iJif;!S}5fitt?*^>"»^'< 
 
 TO 
 
Columbia a^nitJem'tp 
 mtlieCttpoflfttjgark 
 
 THE LIBRARIES 
 
THE LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 THOMAS REYNOLDS 
 
 2, 
 
rutIS, PRINTED BY 3. SMITU. 
 
THE LIFE 
 
 OP 
 
 THOMAS REYNOLDS, ESQ. 
 
 FORMERLY OF KII.KEA CASTl-B, IN THE COUNTY OF KILUAKE. 
 
 , BY HIS SON 
 
 THOMAS REYNOLDS. 
 
 '• What if He hath decreed that I shall first 
 Be tried in humble state, and things adverse. 
 By tribulations, injuries, insults. 
 Contempts, and scorns, and snares, and violence. 
 Suffering, abstaining, quieily expecting, 
 Without distrust or doubt." 
 
 Milton's Paradise Rfoainep, Hook iii. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONGMAN, ORME, BROWN, AND LONGMAN, LONDON ; 
 
 MILLIKEN AND SONS, DUBLIN; 
 
 FRENCH, ENGLISH, AND AMERICAN LIBRARY, 
 
 55, RuK Neuve St. Augustin, Paris. 
 
 1838. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The time has at length arrived when I am enabled to 
 hiy before the public the history of my father's eventful 
 life. Perhaps it would be difficult to find, in the annals 
 of this, or any other country, a man whose political 
 conduct has been so unjustly misrepresented, or whose 
 private character has been so wilfully and foully slan- 
 dered. During the last forty years of his life he was 
 repeatedly assailed by his political enemies, without 
 any regard to truth or justice, and generally (I am 
 happy to say, not always) neglected by those who 
 called themselves his friends, and who succeeded in 
 persuading him that they were so. In 1798 he was 
 hailed as the saviour of his country, courted and 
 caressed by all who were not actually engaged in the 
 Rebellion ; addresses and thanks were voted to him ; 
 wealth and titles pressed upon him ; but, satisfied with 
 having done his duty, and being altogether devoid of 
 ambition, he declined them all, desirous of retiring from 
 public life, to spend his days in tranquillity and do- 
 mestic peace. He was so well known in Ireland at 
 that day — his family connexions and social position 
 were so well recognised — his character, whether pri- 
 vate or public, was so justly esteemed by all loyal and 
 well-disposed persons of every class in society, that he 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 could not conceive it possible that the breath of slander 
 could venture to assail him at a future period. A very 
 few years, however, taught him to what extent he was 
 mistaken in his estimate of mankind. As the prin- 
 ciples of Radicalism, as they Avere then called, gained 
 ground in England, by degrees the remains of the 
 United Irish party raised their heads, and my father 
 was one of the first persons on whom they sought to 
 take vengeance. The same persons who held the reins 
 of Government in Ireland in 1798 were in 1817 in 
 similar situations in England, but, instead of shielding 
 my father, as tliey were in honour bound to do, against 
 the shafts of his and their own slanderers, with one or 
 two noble exceptions, they seemed glad to find that 
 they could shake him off, or make him their political 
 scapegoat.* While in private they continued to speak 
 of him, and to him, in terms of admiration and approval, 
 in public they left him without defence, exposed to the 
 virulence of men, whose hatred and disappointed am- 
 bition led them to sacrifice truth and honesty in order 
 to gratify their revenge. Within ten years of the 
 Rebellion, the attacks on his character began, and in 
 1817 they reached their acme. Then it was that these 
 
 * Of all those noblemen and gentlemen who were in power in 1798, 
 and who owed their lives as well as iheir reputations to my father, the 
 Marquis Camden and the Earl of Chichester have alone invariably stood 
 forward both in public and in private in his defence. Those excellent 
 men, the patterns of everything that is noble, everything that is honour- 
 able, everything that is u])iight, have never suffered an opportunity to 
 pass, without declaring their opinions of the honour, integrity, and per- 
 sonal disinterestedness of my father. 
 
PREFACE. Vll 
 
 Memoirs should have appeared ; but the reader will see 
 what entreaties and promises, what threats and machi- 
 nations, were made use of by his friends to keep him 
 silent; unfortunately he allowed himself to be their 
 dupe, and the time passed by. When too late, he saw 
 his error. He retired to France in 1820, ^vhere the 
 last fifteen years of his life repaid him a thousand-fold 
 for all his previous troubles. He was there surrounded 
 by a small number of friends, in whose intercourse he 
 found consolation and comfort, and finally that Friend 
 who sticketh closer than a brother. A few days before 
 his death he gave me all his papers, with a solemn in- 
 junction to make no unnecessary delay in laying them 
 before the public. He particularly desired me to re- 
 member tliat he had truly and sincerely forgiven all his 
 persecutors and slanderers ; and he wished me to be as 
 forbearing as the nature of the subject would allow me 
 to be. It is for the public to judge hoAV far I have 
 followed his wishes in this respect. When I have been 
 convinced that a deliberate falsehood has been published, 
 I have called it by its true name ; but, whenever I have 
 had the least cause to hope that a writer may have been 
 deceived, or may have written without due examination, 
 though I may have blamed such a one, I trust that I 
 have adhered to my father's wishes, which so well accord 
 with my own sentiments. 
 
 The task imposed upon me has been much beyond my 
 strength. I have so far shared my father's })ersecutions 
 that, finding myself when very young debarred from 
 every hope of advancement, I have resided for twenty 
 
VUi PKEFACE. 
 
 years on llie Continent, living upon a very limited 
 income, until I have almost forgotten to write my own 
 language ; — entirely unknown to the literary world, I 
 have had hut little assistance or advice in the com- 
 pilation of these Memoirs. They are a plain statement 
 of facts, and nmst owe any success they may meet with 
 to the simjde force of truth. 
 
 In the preliminary chapter I have borrowed freely 
 from Gordon's Plistory of Ireland, and occasionally from 
 Plowden. My object was, not to wnie a history of 
 Irehind^ but simply to condense into a short chapter the 
 leading events of the last century, so as to give tlie 
 reader a sketcli of the state of parties at the time the 
 United Irish Society was first formed. In the account 
 I have given of the Rebellion I have used the documents 
 and papers which my father had collected ; but, as they 
 were very voluminous, I only publish, for tlie present, 
 those which I find corroborated by other accounts. 
 For that purpose I have carefully examined IMusgrave's 
 History of the Rebellion ; W. C. Taylor's Account of 
 the Civil Wars ; Teeling's Personal Narrative ; George 
 Taylor's Account of the Rebellion in the County of 
 Wexford ; the Rev. James Gordon's History of the 
 Rebellion ; and Hay's History of the Insurrection in 
 Wexford. The account of the United Irish Society is 
 entirely taken from my father's papers ; but it Avill be 
 seen that, in proof of its accuracy, I have extracted 
 largely from the Life of Theobald Wolfe Tone. I have 
 also consulted^ and occasionally quoted from, the Report 
 of the Secret Conunittees of the Houses of Lords and 
 
TREFACE. " IX 
 
 Commons in Ireland, from William James IM'Nevin's 
 Pieces of Irish History, from the Memoirs of William 
 Sampson, and from the Life of Curran, by his son. 
 
 It may not be known to all my readers that there are 
 two different editions of the Life of Theobakl Wolfe 
 Tone, — the original edition published by his son at Phi- 
 hidelphia, in 1826, in two volumes large octavo, con- 
 taining together twelve hundred and forty pages closely 
 printed, and each page containing forty lines ; — the 
 other, Avhich is more commonly known, published by 
 Colburn in 1827, also in two volumes octavo, but of a 
 smaller size, much larger print, and containing only 
 eight hundred and seventy-five pages of thirty-one lines 
 each ; — indeed, the latter contains less than half the 
 matter of the former. The motive for suppressing so 
 large a part of this extraordinary work is not difficult 
 to detect, and it is certain that, very soon after the ori- 
 ginal appeared, it vras bought up with such care that 
 a copy could with difficulty be procured. I have two 
 copies of the American edition, — and certainly a more 
 candid exposure of the real designs of the United Irish 
 Society, from the first hour of its formation, could not 
 possibly be imagined than that which Mr. Tone's pa- 
 pers afford. It is not easy to believe that they were 
 ever intended for publication, at least in their present 
 form. I need not add, that all my quotations are taken 
 from the original edition. 
 
 It will be observed that all IMr. Tone's statements 
 as to the real designs of the United Irish Society from 
 its formation in 1791, and the care with which those 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 designs were concealed from the mass of the United 
 Irishmen, under the mask of Catholic Emancipation 
 and Parliamentary Reform, fully corroborate the Re- 
 }»orts of the Secret Committees, which have been so 
 stoutly contradicted by Dr. JM'Nevin ond others. Mr. 
 Tone's work was never answered, it was judged more 
 prudent to let it quietly sink into oblivion. 
 
 I have been obliged to speak plainly of IMr. JMoore's 
 Life of Lord Edward Fitzgerald ; he has so insidiously 
 endeavoured to connect my father with that nobleman's 
 arrest and death, that I could not pass by the charge. 
 His popularity as a writer, certainly no intrinsic merit 
 in his JNIemoir, caused his work to be universally read ; 
 and many persons, in utter ignorance of the facts, be- 
 lieved Mr. Moore's statements. Li a work, therefore, such 
 as this, I am called upon to answer the accusation, what- 
 ever may be my own opinion of him ^vho preferred it. 
 
 I am indebted to another pen for the analysis of, and 
 remarks on, the trials of JM'Can, Byrne, and Bond, con- 
 tained in the 8th, 9th, and 10th chapters. INIy reading 
 and liabits but ill fitted me for the critical examination 
 of reports of legal proceedings carefully involved in ob- 
 scurity, and in some parts wilfully falsified. I trust 
 that hereafter my father will be judged in these parti- 
 culars by the evidence produced against him, and not 
 by the speeches truly or falsely attributed to counsel. 
 
 It has been hinted to me, more than once, that the pub- 
 lication of this work will draw upon me that malevolence 
 which pursued my father to his grave — that I shall rouse 
 feelings Avhich are almost extinct — and begin a contro- 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 versy which will annoy me for years. But do those per- 
 sons, some of whom I know are my friends, imagine that 
 I have not long ago well calculated the consequences of 
 what they call throwing down the gauntlet ? I do not 
 conceive I am throwing it down — I am only taking up 
 that which has been thrown down repeatedly, and 
 which_, had I followed my own inclination, I would 
 have taken up twenty years ago. As to malevolence, 
 it cannot affect me. I have nothing to gain or lose in 
 this world ; I have long ago given up all worldly ac- 
 quaintance, all hopes of worldly honours, or riches. 
 As to rousing dormant feelings, that is just my wish ; 
 I should be very sorry to have the subject forgotten ; I 
 wish it to be remembered, and carefully examined, 
 knowing that it will stand the test. I know that if my 
 book is read at all it will be criticised. As regards the 
 style, and the composition of such parts as are mine, I 
 am sure they are open to criticism, and any they may 
 meet with, instead of annoying me, will serve but as a 
 lesson to me to correct my defects if ever I should 
 again venture before the public — for such criticisms, 
 therefore, I should be grateful. As to the facts ad- 
 duced, they may be denied, because there are men who 
 will deny anything, but I have not to my knowledge 
 advanced a single statement which I cannot substan- 
 tiate. I have, in all important matters, sought my 
 proofs from my enemies. The works of which I have 
 made most use are Tono^'s Life, Curran's Life, JM'Ne- 
 vin's Pieces of Irish History, and Howell's State 
 Trials, all of which are taken from the enemy's camp, 
 
Xll PREFACE. 
 
 for I felt that my surest plan Avas to let my father's re- 
 vilers write his life. All the letters I have published 
 I have in my possession, ready to be shown to any per- 
 son, friend or foe, who wishes to see them. The par- 
 liamentary matters are copied from Hansard. On these 
 points, therefore, I do not fear criticism. I have a vast 
 mass of curious documents, A\'hich are not in these 
 volumes — anecdotes of all the leading men connected 
 with the United Irish Society, many of Avhom have to 
 this day remained unknown as United Irishmen, I 
 have however carefully abstained from naming a single 
 individual in these JMemoirs who has not been already 
 repeatedly named, and I hope I shall be enabled to 
 continue this reserve. 
 
CONTENTS OF VOL. I 
 
 PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 
 
 Pajje 
 
 A summary of the principal events in Ireland since the surren- 
 der of Limerick— Penal statutes enacted against the Roman 
 Catholics — The Patriots obtain some concessions — French in- 
 vasion— Thurot lands at Carrickfergus ; defeated by Commo- 
 dore Elliot — The Origin of the Levellers and Whiteboys — 
 The Hearts of Oak — The Hearts of Steel — The American war 
 gives rise to the Volunteers — Their proceedings — The Dungan- 
 non resolutions — Concessions to the Catholics — Reform in Par- 
 liament and Catholic Emancipation first discussed — The Roman 
 Catholic Convention obtains many modifications of the Penal 
 Statutes — Lord Fingal retires from the Convention — The Catholic 
 Petition — The Convention Bill — Account of the Peep-of-day 
 Boys, and Defenders — State of Parties in Ireland . 1 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Mr. Reynolds's birth — family— and early years. He is sent to 
 school in England — and afterwards in Flanders — He returns to 
 Dublin on the death of liis Father — His early associates — 
 Masqued ball at the Rotunda — its serious consequences — He is 
 seized with a dangerous illness — He sets out on the grand tour 
 with Sir Robert Gerard — Returns to Dublin — During his ab- 
 sence his Mother takes Mr. Warren into partnership — His 
 sister Rose attacked by consumption — He goes with her to Liege, 
 and thence to Paris with Sir Robert Gerard — Sir Robert Ge- 
 rard's death — Mr. Reynolds returns to Ireland— His sister dies, 
 and his only remaining sister takes the veil — Mr. Valentine 
 O'Connor's proposals — Rejected— Mr. Reynolds marries — His pro- 
 perty at that time— History of Mr. Thomas Warren — His base- 
 ness and ingratitude— Mr. Reynolds takes all the affairs of the 
 house into his own hands . . . .47 
 
XIV ' CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Mr. Reynolds's property after settling the affairs of the Firm — He 
 prepares to quit business— Purchases a lease for three lives, renew- 
 able for ever, of the Castle and Lands of Kilkea — State of his 
 Affairs on entering into Possession —Mr. W. C. Taylor's calum- 
 nious accusation— Mr. Reynolds's Mother dies — Her Will — His- 
 tory of Peter Sullivan — His Ingratitude — Account of Elizabeth 
 Cahill — Mrs. Molloy and Miss Anne Fitzgerald — Account of Lieu- 
 tenant-Colonel Witherington — His Conduct and Character^ 
 Causes of his hatred of Mr. Reynolds — His behaviour at Kilkea 9 3 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Rise and Progress of the United Irish Society — The real Designs 
 of the Founders as expressed by Theobald Wolfe Tone — Rapid 
 Growth of the Society in Ulster — Samuel Neilson edites the 
 Northern Star — Archibald Hamilton Rowan imprisoned — Organ- 
 ization of the Society — The Initiatory Oath — The Honourable 
 Simon Butler and Mr. Oliver Bond fined and imprisoned — The 
 Convention Bill passed — The Societies continue to increase — 
 Overtures from France — Rev. W^. Jackson found guilty of High 
 Ti'eason — Takes Poison — The Test undergoes a change — The De- 
 fenders join the Society — Mr. Tone goes to America, whence 
 he is induced to proceed to France— His Negociations — Mili- 
 tary Organization of the United Irish Society begun in Ulster 
 — The Insurrection Act— Suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act — 
 Yeomanry Force established — Bantry Bay Expedition — The 
 Society degenerates into Defenderisra — Greatly checked in the 
 Summer of 1797— Re-organized in the Autumn — The Union Star 
 — The Press Newspaper, edited by Mr. Arthur O'Connor — The 
 Societies increase greatly — Defeat of the Dutch Fleet by Admi- 
 ral Duncan . . . .134 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Mr. Reynolds is chosen a Member of the Catholic Convention — 
 Retires with Lord Fingall — Re-elected for the City of Dublin in 
 the Convention of 1792 — Becomes a United Irishman — Soon 
 ceases to attend the Meetings — Lord Edward Fitzgerald induces 
 him to accept the otiica of Colonel of a Rebel Regiment — He be- 
 comes a Member of the Leinster Provincial Committee— The real 
 designs of (he United Irishmen first revealed to him — He deter- 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 Page 
 
 "c- 
 
 mines to abandon the Society — Dreadful State of the Country — 
 Ncilson attempts to murder Mr. Reynolds — Messrs. Howell and 
 Curran's version of that attempt — Mr. Reynolds opens his mind 
 to Mr. Cope — Refuses all offers of Rewards, and gives Informa- 
 tion of the Meeting at Oliver Bond's — Arrests of the 12th of 
 March — Mr. Reynolds resigns his offices in the Society — The 
 United Irishmen attempt to assassinate him — The King's Troops 
 lake Possession of Kilkea Castle — Free Quartering — Wanton 
 Destruction of Property. . . . . .181 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 I\lr. Reynolds sets out for Dublin — Another attempt to assassinate 
 him — 'He .returns to Kilkea — Is arrested by Colonel Campbell, 
 on information laid against him by the United Irishmen — Un- 
 worthy conduct of Major VVilherington — Mr. Reynolds is sent to 
 Dublin — Expedilious proceedings of Courts Martial — Mr. Rey- 
 nolds joins the Government — Remarks on his Conduct — Agree- 
 ment made by him, as well on his own behalf, as on behalf of the 
 United Irishmen — Some Proofs that Mr. Reynolds did not stipu- 
 late for, nor receive any Rewards from Government — Extent of 
 his Losses — Circumstances which prove that he well knew he 
 could have had anything he chose to demand. . . 234 
 
 CHAPTER Vf. 
 
 Etfect of the Arrest of the Provincial Committee — Martial-Law pro- 
 claimed — Lord Edward Fitzgerald arrested — The two Brothers, 
 John and Henry Sheares, taken — The Rising takes place — Dr. 
 Esmond's Treachery — Skirmishes in several places — Atrocities 
 committed at Ralhangan — The Rebels repulsed at Carlow — And 
 at the Hill of Tara — Rising in the County of Wexford — First suc- 
 cesses — Enniscorlhy taken — Wexford surrenders to the Rebels 
 — Alarm at Gorey — Rebels defeated at Newlownbarry — Colonel 
 Walpole killed at Tubberneering — Sanguinary battle at New 
 Ross — Horrid Massacre at Scullabogue — Inactivity of the Rebels 
 — Their signal defeat at Arklow — Atrocities at Vinegar Hill — 
 
 Enniscorlhy and Wexford retaken — Massacres in Wexford 
 
 Mathew Kcugh, Father Philip Roche, Cornelius Grogan, Beau- 
 champ Bagenal Harvey, John Henry Colclough, and others, 
 taken and hanged . . . . . 272 
 
xvr CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VM. 
 
 Pai-'C 
 Mr. Anthony Perry — Bloody Friday — Perry allacks Hackcts-lown — 
 Defeated — Made prisoner, and executed — Father John IMurphy 
 penetrates into the County of Kilkenny — Burns Coolbawn — Nu- 
 merous desertions from the Rebel ranks — IMurphy taken and 
 hanged — The Rebels are hotly pursued, and gradually disperse 
 — Edward Fitzgerald, of New Park, and William Aylmer surren- 
 der — Holt and Hacket — Rising in the County of Down, and in 
 Cork — Misery and desolation caused by the Rebellion — The 
 French land in Killala Bay — Take Killala and Ballina — Shame- 
 ful defeat and flight of the British at Castlebar — The IMarquis of 
 Cornwallis marches in person against the French, who lay down 
 their arms — Rising in the County of Longford — Battle of Killala — 
 Napper Tandy's proclamations — Boneparl's Expedition destroyed — 
 Theobald Wolfe Tone taken — Tried by Court-Marlial — Sentenced 
 to be hanged — Kills himself . . . . 317 
 
 CHAPTER VIM. 
 
 The Ministers accused of exciting the people to Rebellion to in- 
 crease their own power — Mr. Reynolds's testimony could clear 
 them of this charge — The Trials of the Conspirators — John 
 M'Can tried and convicted . . . 35S 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Remarks upon the Trial of William Michael Byrne 442 
 
THE LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 THOMAS REYNOLDS. 
 
 PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 
 
 A summary of the principal events in Ireland since the surrender of 
 Limerick — Penal statutes enacted against the Roman Catholics — 
 The Patriots obtain some concessions — French invasion — Thurot 
 lands at Carrickfergus — defeated by Commodore Elliot — The 
 Origin of the Levellers and Whiteboys — The Hearts of Oak — 
 The Hearts of Steel— The American war gives rise to the Volunteers 
 — Their proceedings — The Dungannon resolutions — Concessions to 
 the Catholics — Reform in Parliament, and Catholic Emancipation 
 first discussed— The Roman Catholic Convention obtains many modi- 
 fications of the Penal Statutes — Lord Fingal retires from the Con- 
 vention — The Catholic Petition — The Convention Bill — Account of 
 the Peep-of-day Boys, and Defenders — State of Parties in Ireland. 
 
 1691 to 1793. 
 
 The history of Ireland is known to the generality of 
 readers only as connected with that of England, and 
 while every one contemplates with amazement and 
 sorrow the dissensions and distm-bances, the outrages 
 and rebellions, which have so long distracted that un- 
 happy country, it is astonishing how few there are who 
 know, or are willing to take the trouble of examining 
 VOL. I. B 
 
2 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 into, the causes which produced those disturbances, and 
 which have at times entirely changed the character of 
 a people, naturally generous, noble-minded, and hospi- 
 table, and converted one of the most fertile countries in 
 Europe into little better than a barren and unproductive 
 wilderness. 
 
 It may not be uninteresting to take a hasty survey of 
 the principal events that took place in Ireland during 
 the last century, and which eventually led to the dis- 
 astrous rebellion of 1798 ; indeed, as the history of my 
 father's life is intimately connected with that Rebellion, 
 it is indispensable that the state of parties in his day 
 should be rightly understood, in order to form a correct 
 estimate of the position he occupied, and the line of 
 conduct he pursued. 
 
 When the city of Limerick opened her gates to admit 
 the forces of William and Mary, and consented to 
 abandon the cause of the monarch who had already 
 abandoned them, it was on the solemn faith of a treaty 
 granting them certain rights and privileges. It is use- 
 less to say that the garrison would have been ultimately 
 compelled to surrender, when we know that, a very few 
 days after the capitulation was finally adjusted and 
 signed, a formidable French fleet arrived in the Shannon, 
 with forces, arms, and provisions in abundance. By 
 this treaty, known by the name of the Treaty of Lime- 
 rick, it was agreed, among other matters, that the 
 Roman Catholics should enjoy such privileges in the 
 exercise of their religion as they had enjoyed in the 
 reign of King Charles II. ; and tlieir majesties engaged to 
 
1691. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 3 
 
 summon a parliament in order to endeavour to procure 
 for the Roman Catholics such further security as might 
 preserve them from any disturbance upon the account 
 of their religion. It was also stipulated that every 
 nobleman and gentleman should have liberty to ride 
 with a sword and a case of pistols, if he thought fit, 
 and keep a gun in his house for the defence of the 
 same, or for fowling.* The Protestant party were 
 much dissatisfied with this treaty. By one of the 
 articles they were precluded from reclaiming the pro- 
 perty of which the Roman Catholics had retaken posses- 
 sion ; and as they were the most powerful party, though by 
 far the least numerous, they soon manifested their inten- 
 tion of infringing the capitulation. In 1691, after order 
 had been somewhat restored, the English Parliament 
 passed an act for Ireland, abrogating the oath of supre- 
 macy, and substituting other oaths, by which the Roman 
 Catholics were virtually excluded from both houses of 
 the legislature. Two years afterwards, on the recall 
 of Lord Sydney, the Lord Lieutenant, the government 
 was vested in the hands of three Lords Justices ; Lord 
 Capel, Sir Cyril Wyche, and Mr. Buncombe : the first 
 was an acknowledged advocate for the evasion of the 
 Treaty of Limerick, and accordingly we soon find his 
 interest causing the removal of his two colleagues, and 
 himself appointed sole governor, with the title of Lord 
 Deputy. In 1694 that nobleman convened a parlia- 
 ment, by which the articles of Limerick were much 
 
 * See Appendix, No. 1. 
 
 b2 
 
4 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 modified, and some penal statutes were enacted against 
 the Roman Catholics. One of those statutes was in 
 direct violation of the treaty ; by it " all Papists were 
 ordered to deliver up their arms to the nearest justice 
 of the peace; and any two justices were empowered to 
 search for and seize all such arms." They were also 
 empowered to search on suspicion, and, if their search 
 was ineffectual, they might examine the suspected person 
 on oath. Any Papist having arms in his possession, 
 and refusing to deliver them up on demand, was liable 
 to a fine, if a peer; and to fine and imprisonment, if a 
 commoner. It was also enacted, that any person sending 
 a child to a foreign seminary for the purpose of being 
 educated therein, in the Popish religion, should, on 
 conviction, be disabled to sue in law or in equity ; to be 
 guardian, executor, or administrator : to take any legacy 
 or deed of gift, or bear any office ; and should forfeit 
 goods and chattels for ever, and lands for life. Any 
 justice might, on information that a child had been 
 thus sent abroad, summon before him all persons 
 charged, or suspected, to have been concerned therein. 
 These he might examine without oath, and any other 
 persons on oath : and if he considered that the act had 
 been transgressed, he might bind over the parties and 
 witnesses, in any sum not less than 200/., to appear at 
 the next quarter-session, when the person accused was 
 compelled to prove his innocence ! or to incur the pains 
 and penalties ; the forfeiture being equally divided 
 between the crown and the informer. With regard to 
 the child sent, if, on arriving at the age of twenty-one, 
 
1G98. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 5 
 
 he was able to shoiv tJiat he loas not sent contrary to the 
 act, he was to be released from all the penalties, save 
 and except the whole of his goods and chattels, and all 
 the profits of his lands, from the time of his having been 
 sent to the day of his acquittal. 
 
 In the year 1697 it was further enacted, that no 
 Papist, or reputed Papist, might be employed as a 
 fowler for a Protestant, and have, keep, carry, or use a 
 gun, or other fire-arms : if he had such, they might be 
 seized on a warrant of a justice of the peace, and were 
 to be given to the informer as his reward. 
 
 In the following year the Irish Parliament, at the 
 king's desire, laid such heavy duties on the exportation 
 of woollen cloths as almost amounted to a prohibition, 
 and the English Parliament in 1699 entirely forbade 
 their exportation to any country except South Britain. 
 The consequences of these prohibitory laws were the very 
 reverse of what the English Parliament had hoped. The 
 distress and misery of the numerous class of persons, 
 who had hitherto lived by their daily labour as woollen 
 cloth manufacturers, was such as to induce vast numbers 
 to emigrate to France and other countries. They carried 
 their industry with them ; and England, instead of being 
 benefited by the destruction of that branch of trade in 
 Ireland, found rivals springing up on all sides, and 
 especially in France, who not only supplied herself 
 abundantly, but actually undersold the English in the 
 foreign markets. 
 
 While the manufacturing interests of Ireland were 
 thus sacrificed to the mistaken policy of England, her 
 
6 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 agricultural interests were no less injured by the fre- 
 quent prohibitions laid on the exportation of cattle and 
 provisions, and thus, within ten years of the signing of 
 the Treaty of Limerick, Ireland was made to feel that 
 she was a conquered country. 
 
 On the death of William, the Irish Catholics appear 
 to have had some hopes of better times. In 1703 we 
 find them presenting a petition to Queen Anne, in 
 which they represented their grievances. Among other 
 matters, they complained of the invasion of their con- 
 stitutional rights by a foreign judicatm*e; of the cor- 
 rupt and oppressive conduct of the trustees of the 
 forfeited estates ; and of the misery arising from the 
 restrictions of commerce. But, whatever their hopes 
 may have been, they were soon destined to see them 
 utterly destroyed ; for, instead of receiving any redi'ess, 
 new severities were enacted against them, in the shape 
 of a bill " to prevent the further growth of popery." It 
 would be altogether unnecessary, and would only serve 
 to extend this sketch to an inconvenient length, to 
 specify all the articles of the penal code which were 
 framed against the Roman Catholics in this and in the 
 following sessions. It is really incredible that in the 
 eighteenth century, and in the most civilized part of 
 Europe, Parliament should have made, and the people 
 have submitted to, such monstrous, such debasing laws. 
 
 All persons in Ireland were declared to be incapable 
 of holding any employment under the crown, or of being 
 magistrates in any city, unless they received the sacra- 
 ment as prescribed by the Established Church. This 
 
1708. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 7 
 
 law affected the Dissenters as well as the Roman 
 Catholics. 
 
 It was ordered that the estates of Roman Catholics 
 should descend in equal shares to all their children, 
 notwithstanding any settlements to the contrary, unless 
 the persons who should otherwise inherit would consent 
 to take the prescribed oath and conform to Protest- 
 antism. 
 
 Roman Catholics were prohibited from realizing their 
 property in lands, and from enjoying a leasehold for 
 more than thirty-one years. 
 
 If any child of Popish parents turned Protestant, the 
 Court of Chancery was empowered to make such order 
 for its maintenance as it thought fit, out of the property 
 of its parents, and also for its portion to be paid at the 
 decease of the parents. The parents were compelled to 
 discover upon oath the full value of their property, and 
 the maintenance allowed to the child might be as much 
 as one-third of the whole ! and if, after this allowance 
 was granted, the parents should be found to have in- 
 creased or improved their property, the same court had 
 the power of increasing proportionally the sum allotted. 
 
 In all civil actions, the prosecutor or plaintiff might 
 challenge any Papist returned as juror, simply on the 
 ground of his religion ; and the challenge was to be 
 taken as good and lawful. 
 
 No Papist could serve on a grand jury, unless it 
 appeared that a sufficient number of Protestants could 
 not be procured. 
 
8 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 Papists, however otherwise qualified, were not al- 
 lowed to vote for a member of Parliament. 
 
 They were forbidden to found or endow any univer- 
 sity, college, or school, for the education of their chil- 
 dren ; neither could they obtain degrees in the university 
 of Dublin. 
 
 Such was the situation to which the Irish Roman 
 Catholics were reduced, even before the generation of 
 those who had fought for and obtained the treaty of 
 Limerick had passed away. " Excluded from every 
 trust, power, or emolument of the state, civil or military ; 
 excluded from all the benefits of the constitution in all 
 its parts; excluded from all corporate rights and im- 
 munities ; repelled from grand juries ; restrained in 
 petit juries ; excluded from every direction, from every 
 trust, from every incorporated society, from every es- 
 tablishment, occasional or fixed, instituted for public 
 defence, public police, public morals, or public con- 
 venience, from the bench, from the bank, from the 
 exchange, from the university, and from the college of 
 physicians,*" can we wonder at their being dissatisfied, 
 and at their turning at length on their oppressors ? 
 
 But, while I thus endeavour faithfully to depict the 
 political degradation of the Roman Catholics, I would 
 not have it supposed that I consider the Protestants as 
 altogether inexcusable. When Ave consider the odious 
 tyranny of the Stuarts, who had been so lately driven 
 from the throne, and how much misery the country 
 
 * From Simon Butler's " Digest of the Popish Laws." 
 
1715. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 9 
 
 had suffered on their account, we can hardly wonder 
 that the Protestant party should do all in their power to 
 crush those who, as a hody, had so warmly espoused 
 their cause ; and, Avhen we call to mind that society in 
 general was at that time much less advanced in civil- 
 ization than at the present day, we cannot be surprised 
 that the Protestant party should consider themselves 
 justified in endeavouring to put down their adversaries, 
 without regard to the means by which they endeavoured 
 to effect that end ; nor that the Roman Catholics should 
 use every exertion to throw off the intolerable yoke 
 which so grievously oppressed them. 
 
 The death of Queen Anne, Avhich took place in 1714, 
 produced no amelioration in the affairs of the Roman 
 Catholics. George I. had hardly ascended the throne, 
 when he was called upon to defend his crown against 
 the pretensions of the Chevalier de St. George, the 
 son of James II. A dangerous rebellion was raised 
 by the Chevalier's partisans in Scotland and the north- 
 western parts of England ; but, instead of meeting with 
 any sympathy among the Irish, where his friends were 
 openly recruiting, the Pretender found that the general 
 loyalty of the people held out no hopes of success in 
 that quarter. Indeed, the Irish Parliament, convened 
 in 1715, not only acknowledged his Majesty's title, but 
 passed a bill of attainder against the Chevalier, and 
 offered a reward of 50,000/. for his seizure. The 
 rebellion was soon entirely suppressed, and many of 
 the leaders expiated their offence upon the scaffold. 
 
 Three years afterwards, when the Duke of Ormond 
 
10 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 attempted an invasion of these kingdoms with a Spanish 
 fleet and army, his efforts were directed to Scotland, 
 and not to Ireland, where it would have been natural 
 to expect that the great body of Catholics would have 
 joined him in his endeavour to restore the exiled family. 
 
 Notwithstanding this display of zeal and loyalty, we 
 find, in the following year, a bill passing the British 
 Parliament, styled, " An Act for the better securing 
 the Dependency of Ireland on the Crown of Great 
 Britain," by which the Irish House of Lords was de- 
 prived of the right of judicature in appeals; and the 
 British ParUament was declared to have full power 
 and authority to make laws and statutes of sufficient 
 force and validity to bind the people of the kingdom of 
 Ireland. 
 
 Thus, while the Irish Parliament reduced the Roman 
 Catholics to a political non-existence, the British Par- 
 liament reduced the whole nation to a state of weakness, 
 very little, if at all, preferable. 
 
 In 1727 George I. died, and the very first act of 
 his successor was to deprive the Catholics of the elective 
 franchise altogether. The discouragement of trade and 
 industry was also producing its natural fruits : the 
 land lay uncultivated, and the people were reduced to 
 such a state of wretchedness and poverty, that the 
 celebrated dean of St. Patrick declared that he re- 
 joiced at a mortality, as a blessing to individuals and 
 to the public. In 1728, and the following year, the 
 scarcity of corn, caused by ill-cultivated lands and 
 failing seasons, especially in Ulster, created a famine 
 
1753. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 11 
 
 throughout that province ; and, when it was attempted 
 to export corn from the south for its supply, the dread 
 of a similar visitation led to serious riots, especially in 
 Cork and Limerick. 
 
 In 1738 a bill was passed, inflicting additional 
 penalties on Papists keeping any kinds of arms, and 
 ordering a regular annual search to be made for such 
 arms in every city or town tliroughout the kingdom. 
 Notwithstanding these continued vexatious proceedings, 
 it is a* remarkable fact that, when Charles Edward 
 Stuart, the son of the Pretender, again attempted to 
 regain possession of the crown of his ancestors, although 
 thousands embraced his cause in Scotland and in Eng- 
 land, the profoundest tranquillity reigned in Ireland, 
 and not a single man joined his standard. Hardly, 
 however, was the rebellion quelled, when a bill was 
 passed, enacting, that from and after the 1st of May, 
 1746, every Irish freeholder, before he could give his 
 vote at an election, might be called upon to swear, not 
 only that he was not a Papist, but that he was not 
 married to a Papist ; unless he were a convert, in which 
 case he was to swear that he had been educated in the 
 Popish religion, that he had conformed to the Church 
 of Ireland, as by law established, and that he had not, 
 since his conformity, married a Popish wife. 
 
 About the year 1723 a party in opposition to the 
 government had been formed, under the guidance, at 
 first, of Dean Swift. This party, calling itself " The 
 Patriots," had gradually increased in strength, until, in 
 1753, we find it headed by James Fitzgerald, Earl of 
 
12 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 Kildare. In that year a sum of 240,000/., which re- 
 mained unappropriated in the Irish treasury, Avas with- 
 drawn from the country, to the great detriment of the 
 kingdom. That proceeding was immediately laid hold 
 of by the Patriots ; and, as it had already created 
 general dissatisfaction, it was commented on in public 
 and private meetings, till at length the mob became so 
 riotous as to alarm the Viceroy for his personal safety, 
 and to cause him to quit the country in all haste, under 
 the protection of a military guard. In 1755 the Mar- 
 quis of Hartington, afterwards created Duke of Devon- 
 shire, was appointed Lord Lieutenant, and an entire 
 change took place in the government. Stone, the 
 primate, was removed from the privy council ; Boyle, 
 the leader of the patriot party in the lower House, was 
 created Earl of Shannon. Several others of the party 
 were advanced to lucrative and influential stations ; 
 and most of those who had been displaced for favouring 
 the popular cause were reinstated. But these conces- 
 sions came too late : tlie poverty was so great, that the 
 lower orders were discontented, and ripe for any ex- 
 cesses ; and, as is usual in such cases, artful and 
 designing men seized the opportunity of advancing 
 their own interests, by fanning the slumbering embers 
 into a flame. Reports were propagated, that Ireland 
 was to be deprived of her Parliament and subjected to 
 the same taxes as England, and that a union with 
 Great Britain was projected. A riotous mob forced its 
 way into the House of Lords, seated an old woman 
 upon the throne, compelled such members as they could 
 
1759. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 13 
 
 find to swear that they never would consent to a union 
 with Great Britain, destroyed the carriages of several 
 obnoxious persons, and erected a gibbet, with the in- 
 tention of hanging an obnoxious member of the House 
 of Commons, who, however, escaped. As the night 
 came on, the rioters dispersed, and, order being re- 
 stored next day, a committee of both Houses was 
 appointed for the discovery and punishment of the 
 leaders and instigators of the tumult. 
 
 In 1759 an invasion was threatened from France, in 
 which three squadrons were to co-operate. Thurot 
 was to sail from Dunkirk, De la Clue from Toulon, and 
 the principal fleet, with 18,000 land forces, from Brest. 
 This last, consisting of twenty-one sail of the line and 
 four frigjates, was entirely defeated by Admiral Sir 
 Edward Hawke off the coast of Bretagne. De la Clue, 
 with twelve ships of the line and three frigates, was 
 defeated off the coast of Portugal by Admiral Boscawen. 
 Thurot, with five frigates, succeeded in escaping from 
 Dunkirk, where he had been some time blockaded. 
 He sailed first to Gottenburg, and thence to Bergen, in 
 Norway, where he remained some months, and at last, 
 on the 21st of February, 1760, having parted company 
 with two of his frigates, he landed with 600 men at 
 Carrickfergus. Lieutenant Colonel Jennings defended 
 the town as well as he could, till he was compelled to 
 retire into the castle ; but that fortress, being in a ruin- 
 ous state, was untenable, and soon obliged to capitulate. 
 The safety of the town, castle, and garrison, was granted 
 by Thurot, on condition that the ships should be fur- 
 
14 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 nished with provisions, and that a number of French 
 prisoners, equal to that of the garrison, should be 
 released, and sent home to France. Next day, Thurot, 
 hearing that some thousands of the peasantry were 
 flocking to Belfast to offer their services, hastily re- 
 imbarked his men ; and, being prevented by contrary 
 winds from going round the north of Ireland, boldly 
 attempted to return home through the Irish Channel. 
 On the 28th of February he was overtaken near the 
 Isle of Man by Commodore Elliot, with three English 
 frigates ; and after a desperate fight for one hour and 
 a half, in which Thurot was killed, the three French 
 frigates were captured, and brought into Ramsay Bay. 
 On this occasion the Irish House of Commons was loud 
 in its commendation of the zeal and patriotism of the 
 inhabitants of the counties of Antrim, Armagh, Down, 
 and Derry. Shortly afterwards George II. died, and 
 with the new reign began a new series of events of the 
 greatest importance. 
 
 About the year 1760 the distress in the south of 
 Ireland, first caused by the restrictions on the wool- 
 trade, had greatly increased in consequence of a law 
 which exempted grazing- grounds from the payment of 
 tithes. This law, which had been intended as a mea- 
 sure of relief, had in fact operated as a premium to 
 the landowners and farmers to convert their arable 
 land to pasture, and, consequently, vast numbers of 
 labourers were thrown out of employ, while those 
 who were still employed were obliged to submit to 
 such a low rate of wages as was altogether inadequate 
 
1760. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 15 
 
 to their support. Their distress was still further in- 
 creased by the enclosure of commons ; so that they 
 were reduced to a state bordering on starvation. Nu- 
 merous and frequent risings took place, chiefly in the 
 night, and at last regular bands of armed men pro- 
 ceeded to demolish the fences of the commons, from 
 whence they were at first called Levellers. Em- 
 boldened by impunity, they soon assumed a more 
 formidable aspect : armed with swords, guns, and 
 pistols, they marched through the country ham-string- 
 ing the cattle, and committing acts of the grossest 
 barbarity on such persons as were obnoxious to them, 
 and particularly on tithe collectors. They were bound 
 one to another by oaths of secresy and obedience ; and 
 having assumed, by way of disguise, a species of uni- 
 form, consisting of a shirt or white frock over their 
 clothes, they soon acquired the name of Whiteboys. 
 
 Whatever may have been the views or pretences of 
 these insurgents at first, it appears that in a very short 
 time they were encouraged by persons of some con- 
 sideration, and, if we may credit the confessions and 
 informations of several of them, their real designs 
 were very different from the pretexts they made use of. 
 From these depositions * we learn that their real 
 object was the restoration of the exiled family of the 
 Stuarts, and that part of the oath they took was 
 "to be true and faithful to the King of France and 
 Prince Charles, and to obey all the orders of his com- 
 manding officers." It is not an easy matter, at this 
 
 * See Appendix No. 2, 
 
16 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 distance of time, to acquire any positive knowledge as 
 to these reputed projects, but certainly the charges 
 appear probable, from the very nature of the Roman 
 Catholic religion. The unlimited influence of the 
 priests over the minds of the people rendered the 
 latter a ready tool in the hands of the former, and we 
 know that they have never omitted any opportunity of 
 attempting to regain that dominion which was wrested 
 from them at the Reformation. Their intolerance 
 and avowed hatred to Protestantism, combined with 
 the injudicious severities which successive parliaments 
 had heaped upon them, would sooner or later make 
 them desirous of seizing a favourable opportunity of 
 emancipating themselves, and retaliating upon their 
 adversaries. Their tranquil demeanour and submissive 
 obedience to the laws in 1715 and 1745 must be at- 
 tributed to their hope that their loyalty would at last 
 be appreciated, and their patience rewarded by the 
 full execution of the Treaty of Limerick. These con- 
 siderations, ^vhich later events have greatly strength- 
 ened, would appear to confirm the truth of the 
 depositions, which, however, it is fair to add, have 
 either escaped the notice of, or have been disbelieved 
 by, some historians. 
 
 However this may be, it is certain that these men 
 were guilty of the most abominable atrocities towards 
 such persons as incurred their displeasure. They cut 
 out their tongues, or amputated their noses and ears ; 
 they placed them naked on horseback, on saddles 
 covered with skins of hedgehogs, and made them ride 
 
1762. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 17 
 
 before them many miles ; or buried them naked up to 
 their chins in holes lined with furze or thorns.* They 
 plundered and often burned houses ; they houghed 
 and maimed cattle ; they seized arms and horses, and 
 levied money on the alarmed inhabitants. At length, 
 in 1762, they had become so formidable in the pro- 
 vinces of Leinster and Munster, that the Marquis of 
 Drogheda was sent to take command of the troops in 
 those provinces. He made Clogheen, in the county 
 of Tipperary, his head- quarters, and by his activity 
 checked their proceedings in a great measure. The 
 famous, or rather the infamous, Father Nicholas 
 Sheehy, was taken by his lordship, and hanged at 
 Clonmel soon afterwards. He had been a leader of 
 the Whiteboys, and was always forward in inciting 
 them, to murder and outrage. After his death he 
 was revered almost as a saint by his misguided fol- 
 lowers. 
 
 In the same year Sir Richard Aston, Lord Chief 
 Justice of the Common Pleas, was sent down with a 
 special commission to try the insurgents, many of 
 whom were executed, though Sir Richard, in the 
 course of his circuit, was so lenient, that some writers 
 accuse him of having thereby encouraged them to 
 persevere in their enormities. Many acts of parlia- 
 ment were passed with a view of putting them down, 
 notwithstanding which we hear of them continually 
 till the year 1784, for on the 17th of November in 
 that year they were denounced in many Roman Ca- 
 
 * See Appendix No. 3. 
 VOL. I. C 
 
18 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 tholic chapels in the diocese of Ossory. It is probable 
 that, like most of the associations of which we shall 
 have to speak, they ultimately merged in the one grand 
 association of United Irishmen. 
 
 In 1763 a rising took place in the province of 
 Ulster, which was chiefly Protestant. The insurgents 
 assembled only in the day, and called themselves 
 " Hearts of Oak," from their wearing oaken boughs 
 in their hats. They marched in large bodies, and 
 forced all whom they met to swear " to be true to the 
 king and the Hearts of Oak." They did not plun- 
 der, and did very little personal violence. The rising 
 began first in the county of Armagh, and soon ex- 
 tended to Tyrone, Derry, and Fermanagh. Their 
 professed object was to get rid of the burden imposed 
 upon them of making and repairing the roads, towards 
 which each housekeeper was obliged to furnish the 
 labour of a man, and in some cases of a horse also, six 
 days in the year. But they soon extended their plans, 
 and proceeded to administer oaths to the clergy not to 
 demand more than a certain proportion of tithe, when 
 their further progress was stopped by the arrival of 
 several regiments of the king's troops to reduce them 
 to order. This was effected in a few weeks, with the 
 loss of only three or four lives ; and in the following- 
 session of parliament all cause of complaint was re- 
 moved by the repeal of the act under which the labour 
 was enforced. 
 
 From 1771 to 1773 the counties of Antrim, 
 Tyrone, Londonderry, and Donegal were the scene of 
 
1771. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 19 
 
 a violent and sanguinary insurrection. The agent of 
 the Marquis of Donegal proposed to grant leases, or 
 renewals of leases, on an estate belonging to his lord- 
 ship in the county of Antrim, to such persons only as 
 would pay large fines. Many of the old tenants, un- 
 able to pay the fines, were turned out of their farms, 
 and reduced to great distress. Rendered desperate by 
 their situation, they formed an association called the 
 "Hearts of Steel," and, being soon reinforced by discon- 
 tented or distressed peasants from the neighbouring 
 counties, they proceeded to maim or destroy the cattle 
 of those who had taken their former tenements, and to 
 commit other outrages of a very serious nature. Such 
 was their boldness and resolution, that, one of their 
 party being confined in the gaol at Belfast, on a 
 charge of felony, they marched into the town, accom- 
 panied by some thousands of the peasantry, who joined 
 them on that occasion only, and actually received the 
 prisoner from the military guard, who dared not offer 
 any opposition. At length the military interfered, 
 when several were made prisoners, and sent for trial 
 to Carrickfergus, where they were acquitted. In con- 
 sequence of these acquittals an act of parliament was 
 passed in 1772, ordering the insurgents to be tried in 
 counties different from those in which the offence had 
 been committed. Many were then sent to Dublin ; 
 but there the new law was considered so unconstitu- 
 tional that the prisoners were again all acquitted. In 
 December, 1773, the act was repealed, and, as the in- 
 surrection had become more formidable from Ions: 
 
 c2 
 
20 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 impunity, the juries, desirous of restoring order and 
 quiet, found the prisoners guihy, and many were exe- 
 cuted. Several thousand Protestants emigrated to 
 America, and the insurrection was totally quelled. 
 
 In 1775 the disastrous war with America began, 
 and, at the same time, the clouds which had so long 
 obscured the sun of freedom in Ireland began to be 
 dispersed. Pressed by increasing distress, and em- 
 boldened by the example of America, complaints and 
 petitions were sent from all parts of the kingdom, and 
 the result was the relaxation of some of the restrictions 
 on commerce ; but in the mean time, the American war 
 having closed the markets of that country against the 
 British dominions, the exportation of Irish linens de- 
 creased so much as to occasion, notwithstanding these 
 tardy measures of relief, great commercial distress, 
 which was not a little heightened by an embargo laid 
 in 1776 on the exportation of provisions, with the 
 alleged view of distressing the revolted colonies. A 
 general stagnation of trade and a considerable falling 
 off of the revenue ensued, while the prices of all kinds 
 of produce fell to so low a rate that rents and taxes 
 could not be paid. The government, unable to alle- 
 viate this universal distress, wisely soothed the people 
 to a patient endurance of their sufferings by relaxing, 
 in some measure, the penal statutes. A law was 
 passed allowing Roman Catholics, on their taking 
 the oatli of allegiance prescribed by the act of parlia- 
 ment passed in 1774, to acquire full property in land, 
 as far as a lease of nine hundred and ninety-nine years ; 
 
1775. LIFE OF THOMAS UKYNOLDS. '21 
 
 and they were also delivered from the law which had 
 until then enabled the son who conformed to Protest- 
 antism to despoil his father of his property. This was 
 a great step towards their deliverance, and was hailed 
 by the Roman Catholics as an earnest of better times. 
 Still the restrictions on trade were such as to cause 
 great discontent, and led at length to meetings in 
 Dublin and Waterford, where resolutions were passed, 
 and afterwards generally adopted, not to import from 
 England any articles which could be produced at 
 home, or dispensed with, until such time as those re- 
 strictions should be removed. But what their remon- 
 strances could not obtain, nor their resolutions effect, 
 was unwillingly wrung from the British government 
 by the volunteer associations which were formed in all 
 parts of the country at this time. 
 
 In order to carry on the war in America, most of the 
 military had been withdrawn from Ireland, and the 
 Americans, aware of that circumstance, sent out priva- 
 teers, who were constantly hovering about the coasts, 
 and frequently capturing merchant-vessels within sight 
 of the land. At the same time, well-grounded appre- 
 hensions were entertained that France and Spain were 
 projecting an invasion. The few forces left in the 
 kingdom were quite inadequate to her defence ; and, 
 when application was made by the inhabitants of Bel- 
 fast to the British government for assistance, they were 
 told that none could be afforded, but that they must 
 arm and defend themselves. Abandoned thus to their 
 own resources, Belfast and Wexford set the example 
 
22 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 of raising companies of Volunteers, which was soon fol- 
 lowed in all parts of the kingdom. These companies 
 elected their own officers, and purchased arms and uni- 
 forms. Government encouraged their zeal by giving 
 them 16,000 muskets : and in a short time 80,000 men, 
 well armed and clothed, and comprising all the loyalty, 
 rank, and respectability of the kingdom, had embodied 
 themselves for her defence. Their warlike attitude not 
 only effectually deterred the French from all thoughts 
 of an invasion^ but so completely preserved the peace of 
 the country, that never, at any time, were the laws so 
 strictly enforced and obeyed. But, as may well be sup- 
 posed, these men, thus armed, felt their own power, 
 had not forgotten their wrongs, and determined to re- 
 dress them.* 
 
 * Speaking of this time, Mr. Plowden says : " In this alarming crisis 
 (1779) Ireland looked for redress more to the armed associations than 
 to Parliament. Hitherto these bodies (the Volunteers) had acted only 
 in detached companies ; they now formed themselves into battalions 
 on a system of regular communication. For some time had the original 
 cause of the Volunteers, arming in self defence against a foreign enemy, 
 been sunk into the more interesting object of asserting their constitu- 
 tional independent rights, and procuring a free and open trade for their 
 country. In the year 1778 the armed associations of Ireland amounted 
 to 30,000 men ; they had been regularly increasing from that period — 
 they clad and armed themselves voluntarily— they cheerfully learned 
 the use of arms, and freely submitted to the severest discipline ; but their 
 transcendant attention was to instil into each other an uniformity of 
 political sentiment, and determination not to quit their arms till they 
 should have accomphshed the complete liberation of their country from 
 the sovereignty of the British Parliament. In the beginning of the year 
 1780 they entered upon the plan of general organization. They ap- 
 pointed reviews for the ensuing summer, and chose their exercising 
 officers and reviewing generals. Thus was laid the foundation of the 
 Irish Union. Plowden's History of Ireland, Vol. ii. page 192. 
 
I 779. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 33 
 
 Accordingly, on the 12th of October, 1779, on the 
 motion of Mr. Hussey Burgh, the Commons introduced 
 the following phrase in their address to the King : — 
 " We beg leave humbly to represent to your Majesty, 
 that it is not by temporary expedients, but by a free 
 trade alone, that this nation is now to be saved from im- 
 pending ruin." This address was carried to the Vice- 
 roy, by the Speaker, amidst the acclamations of an im- 
 mense multitude, between two lines of the Dublin 
 Volunteers, commanded by the Duke of Leinster, 
 vrhich extended from the Parliament House to the 
 Castle. Lord North, the British minister, took the 
 hint, and introduced in the English Parliament, with- 
 out opposition, a bill for the removal of most of the 
 restrictions on trade, and another allowing the free ex- 
 portation of many articles hitherto prohibited, especially 
 of woollens. 
 
 It was too evident that this tardy measure of relief 
 was granted, not from any desire of doing justice to 
 an oppressed nation, but from the fear of oiFending 
 the Volunteers, who had become too formidable to be 
 trifled with. 
 
 Though these concessions were received at first with 
 great joy by the nation in general, yet, as it was known 
 that they Avere resumahle at pleasure, and had been re- 
 presented as such by Lord North, an opinion daily 
 gained ground, that the privileges of free trade never 
 could be secured until the Irish Legislature became 
 quite independent of the English Parliament, and de- 
 clarations to that effect were published and circulated 
 
24 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D* 
 
 widely throughout the country. At length, on the 9th 
 of June, 1780, the Dublin Volunteers, with the Duke 
 of Leinster as their chairman, published a resolution, 
 *' That the King, Lords, and Commons of Ireland only, 
 were competent to make laws binding the subjects of 
 this realm, and that they would not obey or give ope- 
 ration to any laws, save only those enacted by the 
 King, Lords, and Commons of Ireland, whose rights 
 and privileges, jointly and separately, they were deter- 
 mined to support with their lives and fortunes." 
 
 The determined attitude of the Volunteers, and the 
 rapidly-increasing energy of their demands, now began 
 to give serious uneasiness to the British Government, 
 who used every effort to weaken the associations. These 
 had increased to such an extent, that at Belfast alone 
 5400 men, with a train of 13 pieces of artillery, were 
 publicly reviewed from time to time ; and, though these 
 men gave repeated testimonies of their loyalty and at- 
 tachment to the British Government, they declared 
 themselves determined to obtain a free trade, secured 
 by a free legislature. 
 
 On the 28th of December, 1781, the officers and de- 
 legates of the first Regiment of Volunteers of Ulster, 
 commanded by the Earl of Charlemont, met at Armagh, 
 and, having passed a resolution, setting forth their opi- 
 nion of the degraded and inefficient condition of the 
 Irish Parliament, invited ail the corps of that Province 
 to send delegates to Dungannon, to consider the means 
 of obtaining redress. Their invitation Avas complied 
 with^ and the representatives of 143 Volunteer corps 
 
1781. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 25 
 
 met there on the 15th of February, 1782. Colonel 
 William Irvine was their president, and their proceed- 
 ings were conducted by the Earl of Charlemont, aided 
 by Mr. Henry Grattan, and Mr. Flood. The business 
 was opened by a declaration that " an Irishman aban- 
 doned none of his civil rights by learning the use of 
 arms." They then resolved, — 
 
 " That it was an intolerable and unconstitutional 
 grievance, that any man or body of men, other than the 
 King, Lords, and Commons of Ireland, should claim 
 to make laws for that kingdom, or to change or alter 
 those already made. 
 
