not one acre of the entire was well cultivated or tilled. He had himself, 
 in his own hands, eight hundred acres, and, although he kept one hundred 
 men continually employed, yet he could not say that one acre was properly 
 cultivated. If England gave only fair play, Ireland would remove the neces- 
 sity of receiving foreign corn. If there were any defalcation in the crops, 
 she would meet the demand. [Cheers.] The poor people who were to be 
 transported, or turned out on the roads, there to rob or die, constituted 
 a mine of wealth that ought to be properly worked. If their exertions 
 tended to produce any good, they would not only be rewarded in this life by 
 an increase of riches, but bring with them, before their Maker hereafter, the 
 consoling reflection of having saved their country. [Loud cheers.]' 
 
 To the Society for the Improvement of Ireland we will 
 shortly again have occasion to advert. 
 
 Amongst those Englishmen who fearlessly advocated 
 the cause of Catholic Emancipation was Lord Morpeth, 
 now Earl of Carlisle. Lord Cloncurry, the Duke of 
 Leinster, and other friends of civil and religious liberty, 
 resolved to entertain him at a public dinner. His Grace 
 presided, and, at the close of the proceedings, proposed, 
 in most complimentary terms, the health of Lord Clon- 
 curry. " I really feel so happy," said his lordship, " as 
 to be unable to speak. I feel, however, that I ought to 
 say a few words in such an assembly of my countrymen. 
 I shall acknowledge some of my political sins, for I re- 
 member, on a former occasion, to have said, that England 
 had never considered this country as worthy of any fur- 
 ther notice than as an object for plunder, and when left 
 worth little, to be abandoned a prey to men whose interest 
 it was to perpetuate her calamities. We have had two 
 specimens* from the sister country, who are an honour to 
 the land that has given them birth, and whose names will 
 be a tower of strength to the cause of freland. Their 
 sympathies for my unfortunate country have entirely won 
 my heart. We must, my Lord, second our English friends, 
 by avoiding everything that may excite the angry pas- 
 sions of those who are opposed to us ; but we will continue 
 to say, that we are determined to persevere in calling for 
 the full restoration of those rights which have been so 
 long withheld from Ireland." 
 
 At a public banquet to Lord Killeen, a warm advocate 
 
 * Lords Anglesey and Morpeth. 
 
n 
 
 72 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 of the Catholic claims.* on the 18th February subse- 
 quently, Lord Cloncurry took occasion to return the Duke 
 of Leinster's compliment, by proposing, in an animated 
 speech, his Grace's health. " Grattan, Curran, and Pon- 
 sonby," said he, " are now in the mansions of bliss; but 
 they have left behind them, on earth, worthy representa- 
 tives, who will still sustain the character, and defend the 
 rights of old Ireland. When he mentioned the name of 
 Leinster, it would, he was sure, be well received in a com- 
 pany of Irishmen." Lord Cloncurry concluded a long 
 speech with an affectionate allusion to " his dear friend, 
 Lord Edward Fitzgerald." " The applause," observed the 
 Freeman s Journal, " which ensued at the mention of this 
 name, lasted for several minutes." 
 
 To enumerate all the patriotic and philanthropic meet- 
 ings which Lord Cloncurry attended throughout this year 
 would be impossible. He was continually before the 
 public, as maybe ascertained by reference to the journals 
 of the day. Meanwhile the good peer was not idle in 
 endeavouring to extend the benefits of Education. This 
 we may pronounce to have ever been his favourite 
 " hobby ;'' and rarely was he known to relinquish its reins. 
 The Kildare-place Society was still dragging out a linger- 
 ing existence ; but nevertheless assuming a bold front, 
 and shouting periodically, " Never say die !" In February, 
 1829, they upbraided Lord Cloncurry for his absence, and 
 vauntingly asserted that he was one of their first associates. 
 His lordship made a good speech in vindication of his 
 conduct. " It has been stated,'' said he, " that I was an 
 early supporter of this charity. My rule always has been 
 to support every charity that my means will permit, and 
 I should extend that rule equally to the Dissenters of 
 
 * Lord Cloncuny's political speech on this occasion was fervent and effec- 
 tive. " It -was," he believed. " unnecessary for him to trespass on the meet- 
 ing, by making many observations. His feelings were too well known ; he 
 was long in public life, and his sentiments were not changed. He had, for 
 many years, entertained a bias for liberality and justice — for liberality and 
 freedom were only justice. [Cheers.] He was now in his age, yet he felt 
 all the warmth and enthusiasm of youth in the cause of Ireland. [Cheers.] 
 No Catholic ever was, or could be more anxious, for the Emancipation of 
 Ireland, than he," &c. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 373 
 
 Strand- street and to my Catholic neighbours. I cheerfully 
 supported this society at the onset, because I was led to 
 believe, from its name, that it would be productive of 
 great practical utility in the dissemination of education ; 
 but if 1 oould have foreseen, that by any regulation the 
 majority of the poor would be prevented from enjoying 
 the blessing it was calculated to afford, that if, instead of 
 being a source of charity and good will, it was to become 
 the prolific cause of religious strife, I certainly should not 
 have given it my countenance."* 
 
 While the National School system remained in un- 
 promising embryo, a new education society, on a Catholic 
 basis, started into existence. On the 21st April, 1829, it 
 held its first annual meeting in Marlborough- street Chapel, 
 and unanimously passed a vote of thanks to Lord Clon- 
 curry for his exertions in the cause of secular education. 
 The secretary, on communicating this to his lordship, 
 received the following reply : — 
 
 [No. 25.] "Maretimo, 3Qth April, 1829. 
 
 "Sir, — I am extremely obliged by the very complimentary allusion of the 
 Education Society, and to you for your expressions of civility. There are 
 few things for which I am now more anxious than for the extension of the 
 blessings of education to the poor of Ireland. 
 
 " I have laboured rather successfully in that good cause ; but I have now 
 better hopes, from the exertions of the Catholic hierarchy and the good feel- 
 ing of the Government. — 1 have the honour to be, &c., 
 
 " Cloxccrry." 
 
 We have seen, by the observations which fell from 
 Lord Cloncurry at the Exchange meeting, in 1825, that 
 he was a warm advocate for the extension of a system of 
 poor laws to Ireland. Throughout the five following 
 years he continued to speak in their favour. In 1828 
 his lordship said: — " The prosperity of England arose, in 
 
 * One of Lord Cloncurry' s- ablest, pamphlets was apropos to this subject. 
 In 1826 appeared his "Letter to the Marquis of Downshire on the Conduct of 
 the Kildare-place Society and the Employment of the Poor." Of this his 
 lordship presented eight copies to the Dublin Library. The other pamphlets 
 by Lord Cloncurry, exclusive of his "Thoughts on the Union," are — "Sug- 
 gestions on the Necessity, and on the best Mode of levying Assessments for 
 local Purposes in Ireland," " Letter to the Duke of Leinster on Police and 
 State of Ireland," &c. 
 
374 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 my opinion, out of the poor laws. But because there 
 have recently been discovered some abuses in their ad- 
 ministration, it is improperly argued that the system is 
 intrinsically bad. If the poor laws were a check on po- 
 pulation, I for one would oppose their introduction into 
 Ireland. It is not the population, but the poverty of the 
 population, that is injurious to a country. The rich can 
 now close their gates against the calls of the poor, and 
 they are thus thrown for maintenance on the lower orders. 
 But if there w T as an equitable system of poor laws, both 
 parties would be more comfortable, and the rich more 
 secure." 
 
 The late lamented George Evans, of Portrane, High 
 Sheriff for the Co. Dublin, was a connexion, by marriage, 
 of Lord Cloncurry. General William Lawless, his lord- 
 ship's cousin, stood in the relation of son-in-law to Mr. 
 Evans. Between the latter and Lord Cloncurry a warm 
 intimacy had long subsisted. They loved to converse 
 upon the political condition of Ireland, and when cir- 
 cumstances rendered that impracticable, they corres- 
 ponded. By the annexed letter we find that Mr. Evans 
 differed with Lord Cloncurry on the subject of poor laws. 
 The letter is characteristic of its excellent author, and 
 contains many sound views. 
 
 [No. 26.] GEORGE EVANS, ESQ., D.L., TO LORD CLONCURRY. 
 
 " Portrane, May 23rd, 1829. 
 
 " Dear Lord Cloncurry, — * * Your views do not quite agree with 
 mine. When I differ from a person so distinguished for his attachment to 
 his country, and for his unwearied exertions for its welfare, I should, perhaps, 
 be inclined to mistrust my own opinion and defer to his ; but as yet I am not 
 convinced, and I thus inflict on your lordship a view of my scepticism. 
 
 " It is an easy task to declaim with warmth and pathetic eloquence on the 
 hardships that the Irish poor endure, and to adduce as further crimes against 
 the Irish landlords the Sub-letting Act and the Disfranchisement of the 
 Forty-shilling Freeholders. To oppose these topics, which naturally excite 
 sympathy, may be invidious, and in some degree difficult, by the excitement 
 produced by the very discussion itself; yet, when so imminent a scourge, as 
 I conceive the Poor Laws to be, are advocated by many well-meaning and 
 influential persons, I did think that perhaps my humble, and, I trust, dis- 
 passionate view might not at this time be entirely irrelevant. I believe that 
 public opinion is running in a current too strong to be well directed, and that 
 we lose sight of the disadvantages attending the introduction of the system, 
 which, from English experience, are not problematical, to adopt what in itself 
 is no way adapted to the civil or political state of the country. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 375 
 
 " Your society are eagerly employed in furthering what is strictly the work 
 and advantage of the English landlords, who are themselves writhing under 
 the infliction of the Poor Laws. It is certainly not from love and affection 
 that they wish to introduce them into Ireland, but in the vain hope of alle- 
 viating their own evils ; but I affirm, that they must fail in this, without 
 they are able to impose upon the rental and capital of Ireland a rate equiva- 
 lent to their own, otherwise the temptation of high wages in England will 
 induce the Irish labourer still to leave the Irish shores. Now, I should be 
 glad you would pause a little, and calculate what amount would be required 
 to raise the price of labour in this country to a par with that in England, 
 and if you think you can afford the introduction on these terms, whv then 
 there is an end to my objection. But, you will say, we only want the* intro- 
 duction of the system, such as it was in the time of Queen Elizabeth — we 
 only want to support the old and infirm. I do not think that manv are 
 prepared to go further, and would shudder at the idea of introducing the 
 English system ; but let us pay due attention to the opinions of the English, 
 both in and out of Parliament. They, no doubt, talk of a provision for the 
 old and infirm, but this is only incidental with their other arguments ; thev 
 do not rest their advocacy on this point ; they do not hesitate to declare, that 
 they want to be relieved from the competition, not of the old and infirm, who 
 never emigrate, and who are maintained by the benevolence of their own 
 countrymen, but from the competition of the able-bodied Irish labourer, to 
 whom, if you do not pay eighteen pence or two shillings a day at home, 
 must still enter into competition with the English labourer. Suppose we are 
 to have the Rates introduced into this country, independent of the expenses 
 I have alluded to, what a system of petty litigation will arise — what mvriads 
 of small attorneys will people all the villages in the kingdom. I wish some 
 unbiassed person would pass the summer months in England, and after 
 visiting the different parts of it, report to your societv the blessings of the 
 Poor Rates. ****** * v * 
 
 ' ' With much esteem, &c. 
 
 " George Evaxs." 
 
 Lord Cloncurry was, we believe, disappointed at the 
 inadequate relief afforded by the working of the Poor 
 Law machinery when afterwards set in motion. He knew 
 that the Royal Commissioners proved two million three 
 1 hundred thousand persons to be in a state of destitution, 
 and was much mortified to find, that after all that had 
 been said and promised, the Poor Houses only afforded 
 shelter to 80,000. 
 
 The following correspondence, which has recently been 
 forwarded to us, will show how feelingly alive Lord 
 Cloncurry ever was, in his magisterial capacity, to the 
 applications of the poor, and how energetically he exerted 
 himself to serve them, although, as often happened, un- 
 known to him previously, even by name. Well might 
 Lord Charlemont, at the Moore banquet, in 1818, and 
 
376 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 O'Connell, at the Catholic Association, in 1824, warmly 
 panegyrize his lordship as " the poor man's magis- 
 trate :" — 
 
 [No. 27.] LORD CLONCURRY TO THE DUKE OF MANCHESTER. 
 
 u Lyons, 12th October, 1829. 
 
 "My Lord Duke, — I solicit your Grace's attention to the enclosed letter, 
 being a copy of one of several written by me in behalf of William Girty, of 
 Dublin, stable-keeper and dealer, who, having embarked at Milford, on the 
 19th of May last, on board the " Crocodile," post-office steamer, Captain 
 Nuttall, was by him forced to pay state-cabin fare for himself and one 
 Murray, a person in his employ : Nuttall threatening to put them from on 
 board if he did not submit to the imposition. 
 
 " Satisfied that the money would have been instantly repaid, on the mis- 
 take being ascertained, I wrote, in the first instance, to Secretary Freeling, 
 instead of intruding, on so trifling a matter, on the time of your Grace ; and 
 this has given me much trouble, to which I have only submitted in the hope 
 of obtaining redress for a deserving person, -who complains to me of a trans- 
 action appearing to me arbitrary and oppressive in the extreme, if not 
 dishonest. I have to apologise for thus troubling your Grace, and have the 
 honour to be, with great respect, my Lord, your Grace's faithful Servant, 
 
 " Cloncuruy. 
 
 " Legal fare, Girty, £0 15 
 
 " Murray, artisan, . . . 5 
 
 £10 
 
 " State cabin fare, £3 
 
 " Girty offered to pay for Murray, being in his employ, the same as for 
 himself."" 
 
 [No. 28.] LORD CLONCURRY TO SIR FRANCIS FREELING, SECRETARY 
 TO THE GENERAL POST-OFFICE, LONDON. 
 
 " Maretimu, October, 1829. 
 
 " Sir, — I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 
 3rd instant, and am happy to think that the correspondence, which I fear 
 must have been troublesome to a person so occupied in the public service as 
 you are, and which has been extremely so to me, is drawing to a close ; for 
 I am convinced that, on a review of the case, his Grace the Postmaster- 
 General will order the overcharge of Captain Nuttall to be repaid to the 
 complainant, Mr. William Girty. The affidavits of Girty and of Murray 
 remain uncontradicted, and are probably unanswerable. I went to Dublin 
 purposely to inquire into the truth, and I believe these persons have not in 
 any instance departed from it. 
 
 " The case stands thus : — Girty and Murray having crossed in the usual 
 cheapest manner, from Tenby to Milford, sought the captain of the packet ; 
 not finding him they went to the agent's office, and described themselves, 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 377 
 
 Girty as a horse-keeper and dealer, Murray as a mechanic and artisan ; 
 they were entitled to their passage, Girty for 15s., Murray for 5s., but 
 Girty having taken Murray in his service, was willing to treat him as he 
 did himself, and to make him a deck passenger at 15s. After they were on 
 board, Captain Xuttall threatened to force them out of the vessel imless they 
 became state cabin passengers, at double the fare agreed to in the office. 
 The reason assigned by the captain is, that from what he heard and saw, he 
 took them for gentlemen. What he heard has been contradicted on oath, 
 and as to what he saw, an old and good sailor is not necessarily a judge 
 of gentlemen. He has evidently made a mistake, and thereby deprived these 
 poor men of nearly their last shilling, at above an hundred miles from home. 
 I say nothing as to the oddity of the regulations vesting such power in the 
 captain, nor as to the possibility of the mistake being wilful. Mistakes are 
 every day made — if a letter be overcharged, there is a remedy at the Post- 
 Office ; these persons being overcharged, seek from his Grace the redress, 
 which I doubt not he will afford. I am really ashamed to be so trouble- 
 some — a sense of justice alone impels me to it — I would rather pay the loss 
 ten times over than take the trouble I have done. Murray I do not recollect 
 to have ever seen. Girty I only know from going occasionally to his 
 stables, or his father's, fur very many years. He complained to me as a 
 magistrate, and a person not unwilling to serve the poor ; he says he has 
 been arbitrarily and cruelly treated. If by falsehood he has induced me to be 
 unjust to Captain Nuttall, I will apologise; but let the truth be inquired 
 into. I wish to refer the case to an excellesit public servant and gentleman, 
 Sir Edward Lees, of the Post Office, or to Captain Skinner, of the Holyhead 
 station. Girty will be found attending his stable in Merrion Eow, Dublin, 
 and Murray working as a glazier in the same premises. 
 
 " Though it was a high compliment to dub these persons gentlemen, I 
 think Captain Xuttall had no right to charge so highly for his diploma. 
 Many magistrates would interpret it into an extortion of money under false 
 pretences ; or to putting into dread and fear ; for if they did not submit to 
 the arbitrary and illegal demand, they had no alternative but to spend their 
 few remaining shillings at the Milford Inn, and if they had not credit at 
 YVaterford, they must have walked or begged their way to Dublin. 
 
 " I am, Sir, your humble Servant, 
 
 " Cloxcurry.'' 
 
 That the poor men never received compensation will, 
 we think, be evident, upon perusing the following 
 extract from a letter addressed by Lord Cloncurry to 
 Mr. F. W. Conway, exactly one month subsequent to 
 the date of the above: — "An industrious and humble 
 citizen of Dublin," said his lordship, " has been most 
 shamefully defrauded, and redress refused by the salaried 
 servants of the English post-office, both high and low. 
 Has the Duke of Manchester any right to dictate to a 
 traveller what part of the mail or of the packet he is to 
 
 go m 
 
 ?" 
 
 A short time anterior to Lord Cloncurry 's diatribe on 
 
378 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 the English postal officials generally, some reports of the 
 Irish post-office were, for the first time, published. The 
 London ministerial journals accused the Postmaster and 
 his assistants of gross mismanagement, and endeavoured 
 to prove that reformation was badly wanting in the car- 
 riage of the Irish mails. Lord Cloncurry bridled at what 
 he conceived to be an insult, and was not sorry at the 
 opportunity afforded him of retaliating. 
 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 The Anglesey Administration — His Excellency for Fifty Years a Tory — 
 Catholic Demands to he met,*not by Concession, hut by Powder and Ball — 
 Three thousand simultaneous Meetings — Lord Anglesey introduced to Lord 
 Cloncurry — Commencement of their Intimacy — Miraculous Conversion of 
 his Excellency — " Billy" Murphy exercises unbounded influence over 
 him — The celebrated Letter to Primate Curtis — Interesting Correspond- 
 ence between Lord Anglesey and the Duke of Wellington — Letter from 
 Sir Robert Peel — Recall of Lord Anglesey — Lord Cloncurry's Speech on 
 this Event — A universal Gloom throughout Ireland — The People accom- 
 pany their Viceroy to the Water-Side — Emancipation wrested from the 
 British Minister — Lord Kenyon exhorts his Orange Brethren to Resist- 
 ance — Brunswick Meeting in Dublin — " Protectants, up now, or sink for 
 ever" — The Rev. Sir Harcourt Lees' extraordinary Petition to Parlia- 
 ment — Death from Politics of the Society for the Improvement of Ireland — 
 O'Connell unfurls, for the first Time, his Standard of Repeal — The 
 Leinster Declaration — Intense Excitement — A Modification of the Union 
 discussed by Ministers — Michael Staunton and the Morning Register — 
 Private Letters from Lord Cloncurry to Mr. Staunton — " Honest Jack 
 Lawless" — Letter to J. D. Mullen — The Victory at Ballybay — Lord 
 Cloncurry offers Prizes of £100 each for original Essays on Irish Politi- 
 cal Subjects — His Lordship's Address to the Irish Members — Downfall of 
 the Wellington Cabinet — Second Viceroyalty of Lord Anglesey — Un- 
 popular Appointments — Indignation of the People at the Elevation of Mr. 
 John Dohertv to the Bench — Letter of the Vicerov to Lord Cloncurrv — 
 Miserable Position of the former — Lord Cloncurry refuses to join O'Con- 
 nell in the Repeal Agitation — Indignation of O'Connell — His three Public 
 Letters to Lord Cloncurry — The Algerine Act — Arrest of O'Connell — 
 Anecdotes — Lord Cloncurry appointed Chairman of the Commissioners of 
 Education — He organizes a Series of Reform Meetings — Created a British 
 Peer and Privy Councillor — His Lordship's Conduct misconstrued — Letters 
 to Mr. Staunton. 
 
 The Administration of General Henry William Paget, 
 Marquis of Anglesey, forms an epocli in the history of Ire- 
 land. For half a century this nobleman had been a starched 
 and bigoted Tory, averse to the removal of Catholic dis- 
 abilities, inflated with senseless political prejudices, and 
 filled with some most preposterously false notions concern- 
 ing Ireland's condition, and the character of her people. 
 
380 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 At Waterloo and the Peninsular campaign he learned the 
 art of arms ; in the narrow-minded circles of English so- 
 ciety he imbibed his prejudices. Displaying his profes- 
 sional passion for the one, while avowing the unhealthy 
 existence of the other, Lord Anglesey went so far as to 
 declare, in the House of Lords, that he would drown the 
 clamour of the Catholic Association beneath the thunder 
 of English artillery, and trample the demagogues of Ireland 
 under the hoofs of his own regiment of hussars. " If the 
 Irish are for war," said he, " the sooner they draw the 
 sword the better." In 1826, his lordship voted against 
 Emancipation, and, with an energetic declaration, that 
 the rebellous threats of the Catholics were to be met, 
 not by concessions, but by powder and ball. To this 
 speech, and that vote, he is said to have owed his eleva- 
 tion to the Irish Viceroyalty. 
 
 On the accession of the Red-coated ministry, or as others 
 designated it, the Fighting-cabinet, to office in 1828, 
 Henry Marquis of Anglesey was, at once, selected by 
 the Duke of Wellington, as his Lord Lieutenant-General 
 and General Governor of Ireland. The Catholic organi- 
 zation had, at that time, assumed a most formidable 
 aspect; and the policy of deputing a military Viceroy 
 to the Government of Ireland was recommended, and 
 appreciated by the British Cabinet. Simultaneous meet- 
 ings, to the number of three thousand, were frequently 
 held, after the sacrifice of the Mass, in every parish 
 church throughout the length and breadth of Ireland. 
 Thus, five millions of a brave, determined people de- 
 manded, at the same moment, a restoration of those rights 
 of which more than a century before they had been trea- 
 cherously robbed. The hearts of the Brunswickers beat 
 quick, and terror blanched their countenances, as millions 
 of Catholic aspirations ascended to the Throne of heaven, 
 beseeching the great Omnipotent that He, in His cle- 
 mency, would promote their cause. 
 
 Lord Anglesey arrived with his hand upon his sword 
 hilt. He gazed around upon the long-suffering, long- 
 enduring people, whom he had been deputed to dragoon. 
 He felt his prejudices, one by one, evaporate. The heart 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 381 
 
 of the old soldier softened ; Ms grasp of the sabre gradually 
 relaxed ; and, at length, a smile of benevolence and con- 
 cord animated his countenance. Soon after the Viceroy's 
 arrival in Ireland it was his good fortune to meet, at 
 the house of Captain Burdett, Valentine Lawless, Lord 
 Cloncurry. What passed between them on this occasion 
 we know not; but, certain it is, their acquaintance 
 speedily ripened into an intimacy that continued cordial 
 and uninterrupted for twenty years after. That Lord Clon- 
 curry succeeded completely in converting the noble 
 Englishman to his own way of thinking there can be, we 
 believe, little doubt. Clearly discerning sincerity in 
 Cloncurry's honest face, and well knowing that he had 
 nothing to expect at his (Lord Anglesey's) hands, the 
 Viceroy, at once, declared himself open to conviction, 
 and anxious for any useful information regarding the in- 
 terests of Ireland. Lord Cloncurry advised him to form 
 opinions for himself, and not to receive them as all his 
 predecessors, save Lord Wellesley, had done, second-hand 
 from the false reporters who stood between the country 
 and the Castle. After the lapse of a short period, Lord 
 Anglesey informed Lord Cloncurry that he had resolved 
 to set aside the bloated staff of lawyers, jobbers, and 
 privy councillors, usually attached, in more than one 
 sense, to that establishment, and requested his lordship 
 would introduce to him, at once, some person of sound 
 common sense, and practically acquainted with the wants, 
 resources, and evils of the country. Lord Cloncurry ad- 
 vised him to send for the late William Murphy, or as he 
 was better known, Billy Murphy, a gentleman who for 
 intelligence, and thorough knowledge of business, could 
 not possibly be excelled. This his Excellency did, and 
 with the best results. For a considerable time after, Mr. 
 Murphy exercised over Lord Anglesey almost unbounded 
 influence, to the no small annoyance of the Orange clique, 
 the High Church party, and the Castle corruptionists. 
 
 Weeks elapsed, and Lord Anglesey still pursued his 
 inquiries. Like the English family of Geraldine, who 
 were said to have soon become more Irish than the Irish 
 themselves, it would be difficult to decide whether Lord 
 
382 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 Anglesey or Lord Cloncurry was, in 1828, the greater 
 patriot. After lending his countenance to various patri- 
 otic movements, he issued an order that every member of 
 the viceregal household should be clad in Irish manu- 
 facture; and publicly announced that the moment the 
 7th Regiment of Hussars, of which he was colonel, should 
 arrive in Ireland, he would make every man of them 
 clothe himself completely in the product of the Irish 
 loom. What was still more welcome news to the Irish 
 people, he pledged himself that every penny of his vice- 
 regal salary should be spent in Ireland. 
 
 In 1828 the strength of the Catholic Association 
 reached its climax in the return* of O'Connell for the 
 County Clare, although Roman Catholics were at that 
 time, and for a century before, inadmissible to Parliament. 
 O'Connell, however, who detected loopholes in every 
 law statute that he chanced to go to the trouble of 
 examining, insisted that he could and would get into the 
 Imperial Parliament, notwithstanding certain ministerial 
 teeth which grinned defiance at him across St. George's 
 Channel. And so he did. This great and unexpected 
 triumph terrified the English Government, who knew 
 not where the power of the Association was to end. A 
 scarlet stream of troops poured day after day into the 
 country, until it at length assumed the appearance of one 
 monstrous barrack. 
 
 Lord Anglesey, partly from conviction and partly from 
 policy, saw the expediency of granting Catholic Emanci- 
 pation. The Most Rev. Dr. Curtis, R. C. Primate of all 
 Ireland, having been introduced to his Excellency, com- 
 municated with him freely, both personally and by letter, 
 on this now all-important, all-engrossing subject. The 
 Duke of Wellington, in a private letter to Dr. Curtis, 
 recommended that the Catholic question should for a time 
 be buried in oblivion, and gave it as his opinion that 
 under such circumstances he would not despair of seeing 
 it satisfactorily terminated. Dr. Curtis enclosed this 
 
 * To defray the expenses of the election, £14,000 were raised in one week 
 among the citizens of Dublin. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 383 
 
 extraordinary communication to Lord Anglesey, who 
 appears to have at once seen through the plausible cajolery 
 of his Grace. He addressed a friendly reply to the 
 Primate. " I differ," said he, " from the opinion of the 
 Duke, that an attempt should be made to ' bury in ob- 
 liviori the question for a short time. First, because the 
 thing is utterly impossible ; and next, because if it were 
 possible, I fear that advantage might be taken of the 
 pause, by representing it as a panic achieved by the late 
 violent reaction, and by proclaiming that if the Govern- 
 ment at once and peremptorily decided against concession, 
 the Catholics would cease to agitate, and then all the 
 miseries of the last years of Ireland will be to be re- 
 enacted. What I recommend is, that the measure should 
 
 1 not be for a moment lost sight of, and that anxiety 
 continue to be manifested." Lord Anglesey said much 
 more, but the paragraph we have given will serve as a 
 fair specimen of the general tone of his excellent letter. 
 He expressed his conviction, that a final settlement of 
 the " great question could alone give peace, harmony, 
 and prosperity to all classes of the King's subjects in 
 Ireland." A miraculous conversion, truly ! This was 
 the man who, sixteen months before, voted against the 
 question, and declared, that powder and ball, and not 
 concessions, ought to silence the Catholic Association. 
 
 The Viceroy's letter was headed " private and confi- 
 dential ;" but, like most other letters bearing this super- 
 scription, its contents soon became known to more than 
 a third party — possibly owing to what Lord Hatherton 
 called " Lord Anglesey's incautious habit of showing his 
 
 ' correspondence." Early in the month of January a ver- 
 batim copy appeared in every newspaper in the kingdom, 
 and at once occasioned considerable ferment and annoy- 
 ance at the opposite side of the water. The Evening 
 Post, in order to make every line the more emphatic, 
 printed it from beginning to end in italics. This novel 
 and unexpected proceeding on the part of Lord Anglesey, 
 the intimacy that was well known to exist between him 
 and Lord Cloncurry, as well as the manly hesitation of 
 his Excellency to suspend O'Gorman Mahon and Thomas 
 
384 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 Steele from the commission of the peace, although dicta- 
 torially called upon by the Premier to do so, furnished the 
 ostensible grounds of his recall ! But, even previously 
 to the appearance of" the highly improper" letter to Dr. 
 Curtis, Lord Anglesey's Irish Administration had begun 
 to become peculiarly obnoxious to the King and his 
 ministers. 
 
 In October, 1828, the subject of these pages visited the 
 Catholic Association, and addressed a short but animated 
 speech to his numerous auditory. On the day preceding, 
 Lord Anglesey paid Lord Cloncurry a friendly visit at 
 Lyons Castle, in company with Sir Anthony Hart, the Irish 
 Chancellor. This short preamble is necessary ere we 
 introduce the following most interesting correspondence 
 between the Duke of Wellington and his Viceroy : — 
 
 [No. 29.] THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON TO LORD ANGLESEY. 
 
 "London. Nov. 11, 1828. 
 
 "My dear Lord Anglesey, — I have been very much disappointed by 
 the decision to which you have come, not to take any steps to remove Mr. 
 O'Gorman Mahon and Mr. Steele from the commission of the peace. * * 
 They both appeared in Ennis on a day on which a riot was expected, and 
 preparations were made by the High Sheriff to prevent it, or to mitigate it, 
 decorated with green ribbands, known to be the insignia of an order estab- 
 lished by the Roman Catholic Association, and followed by a mob. * 
 I cannot express to you adequately the extent of the difficidties which these 
 and other occurrences in Ireland create in all discussions with his Majesty. 
 He feels that in Ireland the public peace is violated every day with impunity 
 by those whose duty it is to preserve it : and that a formidable conspiracy 
 exists ; and that the supposed principal conspirators, those whose language 
 and conduct point them out as the avowed principal agitators of the country, 
 are admitted to the presence of his Majesty's representative in Ireland, and 
 equally well received with the King's most loyal subjects. 
 
 " I will not conceal from you, likewise, that your visit and those of the 
 Lord Chancellor to Lord Cloncurry, and the attendance of Lord Cloncurry 
 at the Roman Catholic Association, immediately subsequent to the period 
 at which he had the honour of receiving the King's representative in his 
 house, are not circumstances calculated to give satisfaction to the King, and 
 the public in general. * * * 
 
 "Believe me, my dear Lord, &c, 
 
 "Wellington.'* 
 
 [No. 30.] LORD ANGLESEY TO THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON. 
 
 " Phamix ParJc, Nov. 14, 1828. 
 
 " My dear Duke of Wellington, — I have received your letter of the 
 11th ; nothing can give me greater distress than to learn that my conduct 
 in carrying on the government of Ireland is displeasing to the King, and 
 embarrassing to his Majesty's ministers. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 385 
 
 " Deeply as I deplore it, I nevertheless rejoice in being made acquainted, 
 now for the first time, with the view that is taken of it. Up to this time, 
 I have been left entirely in ignorance, not only as to your intentions in re- 
 gard to this country, but also as to your sentiments in regard to my policy. 
 They are now developed, and I shall know how to act. 
 
 u* * * j t seems y OU disapprove of my not having directed the Chan- 
 cellor to dismiss Mr. Mahon from the magistracy, in consequence of his in- 
 decorous conduct on this occasion. Indecorous it certainly was ; but I deem 
 that if I had visited it with the severity of dismissal, I should have been 
 guilty of an act of unjustifiable harshness. It was the opinion of the law 
 officers that this breach of decorum was not indictable. It was that of the 
 Chancellor, that if the deposition upon oath had been sent to him, he could 
 not legally have acted upon it. Upon what ground, then, would the Lord 
 Lieutenant have stood — if, in opposition to these opinions, he should have 
 determined upon the dismissal of Mr. Mahon. 
 
 u * * * j never saw these gentlemen in my life ; and peremptorily 
 deny that the avowed principal agitators, or that any agitators whatever of 
 the country, are admitted into my presence, and equally well received with 
 the King's most loyal subjects. But, to whom can you possibly allude ? I 
 positively am unable to guess at your meaning. Is it of Messrs. O'Connell, 
 Sheil, Lawless, O'Gorman Mahon, and Steele, of whom you speak ? These 
 I can easily dispose of. Mr. Sheil, and the tw r o latter, I have never seen ; 
 Mr. O'Connell once asked for an audience ; it was granted. I mentioned 
 the circumstance to Mr. Peel, even before it occurred ; and I afterwards 
 informed him of the business upon which he came, and 1 never met him 
 since. I have seen Mr. Lawless three times. Upon the first occasion he 
 came with a deputation of manufacturers, within a few days after my arrival. 
 I next met him at a ball at the Rotundo, and bowed to him, as I invariably 
 do to all persons who make me an acknowledgment. It was in a very 
 crowded room, at KiDgstown, that I met him a third time ; when, observing 
 him and Sir Harcourt Lees squeezed together, and unable to pass on, I 
 jokingly said, ' That I was glad to observe such characters could breathe 
 in the same atmosphere.' My next and last communication with that 
 gentleman was sending to have him arrested. 
 
 " The next subject of reproof is, that I, together with the Lord Chan- 
 cellor, paid a visit to the Lord Cloncurry. When I went to his house, all I 
 knew of him was, that he was an active and intelligent magistrate, an ardent 
 lover of Ireland, an indefatigable supporter of her interests, and a zealous 
 friend to Catholic Emancipation. During the time I w r as at Lyons (his 
 residence), I learned his earlier history : — That he had been strongly sus- 
 pected of Jacobinism at the commencement of the French revolution ; that he 
 had been arrested upon suspicion of being implicated in O'Connor's treason ; 
 that he had been liberated for want of proof, but that he had subsequently 
 been sent to the Tower, upon the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, from 
 whence he had been again liberated without trial, and, therefore, I have 
 a right to suppose, without guilt. 
 
 "Lord Cloncurry has, within a few days, attended the Catholic Associ- 
 ation. This is the first time he has done so since my arrival ; and so little 
 is he in the habit of attending, that I positively did not know, until I saw 
 his speech, that he belonged to the Association. From all I can learn, and 
 from all I have seen, I believe Lord Cloncurry to be a sedate, loyal subject, 
 and one of the best and most impartial magistrates iu Ireland. 
 
 "If those who arraign my conduct will obtain information from an 
 
386 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 untainted source, I feel the most perfect confidence that I shall obtain the 
 applause of my Sovereign, and the good opinion of his Majesty's ministers, 
 with whom I serve. 
 
 " I am willing, and, indeed, extremely anxious, to put my measures to 
 the test, being fully satisfied that the more they are investigated, the more 
 favourably they will be judged ; and I have the strongest conviction on my 
 mind, that the course I have pursued is that alone which could have kept 
 this country in the state of tranquillity it now enjoys. * * * * 
 
 " It remains for me only to add, that I have no object iu holding my 
 present post, but that of pleasing my King and serving my country. 
 "I am, my dear Duke of Wellington, yours very sincerely, 
 
 " ANGLESEY." 
 
 [No. 31.] THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON TO LORD ANGLESEY. 
 
 "London, November 19th, 1828. 
 
 ''My dear Lord Anglesey, — I did not receive till yesterday your letter 
 of the 14th, in answer to mine of the 11th. You tell me that you have, up 
 to this moment, been left entirely in ignorance as to my intentions in regard 
 to your policy. I thought that, since your appointment to the Government 
 of Ireland, there had been the most unreserved communication of the opinion 
 of the King's servants, as to the practical course to be pursued under the 
 various contingencies that have arisen ; assurance given of the most cordial 
 support, throughout any difficulties that might occur, and of a willingness to 
 bear the full share of any responsibility." [Here a large portion of the duke's 
 letter is occupied with animadversion on the conduct of O'Gorman Mahon 
 and Thomas Steele. Having strongly recommended their dismissal, he goes 
 on to say :] — " In respect to Lord Cloncurry, I did not advert to his former 
 history, only to his being a member of the Roman Catholic Association, and 
 to having attended the Association shortly after the Lord Lieutenant and 
 Lord Chancellor had honoured him with a visit. He made a speech in the 
 Association that day — one which, to say the least of it, is worthy of an 
 agitator and of a partisan, but quite unworthy of a nobleman who deserves 
 the honour of receiving the Lord Lieutenant at his house — a Lord Lieutenant 
 and Lord Chancellor presiding over an important system of Government. 
 
 " But I am still of opinion that, considering the condition of the Associa- 
 tion, the speeches that have been made there, and the doubts entertained of 
 the legality of such assembly (to say the least of it), the members are not 
 exactly the pexsi ins to be encouraged by the Government of Ireland, which 
 intends to conduct its administration impartially. 
 
 " I will not now enter farther into the discussion of the legality of the 
 Roman Catholic Association, or whether there is not a conspiracy in Ireland. 
 .Upon the first point, I hope we shall soon have the opinion of the law officers 
 of the Crown in Ireland. I admit that there is but little legal proof of the 
 existence of a conspiracy, but there is much of moral proof, which I cannot 
 but think deserves the attention of Government. * * * I might have, 
 at an earlier period, expressed the pain 1 felt at the attendance of gentlemen 
 of your household, and even of your family, at the Roman Catholic Associa- 
 tion. I could not but feel that such attendance must expose your Govern- 
 ment to misconstruction. But I was silent, because it is painful to notice 
 such things ; but I have always felt, that if these impressions upon the 
 King's mind should remain — and I must sav that recent transactions hare 
 
CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 387 
 
 given fresh cause for them — I could not avoid to mention them to you in a 
 private communication, and to let you know the embarrassment which they 
 occasion. I may be blamed for not communicating sooner tbat they existed ; 
 but, considering their continued existence, and the renewed cause for them, 
 I should be more blamed if I did not mention them at all. 
 
 "Ever, my dear Lord Anglesey, &c, 
 
 " Wellington." 
 
 [No. 32.] LORD ANGLESEY TO THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON. 
 
 " Phoenix Park, Nov. 23rd, 1828. 
 
 u My dear Duke of Wellington, — I have received your letter of the 
 19th. It is not necessary that I should reply to it at great length; for, after 
 very carefully examining and comparing it with the letter of the 11th, I 
 find little in it beyond a repetition of accusations already amply answered and 
 refuted. I have also attentively read the copy of my letter of the 14th, and 
 there is not in it a sentiment expressed, or a word written, to which I do not 
 strictly adhere. * * That the mere circumstance of Mr. Mahon and Mr. 
 Steele riding about the country in green ribands, is to be considered to justify 
 their dismissal from the magistracy, I cannot admit. Have they appeared 
 upon the seat of justice in these party colours? Xo. When they do the 
 Chancellor will know how to deal with them. In the case I quoted, of Mr. 
 Johnstone, who, decorated with an Orange riband, actually harangued a 
 mob (and that immediately after the passing of the Act, now extinct, in 
 which party badges were forbidden,) the Chancellor, Manners, did not feel 
 himself justified in taking any step. 
 
 " I have little to add to what I have already said concerning Lord Clou- 
 curry. I believe him to be a loyal subject, a good man, and an exemplary ma- 
 gistrate ; and I cannot consent to abandon the exercise of my own discretion, 
 in selecting those with whom I may deem it expedient and prudent to hold an 
 intercourse. But even if I were mistaken in the character of my Lord Clon- 
 curry, and that he is not what I supposed him to be, I am sure I shall not 
 be thought arrogant in expressing a conviction that there is something in 
 my own character, and in my well-known devoted and affectionate attach- 
 ment to the King, which ought to shield me from the imputation of having 
 selected and encouraged, as accmaintances, those who are ill-affected to his 
 Majesty's person and Government. 
 
 " Your observation upon the circumstance of my son, and some of the 
 officers of my staff, visiting the Catholic Association, has hurt and sur- 
 prised me. 
 
 " A. short time after my arrival, three or four of them strayed into their 
 debating room from curiosity. They were unexpected, and they imagined 
 they were unobserved. They were, however, recognized ; the occurrence was 
 mischievously commented upon. I admonished them not to repeat their 
 visit, and to avoid all clubs or meetings of a political character, and it cost 
 them nothing to obey the injunction. Yet this is remarked upon as a stain 
 upon me, as if I had sanctioned the measure. * * Believe me, &c, &c. 
 
 '•Anglesey." 
 
 [Xo. 33.] THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON TO LORD ANGLESEY. 
 
 "London, December 2Sth, 1828. 
 " My dear Lord Anglesey, — I have been very sensible, since I received 
 your last letter, that the correspondence which that letter terminated had 
 
388 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 left us in a relation towards each other which ought not to exist between the 
 Lord Lieutenant and the King's Minister ; and could not continue to exist 
 without great inconvenience and injury to the King's service. I refrained 
 from acting upon this feeling till I should be able to consult with my col- 
 leagues, and I took the earliest opportunity, which the return to town of 
 those who were absent afforded, to obtain their opinion, which concurred with 
 my own. Under these circumstances, having taking the King's pleasure 
 upon the subject, his Majesty has desired me to inform you, that he intends 
 to relieve you from the Government of Ireland. I will shortly notify the 
 arrangements which will become necessary in consequence. 
 
 " Believe me ever your's most sincerely, 
 
 " Wellington." 
 
 [no. 34.] lord anglesey to the duke of wellington. 
 
 "Phoenix Park, 30th Dec, 1828. 
 " My dear Duke of "Wellington, — I have received your letter of the 
 28th, informing me of the King's intention to relieve me from the Govern- 
 ment of Ireland. 
 
 " I will hold myself in readiness to obey his Majesty's commands the 
 moment I receive them. 
 
 " Believe me your's most sincerely, 
 
 " Anglesey." 
 
 At this time neither the King nor his Premier had seen 
 or heard of Lord Anglesey's letter to Doctor Curtis. Im- 
 mediately on its appearance, Sir Robert Peel addressed 
 the following letter to his Excellency. Lord Anglesey 
 observed, in the House of Lords, that it contained a 
 stronger reproof than was, perhaps, ever before given to 
 a public officer: — 
 
 [No. 35.] SIR ROBERT PEEL TO LORD ANGLESET. 
 
 " Whitehall, Jan. 10, 1829. 
 
 "My Lord, — It is my duty to acquaint your Excellency that his Ma- 
 jesty's Government have taken into their consideration a letter which has 
 been published in the newspapers, purporting to have been addressed by your 
 Excellency to the Rev. Dr. Curtis, of the authenticity of which there can be 
 no question. It appears to his Majesty's Government, that in addressing 
 that letter to Dr. Curtis, your Excellency acted in a manner inconsistent 
 with your duty as his Majesty's representative in Ireland ; and they have 
 advised his Majesty to signify his pleasure to your Excellency, that you 
 should return to England, placing the Government of Ireland, for the present, 
 in the hands of Lords Justices. — I have the honour to be, with great truth 
 and regaid, &c, " Robert Peel." 
 
 Lord Anglesey had, of course, nothing for it but to 
 obey the summons of his Majesty's Government. He 
 bowed a dignified acquiescence, and, at once, commenced 
 preparations for departure. 
 
 When it became rumoured that his Excellency was 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 389 
 
 about to be recalled, eight peers, and several baronets 
 and members of Parliament, drew up a requisition, pray- 
 ing the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs of Dublin to call a 
 meeting, and beseech his Majesty that he would be 
 pleased to continue Lord Anglesey in the Government of 
 Ireland, " as well for the encouragement of the trade and 
 commerce of Dublin, as for the impartial protection of all 
 classes of his Majesty's faithful subjects in Ireland." The 
 Lord Mayor and his Sheriffs observed, in reply, that 
 should the recall of Lord Anglesey be decided on, they 
 concluded it must be " the result of the wisdom of his 
 Majesty's councils," and begged leave to decline conven- 
 ing the meeting. In consequence of this stiff and unex- 
 pected rejoinder, the noblemen and gentlemen who 
 signed the requisition determined — Lord Cloncurry in the 
 chair — to assemble in aggregate meeting on the 16th 
 January following. 
 
 The meeting came off, but ere the 16th inst. arrived, 
 Lord Anglesey's recall was certain. Notwithstanding 
 this, however, the Duke of Leinster, Lords Cloncurry, 
 Clements, and others, met at the appointed rendezvous. 
 Their speeches were alike effective and affecting. Lord 
 Cloncurry said, that the recall of Lord Anglesey was a 
 physical injury to Ireland, and especially to the city 
 of Dublin. He considered that the causes of this unfor- 
 tunate event ousrht not then to be discussed, first, because 
 they were uncertain ; and, secondly, because it was not 
 the place. Their object was to address the Lord Lieu- 
 tenant, to express their sorrow for his removal, and to 
 give his Excellency that meed of gratitude which his im- 
 partiality, his munificent expenditure, his liberality to 
 all, his courteous demeanour, and his regard for the 
 welfare of Ireland, eo justly merited. He (Lord Clon- 
 curry) would not now urge the adoption of a petition 
 against the recall, because it was, alas ! too late to prove 
 effectual. (" Here the noble and patriotic lord," adds the 
 Evening Post, " who was sensibly affected, read a graphic 
 draft of a splendid petition he had drawn up, but he de- 
 clined submitting it to the meeting, although loudly 
 solicited to propose it.") 
 
390 CLOKCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 On the 19th. January, 1829, the melancholy event 
 took place. The good man's funeral could hardly have 
 inspired greater grief. The people, anxious to pay their 
 last tribute of respect and gratitude to their venerable 
 Viceroy, assembled in crowds from the hour of eight 
 o'clock, a.m., along the route which it was expected the 
 cortege would take. Banners, edged with black crape, 
 and displaying in gold characters several sentences from 
 the Curtis letter, towered at intervals above their heads. 
 Before his departure from the Castle, Lord Anglesey re- 
 ceived a deputation, consisting of the Duke of Leinster, 
 Lord Cloncurry, and several other peers; all of whom 
 were deeply and visibly affected. With tears standing in 
 their eyelids, the populace followed the benevolent 
 Viceroy to Kingstown, cheering and vociferating his 
 name until the man-of-war which carried him assumed 
 the appearance of a tiny speck on the blue sheet of water. 
 
 Thus terminated the first and ever-memorable viceroy- 
 alty of Henry Paget, Marquis of Anglesey. Since Lord 
 Fitzwiliiam assumed the reins of Government in Ireland, 
 there never sat upon the viceregal throne of Dublin 
 Castle a more liberal Lord Lieutenant, or one who more 
 frilly understood the Irish character. He made it his 
 study in the first instance, and, like an active and in- 
 quiring physician, left no symptom unexamined to dis- 
 cover the hidden causes of the multifarious ills which 
 weakened and distracted the land. Not satisfied with a 
 superficial investigation, he went to the very seat of the 
 disease. By dint of a long series of private letters,* in 
 
 * On the 11th June, 1828, Lord Anglesey -wrote thus to Sir Robert Peel : — 
 " I continue to feel confident that tranquillity will not be disturbed. You 
 will have time to deliberate ; but I repeat that we must not long attempt to 
 remain as we are." On July 25th, his Excellency wrote as follows to the 
 same party : — "You will, I am sure, appreciate the motives that engage me 
 to revert to the great question. Few, even of the Orangemen, dispute 
 the necessity of an adjustment. / conjure you to take the state of Ireland 
 into consideration before the meeting of Parliament.'''' In September Lord 
 Anglesey's alarm increased considerably. On the 8th of that month, writing 
 to Sir R. Peel, he says : — " It seems agreed on all sides that the public feeling 
 was never at so high a pitch of excitement as at present. The language of 
 both parties is violent in the extreme, and both appear ripe for action. The 
 organization of the Catholics is very complete. They carry banners ; they 
 form and they march by w r ord of command, and in good order." 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 391 
 
 which we can easily trace the influence of Lord Clon- 
 curry's opinions, he at length succeeded in seriously 
 modifying the Irish policy of his Majesty's Govern- 
 ment. Lord Anglesey's Administration was impartial in 
 spirit and in truth. He smiled at the blatant ferocity of 
 Brunswick Associations, and when seditious Catholics 
 hinted mysteriously at overt acts of rebellion, he laughed 
 them goodhumouredly out of the consummate folly of 
 such vapouring. By these means Lord Anglesey suc- 
 ceeded in ruling the people he was deputed to dragoon, 
 with a rein of silk and traces of caoutchouac. The times 
 were almost as difficult of government as those of 1797; 
 but how different the policy of his Administration when 
 placed in juxta-position with that of Lord Camden ! 
 That nobleman's nostrum for popular disaffection was (as 
 has been already seen) a daily dose of goading and per- 
 secution. It did its work — the work of an empirie; 
 and Lord Anglesey's regime did its work too — that of an 
 enlightened and skilful physick Health in the one 
 
 instance ; death in the other. Lord Anglesey accom- 
 plished what Fitzwilliarn projected. 
 
 Wellington and Peel beheld with dismay the union 
 between Ireland and England weakening. To strengthen 
 that union was now their policy. We must, said they — 
 there is nothing for it but to do so — we must throw 
 open the gates of the British Constitution to the Irish 
 Papists, who are at present conspiring to tear them down 
 by force. We must connect their ambition with English 
 objects, and thoroughly imperialize their lofty aims. 
 And at last they came thoroughly to the conclusion, that 
 there was no cure for the evil but Catholic Emancipa- 
 tion! 
 
 For several weeks after the noble marquis's recall, 
 aggregate meetings of the people were held in various 
 parts of Ireland, for the purpose of publicly expressing 
 their admiration for his Excellency's impartial rule, and 
 of passing a vote of confidence in him. On February 
 14, 1829, while acknowledging the receipt of a flattering 
 address, which had been transmitted by Mr. Robert 
 Cassidy, on behalf of the inhabitants of Mountrath, his 
 
392 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 lordship wrote — "If in my assiduous efforts to administer 
 the affairs of Ireland with an impartial hand, I have won 
 the affections of her sons, I can conscientiously declare 
 that in proportion as I knew them better I valued them 
 higher. I went to that kingdom a warm admirer of the 
 character of the people — I came away an enthusiast. 
 Ireland is about to reap the benefits of her patient for- 
 bearance, coupled with her determined perseverance. 
 That she may prosper is my fervent prayer." 
 
 With Lord Cloncurry he kept up an almost uninter- 
 rupted correspondence. On the 12th March he wrote 
 as follows from Uxbridge House: — " You can have no 
 idea of the intense interest this Catholic question excites 
 in England. Not another subject is ever broached in 
 any society, male or female. * * I have not the least 
 doubt that it will pass triumphantly ; and excepting a 
 few trifling and silly points, which give the appearance of the 
 measure being adopted against the grain, I do think it is 
 a handsome production, and must please the Catholics." 
 
 A truer saying never emanated from Lord Anglesey's 
 lips than that the Catholic Relief Bill had all the appear- 
 ance of being adopted against the grain. It was conceived 
 in fear and trembling, and born in a panic. The effer- 
 vescing bigotry of Lord Wellington got the better of his 
 characteristic tact, and in a moment of unministerial 
 candour, he openly proclaimed that it was not to the just- 
 ness of the claim he succumbed, but to his apprehensions 
 lest public opinion in Ireland should call to its aid the 
 ally of physical force, and forthwith tumble in one irre- 
 sistible avalanche on the British Constitution. He who 
 blenched not amid the smoke of a hundred fights, 
 trembled before the organized agitation of opinion. 
 
 To enter into an enumeration of the various indications 
 of Catholic Emancipation having been conceded grudg- 
 ingly, would fill more pages of this work than we can 
 afford to spare. Perhaps the most miserable display of 
 petty spite was that of refusing to let O'Connell take his 
 seat as Member for Clare, although authorized to do so by 
 the Act of Emancipation. There was also much ill- 
 natured feeling shown by rendering Catholics inadmis- 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 393 
 
 sible to participate in the honours of the University and 
 municipal corporations. 
 
 The friends of civil and religious liberty resolving to 
 push a wavering foe, assembled in the Rotunda on the 
 20th January, and gave intrepid expression to their sen- 
 timents. This was followed up on the 22nd inst. by a 
 banquet. Two hundred noblemen and gentlemen parti- 
 cipated in its sweets. At both demonstrations Lord 
 Cloncurry was present. 
 
 In March, 1829, when Emancipation became certain, 
 the leaders of the Catholic Association decided upon dis- 
 solving it. Previously to this step, however, a series of 
 resolutions, highly complimentary to Lord Cloncurry, 
 were passed with acclamation. These expressed the 
 grateful acknowledgments of the Catholics of Ireland 
 towards his lordship for the persevering support afforded 
 by him to their cause, and " looked back with pride on 
 the number of years wherein they had been cheered by 
 his countenance, oftentimes under circumstances of great 
 and trying difficulty. 1 ' 
 
 On the 13th April, 1829, the " Roman Catholic Re- 
 lief Bill," as our rulers contemptuously styled it, received 
 the royal reluctant assent.* The sweeping majority of 
 105 in the Lords, a few days previously, attested the extent 
 of that precipitate, panic-stricken impulse which eventu- 
 ated in its birth. The " virtuous horror" of the Orange 
 faction, when Catholic Emancipation became a matter of 
 strong probability, exceeds all belief or description. There 
 was something excessively ludicrous in it. Lord Kenyon, 
 in his address to his English Protestant brethren, besought 
 them, as Christians, as independent Britons, to look around 
 them. " Rescue your Sovereign," said his lordship, " and 
 
 * How inconsistent must not the joint behaviour of the Duke of Wellington 
 and Mr. Peel be considered. In January, Lord Anglesey is ignominiously 
 dismissed from office by Peel and Wellington, because, in addition to other 
 pro-Catholic tendencies, he encouraged Dr. Curtis to hope for a settlement 
 of the Catholic Question ; and in the ensuing March we find the same Duke 
 of Wellington and the same Mr. Peel bringing into Parliament the very 
 Relief Bill which Lord Anglesey and Dr. Curtis so eagerly desired to see. 
 Can there be a stronger proof adduced that the proceeding arose from fear and 
 not from love ? 
 
 s 2 
 
394 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 this free country from the foulest disgrace that can befall 
 this Protestant island. Rescue your King from a state by 
 which the succession of the Throne, in the House of 
 Brunswick, must, ere long, be endangered. I call on 
 you to come forth, to awake from your lethargy, and not 
 to allow the Papists to deprive our brethren in Ireland of 
 their freedom. If you awake not from your 
 
 slumbers, Protestantism will soon be extirpated from Ire- 
 land. My countrymen," said Lord Kenyon, in conclusion, 
 " now or never is the time for you to declare yourselves, 
 and prove yourselves true to your King, your country, and 
 your God." 
 
 In Ireland Protestant bigotry was not less active. The 
 great Brunswick meeting in Dublin came off, according 
 to the Evening Mail, with gorgeous eclat. Every gentle- 
 man present was bedizened from top to toe in ribands of 
 orange and blue ; and lest the flame of his malignity 
 should for one moment droop, exciting placards, of which 
 the following is a specimen, completely covered the walls 
 of the apartment : — 
 
 "XO POPERY! 
 " Protestants stand up in support of the Constitution ! 
 "Remember 1688 and 1798. 
 " Protestants, up now, or sink for ever !" * 
 
 At another meeting, the Lord Mayor in the chair, 
 Sir Abraham B. King declared that he and his friends 
 had not assembled to whine over the funeral pile of the 
 Constitution, but had come there, one and all, determined, 
 every man, to support with their lives (cries of yes ! yes !) 
 the Protestant Constitution in Church and State. 
 
 The Rev. Sir Harcourt Leesj conjured the Government 
 
 * Verbatim. See the Evening Post of February 19, 1829. 
 
 t We are tempted to give a verbatim copy of the petition. It will show to 
 what an extent Protestant fanaticism was carried in 1829. — " To the Right 
 Hon. the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled, — The 
 hnmble Petition of the Rev. Sir Harcourt Lees, of Black Rock, Co. Dublin, 
 Baronet, most humbly proclaims : — That petitioner, in the name, and in the 
 behalf of all the sound Protestants of Great Britain, most earnestly implore* 
 your Right Hon. House not to proceed to the last step towards passing the 
 dangerous and unconstitutional ' Romish Ascendancy BUI,' now under the 
 consideration of your House, until you hear petitioner at your bar disclose 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 395 
 
 to hear him at the bar of their Honourable House, where 
 he undertook to disclose Popish projects that would make* 
 the hair of every Hon. Member stand on end. A short 
 time before he proclaimed that Peel and Wellington had 
 been guilty of treason, in treacherously acceding to the 
 Catholic claims. 
 
 But to return to the Society for the Improvement of 
 Ireland, which in 1828 started into existence under the 
 auspices and direction of Lord Cloncurry. From that 
 period until the winter of 1830, this valuable and zealous 
 association of the friends of Ireland kept up, almost with- 
 out interruption, their weekly meetings at the Mansion 
 House. Politics still continued to be excluded, and the 
 best results were besrinnino" to be observable. O'Connell 
 at length sent in his adhesion, and from that time com- 
 menced addressing to the chairman and members some 
 very excellent speeches on the physical amelioration of 
 his country and the people. No ghost or goblin dire 
 could well have proved more appalling than did the 
 colossal form of the prime agitator to the High Church 
 members of the society, when he volunteered his services 
 in the advocacy of their demands. Messrs. Leader, La- 
 touche, and other highly respectable Protestants, one by 
 one dropped off; and to fill the vacuum caused by their 
 secession, some of O'Connelfs followers- dropped in. On 
 the 17th November, 1830, O'Connell openly proposed the 
 propriety of a positive admixture of politics in their dis- 
 cussions, declaring that without such their proceedings 
 were merely milk and water. Lord Cloncurry at once 
 concurred, and expressed his opinion that the society 
 should take a somewhat bolder stand than that previously 
 occupied, but at the same time strongly deprecated the 
 introduction of polemics into their councils. They ac- 
 
 the important information he received from a hired emissary of a treasonable 
 conspiracy existing in these British islands, in conjunction with the American 
 revolutionists, the objects contemplated being the possession of the Canadas 
 by General Jackson, the exciting a simultaneous insurrection in the north of 
 England and in Ireland, the extirpation of the Protestants, and the re- 
 establishment of Popery in the latter country. — And petitioner -will ever 
 pray, " Harcourt Lees/' 
 
396 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 cordingly did so. From that moment, however, the 
 Original founders of the society dropped out, the proceed- 
 ings were all down hill, and before the accession of the 
 Grey ministry to power, the Society for the Improvement 
 of Ireland had ceased to exist. 
 
 The manner in which Emancipation was granted pre- 
 vented it from proving a healing balsam for the wounds 
 of Ireland. The dullest intellect perceived at a glance 
 that the so-called " relief" came reluctantly from the hand 
 of his Grace. Observing this, Ireland manifested little 
 gratitude beyond a few congratulatory resolutions, passed 
 at a London meeting to compliment Lord Wellington. 
 O'Connell, in one of his addresses to the electors of Clare, 
 referred bitterly to the grudgingly conceded boon. " Pre- 
 cautions," said he, " are necessary against the insidious 
 policy of men, who, false to their own party, can never 
 be true to us, and who have yielded, not to reason, but 
 to necessity." 
 
 The consequence was that agitation, under the aus- 
 pices of O'Connell, recommenced with sullen but deter- 
 mined vigour. From the days of his youth O'Connell 
 rejoiced in being a staunch anti-unionist. So early as 
 the loth January, 1800, we find him hurling his massive 
 arguments from the steps of the Exchange against the 
 Union plot, which Clare and Castlereagh were then about 
 to unmask. 
 
 In 1830, Daniel O'Connell raised, for the first time, his 
 standard of " Repeal." It was like a match applied to a 
 train of gunpowder. The minds of the people fired at its 
 name. With a loud defiant stamp they proclaimed their 
 strength, and once more the organized agitation of opinion 
 shook the British throne. 
 
 In the midst of this excitement appeared a declaration 
 signed by the Duke of Leinster,* twenty-four Irish peers, 
 
 * Injustice to the Duke of Leinster we cannot omit the following pa- 
 negyric on his character, which appears in the report of Lord Cloncum '- 
 great Reform speech in 1831 : — "The Duke of Leinster, who is one of the 
 purest and best men I know of — who is descended from one of the first fami- 
 lies in Ireland — who is the nephew of Edward Fitzgerald — a man whom I 
 have ever loved, and I know who loves me, and who has suffered on my 
 
CLONCURRY-AND HIS TIMES. 397 
 
 seven baronets, and a column of gentry, expressive of 
 their conviction that Repeal was totally impracticable, 
 and that the agitation of it was peculiarly injurious to 
 the prosperity of Ireland, by diminishing public confi- 
 dence in her tranquillity. The declaration concluded 
 by saying that its subscribers, nevertheless, deemed it a 
 duty to declare that Parliament ought at once to tran- 
 quillize the country by adopting some measures calcu- 
 lated to ensure the general and permament improvement 
 of Ireland.* 
 
 From the thirty-two noble signatures we miss one influ- 
 ential member of the aristocracy — honest Lord Cloncurry. 
 That he had some shrewd reasons for declining to affix 
 his signature will be presently obvious. 
 
 The utmost excitement prevailed. With the excep- 
 tion of the last days of 1828, agitation was rarely ever at 
 a greater height. The pages of the liberal press daily 
 teemed with anti-union resolutions from men of every 
 grade and calling; and, while the Irish aristocracy 
 were publicly declaring this agitation to be most 
 injurious to national prosperity, and that Repeal 
 itself was a measure altogether impracticable of achieve- 
 ment, we find the propriety of conceding a modification 
 of the Union to have been actually under discussion by 
 the King's ministers. This is a little Cabinet secret which, 
 until the publication of these pages, was never before 
 made known to the public. 
 
 A portion of our grounds for the above assertion will 
 be found in the following private letter to Mr. Staunton. 
 As editor and proprietor, for more than twenty-five years, 
 of perhaps the best conducted paper in Ireland — the 
 Morning Register — Mr. Staunton was well known and 
 respected. The letter we allude to has been placed at 
 our disposal, with several others, by Mr. Staunton. 
 
 behalf — that man signed the declaration against the agitation of the Repeal 
 question ; he thought that the time was gone by for its agitation ; that a 
 good Government would render a domestic Parliament unnecessary, or that 
 the question should he postponed for future legislation upon it." 
 
 * As the assembly at which these resolutions were passed, was a strictly 
 private one, it earned for itself the contemptuous appellation of " Hole and 
 corner meeting" — a name which pertinaciously clung to it for many years 
 after. 
 
398 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 The Marquis of Anglesey, in his retirement among 
 the heights of Cannock Chase, in Staffordshire, main- 
 tained an anxious vigil over the destinies of Ireland. In 
 September, 1830, Lord Cloncurry received a friendly 
 invitation from his noble friend to spend some time with 
 him at Beaudesert. Cloncurry wrote to say that he 
 would accept the compliment, and at once commenced 
 preparations for departure. While at Beaudesert, near 
 Cannock Chase, he wrote the following letter to Mr. 
 Staunton. The " Hints to Hardinge," therein alluded to, 
 were a series of papers written in the Morning Register* 
 by its editor, and addressed to the newly appointed Chief 
 Secretary, Sir Henry Hardinge. Like Wakefield, Shef- 
 field, and many other thinking men, Mr. Staunton 
 warmly advocated that the Irish secretaryship should 
 be a permanent office. It generally happens that 
 this official no sooner begins to understand the multi- 
 farious duties of his situation, than we find him trans- 
 planted across the water, and an inexperienced green- 
 horn imported in his place. On the appointment of Lord 
 Melbourne, three years before, Mr. Staunton wrote a 
 popular series of articles, entitled " Lessons for Lamb," 
 with a view to aid him in obtaining that knowledge 
 which it was, as we believe, his wish as well as his duty 
 to acquire. A similar object gave birth to the " Hints 
 to Hardinge." Both works were subsequently reprinted 
 in two small volumes. 
 
 * The Westminster Review, speaking of the Morning Register, says : — " Its 
 editorial department had the aid of some of the best writers of the day ; and 
 a novelty in the Irish press was introduced by Mr. Staunton, in the shape of 
 an effective corps of reporters, modelled after the London system." Mr. 
 Staunton, at an early age, became attached to the literary corps of the 
 Freeman's Journal, in which capacity he soon greatly distinguished himself. 
 Solely aided by his talents, for family influence or interest he had none, Mr. 
 Staunton gradually rose, until the sole editorship of the Freeman became 
 invested in him. This he held, enjoying a salary of £500 a-year, until, 
 with a view of advancing himself in the world, he undertook the publication 
 of the Weekly Register, the first number of which appeared in 1815. Among 
 the young scribes whom Mr. Staunton collected around him during the 
 hey-day of the Morning Register, were several men who have since risen to 
 distinction — i. e,, C. G. Duffy, M.P., and editor of the Nation, Thomas 
 Davis, M.R.I. A., Carew O'Dwyer, late M. P. for Drogheda, John Quinlan, 
 Editor of the Evening Post, W. B. M'Cabe, editor of the Telegraph, and 
 author of various literary works. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 399 
 
 [No. 36.] LORD CLOXCURRY TO MR. STACXTOX. 
 
 [Franked by Lord Anglesey, "Lichfield, October 9th, 1830, to Michael 
 Staunton, Esq., Suffolk-street, Dublin. — Anglesey." Postmark — "Free."] 
 
 [" Confidential."] 
 
 u Beaudesert, Lichfield, October 9th, 1830. 
 
 "My dear Sir, — The excellent 'Hints to Hardinge' have followed me 
 from place to place through England, and I think they enabled me on 
 different occasions to make good battle for our unfortunate country. Nos. 
 7 and 8 I received here. They gave great pleasure and information to my 
 excellent host, than whom Ireland has not a truer friend, nor one more 
 likely to serve her. You will much oblige me by sending the preceding 
 numbers* to Lord Anglesey. If they, the ' Lessons for Lamb,' and your 
 other economico-statistic writings, could be had in pamphlet shape, they 
 woidd do more good than twenty meetings and fine speeches, even though 
 each meeting was to be followed by half a dozen duels. 
 
 "I assure you that I do not despair of some good being done for Ireland, 
 even this next session. / have met some of the working men much in the 
 Duke's^ confidence, and the subject even of a modification of the Union has 
 been discussed by ministers. It is, however, a total mistake to believe that 
 any treaty was on foot between Mr. Huskisson and the present ministers. 
 The contrary is the fact, and Mr. H. went to Liverpool for the express 
 purpose of attacking the Duke at the public dinner. No part of the present 
 opposition have any idea of joining under present circumstances. They look 
 upon the case as too forlorn. My excellent host could command almost 
 anything he pleased, did not a high and justly indignant feeling keep him 
 aloof. But he will shortly have the means of serving us, as you always 
 knew he had the inclination, and whilst he has leisure here, I would gladly 
 furnish him with any good information we could procure. Neither O'Connell 
 nor any other man alive is more averse to the Union than myself. In 1795 
 I published the first and I believe the worst pamphlet ever written on the 
 subject,! but, however faulty the style, the sentiment remains unchanged. 
 But, even with those feelings, / would not disdain urging such modification as 
 would give us rentage ground. It is generally acknowledged that the Duke 
 of Wellington added insult to injury in his manner of refusing us aid last 
 year. He should have professed sorrow at his inability to assist its, but if 
 we are united we will not want his aid. 
 
 " Will you give my regards to your excellent and talented neighbour, Mr. 
 Conway. His mention of '■our own Lord A{nglesea)' in the Evening Post 
 of 25th September, was grateful and well taken. The kind recollection of 
 the poor Irish delights his heart. Though as exempt from vanity as any 
 man I ever met, still dear bought and golden opinions are a reward and a 
 consolation in privacy, and at the moment of corporeal pain.§ 
 
 " I conclude by assuring you that I have the best hopes of our cause, and 
 that I think our best engine is the press. 
 
 " Most truly yours, 
 
 " Cloxcurry." 
 
 * 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.— C. 
 
 t Duke of "Wellington, then Prime Minister of England. 
 J " Thoughts on the projected Union." See page 97. 
 § Lord Anglesey was suffering much from lumbago at this period, and for 
 long afterwards. 
 
400 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 Lord Cloncurry alludes to the venerable statesman, 
 William Huskisson. He assures Mr. Staunton that the 
 report was wholly without foundation of any treaty being 
 on foot between him and the " Red-coated Cabinet," and 
 adds, that so far from making overtures to them, he went 
 to Liverpool for the express purpose of attacking Lord 
 Wellington at the public dinner. " Thereby hangs a 
 tale." On the 13th September, 1830, Mr. Huskisson 
 left London, in order to be present at the grand inaugural 
 opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, which 
 the Company resolved to celebrate by a banquet. On the 
 arrival of the train at Manchester, Mr. Huskisson left his 
 coupe for a few moments ; but, having incautiously stood 
 in the middle of the road, he was, without a moment's 
 warning, crushed to death beneath a ponderous steam- 
 engine. Thus perished the Right Hon. Wm. Huskisson, 
 and with him a host of projects, which, had he lived to 
 mature and carry out, could not fail to have been pro- 
 ductive of as beneficial results as the celebrated Free 
 Trade measures which, during the Canning Adminis- 
 tration, he brought before Europe. 
 