 ''That the same was the case with regard to the 
 power assumed by the Privy Council, under colour of a 
 law called Poyning's law, to review, prepare, or inter- 
 fere with the proceedings of Parliament. 
 
 " That the same was the case with a mutiny bill not 
 limited from sessions to sessions. 
 
 " That the same was the case with the shutting up 
 of the Irish ports from foreign trade, by any authority 
 other than that of the Parliament of Ireland. 
 
 " That the same was the case with the refusal of in- 
 dependence to the Irish judges, in the same manner as 
 those of England enjoyed it." And they concluded by 
 declaring, — 
 
 *' That they knew their duty to their Sovereign, and 
 were loyal, and that they knew their duty to themselves, 
 were resolved to be free, and were unalterably deter- 
 mined to seek a redress of their grievances !" They 
 ordered that four delegates from each county should be 
 
26 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 chosen to represent the Province of Ulster, nine of 
 whom, being residents of Dublin, should be appointed 
 as a committee to communicate with other Volunteer 
 associations. 
 
 These " Dungannon Resolutions" were quickly 
 adopted throughout the whole kingdom. Similar com- 
 mittees were everywhere appointed, and a national 
 committee Avas chosen to conduct the whole. Parlia- 
 ment had met in October, 1781, and still continued sit- 
 ting. Government at first showed some slight dispo- 
 sition to resist this armed association, by rejecting two 
 or three motions brought forward by JNIr. Grattan on 
 the subject ; but in March^ 1782, a new ministry 
 was formed, under the Marquis of Rockingham. Mr. 
 Fox was named Secretary of State, and the Duke of 
 Portland was sent to replace the Earl of Carlisle as 
 Lord- Lieutenant in Ireland. Messages were sent from 
 his INIajesty to the English House of Commons on the 
 9th of April, and to the Irish House on the 16th, de- 
 siring them to take the affairs of Ireland into their im- 
 mediate consideration. Mr. Grattan, in the Irish 
 House, moved an address to the throne in reply, which 
 was unanimously adopted. He closed his speech with 
 these very noted expressions : — " Allied by liberty still 
 more than by allegiance. Great Britain and Ireland 
 form a constitutional confederacy ; the perpetual an- 
 nexion to the Crown is a powerful bond of union, but 
 Magna Charta still more efficacious ; to find anywhere 
 a King would be easy, but to England only could the 
 Irish look for a constitution ; the mutual connexion of 
 
1782. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 27 
 
 the two countries Avas originally established by char- 
 ter, and not by conquest ; and every true Irishman will 
 say, liberty with England, if England is so disposed, 
 but at all events liberty." 
 
 On the 27th of May, 1782, the Viceroy announced 
 to both Houses, that his Majesty was graciously dis- 
 posed to give his royal assent to bills redressing all the 
 grievances which the Dungannon meeting had com- 
 plained of : also to a bill repealing the Presbyterian 
 Test Act, thereby admitting members of that persua- 
 sion to all places of trust and emolument, and placing 
 them in most respects on a footing with those of the 
 Church of England ; and likewise to a bill relieving 
 Romish priests from the penalty of a premunire, to 
 which they had been subject in certain cases ; allowing 
 Roman Catholics to purchase land, and permitting 
 them to be guardians to their own children. When 
 such concessions were considered as a boon, some idea 
 may be formed of the condition of those religionists at 
 that period. The Roman Catholics, however, far from 
 being contented, complained that, although their num- 
 bers had added great weight to the association, their 
 interests were alone neglected on this occasion.* 
 
 This famous Parliament was prorogued on the 27th 
 of July, 1782, and all its acts were approved and con- 
 
 * Speaking of those concessions, Mr. Tone says, " The Catholics 
 consider the late advantages which they obtained as so much extorted 
 from the necessities of Government under a lucky combination of cir- 
 cumstances—of course, all gratitude is out of the question." Vol. i. page 
 511 of the original American edition. 
 
28 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 firmed by a bill to that effect in the English Parlia- 
 ment, which received the royal assent on the 22nd of 
 January, 1783. Thus, in fact, did this armed associa- 
 tion force its demands from the Governments both of 
 England and Ireland, 
 
 Some of the Volunteer delegates subsequently at- 
 tempted still further to interfere in the government and 
 legislature of the country. Unsupported by their most 
 respectable members, their efforts were unavailing ; but, 
 as tools in the hands of designing men, they served to 
 renew discontents, which might otherwise have lain 
 dormant ; and they prepared the way for the sad scenes 
 which were to follow in a few years. Mr. Henry 
 Grattan received 60,000/. * from the House of Com- 
 mons, as a rcAvard for his services in this affair ; and, 
 satisfied with what he had done, he ceased his exer- 
 tions, and did not interfere when the English Govern- 
 ment subsequently attempted to curtail some of the 
 grants. Mr. Flood then took up the matter, and com- 
 pelled the passing of the act of approval and explana- 
 tion, which, as already stated, passed the English Par- 
 liament, and received the Royal assent on the 22nd of 
 January, 1783. On account of this interference Mr, 
 Flood was deprived of his place, the income of which 
 was 3500/. a-year. How different the fate of these two 
 patriots ; he who began the contest made his fortune ; 
 he who concluded it was ruined ! 
 
 The success which had hitherto attended their exer- 
 
 * Or 50,000/. 
 
1783. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 29 
 
 tions now led the Volunteers to turn their attention to 
 Reform in Parliament. 
 
 On the 1st of July, 1783, an assembly of the dele- 
 gates of forty-five Volunteer companies of Ulster met 
 at Lisburne, in the county of Antrim, to deliberate on 
 measures for that object ; and a committee was ap- 
 pointed to correspond with other societies. This com- 
 mittee convened a general meeting of all the delegates 
 of the province to assemble at Dungannon, on the 8th 
 of the following September. The delegates of 272 
 companies met together on the day appointed, and, 
 after passing several resolutions touching parlia- 
 mentary reform, elected five persons as representative 
 of each county in a national convention, to be held in 
 Dublin on the 10th of November. Their principal 
 ground of complaint was, that more than two-thirds of 
 the members of Parliament were nominated by indi- 
 vidual peers, or gentlemen of property, and that, as 
 such an assembly did not at all represent the nation, so 
 by their acts they clearly showed that they deemed 
 the national interests as, at best, but of secondary im- 
 portance. 
 
 On the 10th of November the delegates of the four 
 provinces, with the Earl of Charlemont as their presi- 
 dent, met in the Rotunda in Dubhn, where they ap- 
 pointed a committee to frame a plan of parliamentary 
 reform. 
 
 On the 25th of November the committee reported 
 their plan, and four days afterwards Mr. Flood at- 
 tempted to bring into Parliament a bill framed on that 
 
30 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 report, which was rejected by a very large majority, 
 who properly conceived such a bill, originating with 
 an armed body, to be inconsistent with the dignity ot 
 the House, and the freedom of debate. 
 
 The National Convention, as these delegates styled 
 themselves, finding that Government was not to be 
 alarmed by any threatening attitude, met once more, 
 and for the last time, on the 2nd of December, when 
 they voted an address to the king, and then adjourned 
 indefinitely. 
 
 As long as the volunteer system continued in force 
 the laws were obeyed and executed faithfully, but with 
 the decline of that association riots became frequent, 
 and discontents on political and commercial affairs were 
 fomented on all sides. In many parts of the country 
 the journeymen mechanics and manufacturers pro- 
 ceeded to the barbarous outrage of tarring and feather- 
 ing such persons as were particularly obnoxious to 
 them. The mob and the garrison of Dublin were 
 frequently in collision, and a savage, though by no 
 means a novel, custom of houghing soldiers who were 
 found straggling about increased so much, that an 
 act was passed, compelling the city of Dublin to pro- 
 vide for every soldier so disabled, during the remainder 
 of his life. 
 
 The next subject to which public attention was 
 directed was Catholic Emancipation. 
 
 On the 7th of June, 1784, an assembly of the citi- 
 zens of Dublin, convened by the sheriffs, among other 
 resolutions, declared, "That to extend the rights of suf- 
 
1784. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 31 
 
 frage to their Roman Catholic brethren would be a 
 measure fraught with the happiest consequences, and 
 highly conducive to civil liberty." The meeting also 
 invited the people to depute five persons from every 
 county and large town, to assemble in Dublin on the 
 25th of the foUoAving October, and form what they 
 called a National Congress, This congress, notwith- 
 standing all the attempts of the Government to prevent 
 its assembling, met on the day appointed ; but, as its 
 organization was very incomplete, it was adjourned till 
 the 20th of January, 1785, when 200 delegates again 
 met, and passed a resolution voting an application to 
 Parliament, but couched in such general terms as left 
 the mode of redress altogether undefined. Though this 
 meeting of the citizens of Dublin was the first attempt 
 made by Protestants to obtain Catholic Emancipation, 
 if we except some very slight demonstrations made by 
 the Volunteers of Ulster, in an address to their general, 
 the Earl of Charlemont, yet the Roman Catholics 
 themselves had not been idle. 
 
 As early as the year 1757 a Roman Catholic com- 
 mittee had been formed in Dublin for the management 
 of the political concerns of that body. The first meet- 
 ing was held at the Globe coffee-house, in Essex 
 Street, and was composed of Mr. Charles O'Connor, 
 Dr. Curry, Mr. Wyse of Waterford, Dr. Jennings, 
 Mr. Antony M'Dermott, Mr. James Reynolds, the 
 grand-uncle of the subject of these memoirs, and one 
 more gentleman. Their numbers however soon in- 
 creased, and they conducted all their proceedings with 
 
32 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 the utmost secrecy. The members were partly elected 
 and returned by towns and districts, and their pro- 
 ceedings were regulated by established forms ; but the 
 times were not then ripe for much concession ; still 
 some little progress was made. 
 
 About the year 1775 the committee consisted of 
 about a hundred members, though seldom more than 
 twenty or thirty met. They framed and presented 
 petitions to Parliament from time to time, under the 
 sanction of Government, and thus gradually obtained 
 considerable modifications of the penal laws. The 
 committee was at that time composed of the principal 
 Roman Catholic nobility and great landed proprietors. 
 Men of ability or influence, and of known loyalty were 
 associated by them without any sort of election, so that 
 the number of members was never limited. Three or 
 four generally acted as managers, advising with the 
 others, as they found it necessary ; and, as these three 
 or four chief actors had little else than turmoil or trou- 
 ble for their pains, their prominent situations were not 
 at all envied. 
 
 Thus matters went on till about the end of 1786. 
 The general improvement of trade and industry had 
 then raised up in all the larger towns a great number 
 of easy proprietors among the Roman Catholic mer- 
 chants and traders. These men, looking to the still 
 remaining severities of the penal code, dreaded the 
 impediments they presented to the future employment 
 of their growing fortunes, and the advancement of their 
 children : the most turbulent naturally took the lead, 
 
1786. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 33 
 
 and desirous of distinguishing themselves, they repre- 
 sented to their hearers that the old committee were all 
 aristocrats, who only sought the repeal of such laws 
 as affected their own order, and these very slowly. 
 They even went so far as to say that they acted in 
 connivance with the Castle, meaning the executive 
 government, to depress and keep back the Catholic body 
 at large. These manoeuvres brought strong remon- 
 strances from many places to the committee, who in 
 consequence agreed to associate members, as represen- 
 tatives, or delegates, from all the cities and chief places 
 in the kingdom. This measure enlarged the committee 
 greatly ; but the members for distant places rarely at- 
 tended in Dublin, so that the old committee was seldom 
 outnumbered by the new members, but thencefor- 
 ward there were two distinct parties — the aristocratic 
 party, or original committee, and the democratic party, 
 chiefly composed of the wealthy Roman Catholic 
 inhabitants of Dublin : these latter were generally 
 outnumbered, but they were constantly intriguing, 
 debating, and caballing, out-of-doors, as well as at the 
 meetings. The most prominent opposers of the old 
 committee were John Keogh, a silk-mercer ; Edward 
 Byrne, a sugar-baker ; Randall MacDonnell, a sugar- 
 baker, partner to Byrne ; Hugh Daniell, an iron- 
 monger ; Thomas Braughall, a retired merchant ; Va- 
 lentine O'Connor, a merchant; John Sweetman, a 
 brewer ; William James MacNevin, a physician ; 
 Thomas Warren, a silk-manufacturer ; Nicholas Ma- 
 hon, a merchant; and Richard MacCormick, a stufl:- 
 
 VOL. I. D 
 
34 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 manufacturer ; all residents of Dublin, constant and 
 regular attendants and debaters. Of these the only 
 man of real abilities was MacNevin : Keogli was a 
 pompous, forward man ; * Byrne purse-proud and 
 ignorant to a notorious degree, as to everything out of 
 the routine of his trade ; Braughall was well informed 
 and acute, but afraid to act or speak manfully, lest he 
 should commit himself in some way : he always had a 
 loophole to slip out of an argument. The others 
 merely formed the chorus of the piece. 
 
 The struggle went on for some years in the com- 
 mittee ; the old party combating for what was ludi- 
 crously termed " tranquil emancipation," the new 
 members urging decided demands of what they con- 
 sidered to be the meaning of the Treaty of Limerick. 
 At length, in 1792, one Dr. M'Kenna published a 
 pamphlet under the sanction of government, which he 
 entitled " Tranquil Emancipation/' and for which he 
 made no secret of having been paid by the Treasury. 
 This at once set all the new party in a flame ; a meet- 
 ing of the committee was called ; and after long and 
 furious debates a string of the most violent resolutions 
 against M'Kenna, his pamphlet, and the government 
 who employed him, were proposed. The Earl of Fin- 
 gall, a nobleman advanced in years, and who had long 
 
 * " Poor Gog !" (the nickname given to Keogh by Mr. Tone) "his va- 
 nity, of which he has plenty, has got a mortal blow — he has not strength 
 of mind to co-operate fairly, must do all, or seem to do all, himself. A 
 dirty personal jealousy, lest Burke and M'Kenna might interfere with 
 his own fame, is at the bottom of all ; little-minded ! paltry ! " — Life of 
 Theobald Wolfe Tone, vol. i. page 179. 
 
1792. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 35 
 
 presided over the Catholic Committee, was, as usual, 
 in the chair : he refused to put the resolutions, and the 
 meeting was adjourned to the following evening. On 
 the second evening Lord Fingall had again taken the 
 chair and opened the business, when Randall M'Don- 
 nell entered the room, accompanied by most of the per- 
 sons above named, and followed by twenty or thirty 
 others, walked up to the chairman, told him he was 
 an old woman, unfit to sit there, and desired him to 
 leave the chair and make room for one more fit to oc- 
 cupy it. He then seized his lordship by the arm to 
 thrust him out. Lord Fingall did not resist ; he rose, 
 and immediately withdrew, followed by all his party. 
 Thomas Braughall was then placed in the chair, and 
 put all the resolutions they desired.* 
 
 Sixty-four of the seceders speedily signed and pre- 
 sented an address to the lord lieutenant, declaring their 
 perfect confidence in government, their contentment 
 with the manner in which the Roman Catholic inter- 
 ests were advancing, and their disavowal of all the 
 hasty and violent measures of those who now acted as 
 the Catholic Committee. 
 
 The democratic party, on their side, addressed the 
 Roman Catholics at large through the agency of their 
 parish clergy, explained the motives of their conduct in 
 their own way, and invited the whole body to choose 
 representatives, who should meet in Dublin and pro- 
 
 * This account I have taken from my father's minutes. He was pre- 
 sent, and retired with the seceders. 
 
 D 2 
 
36 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 nounce decidedly as to ;the opinions and interests of 
 their constituents, and adopt such measures as would 
 best accord with the one and promote the other. 
 
 The call was ol)eyed after much intrigue and delay ; 
 and what has been denominated the Catholic Conven- 
 tion met in consequence in Dublin on the 3rd of De- 
 cember, 1792, to the number of about 300 persons. 
 
 It was remarkable that the county of Wexford chose 
 a Protestant gentleman, named Sweetman, as its repre- 
 sentative on this occasion, who Avas complimented by 
 the convention by being selected as one of their dele- 
 gates to lay their petition at the foot of the throne, and 
 who lost his life on the occasion in London in a duel. 
 
 The proceedings of the convention were conducted 
 by Mr. John Keogh, Mr. Thomas Braughall, and the 
 others who had convened the meeting, aided by Mr. 
 Theobald Wolfe Tone, a Protestant, whom they had 
 engaged as their secretary, and by Mr. Burke, the son 
 of the well-known Edmund Burke, also a Protestant, 
 who had been sent over from England by his father for 
 the purpose. Mr. Richard MacCormick, a highly re- 
 spectable Roman Catholic inhabitant of Dublin, offi- 
 ciated nominally as secretary, in order to keep up ap- 
 pearances. They made violent declarations against 
 the Irish executive government, from whom they said 
 they expected no justice ; they therefore chose some 
 of their own body to lay their grievances, in the form 
 of an address, at the foot of the throne, taking no man- 
 ner of notice of the lord lieutenant, whom they affected 
 
1792. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 37 
 
 to pass over with marked insolence : indeed, one of the 
 members, Christopher Dillon Bellew, said plainly that 
 he intended disrespect to the administration.* 
 
 They sat in Back-lane during seven days, and, having 
 placed their interests in the care of nine of the old de- 
 mocratic body, as a sort of permanent sub-committee, 
 they broke up, declaring that " they would never meet 
 again as Roman Catholics, but that all their future 
 proceedings should be in unison with the rest of their 
 aggrieved countrymen, as Irishmen, not as sectaries." 
 
 Having chosen Mr. Burke as their agent, in the hope 
 of receiving the benefit of his father's advice and assist- 
 ance for their delegates in London, they voted him the 
 sum of . . . . £2,300 
 
 They also voted to Mr. Tone, as 
 their secretary 
 
 To Mr. Tone, to purchase a medal 
 
 To the Honourable Simon Butler 
 
 To Mr. William Todd Jones 
 
 For a statue of the king, never more 
 
 thought of . . . 2,000 
 
 1,500 
 
 
 
 
 
 34 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 500 
 
 
 
 
 
 1,000 
 
 
 
 
 
 £7,334 2 6 
 The funds to pay these votes were to be subsequently 
 collected among the Catholics at large, by the members 
 of the convention on their return home, and to be trans- 
 mitted by them to Mr. Edward Byrne, in Dublin. 
 The delegates, instead of going direct to England, 
 
 * See the Life of Theobald Wolfe Tone, vol. i. p. 82. 
 
38 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 went in great parade through the north of Ireland, 
 which is chiefly inhabited by Protestant Dissenters. 
 The reason assigned by Mr. Tone for that roundabout 
 way is rather strange ; he says — " It so happened that 
 there was no packet-boat ready in the harbour, and the 
 wind was contrary ! " Whatever may be thought of 
 the excuse, it is evident that the writer considered some 
 excuse necessary.* 
 
 The delegates were publicly received and feasted at 
 Belfast, passed over to Scotland, and in the same 
 ostentatious manner paraded up to London, where they 
 were presented to and very graciously received by the 
 king on the 2nd of January, 1793,f notwithstanding 
 the violence of their proceedings and the affront they 
 had just put upon the lord lieutenant and all the exe- 
 cutive government of Ireland ; and during that same 
 year those concessions were made which placed the 
 Irish Roman Catholics on the footing on which they 
 stood previous to the year 1829, while those of England 
 were still left to suffer under the heavy restrictions and 
 disabilities inflicted by the penal code. 
 
 Whatever causes might have induced ministers to 
 make those concessions at such very remarkable epochs, 
 it is very certain that the people were taught to believe 
 that these, as well as those of Dungannon, were ex- 
 torted from the fears of the government by the active 
 energy of the conventions : the more so, because at that 
 period a law was made to prevent all future conventions 
 
 * See the Life of Tone, vol. i. p. 87. 
 
 t See Appendix No. 4, for a copy of their celebrated petition. 
 
1785. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 39 
 
 or assemblies, chosen by election, for the purpose of 
 petitioning ; and, far from being thankful for what was 
 conceded, the Roman Catholics only considered these 
 relaxations of the penal code as the reacquisition of a 
 part of their rights, and as a step towards the acquisi- 
 tion of others more important. 
 
 Having thus brought the account of the Catholic 
 Convention down to the year 1793, we must now go 
 back a few years, in order to complete the picture of 
 the distractions which agitated Ireland during the ten 
 years that preceded the formation of the United Irish 
 Association. 
 
 About the year 1785 or 1786 an insurrection, ori- 
 ginating in the county of Kerry, quickly spread through 
 that of Cork and other parts of Munster ; and, though 
 the lower orders of the peasantry were the only class 
 who ostensibly took any part in it, yet their systematic 
 proceedings too clearly showed that they were put for- 
 ward and encouraged by persons of a higher walk in 
 life. They assembled in large bodies of several hun- 
 dreds, and marched through the country, unarmed, 
 administering oaths of obedience to Captain Right, 
 whence they were called Right Boys. The orders of 
 this imaginary chief were, that they should not pay 
 more than a fixed price for the tithes per acre ; that 
 they should permit no proctors, nor suffer the minister 
 to draAv his tithe. JMeantime they offered no opposition 
 to magistrates seizing any of their body who were ac- 
 cused of crime: thus showing a respect for the law 
 hardly to be expected from such men. At first they 
 
40 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 met with little or no opposition, till, emboldened by the 
 apathy of the executive government, they proceeded to 
 fix limits to rents, to raise the price of labour, to oppose 
 the collection of hearth-money, and to treat with the 
 most horrid barbarity such persons as were obnoxious 
 to them. At length government interfered, and suc- 
 ceeded in checking them in a great measure, though 
 they were not entirely put down for some years. 
 
 About the same year a quarrel between two Presby- 
 terians near Market Hill, in the county of Armagh, led 
 to a feud, which gradually increased in violence, until, 
 having assumed a religious complexion, it spread over 
 the whole of Ireland. The two men, not satisfied with 
 voiding their quarrel by themselves, began by inviting 
 their friends to their assistance, at first without distinc- 
 tion of religious denomination ; but as each party in- 
 creased in numbers they lost sight of their original 
 quarrel, and separated into Roman Catholic and Pres- 
 byterian. The Roman Catholics were by far the most 
 numerous, and showed great activity in collecting arms. 
 The Presbyterians adopted the plan of disarming them, 
 and with that view they visited their houses at a very 
 early hour in the morning, whence they obtained the 
 name of Peep-o'-day Boys. In their search they were 
 often guilty of wanton excesses, both on the persons 
 and property of their antagonists. 
 
 The Roman Catholics took the name of Defenders, 
 and, as the passions of both parties were much inflamed, 
 they never let pass an opportunity of attacking one 
 another, and bloodshed and muider were too often the 
 
1787. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 41 
 
 result. In the year 1787 the violence of both parties 
 had assumed an aspect so alarming in the county of 
 Armagh, that two troops of dragoons were sent to 
 quell them, but without success. At last it became a 
 downright religious war, and the most barbarous ex- 
 cesses were resorted to by both sides. Notwithstand- 
 ing all the exertions of the government, the Defenders, 
 who had long become the aggressors,* extended their 
 associations through the counties of Lowth, Meath, 
 Cavan, Monaghan, Armagh, Antrim, Down, and the 
 neighbourhood, when General Eustace was sent with a 
 considerable force to suppress them. The following is 
 a specimen, and by no means a solitary one, of their 
 barbarous fanaticism. 
 
 Richard Jackson, of Forkhill, in the county of 
 Armagh, died on the 11th of January, 1787, and be- 
 queathed an estate of 4000/. a-year for colonizing his 
 property, consisting of 3000 acres, with Protestants, 
 and for establishing on it four schools for the gratuitous 
 instruction of children of every religious denomination. 
 Two years afterwards the Rev. Edward Hudson, rector 
 
 * In April, 1793, Mr. Tone thus writes : " The Defenders, at this time, 
 are very diiferent from those who originally assumed that appellation. 
 The first Defenders, properly so called, were associations of Catholics, for 
 the purpose of protecting themselves from the violent depredations of a 
 party known by the name of the Peep-o"-day Boys ; into which asso- 
 ciations they were forced by the difficulty, or as they stated it, the impos- 
 sibility, of obtaining justice against the aggressors: they originated 
 several years back, and were confined to the counties of Armagh and 
 Down. The present insurgents, with very diiferent principles, have 
 adopted the same name." (See vol. i. page 478.) 
 
42 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 of Forkhill, was appointed agent to conduct the charity. 
 The Roman Catholics in the neighbourhood declared 
 they would not allow the establishment to be formed. 
 Accordingly they twice attempted Mr. Hudson's life : 
 the colonists were treated with the greatest brutality ; 
 their houses were demolished and their property de- 
 stroyed. The manor mill was burned, and the miller 
 Avould have been murdered, had he not escaped naked, 
 by crossing a river in the night. On the 29th of Ja- 
 nuary, 1791, at seven o'clock in the evening, a number 
 of monsters, in human shape, assembled at the house of 
 Alexander Barclay, one of the schoolmasters, who 
 resided in the parish of Forkhill, near Dundalk : they 
 rapped at the door, and he inquired who was there ? 
 Avhen one of the party, named Terence Byrne, his near 
 neighbour, whose voice he well knew, and whom he 
 had before, at different times admitted, answered him. 
 He then opened the door, and a number of men rushed 
 in, threw him on his face, and three of them stood on 
 him and stabbed him repeatedly. They then put a 
 cord round his neck, which they tightened so as to force 
 out his tongue, part of which, as far as they could reach, 
 they cut off. They then cut off the four fingers and the 
 thumb of his right hand, and left him on the floor, and 
 proceeded to use his wife in the same manner. To add 
 to their barbarity, they cut out her tongue, and cut off 
 her four fingers and thumb, with a blunt weapon, which 
 operation took them above ten minutes, one or two 
 of them holding up her arm while they committed this 
 inhuman action : they then battered and beat her in a 
 
1792. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 43 
 
 dreadful manner. Her brother, a boy of thirteen years 
 of age, had come from Armagh that morning to see her. 
 They cut out his tongue, and cut off the calf of his leg, 
 and left them all three in that situation. No reason could 
 be assigned for that most inhuman transaction : the man 
 was a Protestant, a peaceable decent man ; he taught 
 above thirty of their children gratis, being allowed a 
 salary by the trustees for forty more. He asked them 
 whether he had ever offended them ? they said not ; 
 but that was the beginning of what he, and those like 
 him (meaning Protestants), should suffer. This busi- 
 ness was a matter of public exultation in the parish ; 
 and so far were the perpetrators from wishing to con- 
 ceal it, that they proceeded on the road with torches, 
 publicly, and in defiance of everybody. This account 
 is taken from the report made by the trustees of the 
 charity to the Bishop of Dromore, which says in con- 
 clusion " the man and the boy can speak a little, the 
 woman cannot, and fortunately they are all likely to 
 die ; as, if they live, they are incapable of earning their 
 subsistence." 
 
 In the years 1792 and 1793 numerous bands of 
 Defenders attacked, pillaged, and murdered Protestants 
 of every denomination, and extended their destructive 
 fury to the counties of Dublin, Roscommon, Westmeath, 
 Donegal, Leitrim, Mayo, Sligo, Derry, Limerick, 
 Wexford, and Kerry. In the county of Lowth alone 
 they plundered a hundred and eighty houses ! In some 
 places landlords were obliged to relinquish their rents, 
 and the clergy their tithes, and many families abandoned 
 their houses, and fled to Dublin for protection. At 
 
44 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 Dundalk, at one assizes, twenty-two Defenders were 
 sentenced to die, and twenty-five to be transported. A 
 body of about two thousand attacked the town of Wex- 
 ford, with the avowed design of breaking open the 
 prison, to Hberate the prisoners ; but they were repulsed, 
 with great slaughter, by Major Vallaton, at the head 
 of a detachment of the 68th regiment. The Major 
 was unfortunately killed by a wound from a scythe- 
 blade fixed to a pole. 
 
 Theobald Wolfe Tone tells us that " the Defenders 
 were completely organised on a military plan, divided 
 according to their respective districts, and officered by 
 men chosen by themselves. The principle of their 
 union was implicit obedience to the orders of those 
 whom they had selected for their generals, and Avhose 
 object was the emancipation of their country, the sub- 
 version of English usurpation, and the bettering the 
 condition of the wretched peasantry of Ireland. The 
 oath of their union asserted that they would be faithful 
 to the united nations of France and Ireland.'' 
 
 Emissaries were sent in all directions to inflame the 
 animosities of the people, and to disseminate treason- 
 able principles among them. Illegal oaths were openly 
 administered, and infidel and republican tracts, such as 
 " Payne's Rights of Man," called by Mr. Tone " the 
 Koran of Belfast," were prepared for those who could 
 not be induced to embrace the religious question, so that 
 the whole country was kept in a state of incessant dis- 
 order and agitation. 
 
 It would occupy too much time to give an account 
 of the numerous outrages and murders they committed, 
 
1793. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 45 
 
 till at last they became so alarming that the lord 
 lieutenant and council issued a proclamation on the 
 13th of February, 1793, offering a reward of £100 to 
 any person who would prosecute them ; but all the 
 efforts of the executive government failed ; and we hear 
 of Defenders as late as 1797, when Lord Kilwarden 
 was sent to Armagh to try them, and several were 
 hanged, as well as some Peep-o'-day Boys. The battle 
 of the Diamond, which has latterly occupied public 
 notice, was fought on the 21st of September, 1795, 
 between the Peep-o'-day Boys and the Defenders ; in 
 that action the Defenders were defeated with consider- 
 able loss in killed and wounded. It has been said, in 
 justification of the Roman Catholics, that they acted 
 only in their own defence, having been first attacked 
 by the Presbyterians ; but, even admitting that to have 
 been the case in the counties of Down and Armagh, 
 there is not the shadow of any such excuse for the 
 outrages committed in the other parts of Ireland above 
 named. There their aggressions were wanton and un- 
 provoked, and evidently showed that more was contem- 
 plated than they or their leaders thought fit to acknow- 
 ledge. The fact is, those leaders had for years been 
 occupied in watching every opportunity of rousing the 
 worst passions of the people, and of goading them on to 
 rebellion ; and they were not a little assisted in their 
 projects by the injudicious and oppressive manner in 
 which the country had been governed during the pre- 
 vious century. 
 
 Thus, the minds of the people being kept in a constant 
 state of agitation by these feuds and struggles for civil 
 
46 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 and religious freedom, formed an easy field for seditious 
 and designing men to work upon, and enabled the 
 Society of United Irishmen, of which a full account 
 will be found in the body of this work, to spread its 
 destructive influence throughout Ireland. 
 
 From this imperfect sketch some idea may be formed 
 of the distracted state of Ireland, especially between the 
 years 1782 and 1798. Bands of armed rufiians, under 
 the various names of White Boys, Right Boys, Peep- 
 o'-day Boys, and Defenders, were marching through 
 the country by day and night, murdering, burning, 
 and pillaging in all directions : no man was, or could 
 be, secure in his house ; his only chance lay in joining 
 one or other of those parties, as the maxim of each was, 
 that he who was not with them was against them. 
 
 In Dublin, though life and property were tolerably 
 secure, yet the violence of party was not less destructive, 
 extending its baneful influence through every grade of 
 society. The Catholic and the Protestant hated each 
 other with a deadly hatred — the great questions of 
 emancipation and reform agitated all ranks — the daily 
 press teemed with seditious and inflammatory produc- 
 tions, while the then secret leaders of the disaffected 
 nourished and fomented those bitter feelings for their 
 own evil purposes. There, as in the country, neutrality 
 was impossible ; every man was obliged to embrace one 
 or other party, if he did not desire to be shunned, hated, 
 and persecuted by both. 
 
1771. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 47 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Mr. Reynolds's birth — family— and early years. He is sent to school in 
 England — and afterwards in Flanders — He returns to Dublin on the 
 death of his Father— His early associates — Masqued ball at the 
 Rotunda— its serious consequences. He is seized with a dangerous 
 illness — he sets out on the grand tour with Sir Robert Gerard — Re- 
 turns to Dublin — During his absence his Mother takes Mr. Warren 
 into partnership — His sister Rose attacked by consumption — he 
 goes with her to Liege — and thence to Paris with Sir Robert Gerard 
 — Sir Robert Gerard's death — Mr. Reynolds returns to Ireland — 
 His sister dies— and his only remaining sister takes the veil. Mr. 
 Valentine O'Connor's proposals — rejected— Mr. Reynolds marries 
 — His property at that time— History of Mr. Thomas Warren — 
 his baseness and ingratitude— Mr. Reynolds takes all the affairs of 
 the house into his own hands. 
 
 1771 to 1794. 
 
 Thomas Reynolds was born on the 12th of March, 
 1771, at No. 9, West Park Street, Dublin. Among 
 the innumerable reproaches heaped upon his name 
 during the long period of forty years, much stress has 
 been laid upon the supposed humbleness of his origin, 
 as if the station in life in which a man may have been 
 born could be any reflection upon him. It is remark- 
 able that the persons who have been the most active in 
 decrying his origin are, many of them, those whose 
 chief claim to respectability of family connexion arises 
 from their consanguinity to, or alliance with, different 
 
48 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 branches of his family. These circumstances must 
 plead my excuse for entering more largely into our 
 family connexions than my own inclinations under 
 ordinary circumstances would have induced me to do. 
 
 My father was the fourth in descent, and the only 
 surviving male heir, of Connor Reynolds, of Rhynn 
 Castle, in the county of Roscommon, who had married 
 the daughter of Sir Robert Nugent, Bart., by whom 
 he left three sons, Connor_, George Nugent, and 
 Thomas. On the death of their father, the second son, 
 George Nugent, became a Protestant, and, under the 
 provisions of the 8th Anne, chap. 3, possessed himself 
 of the greater part of the family estates. Rhynn 
 Castle and demesne had been settled on his mother, and, 
 after her death, devolved to the eldest son, Connor. It 
 has since passed into the possession of the Crofton 
 family, subject only to a trifling head-rent of about 25/., 
 which is now paid, or at least was so, as late as the 
 year 1829, to the Byrnes ofBallynakeeny, inthe county 
 of Roscommon, who are the heirs, by the female line 
 (the males being all extinct), of Connor. The Michael 
 Byrne whose name occurs hereafter in these Memoirs 
 was of that family. 
 
 George Nugent Reynolds, who, by professing Pro- 
 testantism, obtained possession of the extensive family 
 estates, settled at Latterfian, in the county of Leitrim, 
 and at his death left his property to his only son, who 
 was a very thoughtless extravagant man. The pro- 
 perties were immense ; but he contrived to be always 
 in difficulties, from which he occasionally relieved him- 
 
1771. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 49 
 
 self, by gTfinting very long leases at low rents, in con- 
 sideration of a sum of money paid down as a tine. He 
 left the estates, thus dhninished in value, but not in 
 extent, to his son, who, equally thoughtless and extra- 
 vagant, continued the same course as his father. This 
 gentleman had a quarrel with a Mr. Keon on some 
 electioneering business in the year 1790. A challenge 
 ensued : the seconds endeavoured to accommodate 
 matters on the ground, and with that view withdrew 
 to a little distance, leaving Mr. Reynolds and Keon by 
 themselves, Avhen Keon, taking advantage of the 
 moment, shot Mr. Reynolds through the heart. He 
 was instantly arrested, and, in order to avoid undue 
 influence on either side, he was removed a prisoner to 
 Dublin, where he was tried, convicted, and executed. 
 
 Mr. Reynolds left one son, named George Nugent, 
 who died unmarried in 1802 at Stowe, the seat of his 
 relative, the Marquis of Buckingham, leaving all his 
 property to his two sisters. The estates were so extensive 
 that at the period of the Union six members serving in 
 Parliament derived the whole of their properties from 
 beneficial leases upon them. Thus ended all the males 
 of the two elder branches of the Rhynn family. 
 
 Thomas, the youngest son of Connor Reynolds, 
 married Margaret Lacy, the sister of the great Austrian 
 general of that name. They had three sons and one 
 daughter, James, Thomas, Edward, and Jane. James 
 and Edward died without any male issue. Jane mar- 
 ried a Mr. Purfield. One of her grandsons, named 
 JMeade, went out to Jamaica, where he acquired con- 
 
 VOL. I. E 
 
50 LIFE OF THOMAS EEYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 sideraljle property. He returned to Dublin a widower, 
 advanced in years, and very infirm, and soon after died, 
 bequeathing an estate in Jamaica, called Fort Stewart, 
 to my father, entailed upon my brother. 
 
 Thomas, the second son of Thomas Reynolds and 
 IMargaret Lacy, was my father's grandfather. He 
 married an English lady, and died at a very advanced 
 age, leaving three daughters and one son, named 
 Andrew. By the marriage of the three daughters, who 
 were my father's aunts, he became connected with the 
 JMoores of Mount Brown, Sir William Jerningham, of 
 Cossory Hall in Norfolk, the O'Connors of Bally nagar, 
 in the county of Roscommon, the O'Reillies of Dublin, 
 and other families of distinction. The last-named con- 
 nexion, however, cost the family dear. The three 
 brothers, Thomas, Patrick, and Andrew O'Reilly, who 
 were my father's first cousins, led away by a passion for 
 speculation, and having about 100,000/. at their com- 
 mand, undertook to work the ancient and almost lost 
 iron-mines at Arigna, in the county of Leitrim, and to 
 establish an immense wire-drawing manufactory on the 
 Liffy, near Dublin, which they called New Holland, 
 and from Avhich they undertook to supply wire for the 
 entire consumption of the kingdom ; and the Irish 
 Parliament, hoping to encourage home manuhicturers, 
 prohibited all importation of wire from foreign parts. 
 The brothers went on admirably for two years, making 
 a rapid fortune, and satisfying every one, as well with 
 the quantity, as with the quality and price of the article 
 they supplied ; but the Arigna mines absorbed nmch 
 
J 771. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 51 
 
 faster than they eould furnish money, and made no 
 return, while the increasing cotton-works throughout 
 the kingdom caused so great an increase in the demand 
 for wire, that New Holland could no longer satisfy the 
 call without additional force of works. In this dilemma 
 the brothers had recourse to smuggling. They entered 
 a ship-load of madder from Holland at the port of 
 Dublin. Some suspicion arose at the Custom House: 
 the casks were opened, and were found to contain Dutch 
 wire, covered over with a slight casing of madder. This 
 discovery was so injurious to them, that from that time 
 their prosperity declined, until they became totally 
 ruined, and were never afterwards able to re-establish 
 themselves in business. My grandfather lent them 
 21,000/., for about *2000/. of which he received a lien 
 on the Arigna property, and that was all he ever could 
 recover of the debt. Thomas O'Reilly, the son of the 
 eldest of these brothers, was placed as a clerk in the 
 house of Gordon and Co. of London, who, about the 
 year 1807 or 1808, sent him out to Cadiz on their con- 
 cerns. He there obtained an introduction to an old 
 lady of great Spanish connexions^ the widow of the 
 famous Spanish General O'Reilly. To that lady he 
 made it appear that he was a relative of her late hus- 
 band, and through her means he obtained such exclusive 
 privileges in trade to Buenos Ayres, that he rapidly 
 acquired a considerable fortune, and returned to Eng- 
 land in five or six years with 60,000/. or 70,000/. 
 He there married a Miss O'Callaghan, and settled in 
 London, still continuing his mercantile affairs undeo: 
 
 ^•^ E 2 
 
52 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 the firm of O'Reilly, Wiiiterbottom, and Young, until 
 the year 1817, when the house failed. 
 
 Andrew Reynolds, my grandfather, married his 
 second cousin. Rose Fitzgerald. This lady was the 
 eldest child of Thomas Fitzgerald, of Kilmead, in the 
 county of Kildare, the intimate friend and near relation 
 of William Dnke of Leinster, being descended from 
 the Earls of Kildare. He left one son, Thomas 
 Fitzgerald of Geraldine, my father's uncle, whose only 
 surviving son, Colonel Fitzgerald, my father's cousin- 
 german, died very lately at Kilmead. 
 
 My father's maternal aunts were Mrs. Delamar of 
 Lakin, in the county of Westmeath, whose husband was 
 high-sheriff of that county; Mrs. Keon of Keonbrook, 
 in the county of Leitrim ; and Anne Fitzgerald, a pro- 
 fessed nun, in the King-street convent in Duldin, of 
 whom I must speak again in another place. 
 
 His grandfather, Thomas Fitzgerald, had several 
 sisters. One married Mr. Strange, and had an only 
 daughter, who married Sir Edward Bellew, of Bermeath, 
 in the county of Lowth, Bart. Another married Mr. 
 Molloy of Wexford ; and on the death of her husband 
 she joined her niece, Anne Fitzgerald, in King-street 
 nunnery, where she died at a very advanced age. This 
 is the lady whom I shall be unhappily compelled to 
 notice, in conjunction with Miss Fitzgerald, as having 
 acted a very unworthy part towards their nephew. 
 Another sister married a Mr. Warren of Killeen, in 
 the Queen's County, and, as their family was large, 
 Thomas, the youngest son, was adopted by my grand- 
 
1771. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 53 
 
 fcitlier, on account of the scantiness of the Killeen pro- 
 perty, which was worth only about 200/. a-year. This 
 Thomas Warren afterwards married a Miss Archdekin, 
 by whom he left a numerous family. Thomas Warren 
 and one of his sons distinguished themselves, as will be 
 seen hereafter, by their ingratitude towards the family 
 of their benefactor. 
 
 Such, were the immediate and close relatives of my 
 father's mother ; but lier more remote connexions 
 extended to almost all the Catholic nobility, and to 
 several of the old Protestant families of rank, throughout 
 Ireland. 
 
 Thus I have brought down all the family of my 
 grandfather and grandmother to themselves ; but in 
 Ireland the claims of relationship, once acquired, were 
 never considered as obliterated so long as it was pos- 
 sible to trace them. The names of Connor and 
 Nugent, added to our family name, sufficiently indi- 
 cate our former connexion with those families, in the 
 same manner as that of Fitzgerald does more recently. 
 Connor Reynolds's eldest son retained the name of 
 Connor, which died in his posterity : while the second 
 son received that of Nugent, in consequence of the 
 marriage of his father with the daughter of Sir Robert 
 Nugent, and his posterity retained the name of Nugent 
 until it became extinct in his great-grandson, George 
 Nugent Reynolds. The O'Connors were again allied 
 to our family by the marriage of O'Connor of Bally- 
 nagar Avith my father's cousin-german, Jane Itloore. 
 The great fnmilios of Nugent ahviiys received and 
 
54 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 considered my father as one of themselves, distinguish- 
 ing him in conversation by the name of Fitzgerald 
 Reynolds, from the name of his mother. He was 
 always a welcome guest at Clonlost, at Dysart, and at 
 Dunmore, which are three capital seats of the Nugents 
 in the county of Westmeath ; and when the JMarquis 
 (afterwards the Duke) of Buckingham was Lord 
 Lieutenant of Ireland, his lady and her aunt. Miss 
 Nugent, went continually to visit at my grandmother's. 
 JMy grandfather was then dead, and a Aveek never 
 passed Avithout one or both of them going to breakfast 
 or dine in the family, considering them as their own 
 relations. The Marchioness was a Miss Nugent, only 
 child and heiress of the ffreat Earl of Clare.* Geor2:e 
 Nugent Reynolds returned with the Marquis when 
 he left Ireland, and died at Stowe. There was a 
 family named Reynell, at Reynellagh, in Westmeath, 
 where my father was also received as a relation, but I 
 do not know in what line. Both my grandfather and 
 my grandmother reckoned the De Lacies among their 
 ancestors. This De Lacy family claimed to be de- 
 scended from the De Lacy who had been Lord Lieu- 
 tenant of Ireland during the reign of Henry II., was 
 Prince of Meatli and Earl of Ulster in 1179, married 
 the daughter of Roderic O'Connor, and was killed in 
 1188. The De Lacies also claim descent from the 
 old princes of Desmond. 
 
 All these matters are now idle and foolish, but for- 
 
 * Not the present family who bear that title ; their name is Fitzgibhon: 
 they are a new creation. 
 
1771. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 55 
 
 merly in Ireland (as they \vlio know anything of that 
 country, as it was in the last century, can testify) 
 these claims of kindred were well recognised, and 
 carried mucli weight among the Irish. 
 
 JMy grandfather, Andrew Reynolds, and Rose his 
 wife, liad fourteen children ; two sons and twelve 
 daughters. Of these one son and five daughters died 
 in their infancy. 
 
 The difficulties under which the Roman Catholics 
 laboured when Thomas, the son of Connor Reynolds 
 of Rhynn, found himself deprived of all inheritance^ 
 left him no other resource for subsistence than com- 
 merce or foreign service : he chose the former, and 
 settled as a wool-stapler in Dublin. The extended 
 connexions of his family enabled him to procure great 
 quantities of wool in the fleece, which were sorted in 
 liis stores into their various qualities, and either ex- 
 ported or sold to the wool-combers for home consump- 
 tion. In this business he acquired considerable 
 wealth, of which his eldest son, James, inherited the 
 largest portion, together with the business : all of 
 which he (James) left to the Purfields, in consequence 
 of some disagreement between him and his brother, 
 my great-grandfather, which was carried so far that 
 the brothers would not suffer their respective families 
 to be interred in the same burial-ground. James was 
 interred with his father at Churchtown, near Dublin : 
 Saint Doolaghs, about five miles from Dublin, on the 
 Malahyde road, is the burial-place of my grandfather 
 tnd his family. 
 
 My great-grandfather was engaged in a branch of 
 
56 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 business still connected with the wool-trade ; the ma- 
 nufacture of stuffs, all of wool, named poplins. After- 
 Avards, -when my grandfather embarked in the silk 
 business, he made experiments on these poplins, by 
 having the warp of silk, and the weft, or shoot, of 
 worsted ; and that was the origin of those poplins 
 which have been so prized in foreign countries as 
 Irish tabinets. They were at first made very stout 
 for gentlemen's court-dresses : afterwards a more 
 sliirht and a softer kind were invented for ladies' 
 wear. 
 
 There was not any description of silks manufactured 
 in Ireland previous to my grandfather's time ; all were 
 imported from Enghind and France. This induced 
 him to employ considerable capital in establishing that 
 manufacture, and he succeeded to his utmost expecta- 
 tions ; but the first outlay was immense, as well on 
 account of the value of the ra^v material, as because he 
 was obliged to bring over from England and France 
 dyers, dressers, throwsters, and workpeople of every 
 description ; to provide them all with looms, tackling, 
 and all other necessaries ; to construct dye-houses, 
 drying-lofts, and other extensive buildings ; and, Avhen 
 all was completed, he could not dispose of the manu- 
 factured goods otherwise than on a credit of twelve 
 and eighteen months to the mercers who retailed them, 
 so that he actually disbursed about 150,000/. before he 
 ever received a guinea in return ; but when the busi- 
 ness was in full operation the }>rofits amounted to 
 from 15,000/. to 20,000/. a-year, and this great pros! 
 perity continued for many years. 
 
1779. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 57 
 
 Such were the prospects to which my father was 
 boni, and such the families with whom he was con- 
 nected. 
 
 The first years of my father's life were passed 
 mostly at Kilmead, the seat of his maternal grand- 
 father, in the county of Kildare, under the care of the 
 Rev. Mr. Plunkett, a Roman Catholic priest. He 
 remained there till he was eight years old, when he 
 was sent to Dr. Crawfurd's school at Chiswick, near 
 London. Dr. Crawfurd was a Protestant clergyman, 
 and his school was at that time one of the best and 
 most celebrated in England. He Avas placed there as 
 a parlour-boarder. The school was composed of eight 
 parlour-boarde]-s, and about sixty other lads. The par- 
 lour-boarders lived entirely at the Doctor's table, and 
 joined in all liis society as part of his family. In their 
 walks they were usually accompanied by the Doctor 
 himself, who very rarely intrusted that duty to an 
 usher. My iatlier passed four years in that establish- 
 ment : during the three first he went but little out, as 
 the other boys did, except occasionally for a day to 
 dine at Mr. Barnewell's or at Mr. Golding's, in 
 London : those gentlemen were merchants, corre- 
 spondents of his father. But during the last year he 
 passed all the vacations in the house of Sir Joshua 
 Reynolds, who appeared to take pleasure in teaching 
 him the first principles of drawing, in which he was 
 afterwards a very tolerable proficient. 
 
 The history of England, particularly the reign of 
 Henry VHL, the Refornialion, and the Revolution 
 
58 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 which led to the expulsion of the Stuarts, were fa- 
 vourite and never-ending topics of the Doctor in their 
 boating or walking expeditions. He omitted no pains 
 to ground his young pupils in the principles of the 
 Protestant faith, and when my father quitted the in- 
 stitution he had more knowledge on that head than 
 many grown men. 
 
 He had a kind of dread and suspicion of everything 
 that was Romish, and, as he has himself declared to 
 me on many occasions, if he afterwards showed himself 
 forward in the Catholic cause, it arose in no degree 
 from a religious feeling, but from that kind of feeling 
 which is created and kept up by the consciousness of 
 being oppressed, and by the exulting tyranny of the 
 oppressors. His family was marked as a determined 
 leading Catholic family, — their opponents seemed to 
 consider them as fair game, — and opposition to Pro- 
 testant ascendancy had become a kind of clannish 
 principle among them. But the aversion was not to 
 Protestants as such, but to the odious and tyrannical 
 oppression with which they governed. My father's 
 aunt was married to Peter Delamar, a leading Pro- 
 testant. Two of my father's sisters afterwards married 
 Protestants, as did he himself also ; and his parents, in 
 the very height of Protestant tyranny and Catholic 
 degradation, sent him, their only son, to be educated 
 among Protestants, and under the care and tuition of a 
 Protestant clergyman. If, subsequently, when the 
 greatest part of the disabilities affecting the Catholics 
 had been removed, the pressure of Protestant ascend- 
 
1783. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 59 
 
 aiicy became less felt, and party feeling proportionally 
 diminished, can it be wondered at, that he openly pro- 
 fessed the only religion in which he had ever been 
 grounded ? 
 
 In the beginning of the year 1783 he was removed 
 from Dr. Crawfiird's care, and sent to Liege in French 
 Flanders, to a seminary held by a community of men 
 who had heen Jesuits, and who had obtained that 
 estabhshment when their order was suppressed. They 
 were all Englishmen excepting two, Pere Launay, a 
 man upwards of eighty years of age, who had been 
 preceptor to Voltaire, and Pere Nicholas, a French 
 Jesuit, who came to Liege as private tutor to Sir 
 Robert Gerard, and who resided in an out-building 
 attached to the convent. Neither of these men inter- 
 fered in the affairs of the establishment. There were 
 sixteen of the original Jesuits, eight or nine who had 
 been received into the order subsequently to its disso- 
 lution, and eighteen or twenty professed persons, who 
 acted as lay-brothers or servants. The number of 
 students varied from a hundred and twenty to a hundred 
 and fifty, divided into eight distinct forms or classes, 
 each having its own separate master and school-room, 
 its separate desk in the hall, its distinct table at meals, 
 and its own sleeping-quarters. The three lowest 
 classes had a play-ground in common ; the three next 
 had another play-ground for their sole use; the seventh 
 and eighth, named Philosoi)hy and Theology, being com- 
 posed of young men, and never above eight or ten 
 in number, went where they pleased, and had the free 
 
60 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 use of tlie immense gardens belonging to the house, 
 from which all the other students were debarred. These 
 two last wore black cassocks, and the bead cravat of 
 the order. The others wore a maroon-colour cloth 
 coat with black collar, and black waistcoat and breeches : 
 the undress was a grey frieze surtout. Every lad had a 
 separate bed, enclosed by a wooden partition. The diet 
 Avas excellent and abundant, and great attention was 
 paid to the study of the classics ; but (as in our public 
 schools in England at that time, and even now) reli- 
 gion, and all modern languages, modern history, geo- 
 graphy, writing, and cyphering, were sadly neglected : 
 provided the outward appearances, and regular attend- 
 ances on mass, and other church ceremonies, were 
 punctually complied with, all went on smoothly. 
 Catechisms were never thought of; religious instruc- 
 tion never heard of ; the " Lives of the Saints," " St. 
 Francis de Sales," and ^' St. Ignatius Loyola," were 
 now and then seen in the boys' desks : they might read 
 them if they pleased, but always without prejudice to 
 their classical studies, Avhich alone were attended to. 
 
 Young Sir Robert Gerard, an English baronet, who 
 on his comino- of a^e Avould have inherited twelve or 
 fifteen thousand a-year, arrived at Liege a iew weeks 
 after my father. They were placed in the same class, 
 and continued to go through all their studies together. 
 Constant companions, they soon became inseparable 
 friends. He was a youth of very great abilities, and 
 my l\ither had often to thank him for the assistance 
 which always enabled him to retain a place among the 
 
1788. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 61 
 
 six first ill his classes, to whom many agreeable and 
 enviable privileges were allowed. My father remained 
 in the college five years, and returned to Ireland in the 
 spring of 1788, a few weeks before the death of his 
 father — of that father whom he had so little known, and 
 whose loss, though he was not then aware of it, threw 
 a dark shade over the remainder of his existence. 
 
 When my father returned to Dublin, the affairs of 
 the house were in a much less prosperous condition 
 than they had formerly been. 
 
 About the year 1784 the introduction of cottons 
 occasioned so great a falling off in the consumption of 
 silks, that five or six great mercers failed at once, and 
 my grandfather lost in that year alone 83,000/., and 
 during the four subsequent years he lost 69,000/. more. 
 Had the consumption continued as it had previously 
 been, the profits during these last four years would have 
 lightened these losses considerably ; but, such was the 
 falling off, that, of four hundred looms which were in 
 full work in 1783, seventy only were employed in 
 1788. Moreover, those in 1783 were employed on 
 brocades, velvets, and tissues, many worth three and four 
 guineas a yard ; whereas those of 1788 were making 
 poplins, and slight goods, of three or four shillings a 
 yard. My grandfather also sustained great losses by 
 loans of money which he made to the O'Reillies, and 
 to his cousin Edward Reynolds ; so that he calculated 
 that his losses, during the last four or five years 
 of his life, fell little, if at all, short of 200,000/. 
 sterling. At the time of his death, which took place 
 
&2 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 on the Stli of May, 1788, many of the bankruptcies, by 
 which his losses were occasioned, were still unsettled, 
 so that he could not tell within many thousands of 
 pounds how his property would turn out. All his 
 children were still young ; he therefore by his will gave 
 the whole of his property to his widow, to be disposed 
 of as slie should think proper for her own and his 
 children's support, making her sole executrix and 
 guardian to the children. 
 