 Almost immediately after the above letter was written, 
 Lord Cloncurry took leave of his noble host, and wound 
 his way homewards. In the following communication 
 we find Mr. Staunton's "Hints to Hardinore" again 
 
 DO 
 
 referred to. " The domestic calamity" was the death of 
 his lordship's sister, Mrs. Whalley : — 
 
 [No. 37.] LORD CLONCURRY TO MR. STAUNTON. 
 
 " Maretimo, 22nd October. 
 
 " My dear Sir, — Whenever the letters appear in pamphlet form, I beg 
 you will reserve twelve copies for me. They are excellent, and free from all 
 violence or personality — rocks on which some friends of ours too often run, 
 and thereby injure the best and most sacred of causes, which in all other 
 respects they so ably support. I iutended calling in person to pay my 
 account, but am prevented by a domestic calamity. — Very truly yours, 
 
 "Cloncurry." 
 
 Next to O'Connell, perhaps the most active and intrepid 
 leader in the Catholic Association was "honest Jack 
 Lawless" — a title freely awarded to him by men of every 
 creed and party. He was a fluent and a graceful speaker, 
 
CLONCURXY AND HIS TIMES. 401 
 
 but scorned to cultivate the rhetorical flowers of Richard 
 Lalor Shiel ; he was a wit, but never could approach the 
 rich, mellow Irish humour of O'Connell, which took the 
 congenial hearts of his countrymen by storm. His elo- 
 quence, in a word, was energetic, forcible, and convincing. 
 After the achievement of Catholic Emancipation, those 
 friends of civil and religious liberty who knew Lawless's 
 heart to be in the right place resolved to present him 
 with a handsome mark of their esteem. In connexion 
 with this period of John Lawless's history, we find the 
 following letter from Lord Cloncurry among our papers. 
 It is addressed to Mr. Joseph Denis Mullen, the late 
 respected Governor of the Four Courts Marshalsea : — 
 
 [No. 38.] LORD CLONCURRY TO MR. J. D. MULLEN. 
 
 "Maretimo, 2nd March, 1830. 
 
 " My dear Sir, — I beg leave to enclose my contribution of £25 to the 
 fund for John Lawless.* As one of those Protestants who laboured earnestly 
 and incessantly in favour of my Roman Catholic countrymen, I do not feel at 
 all called upon to pay them for helping themselves, but I willingly proffer a 
 small mark of my respect for the urbanity and honesty of Mr. Lawless 
 throughout the entire contest. Avoiding all personality or acerbity, he 
 never forgot the gentleman or the citizen in the religionist ; he demanded 
 rights on principle, and refused to barter what was not his to give.f Whilst 
 I speak thus of the worthy individual, I must repeat my opinion, that no 
 sacrifice was too great for the unbounded benefit obtained. Each day proves 
 this ; the road to all that is desirable for Ireland lies before us ; let us work 
 together for our common country, and she must prosper. 
 
 " Some friends of liberty say that the Catholics are already become too 
 courtly, and that they may, with advantage, take a leaf from the book of the 
 honest Presbyterians of the North. Those who have long thirsted are fain 
 to drink deep. Let them beware a flap of the lid. The cornucopia of 
 corruption fortunately runs low. Loaves and fishes will only be had by the 
 honest and the useful. 
 
 " I take this opportunity, Sir, to thank you for the manly part you have 
 taken in the late discussions on the poor laws. It is a matter where feeling 
 and even justice must be tempered by discretion— it may, in our circum- 
 stances, be '•fiat justitia mat Hibernian To catch the heartless absentee, we 
 must not ruin the patriotic resident, more particularly if the adoption of a 
 cheap and beneficial substitute can justify the postponement of what, in 
 
 * " Honest Jack Lawless" was grandson to John Lawless of Shankhill 
 Castle (see page 12), and eldest son of Philip Lawless of Warrenmount. He 
 was a distant cousin of Lord Cloncurry's. The same year gave birth to both. 
 
 f This alludes to the intrepidity with which Mr. Lawless opposed the 
 Government proposal to grant Emancipation on condition that the Catholic 
 clergy were paid by the State, and the forty shilling freeholders dis- 
 franchised. 
 
402 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 strict equity, cannot be refused. I am convinced that, in the improvement 
 of our bogs and wastes, ample provision can be obtained for more than 
 twenty years for the unemployed and destitute, by the creation of new wealth, 
 at a cost of not sixpence to the nation. 
 
 " To return to our honest friend, John Lawless, I hope he may long con- 
 tinue to serve the public by speech and by pen ; but I trust he may never 
 again have occasion to draw that sword, which, at Ballybay, appears to have 
 confounded the hero of Waterloo, and achieved a victory far more valuable 
 than those for which the nation has paid so dearly to his great rival. 
 
 " Your faithful Servant, 
 
 " Cloxcurry." 
 
 Mr. John Lawless's ovation at Ballybay requires some 
 explanation. It was customary with the Catholic Asso- 
 ciation to send Lawless periodically on missions to the 
 distant parts of Ireland, in order to animate the lukewarm to 
 exertion, and to see that the moral organization grew. On 
 his arrival at Clogher, preparations appeared to be making 
 by the Orange faction for a hostile party demonstration 
 on the principle of Dolly's Brae. Lawless exhorted the 
 people to avoid giving provocation, but, at the same 
 time, assured them that they were not bound by any 
 law, human or divine, to stand up as targets for Bruns- 
 wickers to fire at. Before the lapse of an hour, the 
 apprehended attack commenced, but the people, having 
 kept together, returned it with interest; and from that 
 day the factious flag of Orangeism was never raised in 
 that part of Tyrone. 
 
 The great Lawless demonstration at Ballybay took 
 place in 1828, when Catholic agitation had reached the 
 zenith of its strength. The ascendancy party having 
 boasted that a dozen co-operators in the Popish work 
 could not be found in the North, vauntingly declared 
 that Orange covered the length and breadth of Ulster, and 
 that, if any green did exist, it was invisible. To test the 
 truth of this allegation, Mr. Lawless left Dublin; and 
 before he had far advanced into the North, found himself 
 at the head of 140,000 men. The Brunswickers, armed 
 to the teeth, posted themselves in great strength at Bal- 
 lybay. These were soon joined by the royal troops, 
 under General Thornton, who, having reconnoitred the 
 number of his opponents, decided upon negotiating, and 
 accordingly rode out to meet " honest Jack Lawless." 
 
CLONCURRT AND HIS TIMES. 403 
 
 They conferred together for some time, and the result 
 was, that Lawless induced the people to separate and 
 quietly return home. " General Thornton's report of the 
 events of that day," observes an American writer, " was 
 mainly relied upon by the Duke of Wellington in the 
 House of Lords, as his justification for granting Catholic 
 Emancipation the following year." 
 
 In the summer of 1830 we find Lord Cloncurrv in a 
 new character — the munificent encourager of the litera- 
 ture of his country. On June 17, he addressed a mani- 
 festo from Lyons to the literary men of Ireland, offering 
 two prizes of £100 each for the best original essays, to be 
 produced before the 1st June, 1831, on — First, " Absen- 
 teeism : the Union reconsidered after thirty years." Second, 
 u The Population and Territory of Ireland, with a view to 
 Improvement." Dr. Sadlier, Provost of Trinity College, 
 Dublin, and Chief Baron Smith, were appointed judges. 
 Several manuscripts were sent in. The judges examined 
 them carefully, and the £200 was finally awarded to Mr. 
 W. Stanley, the present Secretary to the Poor Law Com- 
 missioners. 
 
 The year 1830 was one of sad distress in Ireland. 
 From Emancipation the wealthy Catholics derived much 
 benefit, but the people little or none. The greatest 
 dearth of food prevailed, not only in the western, but in 
 the midland counties. The wisdom of Lord Cloncurry's 
 project for establishing inland navigation was felt by 
 men who, in the first instance, scoffed at its prospects, 
 and many weie heard to regret that Government did not 
 extend to it a helping hand. When appealed to for aid 
 in 1830, the Duke of Wellington, as Prime Minister, 
 flippantly declared, that as starvation was quite periodical 
 in Ireland, no measures for its relief were in contempla- 
 tion. That this distress was attributable to governmental 
 mismanagement, few will deny. In the midst of it addi- 
 tional imposts were levied. The annual grant to Kildare- 
 place still continued. It had now received out of taxes 
 extorted from an impoverished people, upwards of 
 £250,000, and it must be recollected that since the year 
 1821 the same people had ceased to participate in the 
 
404 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 advantages — if such they may be called — of the Bible- 
 without-note-or-comment system of education. 
 
 In the autumn of 1830 Lord Cloncurry published, 
 through the medium of the Morning Register, his series 
 of letters addressed to the Irish Members of Parliament. 
 They were productive of good results, and secured to the 
 noble lord, if possible, an increased share of popular con- 
 fidence and love. " You have to plead the cause of your 
 country," said he, in his Introductory Letter, " before an 
 unwilling audience — apathetic, if not hostile ; ignorant, 
 if not prejudiced. In the very act of electing you, the 
 people of Ireland have proved their lively sense of the 
 indifference and neglect with which they have ever been 
 treated in the English Parliament ; and you are called 
 upon to raise your voices to a tone somewhat louder than 
 entreaty ; to a tone that will command attention, however 
 ungraciously it may be yielded. 
 
 " The liberty of this address, coming from a peer, may 
 seem anomalous and unconstitutional ; but it is known 
 that the peers of Ireland having sold their birthright, 
 are as a dead body, and can only be reanimated through 
 the process of corruption, or the trump of a private 
 secretary, whose selections have been hitherto unfortu- 
 nate, if we may judge from the conduct of our representa- 
 tives in the Upper House.* An humble member of the 
 peerage, but one who has never for a moment faltered in 
 identifying himself with the people — one who knows 
 them, and who is known to them — addresses you at a 
 moment as interesting and important as has occurred in 
 the history of this ill-fated country." 
 
 Having preambled thus far, Lord Cloncurry threw out 
 some excellent original suggestions for Irish remedial 
 measures, and worthy of the most serious attention of the 
 legislature. These he followed up in some succeeding 
 letters. The press awarded them an extensive meed of 
 praise. They were written, if we mistake not, during 
 his sojourn with Lord Anglesey. 
 
 * His lordship little thought, when penning this paragraph, that less than 
 a year would see himself an English peer, and a member of the Upper 
 House. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 405 
 
 After long and anxious watching, incessant preaching, 
 and untiring perseverance, Lord Cloncurry at length 
 perceived advancing, in 1830, the vanguard of that 
 powerful moral organization — the National System of 
 Education. For its establishment he laboured long and 
 ardently. 
 
 His lordship, in a public letter, dated Dec. 17, 1830, 
 refers to this happy consummation of his toils. It is 
 addressed to Mr. William Fitzpatrick (not the author of 
 this work, whose age was only nine weeks at the time), 
 but to the Secretary of St. Bridget's Orphan Society. 
 " I know nothing," said his lordship, " more deserving 
 our anxious attention than the education of youth — a 
 blessing so long withheld by law from Ireland, and, 
 down to the present year, so cruelly paralysed by suc- 
 cessive Administrations, and by the injustice of entrusting 
 to prejudice and bigotry the national fund, which should 
 be equally and honestly distributed for the benefit of the 
 people. I believe, however, that I may now safely con- 
 gratulate the founders of all our useful schools, the bene- 
 volent promoters of charity, and, above all, O'Connell, 
 your excellent president (long my fellow-labourer in the 
 cause), that the reign of proscription is at an end; and 
 that in education, as in every other measure likely to 
 benefit the country, honesty, impartiality, and fair play 
 may reasonably be expected.'' 
 
 In December, 1830, the Wellington Administration 
 fell, after a talkative resistance, and tottered out with the 
 old year. Earl Grey became Premier, and Lord An- 
 glesey was, to his no small satisfaction, apprised that the 
 reins of Irish Government awaited his grasp. The noble 
 Marquis bowed, and expressed himself but too happy to 
 resume his old position amongst a people whom he 
 loved. 
 
 The usual appointments were announced in a few days. 
 Lord Plunket became Irish Chancellor;* Mr. Joy, Chief 
 
 * Sir Antony Hart, a most popular Chancellor, was dismissed, against, as 
 has recently transpired, Lord Anglesey's express desire. 
 
406 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 Baron; Mr. Doherty, Chief Justice;* and Counsellors 
 Blackburne and Crampton, Attorney and Solicitor-Ge- 
 neral. Nothing could exceed in vigour and intensity 
 the storm of popular indignation which swept through 
 the country, as soon as. the names of the promoted were 
 officially announced. Lord Anglesey's popularity became 
 seriously damaged. His principal offence consisted in 
 promoting Mr. John Doherty to the vacant Chief Jus- 
 ticeship of the Common Pleas.f This gentleman had, on 
 various occasions, made himself extremely obnoxious to 
 the national party in Ireland. Between O'Connell and 
 him a deathless enmity, of many years' standing, had 
 existed — originally called into life, we believe, during 
 some forensic cross-fires in which Mr. Doherty came 
 off considerably the worse. At the celebrated trials of 
 the Doneraile conspirators, the previous year, their old 
 wounds were roughly re-opened, as any reader of Mr. 
 D. O. Maddyn'sJ amusing sketch of the " Set-to between 
 O'Connell and Doherty" will understand. If O'Connell 
 was the idol of the people, it may well be imagined in 
 what light the sworn and determined enemy of that idol 
 was regarded by them. 
 
 With respect to the appointment of Mr. Joy, when 
 the reader is informed that he (Joy) has been pronounced 
 to have been " one of the bitterest bigots ever nurtured 
 by Irish Toryism,"§ it will not be supposed that the popu- 
 lace were much gratified by the selection. Joy, however, 
 was a sound and practical lawyer, which Doherty was 
 not. Few men elevated to the bench within the last 
 half century — even " Union judges" — were more noto- 
 riously incompetent for the office than Mr. John Doherty. 
 
 * Mr. O'Callaghan, author of the " Irish Brigade," speaking of the judicial 
 promotion of Mr. Doherty, says that " he had no claim to such advancement 
 but that of his having been the miserable parliamentary tool, the senatorial 
 cur dog, employed by the Tories to annoy Mr. O'Connell, as the representative 
 of the Irish people, during the interval between Emancipation and the acces- 
 sion of the Whigs to office." 
 
 t John Toler, Earl of Norbury, had just retired. 
 
 X " Ireland and its Rulers since 182L>," voL i. page 81. 
 
 § " Ireland and its Rulers," vol. i. page 58. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 407 
 
 The term " briefless barrister" has often been applied to 
 men with far more pretensions to forensic knowledge and 
 practice.* In fact, " Long Jack Doherty from Borris- 
 okane," as O'Connell loved to designate him, was remark- 
 able for little beyond the liveliness of his anecdotes, and 
 his own personal stature of six feet two. 
 
 Ireland knew well that the Liberal bar in 1830 pos- 
 sessed men of the first rank in the profession. The names 
 of Perrin, Wallace, (JLoghlen, Pigot, Holmes, and 
 Finlay, were well known and revered. That the Whigs 
 should have passed such men over in contemptuous 
 silence, and selected from the ranks of Orangeism an 
 inexperienced barrister for the dignity of the bench — 
 that the new Government, we say, should have stooped 
 to this, surprised as many, in 1830, as a similar act, at the 
 present day, would probably fail to do. 
 
 The elevation of Mr. Blackburne to the Attorney- 
 Generalship was likewise a source of popular irritation. 
 As a staunch Tory, it surprised all parties that he should 
 have been selected by a Whig Government for promotion. 
 Mr. Crampton, the Solicitor-General, was, we believe, a 
 sort of undecided Whig. 
 
 The odium of those very unpopular appointments fell 
 upon Lord Anglesey. People jumped at the conclusion 
 that he, as a matter of course, had the nomination of the 
 staff of Irish officials. It has within the last few years 
 transpired, that his Excellency, in so far as Doherty was 
 concerned, merely bowed acquiescence to the wishes of 
 Earl Grey(!) He thought to form a medley Govern- 
 ► ment, but failed most miserably in the attempt. After 
 superintending the progress of the cookery for some 
 days, Lord Grey at length found that the proportions 
 were about one-fourth Liberal and three-fourths Conser- 
 
 * The following epigrammatic lines, in reference to this extraordinary pro- 
 motion, appeared in one of the journals of the day : — 
 
 " In debate, for a Sampson may Doherty pass, 
 For the weapon of both was the jcnc of an ass ; 
 But, how happy it is to have interest and friends, 
 Since the likeness between them no farther extends. 
 The Jew lost his power with the hair of his head. 
 But the Gentile gained his by a wig in its stead." 
 
408 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 vative. In short, Toryism immensely and alarmingly 
 predominated. It was admitted by the noble Marquis 
 to Lord Cloncurry, during one of their many tete-a-tete 
 conversations, that Lord Grey's great object was to tran- 
 quillize, by genial appointments, the old Ascendancy 
 party, who had regarded him (Lord A.) with an eye of 
 the fiercest malignity since his avowed pro- Catholic ten- 
 dencies in 1828. They, however, over-did the thing. 
 It was, as events afterwards proved, only out of the 
 frying-pan into the fire ; or, to use more classical language, 
 whilst endeavouring to avoid Scylla, Lord Anglesey 
 wrecked himself upon Charibdis. He arrived in Ireland 
 on December 23, 1830, to occupy for the second time 
 the viceregal throne. But, oh, how different was his 
 reception during the last days of 1830, and the first days 
 of 1829 ! The reader will recollect what a tempest of 
 enthusiasm greeted the good Viceroy on the 19th of 
 January, in that year, when obeying the summons of 
 Arthur Duke of Wellington. Peals of derisive cheers 
 now heralded his approach. The booming of the royal 
 cannon almost fell into nothingness before the tempest. 
 Groans rent the air, and denunciations of " Long Jack 
 Doherty" resounded on every side. 
 
 Poor Lord Anglesey braved this storm of wrath 
 heroically. His friends apprised him several days in 
 advance of the reception he might expect. What he 
 thought of it, and how he intended to act, appear in the 
 following letter to Lord Cloncurry, and published in the 
 " Personal Recollections:" — 
 
 [Xo. 39.] THE MARQUIS OF ANGLESEY TO LORD CLONCURRY. 
 
 "Beaudesert, Dec. 19$, 1830. 
 
 " My dear Lord Cloncurry, — * * * I am perfectly prepared for 
 the worst that may happen, and shall present myself amongst you in all the 
 consciousness of not deserving unkindness, whatever may be my lot ; for if 
 ever there was a sacrifice made for the benevolent intention of conferring 
 a public benefit, I am making such a sacrifice. It seems, however, that I 
 have miscalculated my means ; and consequently the public, as well as 
 myself, must suffer for the indiscretion. * * * l I have set my life upon 
 a cast, and I must stand the hazard of the die.' This is not obstinacy — it 
 i6 a fatality. I have had various kind and even affectionate letters, warning 
 me of what I may expect, and suggesting to me the landing where I am not 
 expected, and proceeding quietly and secretly to Dublin. They might just 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 409 
 
 as well propose to me to consent to mount a balloon for the purpose of 
 seeking the moon. No ! "no ! I will land at Kingstown, and proceed un- 
 ostentatiously to the Castle. * * * What I insist upon is this (and I 
 charge you, my dear Lord, very particularly on this subject), let no friend 
 of mine come forward, and mix himself up with my unpopularity — what a 
 term for me to make use of amongst Irishmen ! ! ! Let me alone. I shall 
 like to meet their hostile ebullitions alone and unattended. Even my 
 curiosity is excited. I am anxious to see the thing. It will be curious to 
 contrast the first days of 1829 with the last days of 1880 — and the whole 
 change of sentiment to be on the plea of a solitary law appointment ! 
 Amazing ! Yet such is human nature. But I have done. In three words 
 you will understand me. My desire is, neither to attract notice, nor to 
 avoid it; and most particularly that not one single friend shall put himself 
 fonvard to share with me the fortunes of the day ; and, therefore, my dear 
 good Lord, stay at home, and you shall hear that I am not less patient and 
 enduring with a hostile and deluded people, than I am feelingly alive to the 
 cheers of an affectionate one. 
 
 " Ever yours, 
 
 " Anglesey." 
 
 Lord Cloncurry, however, bore too strong an affection 
 for Lord Anglesey to remain in the back ground. Like 
 a pilot weathering the strength of a storm, he rode at 
 the head of the procession, and, in consequence, came in, 
 as might have been supposed, for some bitter side-winds 
 of popular indignation. 
 
 Poor Lord Anglesey ! If ever man deserved commi- 
 seration it was he. During the entire period of his second 
 viceroy alty the Orange press ceased not to assail him ; 
 while O'Connell, on the other hand, as the mouthpiece 
 of an angered people, spoke what he felt, and that in no 
 very courteous language either. 
 
 Lord Anglesey foimd, on his arrival, the voice of the 
 people loud for Repeal. The recent anti-Repeal decla- 
 ration had in nowise damped the popular ardour. It sti- 
 mulated O'Connell to increased exertion. He conjured 
 Cloncurry to join the ranks of the people, and with his 
 influential voice to swell the vociferous demand for legis- 
 lative independence. But the old lord would not, much 
 to the chagrin of Daniel O'Connell. 
 
 His reasons appear to have been as follow : — He had 
 great hopes that this, the second Administration of Lord 
 Anglesey, would do great things for Ireland. He wished 
 to listen patiently and respectfully to the intentions of 
 ministers towards this country, and their proposed plans 
 
 T 
 
410 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 for our relief (which the ensuing session of Parliament 
 would probably develope), ere he consented to pursue 
 any course calculated to add to the embarrassment and 
 difficulty of their situation.* " The present Government," 
 said his lordship, " is the best I ever saw in power — in 
 fact the only one from which I ever hoped good for 
 Ireland." We do not wonder that Lord Cloncurry re- 
 posed considerable confidence in the good intentions of 
 the Viceroy. His Excellency's antecedents — with the 
 exception of the Doherty appointment — would seem to 
 justify it. But, nevertheless, it struck hundreds of 
 Irishmen as a little inconsistent, that while no anti-Union 
 agitation prevailed, Lord Cloncurry should have been 
 always speaking and writing in advocacy of Repeal; 
 but when the subject was really snatched up in the 
 powerful grasp of O'Connell, he would damp his ardour 
 by not only holding himself aloof from the national 
 councils, but in condemning the movement as indiscreet 
 and ill-timed. 
 
 This he did. O'Connell had no mercv on Lord 
 Anglesey, and spoke of his Government contemptuously. 
 Cloncurry " took up the cudgels" for his noble friend, 
 and maintained a dignified reserve towards O'Connell, 
 who retaliated by condemning the " grossly inconsistent" 
 conduct of Lord Cloncurry. Previously, however, to 
 this, Messrs. Hull and Reynolds, at the request of 
 O'Connell, addressed a private letter to his lordship, re- 
 
 * O'Connell himself, six years later, pursued a not unsimilar course. In 
 the Queen's ministry he repose unbounded confidence. Better intentioned 
 men towards Ireland never, he thought, legislated in Downing-street. 
 Everybody knows that for thirty years he agitated earnestly. But in 1837 
 he deemed it more expedient not to embarrass with importunity so benevo- 
 lent a Government. At this juncture Sharman Crawford addressed four 
 able letters to O'Connell. He described him as having more power than 
 ever was possessed by monarch, and called on him to use his influence for 
 the purpose of pressing forward the measures which he himself so powerfully 
 advocated. " Having the vast power he possessed," observes his biographer 
 (Mr. Fagan), " tee do think OConne II placed too much confidence in the good in- 
 tentions of the Government." Again, he says, p. 654, " O'Connell, in order still 
 further to testify his confidence in the Queen's Government, moved and 
 carried on the 1st of November the demolition of the General Association." 
 \mple particulars concerning this formidable confederacy will be found in 
 their proper place. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 411 
 
 questing him to occupy the chair at a great Repeal 
 meeting then about to come off. Lord Cloncurry pub- 
 lished the letter together with his reply. This proceeding 
 gave great offence to O'Connell, as he had no wish that 
 the world should be acquainted with any of the respect- 
 fully declined invitations connected with his meeting, 
 and accordingly he addressed to Cloncurry three long epis- 
 tles through the medium of the public press, animadver- 
 sive on his lordship's then political line of conduct, and full 
 of copious reference to the unfortunate letter written in 
 1824, which called upon him (O'Connell) to abandon the 
 pursuit of Catholic Emancipation, and raise an organized 
 shout for Legislative Independence. Over and over in 
 this series of letters O'Connell besought his lordship to 
 fling himself repentant into the ranks of a warm-hearted 
 people once more — assured him that a " cead mille a 
 failthe" awaited him, and that, if he would only consent 
 to lend his countenance to their labours, Repeal wn^ 
 certain. 
 
 It would appear from some observations which fell 
 from Lord Cloncurry at a meeting, convened in Dublin 
 on April 28, 1840, for the purpose of opposing Lord 
 Stanley's bill, that his lordship had actually begun to 
 waver as to whether he would join O'Connell in the 
 Repeal agitation, when Lord Anglesey confirmed him in 
 the course he would pursue by exclaiming, during one of 
 their closet conferences, " Now, Cloncurry, will you give 
 me a trial, and if I don't do what is right for Ireland, I 
 will join you in the Repeal question?" " It's a bargain, 
 I said I." We quote the dialogue verbatim from his lord- 
 ship's speech. 
 
 The first of O'Conneli's series of letters to Lord Clon- 
 curry began and terminated as follows : — 
 
 [No. 40.] TO LORD CLOXCURRY. 
 
 " ' Open your mcmth, and shut your eyes, 
 
 And Heaven will love you and send you a prize.'— Old Wife's Sung. 
 
 " Merrio?i-$quare, 12th January, 1831. 
 
 " My Lord, — Having been one of the persons who appointed Messrs. 
 Browne, Hull, and Reynolds to inquire, in a respectful manner, whether you 
 
412 CLONCTJRRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 would preside over a meeting of Irishmen, to petition for the Repeal of the 
 Union, 1 am authorized, by your lordship's conduct on that occasion, to 
 address you through the public papers. I should not take this liberty if you 
 had not felt yourself justified in publishing the correspondence on that occa- 
 sion. You published it without the assent of Mr. Browne, or of any of us, and 
 plainly with a view to disparage the intended meeting, at which you had 
 been courteously invited to preside. 
 
 " I do not, my Lord, arraign your conduct in so publishing it. That is a 
 subject on which I am not now called on to give any opinion. But I do 
 insist that I have a right, without any disrespect, to canvass the sentiments 
 contained in your letter, to discuss the advice you have volunteered, and to 
 consider whether you pursue a course to be followed, or afford an example to 
 be avoided. 
 
 " My Lord, I can do all this, not only in an amicable spirit, but preserving 
 that respectful deference to which you are so justly entitled. There are 
 many reasons why the people of Ireland should listen to advice coming from 
 you. There are, indeed, more than I could enumerate. But I feel pleasure 
 in recounting some of them. 
 
 " First — Although belonging of right to the aristocracy, you have never 
 preferred ' your order ' to the good of the people. You have never taken 
 part against them, and whilst others of our lordly advisers Avere familiar with 
 the use of the torturing triangle, the slashing sword, and the gallows, you, 
 my Lord, were mitigating the horrors of a dismal period, and uniting in sym- 
 pathy with a tortured and maddened nation. 
 
 " Second — Your sincerity in the cause of the people was recognized and 
 proved by their enemies. They immured you, on suspicion of being suspected 
 of loving Ireland too well, within the walls of a gloomy prison, where for 
 many, many long months you had, when the warm blood of youth boiled in 
 your Irish veins, to endure the emaciating torture of solitude, or the more 
 disgusting association of the beastly keepers of an English dungeon. 
 
 " Third — In a country in which, according to Lord Redesdale, ' there was 
 one law for the rich and another for the poor, and both were equally ill- 
 administered, ' you, of all the justices hi Ireland, vindicated for yourself, by 
 your strict impartiality and discreet wisdom, the glorious title of the ' Poor 
 man's magistrate.' You bear that title during your life, and when — oh, may 
 the period be remote — you descend to your honoured grave, the sublime, but 
 simple epitaph, will be engraved on your tomb, amidst a nation's tears — 
 1 The poor man's magistrate.' 
 
 " Fourth — You have been always, as you are, a resident landlord. You 
 had and have too much conscience, humanity, and honesty, to spend amongst 
 strangers the money produced by Irish land and Irish labour. Your conduct 
 to your tenants has, more than once, preserved your estates in perfect tran- 
 quilhty, Avhilst the surrounding country was blazing with the midnight con- 
 flagration, and stained with human blood. You never were an absentee. 
 
 " These are powerful claims on the admiration, confidence, and affection of 
 your countrymen ; an affection which is enhanced even by the rarity of objects 
 deserving of it. 
 
 " You have, indeed, suffered persecution for Ireland, and ought, therefore, 
 to love her ; you have been, as it were, outlawed in your caste, and one Lord 
 Chancellor has persecuted a most amiable and exemplary person, because 
 she was most justly dear to you. The military glory of Lord Wellington — 
 of that littlest, allow the word, of great men — descended to scold a Lord 
 Lieutenant for presuming to entertain you, and a most valuable Lord Chan- 
 
CLONCURRY AXD HIS TIMES. 413 
 
 cellor has been threatened with dismissal for the crime of sharing the elegant 
 hospitality of your mansion. 
 
 " All these are claims which you have on the love and confidence of the 
 Irish people. You have been persecuted simply because you had the audacity 
 to love Ireland ; for — 
 
 ' It is treason to love her, and death to defend.' 
 
 u With all these claims, it is my duty to proclaim how much you deserve 
 the gratitude and affection of your countrymen. It is also my painful duty 
 to add, that whilst they recognize the patriotism and purity of your inten- 
 tions, they cannot place confidence in the wisdom of your counsels." 
 
 [Here a large portion of the letter is devoted to animadversion on the 
 policy of Lord Cloneurry's advice in 1824. " If we had followed it," wrote 
 O'Connell, " the Protestant Dissenters of England would still labour under 
 degradation — the Catholics of Ireland would still be unemancipated."] 
 
 " I will close this first address with your letter. I pray you, my Lord, 
 read it attentively, and see whether the man who wrote it can stand excused 
 for endeavouring to palsy the efforts of his countrymen in the sacred cause 
 of legislative independence. ****** 
 
 * * ******** 
 
 " I will not weaken the effect of your powerful letter with one single 
 observation of mine • but I cannot close this, my first letter to you, without 
 imploring you to believe that no man holds you personally in higher respect 
 and regard than I do — no man is more solicitous than I am to have you 
 uphold a character for patriotic consistency. I hope I shall preserve itnim- 
 paired in your mind the conviction, that if I address to you unpleasant 
 truths, I do so without any intentional disrespect, and only out of my un- 
 feigned love for Ireland. 
 
 " Return to us, Lord Cloncurry ; you are too good, too Irish, too honest, 
 to belong to -any Englishman or Englishmen. Come back to your own 
 principles. He who sleeps now, is dead. Revive, my Lord, revive. If you 
 join us now, the Repeal of the Union is inevitable. The fate of Ireland is 
 now in your hands. Take your natural, your proper station, as leader. Oh, 
 your destiny is glorious, if you do not sport with it unwisely, or fling it at 
 the feet of courtiers and strangers. Take the lead now, and Ireland will 
 have another tearless, stainless, bloodless revolution ; a revolution ecmally 
 beneficial to the stability of the throne and the prosperity of the people. 
 
 " I have the honour to be, your respectful Servant, 
 
 " Daniel O'Connell." 
 
 A few days afterwards the coping-stone was placed on 
 the tottering fabric of Lord Anglesey's popularity, by the 
 introduction of an Act manifestly intended as the ex- 
 tinguisher for Repeal. Proclamation after proclamation 
 for the subversion of O'Connell's power appeared ; all of 
 which he dexterously contrived to elude with the ex- 
 ception of the sixth, which was so cautiously worded 
 that not one loop-hole could be found by him who sub- 
 sequently boasted his capability of driving a coach-and-six 
 
414 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 through, all judge-made law. " The Man of the People" 
 was accordingly placed under arrest, brought before 
 Alderman Darley, the informations read, and requested 
 to produce bail — himself in £1,000 and two sureties in 
 £500 each. 
 
 The statute which succeeded in grasping O'Connell 
 went by the name of Algerine Act. Under it the Lord 
 Lieutenant had full power to suppress, as illegal, any 
 association having, in his judgment, the remotest tendency 
 towards a violation of the public peace. Sullenly de- 
 manding Repeal, the people surged in masses. A procla- 
 mation appeared. O'Connell had recourse to the old 
 expedient of changing the name and remodelling the 
 structure of his national confederacy ; but all to no effect. 
 The Algerine Act was too many for him. "From the 
 comments of the press on these transactions," observes 
 Fagan's " Life of Daniel O'Connell," "it is evident the 
 feeling prevailed, that the struggle was one directly be- 
 tween despotism on the one hand, and liberty on the 
 other." It is now known for certain that Lord Anglesey 
 was well-intentioned towards Ireland; but in 1830 this 
 feeling did not generally prevail. The Doherty appoint- 
 ment and the prosecution of O'Connell cannot be said to 
 have indicated a disposition to please the people, although 
 Lord Anglesey probably considered both courses un- 
 avoidable. Be this as it may, we are not much surprised 
 that O'Connell should have sorrowed at a change having 
 come over, as he thought, the spirit of the Viceroy's 
 dream. 
 
 Poor Lord Cloncurry had a difficult card to play. He 
 knew his Excellency — what the public did not — to be 
 full of the best intentions towards Ireland. Sooner or 
 later they would, he was sure, be carried into effect. 
 Anglesey, in the privacy of the closet, opened his mind 
 to Cloncurry. He told liim to wait awhile and see what 
 he would do for Ireland. 
 
 O'Connell, stung by a prosecution which he neither 
 expected nor deserved, violently denounced Lord Anglesey, 
 and bitterly satirized Lord Cloncurry for daring to con- 
 tinue on terms of such close intimacy with so unpopular 
 
CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 415 
 
 a Viceroy.* Cloncurry felt his own popularity on the 
 ebb. The reflection galled him acutelv. It smarted him 
 in the marrow of his bones. He was extremely unhappy. 
 Since his imprisonment in the Tower, as he acknowledged 
 years after, he had never felt more so. To attempt to con- 
 vince O'Connell, or the mass of people whom he wielded. 
 of Lord Anglesey's good intentions was hopeless. They 
 could not understand Lord Cloncurry 's sanguine expec- 
 tations, and sneered at him as a duped and hoodwinked 
 man. Cloncurry had several good things in view for 
 poor Ireland. One in particular he never for a moment 
 lost sight of — the establishment of a National System of 
 education. The necessity of this he continually impressed 
 « upon Lord Anglesey. 
 
 After the lapse of a few months, Irishmen beheld all 
 the necessary arrangements for this great organization 
 perfected. Lord Cloncurry was appointed Chairman of 
 the Commissioners of Education. So the second vicc- 
 
 * It may readily be supposed that Lord Cloncurry did not feel particularly 
 grateful to O'Connell for all this. We rind by Moore's Diary, p. 176. vol. vL 
 that his lordship took occasion to provoke a laugh or two at O'Connell's 
 expense. In his Diary of 18tk_Feb. 1831, Torn Moore speaks of having 
 dined at the Castle "with Lord Anglesey, who, in the course of the evening, 
 became conversible : — "Told me not a bad anecdote of Lord Cloncurry. ' 
 writes Moore, " who, in coming to town the other day, was upset in the 
 snow, and some fellows on the road lending their assistance, he was quickly 
 set right again, on which he said to them, ' Thank you. my lads. Xow I 
 shall treat you as O'Connell does.' ' Oh, long life to your honour for that.' 
 they exclaimed, with great joy, but were rather taken aback when Lord 
 Cloncurry, holding out his empty hand to them, said, ' I'll trouble each of 
 you for half-a-erown. O'Connell takes more from you. but as you have been 
 such good fellows I'll only ask half-a-crown.' The fellows felt the fun of 
 this, and. of course, got something else into the bargain. * * * * Sawplainly 
 he (Lord A.) Avas very nervous about the state of Ireland." Pity that Lord 
 John Russell should have suppressed the interesting conversation between 
 Moore and Lord Anglesey on the excited state of public feeling in February, 
 1831. Four stars is but a sorrv substitute. Lord Cloncurry. in realitv. 
 however, entertained a most kindly feeling towards O'Connell, notwithstand- 
 ing the sledge-hammer blows of abuse which fell upon him (Lord C.) daily. 
 He fought noblv behind the curtain for O'Connell at this juncture. Mr. 
 Attorney-General Blaekbume insisted upon prosecuting him. Lord Clon - 
 curry strongly opposed the law officer's opinion, and defended O'Connell with 
 the energy of an advocate. Words grew high, and Cloncurry and Black- 
 burne fell out. The altercation, if such it may be called, took place in pre- 
 sence of Lord Anglesey. 
 
416 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 royalty of Lord Anglesey was not altogether unproductive 
 of fruit. In England his Excellency's colleagues were 
 up and doing. The two great measures — Parliamentary 
 Reform and the Abolition of Slavery — were carried amid 
 the lusty plaudits of a grateful nation. 
 
 It is, we believe, not generally known that Lord 
 Anglesey kept a back-stairs cabinet, composed of Mr. 
 Anthony Blake, the Lion. George Villars, now Earl of 
 Clarendon, Mr. W. H. Curran (Commissioner of Insol- 
 vency), and though last not least, Lord Cloncurry. The 
 Viceroy entertained the highest opinion of the soundness 
 of Cloncurry 's views, and on almost every hand's turn 
 summoned him to his councils. Indeed, as we learn from 
 his " Personal Recollections," so often, and at such un- 
 certain times was this assistance called for, that it was 
 customary with him to have post-horses constantly ready 
 at Lyons, in order that he might be enabled instantly to 
 obey his E :cellency's summons. 
 
 Throughout the year 1831, Lord Cloncurry was active 
 in organizing an Irish reforming party. He convened 
 four meetings for the purpose, of which two were in the 
 County Kildare, and two in Dublin. On each occasion 
 the Duke of Leinster co-operated with him zealously. 
 A portion of his lordship's speech at the last of the series, 
 that on December 5, 1831, we transcribe : — " I am a sup- 
 porter of his Majesty's ministers," said he, " not because 
 benefit has been done to Ireland, but because I expect 
 that great benefit will be done to her by them. 1 look 
 to them as men of sound sense and cultivated minds, and 
 I think the greater part of them are advocates for reform 
 and the rights of human nature. It is thirty-six years 
 since the United Irishmen asked Parliament for nothing 
 but Emancipation for the Catholics and Reform for the 
 people. That was afterwards made an illegal society by 
 Act of Parliament; but it really had no other object in 
 view but these. The whole people are now resolved to 
 have that for which hundreds and thousands were 
 butchered, because they sought for it." Referring to the 
 recently introduced National School system, his lordship 
 said: — " The education of the Irish was at one time a 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 417 
 
 capital offence — it was then a transportable crime — it 
 was at least a misdemeanour to educate them, and still 
 they were taught, imperfectly, to be sure, within the 
 wretched hovel or beneath the hedixe. I am convinced 
 that the new organization will be the means of effectually 
 putting down that sycophantic, hypocritical, swindling 
 system which robbed the country under pretence of pro- 
 moting general education. Our new system, too, will 
 make the people of Ireland fit for freedom. But much 
 as I love freedom, much as I regard liberty, I would 
 sooner see all my countrymen in chains than find them 
 madly attacking, for the mere pleasure of doing so, the 
 constituted authorities or one another." Immediately 
 anterior to the meeting of the new Parliament, a splendid 
 dinner was given in the King's room to celebrate the 
 triumph of Reform. Lord Cloncurry presided. 
 
 In September, 1831, a source of old* and bitter com- 
 plaint on the part of Lord Cloncurry was, in some degree, 
 removed by Earl Grey creating him a British peer. The 
 exclusion of Irish peers from the councils of the Upper 
 House Lord Cloncurry frequently deplored. He thought 
 that at least after having been robbed of their native 
 Parliament, England, thus enriched, ought not, injustice, 
 to refuse them admission. Lord Cloncurry 's complaint 
 on the score of exclusion did not arise from any selfish 
 feeling, but was based upon an innate love of justice and 
 fair play. He neither solicited nor ambitioned the British 
 peerage. When offered him he refused it, and nothing 
 but the repeated exhortations of Lord Anglesey induced 
 him ultimately to accept the honour. There are few 
 points in the history of Lord Cloncurry 's life which have 
 been so grossly misconstrued as his conduct on this 
 occasion. It is confidently believed by many to this day 
 that Lord Cloncurry importuned the King, through Lord 
 Anglesey, for the honour, and from the moment he re- 
 ceived it, took his place amongst the ranks of the silenced 
 
 "See his lordship's speech at the Devereux Banquet, July 19, 1819, 
 p. 329, his " Letter on Police, and the present State of Ireland, to the 
 Duke of Leinster," p. 337, his address to the Irish members, p. 404, &c. 
 
 T 2 
 
418 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 Irish patriots ! A letter dated September 16, 1854, and 
 written by an Irish privy councillor, for many years 
 identified with the national movements of his country, 
 lies before us as we write. " I am not an ardent ad- 
 mirer of Lord Cloncurry," observes Mr. O . " He 
 
 advocated the Repeal humbug for years, but remained 
 silent from the day Lord Anglesey got him made an 
 English peer." This belief, as well as that he craved the 
 elective peerage, is unfortunately general ; but after the 
 publication of these pages we trust it will cease to be so. 
 Within the last year we learned incidentally that the 
 honour was, unknown to Lord Cloncurry, solicited and 
 obtained for him by his well beloved friends, the Duke 
 of Leinster and Lord Anglesey. The author wrote to 
 his Grace for a confirmation of this report, and was much 
 gratified to receive the following assurance : — " I can 
 have no hesitation in saying," wrote the Duke on Sep- 
 tember 27th, 1854, "that the English peerage was con- 
 ferred on Lord Cloncurry unlooked for and unexpected 
 by him." To this we may add, by way of postscript, 
 some sentences of a letter from one of Lord Cloncurry 's 
 
 oldest friends, Dr. Richard Grattan. " Mr. O greatly 
 
 mistakes both Lord Cloncurry 's character and his feeling 
 in regard to the worthless English peerage which the 
 Whigs sent him, without solicitation, or even knowledge 
 of their intention on his part. This I can testify from 
 his lordship's own assurance to me. The honour, if such 
 it may be called, died with him ; and for this he had to 
 pay, in the sixtieth year of his age, nearly £800 in fees, 
 a most confoundedly dear bargain in my mind, and one 
 that I am quite sure he considered such. Pray try and 
 place Lord Cloncurry in a proper light before the public 
 with regard to his English peerage." 
 
 In 1830 the Grey Administration decided upon invest- 
 ing some members of the Irish nobility with English 
 honours. Lord Anglesey was deputed by his noble col- 
 league to ascertain from Lord Cloncurry the names of j 
 those whom he would recommend for that promotion. 
 His lordship asked a day to consider, and during that 
 interval, by a process of mental winnowing, contrived to 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIAIES. 419 
 
 select all that was liberal and noble from the vast mass of 
 chaff which constitutes Irish aristocracy. His suggestions 
 were acted upon. Lord Grey expressed himself pleased 
 with the list, and entertained every intention of placing 
 Lord Cloncurry's name at its head, had not the inter- 
 ference of George the Fourth frustrated this resolve. In 
 September, 1831, matters wore a different aspect. A 
 new king ascended the throne, and the wishes of Lords 
 Grey and Anglesey remained unthwarted. Lord Clon- 
 curry was not only created a representative peer, but a 
 privy councillor. The honours came upon him unex- 
 pectedly. He wrote to Lord Grey to request that he 
 would convey, in suitable terms, his gratitude to King 
 William. " The favour," said he, " is doubly valued, as 
 a proof of the royal approbation of the zeal and perseve- 
 rance with which I have through life endeavoured to 
 advocate the interests of his loyal and faithful subjects, 
 the people of Ireland." 
 
 Lord Cloncurry at once took up position in the House 
 of Lords. Like a watchful sentinel he continued at his 
 post, denunciating in the bud every measure hostile to 
 the interests of Ireland, and pressing under the notice of 
 the Legislature those wise, humane, and salutary ones 
 which he was so long in the habit of periodically sug- 
 gesting through the comparatively ineffective medium of 
 newspaper addresses. 
 
 In October, 1831, the once popular Lord Anglesey 
 added another to his funeral pile of unpopular appoint- 
 ments. He elevated to the paltry dignity of an assistant 
 county barristership a man whose extreme Orange princi- 
 ples had long excited the disgust and indignation of Catholic 
 Ireland. The Evening Mail, as the organ of Ascendancy, 
 crew exultingly over the Catholic bar, but did not thank 
 Lord Anglesey. Mr. Staunton, in his Morning Register, 
 opened a broadside on his Excellency. Hardly three 
 days elapsed until the appointment of Mr. John Finlay, 
 the eloquent supporter of the Catholic claims, as assistant- 
 barrister for the County Louth, was officially announced. 
 Lord Anglesey endeavoured to smile on both parties, 
 but his smiles met with nothing but surly rebuffs. 
 
420 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 Finlay, at this time, acted in the capacity of seneschal 
 to Lord Cloncurry ; and Mr. Staunton, presuming that 
 in consequence of his new appointment he would resign 
 this office, wrote to Lord Cloncurry suggesting his friend, 
 Mr. Carew O'Dwyer, since M.P. for Drogheda, as a fit 
 and proper person to succeed Mr. Finlay. 
 
 [No. 41.] LORD CLONCURRY TO MR. STAUNTON. 
 
 [" Private.] 
 
 "Lyons, 13th November, 1831. 
 
 My dear Sir, — When I have had a little time to look about me, I shall 
 endeavour to see Mr. O'Dwyer, of whom I have always heard good report. 
 
 " I agree with you, that John Finlay deserves well of every friend of 
 Ireland. He has always supported the good cause from principle, without 
 one selfish consideration. I therefore rejoice at the unsolicited mark of 
 respect paid to him by the honestest and most thoroughly Irish Viceroy 
 Ireland ever saw. What can be the intention of endeavouring to worry 
 such a governor from his post I know not. You, gentlemen^of the press, are, 
 of course, better informed ; and you know somebody, who, yielding to 
 Messrs. Melbourne and Stanley, and their subordinates, woidd give us the 
 advantage of an Orange Government, and of party pbtyed against part}', 
 without one thought of justice, or of the future welfare of the country. For 
 thirty or forty years the Tories were submitted to, with few and occasional 
 efforts at opposition ; but the moment the only decent Government which 
 Ireland ever saw has succeeded to crippled power and exhausted finance, the 
 soi-distant patriots aid the despots of Europe for their overthrow, and, like 
 Hunt in England, counteract the exertions of all good men to make some 
 beginning in favour of Ireland. Had the year's truce which I solicited been 
 granted, we would already be far advanced on the road to reform of the pro- 
 vincial abuses which form the chief curse of this country ; and all good men 
 would be able to judge whether the time was come when we should insist on 
 self-government, or be satisfied to form a really integral part of a great, 
 wealthy, and wise commonwealth. — Very truly yours, 
 
 " Cloncurry." 
 
 The succeeding letters bear no date, but were written, 
 we are aware, during the second viceroyalty of Lord 
 Anglesey. 
 
 [No. 42.] LORD CLONCURRY TO MR. STAUNTON. 
 
 ["Private.] 
 
 " Dear Sir, — I was for many years served with your Register by the 
 canal boat, leaving Portobello at two o'clock p.m. The Messrs. Johnston 
 told me this year that I could get it more speedily by the Rathcool early 
 post ; but I found that one or two papers per week were purloined, either in 
 their office or the Post-office of Dublin. * * * I was then informed that 
 Saunders would be let pass when the Register would not This savoured so 
 much of the good old times, that I would try it ; but I cannot digest your 
 worthy cotemporary. 
 
CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 421 
 
 * * * "I lament the opposition to poor laws, though I differ entirely 
 from Mr. Xichol and Mr. Stanley. If the idle arms were usefully employed, 
 under Colonel Burgoyne, no poor laws would be necessary, except for the 
 aged and helpless, and the assessment would enrich, instead of impoverishing 
 the country. 
 
 " Mr. Nichol . allowed to me that the impost would fall heaviest on those 
 who had most improved. Why not make it fall autrement, and improve the 
 states of absentees at their own cost ? — Your faithful Servant, 
 
 " CLOXCrRRT."' 
 
 [No. 43.] LORD CLOXCURRT TO MR. STAUNTON*. 
 
 M Jfaretimo. 2nd June (no year). 
 ["Private.] 
 
 " My dear Sir, — I called on you a few days ago, to state that I had. 
 happily, succeeded in putting an end to the annoyances* of which you spoke 
 : to me when last I had the pleasure to meet you in Suffolk-street. 
 
 To me this is a great and most gratifying success, and, I hope and trust, 
 the beginning of good prospects to our countrv. — Most truly yours, 
 
 "C. 
 
 " P.S. — There was a mistake in all the morning papers as to the list of 
 toasts on Tuesday. »I sent them, as given to me by the committee, to Mr. 
 Conway. The Duke of Leinster was, as of right and justice, put at the head 
 of the reforming peers of Ireland." 
 
 * Note in Mr. Staunton's Handioriting. — "The dressing of the statue in 
 College-green, and the midnight disorder and outrage usually attendant upon 
 the ceremonv." 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Tithes! Tithes! Tithes! — The Comet Newspaper — Massacres at Newtown- 
 barry and elsewhere — Extraordinary Manifesto — Triumph of "passive 
 Resistance" — Lord Cloncurry's Debut in the House of Peers — Called to 
 Order by the Earl of Wicklow — Melbourne Administration of 1834 — Its 
 short Career — Letter of Lord Cloncurry to Mr. Conwa) 7 — His Lordship's 
 Dissent — Melbourne again Premier — The Mulgrave Yiceroyalty — His 
 Excellency's Love of Popularity, and his Strides to achieve it — Orangeism 
 well-nigh uprooted — Reconciliation between Cloncurry and O'Connell — 
 Interesting Letters to Messrs. O'Connell, Bagot, Crawford, and Conway — 
 Strange Proceedings at the great "Protestant Meeting" of 1837 — General 
 Election — Exciting Struggle — Death of William IV. — Queen Victoria — 
 Hanoverian Plot exposed — Letter to "Billy Murphy" — Spottiswoode 
 Conspiracy — Letters to and from O'Connell — Lord Cloncurry's Speech at 
 the Temperance Soiree — Poor Law Meeting and Municipal Reform 
 Banquet of 1837 — Exhumation of the Body of Philpot Curran — A crazy 
 Mathematician — Sir Isaac Newton an Impostor ! — Letters to Robert 
 Owen and Mr. Conway — The Ebrington Viceroyalty — Lord Cloncurry 
 hissed in the Theatre Royal, but not for "bad Acting" — Open Air 
 Meeting — Railways — Letter from Hogan the Sculptor to his Lordship — 
 Lord Stanley's Attempt to repeal the Irish Reform Bill — Lord Cloncurry 
 active — The Wounds incidental to his former Collision with O'Connell 
 re-open — Leinster and Charlemont Address to the People of Great Bri- 
 tain — Earl De Grey Viceroy of Ireland — Letters to Mr. Hogan — The 
 Repeal Agitation — O'Connell's Power in 1843 — Four Hundred Thousand 
 Men on Tara Hill — Arrest, Trial, and Imprisonment of O'Connell — Letter 
 from Lord Cloncurry — Judgment reversed, and Liberation of O'Connell — 
 General Jubilee — Precursor Petition — Letters^to Mr. Haughton — Endow- 
 ment of Maynooth by Sir Robert Peel — Federal Parliament — Lord Clon- 
 curry has some Thoughts of becoming a Benedict for the third Time — 
 The Famine — Lord Cloncurry's Warnings disregarded — Secession from 
 Conciliation Hall— Lord Cloncurry's Public Letter to Smith O'Brien— His 
 Lordship a Member of the Irish Council— Letters to the Very Rev. Dr. 
 Spratt and Dr. R. R. Madden — Amelia Curran — A false Report. 
 
 The political history of Ireland, throughout the years 
 32, '33, and '34, may be described in three words — 
 Tithes ! tithes ! tithes ! Nothing else was talked about, 
 thought about, or read about. It formed the dream of 
 men by night, and the all-engrossing subject of their 
 thoughts by day. Like a mighty epidemic did this tithe 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 423 
 
 fever prevail, striking down some in death, and paralysing 
 the business energies, if we may so say, of others. In 
 repeated instances, labourers deserted their work in 
 myriads, and, maddened with indignation, resisted, even 
 unto death, the unhallowed encroachments of a pampered 
 Church Establishment. The sanguinary scenes at Gur- 
 troe, Wallstown, Newtownbarry, and Castlepollard, are 
 not likely soon to be effaced from the Irish memory. 
 
 The Comet newspaper was established in Dublin during 
 the year 1831. It had perhaps more effect in opening 
 previously closed eyes to this enormous abuse than any 
 other engine of anti-tithe agitation. It commenced by 
 hebdomadally pouring forth a corrosive stream of acrid 
 satire on that Irish Church Establishment which Lord 
 Brougham pronounced to be the " foulest practical 
 abuse that ever existed in tiny civilized country," and 
 Macaulay,* as u the most utterly absurd and indefen- 
 sible." Having' succeeded in securing the attention of 
 the kingdom, it gradually warmed in its tone, fearlessly 
 exposed the inconsistencies, hypocrisy, and manifold 
 abuses of the Establishment, declared that they should be, 
 a,t all hazards, exterminated, root and branch, and, with 
 crushing eloquence, denounced its pillars, from the bishop 
 to his curate, as plunderers deriving their revenue by 
 
 * Mr. Macaulay added : — " There is but one country in the -world that 
 presents to you the spectacle of a population of 8,000,000, with a Church 
 established and richly endowed for only 800,000 of that population." Lord 
 Campbell said: — "I believe the Protestant Church in Ireland to be one of 
 the most mischievous institutions in existence. I believe it is so considered 
 now ; I believe it will be so considered by posterity ; and it is only because 
 your lordships are familiar with it that you are not shocked by the picture." 
 Lord Grey said : — " I regard the Irish Church, in the actual condition of 
 that country, and upon the footing on which it is placed, to be opposed 
 alike to justice, to policy, and to religious principle." Lord John Russell 
 pronounced it to be " an anomaly and a grievance ;" and Sir George Grey, 
 ■as " unjustifiable in its establishment, and indefensible in its continuance." 
 But the admirable writings of Sydney Smith on the subject are worth all 
 their opinions bundled together. That they did as much, if not more good, 
 there cannot be a doubt. Poor Sydney ! although a parson yourself, you 
 t;ould enjoy a joke at the expense of " the -well-paid Protestant clergyman, 
 preaching to stools and hassocks, and crying in the wilderness!" "For 
 advancing such opinions," he observed, on one occasion, " 1 have no doubt I 
 shall be assailed by Lathners, &c. ; but I don't care a straw. Why ? Be- 
 cause I'm in the right." 
 
424 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 compulsion from an uncongenial Catholic population, 
 who owed tliem nothing but ill-will, and who, of course, 
 never could expect to obtain, in return, the slightest 
 value for the money so bestowed. " As to religion," 
 said Doctor Doyle, " what I wish is, to see her freed 
 from the slavery of the State and the bondage of mam- 
 mon — her ministers labouring, and receiving their hire 
 from those for whom they labour." 
 
 The next step made by the editors of the Comet was 
 to write such prescriptions as they considered calculated 
 to remove ultimately, if duly attended to, this cause of 
 complaint from Catholic Ireland. They recommended 
 that " passive resistance" should, by every possible means, 
 be given to the hostile advances of all tithe-seeking par- 
 sons. This advice fell upon fruitful soil. An organised 
 system of confederacy, whereby signals were, for miles 
 around, recognized and answered, started into latent 
 vitality. In short, true Irish " winks" were extensively 
 exchanged ; and when the rector, mounted on his palfrey, 
 at the head of a detachment of police, military, bailiffs, 
 clerks, and auctioneers, would make his descent on the 
 lands of the Catholic peasantry, he generally found the 
 cattle removed, and one or two grinning countenances 
 occupying their place. A search was, of course, promptly 
 instituted, and often two entire days were consumed in 
 prosecuting it. When successful, and that the cattle did 
 come to light, the parson's first step was to put them up 
 to auction, in the presence of a regiment of English 
 soldiery ; but it almost invariably happened that, either 
 the assembled spectators were afraid to bid, lest by doing 
 so they should incur the oft-threatened vengeance of the 
 peasantry, or else they stammered out such a miserably 
 low offer, that, when knocked down,"the expenses of the 
 sale would be found to exceed it. The same observation 
 applies to the crops. Not one man in a hundred had the 
 hardihood to declare himself the purchaser. It occa- 
 sionally happened that the parson, disgusted at the timi- 
 dity of bidders, and thinking by a ruse to remove it, 
 would order the cattle twelve or twenty miles away, in 
 order to their being a second time put up for auction. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 425 
 
 But the locomotive progress of trie beasts, on such occa- 
 sions, was always closely tracked by men deputed for that 
 purpose, and who adopted certain means to prevent either 
 driver or beast receiving the slightest shelter or suste- 
 nance throughout the march. This harassing system of 
 anti-tithe tactics, of which an idea is merely given here, 
 soon accomplished the most satisfactory results for Ireland. 
 
 Meetings, avowedly to oppose the old tithe exaction, 
 were held continually under the auspices of O'Connell 
 and his brother agitators. All magistrates who attended 
 them were furnished by Government with a supersedeas 
 and those who did not, received from the peasantry a notice 
 embellished with death's head and cross bones. Of the 
 [two alternatives the former was generally preferred, and 
 the consequence was, that not only the vox populi, but 
 that of the major part of the magistratcy, resounded in 
 tithe denunciation throughout the land. Soon the 
 mighty old abuse became completely undermined, and 
 threatened, at no distant day, to come tumbling down. 
 It had grown old in its iniquity, and proportionately 
 obese. Owing probably to these bodily infirmities it 
 was quelled with much less trouble than would have been 
 required for the purpose, when young and hale, eighty 
 years before. 
 
 Determined to cast off, by physical means, the incubus 
 of a pampered Church Establishment, several hundred 
 men, previously linked together by ribbon bonds, formed 
 themselves into an illegal confederacy, notwithstanding 
 the threats of the law to hang, and of their clergy to ex- 
 communicate them. The men thus enrolled went by the 
 name of Terryalt boys and Whitefeet ; but their organi- 
 zation was far from being general or perfect. When the 
 reader is informed that in some counties they had the 
 daring to walk in military order, it may well be supposed 
 that their existence proved a source of unfeigned alarm 
 to the Government. The greatest excitement pervaded 
 those counties where their number was supposed to muster 
 strongest. In July a great aggregate anti-tithe meeting 
 was held in Kilkenny, and Lord Cloncurry occupied the 
 chair. The speeches were of rather a violent character, 
 
426 CLOXCUHEY AND UIS TIMES. 
 
 and the resolutions, to say the least of them, strong. 
 Government expressed alarm at the spirit manifested, 
 dismissed a vice-lieutenant, who attended, from office, 
 and warned Lord Cloncurry, for the first time since 1798, 
 to be cautious lest he might incur their indignation and 
 its consequences. A number of minor offenders were 
 apprehended, tried, and convicted. 
 
 In 1833, the Irish parsons resolved unanimously to 
 make one great and signal effort to recover their lost 
 position. Tithes they should and would have, no matter 
 if a Rubicon of human blood had necessarily to be waded 
 through to clutch them. Accordingly sundry rounds of 
 ball cartridge were distributed amongst the police and 
 yeomanry preparatory to every descent on the habitations 
 of the peasantry. Should the cattle, in the meantime, be 
 removed, potatoes, sheeting, wearing apparel, blanketing, 
 and whatever the house afforded was, in default of better, 
 usually secured. The people, in some instances, stung 
 with rage, offered a something more than mere passive 
 resistance by flinging stones and other missiles at their 
 military intruders. This happened at Newtownbarry, 
 where frightful bloodshed and rapine ensued. Mr. 
 O'Callaghan, speaking of this in his excellent " Green 
 Book," tells us that the cattle of a farmer named Doyle 
 was, on June 23, seized for tithe by the Rev. Mr. 
 M'Clintock, and although the smn claimed did not ex- 
 ceed £2 6s. (which, moreover, was not legally due till 
 November), the cattle were advertised to be sold by 
 auction, in the parson's name, on Saturday 18th June. 
 Being market day, a large crowd assembled to attend 
 the sale. The cattle were " put up," and 190 yeomanry, 
 provided with fifty rounds of ball cartridge each, formed 
 into line adjacent. It has been said that no stones were 
 thrown on this occasion by any except children, and 
 from the credible nature of the authority, we are not 
 disposed to disbelieve it. That stones were thrown is 
 certain, and that the soldiery fired equally so. When 
 the smoke of the volley had cleared away, fourteen indi- 
 viduals were foimd stretched lifeless on the market place, 
 and twenty-six wounded. Perhaps the most horrible 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 427 
 
 incident in the tragedy was the case of a woman named 
 
 Da . 
 
 Mulrooney, through whose body, including that of an 
 unborn child, a musket ball tore its way, leaving the 
 bleeding remains of both exposed to the public eye. 
 
 The massacre of Skibbereen. under the auspices of 
 Parson Morrit, was not less horrible. Famine decimated 
 the land, and boiled nettles and seaweed constituted the 
 food of many. Of this, however, Mr. Morrit took no 
 heed, and the bowels of his compassion remained un- 
 moved. At the head of a company of infantry he marched 
 on Skibbereen, and gruffly demanded tithe. The pea- 
 santry replied that the tenth perch of every ridge was at 
 his service ; but the man of God, abhorrent of trouble. 
 
 { declared that he had no notion to squander away the 
 public time in digging them, and insisted on his right to 
 extract tithe from some potatoes which had been stored 
 up within a barn. "We cannot discover any details of 
 attempted resistance on this occasion, in the account fur- 
 nished by Mr. O'Callaghan, which we believe to be the 
 best. He tells us that the benevolent pastor, on being 
 refused admission, ordered the yeomanry to fire. This 
 they did, and twentv-nine persons and a child fell dead 
 in the street. One of the most effective series of stanzas 
 in the Comet newspaper, was suggested by some words 
 said to have been uttered by Parson Morrit before leaving 
 his glebe-house for Skibbereen. " My tithes or blood,"' 
 exclaimed that dignitary. 
 
 Similar scenes occurred at Carrickshock, Dunmanway, 
 Castlepollard.Rathcormac. and Gurtroe. God grant that 
 
 ' we may never see such davs again ! 
 
 Notwithstanding that Might was determinedly opposed 
 to Right (the issue of which engagement is so often un- 
 favourable to the latter), we find that the people finally suc- 
 ceeded bv means of outmanceuvering. menacing, and 
 thwarting the operation of the system, in rendering it an ad- 
 visable and judicious step on the part of Government to 
 obliterate for ever that unnatural law from their statute 
 book which encouraged the perpetration of murder and 
 outrage. Never was the determination of Ireland more 
 fixed. Her people were in earnest, and what is still 
 
428 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 better, unanimous. In illustration of the menacing 
 system, and how effectively it told, we may subjoin the 
 following notice which, early on the morning of October 
 1st, 1835, was extensively posted through the city of 
 Limerick. We find it reported in an ancient number of 
 the Evening Post: — 
 
 " TITHES, 
 
 "Stained with the blood of Irishmen ! 
 
 " Parson Croker has distrained for Tithes the cows and sheep of 
 
 " Mr. O'Flaherty, of Croom, 
 
 " which are this day to be sold by public auction, in Henry-street. 
 
 " Will any one purchase, and thereby uphold this iniquitous impost ? 
 
 " The blood shed at Rathcormac answers 
 
 " THAT NO MAN WILL." 
 
 " The auction, "says the Limerick Times, took place at < 
 the specified hour. Many clerical and other gentlemen 
 were present to witness the proceedings. The various 
 lots, however, found no bidders, and, in the end, the 
 Rev. Mr. Croker himself purchased the whole at nominal 
 prices, and made them a present to the House of In- 
 dustry." 
 
 The anti-tithe ruses succeeded inimitably. Mr. Secre- 
 tary Stanley, now Earl of Derby, declared at this period 
 in the British Senate, that after repeated attempts on the 
 part of Government to levy tithes with the assistance of 
 both military and police, they were only enabled, from 
 an arrear of £60,000, to collect the value of £12,000, 
 and that at an expense of more than £27,000. 
 
 With such savage barbarity, and overbearing insolence, 
 did the Anglo-Irish pillars of the Church establishment 
 comport themselves towards their humble Catholic parish- 
 ioners throughout, and for lono; anterior to the tithe 
 crusade, that their lives actually became uninsurable. 
 And it is with sorrow we feel ourselves necessitated to 
 add, that many of the despotic churchmen fell victims 
 to the wrath of those whom a sanguinary order, when 
 enforcing payment of tithes, had deprived of the affec- 
 tionate protection of a father, or, perhaps, the cherished 
 companionship of a brother. 
 
 From the moment that Valentine Lawless may be said 
 to have arrived at the age of reason, he was an ardent 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 429 
 
 and disinterested titlie abolitionist. So early as the 
 year 1806, we find him pressing the subject on the Duke 
 of Bedford during his Lord Lieutenancy , and giving it 
 as his opinion that a settlement of it was downright 
 essential to the general good of Ireland. Lord Cloncurry 
 was, himself, the lay rector of several parishes — in other 
 words, a tithe owner — and might be, therefore, supposed 
 to regard the Church question in a Conservative point of 
 view. 
 
 The first words uttered by his lordship in the British 
 Parliament were in denunciation of tithes. His debut 
 there took place on December 7, 1831. Having given 
 notice that he had several petitions for the abolition of 
 tithes to present, Cloncurry was proceeding to launch 
 forth into an impassioned diatribe on their oppressive 
 character, when the Earl of Wicklow (an old senator) 
 started from his seat, and blandly calling " the noble 
 Baron" to order, begged to remind him that it was quite 
 irregular to enter into statements on giving a notice. 
 " The more regular course," observed Lord Wicklow, 
 " would be to defer your observations until you have 
 brought forward the petitions." Poor Lord Cloncurry, 
 a little crest-fallen, sat down. By degrees he learned 
 the etiquette of Parliament. 
 
 Lord Cloncurry 's opposition to the tithe system in the 
 Lords was, throughout the following year, unwavering, 
 constant, and remarkable. On the 3rd March, 1833, he 
 pronounced it to be the main grievance of Ireland, and, 
 if not then attended to, would render acts of coercion and 
 the effusion of blood continually necessary. " The 
 people," said his lordship, " are heavily taxed to support 
 a Church with which they have no communion, whilst 
 the zealous ministers of their own Church are left en- 
 tirely to depend upon the scant charity of their flocks." 
 For the remainder of that year Lord Cloncurry took 
 little or no part in politics. He may be said to have 
 passed it in dignified retirement — part of the time at 
 Carton, on a visit to the Duke of Leinster. 
 
 In the summer of 1834, " The Irish difficulty" splin- 
 tered the Grey Administration into fragments. That of 
 
430 CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 Lord Melbourne succeeded it ; but its career was a short 
 one. A determined, harassing, and uninterrupted opposi- 
 tion from the Conservative side of Parliament, coupled 
 with the personal antagonism of the King, effectually 
 did its work, and, in the month of November, the Ad- 
 ministration of Lord Melbourne had ceased to exist. 
 The Duke of Wellington was sent for in post-haste by 
 his Majesty, and requested to form a ministry at once. 
 Like a true soldier, he bowed submissively to the wishes 
 of his commander, and lost no time in assuming the 
 custody of all official seals. But, without the aid of Sir 
 Robert Peel, it was agreed on all hands that no Tory 
 Government could be formed, much less complete. As 
 that Right Hon. Baronet, however, was recreating in < 
 Rome, some delay should necessarily intervene. Mr. 
 Hudson, in his capacity of King's Messenger, was de- 
 spatched to fetch him. He travelled night and day, and 
 in an incredibly short space of time reached his destina- 
 tion. Not a moment's delay took place, and Mr. Hudson 
 returned with the Right Hon. Baronet in triumph to 
 London. On his arrival he found the Duke of Welling- 
 ton occupying the position of Dictator, which he con- 
 tinued to fill until the downfall of the Administration. 
 
 A feeling of disappointment at the resignation of the 
 Melbourne Cabinet was extremely general, especially in 
 Ireland. At the very moment that the King dismissed 
 his ministers, plans were rapidly advancing to maturity 
 in the Cabinet for the adoption of a more liberal system 
 of rule in Ireland than had even characterized the Ad- 
 ministration of Earl Grey. Consternation at the announce- 
 ment pervaded all classes, save one. Triumph, in all the 
 vigour and intensity of gratified passion, marked the 
 conduct of the Orange faction. 
 
 At this crisis, Lord Cloncurry addressed the following 
 letter to Mr. Conway, the late talented editor and pro- 
 prietor of the Post, with whom he was long in the habit 
 of corresponding. His lordship entertained an old and 
 cordial friendship for Mr. Conway, which remained un- 
 impaired until death put an end to it in 1852: — 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 431 
 
 [No. 44.] LORD CLOXCCRRY TO FREDERICK WM. CONWAY, ESQ. 
 
 " Lyons, 1st Dec. 1834. 
 
 "My dear Sir, — You are, as usual, taking the straightforward, disinte- 
 rested, and fearless part in the good cause, and assuredly it is the only wise 
 one. 
 
 "Xo man should now be neutral. * * The liberty, the property, and, 
 I believe, the personal safety of every individual in the three kingdoms 
 depend on the speedy discomfiture of the Tories, and of their great captain. 
 The people of England and of Scotland have acted on this conviction with a 
 spirit and unanimity which prove them worthy of the franchise they have 
 wrung from the usurpers, and to dispossess them of which is a chief motive 
 of the present desperate, but I trust vain attempt. If we in Ireland have 
 been less prompt, we will not be less persevering, for against Ireland 
 chiefly is the conspiracy directed. * * * 
 
 "When the great right of Catholic Emancipation was achieved for Ireland 
 by Leinster, Anglesey, Fingal, and O'Connell,* and when the cause of ge- 
 neral reform seemed all triumphant, I thought it impossible that enmity or 
 , oppression coidd ever again distract us. My own attention I would have 
 willingly confined to the physical improvement of our country — drainage, 
 cultivation, employment, food, clothing, and comfort; but the moment I was 
 put upon the tithe committee, the moment I found that to extinguish meant 
 to double, that moment I perceived that the chief benefit of Emancipation 
 was to be withheld. Indeed that the tithe project, coupled with the dis- 
 franchisement of the great body of our freeholders, filled me with disgust and 
 apprehension : still, however, I resolved to wait patiently, and to work quietly. 
 * * I explained the nature of our real grievances, the facility by which 
 a small meed of justice would satisfy the people of Ireland; and, above all, 
 I believe I proved that the Protestant Church of Ireland, without tithe, might 
 be rendered richer, more useful, and more respectable than it ever was, by a 
 proper application of her possessions in land. 
 
 " The great body of our people must be thought of, must be respected and 
 enabled to respect themselves ; they must not be flattered, and still left in a 
 state of degradation and of want ; the public income must be devoted to the 
 service of those who create it ; the land must support the bee in preference to 
 the drone ; we must have education for the young, certain and remunerative 
 employment for the industrious, and support for the helpless. The state 
 must know no difference of religion ; the people must be fairly and fully re- 
 presented in short parliaments ; and to prevent improper influence of any kind, 
 I recommend the ballot. 
 
 " What has a government or a statesman to answer for, who, instead of 
 healing our wounds and uniting our energies, inflames our passions and re- 
 tards our hope, giving us the alternative of coercion bills on one hand, and 
 club law on the other. Let us pray for a wiser future, let us cry with one 
 »voiee, " Out with the Dictator, fair play for the people." — Your Friend and 
 Servant, " Cloxcurry." 
 
 The Marquis of Anglesey, in a letter to Lord Cloncurr y 
 from Rome, at this period writes: — " Can the Peel and 
 
 * Had Lord Cloncurry been reconciled to O'Connell at this period, his 
 lordship would hardly have made him what Rory O'More would call "Paddy 
 Last." 
 
432 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 Wellington government stand ? I am sure it ought not, 
 and if there be common honesty and fair dealing in man, 
 it will not." 
 
 The House of Lords, in March, 1835, addressed, with 
 some exceptions, a vote of confidence in the ruling Ad- 
 ministration ! Lord Cloncurry, amongst others who 
 thought fit to hold themselves aloof from participating in 
 such mockery, was applied to for his signature. But 
 this he respectfully declined to give, for reasons which 
 appear in the following well conceived and forcible pro- 
 test : — 
 
 LORD CLONCURRY's DISSENT, 
 
 (As entered upon the Journals of the house of Lords.) 
 
 " 1. Because it is essential to the dignify and security of the throne, and 
 the welfare and peace of the empire, that the people shouM have well- 
 grounded cause to rely upon the wisdom, consistency, and stability of the 
 Government. 
 
 " 2. Because the nation has been justly disappointed and alarmed by the 
 ominous dismissal of his Majesty's late ministers, at a period of profound 
 tranquillity, and by the unconstitutional assumption of several of the highest 
 offices of the crown, by a military nobleman who had long since admitted 
 his own unfitness to act as the head of the civil Government of the 
 country. 
 
 " 3. Because those who have since been induced to join that nobleman in 
 the formation of the ministry, as now composed, are men whose political 
 principles are held in just reprobation by the most numerous and the most 
 intelligent classes of the community. 
 
 " 4. Because the ministers, to whom the destinies of the British empire are 
 now committed, are the remnants and successors of that class of statesmen 
 who, forty years ago, and subsequently by their sinister policy abroad and 
 at home, involved the nations of Europe in a destructive general war, and 
 repressed, as far as in them lay, the domestic growth of liberal opinion ; 
 and who, at the termination of that war, waged on their part, and prosecuted 
 at a ruinous expense, against the liberties of their neighbours, brought dis- 
 credit on the name of England, by sanctioning the transfer of many states 
 entitled to independence, to the sway of hostile and despotic powers, by per- 
 mitting the bravest amongst the marshals of France to be executed under 
 an unjust and unnecessary sentence, and by consigning the greatest man of 
 the age to exile and death on the miserable rock of St. Helena. 
 
 " 5. Because those ministers have, in the spirit of their predecessors, uni- 
 formly resisted all measures of reform in our political institutions ; and 
 because they still hold, and openly profess, doctrines of government in rela- 
 tion to pending questions of deep public interest, which renders is impossible 
 that they can obtain the confidence and cordial support of the British people, 
 expressing their sentiments through a reformed House of Commons. 
 
 '• 6. Because the abrupt reaccession of those ministers to power has occa- 
 sioned peculiar mid well-founded disgust and discontent in the great majority 
 of the people of Ireland, who, reverting to the scenes through which they 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 433 
 
 passed under the rule of the political predecessors of those ministers, and 
 justly alarmed at the exclusive spirit already manifested by the local 
 Government of Ireland, are impressed with fearful apprehensions that so 
 long as that Government, as now constituted and advised, shall last, the 
 Irish people will have to maintain a renewed struggle against the domina- 
 tion of a faction ; and that the persecuting efforts of that faction will be to 
 re-establish for itself a hateful political ascendency, to check the spread of 
 popular education upon a sound and practical system, to repress the 
 urgently required reforms in the municipal corporations of Ireland, and to 
 impede the speedy settlement of those questions relating to the Established 
 Church, which, remaining unadjudicated, prove a constant source of internal 
 animosity and contention, and have already produced many dreadful 
 sacrifices of human life. 
 
 " Cloxcurry." 
 
 The Tory Administration was not destined long to 
 stand. In corruption it acquired its life ; and throughout 
 the short, miserable span of that existence nought but 
 ill-health and deficiency of moral vigour marked its 
 movements. At length the highest tribunal in the 
 empire — a Parliamentary Committee — pronounced the 
 practices by which their temporary triumph was ob- 
 tained to have been fraudulent, illegal, and unconstitu- 
 tional. In April, 1835, a majority of thirty-six defeated 
 them on the Church question, and down fell the Tory 
 Cabinet, w T ith a crash, to the ground. 
 
 Again Lord Melbourne was Premier. The Earl of 
 Mulgrave, as Lord Lieutenant, accompanied by his Se- 
 cretary, Lord Morpeth, proceeded to Ireland. Morpeth 
 was an old favourite with the Irish people, and they 
 received him with enthusiasm. The reader may remem- 
 ber the banquet in his honour, and Lord Cloncurry's 
 words on that occasion. 
 
 The new Viceroy, shortly after his arrival, was hos- 
 pitably invited on a visit by Lord Cloncurry, a request 
 which his Excellency cheerfully acceded to. The Cur- 
 ragh races were just about to come off, and Lord and 
 Lady Mulgrave expressed a wish to see them. Accord- 
 ingly, on June 11, their Excellencies, accompanied by 
 Lord Cloncurry, proceeded to the race-course, escorted 
 by a troop of the 1st Dragoon Guards; and having 
 remained until half-past six in the afternoon, returned in 
 the same order to Lyons. Their reception by the pea- 
 santry was truly gratifying. 
 
 u 
 
I 
 
 434 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 Daring the same month we find Lord Clon curry 
 writing a public letter, with a view to reconcile Messrs. 
 G. P. Scrope, George Ensor, and General Coekburne, 
 who had had an angry controversy on that prolific sub- 
 ject of contention, Poor Laws. The tone of his lordbhip's 
 letter was, as usual, favourable to that measure. 
 
 Lord Cloncurry invariably attended the annual exa- 
 minations at Clongowes Wood College, the quondam seat 
 of his old intimate, Wogan Browne. At the banquet 
 celebratory of this event, in August, 1834, we find the 
 services which his lordship had been periodically con- 
 ferring on it, for more than twenty years, acknowledged 
 impressively by Dr. Esmondc, on the occasion of his 
 proposing the noble lord's health. " Lord Cloncurry," 
 observes the Morning Register, " returned thanks with 
 considerable feeling and eloquence. The company pre- 
 sent amounted to 350." 
 
 Popularity was the idol of Constantine Earl of Mul- 
 grave ; and it must be admitted that he neither spared 
 time, pains, nor money, to secure that happiest of 
 possessions. He saw how simply Lord Anglesey sacri- 
 ficed his, and this consideration made him doubly 
 watchful to preserve it undiminished and intact. It has 
 been said that Lord Mulgrave was too fond of display, 
 and indulged his passion for popularity to a greater 
 extent than ought to characterize the conduct of one 
 who wielded the sceptre of viceregal authority. One 
 act of his, in particular, became the subject of much 
 severe comment in the Upper House. Like his prede- 
 cessor, the Duke of Richmond, Lord Mulgrave made a 
 tour through Ireland, from Antrim to Kerry, and from 
 Dublin to the wilds of Connemara. As he proceeded along, 
 he liberated from the county bridewells the prisoners 
 charged with larcenies, and basked in the sunshine of their: 
 smiles and benedictions. Another act of his Excellency's 
 furnished the topic for much Conservative animadversion. 
 He refused to sanction the inauguration of Mr. Deane as 
 Mayor of Cork, simply because he was a sworn Orange- 
 man, although in private an amiable character. In fact, 
 the rule of Lord Mulgrave was a continued warfare 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 435 
 
 against Orange organization, and ascendency arrogance. 
 Serious apprehensions were entertained by many of the 
 fraternity that their sway was approaching to a termi- 
 nation in Ireland. This feeling can hardly be said to 
 have diminished when his Excellency dismissed from the 
 commission of the peace Colonels Yerner and Percival, 
 two of the most furious champions of the Orange interest 
 in the kingdom. Both occupied high positions in the 
 great Brunswick Society, under King Ernest of Hanover. 
 Colonel Verner, at a public dinner, spoke in harsh lan- 
 guage against the Administration, and concluded by 
 proposing the violent party toast of " The Battle of the 
 Diamond." This eno-aofement between the Orangemen 
 and Defenders, in 1795, has been elsewhere described. 
 1 The bloodshed was frightful, and the cruelties committed 
 by the victors, sickening to contemplate. Colonel Verner, 
 however, forty years after, rioted in the pleasing con- 
 templation of both, and gave bland expression to his 
 partisan glee before a bowl of wine and some hundred 
 congenial spirits. His dismissal from the magistracy ex- 
 cited an unprecedented sensation throughout Orangeland. 
 The utter annihilation of that once rampant faction was 
 now looked forward to as a highly probable event. In 
 the midst of these surmises, the well-known equestrian 
 statue of William Prince of Orange, in Collesfe-areen, 
 was one night suddenly blown into fragments by the 
 combined operation of fulminating silver and Popish gun- 
 powder. This was considered typical of Protestant sub- 
 version. Many a countenance blanched with conster- 
 nation at the intelligence. The writer of these pages 
 was only a child at the time, but he well remembers the 
 intensity of the excitement which this explosion occa- 
 sioned. Men of every creed and party, on the morning 
 after the catastrophe, hurried in knots to College-green, 
 and, speechless with astonishment, stood gazing at the 
 blackened horse, unconscious of a rider. That statue, 
 which " braved for two hundred years the battle and the 
 breeze" — which underwent, perhaps ten thousand times, 
 the alternate daubing of almost every imaginable colour, 
 except green, and the showy equipment of orange 
 
436 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 mantles, scarfs, ribbons, and lilies — to think of the dignity 
 of that statue outraged in a manner at once so deliberate 
 and audacious, was a reflection which astounded no one 
 more than the Roman Catholics themselves. 
 
 In referring' to the Catholic bias of Lord Mulgrave's 
 Administration, we must not omit to mention that 
 O'Connell's first invitation to partake of Viceregal hospi- 
 tality came from his Excellency. It was on one of these 
 occasions, we believe, that the Viceroy offered O'Connell 
 the Mastership of the Irish Rolls — a favour which the 
 great Agitator at once declined. Lord Melbourne, in the 
 
 CO 7 
 
 House of Lords, acknowledged at this period that the 
 Government were most desirous to conciliate, without 
 compromise, a man who wielded such enormous power 
 over the people of both countries. 
 
 The popular party in Ireland Lord Mulgrave tran- 
 quillized with a vengeance. But he became, on the 
 other hand, an object of bitter hate amongst the Orange- 
 men. 
 
 It is a matter tolerably notorious, that Lord Cloncurry 
 and O'Connell were, for some years subsequent to their 
 collision of opinion in 1831, on terms of but indifferent 
 intimacy. The estrangement arose from their conflicting 
 views on the policy of agitating the Repeal question 
 during the second Viceroyalty of Lord Anglesey. The 
 only blot on the page which recounts to posterity 
 O'Connell's claims to Irish gratitude and respect, was his 
 invariable tendency, on the slightest provocation, to 
 retaliate in terms of violent invective. For this Lord 
 Cloncurry frequently came in, throughout the years '31 
 and '32. That the fact of Cloncurry holding himself 
 aloof from all political agitation was calculated to irritate 
 O'Connell cannot be denied ; but that the old peer was 
 otherwise than sincere no one ever yet dared to contro- 
 vert. In noticing this matter, we cannot avoid adding, 
 that in reply to each broadside opened by O'Connell, 
 Cloncurry discharged a shot calculated to wound, though 
 not to slay. 
 
 In 1835 O'Connell repented of these ungenerous at- 
 tacks, and having made known his sentiments to honest 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 437 
 
 " Billy Murphy" and Mr. David (now Chief Baron) 
 Pigot, those gentlemen undertook to effect a reconcilia- 
 tion between the long estranged rival patriots. O'Con- 
 nell, knowing himself to have been in fault, wrote a 
 most apologetic letter to Lord Cloncurry, wherein he 
 expressed his sorrow that he should ever have forfeited 
 the good peer's esteem. One of the most interesting 
 letters in the u Personal Recollections of Lord Clon- 
 curry" is that addressed on this occasion by O'Connell to 
 his lordship. He attributed his " irritation" to a prose- 
 cution which he " neither expected nor deserved," and 
 to the appointments made by the Whig Ministry in 
 j Ireland. But the main source of O'Connell's distaste 
 [^towards Cloncurry arose from the close intimacy which 
 subsisted between " Algerine Anglesey" and his lordship. 
 He considered that the Viceroy had blindly fallen into 
 the snares, and even into the arms of the mortal enemies 
 of Ireland. 
 
 The Reform party (then a formidable organization) 
 were most desirous that the hitherto disunited exertions 
 of O'Connell and Cloncurry should be fused into one iron 
 nerve ; and when the report of the reconciliation reached 
 them it was hailed with joy. " Need I add," observed 
 O'Connell, as he concluded his letter, " that if you will 
 accept of my co-operation, you shall command it with a 
 sincerity written on my heart's core." Messrs. Murphy 
 and Pigot undertook to take custody of this letter. They 
 delivered it to Lord Cloncurry, at Lyons, who expressed 
 the utmost gratification at its tone. He resolved to 
 become oblivious of the past, and generously met O'Con- 
 nell in his advances. He retired to his study, and wrote 
 a most kind and sensible letter to O'Connell. 
 
 Mr. Murphy delivered the letter. In a note to Lord 
 Cloncurry he observed, that never did he see a man more 
 delighted than he was with its admirable tone. " On 
 finishing the first paragraph," wrote Murphy, " he struck 
 the table, and exclaimed in a loud voice — ' May God 
 bless him !' He said it was a letter he should keep 
 carefully by him as long as he lived. At another time 
 he said — 'Good God! how could I ever have quar- 
 
438 CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 relied with sucli a man ?' Pigot says that it is one of 
 the best letters he ever read, and that it could only have 
 been written by the best of Irishmen." 
 
 The letter, however, which forms the theme of Mr. 
 Murphy's epistle, and Mr. Pigot's eulogy, does not appear 
 in the " Personal Recollections." We have successfully 
 inquired after it; and, as the letter is in all respects 
 highly creditable to Lord Cloncurry, we can have no 
 hesitation in annexing it to this account of the trans- 
 action : — 
 
 [No. 45.] LORD CLONCURRY TO DANIEL o'COXN'ELL, ESQ., M.P. 
 
 "Lyons, October 13^, 1835. 
 
 " My dear O'Coxnell. — I thank you for your letter ; it has given me 
 the sincerest pleasure. If you had done me a seriou3 injury I should deem 
 it an atonement. If you did not atone I should now feel it my duty to 
 co-operate with you in the service of our country. 
 
 " I have not, indeed, the vanity to imagine that my co-operation could 
 be otherwise valuable than from the affection borne to me from the friends 
 of liberty, of justice, and of Ireland ; from their belief in the singleness of 
 my devotion to their cause. 
 
 "It i-< nut now ne coo gary to inquire whether I was premature, or O'Connell 
 tardy, in hailing the improved prospects of our country. There was reason 
 for you to doubt, as there was for me to hope. I saw the noblest, the most 
 single-minded.* and the most enthusiastic of mankind, anxious to do us justice, 
 and pledged to our regeneration ; but I saw him unsupported and counter- 
 acted by his colleagues, his misplaced confidence betrayed, and his wise and 
 statesmanlike intentions frustrated. Thia distracted my peace, and destroyed 
 my health ; but I did hope that, by the support and co-operation of all good 
 men, he would have been so strengthened in his power and his purposes, as 
 to have accomplished the object of his even* wish — our permanent prosperity. 
 Whether that co-operation was by some wisely withheld, or hostility justly 
 proclaimed, I shall not now inquire ; I will look only to the future. After a 
 long separation, you and I can come together in perfect unity of purpose, 
 and in oblivion of all minor interests, think only of bringing to maturity the 
 too often blighted hopes of our country. 
 
 " A period has now, fortunately, arrived when there is no longer a point 
 of difference between reformers. We understand each other; may we not 
 hope to draw to us the well-informed and the honest of our hitherto oppo- 
 nents. I do verily believe that, even in the Lords, many of those who have 
 sinned against Ireland have done so more in ignorance than enmity ; and 
 as in the first step of reform they yielded to conviction, let us hope that in 
 measures of not less paramount importance they will in future be guided 
 rather by reason and justice than by party feeling, or the dictation of a 
 corrupt and abominable faction. 
 
 In allusion to Lord Anglesey. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 439 
 
 " Can any just man agreeing to corporate reform in England hesitate to 
 allow its more urgent necessity in Ireland, -when he knows the materials of 
 which her corporations are composed? "Who will say that we want not 
 a police bill* for the counties and for the metropolis, and the application of 
 tithe to the relief, the education, and the employment of the people? It 
 would be as tedious as unnecessary in a letter, an d to you, to dwell on these 
 subjects. * * * 
 
 " I conclude by again most sincerely thanking you for your letter. Con- 
 tinue long to exercise your unrivalled talents to the advantage of Ireland 
 and of mankind, and be assured of the hearty, though very humble, 
 assistance of, 
 
 11 My dear O'Connell, 
 
 " Your faithful and obliged, 
 
 V Clonccrry." 
 
 The next document which claims a place in this 
 memoir is a characteristically written letter from Lord 
 'Cloncurry to Mr. Bagot, of Castle Bagot. No date 
 appears to be attached to this letter ; but that it was 
 written in the year 1836 we have every reason to know. 
 The meeting therein alluded to (which Mr. Bagot took 
 an active part in organizing) was one convened for the 
 purpose of demanding a full, final, and satisfactory settle- 
 ment of the tithe question. Lord Lyndhurst had, a short 
 time previously, in the House of Lords, stigmatized the 
 people of Ireland as aliens in blood, in language, and in 
 religion. The effect produced by this insolent assertion 
 was startling. O'Connell withered the Chancellor with 
 invective. It drew forth one of Shiefs brightest speci- 
 mens of oratory. 
 
 It will be perceived that the first two sentences of Lord 
 Cloncunys letter is in satirical allusion to Lord Lynd- 
 burst's diatribe: — 
 
 [No. 46.] LORD CLONCURRY TO JOHN JAMES BAGOT, ESQ., D.L. 
 
 '• My dear Baoot, — 1 am sorry that I am prevented meeting you this day. 
 The cause which brings my countrymen together is not alien to my heart, t<> 
 mv reliction, nor to the language of my life. 
 
 " But if the people of Ireland, instead of my loved neighbours and fellow- 
 subjects, were as little known to me as they must be to Lord Lyndhurst. it 
 woidd not excuse me to my conscience, if, as a legislator, I refused them 
 justice. 
 
 * Soon after, Lord Cloncurry had the gratification of witnessing the in- 
 troduction of the new police into Dublin. 
 
440 CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 " The man must be hardened in ignorance or in malice, who denies our 
 right or our necessity for corporations. By no other means can the property 
 plundered from our towns and cities he recovered ; but if, as has been falsely 
 stated, there be no property, still corporations are necessary for the moral, 
 physical, sanatory, and political interests of the people, the first institution 
 •which the philosopher or the missionary would wish to establish for the 
 civilization of a barbarous nation. 
 
 " When the corporate lands of our towns and cities are recovered from 
 the dishonest patrons who leased them to themselves at nominal rents, there 
 will be ample means for paving, watering, and cleansing, without additional 
 taxation ; and the bequests of worthy and benevolent persons to their native 
 towns will, from time to time, enable them to add to their beauty and their 
 comfort. 
 
 " The allusion to plunder reminds me of the second though chief subject 
 of your assembling — tithes. Was there ever in any country plunder, rapine, 
 or injustice, equal to the tithe system in Ireland ? The most wanton plunder, 
 the most hardened cruelty, the most bullying injustice — all in the name of 
 religion and of charity — and to support a Church possessing in neglected land 
 more than an acre for each communicant ; a Church known to the body of 
 the people by its enormous, abused, and ill-managed wealth. Though myself 
 a Protestant and a tithe proprietor, it is more than forty years since I first 
 wrote and spoke against a system unchristian, degrading, destructive of all 
 ^ood feeling, of all charity, and of all desire of improvement. To remedy 
 which evil Lord Stanley's Act would substitute landlord for tithe proctor, 
 widen the breach between the ranks of society, and add to the complex diffi- 
 culties of an embarrassed, shifting, and most unpopular proprietary. 
 
 " Most faithfully yours, 
 
 " Clonxorry." 
 
 Well knowing from experience what vast influence the 
 old Catholic Association was long capable' of wielding, it 
 is not surprising that Daniel O'Connell should have set 
 in motion the massive machinery of another league at a 
 time when the voice of his country, in piteous and im- 
 passioned language, called for the redress of grievances 
 whose name was legion. The National Association was 
 a powerful confederacy, and, there is no denying, great 
 national benefit resulted from its labours. " There were, 
 however," saysFagan's " Life of O'Connell," "unpleasant 
 drawbacks to these discussions. It w T as, to the Irish 
 nation, a painful thing to see O'Connell and Sharman 
 Crawford in personal collision." Mr. Fagan goes on to 
 say, that Mr. Crawford was, in the abstract, right in most 
 of the opinions he maintained at the Association. 
 
 It pained Lord Cloncurry to see the strength of the 
 national councils shaken by collision of opinion. He 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 441 
 
 resolved to do liis best to coalesce tlie jarring elements of 
 agitation, and addressed Mr. Crawford some letters on 
 the subject. One of them is so racy of its author that 
 we should be sorry to deny it a place in this me- 
 moir : — 
 
 [No. 47.] LORD CLOXCURRY TO W. SHARMAX CRAWFORD, ESQ., M.P. 
 
 " Maretimo, Oct. 10, 1836. 
 
 " Mr rear Sir, — Since ever I had the honour of your acquaintance, your 
 conduct as an Irishman and a politician has commanded my sincere respect. 
 Since I have known O'Connell, now upwards of thirty years, in times of diffi- 
 culty and of storm, I have seldom differed from him in opinion, and when I 
 did so, it was with grief and pain for the cause in which all good Irishmen 
 are bound to act as by one impidse. Though the prospects of Ireland are 
 now, thank God, better — oh ! how far better than when first I devoted myself to 
 her cause ! — we have still much to do, and we are at a moment of our fate so 
 critical that our undivided, our most earnest attention, is required to our 
 duty. The enemy is most active — I believe, desperate and bloodthirsty. Let 
 not our disputes, like those of the Christians of Constantinople, give the fortres? 
 to the foe. * * * * Do not imagine that my admiration of O'Connell, 
 my feeling for him at the present moment, or my conviction of the sacred 
 duty of all good Irishmen to be now more than ever united — do not imagine, 
 my dear Sir, that these truly coercing circumstances prevent my being angry 
 with O'Connell on many occasions, and angry with myself, for suffering that 
 feeling to damp those exertions which I still owe to Ireland. Why did I not 
 subscribe to the ' Justice Eent ?' Because, in his inauguration letters on the 
 subject, O'Connell accuses Lord Anglesey of re-arming the Orange yeomen. 
 Now, I know that the urgent advice and direction of Lord Anglesey was to 
 disarm them. It is true that that most excellent of men may be held 
 accountable for the acts of others, whilst he nominally governed Ireland ; 
 but his strong sense*of justice, already made known by one of his despatches,* 
 fraudulently obtained — his conduct in Parliament, as contrasted to that of 
 his Secretary! — and the reconciliation, so sincere on my part, which took 
 
 * This alludes to Lord Anglesey's celebrated letter to Earl Grey, which, 
 by means never satisfactorily explained, found its way into the public papers, 
 notwithstanding ministerial precautions to the contraiy. The document 
 called upon Lord Grey to take the amelioration of Ireland at once in hand. 
 His Excellency stated it as his deliberate opinion, grounded upon an 
 experience of four years' exercise of the viceregal sceptre, that internal 
 peace could never be established until ministers came to some definite' 
 arrangement about the Church question, whereby the ecclesiastical property 
 of the Establishment would be made subservient to the general good of the 
 community. Lord Anglesey also called for a system of poor laws, labour 
 rates, the organization of special constables, the suppression of party proces- 
 sions, a satisfactory arrangement of juries, and an endowment of the Roman 
 Catholic clergy. 
 
 f Lord Stanley, now Earl of Derby. Speaking of him in a letter to Lord 
 Cloncurrv, published in the " Personal Recollections," Lord A. says, that 
 
 u2 
 
442 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 place between O'Connell and me, would, I had hoped, have long since put an 
 end to all exhibition of hostility to one whom I had the honour to call my 
 friend, as he was the friend of my country — a man whose wisdom and 
 honesty as a statesman would have secured our prosperity had he not been 
 counteracted. The history of his sojourn in Ireland I will leave to an abler 
 pen. * * .* * 
 
 " Corporations should not only be reformed and preserved, but increased 
 in number, and armed with a power to recover the plundered property. The 
 whole system of the magistracy should be changed, and a further reform 
 effected in the constabulary ; the public roads vested in a public board— one 
 great line of railroad, to be executed by them before the ground be pre- 
 occupied by bubble companies ; and the poor provided for by the remunerative 
 employment Ireland can so abundantly supply. "When that is exhausted it 
 -will be time enough to talk of workhouses or of emigration, to the benefit 
 of rival nations, or the increased growth of transatlantic corn, to the depre- 
 ciation of our own. For all this, it will be said, we must have peerage 
 reform. Most anxious I am for it ; but can it be obtained by Act of Par- 
 liament ? I fear not. Why not urge a creation ? and, to diminish as little 
 as possible the dignity of the Upper House, add, i pro hoc vice,'' as many life 
 peers as would carry those necessary measures recommended by his Majesty, 
 or desired by his people. Amongst those, I must say, I think the ballot by 
 far the most important. 
 
 " I must now terminate this too tedious letter, somewhat indecorous, per- 
 haps, from a peer and privy councillor ; but time presses. The most insulting 
 calumnies have been vented against our people, to justify the atrocities of 
 their enemies ; we must forget every petty difference, and unite as one man 
 in the expression of our indignation, and of our determination to recover our 
 rights. 
 
 " My dear Sir, with great respect and regard, yours most truly, 
 
 " Cloxcurry." 
 
 [No. 48.] WM. SHARMAN CRAWFORD, ESQ., M.P. TO LORD CLOXCURRY. 
 
 " Crmofordsburn, October 14, 1836. 
 
 " My dear Lord, — * * * * You allude to the difference of opinion 
 which has been exhibited between Mr. O'Connell and myself on certain 
 important questions affecting the interests of Ireland ; and your object is to 
 reconcile those differences which you deem might prove injurious to the suc- 
 cess of that great struggle now impending. 
 
 " My Lord, I agree with you that we shoidd all be united in a common 
 effort ; and my object in broaching these questions is, that by a free and 
 full discussion of the points of disagreement, a common principle of action 
 should be decided on, previous to our entering that great arena where the 
 
 he (Stanley) " woidd probably prefer a more submissive master. I work at 
 great disadvantage. He knows all my schemes, and I know few of his. 
 Thus all my projects, when laid before the Cabinet, if he does not go the 
 whole length -with me (and half measures are worse than useless), are, pro- 
 bably, thwarted by him. He tells his own story, and I have no one to back 
 my views." 
 
CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 443 
 
 battle is to be fougbt. My object, by discussion now, is to avoid disagree- 
 ment hereafter. I wish to bave principles of action decided on by the voice 
 of the nation. To that voice I am willing to yield ; but I bold it, that no 
 system of action can have weight or respect which is founded solely on the 
 dictation of any one individual, however distinguished, or on the adhesion of 
 a party for party objects, or on such a hue of conduct as can give pretext to 
 our opponents to impute to us such motives. * * * * 
 
 "Your lordship's object is union of reformers. In this object 1 cordially 
 join you. I will give up all allusions to the past — let us open a new leaf, 
 and prepare for the future. And how is this to be done? I unhesitatingly 
 say that we must look to Mr. O'Connell as the leader, to assert the rights of 
 Ireland ; but in that capacity, I claim from him a distinct declaration of the 
 principles on which we are to act, that the accordance of those who are to 
 act with him shall be founded on the conviction of reason, and not on the 
 dictation of authority. There are great questions to be debated, vitally 
 affecting the particular interests of Ireland. It is time we should understand 
 a definitive course of action on those questions." [Here Mr. Crawford 
 adverted, amongst other matter, to the reform of the Lords, and the power 
 { of effecting it.] " I assert, my Lord, we have power to obtain these, or any 
 other measures to which the united power of the nation shall be directed, on 
 the foundation of a necessity arising from justice and practical utility. In 
 my opinion, Ireland has now a greater means of asserting her particular 
 rights than ever she had before, or ever she may have again. By the 
 present balance of parties in the Imperial Parliament, her representatives 
 have an extraordinary power ; and the National Association, by its funds, 
 and combination of talent and influence, can give effect to that power. Under 
 such circumstances, I affirm that the word ' impracticable' should be blotted 
 out of the vocabulary of freemen. The man who bears this motto on his 
 breast enters the field of combat with the certainty of defeat. It was not 
 thus that our British ancestors extorted Magna Charta and the Bill of 
 Bights. It was not thus that the Irish patriots of a former day established 
 the independence of their Legislature. It was not thus that the great leader 
 of the Irish nation contended for and accomplished the Emancipation of his 
 countrymen. N$ my Lord ; he contended against difficulties discouraging 
 and insurmountable, apparently, to any other person but one possessed of his 
 transcendant powers. And whilst I have honestly expressed my disagree- 
 ment from parts of Mr. O'Connell' s late policy, I, with equal honesty and 
 sincerity, declare, that for these exertions, and for the accomplishment of this 
 great benefit to Ireland, he is entitled to the everlasting gratitude of his 
 country. 
 
 " Let us then learn, from experience of past events, to regulate our 
 conduct for the future — let us not despond about impracticabilities — let us 
 inquire what justice to our country demands — let us put forward our claims, 
 and. on those claims let us take our firm, deliberate, and constitutional stand. 
 
 " I am, my dear Lord, with every feeling of respect and esteem, yours 
 sincerely, 
 
 " Wit Sharjian Crawford." 
 
 The earnestness and energy latterly manifested in the 
 proceedings of the popular party excited, to a still higher 
 pitch, the alarms and jealousies of the Orange faction. 
 
444 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 Early in the year 1837, a requisition, signed by eight 
 peers, convened a " true blue" meeting in the Mansion 
 House. Twenty noblemen and sixteen members of Par- 
 liament attended, and with elevated fists, flushed cheeks, 
 blazing eye-balls, and stentorian lungs, vowed that the 
 encroachments of the nationalists should be resisted unto 
 death, and a fierce opposition to the Government organ- 
 ized. " I tell you," exclaimed Lord Glengall, " if you 
 do not win the battle which you are fighting under the 
 banners of Wellington, the days during which you can 
 hold your Protestant estates are numbered." The speeches 
 were of a highly inflammatory character, and no pains 
 were spared to stimulate the flame of party. Lord Roden 
 displayed a purple and orange handkerchief, and fourteen 
 hundred of the same colour sympathetically waved in 
 rampant anti-Catholic defiance above the heads of his 
 auditory. Thunders of Kentish fire shook the old build- 
 ing. Peals of party cheers resounded lustily through 
 Dawson-street. The fiercest invective, and the bitterest 
 sarcasm, were alternately hurled and squirted at Lords 
 Mulgrave and Melbourne. Altogether a more determined 
 or defiant Orange demonstration was never before seen in 
 the good city of Dublin. 
 
 The Protestant population of Ireland, apprehensive 
 lest England should confound them with the sworn 
 Orangemen (that body having denominated their display 
 " a meeting of the Irish Protestants"), published a protest 
 against it, signed by thirty-four peers and fifty-seven 
 members of the British Parliament. 
 
 Meanwhile the popular exertions for Corporate Reform, 
 and other salutary measures, were in nowise diminished, 
 and Lord Cloncurry, in his place in Parliament, backed 
 them with his rapidly increasing influence. Apropos to 
 this, we here subjoin one of the many letters addressed 
 to the late Frederick Wm. Conway by his lordship. It 
 contains some little scraps of information touching the 
 etiquette and formula to be observed in reference to par- 
 liamentary petitions, which are not, we think, generally 
 known : — 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 445 
 
 [Xo. 49.] LORD CLOXCURRY TO MR. CONWAY. 
 
 11 Brookes 1 Club, 22nd Feb., 1837. 
 
 " My dear Sir, — I fear I cannot be of the service I could wish to those 
 of my countrymen who have paid me the compliment of entrusting their 
 petitions for Corporate Reform to me. 
 
 "Their indignation at being called 'aliens' causes a reference in their 
 petition to a speech said to have been delivered in the House of Lords, and 
 that reference is contrary to rule. 
 
 " I wish to God that libels and insults on Ireland were equally inadmis- 
 sible ; but as that unfortunately does not appear to be the case, we must 
 patiently bear what cannot at present be remedied, and so word our petitions 
 as to prevent their being rejected on a point of order. * * * 
 
 " Petitions should be left perfectly open for inspection at the Post-office, and 
 only confined by a string, with the member's direction, and the word ' petition' 
 endorsed, and on no account a letter or other paper enclosed. 
 
 " My dear Sir, very faithfully yours, " Cloxcurry." 
 
 The meetings on both sides continued in Dublin with 
 vigour. The ranks of the National Association swelled 
 with adhesions, and so formidable had it now become, 
 that even Lord Melbourne shared some of the Tory 
 apprehensions regarding the aim of its power. Men of 
 every creed enrolled themselves its members. Of Pro- 
 testants alone their number was one-third. Oblivious of 
 religious differences they thought only of the regenera- 
 tion of their common country. It was a national associ- 
 ation in spirit and in truth. 
 
 The approaching electioneering struggle did not di- 
 minish the excitement. The Tories openly proclaimed 
 that it was to be with them a life and death one ; while 
 the people, on the other hand, answered, that never until 
 then were they resolved to conquer or perish in the 
 attempt. 
 
 At length the general election came on. For weeks 
 the battle waged with fiercest fury, and apprehensions 
 were for a time entertained that by means of extensive 
 bribery the Tory faction would soar triumphant. The 
 panic, however, was shortlived. Festivity and rejoicing 
 throughout Catholic Ireland soon announced the triumph 
 of the green, and the prostrate humiliation of Orange 
 land. 
 
 Touching the Kildare election of 1837, we find the 
 following note to Mr. Conway. Mr. Edward Ruthven, 
 therein alluded to, was the successful candidate for the 
 
446 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 county. Lord Cloncurry, as may be perceived, stands up 
 for the Geraldines : — 
 
 [No. 50.] LORD CLONCURRY TO MR. COX WAY. 
 
 [No date.'] 
 " My dear Sir, — "With reference to the paragraph in Mr. Euthven's 
 letter to the men of Kildare, in which my name is introduced, the intention 
 there attributed to the Liberator, or to a higher personage, was to me and my 
 son a profound secret. 
 
 " I think that every sentiment of honest pride, of patriotism, and of gra- 
 titude should determine the men of Kildare always to seek at least one re- 
 presentative from the house of Fitzgerald. Amongst many others deserving 
 their confidence, from the Duke to the labourer, I hope is my son. If I 
 know him, his ambition is not personal. 
 
 " I trust that the men of Kildare will recollect that much remains to be 
 done for Ireland, and that to have weight hi a British Senate, a representative 
 must be of unblemished character. 
 
 " Your faithfid Servant, " Cloncurry." 
 
 In the month of June of this year, William the Fourth 
 died. This event must be considered somewhat mal- 
 apropos so far as Ireland was concerned. The Church, 
 Poor Law, and Municipal Bills, were at that juncture 
 progressing steadily through Parliament, but his Majesty's 
 hearse chancing to come in collision with them, they 
 capsized, and for a considerable time after did not regain 
 their lost position. Other bills, of not less importance, 
 were, in consequence of the king's death, withdrawn. 
 
 William lost much of his popularity previous to this 
 event. There were not many tears shed on the 20th 
 June, 1837. This change in the popular feeling was 
 attributed to his most capricious dismissal of the Mel- 
 bourne ministry in 1835. It appeared inexplicable, and 
 the affectionate designations of " Sailor King," and "Billy 
 the Reformer," ceased to roll from the lips of his people. 
 
 Lord Cloncurry and O'Connell supported with might 
 and main the Melbourne Cabinet. " If," said Lord John 
 Russell, " the supporters of the present Administration 
 continue their present confidence in it, the ministry will 
 not desert them." This declaration, coming from so in- 
 fluential a member of the Cabinet, stimulated Lord Clon- 
 curry to increased exertion. 
 
 Amidst hearty cheers and joyful greetings the youth- 
 ful Victoria ascended the British throne. Never did 
 monarch clutch the sceptre of royalty with a greater 
 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 447 
 
 likelihood of swaying it long and potently. Her acces- 
 sion was hailed with more enthusiasm, generally speaking, 
 than was witnessed since the days of Elizabeth. The 
 Whigs of England, and nationalists of Ireland, appeared 
 to vie with each other in making protestations of alle- 
 giance. The fact of her Majesty having been called at 
 the age of seventeen to rule over the destinies of a 
 mighty empire excited an interest and a prejudice in 
 her favour which would not, under other circumstances, 
 have existed. In Ireland she was regarded as the bright 
 star of hope. Everything was expected from her. Poor 
 Cinderella Ireland felt quite confident that many good 
 things, hoped for long and earnestly, were to be thence- 
 forward showered, unsolicited, into her lap. Th^Orange 
 faction, feeling that the days of their ascendency were 
 numbered, directed an uninterrupted fire of venom at the 
 fair young ruler. On the very day of her accession the 
 abuse of the Times was perhaps the most truculent and 
 ungallant that ever disgraced the columns of that singu- 
 larly able journal. That the Duchess of Kent, her 
 Majesty's mother, should have come in for her quantum 
 may readily be supposed. " Never" exclaimed the 
 Times, " will the British nation suffer under irresponsible, 
 selfish, backstairs tyranny — especia Uy in intriguing, sordid, 
 female, foreign tyranny." As a reactionary movement, 
 O'Connell organized a democratic association, entitled 
 the " Queen's Friends." 
 
 A general, and not altogether unfounded feeling of 
 alarm soon pervaded the popular ranks, that it was in 
 contemplation by the Orangemen of Ireland to attempt 
 deposing Queen Victoria, and placing his Hanoverian 
 Majesty, Ernest Augustus, on the throne. The name 
 of this monarch had long been identified with the fiercest 
 ebullitions of Orangeism, and the mere mention of 
 it sent a thrill of terror through many a heart. A very 
 general feeling likewise prevailed, that blood would track 
 the progress of the struggle, and ready and willing was 
 every Paddy to measure strength with his ancient foe in 
 so loyal a cause. " When O'Connell," writes Mr. Fagan, 
 " barely hinted at the prospect, and asked the assembled 
 
448 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 thousands would they fight for the Queen, it is not pos- 
 sible to describe the enthusiasm which the suggestion 
 
 GO 
 
 produced. Every man in the vast multitude absolutely 
 bounded with delight." 
 
 While the foregoing pages were passing through the 
 press, the author of this work received a letter from Dr. 
 Grattan, the old friend and correspondent of Lord Clon- 
 curry , requesting that we would make particular reference 
 to " the conspiracy entered into by the heads of the Orange 
 Lodge in England, to set aside a successor to the throne 
 by proclaiming the Princess Victoria unfit to reign, and 
 making the Duke of Cumberland King — all," writes Dr. 
 
 o o 
 
 Grattan, " under the pretence of upholding inviolate the 
 principles of William, of pious and immortal memory — of 
 protecting the Established Church, and of re-enacting 
 the penal code. Mr. W. F. Finn, M.P. for Kilkenny, 
 and brother-in-law to O'Connell, dragged the plot to 
 light. The Orange secretary, Colonel Freeman, refused 
 to produce the minutes of the proceedings at the Grand 
 Lodge, and fled to Hanover. The affair was hushed up, 
 for too many persons of rank and influence were impli- 
 cated in it, to render it safe to proceed with the in- 
 
 The electors of Kilkenny, in gratitude to Mr. Finn, 
 decided upon presenting him with a handsome testimonial. 
 Circulars were sent to a number of the nobility and 
 gentry of Ireland requesting subscriptions towards that 
 object. Lord Cloncurry, unlike a great many of his 
 noble brethren, who threw the document aside unno- 
 ticed, wrote on October 17, 1837, to Dr. Bradley, of 
 Castlecomer, as follows: — "I beg," said his lordship, 
 " that you will inform me where, in Dublin, I can pay 
 the tribute of my respect for Mr. Finn, to whom I con- 
 sider my country and the empire indebted for a most 
 important service." 
 
 Lord Cloncurry was long in the habit of correspond- 
 ing with the celebrated Dublin millionaire, William 
 Murphy. The following interesting extracts will serve 
 as a specimen of a correspondence which may be said to 
 have extended over thirty years : — 
 
CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 449 
 
 
 ?7. 
 
 [Xo. 51.] LORD CLOXCURRY TO WILLH3I MURPHY, ESQ. 
 
 "Lyons, 29th July, 183 < 
 "My dear Murphy, — I see that you are making a collection for the 
 city election, and I send £10 from Cecil,* which he wishes to he so applied- 
 Others from this town have sent £105 to the general election fund. * * * 
 ***** Tli e attention of Parliament will prohably be called to 
 Ireland early in the next session, and I think our new members and our 
 friends should, as far as possible, be put in possession of our opinions and 
 wishes on the chief subjects of discussion — corporations, poor laws, and 
 tithes. Indeed I am of opinion that a preparatory meeting in Dublin of the 
 peers and commons of Ireland would be very desirable. * * * "We have 
 a common point of union in our admiration and respect for our Sovereign. 
 "We know that she approves of whatever may contribute to the happiness of 
 her subjects, without distinction of sect or party. She has distinctly ex- 
 pressed her desire to 'compose animosity and discord.' * * * * Our 
 prospects are, I think, bright and shining. We are on the eve of an excel- 
 lent harvest of every kind of produce. The country is peaceable^nd it is 
 t evidently the interest of all parties to have it so, for if coercion should be- 
 come necessary, we have a Government that will administer it indifferently ; 
 punishment will no longer be for one side only ; in short, we have time to 
 look about us. The Duke of "Wellington has declared for Corporate Keform, 
 so, I dare say, "will Lord Lyndhurst in a short time, though his lordship is 
 at present of opinion that corporations were established in Ireland for Pro- 
 testant purposes only, and that if they have been a nuisance, their abolition 
 is all we can desire. Calm inquiry will satisfy him that although additions 
 have been made to our boroughs for Protestant Parliamentary purposes, 
 corporations were originally established in Ireland, as in all other countries, 
 to protect the industrious from the powerful, the townsmen from the lords. 
 They had privileged guilds for the protection of trade and the exclusion of 
 unqualified persons; and they had the management of considerable pro- 
 perty — the police, the tolls, cleansing, &c, &c, of the towns. Almost all of 
 our old towns have estates of more or less value belonging to* them ; and 
 these estates certain great neighbouring proprietors have in general succeeded 
 in fraudulently leasing to themselves, at nominal rents, and thus after ruin- 
 ing, at the time of the Union, sold the right of election of the Protestant 
 burgesses, and put the money in their own pockets — most noble protectors of 
 Protestant interests ! How justly are baroni and birboni synonymous in 
 Italian ! The question at present is to place under the protection of the 
 great body of the citizens, burgesses, and townsmen, their remaining rights 
 and property for the common benefit, according to the original constitution, 
 and for the original purpose of protecting, improving, policing, and cleansing 
 their towns, and which neither ought nor can have any connexion with re- 
 ligious distinctions. The robbery complained of was committed by pretended 
 Protestants on Protestants and Catholics. The Protestants and Catholics 
 now unite in a desire to protect and take care of themselves. "When I use 
 the terms " Protestant" and " Catholic," I mean the sincere Christians of 
 Ireland who, though they go to different places of worship, adore the same 
 God in nearly the same words. I do not mean those soi disant Protestants, 
 who, never going to church themselves, cannot live at peace with those who 
 go to Mass ; but, with the hope of exclusive advantage, the warfare will 
 cease. * * * — I am, my dear Sir, yours very faithfully, 
 
 " Cloncurry." 
 
 * Hon. Cecil Lawless. 
 
450 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 It will be recollected that Lord Cloncurry, in his letter 
 to William Murphy, suggested a meeting of the Irish 
 liberal peers and members of Parliament, preparatory to 
 the approaching session of Parliament. The suggestion 
 appeared to Mr. Murphy a wise one. He mentioned it 
 to some of the active patriots of the day, who were of 
 opinion that worse courses might, under existing circum- 
 stances, be pursued. A voluminous correspondence passed 
 between Lord Cloncurry and his friends on the subject. 
 The letters of Messrs. O'Connell and Grattan we select, 
 as illustrative of the times, and therefore suitable for the 
 purposes of this memoir. 
 
 There is a matter introduced in Mr. O'Connell's letter 
 which Requires some explanation. " The Spottiswoode 
 Conspiracy," although it created at the time a deep sen- 
 sation, has been, for many years, almost forgotten. The 
 Parliamentary session of November, 1837, promised to 
 be one of stirring interest. The Tories, by every avail- 
 able means, resolved to harass the Irish liberal members, 
 and if possible drive them, paupers, from the senate. To 
 effect this object, Mr. Spottiswoode, the Queen's printer, 
 and perhaps one of the wealthiest men of his caste in 
 England, established a fund to petition indiscriminately 
 against every Irish member who had been returned on 
 the liberal interest. The ruse was, to a certain degree, 
 successful. It made deep inroads into the coffers of many 
 upright men, whom the people deemed best qualified to 
 attend to the protection of their properties, lives, and 
 liberties in Parliament. " Robbery it is," exclaimed 
 O'Connell, " plain, palpable robbery ; because, no matter 
 how unfounded a petition may be, he who is petitioned 
 against must necessarily expend a large sum in his 
 defence." Large subscriptions were entered into, and 
 violent language inveighed against Ireland. Of the 
 numerous utensils employed to execute this part of the 
 work, the Times and Standard were, perhaps, the most 
 important. " The Spottiswoode Conspiracy" assumed a 
 formidable hue. To give an idea of the expense attend- 
 ing one election petition, we may observe that that 
 against O'Connell alone amounted to £40,000, of 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 451 
 
 which the greater portion was defrayed by the joint- 
 stock purse of the Carlton Club. 
 
 [Xo. 52.] DAXIEL o'CONXELL, ESQ., M.P., TO LORD CLONCURRY. 
 
 " Derrynane Abbey, Oct. 12. 
 
 " My Lord, — I have seen, some time ago, in one of the public papers, 
 an opinion of yours, or at least an opinion attributed to you, expressive of 
 your conviction that the Irish peers, and Members of the House of Com- 
 mons, of the liberal party, ought to meet in Dublin some days previous to 
 the commencement of the session, in order to concert and agree upon such 
 measures for the good of Ireland as ought to be pressed upon the attention 
 of the Government and of Parliament. I readily believed that this opinion 
 was yours, because it is one which, in my humble judgment, is full of good 
 sense and wisdom. * * 
 
 " There never was a period at which it was so necessary for the " heredi- 
 tary bondsmen" of Ireland to exert themselves. We are involved in a 
 t desperate, but I trust a last, struggle, to put an end to the domination of 
 faction in this country, and to procure for the Irish nation an identification 
 of rights and franchises with the English people. 
 
 ''"We have formidable, merciless, and unceasingly active enemies. The 
 English Tories place their last hope of power in fomenting English prejudice 
 and bigotry to the highest paroxysm of maddened exertion. The same 
 spirit which actuated the English Parliament in the days of the Cromwellian 
 war, when the total extermination of the Irish race was resolved upon, and 
 nearly perpetrated — that very spirit still presides over the Peel- Wellington 
 councils, and animates the efforts of nine-tenths of their Ton 7 partisans ; I do 
 not hesitate to declare my thorough conviction that many of the Tory party 
 in England are equally desirous for the slaughter of the Irish Catholics, as 
 were the more valiant but equally merciless soldiers of Cromwell, aud that 
 they would desire to see our exertions for political liberty smothered in our 
 blood. * * 
 
 " Already the ' signs of the times' cheer me on. One of the most decided 
 adversaries to ' the repeal,' Lord Ebrington, has himself avowed that there 
 were indications of such atrociously criminal hostilitv to Ireland amonsrst 
 the English Tories as, if successfully persevered in, would justify, and even 
 require, the Irish people to insist on the Eepeal." 
 
 [Here Mr. O'Connell adverted to the calamities prophesied by Bushe, 
 Plunket, and Saurin, in 1800, as likely to flow from a Union with Great 
 Britain. After which, he went on to say :] — 
 
 " But, my Lord, not one of them singly, nor all of them combined, did or 
 could possibly conjecture, that so base, so aggravated, so swindling — for that 
 is its right name — a calamity could possibly arise from that Union. 
 
 " Yet here it is in full life and hateful operation. Here it is — the Spot- 
 tiswoode gang have realized it. 
 
 *' Recollect, my Lord, that it is candidly and manfully admitted by Lord 
 Ebrington, that if this conspiracy shall be successfully persevered in, it in 
 itself would justify ' the Repeal.' 
 
 "What, then, is to be done? I, whose political integrity and personal 
 honour are both committed to work out fully my present experiment of 
 rendering the Repeal unnecessary, have a right to call upon you, my Lord, 
 and particularly upon those also who signed the Leinster declaration, to come 
 forward and consult and arrange what steps should be taken to vindicate 
 
452 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 the representation of the people of Ireland from the foul pollution of the 
 Spottiswoode conspiracy.'' 
 
 [Here Mr. O'Connell proposed that the contemplated meeting of peers and 
 M.P.'s should be at once called. Among the measures that he suggested 
 they should adopt were the following: — 
 
 " An address of allegiance to Her Most Gracious Majesty, respectfully 
 claiming from her the protection which her royal prerogative can bestow on 
 her faithful people of Ireland. 
 
 "Another address to her Majesty, praying specifically that she may order 
 Her Attorney- General for England to prosecute the members of the Spottis- 
 woode gangfor a dangerous and unconstitutional conspiracy against the freedom 
 of election and the privileges of the Commons' House of Parliament. 
 
 " To arrange the mode and time of bringing forward in the House of Lords 
 a suitable motion on this subject. 
 
 " To prepare an address to her Majesty from the people of Ireland, praying 
 
 her to continue in office her present Ministry, as being the first the people of 
 
 Ireland ever found honestly disposed to administer equal justice to all. 
 
 * * * " * * * * * * 
 
 "I have the honour to be, my Lord, your very faithful Servant, 
 
 " Daniel O'Coxxell." 
 
 The Spottiswoode conspiracy was such a manifest 
 breach of privilege that Mr. Smith O'Brien, while pre- 
 senting a reactionary petition, brought the matter under 
 the notice of Government. A discussion ensued, when 
 the petition was ordered to be printed. Mr. O'Brien, 
 following up his advantage, moved for a select committee 
 of inquiry. This the Government opposed, notwith- 
 standing that the principal law officer of the Crown 
 emphatically declared that the Spottiswoode subscription 
 list was in principle illegal. Annexed is Lord Clon- 
 curry's answer to Air. O'Connell : — 
 
 [Xo. 53.] LORD CLOXCURRY TO DANIEL O'COXXELL, ESQ., M.P. 
 
 " My dear O'Coxxell, — I have always considered a meeting of the 
 Irish members in Dublin, on their way to Parliament, most desirable, as a 
 means of obtaining information, and establishing that mutual understanding 
 so necessary for the common good ; and, in this most auspicious year, graced 
 by the personification of peace and loveliness, I did hope that, laying aside 
 all party feeling, we should have calmly discussed the ail-important measures 
 of national improvement likely to be brought before Parliament — poor laws, 
 reclamation of wastes, railways, canals, and fisheries. As far as lay in my 
 power, I should have avoided every subject likely to produce angry discus- 
 sion. I was fully satisfied with the explosion of Kildare Place by itself, 
 and with the triumph of national education by the instrumentality of the 
 enemy ; I was satisfied by the pledge of the Duke of Wellington as to cor- 
 poration reform, and felt certain that ministers would obey their royal 
 mistress, by extending to us the full benefit of the laws and institutions of 
 Britain. I should have respectfully solicited confidential communication 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 453 
 
 with the different commissioners of poor-law inquiry, of railroads, of fisheries, 
 of Shannon improvement, public works, education, and police. Thus, the 
 representatives of Ireland in both houses would have carried with them the 
 information necessary for legislators, the facility of co-operation, a union of 
 spirit, and the respect of the people, who would entrust to them their ex- 
 pression of love and duty to their Queen, their humble and justifiable ex- 
 pectations, their wishes and their wants. Such usefid, friendly conference 
 can hardly now be hoped for. The enemies of Ireland and of peace, in the 
 fury of despair, have infringed the law and braved their sovereign, in the 
 vain hope to retard legislation, and to withhold justice ; they have violated 
 the constitution, and, by insult and violence, endeavoured to excite the bad 
 passions of the multitude. 
 
 " This has greatly diminished my hope of the practicability or benefit of 
 the proposed meeting, but I feel it my duty to attempt it, and, for the first 
 days of November, I shall attend in Dublin to confer with all the members 
 of Parliament and of public boards, and to receive such petitions for presen- 
 tation as may be entrusted to me. 
 
 " We have seen our countrymen, by their energy and determination, wrest 
 from a corrupt and bigoted Legislature — from the old and unwilling Georges 
 — the great portion of their long withheld rights. Can we doubt that, under 
 present and happy auspices, the remainder will be cheerfully and wisely 
 granted, to the equal benefit of both countries, and the eternal gratitude of 
 ours ? Delay is all we have to fear ; but how mischievous is delay ! * * * 
 Why does the Admiralty charge fifteen shillings for a passage to Holyhead, 
 sixty miles, and twelve to Liverpool, one hundred and twenty ? 
 
 " Why does my Irish paper cost postage, and my English come free, one 
 hundred times the distance? Why are the letters of the poor charged 
 double postage, until the half be given back, let its importance be what it 
 may ? Why can a set of party magistrates refuse a petty sessions to a large 
 town (Bray, for instance), and establish it at privacy in a gate-lodge ? * * 
 
 "Your faithful Servant, 
 
 " Cloxcurry." 
 
 [No. 54:.'] DAXIEL, O'COXXELL, ESQ., M.P., TO LORD CLOXCURRY. 
 
 " Derrynane Abbey, 21st Oct., 1837. 
 
 " My Lord, — I, for one, cheerfully accept your invitation to be in Dublin 
 from the 1st to the 8th of November, ready to confer on the state of affairs 
 interesting to Ireland. I cannot doubt that you will find many others 
 equally ready to meet you. Thus the meeting will certainly take place. 
 Everything else may, until then, be safely committed to the deep interest 
 which all the friends of Ireland must take in this approaching session. That 
 session must terminate our present struggle ; but that struggle can only 
 terminate in our complete success. * * * 
 
 " I have the honour to be, my Lord, your faithful Servant, 
 
 " Daxiel O'Coxxell." 
 
 Mr. Grattan addressed a long letter to Lord Cloncurry. 
 We regret that we have only room for a few extracts : — 
 
454 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 [No. 55.] HENRY GRATTAN, ESQ., M.P., TO LORD CLOXOURRY. 
 
 " Hotel du Congres, BueRivoli, Paris, Oct. 27, 1837. 
 
 " My dear Lord, — * * As the House of Lords have decided that there 
 should be one law for Ireland, and another for England,* thereby condemning 
 the Union project of Mr. Pitt, and giving additional proof of its failure, I 
 highly approve of the suggestion, and should attend, if illness in my family 
 had not brought me to a milder climate. * * * 
 
 "What is the condition we behold? Society cut up by the roots, poverty, 
 absenteeism, civil discord, religious strife, a partisan magistracy, and pecu- 
 lating bigoted corporations; the churches of the Protestants half empty, the 
 chapels of the Catholics, in number and accommodation, shamefully deficient ; 
 the religion of 600,000 upheld by funds nearly equal in annual value to a 
 million of money ; the religion of six millions left to the chances of voluntary 
 contributions, and the tithes of the Established Church collected at the point 
 of the bayonet ; large tracts of territory held by a nobility and gentry who 
 seldom reside, and who spend their rents in another country ; the most fer- 
 tile soil in Europe but half cultivated, though the people are laborious, and 
 labour got for six-pence a day, and human life sustained for three- halfpence 
 a day ; yet, notwithstanding these advantages, upwards of two millions of 
 the inhabitants (as in the report of the House of Commons) are left in a 
 state of absolute starvation for six months every year ! ! ! I exclaim that 
 those evils must be remedied at every hazard, and I assert that mankind 
 should execrate the Tory governments who have reduced so fine a country 
 to so wretched a state, and all mankind must wonder that the Irish are so 
 tame and so enduring. * * 
 
 " Turn, I repeat, to Belgium, Nassau, Hesse, Baden, France — no war of 
 religion, no tithe conflicts, no Bible battles, no absentees, no necessity for 
 poor laws — almost every one is educated, most of the people have land — all 
 are well fed, well clothed, well housed — municipal bodies, selected by and 
 from the people, regulate their local affairs, and controul the public expen- 
 diture — information is spreading rapidly — religious bigotry has vanished, 
 and in the very town where Luther's defence of Protestantism remains, and 
 signed by his own hand, these prejudiced Tories may see, in the same build- 
 ing, Protestant and Catholic kneeling to their God, and worshipping Him 
 as the common father of mankind, without ' envy, hatred, or malice' towards 
 their neighbours ! How different this from Ireland, where the Tories ruled 
 for the last fifty years, and the cry of their ' hell hounds never-ceasing barked /' 
 But there is, in addition, one distinguished feature in the French system, 
 which 1 press upon your attention — that is, the National Guard — a cheap 
 defence of nations presiding over and protecting the fate and fortune of their 
 country. A people in arms are a tower of strength ; the armed citizen, 
 conscious of his power, controuls its exercise, casts a shade of moderation 
 over all his actions, and adds an embellishment to civic virtue. It is this 
 that will secure to France her freedom, it is this that has immortalized the 
 name of La Fayette — a similar institution procured for Ireland her liberty — 
 such an institution may be necessary again. The Volunteers of 1782, led on 
 
 * The Legislature had just conceded Municipal Reform to England and 
 Scotland, but sternly refused to extend it to Ireland. Sir Robert Peel's 
 unwavering opposition to it was based upon anxiety for the Irish Church Es- 
 tablishment. He opposed the abolition of an abuse, for the purpose of up- 
 holding a greater abuse. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 455 
 
 by Lord Charlemont and my father, struck off at a blow the chains that for 
 centuries had bound the nation, and effected for Ireland, in an hour, what 
 parliaments took half a century afterwards to do for the Catholics, so much 
 more efficient is the straightforward proceeding of the people, than the double- 
 faced friendship and policy of the ministers. ****** jf ^ey 
 pursue in Parliament the system of again rejecting all popular measures, and 
 nullifying the action of the House of Commons, they recruit for the Volun- 
 teers of Ireland, they decide that Ireland must be in arms if site seeks to be 
 free, and their return to power will be the signal. 
 
 14 Let the Tories beware how they resort again to tneir dangerous courses 
 and their rash leaders. Let tbem reflect that the National Association of 
 Ireland comprises 25,000 members and associates, that we are united by a* 
 sense of injury and insult. Backed by the mass of the Irish people, and 
 bound by a national oath of honour never to desist till weplaee the humblest of 
 our Irishmen on a level, in point of laic, with the proudest oj the English, this 
 Association, perhaps, may dissolve, relying on the virtues of our gracious 
 Queen and the good intentions of a Liberal ministry; if we succeed, '"why 
 tlten we shall smile ;' if we fail, meet we must, and meet we shall, to show to 
 i the world that Ireland may be injured, may be insulted, but cannot be ter- 
 rified into submission ; that Ireland may be disqualified, but cannot be de- 
 graded; and that if she has hitherto had patience and philosophy enough to 
 endure her wrongs, she still possesses spirit and courage to avenge them. — 
 I remain, my dear Lord, very truly yours, u Henry Grattan." 
 
 [No. 56.] DANIEL O'CONNELL, ESQ., M.P., TO LORD CLONCURRY. 
 
 " Mer Hon- square, Nov. 1, 1837. 
 
 " My Lord, — On my arrival here I discover that under existing circum- 
 stances, it is impossible to have so effectual a meeting of the Irish Liberal 
 members of both Houses of Parliament as the all-important crisis of our 
 affairs imperatively requires. Not a few of the Irish peers and commoners, 
 whose presence woidd be most desirable, are already gone to England, and 
 some are actually on the Continent. Having communicated these matters 
 to your lordship, I anticipate the readiness with which you will sanction a 
 postponement of the intended meeting until the 16th of this month, and the 
 change of place to London. * * * — I have the honour to be, &c, 
 
 " Daniel O'Connell." 
 
 [No. 57.] LORD CLONCURRY TO DANIEL O'CONNELL, ESQ., M.P. 
 
 " Maretimo, November 2nd, 1837. 
 
 "My dear O'Connell, — I entirely agree with you. My sole object was 
 to procure for the friends of Ireland in Parliament accurate information on 
 the spot, to diminish their legislative labours, and to secure unanimity on 
 measures likely to be brought forward for her benefit. The recorded acts 
 and sentiments of the Government render any marked demonstration on our 
 part unnecessary, and the dissolution of the National Association proves this 
 to be the opinion of the people of Ireland, a mark of devoted confidence not 
 likely to be misunderstood by the generous nation on which it is conferred. — 
 Most truly yours, " Cloncurry." 
 
456 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 The Temperance movement, headed by Judge Crampton, 
 had just begun to march prominently forward. Father 
 Matliew's teetotal organization was quite an after thing. 
 On October 28th, Lord Cloncurry attended an influential 
 meeting on the subject in the Rotunda. Amid peals of 
 Catholic cheers, and thunders of Kentish fire, he gave 
 expression to his sentiments. It was impossible, he said, 
 to estimate the immense benefit which would arise to 
 Ireland by the total avoidance of the use of ardent spirits. 
 As a master of servants, and an employer of labourers, he 
 could appreciate the vast advantages arising from the 
 propagation of temperance. He was an advocate for the 
 principle that Irishmen should govern themselves. He 
 was the friend (some, perhaps, would say, too much the 
 friend) of liberty ; but it was not liberty for a man to 
 possess the faculty of brutalizing and of ruining himself 
 by intoxication. Patriotism, and every other noble feel- 
 ing, should be enlisted in our exertions to remove and 
 overcome that evil. America was the land of all others 
 where liberty flourished most, and it was the first country 
 where temperance was promoted by the Legislature. A 
 temperance society, formed exclusively of members of 
 the Congress, existed there. Ardent spirits were no 
 longer a portion of the soldier's rations nor of the sea- 
 stores of a ship of war. 
 
 Lord Cloncurry terminated the year 1837 well. In 
 December we find him enclosing to the Rev. Mr. Walsh 
 the generous donation of £50, for the benefit of the 
 poor of Kingstown. " This," said the Evening Post, " is 
 only one of the numberless instances in which the excel- 
 lent nobleman has devoted a large portion of his private 
 fortune to the improvement of the condition of our hum- 
 ble population." 
 
 Meanwhile the Irish Municipal Reform movement 
 went bravely on. Its champions advanced with steady 
 precision, and the tramp of their column was heard afar 
 off. In January, 1838, Lord Cloncurry attended, and 
 spoke at the Grand Reform Banquet to O'Connell and 
 Hutton. In the course of the evening the venerable 
 Earl of Charlemont panegyrized Cloncurry as " the friend 
 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 457 
 
 of mankind, the poor man's magistrate, and an ornament 
 and example to the Irish magistracy." 
 
 February came, and found his lordship still active. 
 From the year 1817, when John Philpot Curran died, it 
 was constantly a source of pain and regret to him that 
 the ashes of his brother patriot and friend should be 
 allowed to repose in the uncongenial soil of an English 
 churchyard. In 1838 he loudly complained of what 
 appeared to be the insensibility of his countrymen to- 
 wards the memory of Curran, and opened a subscription 
 list for the purpose of removing the remains, and building 
 a monument above them. Foremost in this subscription 
 list we find his lordship's name, for £150, as well as £10 
 tfrom his son, the present Lord Cloncurry. Of this sum 
 we believe £50 was handed in by his lordship as the 
 subscription of anonymous parties. 
 
 Neither Lord Cloncurry 's exertions nor his money 
 went for nought. An ample fund soon enabled the Irish 
 people to remove from Paddington Churchyard the bones 
 of that incorruptible patriot who, throughout the Irish 
 reign of terror, was always the active and intrepid as- 
 sertor of the liberties of his native land. An order from 
 the Consistorial Court was obtained, and the land of his 
 birth became the final resting-place of Curran. 
 
 While the necessary burial arrangements, however, 
 were being made at Glasnevin, the coffin was temporarily 
 deposited in Lord Cloncurry 's family mausoleum at Lyons. 
 A public funeral was strongly advocated by Curran 's 
 friends; but his eldest son and representative, disliking 
 the pageantry of a national procession, forbade it. A 
 private interment was accordingly decided on. " It was on 
 a very gloomy day of November," writes one who took 
 an active part in the proceedings, " that the remains 
 were removed, with strict privacy, to Dublin. Towards 
 night, and as we arrived in the metropolis, the weather 
 was marked by peculiar severity. The rain fell in tor- 
 rents, and a violent storm howled, whilst the darkness 
 was relieved occasionally by vivid lightning, accompanied 
 by peals of thunder. This added much to the solemnity 
 of the scene, as we passed slowly through the streets, 
 
 x 
 
458 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 from which the violence of the night had driven almost 
 all persons." 
 
 The monument is of Irish granite, and chiselled after 
 the manner of Scipio's tomb. The eloquence of the in- 
 scription is admirable — nought but the solitary word 
 " Curran." Almost simultaneously with the erection of 
 the sarcophagus at Glasnevin, an exquisite monument of 
 Curran, with a medallion likeness in relief, took up its 
 position in one of the niches of St. Patrick's Cathedral. 
 The expenses were defrayed by a public subscription. 
 