 Some houses in Dublin, and a small property near 
 Rathtarnham, had been bequeathed to my father by his 
 grandfather, the whole being worth about 400/. a year. 
 His grandfather had also bequeathed him a sum of 500/. 
 in cash, which had been placed out by his father for him 
 in a tontine, and was then worth about 1500/. ; so that 
 my father had about 500/. a year, which would become 
 his own independent property when he came of age. 
 He might also reasonably expect a share of his father's 
 property, whenever it should be realised. 
 
 The family at this time consisted of my grandmother, 
 my father, and seven of his sisters — of these, three died 
 within a very few years. Julia, the eldest, was in a 
 convent at Liege, where she had been sent for her 
 education. Maria, the second, married Mr. Francis 
 Prendergast, who was deputy registrar of the Court of 
 Chancery ; she died in consequence of an illness which 
 followed her second accouchement. She left a son and 
 a daughter. An estrangement arose between my father 
 and this gentleman in consequence of some family mat- 
 ters, which was not reconciled when my father quitted 
 
1788. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 63 
 
 Ireland, and, Mrs. Prendergast dying soon afterwards, 
 one or two friendly letters passed on that sad occasion, 
 and from that time all intercourse ceased. Eliza, who 
 was three years younger than her sister Maria, married 
 Mr. Thomas Edmund Weir, an attorney, residing in 
 Eccles-street, Dublin. Her health was very delicate, 
 and she died in childbed of her first child, a daughter, 
 who survived her. The same circumstance which had 
 caused an estrangement with Mv. Prendergast had 
 also done so with Mr. Weir ; and after Eliza's death 
 all acquaintance ended with him also. My aunts were 
 both Roman Catholics, and their husbands Protestants. 
 
 Thus in the space of a very few years, of so 
 numerous a family, there remained but my father and 
 two of his sisters, Julia and Rose, and even this little 
 remnant was soon to be still further reduced. 
 
 On my grandfather's death, my father, who was then 
 athoughtless inexperienced lad of seventeen years of age, 
 was left almost to his own guidance, without any kind 
 of restraint, pushed forward in a career of politics and 
 family business, for neither of which he possessed the 
 requisite knowledge or experience. His mother, as 
 his guardian, allowed him 100/. a year out of his own 
 revenue for his private expenses. He lived in her 
 house and at her table ; his horse was kept in her stable 
 at her expense ; her servants attended him as their 
 master ; he remained at home or went out in Dublin, 
 or visiting his numerous connexions in the country, at 
 his pleasure. He Avas uncontrolled in every respect. 
 The Honourable Simon Butler, the eldest son of Lord 
 
64 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 INIoiint garret ; the Honourable Valentine Lawless, the 
 son and heir of Lord Cloncurry ; the sons of Sir Samuel 
 Broadstreet ; William Armit, then employed under his 
 uncle. Sir Harcourt Lees, in the Post Office ; Hanmiy 
 Stuart, a gentleman in the household of the lord 
 lieutenant ; two dashing brothers, Quakers, of the 
 name of Jessoj), and a few more of such dissipated 
 idlers, formed his constant Dublin companions. 
 
 My grandfather had been a delegate in the Catholic 
 Committee until his death, -when his wido^v imme- 
 diately procured the election of my father, who was 
 thus placed in a prominent political situation at an as:e 
 when he ought to have been kept to the business or 
 profession which was to form his future course of life. 
 
 In the course of his dissipated life my father be- 
 came acquainted with a young woman, who led him 
 into some follies and many considerable extravagancies; 
 among others was a masquerade, ball, and supper, given 
 at the Rotunda rooms for the benefit of the unemployed 
 manufacturers. He Avent there with this young woman ; 
 and, as it was for the benefit of the manufacturers, his 
 mother assisted in dressing him, and placed, as a button 
 in his hat, the head of a large diamond pin, in the form 
 of a cluster, which was part of the effects left to him by 
 JMr. John Meade, and which were in liis mother's keeping. 
 The diamond was worth fifty or sixty pounds. He passed 
 a very gay night, and returned home at eight or nine 
 o'clock next morning, half dead with fatigue, Avithout a 
 shilling in his pocket, and tiie diamond pin gone. The 
 whole had been transferred to the youi^g woman, at 
 
1788. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 65 
 
 whose lodgings lie had been from three in the morning 
 till his return home. Thomas Warren, who had been 
 adopted by my grandfather, as I before stated, was at 
 the masquerade, and had seen them together when they 
 unmasked at supper, and before his arrival in the morn- 
 ing, Mr. Warren had told his mother what company he 
 had been with. 
 
 The young woman had made out a tale of wanting 
 some 60/. or 70/. ; my father had 24/. or 25/. in his 
 pocket, and he lent her the pin to pawn to raise the 
 remainder, intending to redeem it in a few days. His 
 mother was waiting his arrival, and had scarcely begun 
 a lecture on his dissipation, when she missed the pin 
 from his hat. My father assured her it should be 
 restored in a day or two, but nothing would pacify 
 her ; she called it robbery, and vowed she would send 
 the constables after the girl, when my father remarked 
 that in fact the pin was his property, and not hers ; 
 still she was very much and very properly displeased : 
 so that all the house became acquainted with the fact. 
 Meantime my father went to his bedj and when he got up 
 in the evening he found his head giddy and his stomach 
 sick. Mr. Garrat Fitzgerald, who was a relative, and 
 the medical attendant of the himily, was sent for ; but 
 next day, his illness having assumed a more dangerous 
 appearance, Dr. Purcell was called in, and declared it 
 to be a putrid fever of the most malignant kind : his 
 life was long despaired of, and he was seven weeks 
 confined to his bed. But, once able to leave his room, 
 he recovered very rapidly ; a sea-voyage and change of 
 
 VOL. I. F 
 
66 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 air were advised. He had maintained a reo:ular cor- 
 respondence Avith his coHege friend Gerard ; and 
 during his illness a letter had arrived from him, 
 saying, he was about to quit Liege, and to make the 
 grand tour with his tutor, the Pere N^icolas, and in- 
 viting my father to be of the party. Nothing could be 
 more opportune. He embarked at the port of Dublin 
 in a Dutch merchant-vessel for Rotterdam, where in 
 fifteen days he landed in excellent health and spirits. 
 
 The diamond pin was never mentioned more, nor 
 ever thought of, until Warren and a man in my 
 grandmother's employ, named Sullivan, made it the 
 ground of a charge against my father on the trials in 
 1798. in order, if possible, to injure his credit. War- 
 ren at the same time accused my father of having stolen 
 silks from his mother's warehouse. The fact was, his 
 mother and Mrs. Warren had continually gowns cut 
 from any silk they fancied for their own use, of which 
 no account was taken. My father had twice or three 
 times a gown in like manner cut off for this young 
 woman ; it was done openly in the ware-room, but 
 Warren and the clerks had particular charge not to 
 tell his mother. Delicacy, duty, and respect made him 
 naturally anxious to conceal such a connexion from 
 her. The charge was made in the hope that my father 
 would deny or attempt to gloss it over ; but he foiled 
 the base attempt by openly avowing the ffict. This 
 young woman, soon after my father quitted Dublin to 
 travel with Sir Robert Gerard, went to England, where 
 she became a great favourite of the late Duke of Bed- 
 
1789. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 67 
 
 ford. About the time of that nobleman's death she 
 married a wealthy Dutch mercliant, and lived respect- 
 ably and independently at Amsterdam. 
 
 My father found Sir Robert Gerard waiting for him 
 at Liege ; it was arranged that they should visit Spa 
 and Aix-la-Chapelle, and then go on and pass the 
 winter at Paris. Sir Robert Gerard's uncle, who was 
 his guardian, had joined in the invitation to my iiither, 
 and all his family seemed pleased at their travelling- 
 together., 
 
 In consequence of their numerous introductions they 
 passed a very agreeable time at Paris ; and in the 
 spring of 1789 they set off,- by way of Geneva, for 
 Italy. On reaching Milan Sir Robert Gerard became 
 unwell ; and having consulted the physicians of the 
 place, they declared it might be fatal to him if he 
 proceeded through the marshes of Rome, and strongly 
 advised his return northwards to a more bracing climate. 
 The young men did so accordingly, and arrived in Paris 
 the first week in July. But Paris was then becoming 
 an unpleasant residence for those who only sought 
 amusement ; and the attack on the Bastile, which took 
 place ten or twelve days after their arrival, so alarmed 
 Pere Nicolas that he resolved to return to Liege. Mr 
 Alexander Jaffray, a very wealthy Quaker of Dublin, 
 who had been an old and intimate friend of my grand- 
 father, had been travelling on the continent for his 
 amusement, and passed through Liege, on his return 
 to Ireland, a few days after their arrival. He proposed 
 to take my father back with him — an offer which Avas 
 
 f2 
 
68 LIFE OF THOMAS RFA'NOLDS. A.D. 
 
 accepted ; and l)idding adieu to Sir Robert Gerard, my 
 father arrived in Dublin in August, 1789. 
 
 IMy grandmother, being totally unacquainted with 
 mercantile affairs, had, during my father's tour, made 
 arrangements with Thomas 'Warren, who had been a 
 clerk in the house for many years, that lie should 
 abandon every other concern and take the entire ma- 
 nagement of her business, for which he was to receive 
 one-third of the yearly profits, which then amounted 
 to about 2500/. ; so that his share would produce him 
 800/. or 900/. a year net. He was not required to put 
 in a shining of capital. The entire capital belonged 
 to my grandmother ; and all the houses, warehouses, 
 &c., as well as three others adjoining, belonged to my 
 father. The partnership placed a yearly rent of 200/. 
 to his credit for them, but they had no lease. i\Ty 
 grandmother, in the articles of partnership, retained a 
 right to place, whenever she thought fit, any one of 
 her children as a partner on an equal footing with 
 Warren, by giving such child one-half of her own 
 two-thirds. Her intention was to hold that provision 
 open for my father if he should choose that line of life, 
 although in tact she never was very anxious that he 
 should embark in trade if any other course could 
 be struck out for him. The succession of visits 
 which he was encouraged to pay after his return to 
 Ireland greatly indisposed him for any serious 
 occupation. He made continual visits to his grand- 
 father, at Kilmead ; his uncle, at Geraldine ; his uncle 
 Delamar, at Lukin, in AVestmeath ; Mrs. Nugent, at 
 
1791. LIFE OF THOMAS KEYNOLDS. 69 
 
 Clonlost, in tlie same county ; liis uncle Keon, at 
 Keonbrook, in the county of Leitrim ; Nugent Rey- 
 nolds, at Letterfian, in the same county ; O'Brian Bel- 
 lingham, at Castle Bellingham, in the county of Louth ; 
 his uncle Strange, in the same county ; Sir Patrick 
 Bellew, in the same county, &c, &c. He had also a 
 regular invitation to the Duke of Leinster's, at Car- 
 town, for the week of the spring meeting on the Cur- 
 ragh ; and another at Mr. Carrol's, at Ballinure, in 
 the county of Kildare, for the first week of fox-hunt- 
 ing : that gentleman had a fine pack of fox-hounds, 
 which ran three days during the first Aveek. Mr. Carrol's 
 house at that time was full of company. He gave 
 balls on the three alternate evenings ; forty or fifty per- 
 sons slept in the house ; and every person of the rank 
 of a gentleman, within twenty miles round, was invited 
 to the balls. When my father Avas in Dublin he Avas 
 every evening engaged Avith his old companions, so that 
 he was fit for anything but business. It must be con- 
 fessed that such a life Avas most improper for a young 
 man, and especially for one Avho, like my father, 
 possessed only a small income, and should have l)een 
 placed at once at the desk. 
 
 Thus matters Avent on until the spring of 1791, Avhen 
 my father's youngest remaining sister, Rose, AA'as at- 
 tacked by a complaint in her chest, accompanied by a 
 little, short cough, and other symptoms of that fatal 
 disorder, consumption, so very frequent in Ireland. 
 
 Rose Avas then a fine healthy looking young Avoman, 
 tAA'enty-five years of age. She had a capital half- 
 
70 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 bred hunter, which she rode four or five days in the 
 Aveek, and managed with great address. 
 
 JNIr. Garrat Fitzgerald, the medical attendant of the 
 family, called one day to pay a chance visit, and Avas 
 sitting with my grandmother, when Rose came in from 
 her ride, and in high spirits ran into the drawing-room, 
 where she remained a quarter of an hour giving an 
 account of her ride ; she then retired to change her 
 dress, and Mr. Fitzgerald, without making any remark, 
 invited himself to dinner. He remained until the time 
 for the theatre, where he passed most of his evenings, 
 being an intimate friend of Daly, the manager. Rose 
 played the piano, and sang with all her usual spirits. 
 Next day INIr. Fitzgerald returned to breakfast, and 
 after chatting an hour desired to speak Avitli my grand- 
 mother. He then told her that, having the day before 
 observed a particular flush on Rose's cheek when she 
 ran into the room from her ride, and also remarked 
 one or two little " hem, hems" while she spoke, he had 
 invited himself to stay dinner for the purpose of pur- 
 suing his observations, and had again returned at break- 
 fast-time to see her ; the result of all which was a full 
 conviction on his mind that she had a decided attack 
 of consumption, notwithstanding her apparent health, 
 good appetite, and spirits ; and he seriously advised my 
 grandmother not to lose a day in sending her to a 
 warmer and a dryer climate, which he said might per- 
 haps save her. My grandmother could not credit it, 
 upon which Mr. Fitzgerald desired that my father 
 might be called. He again repeated his opinion, and 
 
1791. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 71 
 
 added that he thought it doubtful Avhetlier a better 
 climate would save her ; lie solemnly declared he was 
 convinced she would not live nine months in Ireland. 
 My grandmother went off immediately to her aunts, 
 Mrs. Strange and Mrs. Molloy, Avho thought, as she 
 did, that Mr. Fitzgerald was a dreamer. They how- 
 ever agreed to have a meeting next evening in King- 
 street. Mr. Fitzgerald was present, and repeated his 
 opinion if possible more decidedly ; the consequence 
 was a determination to consult Drs. Purcell and An- 
 drew Daly, the two most eminent physicians then in 
 Dublin. Mrs. Molloy was ailing, and had them called 
 in as if for herself, for fear of alarming Rose ; but they 
 were fully instructed that their advice was intended 
 really for my aunt. My grandmother and her daughter 
 were sitting with Mrs. ]\Iolloy, when Mr. Fitzgerald 
 and the two physicians entered. After some general 
 advice to Mrs. JVIoHoy, Dr. Purcell began to chat with 
 my grandmother and my aunt on indifferent matters. 
 They remained a full hour, and then retired to speak 
 in private with my grandmother, wlien they more than 
 confirmed all Mr. Fitzgerald had said. They told her 
 Rose appeared to be decidedly attacked, and that she 
 should be sent to the south of France as speedily as 
 possible, and that until her departure she should ride 
 out to the foot of the mountains and drink goats' whey 
 every morning before breakfast, to keep up her strength 
 as long as possible ; for they said a few weeks would 
 make a very decided alteration in her strength, appe- 
 tite, and spirits. 
 
72 LTFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 My grandmother immediately resolved to take her to 
 France, and still anxious to conceal the real motive of 
 her journey from her daughter, she declared her pur- 
 pose to be to go to Liege and bring home her daughter 
 Julia, who was still a pensioner in the English convent 
 at that place. Rose continued in apparent health and 
 good spirits up to the hour of their departure. The 
 party with her were my grandmother, my father and 
 one maid servant. Perhaps the journey might have 
 l)rought the symptoms of the disease more forward, 
 for on her arrival in London, Rose became dispirited 
 and languid. She attributed it to fatigue, and to a 
 cold taken at sea : the best advice was procured, and 
 the same opinions given. They set off for Calais, and 
 thence proceeded to the English convent at Liege, 
 where poor Rose arrived lamentably changed. Having 
 been educated in that house, she was received with the 
 warmest affection by the whole community. After she 
 had quitted Liege in the spring of 1784, she had been 
 placed for a year and a half at the Royal Abbaye de 
 Foret, near Brussels, as a proper place to give her 
 the polish and manners of good society. None but 
 persons of noble families could l)e admitted as mem- 
 bers in that community ; and the pensionnaires, fifteen 
 or twenty in number, were presumed to be gentle- 
 women, and were admitted by patent from the govern- 
 ment at Brussels : it was therefore a matter of pride 
 to the family to have Rose admitted as a pensionnaire. 
 The Abbess luid her coach and six, with royal live- 
 ries, and seldom drove out without being accompanied 
 
1791. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. -| 73 
 
 by a sister, and one or twopensionnaires. The families 
 of distinction at Brussels always made it a point to 
 invite some of the pensionnaires to their balls and fetes, 
 where they went attended by a lay sister, who in fact 
 was a gentlewoman. There were three of these lay 
 sisters, whose sole duty was to attend to the dress, 
 manners, accomplishments, &c.of the pensionnaires, and 
 to accompany them wherever they went. A Maltese 
 cross, embroidered in silver thread, about an inch and 
 a half in diameter, was worn by the pensionnaires on 
 the left breast. Rose's cross and her patent for admis- 
 sion were carefully preserved, and fell into Messrs. 
 Weir and Prendergast's hands, with the rest of my 
 grandmother's effects after her death. 
 
 My father found Sir Robert Gerard still loitering 
 at Liege ; he had formed an attachment for his 
 cousin, Miss Ann Cliiford, niece to Lord Cliiford, who 
 was a pensionnaire in the English convent. She was 
 to quit it in the following autumn, and it was ar- 
 ranged by both their families that they should be 
 married on Sir Robert Gerard's coming of age. My 
 grandmother fancied her daughter's health improved 
 at Liege; she therefore determined to remain there 
 for some time, the more especially as travelling in 
 France began to be difficult, particularly for females. 
 
 The revolution had at that time proceeded to great 
 lengths, and attracted the attention of all Europe. 
 Sir Robert Gerard and my father, havina; much idle 
 time on their hands, resolved to run up to Paris to see 
 the men who were thus disturbing the peace and order 
 
74 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 of society. They found that city in a state of universal 
 alarm, in consequence of the flight of the royal 
 family ; but scarcely had they heard this news, when 
 they also heard that the king and queen and their 
 party, had been stopped at Varennes, and were return- 
 ing as prisoners to Paris. 
 
 On the 25th of June they saw that devoted family 
 suffering every insult, short of personal violence, which 
 the most ferocious rabble could inflict : led prisoners 
 into the capital, surrounded by the atrocious ruffians 
 who constituted the mob of Paris, and who, taking the 
 lead in every atrocity, arrogated to themselves the 
 name of the French people. The morning after the 
 r(iturn of the royal family. Sir Robert Gerard and my 
 father went to pay their respects to the British am- 
 bassador, who advised them to lose no time in quitting 
 France : they therefore returned without delay to 
 Liege, and had they not been provided with the most 
 efficient papers, they never could have passed the fron- 
 tiers. They were stopped eight or ten times, and most 
 rigidly examined, before they reached Dinant. 
 
 My aunt's health began again to decline, but to 
 travel through France was now impossible ; my grand- 
 mother therefore determined to remain at Liege or 
 in that neighbourhood, but that my father should 
 return home. A few days before my father's de- 
 parture Sir Robert Gerard gave a breakfast, at a 
 place called Chaufontaine, near Liege. After dancing 
 until he became much heated, he sat down on the grass, 
 and got cold. This slight complaint was so ignorantly 
 
1792. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 75 
 
 treated by tlie physicians of the place, that it turned 
 to a malignant fever, and lie died on the fourth day. In 
 him my father has often said he lost the only true and 
 disinterested friend he ever possessed. Miss Clifford 
 took to her bed : it was long before she recovered, and 
 when she did she assumed the veil, and devoted the 
 remainder of her days to the cloister. I saw her in 
 1817, at the convent at New Hall in Essex, of which, 
 I have heard, she is now, or lately was, the Abbess. 
 
 About a month after my father's departure. Rose 
 began to get visibly worse, and my grandmother, having 
 no confidence in the physicians of that country, re- 
 turned to London, where she remained about six 
 weeks. Hope was now nearly gone ; still some idea 
 remained that her native air might be of use : my 
 grandmother and her charge made an effort to reach 
 Dublin, which they accomplished in the month of De- 
 cember. My father had a comfortable house pre- 
 pared for their reception at Leixlip, a pleasant warm 
 situation, about three miles from Dublin, and poor Rose 
 languished about another month, and in January, 1792, 
 she sunk Avithout pain, and almost without perceiving 
 it, into the grave, totally exhausted and worn out. 
 She seemed to die like an expiring flame ; placid, 
 good-humoured, and almost cheerful to the last. 
 
 My aunt Julia desired to take the veil, at the same 
 time as Miss Clifford : and to this my grandmother con- 
 sented. Soon after she had taken the veil, the convent 
 was seized by the French, and the nuns fled to Eng- 
 land. They purchased the house and demesne of 
 
76 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 New Hall ill Essex^ wliere tliey are now established, 
 and where in 1817 I sj3eiit a few days with my aunt 
 and Miss Clifford. 
 
 ]My father liecame of age in ]March, 1792, and an 
 occurrence then happened which created in the minds 
 of many of his relatives an ill Avill towards him, which 
 shoAved itself on every occasion of their subsequent 
 intercourse, and particularly influenced Mr. O'Connor's 
 conduct on the trials in 1798. 
 
 My. Valentine O'Connor Avas married to IMiss 
 Moore, my grandfather's niece. He Avas the son of 
 Hugh O'Connor, a merchant, Avhose principal esta- 
 blishment Avas in the Isle of Man ; he had also an 
 establishment as a general merchant in Dublin, Avhere 
 he died, leaving one daughter married to a JMr. Sher- 
 lock, and three sons, Valentine, Malachy, and Hugh, 
 The youngest son, Hugh, married, and established him- 
 self in London as a merchant, Avhere after several years 
 he failed. Valentine remained in his father's esta- 
 blishment, on the Bachelor's Quay in Dublin : Malachy 
 also remained as a junior partner. On Hugh's failure 
 in London, the Dublin brothers, in order to assist him, 
 took on themselves the care, education, and provision 
 of two of his children ; a boy named Hugh, and a girl 
 named Honoria. This Hugh afterAvards married a 
 Miss Hinchy, the only child of a rich Dublin Whiskey 
 Distiller, and on the death of his tAvo uncles became 
 head of the firm of O'Connor and Moore, into AAdiich 
 Mr. Valentine O'Connor had associated another Ne- 
 phcAV named IMoore, my father's cousin. The daughter. 
 
TT-f 
 
 1792. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. i i 
 
 Honoria, was five or six years older than lier brother, 
 and al)oiit five years older than my father. 
 
 When my father became of age, Mr. Valentine 
 O'Connor, desirous of settling his niece, sent a propo- 
 sal to my grandmother for him, offering to settle five 
 thousand pounds on the marriage, and to take my 
 fatlier into his house for two years, when if all matters 
 went on to his satisfaction, further arrangements 
 sliould be made for associating him in the firm. This 
 proposal was certainly most liberal on his part. My 
 grandmother's reply Avas most extraordinary : she was 
 always fiery and passionate — in this instance she sur- 
 passed herself. " No," she said, " her son should 
 never marry a charity girl, the daughter of a bankrupt, 
 and the grand-daughter of a smuggler." The reply 
 Avas faithfully reported to Mr. Valentine O'Connor, 
 and never was, never could be forgiven. The lady 
 and my father were, I believe, equally ignorant of the 
 whole affair, at least my father did not hear of it until 
 long after, Avhen he was told of it by Mrs. Molloy. No 
 other notice Avas taken of it at the time than a decided 
 coldness from all that connexion, including the Moores, 
 Grehans, and O'Connors. 
 
 Mr. Valentine O'Connor's sister, JMrs. Sherlock, a 
 worthy sensible woman, shoAved my father much kind- 
 ness afterAvards on his marriage ; but Mr. Valentine 
 O'Connor never forgave the offence he had received ; 
 and six years afterAvards he endeavoured to avenge it 
 on the occasion of Oliver Bond's trial. 
 
 My father continued to lead an agreealjle and idle 
 
78 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 life, occupied almost wholly witli amusements in town, 
 or visits to his friends and relatives in the country, 
 until the beginning of the year 1794, when he became 
 acquainted with Miss Harriet ^Vitherington. A 
 mutual affection soon took place between them ; and 
 with the full consent and approbation of all the families 
 on both sides, they were married on the 25th of March 
 following. This lady was the fourth child of William 
 Witherington, an Enghsli naval officer, and Catherine 
 Fanning, daughter of the Rev. Edward Fanning, who 
 was grandson of Mr. Gary of Dungevin Castle, near 
 Derry, from whom descend Lady Dunkin, wife of Sir 
 William Dunkin, formerly a judge in India ; Lady 
 Stewart, wife of General Sir James Stewart of Coltness 
 in Scotland; the Honourable Mrs. Stopford, wife of 
 the brother of the late Earl of Courtown, and many 
 other highly respectable families. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Witherington had, besides my mother, two sons, 
 Edward and Henry, and three daughters, Joanna, 
 Matilda, and Catherine. Edward entered the army, 
 and rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel ; Henry 
 also embraced a military life, and died of the Walcheren 
 fever ; Joanna died unmarried ; Matilda married 
 Theobald Wolfe Tone; and Catherine married JMr. 
 John Heavy side. As all these, my uncles and aunts, 
 will occupy pronunent places in the course of this 
 narrative, I shall defer any further mention of them for 
 the present. 
 
 On my father's marriage, his mother assigned to him 
 one-half of all the capital in trade, and one-third of the 
 
1794. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 79 
 
 profits of the business, according to the power vested 
 in her to that eifect by her articles of partnership with 
 Warren. She also assigned to him one-half of the 
 beneficial lease of an estate at Corbetstown, which, 
 though not yet productive, was estimated at 12,000/., 
 so that his share Avas considered as worth 6000/, He 
 received 1500/, with my mother. His Tontine pro- 
 perty, which he sold shortly afterwards, yielded him 
 2100/. He had a balance due to him for rents, inter- 
 ests, and other matters, from the firm of Reynolds and 
 Warren, of 1760/. ; and his Dublin houses and the 
 Rathfarnham property were worth about 8000/., 
 the whole making a property of 20,000/., exclusive 
 of his half of the capital of the business, and his 
 share of the profits. He had further, the life-interest 
 in the Jamaica property left by Mr. John Meade, 
 whatever it might eventually turn out, and the promise 
 of the beneficial lease of Kilkea Castle and lands from 
 the Duke of Leinster. This castle was the ancient 
 residence of the barons and earls of Kildare previous 
 to their removal to Cartown. It had been let on lease, 
 with about 350 acres of land, to a family named Dixon, 
 for three lives, one only of which now existed, an old 
 bed-ridden man, whose death was daily expected. 
 William Duke of Leinster owed a considerable sum of 
 money to my great-grandfather, Fitzgerald, and on his 
 application, his Grace promised my father the reversion 
 of Kilkea for three lives, renewable for ever, at an easy 
 rent. It was the finest land in the whole county, and 
 delightfully situated, having the river Greece bounding 
 
80 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 it on one side, a fine turnpike road on the other, and 
 the ])ark-like demesne of Be]em, the seat of the Earl 
 of Aldborough, adjoining. The avenue up to Beleni 
 Castle belonged to Kilkea, and was rented at a yearly 
 take from the holder of Kilkea. There was also a 
 strip of land, of seventy acres, running along the far- 
 side of the turnpike road, which served for cottage 
 lands, and other such matters, so that all within the 
 demesne of Kilkea remained undisturbed. 
 
 This residence would be still more desirable for my 
 father, as it lay in the very centre of various estates 
 belonging to his family ; his grandfather at Kilmead, 
 his uncle at Geraldine, his cousins_, Thomas Dunn at 
 Leinster Lodge, and Patrick Dunn on a nevi^ly-pur- 
 chased estate adjoining Leinster Lodge, his uncle, 
 Walter Fitzgerald at Gurteen, were all around, and 
 within three or four miles of Kilkea. Such were the 
 properties he had in reversion, and in possession, on the 
 day of his marriage. 
 
 How all these brilliant prospects were effaced, now 
 remains to be told ; and as the person whose name 
 I have so frequently cited, Thomas Warren, was a very 
 principal cause of their failure, and as his family have 
 since put themselves forward as the declared enemies 
 of mine, I shall here give a full and true, and I hope 
 a candid, account of that family, doAvn to the beginning 
 of the troubles in Ireland. 
 
 Mr. Warren of Killeen, in the Queen's County, 
 having, as I already stated, married a sister of my 
 grandmother's father, died in such })Oor circumstances. 
 
1794. LIFE OF THOMAS TxEYNOLDS. 81 
 
 that my grandmother prevailed on my grandfather to 
 take charge of the youngest son, Thomas, then a youth. 
 He was accordingly removed to Dublin, and from that 
 time his expenses, education, provision in life, and 
 everything relative to him, became my grandfather's 
 care. As soon as he was fit to be placed out, he was 
 put as apprentice to Mr. Edward Grogan, a silk-mer- 
 cer in Dublin, who was father of the wife of Sir Jonah 
 Barrington, and brother-in-law of Mr. Lundyfoot, the 
 celebrated snufF-manufacturer. Warren having served 
 out his five years, and Mr. Grogan not employing 
 regular clerks, or persons receiving wages, he was re- 
 moved, and entered as clerk into the service of Mr. John 
 Keogh, another silk-mercer, the same who figured as 
 an opposition leader in the Catholic Committee. 
 
 As the relative and protege of my grandfather, Mr. 
 Warren was kindly received by Mr. Keogh, and treated 
 with great confidence ; and there it was that he laid the 
 foundation of that mania for dabbling in politics which 
 marked and marred his subsequent life. He remained 
 three years with Mr. Keogh. My grandfather was the 
 mildest and most moderate man in existence, and he saw 
 with regret the bent Warren's mind was taking : he 
 therefore took him to his own house, and, having soon after 
 occasion to freight a vessel for the United States, he 
 placed him on board as supercargo, giving him full 
 powers to dispose of the cargo and purchase a return- 
 freight to suit the Irish market, Warren sold the 
 cargo well and honestly, but he laid in a very unprofit- 
 able return-freight, for a sum of 8000/., the whole in 
 
 VOL. L G 
 
82 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 flax-seed and apples. The flax-seed sold without loss, 
 but the whole of the apples were rotten. My grand- 
 father lost above 1000/. by a speculation which ought 
 to have gained him 2000/. Warren also brought home 
 good bills on London for 2000/. or 3000/. value. He 
 had goods to the value of about 1000/. on board for 
 his own account, such as boots, shoes, clothing, and 
 cutlery, which he had obtained on credit, with my 
 grandfather's guarantee to be paid for on his return. 
 On the whole, he acted with integrity, but with so 
 little judgment, or common sense, that no more such 
 matters could be intrusted to him. My grandfather 
 therefore took him into his own office, and, finding him 
 obedient and capable of drudging through affairs under 
 superior control, he shortly advanced him to be his 
 confidential clerk, with diet, lodging, and a salary of 
 120/. a-year. He was attended by my grandfither's 
 servants, and treated in every respect like a son : his 
 brother gave him a saddle-horse, which was kept and 
 groomed free of expense in my grandfather's stables. 
 He hunted occasionally, rode out every Sunday, sat 
 after dinner to take his wine with my grandfather's 
 visiters, and joined my grandmother's tea-parties in 
 the evening. Such was Warren's manner of life for 
 many years, until his marriage. 
 
 There lived in the city of Kilkenny two old maiden 
 ladies, named Archdekin, who kept a kind of inland 
 slop-shop — that is to say, they sold every possible 
 article for the dress, toilet, &c., of men and women; — 
 millinery, mercery, haberdashery, woollen-drapery. 
 
1794. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 83 
 
 hosiery, linen-drapery, ready-made shoes for men 
 and women, hats of every description, furs, rugs, 
 carpets, blankets ; in short, they kept a universal 
 magazine. 
 
 Of the two old ladies, the youngest was at this time 
 about seventy years of age^ and, having been always 
 laborious, careful, and industrious, they were reputed 
 to be wealthy. They had of late years taken two 
 orphan nieces to aid them in their business, with the 
 avowed intention of making them their heirs and suc- 
 cessors. One or other of the old ladies came every 
 year to Dublin to make the purchases necessary for 
 their trade, accompanied by one or other of her nieces, 
 who were thus introduced into all the mysteries of the 
 market. These nieces, whose names were also Arch- 
 dekin, had a brother named James, who, in his youth, 
 had been sent to India, and, having fortunately gained 
 the good-will of Mr. Warren Hastings, the Governor- 
 General, obtained a grant for a term of years of a 
 portion of the salt-contract, by which he realized, as I 
 have heard, about 50,000/. He transmitted 1500/. to 
 each of his sisters, or to trustees, to be given to them 
 as marriage portions. He must then have been about 
 fifty years of age, the elder sister about forty, and 
 Nancy, the younger, about thirty-five. 
 
 The silks for the old ladies' shop could only be had 
 at my grandfather's warehouse, so that they never failed 
 to pay his house a visit, and were highly flattered at 
 being invited once to dinner during their stay. One of 
 their periodical visits took place soon after the arrival 
 
 g2 
 
84 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 of the 1500/. : the oldest aunt (Mrs. Mury Archdekin) 
 was accompanied by Nancy, the youngest niece. They 
 were, as usual, invited to dinner : the bounty of the 
 brother, his fortune, age^ health, and so forth, formed a 
 principal topic of conversation. 
 
 My grandmother, who was particularly interested in 
 Warren's settlement, calculated, fairly enough, that 
 this young lady might expect eventually the inheritance 
 of her brother, as well as those of her two aunts, and 
 perhaps of her sister also, who, not only from age, but 
 also from disposition, was little likely to marry. She 
 therefore resolved to obtain Miss Nancy's hand for 
 Warren, and, during the week or ten days that the 
 ladies remained, all the preliminaries were adjusted. 
 Warren accompanied them back to Kilkenny, where 
 the wedding took place, and on his return the residence 
 of my great-grandfather in Ashe Street was ready for 
 his reception. The house consisted of a kitchen with 
 vaults and cellars, a dining-parlour, two drawing- 
 rooms, three l)est bed-rooms, two attics, &c., all com- 
 pletely furnished — all of which he enjoyed free of rent 
 and taxes, until his final departure from Dublin, seven 
 or eight years afterwards. 
 
 Some time previous to this, my grandfather had an 
 oflfer from Colonel Talbot, at Malahyde on the sea- 
 coast, about seven miles from Dublin, of a lease of a 
 cotton-mill on tlie Colonel's estate ; he now accepted 
 the lease, and purchased all the machinery ; and, as the 
 mills had only been adapted for spinning cotton, he 
 added 20 or 30 looms, with all their tackle, for the 
 
1794. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 85 
 
 weaving of corduroys, thicksets, calicoes, and such 
 matters ; for which plenty of hands were to be had among 
 the unemployed silk- weavers, and he gave the whole 
 as a marriage gift to TVarren. The premises con- 
 sisted not only of an extensive building and appurte- 
 nances used in the manufacture, but also of a very ex- 
 cellent detached dwelhng-house, offices, garden, and 
 three acres of grass-land. A person named James 
 Gaynor was hired from England to superintend the 
 works, which, in a short time, produced the finest mus- 
 lins, and employed several hundred persons, one-third 
 of whom were children from eight to fifteen or sixteen 
 years of age, principally females. A house in Park 
 Street, which adjoined my grandfather's dwelling, and 
 from which there was a free communication with War- 
 ren's dwelling in Ashe Street, was given rent-free, to 
 serve as a warehouse to receive the goods manufactured 
 at Malahyde until Warren could dispose of them. 
 iMeantime, Warren continued to occupy his old place 
 in my grandfather's service, his salary being increased 
 to 200/. a-year : his duty was merely to attend to the 
 book-keeping and bill department, in which he had an 
 assistant under him, named Peter Sullivan, so that he 
 had abundant leisure to attend to his cotton affairs, 
 without neglecting his duty to my grandfather. Thus 
 matters went on until my grandfather's death in 1788. 
 Warren had at that time one child, a daughter, whose 
 name, I think, was Mary. 
 
 The vast amoimt of the failures which had occurred 
 among the Irish silk-mercers, during the last years of 
 
86 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 my grandfather's life, had greatly increased the press- 
 ure of business on his house. The large claims pos- 
 sessed by my grandfather on these bankrupts' estates^ 
 and the high estimation in which he was held, had ge- 
 nerally caused him to be appointed an assignee of the 
 effects. Few, perhaps not one, had been finally closed 
 when he died ; and the various matters arising out of 
 their several estates had occasioned much additional 
 labour, which, having come gradually on my grand- 
 father, was transacted without difficulty, but which 
 Mling at his decease suddenly upon my grandmother, 
 who was quite ignorant of every description of business, 
 it was utterly impossible for her to accomplish. Mr. 
 Warren was well aware of this, and took advantage of 
 it. He told my grandmother it was impossible for him 
 to attend to her affairs, and to his own at Malahyde, 
 so that one or the other nmst of necessity be relin- 
 quished. 
 
 Such a declaration, at such moment, was a com- 
 mand ; there was no alternative. She therefore asso- 
 ciated him with herself for a term of years. She en- 
 gaged to find all the capital, which, including the value 
 of stock, machinery, &c., was to be made up to the 
 clear sum of 20,000/. 200/. a-year rent was to be paid 
 to my fiither by the partnership for the use of the pre- 
 mises, including ]\Ir. Warren's dwelling-house, the 
 d^velling-house of my grandfather, and the extensive 
 concerns occupied by dye-houses, yards, stores, dry-lofts, 
 stabling, &c., whicli, as I have already stated, were his 
 private property. Mr. Warren was to have one-third 
 
1794. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 87 
 
 of the net profits, my grandmother two-thirds ; she re- 
 tained a power to assign the whole or any part of her 
 interest to any one of her children, at her discretion, 
 her capital always remaining unremoved during the 
 continuance of the partnership. 
 
 Mr. Warren thereupon sold off everything at Ma- 
 lahyde. His situation was at that time highly ad- 
 vantageous ; he lived rent-free, and had one-third of 
 the profits of a business which had never produced 
 so little net as 2500/. in one year. His wife's fortune, 
 and the produce of the sale of Malahyde, which, taken 
 both together, could not be much imder, if they did not 
 exceed, 4000/., were unemployed at his disposal, and 
 his expectations from his Mdfe's family were daily im- 
 proving. His brother-in-law came to Ireland about 
 this period, and resided during his stay at the house 
 Mr. Warren occupied in Ashe Street. 
 
 Although my grandfather's affairs were conducted 
 by Mr. Warren, they were always transacted in my 
 grandmother's name, and they were kept carefully dis- 
 tinct from the affairs of the partnership ; the period 
 allowed by law to executors to make up the accounts 
 very materially facilitated their settlement. 
 
 Mr. Warren was now the managing partner of the 
 house ; but he took no part in the manufacturing de- 
 partment, which was entirely conducted by one John 
 Short, with able foremen. The books also were kept 
 by Mr. Peter Sullivan ; but Mr. Warren reserved to 
 himself the bill and cash department ; he also received 
 all moneys and remittances, and provided funds to meet 
 
LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS, A.D. 
 
 all engagements and outgoings. ]\Iy grand motlier saw 
 the general balance-sheet once a-year, and, as that exhi- 
 bited an average annual balance of 3000/. to 4000/. in 
 favour of the house, she was contented. 
 
 Had Mr. Warren attended to these light but import- 
 ant duties, it had been Avell for him and for those to 
 whom he was so deeply indebted ; but, vain of his situa- 
 tion, and of the ease he enjoyed in money matters, in- 
 stead of applying himself to business, he launched into 
 the party politics of the day. He got himself elected 
 delegate to the Catholic Committee from Carlo^v, and 
 became a member and a liberal subscriber to all Jaco- 
 bin societies, at that time much multiplied by the French 
 revolution, which Avas just then ])reaking out, and 
 which was the constant theme of praise to a great party 
 in Ireland. He gave frequent dinners to tlie leaders 
 of faction; Napper Tandy, John Keogh, Hamilton 
 Rowan, Thomas Braughall, Oliver Bond^ were his con- 
 stant guests : what with public meetings, and private 
 meetings, dinners at home, and dinners abroad, scarce 
 an hour could be afforded to the concerns of the house. 
 The natural consequence of this habitual neglect of the 
 business of the firm for that of the state, Avhich conti- 
 nued for some years, at last became apparent in the 
 increasing difficulties and embarrassments of the house. 
 
 John Short and Walter Macdaniel, two old clerks 
 of the firm, spoke seriously to my father on the subject, 
 and, on looking into the cash-book with IMacdaniel's 
 assistance, there appeared an enormous deficiency, ex- 
 ceeding 60,000/. ]\Iy father spoke of it to his mother. 
 
1794. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 89 
 
 and she spoke to IMr. Warren. He said he was then 
 too hurried, but would soon settle it. My father at 
 length became so urgent that Mr. Warren bade him 
 mind his own business. My father reported this to 
 his mother, and then it was that she resolved to avail 
 herself of the power she had reserved, and make him 
 a partner in the concern, which would give him the 
 authority he wanted. Mr. Warren demurred, and 
 threw in the way every impediment and delay in his 
 power, and succeeded in postponing the settlement for 
 some months ; but my father's approaching marriage 
 made further delay impossible, and the deeds were 
 completed. jMy grandmother, who never thought of 
 concealing her sentiments, exclaimed, as soon as the 
 deeds were signed, addressing herself to my father, 
 " Now, Sir, you have the authority, and I trust you 
 will mind your own biisinefts.'' This occurred in 
 January, 1794. My father lost not an hour in making 
 out the cash and bill accounts, such as they appeared 
 on the books, and laying them before his mother in 
 Mr, Warren's presence : the deficiency was even sfreater 
 than it had formerly seemed. IMr. Warren required 
 a month to make up his accounts, to which my father 
 willingly acceded, on his solemn assurance that a ba- 
 lance should then be struck, and all deficiency, if any 
 should appear unaccounted for, up to the day of my 
 father's becoming a partner, when new books had been 
 opened, should be made good to my grandmother. 
 This matter, solely affecting accounts to be settled be- 
 tween Mr. ^\^arren and my grandmother, could not be 
 
90 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 supposed to prevent my father's pursuits : his marriage 
 was celebrated before the promised period of a mouth 
 had expired. As soon after as possible, that is, in the 
 first week in April, he demanded the fulfilment of the 
 promise. Mr. Warren's reply was as follows : — 
 
 " It is useless to attempt to account for past affairs 
 when we cannot go on with the present. I can only 
 say that all the money I ever received, all the bills and 
 securities I ever got, all my own and my wife's money, 
 have been paid away in making good the engagements 
 of the house. I have gone on until I have neither cash, 
 credit, nor security left, but in doing so I have wound 
 up the business to a nutshell. The unsettled debts 
 due to the house are under 3000/. ; the bills and out- 
 standing engagements are under 4000/. — making in the 
 whole something less than 7000/. The debts due to the 
 house in Dublin are in fact nothing, or very trifling, as 
 I have taken bills from the mercers for the March ac- 
 counts, and have negociated them to pay the demands 
 up to this day. As to the capital of the house, about 
 half of it is sunk and lost in the effort I have made to 
 support matters until now : about 5000/. of the re- 
 mainder is sunk in machinery ; of the remainder, 
 about one half exists on the books as debts, some good, 
 some bad, some doubtful ; the other half remains in 
 goods manuftictured and unmade in the house, and in 
 deliveries to the Dublin mercers since the 1st of April, 
 Of the bills outstanding, two English drafts fall 
 due on the lOtli of this month, the remainder fall due 
 at different epochs during the subsequent six or eight 
 
/ 
 1794. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 91 
 
 weeks. I have not a penny to enable me to meet them, 
 nor a hope of procuring it ; and the result is, if you 
 cannot find money to pay the bills falling due, and to 
 supply the workpeople about 100/. a- week, we must 
 shut up ; if you can, you may still preserve the esta- 
 blishment, and probably without eventual loss to your- 
 self, as I am certain there is sufficient in the re- 
 mainder of the capital to repay you : but your mother 
 must be satisfied to sacrifice all her capital, as I have 
 lost all mine." 
 
 Such was the substance of this eventful communi- 
 cation. IMy father was then a partner; his property 
 was all involved. No alternative presented itself be- 
 tween absolute ruin and a compliance with Mr. War- 
 ren's suggestions. He immediately made up his mind, 
 for to consult his friends would have been to blazon 
 to the world the situation of the house, and thus, 
 by destroying its credit, render its ruin inevitable. 
 He sent for his solicitor, Mr. William Furlong, who 
 drew up a memorandum of agreement, which was 
 afterwards formally perfected, whereby he engaged 
 to find the moneys necessary for present purposes, 
 and Mr. Warren and my grandmother were both to 
 retire and surrender the whole concern to him. A 
 list of the debts and engagements of the house was 
 made out, amounting to nearly 9000/., which he en- 
 gaged to discharge ; and, in order to enable him to 
 do so, the machinery of the concern was assigned to 
 him for 3000/., the stock for 4000/.; and as much 
 of the best and least doubtful of the debts due to 
 
92 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 the house as made up the balance. JMy grandmother 
 carried away with her all her securities which she held 
 independent of, and unconnected with, the partnership; 
 and of course retained to herself alone the claim on 
 JMr. Warren for the settlement of the cash-account, 
 which he signed a promise to settle without delay. JMy 
 grandfather had had a country-house at the Black Rock ; 
 and my great grandfather had had one at Rathfarn- 
 ham. Those houses Avere furnished as well as their 
 town-houses, and, when sold, the furniture was removed 
 to town, and such parts of it as were not put to use 
 remained piled in the attics. My grandmother took 
 what she thought fit to furnish a suite of rooms to which 
 she retired on my father's marriage — the remainder 
 was left with him, and enabled him to complete the 
 furnishing of Kilkea ; but Avith this JMr.- Warren had no 
 concern — it was a transaction solely between my father 
 and my grandmother. 
 
 ]\Iy grandmother continued to urge a settlement of 
 the cash account, but all in vain. Durins^ the time that 
 IMr. AVarren conducted her affairs she had occasion to 
 go to the Continent Avith my aunt, as I have already 
 mentioned, and before her departure she gave him a very 
 full poAver of attorney to act for her in Ireland. During 
 her absence, a judgment for a considerable sum due 
 to the estate of my grandfather Avas obtained against 
 a gentleman of landed estate, named Hamilton, Avho 
 offered to pay some part in cash, and to give a bond 
 and judgment for the remainder; the offer Avas ac- 
 cepted, and the bond Avas perfected to Thomas ^Yarren, 
 
1794. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 93 
 
 and had so remained until the period I now speak of, 
 when my grandmother found a mode of using it for her 
 advantage. She therefore applied to Mr. Warren for 
 the purpose of having the trust declared. This he re- 
 fused to do unless she would give him a release from 
 all claim on the cash-account. This infamous trans- 
 action would easily have been exposed and punished, 
 Ijut the sum was 800/. and upwards. My grand- 
 mother wanted the money; delay might prevent 
 her from ever getting it, or at least for a long time ; 
 her hopes from a settlement of the cash balance to be 
 made with a man who professed to have no property 
 were very slight, and she complied Avitli the nefarious 
 demand : she signed the release, the trust was de- 
 clared, and she recovered Hamilton's debt. The cor- 
 roboration of this fact will be found in the trial of John 
 MacCan, where Mr. Warren appeared as an evidence 
 to attempt to discredit my father. On the dissolution 
 of the partnership, Mr. Warren sought to establish 
 himself as an attorney, but could not succeed, and, 
 being totally unoccupied during the following three or 
 four years, he plunged entirely into the vortex of Ja- 
 cobinism, which at that period attained its acme in 
 Ireland, and in 1798 came forward as a witness in 
 support of his party, with a detail of all the family 
 anecdotes, little quarrels, and youthful follies, which 
 had come to his knowledge under the roof of his friend 
 and benefactor. But the account which was wrung 
 from him in court, in his cross-examination, showed 
 him in his true colours ; even his old associates threw 
 
94 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 him aside, and abandoned him. The trial of JMacCan 
 was the first that came on, and he never was brought 
 forward on any subsequent occasion. He again retired 
 to the country, where he dragged on a disgraceful 
 existence, deserted and despised by all parties, until the 
 return of the Bourbons permitted the entrance of 
 British subjects into France. He then repaired to 
 Paris with a part of his family, and presented himself 
 to the Due de Feltre, as one related to that JMarslial's 
 family in Ireland. The duke received him kindly, and 
 placed one of his sons in the French army. Mr. War- 
 ren soon after died of apoplexy, and was interred at 
 the duke's expense. His wife had died long previously : 
 they left a numerous family of sons and daughters, 
 who also went over to settle in Paris. 
 
 I have heard that the Misses Archdekin of Kilkenny, 
 and the brother of JMrs. A^'^arren, being all dead, a con- 
 siderable fortune descended to one of Mr. Warren's 
 sons, and trifling legacies to each of the other children ; 
 but of that I know nothing certain. I shall have to 
 speak of Mr. Warren, and part of his family, more than 
 once in the course of these memoirs. 
 
1794. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 95 
 
 CHAPTER IL 
 
 Mr. Reynolds's Property after settling the AiFairs of the Firm— He pre- 
 pares to quit Business— Purchases a Lease for three lives, renewable 
 for ever, of the Castle and Lands of Kilkea— State of his Affairs on 
 entering into Possession— Mr. W. C. Taylor's calumnious Accusa- 
 tion—Mr. Reynolds's Mother dies— Her Will— History of Peter 
 Sullivan — his Ingratitude — Account of Elizabeth Cahill — 
 Mrs. Molloy and Miss Anne Fitzgerald— Account of Lieutenant 
 Colonel Witherington — His Conduct and Character— Causes of his 
 hatred of Mr. Reynolds— His Behaviour at Kilkea. 
 
 1794 to 1797. 
 
 The whole affairs of the house were noAv surrendered 
 into my father's hands, encumbered with debts to the 
 amount of 9000/., viz., to Cope and Co. 5000/., to 
 Jaffray and Co. 2000/., to himself 1000/., and in vari- 
 ous acceptances 1000/. The provision he had to pay 
 this was, machinery, vahied at 3000/. ; stock, in raw 
 and manufactured goods, 4000/. ; and debts due to the 
 house, all slow in collecting, 2000/. The difficulty was 
 how to bring this dull property into play, so as to pay 
 the demands upon it, and to procure cash to pay the 
 heavy weekly expenses, wages, bills falhng due, &c. &c. 
 He first sold off his tontine, Avhich yielded 2100/. 
 net; he had 1500/., Avhich he had received as my 
 mother's fortune ; and he sold two houses in Park 
 
9C LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 Street for 2300/. All this produced about 6000/. in 
 actual cash. He advanced 1000/. of this money to 
 Mr. Cope, on condition of his accepting a lien on 
 Giffard's property for all his demand. He prevailed 
 on Jaffray and Co. to accept of a similar lien on the 
 same property for their demand, so that he had to pay 
 no more than about 1000/. of engagements for the 
 house, which would still leave about 4000/. in cash. 
 Thus his property stood : 
 
 In actual cash at his banker's . . £ 4,000 
 
 Stock, in raw and manufactured goods . 4,000 
 Debts due to him .... 2,000 
 
 Machinery, valued at ... . 3,000 
 The dwelling-houses and extensive con- 
 cerns in Park Street, Ashe Street, and 
 Corman Hall ..... 4,000 
 His property at Rathfarnham . . 1,500 
 
 Total . £18,500; 
 
 all of which could be realized within a year if neces- 
 sary : he did not owe a shilling, and he had further a 
 mortgage for 3000/. on Sir Duke Giffard's property, 
 which took precedence of Messrs. Cope and Jaffray. 
 Subsequent events prevented him from attending pro- 
 perly to this mortgage, and he only recovered about 
 1700/. from his demand on it. He had also expecta- 
 tions from his claims on the late Mr. John Meade's 
 estate in Jamaica, of Avhich he was tenant for life, 
 subject to the payment of ]\Ir. IMeade's debts, which 
 were considerable ; and he had furniture suflicient lor 
 
1795. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 97 
 
 three large houses, with abundance of plate, linen, 
 &c. &c. 
 
 On the death of old Sir Duke Giffard in 1797, the 
 securities held by my father, Mr. Cope, and Mr. Jaf- 
 fray, upon his property became available ; and a ques- 
 tion then arose whether the 1000/. paid by my father 
 to Mr. Cope ought (as my father alleged) to be de- 
 ducted from Mr. Cope's claim, or ought on the other 
 hand (as Mr. Cope maintained) to be regarded as a 
 bonus to him for having accepted the security. Sir 
 William Gladdowe Newcomen, and others, were con- 
 sulted by Mr. Cope, at the desire of my father, who 
 was then in the country. They said that my father 
 was right in strict law, but that in equity he was 
 wrong. Old Mr. Alexander Jaffray, the same with 
 whom he had travelled from Liege, Avrote to him in 
 the country, acquainting him with this opinion, and 
 saying that it was also his own, and Sir William 
 Gladdowe Newcomen's opinion, that he ought to con- 
 sider this payment as a bonus to Mr. Cope. He re- 
 ceived this letter at ten or eleven o'clock in the morn- 
 ing, and he was at INIr. Cope's house in Merrion 
 Square at dinner on the same day, and submitted 
 without hesitation to their decision. This was the 
 affair adduced by Valentine O'Connor as the ground 
 of his want of confidence in my father's oath given on 
 the trials in 1798. On the other hand, my father's 
 conduct in this matter gained him the warm friend- 
 ship of Sir William Gladdowe Newcomen, which 
 
 VOL. I, *H 
 
98 , LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 lasted undiminished until his death, upwards of twenty 
 years afterwards. 
 
 My grandmother had taken away with her, pro- 
 perties and effects to the value of about 5000/., con- 
 sisting principally of securities, which had belonged 
 to my grandfather, and which, although ultimately 
 valuable, were then unproductive. JNIy father there- 
 fore made her an allowance of 200/. a-year. 
 
 Having a promise of the lease of Kilkea from the 
 Duke of Leinster, on the death of Mr. Dixon, the 
 occupant, my father had been preparing gradually for 
 retiring from business from the day of his being left 
 alone in the concern. Mr. Dixon died in the beginning 
 of the year 1797. My father directly repaired to Ra- 
 thangan, the residence of Mr. Spencer, the duke's 
 agent, when he put in his claim. 
 
 The barony of Kilkea and Moone consisted of 
 1500 Irish acres, of the first land in the country, 
 exclusive of the gardens, orchards, and land occupied 
 by the castle and its appurtenances. That part 
 called Moone was held on lease by a family of 
 the name of Yates, and contained about 850 acres, 
 including the old deer-park, adjoining to which was 
 the ancient habitation of the Earl's huntsman, the 
 kennel, and other sporting establishments. These 
 buildings formed the residence of ]\Ir. Yates' family. 
 250 acres, or thereabouts, were let, with suitable farm- 
 houses, to a Mr. Kinsela, and to one Macdermod ; the 
 remaining 350 acres were attached to the castle, and 
 let with it. 
 