 Among the Irish Poor Law meetings of the year 
 1838, that of the 10th March was perhaps the most 
 important. Cloncnrry's speech on the general destitution 
 that prevailed was energetic and affecting. " Some poor 
 law," he exclaimed, " is necessary. The proposed bill is 
 a bad one ; but I would rather submit to its operation 
 than have my feelings harrowed by the constant recur- 
 rence of such scenes of destitution. I am actually 
 ashamed to drive into the city with a decent equipage. 
 Is not the foreigner who visits our isle driven back when 
 
 o 
 
 he sees, in the very first village he comes to, the hordes 
 of wretched objects that beset him, craving a halfpenny 
 as the wherewithal _to satisfy their hunger? I want to 
 repress this appalling mendicancy — I want to employ the 
 idle arms upon the waste lands [hear, hear]. Some time 
 ago, there was an English valuator over in this country. 
 I was acquainted with him. He travelled through all 
 Ireland, and afterwards exclaimed — ' Oh ! it is not eight, 
 but thirty millions of people, that could be supported in 
 this country.' ' 
 
 Whilst we are on the Poor Law subject, it is as well 
 that we append a short letter to Mr. Conway, that has 
 just found its way to the surface of our papers. From 
 the nature of its allusions, there cannot be a doubt that 
 the document is in perfect chronological order : — 
 
 [No. 58.] LORD CLOXCURRY TO MR. COXWAT. 
 
 "Lyons, 2 7th April (no year). 
 " My dear Sir, — I received the enclosed from one of the best men of my 
 acquaintance. It agrees in many points with my own opinions on the Poor 
 Law subject, also with those of the Royal Commissioners. 
 
CLOXCURRY AKD HIS TIMES. 459 
 
 " If you can at any time give it a place in the Post, it will be a good act. 
 The Government bill is certainly very faulty; but the opposition of our old 
 taskmasters, the Grand Jury, jobbing landlords, &c, makes me suspect some 
 essential virtue that I have not fully discovered. 
 
 " My dear Sir, very faithfully yours, 
 
 " Cloxcurry." 
 
 The document referred to was entitled, " A safe, 
 cheap, and efficient plan for relieving the destitute Poor 
 of Ireland." 
 
 As an illustration of the strange variety of his lordship's 
 correspondence, let us here glance at the career of an ob- 
 scure but singularly gifted individual, the late John Walsh, 
 of Cork. In the " Philosophical Magazine," for November, 
 1851, an ample and interesting account of this strange 
 character, from the pen of Professor Boole, may be found. 
 It is compiled in the form of a letter to the eminent 
 mathematician and philosopher, Professor de Morgan, of 
 London, and forms, as Mr. Boole himself says, " a remark- 
 able and a melancholy story." Walsh was a man en- 
 dowed by nature with great talents, and greater perseve- 
 rance ; and had his mind been constructed with some- 
 what more strength, the science of mathematics would, 
 doubtless, have derived some service from his labours. 
 An overtasked brain and unstrung nerves, however, soon 
 rendered his past and present studies fruitless, and his 
 opinions on mathematics (which he loved to express con- 
 tinually) absurd. The last thirty years of Walsh's life 
 were almost exclusively consumed in writing and speak- 
 ing on his favourite topic. From morning till night he 
 protested that the differential calculus was a delusion ; 
 that Sir Isaac Newton was a shallow sciolist, if not an 
 absolute impostor ; and that the universities and academies 
 of Europe were engaged in the interested support of a 
 system of error. The indifference and disdain with which 
 the learned societies of Great Britain and France treated 
 his startling announcements maddened to a still further 
 pitch the already crazy intellect of the poor enthusiast. 
 After his death, piles of manuscript volumes and tracts, 
 written with an extraordinary dash of genius, but all, 
 nevertheless, pervaded by a thread of absurdity, were 
 
460 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 great expense, distributed gratuitously. He finally died, 
 a ruined, broken-hearted man, in the Cork Union Work- 
 house. 
 
 But to explain this digression. On the 16th Septem- 
 ber, 1854, the author of this work received a letter from 
 Professor de Morgan, of the London University, enclosing 
 a copy of an extract from one of Walsh's manuscripts. 
 " If you wish," wrote Professor de Morgan, "to be as 
 minute as Boswell, you may even be glad of the following. 
 It will illustrate the manner in which good-natured men 
 are apt to commit themselves to more than they intend. 
 The conversion of Lord Cloncurry's general proposition 
 into a particular one is amusing." 
 
 EXTRACT FROM LETTER III. TO DR. PROVOST SADLIER. 
 
 " 111 conclusion, I will take the liberty of adding here a copy of a note 
 ■which I received from Lord Cloncurry. I am emboldened to do so from its 
 easv and elegant style, from the very important and instructive sentiments 
 it contains, and its direct bearing on the intense controversy in which I have 
 been so long engaged with the whole of the philosophical world, but which, 
 despite all their power and prejudice, and moral delinquency, is now set at 
 rest for ever. 
 
 [Xo. 59.] LORD CLOXCL'RUY TO MR. JOIIX WALSH. 
 
 " ' 8th April, Lyons, 1838. 
 
 •• ' Sir, — I have received, and beg leave to thank you, for the letters you did 
 me the favour to send ; nothing can tend more to the benefit of true science 
 than free and candid discussion. I believe that the too great timidity so 
 generally incident to talent, retards our progress in the higher branches of 
 l Mathematics, and leaves much of uncertainty and danger in the struggles of 
 genius for the advancement now daily making in mechanics, navigation, and 
 astronomy. 
 
 '" I have the honour to be, Sir, your obliged Servant, 
 
 " ' Cloncurry/ 
 
 • -Nothing can lead more to the advancement of true science, as Lord 
 Cloncurry so justly observes, than free and candid discussion. But free and 
 candid discussion is totally unknown to the geometers and philosophers of 
 England and France. They have impugned the known truth, because it 
 suited their interests and their prejudices to do so ; and the same spirit that 
 animated the persecutors of Gallileo, animates them all at the present moment. 
 No one, except myself, ever had the daring to call in question the truth of 
 the mathematical philosophy of ancient and modem times, and to assert that 
 it was all wrong. And yet true it is that it is so ; and this is what sorely 
 vexes the lads. But if I had been more timid, and had more respect for 
 what the world considers authority in philosophic reasoning ; if I had not 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 461 
 
 known as a truth, that the judgment of the world itself in these matters was 
 of no value — seeing that it had suffered itself, almost from the creation, to be 
 enslaved by as malicious falsehood as was ever introduced into physical 
 science, not having perception, judgment, or reasoning sufficient to remove 
 from before its eyes the thin veil that shaded the mathematical sophistry of 
 the ancient Greeks; if 1 were so timid as not to think, and judge, and reason 
 boldly for myself, why then, as Lord Cloncurry remarks, with great accuracy 
 and depth of j udgment, greater ' uncertainty ' would exist in physical inves- 
 tigations, greater 'danger' would come to be apprehended from the results ; 
 and the progress of the higher mathematics would be seriously retarded ; 
 fluxions, differentials, and all that sort of things, which everywhere obtrude 
 themselves into natural philosophy, would still continue their mischievous 
 sway ; and error may for ever maintain its dominion over the human mind 
 as it has done during those last 2,000 years. Truth clearly demonstrated is 
 the only authority I recognize and respect ; these things are now all dead ; 
 error and false philosophers are detected and exposed; nor could they exist 
 for a moment in presence of exact science, whose reign is now eternal, any 
 [ more than could the midnight gloom exist in presence of the mid-day sun." 
 
 In the following letter to Mr. Owen, we find traces of 
 a renewal of that correspondence, which promised in 
 1823 to continue long and warmly. Mr. Owen* felt 
 pained at the prejudices which existed against himself 
 and his philanthropic project. He courted inquiry, but 
 nobody would take the trouble to inquire. In one word, 
 it was condemned — " Utopian !" Mr. Owen drew up a 
 petition in 1838, praying for inquiry into his principles 
 and plans for popular amelioration, and sent it to Lord 
 Cloncurry for presentation in Parliament. The following 
 is his lordship's answer: — 
 
 J~Nb. 60.] LORD CLONCURRY TO ROBERT OWEN, ESQ. 
 
 "Lyons, Raihcool, IBth July, 1838. 
 
 •• My dear Sir, — I presented the petition, but I fear to no good effect, 
 The House is not willing to suffer discussions of the kind sought for to the 
 bar, and I did not feel myself equal to combat their prejudices. 
 
 "The time is not yet come, but may be nearer than many suppose, for the 
 general adoption of more rational systems than have hitherto prevailed, to the 
 general destruction of human happiness. 
 
 " 1 remain, with best wishes, most truly yours, 
 
 " Cloncurry." 
 
 * In Lady Morgan's "Book of the Boudoir," vol. ii. p. 62, a peculiarly in- 
 teresting and amusing dialogue between her ladyship and Mr. Owen may be 
 found. She speaks of him as " the most benevolent, amiable, and sanguine of 
 philanthropists," and concludes the report of the conversation thus : — " ' My 
 dear Lady Morgan, where the hiunan race is to be benefited no sacrifice 
 is too great.' This sentiment, which is the governing principle of Mr. Owen's 
 life, may serve for his epigraph." 
 
462 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 Lord Cloncurry liad a habit of, and a fancy for, now 
 and then dropping in unawares on his Limerick tenantry. 
 He had often heard it stated, that " when the cat's away 
 the mice do play," and he resolved to test the truth of the 
 aphorism. " On the 9th of October, 1838, the tenants of 
 Abington," writes a paper of the day, " were agreeably 
 surprised by the unexpected arrival of Lord Cloncurry, 
 who, after going over a large portion of it, signified his 
 approbation of the improvements made. Such of the 
 tenants who were apprised of his lordship's sudden arrival 
 waited on him, and were received with the greatest kind- 
 ness and affability. The tenants, in the evening, made a 
 large bonfire at the cross of Abington, near Mr. Ryan's 
 house, who had the superintendence of the festivities." 
 
 The good Earl of Mulgrave not only captivated the 
 hearts of a warm-hearted people by the mildness and 
 generosity of his Government, but appears to have found 
 especial favour in the sight of his employers. In February, 
 1839, he was raised to the Marquisate of Normanby, and 
 having accepted the office of Secretary of Foreign Affairs, 
 resigned the Lord Lieutenancy of Ireland. Viscount 
 Ebrington, previously known as Lord Fortescue, suc- 
 ceeded this popular and vivacious viceroy. 
 
 Lord Ebrington had the reputation of being an ami- 
 cable and a liberal nobleman, and great things were 
 expected by Ireland at his hands. But long before the 
 termination of his viceroyalty, it was unanimously agreed 
 by the national party, that many a day would probably 
 elapse ere Ireland saw the like of Lord Mulgrave again. 
 Lord Ebrington disappointed the people, and especially 
 the Repeal party, as will be seen hereafter. 
 
 In March, 1839, his Excellency grasped the helm, and 
 at once plunged into the boisterous sea of Irish viceregal 
 turmoil. For a tyro in the art he mastered it pretty 
 sternly. On the morning of his arrival in Kingstown 
 harbour, the Duke of Leinster and Lord Cloncurry waited 
 on the Viceroy while yet on board, and accompanied him 
 to the Castle, where they remained, in their capacity of 
 Privy Councillors, during the formula of inauguration. 
 
 Some weeks subsequent to the retirement of Lord 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 463 
 
 Normanby, the nobility gentry, and freeholders of Kil- 
 dare, headed by Lord Cloncurry, assembled in Naas, for 
 the purpose of addressing, in complimentary terms, that 
 most popular nobleman. After expressing his approba- 
 tion of the measures introduced and carried by the Mel- 
 bourne Cabinet, Lord Cloncurry observed that he had 
 conversed with the Marquis of Normanby since his de- 
 parture from this country, and that his whole anxiety was 
 to serve Ireland, and to preserve intact.that station which 
 he so justly held in the hearts and in the affections of 
 Irishmen. Lord Cloncurry 's diatribe on corporate trickery 
 was delivered at this meeting. He said that on the 
 passing of the Relief Act, in 1829, the members of the 
 Corporation put their heads together and vowed they 
 would prevent their Catholic countrymen from having a 
 fair participation in the rights, privileges, and immunities 
 from which thev had been so lonq; debarred, but to which 
 they had been at length made eligible. Lord Cloncurry 
 branded this proceeding as a " conspiracy against the 
 Sovereign and her Irish subjects."* 
 
 On the retirement of Lord Mulgrave from power, the 
 Tories made an energetic attempt to regain possession of 
 the government, and to re-establish the domination of 
 Orangeism in Ireland. The Reformers, on the other 
 hand, entered into a compact to resist this encroachment, 
 and on the 11th of April, 1839, made the first of their 
 demonstrations in the Theatre Royal. " The meeting 
 of this day," observed the journal which recorded it, " is 
 a manifestation of the gigantic strength and well-dis- 
 .ciplined energy of the Reformers of Ireland, which must 
 carry confusion into the camp of the enemy." The Duke 
 of Leinster occupied the chair, and Lords Headford, 
 Charlemont, Cloncurry,! Fingal, Listowel, Miltown, and 
 Southwell, were amongst the speakers. From an early 
 hour, knots of Orangemen took up position in the pit, 
 
 * It is hardly necessary to remind the reader that not until 1841 did^the 
 " conspirators" succumb. From that year Roman Catholics became admis- 
 sible to corporations. 
 
 t The Hon. Edward Lawless, now Lord Cloncurry, was likewise present 
 at this meeting. 
 
464 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 fully resolved to disturb, by every possible means, the 
 harmony of the meeting. After several able speeches had 
 been delivered, Lord Cloncurry came forward to the front 
 of the platform. His appearance, however, was the 
 signal for a hurricane of groans and Kentish fire from the 
 Orange party. They refused to hear him, and openly 
 avowed their determination. His voice, however, 
 thundered above the storm. " I never, in the whole 
 course of my life," he exclaimed, " as a magistrate, or a 
 country gentleman, refused a hearing to any man. [Great 
 cheers from the Nationalists.] I listened to the poor 
 man as well as to the rich [hisses], and it is not because 
 I have come forward to perform a duty to my country 
 that I am to be intimidated by the fragment of an arro- 
 gant faction. I will remain upon this platform for ever 
 until you choose to hear me." [Great cheering, and roars 
 from the Orangemen to " hear Alderman Archer."*] 
 
 Finding it useless to attempt intimidation, the Orange 
 clique at length permitted Lord Cloncurry to read his 
 resolution. This was received by the Liberal party with 
 loud acclamation. " Now, gentlemen," continued his 
 lordship, " I have administered the laws of this country 
 as a magistrate, during thirty years of Tory ascendancy, 
 and let me see the man, of whatever opinions he may be, 
 that can say I ever refused to give him justice." [Here, 
 writes the Evening Post, the uproar became so great that 
 it was impossible to hear a word.] As soon as silence 
 had been in some degree restored, Lord Cloncurry related 
 several anecdotes not at all redounding to the credit of 
 English and Anglo-Irish Tory administration. Adverting 
 to the misery and poverty of the people, his lordship said : — 
 " Remedies without end have been proposed [cheers 
 and hisses, reports the Morning Register~\ ; but I ask you 
 was there ever any other than the gibbet and the bayonet 
 administered by a Tory Administration? [Cheers, cries 
 of " no, no," and loud expressions of applause.] Even 
 the mere proposition of the introduction of railroads into 
 this country, which would be serviceable to all parties, 
 
 * Alderman Arcber was a prominent member of the old Corporation. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 465 
 
 was scouted at by the Tories, lest the present Adminis- 
 tration should have the benefit of it." [Great cheering. 
 Amongst his lordship's " Tory anecdotes," he mentionec 
 that a certain Co. Kildare magistrate had told him that 
 he was some time previously bribed by a Tory Adminis- 
 tration to excite insubordination in the minds of the 
 people. Here Lord Cloncurry was groaned and hissed 
 vehemently. Having heard the words "false! false!" 
 enunciated, his lordship repeated the assertion, and ap- 
 pealed to the Duke of Leinster and to the Marquis of 
 Wellesley for a confirmation of every fact he had stated. 
 " I mention these anecdotes," said Lord Cloncurry, 
 " merely to show what the feelings of the Tories were 
 towards Ireland, and that I could not, as a man of feeling 
 [tremendous cheers], but oppose them." 
 
 The second of the organized Reform demonstrations of 
 1839 took place on the 23rd May, in the open air, at 
 Beresford-place, for the purpose, as stated in the requisi- 
 tion, " of adopting an address expressive of their grati- 
 tude to her Majesty, for the wise, firm, and constitutional 
 exercise of her royal prerogative on a late memorable 
 occasion, and of their determination to support the 
 ministry of her choice — the friends of the people." A 
 grand review in the Phoenix Park came off on the same 
 day, but it was evident from the attendance of the people 
 at the meeting — 40,000 — that it possessed no attractions 
 for them, whose duty to their country, their devotion to 
 the Queen, their detestation of Hanoverian and Irish 
 Orangeism, were motives superior to pleasure or busi- 
 ness. Lord Cloncurry was, by acclamation, moved to 
 the chair. He made an able speech, and concluded, 
 amid loud cheering, in the following words : — " 1 have 
 to apologise for detaining you so long ; but it is impos- 
 sible, when I find myself amongst you, to refrain from 
 giving expression to my feelings. I wish to tell you how 
 anxiously I go with you, how I love you, and wish that 
 your cause and the cause of our country may be pros- 
 perous." 
 
 The success of this meeting was probably best attested 
 by the abuse levelled at it by the entire of the Tory 
 
 x 2 
 
•i 
 
 66 CLOXCUIIRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 journals. The Packet literally foamed with indignation. 
 The Mail, in a dull diatribe, vowed that the meeting of 
 the 23rd inst. was not to address the Queen, as plausibly 
 stated, but in reality to celebrate the anniversary of the 
 rebellion, which first broke out on the night of May 23rd, 
 1798. Lord Cloncurry, as chairman, was violently 
 assailed. Bygones were raked up, and garnished anew. 
 In answer to one of these assaults his lordship published 
 a letter in the Evenina Post. " I am told/' said he, 
 " that one or two of the Tory journals, in treating of the 
 late aggregate meeting in Dublin, comment onthechair- 
 man having been in the Tower of London forty years 
 ago. They should have added that Mr. Pitt was fain to 
 seek from a Tory Parliament an act of indemnity for that 
 illegal imprisonment of twenty-six months (not ten, as 
 stated by O'Connell) ; and also that, in 1802, advance 
 in the peerage, as a compliment and compensation, was 
 offered me by Lord Hardwicke. They might also state 
 that every Tory viceroy, from Lord Hardwicke down, 
 had thanked me for preserving the peace in an extensive 
 district, in the midst of Tory aggression, and of distur- 
 bances promoted by party magistrates." Lord Cloncurry 
 concluded with a word of parting advice to the Orange- 
 men: — " They never will again be suffered to rule as a 
 party in this country. Plunder, or exclusive patronage, 
 they will not have ; but, if they give fair play to their 
 Catholic countrymen — if they join honestly in the deve- 
 lopment of our great resources — in the encouragement of 
 honest industry, sobriety, and Christian charity, there is 
 wealth enough for us all in Ireland, and, I doubt not, 
 something to spare." 
 
 Nothing daunted bv the attacks referred to, we find his 
 lordship in the ensuing month signing a requisition to 
 the High Sheriff of Kildare, requesting him to convene a 
 meeting of his bailiwick for the purpose of expressing to' 
 the Queen their 'gratitude for her approval of a ministry 
 to which Ireland was indebted for impartial justice. 
 
 From the moment that the recently introduced system 
 of Railway appeared to Lord Cloncurry as a judicious 
 mode of transit, and not (as many old gentlemen then I 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 467 
 
 regarded it) an invention of the devil, lie was an anxious 
 and a zealous advocate for the construction of an extensive 
 line from Dublin to Berehaven. " The expense," said 
 he, " would, I think, be amply repaid by post-office and 
 passenger traffic, as well as by the toll to be paid by ail 
 private companies taking advantage of it by branches to 
 the different towns risdit and left of its line." We have 
 seen, in Letter No. 47, how anxious his lordship w r as that 
 some substantial line of railway should be established 
 ere bubble companies preoccupied the ground. He 
 directed his eye into the future, and observed the Did die- 
 sex Junction Lines, and its ample staff of stags, which so 
 often formed, in 1845, the subject of Punch's sarcasm. 
 Throughout the years I806, '37, and '38, letters on this 
 subject, from his lordship's pen, appeared in the news- 
 papers. Mr. Hamilton warmly advocated that a line 
 should be at once commenced from Dublin to Drogheda. 
 Lord Cloncurry's opinion on the feasibility of this pro- 
 ject may be found recorded in the journals of the time. 
 " Inland lines," said he, " are to be preferred." His 
 advice was disregarded. That the inland lines have been 
 as successful, as the Drogheda one was the reverse, the 
 citizens of Dublin require not to be reminded. 
 
 Lord Cloncurry, on the 1st February, 1839, attended 
 a meeting of gentlemen anxious to establish a line of 
 railway in Ireland. He adverted to the general apathy 
 which prevailed to furthering the work, and the mer- 
 cenary light wherein many viewed it. " He was sorry to 
 see that in great national undertakings, men seemed to 
 .care more about their own private interests than the 
 general welfare. He had recently attended a railway 
 committee of the Lords, and what its members seemed 
 most anxious about there was, how much they could get 
 for such portions of their lands as the railway might 
 happen to pass through. Their sole aim appeared to 
 be, how they could best mulct the spirited undertakers 
 of a national work." The remainder of his lordshipV 
 speech was equally racy and forcible. 
 
 The following letter, which we transcribe from the 
 original autograph, has been placed at our disposal by a 
 
468 CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 man whom Ireland is proud to have given birth to, and 
 prouder to possess. We allude to John Hogan, perhaps 
 the most gifted sculptor that has appeared in Europe since 
 the days of Canova. The favourite pupil of that eminent 
 statuarist, Hogan, has served to perpetuate his fame, by 
 adopting, in every minutia, the purely classic style of his 
 gifted master. By these means, while building a pedestal 
 for himself, he wreathes with additional laurels Canova's 
 head. 
 
 The letter was written in 1839. It is hardly necessary 
 to say, that Mr. Hogan was then not the celebrated man 
 he is now, although well known to, and deservedly 
 respected by, the artistic world generally. The very 
 work which forms the subject of this letter was amongst i 
 the first of those that raised his fame, as a sculptor, to the 
 highest pinnacle : — 
 
 [No. 61.] JOHN HOGAX, ESQ., TO LORD CLOXCURRY. 
 
 "24 Vicolo dei Greci, Roma, 8th June, 1839. 
 
 " My Lord, — I take the liberty of addressing your lordship as Chairman 
 of the Committee for the Erection of a Monumental Statue in memory of 
 the late Eight Rev. Doctor Doyle. It is with infinite pain and regret that 
 the awkward situation in which I am so cruelly placed by the neglect of the 
 Committee, compels me to solicit the weight of your lordship's personal 
 influence in this matter. The agreement made with me by that body has 
 not been maintained. In fact, its non-observance well-nigh tends to over- 
 whelm me with disaster. 
 
 " Having, in May, 1837, successfully competed for the work, the Com- 
 mittee advanced me £300 ; an agreement was then entered into to pay me 
 £200 more on completion of the model, in clay, and the remaining £500 when- 
 ever the 'group' was finally finished, and placed in the Carlow Cathedral. 
 After casting the model, and procuring a valuable block of Cairara marble, 
 
 1 wrote to the Rev. Mr. M , of Carlow, in January, 1838, requesting 
 
 that he would kindly exert his influence to have the second instalment 
 remitted for me, on Torlonia & Co., Eome, in order that I might be enabled 
 to prosecute the work. To this letter, I never received any answer. 1 
 
 repeated my application, on the 26th April following, to Dr. F (joint 
 
 treasurer}, but never received an answer. On the 19th July, 1838, as aho 
 on the 2nd February, 1839, I wrote to Mr. R. C , Secretary to the Com- 
 mittee, stating in my last, that the group was nearly finished, and renewing 
 the previous application ; but to both those letters I have never been honoured 
 with a line in reply. On the 20th October last, I wrote to Mr. Vigors, 
 M.P. (joint treasurer), referring to the subject of my previous letters, but 
 never received an answer. As a last resource, I wrote, on the 29th January 
 last, to Messrs. Ball Bankers, from whom I originally received the £300, 
 stating the facts of the case at full length, and enclosing an affidavit drawn 
 up by the British Consul, vouching for the veracity of my statement. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 469 
 
 Messrs. Ball expressed their regret that I should have such cause of 
 complaint — protested their ignorance of every circumstance connected with 
 the transaction, and ' could only assist me' by forwarding my letter to 
 Mr. Vigors. 
 
 •• Mr. Vigors promptly and politely replied. He felt much concerned that 
 any ' inconvenience 1 should have arisen to me in consequence of their dilatc*- 
 riness in getting in the subscription for Dr. Doyle's monument, and concluded 
 •with an assurance, that I might depend on his best exertions, as an indivi- 
 dual, to render the agreement complete and satisfactory. 
 
 " I acknowledged his letter by return of post, and in reply to a concluding 
 inquiry, stated that by the time I could possibly hear from him again, the 
 work would be ready for shipment, repeating that I had exhausted all the 
 pecuniary resources I had received for other small works, and, on the assurance 
 that I should receive the second instalment at the stipulated period, Messrs. 
 Torlonia generously offered me an advance, till, in common decency, I could 
 ask no more — that I had subsequently received pecuniary aid from other 
 gentlemen, to whom it is impossible I could make any further applica- 
 tion ; thereby showing my situation was not one of mere ' inconvenience? as 
 I Mr. Vigors called it, but of severe pressure ; and, that I could not leave with 
 'the group' until I received the promised sum, and to which I am so justly 
 entitled. Although three months have since elapsed, I never received the 
 slightest communication from any of the gentlemen connected with the busi- 
 ness. I therefore trust that your lordship will do your utmost to relieve me from 
 a dilemma in which I never was before, and exert your influence to have 
 the second remittance forwarded as soon as possible, in order that I may be 
 enabled to reimburse Torlonia and friends, and defray expenses of freight, 
 insurance, &c, on the ' group ' to Ireland. 
 
 " I have the honour to remain, your Lordship's very humble Servant, 
 
 " John Hogan." 
 
 All who possess the slightest knowledge of Lord 
 Cloncurry's character can, we believe, affirm, that to 
 omit to answer or acknowledge a letter was a discourtesy 
 he never, under any circumstances, stooped to. In the 
 following reply Lord Cloncurry expresses his generous 
 sympathy for Mr. Hogan, in his truly embarrassing posi- 
 tion, and severely animadverts on what appeared to him 
 as a want of gentlemanly respect and honourable prin- 
 ciple. 
 
 The letter is remarkable, as neither possessing a date, 
 address, or signature. 
 
 [No. 62.] LORD CLOXCURRY TO JOHX HOGAX, ESQ. 
 
 [Post-Mark, London, 26th June, 1839.] 
 
 " Sir, — I have had the honour of your letter. I sincerely lament the very 
 shameful and unfeeling treatment which caused you the trouble of writing 
 to me. The moment I return to Ireland, I shall write to Mr. Cassidy on the 
 subject. As to myself, I had nothing whatever to do with the management of 
 the undertaking. I had a sincere respect and regard for Doctor Doyle, and 
 
470 CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 I love the Arts ; consequently, -when applied to, I at once paid a subscription 
 towards his monument, and I attended one only meeting of his admirers. 
 My countrymen, warm and generous in their feelings, are bad calculators, 
 and I fear, often name what they cannot afterwards perforin. You seem to have 
 been the victim of their want of principle, and I am sorry and ashamed for 
 it, Sir. 
 
 U U CauaUere Inglese Hngan, Roma." 
 
 Lord Cloncurry interfered as he promised to do, and 
 in a short time had matters put completely to rights. 
 Want of funds, a little negligence, and a good deal of 
 indolence on the part of the Doyle Committee, occasioned 
 that very awkward dilemma of which Mr. Hogan so 
 bitterly complained. 
 
 Lord Cloncurry *s address to the small farmers of Ire- 
 land, amongst whom the mania for emigration had just 
 be<nm to strike root, was written in October, 1839. The 
 good peer did not absolutely forbid them to emigrate, but 
 he warmly advised that they should remain at home, and 
 cease to hearken to those lying stories which represented 
 Ireland as over-populated. " My opinion,' 1 said Lord 
 Cloncurry, " is, that Ireland is not over-peopled — that 
 her people have been the victims of absenteeism, injustice, 
 and bad gOTernment — that, under the mal-administration 
 by which for centuries she was cursed, the oppression was 
 in an inverse of the population — that it was the millions 
 who achieved Emancipation, and who will, in good time, 
 achieve all we want." This letter gave rise to a volu- 
 minous public correspondence between Colonel Torrens, 
 the South Australian Colonization Commissioner, and 
 his lordship. The former, of course, expatiated on the 
 advantages of emigration, especially to Australia, and the 
 .lisadvantages attendant on remaining statu quo. Lord 
 Cloncurry observed, on grounds that appeared plausible, 
 that if an Irishman must eruicrrate, it would be better to 
 go to Canada, New Zealand, or Van Dieman's Land. 
 Amongst other objections against Australia, he urged the 
 want of a regular Government and law tribunals. Colonel 
 Torrens elaborately analyzed every assertion made by 
 his lordship, and endeavoured to prove that there was 
 no foundation for them. 
 
 This correspondence drew forth some public letters 
 
CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 471 
 
 from Dr. Rolfe. an ardent admirer of Torrens and the 
 Colonization Society. Dr. Rolfe made some reflections, 
 not of a deliberative nature, on the star-spangled banner 
 of America, to Lord Cloncurry's infinite chagrin. " In 
 the bad opinion entertained by Mr. Rolfe,' 1 wrote his 
 lordship, " I am happy to say that I by no means agree. 
 I think it altogether the happiest country on the globe. 
 Slavery and immigration, the excitement of the still, and 
 perhaps of the too plentiful flesh-pot. are, no doubt, its 
 drawbacks ; but of crime in general it does not produce 
 two-thirds as much as does the old world."' 
 
 The Loyal National Repeal Association, which, in 
 1843, swelled into such importance as to cause one or 
 , two sleepless nights to the British Minister, was first 
 formed in the latter part of the year '39. Its growth, from 
 this period, was so rapid, that Lord Ebrington. in 1840, 
 made a bold effort to arrest the progress of the agitation, 
 bv announcing that no member of the National League 
 should be appointed to any office in the gift of the Go- 
 vernment. This novel declaration effectually scared the 
 large band of Irish place-hunters, which Ireland is never 
 without, from joining in the movement, and thus pre- 
 served it, as Mr. Daunt observed, from a good deal of 
 rascality. From the day that Lord Ebrington expressed 
 himself to the above effect, he lost irrevocably what little 
 popularity he had possessed with the national part v. 
 
 The daring attempt of Lord Stanley, in 1^40, to 
 repeal the Irish Reform Bill, will, doubtless, be in the 
 recollection of the Irish reader. Meetings were convened 
 to oppose this aggression ; and the speeches that remain 
 on record as having been delivered thereat, bear evidence 
 of the energy with which our people were determined to 
 resist it. On the 27th April, a great public demonstra- 
 tion of popular feeling against the " Bill for Disenfran- 
 chising the Irish Constituencies" took place in Dublin. 
 The attendance was highly respectable, but no peer came 
 forward, with the exception of Cloncurry. His lordship 
 commenced by saying that he had left the privacy of his 
 home in the hope of being able to promote the interests 
 of Ireland upon the present momentous occasion, and 
 
472 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 nothing should ever induce him to refrain from raising 
 his voice in the defence of Irish rights, when assailed, as 
 they now were, in the most nefarious manner. It was 
 his lot to be acquainted more particularly with Irish 
 affairs when Lord Stanley was Secretary for Ireland. 
 His hostility towards Ireland was then suppressed, to some 
 extent ; but it had since blazed out in the shape of a bill, 
 which no man could read without being conscientiously 
 and determinedly opposed to. It would have the effect 
 of diminishing, in the most shameful manner, the people's 
 right of voting for their representatives. One reason 
 which induced him to come amongst his fellow-country- 
 men on this occasion was, lest it should be for one 
 moment imagined that he was capable, at any period of 
 his life, young or old, of deserting their interests. No: 
 he was determined to stand by them. No adamant could 
 be more immutable than his sinceritv towards Ireland 
 [tremendous cheering] — nothing could be more difficult 
 than to make him swerve one iota from the path of 
 love for Ireland. 
 
 The following letter, chronologically in place here, is 
 one of the many addressed by his lordship to that able 
 penman and shrewd politician — the late Frederick Wil- 
 liam Conway: — 
 
 [No. 63.] LORD CLONCCRRY TO MR. CONWAY. 
 
 Lyons, May 4, 1840. 
 
 '•My dear Sir,— * * * * We progress, though perhaps slowly, in 
 the acquisition of our rights. * * If good laws cannot at once be carried, 
 their frequent discussion in parliament will so strengthen them in public 
 opinion as to insure speedy success. No honest man can doubt or dispute 
 the imperfections of the Reform Act. * * * 
 
 " In Church matters the appropriation clause should be again and again 
 brought forward. When it passes, the Saints may have some possible excuse 
 for attacking Maynooth — at present their demurrer is as foolish as it i- 
 honest. The safety of the Protestant minority in Ireland, and their comfort, 
 is mainly to be attributed to the moral and spiritual influence of the prie 
 in number not far short of 3,000 men, devoted to their duties, learned, patient, 
 and benevolent. Is £10,000 per annum ill applied in the education of these 
 men ? Should it not rather be £50,000, as recommended by Lord Anglesey .' ' 
 
 [Here Lord C. adverted to his former battle with O'Connell, the wounds 
 incidental to which threatened at this time to re-open, bike a cicatrix, afresh.] 
 
 " He allows that he differed fn>m me on the subject of Repeal in 1820 ; he 
 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 473 
 
 does not accuse me of opposing him now. or at any other time ; on the con- 
 trary, nine times out often I approved of and supported his views. An 
 intimacy of very many years was weakened, not on account of any attack on 
 myself, but on those I loved and respected. He thoupht it better for the 
 cause of Ireland to have the co-operation, even of so humble an individual 
 as myself. A common friend, of the highest honour and good sense, conveyed 
 to me the assurance that the two names of the men I most respected should 
 be held sacred. There must be some mistake, or this promise has been 
 violated. But my presumption, in attempting to defend such high and noble 
 beings, deserved this check — Hand tali auxilio ; but too much of self; we 
 have enemies enough, and should be united amongst ourselves. * * Your 
 faithful Servant, " Cloxcurry." 
 
 We have already dwelt upon the quarrel between 
 CloneiuTv and O'Connell in 1831. What were believed 
 at the time to have been the causes of it appear in 
 chapter XIV. of this work. It would seem, however, 
 from some passages in Mr, Fagans life of his distinguished 
 kinsman, that othermotives.not generally known, impelled 
 him to the task of denunciating Lord Cloncurry. His 
 lordship stood high as a popular leader, and the idea of 
 any rivalship greatly irritated O'Connell. Mr. Fagan 
 observes that one of O'Connell's objects in 1831-2 was 
 to deprive Lord Cloncurry of his popularity — in 
 short, to demolish the pedestal which elevated the good 
 peer in the affections oi^ his countrymen. In 1835, 
 through the agency mainly of the late William Murphy, 
 their broken bonds of friendship became re-united. But 
 in 1840, symptoms of returning feud were manifest. 
 O'Connell renewed an old attack on Randal Plunket. 
 afterwards Lord Dunsany, who stood in the relationship 
 ! of nephew to Lord Cloncurry. To his mother, Charlotte 
 Lawless, the reader has been already introduced. 
 Plunket professed fierce Orange principles, and drew 
 down upon himself repeatedly the indignation of O'Con- 
 nell. Lord Anglesey came in for a frequent dash of irony 
 from the same quarter. Such are the two parties whom 
 Lord Cloncurry in the foregoing letter refers to. O'Con- 
 nell's conduct hurt his lordship, and he told him so. From 
 this date until the latter's death, in 1847, no cordial co- 
 operation took place between them. 
 
 It is, however, incorrect to suppose that Lord Clon- 
 curry entertained the slightest feeling of resentment to- 
 
474 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 wards O'Connell. The contrary is the fact. We will 
 shortly see, by a confidential letter from his lordship to 
 the Very Rev. Dr. Spratt, in 1852, that although he had 
 sometimes occasion to find fault with O'Connell, he always 
 loved him in his heart. Lord Cloncurry's reason for 
 remaining aloof from the Repeal Association may be 
 found in a private letter to the Rev. Mr. O'Malley, in 1847. 
 
 In February, 1840, the Marquis of Kildare attained his 
 majority. The tenants on the Leinster property, desirous 
 of celebrating this event with becoming festivity, proposed 
 to entertain the noble young Geraldine at a banquet in 
 Maynooth. This they did. Lord Cloncurry was present, 
 and after passing a high eulogium on the Leinster family, 
 drank the memory of the living as well as the dead 
 members of that sept. 
 
 The Leinster and Charlemont addresses to the people 
 of Great Britain, which appeared in the spring of 1840, 
 is an historical document of too much importance to be 
 overlooked by him who professes to outline the eventful 
 times of Lord Cloncurry. That Catholic Emancipation 
 was reluctantly conceded, never appeared more evident 
 than in 1840. The Tories gave vent to the most extra- 
 vagant ebullitions of party and sectarian rancour towards 
 Ireland. This, from having been for some time suppressed, 
 now burst forth with the greater fury. Because afew Roman 
 Catholics had been appointed to office, nothing could ex- 
 ceed the indignation which thev manifested. English 
 prejudices that had long been dead, they endeavoured to 
 reanimate. Since 1780 the no-Popery howl was never 
 at a greater height. If the fanatics of England had not 
 Lord George Gordon to head them at this juncture, they 
 at all events possessed a substitute in the person of Edward | 
 Lord Stanley. Men blinded by ignorance and pre- 
 judice were led on by this young nobleman and his asso- 
 ciates to wage a wicked crusade against the liberties of i 
 Ireland. The Duke of Leinster and Lord Charlemont 
 possessed not only hereditary names but hereditary repu- 
 tations, and on this occasion they nobly came forward 
 from that retirement which they loved, to perform a sacred 
 duty to their country. With Lord Charlemont and the 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 475 
 
 Geraldine Lord Clone urry cordially co-operated. By- 
 voice, action, and example, the noble trio gave an impetus 
 to that cause with which their public lives were ever 
 identified. The document appeared in all the journals of 
 the time, and began as follows : — " The efforts which have 
 of late been made in England to revive exploded prejudices, 
 and to raise an outcry against her Majesty's Government, 
 because in some instances Roman Catholics as well as Pro- 
 testants have been appointed to office, appear to us so unjust 
 and mischievous in their effects on the connexion between 
 Great Britain and Ireland, as to impel us to the step we 
 take in addressing 1 ourselves to you." 
 
 The document then went on to say that according to 
 the last census the population of Ireland amounted to 
 eight millions, of which a million and a half were Pro- 
 testants of all denominations, and six millions and a half 
 Roman Catholics. It drew an able picture of the evil 
 consequences of sectarian strife, and of the monstrous 
 injustice of intolerant domination. In conclusion, the 
 subscribers declared it to be their bounden duty to oppose 
 the continuance of any Administration drawing aid from 
 such poisoned sources as would attempt to inflict political 
 exclusion on any class of men on account of their religious 
 opinions, or which would desire to withhold from the 
 Irish Catholics their fair portion of those honours and 
 emoluments of the State which, while they share its duties 
 and its burdens, they are entitled alike in law and in 
 justice to enjoy, on terms of perfect equality with all 
 other classes of their fellow-subjects. A list of signatures 
 followed, which, for respectability and extent, was alto- 
 gether unparalleled. The dignified address, and the 
 dense column of names which formed into line behind 
 it, struck terror and dismay into many an " ascendant" 
 heart. The signatures comprised those of seventy peers 
 and sons of peers, thirty baronets, fifty-six members of 
 the Lower House, exclusive of those in office and absent 
 from England, sixty-five lieutenants or deputy-lieutenants 
 of counties, 350 magistrates, 450 members of the learned 
 professions, 1,000 merchants, twenty-six dignitaries of 
 the Catholic Church, and a large body of clergymen of 
 every religious persuasion, including in all between three 
 
476 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 and four thousand names of the highest rank, the greatest 
 influence, and the most extensive wealth and property in, 
 Ireland. 
 
 In August, 1841, a general feeling pervaded the Tory 
 Lords of want of confidence in ministers, because of their! 
 recent policy in respect to the corn-law question. An excit-l 
 ing debate, and a division, ensued. Some were forcondemn-l 
 ing the ministry, and addressing Sir Robert Peel in 
 complimentary language. Lord Cloncurry published a 
 protest. He had many reasons for declining to append his 
 name to this address; amongst others, " because that part 
 of the policy of those ministers to which such condemna- 
 tion most pointedly applies has been merely an endeavour 
 upon their parts practically to enforce the enlightened i 
 and intelligible principle, that it is more just and wise, 
 with a view to the provision of a sufficient public 
 revenue, to remove restrictions upon commerce, and thus 
 extend its operation, than to perpetuate monopolies, and 
 increase taxation." Adverting to the political party, 
 from which successors to the ministry in power must, if 
 ejected, be chosen, his lordship went on to say: — " Be- 
 cause that political party has, either by the actual enforce- 
 ment, or the constant attempt to enforce its own vicious 
 principles of Government, made itself justly odious to the 
 large majority of the Irish people. Whatever may be 
 the temporary professions of an Administration, composed 
 of members of that party, by the Roman Catholics of 
 Ireland it can only be regarded as a Government of their 
 inveterate enemies, who, to the very last, approved and 
 defended the iniquities of the penal code, and who, since 
 its extorted repeal, have been foremost in every attempt 
 to curtail their social and political privileges. The 
 Catholics must feel, if for no other reason, that the party 
 which insulted, when it could not injure, will be sure to 
 injure whenever it can." 
 
 It was in the spring of this year that Lord Cloncurry 
 expressed to John Hogan, the eminent Irish sculptor, 
 his intention of presenting the Dublin Library Society 
 (of which he had been for many years President) with 
 some substantial mark of his esteem. He gave Mr. Hogan, 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 477 
 
 in the first instance, a hint of what he wished, and after 
 that left everything to his judgment and good taste. 
 
 Hogan went to work, and speedily moulded to his 
 
 satisfaction the rough sketch of that magnificent piece 
 
 of statuary which excited so much enthusiasm at the 
 
 Irish Exhibition of 1853, and which, with his permission, 
 
 has been lithographed by Forster, of Dublin, for a frontis- 
 
 i piece to this volume. The original " group" is one of 
 
 iHogan's sublimest conceptions, and every lover of art, 
 
 ; and every admirer of Lord Cloncurry, should see it and 
 
 study it. The drawing, we regret to say, conveys but 
 
 a slight idea of its beauties. 
 
 Hogan, at this period, prosecuted his studies and his 
 undertakings at Rome. Surrounded by the masterpieces 
 of Niecolo Pisano, Bandanelli, Canova, Ricci, and Tor- 
 rettii, he hourly improved himself; and that native genius, 
 which was born to immortalize him, increased, if possible, 
 in strength and vigour. Immediately after giving Hogan 
 the outline hint alluded to, Lord Cloncurry left Rome 
 and proceeded to Naples, from whence he communicated 
 by letter with Mr. Hogan on the 8th March. 
 
 [No. 64.] LORD CLONCURRY TO JOHN HOGAN, ESQ., MEMBER OF THE 
 LNSTITUTE OF THE PANTHEON, AT ROME. 
 
 " Vittoria Hotel, Naples, 8th March, 1841. 
 
 " Dear Sir, — My return to Rome depending entirely on circumstances, 
 I will thank you to let me know whether you have been able to pick up the 
 statues for which I was commissioned by my friend, Mr. Curran. * * * 
 '• With respect to the statue for the Dublin Library Society, please send 
 me a sketch, and a word as to probable cost, that I may consider and deter- 
 mine. I shall stay here three weeks, and then return to Rome, or go by 
 sea to England, as the business of Ireland in Parliament may require. 
 
 " Dear Sir, your faithful Servant, 
 
 " Cloncurry." 
 
 Mr. Hogan, in reply, said : — "Gladly would I send your 
 lordship an outline as desired, but a sculptor can give no 
 idea as to his intention on paper. One glance at the 
 rough sketch in clay of the round figure would be worth 
 fifty outlines." To this his lordship replied, in a letter 
 dated March 20th: — " I hope to be in Rome shortly, and 
 shall take an early day to call on you. We shall have 
 no shuffLing in mv commission, if I like the model." 
 
478 CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 This appears to have been a satirical allusion to thel 
 silence with which the Doyle Committee treated Air. I 
 Hogan's application for part payment. 
 
 Lord Cloncurrv soon arrived in Rome, saw the model, 
 and was so well pleased with it, that, in addition to the' 
 sum which his lordship engaged to pay for its execution, 
 he handed Mr. Hogan a free gift of fiftv dollars. 
 
 In May the good peer left Rome, and proceeded to 
 Paris. Previous to his departure, however, he com- 
 missioned Mr. Hogan to take an accurate model of Lady 
 Cloneurrv's foot (which was perhaps one of the most 
 exquisitely symmetrical that ever graced a woman's form), 
 and execute it in white Carrara marble. A touching! 
 allusion to this relic, on her death, two months after-' 
 wards, will be found in a succeeding communication. 
 From Paris his lordship wrote the following letter: — 
 
 [No. 65.] LORD CLONCURRY TO MR. HOGAN. 
 
 "Paris, May 26, 1841. 
 
 "Dear Sir, — Since I left Rome, I have observed some sitting figures of] 
 much genius and beauty, but they were of men — as Rousseau, at Geneva,] 
 and different senators at the two Chambers in this city. 
 
 " Poor Hibernia cannot be placed quite so much at her ease as Agrippina,] 
 but I am certain you Avill do all that is possible in her favour. If you con- 
 tinue in the opinion of giving her a few books, let them be Boyle, Swift, 
 Goldsmith, and Moore. You know that all my reliance is on your good | 
 taste, judgment, and skill. 
 
 " I will thank you for a few line*, directed to Rathcool, Ireland. Pray 
 
 inquire and let me know how Ladv C djes, as also Colonel and Mrs. ! 
 
 C 11. * * * 
 
 " I expect to be in London the 5th June, and shall soon proceed to Ireland. , 
 The heat here is very great and inconvenient, provisions dear and bad. 
 
 " Dear Sir, very truly yours, 
 
 " Cloxcurry." 
 
 Soon after the date of the above letter, Lady Clon- 
 curry, whilst present at a concert in London, suddenly 
 felt the chill of death steal over her, and had barely 
 time to return home to die. Lord Cloncurry, throughout 
 a long life, idolized her as a deity. 
 
 [No. 66.] LORD CLOXCURRY TO MR. HOGAN. 
 
 '•'London, 19th August, 1841. 
 
 " Dear Sir, — I enclose to you an old coin with the Irish harp upon it 
 Ireland 1 have left for a time, to attend Parliament ; but I shall be back in 
 
CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 479 
 
 time to receive you and your work, which, somehow or other, is already 
 spoken of in that po< r hut lovely country. 
 
 M I hope you have kept the model you took of the foot for me. It will be 
 one of the few things I shall now value in this world. How true it is. that 
 in the midst of life, of health, and of happiness, we are in death, * * * 
 
 " Your faithful Servant, 
 
 " Cloxccrry. 
 
 "P.S. — In packing the statue, pray enclose a pair of the largest polished 
 Roman ox horns, for which I shall pay, with thanks." 
 
 [No. 67.] LORD CLOXCURRY TO MR. HOGAX. 
 
 '■'London, September 17th. 1S41. 
 
 "My dear Sir, — I return to Ireland next week, to prepare a proper site 
 
 for poor Hibernia. Before going, I write to say that I leave money with my 
 
 jankers, Paget, Bainbridge and Co., to meet your drafts. If yon happen to 
 
 > see my respected friend, Father Esmonde, give my best compliments, and 
 
 tell him I have lately seen his brother* and Mrs. L. ; both quite well. 
 
 " I sent to Mrs. P n and Mrs. Colonel C specimens of Irish 
 
 tabinet, which I hope have arrived safe. If you know of any person going 
 to Xaples, pray get him to inquire of Messrs. Turner, the bankers, after a 
 parcel of tiles I bought from Guistiniai for my dairy, and which were to have 
 been forwarded by them to Dublin. 
 
 " This change of ministry, greatly and justly lamented in Ireland, has had 
 I the good effect of uniting all the Liberals of every shade and of every class. 
 I A magnificent dinner given to Lord Morpeth gave an opportunity for this 
 | most desirable demonstration of public opinion. — Yours trulv, 
 
 "C. 
 " II Signor Hogan, Scultore Irlandese, a Roma." 
 
 On the question as to whether the Constitution of 
 Jamaica ought to be suspended in consequence of the 
 alarming differences which had arisen between its Gover- 
 nor and Legislature, Lord Melbourne's ministry were 
 defeated, and Sir Robert Peel became Premier. He 
 speedily arranged the Cabinet, but much to his astonish- 
 ment her Majesty refused, in the most decided manner, 
 to part with two Whig ladies of her household — the 
 Marchioness of Xormanbv and the sister of Lord Mor- 
 peth, the popular Irish Secretary. Sir Robert Peel felt 
 somewhat nettled at the refusal, and observed, that as he 
 neither possessed, nor could obtain, the full confidence of 
 the Crown, without which it was vain to hope he could 
 ever, as Premier, manage public affairs, he saw no other 
 
 * The Right Hon. Sir Thomas Esmonde, Bart. 
 
480 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 course open to him. but at once to tender his resignation i 
 to her Majesty. 
 
 Accordingly, Lord Melbourne was, for the third time, 
 installed as Prime Minister. Sir Robert, however, lay 
 in ambush, determined to issue forth and eject him when- 
 ever an opportunity presented. In September, 1841, 
 the Baronet took advantage of the convulsing agitation 
 which then prevailed in reference to the contemplated 
 admission of all foreign corn into the British markets, to 
 move a resolution of want of confidence in ministers. 
 This was carried by the overwhelming majority of one 
 solitary vote, and Sir Robert Peel once more assumed 
 the reins of Government. Earl de Grey, as Viceroy, 
 proceeded to Dublin, accompanied by his Secretary, 
 Viscount Elliot, now Earl of St. Germans, and Lord 
 Lieutenant of Ireland. 
 
 The triumph of Orangeland at the appointment of 
 Earl de Grey knew no bounds. His Excellency was a 
 notorious partisan of the Ernest-of-Hanover-school, and 
 he beheld with complacency the rejoicings in his favour. 
 On his arrival, a " Grand Command Night" was an- 
 nounced at the Theatre. We remember having ac- j 
 companied some friends to see the spectacle. As a child, 
 the scene left an indelible impression upon our mind. 
 We were paralyzed with dismay at the Orange tumult, 
 which shook the building. We had never before heard 
 the Kentish fire. Every seat in the pit was occupied by 
 a Conservative partisan. This, we imagine, must have 
 been a previously concerted arrangement, for, from the 
 hour of four o'clock that evening, a dense crowd of 
 " true blues" was observed congregated around the 
 doors. For one half second, from seven o'clock until 
 midnight, the thunder never flagged in its deafening 
 intensity. One of the most exquisite of Shakspeare's 
 compositions, " As you like it," was the play, and one 
 of the most laughable of modern farces, " The Lottery 
 Ticket," the afterpiece. So deafening was the din, that 
 not one word of either drama found its way to any other 
 ears than those of the ever-watchful prompter, or, per- 
 haps, the actors themselves. Lord de Grey neither cared 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 481 
 
 for Shakspeare nor for Coleman. A smile of dignified 
 complacency irradiated his countenance, and a perpetual 
 bow of gratitude encouraged the rioters. 
 
 The dinner to Lord Morpeth, alluded to by his lord- 
 ship, was certainly a brilliant affair. Three hundred of 
 his admirers decided upon entertaining him inDewsbury ; 
 George Roe and Carew O'Dwyer, Esqrs.,were the secre- 
 taries. They addressed invitations to many individuals 
 whose politics were known to have a liberal tendency. 
 Lord Cloncurry's name was not the last on their list. 
 
 [No. 68.] " Worthing, 4th Sept 1841. 
 
 "Gentlemen, — Your favour of the 16th ult., following me in my pil- 
 grimage, only overtook me yesterday. Alas ! 1 cannot have the honour 
 t, personally to join in the tribute of respect to the excellent and admirable 
 guest. 
 
 " The Icnoicing ones of Yorkshire have played a losing game in rejecting 
 Lord Morpeth. They seem to have forgot their former losses from backing 
 the Tories against justice and liberty in America and in France, incurring 
 thereby a debt of 800 millions, and planting in the hearts of those nations 
 a deep feeling of hostility ever ready to break forth. Will the new war 
 in favour of aristocratic monopoly be more successful ? T hope not, though 
 from us (Irish) they cannot take bread, for Ave have it not. They will, 
 however, endeavour to rob us of the right of conscience, and of the privilege 
 of representation. But fear not, our cause is founded on justice and on 
 truth — it is the cause of humanity, of virtue, and of her Majesty, God bless 
 her. " Your faithful Servant, 
 
 " Cloncurry." 
 
 The progress of the Repeal agitation Lord Cloncurry 
 chronicles in the following letters. He appears to have 
 considered the movement chimerical from the first. 
 Certain it is he never took any part in O'Connelfs Her- 
 , culean agitation of 1842-3-4. But when the cecession 
 from Conciliation Hall, in 1846, filled the countenance 
 of every Repealer with dismay, he offered in a public 
 letter to join the national movement, if the scattered 
 elements of agitation could be induced to re-unite. Cf 
 this, however, anon. 
 
 [No, 69.] LORD CLONCURRY TO MR. HOGAN. 
 
 "Dublin, November 13th, 1841. 
 
 " My dear Sir, — I thank you, by anticipation, for your most kind atten- 
 tion as to the foot, for which I shall inquire from time to time of Mr..Speare. 
 Above you have a copy of my good friend John Finlay's rejoinder to your 
 letter di Corona. All that I leave to your good taste and judgment. You 
 
 Y 
 
482 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 know we Irish are as proud as we are poor, and it is because we are poor 
 that we are ill-treated ; but that will, I hope, pass off. 
 
 " How is Lady C '? Her husband is in a mad-house. How is Father 
 
 Esmond '?* We had a bad and a wet summer, but now the weather i3 
 delightful. 
 
 " The Repeal question gains ground daily amongst the people — the gentry 
 alone adverse — the present Government unpopular to a great degree, and 
 doing little good; but, on the whole, the situation of our people ameliorates 
 
 daily, owing to their own spirit and sobriety, improved education andf 
 
 I have received the cases from Naples, but, like those from Rome, the con- 
 tents have suffered much from bad packing. 
 
 •• My dear Sir, truly yours. 
 
 " II Signer Hogan, Irlandese, u CuMJCUBBY. 
 
 "24, Vicolo del Greci, Roma.''' 1 
 
 [No. 70.] " 69, Lowndes-sqaare,% London, July 27th, 1842. 
 
 •■ Dear Sir, — I have to thank you very much for the foot and the ox 
 horns, which have arrived quite safe, and are very handsome. I hear from 
 Mr. Grattan and others, who wintered in Rome, that you are getting on 
 well, and that there are good hopes of Hibernia. 
 
 " I shall remain here about six weeks longer, after which I shall become 
 a wanderer, whether towards the Eternal City I cannot say, though I should 
 hope so. 
 
 " This country is in a state of very great distress and consequent agita- 
 tion, of which nobody can foresee the end, but which all dread and deplore, 
 Ireland, also, suffers, but comparatively less than England, and there is a 
 prospect of a most abundant harvest. I hope that his Holiness and all 
 friends in Rome continue welL 
 
 " Ten- truly yours, 
 
 •• Cloxcurry." 
 
 The Repeal movement rapidly gained ground; but 
 Lord Cloncurry held aloof. Nay more, he left Ireland 
 altogether, and proceeded " alone wanderer," as he called 
 himself, to the Continent. On the 26th of December, 
 1842, we find him addressing a letter to Mr. Hogan from 
 Xo. 18, Rue de Rivoli, Paris, expressive of his uncertainty 
 as to whether he would wend his way towards the Eter- 
 nal City. It would also appear from this letter, that his 
 lordship was now undecided about sending " Hibernia" to 
 Ireland. The reason will be shortly evident. 
 
 During Lord Cloncurrv's absence from Ireland, the 
 Repeal agitation had reached its highest point, and 
 threatened to fall like a mighty avalanche on those who 
 
 * Brother of the Right Hon. Sir Thomas Esmond, Bart., and son of Dr. 
 Esmond, whom the reader will remember as identified with the rebellion of 
 1798. See p. 183. 
 
 t The word Ls completely obliterated by damp. 
 
 t Lord Cloncurry's private residence in London. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 483 
 
 steeled their hearts against all concession. The entire 
 stock of the long disused machinery of the old Catholic 
 Association was reproduced, under the direction of OCon- 
 nell, and, after due preparation, set in motion once more. 
 Repeal wardens were substituted for the old chapel war- 
 dens, Repeal Rent for the Catholic Tribute. An associa- 
 tion hardly less powerful was established. Simulta- 
 neous meetings were holden as before — processions, with 
 banners marched in military order and array. Mission- 
 aries went through the country to animate the lukewarm 
 — Pacificators followed in their wake, to preserve an im- 
 pulsive people from wrecking their cause on the breakers 
 of the law. No one, save him who possesses a most aecu- 
 v rate recollection of the eventful year '43, can form the 
 remotest conception of the intense state of excitement to 
 which the public mind was raised. O'Coimell possessed 
 a power which no other man was ever known before to 
 possess. He had but to say " strike !" and four millions 
 of a brave, determined people would have struck. For 
 eighteen months, those masses awaited, in anxiety and 
 suspense, for the talismanic question — "Are you ready': 
 to answer " We are !" They fully expected that some 
 great struggle was at no distant day to take place. Illi- 
 terate as they were, they knew that England was rarely 
 known to concede ausrht of value to Ireland, save from 
 the effects of force or fear. He never spoke but thousands 
 hun2: delighted on his words, and when with a coun- 
 tenance radiant with manly animation he would exclaim, 
 that he could not see why a man should not be able to 
 fight as well in a frieze coat as in a red,* it is impossible 
 to describe the peal of enthusiasm and acclaim which 
 rent the air around him. The faintest hint to the people 
 was amply sufficient to act instantaneously as cause and 
 effect. It is our full conviction, that had Daniel O'Con- 
 nell so willed it, he possessed sufficient authority, and 
 
 * "Whenever O'Connell gave expression to a spirit-stirring expression like 
 this, he almost invariably so qualified it, in a subsequent one, as to deprive it 
 of all admixture of treason. The people were always told in conclusion to 
 return home peaceably, and that the man who committed a crime gave 
 strength to the enemy. 
 
484 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 sufficient numbers at his disposal, to have swept, almost 
 bloodlessly, the island clear. Certes, equal popularity 
 will never again be gained by Irishman, or equal power 
 wielded. 
 
 There cannot be a doubt, that much greater likelihood 
 appeared to exist in 1843, that Repeal would be trium- 
 phantly extorted, than was the case with Emancipation 
 at a similar stage of the proceedings. The weekly 
 Catholic Rent, at its highest pitch, never approached 
 anything like the amount of the Repeal Rent in 1843 
 and 1844. At one time £2,000 a-week was considered 
 the average sum. In 1828, defiant as was the posture 
 assumed by Ireland, no one ventured to suggest the pro- 
 priety of holding monster meetings. In 1843, however, ' 
 more determination existed, and seven hundred thousand 
 men, from every quarter of Ireland, assembled on the site 
 of the Battle of Tara. 
 
 Lord De Grey having received due instructions 
 from his Cabinet, at length decided upon arrest- 
 ing O'Connell, and delivering him up to the hands of 
 justice. It was a bold stroke, and few Lord Lieutenants 
 would have ventured to make it. Warrants were issued, 
 and the Liberator and seven of his associates found them- 
 selves, one fine morning, in the grasp of the law. 
 
 Of all charges, the most extravagant and barefaced 
 was brought by the Attorney- General against him. 
 O'Connell was accused of conspiracy, a crime of which 
 he scorned to be thought capable. In his agitation for 
 Repeal, everything was " above-board." He struggled, 
 by moral force alone, to achieve the restoration of our 
 legislative independence. " I did so in the open day," 
 said O'Connell, "in presence of the Government, in pre- 
 sence of the magistrates — nothing was secret, hidden, or 
 concealed." Yet, on this absurd charge he was found 
 guilty, by a packed jury and partisan judges. With 
 unblushing sang froid, they sentenced him to one year's 
 imprisonment, in Bridewell, and imposed a personal fine 
 of £2,000. 
 
 Men were struck dumb at the unexpected issue of the 
 prosecution. Public opinion condemned the trial as a 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 485 
 
 huge mockery, from beginning to end. The House of 
 Lords was appealed to, on the plea of a Writ of Error. 
 Lords Campbell, Denman, and others of the highest judi- 
 cial station in the land, discussed the propriety of the 
 recent decision. Postponements, however took place, and 
 not until O'Connell had undergone four months' incarce- 
 ration, was that celebrated verdict pronounced in the 
 British House of Lords, which contemptuously set aside 
 the decision of a Dublin jury, and the sentence of a Dub- 
 lin Judge. " If such practices," exclaimed Lord Denman, 
 " as have taken place in the present instance, in Ireland, 
 shall continue, the trial by jury will become a mockery, 
 a delusion, and a snare. On these grounds, I would re- 
 verse the judgment !" 
 
 Great was the triumph at the liberation of O'Connell. 
 Nothing was thought about but festivity, processions, 
 triumphal cars, joy bells, sky rockets, bonfires, banners, 
 and bands. Men who were never Repealers before, an- 
 nounced themselves from that moment converts to the 
 cause. Everybody, save the Orange faction, seemed to 
 participate in the jubilee. The almost entire neighbour- 
 hood of Britain-street was illuminated. In Dominick- 
 street, however, but a partial illumination was observable. 
 Amongst the few houses lighted up none was more con- 
 spicuous than that of the Duke of Leinster. " Every 
 window," observed a journal of the day, "was brilliantly 
 illuminated, thus ofivincr evidence, that the love of Ireland, 
 which has always characterized the Geraldines, still glows 
 in the breast of the present noble representative of this 
 ancient family." Lord Cloncurry participated in the ge- 
 neral feeling of triumph and jubilee. He suggested to 
 his old friend, the Rev. Dr. Ennis, of Booterstown, that a 
 handsome jet d'eau, or fountain, should beat once erected 
 in the Black Rock, which, in addition to celebrating the 
 triumph of truth and justice over fraud and venality, 
 would henceforward prove an ornament to the village, 
 and an important convenience to the humbler portion of 
 the inhabitants. His lordship offered a munificent sum 
 towards liquidating the outlay, if his wealthy neighbours 
 would only meet him half way in the matter. " From this 
 
 \ 
 
486 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 day forward," wrote his lordship, " we should all join 
 heart and hand in a generous brotherhood of affection, and 
 oblivious of the prejudices of caste and religion, seek 
 for the regeneration of our common country." 
 
 O'Connell once more breathed the fresh air of liberty, 
 but the object, nevertheless, of Lord De Grey was gained. 
 During his imprisonment, the Repeal agitation, from 
 having lost its Agitator, drooped. For, at least, two 
 months previous to his liberation, the flame of excitement 
 had flickered, and sunk. Within the walls of Richmond 
 Bridewell matters were no better. The spirit of O'Con- 
 nell had broken in twain. He left his dungeon the moral 
 skeleton of him who entered it. Softening of the brain 
 had set in, and to its insidious efforts to slay body and in- 
 tellect, coupled with the gloom of political disappointment, 
 he, at length, succumbed in less than three years after.* 
 
 At the moment of O'Connelfs arrest in Dublin, Lord 
 Cloncurry was in the city of Versailles. His eye, how- 
 ever, still rested on Irish interests, and Irish affairs gene- 
 rally. He read the sworn informations against O'Connell 
 and his brother conspirators, and before the commencement 
 of their trials, published the following letter. He had but 
 an indifferent opinion of the ruling Administration, and 
 expressed his fears, lest the law officers of its appointment 
 should not conduct the prosecution with justice and im- 
 partiality. " Time," he says, "will show." Andsoitdid: — 
 
 [No. 71.] TO THE EDITOR OF THE MORXIXG HERALD. 
 
 " Versailles, October 25, 1843. 
 
 " Sir,— In your paper of the 21st, you set forth the advantages a person 
 accused of sedition or libel, in Ireland, has over a person similarly circum- 
 stanced in France. Few persons will dispute the accuracy of your statement, 
 or yield unwilling prai?e to the beauties of the British constitution, as theo- 
 retically extended to Ireland. 
 
 " But, Sir, what was the practice in Ireland ? When, before the time of 
 Perrin, and the lamented O'Loghlen, was an unpacked and impartial jury 
 heard of, when the Crown was the prosecutor? Was not that a?gis of free- 
 dom, that palladium of liberty, converted into the direct engine of oppression, 
 when a Catholic was a party? For the last ten or dozen years impartial 
 juries have been first known in Ireland, with some exceptions in the North, 
 and the people, accordingly, began to have a respect for the law. But can 
 
 * The reader is referred to the Appendix, where some extracts from Dr. 
 Lacour's paper on the post mortem examination of O'Connell appear. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 487 
 
 the same be expected from the present Government, and with officers of their 
 appointment ? 
 
 " In the case of Mr. O'Connell, and others, do the Government themselves 
 imagine that an impartial jury will convict, on the sworn informations as 
 published in the newspapers. There may, however, be other and stronger 
 evidence : t^ne will show. * * * * 
 
 * " Tour obedient Servant, 
 
 " Cloxcurry."' 
 
 For a considerable time previous to tlie State prosecu- 
 tions of 1843, the deadliest rancour pervaded all sections 
 of tlie Tory party against anything, or anybody, con- 
 nected directly or indirectly with the Repeal movement. 
 Through the medium of their organs — the Conservative 
 press — they gave expression to the impotent malice that- 
 sought for utterance. Some clothed their odious and 
 deformed sentiments in the garb of poetry. One editor, 
 who approved of the goading policy so successfully worked 
 out under the Irish rule of John Lord Camden, sang forth 
 his specifics for Ireland's grievances in the following 
 words. They appeared in the Mail, Warder, and Packet, 
 during the first week of November, 1843: — 
 
 u These, these, are the secrets 
 
 Of peace in the land — 
 The scourge for the bach, 
 
 For the forehead the brand; 
 The chain for the neck, 
 
 And the gyves for the heel, 
 Till the scaffold lets loose 
 
 The base blood of Repeal 1" 
 
 The glee of Lord de Grey, at having placed the 
 Lion Agitator in chains, knew no bounds. He was heard 
 to boast of having been the first Viceroy who succeeded 
 in caging the wary old bird. This proceeding may be 
 said to have given the finish to that unpopularity which 
 had now approached a state of the fiercest intensity. 
 Lord de Grey found himself, not in hot water, but in 
 boiling water. Indeed, it appeared to some as if his 
 Excellency desired to make himself as unpopular as 
 possible. Shortly after his arrival the Mendicity Institu- 
 tion made their accustomed Christmas application for 
 some benevolent assistance, which it was usual with 
 Viceroys to award. Instead of sending, as some of his 
 
488 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 predecessors had done, half a dozen oxen for the use of 
 the poor, he forwarded, with much ostentation, a — shin 
 of beef ! Ireland never forgot this to him, and ever 
 afterwards he went by the uncomplimentary soubriquet 
 of "Shin of Beef de Bray." • 
 
 Having lodged O'Connell in Richmond Bridewell, his 
 Excellency soon found that the indignation of the country 
 had become too hot and too general to permit him much 
 longer to enjoy his Viceregal salary in comfort. Exe- 
 crated, he le±t the land as Lord Camden had done before 
 him. The streets through which he passed were lined 
 with military. The people yelled contempt at him. The 
 dragoons pointed to their sabres, and scowled behind 
 their beards. All to no effect, however ; the indignation 
 of the populace increased. At Westland-row, just as the 
 noble Earl was alighting from his carriage, a laughable 
 
 DC O ' C 
 
 incident occurred. " Three athletic young men," ob- 
 serves a journal of the day, " were seen rounding the 
 corner of Brunswick-street, each armed with the leanest 
 possible shin of beef . Never did the priests of Juno, in 
 olden times, carry offerings to the goddess with more 
 solemnity than that with which these modern hero 
 worshippers were distinguished as they slowly wended 
 their way to the terminus, along the dense array of war- 
 like dragoons, to present the consecrated shins." The 
 guards could hold their countenances no longer, and 
 actually shook upon their saddles with laughter. Thus 
 terminated the Viceroyalty of Earl de Grey. 
 