1797. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 99 
 
 In order to show the value of the property, I sub- 
 join in a note an advertisement* taken from a morn- 
 ing paper, for the sale of the part called ISIoone, the 
 lands of which lie higher than those of Kilkea, and 
 make better sheep or deer walks, but are not nearly so 
 good for any other purpose. If the lands of Moone 
 were let, as this advertisement states, for 1098/. I*., 
 that is to say, at 1/. 6*. per acre, those of Kilkea could 
 not be worth less, which would make them worth 
 455/. a-year, exclusive of the castle, orchard, gardens, 
 and lawn, which covered in the whole about ten Irish 
 acres ; and my father's reserved rent amounted to no 
 more than 48/. 2s. 6d. a-year ! 
 
 Moone estate was leasehold for 999 years, which 
 gave no freehold. Kilkea was leased for three lives 
 renewable for ever, which constituted a freehold in 
 Ireland. My father's agreement was to pay 1000/. as 
 a 'fine to the duke,' and to pay Mr. Shannon, the 
 duke's builder, for new roofing, flooring, and ceiling 
 the castle, and for making such other improvements as 
 
 * Capital freehold and leasehold estates, in the county of Kildare 
 and city of Dublin, late the property of Benedict A. Yates, Esq., deceased. 
 — For sale by auction, in the month of June next, in lots, in the city of 
 Dublin, The capital estate, town, and lands of Moone, commonly 
 called the Manor of Moone, in the barony of Moone and Kilkea, con- 
 taining 847 acres, or thereabouts, comprising a large extent of well-cul- 
 tivated land, and an. excellent demesne and deer-park of about 140 
 acres. This estate is leasehold for the term of 999 years from May, 1746, 
 and is subject to an annual head-rent of 3031. 10s. The whole of the 
 estate is let to most respectable tenants, at moderate rents, amounting 
 to 1098/. Is. per annum, and several of the leases will expire in a few 
 years. 
 
 h2 
 
100 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 would put it into substantial repair ; upon this out- 
 lay and upon the fine he was to be allowed 10 per 
 cent, out of the rent, which was fixed at a guinea 
 (1/. 2s. M. Irish) per acre, and on 350 acres amounted 
 to £398 2 6 
 
 Mr. Shannon's bill amounted to 2500/., 
 
 and some odd pounds ; 10 per cent. 
 
 on it, and on the 1000/. fine, amounted 
 
 to ...... 350 
 
 Net rent remaining . . £48 2 6 
 Several ornamental repairs and decorations were 
 made, Avliich could not be charged to the duke, but 
 fell of course to the occupier, amounting perhaps in 
 the whole to 300/. The manor-mill, Avith two or 
 three acres of mill-pond, adjoined this property, and 
 Avas then held by one Green, a miller, on a lease of 
 seven years. This Avas to be delivered up to my father 
 at the end of the lease, at the rent Green paid, if he 
 chose to accept it ; and he AA^as to be alloAved to fine 
 down the remainder of the rent at 10 per cent., at 
 any period during the first seven years at his OAvn con- 
 venience, AAdiich, including the mill-rent, might even- 
 tually have cost lOUO/. more. He had an unlimited 
 right of cutting turf in the great bog of JMonavooliagh, 
 Avhich lay at the distance of about two miles from 
 Kilkea. 
 
 On paying the fine to the duke, aa'Iio gaA'e my 
 father a receipt, explaining the agreement, he Avas 
 put into possession of the castle and lands by his 
 
1797. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 101 
 
 grace's head bailiff, with all the customary form ; but 
 the completing of the lease was deferred until the 
 exact amount of the repairs was ascertained. The 
 troubles which preceded the rebellion then came on, 
 and finally the rebellion itself, which occasioned the 
 desolation of this fine castle, as I shall relate in another 
 place. 
 
 ]My father had Avound up all his affairs in Dublin 
 previously to the month of December, 1797 ; and, the 
 repairs of Kilkea being completed, he removed all his 
 furniture by the canal which goes from Dublin to Athy, 
 and, having completely furnished the castle and stocked 
 the lands, at an expense of several thousand pounds, he 
 removed his family into it in December, and had seve- 
 ral Dublin friends to pass Christmas there with him. 
 My mother expected to be confined in April, for which 
 event she Avas to return to Dublin, and until her de- 
 parture they had a constant succession of entertain- 
 ments, welcoming their arrival as residents in the 
 country. 
 
 ]\Iy father's property, on entering into possession of 
 Kilkea Castle, was, in addition to the estate as above 
 described, 4000/, in houses in Park-street, Ashe-street, 
 and Corman Hall ; his property at Rathfarnham ; and 
 6000/., partly in cash at his banker's, and partly in 
 debts, M'liich were all good, besides the mortgage for 
 3000/. on Sir Duke Giffard's property, and his life- 
 interest in Fort Stewart estate in Jamaica, left him l)y 
 Mr. J. Meade. His style of living was such as became 
 a gentleman of what, in those days, was an ample for- 
 
102 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 tune, and of the first connexions in the country. He 
 had alwaj's an establishment of seven servants, his 
 carriage, and five horses in his stables ; he entertained 
 on an equal footing all the neighbouring gentry ; and 
 though these matters were of public notoriety, and 
 though there are men still living who know them to be 
 true, yet Mr. W. C. Taylor, in his History of ihe Civil 
 Wars of Ireland, after stating in his preface " the 
 purity of his intentions," and that " truth has been his 
 only object," and that, " amidst the conflicting state- 
 ments of historians, he had always selected that which 
 was supported by the best authorities, that he had in 
 almost every instance consulted the original records, 
 and made no assertions which they did not fully sup- 
 port" — I say, after this apparent candour and modesty, 
 he has penned one little phrase which contains as 
 many falsehoods as it does periods. He says, " One 
 Reynolds, who had been an active member of the 
 Union, being distressed for want of money, sold the 
 secret to the government, and insured for himself par- 
 don and reward." Perhaps Mr. Taylor could furnish 
 me with the " records " from which he discovered that 
 my father was distressed for money. He may perhaps 
 consider Mr. Moore's Life of Lord Edward Fitzgerald 
 as a record, or Mr. Moore himself as a historian. That 
 person makes a similar assertion ; but, as I shall notice 
 his work in another place, I shall confine myself for 
 the present to JMr. Taylor. From what " record " 
 did Mr. Taylor discover that my father had been an 
 active member of the Union ? and, above all, from what 
 
1797 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 103 
 
 " record " did he receive the foul slander that he had 
 sold the secret to the government ? Could not the 
 same record have supplied him with the price also^ and, 
 if so, why did he not name it ? From what " records " 
 did he learn that my father had insured to himself by 
 his conduct any, even the slightest, reward ? The 
 whole accusation is as false as it is malicious. Had he 
 indeed taken the trouble to consult the " records " of 
 the trials in 1798, or the " records" of both Houses of 
 Parliament, he would have found a very different ac- 
 count of the matter. Mr. Taylor should remember 
 that a phrase of this kind published to the world, by 
 however, obscure an author, inflicts an almost incurable 
 wound ; and that the writer incurs a vast moral re- 
 sponsibility who utters it without having ascertained 
 its absolute truth. 
 
 On the 6th of November, 1797, my father's mother 
 died at her residence in Abbey-street, Dublin. My 
 father was then entirely occupied in preparing Kilkea 
 Castle, and in removing his effects preparatory to the 
 settlement of his family there. He had not seen her 
 for several days, nor had he heard that she was unwell, 
 when, on the morning of the 6tli of November, at six 
 o'clock, he was called from his bed by a message from 
 Mr. Prendergast, who had passed the night with her, 
 to say she was exceedingly ill. He immediately arose, 
 and was at her bed-side before seven, but she was 
 already dead. She had kept her bed for three days, 
 attended by her usual physician, Dr. William James 
 M'Nevin, the same who was one of the five directors of 
 
104 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 the United Irish Association, and who died lately at 
 New York. Previous to my father's arrival, Messrs. 
 Prendergast and Weir had possessed themselves of all 
 lier papers and eifects. She had lost all power of 
 speech and motion about four o'clock ; Mr. Prendergast 
 then wrote on a scrap of paper as follows : " I leave 
 all my property, real and personal, to my sons-in-law, 
 Thomas E. Weir and Francis Prendergast; I desire all 
 my just debts to be paid, particularly Betty Caliill. 
 I leave five pounds a-year to my daughter Julia for 
 life. Dublin, 6th November, 1797." Mr. Prender- 
 gast then took her liand, laid it upon his, read the will 
 aloud to her, declaring she had communicated those 
 her intentions to him during the night, and then, 
 having her hand still resting upon his own, signed the 
 name of " Rose Reynolds." M'Nevin witnessed it, 
 and then they sent off for my father, who considered 
 that he had sufficient reason to be offended by the whole 
 of the proceedings, though he never thought it worth 
 his while to contest the will. This was the transaction 
 I have before alluded to, as having caused a misunder- 
 standing between my father and his brothers-in-law, 
 which Avas never entirely made up. 
 
 Before I enter on the history of my father's political 
 career, I must give an account of two or three persons, 
 whose names Avill be found ranked among his bitterest 
 foes. The first of these is Peter Sullivan, a man avIio 
 sacrificed honour, gratitude, truth, and all the best 
 feelings of human nature, to his United Irish con- 
 nexions. 
 
1797. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 105 
 
 A very worthy merchant, named Sullivan, failed in 
 Dublin about tlie year 1773, and soon after died, 
 leaving a widow with two children, a son and a dau£^li- 
 ter, in the most abject poverty. My grandfather, 
 moved with compassion for their distress, took charge 
 of the son, and my grandmother promoted a weekly 
 card-rout at the mother's, where every person paid two 
 shillings card-money, for Avhich they had tea, lights, 
 fire, and cards. This with an occasional gift of a loaf 
 of sugar, a pound of tea, a ton of coals, a gown from a 
 damaged piece of silk or poplin, a tub of salt butter, 
 and now and then a basket of provisions sent from the 
 market, or a meat-pie from her own kitchen, supported 
 the widow and dauc-hter with considerable comfort. 
 The son was allowed to go to his mother's house on the 
 weekly card- nights to hand round the tea, to call a 
 coach, or do any other little services ; and this continued 
 for many years. Meantime young Sullivan, having been 
 sent to school at my grandfather's expense, was taken 
 into the office, and bound apprentice under the foreman, 
 to be brought up either to succeed to the same place, 
 or to become a manufacturer himself. He was well 
 instructed in every branch, as well of the worsted as 
 the silk business, particularly in the dyeing department. 
 He was also taught book-keeping in all its branches : 
 he was always well clothed, had a room for himself in 
 my grandfather's house, ate at his table^ and, Avhen his 
 five years of apprenticeship expired, he had 20/. the 
 first year, the second year 30/., and ever after 40/., 
 until my grandfather's death, when my grandmother 
 
106 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 increased his pay to 60/. ; and, when my father under- 
 took the affairs, he further increased his salary to 120/. 
 a-year. During all these years. Master Peter (as he 
 was called) was received amongst the family as a 
 brother. My father particularly valued him, and 
 placed in him the most unbounded confidence : he con- 
 sidered him as a second self, and made him the con- 
 fidant of his most secret thoughts. About the year 
 
 1795, Sullivan, finding his purse well supplied, and my 
 father's evenings less at his disposal than before his 
 marriage, was naturally drawn into other society, formed 
 a habit of passing his evenings abroad, and, becoming 
 infected with the revolutionary mania of that day, en- 
 tered into the Society of United Irishmen. 
 
 Thus matters went on until after the Christmas of 
 
 1796, Avhen the French under General Hoche had 
 retired disappointed from Bantry Bay. A few days 
 after that event, Peter Sullivan took an occasion to 
 speak privately to my father. He told him that the 
 leading Presbyterians and the then Catholic Committee 
 had agreed to unite their efforts to obtain universal 
 religious toleration, requiring that the Catholics should 
 add to their other objects Reform in Parliament ; 
 that, all conventions being prohibited by government, 
 they had formed themselves into a secret society, 
 called United Irishmen, which already reckoned above 
 200,000 members ; that my father's connexions with 
 Lord Fingall's party had alone prevented him from 
 being long since made acquainted with this fact, but that 
 the interest of the Dublin Catholics, whom he still re- 
 
1797. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 107 
 
 presented, made it necessary he should know what was 
 going on, and for that reason he (Sullivan) had been 
 ordered to open the matter to him, and to refer him to 
 Mr. Richard Dillon as a Catholic, and to Mr. Oliver 
 Bond as a Presbyterian leader, for fuller information on 
 the subject. JMy father accordingly accompanied him to 
 the residence of Richard Dillon, who brought him to the 
 house of Oliver Bond ; and, through the representations 
 of these men, he was, unfortunately for himself and his 
 own family, but fortunately for his country, inveigled to 
 become a United Irishman. 
 
 My father finally removed his family from Dublin to 
 Kilkea Castle in December, 1797, as I before stated, 
 and up to the day of his departure, or rather up to the 
 1st of January, 1798, Sullivan continued to be his con- 
 fidential man of business, and regularly received his 
 full salary^ although he had lately married, and was 
 forming a settlement for himself in another business. 
 
 This man, without ever having had any previous 
 cause of difference with my father, forgetting all his 
 obligations to him and his family, devoted himself 
 entirely to his fanatical association ; and, having first 
 detailed everything which he had known, or heard 
 of, or imagined^ as having passed in the interior of 
 the family in whose bosom he had been nurtured and 
 cherished during twenty-five years, so that the counsel 
 engaged in the defence of the prisoners might cast 
 a shade of discredit or ridicule upon my father's repu- 
 tation, by a public exposure of the idle follies of his 
 boyish days, crowned all by appearing on the table in 
 
108 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 court, and swearing that Mr. Reynolds was not worthy 
 of credit on his oath, while at the same time his own 
 evidence confirmed all my father had said of the person 
 accused : in fine, such was Sullivan's conduct upon that 
 occasion, that, dreading a prosecution on quitting the 
 court, he fled from Dul)lin, and from that hour my 
 father never heard more of him. 
 
 Two other persons, Avho distinguished themselves 
 Ijy their conduct towards my father, were Mrs. Molloy, 
 his grand-aunt, and Miss Anne Fitzgerald, his aunt. 
 The pretext they used for endeavouring to injure his 
 character was so wicked and frivolous, that, if the facts 
 had not been proved before a court of justice, and 
 recorded in a work written in a spirit of marked 
 hostility against my father (Howell's " State Trials"), 
 I should hardly have dared to mention them, especially 
 as the two ladies had long devoted themselves to the 
 service of God, and resided in a convent, where for 
 many years they doubtless had been learning lessons of 
 truth and charity, and witnessing the daily exhibition 
 of all the Christian sfraces. The facts are these : 
 
 Elizabeth, or as she was commonly called, Betty 
 Cahill, was a woman of great age, l^etween eighty and 
 ninety. She had been taken in her childhood into the 
 service of my father's great-grandmother Lacy, the wife 
 of his great-grandfather Reynolds, and had ever since 
 continued as a servant in the family. She had been 
 my grandmother's housekeeper for many years ; she 
 then removed into my mother's family, where she re- 
 mained until a short time before my father's removal 
 
1797. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 109 
 
 from Dublin to Kilkea. Her great age and loss of sight 
 prevented her from continuing in that employment ; but 
 it was settled that she should have a room for herself in 
 Kilkea Castle, and her grand-niece to accompany and 
 attend upon her. She had saved a little money, and 
 she proposed making this grand-niece her heir, and had 
 sent into the country for her. Meantime she was 
 placed in lodgings by IMrs. MoUoy, who undertook to 
 manage all her property ; and, when all was ready, she 
 was to go to Kilkea with my mother in May, 1798 : 
 these intentions however were never executed. Poor 
 Mrs. Cahill must have been sadly robbed by those 
 whom Mrs. IMolloy placed about her, as the letter, 
 which I here copy, states her to be in want of common 
 necessaries. She had accumulated some property 
 during her long service, and had at various times as- 
 sisted her family, and given marriage portions to three 
 or four relations. Some years previous to 1798 she 
 had a sum of 175/. paid to her by some one to whom 
 she had formerly lent it. This money she placed in 
 tlie hands of my grandmother, who gave her bond to 
 Mrs. Cahill for 100/. of it, and my father joined as a 
 collateral security ; and, in consequence of an arrange- 
 ment of some money-matters with his mother, he also 
 gave Mrs. Cahill his bond for 50/., and his note for the 
 remaining 25/. She was then living in my father's 
 house as housekeeper, and she received her interest 
 quarterly in his office. On one of these occasions she 
 brought her bonds into the office as usual, and left them 
 to have her interest settled on the arrival of the clerk. 
 An old bond, which on some former occasion had been 
 
110 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 filled up for an erroneous sum, but had not been signed 
 by any party, lay on the clerk's desk, and had for years 
 been used as a precedent in filling- up similar securities, 
 which were very frequently passed to the house by 
 country customers in lieu of promissory notes, the 
 constant credit given being from twelve to eighteen 
 months after the account had been furnished, and, 
 whenever the least doubt existed, a bond was taken, 
 and judgment entered on it. On Mrs. Cahill's coming 
 for her money, she received by mistake this draft-bond 
 in lieu of her own. This occurred very shortly before 
 my grandmother's death, and the error Avas not imme- 
 diately discovered. It will be recollected that the 
 paper called my grandmother's will ordered all her 
 debts to be paid, particularly Betty Cahill, alluding to 
 this bond ; and, on Mrs. Cahill's applying to my father, 
 he requested her to call in the first instance on Messrs. 
 Weir and Prendergast, who were my grandmother's 
 executors, as, although they might pay her, they cer- 
 tainly would not reimburse him, should he do so, with- 
 out a lawsuit ; and, after the death of his mother, instead 
 of paying interest on the bond as formerly, he gave Mrs. 
 Cahill money as she required it, leaving the ultimate 
 settlement until she should have arranged one way or 
 other Avith the executors. These persons however never 
 paid her a shilling : the whole fell upon my father. Mrs. 
 Molloy, as Mrs. Cahill's adviser, finding there Avas no- 
 thing to be got from the executors, wrote to my father, 
 through Peter Sullivan, on the subject. My father Avas 
 then at Kilkea, and in reply he desired them to settle 
 the matter so as not to inconvenience Mrs. Cahill, but to 
 
1797. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. Ill 
 
 allow as much time as might be, to make a further at- 
 tempt to recover the money from his mother's effects ; 
 lie also desired that, although he Avould pay the money, 
 the bonds should not be cancelled, nor anything done to 
 exonerate the assets. Sullivan therefore drew bills on 
 my father, payable at such times as Mrs. Cahill pointed 
 out, and Mrs. Cahill signed them, for the full amount of 
 the bonds, principal and interest, settling every balance 
 between him and Mrs. Cahill. It was when this settle- 
 ment was making that the error in the bond was first 
 noticed. My father accepted and regularly paid all the 
 bills : they all, except the two last for 10/. each, fell due 
 previous to May, 1798. Of these the one was due on 
 the 20th of June, the other on the 1st of July, 1798, on 
 both which days my father was a close prisoner in 
 Dublin Castle : he therefore sent my mother to pay 
 them when due. A few days after my father's arrest 
 my mother received the following letter from Mrs. 
 Cahill. I transcribe it literatim : — 
 
 " ]My dear Madam, — It was with the utmost concern 
 I heard of your and Mr. Reynolds's very afflicting 
 situation. Nothing but absolute distress could in such 
 a time induce me to be so troublesome. Having often 
 experienced your goodness, I must be very ill natured if 
 I did not feel sorry for your trouble ; I therefore tried 
 every means before I sent to you, but in vain. I sent to 
 Mr. Prendergast and Mr. Ware, but got no satisfac- 
 tion. .On Saturday last I endeavoured to go in person, 
 and the reception I met with (although they seeii me 
 almost fainting with fatagne) was such as I hope never 
 
112 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 again to experience. Had it been you I'd gone to I'd 
 be sure of very different treatment ; and I'm persuaded 
 that, when Mr. Reanolds gets his liberty, he'll call them 
 to ac#ount. I'm extremely anxious to know how you 
 and the children are, and whether you saved your fur- 
 niture. You may judge of my distress when I was 
 obliged to take the ring off" my finger and dispose of it 
 for a very great trifle. I have been keeping my bed 
 ever since I seen ]Mr. JVare, so great was the shock I 
 got at his telling me he would not give me a farthing ; 
 and I must suffer more than you can imagine unless you 
 have the goodness to send me something either to-day 
 or to-morrow. I conclude, my dear JMadam, with 
 sincere regards for you and family, E. C. 
 
 " Dr. JMam, — Be kind enough to seal whatever you 
 send me." 
 
 This letter was proved in court. Immediately on its 
 receipt my mother sent her a guinea; and, having shown 
 my father the letter when she went as usual to dine with 
 him in the Castle, he begged her to send Mrs. Cahill 
 eight guineas more, making in all, 10/. 4*. 9c?., and to 
 tell her that that money should go in discharge of the 
 bill to be due on the 20th June for 10/. This was 
 exactly performed. 
 
 The next and last bill was due on the 1st July. 
 At that period my father's connexion Avith govern- 
 ment, and opposition to the United Irishmen, was 
 fully known. JMeasures of the most active kind were 
 of course adopted by those persons to decry him, and 
 with that view every Roman Catholic of his family 
 
1797. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 113 
 
 was applied to, and party spirit being at its height, 
 whoever could contribute even the shadow of a charge, 
 readily came forward : among others, Mrs. Molloy and 
 Miss Fitzgerald, his aunts, who resided in King Street 
 nunnery, were prevailed upon to appear against him, 
 and represent these transactions with Mrs. Cahill as 
 an attempt at fraud. They represented my father as 
 having endeavoured first to cheat Mrs. Cahill, by giv- 
 ing her a false bond, and then almost to starve her, by 
 withholding her money. The last bill fell due, as I 
 have stated, on the 1st July, 1798. On that day my 
 mother went, by my father's directions, to Mrs. Cahill 
 to pay it. When my mother offered the money to 
 Mrs. Cahill, she told her that the bill was in Mrs. 
 Molloy's hands, but she produced and delivered up to 
 her all my father's other securities, unasked, because 
 she said JMrs. Bond, Mrs. Molloy, and an attorney, had 
 been with her, to get them from her, but she said she 
 knew whose they were, and would not trust them out 
 of her hands, as she saw they wanted them for some 
 bad purpose. Upon this my mother went to the 
 nunnery, and asked to see Mrs. Molloy, who refused to 
 admit her, or to send out the bill that she might pay 
 it. My mother then wrote a note, stating why she 
 came, and desiring to pay the bill due that day, adding 
 her address that it might be sent for, as they would 
 not receive it there. She sought in vain for some per- 
 son to take charge of this note ; the whole community 
 kept themselves carefully shut in. At length, the 
 priest, the spiritual director of the establishment, passed 
 VOL. I. * I 
 
114 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 through the hall, and she in some sort forced him to 
 take charge of it. She then left the house. 
 
 Perhaps a stronger instance of the extremes to which 
 party spirit, during those civil commotions, carried 
 persons, in other respects of the highest respectability, 
 can scarcely be found, than that exhibited in the evi- 
 dence of these two Nuns, when, with a full knowledge 
 of all these circumstances, they swore that they would 
 not believe my father upon his oath, because he had 
 attempted to defraud Mrs. Cahill ! 
 
 The next person of whom I have to speak is Lieute- 
 nant-Colonel Witherington, formerly of the 9th Light 
 Dragoons. He was a major in that regiment at the 
 time of the Rebellion, and afterwards obtained the brevet 
 rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. I Avould willingly have 
 buried in oblivion all matters connected with the name 
 of so near a relation, but the atrocious calumnies to 
 which he not only gave currency himself, but suborned 
 his younger brother, a boy in years, and a mere child 
 in discretion, to depose upon oath, compel me to lay 
 bare the secret causes of that deadly animosity which 
 he exhibited against my father, and to expose the base- 
 ness and depravity of the man, who, after bringing such 
 charges, and attesting his belief in them by the solemnity 
 of an oath, could, for nearly 30 years, indeed until 
 his death, partake of the hospitality, live at the board, 
 and sleep under the roof of one whom he had so foully 
 slandered, if I would not betray the sacred trust be- 
 queathed to me by my dying father — the vindication 
 of his character. My father, in his hearty forgiveness 
 
1797. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 115 
 
 of his slanderer, manifested his anxiety to follow Him 
 " Avho, when He was reviled, reviled not again ; when 
 He suffered, threatened not ; but committed himself to 
 Him that judgeth righteously :" — but while I rejoice 
 that my father was enabled to exhibit to the world so 
 bright an example of Christian forbearance ; I may, I 
 hope, be permitted to feel that such conduct was not 
 Avithout its reward even here ; that nothing could so 
 completely refute the slanderous malice of that man — 
 nothing could so completely prove his own disbelief of 
 the calumnies to which he gave utterance, as his suit 
 for pardon, and his acceptance of the hospitality and 
 favours of his injured brother-in-law. 
 
 Actuated by these feelings, I unwillingly proceed to 
 detail the circumstances which first excited, and finally 
 roused into activity those sentiments of mortal aversion 
 towards mv father which slumbered in the breast of 
 Lieutenant- Colonel Witherington. 
 
 Edward Witherington was my mother's eldest brother. 
 His father was a lieutenant in the navy, and his mother 
 was the favourite daughter of the Reverend Edward 
 Fanning, a clergyman of considerable private fortune, 
 and holding two valuable livings in the church of Ire- 
 land. Mr. Fanning, after the death of his wife, Avho 
 was a Miss French, placed his daughter, Mrs. Wither- 
 ington, at the* head of his establishment, and took all 
 her family to reside with him, adopting them as his 
 own children. His residence was in Grafton Street 
 in Dublin. JMrs. Witherington 's family consisted of 
 her husband and herself, two sons, and four daughters. 
 
 I 2' 
 
116 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 JMr. Fanning had another daughter married to a 
 Mr. Blennerhasset Groves. Upon that gentleman's 
 death, JMr. Fanning took JMrs. Groves also, and her 
 daughters, to reside with him. Mr. Blennerhasset 
 Groves Avas a merchant, residing in William Street, 
 Dublin. At his death, he left about 10,000/. in per- 
 sonal property, and some houses in William Street, 
 then valued at 5000/., let on lease to a IN'Ir. Humphrey 
 Minchin, who succeeded him in his business. IMr. 
 Groves, by his will, named his father-in-law, Mr. Fan- 
 ning, as his sole executor, and sole trustee and guar- 
 dian to his two dauijhters. JMr. Fannins: collected the 
 whole of JMr. Groves' personal property, and invested 
 it in securities in his own name. 
 
 During the last years of Mr. Fanning's life he was 
 very much confined to his room, attended solely by 
 his daughter, JMrs. Witherington : she devoted her 
 whole time to her father. His age_, and his complaints, 
 operating on a temper naturally peevish, and impa- 
 tient, rendered his society unpleasant to strangers — but 
 not so to his child. She smoothed his pillow — she 
 soothed his declining years, and with unwearying love 
 and attention sacrificed every feeling of self to promote 
 his ease. She relinquished all intercourse Avitli her 
 connexions and friends, to devote all her care and at- 
 tention to her father. So sood a dauo-liter could not 
 fail to be an affectionate mother. She was passion- 
 ately fond of her children, and especially of Edward, 
 her eldest child, Avho was also a great favourite with his 
 grandfather, by whom he was treated with extraordi- 
 
1797. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 117 
 
 nary liberality, and pushed forward in the army as 
 rapidly as money could purchase promotion. 
 
 When Mr. Fanning died, he bequeathed 1000/. to 
 each of his ^rand-daughters, the Misses Groves, if they 
 should reach the age of 21 years, and gave the rest of 
 his property to Mrs. Witherington and her children, 
 naming her his residuary legatee ; a Mr. George JMau- 
 leverer was named executor, but that gentleman de- 
 clining- to act, Mrs. Witherincrton administered to her 
 father's effects. 
 
 I have said that j\Ir. Fanning had invested the pro- 
 perty of the Groves' family in his own name. He died 
 without declaring any trust of the property. The se- 
 curities were found among the assets, and came into 
 ]\'Irs. Witherington's hands : she separated those secu- 
 rities from the other property, kept a distinct account 
 of them, and Mrs. Groves being dead, and her 
 daughters being 18 years of age, Mrs. Witherington, 
 erroneously supposing that they were of full age, paid 
 the interest of their money, as she received it, to 
 them. They continued to reside Avith her until their 
 death. 
 
 Upon that event, Mrs. Witherington gave a list of 
 the securities which formed the Groves' property, to 
 Mrs, JMinchin, aunt to the Lord Chancellor Clare, 
 as she Avas joint heir with the Chancellor, and a 
 Mrs. Jeffries. Other persons also put in claims to the 
 property : a chancery suit was the consequence, and 
 Mrs. Witherington died before any decision Avas given. 
 Colonel Witherington immediately possessed himself 
 
118 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 of all her assets, under the circumstances which will be 
 detailed presently. The securities of the Groves' pro- 
 perty were among those assets, no interest had been 
 received or demanded on them since those young ladies 
 died, a period of five or six years, so that the property 
 then amounted to about 12,000/. Edward Withering- 
 ton pretended to consider the whole as his mother's pro- 
 perty, and called it in as speedily as he could. The 
 suit among the claimants continued. Colonel Wither- 
 ington quitted the country, and set the heirs at defiance. 
 At length, in 1825, being settled at Paris, he made 
 some composition with the claimants, ])y which they 
 obtained possession of the houses in William-street ; 
 and Colonel Witherington was permitted to keep what 
 he had received on account of the money securities. 
 
 Colonel Witherington's differences with my father 
 began from the first days of my father's marriage Avith 
 Miss Harriett Witherington. The cause was as foUoAvs : 
 
 The Misses Groves Avere, as I have already said, 
 erroneously supposed by Mrs. Witherington to have 
 attained their majority at the age of eighteen ; they 
 had both died between that age and tAventy-one, and 
 from their eighteenth year had themselves received all 
 the rents and interest of their properties, so that they 
 constantly possessed considerable sums. On the death 
 of the last survivor she Avas knoAvn to have had in her 
 possession upAvards of four hundred guineas in gold, 
 the Avhole of Avhich had disappeared. An inquiry took 
 place, and the money seemed to be traced to Mr. Ed- 
 Avard Witherington, Avhen to clear himself, he solemnly 
 
1797. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 119 
 
 declared, not only that he had not taken it, but that his 
 sister Harriett had, and that she had given it to her 
 sister Mrs. Theobald Wolfe Tone. This coming to 
 Mr. Tone's ears, he insisted on a full investigation. 
 Mr. Edward Witherington became alarmed, and con- 
 fessed in private to his mother that he bad taken the 
 money. Upon this Mrs. Witherington, anxious to 
 screen her son's misconduct, told Mr. Tone that she 
 herself had taken it and lent it to her son, who had 
 given her two promissory notes, the one payable in six, 
 the other in twelve months after demand, to be placed 
 among the Groves' securities, where my father saw them 
 shortly after his marriage, when Mrs. Witherington 
 related the above circumstance to him. My father 
 had heard some imperfect accounts of this transac- 
 tion, from which it appeared that my mother was still 
 reproached with it ; and this induced him hrst to ask 
 an explanation from his mother-in-law, and then to 
 insist upon a statement of the facts from Mr. Edward 
 Witherington himself in the presence of his assembled 
 family. He therefore took occasion, on the same day on 
 which he had spoken to JNlrs. Witherington, after dinner 
 in the presence of the whole family, to relate all the 
 above facts in the plainest and strongest terms, stating 
 that he had his information from Mrs. Witherington, 
 and that he had seen tlie notes : and he then demanded 
 of Mr. Edward Witherington if he could deny any part 
 of the statement 1 That gentleman began by observing 
 that it was no affair of my father's, but concerned 
 the Groves' property alone. My father replied that 
 
120 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 lie neither knew nor cared "a straw about the Groves' 
 affairs, but he did care, and Avould clear his wife's cha- 
 racter from this charge of robbery — that he adopted 
 this method as the mildest effectual mode of doing so ; 
 and having now stated the fiicts, before all the family, 
 if full satisfaction was not made on the spot, by Mr. 
 Edward AVitherington's unqualified acknowledgment, 
 he should certainly take other measures innnediately. 
 A scene ensued, which ended in JMr. Ed^vard Wither- 
 ington making an unqualified admission that he had 
 taken the money, and that the whole of the foregoing 
 statement was in every respect correct. 
 
 After such a transaction it Avill easily be believed, 
 that Mr. Edward Witherington and my father never 
 could be sincere friends. 
 
 Catherine, the third daughter of IMr. Witherington, 
 had contracted a marriage Avith IMr. John Heavyside, 
 Avho was then employed in the Bank of Ireland. This 
 union took place without the consent of the lady's 
 mother, but my father's interference brought about a 
 reconciliation. IMr. Fanning had bequeathed 500/. 
 to each of Mrs. Witherington's daughters, and my 
 father's influence over his mother-in-law, coincidinir 
 with her own affection, prevailed on her to add 1000/., 
 as a gift to her daughter. Mr. Heavyside had by his 
 marriage acquired a right to the 500/., but on receiving 
 the 1000/. additional, he joined in settling the entire 
 1500/. upon the issue of the marriage. The money 
 was paid by assigning to the trustees of the settlement 
 two bonds of JMr. George Carey, the one for 500/. and 
 
1797. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. l2l 
 
 the other for 1000/. IMr. Edward Witherington and 
 my father were appointed trustees. 
 
 INIr. Edward Witherington had lost a large sum of 
 money at play to this Mr. George Carey, who was his 
 cousin, and he had paid a part of it : 500/. still remained 
 unpaid. Mr. Carey pressed for the money as soon as he 
 heard that his bonds had been assigned to the trustees of 
 this marriage settlement, and Mr. Edward Witherington 
 prevailed on his mother to solicit my father to join in 
 releasing the bond for 500/. to Mr. Carey in discharge 
 of the gaming debt. She told my father she had made 
 a will, which she showed him on that occasion, by which 
 she had bequeathed 500/. to her son Edward ; and she 
 sent for Mr. Black, her attorney, and caused him to 
 add a codicil, directing that the 500/., Avhich she had be- 
 queathed to Edward, should on her death ])e applied in 
 replacing this trust-money, in case Edward should not 
 have previously replaced it. This occurred not quite 
 two years before her death. My father saw this will 
 after the codicil had been added, but it was not forth- 
 coming after her death. 
 
 On the death of Mrs. Witherington, my father 
 pressed Mr. Edward Witherington to pay, or to secure 
 this money for the trust. He postponed doing so, 
 under various frivolous pretences. At last Mr. and 
 ]\Irs. Heavyside became alarmed, and urged him on the 
 same subject. IMr. Edward Witherington replied by 
 telling them that if he gave his bond for the money, it 
 would in fact be diminishing their security, because so 
 long as it remained unsettled, my father was equally 
 
122 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 responsible with him, but that, as soon as they accepted 
 his security, it released Mr. Reynolds, which he said 
 Mr. Reynolds well kncAV, and was therefore so anxious 
 to bring him to a settlement. This conversation was 
 reported to my father on the same day, and in conse- 
 quence of it he called on Mr. Edward Witheiington, told 
 him what he had heard, and insisted on an immediate 
 settlement, adding, that if he did not go on that day 
 before twelve o'clock to the office of his (my father's) 
 attorney, and settle the matter, he would direct legal 
 proceedings to be commenced against him. Upon this 
 Mr. Edward Witherington went to Mr. Furlong's, and 
 signed the necessary bond, on which he afterwards paid 
 the interest^ but the principal remained unpaid in the 
 year 1830 ; I know not whether it has since been 
 paid. 
 
 After Mr. Fanning's death, Mrs. Witherington, 
 whose children were all settled in life except her 
 younger son Henry, finding herself lonely in the large 
 house in Grafton- street, hired the greater part of a 
 furnished house belonging to my father in Ashe-street. 
 The apartments she occupied Avere a dining parlour 
 on the ground-floor ; two drawing-rooms, a bed-room, 
 and a large boudoir, on the first floor ; two large bed- 
 rooms on the second floor, and the kitchens. Mrs. 
 Witherington occupied the bed-room on the first floor ; 
 it opened into the large drawing-room : the small 
 drawing-room was occupied by her husband as his 
 bed-room. One of the rooms on the second floor was 
 reserved for visitors; the other was occupied by her 
 
1797. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 123 
 
 own maid. Mr. Henry Witherington, a mere youth, 
 slept in his mother's bed-room. The ground-floor, 
 in the rear of the house, was used by my ftither for his 
 offices, and Mr. Peter Sullivan, at that time his cashier, 
 had a room on the second floor. This house had be- 
 longed to my father's grandfather, and had been 
 occupied by Mr. Warren for some years : it communi- 
 cated in the rear with my father's town-house. 
 
 About a year after her establishment in Ashe-street, 
 Mrs. Witherington determined to put her son Henry 
 into the army ; and Captain Edward Witherington un- 
 dertook to purchase for him the first vacant cornetcy in 
 the 9th dragoons, which was the regiment in which lie 
 himself served. After a delay of some months he 
 came to Dublin, and acquainted his mother that he 
 had agreed for a cornetcy for 300 guineas, and that 
 he Avould call upon her the next day for the money 
 to pay for it. She sent to my father for that sum, 
 which she had left in his hands for the purpose. Mr. 
 Sullivan carried up the money to her in gold, took 
 her receipt, and entered it in the books of the office. 
 Captain Edward Witherington breakfasted with my 
 father next morning, and after breakfast went to his 
 mother's apartments, where he remained closeted with 
 her until after twelve o'clock, when he left the house, 
 and went out of town without calling to see any of the 
 family. The cornetcy was purchased in the following- 
 manner : Captain Edward Witherington held the bond 
 of a Mr. Jones for 150/., which, though secure, was 
 rather difticult to call in. He also had an ensigncy to 
 
124 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 sell on his own account, and he bargained to transfer 
 the ensigncy and the bond in exchange for the cornetcy, 
 Avhile he kept the 300/. received from his mother. 
 This took place in March, 1797, and Captain Edward 
 Witherington returned no more to Dublin until he was 
 called up by his mother's death, which happened on 
 the 18th of the following month. She had long been 
 in a very declining state of health, scarcely eating an 
 ounce of food in the day, and she was constantly 
 affected with headaches, dizziness, and pains in her 
 stomach, to such a degree that at last she determined 
 to call in medical advice. She accordingly sent for Mr. 
 Garrat Fitzgerald, who ordered her to take an emetic, 
 and gave full directions to herself and her maid on the 
 subject. On leaving I^Irs. Witherington, ]\Ir. Fitz- 
 gerald (who was my father's medical attendant) called 
 upon him, and took a small paper containing two or 
 three grains of tartar-emetic out of my mother's family 
 medicine-chest, which he requested my father to give 
 to Mrs. Witherington. IMy father -s^^ent to her room 
 with the paper, to give any directions or explanation 
 she might require. Pier husband and her maid were 
 sitting with her : she v»\as walking about the room in 
 great apparent agony. They said that Mr. Fitzgerald 
 had given all necessary instructions, and IMrs. Wither- 
 ington received the parcel. Mrs. Reynolds called, in 
 the course of the day, on her mother, Avho said she had 
 taken the emetic, and found herself much better, having 
 eaten a poached egg after it. This happened on Friday 
 the 16th. The medical attendant called in the evening. 
 
1797. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 125 
 
 when he found that Mrs. Witherington, feeling herself 
 so much better after the emetic, had been very impru- 
 dent in her diet. On Saturday morning she ^vas up, 
 and about the house ; she complained of her head and 
 stomach, but said that, on the whole, she was not worse. 
 So little idea was there of any danger, that my father 
 and mother went on that evening to the private theatre, 
 which was then a place of fashionable amusement. 
 On their return, seeing a light in her bed-room, my 
 father Avent across the court-yard to inquire how she 
 was, and having tapped at her bed-room door, he was 
 answered from within, by her son Henry, that she was 
 l)etter, and asleep. Early on Sunday morning, however, 
 Mr. Henry Witherington came to my fither's bed- 
 side, to say that his mother was worse, and that he had 
 sent for Mr. Fitzgerald, and, as he had not come in- 
 stantly, he had called the nearest physician he could 
 finll. My father and my mother directly got up, and 
 found Mr. Fitzgerald and another medical man, as well 
 as her husband and her son Henry, all in Mrs, Witlier- 
 ington's bed-room. It seems, that on Saturday even- 
 ing, finding her worse, her husband, or her son, gave 
 her the remainder of the tartar-emetic, which had so 
 much relieved her before : this took place while my 
 father and mother were at the theatre, and when they 
 returned, she had fallen into a sort of sleep from mere 
 exhaustion. 
 
 My father only learned what had taken place while 
 he was at the theatre, after a lapse of many years, when 
 
126 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 Mr. Henry JVitlierington himself related it to him at 
 Uske, in Monmouthshire. 
 
 The two medical men at once declared her past all 
 hope ; and she expired, without appearing to suffer 
 any agony, at ten o'clock in the morning ; the medical 
 men remaining with her to the last. 
 
 Her husband directly took possession of her pockets, 
 which Avere in the old style, very large, and contained 
 a variety of articles. He and his son then locked 
 and sealed the door of her dressing-room and the 
 drawers of her bureau, declaring that they should only 
 be opened in the presence of the whole of the family. 
 They both remained a month longer in the house ; but, 
 having no establishment of their oAvn, they lived at my 
 father's table. A letter was instantly written to Cap- 
 tain Edward Witherington, who was then with his 
 regiment in the north ; and it was determined to post- 
 pone the interment until he should be present. Mean- 
 while, my father's old foreman, John Short, was ordered 
 to give the usual directions preparatory to the funeral. 
 Mrs. Witherington Avas an uncommonly large and cor- 
 pulent person, and Avhen the undertaker heard that the 
 body AA^as to be preserved an uncertain time for Captain 
 Witherington's return, he declared it quite impossible 
 to suffer it to remain on the bed ; and that even in the 
 cofftn it Avould be very hazardous, if the cothn Avas to 
 be opened. Therefore, to prevent the inconvenience 
 AAdiich AA ould necessarily arise from the increasing pu- 
 trefaction, the undertaker ordered a sheet to be pre- 
 
1797. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 127 
 
 pared with pitch, and when the body was dressed in 
 its grave-clothes, he wrapped this sheet over all, and 
 laid the corpse in the coffin. The face was, as usual, 
 uncovered by the grave-clothes, and the pitched sheet 
 was loosely laid over, but not touching it. This was all 
 done in the presence of Henry and her husband, in her 
 front drawing-room, which opened into her husband's 
 bed-room. 
 
 Captain Witherington arrived on the Wednesday or 
 Thursday ; he went alone into the room where the body 
 lay, and, as I have heard, lifted up the sheet, when the 
 offensive smell, the livid appearance of the flesh, and 
 some atoms of the pitch which had fallen on it from the 
 sheet, had such an effect upon him that he ordered the 
 coffin to be finally closed, while he went into her bed- 
 room and passed several hours examining (alone) the 
 contents of her dressing-room and bureau. The fu- 
 neral took place on the next day : Captain Withering- 
 ton remained examining his mother's papers, alone, 
 until five o'clock, when he went to dine with my father. 
 Mr. Witherington and Henry had already arrived. 
 After dinner, Captain Witherington spoke of the 300 
 guineas which Mr. Sullivan had paid to his mother, 
 saying it was extraordinary he did not find them there. 
 My father sent for Mr. Sullivan, who produced her 
 receipt and the entry of the payment on the day-book, 
 and added, that he had himself counted the money to 
 her in gold, on the day of Captain Witherington's last 
 arrival in Dublin, in the preceding month. Captain 
 Witherington repeated his surprise at not finding the 
 
128 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 money. Astonished a,t his manner of expressing him- 
 self, my father told him, that having taken upon him- 
 self to open the places which had been sealed up, and 
 having passed so many hours, alone, examining the 
 drawers, he might tell what story he pleased as to what 
 he did or did not find ; but that, as to the money in 
 question, it would have been rather extraordinary if he 
 had found it there, as he (Captain Witherington) had 
 himself received it when he was last in town — remind- 
 ing him that he came up to Dublin expressly for that 
 money ; that his mother drew it and received it for the 
 purpose of giving it to him ; and that, on the following 
 day, he remained several hours closeted with her, and 
 went off witliout asking to see any of the rest of the 
 family. JMy father added, that he saw no right which 
 Captain AVitherington had, more than his brothers and 
 sisters, to possess himself of his mother's property ; and 
 that, if he intended fairly, he would have called them to 
 be present at the breaking of the seals and the exami- 
 nation of the papers. Captain Witherington replied, 
 that his father, who was his mother's heir and repre- 
 sentative, had given him the keys, and desired him to 
 do so. IMy father said he doubted the fact, because his 
 mother had made a will, which would best show who 
 were her heirs and representatives. Captain Wither- 
 ington said there was no will. My father replied, 
 that there certainly was a will, regularly drawn and 
 executed, and that it ought to be among her pa- 
 pers. Mr. Witherington, who was present, seemed to 
 assent to all that his son said : so my father added. 
 
1797. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 129 
 
 " Among ye be it, gentlemen, but trouble me no more 
 about the matter :" and, in fact, he heard no more of 
 the matter until the trials of the rebels, although 
 Mr. Witherington and Henry continued to occupy his 
 house, and, with Captain Witherington, to live at his 
 table, for a month after this conversation, when the 
 captain, on obtaining his majority, and arranging 
 finally for his brother's cornetcy, procured rooms in 
 Dublin barracks for the accommodation of them all. 
 
 A remarkable circumstance occurred a few days after- 
 wards, when Captain Witherington was making arrange- 
 ments for the payment of the purchase-money of the 
 regimental rank of major. A rank called second major 
 had just been created in all cavalry regiments, which 
 rank was offered to any captain in the regiment who 
 would give his troop and 1100/. in cash for it ; and this 
 second major was to succeed, as a matter of course, 
 without further purchase, to the first majority, when- 
 ever that rank should be vacated by death or other- 
 wise. Captain Witherington was senior captain in 
 the 9th dragoons, and declared himself ready to 
 purchase ; but, not having sufficient ready money, he 
 asked my father to lend him 200/,, saying he had tliree 
 hundred pounds in cash, and a bond of Mr. Stewart, 
 a lawyer in Dublin, to whom he had given notice of 
 payment, and who promised it in a day or two. My 
 father lent him the money, for which he gave his pro- 
 missory note, payable in twelve months. This spare 
 sum of 300/. tallying so exactly with that which his 
 mother had received two months before, caused not 
 
 VOL. I. K 
 
130 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 only my father, but all the family, to feel convinced of 
 the fact that he had got it. It was a short time after 
 this that my father was under the necessity of using 
 the peremptory measures before mentioned, to compel 
 him to make a settlement for the 500/. he had used of 
 his sister Catherine's fortune. These repeated expo- 
 sures caused an open and avowed breach between 
 them, which led Major Witherington to commit in- 
 juries towards my father of the deepest die. 
 
 About twelve months after IMrs. Witherington's 
 death, on the 20th of April, 1798, the measure of free- 
 quartering the troops was put in force against my 
 father at Kilkea Castle. At this time Major Wither- 
 ington's promissory note for 200/. was on the eve of 
 becoming due in the hands of one Mr. Burnett, a 
 butcher in Dublin, to whom my father had passed it. 
 It also happened that the cavalry sent to Kilkea were 
 the identical troop of the 9th dragoons in which Mr. 
 Henry Witherington was cornet ; but Colonel Camp- 
 bell, who commanded in Athy, felt the impropriety of 
 sending an officer on such a service to his brother- 
 in-law's house, and exchanged him on the following 
 day. 
 
 Major Witherington fancying my father would be 
 willing to purchase his influence, in order to be relieved 
 from the military, rode to Kilkea, where my father 
 was held in durance by Captain Erskine ; and coming 
 into his room, after some common-place condolence, 
 said that, in consequence of his rank, he was much 
 consulted by Colonel Campbell, and had seen all the 
 
1797. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 131 
 
 orders received by the colonel, in which, though allowed 
 discretionary powers, he was advised to proceed in the 
 severest manner against those who should be found 
 guilty of aiding, encouraging, or in any way participat- 
 ing with, the United Irishmen ; that the strongest sus- 
 picions were entertained against my father, which he 
 said wanted very little of what Colonel Campbell would 
 deem a certainty ; and that, in fact, nothing but a feel- 
 ing of delicacy towards him, his brother officer, had 
 prevented Colonel Campbell from visiting my father 
 earlier. He then represented the unhappiness of family 
 disputes, and how greatly it would be to my father's 
 advantage to end them, and to acquire through his 
 means military protection in such troublesome times. 
 
 " Now," said he, " I will at once end all such family 
 differences, and bury all the past in oblivion, and I will 
 not only have this quartering removed from your house, 
 but I will stand to the utmost of my power between you 
 and all future visits of this kind ; I only expect that, on 
 your part, you will deliver up to me the promissory 
 note I gave you for 200/." 
 
 My father's indignation was unbounded: he told 
 Major Witherington that he was an infamous villain 
 thus to attempt to take advantage of the presence of his 
 soldiers to insult and rob him — that he should pay his 
 note or go to gaol — that as to Colonel Campbell, he 
 defied him — and that, as for himself, if his baseness was 
 not surpassed by his cowardice, he would order the 
 sergeant who was then on guard in the gallery to lend 
 him his sabre, and they could then settle their differ- 
 
 K 2 
 
132 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 ences on the spot. Major Witlierington walked off, 
 and immediately left the Castle. 
 
 1 have been obliged to anticipate events a little in 
 the account of this last transaction, that I might not 
 interrupt the thread of my narrative. I think I have 
 said enouijli to show the causes which led to Edward 
 Witlierington's animosity towards my father. I have 
 suppressed many other facts, and would willingly have 
 been for ever silent on all these family matters. My 
 object is not to attack any one ; and I am only sorry 
 that I shall be compelled, again and again, to bring 
 forward Edward Witherington's name, and to place 
 his conduct in its true light. 
 
 It will strike my readers as singular that Major 
 Witherington, possessing the influence over Colonel 
 Campbell which he said he did, and which assertion, 
 indeed, his rank of major would in a great degree jus- 
 tify, did not use that influence to prevent the visitation 
 of the troops in the first instance: but if he had done 
 so, he might imagine that he would not have been able 
 to enforce his demand for the delivery of his promissory 
 note, in the absence of the powerful arguments afforded 
 by a troop of dragoons. 
 
 It will be observed that, as yet, I have avoided every 
 allusion to my father's political career, and I have been 
 perhaps too prolix in the account I have given of his 
 private life. It is true that the subjects on Avhich I 
 have hitherto written do not usually afford much in- 
 terest to the reader ; but those details have been 
 forced from mo Ijy a series of calunmies, which I 
 
1797. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 133 
 
 cannot allow to remain uncontradicted. It has been 
 said that my father was a low-born and needy adven- 
 turer ; therefore I have thought it incumbent on me to 
 shoAv that he was well connected, and closely related 
 to the first families in Ireland ; and that, up to 
 January, 1798, he was living in ease, affluence, and 
 respectability. The history of Mr. Warren, and the 
 circumstances related in the preceding chapters, are 
 indispensable to the right understanding of Avhat fol- 
 lows, especially on the trials of the rebels. 
 
 I have mentioned names enough to prove my state- 
 ments ; and I now publicly call upon my father's de- 
 famers to gainsay, if they can, one syllable of what I 
 have here advanced. I have documentary evidence to 
 prove the whole of my statements, and IMr. and Mrs. 
 Keavyside, as well as many other persons, are living, 
 and can contradict me if I have advanced anything that 
 is not correct. 
 
134 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Rise and Progress of the United Irish Society— The real Designs of the 
 Founders as expressed by Theobald Wolfe Tone — Rapid Growth of the 
 Society in Ulster — Samuel Neilson edites the Northern Star — Archi- 
 bald Hamilton Rowan imprisoned — Organization of the Society — The 
 Initiatory Oath — The Honourable Simon Butler and Mr. Oliver Bond 
 fined and imprisoned — The Convention Bill passed — The Societies 
 continue to increase — Overtures from France — Rev. W.Jackson found 
 guilty of High Treason — takes Poison — The Test undergoes a change — 
 The Defenders join the Society — Mr. Tone goes to America — whence 
 he is induced to proceed to France — His Negociations — Military Or- 
 ganization of the United Irish Society begun in Ulster — The Insur- 
 rection Act — Suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act — Yeomanry Force 
 established — Bantry Bay Expedition — The Society degenerates into 
 Defenderism — Greatly checked in the Summer of 1797 — Re-organized 
 in the Autumn — The Union Star — The Press Newspaper, edited by 
 Mr. Arthur O'Connor — The Societies increase greatly — Defeat of the 
 Dutch Fleet by Admiral Duncan. 
 
 1791 to 1797. 
 
 Having thus brought clown the principal events of my 
 father's life to the end of the year 1797, at which time 
 he became more intimately connected with the United 
 Irish Society, I must now go back a few years in my 
 narrative, in order to give an account of the rise and 
 progress of that association, which^ as JMr. Theobald 
 Wolfe Tone says, '' commenced a new epoch in the 
 politics of Ireland." 
 
 The first club of United Irishmen was formed at 
 
1791. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 135 
 
 Belfast on the 14th of October, 1791, by Theobald 
 Wolfe Tone, aided by his friend Thomas Russell- 
 The avowed object was to form a union of all parties in 
 Ireland, whether Protestant of the Established Church, 
 Protestant Dissenter, or Roman Catholic, for the pur- 
 pose of obtaining, by their joint endeavours, the entire 
 emancipation of the Catholics, and a reform of the Irish 
 House of Commons. The first club consisted of thirty- 
 six members. The Honourable Simon Butler was 
 chairman, and Mr. James Napper Tandy secretary. 
 Among the members were Keogh, William Sinclair, 
 Samuel Neilson, M'Cabe, and the two brothers Sims. 
 On the 9th of November following a similar club was 
 formed in Dublin, which adopted the resolution which 
 had received the approbation of the parent society in 
 Belfast, that " We have no national government." 
 
 But though the avowed object was thus in harmony 
 with the laws, and though doubtless the greater num- 
 ber of the members contemplated nothing beyond what 
 was strictly legal, I feel it necessary to state, and to 
 prove beyond the possibility of doubt, that, from the first 
 hour the society was established, the founders had very 
 different views, and that emancipation and reform were 
 merely pretexts put forward to entice men to join their 
 standard. Mr. Tone himself shall furnish the proof of 
 this. He says that " in 1789 he made a discovery 
 that the influence of England was the radical vice of 
 the Irish government, and consequently that Ireland 
 would never be either free, prosperous, or happy, until 
 she was independent, and that independence was unat- 
 
136 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 tiiinable whilst the connexion with England existed ;" 
 and he adds that " that theory had ever since directed 
 his poHtical conduct."* Again, speaking of his friend 
 Mr. Whitely Stokes, he says, " The tenderness and 
 humanity of his disposition is such that he recoils from 
 any measures to be attempted for the emancipation of 
 Ireland 'which may terminate in blood ; in this respect 
 I have not the virtue to imitate him."t A month or 
 two before the formation of the club in Belfast, he says, 
 "To subvert the tyranny of our execrable government, 
 to break the connexion with England, the never-failing 
 source of all our political evils, and to assert the inde- 
 pendence of my country — these were my objects. To 
 unite the whole people of Ireland, to abolish the me- 
 mory of all past dissensions, and to substitute the com- 
 mon name of Irishmen, in place of the denominations 
 of Protestant, Catholic, and Dissenter — these were my 
 means."! In another place he says, " IMy object was 
 to secure the independence of my country under any 
 form of government, to which I was led by a hatred of 
 England so deeply rooted in my nature, that it Avas 
 rather an instinct than a principle. "§ Again he says, 
 in another place, " In the year 1791, the Dissenters of 
 Belfast formed the first club of United Irishmen, so 
 called, because in that club, for the first time in Ireland, 
 Dissenters and Catholics were seen together in har- 
 mony and union. A similar club Avas immediately 
 
 * Life of Theobald Wolfe Tone, vol. i. p. 32. t lb. p. 4L 
 
 I lb. p. 51. ^ lb. p. 55. 
 