 But, in the mean time, we had well-nigh forgot to 
 chronicle a very daring and important anti-Repeal pro- 
 ceeding resorted to by Earl De Grey, previous to either 
 his arrest or trial of O'Connell. We allude to the cele- 
 brated Viceregal proclamation forbidding an advertised 
 monster meeting to take place on Conquer Hill, Clon- 
 tarf, the site of Brian Boroihme's successful efforts to 
 rid the old land of Danish domination. Seven hundred 
 thousand men had alreadv assembled on Tara Hill. The 
 Clontarf meeting promised, in point of actual numbers, to 
 exceed it. The harvest had been reaped — the meadows 
 had been mown — both had been drawn home. The 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 489 
 
 peasantry Had now no engagements of importance to 
 attend to. O'Connell looked forward to his Clontarf 
 meeting as the Repeal demonstration par excellence, 
 which must inevitably hurry ministerial determination to 
 the highest point of tension; and, unable to hold out 
 longer against so great an engine of strength, suddenly 
 snap, as was the case in 1829. Lord De Grey arrived 
 at the determination of smotherincr in blood the stru£orles 
 
 . O CO 
 
 and the cries for Repeal of the Union. We make this 
 startling allegation advisedly and without metaphor. The 
 Clontarf meeting was advertised for a fortnight. Thou- 
 sands, from every quarter of Ireland, had arranged to be 
 present. Men were on their way to it, and processions 
 in full march, when the De Grey proclamation, for- 
 bidding the meeting, appeared. This was to have taken 
 place on Sunday, October 8. The proclamation appeared 
 so late on the afternoon of Saturday, the 7th inst., that it 
 was quite impossible the knowledge of its existence could 
 have been communicated in time through the usual 
 official channels, or by post, to the thousands who in- 
 tended to swell the ranks at Clontarf. Lord De Grey's 
 proclamation " strictly cautioned and forewarned all 
 persons whatsoever, that they do abstain from attendance 
 at said meetinor " What was to be done ? Tom Steele, 
 as we have heard him repeatedly say, mounted his horse, 
 and galloped to the distance of eighty miles into the 
 country, beseeching the people to remain at home, and 
 not to put themselves in collision with the Queens forces. 
 O'Connell drew up a manifesto exhorting the people to 
 the same effect ; but, by the time it came from the hands 
 of the printer, night-fall had set in. Notwithstanding 
 these disadvantages, however, thousands of copies were 
 extensively circulated amongst the peasantry, and with 
 much better success than many shrewd intellects at first 
 expected. The intelligence spread like wildfire, the 
 people had got the habit of discipline, and a com- 
 paratively small number flocked into Dublin. At the 
 Lucan cross roads, two venerable priests, bare-headed and 
 vested, in order, doubtless, to render their exhortations 
 the more impressive, stood, as we have heard, conjuring 
 
 y2 
 
490 CLONCURRY AXD HIS TIMES. 
 
 the people to return with all expedition to their : : 
 homes. 
 
 At Clontarf every warlike preparation was made by 
 Earl de Grey to resist an assemblage of unarmed people. | 
 With the exception of a reserve corps stationed in Aid- 1 
 borough House, on the Clontarf road, the entire military I 
 force of Dublin was drawn up by ten o'clock, a.m., on • 
 Conquer Hill. The canon and mortars at the Pigeon 
 House were turned so as to sweep the road clear between I 
 the metropolis and Clontarf. Lord Cardigan commanded 
 the cavalry, General Fane the infantry, and Colonel I 
 Higgins the horse artillery. The guard usually mounted 
 at the Bank, Castle, and other public edifices, was J 
 doubled. The Royal Barracks presented an almost im- 
 pregnable aspect, and every arrangement was made at 
 the Magazine in the Park, and the Martello Towers com- 
 manding the bay, to co-operate, in case of need, with the I 
 Pigeon House guns. 
 
 On the afternoon of the day previous to the projected 
 collision at Clontarf, a Privy Council assembled in 
 Dublin Castle. Lord Cloncurry, surmising the inten- 
 tions of Earl de Grey, attended. With all the energy 
 of which he was master, he insisted upon ample notice 
 being given, even at that late hour, of Lord de Grey's 
 determination to oppose, with grape and canister, an 
 assemblage of the people. His lordship's influence pro- 
 duced the desired effect, and at half-past three o'clock a 
 proclamation, drawn up, as O'Connell said, " in loose 
 and inaccurate terms," was issued. The good peer pub- 
 lished a forcible letter soon after, wherein he pronounced 
 Earl de Grey's coup d'etat to have been " a projected 
 massacre."* Verily, Ireland owes much to Lord Clon- 
 curry. 
 
 * Even in England Lord de Grey's unconstitutional measures towards 
 Ireland met with reprobation. When the news of the proclamation reached 
 London, several able articles appeared. One, in that influential journal, the 
 Morning Chronicle., begun as follows : — " Ministers have at length determined 
 to act in Ireland. It is not their fault if even while we write the streets of 
 Dublin are not deluged with blood. The efforts of Mr. O'Connell, of the 
 popular leaders, and the priests, may have succeeded in preventing an out- 
 break ; but, we repeat, it will have been no fault of the Irish Government 
 
CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 491 
 
 We have latterly lost sight of Lord Cloncurry's patriotic 
 exertions in the House of Peers. "Whenever any question 
 affecting Irish interests came upon the tapis, he was sure 
 to be at his post, and both by voice and vote lending 
 important service to fallen Ireland. The Parliamentary 
 speeches which remain on record as having been delivered 
 by his lordship are full of cogency, sound sense, and 
 patriotism. His old and favourite project for the recla- 
 mation of Irish bogs and waste lands he frequently 
 pressed under the attention of the Legislature. In May, 
 1844, we find Lord Cloncurry reminding them that many 
 years before the Royal Commissioners suggested a method 
 of draining nearly 8,000,000 acres of good Irish soil, 
 now, unfortunately, left unproductive. " The sum of 
 money yearly abstracted from Ireland," said his lordship, 
 "in absentee rents, does not fall short of £6,000,000. 
 An immense portion of its floating capital is also drawn 
 from the country in the shape of taxes. If part of this 
 amount were restored to the country, for the employment 
 of the population in the construction of public works, it 
 would be amply repaid to England, and would, moreover, 
 have the effect of keeping the people from listening to 
 political agitators. * It has hitherto been the policy 
 
 of England to discourage every attempt at domestic 
 industry in Ireland. Her woollen manufactures have 
 been entirely destroyed, and the exportation of wool 
 strictly prohibited. Lord Cloncurry's exhortations did 
 not meet with much attention. Nothing daunted, how- 
 ever, he continued for years after to preach the necessity 
 of drainage. Many members approved of his views, and 
 amongst the number Mr. Osborne, as we can easily col- 
 lect from the following little paragraph in the report of 
 the Parliamentary proceedings on April 3, 1848: — " Mr. 
 Osborne gave notice that on Monday next he should 
 
 if the soldiery and the people have not been already brought into deadly 
 conflict." 
 
 A verbose article in the Quarterly Review (from the pen, it was said, of 
 an illustrious ex-senator) protested against Irish nationality as the symptom 
 of a fever which stood in need of blood-letting, and accordingly defended most 
 vehemently the probable phlebotomy of Clontarf. 
 
492 CLONCUHRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 move for the appointment of a Select Committee to in- 
 quire into the subject of waste lands in Ireland." 
 
 In August, 1844, the Irish Precursor petition, signed i 
 by eight peers, was laid before Parliament. Lords j 
 Leinster, Miltown, Gosford, Meath, Arran, Leitrim, j 
 Charlcmont, and Anglesey, conjured the Government to 
 consider and redress the chief grievances of Ireland. 
 They complained that a universal spirit of discontent | 
 pervaded the people, and that soldiers and steam frigates 
 were the only response to their murmurs. They justified j 
 the existence of that discontent from the conduct of the 
 Legislature. They pronounced it to be unjust that Ire- 
 land should have few, and England many electors ; and j 
 that while the latter with fifteen millions had 471 repre- i 
 sentatives, Ireland with eight millions possessed but 105. 
 They also stigmatized as unjust, that the Irish corporate | 
 franchise should be, in a country so poor, considerably 
 higher than in wealthy England; that the religion of 
 the few should be dominant, and that the Catholics 
 should be, with few exceptions, excluded from the higher 
 offices of the law and the state. 
 
 The petition was passed by in silent scorn by the 471 
 Members of the British Parliament. Well Lord Clon- 
 curry knew, when his noble friends went to the trouble 
 of drawing up this document, that insult, and not con- 
 cession, would be the response. The experience of 
 seventy years had taught him what to expect from 
 English generosity. He was not the man to brook con- 
 tempt, and therefore refused to append his name to the 
 memorial. 
 
 On the return of Lord Cloncurry from the Continent, 
 in 1844, he took an active part in remodelling the Royal 
 Agricultural Society of Ireland. In August, the great 
 cattle show was held, and at its conclusion, the banquet. 
 The company present on the latter occasion were com- 
 puted at 900 persons. The Duke of Leinster, in his 
 presidential capacity, occupied the chair. On his left 
 sat Lord Cloncurry, who, in the course of the evening, 
 proposed the toast, amidst loud cheers, of " The Agri- 
 cultural Improvement Society of Ireland, its noble Pre- 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 493 
 
 sident, and the hundred local Societies in connexion with 
 the central one." 
 
 Father Mathew, after having conferred on Ireland the 
 most important service that it was possible to render it, 
 found himself, in 1844, overwhelmed with pecuniary 
 difficulties. Drunkenness was a demon that had long 
 possessed his country; and, through the agency of God, 
 he completely drove it out.* Whilst he fought the good 
 fight against its debasing influence, Father Mathew made 
 sacrifices of health, time, and money, that few other men 
 would have had the spirit and the single-heartedness to 
 make. Innocent of worldly matters, lavish of expense in 
 the prosecution of his object, unconscious of all pecuniary 
 * liability, confiding in those whom he ought rather to 
 mistrust, he looked neither to the right nor the left, but 
 followed enthusiastically his onward course. He acted 
 as an apostle sent from heaven to regenerate, and was 
 happy ; he did not act according to the dictates of worldly 
 prudence, and was sorry. " The liabilities that oppressed 
 me," wrote the good man at this period to Dr. Hay den, 
 " were not the accumulation of many years, but incurred 
 amidst the excitement and enthusiasm of '39 and '40, the 
 two first blessed years of the sacred temperance move- 
 ment." An unavoidable expense attends, of course, every 
 great popular movement. During its existence, from 
 1839 to 1844, Father Mathew never received a single 
 shilling to defray it, with the exception of £100 from 
 the Marquis of Lansdowne. Other large sums were 
 offered him while in England, but he wished to act 
 independently, and refused them. We have heard, and 
 believe it, that Father Mathew's only creditors were the 
 medal manufacturers. 
 
 In October, 1844, Father Mathew reluctantly con- 
 sented to have his pecuniary difficulties made public by 
 the Rev. Mr. Hincks, editor of the Cork Inquirer. The 
 
 * Can it be credited, that, when this holy movement had first advanced 
 into full activity of operation, many Protestants denounced it as " pro- 
 ceeding from the devil, and insulting to the majesty of God?" They com- 
 pared it to the Trojan horse, within whose body a phalanx of enemies lay 
 concealed. The Kev. Mr. Sewell, of Oxford, in an article on " Romanism," 
 published in the Quarterly Review, asserted that murder was the ulterior 
 object of Father Mathew's teetotal organization. 
 
494 CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 Irish are a grateful people; and it required little per- 
 suasion to induce them to open a K fund for the relief of 
 their regenerator. Lord Cloncurry was the first Pro- 
 testant who forwarded his subscription. It was a cheque 
 for £50. 
 
 In the month of January following, the Duke of 
 Leinster, James Haughton, Esq. (the well-known Dublin 
 philanthropist), and the late Right Hon. Antony Blake, 
 expressed to Father Mathew their willingness to form a 
 committee, and endeavour, as practical, experienced men, 
 to put his deranged affairs in order, provided he con- 
 sented to place in their hands his private papers and 
 memoranda, for the purpose of having it ascertained 
 precisely how he stood in relation to his creditors. , 
 Father Mathew, who appeared to think as if this pro- 
 posal indicated the existence of some suspicion, replied, 
 that nothinp* would induce him to let a single document 
 of his go before a committee for examination. He, how- 
 ever, thanked Mr. Haughton, as spokesman, warmly for 
 the kind and friendly manner in which his Grace and 
 others had come forward on the occasion. 
 
 Next morning, the Duke of Leinster, Mr. Blake, and 
 one or two others, assembled, by appointment, in the 
 study of Mr. Haughtons house. The latter at once 
 apprised his visiters of the substance of Father Mathew's 
 reply. The Duke of Leinster appeared surprised and 
 disappointed. " I will have nothing to say," exclaimed 
 that nobleman, seizing his hat and leaving the house, 
 " to any business involved in the slightest mystery." 
 
 Mr. Haughton, in the course of the evening, apprised 
 Lord Cloncurry, by letter (who took a lively interest in 
 the pending movement), of his Grace's observation relative 
 to it. The following is his answer, which, however 
 confidential it was at the time, may now, without scruple, 
 be given to the world: — 
 
 [Xo. 72.] LORD CLONCURRY TO JAMBS HAUGHTON, ESQ. 
 
 \j- Piivo.te.~\ 
 
 •■ Jfaretimo, January \7th, 1845. 
 
 • My dear Sir, — The view taken by the Duke of Leinster. at your house- 
 on Monday, of the Mathew affairs, is the same taken by Mr. Blake, myself. 
 and many other zealous friends of the good apostle whom I have had the 
 pleasure to meet. 
 
CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 495 
 
 " His Grace, though so much younger than I am. has, fortunately, a firm- 
 ness of character which I have never been able to attain, and without which, 
 in bis exalted station and most feeling heart, he never could make any dis- 
 tinction between the many tales of distress, whether true or false, with which 
 he is constantly assailed. At the same time, whilst I lament that Father 
 Mathew does not follow the course recommended by his Grace, and many 
 other sincere and munificent friends. I look upon the apostle as so mere a 
 child in mundane affairs, and so endrely absorbed in the duties of his hea- 
 venly mission, that I see the inutility, if not the indelicacy, of diverting his 
 attention to money accounts, and am most willing and anxious to fly to his 
 relief on his own terms. 
 
 "I am much afraid that there is an active party desirous to counteract 
 the temperance movementas a Catholic affair. The writings, in many papers, 
 look very like it. 
 
 " I lately saw in the report of the Adelaide Hospital, Bride-street, that 
 Protestaxts alone are to have the benefit of that charity, supported chiefly 
 by persons drawing their large incomes from the public of even- persuasion. 
 How different from the conduct in St. Vincent's Hospital, Stephen's -green. 
 \ where the sisters of charity extend their Samaritan aid to suflerers of every 
 persuasion ! How long will religion, the foundation of all good, be perverted 
 in Ireland to the injury of our noble and suffering people? 
 
 "Your faithful Servant, 
 
 "CLOXCrRBV." 
 
 [No. 73.] LORD CLOXCCRRY TO JAMES HAUGHTOX, ESQ. 
 
 •• Maretijno. 19th January. 1S45. 
 
 ■• My dear Sir. — I shall at any time attend a committee for the good 
 purpose of aiding temperance and its holy apostle. I should not wish to be 
 very prominent in this labour of mercy, my political conduct being distasteful 
 to many of the aristocracy or High Church party. 
 
 u I have the honour to be. mv dear Sir, verv faithfullv vours. 
 
 " Cloxcurly. 
 
 " P.S. — Many thanks for the newspapers. I admire and approve of the 
 Mechanics' Institution, and I believe was an early subscriber to it both in 
 Dublin and in Limerick. I endeavoured to imitate it by a Labourers' Insti- 
 tute at Lyons, which is productive of much good in that locality. ' Parvo si 
 Hat componere magnis? " 
 
 Lord Cloncurry considered that the Mathew money 
 poured in sluggishly enough, and it pained him to think 
 that there was not more gratitude in the country. Three 
 days after we find his lordship again addressing Mr. 
 Haughton. It is the late, not the present Lord Meath, 
 to whom he alludes in the following letter : — 
 
 [Xo. 74.] LORD CLOXCCRRY TO JAMES HAUGHTOX, ESQ. 
 
 ■• Marethno, January 22, 1845. 
 
 • My dear Sir, — We want money for the good man. Most of the Li- 
 berals, at least of the old party, have subscribed. With them I have some 
 
496 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 influence. The aristocracy and Young Ireland must, if possible, be called on 
 by those most active amongst them. I really fear my name would do more 
 harm than good ; but if the committee think otherwise, I am entirely at their 
 service. I do not believe there are a full dozen of peers who have as yet sub- 
 scribed. The outstanders would gladly say, — ' There is no account given in, 
 and the committee put in their chair a man who has so often opposed us.' 
 Lord Charlemont or Lord Meath would be less obnoxious to the wealthy of 
 the High Church party. I say all this to show my fear of doing mischief for 
 though I have passed the age of pride or ambition, I shall be really proud of 
 joining in this good work whenever or wherever called upon. Give me two 
 days' notice and I shall obey your summons. 
 
 " Politics should have nothing to do in this case, and yet my name has for 
 sixty years been mixed up with the politics — stormy politics, of my unfortunate 
 and ill-treated country. 
 
 " My dear Sir, very faithfully yours, " Cloxcurry." 
 
 The only movement on the part of O'Connell between 
 his liberation and death, that may be said to have indi- | 
 cated any of his old intrepidity of spirit, was the establish- 
 ment, in 1845, of the '82 Club. It was a sort of perpe- 
 tuation of the old Volunteer system. Each member 
 equipped himself in a suit of green and gold regimentals, 
 but eschewed, as a matter of course, the use of arms. 
 There existed considerable doubts at first as to whether 
 the organization could be legalized ; but the opinion of 
 some of the greatest jurists in the land finally set that 
 question at rest. In the teeth of English defiance, of 
 scorn, and contumely, of bad reasonings and worse jokes, 
 the Eighty-two Club was at length declared inaugurated, 
 and on the 16th April, 1845, its first great meeting and sub- 
 sequent banquet were holden. The peal of thunderous ap- 
 plause that greeted the announcement of Lord Cloncurry's 
 
 accession to their ranks, will never be forgotten bv those 
 
 • • • j 
 
 who were present on that occasion. His lordship had been j 
 
 for some years comparatively dead in politics. With the 
 Repeal agitation he entertained little sympathy. Ad- 
 vanced age, and domestic sorrows also, contributed to 
 hold him aloof. " We are glad," said the Nation, " of 
 his accession, for his patriotism, his rank, and his reputa- 
 tion; but still more, because he is an old nationalist, 
 long estranged, but now restored to hope and exertion." 
 
 A great demonstration in favour of Rej^eal took place 
 at Dundalk on May 1st, and was characterized by much 
 of the zeal and enthusiasm which the people manifested 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 497 
 
 at the monster meetings of '43. At this banquet (for such 
 it was) O'Connell received complimentary addresses from 
 some of the most Orange districts of the North. The men 
 of Deny, Armagh, Dungannon, and Belfast, travelled 
 distances varying from twenty to seventy miles in order 
 to do homage unto the " the man of the people." Ban- 
 ners depended in gorgeous drapery from the galleries, 
 and displayed sentences of an unusually " Young Ireland" 
 nature. Amongst them were — " O'Neill and Sarsfield ;" 
 " Clontarf, Bealanath-a-buidhe, Dungannon, and Ben- 
 burb ;" " the besiegers driven from the walls of Limerick 
 by women, Aug. 1690, the maids and matrons of the 
 North are ready to emulate their example." On a shield 
 I immediately over O'Connell's chair, some poetical lines, 
 commencing, " If again the sword we draw" attracted 
 general observation. 
 
 The secretaries of the dinner were desired to invite 
 Lord Cloncurry. He replied as follows : — 
 
 [No. 75.] " Maretimo, April 26th, 1845. 
 
 11 Gentlemen, — I am truty grateful for the honour of your most kind 
 invitation to the banquet of the 1st of May. To find myself amongst my 
 noble and much loved countrymen has ever been my greatest pride, and to 
 join them in wringing tardy justice, a most sacred duty. I feel and know 
 that its achievement is in rapid progress, and cannot long be withheld. 
 
 " But for the present I am forbid to encounter the excitement of a large 
 assembly or a heated room, and this alone forces me to decline many invita- 
 tions I would otherwise enjoy. 
 
 "I have the honour to be, with greatest respect, Gentlemen, 
 " Your obliged and faithful Servant, 
 
 " Cloncurry." 
 
 By a judicious stroke of policy, Sir Robert Peel and 
 his brethren of the Tory Cabinet lost a large portion of 
 their unpopularity by introducing, in May, 1845, their 
 celebrated bill for the endowment of Mavnooth College. 
 Their object, almost avowedly, was to endeavour, by plac- 
 ing the Irish Catholic Church under a sense of pecuniary 
 obligation, to disconnect its priests from participating in 
 political agitation. O'Connell repeatedly declared that 
 without the co-operation of the hierarchy he could do 
 nothing, — that they were the life that animated the muscle 
 of his strength. The failure of Smith O'Brien's attempt 
 
498 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 in 1848 to rouse the Tipperary peasantry to general insur- 
 rection, was directly attributable to priestly opposition. 
 
 After one of the fiercest efforts of resistance that was 
 ever yet offered to the passing of a bill, Maynooth gained 
 the day, and £30,000 per annum became its endowment. 
 From that day forward Sir Robert Peel occupied a much 
 higher position in Catholic estimation than ever he did 
 before. Men long identified with the democratic move- 
 ments of the country frankly admitted that their acerbity 
 to Toryism was considerably softened. 
 
 Lord Cloncurry had long entertained the opinion that the 
 training at Maynooth, and its general system of education, 
 were much too monastic, circumscribed, and austere. This he 
 considered as in a great measure attributable to its scarcity 
 of means. Since 1795, it was, no doubt, " the Royal 
 College of Maynooth ;" but nothing could be more un- 
 princely than the amount of the yearly grant. His lord- 
 ship once observed to the late Mr. Conway, that Great 
 Britain was bound, in common equity, to replace the 
 funds for the education of Irish Catholics which were 
 confiscated as British property during the French war. 
 The views of Lord Cloncurry on this subject will be 
 found in Letter 45. In 1835, Lord Cloncurry repeat- 
 edly pressed on the attention of the Melbourne Go- 
 vernment the propriety of additional grants to May- 
 nooth. Lord Holland, in a private letter to his lordship, 
 said that the recommendation quite took him by surprise, 
 as he thought that that project had failed long ago. 
 " However," added he, " your opinion is quite sufficient 
 to make inquiry and re- consideration advisable, and 
 Melbourne, and Mulgrave, and Morpeth shall all be 
 aware of it." So they were. Lord Melbourne, after 
 due deliberation, wrote to Lord Cloncurry, perfectly 
 agreed with him as to the undoubted legitimacy of 
 his views, but added, that he must be sufficiently aware 
 of the feelings of England to be persuaded that such a 
 proposition would fail in Parliament, and that the bring- 
 ing it forward would be of the utmost prejudice to the 
 Government. 
 
 What William Lamb (the Whig) timorously shrank 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 499 
 
 from doing, Robert Peel (the Tory) resolutely achieved. 
 He was pretty well execrated for it, no doubt, but then 
 the number of Catholic benedictions which descended on 
 his head more than counterbalanced that annoyance. 
 What is more, he partially succeeded in gaining his 
 object. 
 
 O'Connell, to the last, refused to compromise Repeal. 
 But some of the more moderate members of the Hall com- 
 menced, in the year 1845, a movement for a federal Par- 
 liament, which they considered England had not the 
 same insuperable objections to concede as unlimited, and 
 unconditional, legislative independence. They talked, in 
 glowing language, of the federal unions of antiquity, of the 
 Etrurian confederacy that whilom extended from the 
 Alps to the Tiber, of the iEolian and Achaean leagues, 
 and of the republics of the Boeotians and Lysians, which so 
 often formed the theme of Montesquieu's praise. Modern 
 examples were not overlooked. They descanted on the 
 federal principle so long established, with beneficial re- 
 sults, in Holland, Switzerland, and North America. 
 
 The tone of the English ministerial journals in re- 
 ference to the movement was not that of a defiant and 
 sneering nation, such as had arrayed itself in strong an- 
 tagonism against O'Connell's previous demand for a com- 
 plete Repeal. Ireland firmly believed for a time that 
 a federal parliament would be conceded. Some wise old 
 heads were of this opinion, too, and amongst them we 
 may particularize William Murphy of Dublin. When 
 the grave closed over him, in 1849, — when he left behind 
 ,him an honourable name and the largest private fortune 
 ever realized in Ireland, it became publicly known, for the 
 first time, that he had exerted the entire amount of his great 
 influence with Government to obtain for us the substantial 
 compromise of a periodical Parliament. A senate with 
 only municipal powers was no doubt a sorry substi- 
 tute for complete Repeal ; but then where were we to 
 look for the achievement of that measure, and federalism 
 was surelv better than nothing;. 
 
 During the nine years through which the Repeal As- 
 sociation lived, Lord Cloncurry, although a Repealer, 
 
500 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 had little or no communication with it. Upon inquiry, 
 we find that the only letter ever addressed by him to the 
 secretary was in acknowledgment of a literary present, 
 which, by order of O'Connell, was forwarded to his lord- 
 ship. In 1845 the Association offered pecuniary prizes 
 for all essays on Repeal that should appear to them, on 
 examination, to be written with sterling ability. Many 
 were produced, but one by Mr. M. J. Barry having eli- 
 cited most praise, a boon of one hundred sovereigns was 
 handed him. The second best emanated from the pen 
 of Michael Staunton. For this he received seventy 
 pounds. A careful selection from the essays was made, 
 and at the expense of the Repeal Association printed. 
 A handsome presentation copy having been sent to Lord 
 Cloncurry, he promptly acknowledged it in the following 
 words : — 
 
 [No. 76.] LORD CLONCURRY TO T. M. RAT, ESQ. 
 
 •• Maretimo, Oct. 19 th, 1845. 
 
 " Dear Sir, — I beg you -will thank the Loyal National Repeal Associa- 
 tion in my name for the very handsome volume they have so kindly pre- 
 sented to me, assuring them that I will preserve it, as containing the most 
 able exposition of the wants, wishes, and just claims of the great body of my 
 countrymen, loved by me, if not wisely, at least full well. 
 
 " I have the honour to be, dear Sir, your obliged and faithful Servant, 
 
 "Cloncurry." 
 
 Meanwhile, Lord Cloncurry continued to encourage 
 every charitable institution, not only with his generous 
 donation, but by participating personally in their meetings 
 and demonstrations. The following note is addresed 
 to the saintly proprietor of Olive Mount Institution, whose 
 exertions in restoring fallen innocence to peace and purity 
 could not be extolled too highly : — 
 
 [No. 77.] lord clonxuery to the rev. dr. kirby. 
 
 "Maretimo, July 21s/, 1846. 
 
 "Very Rev. Sir, — I wa^ prevented from attending your festival on 
 Sunday by the heavy rain which overtook me on the road, and gave me a 
 large dose of Father Mathew's favourite beverage, 
 
 ' ' Your verv faithful Servant, 
 
 " Clo>xcrry." 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 501 
 
 It would appear that Lord Cloncurry about this period 
 entertained some serious notions of becoming a Benedict 
 for the third time. The lady, whose name we refrain 
 from mentioning, possessed more substantial attractions 
 than title or dowry. His lordship knew her long — but not 
 loner enough to make her an old maid — and esteemed her 
 highly. In 1846 this esteem merged into love, and 
 Lord Cloncurry made an offer of his hand and heart. 
 
 Miss accepted the proposal, and arrangements were 
 
 at once entered into for the speedy celebration of the 
 nuptials. At the eleventh hour, however, it transpired 
 that Georgiana, first Lady Cloncurry, was still living; 
 and, although a divorce in the Protestant Church is con- 
 sidered equal to a death, and no obstacle to subsequent 
 marriage, Roman Catholics sternlv refuse to regard it in 
 
 this light. Of the latter persuasion was Miss . 
 
 Horrified at the intelligence, she shrank from her enframe- 
 ments with Lord Cloncurry, and, on religious grounds, 
 justified the step. Not having any personal knowledge, 
 however, of this transaction, we hesitate to vouch for 
 the accuracy of its details; but, from the reliable 
 nature of our authority, we should be sorry to disbelieve 
 them. 
 
 We now approach one of the saddest epochs in the 
 history of Ireland — the famine of 1847. In October, 
 1845. the alarming intelligence was circulated far and 
 wide that the entire potato crop of Ireland — the people's 
 only food — had become, by some mysterious means, 
 utterly destroyed ! The consternation produced by this 
 announcement baffles all description. Clear-sighted men, 
 like Lord Cloncurry, saw at a glance that famine was in- 
 evitable. But they did not give way to despair, or con- 
 sume precious time in unavailing lamentation. They 
 endeavoured to devise means to mitigate the evil, and 
 formed a committee for that purpose. On All-Hallows 
 Eve, instead of spending their time unprofitably in fes- 
 tivity at home, the Duke of Leinster, Lord Cloncurry, 
 Messrs. O'Connell, Grattan, and others, assembled in the 
 Music Hall for the purpose of considering the awful con- 
 dition of the potato crop, and to adopt such measures as 
 
502 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 might be deemed advisable for averting the calamity that 
 threatened them. Lord Cloncurry, after describing the 
 fearful prevalence of the potato blight, of which he had 
 personal cognizance from having recently travelled through 
 the South of Ireland and the midland counties, observed, 
 that the crop of oats, at the present moment, happened 
 fortunately to be unusually abundant. He would at once 
 wait upon the Lord Lieutenant, and assure him that if 
 he did his duty in closing the ports, and stopping the dis- i 
 tillation of spirits, there was yet ample provision to which 
 the people could have resource. They should not suffer 
 the corn to be sent to England, and for himself he would . 
 say that he would give every farthing he possessed to 
 preserve the people. Lord Cloncurry observed, in conclu- | 
 sion, that the periodical famine in Ireland could have been j 
 prevented years ago, if his plan for the reclamation of 
 bog soil and waste land had been adopted. Six million 
 acres of it, according to an official return, existed. 
 
 A project more deeply rooted, or more strengthened 
 by conviction, never clung to human mind. Almost from 
 his youth Cloncurry sorrowed to behold his country pos- 
 sessing an expanse of waste and unproductive land, which 
 a little industry and a little enterprise would have long 
 since converted, and could yet convert, into golden ferti- 
 lity, and of course into a source of golden revenue. We 
 are enabled to assert without the fear of contradiction, 
 that many acres of this bog soil, which, previous to recla- 
 tion, was bought for one penny each and twenty years' 
 purchase, became, before the lapse of four years, value for 
 thirty shillings. And yet, Lord Cloncurry rarely gave 
 expression to his views on this subject that he was not 
 accused of uttering Utopian theories ! It was Lord 
 Devon, if we mistake not, who, in answer to Lord Clon- 
 curry, exclaimed in the House of Peers that the wastes 
 and boo-s of Ireland were not worth reclaimins". 
 
 On his return from the conference on All-Hallows Eve, 
 his lordship wrote at considerable length, and privately, 
 to Sir Robert Peel, stating the very perilous situation of 
 Ireland, and the fears generally prevalent amongst the 
 people. The Right Honourable Baronet replied that he 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 503 
 
 had taken measures to mitigate the evil " by the importa- 
 tion of bread-stuffs." 
 
 Next morning Lord Cloncurry waited upon Mr. La- 
 bouchere, the Chief Secretary , and not only recommended 
 the cessation of distillation, but urged the necessity of 
 restricting the exportation of corn, as a measure essential 
 to the preservation of the people's lives. He produced, 
 as he said so, an old Act of Parliament which empowered 
 the Privy Council to effect these desiderata; but the 
 Secretary, with admirable sang froid, replied, that if the 
 course advised by Lord Cloncurry were pursued, the 
 Government would not keep office for eight-and-forty 
 hours. " If these be your sentiments, then," rejoined his 
 lordship, warmly, " the sooner you are all packed off, 
 bag and baggage, the better." The Russell Government 
 remained comfortably in office, and the people perished. 
 From that day Cloncurry never entered the Privy 
 Council. 
 
 Although verging on his eightieth year, and residing 
 ; several miles from Dublin, there was not a more active 
 member of the Famine Committee than Lord Cloncurry. 
 This body met twice a week, and Lord Cloncurry was 
 always at his post. On the 19th November he occupied 
 the chair, and assisted to draw up a long series of 
 resolutions. These went on to say, that they felt it an 
 imperative duty to discharge their consciences of all 
 responsibility regarding the approaching famine and 
 pestilence, which could be obviated only by the most 
 prompt and efficacious measures for procuring food and 
 employment for the people ; that they arraigned in the 
 strongest terms the culpable conduct of the Administration 
 in refusing to adopt any efficacious measures for alleviating 
 the existing calamity, and in keeping the ports closed 
 against the importation of foreign provisions ; thus, either 
 abdicating their duty to the people or their sovereign, 
 whose servants they were, or involving themselves in the 
 enormous guilt of aggravating starvation and famine by 
 keeping up the price of provisions. How cruelly the 
 warning voice of Cloncurry was disregarded time has 
 shown. Before the lapse of a year mothers ate their own 
 
504 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 children amid 16,000,000 tons of grain, which a paternal 
 Government permitted its starving people to look upon 
 but not to touch. A circumstance occurred at the time 
 that the foregoing resolutions were passed that gave great 
 pain and offence to Lord Cloncurry. The meeting of 
 Parliament was inhumanely postponed until the fol- 
 lowing year. 
 
 One of the earliest letters written by Lord Cloncurry, 
 on the first appearance of the potato blight, appears to be 
 the following : — 
 
 [No. 78.] LORD CLOXCURRY TO MR. CONWAY. 
 
 " " 25th August, 1846. 
 
 " My dear Sir, — I have read with attention your able and most satis- 
 factory article of last Thursday, on the potato, and the steps to be taken in 
 consequence of the failure. I agree in the whole, excepting, perhaps, the 
 averages, which are rather high, as our soil is at present cultivated. I hope 
 that after a time they may be thought low ; but the present average I believe 
 to be eighteen of oats and eight and a half barrels of wheat per acre. I have 
 often eaten rye bread and meslin bread ; the latter I think excellent, and 
 more wholesome than all wheat bread. Rye is easy of cultivation, prolific, 
 and hardier than most other grains. 
 
 " I fear we have done with the potatoes. I almost see them decay as the 
 men dig them ; the sound ones brought from market one day are bad the 
 next. The potato has deteriorated in Ireland, at least in the poor man's 
 garden. For many years I remember apples succeeded by blacks, blacks by 
 cups, and cups by lumpers. It is more than twenty years that the late Lord 
 Wellesley, being on a visit at my house, I urged this as one reason for reclaim- 
 ing the bogs of Ireland, as recommended in the able report of the commission 
 that cost so much money, and has never been acted upon. * * * 
 
 " Piers and fishing stations, with their necessary appendages, are most 
 worthy of consideration ; but the piers should be substantial and permanent, 
 and not such miserable jobs as were accomplished some years ago. We 
 well know in Ireland what it is to be penny wise and pound foolish. How 
 many vessels are yearly lost in Kingstown harbour, for want of that finish 
 which could be better and cheaper done in ten years than in twenty ? We 
 farmers don't like to lose a sheep for a half-penn'orth of tar. Was there ever 
 heard of such a thing as the almost yearly famines of this country, abound- 
 ing in all the necessaries of life, and endeavouring to beg or borrow some of 
 its own money to escape starvation ? 
 
 " My dear Sir, faithfully yours, 
 
 " Cloncurry." 
 
 The year '46 expired, and '47 arrived, but still the 
 Government did little or nothing. The prospect of famine 
 and pestilence became every day more glaring, and their ad- 
 vent more inevitable. It was, however, not yet too late to 
 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 505 
 
 avert a large portion of the attendant horror if the Legis- 
 lature would humanely set on foot some species of repro- 
 ductive employment for the famishing poor of Ireland. 
 Lord Cloncurry well knew that the only chance of elicit- 
 ing the slightest assistance from Government was by 
 such earnest and incessant importunity as could not fail 
 to arouse them to some sense of the awfulness of our 
 position. Conjointly with several other nobles, and the 
 entire of the Irish Parliamentary party, he convened a 
 meeting of the peers, commoners, and landed proprietors 
 of Ireland, on January 14th, 1847. It was a really 
 influential meeting, and this even England acknowledged. 
 In addition to a large staff of Irish pressmen, reporters 
 from -the Times and other London journals were present. 
 When the reader is informed that the resolutions passed 
 at the termination of the proceedings numbered twenty- 
 four, he will at once perceive how inconsistent with our 
 limits it would be even to epitomize them. 
 
 During the general prostration of strength and spirit 
 which characterized the year 1847 Lord Cloncurry endea- 
 voured, by his example, to stimulate the manufactures of 
 Ireland. He gave constant orders to the principal manu- 
 facturers of Irish cloth, tabinet, #and carpeting. Mr. 
 Sheridan, of Dublin, supplied his lordship with the latter 
 article, and received a considerable sum in payment. The 
 good peer also endeavoured to give some impetus to the 
 glass manufactures of Dublin. On May 5th we find him 
 attending a meeting of the glass company, in Dame-street, 
 inquiring if any steps had been taken to increase their 
 capital, so as to enable them to proceed more exten- 
 sively. 
 
 The secession of Young Ireland from the later policy 
 of Conciliation Hall is probably too fresh in the readers 
 recollection for him to require, or expect from us, more 
 than a passing reference. Lord Cloncurry, although 
 never a member of the Repeal Association, sorrowed 
 to behold the national party sundered. Knowing 
 union to be strength, and that England's policy was 
 always " divide et impera" he grieved to behold the Con- 
 federation,^ the Rotunda, and the Association on Burgh- 
 
 z 
 
506 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 quay, labouring separately for a similar object. This 
 unfortunate division his lordship regarded in silence for 
 some months ; but, unable any longer to appear uncon- 
 cerned, he addressed a public letter to Mr. Smith O'Brien, 
 wherein he offered for the first time to occupy the chair 
 in Conciliation Hall (" if the voice of an old man — older 
 than O'Connell — would be of any use") on condition that 
 he, and the other Confederates, should forget bygones, 
 and return to the fold. O'Connell had at this time left 
 Ireland for the Continent, never to return. Bent with 
 decrepitude, his frame was no longer the stalwart colossal 
 one of former years, nor did his intellect possess any of 
 that freshness and activity that for half a century charac- 
 terized the man. His spirit was crushed by a series of 
 afflictions — the mortal blow which crippled the Repeal I 
 movement, by the imprisonment of the leaders- — the 
 desertion of the people, who formerly idolized him — the 
 famine and pestilence which decimated their ranks, and 
 the failure of his own great political project. " The 
 lamentable illness of O'Connell," observed Lord Clon- 
 curry, in the letter we speak of, " has, I verily believe, 
 been chiefly caused by his fears and his anxieties for his 
 country. * * For the sake of Ireland, and for the 
 sake of him whom we may never see again, you will 
 resume that position which you alone can adequately 
 fill. Never was union and brotherly love so necessary." 
 It caused a great and universal feeling of consternation 
 when, in the midst of famine and scarcity of employment, 
 the Government intention was announced of dismissing 
 many thousands of the peasantry previously engaged on 
 various public works. Some affected incredulity, and 
 smiled at the extravagance of the idea. A few days, 
 however, served to confirm the intelligence. The men 
 were dismissed. " If the magistrates of Ireland," said 
 Lord Cloncurry, in reference to the subject, " were an 
 independent body, would they quietly, and methodically, 
 suffer any Government to devote a million of the people, 
 intrusted to their care, a sacrifice to mercantile avarice ? 
 Would they not at every sessions remonstrate at the 
 stoppage of public works, at the dearest and idlest time 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 507 
 
 of the year ?" Lord Cloncurry had reason to feel dis- 
 pleased with some of his brother magistrates for their 
 slothful indifference to the interests of the people. He 
 declared that all justices of the peace should be hence- 
 forward elected. Lord Cloncurry was himself "a Magis- 
 trate for All the Counties," an honour conferred upon him 
 in consideration of his successful labours to establish the 
 system of petty sessions. 
 
 On the 8th May, 1847, Lord Cloncurry, in his public 
 letter to O'Brien, prophesied that Ireland would probably 
 never see her Liberator again. Six days after he died at 
 Genoa. The sad event happened somewhat unexpectedly. 
 Even his own family had no idea that death was so close. 
 The public papers, for some days previous, were filled 
 with contradictions, " upon authority" of certain gloomy 
 reports circulated by GalignanL They went further, and 
 announced the cheering news ofO'Conneli's convalescence. 
 
 The black pall of mourning which hung over famine- 
 stricken Ireland, the thousands who fell lifeless beneath 
 the touch of the plague, and the wailing and lamentation 
 amidst which the news of O'Connell's dissolution fell upon 
 the land, sends a thrill through the chronicler as he gazes 
 on the past. The people, long sunk in an apathy of in- 
 difference to the many important services rendered them 
 by O'Connell, suddenly awakened to a sense of their 
 orphaned position ; and, with tears standing full in their 
 eye-lids, and voices almost too choked for utterance, 
 wondered and wondered again, how ever they could have 
 been so foolish and so ungrateful as to abandon him who 
 struck their chains off, in favour of those young and 
 inexperienced spirits who, disowning all authority, 
 aspired boisterously to unsheath that parent's sword, 
 which, throughout a long life of hot excitement and trying 
 difficulty, never for a moment left the scabbard. 
 
 The Irish, however, are a fickle people, and that day 
 six months found them the most ardent partisans of 
 Meagher and Mitchel. 
 
 As the grisly form of famine came closer, a " General 
 Central Relief Committee of all Ireland" was established, 
 of which Lord Cloncurry became both trustee and a 
 member. As every Irish institution or movement must 
 
508 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 divide sooner or later, it did not surprise many that an 
 exclusively Catholic Relief Committee should soon have 
 been set on foot. Of this the Very Rev. Dr. Spratt may 
 be said to have been the head. It effected much good, 
 and numbers of Protestants sent in their adhesion to it, 
 in preference to the General Central one. Upon recently 
 examining the weekly subscription lists of this charity, 
 we were surprised not to observe the name of Lord 
 Cloncurry. Dr. Spratt, however, soon explained to us 
 the reason of his lordship's apparent indifference to the 
 Catholic Relief Fund. As one of the trustees of the 
 Central Committee, he felt a natural delicacy in allowing 
 his name to appear mixed up with the proceedings of its 
 rival. He, however, handed Dr. Spratt, anonymously, 
 the sum of £150. 
 
 The Irish Council of 1847 was a phenomenon in poli- 
 tics. It had no prototype. Men of every class, section, 
 and profession, without distinction of wealth, or title, or 
 creed, or principle, met together, for the assertion (to use 
 their own words) of national rights, and to consult upon 
 the pending fate of Ireland. One year of famine and 
 plague, like a poisonous reptile, and the pestilential slime 
 it leaves behind, had crawled over the land. Another 
 impended, with its weary cycles of pauperism and cala- 
 mity. It was no time to measure the differences of opinion 
 between Protestant and Catholic — Liberal and Conserva- 
 tive — nobleman or artisan. The time was come for Ire- 
 land to act, and she did so. In June this council for 
 national protection was inaugurated. Lord Cloncurry 
 and some other able Irishmen modelled it so as to suit 
 the perilous and growing necessities of the time. Two 
 of the principal subjects which lent life and purpose 
 to their discussions were Irish Manufactures and Tenant 
 Rio-ht. Never were these questions more ably dis- 
 cussed, or shrewder suggestions in connexion with them 
 urged. 
 
 Some twenty meetings of this excellent League were 
 held ; but on no occasion was Lord Cloncurry known to 
 be absent from the council board. He occupied its 
 chair on June 22nd. " I avow myself a new member," 
 said his lordship, " although rather an old man ; but I 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 509 
 
 think it my duty to do this Association the justice of 
 saying, that, since I joined it, I have heard more good 
 sense, moderation, and forbearance, than are generally to 
 be met with in any society in this country.'' His lord- 
 ship's speech at the Council, on November 4th, was un- 
 usually interesting. He let his memory travel back to 
 its earliest starting-post, and then, laden with recollec- 
 tions, accompanied it homeward, in order to their distri- 
 bution amongst the host of anxious listeners who hung 
 delighted on his words. " I beg to recall your attention," 
 said his lordship, "to a few circumstances which I 
 recollect to have happened in the course of my long life, 
 and everybody can deduce therefrom such opinions as 
 they may think proper to adopt." He then went on to 
 say that it was exactly fifty years since he first presided 
 at a political meeting. He entered into full particulars 
 of the Naas and Roval Exchange meetings of 1797 
 (already noticed), and the perilous circumstances at- 
 tending them. He told his auditory what he remem- 
 bered Dublin before the Union, and drew an effective 
 parallel between its present and past position. Many an 
 eye became dimmed with tears, as the old man, gradually 
 warming with his subject, depicted, in vivid colours, the 
 wealth, brilliancy, and fashion that characterized Dublin, 
 until robbed of her luxuriance by the British Minister. 
 In breathless silence the meeting listened to his speech. 
 They felt too deeply interested to clamour forth cheers. 
 
 But all this was, strictly speaking, foreign to the sub- 
 ject which called them together. Lord Cloncurry, ere 
 he left the meeting, spoke earnestly to the point. 
 " They were met to see what was to be done to avert 
 approaching famine. They could not recall the hundreds 
 of thousands that were snatched away by the horrible 
 visitation of last year ; but perhaps the sufferings of the 
 coming; season might be mitigated, and the occurrence 
 of so many deaths from poverty prevented. He could 
 not say that the people appointed to act for their benefit 
 were so thoughtful or so wise as they ought to have 
 .been. He conceived that the conduct of many of the 
 
510 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 public boards was negligent and ignorant. A ministerial 
 man of great renown had once said, that if the people of 
 England were in want, they should be employed; and, 
 if there was nothing else for them to do, they should dig 
 holes one day, to fill them up the next. On a recent 
 occasion, they had certainly dug the holes, but they 
 never filled them up." Lord Cloncurry concluded a long 
 and able speech by saying that he was sorry to find that 
 those who ought to be the principal actors at the Irish 
 Council had left the duty of occupying the chair to a 
 person of such minor ability. To the eternal shame of 
 the Irish nobility be it recorded, that not one peer worked 
 at the Irish Council Board but him, who was never known 
 to shrink, even in his age and decrepitude, from the per- 
 formance of a patriotic and laborious duty. 
 
 The meetings of the Irish Council terminated with 
 the old year. " 1 hope, gentlemen," said Lord Clon- 
 curry, " that this day will bring us to a conclusion of the 
 chief matters which induced the Council to call together 
 the friends of the country." Thus terminated the year 
 1847. Were all the suggestions of remedial measures 
 which found expression at the Council Board acted upon. 
 Ireland would now be wealthier, and England more 
 respected. 
 
 It would be most unjust towards the English people to 
 omit recording that large sums of money were collected 
 amongst them, and applied to the alleviation of Irish 
 famine. In amount, however, it was greatly dispropor- 
 tioned to what India and America liberally sent. The 
 English gentlemen who gave the money cannot be 
 branded as ungenerous, but those who had the dispensing 
 of it unquestionably were. " How many millions," ex- 
 claimed Lord Cloncurry, in a letter to Mr. Smith O'Brien, 
 " were put into the pockets of English merchants at our 
 expense. Even the charitable collections made by the 
 people of England they have endeavoured to make sub- 
 sidiary to their service. They resolved that nothing 
 should be given but food or clothing bought in London ; 
 they pretended that if they gave us money, we would 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 511 
 
 buy arms ; and it required all the influence of persons 
 high in office to induce them to give some money for the 
 purchase of provisions spoiling in our harbours." 
 
 In a conversation with Dr. Grattan, at this period, his 
 lordship observed, that of the money subscribed in Eng- 
 land for the relief of Ireland, a large sum passed into the 
 hands of speculators in corn, who paid themselves liberal 
 prices for what was damaged and unsaleable, which they 
 shipped for Ireland, instead of throwing into the Thames. 
 " Just like them," exclaimed his lordship; " they refused 
 to send us money, that could have been of use, because, 
 indeed, it would have been made an Irish job of; but 
 they jobbed the money themselves, and sent us corn that 
 was only fit for pigs !" 
 
 When the appalling intelligence of so many thousand 
 deaths by famine reached America, a considerable quan- 
 tity of corn was collected together at New York for the 
 relief of our famishing and dying peasantry. Lord John 
 Russell refused to allow an English frigate to proceed to 
 America for the corn so generously contributed, assigning 
 as a reason, that " a ship of war could not be made 
 available for such a purpose without extensive alterations, 
 involving much loss of time and expense." America, as 
 if in derision of this assertion, in fortv-eight hours loaded 
 with corn the " Macedonia," once a British ship of war, 
 and sent her to Cork. Few other ministers would have 
 been so destitute of prudence as to exhibit, at a moment 
 so critical, such a reckless disregard of the interests of 
 Ireland, or of Irish opinion ; nor would they have ex- 
 posed the English people to the humiliation of witnessing, 
 in an Irish port, a ship of war captured from them, and 
 bringing to the people of Ireland that assistance which 
 England's chief minister refused to aid us in obtaining. 
 
 Notwithstanding the food contributed by India, Eng- 
 land, and America, one million of people, at the lowest 
 official calculation, perished by the famine of 1847. 
 
 Lord Cloncurry was always a warm advocate for spade 
 cultivation. He considered that it both improved the 
 ground and increased the amount of produce. He fre- 
 quently impressed its advantages on his tenantry of both 
 
512 CLONCURRY AXD HIS TIMES. 
 
 Kildare and Abington; but finding them more indif- 
 ferent to the suggestion than he could have wished, he 
 
 Op _ ' 
 
 commenced offering prizes, which appear to have at once 
 produced the desired effect. In the Limerick Reporter of 
 October 4th, 1847, we find a manifesto signed by his 
 lordship, promising the farmer on his estate holding 100 
 acres, who should have the greatest quantity of land 
 cultivated by the spade, not less than nine inches deep, 
 and sown before March 20, 1848, a prize of £50; to the 
 second largest quantity, £20 ; to the farmer holding forty 
 acres, £20 ; and for the second largest quantity, £15. 
 
 In connexion with Lord Cloncurry's exertions, in 
 1847, to bring about a coalition of the jarring elements 
 of Irish agitation, we find the following note to the Very 
 Rev. Dr. Spratt — the first, we may observe, of a long 
 series of private letters periodically addressed to that 
 dignitary, until his lordship's death, in October, 1853. 
 
 The more Lord Cloncurry knew of Dr. Spratt, the 
 more he loved and respected him. We can have no 
 hesitation in saying that Dr. Spratt possessed more of 
 Lord Cloncurry's confidence, during the last three years 
 of his existence, than any other Roman Catholic friend, 
 or many Protestant ones. The reader will himself observe 
 how the phraseology of each letter becomes, by degrees, 
 less cumbered with the shackles of restraint and formality. 
 It is pleasing to see this, and to observe the gradual 
 warming of its tone in the expressions of respect, admi- 
 ration, gratitude, and love, which it is well known the 
 good peer entertained for his Reverend correspondent. 
 Few Irish readers will require to be reminded that the 
 Very Rev. John Spratt is a Catholic clergyman of the 
 Order of Mount Carmel. His labours in the cause of 
 temperance rank next to Father Mathews; and, now 
 that disease has rendered that clergyman incapable of 
 further ministration, Dr. Spratt may be regarded as his 
 authorized representative and successor. His exertions, 
 however, in other missions of philanthropy, are inferior 
 to none of his clerical cotemporaries. Perhaps the best 
 criterion of the good man's worth is to be found in the 
 general feeling of respect and esteem with which Irish- 
 
CLONCURRY AXD HIS TIMES. 513 
 
 men of every creed and party regard liirn. In the second 
 letter, Lord Cloncurry recommends to Dr. Spratt's notice 
 a young Scotch lady, a connexion of his lordship's, who 
 had, a short time previously, read her recantation, and 
 been received into the Roman Catholic Church. 
 
 [No. 79.] LORD CLONCURRY TO THE VERY REV. DR. SPRATT. 
 
 " 10th May, 1847. 
 
 " Dear and Rev. Ser, — I thank you very much for your kind and en- 
 couraging letter. I am not without hopes that a reconciliation of the jarring 
 elements of our patriotism may be brought about. My feeble efforts shall 
 not be wanting to point out the rocks on which the hopes of our unhappy 
 country have ever been wrecked — feeble they must be ; but I hope much for 
 the aid of yourself and the many good men who listen to you. 
 " With thanks and respect, faithfully yours, 
 
 "Clonxurry." 
 
 [No. 80.] "Maretimo, 29th September, 1847. 
 
 "Very Rev. and dear Sir, — I take the liberty to recommend to your 
 kind offices Madame la Chanoinesse Murray, a lady of one of the first families 
 in Scotland, and connected by marriage with Mrs. Douglas,* the Fitz-Patrick,t 
 M.P. for the Queen's County, and myself. 
 
 " Though a young woman, she has long thought for herself, and from 
 conviction, has embraced the Roman Catholic faith. As such she is much 
 thought of in France and Germany, where she holds a distinguished station. 
 She is also a writer, and has come amongst us to find out the true state of 
 matters in Ireland. If you will make her acquainted with some of your 
 venerable brethren, their institutions, and the good Sisters of Charity, it will 
 greatly oblige, dear and Very Rev. Sir, your faithful Servant, 
 
 " Cloncurry. 
 
 "P.S. — If the Chanoinesse pleases to see our new church, or my villa. F 
 shall be most happy to receive you both at dinner or lunch." 
 
 " Our new church" is that very beautiful stucture de- 
 signed by Byrne, which stands almost immediately oppo- 
 site Lord Cloncurry 's residence at the Black Rock. 
 Although a Protestant, Lord Cloncurry contributed ^150 
 to the building fund, and constantly watched the progress 
 of the works with a fatherly eye. On the completion of 
 the sacred edifice, he regarded it with a fatherly pride, 
 and derived much pleasure when able to secure the atten- 
 tion of some friend of architectural taste to its beauties. 
 
 * Wife of the Rev. Archibald Douglas, brother-in-law to Lord Cloncurry. 
 t The Right Hon. John Wilson Fitz-Patrick. 
 
 z 2 
 
514 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 The large, handsome stained glass window, emblazoned 
 with his lordship's arms, and worth at least 120 guineas, 
 was the present of Lord Cloncurry. He also contributed 
 handsomely towards the interior embellishment of the 
 church. He presented some handsome oil paintings to 
 the Rev. Dr. Ennis, P.P., of which one (a Virgin and 
 Child, after Murillo) was considered so finely executed, 
 that Lord Cloncurry sent it for exhibition to the Dargan 
 Industrial Palace of 1853. On a later occasion, when 
 he gave the order to Mr. Sheridan for his handsomest 
 Irish carpeting, and saw how well it looked on his own 
 drawing-room, he sent to Dublin for a corresponding 
 quantity, which he presented to Dr. Ennis for the cover- 
 ing of the altar steps and a portion of the sanctuary. 
 
 Another clergyman who exerted himself notably in 
 endeavouring to effect a reunion between the disciples of 
 O'Connell and O'Brien, was the Rev. Thaddeus O'Malley. 
 The only letter he received from Lord Cloncurry in re- 
 lation to this subject was the following characteristic 
 " private" one. It throws some light on his lordship's 
 reasons for never joining the ranks of Conciliation Hall. 
 Mr. O'Malley is one of the most accomplished scholars in 
 the Irish Church : — 
 
 LORD CLONCCRRY TO THE REV. - THADDEUS O'MALLEY, EX-RECTOR OK 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF MALTA. 
 
 [No. 81.] "Maretimo, May 25tk, 1847. 
 
 [" Private.~] 
 
 " Rev. Sir, — Dr. Gray had the kindness to send me on Sunday an extra- 
 ordinary Freeman, with your letter, and I have this moment received yours 
 t>f yesterday, marked ' Private.'' 
 
 " I agree with you that, for the present, general grief must render all good 
 Irishmen incapable of active exertion ; but, after a few days, 1 for one will 
 be most happy if I can in any way contribute to the union and reconciliation 
 of the young and ardent friends of their poor country's rights. 
 
 " Much allowance, however, should be made for my age and incapacitude 
 for the warfare of violent discussion, and I fear that any further offer on my 
 
 part of mediation might draw down from Mr. J. O'C some further 
 
 assertions relative to me, which, however unfounded, would hurt my feelings. 
 When I publicly addressed Mr. O'Brien, it was in the hope of reconciling 
 men whom I respected, as true friends of their country, and I spoke of them 
 as such. Mr. J. O'C taunted me as recreant and tardy in adopt- 
 ing national feelings — as one who was slow in ' knocking at the Union.'' Now, 
 Sir, I knocked at the Union before he was born, as I believe, and certainly 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 515 
 
 before his lamented father did so. I wrote and published against the ' Pro- 
 jected Union' in 1796. It was one chief cause of the vengeance of Pitt and 
 George III., and cost me upwards of £60,000, and twenty-six months' 
 imprisonment. I invited O'Connell and SheiL in 1824, to struggle for 
 Repeal, as the surest road to Emancipation. I never for an hour, for the 
 last forty-seven years, ceased my warfare against the Union ; but I did not 
 join the (Repeal) Association, because in it some of my best friends were 
 undeservedly and imprudently held up to public odium ; and I thought I 
 could work better in my private capacity than in an assembly where I would 
 have daily to contradict accusations made against men whom I know to be 
 devoted to their country. Neither could I now listen patiently to hear young 
 and talented persons, though strangers to me, held up to the vengeance of 
 Government for a rash word, perhaps uttered in the heat of debate. Ireland 
 can only be saved by mutual forbearance, love of one another, and incessant 
 exertion ; avoiding to offend anybody, but laying before the world the simple 
 and undeniable facts of our cruel persecution by unjust government and 
 foreign controul. 
 
 " I think Mr. O'Brien quite right in demanding publicity for all accounts, 
 and a pledge against acceptance of office by the members of a national union 
 for themselves or their friends ; and I think the giving of the Church revenues 
 to the poor, on death of present incumbents, should be made a sine qua non 
 with these fundamental rules. I think there should be no rivalry, unless in 
 doing good ; and as to leadership, there will be no dearth of young men who 
 will rush fresh to the battle. Amongst these O'Brien and J. O'Connell must 
 stand prominent, but other ardent spirits will soon come forward to their 
 aid. They will be certain to have enemies enough without quarrelling with 
 each other. 
 
 " I am, in great haste, Reverend Sir, your faithful Servant, 
 
 " Cloncurry." 
 
 Dr. R. R. Madden, the eminent Irish literateur, was at 
 this time appointed to a Government situation in the East. 
 He would have preferred, if possible, a home appointment, 
 and wrote to Lord Cloncurry, in the hope that his lord- 
 ship would exert what influence he possessed with Lord 
 Clarendon in endeavouring to get something more COn- 
 genial to the tastes of a patriot Irishman. " The books 11 
 alluded to by Lord Cloncurry embraced the third series 
 of Dr. Maddens " United Irishmen," which was, by per- 
 mission, dedicated to his lordship. That license we find 
 conveyed in the following note to Dr. Madden's nephew, 
 Mr. William Cogan, now M.P. for Kildare. It was written 
 fifteen months previous to the succeeding communica- 
 tion : — 
 
 [No. 82.] LORD CLONCURRY TO W. F. COGAN, ESQ., M.P. 
 
 " 29, King-street, St. James's, 15th Mag, 1846. 
 " Sir, — Your favour of yesterday I have just received at the Reform. I 
 shall be very happy to accept the compliment intended me by your worthy 
 
516 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 uncle, Dr. Madden. I beg you to remember me very kindly to him when 
 you write to Lisbon. 
 
 •' I have the honour to be, very truly, your humble Servant, 
 
 " Cloxcurry." 
 
 [No. 83.] LORD CLOXCURRY TO DR. R. R. MADDEN, M.R.I.A. 
 
 " 31st August, 1847. 
 
 " Dear Doctor Madden, — I am greatly obliged for your most interest- 
 ing books, and indeed feel truly sorry at the idea of your expatriation. What 
 could make me so happy as to keep good men in this good though unhappy 
 land, if it were in my power? Would I not be most dishonest if I pretended 
 to have interest when I have it not? 
 
 " I know, from the Lord Lieutenant himself, how he is worried by his 
 colleagues, as well as by county members, for everything that falls. What 
 chance could I have, who, though I personally respect the man, never call on 
 him but to express my dissatisfaction at the Government — dissatisfaction 
 which I have expressed for fifty years, at great loss and detriment to myself, 
 but from motives, I hope, truly disinterested 
 
 " I shall endeavour to say a word in conversation, but I know it will be 
 
 vain. A friend who supports the Union, the chief curse of the land, will 
 
 certainly have far more chance of that success which I very anxiously wish 
 
 for. 
 
 " My dear Sir, faithfully yours, 
 
 " Cloxcurry." 
 I 
 
 The following letter is so clear as to need no editorial 
 preface : — 
 
 N . 81.] LORD CLONCURRY TO JOHN HOGAN, ESQ. 
 
 'faretimo, Dublin, September 18th, 1847. 
 
 " Dear Mr. Hogan, — Amelia Curran has paid the debt of nature in the 
 Eternal City. She was the most witty and agreeable woman I ever knew, 
 full of talent and of kindness — a musician, a painter, and a writer. I loved 
 and respected her sincerely. She was the eldest daughter of my steady friend, 
 John Philpot Curran, a true and fearless patriot. 
 
 " I wish some memorial of her* to be placed in the Church of St. Isidore, 
 at an expense not exceeding fifty pounds, which, if you undertake, you will 
 enhance my obligation to you. 
 
 " I am most interested for the life and success of your truly good and 
 valiant Holy Father. In the midst of our misery we exult in his success and 
 his virtues. Even to us he extends his charity, which will bring a blessing 
 with it. We are truly deserving of pity. 
 
 ■• Let me hear from you. Every day your Hibernia is admired more and 
 more. It is a splendid work of an honest Irishman. 
 
 " Yours very faithfully, 
 
 "Cloncurry ' 
 
 Here his lordship wrote the inscription which he 
 wished to be inscribed on Miss Curran's monument. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 517 
 
 "AMELIA CURRAN 
 
 WAS THE MOST TALENTED AND VIRTUOUS DAUGHTER OF 
 THAT FIRST AND ABLEST OF IRISH ADVOCATES,* 
 
 JOHN PHILPOT CUE RAX. 
 
 WHO FEAR LESSLY PLEADED THE CAUSE OF HIS COUNTRY AND HIS 
 
 OPPRESSED FELLOW-CITIZENS. BEFORE CORRUPT JUDGES 
 
 AND HOSTILE JURIES. 
 
 THEY WERE TRUE PATRIOTS. 
 
 TO THEIR MEMORY THIS TABLET IS INSCRIBED BY THEIR 
 
 SURVIVING FRIEND. VALENTINE, SECOND 
 
 LORD CLONCURRY." 
 
 This proceeding on the part of Lord Cloncurry lost 
 little time in achieving notoriety. The Roman corres- 
 pondent of the Daihj News was the first to circulate the 
 intelligence. " Lord Cloncurry," he wrote, " has just 
 commissioned our great Irish sculptor here to erect a 
 fitting and classic memorial, in the national church of St. 
 Isidore, over the grave of the daughter of John Philpot 
 Curran. It is no secret that about the year 1798, the 
 Honourable Mr. Lawless was an unsuccessful suitor lor 
 her band: and his lordship's present directions are alike 
 creditable to the veteran's patriotism, and the love that age 
 has not extinguished. — His saltern aeeumulem donis et 
 fungar am or is muneref 
 
 At the above romantic bit of gossip, his lordship was, 
 or affected to be, much displeased. In a letter to Mr. 
 Hogan, he commissions him to put an extinguisher, as 
 far as possible, on the reports. He denies that Amelia 
 Curran was ever in his house, unless after his marriage, 
 and we are not aware that there is any evidence of a 
 previous attachment. * 
 
 [No. 85.] LORD CLONCURRY TO JOHN HOGAN, ESQ. 
 
 u Maretimo, 29th October, 1848. 
 
 " Dear Mr. Hogan, — Doctor Ennis has brought me your letter of the 
 4th instant, and the accompanying daguerreotype, which I have sent to 
 Dublin to be draughted. I doubt not it will answer my intentions, and sus- 
 tain your hiiih character as an artist. Each day trains new admirers for Hibernia. 
 I really have not seen anything more perfect, as to the marble, or the execu- 
 tion. Would that the original was as fortunate as her statue is beautiful. 
 Do not allow the inquisitive public to fabricate loose stories as to Amelia 
 Curran. She never was in my house, but when I was a married man, with 
 
 * This line his lordship thought fit subsequently to omit. 
 
518 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 her father, and other good, and true Irishmen who felt for their country, and 
 were most indignant at the cruelty and injustice with which she was treated. 
 " Draw on my hankers at twenty-one days' sight. They are either 
 Latouche and Co., Dublin, or Puget, Bainbridge and Co., St. Paul's, London. 
 The state of this country is very wretched, and our prospects grow darker 
 every day. 
 
 " I am, very faithfully yours, 
 
 "Cloncurry." 
 
 Well might Lord Cloncurry sorrow at the wretched 
 state and prospects of the country. Famine tore its way 
 through the ranks of the people, and the survivors fled 
 in panic from the land. 
 
 To mitigate the poverty of his tenantry at Abington, 
 Lord Cloncurry placed £200 in the hands of Mr. George 
 Duhig, to be by him distributed according to his discre- 
 tion. 
 
 In January, 1848, while famine still raged, we find 
 Lord Cloncurry, in a published address to his Limerick 
 tenantry, complaining that nothing had been as yet done 
 to improve the resources of Ireland. " The only attempt 
 at public improvement," said his lordship — " the Shannon 
 — has been a miserable failure from the ignorance of the 
 engineers. Your county, and others bordering on that 
 noble river, have paid dearly for that slave-begging ex- 
 periment ; even the new islands of Arran with difficulty 
 escaped the tax, their Atlantic being mistaken for the 
 Shannon." Lord Cloncurry concluded with an expression 
 of his long established conviction that had just Government 
 expended a little money on " our most iinproveable wastes, 
 it would have greatly mitigated the existing famine. By 
 no private understanding," proceeded his lordship, " can 
 the bogs be reclaimed until the main drains be executed 
 as a public work. Those who deny the virtue of re- 
 claimed bogs, should measure the oaks constantly dug out 
 of them, fifty and sixty feet tall, and three feet in diame- 
 ter. Cobbett would tell you that ' such trees could not 
 grow in bad land. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Influence of the French Eevolution on Irish Politics — Smith O'Brien's Mis- 
 sion to France — Lord Cloncurry refuses to accompany him — Father 
 Corkran — A National Congress — Lord Cloncurry's Letters on that and 
 other Subjects — Generosity of his Loi-dship — Unpopularity of Lord 
 Clarendon — Transportation of Mitchel — Lord Cloncurry sends £100 to 
 the Convict's Wife — Great Excitement — Pikes manufactured by Order of 
 the Government — Lord Ffreneh's Letter — Habeas Corpus Act suspended — 
 Battle of Ballingarry — A False Alarm — Arrest of O'Brien — Letters to 
 Dr. Grattan, Mr. Owen, Mr. M'Kenna, and the Very Rev. Dr. Spratt — Pros- 
 tration of the Country — Jury Packing — Death-Bed of Lord Dunsany — 
 41 The Personal Recollections of Lord Cloncurry" — Letter to Dr. R. R. 
 Madden — His Lordship finds himself in a Hornet's Nest — Mr. Aylmer's 
 Letter, and Lord Cloncurry's Reply — Letter from the Duke of Leinster to 
 Lord Cloncurry — Letters to C. G. Duffy, J. Burke, Drs. Gray, Madden, 
 Spratt, Grattan, &c. — Extraordinary Dissolution of a Political Society — 
 Letter from S. Ferguson — Dr. Graves — Appalling Destitution — Royal 
 Visit — " Illuminations iu the midst of Death" — Lord Roden and Dolly's 
 Brae — Proposed American Packet Station at Galway — £500 offered by 
 Lord Cloncurry to encourage it — Letters to his Steward — Louis Napoleon 
 in Debt — Interesting Correspondence — Lord Cloncurry's Generosity to the 
 Dublin Library — Private Charity — Dargan Banquet — Letters to and from 
 the Earl of Carlisle, Sir John Bradstreet, &c, &c, — Lord Cloncurry's last 
 Dinner Party and last Letter — Fatal Illness — Funeral — Impressive Scene 
 — Death of the Hon. Cecil Lawless. 
 
 » 
 
 The bold and defiant attitude assumed by the French 
 people from the summit of their national barricade in 
 February, 1848 — the abdication and flight of Louis 
 Philippe — the proclamation of the Provisional Govern- 
 ment — the establishment of a republic, and the successive 
 revolutions which shook down the Governments of 
 Europe — all served as so many fresh breezes to fan into 
 aflame the already heated embers of Irish disaffection. 
 Smith O'Brien at once announced his intention of wak- 
 ing personally on Ledru Rollin and Lamartine with an 
 address of sympathy and congratulation. It will be per- 
 
520 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 ceived by tlie following letter that Mr. O'Brien ventured 
 to throw out a hope that Lord Cloncurry would form a 
 member of the proposed deputation. The old peer, how- 
 ever, was no advocate for separation, and expressed his 
 determination of continuing at home in that dignified 
 retirement which his advanced age would seem, even of 
 itself, to demand. Almost immediate^" after, the deputa- 
 tion left Ireland, and, on their arrival in France, at once 
 obtained interviews with the principal members of the 
 Provisional Government. In addition to the address of 
 sympathy and congratulation on the " successful vindica- 
 tion of their liberties," Mr. O'Brien and his colleagues 
 went so far as to solicit military aid for the establishment 
 of an Irish Republic, in the same manner as WolfeTone, 
 Fitzgerald, and O'Connor had executed a similar mission 
 exactly fifty years before. Lord Cloncurry was a man 
 of much shrewdness and foresight; and although no men- 
 tion of the treasonable part of the intended expedition 
 appears in Mr. O'Brien's letter, he suspected what was in 
 the wind, and sagely held aloof. 
 