1791. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 137 
 
 formed in Dublin, which became speedily famous for 
 its publications, and the sufferings of its members. 
 Means have been adopted to spread similar clubs 
 throughout Ulster. Their object is to subvert the 
 tyranny of England, to establish the independence of 
 Ireland, and to frame a free republic on the broad basis 
 of liberty and equality."* These are precious docu- 
 ments, for which I have to thank Mr. William Tone,| 
 but they do not stand alone ; for it clearly appears, from 
 the letter of Mr. Tone accompanying the original con- 
 stitution,]; which he transmitted to Belfast for adoption, 
 that, from its commencement, the real purpose of those 
 who were at the head of this institution was to separate 
 Ireland from Great Britain, and to subvert the esta- 
 blished constitution of the kingdom. In that letter he 
 says, " The foregoing contain my sincere opinion of the 
 state of this country, so far as, in the present juncture, 
 it may he advisable to publish it. They certainly fall 
 short of the truth ; but truth itself must sometimes 
 condescend to temporize. JMy unalterable opinion is, 
 
 * Life of Theobald Wolfe Tone, vol. ii. p. 188. 
 
 t Mr. William Theobald WoHe Tone, in his comments on his father's 
 writings, seems to have forgotten these positive declarations which he 
 had just before transcribed ; for he says, " The primitive object of the 
 society was merely to form a union of all religious denominations, whose 
 members, abjuring every former feud, should join their efforts to reform 
 the abuses of the government and constitution of the country, and re- 
 store the rights of free and equal citizenship to Irishmen of every sect 
 and religion "—(vol. i. p. 72) ; and, again, " He (Mr. Tone) only sought 
 to obtain, without the struggles of a revolution, the gradual emancipation 
 of his country by legal and constitutional means."— (vol. i. p. 74.) 
 
 X See Appendix, No. 5. 
 
138 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 that the bane of Irish prosperity is the influence of 
 England : I believe that influence will ever be extended, 
 while the connexion between the countries continues ; 
 nevertheless, as I know that opinion is for the pre- 
 sent too hardy, I have not made it a part of the resolu- 
 tions. I have not said one word that looks like a wish 
 for separation, though I give it to you and your friends 
 as my most decided opinion, that such an event would 
 be a regeneration to this country."* The Committee 
 of Secrecy, in its report to the Irish House of Commons 
 in 1797, says, " It appears to your Committee, that, in 
 the original formation of this society, its authors, to 
 avoid alarming the feelings of those who were not pre- 
 pared at once to go to the full extent of their dangerous 
 and traitorous designs, held forth Catholic emancipa- 
 tion and Parliamentary reform as the ostensible ol)jects 
 of their union ; but their real purposes were to separate 
 Great Britain from Ireland, and to subvert the consti- 
 tution." The committee of 1798 uses similar language ; 
 and Dr. William James M'Nevin, in his examination 
 upon oath before the Secret Committee of the House of 
 Lords, on the 7th August, 1798, on being asked if the 
 reports of the Secret Committees were accurate, an- 
 swered, " I believe they were accurate, save that they 
 understated the number of men and arms."+ I could 
 
 * Report from the Secret Committee, App. No. 2. 
 
 t Secret Report, App. No. 31, Dr. M'Nevin, in his Pieces of Irish 
 History, attempts to deny this fact. The first piece is an essay by Em- 
 met, in which he notices the charge, but attempts to refute it, by saying, 
 
1792. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 139 
 
 easily multiply proofs on tliis subject, but I think I 
 have clearly made out my assertions as to the real de- 
 signs of the United Irish leaders, and their motives for 
 keeping those designs secret. As I continue 1 shall 
 show that the same plans were acted upon to the last 
 moment. 
 
 During the year 1792 the attention of the leaders 
 was principally directed to the engaging in the society 
 persons of activity and talents in every quarter of the 
 kingdom, and in preparing the public mind for their 
 future purposes, by the circulation of the most seditious 
 publications, particularly the works of Thomas Paine. 
 " Some artful and ill-minded demagogues," says ]\Ir. 
 Plow^den, "availed themselves of the popular fever, 
 which had never totally abated from the year 1782. 
 The pernicious doctrines of Mr. Paine, artfully mixed 
 up with popular truisms, were circulated at the lowest 
 price, distributed gratis, and imbibed with insatiable 
 avidity."* Still they continued very cautious of alarm- 
 ing minds not sufficiently ripe for the adoption of their 
 principles, by the too open disclosure of the real object 
 they had in view.t The societies multiplied with 
 great rapidity ; the Catholics particularly flocked in 
 crowds;:}: and before the expiration of the year the 
 association was extended very generally throughout the 
 
 that no such designs were entertained by the bodies at large. There we 
 are agreed : the bodies at large were kept in the dark till they were 
 found ripe enough. 
 
 * Plowden's History of Ireland, vol. ii. p. 303. 
 f Sec. Rep. p. 5. % Life of Tone, vol. i. p. 55. 
 
140 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 province of Ulster, and had taken deep root in that of 
 Leinster. Samuel Neilson of Belfast was particularly 
 active. In a letter which he writes to Mr. Tone, on 
 the 21st of November, he says, — '^You can form no 
 conception of the rapid progress of the union here ; and 
 I do assure you we are further forward than even I 
 expected we should have been in a twelvemonth. The 
 universal question throughout the country is, ' When 
 do we begin? Do Ave refuse hearth-money or tithes 
 first V "* Indeed the people of Belfast were not idle ; 
 they spared neither pains nor expense to spread their 
 new doctrine through the whole north of Ireland ; and 
 they had the satisfaction to see their proselytes very 
 rapidly extending in all directions. The more effectually 
 to spread their principles, " twelve of the most active 
 and intelligent amono; them subscribed 250/. each to 
 set on foot a paper, whose object should be to give a 
 fair statement of all that passed in France, whither 
 every one turned his eyes ; to inculcate the necessity of 
 union amongst Irishmen of all religious persuasions, to 
 support the emancipation of the Catholics, and finally, 
 as the necessary, though not avowed, consequence of all 
 this, to erect Ireland into a republic independent of 
 England." This paper was called the " Northern Star," 
 and was edited Ijy Samuel Neilson. It Avas entirely 
 devoted to the principles and views of the United Irish- 
 men, f While the Belfast leaders were thus exerting 
 themselves, their Dublin associates were not less active. 
 
 * Life of Tone, vol. i. p. 221. t Ibid. p. G8, 
 
1792. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 141 
 
 They raised a body of men, whom they called the First 
 National Battalion. Their uniform was green turned 
 up witli white, white waistcoat, and striped trousers, 
 gilt Imttons, impressed with a harp, and letters import- 
 ing " First National Battalion ;" no crown, but over the 
 harp was a cap of liberty upon a pike. This battalion 
 was to have been publicly reviewed by their commander, 
 James Napper Tandy, on the 9th of December, but the 
 lord lieutenant issued a proclamation on the 8th, for- 
 bidding all such assemblage, and ordering the magis- 
 tracy to employ the garrison troops, if necessary, to 
 prevent it. The leaders resolved, however, to make 
 another effort, and Mr. Archibald Hamilton Rowan 
 signed and published a proclamation* on the 14th of 
 December, inviting the kingdom to arm after the 
 Dungannon example, and to send deputies to Armagh 
 to consider and organize measures for obtaining a 
 redress of grievances. The executive government now 
 found it necessary to take strong and decided measures 
 to stop their revolutionary designs. Mr. Archibald 
 Hamilton Rowan was arrested, tried, condemned, and 
 sentenced to two years imprisonment in Newgate, 
 whence he afterwards contrived to escape and fled to 
 France. 
 
 Before we take leave of the year 1792, let us see 
 whether Dr. M'Nevin, who, in his "Pieces of Irish 
 History," denies the fact of the leaders having secret and 
 traitorous designs at this period, is borne out in his 
 
 * See Appendix No. 6. 
 
142 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 denial by the evidence of those leaders themselves. It 
 is undeniable that, in 1792, Tone, Neilson, Keogh, 
 Hamilton Rowan, Oliver Bond, and James Napper 
 Tandy, were among the most active leaders. Tone 
 tells us that he dined with the club at the Donegal Arms 
 in Belfast on the 16th July, 1792, and that at the dinner 
 "the flags of America, Poland, France, and Ireland, 
 were displayed ; but/' says he, " tio England.''^ 
 
 On the 9th of September he dined at Castle Brown 
 with RoAvan, and after dinner they drank " The spirit 
 of the French mob to the people of Ireland."-!- 
 
 On the 25th of October he writes, " This is the 
 king's accession. How many more accessions shall we 
 have?" J 
 
 On the 29th of October intelligence reached Ireland 
 of the expulsion of the German armies from France, 
 on wliich occasion advertisements were handed about 
 Dublin by Oliver Bond and James Napper Tandy, 
 ordering a general illumination ; and a few days after- 
 wards Tone writes, " Right or wrong, success to the 
 French ! they are fighting our battles ; and, if they fail, 
 adieu to liberty in Ireland for one centuiy !"§ 
 
 On the 29th of November Tone says, " Gog (a 
 familiar nickname, by which he tells us that he has 
 designated Mr. Keogh throughout his Memoirs), Gog 
 seems to-day disposed for all manner of treason and 
 mischief, separation of the countries, &c., a republic, 
 
 * Life of Tone, vol. i. p. 162. t Ibid. p. 182. % Ibid. p. 198. ; 
 
 ^ Ibid. p. 205. 
 
1792. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 143 
 
 &c. ; is of opinion this will not end without blows, and 
 says, he for one is ready. Is he ? Mr. Hutton (Tone 
 thus designates himself) quite prepared, having nothing 
 to lose."* 
 
 Samuel Neilson in a letter to Tone says, " The 
 people of Cork, Gahvay, Limerick_, and Waterford, 
 are by no means friendly to the doctrine of the people's 
 sovereignty. I do not blame them for not joining us 
 in hallooing up the French, for there are many things in 
 theu- conduct that, under all the circumstances of the 
 case, cannot be very acceptable to an Irish Catholic. 
 But I blame them, severely blame them, for attacking the 
 principle ; and I fear they are far behind you, and by no 
 means ripe yet."'|' 
 
 Now, though each of these facts, taken separately, 
 might not be considered as sufficient evidence to prove 
 traitorous designs, yet, when taken collectively, and 
 coupled with Tone's own avowal of his plans and wishes, 
 as related above, they must convince every candid mind, 
 that all the persons I have here named were privy to 
 those plans, and using all their endeavours to forward 
 them ; and this appears to be alluded to by Mr. W. H. 
 Curran, who, speaking of these societies, confesses that, 
 though many of those who took an active part in their 
 proceedings at every 'period of their existence, would 
 originally have been satisfied with a reform, "• yet there 
 were ecVceptiom'."l 
 
 The United Irish Association was, in its conception 
 
 * Life of Tone, vol. i.p. 208. t Ibid, p. 221 
 
 $ Life of Curran, by his Son, vol. i. p. 354, note. 
 
144 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 and in its original formation, essentially Protestant ; 
 it was planned by ^Ir. Theobald Wolfe Tone, who was 
 a Protestant. At its dissolution in 1798, among the 
 17 principal leaders, there was only one Roman Catho- 
 lic, and during the actual rebellion the principal men 
 of rank and fortune found at the head of the insurgents 
 were Protestants, as Cornelius Grogan, a Protestant 
 gentleman possessing property to the amount of 8000/. 
 or 10,000/. a-year, in the county of Wexford ; Beau- 
 champ Bagenal Hervey, who commanded the rebels at 
 the battle of Ross, the fiercest and best-contested affair 
 of the whole rebellion, also a Protestant gentleman pos- 
 sessing property to the amount of 3000/. or 4000/. 
 a-year in the same county. JMr. Keugh, a Protestant 
 of considerable respectability, was rebel commandant in 
 Wexford during the whole period of its occupation by 
 the insurgents. IMr. Anthony Perry, another Protest- 
 ant of rank and fortune, acted as general among the 
 rebels, and was their leader in the affair denominated 
 Bloody Friday. All these persons suffered death in 
 Wexford, after the rebellion had been put down in those 
 parts. Yet certainly, in a country where four- fifths of 
 the population are Roman Catholics, the mass of such 
 an extensive association must necessarily have been of 
 that persuasion ; and, unhappily for themselves and their 
 country, so inveterately rooted are the prejudices of 
 religious antipathy in the minds of all the lower, the 
 middle, and not a few of the upper classes of Irish 
 Roman Catholics, that any civil war, however originat- 
 ing from causes unconnected with religion, is speedily 
 
1792. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 145 
 
 converted into a rancorous religious quarrel, in which 
 the connexions, the education, the condition, and the 
 habits of their clergy, too frequently lead many of them 
 to join ; as on the occasion in question did Fahter 
 John Murphy, parish priest of Baulavogue, Father 
 Michael Murphy of Ballycannon, Father Murphy of 
 Taghmon, Father Kern, Father Philip Roche, Father 
 John Redmond and others, who, as generals, headed 
 rebels, and fearlessly fought in the thickest dangers. 
 
 The Association was constituted so as to place the 
 most minute and effectual control in the hands of five 
 or six leaders, while it completely concealed those 
 leaders and their real designs from the knowledge of 
 the rest of the associates, who, though continually re- 
 ceiving orders, advice, and reports, never knew from 
 whence they originally issued. 
 
 The society was formed in the following manner :* — 
 15 or 20 neighbours, who had taken the oath, met and 
 became a simple society, choosing from among them- 
 selves three officers to conduct their meetings. These 
 officers were denominated a secretary, a treasurer, and 
 a delegate, and were usually the most active and zeal- 
 ous, or the most respectable persons belonging to the 
 meeting. 
 
 When eight or ten such simple societies were formed 
 in the same neighbourhood, their officers met and be- 
 came a Baronial Committee, which, in like manner, 
 chose three of its members as officers, under similar 
 denominations. 
 
 * This organization was not completely established until the year 1 795. 
 VOL. L L 
 
146 LIFE OF THOMAS EEYNOLDS. A.D- 
 
 Sometimes, when the simple societies were too nu- 
 merous in any district, tliey formed an intermediate 
 committee, which they called a Lower Baronial. 
 
 When eight or ten baronials were formed, their 
 officers became a District Committee. 
 
 The officers of all the District Committees in one 
 county met, and became a County Committee. 
 
 The officers from all the counties in each province 
 met in a similar manner, and constituted a Provincial 
 Committee. 
 
 There are four provinces in Ireland. It was in- 
 tended that their 12 officers should form a National 
 Committee, which alone Avas to communicate with the 
 Directory, by a person to be chosen, not by tiie Na- 
 tional Committee, but by the Directory. This person 
 was also to act as secretary and sole officer of the Na- 
 tional, which would thus consist of 13 persons. But 
 this National Committee was never formed, as the 
 Association extended but feebly into the province of 
 Connaught, and though numerous in the province 
 of Munster, yet its organization was backward and 
 incomplete. 
 
 In Ulster, it was very numerous and very complete ; 
 its provincial met at Belfast, and had its own separate 
 channel of communication with the agent of the Direc- 
 tory at Dublin. 
 
 The province of Leinster was also very numerous 
 and complete ; its provincial met in Duldin, where the 
 agent of the Directory attended its meetings, and acted 
 as its secretary and president, and through him all 
 communications were made. 
 
1792. LIFE OF THOMAS EEYNOLDS. 147 
 
 Here again an obvious reflection presents itself, 
 namely, that the only two organised provinces were the 
 two which were the most Protestant, and of the other 
 two, that which was the most decidedly Roman Catho- 
 lic, Connaught, was the least tainted of all. 
 
 The officers throughout the whole Association were 
 strictly forbidden even to mention the name of any 
 person they met in the upper committees of which they 
 formed a part, or to report any of the proceedings of 
 those upper committees to their constituents, without 
 having received especial orders to do so. Thus the 
 associates were in ignorance of the proceedings, as well 
 as of the persons in all the committees above them : 
 any indiscreet inquiry, or any disobedience of orders_, or 
 hesitation to obey, created suspicion_, and suspicion in 
 general was death. 
 
 The Association spread to such a degree that, on its 
 dissolution in 1798, the returns exceeded 400,000 men, 
 a vast many of whom were perfect fanatics, ready to 
 perform the wildest, the most atrocious act suggested 
 in their committees, or commanded in the name of the 
 Directory. Every man who was not a member, or 
 who did not evince a marked bias and protection to- 
 wards the members, and their opinions, was considered 
 as an enemy, and devoted as a fair object of destruction, 
 in person and property, whenever a secure opportunity 
 for attacking either the one or the other might be 
 afforded. 
 
 The Directory was a self-created mysterious body, 
 whose persons, means, motions, and intentions, were 
 
 L 2 
 
148 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 alike unknown, save only so far as they thought proper 
 to communicate them through their agent ; and all 
 orders so communicated must be implicitly obeyed. 
 There were five directors at its dissolution, four Pro- 
 testants, and one Roman Catholic. 
 
 I should here observe that throughout this narrative, 
 I mean by Protestants, to indicate all those who are 
 not Roman Catholics, whether they be of the church of 
 England, or Presbyterians, or other dissenters. 
 
 Every person on admission made a declaration in the 
 form of an oath ; " That he would cordially unite in 
 endeavouring to obtain Catholic Emancipation, and a 
 reform in the Commons' House of Parliament, by means 
 of an impartial and adequate representation of the 
 people ; that he would use every means in his power 
 to promote union and brotherly affection among Irish- 
 men of every religious persuasion ; and that neither 
 hopes, fears, rcAvards or punishments, should induce 
 him to reveal what should pass among United Irish- 
 men in forwarding these views, pursuant to the spirit 
 of the obligation he then took upon him"'." 
 
 Such was the oath — such were the whole of the ob- 
 ligations a man took upon himself, and of the motives 
 and views of the United Irishmen with which he was 
 
 * The words of this oath or test were changed several times. In the 
 report from the Secret Committee of the House of Commons, we find 
 one version at page 48, another at page 77, and a third at page 230, all 
 slightly differing ; but the only material change made, was the leaving 
 out all mention of Parliament ; the oath then ran thus : " to obtain an 
 equal, full, and adequate representation of all the people of Ireland."' In 
 other respects the spirit of the oath remained unchanged. 
 
1792. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 149 
 
 made acquainted on becoming a member of tliat asso- 
 ciation. He was made to believe the sole view was to 
 obtain reform in Parliament and Catholic emancipa- 
 tion, and to have an end put to all the unhappy party 
 disputes which had so long desolated his country. 
 
 It must be allowed that the oath contains nothing 
 contrary to allegiance, to honour, or to loyalty — nothing 
 which can by any fair construction be held as opposed 
 to the oath of allegiance ; but, on the contrary, that it 
 is in perfect conformity Avith the sentiments of our 
 greatest statesmen, of the best supporters of the throne 
 and of the constitution. Mr. Pitt, Mr. Fox, Mr. 
 Burke, Mr. Sheridan, Lord Grey, Lord Grenville, 
 Lord Castlereagh,* Mr. Flood — all have at some 
 period of their public career avowed these to be their 
 principles, in public and in private, in parliament and 
 in the courts of justice. The latter part of the oath 
 can only be considered in reference to the former part 
 — that is, not to reveal what should pass relative to the 
 objects for which they had united, as specified : a legal 
 and a constitutional object, deservedly dear, and desir- 
 able to all men. If murder or any other heinous crime 
 was brought under consideration, and about to be per- 
 petrated, by one or more United Irishmen, could a man 
 be considered as breaking this oath by preventing it ? 
 nuich less could it be supposed that by taking it he 
 pledged himself to murder, to robbery, to treason, and 
 
 * See Appendix No, 7 for the proceedings of the Northern Whig 
 Club, held at Belfast on the I6th of April, 1790, of which Lord Castle- 
 reagh was a member. 
 
150 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 to every other species of crime, and placed himself as 
 a blind instrument in tlie hands of he knew not whom, 
 to bring ruin and infamy on his country and himself. 
 Yet such was the doctrine acted upon by the leaders 
 of this society, and which is still attempted to be main- 
 tained by those who once formed a part of it, and by 
 their friends. The moment a man became a member 
 of it he unexpectedly found himself placed under the 
 censorship of all his associates; the slightest hesitation, 
 opposition, or disapproval of the orders or reports com- 
 municated from the upper committees, was considered 
 as treason and disaffection ; keeping company or habitu- 
 ally associating with persons unfriendly to the associa- 
 tion was held to be just cause of suspicion. A man's 
 acquaintances, his servants, his relatives, and frequently 
 his very children, were so many spies on all his words 
 and actions, which, if suspicious, were directly de- 
 nounced in some committee. 
 
 The leaders, conscious of their own criminal projects, 
 and in constant dread of discovery notwithstanding their 
 precautions, promoted by every means in their power 
 this jealous and suspicious system of espionage among 
 the associates. 
 
 Green is the national colour of Ireland ; the United 
 Irishmen, pretending to be the only true friends of 
 their country, usurped it as their colour. Short hair 
 was the mode among the Revolutionists in Paris ; the 
 United Irishmen universally cut their hair short, and 
 thence, as a term of reproach, they were denominated 
 Croppies by the adverse party. During the years 1797 
 
1793. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 151 
 
 and 1798, when party-spirit ran very high and the 
 country was under martial law, having short hair, or 
 showing any particle of green upon the person, was 
 sufficient to subject the wearer to ill usage, and not 
 unfrequently to torture, and even to death, from the 
 opposite faction. 
 
 In the beginning of the year 1793 the House of 
 Lords appointed a secret connnittee to inquire into the 
 causes of the disturbances which were so prevalent 
 throughout the country, and especially in the county 
 of Louth. That committee thought proper to examine 
 witnesses on oath, and the United Irishmen, fearing a 
 premature discovery of their designs, published a series 
 of observations calculated to show that the committee 
 had no such right. In consequence of that publication 
 the Honourable Simon Butler and Oliver Bond, who, 
 as chairman and secretary, had signed it, were brought 
 before the House on the 1st of March, and sentenced 
 to six months' imprisonment and a fine of 500/. each: 
 The result of the report of the committee was the cele- 
 brated Convention Bill, the object of which was to pre- 
 vent the election or appointment of unlawful assemblies 
 under the pretence of preparing or presenting public 
 petitions or other addresses to his Majesty or the par- 
 liament. All such assemblies were by the bill declared 
 unlawful. This bill was a severe blow to the United 
 Irishmen. It obliged them to use the greatest secrecy 
 and circumspection in all their proceedings, and had it 
 been vigorously enforced it would probably have nipped 
 the entire association in the bud. All the United Irish- 
 
152 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D- 
 
 men who have given any account of the proceedings of 
 their party show, by the rancorous manner in which 
 they speak of this bill, how grievously it annoyed them. 
 Mr. W. Tone thus speaks of it : — " The increasing in- 
 solence of the administration roused the spirit of the 
 people. Openly trampling on law and decency, its 
 oppressive measures lired the hearts of the multitude 
 with indignation, and spread the affiliation of the United 
 Irishmen more rapidly than could have l)een done by 
 all the efforts of the patriotic leaders. Their views 
 Avere no longer bounded to Catholic emancipation and 
 reform of parliament ; they aimed at separation, liberty, 
 and even revenge. Their societies took a fiercer cha- 
 racter, and then, for the first time, began those secret 
 oaths and associations by which their members bound 
 themselves ; whilst the Orange Lodges, with forms at 
 least as illegal as those of the United Irishmen, and 
 purposes as diabolical as those of the other were 
 pure (!) and liberal, Avere encouraged by the govern- 
 ment all over the country. To unite all sects and 
 parties for the independence of Ireland Avas the j)^'o- 
 fessed object of the first ; to support the exclusive pri- 
 vileges of the members of the Anglican church, and 
 keep the rest of the nation in slavery for ever, of the 
 second ; and in opposing the principles of these tAvo 
 societies I have selected those only Avhich were openly 
 avowed by both bodies."* Mr. W. Tone is mistaken ; 
 there Avere no such things as Orange Lodges until 
 
 * Life of Tone, vol. i. p. 108. 
 
1793. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 153 
 
 1795 ; but from this quotation it will be seen that the 
 societies still held back their real hitentions, though 
 Mr. W. Tone now, for the first time, is obliged to ac- 
 knowledge that separation was one of them. A few 
 lines further on he adds that the Irish leaders, and his 
 father among the rest, naturally cast their eyes and 
 hopes towards France. This, indeed, he could not 
 any longer deny, as in the preceding page he gives an 
 extract from his father's journal in these remarkable 
 words — " Ten thousand French would accomplish a 
 separation." 
 
 The United Irish Society continued to increase in 
 defiance of the Convention Bill. Frequent attempts 
 were made to induce the Defenders to join them, and 
 many missions were undertaken for that purpose in 
 this and the preceding year. Messrs. Tone, Keogh, 
 j\rCormick, and Neilson went with that view into 
 several of the northern counties, and met Avith con- 
 siderable successes. IMany persons of note, Protestants 
 as well as Catholics, joined the society, among whom 
 Mr. Grattan is named by Mr. Tone, upon the authority 
 of James Napper Tandy.* Tone, in his journal of the 
 21st of July, 1792, speaking of the same gentleman, 
 says — " AVe arrive at Grattan's, and tell him of the 
 state of things in the north and in the south, wMcJi he 
 approves''-\ This visit was made immediately on Mr. 
 Tone's return from his tour in the north. 
 
 In the beginning of the year 1794 the first direct 
 
 * Life of Tone, vol. i. p. 151. f Ibid, vol. i. i% 165. 
 
154 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 overtures were made from the French to the United 
 Irishmen. The Rev. William Jackson, Avho had long 
 been a resident in France, was sent on a mission to 
 arrange a plan for invading the country, and to obtain 
 the most accurate information of the state of England 
 and Ireland. In London he imprudently opened him- 
 self to ]Mr. Cockayne, an attorney, who immediately 
 gave information of his mission to the British govern- 
 ment. In the beginning of April he set out for Dublin 
 in company with Cockayne, where he Avas introduced, 
 to JMr. Hamilton Rowan, then in Newgate, and by him 
 to Mr. Tone and Dr. Reynolds. On giving them an 
 account of the motives of his journey he prevailed on 
 Tone to draw up a statement of what he conceived to 
 be the wants and situation of Ireland, which he de- 
 scribed as being altogether favourable to a French 
 invasion.* Meantime government was minutely in- 
 formed of every particular by Mr. Cockayne, and, suf- 
 ficient evidence having been procured, Jackson was 
 arrested on a charge of high treason on the 28th of 
 April. Dr. Reynolds immediately fled to America, 
 where he remained till his death. Mr. Hamilton 
 Rowan contrived to escape from Newgate, and, not- 
 withstanding 1500/. was offered for his apprehension, 
 reached France in safety. Mr. Tone was deeply com- 
 promised; but, owing to the interference of the Honour- 
 able Marcus Beresibrd, JMr. George Knox, and INIr. 
 Wolfe, afterwards Lord Kilwarden, the government 
 
 * For a copy of this statement, as given by Mr. Tone, see Appendix 
 No. 8. 
 
1794. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 155 
 
 agreed to forego all prosecution against him, provided 
 he would quit Ireland as soon as he could wind up his 
 affairs. Jackson remained a year in prison, when he 
 was tried and found guilty of high treason, but, having 
 taken poison, he died in the dock before sentence was 
 passed upon him.* Mr. Emmet tells us that " the ar- 
 rest of Jackson and the publication of his designs con- 
 veyed no unwelcome information to the body of the 
 Irish people, as from thence they derived the first au- 
 thentic intelligence that their situation was an object 
 of attention to France, aud that they might at some 
 future period receive assistance from that quarter."')" 
 
 Towards the close of the year 1794 the test of the 
 United Irish Societies underwent a change, not likely 
 at the first view to excite attention or alarm in those 
 required to take it, but the intention of which has since 
 been made very apparent. Instead of the members 
 binding themselves to use their abilities and influence 
 in the attainment of an impartial and adequate repre- 
 sentation of the Irish nation in Parliament, they were 
 henceforward sworn to persevere in their endeavours to 
 obtain an equal, full, and adequate representation of all 
 the people of Ireland, omitting the words " in Parlia- 
 ment." This change was effected, as we learn from 
 Dr. ^PNevin, in order to reconcile reformers and 
 republicans, and because they had given up all idea 
 
 * He had been formerly the confidential friend and private secretary 
 of the famous Duchess of Kingston, who was better known by the name 
 of Miss Chudleigh. 
 
 t Pieces of Irish History, p. 88. 
 
156 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 of reform, and were determined on republicanism* 
 Mr. Emmet also tells us that " it cannot be too forcibly 
 impressed on the reflecting reader that this institution, 
 from its very outset, looked towards a republican go- 
 vernment, founded on the broadest principles of reli- 
 gious liberty and equal rights."']* He says, in another 
 place, " From the very outset of the new organization 
 of the United Irish system, a French invasion Avas 
 deemed by its members, if not absolutely necessary, at 
 least very advisable, to the accomplishment of their 
 objects."! 
 
 The United Irishmen ■were now spreading with 
 great rapidity in the counties of Down and Antrim. 
 Men of all ranks, parties, and religions, joined the 
 society, and numerous missions were undertaken to 
 different parts of the north. But the most important 
 accession to their numbers arose from the great success 
 attending their overtures to the Defenders, who were 
 very numerous in the province of Ulster. During the 
 first three months of the year these men flocked in 
 large bodies into the Union, which thus extended 
 through the Catholic districts Avith such astonishine: 
 rapidity, that the organization of the province of Ulster 
 was completed on the 10th of May, when the delegates 
 from seventy-two societies met at Belfast. Shortly 
 afterwards a Provincial Committee was organized, but, 
 as by the constitution it was only to meet once a-month, 
 it determined to form a body of directors for the Avhole 
 
 * Secret Report, Appendix No. 31. 
 t Pieces of Irish History, p. 91. \ Ibid. p. 118. 
 
1795. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 157 
 
 county, until sucli time as a National Committee should 
 be appointed. This body, which Avas intended as a 
 temporary expedient, and was not mentioned in the 
 constitution, was called the executive. During the 
 intervals between the meetings of the Provincial Com- 
 mittee, the executive was to execute whatever had been 
 ordered, and to report its proceedings at the next meet- 
 ing. It might also call extra meetings of the Provincial, 
 if necessary. As its connexion was only with that 
 Committee, its members were unknown to any but 
 those who appointed them.* 
 
 On the 13tli of June, 1795, Mr. Theobald Wolfe 
 Tone, in pursuance of the compromise made with the 
 government, embarked at Belfast for America ; but, 
 before he went, he tells us that " he received secret 
 instructions to follow up the negociations begun Avith 
 Jackson ;" and that he went, with his friend Russell, 
 to Emmet's house at Rathfarnham, where he stated 
 his intention of leaving his family in America, and of 
 setting off instantly for Paris, for the purpose of apply- 
 ing, in the name of his country, for the assistance of 
 the French. Pie adds, *' It is unnecessary, I believe, 
 to say that this plan met with the warmest approbation 
 and support from both Russell and Emmet."-]" He 
 says he also consulted M'Cormick and Keogh, and 
 received, as he expected, their most cordial approba- 
 tion ; and they both laid their most positive injunctions 
 upon him to leave nothing unattempted on his part to 
 
 * Pieces of Irish History, p. 131. + Life of Tone, vol. i. p. 125. 
 
158 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 force his way to France, and lay the situation of Ire- 
 land Ijefore the government there.* 
 
 Neilson, Simms, M'Cracken, and C. G. Teeling, 
 were likewise consulted, and they not only encouraged 
 him in all respects with their perfect approl)ation, but 
 joined him in taking a solemn obligation never to desist 
 in their efforts until they had subverted the authority 
 
 of England. t 
 
 Mr. Tone is borne out in these declarations by Mr. 
 Emmet, who says, " Certain members of the Committee 
 for the county of Antrim having cast their eyes upon 
 Tone, consulted with confidential friends not actually 
 in the organization, but with whom he had been in 
 habits of unreserved communication. The result was, 
 that after his arrival at Belfast, on his way to America, 
 he was empowered by those persons, some of whom 
 held the highest situations at that time in the system, 
 to set forth to the French government, through its 
 agent in America, the state of Ireland, and its dis- 
 positions." I 
 
 Here we find the leading men of the Union following 
 up the plan which Mr. Tone declared to have been 
 projected from the first formation of the Society ; and 
 we now find that their energy in the cause exceeded 
 that of Mr. Tone himself. It seems probable that the 
 latter, upon arriving in America, ^\'ould have aban- 
 doned the scheme altogether, had he not been urged to 
 proceed by his Irish connexions ; for he now tells us, 
 
 * Life of Tone, vol. i. p. 127. t Ibid. p. 128. 
 
 I Pieces of Irish History, p. 129. 
 
1795. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 159 
 
 that, on his arrival at Philadelphia, he waited on Mr. 
 Adet, the French minister, who received his communi- 
 cations in such a lukewarm way as to put an end to all 
 his hopes ; and, in consequence, he purchased a small 
 estate near Princeton, in New Jersey, and hired a 
 house for the winter, where he fitted up a study for 
 himself, and began to think his lot was cast to be an 
 American farmer, when he received letters from Keogh, 
 Russell, and the two Simms, pressing him in the 
 strongest manner to fulfil the engagement he had made 
 with them at his departure, and to move heaven and 
 earth to force his way to the French government, in 
 order to supplicate their assistance.* 
 
 In one of these letters we find the following phrase : 
 " Believe me. Tone, I am for no unnecessary procras- 
 tination. I think the hour is rapidly approaching — 
 not the fixing a time, or saying ' When the crops are 
 in, or the corn secured,' or any other definite time — but 
 when we are prepared, let us embrace the first favour- 
 able moment that offers, A favourable speculation just 
 now opens to our view. Twenty-five thousand men, of 
 the best, are going to the West Indies. Their absence 
 will doubtless make provisions plentier here." Another 
 letter says, " As you will no doubt have to lay out a 
 good deal of money before you are settled as you could 
 wish, if you have occasion, draw on me at sixty days 
 sight ; your bill shall be duly honoured, and you may 
 repay me at your convenience. I beg you will not be 
 
 * Life of Tone, vol.i. pp. 133 and 134. 
 
160 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 backward in doing this, in case you find it at all ne- 
 cessary." 
 
 A third letter is still more pressing. After inquiring 
 about the health of JMrs. Tone, the writer says, " Do 
 you intend, like Cincinnatus and your greater Wash- 
 ington, to follow the plough, and, like them, to quit it 
 token your country calls ? A book has been published 
 here on the lest mode for the defence of Ireland. The 
 writer appears to be a scientific military man ; the work 
 is full of French idioms. He points out the west as the 
 most likely place for the enemy to land; stating, that 
 the soutli-west winds would detain our fleets in the 
 Channel, and permit a fleet from Brest to arrive here. 
 He gives his opinion of the mode on which the enemy 
 will proceed after landing, their route or march, dress 
 for the armed peasantry, &c. : and although he advises 
 the method to oppose an invading army, yet this work 
 appears extraordinary for a friend of government at this 
 time, Avhen the country is agitated beyond all former 
 example, and might be dangerous in the hands of the 
 enemy. This author recommends unioti ; otherwise, 
 he asserts all resistance vain, in case of an invasion. 
 I just now hear that this work is suppressed by govern- 
 ment. I think they are right. Remember, dear Tone, 
 the many hours we spent in the garden, in your fa- 
 vourite walk. That those conversations impress your 
 mind as they do mine, I can never doubt. How often 
 have we anticipated your return to your friends, to your 
 country! I saw M'Cormick this day for some time; 
 his wishes for your return fully coincide with mine, and 
 
1796. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 161 
 
 he thinks that it will not be your fault, and that you 
 will omit nothing, consistent with your principles, for 
 so fair and honourable an object. Once more. Tone, 
 remember y and execute your garden conversation." * 
 
 Thus urged, Mr. Tone immediately made up his 
 mind, quitted his family, and embarked for France, 
 where he arrived on the 1st of February, 1796. 
 
 Although the civil organization of the society, as 
 proposed in the constitution, was at this time com- 
 plete in the province of Ulster only, yet the other 
 provinces Avere not idle. Leinster Avas very forward ; 
 Munster was exerting herself with great success ; and 
 even in Connaught a considerable number of persons 
 had taken the test. " Fourteen counties, including the 
 entire north, were completely organized. In the 
 remaining eighteen the organization was advancing 
 rapidly, and it was so arranged that the inferiors 
 obeyed their leaders without examining their orders, 
 or even knowing who they were, as every one knew 
 only the person immediately above him." •\ About 
 the middle of the year a very important meeting took 
 place, in consequence of a letter received from a member 
 of one of the societies who had emigrated to France. 
 At this meeting a general review Avas taken of the 
 resources of the union, and, after long and serious 
 deliberation, it was resolved to despatch an agent to 
 the French Directory, commissioned to negociate for 
 immediate assistance in order to effect a separation. 
 
 * Life of Tone, vol. i. p. 289, et seq. 
 t Ibid,, vol. ii. p. 137. 
 
 VOL. I. M 
 
162 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 Through this agent they received assurances that 
 succours shoukl be sent as soon as an armament could 
 be got ready. Meantime INIr. Tone was not idle : 
 soon after his arrival in France he saw Carnot, to 
 whom he introduced himself as acting under the direc- 
 tion, and with the concurrence, of the men who guided 
 the Catholics and the Dissenters. * Shortly after- 
 wards he was introduced to General Clarke, afterwards 
 Due de Feltre, and a few extracts from his conversa- 
 tion, as recorded by himself, will show the feelings 
 and views of his party. Clarke mentioned the con- 
 fusion and bloodshed likely to result from a people, 
 such as he knew the Irish to be, breaking loose mth- 
 out proper heads to moderate and control their fury. 
 Tone answered that it was but too true ; that in the 
 first explosion it was likely that many events would 
 take place in their nature very shocking ; that revolu- 
 tions were not made without much individual suffering ; 
 that, however, supposing the worst, there would be a 
 kind of retributive justice, as nobody of men on earth 
 were more tyrannical and oppressive in their nature 
 than those who would be most likely to suffer in the 
 event he alluded to ; that he (Mr. Tone) had often in 
 his own mind lamented the necessity, but that Ireland 
 was so circumstanced that she had no alternative but 
 unconditional submission to England, or a revolution 
 with the chance of all the concomitant sufferings ; and 
 that he was one of those who preferred difficulty, and 
 
 * Life of Tone, vol. ii. p. 28. 
 
1796. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 163 
 
 danger, and distress, to slavery ; especially when he 
 saw clearly that there was no other means. "It is 
 very true," replied Clarke, "there is no making an 
 omelette without breaking of eggs." Clarke then 
 asked what form of government would be likely to be 
 established in Ireland in case of their success. Tone 
 answered that he had no doubt whatever that a re- 
 public would be established; adding, that such was 
 his own wish, and that of all the men with whom he 
 co-operated ; and further, that money to pay their 
 debts of justice, honour, and gratitude, would be pio- 
 cured from the quantity of English property which 
 would be forfeited to the state.* 
 
 In another conversation he says, " We neither love 
 the English people in general, nor his Majesty's fa- 
 mily in particular, so well as to choose one of tliem for 
 our king, supposing, what is not the case, that the 
 superstition of royalty yet hung about us. As to reli- 
 gion, we should content ourselves with pulling down 
 the establishment without setting up any other. As 
 to royalty and aristocracy, they are both odious in Ire- 
 land to that degree, that I apprehend much more a 
 general massacre of the gentry, and a distribution of 
 the entire of their property, than the establishment of 
 any form of government that could perpetuate their 
 influence. I hope that massacre will not happen, and 
 I, for one, would do all that lay in my power to prevent 
 it, because I do not like to spill the blood even of the 
 
 * Life of Tone, vol. ii. pp. 50, 57, and 128. 
 
 M 2 
 
164 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 guilty ; at the same time the pride, cruelty, and op- 
 pression of the Irish aristocracy are so [great, that I 
 apprehend every excess from the just resentment of the 
 people."* Unfortunately Mr. Tone's views were not 
 always so humane, for in another place he says, " The 
 Irish aristocracy are putting themselves in a state of 
 nature with the people, and let them take the conse- 
 quences : they show no mercy, and they deserve none. 
 If ever I have the power, I will most heartily concur 
 in making them a dreadful example." f 
 
 These extracts clearly shoAV what the views and 
 designs of the party Avere at that time, and one of the 
 principle means proposed to he used for carrying them 
 into effect was the aid of a French army. This point 
 was urged with such zeal and ahility by Mr. Tone, 
 that after some months' delay the P'rench Directory 
 resolved to send fifteen thousand men and a vast quan- 
 tity of arms and ammunition to Ireland, and to land 
 in England a band of desperadoes, to the number of 
 eighteen hundred, of the most execrable ruffians that 
 France could supply, under the orders of Colonel Tate, 
 to effect a diversion. Colonel Tate's instructions were 
 written by Tone, who says : " I transcribed with the 
 greatest .sang froid the orders to reduce to ashes the 
 third city of the British dominions, in which there is 
 property to the amount perhaps of 5,000,000/. I 
 cannot but remark what misery the execution of the 
 orders which I have transcribed and assisted in fram- 
 
 * Life of Tone, vol, ii. p. 161. + Ibid,, vol, ii. p. 89. 
 
1796. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 165 
 
 ing may produce, and how quietly Colonel Shee and 
 myself sat by the fire discussing how we might do the 
 greatest possible mischief to the unfortunate wretches 
 on whom our plans are intended to operate. The con- 
 flagration of such a city as Bristol ! — it is no slight 
 affair! Thousands and thousands of families, if the 
 attempt succeeds, will be reduced to beggary. The 
 truth is, I hate the very name of England ; I hated her 
 before my exile, I hate her since, and I Avill hate her 
 always."* 
 
 While Mr. Tone was thus negociating in France, 
 the leaders of the United Irishmen issued directions to 
 the societies to form themselves into military bodies, 
 and to arm themselves as well as they could, Avith a 
 view of being prepared to co-operate with the expected 
 invaders. The directions were speedily obeyed, and a 
 military organization was thus established. The secre- 
 tary of the Simple Society, which usually consisted of 
 twelve persons, was the petty officer ; the delegate 
 from one of tlie five societies, whose officers composed 
 the baronial committee, was a captain, who thus com- 
 manded sixty men ; and one of the delegates from the 
 baronial to the district committee, or from the lower to 
 the upper baronial, when the population required such 
 an intermediate step, was the colone], who usually 
 commanded six hundred men. Thus all the officers, as 
 high as a colonel, were elected by those whom they 
 commanded. The higher commissions were appointed 
 
 * Life of Tone, vol. ii. pp. 240, 241. 
 
166 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 by the executive. The colonels sent in the names of 
 three persons whom they considered fit to act as adju- 
 tant-generals, and of those the executive chose one. It 
 was the duty of the adjutant-general to receive and 
 transmit all military orders from the executive to the 
 colonels ; they were required also to report the state of 
 the regiments within their respective districts, and in 
 general to act as staff-officers. Orders were given that 
 every one who had the means should furnish himself 
 with fire-arms and annuunition, and such as could not 
 afford it should at least supply themselves Avith pikes. 
 This organization was completed in the province of 
 Ulster in the autumn of 1796, at which time the asso- 
 ciation counted one hundred thousand men enrolled in 
 that province alone.* 
 
 JMeantime these proceedings did not escape the 
 vigilance of the ijovernment. In the summer of 1796 
 the legislature, finding that the existing laws were 
 totally inadequate to stop the progress of the conspi- 
 racy, conceded new poAvers to the executive administra- 
 tion. A temporary act of Parliament, called the 
 Insurrection Act, was passed, which empowered the 
 lord lieutenant and council, upon the requisition of 
 seven magistrates of any county assembled at a sessions 
 of the peace, to proclaim the whole or any part of such 
 county to be in a state of disturbance, and thereby to 
 give the magistrates an extraordinary power of seizing, 
 imprisoning, or sending on board his Majesty's fleet, such 
 
 * Secret Report, p. 5. 
 
1796. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 167 
 
 persons as should be found at unlawful assemblies, or in 
 any way threatening the public peace. This act was 
 more particularly levelled against the Defenders of the 
 counties of Roscommon, Longford, Leitrim, Meath, 
 Westmeath, and Kildare, who had latterly been very 
 active in attacking the houses of the peaceable and 
 well-disposed inhabitants during the night, under pre- 
 tence of seeking for arms, and who in those nocturnal 
 visits were too often guilty of robbery and murder. 
 
 In the month of October following, bills were passed, 
 suspending the Habeas Corpus Act, and establishing a 
 yeomanry force. Many gentlemen and persons in re- 
 spectable situations in life were arrested and thrown into 
 prison on suspicion of being engaged in conspiracy ; 
 and at the same time several districts in the north were 
 proclaimed, and numbers of tlie lower orders sent on 
 board the British navy. But all these measures only 
 incensed, without checking the United Irishmen. They 
 now, like the Defenders, began to assemble in large 
 bodies in the night ; and, in order to procure arms, they 
 disarmed those Avho were reputed to be the adherents of 
 government. Under pretence of saving the produce of 
 the soil for their friends in prison, they adopted the 
 practice of meeting in very large parties, often to the 
 number of several thousands, in something like military 
 order, preceded by bands of music, and thus proceeding 
 in the daytime to dig out the potatoes or reap the 
 corn of their friends. At other times funerals or foot- 
 ball parties served as a pretext for similar assemblies ; 
 but it was evident that their real object was to accustom 
 
168 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 the men to a readiness in repairing to appointed places, 
 to give confidence to their own party by displaying their 
 strength, and to terrify the well-disposed and peaceable 
 inhabitants. 
 
 The establishment of the yeomanry Avas a most 
 salutary measure. The estimate laid before Parliament 
 was for 20,000 men ; but in the course of six months 
 37,000 men were arrayed, and afterwards they increased 
 to upA\'ards of 50,000.* These men performed the 
 greatest services during the troubles, sharing all the 
 hardships and dangers, and performing all the duties, 
 as zealously as the regular forces. The most active 
 system of terror was employed to deter the well-affected 
 from joining the yeomanry, and to render the adminis- 
 tration of justice ineffectual. Persons enrolled as 
 yeomen, magistrates, jurors, Avitnesses, and, in short, all 
 who ventured to support the laws, became objects of the 
 most cruel persecution in their properties, their persons, 
 and even their lives ; and many were compelled to take 
 the oaths of United Irishmen as the only means of per- 
 sonal security, while subscriptions were raised for the 
 purpose of assisting the families of the imprisoned con- 
 spirators, of bribing witnesses in the trials, and of feeing 
 the most eminent counsel. 
 
 About the time these measures were put in force by 
 the government, a messenger arrived from France, who 
 informed the leaders of the United Irishmen of the 
 intention of the French to invade the country speedily 
 
 * Secret Report, p. 7. 
 
1796. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 169 
 
 with 15,000 men, and a great quantity of arms and 
 ammunition ; but he neither mentioned the precise time 
 nor tlie place.* Shortly after his departure a letter 
 ai'rived from a quarter in which great confidence was 
 placed, stating that the invasion would take place 
 positively in the spring following. In consequence of 
 these contradictory advices, when the armament arrived 
 in Bantry Bay in the following December, the United 
 Irishmen were altogether unprepared for their reception, 
 so that, if the small force which hovered so long off the 
 coast had landed, tbey w^ould in all probability have met 
 Avith little or no success.')' 
 
 In the course of the year 1796 the society of United 
 Irishmen assumed altogether a very different character, 
 especially in the province of Ulster. They became a 
 regular banditti, a society of assassins and robbers. As 
 we have already seen, their leaders had for two or three 
 years used all their endeavours to effect a union between 
 their party and the Defenders. This was now very ge- 
 nerally effected ; but the result was not exactly what 
 those leaders had intended. • The United Irishmen gained 
 a vast accession of strength ; but, as the Defenders now 
 formed the great majority, instead of becoming United 
 Irishmen, they induced the mass of the United Irishmen 
 to become Defenders in principle, in practice, in short, 
 in everything except in name. Their conduct gave a 
 severe check to their cause. Their depredations, their 
 
 * Pieces of Irish History, p. 223. 
 t For a particular account of this Expedition, see vol ii. of Tone's Life 
 by his Son. 
 
170 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 roliberies, their burnings, and their murders, proved 
 that the people of Ireland, or rather of Ulster, had 
 indeed imbibed " the spirit of the French mob." Mr. 
 Thomas Moore, who has so often laboured to throw a 
 veil of romantic interest over the United Irish Society, 
 is compelled to acknowledge this fact, which he thus 
 endeavours to slur over : — " Wherever the bulk of the 
 population were Catholics, the Defenders formed the 
 chief part of the United force, or rather in such places 
 the system of the union degenerated into Defenderism, 
 assuming that character Avhich a people, lawless from 
 having been so long outlawed, might have been ex- 
 pected to give it. Hence those outrages and crimes 
 Avhich, perpetrated under the name of United Irishmen, 
 brought disgrace upon the cause, and alarmed more 
 especially its Presbyterian supporters, who, not without 
 reason, shrunk from the hazard of committing the 
 interests of the cause of civil and religious liberty to 
 such hands. Under this impression it was that the 
 leading United Irishmen of the counties of Down and 
 Antrim Avere anxious to inculcate the notion that the 
 Presbyterians could dispense with Catholic aid ; and so 
 nmch had the repugnance of the two sects to act in 
 concert manifested itself, that at a meeting of captains 
 on the 31st of July at Downpatrick strong fears were 
 expressed that the Dissenters and Catholics would 
 become two separate bodies."* 
 
 The government at last found it necessary to use 
 
 * Life of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, vol. ii. p. 7. 
 
1797. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 171 
 
 more vigorous measures in suppressing the disturbances. 
 Mr. Pelham (afterwards the Earl of Chichester) ac- 
 cordingly addressed a letter to General Lake, who 
 commanded the troops in the northern districts, in 
 which, after setting forth the outrages committed by 
 the United Irishmen in those parts, he authorized the 
 aeneral to use such means as his own discretion should 
 point out, in order to disarm the population, and to 
 stop the insurrectionary spirit. General Lake accord- 
 ingly issued a proclamation on the 13th of March, 
 enjoining all persons to surrender their arms and 
 ammunition, promising secrecy to those who would 
 give information, and rewards to the full value of such 
 arms as they discovered. The troops were also so 
 stationed as to prevent all unlawful assemblies ; and all 
 persons found abroad after a certain hour at night were 
 liable to arrest and punishment. 
 
 The result of this proclamation being comparatively 
 small, and government having been informed that an 
 insurrection Avas to take place before the end of June, 
 additional orders were given to General Lake and Lord 
 Carhampton, and the country was placed under martial 
 law. Many houses in which arms were suspected to be 
 concealed were burnt to the ground, or pulled down ; 
 and many persons were flogged, or picketed, or other- 
 wise tortured, with a view of forcing them to discover. 
 
 This mode of proceeding continued till the month 
 of July, and, with the exception of a partial rising Avhich 
 took place near the mountains in the county of Down, 
 the intended insurrection was <]uelled. Arms of 
 
172 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 different descriptions, to the amount of 129,000, were 
 collected throughout the province ; all outrage ceased, 
 public confidence was once more restored, and from the 
 month of July military interference was generally dis- 
 continued. 
 
 In August, 1797, a new organization of the Society 
 of United Irishmen took place ; the principal change 
 effected was in the Simple Societies, which were now 
 restricted to twelve persons at most, as nearly as possible 
 of the same neighbourhood, so that they might be 
 mutually under the inspection one of another ; and in 
 the directory or executive, which before appears to have 
 been a temporary expedient, but which was henceforth 
 to have the supreme and uncontrolled command of the 
 whole association. It was limited to five persons, to be 
 named by the four secretaries of the national commit- 
 tees, to Avhom alone they were known. In other 
 respects the different committees remained much in their 
 previous state. 
 
 IMeanwhile the leaders were actively engaged in en- 
 deavouring to extend the association in Connaught and 
 IMunster. Numerous emissaries were sent into those 
 provinces, -with instructions to work on the passions and 
 prejudices of the lower orders. They Avere told that 
 by a revolution they Avould obtain universal suffrage 
 and equal rights, ])y means of which their condition 
 Avould be greatly improved. 
 
 In Waterford and Cork the tithe-question Avas 
 successfully agitated ; and it is not a little remarkable, 
 that, as this had been the pretext for the Whiteboy asso- 
 
1797. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 173 
 
 elation, so the ancient practice of burning the corn and 
 lioughing the cattle of persons obnoxious to them was 
 again resorted to. 
 
 In a short time the emissaries so wrought on the 
 people, by these and similar means, that they joined 
 the United Irishmen in considerable numbers, and in 
 a few months the effect was shown in ]\Iunster and 
 Connaught by the introduction of enormities similar to 
 those which had been practised in the north. 
 
 Another mode put in practice to increase the popular 
 discontent was the most scandalous abuse of the public 
 press. In the summer of 1797 an infamous paper, 
 called the " Union Star," was privately printed and 
 circulated, recommending insurrection and assassination 
 in plain terms, and describing by name those persons 
 whose loyalty and conscientious discharge of their duty 
 rendered them fit objects for the murderer's knife. 
 This paper appeared at irregular intervals, and was 
 printed on one side only, to fit it for being pasted on 
 walls. Each number began with the following words : 
 " As the ' Union Star ' is an official paper, the managers 
 promise the public that no character shall be hazarded 
 but such as are denounced by authority as being the 
 partners and creatures of Pitt and his sanguinary 
 journeyman Luttrell." 
 
 " The ' Star ' offers to public justice the following 
 detestable traitors as spies and perjured informers." 
 
 " Perhaps some arm, more lucky than the rest, may 
 reach his heart, and free the Avorld from bondage." 
 
 Then followed the lists of proscription, which con- 
 
174 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 sisted of the names of persons supposed to have been 
 informers against the United Irishmen, or active opposers 
 of their designs. The rest of the sheet was fdled with 
 furious exhortations to the populace to rise and|take 
 vengeance on their oppressors. The following extracts 
 may serve as a specimen of the atrocity of this paper : — 
 " Let the indignation of man be raised against the 
 impious wretch who profanely assumes the title of 
 reigning by the grace of God, and impudently tells the 
 world he can do no wrong. Irishmen ! is granting a 
 patent and offering premiums to murderers to depopu- 
 late your country and take your properties no wrong ? 
 Is taking part of the spoil no wrong ? Is the foreign 
 despot incapable of wrong, who sharpens the sword that 
 deprives you of life, and exposes your children to poverty 
 and all its consequent calamities ? Oh, man ! or rather 
 less ; oh, king ! will the smothered groans of my coun- 
 trymen, who in thy name fill the innumerable dungeons 
 you have made, for asserting the rights of man, be con- 
 sidered no wrong ? Will enlightened Irishmen believe 
 you incapable of wrong who offer up the most amiable 
 of mankind daily on the scaffold or the gibbet to thy 
 insatiable ambition ? Is burning the villages of what 
 you call your people, and shooting the trembling 
 sufferers, no wrong ? Is taking the church into partner- 
 ship, and encouraging its idle and voluptuous drones to 
 despoil industry of its reward, and teach a lying doctrine 
 to sanction their injustice, no wrong ? Are the continual 
 wars you engender and provoke to destroy mankind no 
 wrong ? Go, impious blasphemer, and your hypocritical 
 
1797. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 175 
 
 sorcerers, to the fate philosophy, justice, and liberty 
 consign thee. It is inevitable ; thy impositions are 
 detected : thy kind have been brought to justice. The 
 first possessor of thy trade has recently bled for the 
 crimes of the craft ; his idle and vile follovt'ers, who 
 escaped the national axe, are walking memorials of 
 justice, begging a miserable livelihood over those 
 countries Avhose tottering thrones encourage but an un- 
 certain asylum. Ere the grave, which is opening for thy 
 despised person, embosoms thee, make one atonement 
 for the vices of thy predecessors ; resist not the claims 
 of a people reduced to every misery : in thy name give 
 back the properties that thy nation wrested from a suffer- 
 ing people, and let the descendants of those English 
 ruffians restore to Irishmen their country, and to their 
 country liberty. 'Tis rather late to trifle — one fortu- 
 nate breeze may do it, and then woe be to him who was 
 a tyrant, or who is unjust !" 
 
 In another number we find the following insidious 
 defence of assassination : — 
 
 " Though w^e are not advocates for assassination, we 
 know, on the authority of history, that assassination pre- 
 served the liberties, and rescued many of the ancient 
 republics from the power of aspiring villains, who raised 
 themselves on the neck of the people, and on the ruins 
 of liberty. 'Twas a positive law in Corinth, Rome, 
 Athens, Syracus^e, &c., that any citizen was justified, 
 and should be rewarded and honoured as the deliverer 
 of his country, who would assassinate any villain aspiring 
 
176 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 to the sovereign power, or infringing the rights of 
 the people. We certainly do not advise, though we do 
 not decry, assassination, as we conceive it is the only 
 mode at present within the reach of Irishmen to bring 
 to justice the royal agents, who are constantly exercis- 
 ing rapes, murders, and burnings through our de- 
 voted country. We appeal to thy noble and vene- 
 rated name, oh Brutus ! who bravely assassinated the 
 tyrant of your country amidst his cohorts, and in the 
 presence of his pensioned senate. It is not our solitary 
 suffrage that has attempted to honour thy name, and 
 worship thy spirit. The patriot, the sage, and the hero, 
 in every honourable state of life, for eighteen centuries, 
 have given thy name the first and most unequivocal re- 
 conmiendation to the admiring earth, as one that 
 deserves the highest rank among the benefactors of the 
 human race." 
 
 *' Yes, prince of patriotic assassins, thy noble and 
 virtuous spirit should pervade our land : the infant, whom 
 a British, or a British-Irish, butcher has left fatherless, 
 should be taught, through his progress to manhood, that 
 thy example should be rigidly imitated, as an honest 
 duty to his parents and his country. The Irish seaman, 
 maimed in the service of his country's tyrant, whose 
 banners he often led to victory at the same moment 
 when his aged mother lived to see her daughter violated 
 by a horrid soldiery who had mingled the ashes of her 
 husband with those of their humble habitation — in such 
 a son assassination would be a holy duty, commanded 
 
1797. LIFE OP THOMAS REYNOLDS. 177 
 
 by nature, and approved of by Heaven ! Thus we 
 defend assassination, and clear it from the rubbish 
 of ignorance, and the falsehood of despotism, which 
 were too often successful in confounding the cha- 
 racters of tlie man who destroyed a tyrant, and him 
 who, to gratify private revenge, or urged by avarice, 
 might sell himself to murder an innocent fellow- 
 creature." 
 
 Will future ages believe that even Jacobinism itself 
 could produce such a publication ? yet such was the 
 then unhappy state of the country that people ran in 
 crowds to read and applaud it. 
 
 Another paper was established towards the close of 
 the year, called the ' Press.'* This journal was pub- 
 lished under the name of Mr. Arthur O'Connor, as 
 proprietor. It was conducted in a superior style, and 
 with less violence than the ' Union Star ; ' but its 
 columns were filled with every species of misrepresen- 
 tation and sophistry which could tend to vilify the 
 government — to extend the Union — to shake the con- 
 nexion with Great Britain — to induce the people to look 
 to French assistance — to exaggerate the numbers and 
 force of the disaffected, and systematically to degrade 
 the administration of justice in all its departments. It 
 was distributed throughout all parts of the kingdom, 
 and from the activity of its partisans, had immediately a 
 more extensive circulation than any other paper. 
 
 One or two extracts may suffice to show the spirit in 
 which this journal was conducted. 
 
 * This is the paper to which Mr. Moore boasts of having contributed 
 some of the worst articles. 
 
 VOL. I. * N 
 
178 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 No. l^.—Novemhcr 7, 1797. 
 
 " To THE People of Ireland — 
 
 " For shame ! for shame! what are you afraid of? 
 The minister is as timid as he is insolent ; your patience 
 has made him haughty ; your forgiveness will make him 
 fearful ; but if the time of recovering your liberties is 
 gone by, if your doom of servitude is sealed, if you are 
 to be slaves, at least forge not your own fetters, nor fit 
 them with your own hands. Let them be forced upon 
 you, and let Europe see that you do not wear them with 
 willingness and ease. Remember that though life is 
 precious^ liberty is the gem that gives life its lustre. 
 Assert your rights — demand the constitution of your 
 forefathers — let not the blood of Hampden, Sidney, 
 and Russell have flowed in vain. Recommend your- 
 selves to God, and, if necessary, in defence of liberty, 
 die in the last ditch. 
 
 No. 22,.—NovemheT 18, 1797. 
 
 " Should those desperate Frenchmen be inclined to 
 approach our shores, as they have threatened this sea- 
 son, and not meeting Commodore Winter in the same 
 blustering temper, should they chance to effect a land- 
 ing, there can be no manner of doubt but the peasantry 
 of the country, considering the signal gratitude of the 
 leirislature and o-overnment shown to them for their 
 former loyalty and promptitude in the national defence, 
 would rise en masse, and meet the enemy in o^yen arms" 
 
1797. LIFE OP THOMAS REYNOLDS. 179 
 
 No. 2"^.— December 2, 1797. 
 
 "To THE Students of Trinity College — 
 
 " You, my fellow-students, have explored the page 
 of history, where the insect courtier is forgotten, the 
 despot is blasted in infamy, and the glorious tyranni- 
 cide is immortalized. Can you remember one instance 
 of a people naturally brave, and wanting but the will 
 to be illustrious, succumbing to the domination of their 
 own servants, their minions, and passively agonizing 
 under the extremities of oppression ? No ! Ireland is 
 singular in suffering and in cowardice. She could 
 crush her tormentors, and yet they embowel her ; she 
 could be free, and yet she is a slave."* 
 
 The effect of these inflammatory publications was 
 soon manifested by the great number of the peasantry, 
 especially in the middle and southern counties, who 
 joined the United Irishmen ; and the Irish Parliament, 
 with a view to check the evil, passed an act which nar- 
 rowly circumscribed the liberty of the press. Recourse 
 was then had to another mode of publication : handbills 
 were privately printed and dispersed through the coun- 
 try. One of these strongly advised the lower orders to 
 abstain from all spirituous liquors, with the two-fold 
 view of injuring the public revenue, and of preserving 
 their own health. A second was a caution against the 
 purchase of the quit-rents of the crown, which were to 
 
 * For other extracts from these two papers, see the Appendix, No. 9. 
 
 N 2 
 
180 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 be sold for the raising of supplies. A third was a re- 
 commendation to all persons to refuse bank-notes, or 
 paper-money in their ordinary dealings. Others were 
 distributed largely among the soldiers and militia, in 
 order, if possible, to seduce them from their allegiance.* 
 On the other hand, government punished such persons 
 as they suspected to be United Irishmen by quartering 
 soldiers on them, and injuring them seriously in their 
 property. But these severe measures only tended to 
 increase the animosity of the conspirators, insomuch that 
 in the course of the autumn and winter of 1797, the 
 peasantry, in the midland and southern counties, were 
 generally sworn, and ripe for insurrection.-f 
 
 During this year the negociations with France were 
 carried on vigorously. A confidential agent left Lon- 
 don in March, and remained in Paris as accredited by 
 the Irish Union to the French Directory. He was 
 ably seconded by Mr. Tone ; and at the end of June, 
 Dr. M'Nevin was sent with orders to press the French 
 government, with redoubled earnestness, for immediate 
 aid. In consequence of these negociations, an army of 
 15,000 men was embarked in a Dutch Fleet at the 
 Texel, under the command of General Daendells ; but 
 the fear of the British navy occasioned a sudden dis- 
 embarkation of the troops, and the armament having 
 put to sea was totally defeated, on the 11th of October, 
 by Lord Viscount Duncan. 
 
 * See App. No. 10. •!• Secret Report, p. 13. 
 
1797. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 181 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Mr. Reynolds is chosen a Member of the Catholic Convention — Retires 
 with Lord Fingall — Re-elected for the City of Dublin in the Conven- 
 tion of 1 792— Becomes a United Irishman — Soon ceases to attend the 
 Meetings— Lord Edward Fitzgerald induces him to accept the office 
 of Colonel of a Rebel Regiment — He becomes a Member of the Lein- 
 ster Provincial Committee — The real Designs of the United Irishmen 
 first revealed to him — He determines to abandon the Society — Dread- 
 ful state of the Country — Neilson attempts to murder Mr. Reynolds — 
 Messrs. Howell and Curran's Version of that Attempt — Mr. Reynolds 
 opens his mind to Mr. Cope — Refuses all offers of Rewards, and gives 
 information of the Meeting at Oliver Bond's — Arrests of the 12th 
 March — Mr. Reynolds resigns his Offices in the Society — The United 
 Irishmen attempt to assassinate him — The King's Troops take posses- 
 sion of Kilkea Castle — Free Quartering — Wanton Destruction of 
 , Property. 
 
 1797 to 1798. 
 
 Connected by affinity and alliance witli all the great 
 Catholic, and many of the great Protestant families in 
 Ireland, my grandfather had been a member of the Ca- 
 tholic Committee from his early years until his death in 
 1788 ; my father was then chosen to replace him, and 
 he continued a member of it until the violent expulsion 
 of the Earl of Fingall, when he retired Avith other mem- 
 ])ers of his family, among the sixty-four Avho on that 
 occasion withdrew from the conniiittee. 
 
 He was, hoAvever, chosen as one of the persons to 
 
182 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 represent the city of Dublin in the Convention of 1792; 
 and he continued a member of that body until its dis- 
 persion, after having obtained the passing of the Catho- 
 lic relief bill. 
 
 Thus early pushed forward in politics, and impressed 
 with a deep interest in the religious emancipation of 
 his countrymen, it is not surprising that on the disper- 
 sion of the body which had prosecuted their claims with 
 success, he felt little hesitation in becoming a member 
 of an association which professed complete Catholic 
 emancipation to be its first object, and, without much 
 difficulty, in January or February 1797, he yielded to 
 the solicitation of some friends, as already stated, and 
 consented to join the United Irishmen. He was sworn 
 in by Oliver Bond, at his house in Bridge-street.* 
 When he joined the association, he knew no more of 
 its designs than it had pleased the leaders to publish, 
 and was implied in the oath he took. It is true that he 
 soon discovered that more was meant than had been 
 expressed in that oath ; but he heard so little, and that 
 little so vaguely, that he regarded all the plans and 
 projects hinted at as wild and ridiculous schemes. 
 
 * Mr. Plowden tells us that " so little was that bond of union consi- 
 dered treasonable in 1797, that at the Armagh assizes, when the spirit 
 and tendency of it were brought before the court on the trial of Hanlon 
 and Nogher, who were charged with having tendered an unlawful oath 
 or engagement to become one of an unlawful, wicked, and seditious 
 society, called United Irishmen, the prisoners were acquitted. The 
 counsel not only defended, but commended the institution; the judo-e 
 thought the obligation illegal under the late act of Parliament."— See 
 ' Plowden's History of Ireland,' vol. ii. p. 394. 
 
1797. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 183 
 
 As Catholic emancipation and reform in Parliament 
 were not the objects of this association, but, as I have 
 ah-eady clearly proved, merely pretexts to decoy others, 
 and to cover their guilty projects, so those projects re- 
 mained concealed in the Directory, or were confiden- 
 tially intrusted to but few individuals of the superior 
 committees. My father was consecutively a member of 
 the Simple Society, and of the Baronial Committee, and 
 during about two months he regularly attended their 
 meetings ; but from the very trifling information which 
 reached those lower societies, to which alone he had 
 access, he did not form any very sanguine hopes of fur- 
 ther relief from their union ; and, having come into 
 possession of the castle and lands of Kilkea, which he 
 was preparing for the future residence of his family, his 
 attention was withdrawn from politics, and his attend- 
 ance on the association totally ceased with his change of 
 residence. 
 
 In the month of November, 1797, as he was walking 
 in the streets of Dublin, he met Lord Edward Fitzge- 
 raid, in company with one Hugh Wilson, on the steps 
 of the Four Courts. Lord Edward's absence in Ame- 
 rica with his regiment, and his subsequent residence upon 
 the Continent, during which he had married the natural 
 daughter of the Duke of Orleans, had prevented that 
 acquaintance between his lordship and my father which 
 had grown up between my father and the other mem- 
 bers of the Leinster family, previous to his marriage in 
 1794. Lord Edward accosted my father, and told him 
 that he wished to speak to him on very particular busi- 
 
184 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 ness. My father replied that lie would be happy to see 
 his lordship at his house in Park-street ; and accordingly, 
 next day. Lord Edward called, and said the object of 
 his visit was to request him to act in his (Lord Ed- 
 ward's) stead, in the United Irish Society, in the county 
 in which Mr. Reynolds was establishing his residence, 
 as his own inconsiderate activity had drawn on him the 
 suspicions of government, and he wished to withdraw 
 himself for a time. 
 
 During the interval between my father's ceasing to 
 frequent the society and Lord Edward's application to 
 him, the directory had completed the military organiza- 
 tion of the county of Kildare, and Lord Edward had 
 accepted the appointment of Colonel for the barony of 
 Kilkea and IMoone ; and this was the office which he 
 requested my father to hold for him. 
 
 The animosities arising out of opposite political 
 interests were nowhere more rancorously kept alive 
 than in the county of Kildare, where the Duke of 
 Leinster's influence, formerly unbounded, had recently 
 been so successfully opposed, as to deprive him of the 
 nomination of one of the county members. IMy father's 
 family connexions being related to and descended from 
 the same stock as the Duke of Leinster, supported 
 with all their means the interest of him whom they 
 considered as their chief. They held his enemies as 
 theirs, they rejoiced in his prosperity, they resented 
 any injury done to him, as if it had been done to them- 
 selves, and any wish or desire of his to them carried 
 a connnanding influence ; so that when his brother. 
 
1797. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 185 
 
 Lord Edward, repeated and pressed liis wislies, it was 
 very difficult for my father to refuse, however un- 
 willing he felt to renew his connexion with the asso- 
 ciation. He gave, therefore, a very reluctant assent to 
 Lord Edward's request. His Lordship assured my 
 father that his appointment should he but temporary, 
 lie himself intending very shortly to resume his situa- 
 tion ; and in order to avoid exposing my father unne- 
 cessarily to men whom he did not know, and with 
 whom he must have frequently associated, had he 
 gone in the usual manner through the simple societies. 
 Lord Edward promised to arrange all matters relative 
 to his appointment with one Matthew Kennaa, of 
 whom my father had no knowledge, but in whom Lord 
 Edward said he had the greatest confidence, and who, 
 he also said, should call on my father at Kilkea, and 
 arrange the business without exposure, trouble, or 
 inconvenience to him. 
 
 Shortly after this visit, while my father was in a 
 very undecided state of mind, as to Lord Edward's 
 request, he met I\Ir. Oliver Bond standing on the 
 steps of his own house in Bridge-street, to whom he 
 mentioned the circumstance, and his reluctance to 
 comply with the proposal. Mr. Bond earnestly re- 
 quested him to accept the appointment, and used every 
 argument to induce him to do so, till at last my father, 
 finding that he had no pretence for refusing, wliicli 
 his friends would consider valid, and that he would 
 only disoblige them by so doing, gave a very unwilling 
 assent. He heard no more of the matter, nor had he 
 
186 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 seen Lord Edward again, when Kennaa called on him 
 at Kilkea, for the first time, in the month of January 
 in the following year, and informed him that there 
 would shortly be a meeting of the captains of the dis- 
 trict, at which, agreably to Lord Edward's wish, he 
 was to be chosen colonel ; which was accordingly 
 done ; but my father did not attend the meeting, nor 
 did he know any one of the captains, even by name, 
 except Kennaa, who said they were twelve in number, 
 commanding two thousand three hundred men. 
 
 On the 1 4th of February, Kennaa called on my father 
 again, to acquaint him that a county committee meeting- 
 would be held on the 18th, at a place called the Nine- 
 teen-mile-house, which was about half way between 
 Kilkea Castle and Dublin, and that he was expected to 
 attend there in order to fulfil Lord Edward's engage- 
 ments, and to receive the appointment of county trea- 
 surer, to entitle him to go up to the provincial committee. 
 He accordingly did attend at that meeting, and was 
 there elected treasurer for the county instead of Lord 
 Edward. I would here observe, that when my father 
 assented to Lord Edward's request, he was not aware 
 that he would be called upon to hold any office, save 
 that of colonel. 
 
 The only business done at that meeting was his 
 election, and the re-appointment of a Mr. Cummins as 
 secretary, and of a Mr. Daly as delegate for the ensuing 
 three months, which posts they had occupied during 
 the past quarter. The officers appeared before their 
 constituents at the expiration of every quarter, when 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 187 
 
 they were re-appointed or superseded, according to cir- 
 cumstances. The rules of the association did not per- 
 mit Cummins or Daly to mention in the county com- 
 mittee what they had learned in the provincial, any 
 further than they had previous orders from the pro- 
 vincial to reveal ; but they of course considered it neces- 
 sary to be more explicit with my father, as he was now 
 to meet the provincial as treasurer. Therefore after 
 the meeting had broken up, they took him aside and 
 informed him that the provincial was to meet next day, 
 the 19th, at ten o'clock, at the house of Oliver Bond, 
 in Bridge-street, in Dublin ; that Bond was not a 
 member of the Leinster provincial, but that a Mr. Mac- 
 Can, who was chief clerk to Mr. Bond's brother-in-law, 
 Jackson, the iron-founder, would attend and conduct 
 the proceedings as agent for the directory, and secre- 
 tary to the provincial committee ; and by way of pre- 
 paring my father for the business, which was to be dis- 
 cussed in the provincial, they then disclosed to him, for 
 the first time, that all was prepared for an immediate 
 insurrection, which only awaited the arrival of a mili- 
 tary force daily expected from France, and that orders 
 had gone from the directory, through the committees, 
 for the people to exert themselves in every way to 
 possess themselves of arms, and ammunition, and to 
 deprive their enemies of them ; and that one of the 
 signals for open rebellion, and the first step to be taken 
 to ensure success, was to deprive the executive govern- 
 ment of its principal active leaders, by the assassination 
 of about eighty individuals, of whose names Mr. Cum- 
 
188 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 mins showed my father a list, Tliej^ were principally 
 members of the administration — prelates — noblemen — 
 and gentlemen, remarkable for their attachment to 
 government, and some of them my flither's and mother's 
 own relations. Means had been taken to place in the 
 service of these persons, United Irishmen, if their ser- 
 vants were not already members of that association, 
 who only waited the final orders to strike the blow, 
 which was to be done on the eve of the insurrection. 
 
 The Earl Camden, who was then Lord Lieutenant, 
 was to be seized by the Dublin conspirators, and if 
 possible, held alive as a hostage, but in case of ex- 
 treme resistance, he was not to be spared. This list 
 was among the papers to have been produced on the 
 trial of Cummins, which was to have succeeded Oliver 
 Bond's conviction, had not the confessions of the con- 
 spirators induced His Majesty's Government to stop 
 the prosecutions, as will be seen in the sequel, but 
 several copies of it were subsequently handed about. 
 
 Mr. Gilford, in his Hfe of Mr. Pitt, thus speaks of 
 this dial)olical project : — " Every thing was now ripe 
 for that explosion which the government had so long- 
 expected to take place, and its dreadful precursors, 
 outrage and murder, proclaimed its near approach. 
 The whole diabolical plan was formed with systematic 
 precision. The French model had been so far fol- 
 lowed, that no mean scruples of delicacy, no unmanly 
 feelings of remorse, were suffered to interpose the 
 slightest obstacle to the full accomjdishment of the mur- 
 derous project. All the members of the government, 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 189 
 
 and the major part of the two houses of parliament, 
 with all those loyal persons who had displayed their 
 zeal in defence of the establishment in church and 
 state, were included in the bloody roll of proscription."* 
 The feelings of every honest man will best enable 
 him to conceive what my father's were on this disclo- 
 sure. Zealous for complete Catholic emancipation, he 
 would have made the greatest personal sacrifices to 
 have obtained that object, which alone brought him 
 into communication with the United Irishmen, but to 
 wade to it through a sea of blood, to become a cowardly 
 
 * See GifiFord's Life of Pitt, vol. v. page 443. 
 
 Upon the arrest and dispersion of the provincial committee, on the 
 12th of March, 1798, two brothers named Sheares were elected to fill 
 the places of absent members, and immediately became the most active 
 leaders of the society. These men were betrayed into the hands of go- 
 vernment by a captain Armstrong, who was encouraged to ingratiate 
 himself with them, and to worm out their designs. He was introduced 
 to them on the 1 0th of May, 1798, and a few days afterwards they informed 
 him that "on the night of the rising in Dublin, the Lord Lieutenant was 
 to be seized, and all the Privy Council, separately in their own houses." 
 In the previous year (1797) a secret committee of the House of Lords 
 reported that " it has also appeared to your committee, that in the 
 event of success on the part of these conspirators (the United Irishmen), 
 it has been decided that all persons, who from their principles, or situa- 
 tion may be deemed inimical to the conspiracy, shall be massacred." 
 The members of the Executive, who were afterwards examined before 
 the Privy Council, denied that they meant to spill the blood of those who 
 were opposed to them, but they admitted that they intended to have the 
 members of the Government and Privy Council arrested in their houses. 
 Some individuals may have been less bloodthirsty than others, but his- 
 tory has more than once proved the impossibility of restraining the vio- 
 lent passions of a mob in the moment of victory. The prisons of kings 
 are the ante-chambers to their graves ; the prisons of ministers and privy 
 councillors, in revolutionary moments, are their very graves ! 
 
190 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 assassin, a midnight murderer to obtain it, was im- 
 possible. 
 
 It may be said that the returns of arms which from 
 the first had in every committee generally accompanied 
 the list of the members, and the statement of the funds 
 of the association, and more especially the organization 
 of the armed force, in which he had so lately accepted 
 the rank of colonel, should have told him that violence 
 was intended, though perhaps not assassination. 
 
 I have already shown that similai* armed national 
 bodies were neither new nor unfrequent in Ireland. 
 The striking example of Dungannon was still fresh in 
 men's minds, where the authority of an armed force 
 was recognised, and almost authorised by Parliament, 
 and certainly was supported by all that was loyal and 
 honourable in Ireland. The still more recent example 
 of the Roman Catholic Convention, when, although no 
 arms were used, the Irish people showed themselves in 
 force, treated their Parliament and governors with con- 
 tempt, sent their most violent demagogues as delegates 
 to the foot of the throne, after parading them through 
 the whole empire, and obtained such concessions as, in 
 many respects, placed the Irish Roman Catholic on a 
 footing with the Protestant, while the Roman Catho- 
 lics of England remained subject to all the former 
 restrictions : these examples were held forth, and the 
 conviction remains to this day, that the Government 
 will grant to force what it refuses to justice. The 
 concessions of 1829 will, I fear, not tend to weaken 
 this sentiment in Ireland. It is reasonable to believe 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 191 
 
 that the same individuals who acted so successfully at 
 Dungannon, and in the Convention, vv^ould not be un- 
 willing, for the third time, to place the country in such 
 an imposing attitude as should, in like manner, com- 
 mand compliance with what they considered to be their 
 just demands ; and that too at a moment when the 
 exigencies of the British Government rendered success 
 still less improbable. It is not unreasonable to sup- 
 pose that such feelings operated upon the minds of 
 many honourable, upright, and loyal men, Avhose names 
 were more or less compromised in the association, to 
 induce them incautiously to lend their apparent sanction 
 to it. But there was another, a powerful and a per- 
 sonal motive, which worked on the fears, the bigotry, 
 the revenge, and all the passions which party animosity 
 liad so fatally excited in Ireland. 
 
 The Roman Catholics still were, and all the Pro- 
 testant dissenters had until lately been, by law ex- 
 cluded, as we have already seen, from all places of 
 trust and emolument, as well as from the patronage of 
 the bar, the army, and the church. The Protestants 
 of the Esta])lished Church who might fill these em- 
 ployments did not amount to a tAventieth of the whole 
 population, so that the majority of those Protestants Avere 
 in employ of some sort. Though ignorant of its real for- 
 mation, they Avere aware that a secret society did exist, 
 Avhose vicAvs were hostile to their monopoly ; and knoAV- 
 ing that the Roman Catholics Avere discontented, these 
 persons gratuitously pronounced the Society of United 
 Irishmen to be a popish conspiracy to destroy the Pro- 
 
192 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 testants, siniilar to that which, in 1641, had taken 
 place under the guidance of Lord IMaquire, Sir Phelim 
 O'Neale, and Roger Moore. Tiiey adduced the mas- 
 sacre of Barclay's family at Forkhill, and other enor- 
 mities, committed by the Defenders, in their feud 
 against the Peep-o'-day Boys, as proofs of the existing 
 rancour of the Papists ; and, led on by some zealous 
 and perhaps well-meaning persons, towards the end of 
 the year 1795 they formed a counter-association, and 
 called themselves Orangemen, in allusion to King 
 William^ Prince of Orange. 
 
 The party broils between the Orangemen and the 
 Roman Catholics had for some time been carried to 
 the most indecent and violent extremes, disturbing and 
 disuniting the nearest connexions, invading the peace 
 of private families, and even poisoning those convivial 
 meetings so congenial to the Irish character. The first 
 toast usually given after every entertainment by the 
 triumphant party was, " The glorious and immortal 
 memory of King William, and down with popery and 
 slavery:" wdiile the opposite party, with equal fervour, 
 and perhaps with more bitterness, toasted, " The me- 
 mory of the sorrel horse Avhich broke King William's 
 neck." 
 
 The title of Orangemen, adopted Ijy this Protestant 
 Association, was therefore considered by the Roman 
 Catholics as an insulting declaration of open war. 
 
 The leaders of the United Irishmen did not fail to 
 take advantage of that circumstance to rouse the Roman 
 Catholics, by terror and resentment, into a preparation 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 193 
 
 for hostility, which those leaders might use in due time 
 for their own purposes. Dreadful accounts were in- 
 vented and circulated concerning the views of the 
 Orangemen, who Avere said to have sworn, among other 
 horrors, to wade knee-deep, and ride to the saddle-skirts, 
 in popish blood. The more to impress this idea, papers 
 Avere printed, purporting to be Orange oaths to that 
 effect, and distributed through the United Irish Com- 
 mittees ; and reports were circulated from time to time 
 of intended nocturnal massacres of the Catholics. So 
 impressed were the people with the truth of these re- 
 ports, and so terrified were they in consequence, that in 
 many entire districts the Roman Catholic people aban- 
 doned their habitations in the evening, and slept in 
 ditches or the open fields. And, unfortunately — for I 
 will not say it was with evil design — an ignorant, 
 bigoted, ill-advised Pastoral Letter from Dr. Hussey, 
 titular or Roman Bishop of Waterford, seconded the 
 views of the leaders, and stamped their rumours with 
 the seal of religious confirmation, by attributing to Pro- 
 testants, whom it stigmatised as accursed beings, such 
 schemes and intentions against the civil and relig-ious 
 welfare of the Roman Catholics, as encouraged and 
 fomented all the fears and bigotry which had been 
 created or awakened by the arts of the leaders, and 
 caused the great body of the United Irishmen eagerly 
 to arm in their own defence. These various causes 
 combined to reconcile the members of the Association 
 to military organization, and prevented too minute in- 
 quiries into the ulterior views of the directory, until 
 VOL. I. o 
 
194 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 the leaders should themselves think proper to avow 
 them. But the list of proscription, and other matters, 
 now for the first time laid open to my father, spoke 
 their real intentions in a language not to be misun- 
 derstood. 
 
 What was he to do ? To denounce the men who had 
 opened their secrets to him was repugnant to every 
 feelinp- — to suffer matters to take their course was to 
 make himself an accomplice in their crimes — to quit 
 the Association was to offer himself and his family to 
 the knife of the murderer. 
 
 The Provincial Committee, of which he had a few 
 moments before become a member, was to meet in 
 Dublin the next day, the 19th of February. There 
 .was very little time for deliberation : he resolved, at all 
 events, not to take another step with these men until 
 he should have ascertained the truth or falsity of what 
 he had heard. He therefore sent by the post, from the 
 house he was in, an excuse to the Provincial Com- 
 mittee, addressed to Oliver Bond, for John M'Cann, 
 grounded on the shortness of time, the distance, and 
 the urgency of his own private affairs. He was fully 
 aware that, by declining to attend so important a meet- 
 ing, he was likely to be looked upon with jealousy ; 
 but it was not to be avoided. He returned to Kilkea, 
 oppressed, alarmed, unable to doubt, and fearing to 
 credit, what had been told him ; yet, when he looked 
 around through the country, everything confirmed the 
 truth of it, and showed him that disorders, which had 
 hitherto appeared the effect of insubordination among 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 195 
 
 the labouring classes, were in reality tlie results of a 
 plan concerted by the leaders of the United Irish Asso- 
 ciation, of a very different complexion from anything 
 he had hitherto been led to believe. All tended to riot 
 and confusion. Murders and robberies vrere committed 
 night and day ; few men dared to venture from their 
 homes, and these homes were converted into fortresses — 
 the entrances and lower windows of most houses were 
 strongly barricaded ; in short, every man, fearful of 
 the visits of the gangs of plunderers who infested the 
 country, put his residence in the best state of defence 
 he could. 
 
 In the county of Kildare, Mr. Darah, a respectable 
 active magistrate, a gentleman of fortune, was at- 
 tacked on his own lawn, amidst his servants and work- 
 men, by a single assassin. No man attempted to pre- 
 vent the act, or to seize the murderer, who presented 
 a letter and shot Mr. Darah while he read it. As he 
 did not fall instantly, the ruffian struck him down, and, 
 supposing he wore some defensive armour under his 
 clothes, drew forth a second pistol, which he thrust up 
 under Mr. Darah's vest, and fired into his body, and 
 then walked off unmolested. Though miserably crip- 
 pled, Mr. Darah survived some years. 
 
 Captain Beaver's house was attacked at noon-day, 
 and plundered of arms, ammunition, money, and wear- 
 ing-apparel. 
 
 My. John Green's house was attacked also in the 
 daytime, but, after an hour's smart firing, he Ijeat off 
 
 o2 
 
196 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 the ruffians. Many others in the vicinity were simi- 
 larly attacked and plundered. 
 
 A plan was laid to murder a Mr. Thomas Rawson, of 
 Glasely, who, having risen from the lowest order of 
 society to be a magistrate, had, by his severity, rendered 
 himself particularly obnoxious to the people. My father 
 met him at dinner at the house of Dean Keatinge, at 
 Narraghmore : the attachment borne towards my father 
 by one of the conspirators induced the man to seek an 
 opportunity after dinner of cautioning him not to allow 
 his carriage to accompany Mr. Rawson's on the road 
 home, lest accident should involve him in his (Mr, 
 Rawson's) destruction. Unwilling to betray the man 
 who made this very extraordinary communication, my 
 father contented himself with taking Mr. Rawson into 
 his carriage, and leaving him in safety near his own 
 house ; thus saving his life at the very great risk of his 
 own. I\Ir. Rawson's carriage remained at Dean Keat- 
 inge's a considerable time after he had departed, so that 
 he was far beyond their reach when the ruffians disco- 
 vered their error. 
 
 Further off, in the county of Tipperary, a body of 
 800 or 900 men, mostly mounted, entered the town of 
 Cahir in the daytime, and held possession of it until 
 they had collected all the arms and ammunition that 
 could be found after a regular search throughout all 
 the houses. 
 
 That these and fifty other similar atrocities Avere the 
 result of a settled, premeditated plan of the directory 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 197 
 
 now seemed beyond all doubt. My father used all his 
 influence, as well in public as in private, to put a stop 
 to them in his own neighbourhood, but in vain ; the in- 
 fluence of the Directory was greater than his. 
 
 On the 20th of February my father went to Dublin 
 with my mother, who was then near her confinement, 
 and could not be left in such a scene. A few hours 
 after his arrival in Dublin he met Mr. Richard M'Cor- 
 mick, the same who had acted as Catholic secretary to 
 the Convention, who told him that at the provincial 
 meeting on the 19th he had ventured to recommend 
 less violent measures, but that he was quickly silenced, 
 and that on the same day, on going to the dinner, 
 at which all the members and many others of the 
 Association attended, he was so fearfully attacked 
 and abused that he fled for his life. He assured my 
 father it was therefore his determination to realise 
 his property and to quit Ireland, where he was well 
 aware there would now be no safety for him : a reso- 
 lution Avhich, happily for himself he immediately put 
 in execution. My father and he had been old ac- 
 quaintances ; he knew of my father's having been re- 
 turned as a member of the Provincial Conmiittee, and 
 hoped that through my father's influence he might 
 be protected from personal violence, at least while he 
 prepared for his departure. JMy father afterwards, 
 during that day and the next, saw some of the leaders, 
 to whom he urged all he could against their })rojects 
 Avith safety to himself. He had got a kind of proclama- 
 tion which was then in circulation among the United 
 
198 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 Irishmen, recommending peace, industry, and sobriety, 
 in the name of the directory. With this in his hand 
 he asked why they did not enforce its recommendations. 
 He was laughed at. He grew more serious, and threat- 
 ened to quit them, when Mr. Sanmel Neilson, of Bel- 
 fast, said, " Take care what you say, Reynolds ; you 
 know too much to stop now : we'll have no half-mea- 
 sure men !" This man Neilson appeared to have been 
 the most violent, determined conspirator among the as- 
 sociates. Able-bodied, sturdy, dark, plodding, and re- 
 served, he seemed to possess unbounded influence over 
 the Dublin leaders. He was subsequently seized and 
 made prisoner by Gregg, the gaoler of Newgate, in the 
 act of reconnoitring that prison to liberate O'Connor, 
 Bond, and his other associates therein confined. 
 
 While on the subject of Neilson I cannot refrain 
 from noticing a passage in the twenty-seventh volume 
 of the State Trials, edited by Thomas Jones Howell. 
 That gentleman professes to give a correct account of 
 the different trials which took place during the Rebel- 
 lion. As a compiler, the report he selects ought not 
 only to be faithful and impartial, but, if he thinks 
 proper to accompany that report by notes, he should 
 take care to ascertain the truth of the circumstances 
 related in those notes, and cautiously avoid converting 
 a work intended for legal and historical references into 
 a collection of scandalous gossip. 
 
 No one can read the report of the trials of M'Cann, 
 Byrne, and Bond, selected for publication by Mr. How- 
 ell, without being immediately sensible of this defect ; 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 199 
 
 and the notes with which that gentleman has accom- 
 panied the text show the design of Mr. HoAvell himself 
 to throw as much disfavour as possible on my father. 
 Not content, however, with this commentary, he has 
 travelled out of his way to extract a petty anecdote 
 from the Life of Curran by his son, which anecdote he 
 has put in the first page of this volume of his reports, 
 that it may immediately catch the eye of his readers. 
 It is as follows : — 
 
 " Upon one occasion Reynolds saved himself from the 
 vengeance of those whom he had betrayed in a way that 
 was creditable to his presence of mind. Before he had 
 yet publicly declared his infidelity to the cause of the 
 United Irishmen, as one of their leaders, Samuel Neil- 
 son, was passing at the hour of midnight through the 
 streets of Dublin, he suddenly encountered Reynolds, 
 standing alone and unarmed. Neilson, who was an 
 athletic man, and armed, rushed upon him and com- 
 manded him, upon pain of instant death, to be silent 
 and to accompany him. Reynolds obeyed, and suffered 
 himself to be dragged along through several dark and 
 narrow lanes, till they had arrived at an obscure and 
 retired passage in the liberties of Dublin. Here Neil- 
 son presented a pistol at his prisoner's breast. ' What,' 
 said the indignant conspirator^ ' should I do to the vil- 
 lain who could insinuate himself into my confidence for 
 the purpose of betraying me?' Reynolds, in a firm 
 tone, replied, ' You should shoot him through the heart.' 
 Neilson was so struck by this reply that, though his 
 suspicions were not removed, he changed his purpose, 
 
200 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D- 
 
 and, putting up his pistol, allowed the other to retire. 
 This fact is given as related by an eminent Irish bar- 
 rister, to whom it was communicated by one of the 
 parties." 
 
 Now there is not a Avord of truth or even probability 
 in the story. Neilson indeed was a very athletic man; 
 but few men would have liked to measure their strength 
 with my father at that time : he Avas five feet eleven 
 inches in height, and as active and able-bodied as any 
 man of his day. The whole story of the midnight 
 meeting is so absurd, that one would rather expect to 
 find it in one of Mrs. Radcliife's romances than in such 
 works as Mr. Curran's or Mr. Howell's ; and I confess, 
 if I did not at once perceive the motive of its insertion 
 in so conspicuous a part of the book, I should have been 
 surprised to find a gentleman, and a lawyer, professing 
 to make a serious compilation, giving as history a tale 
 upon the evidence of Mr. Curran junior, who had it 
 from Mr. Curran senior, who had it from an eminent 
 "anonymous barrister," who had it from one of the 
 parties ! 
 
 If the latter assertion be true, this must be Neilson's 
 account;* but the following is the true version of the 
 only personal meeting between Neilson and my father 
 after the arrest of the conspirators on the 12th of 
 March ; and, as this account does not come at fourth 
 
 * Mr. Moore tells us that Neilson was " bordering on insanity," which 
 must be his best excuse if he had really told this strange tale to Mr. 
 Curran's anonymous friend. See Life of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, vol. ii. 
 p. 87, note/ 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 201 
 
 hand, but immediately from " one of the parties/' who 
 is neither ashamed nor afraid to declare himself, it may 
 be entitled to a little more credit than the other. 
 
 A short time after the arrests at Bond's, Neilson met 
 my father in the street, and, taking his arm, said he 
 had a matter to talk over with him, and began as if to 
 consult about what could be done for those in arrest. 
 They were then near Bond's house, and Neilson said 
 Mrs. Bond was anxious to see my father on the subject, 
 and, as he himself was sought after by the police, he 
 could not stop longer in the street. Under this pretence 
 he brought my father into the house, and after a few 
 minutes' conversation requested him to accompany him 
 into a back room to see Mrs. Bond. My father did so 
 without hesitation, and Neilson led the Avay through the 
 Avarehouses on the middle floor. The dwelling-house 
 was in Bridge-street ; the warehouses went back for 
 at least two hundred yards, and opened by large crane 
 gates into a mews behind. When they had reached 
 the furthest wareroom, instead of Mrs. Bond, they were 
 met by a stout ill-looking man whom my father had 
 never seen before. Neilson walked up to the man, who 
 stood near the crane gate, which was shut, and, after 
 wispering to him, the man went out of the wareroom, 
 and shut the door after him. Neilson then spoke of 
 the general plans of the United Irishmen for a few 
 minutes, when the other man returned, with a brace 
 of pistols in his hand, and resumed his former 
 position. Some vague suspicions now flashed across 
 my father's mind, and Neilson abruptly said, " Key- 
 
202 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 nolds, you have not a minute to live ! you are the man 
 who betrayed the delegates." " And dare you say 
 that ?" said my father, darting at him. At the same 
 time he seized him by the collar with both hands, and 
 thrust him back upon the man Avith the pistols with 
 such force that the crane-gate, not being fastened, 
 opened outwards to the mews on being pressed against, 
 and the man fell down backwards into the lane, where 
 Neilson would have followed, had not my father held 
 him up. Neilson directly turned, or attempted to turn, 
 the affair into a joke, saying, " Oh ! my dear felloAV, 
 how could you be so violent ? I assure you we only 
 wished to try you ; I fear you have killed him !" My 
 father replied that he neither understood nor relished 
 such practical jokes, and walked out of the Avarehouse, 
 leaving Neilson to take such care as he pleased of his 
 companion l)elow. There were several persons in the 
 house, who had been dining with Mrs. Bond, but my 
 father passed through the hall without noticing any 
 one. It was then between five and six o'clock in the 
 afternoon, in the month of March. 
 
 Satisfied now that, whatever appearances the leaders 
 chose to put on towards their dupes and followers, they 
 were in reality the authors and promoters of all these 
 excesses, and were determined to carry them through, 
 my father saw that he must either be their accomplice 
 or their victim. 
 
 I would here observe that I make a distinction be- 
 tween the leaders and the directory. It was not known 
 at that time of what individuals the directory was com- 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 203 
 
 posed, and, in speaking of that body, it was only known 
 by the orders issued in its name. It might have con- 
 sisted of one man or of fifty, for aught my father knew 
 at that time, whereas those who were the most active 
 in guiding affairs in Dublin, and who appeared to have 
 the greatest influence over the other conspirators, Avere 
 very well known ; and these I term the leaders : such 
 as Arthur O'Connor, Lord Edward Fitzgerald, Coun- 
 sellor Sampson, Oliver Bond, the two brothers Emmet, 
 the two brothers Jackson, Doctor JM'Nevin, John 
 M'Can, and 10 or 12 others, whose names, not having 
 been published at the time, I do not feel myself at 
 liberty to make known now. 
 
 My father passed several days in a state of great 
 anxiety and uncertainty as to the line of conduct he 
 ought to pursue, and about the 25th of February he 
 went with Mr. Cope to Castle Jordan, the seat of Sir 
 Duke Giffard, in the county of Meatli, on business re- 
 lative to the estate of Corbettstown, which was then in 
 Sir Duke's possession, and on which Mr, Cope and he 
 had large claims, as I have already stated. They dined 
 and slept at Castle Jordan. Mr. Cope was a merchant 
 of known loyalty and honour, with whom my father's 
 family had had for more than 30 years intimate ac- 
 quaintance and very extensive commercial transactions, 
 from some of which arose their mutual claims on the 
 estate. The late Marquis of Lansdowne, then Lord 
 Wycombe, who afterwards married Sir Duke Giffard's 
 Avidow, and one or two other gentlemen, dined at the 
 castle, when the conversation turned on the very dis- 
 
204 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D, 
 
 turbed state of the country, which was everywhere the 
 same scene of crime and disorder. 
 
 In returning the next day to Dublin with Mr. Cope, 
 the topic was renewed, and it occurred to my father 
 that, through IMr. Cope's intervention, he might so 
 neutralize the plans of the United Irishmen as to stop 
 them without compromising their personal safety, and 
 •at once save his country, his friends, and his own 
 honour. IMy father sounded Mr. Cope on the subject, 
 and, finding him well-disposed, determined to open the 
 matter to him, but in such a way as not even to put it 
 in his power to proceed further than my father chose to 
 go ; he therefore told him that he knew a man who 
 abhorred these violent and criminal proceedings, and 
 whom he Avould endeavour to prevail upon to enable 
 government, through his (Mr. Cope's) agency, to stop 
 them. 
 
 After much conversation, they fixed to meet on the 
 following day. IMr. Cope, erroneously supposing that 
 honours and rewards A^ould induce the person my father 
 spoke of to appear openly, went immediately to the 
 secretary of state, and, armed with the secretary's au- 
 thority, when he saw my father on the following after- 
 noon, told him he was fully en:ipowered to offer the 
 greatest rewards and the highest honours to the man 
 Avho would enable the government to stop the proceed- 
 ings of the conspirators. My father assured him that 
 neither honours nor rewards were sought for, or would 
 be accepted ; that the only conditions the person re- 
 (|uired were, that he himself should not be prosecuted 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 205 
 
 as a United Irishman upon any account whatever ; that 
 he should never be obliged or forced to prosecute any 
 other person as a United Irishman, and that the chan- 
 nel through which the information came should be 
 kept a secret; ; and further, that, as the person he 
 Jilluded to Avould be obliged to quit Ireland for a time, 
 to escape the murderer's knife, he should be allowed to 
 draw on Mr. Cope for a sum not exceeding 500/., in 
 order to enable him to do so, as his own property was 
 chiefly in lands and houses, on which he could not easily 
 raise money in such distracted times. To these terms 
 Mr, Cope pledged his word and honour, and again 
 pressed considerable rewards, expressing his surprise 
 that nothing Avould be accepted. 
 
 My father then made him such communications as 
 would enable government to put a stop to the evil by 
 seizing the principle leaders. He told him the views 
 and purposes of the United Irishmen, as they had been 
 related to him by Cummins and Daly, and their force, 
 which then amounted to 350,000 men, and he informed 
 him that there was to be a meeting at Bond's house on 
 the 12th of March, to settle finally for a general rising, 
 but my father was careful not to name or inculpate any 
 individual. In fact, during the whole of his commu- 
 nications with Mr. Cope, and he saw him three times 
 upon the subject, he never mentioned any name but 
 that of Oliver Bond, and his only as being the proprie- 
 tor of the house in which the conspirators were to meet 
 on the 12th of March ; but he expressly added, what 
 was the fact, that Bond was not a member of the com- 
 
206 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 mittee, and that he could not be present at their meet- 
 ing, or acquainted with its proceedings. 
 
 On this second interview my father was unable to 
 state positively that the meeting was finally fixed for 
 the 12th, nor did he know the precise hour at which 
 it would be held. To enable the government effect- 
 ually to stop the further proceedings of the conspira- 
 tors, it was necessary that they should be made ac- 
 quainted with those particulars : my father therefore 
 sought an interview with M'Can, Avho refused to 
 give him the information he required until he produced 
 his returns of men and money from the committee of 
 the county of Kildare, which as treasurer he was 
 expected to do. In order to procure those returns my 
 father went to Kilkea on the 3rd March, and on the 
 4th he went to Castle Dermot, where he met his cap- 
 tains, and, having settled the returns with them, he 
 proceeded to Daly at Kilcullen and got them, and on 
 the 7th he returned to Dublin, and gave them to 
 M^Can, who promised to call on him on Sunday the 
 11th, which he did, when he informed him that the 
 meeting was fixed to take place on the morrow at the 
 house of Oliver Bond at 10 o'clock in the forenoon. 
 My father then saw Mr. Cope for the third and last 
 time on this subject, and at that interview merely gave 
 him those particulars. 
 
 He decidedly refused to intrust Mr. Cope with any 
 other name, or any further particulars ; and, when 
 the latter urged him to make further disclosures, he 
 assured him that the person who had been in com- 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 207 
 
 munication with him had gone to England, which at 
 once put an end to all hope of obtaining further par- 
 ticulars through that channel, and as for himself, he 
 had made Mr. Cope believe that he was in no other 
 way concerned than as a medium of communication 
 from that third person. 
 
 Excepting these communications with Mr. Cope, 
 my father never had any conference with him, or 
 with any other person on behalf of government, 
 directly or indirectly, until the United Irishmen them- 
 selves caused him to be arrested by Colonel Campbell 
 on the 5th of May, and in despite of himself placed 
 him in a position from which there was no retreat, as 
 will be seen further on. In his intercourse with Mr. 
 Cope, his whole anxiety was to protect the persons of 
 the United Irishmen, while he frustrated their schemes. 
 He had effectually attained these two objects, but for 
 their own wild and desperate violence, and he had 
 determined to quit the kingdom with his family until 
 quiet should be restored ; but events crowded so quick 
 upon him that he could not put his design in execu- 
 tion. The United Irishmen themselves deprived him 
 of the power to do so. 
 
 Had he, like Richard MacCormick, been a single 
 man without family or landed estate, he could have 
 acted like him, if he was willing to leave his country 
 and friends to their fate ; but, having by his coun- 
 tenance, however ignorantly and unintentionally, aided 
 in bringing matters to their present crisis, to seek 
 his own safety by flight, leaving his country and 
 
208 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 friends to certain destruction, would, as he justly con- 
 ceived, have been an act of selfish cowardice, which 
 he was incapable of committing. 
 
 In all the conspiracies we have hitherto heard of 
 the ends and purposes were more or less known to those 
 engaged ; and, whether led on by patriotism, by the 
 desire of revenge, by ambition, or by a hope of per- 
 sonal security or advantage, still the conspirator knew 
 the object of his associating ; with that knowledge he 
 did so, and to that he pledged and devoted himself. It 
 was reserved for our times to behold an association 
 formed avowedly for honourable and justifiable pur- 
 poses, into which when a man had once entered, he was 
 to find himself tyrannically bound to every act repug- 
 nant to honour, to loyalty, to patriotism, and to virtue, 
 and to abandon all the avowed purposes for which he 
 had combined, or to have his life sacrificed by the 
 assassins, and his reputation blasted by the calumnies, 
 of those in whose atrocities he refused to participate, 
 and as whose tool he refused blindly to commit him- 
 self. 
 
 The leaders of the United Irishmen swore, and 
 made their associates do the like, as being the sole 
 object of ilieir association, to devote themselves to 
 obtain Roman Catholic emancipation, an equal repre- 
 sentation of all the people of Ireland, and a brother- 
 hood of affection among all religious sects ; and to 
 nothing more. These were the only avowed purposes 
 of that association. These same leaders afterwards 
 acknowledged on oath before the highest tribunal of 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 209 
 
 the country that these were not their true objects ; that 
 they did not care a pin's point for any one of them ; * 
 that they were only held out as lures to catch and 
 hoodwink their associates ; that their true object was 
 a total revolution, to be obtained by open rebellion, 
 aided and protected by France ; and that this, and this 
 only,, had been their object from the beginning of their 
 associating. They ought to have added their individual 
 hope of raising tlieir own fortunes, should even the 
 ruin of their country and the massacre of its in- 
 habitants be the price of their aggrandizement, f 
 
 Strange as this avowal of the leaders must seem, it is 
 nevertheless an unquestionable fact ; and to forward 
 tliese designs of tliese men my father w-as, as their 
 tool, to become the enemy of his country, the murderer 
 and plunderer of his friends ; in short, a monster of 
 cruelty and crime. If he hesitated, he surrendered 
 himself and his family to be destroyed by the knives 
 of their assassins, or, if they failed, by the infamous 
 calumnies they invariably invented to justify their at- 
 tempts. If he takes measures to prevent their crimes, 
 he is stigmatized as an informer against his associates. 
 
 * In Dr. M' Nevin's examination on oath before the Secret Com- 
 mittee of the House of Lords on the 7th of August 1798, we find this 
 question and answer : ".Do you think the mass of the people care the 
 value of this pen, or the drop of ink it contains, for Parliamentary 
 Reform or Catholic Emancipation ?" — Answer : " I am sure they do 
 not! !" 
 
 To Mr. Emmet the same question was put, and his reply was : " I 
 believe the mass of the people do not care a feather for Catholic Eman- 
 cipation !" 
 
 t Sec Tone's Memoirs, f»ay«???, i'or full corroboration of ibis. 
 VOL. I. P 
 
210 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 — Associate of whom? Did he ever pledge himself 
 to their murderous schemes ? Did he ever intrude 
 himself on their confidence ? Did he not shun it ? and 
 when they followed him, and forced it on him, did he 
 ever in word or deed encourage them for a moment ? 
 On the contrary, did he not from the first hour endea- 
 vour to dissuade them, and set himself in direct opposi- 
 tion to them ? Did he ever attend a single meeting to 
 promote their views, after those views were disclosed 
 to him ? Did he not invent and send excuses to avoid 
 attending their most secret, most confidential, most 
 important meeting of the 19th of February ? 
 
 I repel Avith disdain the foul imputations of the party- 
 writers and the slanderous journalists of the day, who, 
 pandering to the basest passions of human nature, fill 
 their pages and their columns Avith scandalous false- 
 hoods, which, under the fictitious sanction of their edi- 
 torial " Ave," they palm upon the Avorld as truths. 
 
 My father never Avas, never could be, the associate of 
 robljers and assassins. I appeal to every man, no matter 
 Avhat his country — no matter Avhat his religion — no 
 matter Avhat his politics — if he abhors guilt and infamy ; 
 if he detests murder and robbery ; if he is the enemy of 
 him Avho seeks to build his OAvn fortune on the ruin and 
 devastation of his country ; let him ask his OAvn heart, 
 situated as my father was, Avould he not lia\'e acted as 
 he did ? 
 
 In consequence of the information given by JMr, 
 Cope to the government, the following persons, forming 
 the Leinster Provincial Committee, Avere taken into 
 
1798. LIFE OP THOMAS REYNOLDS. 211 
 
 custody, at Oliver Bond's house, on Monday the 12th 
 of March:— 
 
 ]Michael William Byrne, 
 
 Peter Ivers, from Carlow, 
 
 Lawrence Kelly, from Queen's County, 
 
 George Cummins, from Kildare, 
 
 Edward Hudson, of Grafton-strecit, 
 
 John Lynch, from Mary's Abbey, 
 
 Lawrence Griffin, from Tullow, 
 
 Thomas Reynolds, from Culmulliii, 
 
 John M'Can, of Church-street, 
 
 Patrick Devine, from Ballymoney, 
 
 Christopher JMartyn, from Dunboyne, 
 
 Peter Bannan, from Portarlington, 
 
 James Rose, from Windy Harbour, and 
 
 Oliver Bond, of Bridge-street, in whose house the 
 meeting was held. 
 
 It is a positive fact that, at the time of this arrest, the 
 government had no proofs to support informations 
 against these men, nor would they have had the means 
 of acquiring any, but through the subsequent conduct 
 of the parties themselves. This fact is confirmed by 
 the subsequent proceedings of the Privy Council. 
 