 [No. 86.] WILLIAM SMITH o'BRIEX, ESQ., M.P., TO LORD CLOXCURRV. 
 
 " London, February 28th, 1848. 
 
 "My dear Lord Cloncurry, — The present moment appears to be a 
 favourable opportunity for making a national demonstration in favour of 
 Repeal ; and as you did me the honour to -write me a letter last year, sug- 
 gesting a union of the different sections of Repealers, I am encouraged to 
 answer that appeal by expressing to you my opinion, that the time has come 
 ■when Old and Young Ireland may at last unite in public demonstration, in 
 order to prove that whatever may be their differences, they are both re- 
 solved that the Union shall be repealed. 
 
 " Reserving until a future occasion a development of ulterior measures, I 
 am inclined to think that such a meeting as I have contemplated ought to 
 adopt an address to the Queen, declaratory of the reasons which induce us 
 to seek a Parliament, accompanied by a firm but respectful demand. Second, 
 an address to the French nation, congratulating them upon their recent suc- 
 cess in vindicating their liberties, to be conveyed to Paris by a deputation, 
 of which your lordship would probably be one member.* Third, a declara- 
 
 * The Confederates, who were sanguine of success, settled in their own 
 minds that Lord Cloncurry should be the Dupont de l'Eure of the National 
 Government. His lordship, early in the year 1848, asked Messrs. O'Brien, 
 Mitchel, and Duffy to dine with him at Maretimo. He spoke encouragingly 
 of their recent labours to promote popular amelioration, and referred to th^ 
 objects of the Confederation as in principle legitimate. But beyond the 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 521 
 
 tion of unceasing and uncompromising hostility to every Government "which 
 shall oppose Repeal, and an instruction to that effect to the representatives. 
 Fourth, an address to the Irish people, recommending them to preserve order 
 as the basis of liberty, and to hold themselves prepared to take every legiti- 
 mate advantage of whatever circumstances may arise to facilitate the acqui- 
 sition of the legislative independence of Ireland. In case your lordship and 
 others, who hitherto occupied a neutral position, shoidd be of opinion that 
 such a united meeting is, under present circumstances, desirable, I shall 
 avail myself of an early opportunity of addressing to you a. public letter upon 
 the subject. * * * 
 
 " I remain, my dear Lord, yours very sincerely, 
 
 "William Smith O'Brien." 
 
 After the congratulatory mission to France, those po- 
 pular leaders who professed the O'Connell policy publicly 
 renounced all connexion with Young Ireland for evermore, 
 and reprobated them as Republicans in principle and 
 infidels in religion. The benevolent exertions of Dr. 
 Spratt and Father O'Malley to coalesce the jarring elements 
 of patriotism went for nought, and the two great rival 
 parties were in stronger antagonism than ever. Another 
 clergyman came to the rescue, the Rev. Cornelius Corkran, 
 Roman Catholic Pastor of Tracton, in the County Cork. 
 He acted a part as arduous as it was noble. Far removed 
 from the seat of strife — Dublin — he sacrificed his health, 
 his interests, and his time, in endeavouring at once to 
 discharge his parochial duties at home, and act the man 
 of peace, and mediator, abroad. Whilst this work was in 
 progress, we wrote to Father Corkran for copies of any 
 correspondence that had passed between him and Lord 
 Cloncurry on the subject of the attempted reconciliation. 
 The letter which follows was the result of our application. 
 
 On the 17th March, 1848, Father Corkran's parishioners 
 assembled in Tracton, and passed some resolutions ex- 
 pressive of their grief at the disunion then exhibited among 
 the leaders of the Repeal movement as being calculated 
 to aggravate the horrors of famine, to annihilate the pros- 
 pect of Ireland's independence, and establish misrule on a 
 firm basis. It was also resolved that Lord Cloncurry (as 
 
 sympathy -which Lord Cloncurry frequently manifested in the acts and the 
 fate of the Young Ireland party, he was committed to nothing that was said 
 or done by them. The invitation to Maretimo at so critical a moment ap- 
 pears to have been regarded by the confederates as a most favourable omen. — 
 W. J. F. 
 
522 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 its vice-president), be solicited to convene, at a public 
 banquet, the '82 Club, and that a prudent selection from 
 that body be instructed to perfect a lasting reconciliation 
 between Young and Old Ireland. The transmission of 
 these resolutions fell to Father Corkran's lot. " In con- 
 juring your lordship," said he, "to comply with the 
 request expressed, I will offer no apology to one whose* 
 love of liberty is purified by his allegiance, and whose 
 nobility is ennobled by his patriotism. To heal the 
 bruises of your smitten country, to pour oil into her 
 wounds, to restore to her impaired energies a healthful 
 action, is a task worthy of your lordship. Dignus vindice 
 nodus? 
 
 [No. 87.] LORD CLONCURRY TO THE REV. CORNELIUS CORKRAN, P.P. 
 
 " Maretimo, 2$th March, 1848. 
 
 " Rev. dear Sir, — Tour very kind letter, announcing the resolutions at 
 Tracton, being directed to Lyons, had some delay in reaching me here. I 
 sincerely thank the good people of that locality for their high estimate of me, 
 and which estimate was still enriched by the polished medium through which 
 it passed. Heaven knows that disunion was ever the curse of Ireland, and 
 I fear ever will be. The conflict between the Young and Old Irelanders would 
 be silly under any circumstances, but ruinous at this crisis, when the poor are 
 perishing for want of food, and the landed interest remorselessly crying out 
 for protection against foreign corn again. 
 
 " I fear the grand question of Repeal will be seriously damnified by this 
 schism. It ever was, and is, my opinion and desire, that Great Britain and 
 Ireland should be linked together for mutual support under one crown, each 
 having a distinct and independent legislature, Ireland having a responsible 
 minister, and the Lord Lieutenancy (that nucleus of corruption) abolished for 
 ever. The salvation of both countries depends upon their reciprocation of 
 friendship and justice. 
 
 " If a meeting of the Volunteers be called for the purpose of establishing 
 peace and unity among the conflicting parties, I will gladly attend; but as 
 many of the belligerents are young, hot men, unknown to me, I do not feel 
 myself in a position to take the initiative in calling the '82 Club together. 
 " I have the honour to be, yours very truly, 
 
 " Cloncurry." 
 
 The exposition of his lordship's political creed in the 
 foregoing letter is worthy of attention. It forms a con- 
 clusive refutation of the charge so often preferred by the 
 Tory party, that Lord Cloncurry was in principle a 
 separatist and a republican. Much as he had reason to 
 find fault with the British minister for his most cruel and 
 tyrannic conduct towards poor Hibemia, he nevertheless 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 52 
 
 <-i 
 
 resolved to give him a very long and patient trial before 
 disowning all further allegiance, and insisting on a separa 
 , tion. The same prudence and circumspection observable in 
 i Lord Cloncurry's stern refusal to co-operate with Smith 
 ! O'Brien after February, 1848, pervades his letter to the 
 Rev. Cornelius Corkran. He looked into the future of 
 his country, and saw its horizon reddened, not by the 
 rising sun of prosperity, but with unavailing blood- 
 shed ! 
 
 With Dr. Richard Grattan, J.P. and Ex-King's Pro- 
 fessor of the Practice of Medicine in the Royal College 
 of Physicians in Ireland, Lord Cloncurry for years cor- 
 responded on public matters confidentially, and he, on 
 his part, fully expressed to him, at all times, whatever 
 he thought. It is to be regretted, however, that none of 
 his lordship's letters have been preserved by Dr. Grattan, 
 with the exception of the half-dozen introduced into this 
 work, and which were accidentally discovered amongst 
 some papers referring to the famine. 
 
 The two following- letters were written in the eighth 
 month after the lamentable re-occurrence of the potato 
 distemper, and when it had become perfectly plain that 
 the pretended remedial measures introduced by the Eng- 
 lish minister were sure to aggravate the evil, and plunge 
 the country into irretrievable ruin. Under this impres- 
 sion Dr. Grattan conceived that perhaps the surest way 
 of saving the lives and properties of the Irish people 
 would be to call together a meeting of all classes, and of 
 all sects and parties, so constituted in every respect as to 
 give a strictly national character to the expression of their 
 feelings and wishes. " With this view," writes Dr. Grat- 
 tan, " I suggested to Lord Cloncurry the expediency of 
 inviting each county to nominate six persons, who, with 
 their county members, should meet a similar deputation 
 from every other county ; the boroughs nominating, in 
 addition to their representatives, so many as would make 
 the entire number equal to three hundred. I proposed 
 that the Irish members should be directed byjtheir con- 
 stituents to attend, or failing in this, to be declared un- 
 worthy of confidence, and required to resign forthwith." 
 
524 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 Dr. Grattan supports that a body thus constituted 
 (after serious deliberation on those measures which reason, 
 truth, and justice call for as essential to the proper 
 government of Ireland) could, with some prospect of 
 success, demand from the English minister the recognition 
 of our right to beneficial legislation, or in the event of 
 refusal, then, by declaring him the enemy of Ireland, 
 give him every imaginable opposition, and eventually 
 drive him scathed from office. " I would thus compel 
 him to feel," writes Dr. Grattan, " that an Irish party 
 in the English House of Commons was no longer a 
 mock embarrassment, but a real and insurmountable 
 difficulty." ^ 
 
 Dr. Grattan is a man of peculiar political opinions. 
 He never approved of any agitation confined exclusively 
 "to Ireland. He always thought that he observed the 
 people, and especially the unfortunate freeholders, victims 
 to this proceeding, while the leaders of the agitation 
 invariably derived profit from it. He aspired to originate 
 useful measures for Ireland, in Ireland, and to clothe 
 them with the authority of a great national congress. 
 He was, and is satisfied, that by this mode alone no use- 
 ful, or even honest legislation, could be obtained for 
 Ireland. " We must put forth our strength at home," 
 he often said, " deliberately and constitutionally, but the 
 great struggle should be made in England, to thwart, 
 harass, and oppose the minister, in order to render it 
 impossible for him to conduct the affairs of the empire 
 until our demand for j ustice shall have been 'first com- 
 plied with." Lord Cloncurry approved of Dr. Grattan's 
 plan, but he considered the public mind not sufficiently 
 ripe for its adoption, and that the attempt, for this reason, 
 would prove a failure. 
 
 
 [No. 88.] LORD CLONCURRY TO RICHARD GRATTAN, ESQ., M.D., J.P. 
 
 " Maretimo, 9th April, 1848. 
 
 " Dear Doctor Grattan, — From the productions of your pen, I always 
 gain useful information. It is guided by good sense and true patriotism ; 
 but I much welt that neither you nor any man can save poor Ireland from 
 further diminution by war of those who have escaped from famine and pesti- 
 lence. Both parties seem to me to be quite demented — the Government and 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 525 
 
 the masses. The former I think most in the wrong, and with far less excuse 
 than the poverty-stricken people. 
 
 " I beg you will propose me for your club. Several addresses and declara- 
 tions have been sent about for signature. You iiave, of course, seen them. 
 The only one I could bring myself to sign, I enclose. If the three hundred 
 can be legalized it woidd be most useful; but Government would not per- 
 mit us to exist a week. In fact, they are now resolved to rule ■whilst they 
 can by the sword, and to exclude us from every benefit save that of clergy. 
 With more than sixteen months' provisions in the country, we have mothers 
 eating portions of their dead children, whilst the produce of our fruitful soil is 
 exported under the escort of foreign bayonets. If even now justice was done 
 us, I would preach forgiveness and peace ; but I see no hope. 
 
 "Yours most truly, 
 
 " Cloxcurry." 
 
 Tlie County Kildare Independent Club, of which Lord 
 Cloncurr y requested his friend Dr. Grattan to propose him 
 a member, was established in August, 1847, for the pur- 
 pose of securing by law the Tenant Right, improving the 
 condition of the people, upholding the freedom of elec- 
 tion, and procuring the return to Parliament of members 
 willing and competent to represent the feelings and in- 
 terests of their constituents. In March, 1848, the first 
 Report of the County Kildare Independent Club was pub- 
 lished. Dr. Grattan, who drew it up, transmitted a copy 
 to Lord Cloncurry. His lordship read the pamphlet 
 attentively, and took such notes from it as he considered 
 worty of transcription. There were, however, some pas- 
 sages which he could not agree to, and amongst them the 
 following :-- — 
 
 [No. 89.] LORD CLOXCURRY TO RICHARD GRATTAN, ESQ., M.D., J.P. 
 
 "Maretimo, April 12th, 1848. 
 
 I§ " My dear Doctor, — In the first Report of the County Kildare Indepen- 
 dent Club, page 8, line 10 (from bottom), are these words : — 
 
 " ' For example — if a tenant shall take one hundred acres of land for a 
 definite time, at the yearly rent of £1 per acre, and that it shall be found on 
 the expiration of the term that the value of the land had been increased by 
 drainage, manuring, by the erection of useful buildings, or in any way by 
 general good management, to the extent of 10s. per acre, or £50 yearly, the 
 tenant's property or right in the farm would at twenty years' purchase amount 
 to £1,000.' 
 
 " Xow, I believe the good effects of manuring in tillage land never last 
 over three years, and drainage, as ordinarily practised, not more than seven ; 
 and as the tenant gets an immediate, and very great advantage from both, it 
 woidd be very unjust to charge the landlord twenty years' purchase for either ; 
 whereas, buildings may last for fifty or one hundred years ; and if a special 
 
526 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 agreement be made in open court at the time of leasing, as to what should be 
 built, what should be the cost, and how much each party should pay towards 
 it, there could be no after dispute. If neither had the uecessary funds, let a 
 third party lend them as a first charge on the farm. T, in general, charged 
 ten per cent on buildings, and so did my father, and neither of us ever yet 
 had a dispute with one of our tenants. If I give a thirty -one years' lease, I 
 have a right to my land at the expiration of this time. In honesty I should 
 give a preference to the resident tenant if he was an improver, otherwise his 
 good works would be lost to him if I was unjust or embarrassed. It is there- 
 fore to prevent the great hardship to tenants, that I think the bargain with 
 all particulars should be made in open court. — ' Coram judice, et vulgi stante 
 corona? 
 
 " The poverty of the landlords is one great evil in Ireland, and the Tenant 
 Eight would increase that poverty and the poverty of the labourer. Sharman 
 Crawford endeavoured to explain his plans, and did not do it after all. 
 
 " Suppose you took a farm from me and built kennels and stables on it, 
 the valuators might be years disputing whether I should pay for such useless 
 things or not, but if we agreed before-hand in open court there could be no 
 dispute, whereas, if you build barns and cow-houses without previous agree- j 
 ment, you would offer a premium to a necessitous or dishonest landlord to dis- 
 possess you. The tenant should not underlet at an increased rent on any 
 account. Such arrangements would, I think, give security to all parties, 
 which could be greatly facilitated by an arrangement of corn rents, which 
 would enable landlords to give perpetuities without possible injury to their 
 successors. Of all things, every landlord interfering directly or indirectly with 
 his tenants' political rights at elections, should be subject to thepenalties of mis- 
 demeanour. It is, however, vain to endeavour to better our condition as long 
 as the great drain of absentees and taxes for imperial purposes continue. 
 We have now mothers eating their own offspring, while there are sixteen 
 millions of grain in the country, and eight million tons of nutritive vegeta- 
 bles, independent of amount of foreign food. And of 147 paupers in a poor- 
 house, 142 are from the estates of absentees, and five only from these of 
 residents. I fear you will not be able to read this scrawl of 
 
 " Your faithful Servant, 
 
 " Cloxcubry." 
 
 Immediately after the above correspondence, Lord 
 Cloncurry started for London. He considered that his 
 attendance in Parliament at that juncture would conduce 
 to the interests of Ireland. 
 
 [No. 90.] LORD CLOXCURRY TO THE VERY REV. DR. SPRATT, M.S.T- 
 
 " 6th May, 1848. 
 
 " Rev. axd dear Sir, — I shall send yon £3 for the St. Peter's Schools as 
 soon as I get home, which I much wish was to-morrow. Our own folly adds 
 daily to the rancorous and most unreasonable prejudice and hatred of the 
 rulers against our unfortunate country. God, in his own good time, will send 
 us relief. 
 
 " I remain, dear and Rev. Sir, with much respect, yours, 
 
 " Cloxcurry." 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 527 
 
 His lordship had a tedious to-morrow to wait for. On 
 i the 17th May he got home, and at once enclosed Dr. 
 I Spratt not only the promised donation of three pounds, 
 j but sixty in addition. 
 
 [No. 91.] LORD CLONCURRY TO THE VERT REV. DR. SPRATT, M.S.T. 
 
 " Maretimo, 18th May, 1848. 
 
 41 Very Rev. and dear Sir, — I send you sixty-three pounds, which, 
 pray, distribute as follows : — 
 
 " Sisters of Mercy, .... £20 
 14 Sisters of Charity, . . . 20 
 
 44 Father Kirby, . . . 20 
 
 44 St. Peter's Schools, . . . .300 
 
 £63 
 
 i4 Pray forgive this trouble from, with great regard and respect, Very 
 IRev. Sir, your faithful Servant, 
 
 u Cloncurry." 
 
 We have seen by Lord Cloncurry 's writings, through- 
 out a long life, what an implacable enmity was his 
 against Tories and Toryism. The English Russell and 
 Irish Clarendon Whig Administrations, however, filled 
 him with feelings not distantly akin to it. O'Connell 
 branded the Whigs, in his own forcible style, as " base, 
 bloody, and brutal." In May, 1848, Lord Cloncurry, 
 for a wonder, agreed with him in this opinion. His 
 lordship thought their policy murderous, first, for ne- 
 glecting a starving people, secondly, for suspending the 
 writ of Habeas Corpus, instituting the " Gagging Act," 
 and making it felony, and a transportable crime, to speak 
 or write in denunciation of English misrule. From that 
 time forward his Excellency fell, never to rise again, into 
 the dark slough of Irish unpopularity. As the Hon. Mr. 
 ■Villiers, a member of Lord Anglesey's back-stairs Ca- 
 binet, the Earl of Clarendon enjoyed, for a considerable 
 time, the good-will of Ireland. 
 
 On the 26th May, 1848, Mr. John Mitchel, editor and 
 proprietor of the United Irishman, was found guilty of 
 felony by — to quote his own alliterative diatribe — " a 
 packed jury, a partisan judge, and a perjured sheriff." 
 His crime consisted in publishing seditious articles 
 through the medium of the United Irishman. Lord 
 
528 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 Clarendon had converted, a short time previously, genteel 
 sedition into vulgar felony, for no other object than to 
 render the punishment the more severe. His Excellency 
 appears to have reposed great hopes, and great faith, in 
 the salutary effect of the humiliation attendant upon 
 irons, prison diet, solitary confinement, removal in the 
 pick-pocket caravan, convict dress, the transport, and the 
 hulks ; and when Mr. John Mitchel, a respectable Pres- 
 byterian, and professional gentleman, was sentenced to 
 fourteen years' imprisonment for seditious writings in his 
 own newspaper, it is impossible to conceive an adequate 
 idea of the wide-spread sorrow and indignation that 
 prevailed. Lord Cloncurry, as a matter of course, shared 
 in it ; and, as the best mode of proving the substantial 
 nature of his sympathy, sent, through the Very Rev. Dr. 
 Spratt, one hundred pounds to the convict's wife. 
 
 [Xo. 92.] LORD CLOXCURRY TO THE VERY REV. DR. SPRATT. 
 
 " May 29, 1848. 
 
 " Very Eev. AMD dear Sir. — I pray you to tender the end 
 acceptance to Mrs. John Mitchel, for herself and children. The miserable 
 state to -which the country has been reduced by the Union, and the different, 
 phases of bad government to which vre have been subjected, prevent my 
 offering more to that unhappy lady. 
 
 u Very sincerely and respectfully yours, 
 
 " Cloncurry." 
 
 The transportation of Mitchel, and the humiliating 
 treatment to which he was, by order of Lord Clarendon, 
 subjected, vastly increased the flame of Irish discontent. 
 Wm. Smith O'Brien, M.P., the second son of Sir Edward 
 O'Brien, of Dromoland, County Clare, and brother to 
 Sir Lucius, the present baronet, openly set himself at the 
 head of the revolutionary movement. He preached the 
 doctrine of armed resistance to British tyranny, and threa- 
 tened to raise all Ireland in insurrection if Repeal of the 
 L nion continued to be withheld. Ireland regarded him 
 as the Fitzgerald of the nineteenth century ; and he, in 
 return, looked upon each "Confederate" as a United 
 Irishman, resolved to do or die. 
 
 In the midst of this excitement, the Protestant Repeal 
 
CLOXCURRY AXD HIS TIMES. 529 
 
 Association started into existence. The first meeting" was 
 
 O 
 
 held on May 9th, 1848, George Washington Vance in 
 the chair. The speaking, though moderate, was marked 
 by determination. This Protestant confederacy alarmed 
 the Government. Its appearance was about the last thing 
 thev expected. It drew from Lord John Russell the 
 assertion that he would oppose Repeal to the death. By 
 Avay of a reactionary movement, each peer in Ireland. 
 exceptLords Cloncurrv. Wall se our t. Milt own andFfrench. 
 signed a declaration condemnatory of the agitating system 
 then in progress. The signatures numbered about two 
 hundred. The country was indignant at this patrician 
 interference with the great plebeian movement. The 
 Nation, as its mouthpiece, literally thundered. " The 
 'Irish peers," it said, " have declared for the Union. They 
 have acted madly in provoking the attention of the people 
 in their present temper. They might, if it had so pleased 
 their lordships, kept under hatches, and slept out the 
 storm, and found themselves little the worse of it when 
 it had blown over.' 1 
 
 It is hardly possible for any man, who does not retain 
 a most vivid recollection of the Irish events of 1848, to form 
 an adequate idea of the state of excitement which agitated 
 the public mind, and what a general impression appeared 
 to prevail, that British domination would, at no distant 
 day, be eradicated, root and branch, from the land. Some 
 of the shrewdest intellects in the kingdom participated in 
 this feeling — peers, lawyers, commoners, citizens. Sepa- 
 ration was very generally regarded as absolutely inevi- 
 table. On the 25th March, Lord Firench. a venerable 
 Irish peer, put upon record the deliberate opinion of one 
 whose experience it was considered could not be deceived, 
 and whose station was a guarantee against any desire on 
 his part to exaggerate the peril in which Ireland appeared 
 to be placed. In his letter to Mr. J. O'Connell, he de- 
 clared that Repeal or separation, an Irish Parliament or 
 an Irish insurrection, followed by an Irish Republic, were 
 the only alternatives that then remained. "If England," 
 observed his lordship, in conclusion, " do not anticipate, 
 bv concession, the determination of united millions, a 
 
 % A 
 
530 CLONCURRY .AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 severance of legislatures will not be the only object con- 
 templated. * * Our demands, therefore, if not now 
 granted, a civil war is the inevitable consequence, which 
 will probably end in a total separation from England, and 
 in the establishment of a Republican form of government." 
 Almost everybody, even stock jobbers, believed his lord- 
 ship. The public funds, both in England and Ireland, 
 began to tumble down with unusual precipitancy. The 
 Bank of Ireland was besieged for gold, and paper money 
 threatened to become valueless. 
 
 It would seem as if the Government, looking upon in- 
 surrection as inevitable, desired to force it to a premature 
 head. The Camden policy was once more resorted to. 
 Lord Clarendon followed up a stimulating course of coer- 
 cion. He even endeavoured to suborn the manufacture 
 of pikes. On March 31, a man bespoke six pike-heads 
 from a smith named Hyland, residing in Charles-street. 
 On his calling for them the next day, and taking away 
 three with him, the smith, who did not like the appear- 
 ance of the matter, followed his patron and traced him to 
 the Castle ! He appeared to have free egress into the 
 seat of Government. The sentries on duty did not hinder 
 his entry, whilst, on the other hand, they rudely repulsed 
 that of the smith. The suspicions of Hyland now became 
 so strong, that he acquainted Dr. Gray and other special 
 constables with a history of the transaction, and when the 
 fellow came next day for his three remaining pikes, they 
 at once removed him to Church-street police office. 
 
 In Limerick the same discreditable policy was pursued. 
 Two men (by their own account from BrufF) waited on 
 Mr. Thomas Ahem, and gave an order for ten pike-heads, 
 at 3s. each. Having obtained them, they left the shop. 
 Mr. Ahem, suspecting how the land lay, pursued both 
 one and the other to the city police office, where they 
 at once were seen to enter into confidential communication 
 with an official attached to that establishment. 
 
 In reference to these discoveries, the Dublin Evening 
 Mail, long the unwavering supporter of " law and order," 
 observed: — " It will do more to damage the cause of the 
 Government, and, as we think, the cause of order in 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 531 
 
 Ireland, than all that could be spoken in Conciliation 
 Hall, or the Confederation, or written in the United 
 Irishman, or in the Nation during the ensuing twelve 
 calendar months." The provocations to insurrection daily 
 increasing, the Council of the Irish Confederation at 
 length found it necessary to issue a sedative address to 
 the people. " Fellow-citizens," it commenced, " seeing 
 the incentives that are daily applied to hurry you into 
 fatal indiscretion, we dare not shrink from the duty of 
 giving you that counsel which the interests of our cause 
 demand. Within the last few days very plain indications 
 have been given by the agents of the British Government 
 in this city, of a desire to provoke you to a collision with 
 the troops. On last night several thousand men were 
 under arms in the University, and a strong body of police 
 were sent out into the streets for the purpose, as we con- 
 scientiously believe, of creating a riot, and thereby furnish- 
 ing the Government with a pretext for shedding your 
 blood. Fellow -citizens, do you trust us? Do you deem 
 us men, honest, bold, and prudent enough to advise you 
 in those days of peril? If you do, hear us now. Under 
 no circumstances sufYer yourselves to be provoked into a 
 collision at this moment. The game of the enemy is 
 plain, and so is yours. Theirs is to hurry you into a 
 fight, when they are prepared and you are not. Yours 
 is to bide your time." 
 
 Smith O'Brien sat in the House of Commons on Torv 
 principles until 1836. In the " Repeal year," he iden- 
 tified himself with O'Connelfs agitation, and was visited 
 , by Government with a supersedeas in consequence. Dis- 
 approving of O'Connell's later policy, he seceded from 
 him in 1846. His singularly daring speeches as leader of 
 the Irish Confederation drew down on his head a State 
 prosecution. The jury disagreed, O'Brien was discharged, 
 and the agitation recommenced with renovated vigour 
 Disciplined clubs were extensively established throughout 
 the country ; but before a thorough organization could 
 take place, the Habeas Corpus Act was suspended, and 
 proclamations, offering £500 for O'Brien's apprehension, 
 and £300 for Meagher's, O'Gorman's, and M'Manus's, ap- 
 
532 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 peared. No time was to be lost, and O'Brien, accom- j 
 panied by his colleagues, repaired, with every possible ' 
 secrecy and expedition, to the County Tipperary, and ; 
 there endeavoured to instigate the people to rise en masse. ; 
 The priesthood, however, opposed them with the most 
 determined hostility, and as no popular movement in 
 Ireland can derive strength without their aid, the insur- 
 rection was only a partial one, and, when too late to 
 retract, it became evident to Mr. O'Brien and his friends 
 how fatally they had been deceived. With the handful 
 of men that did flock to their banner, O'Brien deter- 
 mined upon making a beginning, and at once repaired 
 to Ballingarry* in the hope of inducing some police who 
 had fortified themselves in a farm-house, to fraternize. 
 Sub-Inspector Trant entertained little sympathy with the 
 popular movement, and ordered his men to fire. Several 
 of the rebel party fell, and after discharging a few volleys 
 the rest withdrew. Sickened at the apathy shown by the 
 people, his spirit crushed, and callous to all consequences, 
 Smith O'Brien may be said to have " surrendered himself 
 up to justice." On the 5th August he walked into the town 
 of Thurles, which was literally swarming with military and 
 police. A railway guard named Hulme seized him ; and Mr. 
 O'Brien was in a special train removed to Dublin. Hulme 
 received the proclaimed reward of £500, and almost im- 
 mediately after died. The late Maurice Leyne, Messrs. 
 Meagher, M'Manus, and O'Donoghoe, were arrested a 
 few days afterwards in the vicinity of Thurles. Next to 
 clerical antagonism they attributed their failure to the 
 prostration of national spirit by the recent visitations of 
 famine and pestilence. 
 
 * It is a curious fact that the inhabitants of Ballingarry, who co-operated 
 with O'Brien in such a contemptibly petty manner when the moment for 
 acting came, avowed themselves years before as his most devoted servants. 
 On the 17th May, 1846, during Mr. O'Brien's temporary imprisonment in the 
 cellar of the House of Commons, we find the voice of this little Tipperary vil- 
 lage, which scarcely knew O'Brien, or he them, expressing, perhaps, the loudest 
 sympathy. They held a meeting, and passed a series of resolutions. " The 
 imprisonment of Mr. O'Brien," said they, "is not only an act of tyrannical 
 oppression, but a gross insult and a grievous injury to his constituents and 
 to Ireland. Mr. O'Brien is entitled to our highest respect, our intense regard, 
 and our fullest confidence.' 1 '' 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 533 
 
 O'Brien possessed few of the necessary qualities for a 
 rebel leader. Humane, generous, honourable, gentle- 
 manly, and refined, he shrank from those acts which 
 achieved such successes for the Murphys, Roches, 
 Dwyers, and Cloneys of '98. 
 
 On the 27th July, strange news reached London. A 
 telegraphic despatch from Liverpool went so far as to 
 assert that O'Brien was triumphant. All the late editions 
 of the London morning papers contained it, and few 
 ventured to throw a doubt on the veracity of the state- 
 ments. In Parliament that night it formed the all-en- 
 grossing topic of conversation. The following is a copy 
 of the false despatch. It appears to have been a piece of 
 stock-jobbing trickery: — 
 
 " OUTBREAK OF THE REBELLION THURLES, CLOXMEL, AXD KILLKENNY 
 
 " IN ARMS. 
 
 " Half-past six o'clock. 
 
 " I had scarcely despatched the above, when I was informed that most im- 
 portant intelligence had reached the Castle. I set out to make inquiry, and 
 I find that the crisis has at length taken place. 
 
 " The railway station at Thurles is on fire, and for several miles along the 
 line the rails have been torn up. 
 
 " Dreadful fighting is going on in Clonmel, and the people are armed in 
 masses. The great leaders of the Dublin clubs are there. The troops are 
 said to have been overpowered, and some to have refused to act. The mili- 
 tary force at Carrick, which manifested disaffection, is driven back, and then- 
 quarters fired. The contest is also going on in Kilkenny, and there also 
 the insurgents are said to have been successful. 
 
 " Xo reliable accounts later than the mail have reached Cork, but it is 
 believed rebellion has there also broken out, and all through the south. 
 
 " The policy of dividing the troops into such numerous small divisions is 
 very much questioned. 
 
 "The Queen's messenger is just started with despatches for London." 
 
 A few days after the arrests at Thurles, Lord Clon- 
 curry, while thanking Doctor Grattan for a public letter 
 addressed to his lordship, made some feeling allusions to 
 the unfortunate prisoners. 
 
 [Xo. 93.] LORD CLONCURRY TO RICHARD GRATTAN, M.D., J.P. 
 
 " Maretimo, 12 th August, 1848. 
 
 " My dear Doctor Grattan, — Many thanks for your most excellent 
 letter. It appeared in the Pilot, Register, and Mail. I shall endeavour in 
 a few days to revive the subject, by an answer ; but, during the present 
 fever and excitement, I am alive to nothing but a struggle for mercy to the 
 poor captives. 
 
534 CLONCURRY AXD HIS TIMES. 
 
 " There is to be a meeting at two o'clock on Monday at Dr. Carmichael's, 
 in Portland-sqnare, on the subject of periodical Parliaments in Ireland. 
 Will you attend ? I can give you bed and board. 
 
 •• Yours truly. 
 
 " Cloxcurry." 
 
 In September Robert Owen beard from bis old friend, 
 Lord Cloncurry, for tbe first time since 1838. 
 
 [No. 94.] LORD CLOCCRRY TO ROBERT OWHf, ESQ. 
 
 •• IStk September, 1848. 
 
 " My dear Sir, — I have received papers from various places -which tell 
 me of your existence, and I hope of your well being ; but as to your where- 
 abouts, your projects, or your hopes, I know nothing. 
 
 " I wish you were equally ignorant of the situation of Ireland ; but her 
 misery and her madness are too well known to the world. You can't conceive, 
 nor I describe, anything so wretched, so ill-treated, and so hopeless. I sup- 
 pose that a knowledge of our state has prevented your promised visit for 
 this fall : and, indeed, with your feelings and your heart, we have no com- 
 fort, no pleasure to promise you. 
 
 M Your affectionate Friend, 
 
 " Cloncurry." 
 
 The trials for high treason of Messrs. O'Brien, Meagher, 
 M'Manus, and O'Donoghoe, took place in October, 1848, 
 at Clonmel. All were found guilty, and sentenced to 
 be hung, drawn, and quartered. Mr. Meagher, on his 
 trial, bitterly complained that only eighteen Catholics 
 were returned on a panel of nearly 300 jurors. In what 
 light this and other abuses appeared to Lord Cloncurry 
 will be evident from the following letter : — 
 
 X . 95.] LORD CLONCURRY TO MICHAEL 3LKEXXA, ESQ. 
 
 "foretimo, 27th October, 1848. 
 
 [" Private.] 
 
 ••My dear SrR, — I think the trials of those very foolish and very unfor- 
 tunate gentlemen at Clonmel were conducted without any respect for decency, 
 or in one instance for law, and I hope the House of Lords may set them 
 aside. We must, however, feel that the active opposition of the Whig law 
 lords cannot now be expected, and the Tories will be, as usual, for severity. 
 
 •• I can hardly conceive any law that will now save the landowners 
 of the West andSouth from utter ruin. Those of the East and North may 
 struggle a little longer before they meet the fate they deserve. After that 
 the cultivation of our soil and our wastes, and the prosperity of American 
 intercourse, will probably place this country amongst the first of the earth, 
 but neither you nor I can hope to see it. 
 
 " I never see any of our great men — disgust seeks privacy. 
 
 " Very truly, your obliged 
 
 " Cloxcurry." 
 
CLOXCURRY AXD HIS TIMES. 535 
 
 True it was that Lord Cloncurry felt disgusted at the 
 policy of the Whigs. We have seen how often he supported 
 them — how long he reposed confidence in their benevolent 
 intentions. He felt cruelly mortified from the conscious- 
 ness of having been in his old age betrayed. Disheartened 
 and disgusted he held himself aloof. He remained in the 
 retirement of Maretimo, with arms folded, and mourning 
 like Marius over the ruins of his country. People won- 
 dered how it was that the voice of Cloncurry could remain 
 dumb, and see his well-beloved countrymen trampled 
 down, roughshod, by ministerial despotism. Prostrate 
 and inert, they submitted without a murmur. Their 
 spirit was crushed from the combined effects of famine 
 i and pestilence, failure and humiliation. The grasp of an 
 angry Government held its victims tight. Advantage was 
 taken of this wide-spread apathy to revive the foul system 
 of jury packing. The men and the times of Tone and 
 Toler, of Sheares and Castlereagh, appeared suddenly 
 restored. Every great social and political triumph since 
 1798 was forgotten, and Ireland within a short interval 
 had retrograded with railway speed. A reign of darkness 
 and gloom hung over the people. They had gone fifty 
 years back, and stood paralyzed and dismayed, within the 
 black cavern of the eighteenth century. A sectarian 
 ascendancy was established. All the old engines of des- 
 potism resumed their work. The entire proceedings on 
 the part of the Government — the entire proceedings on the 
 part of the people, belonged to the close of the last century, 
 and not to the middle of this. Nothing could be more 
 foreign to the era of popular light and liberty than the 
 principle which guided the movements of the legislature 
 and the law. The latter, in theory, abjures all tampering 
 with juries as a desecration of the sanctuary of the British 
 constitution. Six-eighths of the population of Ireland 
 are Catholic. Can it be believed that not one Catholic 
 was allowed to remain on Mitc-hel's jury ? According as 
 each Catholic juror appeared, the law officers of the Crown 
 set him aside. This observation applies to almost every 
 State prosecution throughout that year and the next. 
 Prostrate, humbled, and inert, the people held their 
 
536 CL05CURRT AXD HIS TIME 3. 
 
 peace. Scarcely a voice was raised even in remonstrance. 
 Not until December did they awaken from their lethar_ 
 Then it was that a forlorn-hope of Dublin citizens issued 
 a protest. Lord Cloncurry instantly joined them in a 
 letter of thrillinsf indignation. " Petitionincr against ex- 
 elusive juries !" he exclaimed, " Is it not like petitioning 
 against highway robber Taking the best horse of a 
 Roman Catholic for five poimds, is nothing to taking away 
 his chance of justice by packing the jury which is to 
 decide on his life or liberty."* The effect of such a 
 declaration, at such a moment, was startlincr. A noble 
 example exercises an electric influence on our people. 
 
 Charles Gavan Duffy's was the last of the State Trials. 
 Every means had been employed by an unscrupulous 
 Government to ensure his conviction. One of the m 
 subtle and dangerous was libelling him day after day. in 
 a shower of official pamphlets and journals, as a Red 
 Republican and a destructive. M No man who witnessed 
 it," wrote Duffy himself in reference to this matter, " will 
 ever forget the scene, when the venerable peer entered 
 the crowded court, took his seat beside the judges on the 
 bench, and tendered himself to be examined on the cha- 
 racter and policy of the prisoner in the dock. These 
 were am oner the first strokes that restored the courage of 
 the people." 
 
 3 Imultaneou-ly with the appearance of his public letter. Lord Cloncur 
 addressed the following private one to the Very Rev. Dr. Spratt : — 
 
 . 96.] LORD CL03TCCRRY TO THE VERT REV. DR. SPRATT. 
 
 • ; ifaretimo. 12 th December , 1 
 
 '• Dear a.vd Vert Rev. Sib, — I am careless as to an acknowledgment 
 from the Mendicity, provided there be a certainty of the money being applied 
 as intended. Of this there coold be no donbt with the good Sisters. I think 
 the publication of one's charity is a minor sin, and it brings its own punish- 
 ment in the shape of multiplied applications. 
 
 u On other occasions I greatly lament my frequent appearance in print, 
 
 but where ( there) is so much wrong, I cannot aroid raiting my cry, however 
 
 feeble, against it. I sincerely hope that you are perfectly convalescent. I 
 
 hear that fever is very rife at present, bat thank God, not amongst the very 
 
 poor. 
 
 •• Dear and Rev. Sir, your faithful and obli_ 
 
 . L05CURRT.' 
 
CLOXCURRT A:SD HIS TIME- 5* " 
 
 On the 11th of December, LS45. Lord Cioncurry sus- 
 
 ned a sevei sh ock in the death of his well-beioved 
 brother-in-law. Baron Dun- The same yen gacve 
 
 birth to both. Lord Dunsany on his death-bed e:. -ed 
 a wish a Catholic pri. The Rev. Dr. Esnion. 
 
 S.J . an old friend of Lord Cloncur: nt for, and 
 
 arrived in time to perform the imp: asr 3 ceremoniai 
 His lordship's ancestor, Edward, twelfth Baron Dur. 
 
 first member of that sept who c . '... rmed to Pro- 
 testantism. 
 
 From this period, Lord Cioncurry employed hi ire 
 
 hours in strinsincr together a sen es a him- 
 
 If termed •• Personal Reeollectioi> Theai aanded. 
 
 :h a sel :ion from his political ec: - ndenc 
 
 . a gentleman for many years connected with the 
 
 Conservative Press of Dublin, but who, in 1845. wrote a 
 
 nphlet favourable to federal parliamer. :d th- 
 received the thanks of the national party. Lord CI 
 curry knew him intimately, and entertained a his 
 opinion of his literary talents, judgment, and indust: 
 
 set to work, and at length produced :. ...: 
 
 markable work, known as the " Personal Recollections 
 Lord Cloncur: Those acquainted with the writing 
 
 of the venerable peer had little diffic I once 
 
 detectinor that :ial ineoncrruitv of stvle and sen 
 
 ment. which soon obtained for Lord Cloneurrv, in his 
 ity o£ " Recollector," more enemies khan friends 
 Bv the English Reviews the work was rousrh. .died. 
 
 In the rity Magazine, AS and other Irish 
 
 j ourn als. . . v curable critiq ucs appeared ; but many of them . 
 nevertheless, gave expressi _ lis hi 
 
 1 arrangement," frequent introduction 
 
 uiinterestiiig documents." "imperfect au; graphical 
 information." " failure in historical compi ss sre- 
 
 chronological order,* &x . .... which dis _ 
 the work.* The Irish rx were disappointed with 
 
 * In uswoi : snm .'::.. Reviews. Lord Cioncurry observed, in the pre- 
 fect : edition of bis BecoflBCtiMS is not his intention 
 to produce a of his own political life." 
 
 '2 a ! 
 
538 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 what they innocently dubbed " The Life of Lord Clon- 
 curry," and which many, even yet, with ludicrous per- 
 versity, insist upon styling it. Imperfect as his lordship's 
 " Recollections" are, they cannot be said to extend beyond 
 the recall of Lord Anglesey. The Nation, while review- 
 ing the work, expressed a hope and a surmise, that the 
 various political and social movements in which he had 
 since been engaged would be found faithfully chronicled 
 in another volume. 
 
 Lord Cloncurry sent several presentation copies to his 
 friends.* The following is his letter to Dr. R. R. Madden, 
 a gentleman not less known in the literary, than Lord 
 Cloncurry was in the political world : — 
 
 [No. 97.] LORD CLONCURRY TO r>R. R. R. MADDEN, M.R.I.A. 
 
 " Maretimo, 21st September, 1849. 
 
 " My dear Sir, — I was made happy by hearing of your recovery. We 
 cannot afford to lose more good men, and a better than our friend William 
 Murphy he has not left after him. 
 
 " In looking over my poor book, you will observe that there are scant 
 authorities or correspondence in the early part of my eventful life. A little 
 reflection explains the cause. My voluminous papers were seized in 1798, 
 and again in 1799, and a third ransacking took place at Lyons, in 1803, by 
 my magistrate tenant, Clinch, whilst I was in Italy. 
 
 " In this latter robbery was an interesting correspondence with Lord 
 Hardwicke and Mr. Kirwan. 
 
 " The most interesting State papers (Lord Anglesey's letters), never revised 
 by bimself, I obtained his unwilling permission to publish. They show his 
 honesty, his talent, and his desire to save Ireland, to do which he was, I 
 think, more fit than any other living man. If Ireland could be saved, it 
 would have been by him. 
 
 " Very faithfully yours, 
 
 " Cloncurry." 
 
 Lord Cloncurry 's old friend, Michael Staunton, whose 
 correspondence with his lordship the reader will re- 
 member, was not forsrotten. " To Michael Staunton," he 
 wrote, " whose able pen has so often pointed out safe 
 and easy remedies for the manifold evils by which his 
 country is oppressed. August 25th, 1849." 
 
 Among the enemies whom we have referred to as 
 having been created by the appearance of Lord Clon- 
 
 * For the letter which accompanied his lordship's presentation copy to Dr. 
 Gray, editor and proprietor of the Freeman's Journal, see page 555. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 539 
 
 
 
 curry's Recollections, was Gerald Aylrner, Esq., of 
 Painstown, one of the most respectable grand jurors and 
 magistrates of the County Kildare. The following is his 
 letter to Lord Cloncurry : — 
 
 [No. 98.] GERALD Al'LMER, ESQ., J.P., TO LORD CLONCURRY. 
 
 "Painstown, 8ik October, 1849. 
 
 " My Lord, — It is with much concern I conceive myself obliged to notice 
 some objectionable and offensive allusions you have made in your lordship's 
 recent publication, with regard to my many years' deceased brother, William 
 Aylrner. 
 
 " Although he did not enjoy in the Tower that ' otium cum dignitate' which, 
 like the Roman philosopher, your lordship preferred to the dignity of consul, 
 or even the power aud privileges of a commander ; yet I believe his field ex- 
 ploits were of a character that reflect higher honour on his memory than the 
 imprisonment, of which you are so proud, does on your lordship. Allow me 
 to observe that my brother's conduct on all occasions was above suspicion, 
 and that any measures which the minister of the day might have thought 
 proper to adopt with respect to him, an act of parliamentary indemnity 
 would never have been required to have borne the Government harmless. 
 
 " Now to specially refer to a few of what I must term the invidious inac- 
 curacies of your lordship's work. 
 
 " In the first instance, by stating that my brother was the son of a tenant 
 of Mr. Wogan Browne, you obviously wish to convey to the reader that 
 my father had been of no higher grade in society than a tenant farmer, whereas 
 the Aylrner family, unlike your lordship's, have been for many generations 
 seated in this county, and our branch of it seized in, and possessed of, the 
 very domain from which I now address you. 1 have never spoken much of 
 the accidents of birth, and have always regarded ' an honest man as the 
 noblest work of God.' * * * So much for one difference between us. 
 Your lordship then goes on to mention that my brother, ' after lying in jail,' 
 &c, &c. Allow me to tell you that my brother never was in jail, nor am I 
 aware that during his sojourn in his native country his constitutional activity 
 led him into a quarrel with the Duke of Leinster's game-keeper. He was 
 likewise too much of the gentleman, and knew too well the usages of society, 
 to pay a morning visit to Carton, ' attired in his full Austrian uniform, with 
 sabre and helmet — a display which,' your lordship quaintly observes, 
 1 somewhat surprised his Grace.' No incident of the sort occurred ; and on 
 his behalf, and as his only surviving brother, I repudiate with scorn and in- 
 dignation your lordship's concluding assertion and base calumny, that my 
 brother died from the effects of intemperance — '■an ancient love for new rum 
 in South America." 1 With respect to his death, I take leave to quote an ex- 
 tract from a private letter written at the time (midsummer, 1820), and now 
 before me: — 'He fought bravely at the battle of Rio de la Hache, on the 
 Spanish Main, where he received a wound in his arm, above the elbow. He 
 and several others were conveyed in a small vessel to Jamaica, during the 
 raging heat of June, in the ton-id zone. This, united to the closeness of the 
 ship, caused the wound to mortify, and he died a few days after his arrival.' 
 
 " Your lordship is, of course, at liberty, in those days of materialism and 
 
540 CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 profane speculation, to turn your own stock to the most advantage ; but I 
 really do not think making an unauthorized and wholesale use of other 
 persons' names speaks much in favour of your present scheme, or to the credit 
 of a peer and privy councillor. 
 
 " I am, my Lord, your lordship's obedient Servant, 
 
 •• GERALD AtLMEB." 
 
 It might very naturally hare been supposed that the 
 tone of the foregoing letter would agitate his lordship's 
 temper, and provoke a hot reply. Not a bit of it. 
 Immediately on its receipt, he indited to Mr. Aylmer the 
 following temperate answer, which we print, for the 
 purpose, mainly, of showing the admirable equanimity of 
 his lordship's disposition. 
 
 We can readily understand the irritation of Mr. Avl- 
 mer's feelings, when reading, for the first time, that a 
 near and dear relative had died from the effects of drun- 
 kenness, when, in reality, he died from wounds honour- 
 ably received in battle ; that he was the son of a tenant- 
 la rmer, when, on the contrary, the representative of a 
 sept seated for many successive generations in Kildare ; 
 that he was thrown into jail, when he never was in jail, 
 &c, &c. But, however just and called for Mr. Aylmer's 
 indignation was, there are very few men who would brook 
 being told of their faults with the meek equanimity of 
 Lord Cloncurry. Everybody knows that — 
 
 " Forgiveness to the injured does belong; 
 But they ne'er pardon who have done the wrong." 
 
 [No. 99.] lord cloxcurry TO GERALD aylmer, ESQ.. J.P. 
 
 " Maretihio, Oct 9th, 1849. 
 
 " Sir, — However intemperate your letter of yesterday may be, it is my 
 duty to do all ia* my power to redress the wrong which your brotherly 
 feelings have provoked you to vindicate. If William Aylmer were alive, he 
 should be my advocate. I am certain our love was mutual and sincere. If 
 the habits of youth, and of the times, at all diminished the success of his 
 reckless valour, I should not be the person to proclaim it. I assure you I 
 had not the most remote idea to write slightingly of one of Ireland's bravest 
 men — my valued friend. 
 
 " I am told I must prepare a new edition. In it I will endeavour to do 
 justice to the memory of William Aylmer, and effectually correct any error I 
 may have heedlessly fallen into. 
 
 " Asking pardon for my unintentional offence, I have the honour to be. 
 Sir. your faithful Servant, 
 
 '• Cloxccrry." 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 541 
 
 There was one reminiscence connected with William 
 Aylmer which Lord Cloncurrv felt quite confident he could 
 not possibly have been mistaken in. Mr. Gerald Aylmer 
 supposed that his brother knew the etiquette of society better 
 than to pay a morning visit in full military uniform. 
 "Nothing of the sort," he said, "occurred." Lord Cloncurry 
 could scarcely bring himself to believe that his memory 
 was so defective, and wrote to the Duke of Leinster, re- 
 questing to be informed by his Grace whether Aylmer's 
 appearance was or was not as he had alleged. The Duke at 
 once replied in the following note : — 
 
 [No. 100.] THE DUKE OF LEINSTER TO LORD CLOXCTRRY. 
 
 " Carton, Maynooth, Oct. 2ith, 1S49. 
 •■ My pear Lord Cloxcurry, — I hare received your letter of the 23rd 
 October, and. in answer, beg to state that I have a perfect recollection of 
 your bringing Mr. Aylmer to Carton to introduce him to me, and that he 
 was in uniform. 
 
 " I am, my dear Lord Cloncurrv. yours very sincerely. 
 
 " Leinster." 
 
 The family of the late Sir Frederick Faulkiner were not 
 less displeased with Lord Cloncurrv than Mr. Aylmer. 
 His lordship spoke of the baronet in immediate connexion 
 with some rudeness shown him at school, and attributed 
 a painful local complaint to the confinement attendant 
 on a personal accident to which Sir Frederick Faulkiner 
 was privy. But this was only a weak objection. The 
 same family will probably have just as much reason to 
 feel displeased with ourselves. 
 
 The irritation of Lord Anglesey at the publication of 
 his private letters was, we think, uncalled for. One of 
 Clone urry's first acts, in his capacity of literary " Recol- 
 lector," was, to forward under cover to Uxbridge House 
 a large package of the noble marquis's letters, in order 
 that he might at once examine them, and, if necessary, 
 notify to Lord Cloncurry any passage or passages which, 
 as an influential member of a recently existing Cabinet, 
 he could not feel himself justified in publishing to the 
 world. The package arrived inopportunely at L T xbridge 
 House. It came into the Field Marshal's hands at a 
 moment when his lordship was not in the very best 
 
542 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 humour, from the effects of a more than ordinarily severe 
 attack of tic doloreux, which had chronically tortured his 
 existence, and without even breaking the seal of the 
 wrapper, he returned it to Lord Cloncurry, with a peevish 
 assurance that he never in his life wrote one single line 
 that he cared if the whole world were to sit in committee 
 upon. Lord Anglesey was at all times extremely care- 
 less about his correspondence. His celebrated letter to 
 Lord Grey, in 1834, and his not less celebrated letter to 
 Dr. Curtis, in 1828 — both of which, although marked 
 " Private and confidential," found their way into the 
 public journals — attest sufficiently this observation of 
 ours. " Lord Anglesey's incautious habit of showing his 
 correspondence" has been already made the subject of 
 complaint by Lord Hatherton. When Viceroy, he never 
 placed a letter, no matter how important, in his escritoir. 
 
 For many years after his return to England, Mr. C 
 
 continued to be the sole depository of all his papers, and 
 may still be so for aught we know to the contrary. 
 
 When the " Recollections" appeared, and Lord An- 
 glesey read his confidential letters for the first time in 
 print, he expressed himself in terms of annoyance ; Lord 
 Clarendon was also rather wroth ; and their dissatisfaction 
 was not mitigated when the University Magazine, Nation, 
 and Freeman's Journal chuckled, with unaffected satisfac- 
 tion, at certain political revelations which took them 
 avowedly by surprise. 
 
 One interesting letter from Lord Melbourne, a lew 
 from Sir Francis Burdett, and several from Lord Holland, 
 appeared in the book. The representatives of each (for 
 all three were deceased) expressed themselves as not less 
 irate. The Right Hon. John Wilson Croker, in the 
 Quarterly Review, attacked Lord Cloncurry with con- 
 siderable asperity. Among other charges, he accused 
 him of not asking the leave of either his surviving cor- 
 respondents, or the representatives of his dead ones, to 
 publish these letters. " Has he got leave from their 
 heirs?" asked Mr. Croker. " We can undertake to 
 answer that question with a direct negative, for we have 
 been distinctly informed by some of them that no such 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 543 
 
 leave was asked, and never would have been given it 
 asked. This is an offence which cannot be too strongly 
 reprobated." 
 
 The manner in which O'Connell was spoken of in the 
 " Recollections" excited a general feeling of surprise. 
 His funeral had but a short time previously traversed the 
 streets of Dublin. The people wept as it passed, and 
 thought only of the good qualities of the great deceased. 
 His failings were crushed into nothingness beneath a 
 mountain of gratitude. His most inveterate foes through 
 life now honoured his memory, and elegies instead of 
 diatribes rolled from their lips. 
 
 It therefore excited some astonishment, not unmixed 
 with pain, when O'Connell's series of expedients, in 1831, 
 to avoid the lasso of Lord Anglesey's rapidly pursuing 
 Algerine Act, were pronounced by Lord Cloncurry " to 
 have assumed a character of ludicrous absurdity that 
 rendered it impossible for an Irishman who loved his 
 country to look upon without sorrow and humiliation ;" 
 when O'Connell was stated to have " worked his battery 
 of abuse with his accustomed vigour ;" when it appeared 
 that the coolness between Lord Cloncurry and O'Connell 
 " was now and then warmed up by a burst of vitupera- 
 tion on his (O'Connell's) part ;" when the three public 
 letters to Lord Cloncurry, in 1831, were pronounced to 
 have been " specially devoted to the business of vitu- 
 perating" his lordship ;* — these and other observations in 
 reference to the dead patriot, surprised many, and 
 occasioned some pain to the family and admirers of 
 O'Connell. 
 
 As their tone, however, is somewhat at variance with 
 the sentiments elsewhere expressed by Lord Cloncurry, 
 the feeling we allude to, in consequence of them, ought 
 not to exist. In his lordship's public letter to Smith 
 O'Brien, some time previous to O'Connell's death, he 
 speaks of him as " illustrious ;" and in reference to the 
 occasional peals of thunder which marked the past sum- 
 
 * The first of the three letters referred to appears on page 411 of this 
 work. The greater portion of it is, we think, highly complimentary to Lord 
 Clone urry. 
 
544 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 mer of his life, added, " those outbreaks were a part of 
 his nature, otherwise so kindlv and so ofood." In a 
 private letter to Dr. Spratt (published in this work) he 
 assures his reverend correspondent that although he had 
 sometimes reason in past life to find fault with O'Con- 
 nell, he always loved him, and he (O'Connell) knew it. 
 The good peer also mourned at the thought of Ireland's 
 Liberator having been " forgotten." 
 
 The Roman Catholic Church, for which Lord Clon- 
 curry always manifested a marked respect, felt hurt, and 
 justly so, at some contemptuous expressions in " The Per- 
 sonal Recollections." The solemn exercise of the censer, for 
 example, which forms a remarkable feature in the impres- 
 sive and sacred ceremony of High Mass, Lord Cloncurry 
 spoke of as "fumigating /" This offensive word, was in 
 the second edition, expunged, and the more respectful and 
 correct one, " incensed," substituted. We have seen, on 
 page ninety -five of this work, how hurt the friends of 
 Thomas Braughall expressed themselves at Lord Clon- 
 curry 's reference to him as " a zealous and faithful servant 
 of his father." 
 
 The errors of date and fact were numerous enough, 
 though hardly of a very serious nature. It is our intention 
 to allude to one only ; and that cannot be well avoided, 
 because a note of Lord Cloncurry 's, apropos to it, claims 
 insertion at our hands. 
 
 Lord Cloncurry spoke of General William Lawless as 
 having" lost his leg at the battle of Flushing. Colonel 
 Byrne, an officer in the Irish Legion, and an old friend 
 of Lawless, contradicted the statement, with an elaborate 
 detail of the real circumstances of the catastrophe. In a 
 letter of Colonel Byrne's to the author, at page 278, 
 further reference is made to this matter. 
 
 [No. 101.] LORD CLOXCl'RRY TO CHARLES G. DUFFY, ESQ.. M.P. 
 
 " 3rd November, 1849. 
 " Dear Sir, — Thank Colonel Byrne for me. His account of the loss of 
 General Lawless's leg must be the most accurate, as he was on the spot when 
 the casualty occurred. 
 
 " Dear Sir, very faithfully yours, 
 
 " Cloncurry.'' 
 
. £10 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 545 
 
 Meanwhile the correspondence with Dr. Spratt con- 
 tinued : — 
 
 m 
 
 [No. 102.] LORD CLOXCURRY TO THE VERY REY. DR. SPRATT. 
 
 •' Maretimo, 5th April, 1849. 
 " My dear and Very Rev. Dr. Spratt, — Having some business which 
 I think will be likely to take me, though very unwillingly, to England, 1 
 take the liberty of troubling you with a commission of the kind you so amia- 
 bly and willingly undertake, and beg you will privately distribute the 
 enclosed to the following charities : — 
 
 " Sisters of Charity (St. Vincent's) 
 " Sisters of Mercy (Baggot-street) 
 " Father Ivirby (Olive Mount Institute) 
 "Room-keepers' Charity, 
 " St. Peter's Schools, 
 
 { £40 
 
 " A thousand thanks for your excellent Essay on Temperance. Tour 
 labours in that cause are invaluable and now doubly useful, as I am sorry to 
 say the necessities of the good Father Mathew placing him in the category 
 of Government pensioners, has lessened the prestige of his respected name. 
 
 'Misery drives men in despair to drink. When we better our condition 
 we will have few drunkards. 
 
 " With great respect and regard, yours faithfully. 
 
 " Cloxcurry." 
 
 At this time we find the Very Reverend p-entleman 
 
 1 • • T • 
 
 labouring 1 hard to organize the National Conference. It 
 was proposed to form it of the remnants of both Young 
 and Old Ireland. He toiled unceasingly to fuse them 
 into one, and in doing so called upon Lord Cloncurry for 
 his co-operation. 
 
 [No. 103.] LORD CLOXCURRY TO THE VERY REV. DR. SPRATT. 
 
 " IZth April, 1849. 
 
 " My dear Sir, — With thanks for your kind letter of the 12th, I would 
 ask what can anybody do for Ireland at present, and particularly a man of 
 my age and of my sorrows ? I have not seen Mr. Percival's letter — have 
 you it ? 
 
 " I observe in yesterday's Freeman the credit given to ' Anoni/moiis,' for 
 a donation through you to the Roomkeepers, is 15s. instead of £5. I do not 
 know Mr. , do you think him very accurate ? 
 
 " Pray forgive this trouble to one so much and so usefully employed. 
 " Dear and Very Rev. Sir, faithfully yours, " Cloxcurry." 
 
 LORD CLONCURRY TO THE SECRETARIES OF THE XATIOXAL COXFEREXCE. 
 
 [No. 104.] " 28th October, 1849. 
 
 " Gextlemex, — I am really inclined to hope that much good may come 
 from the National Conference, and I feel that something is much needed to 
 
546 CLONCUERY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 relieve our people; but I am so circumstanced at present, that I could not 
 attend any meeting, and consequently will not request any one else to do so. 
 
 "Your faithful Servant, ^ 
 
 " Cloncurry." 
 
 £10 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 [No. 105.] LORD CLONCURRY TO THE VERY REV. DR. SPRATT. 
 
 " Very Rev. dear Sir, — Most sorry am 1 that your wise and bene- 
 volent exertions to bring about unanimity amongst the contending factions, 
 who so deeply injure the cause of our country at this crisis of her fate, have 
 not been successful. May they open their eyes to the irreparable mischief 
 they are labouring to accomplish. You have the good wishes and thorough 
 respect of all good men, and in particular of 
 
 "An English Peer and Reformer. 
 
 " May 1 beg of you to distribute the enclosed mark of my sympathy to 
 the following excellent charities : — 
 " Sisters of Mercy, 
 " Sisters of Charity, 
 " Roomkeepers, 
 " Father Kirby, . 
 
 " MonTcstown Parish, December 18th, 184.9." 
 
 In many of the letters addressed by Lord Cloncurry 
 to Dr. Spratt, anonymous signatures like the above ap- 
 pear. Dr. Spratt, however, never experienced the 
 slightest difficulty in determining whom they came from. 
 Some of the letters have no signature at all. This appa- 
 rent eccentricity is easily explained. Those so written 
 generally enclosed a sum of money which his lordship 
 wished to be applied anonymously. 
 
 Beneath is a chance relic of Lord Cloncurry 's volu- 
 minous correspondence with Dr. Grattan, ex-King's 
 Professor in the College of Physicians. 
 
 [No. 106.] LORD CLONCURRY TO RICHARD GRATTAN, M.D., J.P. 
 
 " June 2nd, 1849. 
 
 " My dear Doctor, — My son Cecil has written to Colonel Dunne and 
 Mr. Napier on the subject of your examination by the Poor- Law Committee. 
 They probably will not issue any new summonses. Cecil himself goes over 
 in a few days. Lord W. F. seems to have got enough for the present of all 
 societies, and, indeed, until the fate of the poor State prisoners be decided, 
 and until the restoration of the law of habeas corpus, I think we should con- 
 fine our labours to the Cabinet,* and a very select one too. 
 
 " It is said that R , our great leader of Rotatorys,f got money for drain- 
 
 * Note by Dr. G-rattan. — " His lordship's rather obscure allusion to the 
 Cabinet refers, I suspect, to those persons whose opinions were in unison with 
 his own, and with whom he was accustomed to communicate confidentially 
 on public matters." 
 
 f Rotatory or Periodical Parliaments in Ireland 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TI3IES. 547 
 
 age under the Act, and employed it in slating his offices. I hope it is not true, 
 but every day brings to light our propensity for jobbing, and the intense 
 hatred of the English towards the best of our people. 
 
 " Specimens of diseased potatoes of the young crop have been sent up 
 from almost all quarters to the Lord Lieutenant. 
 
 u The two Relief Committees are at private war, to the destruction of 
 useful energy and of the small hope of the famishing poor. One set is for 
 aiding the Pope, and putting down the Godless Colleges ; the others for aid- 
 ing the landlords and not the tenants. I see little or no room for hope, but 
 will not be the less anxious to aid, as far as an old man can, every exer- 
 tion to better our condition. 
 
 " I think Maunsell's examination before the committee must be of great 
 use, and one of yours in the same direction woidd greatly tend to elucidate 
 our case. England has brought us to ruin. How can she now contrive 
 to relieve us, or save herself ? 
 
 " Most truly yours, 
 
 "C." 
 
 The party whom Lord Cloncurry alludes to in the 
 foregoing letter as Lord W. F., is Lord William Fitz- 
 
 CO ' 
 
 gerald, brother of his Grace the Duke of Leinster. He 
 was Chairman of the Society for promoting the Annual 
 Meeting of Parliament in Dublin,* of which Lord Clon- 
 curry, Dr. Grattan, Dr. Hayden, and one or two others, 
 were invited to become members, in order that they 
 might, in some degree, popularize the Society, which ori- 
 ginated with persons of decidedly Conservative opinions. 
 This they well knew ; but Lord Cloncurry decided on 
 joining it, simply because he considered it a move in the 
 right direction, although, as he avowed to Dr. Grattan, 
 he felt convinced it would end in no useful result. The 
 truth of this remark was very soon confirmed by the dis- 
 solution of the Society, in a manner the most unprece- 
 dented and irregular. It was effected in this way. The 
 Lord Lieutenant expressed to Sir Montague Chapman, 
 and to another leading member, that their proceedings 
 were not approved of by the Government, and would 
 materially interfere with measures of the " greatest uti- 
 lity" to Ireland, which ministers were preparing to bring 
 
 * There were several meetings of this Society held. Dr. Grattan has as- 
 sured us, that the language uttered by its principal members fully equalled, 
 in seditious intensity, the most furious of the speeches delivered at the Irish 
 Confederation. " It is an evidence," said he, "of the latent but widespread 
 spirit of discontent that prevailed." The press was excluded, and, of course, 
 no reports of the treasonable speeches appeared. 
 
548 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 forward in the approaching Session of Parliament. His Ex 
 cellency requested them, therefore, not to create an addi- 
 tional difficulty by continuing their agitation, but to con- 
 fide in the good intentions of the ministry, and leave the 
 question in their hands. Accordingly, Sir Montague 
 Chapman, and the other member, on the next day of 
 meeting, attended half an hour before the appointed time, 
 when, in the absence of Lord William Fitzgerald, and of 
 every other associate except the Secretary, he took the 
 Chair, and resolved, with the assistance of his colleague, 
 " That this Society do now adjourn its meetings until 
 after the next Session of Parliament." 
 
 There never was another meeting of the Society, trie i 
 object of which, even from the first, was absurd and chime- 
 rical. The originators and promoters of it, though Con- 
 servatives, were dissatisfied with England, and, at heart, 
 Repealers, but afraid to acknowledge themselves such. 
 However, they adopted this half way course of obtaining 
 justice for Ireland, not unmixed with a little personal ad- 
 vantage to some of the members, who, trading on their 
 newly invented scheme of " Irish agitation," disposed of 
 their entire stock to the Castle, at a small premium. 
 
 £Xo. 107.] LORD CLONCURRY TO RICHARD GRATTAN*. ESQ., M.D., J. P. 
 
 "Maretimo, 8th July, 1849. 
 "Dear Doctor G rattan*. — A man of your cloth, Doctor Graves, dines 
 vrith me on Thursday nest the 13th inst. He is a good man and a Repealer. 
 He meets two or three of the same way of thinking, and I much wish that 
 \*ou could be of the party, and remain with me the following day. I dine at 
 half-past six, but come early if you can. 
 
 H Very truly yours, 
 
 " Cloxcurrt." 
 
 Doctor Robert Graves was, with perhaps one excep- 
 tion, the most deservedly eminent medical practitioner in 
 Dublin. He revered Lord Cloncurry for*his unswerving 
 patriotism, and loved him for his benevolence. He ad- 
 mired alike the stern sinceritv that characterized the man, 
 and the uncompromising attitude which, throughout a 
 long life, it was his pride to assume. Lord Cloncurry, on 
 his part, venerated Graves for his kindly feeling towards 
 the people. In principle he was a democrat. The flame 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 549 
 
 of nationality burned within the breast of Graves, but not 
 resplendently. It was hidden. Lord Cloncurry loved 
 to fan it. He would often ask Graves to Marethno of an 
 evening, and discuss with him until midnight the politi- 
 cal posture of Ireland, and plans for her amelioration. 
 
 Dr. Graves died from a complication of most distressing 
 diseases in 1852. Almost every portion of his body 
 became disordered, and Robert Graves died a martyr's 
 death. That giant mind, however, impregnable against 
 the assaults of disease, remained to the last vigorous and 
 unimpaired. Shortly before his dissolution, he composed 
 his own epitaph, and requested that it should be engraven 
 on his tomb. It was short and simple, and ran as fol- 
 lows: — "Robert James Graves, son of Richard Graves, 
 Professor of Divinity, who after a protracted and painful 
 disease, died in the love of God, and the faith of Jesus 
 Christ." 
 
 A certain physician, now at the head of his profession 
 in Dublin, numbered Graves amongst his most intimate 
 friends. " Ah," said he to us within the last few months, 
 " no one appears to know what a loss that man has been 
 to the medical profession. G — d,"he added earnestly, after a 
 moment's thought, " I can compare those he has left after 
 him to nothing save so many little children." No traces 
 of Lord Cloncurry 's correspondence with Dr. Graves can 
 be found amongst the papers of the latter. 
 
 Lord Cloncurry would seem to have been fond of 
 gathering the doctors about him. We remember on one 
 occasion to have heard of the following party dining at 
 Maretimo: — Dr. Gray, editor of the Freeman's Journal, 
 Dr. Maunsell of the Evening Mail, Dr. Grattan, ex-King's 
 Professor of the Practice of Medicine, Surgeon Carmi- 
 chael, of Rutland-square, Dr. Nuttal, a radical cosmopolite, 
 Dr. Spratt, D.D., S.M.T., Dr. Robert Graves, Dr. Wilde, 
 and Dr. R. R. Madden, M.R.I.A. 
 
 With the latter, Lord Cloncurry 's correspondence wa3 
 
 [ for the most part of a very trilling character. We place 
 
 * upon record the two following notes, solely because of 
 
 their reference to his lordship's old and fast friend — Billy 
 
 Murphy — who died of cholera in the autumn of 1849, 
 
550 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 [No. 108.] LORD CLOXCURRY TO DR. R, R. MADDEN, M.R.I. A. 
 
 " Marelimo, July 9th, 1849. 
 
 " My dear Sir, — The first time you called on me you did not leave your 
 direction. "When you called yesterday I was at home, as I always am on 
 Sunday. 
 
 " The misfortunes of the country have quite upset me, and made me more 
 invisible than our friend W(illiam) M(urphy), but if you can come here at half- 
 past six or before it on Thursday next, the 12 th, I shall be most happy to 
 see you. 
 
 " My dear Sir, yours most faithfully, " Cloxcurry." 
 
 [No. 109.] LORD CLOXCtJRRV TO DR. R. R. MADDEN, M.R.I.A. 
 
 " Mcretimo, 3rd September, 1849. 
 
 " My dear Sm, — I was only next door when you called, visiting a sick 
 friend. 1 have heard of the death of my dear friend, William Murphy, one 
 of the best and honest est of men. Pray dine -with me to-morrow or Thursday. 
 
 " Yours, very truly, 
 
 " Cloxcurry." 
 
 The famine which decimated Ireland in 1847 conti- 
 nued, though in a mitigated form, throughout the two 
 following years. The people, foolishly imagining that the 
 aphis vastator was but a temporary visitation, sowed their 
 potatoes as before. We have seen in Lord Oloncurry s 
 letter to Dr. Grattan, dated June 2nd, 1849, that speci : 
 mens of diseased potatoes of the young crop had been 
 forwarded from almost every quarter of Ireland to the 
 Lord Lieutenant. The consequences of the catastrophe 
 were similar with those in 1848. Men died in hundreds 
 in the distant country districts, and as no public works 
 at that time existed, the people had no employment or 
 relief to hope for but what the resident gentry could 
 afford them. In the midst of this distress Queen Victoria 
 visited Dublin. Since 1821, Ireland had not been 
 honoured by the tread of royalty. A similar spirit of 
 infatuation now prevailed. Nobility and gentry, hungry 
 for presentation, poured from every quarter of Ireland 
 into the metropolis. Forgetful of the axiom that " pro- 
 perty has its duties as well as its rights," they left the 
 starving peasantry to die from neglect, and radiant with 
 smiles, fluttered around the brilliancy of the castle. The 
 papers teemed with " fashionable arrivals." Every hotel 
 in Dublin was full. Titled families were repeatedly, and 
 much to their astonishment, refused admission. Every 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 551 
 
 second dwelling-house became an inn. Anv terms were 
 asked, and any acceded to. 
 
 When the first fever of triumphal arches, cannon 
 booming, banners, and platforms* had in some degree sub- 
 sided, levees, balls, and receptions were holden. Nothing 
 now was thought aboutbut Court waistcoats, knee-breeches, 
 silk-stockings, ruffles, dress-swords, and the order of pre- 
 cedence. The file of the Freeman s Journal for 1849 
 lies open before us. In the very impressions which record 
 the progress of the pageantry ,f and the strange infatuation 
 that animated the Court- smitten gentry, columns of letters 
 appear from Roman Catholic and Protestant pastors, the 
 Archbishop of Tuam, and other dignitaries, calling in 
 piteous language on the wealthy to forward some relief, 
 however trifling, for the poor unemployed, starving, and 
 plague-stricken peasantry. Only one citizen of Dublin 
 appeared exempt from the fashionable contagion. Mr. 
 O'Reilly, of George's-street, on one of the nights that Dub- 
 lin blazed with illumination, hung from his drawing-room 
 window a black flag, with the words " Famine and Pes- 
 wilence" inscribed in skeleton characters. The police 
 seized it, and Mr. O'Reilly paid the penalty for his mis- 
 demeanour. 
 
 Lord Cloncurry sickened at the heartlessness of his 
 countrymen, and held aloof from participating in what 
 
 * Several platforms were, in every street, erected for the purpose of 
 affording those who wished to pay, a comfortable view of her Majesty. The 
 prices of admission varied from five shillings to a guinea. A general mania 
 prevailed for the erection of platforms. Even Baggot-street convent was 
 not exempt from it. For years six lofty elms flourished beneath the win- 
 dows of the House of Mercy. These, in the excitement of the moment, 
 were mutilated by order of the nuns, and a platform capable of accommo- 
 dating 500 persons erected on the trunks. Their unsightly remains still 
 exist. 
 
 t In the impression which records the names of the nobility, gentry, and 
 aristocratic squireens, who thronged to the levee, the following epitome of 
 the proceedings of the Relief Committee appears : — " Several letters were 
 read from different parts of the south and west, representing the state of 
 the people there to be most deplorable, and beseeching the Committee, in the 
 mosi: earnest manner, to give them some assistance. Owing, however, to the 
 want of funds, the Committee were unable to make any grant ; but it is to be 
 hoped that when the charitable are made aware of the absolute necessity of 
 continuing their support, they will not be long until they are supplied with 
 the means of doing so." 
 
552 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 appeared to him as unseemly pageantry. His name may 
 vainly be searched for amongst the myriads of nobles who 
 thronged to the throne-room through the private entree. 
 He received letters from several, desiring that his lord- 
 ship would present them at Court. To these he returned 
 such courteous answers as the followino; : — 
 
 [No. 110.] LORD CLONCURRY TO W. J. o'XEIL DAUNT, ESQ., 
 
 " Maretimo, August^ 1849. 
 
 " My dear Sut, — I shall be happy to receive your friend, Mr. Charles 
 Glendouwyn Scott. I do not myself intend to go to Court, but I have the 
 privilege of presentation, which is much at your service. 
 
 " Dear Sir, your faithful Servant, 
 
 " Cloncurry." 
 
 In a private letter to Dr. Gray, dated July 25th, and 
 which will be found a few pages further on in extenso, 
 his lordship says: — "Only think of ordering illumina- 
 tions in the midst of death and suspended laws. Illumi- 
 nations will cost more than all that has been collected by 
 the two Relief Committees — about £8000." 
 
 The three following most interesting letters, ad- 
 dressed by Lord Cloncurry to the talented Editor of the 
 Freeman, belong, properly speaking, to a somewhat earlier 
 portion of this work, and had they reached us sooner 
 they would have been inserted with all due attention to 
 chronological accuracy. They were written immediately 
 after the appearance of Lord Cloncurry's public letter to 
 Smith O'Brien, and before the sad intelligence of O'Con- 
 nell's death at Genoa had reached Ireland : — 
 
 [No. 111.] LORD CLONCURRY TO JOHN GRAY, ESQ., M.D. 
 
 " May 12, 1847. 
 ; 'My dear Dr. Gray, — In the Freeman of last Tuesday Mr. J. O'C- 
 
 is reported to have said of me: — ' It is said that Lord Cloncurry would join 
 us if we threw certain considerations overboard. * * Let him not ask us 
 to jeopardize the legal safety of the Association, or peril the very existence 
 of the Repeal cause.' And again : — ' He has kept a long time without 
 knocking (at the Union).' 
 
 "Now I don't recollect ever having asked anybody to throw anything 
 overboard, or to jeopardize anything; and I never recollect to have ceased 
 for one moment knocking at the Union for the last forty-seven years. 
 
 " I did not attend at Conciliation Hall because I could not tamely hear 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 553 
 
 the Duke of Leinster and other friends of mine libelled. They never ceased 
 to love Ireland, but were driven to silence by ill-treatment, to the great loss 
 of the cause. I believe that out of above two hundred Irish peers, there are 
 not a dozen liberal and patriotic. These dozen have been more abused than 
 the other two hundred. All this annoys me, only because I know how it 
 injures the cause of the country. 
 
 " I wrote to O'Connell and Sheil in '27 or '28, that no Emancipation worth 
 having coidd be carried but in an Irish Parliament. Sheil said, he was a 
 beggar, and a sufferer, and that he sought relief wherever he could get it. 
 O'Connell said, that if he agitated Repeal, he would lose Emancipation. I 
 answered, that Emancipation, at the cost of the forty-shilling freeholders, 
 would not be worth two pence. My letter to Mr. O'Brien, which appeared in 
 the Freeman of last week, was merely to ask him to return to the Hall ; and, to 
 carry that point, I would have gone myself, though very unfit for such a place. 
 
 " I feel with great pain and sorrow the impossibility of accomplishing a 
 union of Irishmen, and I fear that J O'C 's manner is one great im- 
 pediment, and that the treatment of the seceders has been unfair, though I 
 wished them to pass it over. Alas ! poor Ireland ! 
 
 " Yours truly, " Ci.oncurry." 
 
 [No. 112.] LORD CLONCURRY TO JOHN GRAY, ESQ., M.D. 
 
 " 13th Mag, 1847. 
 
 " Dear Dr. Gray, — Lord Wellesley being my personal friend, and a 
 good, though rather vain man, I rather supported his Government ; but 
 even in his time my hostility to the Union was concentrated, as you will 
 perceive by the letter herein enclosed. I never for one moment gave up 
 Repeal, though I often proposed palliation to diminish the sufferings of the 
 people. Many were the offers made to me to induce me to give up my 
 opposition. I always refused. The Duke of Leinster often said, ' I agree 
 with you on all subjects but that of Repeal.' I verily believe that if he had 
 not been unfairly abused, he would have joined us in that. Lord Anglesey 
 said to me, ' Join me in striving to do good to your country, and if I disap- 
 point you, I will join you for Repeal.' My answer was, ' I will help to do 
 good, but will not give up Repeal.' I never gave up knocking ; but I could 
 not stand by to hear our best men abused, and now without ever thinking of 
 
 asking Mr. J O'C to risk the existence of the Association, I would 
 
 not join it whilst younger, better, and more able men are abused or unfairly 
 dealt with. 
 
 " P.S. — The ruin of this country is the love of place-seeking. Since Cecil 
 has been in for Clonmel, T am daily tormented by persons insisting that I 
 should get them places.* I apologised to the poor Ld. Lt. for not dining 
 with him, lest the moment it appeared in the paper I should be overwhelmed 
 with solicitations. In that respect the Confederates are caiite right." 
 
 [No. 113.] LORD CLONCURRY TO JOHN GRAY, ESQ., M.D. 
 
 " 18th Mag, 1847. 
 " My dear Dr. Gray, — Out of sixty years of energetic labour in behalf 
 of my suffering country, I was for about three a friend of the Government of 
 
 * For a curious letter to Mr. Lawless, offering him a bribe of £800, see 
 Appendix. 
 
 * 2 B 
 
554 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 the day, viz., two when Lord Anglesey was here, and once whilst Lord 
 Normanby was Viceroy. I enclose you the only letter I recollect to have 
 written in favour of the Government. You will see what I said of the Union 
 by the enclosed, which I beg you to return, with the letter to O'Gorman 
 already sent. Excuse this trouble, but I wish to show you how false the 
 
 accusation of Mr. J O'C . 
 
 " Yours very truly, " Cloncurry." 
 
 In 1849 we again find Dr. Richard Grattan pressing 
 under Lord Cloncurry's notice his favourite plan of a 
 national congress. Lord Cloncurry did not lack the 
 will to rise and act, but the chains of bodily infirmity 
 bound him to his seat : — 
 
 [No. 114.] LORD CLONCURRY TO DR. RICHARD GRATTAN, J.P. 
 
 " Maretimo, 8th October, 1849. 
 
 " My dear Sir, — The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. You may 
 remember me a never-failing attendant on the Society for the Improvement 
 of Ireland, though living at the time at Lyons. I can now seldom leave my 
 own chimney-corner, and though I altogether wish for, and approve of, the 
 formation of such a body as you project, I would not for worlds make 
 promises of utility by which I would probably disappoint better men. There 
 was a dinner at Mr. Duffy's on Saturday, at which I hear that several young 
 men of spirit, talent, and good figure entered into resolutions to form a society 
 for the practical education of the people. 
 
 " I have been for many years President of the Dublin Library Society ; 
 a most valuable institution, which has gradually and most unfortunately gone 
 to decay. It has been suggested to revive and improve it ; to have evening 
 meetings, conversations, and lectures, which I really think might be pro- 
 ductive of great good, and, perhaps, lead to the reunion you so wisely and 
 ably recommend. If you would come here on Saturday for a day or two I 
 would get Maunsell to meet you, and, perhaps, we might strike out some- 
 thing usefid ; but to be candid with you, I never possessed so little of hope 
 or energy — shall I say of reliance — on public men as I do at present. This, 
 however, may be the effect of age and disappointment. A prospect of better 
 things might revive me. All the rest of the world — happy America ex- 
 cepted — is in as bad a state as can be. The only Christian in Europe is the 
 Grand Turk ! 
 
 " Very faithfully yours, " Cloncurry." 
 
 In spite of rapidly increasing bodily infirmities, Lord 
 Cloncurry never relinquished his old habits of hospitality. 
 The kind spirit expressed in the following note pervaded 
 his language on all occasions to those about him : — 
 
 [No. 115.] LORD CLONCURRY TO DR. R. R. MADDEN, M.R.I.A. 
 
 " Maretimo, kth November, 1849. 
 " Dear Dr. Madden, — Will you do me the favour to dine with me on 
 Thursday next, the 8 th ? It is cruel to ask you to come so far in November 
 but I am always glad to see you. 
 
 " Very truly yours, " Cloncurry." 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 555 
 
 The following letter to Dr. Gray accompanied a pre- 
 sentation copy of his lordship's " Recollections," which 
 was very favourably reviewed in the Freeman s Journal a 
 few days subsequently. The earlier portion of the letter is 
 almost verbatim W\\\i No. 11 5, addressed to Dr. Madden : — 
 
 [Xo. 116.] LORD CLOXCUEEY TO DR. GRAY. 
 
 " 21st September, 1849. 
 " Dear Dr. Gray, — In the book I venture to publish, it will appear that 
 there are scant authorities or correspondence of my early life. This can be 
 readily accounted for by the fact, that all my papers were seized in 1798, 
 and again in 1799 ; and whilst I was in Italy, in 1803, my tenant, the 
 magistrate Clinch, stole everything from Lyons ; amongst the rest, an inte- 
 resting correspondence of Earl Hardwicke and of Kirwan the geologist. I 
 am somewhat surprised that so many letters have escaped, my habit being 
 to destroy letters as soon as answered. Lord Anglesey's letters, never revised 
 or corrected by himself, I value as most able and honest state papers, and 
 I with difficulty prevailed on myself to seek his permission for their publica- 
 tion. He loved justice and he loved Ireland ; if she could be saved he was 
 the man to do it. Sed diis aliter visum. 
 
 " Yours very faithfully, " Cloncurrt. 
 
 " P.S. — I take this opportunity to state to you some circumstances relative 
 
 to the '82 Club, of which you were, I believe, Secretary for a time. S 
 
 O'B asked me to become a member. I said I was too old and too blaze 
 
 for it, and that I could not wear the dress. He urged me in presence of my 
 brother Douglas ;* I told him I would consider. He got me elected without 
 further notice, and contrary to the rules of the Club. 
 
 " He again proposed me as ambassador to France, without any consulta- 
 tion ; and of this the Government had notice, as if it was not merely to 
 congratulate the French on their revolution, but to concoct treason. Now, 
 much as I loved S. O'B., these were mischievous liberties to take with a man 
 of seventy-four years, who had already suffered so much, and who had 
 entirely disapproved of all his plans, as far as he knew of them. I think the 
 '82 Club might still be turned to useful Irish purposes." 
 
 " The Irish Alliance," accomplished mainly through 
 the instrumentality of Dr. Spratt, held an aggregate meet- 
 ing, on November 20th, 1849. In principle it was 
 neither an Old nor a Young Ireland body, but pertained 
 . of the qualities of both, without the marked characteristics. 
 All loud allusion, however, to physical force, as an 
 instrument for the work, was sedulously excluded from 
 their councils. Mr. M. It. Leyne declared that to talk of 
 ■ waging war in their then distracted and almost exanimate 
 state, would be braggart buffoonery, of which he was in- 
 capable. At the unanimous call of the meeting, Dr. 
 • Grattan was moved to the chair. 
 
 * Rev. A. Douglas, brother to Emily Lady Cloncurry. He died at Qui Si 
 Sano (a residence adjoining Maretimo), Feb. 13, 1855. 
 
556 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 A general feeling of sympathy, at that time, existed 
 for the fate of Smith O'Brien and his fellow-prisoners 
 whom a cruel verdict was about to consign for ever (as 
 people then imagined) to the hulks. There were many 
 of their friends and ex-colleagues present at the aggregate 
 meeting of the Irish Alliance. In the course of the even- 
 in of some warm allusions were made to their fate. Dr. 
 Grattan did not feel himself called upon to interrupt them. 
 The attempt would have created confusion. His business 
 was to preserve order. 
 
 Dr. Grattan was never an O'Connellite ; he was never 
 an O'Brienite. Personally he knew neither Meagher, 
 Mitchell, nor O'Brien ; but he was not altogether devoid 
 of sympathy for their sad transition from affluence and 
 comfort to the cold, dreary atmosphere of a felon's cell. 
 
 Robert Jocelyn, Earl of Roden, and " the brothers Beers," 
 three rampant Orange magistrates of Ulster, had just been 
 dismissed by Lord Clarendon for personally aiding and 
 encouraging " True Blue" processions, as they strutted to 
 Dolly's Brae, with a view to celebrate in blood the 
 Twelfth of July. A large body of Orangemen, panting 
 to retaste the pleasures of " the Diamond," marched, as 
 a preliminary step, to Tollymore Park, the seat of Lord 
 Roden. His lordship does not appear to have been taken 
 by surprise. Refreshments for hundreds lay spread upon 
 the lawn. The hundreds arrived and partook of meats, 
 wines, and alcoholic drinks galore. Lord Roden contem- 
 plated the disappearance of his good things with truly 
 Irish hospitality. He gazed upon the prostrate feeders, 
 gloated over their strength, and addressed them from his 
 windows in accents of bland approval. With appetites 
 for beef appeased, but not for Popish blood, the Orange 
 band formed into line once more, and proceeded on their 
 march. Though considerably out of their way, they 
 insisted on passing through the village of Dolly's Brae 
 (where the Catholics had congregated in large numbers), 
 and the consequence was a sanguinary collision. Women 
 were murdered, children assassinated, idiot boys immo- 
 lated at the shrine of Orangeism. A frightful scene 
 ensued. The Catholics fled, they knew not whither, 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 557 
 
 panic-stricken and defeated. The ground was strewn 
 with slain. From the summit of each Papist's cottage a 
 sheet of flame shot forth. The military and police, * 
 sufficient to disperse the assailants, looked on paralysed 
 and inert. Advantage was taken of this apathy with a 
 vengeance. The scenes of '97 were once more enacted. 
 Never was triumph more exuberant or complete. 
 
 In the following letter to Dr. Gray, the reader will find 
 a reference to this subject. The royal visit to Ireland 
 had been just announced : — 
 
 [No. 117.] LORD CLONCURRY TO DR. GRAY. 
 
 "29th July, 1849. 
 
 " Dear Doctor Gray, — I approve greatly of the address to the people 
 
 i|of Great Britain, the memorandum, &c. ; but as long as the Union lasts there 
 
 can be no well-grounded hope for Ireland. I forward your letter to Cecil, 
 
 and am certain he will be grateful if you act for him ; he has gone to Glen- 
 
 gariff. 
 
 " Only think of ordering illuminations in the midst of death and suspended 
 
 laws. I have no doubt that Lord knew and approved of Lord Rodeo's 
 
 gathering. He (Lord R.) had invited my nephew, Dunsany, to go to Tollymore 
 Park that day, but he came to Maretimo. 
 
 " Illuminations will cost more than all that has been gathered by the two 
 
 relief committees, about £8,000. I am almost ashamed to belong to both : 
 
 the one favouring bad landlords, the other the massacre of the poor Romans. 
 
 > However, there will be plenty of potatoes for all except the poor con-acre men. 
 
 We are an abject, wretched people. 
 
 " Tours very truly, " C." 
 
 The Orange faction vowed vengeance on Lord Cla- 
 rendon for his dismissal of their idol. Twenty Orange 
 magistrates resigned the commission. His Excellency, 
 in order to demonstrate the thorough impartiality of his 
 Administration, resolved to visit Dr. Richard Grattan 
 with a supersedeas. This was done, and he accordingly 
 ceased to exercise magisterial authority over the King's 
 County and the County of Kildare. How inferior in 
 magnitude must his offence be considered when placed in 
 the balance with the Earl of Roden's. 
 
 Dr. Grattan's able answer to Lord Chancellor Brady 
 (who addressed a communication to him animadversive 
 on his conduct) appeared in all the public journals of the 
 day. Voluminous in extent, it was a masterpiece of 
 eloquence, and of calm but forcible argument. 
 
558 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 " Should you, my Lord, consider," said Grattan, in ; 
 conclusion, " that I have forfeited my claim to hold the 
 commission of the peace, you best know what course it 
 is your duty to pursue. I never solicited the commis- 
 sion. It was, to a certain extent, forced upon me. By 
 accepting it, I by no means considered that I was bound 
 to support any political party, or to eschew any line of 
 political action that might be displeasing or inconvenient 
 to the party in power. * I do not undervalue the 
 
 commission of the peace, as it is a useful and constitu- 
 tional office, but in any other point of view I care 
 nothing for it. Its acceptance gave me no additional 
 rank — the deprivation of it can impart to me no degra- 
 dation." 
 
 Lord Cloncurry no sooner read the correspondence, 
 than he addressed the following note to his old friend : — 
 
 [No. 118.] LORD CLONCURRY TO DR. GRATTA>\ 
 
 " Jfaretimo, Gth Dec, 1849. 
 
 "My dear Doctor Grattan, — I have read your very true and very 
 admirable letter, and subscribe to almost every word it contains. I am 
 sorry for the country and for the honour of the magistracy, that you are no 
 longer of that body ; but I congratulate you on the occasion offered you for 
 speaking your ever honest opinion. 
 
 "Had your advice been followed when we were fellow-labourers years ago 
 in " the Society for the Improvement of Ireland," we should not now be in 
 the wretched state to which bad government and bad men have reduced us. 
 With respect and regard, most faithfully yours, 
 
 " Cloncurry." 
 
 The " almost" has reference to some severe strictures 
 on O'Connell's later policy, and introduced by Dr. Grat- 
 tan in his letter to the Chancellor. 
 
 The question of Tenant Right reached the zenith of its 
 agitation in the spring of 1850. Nothing else was spoken 
 or written about in Ireland, until the appearance of Lord 
 John Russell's famous Durham letter. Government, at 
 length, brought forward a Tenant Bill, but nothing could 
 give less satisfaction to the country. In such bad odour 
 does it appear to have been held, that a deputation pro- 
 ceeded to London for the purpose of opposing it. The 
 Ulster journals, ever distinguished for their advocacy of 
 Tenant Right, acceded to the proposition of the Nation 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 559 
 
 that there should be a general coalition of the four pro- 
 vinces on one wide and common platform, to demand a 
 satisfactory" settlement of it. In August the great Tenant 
 Right Conference met in Dublin. Presbyterian clergy- 
 men and Catholic priests went hand in hand in the 
 national labour. Amongst the Tenant Right editors 
 present were Messrs. Duffy, Godkin, Gray, Maguire, 
 Lucas, and M'Knight. They promised never to relax 
 in their exertions one iota until Ireland should receive 
 the full measure of her demand for social justice. The 
 conference sat for five successive days, and the una- 
 nimity that pervaded it (being a perfectly new feature in 
 Irish discussion) excited much astonishment, and no 
 small satisfaction. From the labours of this coimcil re- 
 sulted the Irish Tenant League. In connexion with it 
 a tenant charter was established, and apian of action 
 drawn up for organizing the counties. Efforts were made 
 to raise £10,000 with a view to extend their working 
 machinery; but, from that day to this, the requisite fund 
 has remained almost in embrvo, and the number of ad- 
 herents have hardly increased. Let us hope that Ireland 
 will arouse itself to a perception of the necessity for at 
 once demanding the redress of a grievance which has 
 been the cause of almost every species of Irish disturbance 
 and calamity. 
 
 The following letter, bearing upon the then all-engross- 
 ing subject of conversation, was written during the spring 
 of 1850. It comes from the pen of Samuel Ferguson, 
 Esq., the distinguished poet, and ex-editor of the Uni- 
 versity Magazine. We regret to be only able to make 
 room for a few extracts : — 
 
 [No. 119.] SAMUEL FERGUSON, ESQ., M.R.I.A., TO LORD CLOXCURRY. 
 
 " 9, Upper Gloucester-street, April 13fA, 1850. 
 
 " My dear Lord Cloncurry, — I willingly comply with your lordship's 
 desire that I should put on paper my views respecting the landlord and 
 tenant question. Your lordship is already familiar with those opinions, from 
 the repeated discussions they underwent when I used to have the pleasure of 
 acting with your lordship in the Irish Council. 
 
 " The evils, under the apprehension of which that body came together, are 
 now realized- Few owners, at the present day, can tell how long they are 
 
560 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 to continue proprietors of their estates ; and the mass of the occupiers, uncer- 
 tain who are to be their landlords, and having no legal interest in their 
 holdings except from year to year, venture on no improvements in husbandry, 
 and are rapidly returning to a scrambling and precarious cultivation of the . 
 potato. * * * 
 
 " It is simply whether compensation for improvements should be limited 
 to the value of the improvements themselves, or be measured by the increased 
 value conferred by them on the land. An expenditure of £100 might make 
 a farm worth £200 more in the market. Ought the tenant who makes that 
 expenditure be satisfied to get his £100 back again on giving up the land, 
 or ought he to be allowed the whole £200 due to the improvements effected 
 by him? There is no landlord organ of any weight or influence but admits 
 that, if the improvements have been so judicious as largely and permanently 
 to raise the value of the land, the tenant ought to be compensated to the full 
 value of the work done. But, on the other hand, most of the tenant-right 
 organs whose opinions, I apprehend, these deputations represent, insist that 
 he ought to get the full increased value of the land due to his improvements, 
 and be at liberty to ascertain that by the simple method of selling his interest ( 
 to the highest bidder. * * * 
 
 " A tenant is one who hires the use of land. Whatever improvement he 
 makes upon that land, the law now unjustly declares shall cease to be his on 
 the expiration of his tenancy. The question is, how best to correct, that 
 injustice? If his improvements were moveable, it is evident that he would 
 be entitled to carry them away, as he carries away his farming stock or 
 household furniture. If he could detach his buildings from the surface, and 
 lift up his drains from the body of the soil, he would be entitled, in natural 
 justice, to take them with him, and leave the land without buildings, and 
 undrained, as he found it. * * * 
 
 " It would seem, therefore, that, agreeably to the laws of natural justice, 
 the full cost of the improvements should be the maximum of compensation. 
 * * * "I have the honour to be, my dear Lord, &c, 
 
 "Samuel Ferguson. v 
 
 In the spring of 1850, the good citizens of Dublin 
 were thrown into a state of much agitation, in conse- 
 quence of a well-authenticated report which had pro- 
 nounced the days of the Irish Viceroyalty to be num- 
 bered. Perhaps the greatest amount of consternation 
 overspread the countenances of briefless barristers, hungry 
 placemen, deputy-lieutenants, and the swarm of profes- 
 sional and would-be professional men who throng St. 
 Patrick's Hall and the throne-room. To these the mock 
 court presented attractions of no common order. Lord 
 Cloncurry observed this, and it filled him with a feeling 
 of disgust towards the Castle. We have seen, in Letter 
 86, how his lordship speaks of the Irish Viceroyalty as 
 " the nucleus of corruption." 
 
 Dr. Gray had a long correspondence with Lord Clon- 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 561 
 
 curry, in March, 1850, on the subject of the threatened 
 abolition of the Lord Lieutenancy. Dr. Gray advocated 
 its continuance, because he considered that the trade of 
 Dublin would derive benefit from it. The following 
 letter grew out of the correspondence : — 
 
 [No. 120.] LORD CLONCURRY TO DR. GRAY. 
 
 " Thursday, 28th March. 
 
 " My dear Doctor Gray, — I should have said Tuesday, the second of 
 April, instead of the third. Can you conveniently make it so ? If you are 
 otherwise engaged, come the 3rd (Wednesday), for I wish much to see you. 
 This is a time when to recover the two portions of the constitutional Legis- 
 lature of which we were robbed in 1800. They would be worth fighting 
 for ; and as the good citizens are so awake to the threatened privation of the 
 peel of the orange, which they cannot arrest, perhaps they may look for the 
 recovery of the fruit. There is some appearance of unanimity North and 
 South. Will the East join ? All the colonies have now Assemblies. 
 
 " Yours very faithfully, " CLONCURRY." 
 
 The Irish manufacture movement, which lived and 
 died in 1841, became resuscitated with some prospect of 
 longevity in 1850. Dr. Spratt, Dr. Hayden, and a few 
 other active and philanthropic men, formed its chief 
 pillars of support. Lord Cloncurry contributed hand- 
 somely, through the medium of his reverend friend, and 
 ordered twelve Irish tabinet vests and half a dozen car- 
 pets. The fatherly anxiety with which his lordship, even 
 unto death, watched the tottering progress of this move- 
 ment (which soon split, by the way, in true Hibernian 
 style, into two or three segments), will be evident from 
 several forthcoming letters. 
 
 In Lord Cloncurry native manufacture always found a 
 warm friend. No foreign fabric, when Irish could be, at 
 any price, procured, ever entered Maretimo. So far 
 back as the year 1829, we find his lordship presenting 
 Messrs. Willans with a prize of £100 for superfine black 
 cloth. When in Rome, the mother of classic sculpture, 
 he found an Irishman to execute " a group" in Carrara 
 marble, and erect a statue in a Roman church. 
 
 In October, 1850, a deputation from the Manufacture 
 Board waited on Lord Cloncurry with an eloquent 
 address. 
 
 2b2 
 
562 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 • 
 
 " We recognize in you," it began, " the Irish patriot of three generations. 
 In youth ardent and uncompromising, suffering the martyrdom of a long 
 imprisonment with fortitude, and with fidelity to your country ; in manhood 
 the consistent statesman, the enlightened magistrate, and the poor man's 
 friend; in advanced years, the calm and patient sage, counselling your 
 countrymen by your example, enlightening them by your experience, re- 
 warding and encouraging them by your generous patronage ; during a long 
 life a resident among us, mitigating by your interference the harshness of 
 unfit laws — often standing between the distant throne and the suffering 
 people. 
 
 " History will do your character justice. To be approved and 
 patronized by such a one is a reward to us for many anxieties and some 
 labour which the revival of our native manufactures has cost us. Your 
 lordship, ever the unvarying patron of Irish manufacture and enterprise, 
 saw Ireland comparatively a manufacturing country, and saw that manu- 
 facture dwindle away year after year, until nothing remained of the manu- 
 factures of other days but the linen weavers of Belfast, and about one 
 hundred silk weavers in Dublin. At such a disheartening period in our 
 country's history have we commenced our humble labours, and early in this 
 effort have those labours been recognized encouragingly by your lordship's 
 generous donation to our little treasury." 
 
 [Lord Cloncurry replied at some length.] " Let bygones be bygones," he 
 went on to say — "let us forgive, though we cannot forget. After the 
 thousands who have been starved in this most plentiful land, the thousands 
 who have emigrated, the thousands who have perished by shipwreck and 
 disease, let us see what we can do with those who remain. Let us manufac- 
 ture. The first manufacture is farming — in the land we have the best raw 
 material. The best artisan is the bold and intelligent denizen of the soil. 
 You have shown me what could be done by girls and children. Their em- 
 broidery is beautiful, but I could wish to vary their labour by some active 
 occupation. Constant sedentary confinement injures the health of females, 
 and on their health depends the strength of future generations. Could not 
 your industrial schools be made more perfect by including in their course 
 instruction in the work of the dairy, the laundry, the kitchen, and the 
 general household ? * * * 
 
 "The battle for Ireland has been lost at the bottom of Pandora's box. 
 However, hope remained. I have hope, great hope, of your resurrection, 
 and of your filling that place in the civilized world to which you are entitled. 
 My hope shines from the west, and eschews bad advice, whether it come 
 from the south or from the east. But I must avoid politics ; yours is a safer, 
 and, I trust, a more successful pursuit — to revive and extend the trade of 
 Ireland. This is 3-0 ur humane and useful object ; may none be so wicked 
 as to endeavour to counteract you." 
 
 The following letters are chronologically in place, and 
 require no introduction. 
 
 [No. 121.] LORD CLONCURRY TO DR. R. R. MADDEN, M.R.I. A. 
 
 "Maretimo, 25th March, 1850. 
 
 " Dear Doctor Madden, — When I, yesterday, asked you to come to 
 me next Sunday, I forgot that it would be Easter, and that perhaps you 
 might wish to observe the festival by a family reunion, in which case I will 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 563 
 
 * 
 
 beg to substitute Tuesday, April 2nd, when I purpose asking Maunsell and 
 Gray to meet you. If you like both days you will give me greater pleasure, 
 and be certain of your Easter game of whist. I assure you I am most happy 
 at your comfortable restoration to your own poor and well-loved country. 
 
 " Very faithfully yours, 
 
 " Cloxcurry." 
 
 [Xo. 122.] LORD CLONCCRRY TO DR. R. R. MADDEN, M.B.I.A. 
 
 " Maretimo, 26tk July, 1850. 
 
 " My dear Doctor Maddex, — I wish you could dine with me to- 
 morrow, and talk over matters : nobody but Maunsell. 
 
 " I went to England to vote for the £5 franchise, and found ministers 
 willing to concede to their enemy a £10, so I came off re infecta. 
 
 " Yours very truly, 
 
 " Cloxcurry." 
 
 [No. 123.] LORD CLOXCURRY TO THE REV. DR. SPRATT. 
 
 " Maretimo, 1th Oct. 1850. 
 
 " My dear Doctor Spratt, — I enclose my mite for your most 
 laudable undertaking, and hope your labour of charity will have its reward 
 and due success. 
 
 " I intended to have had some conversation with you on the very interest- 
 ing and vital subject of education. I laboured for many years to establish 
 the National System as a means of bringing up our children to manhood in 
 mutual love and knowledge of each other. Of that good undertaking I 
 believe there are twenty Catholics who now profit, for one Protestant. I 
 had in view to open Trinity College, where I was myself brought up, and to 
 free it from all the theological differences, and had no doubt that in a very 
 few years the Catholics would predominate in that wealthy establishment, 
 as far as any sincere Christian would wish them to do, and as far as the 
 illustrious Doyle desired : that is, in proportion to their relative numbers. 
 
 " Fas est et ab hoste docere. That is. ' Take from the bigots what you 
 can, and let there be national union, if not uniform religion.' Even of this 
 last, many of the best men I ever knew entertained good hopes, and Doyie 
 said that the differences were too small for men of sense or patriotism to 
 fight for. 
 
 "lam sorry to say that I now apprehend melancholy retrogression on 
 the part of many Catholics, justifying the worst predictions of the Orange 
 party, and throwing back the country three or four centuries. It 
 is most melancholy. Oh, cannot you, and some good and wise man, 
 step out and save our country ? I am in great distress at the death of my 
 friend and agent, William Lewis, so can write no more. Pray, if any ac- 
 knowledgment of the enclosed be necessary, let it be 'from anonymous,' or 
 ' from an old friend to united education,' — no more ! 
 
 " Faithfully and respectfully yours, 
 
 " Cloxcurry." 
 
 Poor Lord Cloncurry's frame had been for some time 
 past " falling into the sear and yellow leaf," but his heart 
 

 564 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 ft 
 
 was still young, and the spirit of patriotism blazed as 
 brightly as ever. In February, 1851, Dr. Madden re- 
 quested that his lordship would join the Celtic So- 
 ciety. 
 
 [No. 124.] LORD CLONCURRY TO DR. R. R. MADDEN, M.R.I. A. 
 
 "l§th February, (1851.) 
 " Dear Dr. Madden, — I am totally unfit for any society, and never go 
 out of an evening. I have taken my name out of all clubs, &c. 
 
 " But, as far as inclination to do good to poor Ireland I am still willing, 
 so when I see you shall pay my subscription. 
 
 " I believe I should also pay you for the two books you kindly bought for 
 General (Arthur) O'Connor, which I return. 
 
 " Yours very truly, " Cloncurry." 
 
 In the Summer of 1851, when the Catholic Defence 
 Association was in progress of formation, Lord Cloncurry 
 and other liberal Protestants received invitations from 
 the Secretary to co-operate as far as possible in resisting 
 the threatened encroachment on religious freedom. Seve- 
 ral Protestants came forward, but Lord Cloncurry stated 
 that he would prefer not acting with any movement that 
 had an exclusively sectarian hue. The Honorary Secre- 
 tary, Mr. James Burke, communicated by letter with 
 Lord Cloncurry, and observed that though the movement 
 had superficially such an appearance, it was intrinsically 
 in defence of the principle of religious freedom. His 
 lordship's answer was not published with the other 
 correspondence appertaining to the movement, and now 
 appears in print for the first time. 
 
 [No. 125.] LORD CLONCURRYTO JAMES BURKE, ESQ., A.B., BARRISTER AT LAW. 
 
 " Maretimo, 18th July, 1851. 
 " Sir, — "With thanks for your polite note of last evening, I must refuse to 
 change my resolution. I have proved my love of all my countrymen of 
 every class and creed for more than three-quarters of a century ; we are 
 hated as Irish, not as Catholics or Protestants, and our constant division is 
 the strength of the enemy. Will we ever meet as Irishmen ? I trust to 
 time and the mercy of God to enlighten and relieve our good, but most 
 unfortunate people. 
 
 " Your very faithful Servant, " Cloncurry." 
 
 Simultaneous with the sectarian movement of 1851,. 
 a social question, amply calculated, if successfully worked 
 out, to serve the interests of Ireland, started into life. 
 We allude to the project for establishing a direct com- 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 565 
 
 munication by steam between some of the Irish ports and 
 North America. The superiority of many of these, over 
 any of the English ones, no writer has, we believe, ven- 
 tured to controvert. Never was more conclusive evidence 
 uttered, than in 1829, before the Commons, and in 1836, 
 before the Lords. Some enterprising Irishmen laboured, 
 in 1851, to establish a packet station at Galway, which, 
 from its geographical position, as regards the Western 
 world, could hardly fail, even in one voyage, to effect for 
 England a considerable saving of time and expense. 
 Lord Cloncurry saw that American intercourse must 
 materially aid in raising up our fallen and poverty-stricken 
 country. He appealed to the British Minister for assist- 
 ance, but no assistance came. 
 
 At length a small pamphlet was published at the Office 
 of the Commercial Journal, offering " Suggestions for the 
 
 ' C Do 
 
 establishment of a direct system of steam communication 
 with America, without the aid of the English Govern- 
 ment.' 1 The pamphleteer concluded by saying, that it 
 was vain to hope for assistance from a British minister ; 
 and therefore it was, that he suggested the propriety of 
 opening communication at once with the proprietors of 
 some of the American first-class steam boats, in order to 
 induce them to run two or more vessels between Galway 
 and New York. He furthermore proposed, that a public 
 subscription should be set on foot, with a view to the 
 creation of a fund sufficient to indemnify those who would 
 embark in the enterprise, against any loss which might 
 result from its partial, or total failure. 
 
 Lord Cloncurry enclosed the pamphlet, in a letter to 
 Dr. Gray. Neither it, however, nor his lordship's truly 
 spirited proposal, appeared in the Freeman. 
 
 [No. 12G.] LORD CLOXCURRY TO JOHN GRAY, ESQ., M.D. 
 
 "Maretimo, 31st July, 1851. 
 
 " My dear Dr. Gray, — As the battle has been fcmght and lost for justice 
 to Ireland, I think you could do very great good by extending your ex- 
 cellent arguments on the all-important subject of American intercourse ; I 
 know no other chance we have of regaining our position amongst the nations 
 of the earth. 
 
 " What have not those men to answer for, who made the cry of Repeal 
 the ladder to paltry place-hunting and selhsh display ? 
 
566 CLONCURRT AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 " I do not know whether you have seen the enclosed ; I admire it greatly, 
 but though I take the Commercial Journal I have not seen it therein. 
 
 " Your circulation is so great, that if etiquette permitted, I would most 
 willingly pay for its insertion ; but at any rate, the motive is well worthy 
 your pen, and I believe, accords with your best feelings. 
 
 "Lord Anglesey was so angry with the Pope,* that he sent. back my 
 proxy too late to be transferred. I am not sorry for it. 
 
 " The most determined enemies of Ireland, irrespective of religion, are the 
 English Catholics. I know them all, and would not give them a pinch of 
 curry powder. 
 
 "Yours very faithfully, " Cloncurry." 
 
 SUBSCRIPTION TO BUY OR HIRE A FIRST-CLASS AMERICAN 
 Steamer, to go from Galway to New York, from New York to Lime- 
 rick, and back ; from New York to Valentia^ and back, and from New York 
 to Berehaven. First voyage, 1st October, 1851, to be advertised so as to 
 give time for passengers and freight to be collected. 
 
 £ s. d. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 An Irish Peer, . . 500 
 
 We find a very characteristic manuscript note, in Lord 
 Cloncurry 's Handwriting, attached to the pamphlet. The 
 writer referred to Ireland's commerce in former days. 
 " Our woollen manufactures," wrote his lordship, " put 
 down by King William, the favourite of the Orangemen 
 and of Prince Albert" The Royal consort's speech in 
 praise of William III., at this period, will probably be in 
 the recollection of the reader. 
 
 [No. 127.] LORD CLONXURRY TO DR. GRAY. 
 
 " Maretimo, Saturday, 3 o'clock, 1851. 
 
 " Dear Dr. Gray, — I have read with great pleasure your short speech 
 at the Stoneybatter dinner. If we get a good packet station we owe it not 
 to Downing-street. 
 
 " My son Cecil comes here on Monday ; if you will meet him any one of 
 the holidays, I shall be most happy ; but I don't want to canvass, nor will I 
 do so. There is now an opportunity to say a word in favour of our poor de- 
 ported, so very cruelly and shamefully used. 
 
 " I am interrupted by the American Stewart, who has just come from the 
 north ; he stays to dinner. Come and meet him if you can to-day at half- 
 past six. " Yours very truly, 
 
 " Cloncurry." 
 
 The existing records of Lord Cloncurry's correspon- 
 dence with the Very Rev. Dr. Spratt are, we regret to say, 
 
 * The nomination of a Catholic Episcopacy in England. 
 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 567 
 
 imperfect. Any letters, however, from his lordship, which 
 that clergyman chanced to preserve, have been placed at 
 our disposal. The sums of money for charitable purposes 
 usually enclosed were in amount truly munificent. Lord 
 Cloncurry was no ostentatious donor. Whenever pos- 
 sible he shunned the open glare of popular acknowledg- 
 ment, preferring the silent approbation of his God to that 
 of the world. The number of poor families he rescued 
 from ruin will never be known ; the full extent of the 
 good he did remains alone on record in the book of life. 
 In short, to use the figurative language of Holy Writ, his 
 right hand knew not what his left hand gave. 
 
 The few letters to Dr. Spratt which in these pages have 
 chanced to see the light, will serve to give the reader a 
 faint idea of Cloncurry 's charity, but no more : — 
 
 [Xo. 128.] LORD CLONCURRY TO THE VERY REV. DR. SPRATT. 
 
 " 12 th November, 1851. 
 
 "Very Rev. and Dear Sir, — Permit me again to beg of you to convey, 
 at your leisure (anonymously), the following small tokens of my good will 
 and respect for the subjoined, amongst many of the great charities supported 
 by my fellow-citizens at this time of continued distress : — 
 
 " St. Vincent's Hospital, .... £20 
 " Sisters of Mercy, . . . . . 10 
 
 " Roomkeepers, . . . . . 10 
 
 " Benevolent Samaritan, . . . . 10 
 
 £50 
 " As the untiring advocate of temperance, of national and general educa- 
 tion, I take a liberty with you only allowable from my knowledge of your 
 virtues, and I beg of you, if possible, to put an end to the unfortunate division 
 which impedes the advance of the great manufacture movement, than which 
 , 1 know nothing more likely to benefit Ireland, unless perhaps a western 
 packet station and a domestic legislature. 
 
 " Your faithful and very obliged Servant, 
 
 "Ax Irish Peer." 
 
 To introduce here a bundle of short notes from Lord 
 Cloncurrv to his steward will not, we think, be deemed 
 out of place. As contrasted with the political letters 
 which have preceded them, they are curious and inte- 
 resting. The following begging-letter (verbatim with the 
 original) will serve as a fair specimen of many hundred such 
 productions which constantly pursued Lord Cloncurry. 
 The good peer rarely turned a deaf ear to a petition : — 
 
568 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 [No. 129.] 
 
 " Lyons, January 3, 1847. 
 
 " My Lord I beg Leave to Address you at this Holy Festival and Unpre- 
 cedented Time your Lordship May Remember me a Labourer at Lyons and 
 eight years ago I Was Afflicted by Divine Providence with severe pains 
 And I am bedridden for the last month I have also convulsions as your 
 Lordship was always a benefactor To the needy I hope You will not forget 
 Me your Lordships Humble servant michael mahon." 
 
 [No. 130.] LORD CLONCURRY TO HIS STEWARD. 
 
 " Maretimo, January 5, 1847. 
 
 " Mr. John Howe, — Please give three or four shillings per week of the 
 enclosed to old Mahon as long as it lasts. I hope your mother and family 
 are well. I have a few newspapers for her whenever I have an opportunity 
 to send them." 
 
 (The enclosure was, we believe, a three pound note.) 
 
 [No. 131.] 
 
 "Maretimo, list July. 
 
 " John Howe, — I have given permission to the Queen's Messengers of the 
 Chief Secretary's Office to walk about Lyons on Sunday next, and to dine 
 on the Hill. I hope your mother and sisters are quite tvell, and tbat the 
 potatoes may turn out better than your master and many other good farmers 
 think they will. Most of the crops that I see look extremely well." 
 
 [No. 132.] 
 
 "Maretimo, 10th December, 1847. 
 
 " Dear Mrs. Howe, — Pray ask your son John to let me have a list of the 
 men and boys employed at Lyons. He can put a little mark (X) to the old 
 set who worked in my time. I hope that all are well with you. There is 
 much illness and poor hereabouts." 
 
 [No. 133.] 
 
 "29^ January, 1850. 
 
 "Mr. John Howe, — When you sent me the last cow from Lyons, you 
 said she would soon be changed for another. If you can make the change 
 now, I shall be obliged, for the fine Lyons cow is dry. I was sorry to be 
 prevented by the rain on Friday from visiting your mother. I hope she and 
 the family are well. 
 
 " As to Rudd, I beard from Mr. Lawless that he kept forcible possession, 
 which deprives him of any claim on me. However, I enclose a pound which 
 may be given in four shillings at a time. I think they would be better off 
 in the poorhouse. I have put the theft of the crucifix in the Hue-and-Cry." 
 
 [No. 134.] 
 
 " Maretimo, 30$. December, 1850. 
 
 ; ' Dear Mr. Howe, — Please order for me a ton or two of hay. If Hancet 
 
 has no more, some other tenant of mine probably has. I will thank you to 
 
CLOXCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 569 
 
 let me know what men and boys are at present employed by Mr. Lawless,* 
 and approved of by him. Eemember me to your mother ; I hope she and 
 her family are well. 1 wish you and yours many happy years." 
 
 [No. 135.] LORD CLONCURRY TO HIS STEWARD. 
 
 " Maretimo, July 15, 1851. 
 
 "Dear Mr. Howe, — Though I believe that you see the Farmer's Journal, 
 which I think Mr. Lawless takes, still I think it right to send you the last 
 number, in which is given particulars of the arsenic cure, for the prevalent 
 disease amongst black cattle. I believe it to be nearly infallible, and wish 
 you to let the neighbours see it. 
 
 " I project a visit to the children whilst their mamma is away, but am 
 more afraid of ten miles and St. Swithen than I used to be of a hundred ; 
 however I will strive to pay you a visit. We have had violent winds here, 
 which I fear must have done mischief. "With, best regards to my good friend, 
 your mother, yours most humbly, 
 
 " Cloncurry." 
 
 Lord Cloncurry continued to correspond with Dr. 
 Gray. Writing to him at this period, lie says : — " I hear 
 from Paris that the President is so involved in debt, that 
 if he don't gain the Imperial Crown, he must end in a 
 prison. He has no time to lose, and he is negotiating 
 with Russia on the emergency !" We have reason to 
 believe that Lord Cloncurry's informant was Arthur 
 O'Connor. For some time previous to his death (a year 
 afterwards) he enjoyed the dignity of President of the 
 National Assembly. The bit of gossip about Louis 
 Napoleon was, it is said, perfectly correct. 
 
 The principal landed property of Lord Cloncurry was 
 the very extensive estate of Abington, in the County 
 Limerick. For some years Father John Maher has been 
 the respected parish priest of the district. That he con- 
 stantly corresponded with his lordship is well known. 
 The following selection from Lord Cloncurry's letters to 
 Father Maher, during the years '50 and '51, will be found 
 both interesting and instructive. Father Maher's paro- 
 chial flock were nearly all tenants of the noble land- 
 lord : — 
 
 [No. 136.] LORD CLONCURRY TO THE REV. J. MAHER, P.P. OF ABINGTON. 
 
 " Maretimo, December 12, 1850. 
 " Rev. and dear Sir, — I have this morning received your very obliging 
 and rational letter of the 8th. To understand any subject, it is necessary to 
 
 * Edward, present Lord Cloncurry. 
 
570 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 consider fully and patiently the arguments on both sides. I am. therefore, 
 grateful for the honest opinion of all my friends, and feel myself so circum- 
 stanced that I can look to results without fear or one selfish feeling. 
 
 " Twenty, or more years ago, O'Connell and I were the founders of a 
 society for the " Improvement of Ireland," and our published proceedings 
 show that we generally agreed pretty well, but our chief difference arose from 
 the non-alienation clauses inserted by many considerate landlords, my father 
 amongst them, to prevent sub-letting without permission. 
 
 " My father in letting land always said, ' This farm is for you and your 
 family, and no one else ; if you underlet without my written permission, you 
 must pay double rent.' On this condition, signed by both parties, he gave his 
 land on most reasonable terms, and engaged to give timber and slates for any 
 buildings the tenant pleased to erect. He kept his agreement. Some of the 
 tenants broke their's, and to most so doing I refused to renew in 1803, giving 
 the land to the occupiers who lived for many years in comfort, and I may 
 almost say, wealth. After a time they began again to subdivide, and bring 
 strangers on the land, and I supported an Act of Parliament, forcing all 
 parties to abide by the agreement signed and sealed by themselves, until both 
 agreed to connect it. O'Connell objected to the plan, and suffered his tenants 
 to divide and subdivide as they pleased. His very nice property has been 
 rendered totally worthless by the neglect ; and when I, absentee like, did not 
 prevent subdivision, my beautiful estate has suffered, orchards have vanished, 
 cabins have replaced houses, and poor, instead of happy farmers, cry out for 
 Tenant Right. I was one of the earliest supporters of the Tenant League, 
 discussed its merits and clauses with Mitchel, Duffy, and other most strenuous 
 innovators. Though they had no property in land, they agreed to most of 
 my propositions. Had they been adopted, there woidd have been no quarter 
 acre clauses, no crowbar-brigade, no misery unrelieved, but when a twenty- 
 one years' lease was to be equal to a perpetuity, and fancy valuators to regu- 
 late the private affairs of proprietors, I left things to find their level from 
 experience, and sad experience I fear it will be, for the landlords being legis- 
 lators, any law passed will rather be against than for the tenants ; whence 
 if my proposition was agreed to, and all bargains for land were made at a 
 public sessions, and every way binding on all parties, few unjust bargains 
 could be entered into. As to the Education question, you know how the bad 
 old laws deprived our whole people of education. For twenty years I fought 
 against the Charter Schools, and against the Kildare Place Society ; and I 
 had the support of, I believe, the entire Catholic hierarchy in establishing the 
 National System. It may be put down by the very people, who for a long 
 time have supported it, and me, in spite of tbe Protestant bigots ; but can 
 they substitute anything better, or can they afford to go to war with England, 
 and with the Orange party in this country ? I fear not — I fear we will go 
 back to the ignorance and vice of sixty years ago. I am very sorry, but I 
 can see no hope for better. The English hate us not as religionists but as Irish- 
 men. An English Catholic would resist education, tenant right, labour rate, 
 or any kind of improvement in Ireland, j ust as ardently as Lord John Russell 
 or Lord Clarendon. 
 
 " However, these are the dreams of an old man. I shall not live to see 
 any improvement. The best hopes of Ireland must rest on America. That 
 great nation will, in time, enrich and instruct the most westerly point of 
 Europe. 
 
 " With respect, I remain your faithful Servant, 
 
 " Cloxcurry." 
 
CLONCTJRRY AND HIS TIMES. 571 
 
 [No. 137.] LORD CLOSTCURRY TO THE REV. J. MAHER, P.P. OF ABTNGTON. 
 
 " Maretimo, .December 23rd, 1850. 
 
 "Rev. and dear Sir, — I am truly pleased at your desire to establish a 
 National school. When I first got possession of the A bington property, I set 
 apart three acres of land for that purpose. The differing opinions of the two 
 clergymen, Jebb and O'Brien, rendered the school abortive. 
 
 M I will gladly contribute land and money for your good purpose, as the 
 only certain means of obtaining and fitting to enjoy their rights, by our good 
 and intelligent people. * * I shall at all times be most happy to have 
 your opinions, on that and other subjects ; if we differ we need not quarrel ; it 
 may elicit good, and end in unity of spirit, the bond of peace and righteous- 
 ness of fife. * * I will not take up more of your time, which is now s*. 
 fully occupied, but am, with best wishes for your happiness, dear Sir, 
 
 " Your very faithful Servant, 
 % " Cloxcurry." 
 
 [No. 138] lord cloxctrryto the rev. j. maher, p.p. of aeixgtox. 
 
 " Maretimo, March 21th, 1851. 
 
 " Dear and Rev. Sir, — The fact as to the great mass of the poor tenants 
 of my Limerick property is, I found them in the year 1801-2, under mid- 
 dlemen, mostly absentees from the land. I put out the middlemen, and 
 gave their farms to the occupiers at greatly reduced rents. They went on for 
 a few years pretty well, but soon discontinued to pay their rents, until I was 
 forced to order the first steps towards ejectment to be taken against them. 
 Twice I forgave all arrears, and left myself so bare of my most rightful and 
 moderate rents, that if I had not some other means of living, I should either 
 have sold the estate, or starved with my large and charitable family. On 
 mature consideration and consultation with my son, and agent, I ordered 
 ejectments against all who owed more than three years' rent ; this order I will 
 not recall. I was as kind to my tenants as if they were my own children, and 
 when they wrote to me, I answered their letters with such relief as I could 
 afford, but the greater part determined not to pay, and paid me no more 
 attention than if I was a robber, or an impostor. * * Up to 1846-7, my 
 tenants had no excuse. I doubt not their present distress, but the fault is 
 not mine ; one-third of the oats or butter crops would have paid all due to 
 me in 1847. 
 
 " I write in a great hurry, having much to do. I enclose five pounds 
 which you can dispose of as you think best, in aid of the emigration of the 
 Harty family, though I think emigration a bad speculation for the individual, 
 or the country. 
 
 " I have paid Sir Matthew Barrington £90 for the new National school, 
 and beg your kind assistance in the progress of the work, 
 
 " I remain, dear and Rev. Sir, your faithful Servant, 
 
 " Cloxcurry." 
 
 [No. 139.] LORD CLONXURRY TO THE rev. J. maher, p.p. of abixgtox. 
 
 " Ath September, 1851. 
 
 " Rev. and dear Sir, — When you advocate the cause of your poor 
 parishioners and neighbours, you perform, in my opinion, a sacred duty — 
 
572 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 charitable and professional, for which I always feel most respectfully 
 thankful. I only wish that you should make yourself fully acquainted 
 with all the circumstances of the parties soliciting your aid. Persons 
 buying estates in this country, generally expect four or five per 100 for 
 their money; and can get much more on mortgage or other securities, 
 when they escape the expense of agents, sub-agents, and other heavy taxes 
 on the landed proprietor. The property which I possess, not by purchase, 
 but by inheritance, I valued when a young man on the same principle, and 
 finding that middle or wealthy classes let the lands they held from me for 
 more than its value to occupying tenants, as to whose interests they were 
 perfectly indifferent, I refused to renew their leases, and let to the re- 
 sident tenants at half or two-thirds what they paid to the middlemen, 
 contenting myself with two-and-a-half or three per cent, purchase money of 
 the land. For a time the tenants seemed grateful and happy, though very 
 far from industrious or improving : and having myself embarked in politics, 
 in the hope of serving my unfortunate country, I was forced to employ 
 goodnatured, but careless agents, who allowed arrears to accumulate, which 
 I twice forgave. Again, when the potato failure occurred, I took the loss 
 on myself, though the increased price of oats made up his loss to the general 
 farmer. Since that time a combination has been formed to pay no rent at 
 all, and I have been forced to eject all who owed more than three years' 
 rent ; I dare say that you may have heard of some who, owing me more 
 than three years' rent, have forced their under-tenants to pay the last May 
 rent. Others having above 800 acres for £60 per annum, paid no rent at all, 
 and are suspected of killing the cattle of a poor man, who put them to 
 graze on the land. All these circumstances force me to act in my own 
 behalf, and in that of my family. If I had been an extravagant man, I 
 must have starved, or gone with my family into the poorhouse ; but 
 unless towards the poor, I am a miser, and I make more inquiry than could 
 be expected for so aged a person. I assure you, that a most respectable 
 priest in this vicinity was in dread and fear of his own brother, who wanted 
 to obtain from him money belonging to a charity, of which he was a 
 manager, and this man had his recommendations. I never got a farthing 
 from the public ; my fortune was honestly earned, and of a large portion of 
 it I was robbed by our bad Government, yet, thank God, I can still afford 
 to be just, and also, I hope, charitable. 
 
 " Yours, my dear and Rev. Sir, most faithful and obliged, 
 
 " Cloncuury." 
 
 Lord Cloncurry,at tins period, was necessitated to pursue 
 a line of conduct towards one of the Abington tenantry 
 
 very foreign to his wont. C , a farmer, took the 
 
 holding of Fuskela. "The rent," wrote Lord Cloncurry 
 to Father Maher, " was low, and the farm large, and of 
 a kind not at all affected by the potato failure. The 
 rent was withheld without excuse, or even offer of part 
 payment — the consequent proceedings were inevitable, 
 and to me very costly." In short, it was found necessary 
 to serve C with an ejectment. His family (plain 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 573 
 
 farming folk) vowed vengeance on Lord Cloncurry, if 
 he persisted in his intention. Father Maher, in one of 
 his letters, apprised Lord Cloncurry of Mr. C.'s indig- 
 nation. A correspondence ensued: — 
 
 [No. 140.] LORD CLONCURRY TO THE REV. J. MAHER, P.P. OF ABLNGTON. 
 
 i% Maretimo, 25th 31 arch, 1852. 
 
 "Dear and Rev. Sir, — I am greatly obliged by your letter of the 26th 
 instant, and hope that our present full explanations will prevent any future 
 misunderstanding. Be assured, I will always treat with sincere respect any 
 communication you may please to make to me. * 
 
 " My son mixes more in the world, and has imbibed a few of the prevalent 
 prejudices of the aristocracy, but a more humane man, a more just magis- 
 trate, or a better neighbour to the rich and the poor does not exist. I should 
 much prefer an assassin who would take my life, not worth six months' purchase, 
 than his, the father of a young and innocent family, and the husband of one 
 of the most charitable and lovely of her sex. 
 
 " It is a great misfortune to landlords and tenants, when the landlords are 
 absentees, or a very inactive old man, and I often thought of an Act of Parlia- 
 ment compelling residence, and giving power to exchange estates. I could 
 live out of Ireland, with every comfort of society, but a sense of duty makes 
 me reside, though almost always in hot water, from the badness of the 
 Government, and unsteadiness of the people. 
 
 " Dear and Rev. Sir, faithfully yours, 
 
 " Cloncurry." 
 
 A portion of the omitted matter in the foregoing letter 
 refers to some attacks made on Lord Cloncurry in a 
 certain provincial newspaper. He attributes the editor's 
 malevolence to his having discontinued, some time pre- 
 viously, subscribing to the print. 
 
 Meanwhile, Lord Cloncurry was not unmindful of 
 Drummond's apothegm — that " property has its duties, 
 as well as its rights." 
 
 [No. 141.] LORD CLONCURRY TO THE VERY REV. DR. SPRATT. 
 
 "Maretimo, 12th April, 1852. 
 
 " Very Rev. and Dear Sir, — I enclose fifty pounds to distribute with 
 your usual kindness to the following charities : — 
 
 " Sisters of Mercy, .... 
 " Sisters of Charity, (St. Vincent's), . 
 " Roomkeepers, .... 
 "St. Peter's Schools, 
 "Samaritan, 
 
 £50 0" 
 
 £10 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
574 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 " Again, thanking you for your constant and untiring exertions in favour 
 of our poor country, and of impartial and general education for her suffering 
 people, 
 
 11 1 remain, your faithful and obliged Servant, 
 
 "Cloncurry." 
 
 [No. 142.] LORD CLONCURRY TO THE VERY REV. DR. SPRATT. 
 
 u Maretimo, 27 th December, 1852. 
 
 " Dear and Very Rev. Dr. Spratt, — I am certain, that if anybody could 
 have made peace it would have been you, and that I should have received 
 the good news from you. 
 
 " I enclose £40, to be given at your convenience to the following chari- 
 ties : — 
 
 " Roomkeepers, . . . . . £10 
 
 " St. Peter's School, . . . . 10 
 
 "Samaritan, 10 
 
 " Private Charity, 10 
 
 £40 
 
 " Wishing you every happiness, I remain your obliged Friend, 
 
 " Cloncurry. 
 " P. S. — I have already sent to the Convents." 
 
 The Board of Irish Manufacture had, at this time, 
 divided, and a rival one, modelled on the principle of 
 the original, started into life. Dr. Spratt, at Lord Clon- 
 curry 's earnest solicitation, undertook to act the part of 
 peacemaker; but his labours, unfortunately, met with 
 no success. 
 
 The system of proselytizing in charitable institutions 
 found little favour with Lord Cloncurry. The following 
 letter establishes that fact : — 
 
 [No. 143.] LORD CLONCURRY TO THE VERY REV. DR. SPRATT. 
 
 " Maretimo, 1st March, 1852. 
 
 "Very Rev. and Dear Sir, — T take a liberty with you, that nothing 
 but my fear of doing wrong, and my very high opinion of your charity can 
 excuse. 
 
 " I have been in the habit of giving more or less for many years to the 
 Coombe Lying-in Hospital, thinking it one of the poorest quarters of our 
 very poor city, and have just received the enclosed application from the 
 directors thereof. 
 
 "One of them — the Rev. Mr. S , has been accused of proselytizing 
 
 habits, which I do not think should be suffered in a charitable institution. 
 Will you, at your leisure, tell me what you may know on the subject? If 
 all be right, give the enclosed donation in my name, but if the accusation be 
 true, return the money to, my dear Sir, 
 
 " Your very faithful and obliged Servant, " Cloncurry." 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 575 
 
 In July, 1852, Parliament was dissolved, and a gene- 
 ral election took place throughout Ireland. Men who had 
 represented constituencies for upwards of a quarter of a cen- 
 tury were put out, and men little known to the people put 
 in. Foremostamongst the latter returns stood Mr. Frederick 
 Lucas, an Englishman of much talent, and threat integrity. 
 As editor of the Tablet — an able organ of Catholicism — 
 Mr. Lucas was received by the priests with open arms. 
 He canvassed for Meath, and successfully. Air. Henry 
 Grattan, the old representative, canvassed also, but he 
 met with little encouragement. The priests and the 
 people were tired of him. A vote and speech of his in 
 favour of a coercion bill for Ireland, some time previously, 
 were never forgiven, and forgetting the Grattan of '82 
 and 1800, they denounced his son in terms of unmea- 
 sured harshness. 
 
 Lord Cloncurry was one of the few who gratefully re- 
 membered him who sat by his country's cradle in '82, and 
 followed her hearse in 1800. 
 
 [No. 144.] LORD CLOXCCRRY TO THE VERY REV. DR. SPRATT, S.M.T. 
 
 " Maretimo, 11th August, 1852. 
 
 " Dear axd Very Rev. Doctor Spratt, — You have possessed my 
 respect and my confidence ever since I have had the pleasure of your ac- 
 quaintance, and, together -with a few of your discriminating and most 
 Christian brethren, have alone prevented my giving up the cause of Ireland, 
 and of her ever persecuted people, who, under the guidance of, I must say, 
 either mad or wicked advisers, have forgotten all the best interests of 
 Ireland, of their families, and of themselves, in favour of ignorant or of 
 hostile strangers. All the good we ever had in Ireland, we owed to Grattan. 
 All the good we struggled to recover, was pointed out by O'Connell. The 
 son of Grattan has been spit upon, reviled, and rejected in Meath, in favour 
 of a stranger. Eepeal, the only remedy for our evils, pointed out by 
 Grattan and by O'Connell, has been forgotten. The noble and most inde- 
 pendent son of Grattan, who, even if he had not such a father, was deserving 
 of all our love and all our confidence — whom we should have loved for 
 his father's sake, if not for his own — at the very moment that he and his 
 most amiable and talented wife mourned the loss of their only son, he has 
 been insulted, and O'Connell has been forgotten. What reward can patriot- 
 ism expect amongst the abject, place-hunting, flattering, degraded popula- 
 tion ? I had sometimes occasion to find fault with O'Connell, but I loved 
 him, and he kaew it, and made me every atonement in his power. Far 
 more fault had I to find with O'Brien, who endeavoured to compromise me 
 in his mad scheme in my age and decrepitude ; but he was an honest man 
 and a lover of his country, and, before he went mad, he delivered in Par- 
 liament the speech I got reprinted. It was statesmanlike, modest, and full 
 
576 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 of proper views. That man should not be punished for errors, caused by 
 high-wrought feelings, driven to madness by the sufferings of his country- 
 men. 
 
 " Dear and Reverend Sir, in great haste, most faithfully yours, 
 
 " Cloncurry." 
 
 Lord Cloncurry could not refrain from telling Father 
 Malier his sentiments too. The following letter, and 
 those that succeed it, explain themselves. The Rev. 
 Mr. Maher's note at the end of the third should not be 
 overlooked. 
 
 [No. 145.] LORD CLONCURRY TO THE REV. J. MAHER, P.P. OF ABINGTON. 
 
 " Maretimo, 7th August, 1852. 
 
 " Dear and Rev. Sir, — About a year or fifteen months ago a benevo- 
 lent lady in this neighbourhood set up a school for needle-work, embroidery, 
 &c, where poor girls were taught nothing but work, as they had an excellent 
 National school for other purposes. The curates, not the P.P., ordered the 
 children away, as she was a Protestant. I was very sorry for it ; but the 
 lady had the good sense to give up the point, in order to preserve the peace 
 and Christian charity of an extensive district. I would most anxiously re- 
 commend the example to the kind consideration of the Messrs. Barrington. 
 If, therefore, good sense and humane feelings have not the power to induce 
 them to yield, I much fear I cannot. * * * 
 
 " I am sorry to say I feel far less cordial to my friends the priests since 
 their ill-treatment of Grattan, the son of the man to whom Ireland owes 
 every right or liberty she may possess ; and for whom was this most honest 
 and consistent patriot sacrificed ? 
 
 " Dear and Reverend Sir, yours very faithfully, 
 
 " Cloncurry." 
 
 [No. 146.] LORD CLONCURRY TO THE REV. J. MAHER, P.P. OF ABINGTON. 
 
 11 Maretimo, 22nd August, 1852. 
 
 " Dear and Rev. Sir, — Since the receipt of your letter relative to the 
 Murroe schools, I have made inquiry and find that there is a Catholic 
 master in the boys' school, and that Sir Matthew Barrington had 
 written for a Catholic mistress for the girls' school, awaiting whose arrival 
 a Protestant mistress was employed to teach embroidery, lace-making, &c, 
 without any reference whatever to other branches of education. 
 
 " This, I think, a satisfactory explanation of a circumstance which gave 
 you some alarm, but which, I hope, has now subsided ; as, however anxious 
 I am for the education of the people, I would not, on any account, wish to 
 have their religion tampered with. I know, with sorrow, the foolish spirit 
 of proselytism which possesses many good persons of botlf Churches, but 
 never heard Sir Matthew Barrington accused, or suspected of such folly. 
 
 " I shall be truly grieved if you withdraw the children from the schools ; 
 but I do not dispute your power nor, the suspicion which all Catholics must 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 577 
 
 feel, after the injustice and cruel treatment they have, for so long a period, 
 been subjected to in their own country. — With respect, dear and Rev. Sir, 
 
 " Cloncurry." 
 
 [No. 147.] LORD CLOXCOERY TO THE REV. J. MAHER, P.P. OF ABIXGTON. 
 