 The Habeas Corpus Act had been suspended in 
 Ireland in 1796, from which period the executive go- 
 vernment had exercised very arbitrary powers in arrest- 
 ing suspected persons; and at this time, far from 
 limiting their measures to the extent of ]Mr. Cope's 
 intelligence, they still further exerted their autliority, 
 and issued writs against a great number of other indi- 
 
 p2 
 
212 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 vidiials, of wiiom above twenty were arrested on the 
 12tli and following days. Not one of these latter was 
 arrested or brought into suspicion by any communica- 
 tion, or act, or insinuation of my father, or by any 
 other means, directly or indirectly, from or through 
 him. Lord Edward Fitzgerald had kept out of the 
 way ever since the time he had engaged my father to 
 act for him in the county of Kildare, and he was not 
 expected to be present at that meeting. But it subse- 
 quently appeared that Mr. Bellingham Swann, the 
 magistrate who conducted the arrests on the 12th. had 
 a writ in his pocket from the secretary of state for his 
 lordship's arrest. 
 
 ]\Iy father had seen Lord Edward on the 11th, that 
 is, on the day before the arrests, at Leinster Lodge. 
 He saw him again on the 14th, at the house of Dr. 
 Kennedy, in Aungier-street, and a third time, by ap- 
 pointment, on the 15th, when Lord Edward gave him 
 a letter for the Kildare County Committee. I mention 
 these interviews in a cursory manner now. I shall 
 presently have to speak more fully on the subject of 
 Lord Edward, when I examine the historv of his life 
 and death, as given by Mr. Thomas Moore, and I will 
 then state the circumstances which led to those three 
 interviews, and what took place at them. 
 
 On the 17th of March my father left Dublin on his 
 way to Kilkea, and slept at Naas, eighteen miles from 
 town. His arrival was quickly known, being looked 
 for in consequence of a letter written by post from Lord 
 Edward Fitzgerald to Kennaa, stating that my father 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 213 
 
 had a letter to communicate from him to his friends, 
 so that, before he had quitted his bedroom, next morn- 
 ing, Kennaa was with him, to let him know that seve- 
 ral of the county members were assembled to meet him 
 at the house of one Reilly, a publican, on the Curragh, 
 or race-ground, of Kildare, about a mile and a half 
 from the house in which he had slept. There was no 
 possibility of avoiding that meeting ; he therefore 
 mounted his horse, and rode over. This was on the 
 ISthday of March. 
 
 On entering the room he produced Lord Edward's 
 letter, which assured them of his safety, and recom- 
 mended them to fill up the vacancies occasioned by the 
 late arrests. This brought on a discussion, and a pro- 
 position to change all the officers of the county com- 
 mittees, as it was supposed that none other could have 
 furnished the intelligence on which the government 
 had acted. My father very eagerly seconded this pro- 
 position, as its adoption would apparently enable him to 
 quit the association without risk to himself. He offered 
 his resignation as an example : it was accepted, and the 
 committee resolved to recommend a similar measure to 
 all the counties of the province of Leinster. Michael 
 Reynolds of Naas was chosen to replace Cummins, Avho 
 had been arrested in Dublin ; Dr. John Esmund was 
 chosen in my father's place ; Mr. Daly, the delegate, 
 not being present, nor arrested, the arrangement re- 
 specting him Avas postponed. 
 
 No other business was done at that meeting. There 
 seemed a gloomy distrustful suspicion on every man's 
 
214 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 countenance — all seemed equally anxious to get away — 
 the whole business did not last five-and- twenty minutes. 
 My father afterwards learned the immediate cause of 
 their confusion. They had, that same morning, before 
 his arrival, buried in the garden of the public-house 
 the body of one of their associates, whom they had 
 murdered on that same morning, because they sus- 
 pected him of disaffection to their cause. The body 
 was afterwards removed by order of the magistrates, 
 and the house was burnt to the e-round. It is a shock- 
 ing fact that murder and outrage accompanied all 
 the steps of the association, Avhich, as Mr. Tone, its 
 founder, very justly observed, in his defence before the 
 court-martial, " had degenerated into an absolute system 
 of assassination." 
 
 On the 19th of March Kennaa called again on my 
 father at Kilkea, to request him to show Lord Edward's 
 letter to his captains, and, as he considered that to be 
 a favourable occasion to resign his command, he imme- 
 diately acceded to Kennaa's request. On the 20th of 
 March, being a fair-day, he met six or seven of them 
 at the town of Athy, at the fair. He there showed 
 them the letter, and then burnt it in their presence, in 
 order thereby to do away with every pretence for call- 
 ing on him in future. He then acquainted them with 
 the determination of the county committee to change its 
 officers, and of his consequent resignation of all em- 
 ployment. He was not however allowed to resign his 
 office of colonel altogether, but a IVIr. Caulfield was 
 named joint colonel with him. From that moment he 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 215 
 
 never attended another meeting, and knew no more of 
 them nor of their proceedings. At those two meetings 
 nothing was done but what I have related, and with 
 them ended my father's connexion with the United 
 Irishmen. He never after met, or held communication 
 with any of them as United Irishmen, or on the subject 
 of their designs. 
 
 Having thus, happily as he thought, got rid of all 
 connexion with the association, and having performed 
 his duty to his country, he set about active preparations 
 for removing his family from Ireland, until quiet 
 should be restored. My mother was then in Dublin, 
 waiting her confinement, and he took advantage of the 
 delay that approaching event must necessarily occasion 
 to get his spring corn into the ground, and otherwise 
 to put his lands, as well as his house, in such condition, 
 as to suffer as little as possible by his absence. While 
 he was thus engaged, the machinations of the United 
 Irishmen, who now suspected him, and the open perse- 
 cutions of the government, who were ignorant that he 
 was the person who had communicated with Mr. Cope, 
 prevented him from carrying his design of quitting the 
 country into effect. Many circumstances concurred in 
 rendering him suspected by the administration, parti- 
 cularly his relationship to the Fitzgeralds, and his ac- 
 quaintance with Lord Edward, combined with the 
 influence he seemed to possess over the common people, 
 which was shown in perhaps too striking a manner on 
 the 25th of March in the Roman Catholic chapel at 
 IVIageny Bridge. 
 
216 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 I should here observe that, towards the end of Feb- 
 ruary, the country, which up to that period had pre- 
 served some appearance of order, became a scene of 
 riot, robbery, and assassination, night and day ; nor 
 were the United Irishmen the only actors in these dis- 
 graceful scenes. The king's troops, led on by the 
 magistrates, were too often guilty of the most shameful 
 abuses. From that time there was no more amuse- 
 ment, no more society ; all was party rancour through- 
 out the country, IMartial law was declared, the work- 
 ing classes attended little to their business ; all was 
 gloom and dissatisfaction. At night strong parties of 
 yeomanry and soldiers spread in every direction to pre- 
 vent robberies and seditious meetings ; but all in vain ! 
 Thumbscrews, pitchcaps, flogging, picketing, and a 
 hundred other tortures, were resorted to, but equally 
 without any beneficial result : the atrocities daily in- 
 creased ; the gaols were filled, and all to no purpose ; 
 every example seemed but to augment the determined 
 spirit of the rioters. Every man fortified his house — 
 all windows Avithin five-and-twenty or thirty feet of 
 the ground were boarded or bricked up, with mere 
 loop-holes left to fire or look through. Every gentle- 
 man went about completely armed. The few, the very 
 few, who did not use those precautions, and avIio never- 
 theless passed in safety, became suspected, and suspi- 
 cion Avas the signal for persecution. IMy father was 
 one of those few, and he was marked out as one of the 
 first to be attacked. 
 
 Among the measures of severity adopted by the go- 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 217 
 
 vernment against those who either were, or were sus- 
 pected to be, of the rebel party, was that most abomi- 
 nable, imjust, and iniquitous one of free quarters, 
 which consisted in sending a number of soldiers, in 
 proportion to the rank and means of the intended 
 victim, to live ad libitum in his house and at his ex- 
 pense for a longer or shorter period. 
 
 These troops, thus in possession of the premises, 
 ransacked and rummaged for arms, papers, and every- 
 thing that might inculpate the proprietor, whose person 
 and effects they seized during their stay. They used 
 his means for their support at their sole discretion. 
 
 They employed their leisure in patrolling through 
 the neighbourhood, pillaging the houses, seizing the 
 arms, and collecting information in the surrounding 
 district ; seizing suspected persons, and plundering and 
 foraging as if in an enemy's country. 
 
 The dragoons have been seen returning from these 
 marauding parties, loaded in the most extraordinary 
 manner : a piano-forte ! a pig, a bundle of house-linen, 
 bedding, a bureau, jars of wine or spirits, flitches of 
 bacon, geese, turkeys, fowls, carpets, wearing-apparel, 
 kitchen-furniture, pier-glasses, pictures, &c. &c. A 
 gentleman, on whose veracity I have the fullest re- 
 liance, assured me he had seen at different times every 
 description of article here mentioned carried on troop- 
 horses by the soldiers. The piano-forte was a square 
 one : it was tied on the horse behind the trooper, and he 
 rode into the garrison-town of Athy with it. In an- 
 other instance he saAv a live sow tied behind a trooper, 
 
218 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 and six or eight young pigs, tied by the hind-legs, 
 hanging half on each side across the horse's shoulders. 
 Cows, calves, oxen, and sheep, were considered fair 
 booty. 
 
 The picture I here give is not overdrawn, and from 
 it some idea may be formed of the state of the country 
 at that period. 
 
 Hoping to preserve the part of the country in which 
 he resided from continuing their career of murder and 
 robbery, on Sunday, the 25th of March, my father 
 attended at the chapel of Mageny Bridge, and, after the 
 mass had been celebrated, he ascended the steps of the 
 altar, and, by the permission of the priest, harangued 
 the congregation, representing the heinousness of the 
 crimes that were everywhere perpetrated, and the mise- 
 ries they must inevitably bring upon themselves and 
 their families. He then took up a tone of authority, 
 and assured them that those who seduced them, and led 
 them to such scenes, were a mere set of idle vagabonds, 
 who were a disgrace to the country, and that he him- 
 self would aid in prosecuting and bringing such fellows 
 to justice, whenever he could discover them. His ha- 
 rangue seemed to have some effect upon the congrega- 
 tion, and some of the plundered property was restored 
 on the ensuing night, particularly that of Captain 
 Beaver ; but even at the chapel-door, as he was going- 
 out, his own life was openly threatened, and he was 
 plainly told he should assuredly be murdered, if he 
 continued to oppose the orders of the committees. 
 
 These and other circumstances were considered by 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 219 
 
 government as proofs of his possessing an undue in- 
 fluence ; and the very persons whose goods were re- 
 stored considered him, not as an individual actuated 
 by worthy motives, but as the head of a gang, influenc- 
 ing his subaltern plunderers. So decided Avas this de- 
 scription of feeling throughout Ireland, that on the 
 trials by courts-martial, during and subsequent to the 
 heat of the rebellion, the successful display of humanity 
 by a person accused was very frequently urged, and 
 with success, as a proof of guilt. Whoever could be 
 proved to have saved a Royalist from assassination, his 
 house from being burned, or his property from plunder, 
 was considered as having undue influence among the 
 people, and was consequently set down as a rebel com- 
 mander. When the rebel chief Keugh was brought 
 to trial at Wexford, where at great peril of his own 
 life he had preserved that of the Earl of Kingston, his 
 protection and kindness to that nobleman, who was 
 a witness for the prosecution, were adduced as un- 
 doubted proofs of his guilt, to the great scandal of 
 many persons in court. When Keugh was found 
 guilty, and sentenced to be hanged, a gentleman in the 
 court exclaimed, " Well, I thank my God that no per- 
 son can prove me guilty of saving the life or property 
 of any one." 
 
 These very circumstances, which raised the suspicions 
 of government, caused my father to be reported through 
 the United Irish committees as one counteracting their 
 measures, and disaffected to their cause, insonuich as to 
 occasion John IM'Can, the provincial secretary, on his 
 
220 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS, A.D. 
 
 first arrival in Dublin, to refuse to converse with liim 
 until he had produced his credentials from the county 
 to counteract the impressions he had received through 
 the committees to his prejudice, before he had any idea 
 of hostility to the United Irishmen. 
 
 Government had also strong suspicions that he was 
 privy to Lord Edward's escape and concealment ; but 
 the United Irishmen made the first attack on him. 
 
 On the 16th of April he was occupied in walling 
 up a closet, which Avas made in the thickness of the 
 Avail of his common sitting-room, and Avhich had evi- 
 dently been originally intended as a secure place for 
 depositing valuables. The entire room Avas ncAvly 
 papered, in order the l)etter to conceal the closet, in 
 Avhich he had deposited his family plate, to the value 
 of about 1000/., together Avitli 3500 guineas in gold, 
 Avhich had been unexpectedly paid to him a few days 
 before, and other valuables. While thus occupied, in 
 company Avith his cousin, Mr. Thomas Dunn, of Lein- 
 ster Lodge, Avho alone Avas privy to the concealment, 
 the county delegate belonging to the district of Narrah 
 and Rheban, accompanied by another man AAdiom he 
 did not knoAv, called on him and gave him notice, as 
 if he Avas still a member of the county committee, to 
 meet that committee at Bell's public-house on the 
 Curragh of Kildare, on the foUoAving day. Tiiis he of 
 course refused to do, as he had formally AvithdraAvn 
 from the committee, and Avould not renew a connexion 
 he had just so happily got rid of. He reminded them 
 that he had joined the society in that county at Lord 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. '221 
 
 Edward's solicitation, and merely to occupy his Lord- 
 ship's post until his return ; Imt, as he no longer held 
 any situation among them, his presence could no longer 
 be of use on Lord Edward's account ; and he added 
 that he had retired to his former private station, 
 which he would not again quit on any account. They 
 went away sulky and discontented, and, from what my 
 father afterwards learned, had not his cousin, Thomas 
 Dunn, been with him, there is no doubt they would 
 then have attempted his life. But the matter was the 
 same evening explained to him by a Mr. Kinselah, who 
 called on him for that purpose, and told him that one 
 of the brothers Sheares, who, on the arrests of the 
 12th of March, had assumed the direction of the con- 
 spiracy in Dublin, had arrived at Dr. Esmund's house, 
 near Naas, and, having called a private meeting of some 
 of the county delegates, had informed them officially, 
 in the name of the directory, that my father was the 
 man who had caused the arrests of the 12th of JMarch, 
 upon which they resolved that he should be summoned 
 to attend them the next day at Bell's, and there be 
 put to death, unless he proved l)eyond all doubt that 
 he was innocent of the charge. Tiie fear of offending 
 his family and connexions prevented them from assas- 
 sinating him at once on the first communication. Kin- 
 selah was himself one of the county committee, and 
 was present at this meeting. He was a farmer of some 
 importance, and rented all his land under my father's 
 relatives. Matthew Kennaa called on my father next 
 morning, and urged him to ride over to the meeting 
 
222 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D, 
 
 witli him. My father of course refused ; and the con- 
 sequence was, that one Murphy, a butcher, residing 
 at Naas, and Kennaa, received orders to shoot him, and 
 undertook the task. At about seven o'clock in the 
 morning of the 18th of April he was superintending 
 the sowing with oats of an upland called Ballylian, a 
 piece of land which adjoined the high-road leading 
 from Kilkea to Naas. The two assassins rode up to 
 the gate. Kennaa alighted and entered the field, 
 leaving Murphy in the care of the horses. From what 
 had previously passed, as well as from a thorough 
 knowledge of the United Irishmen, my father was sus- 
 picious and well armed. He observed that Kennaa 
 seemed much confused, and was fumbling in his breast 
 as he approached ; he also remarked that he did not 
 take his hat off to him as usual : my father therefore 
 stepped up quickly to him and said, " What mischief 
 are you after now, Kennaa ?" and, putting his hand at 
 the same time upon his breast, he felt a pistol. My 
 father was at that day a very athletic powerful man, 
 whom few individuals could have overcome in a des- 
 perate struggle. Kennaa trembled exceedingly, and 
 made no resistance to his taking the pistol, and, while 
 he stammered out something about respect and attach- 
 ment to my father's person and family, he acknowledged 
 that he came for the purpose of shooting him, in con- 
 sequence of orders to that effect from his superiors. 
 
 Having escaped the danger, it was not my father's 
 interest to have his former connexions with the party 
 known; he therefore suffered Kennaa to depart. Mean- 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 223 
 
 while, IMurphy, seeing that the attempt had failed, 
 turned Kennaa's horse loose upon the road and made off". 
 
 There were at least twenty workpeople dispersed 
 over the fiekl, where five ploughs were at work at 
 the time. Kennaa was a stout young man, about three- 
 and-twenty years of age, son to a respectable farmer, 
 who was tenant to the Duke of Leinster, residing 
 about four or five miles from Kilkea. 
 
 This second attempt of the United Irishmen to mur- 
 der my father was only the prelude to the persecutions 
 he was to undergo. It was now the turn of the go- 
 vernment party to attack him : and the treatment he 
 received at their hands is a sufficient answer to all who 
 may have accused or suspected him of having been 
 their agent. 
 
 The suspicions which, as I before said, he lay under, 
 caused him to be particularly fixed up as a fit subject 
 for a military visit. It was reported, among those who 
 called themselves exclusively loyal subjects, that Lord 
 Edward was concealed at Kilkea, that my father was 
 a chief leader among the United Irishmen, that Kilkea 
 Castle was a great depot of arms and ammunition, and 
 that he was repairing the old fortifications, as it was to 
 be the head-quarters and principal depot of the rebels in 
 Kildare, Avhen the expected insurrection should take 
 place. A clock which he had placed in one of the 
 towers was magnified into an enormous bell, on whicli 
 the tocsin was to be sounded to call the country Jo 
 arms. Under these impressions Colonel Campbell, 
 Avho commanded the Athy district under Sir Ralph 
 
224 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 Abercrombie, Avhose head-quarters were at Kildare, 
 sent a troop of the 9th dragoons and a company of the 
 Cork militia, the whole amounting to two hundred 
 men and eighty horses, exclusive of servants and fol- 
 lowers, to live at Kilkea at free quarters. 
 
 Having finished all his preparations for his de- 
 parture, my father had invited his grandfather, his 
 uncles, and other rehatives and friends, to the number 
 of about twenty persons, to a farewell dinner on the 
 20tli of April, but about eleven o'clock Captain 
 Erskine of the 9th dragoons, accompanied by Cornet 
 Witherington of the same regiment and Captain Neal of 
 the Cork militia, and three dragoons, with drawn 
 swords and pistols, entered the great hall, where my 
 father met them and demanded their business. Erskine, 
 who seemed much agitated and alarmed, said he came 
 to take possession of the castle, and to place my father 
 in arrest. My father required to see his authority. 
 He pointed to the officers and soldiers who accompanied 
 him, and said, if that was not sufficient he might look 
 out on the road at the rest of his troops then advancing, 
 followed by a strong body of infantry. 
 
 This man and all those ^vith him seemed to be 
 labouring under considerable fear, although no one 
 appeared but my father and a couple of nurse-maids. 
 My father replied that he must submit to force for 
 the moment, but that it should afterwards be seen how 
 he could justify himself. 
 
 Captain Erskine had long been notorious throughout 
 the country for the harsh manner in which he executed 
 
798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 225 
 
 his duties. The fate of this gentleman was remark- 
 able. On the first morning of the insurrection, (the 
 24th of May,) the rebels to the number of three 
 hundred, took post in the burial-ground of the old 
 church at Kilcullen bridge. General Dundas with his 
 cavalry came upon them at seven o'clock in the morn- 
 ing, and without waiting for his infantry, ordered a 
 charge over the little wall into the churchyard. 
 Captains Erskine and Cooks gallantly led their troops 
 to the assault, but were soon repulsed, leaving Captain 
 Cooks and twenty men dead, and Captain Erskine and 
 ten men badly wounded in the churchyard. General 
 Dundas then fell back on his infantry. Erskine's 
 horse had stumbled over a tomb -stone, by which the 
 rider was thrown and was stunned, and his leg broken 
 by the fall. As he came to his senses he was recog- 
 nised by an old beggar-woman who was stripping the 
 dead. She loaded him with abuse and reproaches, 
 and taking an old clasped knife from her pocket, she 
 destroyed him by repeated stabs, and with her compa- 
 nions treated his remains with barbarous indignity. 
 
 The remainder of Captain Erskine's forces soon 
 arrived at Kilkea, completely surrounding the castle ; 
 and, having placed two dragoons to guard my father. 
 Captain Erskine with the other officers, and eight or 
 ten men, proceeded to the vaults which were of great 
 extent, as was frequently the case in these ancient 
 feudal castles, containing not only wine cellars of all 
 kinds, but stabling for forty horses, many of which 
 were constructed in the great ancient kitchen and 
 
 VOL. I. Q 
 
226 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 its appurtenances. The soldiers never condescended 
 to ask for the key of any door ; all Avere forced 
 open. They remained in these vaults until past three 
 o'clock, astonished that they could not find any thing 
 improper, for the simple reason that they did not con- 
 tain any thing but what should naturally be deposited 
 there. They preserved the wines and malt li(|uor, but 
 they beat in the heads of some casks of spirits, and let 
 the liquor run about the floor, which they said was 
 done to prevent the men from getting drunk during 
 their stay. 
 
 The cook had fled, but they pursued and brought her 
 back, forcing her to continue preparingthe dinner, which 
 my father had ordered for his friends, and of which 
 these robbers took possession. Captain Erskine placed 
 himself at the head of the table, and insolently offered 
 my father a seat at the side, as if he were master, and 
 my father a mere guest ; but after some very sharp 
 words had passed, in which my father freely explained 
 his opinion of the conduct of Erskine and his com- 
 panions, he was allowed to retire to his bed- room, 
 which was first minutely examined, and a sentinel 
 placed outside the door. When it became known to 
 Colonel Campbell that Cornet Witherington had been 
 sent to Kilkea, he was immediately replaced by Cornet 
 Love of the same regiment, a man notorious for his 
 violent and brutal conduct. 
 
 After dinner a general search began all through the 
 castle to discover Lord Edward, and the great depot of 
 arms and ammunition. My father assured Erskine on 
 
798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 227 
 
 his honour that Lord Edward was not in the castle, 
 and that he did not know where he was. He also 
 assured him there was no depot of any kind in the 
 castle; that he had not, nor ever had, any sort of 
 pike or other weapon of the kind, on his premises, 
 either in or out of doors ; that he possessed but one 
 fowling-piece, one case of duelling, and one case of large 
 pocket-pistols, which he used as holster pistols in his 
 capacity of yeoman, and about two pounds of powder, 
 the whole of which were in the public breakfast-parlour, 
 open to all the world. 
 
 Notwithstanding these assurances, they tore up the 
 flooring from three complete stories of the castle^ the 
 whole of which had been recently laid down at great 
 expense. They tore down the old oak wainscoting, 
 not a vestige of which remained throughout the whole 
 castle. They next broke the walls in various places, 
 and tore off the paper and canvass of such as were not 
 wainscoted. They broke up the stairs, and in a few 
 hours they rendered the interior of the castle a mere 
 ruin, preserving only my father's bed-room, which, 
 however, underwent a very severe investigation, having 
 the walls, cupboards, ceilings, and floors, pierced in 
 many places. They also preserved their OAvn sitting- 
 room, which they found necessary for their personal 
 comfort : yet in that room was the only concealment 
 that had been made in the castle, being the closet 
 which my father had walled up, and which, if found, 
 did not contain anything but money, some papers, and 
 the old family plate. After the Rebellion, my father's 
 
 q2 
 
228 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 cousin, Mr. Thomas Dunn, of Leinster Lodge, who 
 had aided him in closing it, opened it, and transmitted 
 the valuables it contained to him in Dublin. 
 
 Captain Erskine, without ceremony, took possession 
 of everything in and about the castle. There were 
 twelve beds for visitors, exclusive of those used by 
 the family, some of whom being absent with my 
 mother, left three or four more vacant. The officers 
 and non-commissioned officers occupied these beds : 
 straw was laid down for the men. Forty horses were 
 placed in the vaults, the others were accommodated in 
 the outhouses. The contents of the haggart, granary, 
 and barn, as well as the sheep, cattle, pigs, and poultry, 
 were all seized for the use of these marauders; 
 even the milch cows and labouring oxen were killed 
 for their food, which was distributed in the most profuse 
 and wasteful manner. Michael Byrne, my father's 
 steward, proved his delivery of cattle, sheep, and 
 threshed corn, to the value of 630/. sterling, independ- 
 ent of corn in the straw ; and also independent 
 of hay, pigs, poultry, bacon, flour, dried and salted 
 provisions, liquors, groceries, and wine, none of which 
 articles were at all included in the receipts taken by 
 Byrne. The wine was every morning and evening 
 brought in buckets to the lawn in front of the castle, 
 and a pint was there measured out to every soldier, 
 attendant, and follower of this party. Beer was drunk 
 ad libitum. The friends and acquaintances of the 
 officers, their wives and children, and the wives and 
 trulls of the soldiers, came daily from Athy to see the 
 castle as a party of pleasure, where every one 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 229 
 
 was feasted at my father's expense. If they did 
 not find all they wished for at the castle, they sent out 
 foraging parties through all the neighbourhood, seizing 
 what they pleased. As there was not a sufficiency of 
 oats for their cattle, they mixed with it wheat, which 
 Avas threshed, and when no more threshed grain re- 
 mained, they placed the wheat in the sheaf before their 
 horses, by which means full as much grain was lost in 
 the litter as was eaten. They dug up all the frames in 
 the garden, they hacked and carved dates and names on 
 the mahogany dining-tables, broke up all the furniture, 
 and, from mere wantonness, smashed every pier glass in 
 the castle, of which ten or twelve were of very large 
 dimensions ; cut out the strings, split the sounding- 
 boards, and hacked the outside of three piano-fortes. 
 A pedal harp, which was then a rare instrument, and 
 which cost one hundred guineas, exclusive of the car- 
 riage, case, and expenses from London, where it had 
 been made, Avas a particular object of their wrath, as 
 the harp was the symbol of Ireland, and the harp with- 
 out a crown was the impression on Napper Tandy's 
 United Volunteers' buttons. This, as well as some 
 other musical instruments, totally disappeared. They 
 cut the paintings from their frames, and used them as 
 targets to fire at, or cut them in pieces with their 
 sabres in the frames. Some of these paintings were of 
 great value, having been a present from Sir Joshua 
 Reynolds to my grandfather, who, proud of this gift, 
 had been at some expense in procuring a few others of 
 good masters, to make up a little collection, to which 
 
230 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 my father added three or four. The whole collection 
 was destroyed. They broke down the sluices of the 
 river Greece, which ran through the estate, and so let 
 the water inundate about seventy acres of meadow 
 land, ruining it for that season, and by thus letting off 
 the water they emptied the great pond which supplied 
 the manor mill, to the great distress of all the neigh- 
 bourhood. The pretence for this act was to lower the 
 bed of the river, and empty the mill-pond, that they 
 might see if pikes or other weapons were concealed 
 there. The wives and servants of the officers, as well 
 as the soldiers' wives and followers, kept up a constant 
 petty pillage, carrying off linen, blankets, quilts, books, 
 china, and everything that was portable beyond the 
 precincts of my father's bed-room, where, as yet all 
 was preserved by his living entirely in it. 
 
 It has been my father's lot since then, to witness the 
 ravages of war in the Peninsula, where Spaniards, 
 French, Portuguese, and English, with their German 
 auxiliaries, men trained to rapine, alternately plundered 
 and devastated the country, but in all that disorder, of 
 which he was an eye-witness during six years, he has 
 frequently assured me that he never saAV such cool- 
 blooded, wanton, useless destruction, as was committed 
 by Captain Erskine and his companions at Kilkea, 
 and over the surrounding country. It was Croppy pro- 
 perty, and that was quite sufficient in their eyes to 
 make destruction a virtue. My father's steward, 
 William Byrne, was flogged and tortured to make him 
 discover the supposed depot of arms. Lieutenant Love 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 231 
 
 of the ninth dragoons, son of the quarter-master of the 
 same regiment, being a tall man, tied his silk sash 
 about Byrne's neck, and hung him over his shoulders, 
 while another officer flogged him until he became in- 
 sensible. Similar acts acquired for Mr. Love the 
 soubriquet of the " walking gallovi^s." 
 
 The troops quitted Kilkea upon the 29th ; but soon 
 after my father's final arrest, the state of the country, as 
 well as other circumstances, indicated an immediate in- 
 surrection, and Kilkea Castle was occupied by troops, 
 and converted into a regular garrison. It was attacked 
 by the insurgents during the Rebellion, but they could 
 not make any impression on it. The soldiers' wives, a 
 few of the neighbouring petty gentry and farmers' 
 families claimed protection, and were allowed to remove 
 into the castle with their families, and reside their 
 during the troubles. Myrtil Yates, the daughter of 
 Mr. Yates, of Moone, who, having been married, Avas, 
 on account of her irregularities, living apart from her 
 husband, obtained possession of my mother's bed-room, 
 the contents of which she seemed to fancy were her 
 own: books, linen, wearing apparel, my mother's 
 trinkets, &c., all were appropriated and carried away. 
 The castle was occupied by about four hundred persons 
 during two months. All that had escaped the first visit 
 of the troops was now destroyed, burned as fuel, or 
 carried away. 
 
 When Captain Erskine paid his first visit to this fine 
 ancient baronial seat of the Fitzgeralds, it had been 
 newly roofed, floored, ceiled, painted, and repaired by 
 
232 LIFE OF THOMAS EE'VNOLDS. A.D 
 
 my father, from top to bottom, at an expense exceeding 
 2500/. It was well furnislied, making twelve beds for 
 visitors, exclusive of those used by the family. There 
 was a good small modern library, and a valuable collec- 
 tion of paintings by some of the first masters. The 
 carpets, glasses, and hangings Avere all of the best kind, 
 and most abundant. In the music-room, which had 
 been the ancient baron's hall, were a grand piano, a 
 square piano, and a very fine harpsicord, a pedal harp, 
 then a rare and expensive instrument in Ireland, a bass 
 violin, and other musical instruments. The butler's 
 pantry and kitchen were all abundantly provided. The 
 stock in the cellars, stores, granary, and poultry-yard 
 were such as became the abundant establishment of a 
 gentleman, and had cost very dear, as my father had 
 been obliged to purchase the whole, not having as yet 
 been long enough in the place to raise them from his 
 own lands. He occupied three hundred and fifty acres, 
 Avhich Avere stocked and cropped as they ought to be. 
 
 After the troubles had entirely ceased, an agent Avas 
 sent from Dublin to collect Avhatever remained on the 
 lands and in the castle, and to sell the Avhole by auction. 
 The Earl of Aldborough Avas then at his seat at Belem, 
 Avhich adjoined to Kilkea. His lordship attended the 
 sale in the hope of purchasing some of the paintings, 
 but none remained. His lordship, as a magistrate, cer- 
 tified the fact of the sale, &c.,and after all the expenses 
 Avere paid, my father received for the residue of the 
 entire property, the sum of 27/., Irish currency ! The 
 castle remained an uninhabitable ruin for many years. 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 233 
 
 Such was a part of the treatment my father received 
 from the government. The return of his losses on this 
 occasion, together with all necessary vouchers, and 
 certificates conformably to the terms of the act for in- 
 demnifying suffering LoyaHsts, was duly delivered to 
 the Secretary of State, at his own particular desire, and 
 amounted to 12,760/. ; a sum which would not have 
 replaced the property lost by one-half, because the 
 magistrates only certified for the value of articles if sold, 
 not for what it would cost to ]-eplace them, and also 
 because there were very many items which could not 
 be enumerated, and consequently were not valued at all. 
 
234 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Mr. Reynolds sets out for Dublin— Another attempt to assassinate him— 
 he returns to Kilkea— Is arrested by Colonel Campbell, on informa- 
 tions laid against him by the United Irishmen— Unworthy conduct 
 of Major Witherington— Mr. Reynolds is; sent to Dublin— Expe- 
 ditious proceedings of Courts Martial— Mr. Reynolds joins the 
 Government — Remarks on his conduct— Agreement made by him, 
 as well on his own behalf, as on behalf of the United Irishmen- 
 Some proofs that Mr. Reynolds did not stipulate for, nor receive any 
 rewards from Government— Extent of his losses— Circumstances 
 which prove that he well knew he could have had any thing he chose 
 to demand. 
 
 1798. 
 
 After the departure of Erskine on the 29th of April, 
 my father made out the best account lie could on the 
 moment, and on the 3rd IMay he set off for Dublin, with 
 the intention of seeking redress. He was a member of 
 a yeomanry corps commanded by the Duke of Leinster, 
 and under his Grace, by my grand-uncle Thomas Fitz- 
 gerald, called the Athy Leinster Cavalry. He rode in 
 his uniform, as did most persons at that period, that 
 dress being a sort of passport Avith the military, while it 
 enabled a man to go armed against the attacks of the 
 united banditti. He overtook IMr. Wheeler Barrington 
 on the road, who Avas also going to Duldin. That gen- 
 tleman was brother to that Sir Jonah Barrington whose 
 name has been rendered sufficiently notorious by the 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 235 
 
 proceedings in Parliament relative to his conduct while 
 holding the ofl&ce of Judge of the Admiralty in Ireland, 
 from the years 1805 to 1810.* 
 
 Mr. Wheeler Barrington and my father rode forward 
 together, until having passed through the town of Naas 
 ahout a quarter of a mile, they met a Mr. Taylor, an 
 attorney, who resided in Athy, and who was also a 
 member of the Leinster Cavalry. He was returning 
 from Dublin, where he had been with a dispatch ; he 
 expressed surprise and pleasure at seeing my father, 
 but he told him he must not go forward, as the road a 
 little further on was beset with ruffians, waiting his 
 coming, who made no secret of their intention to destroy 
 him ; and he assured my father it was the same in 
 Dublin, where his supposed connexion with Govern- 
 ment formed the common conversation among the 
 United Irishmen and their friends, who circulated a 
 thousand infamous reports respecting him. While in 
 Dublin Mr. Taylor had visited the Romish nunnery in 
 King Street : even there the recluses of that community 
 talked of nothing else : they exultingly affirmed that he 
 had already been arrested by the garrison of Athy, and 
 Avould be executed before Mr. Taylor got back to that 
 town. Among the most violent of these charitable ladies 
 were two of my father's aunts, Mrs. Molloy and Miss 
 Fitzgerald, whom I have already noticed, and of whom 
 I shall have more to say presently. This intelligence 
 caused my father to return to Naas, where JMr. Taylor 
 
 * For particulars see the Courier newspaper of the 7th and 24th of 
 May, 1830. 
 
236 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 dined with him at Macdonnel's Inn, at which place 
 his intelligence as to the ro.ad being occupied by the 
 conspirators, and their disposition towards him was 
 confirmed, and, as it began to grow late, he remained 
 at the inn for that night. Mr. Taylor proceeded for 
 Athy : his size and uniform caused him to resemble 
 my father, and the ruffians knowing that my father 
 had returned into Naas, thought he was going 
 back to Kilkea, and placed a party to intercept 
 him outside the town, at the point where the road 
 to Kilkea branches oj6f from that leading to Athy. 
 These fellows mistook IMr. Taylor for my father, 
 knocked him off his horse, and stuck a pike into his 
 thigh : fortunately one of them recognised him Avhen he 
 was on the ground, and his life was saved. Though 
 badly wounded they would not suffer him to return into 
 Naas, so that his misfortunes did not come to my father's 
 knoAvledge for many months. 
 
 During some years after the Rebellion, my father re- 
 ceived occasional letters from IMr. Taylor, by which he 
 learned that the resentment and persecution of those 
 who had been United Irishmen, and their partisans, 
 against him, for having caused my father to return to 
 Naas, was such as very materially to injure him in his 
 profession. The rancorous enmity of these men never 
 ceases : rapine, destruction, and revenge are, Avith them, 
 appetites never to be satisfied. 
 
 The assemblage of these men could not be long un- 
 known to the military. Troops were sent out from the 
 garrison, and the roads were scoured in every direction. 
 
 f 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 237 
 
 Meanwhile my father's situation was very precarious : 
 MacdonneJ, in whose house he remained, was, like all 
 persons of his class, a sort of United man, and was 
 strongly urged by Michael Reynolds and others, to 
 allow a party to enter his house and murder my father 
 durine- the niorht. Macdonnel's own ruin must have 
 ensued had he done so : he was a prudent and a humane 
 man ; he went to my father and told him what Avas 
 going on. The room he occupied in the inn looked on 
 the street, and was directly fronting a guard-room of 
 the military ; so that being warned of the danger, he 
 fastened the door, and being armed, he could have 
 resisted, without difficulty, while he gave the alarm from 
 his window. Thus the time passed until day-break, 
 when, knowing that the military were still out, and 
 that consequently the roads were safe, he mounted his 
 horse, and returned on the 4th of May to Kilkea, where 
 he could defy the assassins, unless he allowed himself 
 to be taken unarmed and by surprise. 
 
 At this period the disturbed state of the country 
 rendered all communication difficult and precarious. 
 Expresses were frequently waylaid, robbed, and some- 
 times murdered on the roads at noon-day. The military 
 had authority to act independently of the civil power, 
 and courts-martial in the country towns and out-quar- 
 ters, executed their sentences in a most summary man- 
 ner, without appeal to Dublin. Men were frequently 
 arrested, tried, and executed by these military tribunals 
 within the space of two or three hours. In many places 
 they were permanently sitting, and though perhaps 
 
238 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 composed of very honourable men, yet assuredly they 
 knew nothing of law, and having very rarely the assist- 
 ance of a judge-advocate, too frequently decided accord- 
 ing to the excitement of the moment. The speed with 
 which their decrees were executed unfortunately pre- 
 vented revision. Stationed throughout the country to 
 prevent disorder, they were in perpetual war with the 
 inhahitants, and thus, their passions in a continual 
 state of excitement, they could not be very impartial 
 judges. An officer of the 9th dragoons flogged my 
 father's steward, while Cornet Love held him on his 
 back, as I have already related. A noble lord, who 
 also enjoyed high military rank, not only superintended 
 the flogging of the Croppies, catechising them while 
 under the lash, but is said to have flung salt on the 
 wounds of the sufferers to increase their torture. Could 
 such men be considered as fit to be on a court-martial 
 to decide on the lives of those very men, whom they thus 
 hunted and tormented ? Yet of these, and of such as 
 these men were those courts-martial composed in 1798 ; 
 and before these individual officers, who had thus plun- 
 dered his property, and barbarously ill used his steward, 
 my father was now to be dragged and tried for his life, 
 at the instigation of the United Irishmen ! 
 
 Their attempts to assassinate him having all failed, 
 the United Irishmen resolved to adopt another course. 
 Five of the men who had chosen him for their colonel, 
 viz., — Fairlay, Brannox, Pender, and two brothers 
 named Germain, — were arrested and lodged in Athy 
 gaol by Colonel Campbell on some charge connected 
 
 I 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 239 
 
 with the United Irish business. The County Com- 
 mittee, whose duty it was to advise and assist such of 
 their associates as fell under the lash of the authorities, 
 ordered these five men to make their peace by accusing 
 my father, in expectation that, being tried by a court- 
 martial, he would fall a victim to military execution, 
 although he had escaped assassination : and this mea- 
 sure of theirs it was that first brought my father into 
 direct communication with the administration. In 
 obedience to those commands these five men deposed 
 before Colonel Campbell that my father was a prin- 
 cipal leader of the United Irishmen, and their imme- 
 diate chief or colonel. In consequence of these depo- 
 sitions Colonel Campbell on the 5th of May sent a 
 party of dragoons to arrest him at Kilkea. On that 
 morning, expecting letters from Dublin, my father 
 had mounted a little Arabian horse belonging to my 
 mother, and had ridden to the post-office at Castle 
 Dermot about a mile from Kilkea Castle, on the side 
 opposite to that on which the toAvn of Athy was situ- 
 ated, from whence a party of the 9th dragoons were 
 detached to arrest him. The dragoons arrived at 
 Kilkea soon after he had left it, and Sergeant Mackay 
 and a few troopers were sent after him to Castle 
 Dermot, where they found him reading his letters at 
 the door of the post-office. They rode up to him, and 
 with much civility said they had orders to conduct 
 him to Athy. He accordingly returned with them to 
 Kilkea, where he delivered his keys to his steward, 
 William Byrne, with a note for his cousin, Thomas 
 
240 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 Dunn of Leinster Lodge, requesting him to take 
 charge of everything at Kilkea, particularly of a large 
 sum in gold, which he already knew where to find. 
 He then put about 300/. which he had in bank notes, 
 into his pocket, and ordered the two nurses and the 
 cook to go with my brother and sister to Kilmead, the 
 house of his grandfather Fitzgerald, which was about 
 three miles off. The military behaved during all this 
 time with the greatest politeness and consideration : 
 they did not hurry him in the least, nor did they 
 attempt to interfere, or even to listen to his conversa- 
 tion with his servants, or to interrupt his arrange- 
 ments. 
 
 Such was the alarm in the country, that when my 
 brother and sister were brought to Kilmead, my 
 great-grandfather was afraid to receive them. The 
 servants therefore brought them to my father at Athy 
 gaol, who instantly ordered them to be taken up to 
 Dublin to my mother. 
 
 When these arrangements were concluded, my 
 father set off for Athy, riding beside the officer, and 
 closely followed by the troopers with swords drawn. 
 About half way between Kilkea and Athy was a large 
 field on the left side of the road, which was used as a 
 place of exercise for the yeomanry cavalry of the dis- 
 trict. In that field, about ten yards from the road, 
 was IMajor Edward Witherington on horseback, evi- 
 dently Avaiting to see my father pass by in custody. 
 Some of the soldiers who formed the escort cried 
 " Shame ! shame ! " But he had no shame : he re- 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 241 
 
 mained as long as the cavalcade was in sight, and then 
 rode off to Dublin, supposing my father would, like so 
 many others, be immediately brought to trial and exe- 
 cuted. I shall presently relate the truly fraternal 
 conduct he displayed on his arrival in Dublin. 
 
 On his arrival at Athy my father was conducted to 
 Colonel Campbell's head-quarters, to be tried by the 
 court-martial then sitting, and, if found guilty, of 
 which there could be little doubt, on the evidences of 
 the five men I have mentioned, to be executed imme- 
 diately. Thus in a few hours was he to perish as a 
 rebel and a traitor to his king and country, through 
 the machinations of those very men with whom he 
 was accused of associating, and who at the same hour 
 were loading his name Avith calumnies to justify their 
 own treachery. This was the event announced four 
 days previously to Mr. Taylor by the religious recluses 
 of King-street Convent in Dublin, as having already 
 happened. Did they prophesy it ? or did they know 
 of the intention of their friends to betray him ? It was 
 very extraordinary that this same anticipated report 
 should have spread so generally that it actually 
 reached my mother's ears in her sick-room in Dublin, 
 and she remained tormented with anxiety for two 
 days, until at length she received a letter from my 
 father assuring her of his safety. He wrote that letter 
 on the 6th from Athy gaol, purposely to prevent her 
 being alarmed. She received it early on the morning 
 of the 7th. One of the sons of Sir Samuel Broad- 
 street soon after called to see her, and she showed 
 
 VOL. I. R 
 
242 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 him the letter. " I rejoice to see it," said he, " for a 
 United Irish fellow who lives near my mother at 
 Booterstown," (which place is three miles beyond 
 Dublin,) " had greatly alarmed us all with the report 
 of your husljand's arrest, and, in fact, I came here pur- 
 posely to inquire about him." 
 
 My mother lodged within a few doors of her sister, 
 Mrs. Heavyside, and on the evening of the same day 
 she went to take tea with her, when Edward Wither- 
 ington unexpectedly arrived ; and, as he had come 
 direct from Athy, my mother naturally asked him if 
 he had any news, or if he had seen my father in the 
 country. "Oh, yes,'' said he ; "and you will know it 
 to-morrow." " What is it ? for God's sake tell me!" 
 said my mother. " No, no," replied he, " you'll hear 
 enough to-morrow ;" and nothing could induce him to 
 give any explanation other than to say that it was 
 bad enough, and she would know it all on the morrow. 
 
 This w^s the first time my mother had ventured out 
 since her confinement; and she became so agitated, 
 that one of Mr. Heavyside 's brothers who was present 
 gave her his arm, and she left the house on foot, and 
 passed some hours in going from one friend's house to 
 another, seeking intelligence, but in vain. No one 
 knew anything of what had passed, and she returned 
 home in a sad state of incertitude and apprehension. 
 Had Major Witherington pretended ignorance, or had 
 he told her all he knew, it Avould have been much 
 better ; but he fully expected to hear of my father's 
 death next day, and his wicked mind enjoyed the misery 
 he had caused his sister to feel. 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 243 
 
 Meantime Colonel Campbell, with great difficulty, 
 had agreed to delay proceedings for a few hours. My 
 father's representation, and perhaps the advice of his 
 brother-officers, induced him to send to Dublin for 
 instructions. They probably represented to Colonel 
 Campbell that so hasty a proceeding against a gentle- 
 man in my father's sphere of life, so very near the seat 
 of government, while no necessity for such haste existed, 
 might draw on himself a very heavy responsibility, 
 which might be avoided by sending an orderly to 
 Dublin. 
 
 By this orderly, who conveyed Colonel Campbell's 
 despatch to town, my father sent a note to Mr. Cope, 
 who instantly repaired to the castle of Dublin, and 
 informed the secretary, for the first time, that it was 
 my father who had enabled him to assist government. 
 The consequence was an order to Colonel Campbell to 
 deliver him up to a king's messenger, who was sent to 
 Athy for that purpose, and to provide a strong escort 
 to convey him as a state prisoner to Dublin. 
 
 In order to show how well grounded were the hopes 
 of the United Irishmen that he would perish by order 
 of the military tribunal, into whose hands they now 
 thrust him, and the imminent peril he Avas in, from the 
 cruel and unfeeling animosity of those soldier-judges 
 towards all whom they considered as the popular party, 
 I shall here recount one or two of the proceedings of 
 this same military corps, then forming the garrison and 
 court-martial of the Athy district. 
 
 James Deegan, a tailor, desirous of quitting the town, 
 
 r2 
 
244 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 perhaps from fear, or conscious of having cause to fear, 
 and not being able to procure a pass, dressed himself in 
 his wife's clothes, and at six o'clock in the morning set 
 off in a returning market-cart. The guard at the turn- 
 pike-gate saw through his disguise, arrested and con- 
 ducted him to the prevot-chamber of the permanent court- 
 martial. He was led before the court at eight o'clock, 
 found guilty of disguising himself, and before nine he 
 was hanged in his female attire : no crime was at- 
 tempted to be proved but the fact of his disguise. 
 
 Sir Edward Crosbie, a gentleman of rank and 
 fortune, had, from the mildness of his disposition, and 
 his kind consideration for the labouring classes around 
 him, greatly concihated their affections. He had also 
 as a magistrate disapproved of, and frequently opposed, 
 the more harsh and coercive measures of his brother 
 magistrates. He had given way to that tide of theoretic 
 politics, which very many speculative men had not 
 sufficient judgment to correct, or duplicity to conceal, 
 although they might utterly abhor the consequences of 
 any attempt to reduce such theories into practice by 
 force of arms ; their effect on Sir Edward was to render 
 him an anti-ministerialist. These circumstances made 
 him be looked upon by government with an eye of 
 suspicion, and considered by the military as a rebel, 
 while the lower classes looked to him as a friend and 
 protector. When the Rebellion broke out, the people 
 around him arose like their neighbours ; but, having no 
 leader, they thought they could not do better than 
 apply to their friend and benefactor. They therefore 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 245 
 
 assembled, to the number of about 1500 men, on his 
 lawn at two o'clock in the morning of the 25th of May, 
 and demanded that he should head them : but neither 
 threats nor entreaties had any effect on him ; he abso- 
 lutely refused to accompany, to counsel, to aid, or abet 
 them in any manner. Finding that they could not 
 succeed, they chose one Heydon as their leader, and 
 proceeded directly to attack the town of Carlow, not 
 two miles distant, from whence they were repulsed Avith 
 great slaughter. This Heydon was a yeoman of Sir 
 Charles Burton's troop, which formed part of the 
 garrison of Carlow. On finding that those whom he 
 had conducted into the town were totally defeated, he 
 abandoned them, threw himself into the ranks of his 
 corps, and joined in the slaughter of his recent followers. 
 He did not, however, escape the fate he merited. He 
 was seized, tried, and hanged immediately after the 
 repulse. Sir Edward Crosbie remained quietly at home, 
 not taking the slightest part one way or the other. 
 This neutrality was his crime ; he was quickly arrested 
 by order of Colonel Mahon of the 9th dragoons, 
 who then commanded in Carlow, and brought before a 
 court-martial formed of Captain Martin, three lieu- 
 tenants, and one cornet, all of the 9th dragoons, and 
 seven lieutenants and ensigns of the militia then in the 
 place. They had no judge-advocate, nor any persons 
 to guide their proceedings. It was afterwards affirmed 
 on oath that one George Lucas, Mary Hutchinson, and 
 several other Protestant loyalists, presented themselves 
 as witnesses in his favour, but were prevented, by mili- 
 tary force, from entering the court, although called for by 
 
246 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 the crier, and although praying to be let in. It has also 
 been affirmed on oath that certain persons named in the 
 affidavit, who were in arrest as United Irishmen, were 
 flogged, to make them give evidence against him, and 
 were promised their lives and liberty on that sole con- 
 dition. He was condemned to be hanged. Immediately 
 after the trial Lady Crosbie, with these affidavits in 
 her hand, presented herself to Colonel Mahon, as com- 
 manding officer, solemnly protesting against the 
 sentence, and demanding a delay of execution. " Good 
 God ! Madam," said he, " are you quite certain of what 
 you say ?" " I am, Sir," said she ; " here are the 
 affidavits of the persons named." Notwithstanding 
 this formal and solemn notice to Colonel Mahon, the 
 sentence Avas executed with scandalous precipitation, 
 and attended by atrocious circumstances, shocking to 
 decency, and not at all warranted by that sentence. 
 
 Lady Crosbie, desirous of clearing her husband's 
 fame, and of obtaining justice against his murderers, 
 applied for a copy of the proceedings, which was re- 
 fused her ; and the insults offered to her by the mili- 
 tary became so alarming, that these, together Avith a 
 midnight visit from Colonel Mahon and a party of his 
 dragoons, on a frivolous pretence, excited such appre- 
 hensions for her own safety, that she left the country, 
 and fled for refuge to England. A pamphlet contain- 
 ing a narrative of this trial, and the events which led 
 to it, was soon afterwards published by her friends, and 
 never was refuted. To that pamphlet I refer those 
 who desire further information on the subject. 
 
 Morice Keatinge, of Narraghmore, in the county 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 247 
 
 of Kildare, was colonel of a regiment of the line, a 
 gentleman of large fortune, and member of Parliament 
 for the county. He was a friend of the Leinster 
 family, attached to their interests, and professed similar 
 political opinions, which were purely those of the con- 
 stitutional Whig party. He of course was said, like 
 the Leinster family, to be a friend to the people, and 
 to be opposed to the Beresford family, who then guided 
 and governed the councils of the Irish executive go- 
 vernment. His seat at Narraghmore was a fine man- 
 sion, newly finished, and furnished at a vast expense. 
 His sister, a young lady of handsome person and ac- 
 complished manners, presided there, and, residing much 
 in the country, had acquired a taste for field-sports, and 
 was an excellent horsewoman. It was said, I know not 
 with what truth, that on the day on which the Rebellion 
 broke out Miss Keatinge appeared on horseback at the 
 head of a great body of rebels, accompanied by a Mr. 
 Johnstone, an apothecary, who attended her family, and 
 who resided in the village of Narraghmore, and that 
 she presented to the rebels a standard, on which was 
 embroidered some symbols and verses appropriate to 
 their views in rising. These reports, whether true or 
 false, chimed well with the prejudices and wishes of 
 those then in power in the county. However that may 
 be, Miss Keatinge remained quietly living in the bosom 
 of her family, and Mr. Johnstone was as usual attend- 
 ing to the concerns of his shop, when a body of the 
 9th dragoons, and some infantry, were sent from Athy 
 to take military possession of Colonel Keatinge's house. 
 
248 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 Curiosity led Mr. Johnstone to his shop door to see 
 these troops pass through the village ; he was directly 
 siezed, dragged out into the road, abused, and beaten. 
 He demanded to be heard, — he asked his crime, — he 
 begged for mercy, — he entreated the officers to save 
 him from the fury of their men. The officers turned 
 from him and went aside, leaving him to be disposed 
 of by the soldiers, who now formed a ring around him, 
 stabbing him with their bayonets as he ran from side 
 to side imploring compassion, until at length the un- 
 happy man fell exhausted and covered with Avounds, 
 and was then despatched by those ruffianly murderers. 
 My two uncles, Edward and Henry Witherington, 
 were of this party, which they both described as I 
 have related it, and Henry has frequently related the 
 scene with tears in his eyes. They then proceeded to 
 the mansion-house. Colonel Keatinge was absent 
 with his regiment ; his sister was at the house of her 
 uncle, Dean Keatinge, about a quarter of a mile from 
 her brother's mansion, the lower part of which was 
 entirely shut up, as was that of every house in the 
 county. No soul was in it except a IMr. Carrol, a 
 friend of the family, who had dined the previous day 
 at Dean Keatinge's, and went to pass the night in the 
 mansion, with the intention of returning to his home 
 the next day. The troops fired on the house as they 
 advanced in front. Mr. Carrol ran out through a back 
 door to escape, but they saw and shot him dead. They 
 then destroyed the mansion, and everything it con- 
 tained. The widow of Dean Keatinge visited my 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 249 
 
 father's family some years afterwards in London, and 
 very fully described the particulars of this scene of 
 death and destruction, which the actors and instigators 
 attempted to justify by asserting that a shot had been 
 fired on them as they advanced by some one in the 
 mansion. But that assertion is evidently false ; ]\Ir. 
 Carrol, the only inmate, ran out ; could it be possible 
 that one man would dare to fire on a troop of dragoon s 
 and a company of infantry ? and that too when he could 
 not suppose they intended harm to him or his property ! ! 
 
 I merely relate these facts to show the precipitancy 
 and blind fury with which the troops then acted, and 
 how very unfit they were to sit as judges of the con- 
 duct of such as were charged with being United Irish- 
 men. The officers considered themselves, and in fact 
 were, mere partisans, armed for the destruction of all 
 those who aided, or were suspected of being inclined to 
 aid, the rebels. The 9th dragoons, who principally 
 supplied the officers composing the courts-martial of the 
 Athy district, were likcAvise the chief actors in the 
 scenes 1 have described. My father's fate was certain 
 if tried by such men, and of this the county committee 
 were well aware when they ordered their five associates 
 to impeach him. 
 