 " Maretimo, 29th August, 1852. 
 " Dear and Rev. Sir, — It is-now half a century since my first act, 
 as a landlord, on coming to Ireland from the Tower of London, was to 
 give three acres of Abington for a school, feeling that an educated 
 people never could be slaves. Immediately after I was obliged to go abroad 
 for the recovery of my health, after my long imprisonment. On my return 
 I found that the school was sacrificed to the demon of discord. Some few 
 years after, the present Judge Jackson, and some other well-meaning gentle- 
 men, came to me to Lyons, and asked me to subscribe to the Kildare-place 
 Society Schools, intended for general education, without any interference 
 with the religious opinions of any Christian. They, however, broke faith 
 with me, and introduced the Protestant Bible, as a sine qua non, into their 
 schools. I had a tedious controversy with them, and withdrew from the 
 ^society; so did the Duke of Leinster, Mr. Curran, Daniel O'Connell, and 
 many other lovers of their country. I projected the great National System; 
 and at the great meeting in the Rotunda Doctors Troy, Murray, Doyle, 
 Everard, and, I believe, the chief Prelates of Ireland, without a dissentient, 
 agreed to it. A mixed moral and secular education in the schools for five 
 days in the week — each sect to have one day, exclusive of Sunday, for 
 religious instruction by their separate pastors. The Protestant clergy, or a 
 majority of them, disapproved; but the Catholics, so long insulted and 
 oppressed, gladly embraced the olive of peace, and of future hope for 
 Ireland. Under that system many hundred thousand children are educated; 
 and I received a letter only two days ago from Dr. Spratt, one of the best 
 men and priest of my acquaintance, saying, that he has 400 boys and 500 
 girls in national schools, which I enabled him to found. I am, politically, 
 an Irish Roman Catholic, such being the religion of my ill-treated country ; 
 but I do not like their reviving a religious war, which I took every pains to 
 put an end to. I never saw the young gentlemen, Barringtons — their 
 father I believe to be sensible and liberal. I hope he may get such a 
 mistress of the school as may satisfy you ; but it will be a departure from 
 the National system and from common sense to discharge a poor woman, 
 merely because she is of his own religion and of mine. I respect you, but 
 think you were in too great a hurry to withdraw the girls from the school, 
 where, I hope, you could not think their salvation in any danger. Would 
 it not be better to see and talk to the young mistress, and find out whether 
 she was an improper person ? You are too good a man to believe that the 
 blessing of an octogenarian Protestant can do you any harm, and, there- 
 fore, you have it most heartily from, Rev. and dear Sir, yours faithfully, 
 
 " Cloxcurry."* 
 
 [Note by the Rev. J. Maker, P.P. of Abington. — "I feel I owe it to 
 myself to state here, that in withdrawing the Catholic children of my 
 parish from the Murroe National Female School at the period referred to by 
 
 ' This letter was written by an amanuensis. His lordship was confined to 
 bed extremely ill at the time. 
 
 2c 
 
578 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 the late Lord Cloncurry, I did so not because there was a Protestant work- 
 mistress employed to teach the pupils fancy work, but because there was 
 not then any Catholic mistress in the school to teach the Catholic children 
 their Catholic catechism and Catholic prayers. I acted on that occasion, 
 not from a narrow feeding of bigotry, but from a 3tern sense of duty, as the 
 Catholic pastor of Murroe. — J. Maher."] 
 
 [No. 148.] LORD CLONCURRY TO THE REV. J. MAHER, P.P. 
 
 " 2nd September, 1852. 
 " Dear and Rev. Sir, — Until I received your letter of yesterday, I had 
 entirely forgot the statutes of Thurles, recent though they be, and your ne- 
 cessary obedience to them. As Mr. TV. Barrington told me that his father 
 had written to the Board to recommend him a R.C. mistress, I hope you and 
 he may come to some agreement, but it is entirely out of my power to inter- 
 fere any further. — "With great respect, Rev. Sir, your faithful Servant, 
 
 " Cloncurry." 
 
 It is amusing to see, in the following letter, Lord Clon- 
 curry's reference to the foregoing correspondence. He 
 had, however, a worthier motive in writing to Dr. Spratt 
 than the mere pleasure of expatiating on passing events : — 
 
 [No. 149.] LORD CLONCURRY TO THE VERY REV. DR. SPRATT, M.S.T. 
 
 " Maretimo, 8th September, 1852. 
 
 '* I trouble my respected friend with the enclosed, but I must say with 
 some misgivings. By some means my connexion with you is suspected, 
 which does away with the chief merit of charity, and besides subjects me to 
 more applications than justice to my large family would permit me to satisfy. 
 The uncharitable are angry with those who think differently from themselves, 
 and attribute to bad motives what they ought rather to imitate. 
 
 •' Mr. Mooney having left the Parent Board of Manufacture, they have to} 
 struggle to keep alive a very useful body of citizens, though as yet most un- 
 fortunately disunited, like everything Irish. I try them with ten pounds. 
 
 " A very useful school was set up in the village of Murroe by Sir Matthew 
 Barrington, whose estate in Limerick joins mine in that district. It was con- 
 nected with the National Board, and had 120 boys, chiefly — almost entirely — 
 Catholics, and a Catholic master. He wrote to Marlborough-street for a 
 mistress for the girls, but waiting her advent, the Miss Barringtons, very ex- \ 
 cellent young ladies, as I am told (I do not personally know any of the 
 family), engaged a Protestant lace maker to teach needle work to seventy or 
 eighty girls of both creeds ; but of course in Limerick, chiefly Catholic. 
 Father Maher, the P.P., has laid his interdict on the schooLs, and ordered all 
 the scholars out of them. Thus .£90 of my money is lost, and more of Sir 
 Matthew's, a wealthy man, Crown Solicitor of Munster, and I believe sensible 
 and liberal. Father Maher, who lives on my estate here, and has always 
 been on the best terms with me, now tells me that the statutes of Thurles put 
 it out of his power to permit any of his flock to learn sewing from a Pro- 
 testant mistress. It is more than thirty years ago that the hierarchy ap- 
 proved of the National System as proposed by me — i tantarce animis cceZestibus 
 
 
 ira P 
 
 " This day Dublin will ring with the advocacy of Tenant Right, by men 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 579 
 
 who do not understand one atom of the subject, and who in general have no 
 land. If they and others followed O'Connell's advice, and struggled for a 
 domestic parliament, all other matters could he safely arranged by the legi- 
 timate representatives of the people. 
 
 [No. 150.] LORD CLONCURRY TO THE VERY REV. DR. SPRATT. 
 
 " October 27, 1852. 
 " Rev. dear and worthy Sir, — If you can perstiade the two divisions 
 of the movement in favour of our manufactures to amalgamate and work to- 
 gether, I will give £100 to set up rooms. I believe Doctor Hayden, of 
 Harcourt-street, is desirous of such reconciliation, but have some doubts of 
 Anglesey-street. Forgive me the trouble I give you, and believe me, faithfully 
 yours, " Cloncurry." 
 
 [No. 151.] LORD CLONCURRY TO THE VERY REV. J. MAHER, P.P. 
 
 " Maretimo, 9 th Januury, 1853. 
 
 " Rev Sir, — As soon as 1 can see my agent, who U now in the North, I 
 j shall direct him to answer the letter of David H y. 
 
 ■• With every wish to pay respect to a recommendation from your 
 Reverence, who must know the truth of the case, I cannot avoid expressing 
 
 my surprise at the course pursued by the H ys, my kindness to whom, 
 
 as well as to some other defaulters, may be known to you. 
 
 " They offer a low or very moderate rent for my lands, and I let it 
 to them on their own terms ; they break their promise, and discontinue to 
 pay the rent, on which I and my family must depend for our very existence ; 
 and when my agent- calls upon them, they forthwith employ some low 
 attorney to put me to a very heavy expense by dishonest excuses for not 
 paying what they had engaged to pay, and knew in their conscience were 
 justly due and leniently exacted. When they at length rind that they are 
 overtaken by justice, after putting me to great expense, and can no longer 
 defraud me, or keep my land without paying, they then apply to your Re- 
 verence, or, perhaps, their brother, a priest of my own making, and they appeal 
 to the mercy of a man whom they did everything in their power to injure. 
 
 " Is this the morality or the religion enforced at Thurles ? and teaching 
 them to dread the contamination of a Protestant fellow-creature. 
 
 " I have the honour to be, with best wishes, your faithful Servant, 
 
 " Cloncurry." 
 
 [No. 152.] LORD CLONCURRY TO THE REV. J. MAHER, P.P. OF ABINGTON. 
 
 " Maretimo, 17th January, 1853. 
 
 " Rev. and dear Sir, — Your letter of the 14th, by Mr. William Lewis, 
 has given me very great pleasure. 
 
 " We, mere Irish, have enemies enough without quarrelling amongst 
 ourselves. Education will help to unite us all. 
 
 " I remain, dear and Rev. Sir, very faithfully yours, 
 
 " Cloncurry." 
 
 In a letter on the public affairs of Ireland, addressed 
 by Lord Cloncurry, in March, 1852, to W. J. O'Neil 
 Daunt, of Kilcascan, Esq., his lordship animadverted 
 
580 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 bitterly on the conduct and character of brawling patriots, 
 whose blatant zeal for Ireland's rights evaporated on their 
 appointment to the paltriest places. He also censured the 
 conduct of the cities then competing for a packet station, 
 which he said were doing all the mischief in their power 
 to each other and to the country. Not content with 
 proving the fitness of their own roadsteads or harbours, 
 they published falsehood upon falsehood to counteract the 
 hopes and exertions of their rivals. Lord Cloncurry con- 
 cluded his remarks with these words : — " Of the good and 
 happiness of this wretched country I have less hope than 
 I ever had before ; and if I did not love it in dotage, I 
 should seek another home." As a number of living 
 parties are severely spoken of in this letter, we did not 
 feel ourselves justified in publishing it. 
 
 Lord Cloncurry purchased, at this period, contrary to his 
 wont, a ticket in one of the extensive German lotteries. 
 Several months elapsed, the time for drawing was procras- 
 tinated, but at last it arrived. The servants' hall of 
 Maretimo rang with exclamations of satisfaction and sur- 
 prise when the result became known. Their good master, 
 contrary to general expectation, succeeded in winning 
 from the cunning Germans no less than 67,000 thalers, or 
 £10,000. Matters, however, appeared better at first sight 
 than they did a few weeks later. The proprietors of the 
 lottery swore that they found some flaw in the manner in 
 which his lordship's ticket was drawn, and objected to give 
 him his £10,000. Lord Cloncurry saw through the ruse, 
 and would not be defeated. He instituted legal proceedings 
 against the proprietors, and after a considerable amount 
 of litigation, bother, and expense, at length succeeded in 
 getting: four thousand out of the ten to which he was, hi 
 equity, entitled. 
 
 We have said that Lord Cloncurry's frame, in 1851, 
 exhibited symptoms of "falling into the sere and yellow 
 leaf." Previous to that time, however, no man of his 
 age could have been more active or stronger. He was 
 always on the foot, visiting his tenantry, applauding their 
 labours, seeing after the improvements, or taking cogni- 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 581 
 
 zance of the agricultural prospects of the country. In 
 1850, he went to Paris, and visited at Bignon the old 
 acquaintance of his youth, Arthur O'Connor. " My 
 father," said the Hon. Cecil Lawless to Mr. Daunt, when 
 one day at Kilcascan Castle, in the autumn of 1850 — 
 " my father is as strong and as animated as I remember 
 him for a long time. I expect he will come to see me at 
 Glandore. [This he never did.] He ran over to Paris like 
 a boy." 
 
 His lordship's first symptoms of bodily infirmity were 
 drawn into existence under unusual circumstances. Early 
 in 1851, business brought him to visit the Royal Dublin 
 Society House, Kildare-street. Mr. Colles, the librarian 
 of that institution, offered to show Lord Cloncurry the 
 museum, library, and any other portions of the establish- 
 ment likely to interest his lordship. Whilst descending the 
 grand staircase, in company with Mr. Colles, Lord Clon- 
 curry 's foot suddenly slipped, and he came with consider- 
 able force to the bottom. The only personal injury, 
 however, which resulted from the fall was a fracture of 
 the fibula bone of the leg, and so much uneasiness did it 
 occasion his lordship for several days after, that he at length 
 found it advisable to apply for medical relief — a proceeding 
 which he rarely appears to have resorted to, except in 
 cases of very pressing necessity. Indeed few people en- 
 tertained a more lively horror of the faculty, in their 
 
 professional capacity, than Lord Cloncurry. Dr. 
 
 having been applied to, ordered a succession of wet 
 bandages to be applied to the ancle, and strictly enjoined 
 Lord Cloncurry, if he valued his recovery, to continue 
 constantly in a recumbent posture. Lord Cloncurry 
 attended, and with benefit, to the physician's directions ; 
 but soon found, much to his mortification, that in endea- 
 vouring to avoid Scylla he struck upon Charybdis. The 
 wet applications cured the pain, no doubt; but then, 
 on the other hand, they more than counterbalanced 
 that advantage, by inducing a heavy cold, which eventu- 
 ated in a swelled throat and a deafness of the right ear. 
 From the latter very awkward and inconvenient infirmity 
 Lord Cloncurry was never afterwards for one moment free. 
 
582 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 He did not attach any blame to the physician, but solely 
 attributed the mishap to some unnecessary exposure, 
 while attending to his directions. 
 
 Thank God, Lord Cloncurry lived to see the Great 
 Irish Industrial Exhibition of 1853. It was a crlorious 
 sight, and one amply calculated to make an Irishman feel 
 proud. His lordship saw its inauguration on the 16th 
 May ; but alas, lay cold and stiff in Lyons churchyard by 
 the first November following, when Lord St. Germans, 
 in his viceregal capacity, formally announced the cessation 
 of its existence. Lord Cloncurry, as all who knew him 
 may well suppose, took a warm interest in its progress 
 and success. The following letters are not irrelevant to 
 this subject: — 
 
 [Xo. 153.] LORD CLONCURRY TO JOHN HOGAN, ESQ. 
 
 " 18th February, 1853. 
 
 " Dear Mr. Hogan, — 1 have been requested to send some objects of art 
 to the Exhibition. Do you wish me to send Hibernia, and on what terms ? 
 If you can dine with me on Sunday we can talk over the subject." 
 
 [Xo. 154.] 
 
 u 28^ April, 1853. 
 
 " Dear Mr. Hogan, — Here I am, tired and sorry. I hope to see you 
 soon. Will you dine with me on Sunday ? Any news about the Exhi- 
 bition ?" 
 
 [No. 155.] 
 
 " Maretimo, 27th May, 1853. 
 
 " Dear Mr. Hogan, — I enclose £20 to cover the expenses of new revolv- 
 ing balls and platform for Hibernia. I am delighted to have sent her to the 
 Exhibition, for I think she will cause your fame to stand unrivalled in your 
 own country. Pray do all that you can to defend her from injury, as also 
 the other objects furnished from Lyons." 
 
 [Xo. 156.] 
 
 " Maretimo, 24th August, 1853. 
 " Dear Mr. Hogan, — I was«delighted to see your nice family and Mrs. 
 Hogan yesterday. Will you give her the enclosed as a prize for her gift to 
 poor Ireland, and very small proof of my respect for her and her good man. 
 Do not come here to-morrow. I have a reason for it. I hope some fine 
 holiday to get you to bring the family to see Maretimo, and 
 
 " Your faithful Servant, " Cloncurry." 
 
 The " prize" was a cheque for £20. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 583 
 
 The g-ood man one morning about a fortnight before 
 his death drove up in his carriage to Mr. Hogan's door, 
 and expressed a wish to see him. The sculptor appeared. 
 " Hogan," said he, handing him a basket containing a 
 quantity of pine apples, apricots, and peaches, " pray 
 share these among the children, after taking as many as 
 you fancy yourself. Accustomed as you have been to 
 the cookery of an Italian sun, I much fear that these 
 won't be likely to please you ; but had I any better you 
 should have them." 
 
 Meanwhile his lordship's anxiety to see the rival 
 Boards of Manufacture coalesce continued unabated : — 
 
 [No. 157.] LORD CLONCURRY TO THE VERY REV. DR. SPRATT, M.S.T. 
 
 " Maretimo, 21st February, 1853. 
 
 " My dear and Very Rev. Sir, — I would feel greatly obliged if you 
 can dine with me on Thursday next. I wish much to speak to you on the 
 subject of the fighting Manufacturing Boards. 
 
 " Dear Doctor Spratt, very truly yours, " Cloncurry." 
 
 Here we shall bundle together a few notes which do not 
 appear to have any regular date, but from the nature 
 of their allusions must have been written about this 
 period : — 
 
 [No. 158.] LORD CLONCURRY TO JOHN HOGAN, ESQ. 
 
 " Maretimo, lAtk March. 
 " Dear Mr. Hogan, — Interest is making to erect some kind of Testimo- 
 nial to Moore — perhaps a statue. 
 
 "His namesake has great influence with Sir Philip Crampton and others, 
 and for a bust his is first-rate. I, however, think that no person but you 
 could do justice to a statue for the Poet of Ireland; therefore stir yourself. 
 I will give £100 if you get the job — only <£50 for any one else. 
 
 " Yours — though I so seldom see or hear of you — 
 
 " Cloncurry." 
 
 [No. 159.] LORD CLONCURRY TO THE VERY REV. DR. SPRATT. 
 
 11 20th August. 
 " My dear Doctor Spratt, — I send an order on Mr.Browne, the printer, 
 for the copies of Smith O'Brien's Speech. 
 
 " I hear that both the Manufacturing Associations are at a stand. Is there 
 any hope of amalgamation? 
 
 " The Education Board and the Manufacturing Board are the foundation 
 of my only hope. 
 
 " Very faithfully yours, 
 
 " Cloncurry." 
 
584 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 [No. 160.] LORD CLONCURRY TO JOHN GRAY, ESQ., M.D. 
 
 " My dear Sir, — In the Evening Packet of last evening I am said to have 
 cheerfully signed Lord Glengall's petition [in favour of high rents]. This is 
 a mistake. I lost not a moment in refusing to sign it ; a requisition, calling 
 a meeting to discuss the matter, I cheerfully signed, as discussion, in my 
 opinion, tends to elicit truth. 
 
 " My dear Sir, very truly yours, 
 
 " Cloncurry." 
 
 [No. 161.] LORD CLONCURRY TO W. J. o'NEIL DAUNT, ESQ., M.P. 
 
 " My dear Sir, — "Will you give me the favour of your company to dinner 
 on Thursday next, if not otherwise engaged, and talk over the .past affairs of 
 Ireland? 
 
 " Dear Sir, yours truly, 
 
 " Cloncurry." 
 
 [No. 162.] LORD CLONCURRY TO JOHN GRAY, ESQ., M.D. 
 
 " Dear Doctor Gray, — Cecil is St Glandore, not very well. I expect 
 him about Christmas, if better. 
 
 " Faithfully yours, 
 
 " Cloncurry." 
 
 With the objects and tendencies of the Dublin Library 
 Society Lord Cloncury was always an ardent sympa- 
 thiser. Believing it calculated to keep alive an en- 
 lightened national spirit in the metropolis, he placed in 
 the hands of the trustees, a few days before his death, 
 a generous donation towards its rapidly sinking fund. 
 This was Lord Cloncurry 's last public act. 
 
 In 1853, the prospects of this excellent institution 
 appeared disheartening in the extreme. The number of 
 its members, from upwards of three thousand, had gra- 
 dually diminished to between three or four hundred. 
 The once proverbially literary taste of Dublin seemed as 
 though it were dead, and the national spirit of its people 
 almost exanimate. The members fell away one by one ; 
 if asked why or wherefore, they could hardly them- 
 selves give a reason. The Dublin Library Society 
 was once an essentially national institution. Of late 
 years it had degenerated into a spiritless nothing. When 
 Lord Cloncurry engaged the services of Hogan, in 1841, 
 to execute the figure of Hibernia, he fully intended it 
 as a present for the Dublin Library. Two years elapsed 
 ere the final touch of Hogan's chisel gave the finish to 
 its perfection. During the interval, Lord Cloncurry's 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 585 
 
 original resolution changed. " Ah !" said he, " its mem- 
 bers have manifestly wandered away from their ancient 
 landmarks of nationality. Hibernia shall never leave 
 Lyons." Some twenty years previously Lord Clon- 
 curry presented the Library Society with a magnificent 
 carved oak chair, supported by two Irish wolf dogs of 
 the same material. It may be seen in the reading-room 
 of the institution, immediately beneath Mr. B. Mul- 
 rennans life-like portrait of the noble president. This 
 beautiful and justly celebrated painting was generously 
 presented to the society a few months since by its gifted 
 artist. 
 
 In May, 1853, the prospects of the Library Society 
 were dark and gloomy. Tt had battled for years with 
 an unpropitious fortune ; but the conclusion of the strug- 
 gle now seemed approaching. Neglect and want of 
 means daily sapped its strength. At length, those hard- 
 working and disinterested men who constitute its coun- 
 cil-board decided, that unless the retreating members 
 rallied and fell into line once more, the Dublin Library 
 Society could not exist another year. 
 
 In their hour of need, the Committee of the Dublin 
 Library resolved to make application for assistance to 
 Lord Cloncurry, the father of the Institution. The 
 late Mr. John Raper, Librarian and Secretary, was 
 deputed to communicate with him. That gentleman, 
 in his letter, expressed to Lord Cloncurry how grateful 
 the Committee would feel by his kindly undertaking to 
 interest Lord Carlisle in the welfare of a society, whose 
 objects could hardly fail to enlist his sympathies. Lord 
 Cloncurry promptly replied : — 
 
 [No. 163.] LORD CLONCURRY TO MR. RAPER. 
 
 11 Afaretimo, \Uh May, 1853. 
 
 " Sir, — I have just received your letter of the 13th inst. I shall have 
 much pleasure in doing anything in my power to serve the Dublin Library, 
 for which purpose I "will send some such letter as you -will find on the other 
 half of this sheet. Perhaps the Committee, who recollect the names of the 
 former Presidents, will kindly correct the phraseology of an old hand long 
 out of the habit of paying compliments. 
 
 " Your very faithful Servant, 
 
 " Cloncurry." 
 
 2c2 
 
586 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 [No. 164.] LORD CLONCURRY TO THE EARL OF CARLISLE. 
 
 Dublin, May, 1853. 
 
 " My dear Lord Carlisle, — The poor people of the fair city of Dublin 
 do not forget your kindness and philanthropy. They honoured you whilst 
 amongst them, before you came amongst them, and since you have left 
 them. They depute me, as their humble representative, to ask a great 
 favour, which I sincerely hope it may be in your power to grant. 
 
 " I write at the desire of the Dublin Library Society, of which I am the 
 unworthy President ; a great and accomplished scholar, Dr. Mac Donnell 
 (who has succeeded your excellent friend, the late Dr. Murray), being my 
 thief support. He is the Provost of Trinity College. Our predecessors were 
 (Jharleuiont, Curran, &c, &c. The Society, now of more than sixty years' 
 standing, possess an extensive house and library in D'Olier-street ; but they 
 are not without fear that, like most of our public establishments, they may 
 feel the pressure of the times. And they pray from the respected Lord 
 Carlisle the timely aid of his eloquence and taste, as we all expect you to 
 visit our magnificent Exhibition." 
 
 Mr. Raper returned the letter to his lordship with a 
 suitable expression of gratitude. The good peer wrote 
 it anew, and in a few days received the following kind 
 reply from Lord Carlisle : — 
 
 [No. 165.] THE EARL OF CARLISLE TO LORD CLONCURRY. 
 
 11 Castle Howard, May 2lst, 1853. 
 
 "My dear Lord Cloncurry, — I must beg you to receive yourself, and 
 to convey to your colleagues in the Dublin Library Society the assurance 
 how very sensibly I feel the honour and distinction conferred upon me by 
 your joint request. Whether or not I should have been bold enough to 
 assume the responsibility of complying with it, I need not now discuss, as 
 my almost immediate departure for the East of Europe will put even the 
 shortest visit to Dublin wholly out of my power during the present year. 
 
 " It is very pleasant, my dear Lord, to find you taking unabated interest 
 in the pursuits and objects which have distinguished your whole career. 
 
 " Believe me, your very faithful Servant. 
 
 " Carlisle." 
 
 Lord Cloncurry felt that the Dublin Library Society, 
 in its then prostrate condition, required a president of 
 more activity, and influence, to raise it once more upon 
 its feet, and infuse a renovated spirit through its general 
 organization. He feared that his great age incapacitated 
 him from discharging the duties inherent to the presi- 
 dential office as they ought to be. He came to the con- 
 clusion of paying a parting subscription, and resigning in 
 favour of a younger and more active man. He commu- 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 587 
 
 nicated with Mr. Raper on the 23rd May, but did not 
 yet apprise him of the determination he had come to. 
 
 [No. 166.] LORD CLONCURRY TO ME. RAPER. 
 
 " Maretimo, 23rd May, 1853. 
 
 " Dear Sir, — It grieves me that I am so very useless a President of so 
 excellent an institution as the Dublin Library Society. The loss of our 
 Parliament has entailed on our beautiful city more serious ills than the 
 diminution of the number of those whose circumstances enable them to 
 devote any portion of their time to the pleasures of literature, or, indeed, of 
 pursuits more profitable, though less noble. 
 
 " Cloxclkhv."' 
 
 Four months elapsed, and the librarian heard nothing 
 from Lord Cloncurry. At length, on the 25th Septem- 
 ber, the following letter arrived in answer to a circular 
 issued by the committee : — 
 
 [No. 167.] LORD CLONCURRY TO MR. RAPER. 
 
 " 2oth September, 1853. 
 
 " Dear Sir, — At a time -when public libraries and literary associations 
 are springing up in every corner of civilized society, it grieves me to think 
 that the ancient and most excellent institution of which I have the honour 
 to be President, should be neglected. I have often blamed myself for having 
 accepted, and continued to hold, an office to which my general residence in 
 the country, and my age, have prevented my paying the attention due to so 
 admirable an institution in my native city. 
 
 " I am so circumstanced that it will scarcely be in my power to attend 
 the meeting on the 3rd proximo ; but if the gentlemen of the Committee, or 
 some of them, will allow me the honour to meet them at the Library, at 
 three o'clock on Thursday, I shall be particularly obliged. Deeply and 
 dearly interested as I am for everything Irish, I am ready to pay a parting 
 subscription, and to resign an office which I do not feel mvself worthv to 
 hold. 
 
 " I have the honour to be, dear Sir, very faithfully yours, 
 
 " Cloxcurry." 
 
 Lord Cloncurry was up to time on the appointed clay. 
 As the Post Office clock chimed the hour of three, his 
 lordship's carriage drove up to the Dublin Library. The 
 venerable peer, unaided and alone, mounted the steep 
 stone staircase, advanced to the chair, and at once entered 
 freely into conversation with the members of the com- 
 mittee. He feelingly expressed his sympathy for the 
 gloomy prospects extended before them, and, in token of 
 its sincerity, counted down upon the table one hundred 
 
588 
 
 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 Bank of Ireland notes. This was Lord Cloncurry's last 
 public act. 
 
 He continued, however, to give anonymously as be- 
 fore. 
 
 [No. 168.] LOPwD CLONCURRY TO THE VERY RET. DR. SPRATT. 
 
 " 21th May, 1853. 
 
 '' My dear and Very Rev. Dr. Spratt, — Will you kindly distribute 
 the following remembrances to the useful institutions named on the other side? 
 jfnd pray renew your wise and most paternal exhortations to the rival Boards 
 of Manufacture, and call their attention to an excellent letter of ' a Celt' in 
 this day's Freeman. 
 
 " The good people who have aided your humane exertions in favour of 
 Mr. Smith O'Brien claim my sincere respect. 
 
 " An Exhibitor and Admirer. 
 
 " Sisters of Charity (St. Vincent's), 
 
 " Roomkeepers' Charity, 
 
 " Sisters of Mercy, 
 
 " Samaritan, 
 
 u Mechanics' Institution, 
 
 " Sailors' Home, . 
 
 " Schools of St. Peter, . 
 
 " Boards of Manufacture (when united), 
 
 £20 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 "£100 
 
 [No. 169.] " Maretimo, August 22, 1853. 
 
 " Dear and respected Friend, Dr. Spratt, — Your anxiety on the 
 subject of the schools of industry, so successfully carried on in Dublin, 
 induces me to request you will pay for me £10 for the Dargan Industrial 
 Institute. * * * * 
 
 " Tour faithful and obliged, " Cloncurry." 
 
 Lord Cloncurry's parting subscription of £100 saved 
 our metropolitan library from utter dissolution. Had he 
 not flung that heap of faggots on its dying embers, it 
 would, doubtless, have long since died completely out. 
 The good man's contribution fed its flame into fuller 
 light ; and new members, attracted by it, thronged for- 
 ward in numbers. The treasury of the society gradually 
 filled — its spirit revived — its vigour of operation re- 
 turned — its healthy tone became restored. Clouds of 
 gloom were no longer seen to traverse the countenances of 
 the committee, as, seated around their oval table, they 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 589 
 
 investigated hebdomadally the posture of the accounts. 
 The demeanour of that body, and the newly painted and 
 decorated board-room; evidenced their complete pros- 
 perity and satisfaction. 
 
 Lord Cloncurry did not survive long enough to wit- 
 ness the complete success attendant on his generous sub- 
 scription to the Dublin Library. Whilst he lived, he 
 watched its progress anxiously, and as only a father could. 
 In October — the month he died — we find him addressing 
 Mr. Raper on the still all-engrossing subject of his 
 thoughts. 
 
 [No. 170.] LORD CLONCURRY TO MR. RAPER. 
 
 "3rd October, 1853. 
 "Dear Sir, — I enclose a list of subscribers to the Limerick Athenaeum. 
 Perhaps we might gain assistance by adding some second name and object 
 to the one we already use, as 'Dublin Library 1 and ' Hibernian Athenanim.' 
 
 " Faithfully yours, 
 
 " Cloncurry." 
 
 One morning, about this period, Lord Cloncurry called, 
 in his carriage, at Mr. Hogan's residence in Wentworth 
 Place. " Hogan," said he, " Hibernia must be my 
 tomb-stone. It was my original wish. In my will, I 
 will bequeath £300 to cover the expenses of a handsome 
 pedestal for it ; and I am sure, when I leave the design 
 and execution to your good taste, the work will be done 
 classically and well !" Poor Lord Cloncurry did not 
 think his dissolution was so close. He returned home, 
 but added no codicil to his will. He probably considered, 
 like many others, that there was no necessity to hurry. 
 
 In gratitude to William Dargan, a large circle of his 
 admirers decided upon entertaining him at a public ban- 
 quet. The price of tickets was fixed at a guinea each. 
 Lord Cloncurry, of course, received one of the earliest 
 invitations. The following reply was written six days 
 prior to his dissolution : — 
 
 [No. 171.] to the committee of the dargan banquet. 
 
 '■Jfaretimo, October 22nd, 1853. 
 " Gentlemen, — In answer to your favour of the 13th instant, I am sorry 
 to say that I have not a guinea in the world, and that I have long given up 
 
590 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 any attendance at large parties, such as I hope yours will be ; but if a pound 
 can be accepted, as proof of my respect for Mr. Dargan, I shall be most 
 willing to pay it. 
 
 " Your most humble Servant, 
 
 " Cloncurry." 
 
 One of Lord Cloncurry's oldest and most attached 
 friends was tlie late Sir Simon Bradstreet, Bart. He was 
 the second son of Sir Samuel Bradstreet, Recorder of, and 
 Member for, Dublin in the Irish Parliament, and after- 
 wards Judge of the Court of Kings Bench. With the 
 national movements of his country Sir Simon ever 
 thoroughly identified himself, and in so doing strength- 
 ened to a still further extent the repeatedly-expressed 
 friendship of Lord Cloncurry for him. Their ages closely 
 assimilated. Lord Cloncurry was born in 1773, and Sir 
 Simon Bradstreet in 1772. The year 1853 proved fatal 
 to the earthly existence of baron and baronet. In the 
 full vigour of a green old age, both suddenly withered, and 
 " died in October." Lord Cloncurry's demise took place 
 on the 28th, and Sir Simon's on the 25th. The baronet, 
 at his residence near Clontarf, became seriously attacked 
 with bronchitis. The news reached Lord Cloncurry on 
 Thursday the 20th. He was visibly affected, and sent 
 several successive messages of inquiry after the health of 
 his old friend. On Sunday morning he wrote to John 
 Bradstreet, Esq., the present baronet. From this letter 
 we cull the following extracts. Expressing, as it does, a 
 sort of presentiment of his own approaching dissolution, 
 although unconscious at the time of any unusual amount 
 of debility, or indisposition, the letter will doubtless be 
 read with interest. The tenderness of his lordship's heart 
 breathes through every line of it : — 
 
 [No. 172.] LORD CLONCURRY TO MR. NOW SIR JOHN BRADSTREET, BART. 
 
 " 3faretimo, October 23rd, 1853. 
 
 " My dear Bradstreet, — I hope that my dear old friend is free from 
 much pain, though I fear that is almost impossible from the nature of the 
 attack. Like myself, he cannot expect a long respite. ****** 
 
 " Give my affectionate respects to your dear lady, and be assured of the 
 friendship of " Clonccjrry." 
 
 A few days previously Sir Simon Bradstreet had been 
 received into the Roman Catholic Church, by the Rev. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 591 
 
 Mr. Kennedy, C.C., of Clontarf. Throughout his life he 
 enjoyed the reputation of being a benevolent man, and a 
 liberal Protestant, and when we recollect what a con- 
 stant attendant he always was at the Catholic Association, 
 and how thoroughly he identified himself with the pro- 
 ceedings of that body, it cannot be considered as surprising 
 that he should have died in the profession of that faith 
 towards which he ever showed so kindly a disposition. 
 
 Lord Cloncurry rarely sat down to dinner of a week 
 day, and never of a Sunday, without the society of a few 
 congenial friends. On Sunday, October 23rd, his lord- 
 ship had a larger dinner party than usual, and never 
 before appeared more cheerful. Ireland — her present 
 prospects, and her past calamities — formed the chief topic 
 of conversation. Lord Cloncurry regarded the great 
 Dublin Exhibition, than about to close, as the harbinger 
 of an important industrial movement, and spoke of Mr. 
 Dargans design with liberal praise, and confident hope. 
 It was the last occasion on which he presided at that hos- 
 pital board, around which the greatest patriots of three 
 generations of Irishmen had discussed the fortunes of Ire- 
 land — at which Grattan's splendid fancy, and Curran's 
 glittering humour, and O'Conneli's masculine sense, and 
 Shiel's diamond wit, had so often flashed and flowed — 
 at which the Viceroy and the Rebel, Whig, and Tory, 
 Catholic and Protestant, Old and Young Ireland, had all 
 found some strange and fascinating centre of union. It 
 was the last time the old lord was destined to sit among 
 his friends ; and as he turned away to die, the last words 
 they remembered were hope for Ireland — the hope that 
 had never flickered throughout eighty years. 
 
 At twelve o'clock Lord Cloncurry retired to rest, in 
 excellent health. Equally well he rose* next morning, 
 
 * Although far advanced in years, Lord Cloncurry, unlike the generality 
 of octogenariaus, never required the slightest assistance to dress or undress. 
 Up to a short time hefore his death he "was as erect as possible, and as regular 
 in his hours for rising and retiring to rest as the most rigid disciplinarian 
 could desire. He never breakfasted in bed, and on no occasion left his bed- 
 room -without using the razor. In respect to the neatness of his appearance, 
 no petit maitre could have been more scrupulously particular. 
 
 For the pleasures of reading Lord Cloncurry always showed a marked 
 
592 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 and having some business to transact which took him a 
 few miles away, ordered his carriage to the door. The 
 day was piercing cold, and by the time he got home, it 
 had far advanced. 
 
 Comfortable fires awaited his lordship's return; but 
 they could riot warm him. He complained of a violent 
 shivering, accompanied by inflammatory pain in the left 
 side. He endeavoured to remain up, but could not. At 
 seven o'clock he retired to bed, cramped with pain, and 
 benumbed with cold.* 
 
 We have said that his lordship entertained an aversion 
 to medical interference or prescription. Surgeon Le 
 Clerc of the Black Rock was the only physician whom, 
 in his professional capacity, he could at all tolerate of late. 
 But on this occasion his lordship would not even permit 
 Dr. Le Clerc to be sent for. Lord Cloncurry's illness, 
 however, increased so much, as the night advanced, that 
 those about him became seriously alarmed. At two o'clock 
 on Tuesday morning a messenger was privately de- 
 spatched for Dr. Le Clerc. 
 
 inclination. He never was without a book, and his fund of general informa- 
 tion was, in consequence, considerable. Should he even waken for half an 
 hour in the night, he would instantly procure his reading lamp, book, and 
 pencil. This marked taste for the society of a book appears to have been 
 first formed during his lordship's protracted inprisonment in the Tower. 
 
 * Up to the very day that Lord Cloncurry became attacked with fatal ill- 
 ness, he continued to dispense his unostentatious bounty. The actual extent 
 
 of this exceeds all belief. Nor was it confined to Ireland. Miss S , his 
 
 lordship's housekeeper, was continually in the habit of finding letters lying 
 about from the most distant parts of England, some soliciting relief, and others 
 thanking the good man for his generous remittance. " What do you know 
 of these people ?" she would sometimes say. " Can you be certain that they 
 are deserving objects?" " Oh, the poor people are in great distress," was the 
 invariable answer. " Had you read their petition it would have made your 
 heart bleed for them. I trust in God that I have alleviated their misery." 
 There were several families in Dublin, whose names could not be mentioned, 
 that he regularly supported. Any person in distress had but to apply to him 
 to receive relief. Of all men living, he had, perhaps, the most sensitive heart. 
 Benevolent to a passion, he could not think of standing a minute proof against 
 the voice of supplication ; and having filled the outstretched hand of want, 
 would fly, scarcely able to repress his tears, from the scene. In fact, Lord 
 Cloncurry was the great centre of refuge for all beggars indiscriminately — 
 those who had the wickedness to play upon his generosity, and those who 
 were really deserving of his bounty. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 593 
 
 Dr. Le Clerc found his lordship labouring under pleu- 
 risy, accompanied by a most virulent and harassing cough, 
 which contributed more than any other uneasiness to em- 
 bitter the few remaining hours of his existence. This 
 attacked him so often, and so violently, that his lordship's 
 countenance would become almost purple with the exer- 
 tion. Dr. Le Clerc at once put him under the usual 
 medical treatment for such cases.* His lordship made a 
 momentary rally, but nothing more. The disease gra- 
 dually strengthened in its grasp, and it became evident to 
 all that the good man's dissolution was rapidly approach- 
 ing. 
 
 On Wednesday the cruel malady called an ally to its 
 aid. Diarrhoea tore roughly at his lordship's already en- 
 feebled constitution. 
 
 His lordship only spoke once after. He suffered much 
 from debility, and lay stretched at full length with eyes 
 closed. Whispering his physician in a voice barely 
 audible, he at length said, " Ah, Le Clerc, the closing 
 scene !" 
 
 On Thursday the Hon. Cecil Lawless arrived from 
 Cork, and had an affecting interview with his dying father. 
 At two o'clock, a.m., on Friday morning, disease con- 
 summated its work, and the saddest affliction which had 
 befallen Ireland since O'Connell's death, fell upon the land. 
 The family of Lord Cloncurry decided that the funeral 
 should be a private one, and appointed twelve o'clock on 
 Tuesday, November 1st, for the removal of his lordship's 
 remains to Lyons. Long before that hour, however, the 
 carriages of the immediate friends of the illustrious de- 
 ceased began to arrive, as well as large numbers of the 
 peasantry, who, loving Lord Cloncurry while living, re- 
 vered his memory now that he was no more. 
 
 In addition to the personal friends of Lord Cloncurry, 
 the entire of the committee, and many of the members, of 
 the Dublin Library Society, were in attendance. Edward, 
 present Lord Cloncurry, the Hon. Cecil Lawless, the 
 
 * Dr. Le Clerc cupped his lordship plentifully, applied a blister, and ad- 
 ministed calomel in small doses. 
 
594 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 Right Hon. J. W. Fitz-Patrick, D. Kirwan, J. Burke, 
 H. D. Burke, and W. Lewis, Esqrs., acted as chief 
 mourners. 
 
 Shortly after one o'clock the remains of Lord Cloncurry 
 were borne, in presence of many weeping eyes, from his 
 villa to the hearse. We are informed by the papers of 
 the day that three coffins enclosed the good man's bones. 
 The inner one was of cedar wood, and lined with white 
 satin. The second was of lead, and the third of fine 
 grained oak, highly polished, and mounted with richly- 
 gilt handles and escutcheons. On the lid the follow- 
 ing inscription, surmounted by a baron's coronet, ap- 
 peared: — 
 
 " The Right Hon. Valentine Browne Lawless, Baron Cloncurry. 
 
 Born 19th August, 1773. 
 Died 28th of October, 1853. Aged 81 years." 
 
 The coffin having been covered with a silk velvet pall, 
 deeply fringed with black gimp and heavy tassels, the 
 mournful cortege moved from Maretimo, and proceeded 
 slowly on its way through the village of Black Rock, 
 where most of the shops were completely closed. A large 
 concourse of the poor from the surrounding neighbour- 
 hood, who, during very many years, had been the recipients 
 of the good old lord's unostentatious bounty, lined the 
 road-way at either side, and, despite the rain which fell in 
 torrents, followed the procession until the trees of Lyons 
 hid it from their view. The Irish peasantry, superstitious 
 as they are warm-hearted, have always regarded wet 
 weather, in immediate connexion with a funeral, as a 
 circumstance that augured well for the salvation of the 
 deceased. They rejoiced upon the present occasion, and 
 as the black hearse-plumes drooped, saturated and weep- 
 ing, over the dead man's coffin, many a poor old woman's 
 voice might have been heard enunciating, " Happy is 
 the corpse that the rain rains on." 
 
 As the funeral train passed through the villages of 
 Inchicore and Clondalkin, numbers of labourers clustered 
 in knots together, whose demeanour testified at once their 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 595 
 
 sincere respect for the memory of Lord Cloncurry, and 
 their sorrow at having lost a generous employer and a 
 warm friend. The greater number fell in with the pro- 
 cession. 
 
 On arriving at Newcastle, the bell of the Catholic 
 chapel began to toll, and crowds of his lordship's tenants, 
 and the peasantry of the surrounding districts, swelled the 
 moving human mass. 
 
 At four o'clock the coffin was borne to the Great Hall 
 of Lyons Castle,* and placed on tressels prior to its final 
 removal, by torchlight, to the family vault adjacent. This 
 solemn ceremony was fixed for half-past seven, but long 
 before that hour a large number of the County Kildare 
 'magistracy, the resident gentry of the district, and the 
 tenantry and labourers on his lordship's estate, began to 
 arrive. The latter body wore scarfs and hat-bands, and 
 amounted to upwards of three hundred persons. Punc- 
 tually to the appointed time, the funeral procession formed, 
 and the remains of Cloncurry, reposing on a bier, were 
 conveyed, with much solemnity, in the direction of the 
 crypt. A more picturesque or impressive scene it would 
 be impossible to conceive than was presented on this 
 occasion, as the long, black procession, thrown boldly into 
 relief by the yellow blaze of sixty torches, slowly wended 
 its way through the thickly wooded paths and avenues, 
 which led to the last resting-place of Valentine Lawless. 
 
 At eight o'clock the dense cortege reached its destina- 
 tion. Within the ivied nun of an old and time-stricken 
 
 * Lyons Castle is constructed of granite, and castellated. It consists of a 
 spacious centre, connected by semicircular colonnades, with a stately pavillion 
 at each extremity. Of these one is entirely filled with specimens of first- 
 class sculpture, and originally intended by Lord Cloncurry as a study for 
 native artists. The ancient village of Lyonstown, from which the mansion 
 derives its name, was burnt in the war of 1641, and, with the exception of an 
 old tower and the ruined chapel wherein the ashes of Lord Cloncurry sleep, 
 no traces of it remain. The entire inhabitants of the parish of Lyons do not 
 exceed 158. Yet, for the accommodation of this comparatively small popula- 
 tion, Lord Cloncurry, on his return from Italy, toiled to erect a Roman Ca- 
 tholic chapel, which, thanks to his influence, his zeaL and his purse, was 
 creditably effected in 1810. A large bronze crucifix, and holy water font of 
 white marble, which at present decorate the chapel, were brought from Rome, 
 in 1805, by Lord Cloncurry. Of these the former was a personal gift from 
 Pope Pius VII. 
 
596 CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 
 
 Christian temple they laid their burden down. Lord and 
 Lady Cloncurry, the Hon. Cecil Lawless, and Denis 
 Kirwan, Esq., stood immediately around the grave. The 
 assemblage were deeply and visibly affected. A death- 
 like silence prevailed, and tears fell thick and fast upon 
 
 the good man's coffin. 
 
 ****** 
 
 Early on the following morning the Hon. Cecil Lawless 
 returned by the Great Southern Railway to Cork. Before 
 his father's coffin-plate had tarnished beneath the clay, the 
 young man was himself struck down. 
 
 The disease which proved so suddenly fatal to Mr. 
 Lawless was violent inflammation of the brain. He long 
 entertained a presentiment that, sooner or later, he would 
 die insane, and repeatedly expressed his apprehensions 
 on this score to those who possessed his confidence and 
 his friendship. The inflammatory affection of the brain 
 terminated fatally on the second day. Edward Lord 
 Cloncurry arrived in Cork a few hours after the .com- 
 mencement of the attack, and remained beside his brother's 
 bed until death snatched him away. On the 9th No- 
 vember Mr. Lawless's remains were removed, in a special 
 train, to Lyons, and deposited privately in his father's 
 grave. Young and hale he had gazed upon it exactly one 
 week before.* 
 
 And as we chronicle this gloomy fact, Lord Cloncurry 's 
 observation to Mr. Hogan, in his letter of August 19, 
 1841, rushes to our mind — " How true it is that in the 
 midst of life, of health, and of happiness, we are in death." 
 
 And so we come to the close of this noble and eventful 
 career. The mortal part of Cloncurry rests in the se- 
 pulchre of his race. Feebly, we fear, but with good will 
 and true reverence for all that was generous and heroic 
 in him, we have essayed to make his countrymen familiar 
 with the acts which shall keep his name immortal in 
 Ireland. Where shall we see his like again ? is the question 
 
 * Mr. Lawless was born Oct., 1820, and represented Clonmel in three 
 Parliaments. He married, in 1848, Frances Georgiana, daughter of Maurice 
 Townsend, Esq., of Shepperton, Co. Cork, and widow of John William Digby, 
 Esq., of Landenstown, Co. Kildare. 
 
CLONCURRY AND HIS TIMES. 597 
 
 which every age asks and answers, as the dynasty of the 
 great and good now and then pauses for an instant by 
 some fresh grave. But it is more than proverbially hard, 
 indeed, to hope that we shall ever see the like of Valen- 
 tine Lord Cloncurry in Ireland again — the man who 
 was an Irish Peer and an Irish Patriot, when the words 
 had their noblest meaning, and all whose life was faithful 
 to the ambition and devotion of his youth. We have 
 traced him in the rebel's cell, in the Viceroy's sanctum, 
 in the public forum, in that home which was, as it were, 
 a .laboratory of patriotic designs, a centre of great and 
 good men, a fount of gracious charities. Through all 
 the great triumphs, and greater afflictions of his life, and 
 through its calm even day course, in which we see the 
 love of his country acting like some quiet industry, there 
 is a perfect harmony, there is but one idea — Ireland. 
 There is a monument of him in every act that was done 
 for the good of this country in his days, on every bench 
 where justice is administered in Ireland, on every wall 
 reared to worship God or shelter the poor that rose to 
 heaven within his neighbourhood, in the artist's studio, 
 whom his generous patronage fostered, in the good men 
 whom he befriended, in the good causes to which his 
 name lent a new sanction. To portray a character so 
 noble in every respect might well task a pen more 
 brilliant and expert than ours. It has been the pleasant 
 occupation of a year's leisure. May it not be altogether 
 unworthy of its aim ! May its many shortcomings be 
 excused in consideration of its good purpose ! No light 
 thrown upon a good man's character is wholly lost. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 SOME ACCOUNT OF EOBEET LAWLESS OF LONDON, EXTEACTED FEOiT 
 THE ANNUAL EEGISTEE FOE 1806. 
 
 (See Note on page 27.) 
 
 At his apartments in Dean-street, Soho, at the advanced age of 82, Mr. 
 Robert Lawless, who, for considerably more than half a century, had been 
 so well known to, and much distinguished by, the notice and regard of many 
 of the most eminent literary characters of his time, as one of the principal 
 assistants to Mr. Andrew Miller, formerly bookseller on the Strand ; after- 
 wards to his successor, the late Mr. Alderman Cadell ; and since, till very 
 lately, to Messrs. Cadell and Da vies, the present conductors of that extensive 
 business. 
 
 Mr. L. was a native of Dublin, and related not very distantly, to the 
 respectable and recently ennobled family of the same name, as well as to the 
 Barnwells and Aylmers. He was a Roman Catholic, and strictly observed 
 the duties and obligations of his religion, yet perfectly free from the bigotry 
 and uncharitableness which have, on too many occasions, marked the con- 
 duct of members of the Romish Church. In his character were united the 
 soundest integrity of mind, with a simplicity of manners rarely equalled. 
 His reading had been extensive; his judgment was remarkably correct; his 
 memory uncommonly strong, and the anecdotes with which it was stored 
 often afforded gratification to his friends, who delighted to draw him into 
 conversation. One remarkable instance of his singleness of heart we can add, 
 on the most indisputable authority. Not very long before Mr. Cadell ob- 
 tained the scarlet gown, on taking stock at the end of the year, honest Robin 
 very seriously applied to his master to ask a favour of him. Mr. Cadell, of 
 course, expected that it was somewhat that might be beneficial to the appli- 
 cant. But, great indeed was his surprise to find, that the purport of the 
 request was, that his annual salary might be lowered, as the year's account 
 was not so good as the preceding one ; and Lawless really feared that his 
 master could not afford to pay him such very high wages. On retiring from 
 business, the benevolent master had a picture of the faithful servant painted 
 by Sir William Beech, which he always showed to his friends as one of the 
 principal ornaments of his drawing-room. 
 
 GEATTAN ON THE SALE OF PEEEAGES, AND HIS DEFIANCE OF 
 * THE GOVEENMENT. 
 
 (See page 46.) 
 
 Mr. Grattan's speech on the above subject was, in vigour and intensity, in- 
 ferior to none ever delivered by him. The celebrated passage : — "Rank majorities 
 
APPENDIX. 599 
 
 may give a nation law, but "rank majorities cannot give law authority," occurred 
 in it. Lord Clare, who sat in the Upper House, took notice of the speech, and 
 made it the subject of a series of diatribes. Grattan tired with indignation 
 at this breach of etiquette (we suppose it is unnecessary to remind the reader 
 that the proceedings of one house shoidd never form the subject of debate or 
 censure in another), and repeated, in still plainer and more telling lan- 
 guage, his sentiments. " Sir," said he, "I have been told it was said that I 
 should have been stopped — should have been expelled the Commons — 
 should have been delivered up to the bar of the Lords — for the expressions 
 delivered that day. I will repeat what I said on that occasion. I said that 
 his Majesty's Ministers had sold the peerages, for which offence they were 
 impeachable. I said they had applied the money for the purpose of pur- 
 chasing seats in the House of Commons for the servants or followers of the 
 Castle, for which offence I said they were impeachable. I said they had 
 done this, not in one, or two, but in several instances, for which compli- 
 cation of offences, I said his Majesty's Ministers were impeachable — as public 
 malefactors, who had conspired against the common weal, the independency 
 of Parliament, and the fundamental laws of the^and; and I offered and 
 dared them to put this matter in a course of inquiry ; I added, that I con- 
 sidered them as public malefactors, whom we were ready to bring to justice. 
 I repeat these charges now ; and if anything more severe was on a former 
 occasion expressed, I beg to be reminded of it, and I will again repeat it. 
 Why do not you expel me now ? Why not send me to the bar of the House 
 of Lords ? Where is your adviser ? Going out of this House, I shall repeat 
 my sentiments, that his Majesty's Ministers are guilty of impeachable of- 
 fences ; and advancing to the bar of the Lords, I shall repeat these sentiments ; 
 or, if the Tower is to be my habitation, I will there meditate the im- 
 peachment of these Ministers, and return, not to capitulate, but to punish. 
 Sir, I think I know myself well enough to say, that if called forth to suffer 
 in a public cause, I shall go further than my prosecutors, both in virtue 
 and in danger." 
 
 Curran's speech on the same subject (February 20th, 1790) was more 
 ironical than fierce. " The sale of peerages," said he, " was as notorious as 
 that of the cast horses in the Castle yard — the publicity the same — the 
 terms not very different — the horses not warranted sound — the other animals 
 warranted rotten. The former destined for honest and useful labour ; the 
 latter for vile and base drudgery. We offered evidence of the fact — I pledge 
 myself to prove that fact. I know the power of this House. I know the 
 consequences of a malicious and false accusation. Let it fall upon me if I 
 deserve it." — Parliamentary Register, vol. x. p. 290. 
 
 SINGULAR CORRESPONDENCE. ATTEMPT ON THE PART OF 3IR. J. 
 
 R TO CORRUPT THE HON. CECIL LAWLESS, 31. P., WITH 
 
 A BRIBE. 
 
 {Seepage 553.) 
 
 " Clonmel, 25th January, 1850. 
 
 " Hon. Sir, — As one of your constituents, permit me to request your kind 
 attention to the following : — I have been in the corn trade here for the past 
 eight years, which business I am obliged to relinquish, in consequence of the 
 very prostrate state of the times, and the fatal operation of free trade upon 
 all branches of industry in this country. I am a single man, about thirty- 
 
600 APPENDIX. 
 
 nine years of age, able and willing to fulfil the duties of most situations, having 
 a lot of cash in bank, and not being able to convert it to any profitable 
 account at present. I thus mojt respectfully and confidentially solicit your 
 kind influence with your friends to obtain for me some decent situation under 
 Government (however so humble), for which favour I pledge myself to hand 
 the friend the sum of £300 the instant I get the appointment. I detest being 
 idle, and love employment ; would have no objection to country, and would 
 prefer England.- 
 
 " I am well aware how much I ask for; but let the result be favourable or 
 otherwise no mortal upon this earth shall ever be the wiser of it, so far as I 
 am or will be concerned. 
 
 " Should you be so good as to grant this request, I would wait upon you 
 at any time or place you think proper — it would be the prudent and most 
 discreet plan — or would have no objection to meet your friend in London or 
 elsewhere. 
 
 " I understand all the civil situations of the military department, having 
 served as sergeant-major of Artillery upon the Island of St. Helena for five 
 years: and beseeching your confidence once again, and begging your kind 
 iadulgence for this trouble, I subscribe myself, Hon. Sir, your obedient and 
 very humble Servant, " James R . 
 
 " Hon. Cecil Lawless, M.P., &c. &c. 
 
 '• A reply in due course, if you please, as I intend to try elsewhere. Ad- 
 dress James R , Merchant, Clonmel." 
 
 THE HON*. CECIL LAWLESS, M.P., TO MR. JAMES R . 
 
 " Glandore, Boss Carberry, Feb. 1, 1850. 
 
 "Sir, — Your letter of January 2.3th having been directed to Dublin, has 
 only just reached me. I regret this, as I should have wished you to have 
 received my answer as soon as possible, in order that you might be at liberty 
 to make your offer elsewhere, as you say you intend doing; and I should feel 
 obliged by your informing me with what success you try elsewhere. I have 
 been more than once disgusted by seeing our members truckling to the present 
 Government, who have worked more mischief to Ireland than any of our 
 former rulers since the terrible Union. But vet, Sir, I will not believe that 
 you are likely to succeed better with any one of them ; I doubt whether the 
 blackest sheep of the flock will have courage to promote your interest for 
 even double the bribe you offer me. 
 
 " I think it may be just possible that your object was to try me, in order 
 that you might expose me shoidd I fail, and so you might cause so iniquitous 
 a member to be removed from the representation. * * * * This is the 
 first time that I have been requested to sell myself (and I must admit the 
 price was handsome,) since I had the honour to be their representative; and 
 if I believed that any three of them could have advised you to the step you 
 have taken, I should to-morrow request them to look for a member with 
 whom they might make their bargains. 
 
 " In this matter I am neither your faithful nor obedient Servant, 
 
 " Cecil Lawless. 
 
 "Mr. James R , Merchant, Clonmel." 
 
 [We are perfectly well aware of the applicant's name, and purposely refrain 
 from more than initialing it. About a week previous to the date of the above 
 
 letter Mr. R addressed a similar application to John O'ConnelL Esq., M.P., 
 
 who took no further notice of the fellow than by placing his letter in the 
 hands of the Attorney- General. — TV. J. F.] 
 
APPENDIX. 601 
 
 LOED CLOXCERRy's CORRESPONDENCE WITH DR. GRAY. 
 
 "We insert the following letter from Dr. Gray, Editor and Proprietor of the 
 Freeman's Journal: — 
 
 "February 16tk, 1855. 
 
 " My dear Sir, — The greater number of the letters with winch I had 
 been from time to time favoured by the late Lord Cloncurry were written with 
 that entire freedom from restraint which impresses me with the conviction, 
 that I am bound to look on them as confidential utterances of his lordship's 
 opinions, which I could not, with propriety, hand you for publication. I 
 regret this the more, as, on looking over them in reference to your request, I 
 can with truth affirm, that while the conduct of public men and the objects 
 of public measures were freely canvassed in many of them, there is not a 
 single sentence in any one, the publication of which would not reflect the 
 highest credit on the judgment and patriotism, as well as on the heart of the 
 lamented dead. 
 
 " I send you a few of his lordship's letters which may perhaps prove useful 
 to you. Though manifestly not written for publication, I feel that in 
 placing in your hands a feAv letters which illustrate his ever vigilant anxietv 
 for the material improvement of the people, and his never-flagging hope in 
 the ultimate destiny of this nation, I am but assisting your praiseworthv 
 effort to do justice to the memory of one of the most generous of men. and 
 the most disinterested of patriots. 
 
 "Yours truly, •' Johx Gray. 
 
 " Wm. John Fitzpatrick, Esq." 
 
 Nine highly interesting letters from Lord Cloncurry were enclosed with 
 Dr. Gray's communication. 
 
 Dr. Gray permitted us to see some of the letters which he did not feel at 
 liberty to give for publication. Many of them show that Lord Cloncurry was 
 a careful observer of all passing events, and not a few contain elaborate and 
 very able comments on the topics discussed in the last Times, Freeman, or 
 Xation. "We requested leave to publish the letter No. 127, page 516, in 
 which allusion is made to the " Stoneybatter dinner," by which is meant the 
 dinner given by the Midland Great Western Railway Company to Lord 
 Clarendon, on the completion of their splendid terminus at the Broadstone. 
 The dinner was given shortly after Lord Clarendon's connexion with the 
 World newspaper had been made public by the celebrated trial of Birch and 
 Somerville, and the speech delivered by Dr. Gray, to which allusion is made, 
 was in reply to the toast of "The Press," in the course of which he adminis- 
 tered a severe rebuke to Lord Clarendon on his illicit intercourse with a 
 venal and corrupt press, in a manner so happy as not to offend proprietv. 
 while it wounded to the quick, and yet so direct as to elicit from the leading 
 journals of the day, of all politics, the most handsome expressions of thanks 
 for the vindication of the honour of the press in the presence of the Yicerov 
 who sought to dishonour and degrade it. This circumstance explains the 
 use of the word " Stoney-io^e?*" in his lordship's letter. 
 
 DR. LACOUR ON THE POST HORTEM EXAMINATION" OF O'CONNELL. 
 
 (Seepage 486.) 
 
 Dr Lacour, who accompanied O'Connell to Genoa, and attended him 
 during his last illness, read, in November, 1847, a paper before the Societ> 
 
 2 D 
 
<i02 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Medicale oV Emulation of Lyons, on the actual cause of the great man's death, 
 as ascertained by post mortem examination. From this document it would 
 appear that O'Connell laboured under ramollissement of the brain for upwards 
 of two years previous to his dissolution ; that it produced " the uncertain gait 
 and failing intellect to which," remarks Dr. Lacour, " the fatal termination 
 was entirely attributable." Dr. Lacour's paper contained an elaborate state- 
 ment of the diagnosis of the case. In reference to the condition of the brain, 
 he observed, among other details solely intelligible to a medical man: — " A 
 space which might have contained a wallnut, wa< transformed into a greyish 
 thick fluid, in the midst of which there was a little blood. The cerebral 
 matter around this softened part reassumed its normal firmness, There was 
 a high degree of congestion in all the other parts of the brain, just as if it had 
 been tl. sprinkled with blood." Dr. Lacour's interesting paper may be 
 
 found at full length, in the Lancet for December Ttb, 1847. 
 
 AIlTITCE o'CMOTOB AND THE BWOBJD CANE. 
 (See page 156.) 
 
 [The following curious anecdote concerning the imprisonment of Arthur 
 O'Connor, at Maidstone, has never before been published to the world, and 
 comes from the pen of perhaps the only man qualified to tell it, viz.. Major 
 tt, of the 91st Regiment, the son and representative of Mr. William Scott, 
 who defended one of the state prisoners arrested with Arthur O'Connor, at 
 Mai \~ B. The document was recently drawn np by Major Scott, 
 
 at the request of W. J. O'Xeil Daunt, Esq., by whom it has been placed at 
 our entire disposal. — W. J. F.] 
 
 The Rev. Mr. ()'( 'oigly, Arthur O'Connor, and O'Leary, servant to O'Con- 
 nor, were to be tried at Maidstone for high treason. Mr. Scott was counsel 
 for O'Leary; but for O'Connor no counsel had as yet been appointed. 
 
 At a meeting of the counsel who were to be employed in the defence, it 
 became a serious question whether Mr. Er?kine should be employed as 
 counsel for O'Connor, or whether his sendees might not be more useful as a 
 witness. To ascertain this it was most desirable to communicate with 
 O'Connor, a matter of extreme difficulty, as all access to the prisoners WcU> 
 forbidden, except to their counsel. 
 
 Mr. Scott agreed to make the attempt. He had also another reason for 
 g to see O'Connor. Mr. Scott, on visiting his client. O'Leary, could 
 rmation from him. O'Leary suspected Mr. Scott might be a Go- 
 vernment spy, frankly told him that he suspected him to be such, and 
 positively refused to tell him anything until Mr. Scott should bring a token 
 from his master, that he might be confided in. 
 
 The following morning Mr. Scott went to the prison, and in ascending the 
 stairs towards O'Leary's cell, offered the turnkey five guineas to admit him 
 >'Connor. The man was staggered, but the money tempted him. He 
 said that the great door of the prison, when opened and shut, slammed with a 
 t noise that was heard ail over the prison, and that if Mr. Scott would 
 promise to leave O'Connor and run to O'Leary's cell the moment he might 
 hear the door slam, he would admit him as there woidd be ample time for 
 him to gain his client's cell before any one could ascend the stairs. This 
 • •eing agreed upon, Mr. Scott went to O'Leary, who was as dumb as before; 
 not one word would he utter till Mr. Scott should have seen his master. The 
 turnkey soon arrived, and saying the coast was clear, conducted Mr. Scott to 
 ( >'< ' onnor. O'Connor, on seeing Mr. Scott, whom he had previoudy known. 
 
APPENDIX. 603 
 
 rushed with open arms to embrace him. O'Connor then told Mr. Scott that 
 when they were apprehended on their way to France, their papers were seized 
 and tied up in bundles. O'Connor heard the officers inquiring; for the 
 •bundle tied in " the red hankerchief," which, for some time, could not be 
 found. O'Coigly whispered to O'Connor, ''If the red haudkerchief be lost. 
 Ave are safe." O'Connor said. "How so?" O'Coigly — " There is a paper in 
 it that would hang us." What that paper was ( /Connor could not say ; 
 but it afterwards turned out to be an invitation to the French to land a 
 force in England, purporting to be given by a party in England; but, in 
 reality, merely written as a squib in a coffee-house in London, by a friend of 
 O'Coigly's, and given to him to put in the newspapers on his arrival in 
 France, in order to frighten Mr. Pitt This paper O'Coigly took, and un- 
 fortunately put in his pocketbook along with his letters of Ordination. 
 
 Mr. Scott's conversation with O'Connor was frequently interrupted by the 
 slamming of the door, when he ran to his client's cell. O'Leary was now 
 quite communicative. Among other things he told Mr. Scott that on their 
 being arrested he managed to conceal a number of papers about his person, 
 and feigning a sudden bowel complaint, was allowed to retire, when he threw 
 them into the privy. 
 
 The last time Mr. Scott was admitted to O'Connor, the turnkey said that 
 the interview would be the last for that day, as it would be soon time to 
 shut up the prison. After being with O'Connor some time, the door 
 slammed, and Mr. Scott got up to take leave. He then missed his cane, but 
 was not sure whether he had left it in O'Connor or O'Leary 's cell. Ib- 
 said — " Did I leave my cane here ?'' O'Connor — " My dear friend, it is the 
 very thing I want." Mr. Scott — " I insist upon having the cane [it was a 
 sword cane] immediately." Mr. O'Connor — " I must keep it." Mr. Scott — 
 " Mr. O'Connor, this is most unhandsome conduct ; give me my cane at 
 once." Mr. O'Connor — "No." Mr. Scott — "Well, Sir. if you escape being 
 hanged, you shall answer to me for this with your life, for I consider it a 
 personal matter." O'Connor bowed assent, and Mr. Scott retired as fast as 
 he coidd, for the door now slammed some time. 
 
 The next morning Mr. Scott was early at the prison, in hopes of inducing 
 O'Connor to give up the cane. The countenance of the turnkey was fero- 
 cious, and on ascending the stairs he turned on Mr. Scott, and shaking at him 
 his ponderous bunch of keys, in a threatening manner, said — " Now, are you 
 not a pretty fellow, to go and ruin a* poor man like me, with your damned 
 five guineas'?"' Mr. Scott — "My good man, what do you mean?" Turnkey — 
 ,; Was it not you that took to O'Connor that long dagger?'" Mr. Scott — *'I 
 should have been, I assure you. the last person to have done the like ; tell 
 me what you mean and all about it?" The turnkey, pacified a little, said 
 that, during the night, O'Connor had made an attempt at escape, and had 
 used a dagger, by the description of which Mr. Scott recognized his sword. 
 
 On going to O'Leary's cell, Mr. Scott was informed by O'Leary that there 
 had been a terrible noise at night and the whole prison roused, but he could not 
 tell the reason. He was now no longer to be allowed to go to help his 
 master to dress as heretofore. Mr. Scott now went to consult with his 
 friends. He found the whole town alarmed — reports that arms had been 
 conveyed to the prisoners, rescue apprehended, &c, ȣc. He also ascertained 
 that before day-light, a messenger had been despatched to London in a chaise 
 and four with a sword. 
 
 All Mr. Scott's friends agreed in assuring him that it was useless for him 
 to do anything ; that his expulsion from the Bar was certain, and that he 
 
604 APPENDIX. 
 
 would be very lucky if he got off with that. He set off at once to London, 
 and went straight to the Attorney- General (afterwards Lord Eldon), to 
 whom he told the whole story, concealing nothing. The Attorney- General 
 said that there had been a great commotion. The sword belonging to a cane 
 had been brought up in a chaise and four, and the most exaggerated reports 
 spread, that the Government could make neither top nor tail of the story, 
 and he was very glad Mr. Scott had told him all about it. He concluded by 
 saying, " When I was as young a man as you are, I should very likely have 
 done an equally foolish thing, but I will now take care that you never hear 
 another word about it." The whole hubbub was quashed. 
 
 J. Scott, 91st Regt. 
 
 THE DENNEE PAETY AT ME. DEFFY's, ALLEDED TO BY LOED 
 CEOXCEEEY IN LETTEE NO. 114. 
 
 (Seepage 554.) 
 
 The party referred to consisted, we xinderstand, of a club of young men, 
 some of Young Ireland antecedents, and some not, but most of whom have 
 since risen to political or professional distinction. Among them were the 
 late Maurice Levne, whose brilliant eloquence and rich Irish humour were a 
 national loss, Edward Butler, then of the staff of the Nation, now a member 
 of the Australian bar, and one of the editors of the Sydney Empire, Charlton 
 Stuart Ralph, Richard Dalton Williams (the far-famed " Shamrock" of the 
 Spirit of the Nation), William K. Sullivan, the distinguished chemist of the 
 Museum of Irish Industry, John Cashel Hoey, Mr. Duffy's colleague and 
 partner in the Nation, John O'Hagan, barrister-at-law, and professor in the 
 Catholic University. Henry MacManus, the artist, Doctor R. D. Lyons, George 
 Walters, barrister-at-law, and George Fuller. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 
 Printed by J. M. O'Toolk, 13, Hawkint'-strcet, Dublin. 
 
EKRATA. 
 
 Page 13, line 13, for Beattie read Johnson. 
 
 33, line 11 from bottom, for that day read that year. 
 
 73, line 17, for reformer read informer. 
 
 126. The note " Plowden, vol. ii., p. 399," should be at foot of p. 121. 
 
 221, line 5, for quagmire read mire. 
 
 534, line 2, for Portland-square read Rutland-square. 
 
 The author was under error in including the late Mr. Denys Scully amongst the 
 Protestant barristers who gave in their adhesion to the Catholic Board. The 
 two most eloquent Protestant orators at the meetings of that body were John 
 Finlay, LL.D., and Charles Philipps, author of " Curran and his Cotemporaries." 
 


 
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