 On receipt of the order from Dublin, Colonel Camp- 
 bell sent my father off for that city, under a very strong 
 escort of dragoons. There were three post-chaises : 
 the King's messenger, who had returned with the or- 
 derly, Avas with my father in one chaise ; my father's 
 
250 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 valet, and the five United Irish evidences, were in the 
 other two. Colonel Campbell was not at all aware of 
 his real position, and he sent up these men in the per- 
 suasion that they were to give evidence against him in 
 Dublin. On my father's arrival he was conducted to 
 the office of the secretary of state, where he was 
 brought before the Earl of Clare, who was then Chan- 
 cellor of Ireland, and INIr. Edward Cooke, the under- 
 secretary of state. ]\Iany regrets and apologies were 
 made for the treatment he had received ; all of which, 
 particularly the free quartering, he strongly represented. 
 They pleaded the fact of their ignorance of his real 
 position with regard to Mr. Cope, in which, case they 
 said he should never have been molested, but that he 
 was now at liberty and entitled to every protection. 
 They said, hoAvever, that they could not answer for pro- 
 tecting him from the violence of the United Irishmen, 
 to whom his immediate enlargement would be a con- 
 firmation of his having some connexion with govern- 
 ment, which, though at present generally suspected, 
 was nevertheless still doubtful Avith the public. Mr. 
 Foster, who was then the Speaker of the Irish House 
 of Commons, came into the room during tlie conversa- 
 tion. He said he had been riding on the circular road, 
 that he was there told of my father's arrival, and, from 
 what he heard, he said it would be very unwise in him 
 to pass one hour unguarded in Dublin. It was there- 
 fore determined that for the present he should go to a 
 house in Castle-street, fronting the guard-room, the 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 251 
 
 messenger accompanying him as if still in custody, and 
 there pass the night under the protection of the Castle 
 guard. 
 
 The ministry, whose interest it was that my father 
 should openly join the government against the United 
 Irishmen, were not from this time very scrupulous in 
 whispering about that he Avas already connected with 
 them. They Avere desirous of committing him in such 
 a manner as to render it impossible for him to recede. 
 Had any idea of this kind occurred to him or his friends 
 at the moment, it is more than probable that he would 
 have refused to join them, let the consequences be what 
 they might : but it was in England, after many years 
 had elapsed, that he learnt this fact, in conversation 
 with Mr. Edward Cooke on the events of 1798. 
 
 When at his lodgings, he sent for several of his 
 friends, from whom he heard that the United Irishmen 
 were resolved, at all hazards, to attempt his destruction ; 
 that it Avas by their orders that the five men had de- 
 posed against him ; that these matters, and his arrest, 
 had been publicly talked of several days before the 
 arrest had really taken place ; and that, in order the 
 more to prejudice the public mind against him, the 
 most infamous calumnies Avere circiilated against his 
 reputation, as well moral as political ; that his uncle, 
 Thomas Fitzgerald of Geraldine, was also arrested, and 
 in Dublin ; and that his grandfather, Thomas Fitzge- 
 rald of Kilmead, a quiet, loyal gentleman, upwards of 
 80 years old, Avas implicated, and in great danger, on 
 account of some pike-heads which were found in his 
 
252 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 garden, where they had been hidden by some of his 
 people without his knowledge. At that day suspicion 
 was little less fatal than real guilt, so that Mr. Fitz- 
 gerald's danger was eminent, the more so, as he was 
 the friend and relation of the Duke of Leinster. 
 
 The friends and partisans of the United Irishmen 
 have accused my father of having been employed as a 
 spy by government, and of having insinuated himself 
 into the confidence of the United Irishmen for the pur- 
 pose of betraying them. I trust that this narrative has 
 proved the total falsehood of such a charge. So far 
 from seeking the confidence of the United Irishmen, I 
 have shown that he broke off his connexion with them 
 in the early part of 1797, quitted Dublin, and retired 
 into the country, abandoning politics and political con- 
 nexions ; that their leader. Lord Edward Fitzgerald, 
 sought him out, forced a partial confidence upon him, 
 and, in consequence of his family influence, supported 
 by the exhortations of Oliver Bond, compelled him to 
 renew his connexion with these men ; that when, in 
 1798, in consequence of his half-extorted consent to 
 act for a time for Lord Edward Fitzgerald, he was 
 elected colonel for the barony of Kilkea and JMoone, 
 and informed yor the first time of the full extent of the 
 purposes and preparations of the conspirators, he de- 
 clined to attend their meetings, and endeavoured to 
 persuade them to abandon or modify their criminal 
 designs. If he had been a spy of government, would 
 lie have sent excuses to the provincial committees of 
 the 19th of February and 12th of March, where the 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 253 
 
 highest and most important information was to be 
 had ? Would tlie government, in whose pay he has 
 been accused of having enlisted himself, have permitted 
 him, their agent, to absent himself from these most 
 important meetings ? Would he have preached against 
 the Association publicly in the Catholic chapel at Ma- 
 geny Bridge ? Would he have been so forward to ab- 
 dicate his post of treasurer and colonel, thereby cutting 
 off every possible connnunication with the United 
 Irishmen ? Would the government have sent their 
 troops to destroy his house and property, grossly insult 
 his person, torture his servants to make them give in- 
 formation against him, and finally, after committing 
 him to a common gaol, drag him like a felon through 
 that county in which his ancestors had resided for ages 
 in affluence and consideration ? Yet all these facts are 
 on record ; they were proved before the highest tribu- 
 nals of my country. 
 
 But it may be asserted that, although not at first in 
 the employment of the administration, he became so 
 after his communications with Mr. Cope, and that he 
 had from the first been preparing himself for the pur- 
 pose of betraying his companions in crime. But is 
 such a supposition consistent, not to say with the cir- 
 cumstances Avhich I have here related, but with the 
 facts as they stand admitted by his opponents, the 
 friends of the United Irishmen ? If any intention of 
 betraying his friends had pre-existed in his mind, is it 
 conceivable that he would break off his connexion with 
 them at the moment when he was about to obtain the 
 
254 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 most perfect knowledge of all their hopes and of all 
 their schemes — that he would have excused himself from 
 attending the meeting of the 19th of February, at 
 which he had reason to expect to obtain the fullest con- 
 firmation of the statements made by Cummings and 
 Daly ? If he had committed so gross an error on the 
 eve of his becoming the hired agent of the Irish govern- 
 ment, is it conceivable that his employers would have 
 themselves fallen into a similar error, by not directing 
 him to attend the meeting of the 12th of March, by 
 his attendance on which alone they could at that time 
 expect to procure sufficient evidence to discover the 
 details of the plot and convict the conspirators ; evi- 
 dence which they were afterwards compelled to seek, 
 and to obtain less effectually, by the employment of 
 Captain Armstrong, of the King's County militia, to 
 betray the counsels of the two brothers Sheares ? Let 
 the circumstances be fully and dispassionately exa- 
 mined, and, Avhether the whole of the facts as herein 
 related by me, or the more limited circumstances 
 hitherto before the public, and admitted to be true by 
 his opponents, be taken into consideration, it must be 
 apparent, not only that my father's conduct was not 
 that which would have been adopted by the hired agent 
 of the governnient of that day, but that in what he did 
 he was influenced by some other motive than the hope 
 or expectation of any reward, other than the approval 
 of a good conscience. 
 
 If any doubt could be entertained upon the subject, 
 would that most cautious statesman Lord Castlereagh, 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 255 
 
 ten years afterwards, when lie was secretary of state in 
 England, have committed himself by giving my father a 
 written declaration of what I assert ? and would the 
 IMarquis of Camden, the Earl of Chichester, and the 
 Viscount Carleton, eight years afterwards, have joined 
 in that declaration, expressing their readiness to con- 
 firm every word of Lord Castlereagh's letter, as will be 
 seen in the documents hereinafter set forth ? 
 
 Having been led by misrepresentations to afford his 
 countenance to a society, apparently associated for far 
 different purposes than those which they at last avowed, 
 my father felt it to be his duty to his country to endea- 
 vour to prevent the calamities with which that society 
 threatened the kingdom ; to arrest the hand of the 
 murderer and the robber ; to save the lives of many of 
 the most loyal, noble, and respectable men in Ireland ; 
 and to preserve his country from revolution and submis- 
 sion to France. Such was his crime. 
 
 The United Irishmen, having prevailed with him, as 
 they avow that they did with thousands, to join them, 
 by the false pretence of seeking Roman Catholic 
 Emancipation and Reform in Parliament, in a manner 
 which had been so frequently and so successfully prac- 
 tised in Ireland by all parties, as almost to have become 
 the constitutional mode of obtaining a redress of griev- 
 ances, — when they perceived that they had induced him 
 to go such lengths with them that retreat was impos- 
 sible, — when, in the words of Samuel Neilson, they 
 thought that " he knew too much to stop," — revealed 
 the full extent and malignity of their designs to him ; 
 
256 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 they then found that he would not wade with them 
 tln-ouffh fire and blood to revolution and annexation to 
 France, and repeatedly attempted to rid themselves of 
 liim by private assassination. Even after they had 
 themselves delivered him into the hands of government, 
 they still loudly declared their determination to effect 
 their purpose, " were it necessary to pull down the 
 strongest house in Dublin to get at him." They had 
 invented and published the most wicked calumnies re- 
 specting him, accusing him of crimes which, if credited 
 or uncontradicted, ought to render him an outcast from 
 all civil society, and to make him amenable to the 
 severest punishments inflicted by the law. Hoping at 
 one blow to effect the total destruction of him and of 
 his family, they caused five of their own body to de- 
 nounce him, thus hoping to procure his immediate 
 execution under martial law, as a traitor to that country 
 which he was endeavouring to save from their murder- 
 ous and revolutionary designs ; leaving his name stig- 
 matised as a traitor by all loyal men, hated as an 
 apostate by the United Irishmen, and detested by every 
 man as the basest, the foulest, and most abandoned 
 criminal. Such Avere the injuries heaped upon him by 
 the conspirators, and from which it was his paramount 
 duty to defend himself, whatever might be the result to 
 his defamers. 
 
 After mature deliberation, these considerations 
 caused his friends to advise him to take an open and 
 decided part with government, to enable the adminis- 
 tration to bring these men to trial, and to appear him- 
 
1793. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 257 
 
 self as a witness against them. Government would 
 thus be enabled to crush the conspiracy, which seemed 
 again to be reviving. The conspirators^ who had 
 now been nearly two months in prison, found that 
 government had no effectual evidence against them, 
 and were acting by their agents with nearly as much 
 effect as when at large: by bringing them to justice 
 the country would in all probability be saved from the 
 horrors of civil war, and my father would have an 
 opportunity of meeting and refuting the calumnies cir- 
 culated against him. Such were the arguments used 
 by my father's friends, among whom were many men 
 of all parties, and it must be acknoAvledged that argu- 
 ments like these carried great weight.* 
 
 In a moment of great civil commotion, no man can 
 remain neuter : he who attempts it will infallibly be 
 
 * Mr. Gifford, in his Life of Pitt, after stating the successful exertions 
 of Lord Edward Fitzgerald and Mr. Oliver Bond to induce my father to 
 join the United Irish Society, and to accept of the offices of treasurer and 
 delegate for the county of Kildare, says, " Mr. Reynolds soon discovered 
 that the conspirators, instead of intending to reform the abuses of the 
 state, and to abolish all religious distinctions, which was their professed 
 object at first, meditdited the subversion of the constitution, the massacre 
 of the leading members of the government, and of such persons as 
 should oppose their designs, and therefore he resolved to frustrate their 
 plans by embracing the first opportunity of communicating them to some 
 person in whom he could confide." The writer then goes on to detail 
 the communication my father made to Mr. Cope, with the conditions just 
 as I have stated them, and adds, " The rebels defeated their own object 
 by attacking the character and conduct of Mr. Reynolds, since by so 
 doing they effectually removed those scruples which he had hitherto 
 cherished, and made him resolve to stand publicly forth to reveal their 
 plots to the world, and bring them to condign punishment." (See vol. 
 5, pages 447—9, and 451, 2.) 
 
 VOL. I. S 
 
258 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 crushed by the contending factions. The fate of Sir 
 Edward Crosbie, which I have just related, and that of 
 Mr. Spencer of Rathangan, which I shall presently 
 recount, are sad instances of the truth of this remark. 
 Every man must adopt one party or the other. At 
 the moment my father was hurrying from the kingdom 
 the United Irishmen forced him to take a decided part 
 against them ; but, even in so doing, it will presently 
 be seen that he never for a moment lost sight of their 
 safety, and that_, while he cleared his own reputation 
 and saved his country, he saved them also. 
 
 The following morning his friends were with him 
 again, when he received a message from Mr. Cooke, 
 desirinij to see him. He found with him the Earl of 
 Clare, who from his early days had been the intimate 
 friend of the parents and family of my mother, and to 
 whom my father was of course well known, also 
 Lord Castlereagh, who then acted as secretary of 
 state in aid of Mr. Pelham (Earl of Chichester), who 
 was in a delicate state of health, and who then held 
 that appointment. A long conversation took place, in 
 the course of which it was explained to my father that 
 it was by no means the wish of government to 
 punish those in confinement capitally, but that it was 
 now very evident that peace and order could not be 
 restored while they remained in the kingdom Avithin 
 reach of their associates ; their intrigues, though in 
 prison, being nearly as extensive and as destructive as 
 when they were at large. Their friends, and they had 
 several, even in the parliaments as well of England as 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOaiAS REYNOLDS. 259 
 
 of Ireland, cried out violently on account of their de- 
 tention, denying even the existence of the conspiracy ; 
 asserting that the whole was a matter got up by go- 
 vernment and its agents, and persisting in these as- 
 sertions with an obstinacy which nothing but the most 
 0})en and unquestionable evidence could silence. To 
 obtain that evidence, and to afford such public and 
 authentic proofs as should convince the whole emj^re^ 
 was a very important object in bringing them to trial, 
 as well as to put an end to the conspiracy, and re- 
 establish peace and good order in the kingdom. It 
 was therefore proposed that, if my father would appear 
 as witness against the rebels, all those who should be 
 convicted upon his evidence should be spared in their 
 lives and fortunes, on acknowledging their guilt, 
 making a full and complete disclosure of what they 
 might know of the means and purposes of the conspi- 
 racy, and consenting to banish themselves from the 
 British dominions ; and that their associates in gaol 
 might also, if they thought proper, avail themselves of 
 these terms of mercy, and prevent prosecutions by 
 similar avowals ; thus placing every man's fate at his 
 own disposal. Subsequently, when the leaders, finding 
 the evidence incontrovertible, thought it prudent to 
 avail themselves of these terms, a sort of treaty was 
 framed through the agency of Counsellor Dobbs, a 
 gentleman with whom my father had had very exten- 
 sive pecuniary transactions, and a friendly intercourse 
 until the time of his death, which occurred twelve or 
 fifteen years after the date of these troubles. By that 
 
 s2 
 
260 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 treaty, if we may so call it, it was agreed that no 
 person should name, or in any manner inculpate, his 
 associates in his disclosures, which should relate to 
 facts and purposes, and not to their friends' names ; 
 and further that the terms should be extended to those 
 persons not in confinement, who might choose to avail 
 themselves of them ; and the Rebellion being then 
 quelled, many persons implicated in that affair did so, 
 and thereby preserved themselves from further prose- 
 cution. Among them was Aylmer, the principal 
 leader of the rebels of the county of Kildare. These 
 persons obliged themselves to give every information 
 they should be required to do, as to the transactions of 
 the Society of United Irishmen, whether internal or 
 with foreign powers, but they were not, by naming or 
 describing, to implicate any other person, and on 
 quitting Ireland they were not to pass into the country 
 of any people at actual Avar with Great Britain. 
 Arthur O'Connor, Thomas Addis Emmet, William 
 James M'Nevin, Samuel Neilson, and a few others, 
 gave these details on oath before the Committees of the 
 Lords and Commons, as may be seen by the records of 
 t hose houses, and about eighty persons, who were then 
 in Dublin prison, availed themselves of the arrange- 
 ments, and signed the agreement. 
 
 My father demanded nothing but the free release of 
 h is uncle, Thomas Fitzgerald, and that all informations 
 against him or against his grandfather should be an- 
 nulled. This was freely conceded to him, and upon 
 these conditions, and these alone, he gave that testi- 
 
1798. LIFE OP' THOMAS REYNOLDS. 261 
 
 mony upon the three trials which so triumphantly re- 
 futed every calumny that slander could heap upon him. 
 
 I shall now say a few words on the most serious 
 charge which has been brought against my father — 
 that of his having stipulated with government for re- 
 ward for the part he acted on this occasion. 
 
 In reply to this calumny I shall show, in the first 
 place, that not only he never did stipulate or receive 
 any reward, but that, on the contrary, he was much 
 less favourably treated than any other person who suf- 
 fered in the loyal cause on that occasion ; and I shall 
 afterwards show that, if reward had formed any part of 
 his object, there was scarcely any so great that he could 
 not have commanded ; and his not having received any 
 is the best answer to his calumniators. 
 
 The House of Commons passed a bill for making 
 good the losses of such persons as suffered in their 
 property by reason of their adherence to the royal 
 cause during the Rebellion, and appointed a committee 
 of their own House to receive and examine the claims 
 of such persons, and to report them to the House. All 
 claims were to be attested, after the manner set forth 
 in the act, by a magistrate and a clergyman of the dis- 
 trict. My father had drawn out a detailed account of 
 the losses he sustained at Kilkea, from the day on 
 which that castle was taken possession of by Captain 
 Erskine and his military followers until the final sale 
 of the residue of his property there after the Rebellion. 
 This list or account was accompanied by all the requi- 
 site vouchers to prove the veracity of each item, and 
 
262 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 was attested by a clergyman and a magistrate of the 
 district, as directed by the act, and he delivered it, 
 together with all the documents and vouchers, to Mr. 
 Edward Cooke, who was then under-secretary of state. 
 He also delivered an abstract of it to the Earl of Clare, 
 Avho was then lord chancellor, and whom I believe to 
 have l)een much interested in his welfare. It is as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 Furniture, glasses, house-linen, clothes, 
 chimney-pieces, grates, kitchen-furni- £. 
 ture, glass, china, dead stock, &c. &c. 3,200 
 Three pianofortes, a harp, and other mu- 
 sical instruments .... 200 
 Wine, beer, and other liquors . . 1,200 
 
 Paintings and books .... 2,000 
 Crops on 350 acres .... 1,600 
 Cattle and grain furnished to the soldiers 
 
 on receipts ..... 630 
 Cattle and grain plundered . . . 430 
 
 Repairs of the castle, as before stated . 2,500 
 The loss of the lease, estimated at . . 8,000 
 
 19,760 
 But these were but a part, and I may say a very 
 small part, of his losses. He lost all succession from 
 the senior members of his family, his grandfather, his 
 uncles, and his aunts. He was driven from a cheap 
 country, where he could have lived in affluence on his 
 means, in the midst of his family and connexions, to 
 the dearest country upon earth, where, among strangers. 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 263 
 
 he was to pay most extravagantly for a bare subsist- 
 ence, where the poorest house cost him four times as 
 much as the reserved rent of Kilkea Castle and its 350 
 acres of land. This forced absence injured and lost for 
 him several outstanding properties ; such, for instance, 
 as the Corbetstown estate, held under Sir Duke Gif- 
 fardj which was a beneficial lease for three lives, and 
 forty-one years after the death of the last life, of 800 
 acres of land in the county of Meath, called Corbets- 
 town, at 160/. a year rent, worth 910/. a year, leaving 
 a clear income of 750/. This my father first mortgaged 
 to trustees for the use of his marriage settlement for 
 3000/. He then mortgaged his equity of redemption 
 to Cope and Jaifray for 7000/., who, being on the spot, 
 recovered their money ; but my father, being absent, 
 was baffled in his attempts to obtain possession of the 
 estate until the three lives had fallen in and many years 
 of the surplus time had expired ; and he was at last 
 compelled to abandon the lease to the heirs of Sir 
 Duke GifFard, who were in possession, for 1750/,, in 
 the year 1823, at which period the claim of the trus- 
 tees of his marriage settlement, for interest and prin- 
 cipal on the mortgage, exceeded 8000/. I could name 
 other properties lost in a similar manner ; but this in- 
 stance suffices to show the fact of his continual losses. 
 
 After some delay Mr. Cooke acquainted my father 
 that it was not thought advisable to send his claims 
 before the Committee, but that another measure was 
 under consideration, in which they would be more 
 effectually attended to. What that measure was he 
 
264 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 did not tlien explain, nor was my father made acquainted 
 with it until the month of July, 1799, when, being with 
 his family at a bathing-place in the north of England, 
 he received a letter from IMr. Cooke, saying that a life 
 annuity had been granted to him under the special 
 authority of Parliament. The amount of this annuity, 
 so far from replacing his losses at Kilkea, barely gave 
 him 5 per cent, on the amount of those losses : he 
 accordingly observed on this circumstance in his reply 
 to Mr. Cooke, and soon after returned to Dublin, when 
 he requested that his schedule, and the proofs and 
 documents attached to it, might be laid fairly, and 
 without favour, before the Committee of Parliament 
 for the Relief of Suffering Loyalists, and there stand 
 upon its own merits. His request was refused ; but he 
 learned that he had been recommended to the Duke of 
 Portland to fill the situation of Governor of the Bahama 
 Islands, an office which he thought proper to decline, 
 as such an appointment would subject him to the re- 
 proach of having acted from interested motives, which, 
 as they were furthest from his thoughts, so he had re- 
 jected and disclaimed them throughout. His refusal 
 did not however prevent the report of his nomination 
 from getting abroad, and it was soon after made public 
 in the London opposition papers, but unnoticed either 
 4)y my father, or by any one on his behalf. 
 
 After a few weeks' stay in Dublin, here turned with 
 his family to establish his future residence in England, 
 leaving his claims in this unsatisfactory state in the 
 hands of IMr. Cooke. Sixteen or eighteen years sub^ 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 26 
 
 sequently, when he wanted funds for some family pur- 
 poses, he had this annuity estimated, and, though pro- 
 perties of that description had by that time very greatly 
 increased in their value, even then it was not valued at 
 two-thirds of the amount of his actual losses. When 
 my father gave in a statement of his losses, he did so 
 at the command of the secretary of state. Had that 
 statement been delivered to the Committee appointed 
 by Parliament to receive and report upon the claims of 
 suffering loyalists, he would have been reimbursed like 
 others ; but Mr. Cooke and Lord Castlereagh prevented 
 this, for obvious reasons. These claims arose out of the 
 abuses committed in free quartering ; the examination 
 of such claims, to the amount of 18,000/. or 20,000/. 
 on one property, might have been proved very incon- 
 venient : the consequence was that not a shiUing lias 
 ever been paid to this day. 
 
 For ten years after this he resided in a very retired 
 manner in England, quite unemployed. The situations 
 which he has since filled were conferred on him^ not by 
 ministers for his public services, then passed by, and I 
 may say forgotten, but by his personal friends, out of 
 their own peculiar patronage, and purely on account of 
 the esteem and regard with which they honoured him, 
 arising out of so many years' acquaintance with his 
 character and conduct.* The first employment he ever 
 held was at Lisbon in 1810. 
 
 Among the great number of documents in my pos- 
 
 * This will be made to appear hereafter from the correspondence of 
 those kind and truly noble friends, 
 
266 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 session, showing the honourable and disinterested 
 manner in which my father acted throughout the Irish 
 affairs, I have selected a few, which I insert in another 
 part of this narrative, from the lord lieutenant, from 
 two successive chief secretaries, from the judge who 
 presided on some of the trials, and from others who had 
 the best opportunities of judging of his motives, and 
 whose declarations must be conclusive on these heads. 
 
 Having now shown that he did not act from sordid or 
 selfish motives, and that he was not rewarded, I shall pro- 
 ceed to show that, had such motives influenced him, he 
 could have commanded whatever he pleased to demand, 
 on account of the advantages derived by ministers per- 
 sonalis/ from his evidence. Those ministers had incurred 
 a heavy responsibiUty by requiring the suspension of the 
 Habeas Corpus Act, and then proclaiming martial law 
 on account of disturbances, wliich they themselves were 
 (however unjustly) accused of having fomented. The 
 gaols were crowded with persons against whom, although 
 they had well-grounded suspicion, yet they could not 
 produce any proof of guilt. Military and police agents, 
 under the assumed authority of the executive govern- 
 ment, filled the country with torturings, whippings, 
 pitchcaps, thumbscrews, and picketings, in search of 
 such evidence, but all to no purpose ; none could be had, 
 for this simple reason, that the conformation of the 
 United Irish Association left it in no one man's power 
 to give any extensive information. A depot of arms 
 might be found ; a committee of fifteen or twenty men 
 might be surprised, every man of whom might tell «// 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 267 
 
 he knew, but that all amounted to just nothing ; they 
 were equally ignorant of the persons, the names, and 
 the views of their leaders. Those very efforts to pro- 
 cure evidence, while they increased the responsibility 
 of the ministers, added to the disbelief of the British 
 Parliament and people as to the existence of a conspi- 
 racy to any extent that could justify their proceedings. 
 The result of the trials at Maidstone completed the 
 dilemma, and finally evinced the sentiments of the 
 British nobility and Parliament. On those trials 
 Charles James Fox, the Lord Chancellor Erskine, the 
 Earl of Suffolk, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, the Duke 
 of Norfolk, Michael Angelo Taylor, Henry Grattan, the 
 Earl of Thanet, the Earl of Oxford, Samuel Whitbread, 
 Mr. Grey, Lord Lauderdale, and other men of the highest 
 rank, talent, and influence in the empire, came forward in 
 defence of the accused, declaring on oath their disbelief 
 in their conspiracy, and that, from their long and inti- 
 mate knowledge of the man who was accused as being 
 the promoter of it, they were satisfied that his political 
 principles and opinions did not in any respect differ 
 from their own. The result of these trials is well 
 known. James Quigley was found guilty; Arthur 
 O'Connor, James Fivey, John Binns, John Allen, and 
 Jeremiah Leary were acquitted; but Arthur O'Con- 
 nor was detained and sent a prisoner to Ireland on 
 another charge connected with the United Irish Asso- 
 ciation. The execution of Quigley was represented 
 as murder, and the detention of O'Connor was repro- 
 bated even in Parliament ; yet this same O'Connor was 
 
268 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 the mainspring, the prime leader of the conspiracy, 
 and was then actually on his road to France, to concert 
 Avith the rulers of that country the final measures for 
 an invasion of Ireland to support the intended insur- 
 rection. Nothing short of the clearest and most pal- 
 pable proof of the guilt of O'Connor could acquit the 
 ministry and convince the world. The power, perhaps 
 I might say the heads, of the ministers were then at 
 stake. What reward could they refuse to the man 
 who was to relieve them, the man who could not only 
 prove the real existence of the conspiracy, but prove it 
 on the heads of those very men they were accused of 
 oppressing, and in behalf of whose innocence all 
 England was up in clamour ; — the man who was not 
 only to enable them to justify all the arbitrary acts they 
 had committed, but also to rivet them in power more 
 firmly than ever, — what, I say, could or would ministers 
 have refused to that man ? Such was my father's situa- 
 tion in respect to the ministry at that moment ; and 
 to show that he and his friends, I mean those who 
 actually came and advised Avith him at the moment, 
 were fully aware of his importance, I need only say 
 that amono- those friends were the head of the first 
 banking-house in Ireland, one of the first merchants of 
 the city of Dublin, and one of the first, if not the very 
 first, law-agent in all Ireland. Such was the position of 
 ministers and of my father Avith regard to each other at 
 that day, and those ministers, and the lord lieutenant, 
 and the privy council, all well kncAV that my father was 
 fully aAvare of the fact. 
 
1798. LIFE OF^THOMAS^REYNOLDS. 269 
 
 When he was first brought before the privy council, 
 there were present at least twenty of that body, with 
 the Earl of Camden, who was lord lieutenant, Lord 
 Clare, who was chancellor, and Lord Castlereagh, who 
 was secretary of state. These three noblemen sat 
 separate from the others, near the end of the table 
 opposite to which end my father entered. Mr. Edward 
 Cooke, the under secretary of state, stood leaning on 
 the chimney-piece at the side of the room near this end 
 of the table. A chair was placed for my father about 
 half-way between the door and the table, about six feet 
 from each, and fronting the centre of the end of the 
 table, which was oblong, and about which the privy 
 councillors sat. I mention these circumstances to 
 show that all which passed was distinctly seen and 
 heard by every one present. 
 
 My father was desired to be seated, and then asked 
 his name. The tone and manner of addressing him, 
 and several reports which had been made to him pre- 
 viously, had caused him to be rather in doubt regard- 
 ing the sentiments of the ministers towards him ; he 
 therefore replied, " My name is Thomas Reynolds ; I 
 wish to know on what ground I appear here : am I to 
 consider myself as the free, voluntary, protected friend 
 of government, or am I supposed to be led here in con- 
 sequence of charges or suspicions as a culprit ? " Doctor 
 Agar, Archbishop of Dublin, instantly began to answer 
 him, by saying, " Mr. Reynolds, that must depend 
 
 upon your " Here his grace was stopped by Lord 
 
 Clare, who said to hhn, rather petulantly, " My Lord, 
 
270 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 you interrupt the business ; " and then, turning to my 
 father, desired him to withdraw for a while into the 
 ante-chamber. He retired, and was quickly followed by 
 Mr. Toler, who was then attorney-general (afterwards 
 Lord Norbury) . Bly father stood by the fire : JMr. 
 Toler came up, and, placing his hand on the chimney- 
 piece, and his foot on the fender, began, lawyer-like, to 
 pump him as to his feelings and intentions, extolling 
 the liberality and lenity of government. A little piqued 
 at what he considered as trickery, my father told him 
 he wanted nothing from government ; that they, on the 
 contrary, wanted everything from him ; and, in a few 
 words, pointed out to him the situation of ministers, as 
 I have just described it. Affecting surprise, Mr. Toler 
 said, " Very true, very true, and they will take care to 
 do all, and more than all you wish. What do you ask, 
 Mr. Reynolds ? " " Protection, IMr. Toler, nothing 
 more ! ! " was my father's reply. He did not speak one 
 word more during some minutes that they still remained 
 together. At length my father was called for, and 
 Lord Clare immediately addressed him, saying, " JMr, 
 Reynolds, I am commanded by the lord lieutenant to 
 tell you that you are to consider yourself the free and 
 protected friend of government." 
 
 Now, had my father's conduct been influenced by 
 interested motives, he might have availed himself of the 
 position of ministers to acquire for himself, and his 
 family, rank, power, and affluence ; whereas it is a fact, 
 well known to all his acquaintances, and they were not 
 few, that, from the day of his leaving Ireland, he was 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 271 
 
 obliged to curtail most of the enjoyments, and even the 
 comforts, his family had possessed from the day of his 
 marriage, and which his parents had enjoyed before 
 him ; and that, notwithstanding those curtailments, 
 he was generally glad to seek the most retired and 
 cheapest parts of England to reside in during the war, 
 and to avail himself of the restoration of tranquillity to 
 retire to the continent for the purposes of economy. 
 These are incontrovertible facts which speak for them- 
 selves. Let the partisans of the United Irishmen an- 
 swer them if they can. 
 
272 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Effect of 'the Arrests of the Provincial Committee — Martial Law pro- 
 claimed—Lord Edward Fitzgerald arrested— The two Brothers John 
 and Henry Sheares taken— The Rising takes place— Dr. Esmond's 
 Treachery — Skirmishes in several places— Atrocities committed at 
 Rathangan— The Rebels repulsed at Carlow— And at the Hill ofTara 
 — Rising in the County of Wexford — First Successes — Enniscorthy 
 taken— Wexford surrenders to the Rebels — Alarm at Gorey — Rebels 
 defeated at Newtownbarry — Colonel Walpole killed at Tubberneering 
 —Sanguinary Battle at New Ross— Horrid Massacre at ScuUabogue 
 —Inactivity of the Rebels— Their signal Defeat at Arklow— Atro- 
 cities at Vinegar Hill— Battle of Vinegar Hill —Enniscorthy and 
 Wexford retaken — Massacres in Wexford— Mathew Keugh, Father 
 Philip Roche, Cornelius Grogan, Beauchamp Bagenal Harvey, John 
 Henry Colclough, and others, taken and hanged. 
 
 1798. 
 
 The arrests at Oliver Bond's house on the ]2th of 
 March, and those still more numerous which took place 
 in the city of Dublin on that and the following days, 
 very materially weakened the conspiracy ; and, though 
 the vacancies caused by those arrests were immediately 
 filled up, yet the new leaders, having neither the expe- 
 rience nor the abilities of those to whose places they 
 succeeded, soon found themselves quite inadequate to 
 the task of directing the Association. JMany districts 
 had been put under martial law, vast quantities of arms 
 were either seized or given up, and in many parts of the 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 273 
 
 north the peasants returned to their liomes and usual 
 occupations : still the conspiracy, though checked, was 
 not put down. In Leinster and Munster large bodies 
 of the insurgents were in arms, and continually harass- 
 ing the peaceable inhabitants, till at last the lord 
 lieutenant issued a proclamation, by which he gave Sir 
 Ralph Abercrombie, the commander-in - chief of the 
 forces, discretionary powers in all the disturbed districts. 
 That general addressed a manifesto to the people, 
 dated the 3rd of April, requiring them, imder pain of 
 military execution, to deliver up their arms within ten 
 days ; and promising secrecy and reward to all who 
 would give information. At the expiration of the pro- 
 mised delay, his threats were put in force. The troops 
 were quartered on the houses of the disaffected or sus- 
 pected. Many houses were pillaged or burnt, under 
 pretext of seeking for arms. Picketings, floggings, 
 and other modes of torture, were applied to extort con- 
 fessions, and the people were so constantly harassed, 
 that very many, especially in the counties of Kildare 
 and Tipperary, returned to their allegiance, and gave 
 up their arms and ammunition, so that the chiefs, fear- 
 ing a total disorganization, resolved to try an immediate 
 rising, without waiting, as they had intended_, the arrival 
 of their French auxiliaries. The military committee 
 accordingly fixed on the night of the 23rd of JMay for 
 the commencement of the insurrection. 
 
 The executive government, aware of the intended 
 rising, thought fit, as a necessary precaution, to arrest 
 many of the leading members of the Union. Among 
 
 VOL. I. T 
 
274 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 them was Lord Edward Fitzgerald, who had been in 
 conceahiient since the arrests at Oliver Bond's house 
 two months previously. That nobleman had been an 
 officer in the army, where he had been highly esteemed 
 for his military conduct, his honour, humanity, and 
 courage. He had served in the 19th regiment, and 
 afterwards in the 54th, of which he was major in No- 
 vember, 1791, when Lieutenant-Colonel Bruce of that 
 regiment died. Lord Edward expected to have suc- 
 ceeded to the commission ; but it w^as given to Colonel 
 Strutt. Lord Edward, disappointed in his expecta- 
 tions, went to Paris, where he unfortunately made him- 
 self rather conspicuous as an advocate for the principles 
 of the French revolution ; the consequence was, that 
 his name was struck off the list of the army ; but he 
 was afterwards allowed to sell his commission. From 
 that time he became a violent opposer of the British 
 government, and, Avlien at last he joined the United 
 Irishmen, his rank, his enthusiastic courage, and his 
 active spirit, naturally pointed him out as a leader of the 
 party. On the 11th of ]\Iay a proclamation was issued, 
 offering 1000/. reward for his apprehension, and on 
 the 19th he was arrested in Thomas-street, at the house 
 of Nicholas IMurphy, a feather-merchant. The parti- 
 culars of his arrest will be found in a subsequent chap- 
 ter, when I shall have to make a few observations on 
 INIr. Moore's History of his Life. 
 
 Several other arrests w^ere made on the 19tli and 21st 
 of May : among others, Henry and John Sheares were 
 taken. These two unfortunate brothers, who uRer- 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 275 
 
 wards paid the forfeit of their lives to the outraged laws 
 of their country, had been raised to the fatal eminence 
 of directors, in order to fill up the vacancies occasioned 
 by the arrests of the 12th of March. They were ge- 
 nerally believed to have been naturally luimane and 
 kind-hearted men ; yet the following manifesto, found 
 in the house of Henry Sheares, andin the hand- writing 
 of his brother ; and which was evidently intended for 
 publication after the capital should have been in the 
 possession of the conspirators, betrays such sanguinary 
 sentiments, as furnish an additional proof of the spirit 
 of revenge and cruelty of their party, which could thus 
 induce these men to think of publishing a document 
 recommending measures so repugnant to their natural 
 dispositions. 
 
 " Irishmen, your country is free, and you are about 
 to be avenged. That vile government ^vhich has so 
 long and so cruelly oppressed you is no more. Some 
 of its most atrocious monsters have already paid the 
 forfeit of their lives, and the rest are in your hands. 
 The national flag, the sacred green, is at this moment 
 flying over the ruins of despotism ; and that capital 
 which a few hours past had witnessed the debauchery, 
 the plotSj and the crimes of your tyrants, is now the 
 citadel of triumphant patriotism and virtue. Arise, 
 then, united sons of Ireland, arise like a great and 
 poAverful people, determined to be free or die. Arm 
 yourselves by every means in your power, and rush 
 like lions on your foes. Consider that, for every enemy 
 you disarm, you arm a friend, and thus become doubly 
 
 T 2 
 
276 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 powerful. In the cause of liberty, inaction is coward- 
 ice ; and the coward shall forfeit the property he has 
 not the courage to protect. Let his arms be secured, 
 and transferred to those gallant spirits who want, and 
 will use them. Yes, Irishmen, we swear, liy that 
 Eternal Justice in Avhose cause you fight, that the 
 brave patriot who survives the present glorious strug- 
 gle, and the family of him who has fallen, or here- 
 after shall fall in it, shall receive from the hands of 
 a grateful nation an ample recompense out of that 
 property which the crimes of our enemies have for- 
 feited into its hands, and his name shall be inscribed 
 on the great national record of Irish revolution as a 
 glorious example to all posterity ; but we likewise 
 swear to punish robbery with death and infamy. We 
 also swear that we will never sheath the sword till 
 every being in the country is restored to those equal 
 rights M'hich the God of nature has given to all men ; 
 until an order of things shall be established in which 
 no superiority shall be acknowledged among the citi- 
 zens of Erin but that of virtue and talent. As for 
 those degenerate wretches who turn their swords 
 against their native country, the national vengeance 
 awaits them. Let them find no quarter, unless they 
 shall prove their repentance by speedily exchanging 
 the standard of slavery for that of freedom, under 
 which tlieir former errors may be buried, and they 
 may share the glory and advantages that are due to 
 the patriot bands of Ireland. JMany of the military 
 feel the love of liberty glow within their breasts, and 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 277 
 
 have joined the national standard. Receive with open 
 arms such as shall follow so glorious an example : they 
 can render signal service to the cause of freedom, and 
 shall be rewarded according to their deserts. But for 
 the wretch who turns his sword against his native 
 country, let the national vengeance he visited on him ; 
 let him find no quarter. Two other crnnes demand 
 * * * * Rouse all the energies of your souls ; 
 call forth all the merit and abilities which a vicious 
 government consigned to obscurity ; and, under the 
 conduct of your chosen leaders, march with a steady 
 step to victory. Heed not the glare of hired soldiery, 
 or aristocratic yeomanry : they cannot stand the vigor- 
 ous shock of freedom ; their trappings and their arms 
 will soon be yours ; and the detested government of 
 England, to which we vow eternal hatred, shall learn 
 that the treasures it exhausts on its accoutred slaves, 
 for the purpose of butchering Irishmen, shall but 
 further enable us to turn their swords on its devoted 
 head. Attack them in every direction by day and by 
 night : avail yourselves of the natural advantages of 
 your country, which are innumerable, and Avith which 
 you are better acquainted than they. When you 
 cannot oppose them in full force, constantly harass 
 their rear and their flanks; cut off their provisions 
 and magazines, and prevent them as much as possible 
 from uniting their forces ; let -whatever moments you 
 cannot devote to fighting for your country be passed in 
 learning how to fight for it, or preparing the means of 
 war ; for war, war alone, must occupy every mind and 
 
278 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 every hand in Ireland, until its long oppressed soil be 
 purged of all its enemies. Vengeance, Irishmen, ven- 
 geance on your oppressors ! Remember what thou- 
 sands of your dearest friends have perished by their 
 merciless orders. Remember their burnings, their 
 rackings, their torturings, their military massacres, 
 and their legal murders. Remember Orr !" 
 
 The plan laid down by the reljels for the beginning 
 of the insurrection, which was fortunately frustrated by 
 the active measures of the government, was a simul- 
 taneous attack on the troops encamped at Laughlins- 
 town, on the artillery at Chapelizod, and on several 
 parts of Dublin, especially on the castle. The signal 
 was to be given to the distant parts of the kingdom by 
 the detention of the coaches on the great roads ; and, as 
 notice of the plan had been circulated through the dif- 
 ferent committees, it was expected that the rising would 
 be very general. But, the plot being discovered on the 
 21 st of May, the government were enabled to preserve 
 the peace in Dublin. In the neighl)ouring counties 
 however, the insurgents obeyed the call of their leaders 
 in considerable numbers. The mail-coaches on the 
 northern and western roads were destroyed on the night 
 of the 23rd of IMay, the former at Santry, the latter 
 between Lucan and Leixlip ; and, during that night 
 and the following day, the towns of Naas, Clane, Pros- 
 perous, Ballymore-Eustace, Kilcullen, CarloAV, and 
 ]\Ionastereven, were attacked by the rebels. Skir- 
 mishes took place also at Rathfarnham, Tallagh, Lu- 
 can, Lusk, Dunboyne, BarretstoAvu, Collon, Baltin- 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 279 
 
 glass, Dunlavin, Kildare, Ratliangan, Kilcock, and 
 Ovietstown, In all these engagements the rebels were 
 defeated with considerable loss, except those of Dun- 
 boyne and Barretstown. The attack on Prosperous 
 was marked by an act of the most infamous treachery. 
 Doctor John Esmond was a Roman Catholic physician 
 and accoucheur, a man of good fortune and of high 
 family connexion, and a lieutenant in Mr. Griffiths' 
 troop of yeoman cavalry, then stationed at Clane. Not 
 far from his residence was the small town of Prosperous, 
 where a considerable cotton manufactory was esta- 
 blished. It was occupied by twenty-eight of the Cork 
 militia, and nine of a regiment of Welsh cavalry, called 
 the Ancient Britons, the whole commanded by Lieu- 
 tenant Swaine. Esmond was on an intimate footing 
 with Lieutenant Swaine, who frequently dined at his 
 house, from which circumstance, combined with his 
 rank in society, his situation of lieutenant of yeo- 
 manry, and his profession, which obliged him to be out 
 at all hours of the night, he found no difficulty in ob- 
 taining the password from Swaine, who dined with 
 him on the 23rd of May. Thus provided, at one 
 o'clock in the morning of the 24th, at the head of a 
 large body of rebels, he surprised his friend, and 
 burned him and all his men in their quarters. He 
 then seized two gentlemen, residents of the town, a 
 Mr. Stamer and a Mr. Brewer, and an old man ^vlio 
 had been a Serjeant in the line ; these he murdered 
 with deliberate cruelty, and mangled their bodies in a 
 horrid manner. His further proceedings were stopped 
 
280 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 by the approach of a body of troops, on Avhich he fled 
 from the phice and his followers dispersed. The troops 
 who thus alarmed him were the yeoman cavalry of 
 IMr. Griffiths, who, in conjunction with forty of the 
 Armagh militia, had repulsed an attack of the rebels 
 at Clane, and pursued them almost to Prosperous. 
 Esmond, flattering himself that the atrocities he had 
 connnitted in the night were unknown, took his place 
 in his troop next morning ; but Captain Griffiths had 
 already been apprized of the share he had taken in 
 that horrible affiiir, and, without seeming to notice him, 
 he marched his whole troop into the town of Naas, 
 from whence the rebels had been repulsed that morn- 
 ing. When opposite to the gaol, he halted, and ordered 
 Lieutenant Esmond to advance. Flight and resistance 
 were now equally in vain ; he was handed over to the 
 gaoler, sent to Dublin, and there, after a deliberate and 
 protracted trial, he was condemned, and hanged on the 
 New Bridge, Avith his uniform coat turned inside out 
 upon him. 
 
 The town of Naas was attacked at three o'clock in 
 the morning of the 24th by Michael Reynolds, at the 
 head of a body of about a thousand rebels. The town 
 was garrisoned by detachments of the 4th dragoon- 
 guards, the Ancient Britons, and the Armagh militia, 
 under the command of Viscount Gosford, their colonel. 
 The rebels directed their first attack on the gaol, but, 
 being repulsed with loss, they possessed themselves of 
 the principal avenues of the toAvn, and fought despe- 
 rately, but very irregularly, ibr nearly an hour, Avhen 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 281 
 
 they began to give way, and at length fled on all sides, 
 pursued and slaughtered by the cavalry. Their loss 
 was thirty men killed in the assault, and above one 
 hundred more in the pursuit ; the numbers wounded 
 have never been stated, but they must have been very 
 numerous. Of the king's troops, there were two offi- 
 cers and seventeen privates killed, and several wounded* 
 JMichael Reynolds escaped unhurt, and on the 25th of 
 the following month was killed at the head of a band 
 of his misguided followers, whom he Avas leading to 
 the attack at Hacketstown. 
 
 On the evening of the 24th large bodies of the rebels 
 approached the town of Rathangan ; but Captain 
 Langton, who was quartered there with a company of 
 the South Cork militia, kept them in check during the 
 night, after several skirmishes. Next day, in pursu- 
 ance of his orders, he marched with his troop from 
 Rathangan to join General Dundas, who had been 
 compelled to evacuate Kilkullen, after losing Captains 
 Erskine and Cooke, and several of his men. The 
 inhabitants of Rathangan, thus abandoned to their 
 resources, remained under arms all night between the 
 25th and 26th, expecting every moment to be attacked. 
 But the rebels did not make their appearance till the 
 morning of the 26th, when they entered the tOAvn in 
 such numbers as to render all attempts to oppose them 
 hopeless. Among the numerous atrocities which they 
 connnitted during the short time they remained in pos- 
 session of the place, the following deserves to be more 
 particularly noticed. IMr. S^jenser was a magistrate, and 
 
282 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 agent to the Duke of Leinster, a man of large landed 
 property, deservedly esteemed and respected by the 
 whole county. Such was his confidence in the recti- 
 tude of his own conduct, and in the love and attach- 
 ment of his neighbours, that he did not consider it ne- 
 cessary to retire to any place of security, or to intermit 
 his usual occupations, or the care of the vast pro])erties 
 intrusted to his management ; and, notwithstanding 
 the outrageous scenes going on around him, he re- 
 mained peaceably at Rathangan, with his wife and 
 two daughters, one of whom was married to the Ho- 
 nourable and Reverend Mr. Pomeroy, son of Lord 
 Harburton. Mr. Pomeroy also remained with his 
 father-in-law. No precautions were taken for defence, 
 all was open at the house as in times of perfect tran- 
 quillity, and, until the day of actual rebellion, the peace- 
 able appearance of Rathangan and its neighbourhood 
 seemed to justify Mr. Spenser's conduct. But, when 
 at length that fatal day arrived, all feelings of grati- 
 tude and humanity were at once obliterated in the 
 minds of men so long prepared for every outrage. A 
 band of infuriated ruffians entered the lawn in front of 
 the house. The family were at breakfast. JMr. Spenser 
 rose from table, went to the hall-door, and kindly asked 
 them what he could do for them ; supposing, or pre- 
 tending to suppose, that they were come to require his 
 services as a magistrate. They instantly seized hhn, 
 saying that they were now come to do for him^ threw 
 him down upon the steps of the door, and saAved off his 
 head with a cross-cut saw ! They then went into the 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 283 
 
 parlour, laid the head upon the breakfast-table, helped 
 themselves to what they pleased in the house, and, 
 going away, took the head, and kicked it like a foot- 
 ball about the lawn till no more of it remained. They 
 then departed, leaving the rest of the family unmo- 
 lested. Mr. Spenser was upwards of seventy years of 
 age ; he had almost entirely built the town of Rathan- 
 gan, had rendered it and its neighbourhood more 
 wealthy and independent than any other district of the 
 county, and had passed the whole of his long life in 
 doing acts of kindness to all around him; yet such was 
 the return he at length met with from those he had so 
 long befriended. 
 
 Another instance of their barbarous fanaticism was 
 shown in their treatment of Michael Shenstone, a quiet 
 inoffensive man, whose only crime was his being a 
 Protestant. They dragged him from his house into 
 the street, where they attacked him with such deadly 
 malignity, that in a moment he received eighteen stabs 
 of pikes. As he still showed some signs of life, a 
 woman named Farrel, who was infamously active in 
 this and similar sanguinary deeds, tauntingly re- 
 proached the murderers with not knoAving how to kill 
 Orangemen ; on which a ruffian stepped forward and 
 fired his pistol close to Shenstone's head : the ball 
 entered near the ear, and came out under the eye, 
 having fractured the cheek-bone in a most shocking 
 manner. Some hours afterwards he was put into a 
 cart with the bodies of seventeen other Protestants, who 
 
284 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 Lad been murdered, and driven to the cliiircliyard for 
 interment ; but, some alarm having prevented the bu- 
 rial, he remained all that night in the cart among the 
 dead. Next morning his wife got possession of his 
 body, with the intention of burying it decently, but, 
 having observed some signs of remaining life, she pro- 
 cured assistance, and he recovered after several months' 
 intense suffering. These atrocities were not confined 
 to Rathangan, but were common to all places attacked 
 by the rebels ; their passage was marked by murders, 
 burnings, pillage, and every species of violence. The 
 annals of those unhappy times furnish volumes of crime 
 and wretchedness too disgusting to be detailed ; and, 
 in selecting a few here and there, my design is to show 
 the true character of the Rebellion, and to give my 
 reader some idea of the demoralization and depravity 
 of the people who could commit, and of the leaders 
 who could encourage them in, such horrid barl)arity. 
 
 The town of Carlow was attacked Ijy three or four 
 thousand insurgents on the morning of the 25th of 
 May. The garrison consisted of four hundred and 
 fifty men of different corps, under the command of 
 Colonel Mahon, of the 9th dragoons, by whose judicious 
 arrangements the rebels Avere repulsed with the loss 
 of five or six hundred men. Numbers took refuse 
 in the houses of their associates in the town, but the 
 soldiers immediately set fire to them, and thus up- 
 wards of eighty houses were burnt to the ground. 
 After the defeat executions commenced, and in a kw 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 285 
 
 days about two liundred persons were hanged or shot 
 by martial law. Among others, Sir Edward Crosbie 
 perished at this time. He was certainly innocent of 
 the crime for which he suffered, as is to-day acknow- 
 ledged on all hands, whatever may have l)een his 
 politics. Another who deservedly suffered was Hey- 
 don, a yeoman of Sir Charles Burton's troop. He 
 was the leader of the rebels, but on their discomfiture 
 he abandoned them, and, having resumed his place as 
 a yeoman, actually joined in the pursuit and slaughter 
 of the assailants. 
 
 On the 26th of May the rebels in the county of 
 Meath, after committing numerous outrages, assembled 
 in a body of upwards of three thousand men on the 
 hill of Tarah, about eighteen miles from Dublin, 
 where they were attacked by three companies of the 
 Reay Fencibles, with a field-piece, commanded by 
 Captains Preston and Maclean ; aided by Lord Fin- 
 gall's troop of yeoman cavalry, and Captain JMolloy's 
 company of yeoman infantry. The rebels kept their 
 ground for about half an hour, when they gave way 
 and were completely routed, leaving four hundred men 
 dead on the field. This victory Avas of incalculable 
 importance, for, had the rebels gained the day, or had 
 they been left a few days longer undisturbed, it is 
 more than probable that the insurrection would have 
 spread through Munster, and a great part of Ulster, 
 and it is impossible to conjecture Avhat might have 
 been the result. Two days after this defeat, the rebels, 
 who had kept possession of Rathangan, were dis- 
 
286 LIFE OF THOMAS HEYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 lodged, witli the loss of sixty men, by Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Longfield of the royal Cork militia. 
 
 These victories checked the rebellion in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Dublin, Avhich had for some days actually 
 sustained a species of blockade. The communications 
 on the great roads were once more opened ; the loyal 
 inhabitants of Dublin and the neighbourhood acquired a 
 degree of confidence, which they had at first lost by reason 
 of the suddenness of the rising ; and many of the rebels, 
 discouraged by their defeats, sought to retire in safety to 
 their homes, and resume their domestic occupations. On 
 the 28th of May, Perkins, a rebel chief, who was then 
 at the head of two thousand men at Knockawlin Hill, 
 on the border of the Ctirragh of Kildare, sent to Lieu- 
 tenant- General Dundas an offer, purporting that his 
 men should surrender their arms, provided they might 
 be allowed to retire unmolested to their homes, and 
 that Perkins' brother should be released from Naas 
 gaol. This offer was accepted, and the men accordingly 
 dispersed joyfully, having surrendered thirteen cart- 
 loads of pikes. 
 
 Three days afterwards another body of the rebels 
 had assembled on the Curragh, for the purpose of sur- 
 rendering, according to an agreement made with Gene- 
 1 al Dundas, when a company of fencible cavalry trea- 
 cherously fired upon them, and, pursuing them as they 
 fied in all directions, massacred about two hundred of 
 lhem. It was attempted to excuse this bloody deed 
 by saying that the insurgents had fired first upon the 
 troops, but there is neither truth nor ])robabihty in the 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 287 
 
 assertion, and the facts were well known at the tmie 
 to have been otherwise, however desirable it may have 
 been to palliate the affair. 
 
 While by these successive defeats the rebelHon 
 seemed entirely put down in the neighbourhood of 
 Dublin, where it liad first broken out, it burst forth 
 with increased energy in a part of the country where it 
 was least expected, and very soon increased to such an 
 extent as to occasion universal and serious alarm. On 
 the 26th of May the standard of rebellion was raised by 
 Father John Murphy, priest of Boulavogue, between 
 Gorey and Wexford. As the county of Wexford 
 was known to be but very partially organized, and 
 many of its Roman Catholic inhabitants had voted 
 an address to the lord lieutenant, declaring their loy- 
 alty, and oflPering to arm in defence of the laws, the 
 government had not more than six hundred men sta- 
 tioned in that county, so that they were ill prepared to 
 oppose any serious rising. As soon as it was known 
 that a priest had placed himself at the head of the insur- 
 gents, the people flocked to him in such numbers that by 
 the morning of the 27th two large bodies were collected, 
 one on the hill of Oulart, about eleven miles south of 
 Gorey, and anothei on Kilthomas hill, about nine miles 
 to the west of that town. These bodies were composed 
 of six or seven thousand armed men, and a vast num- 
 ber of Avomen and children. It is fair to add that the 
 numbers of the insurgents were much increased by the 
 injudicious conduct of some of the yeomen, who, on the 
 first intelligence of Father Murphy's proceedings, went 
 
288 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 out in parties, and shot many persons wlio were on the 
 roads, or in the fields, and even in their houses, un- 
 armed and unoffending. The consequence was that 
 numbers of Catholics, dreading a similar fate, left their 
 homes and joined their friends in arms. 
 
 At the same time the conduct of the rebels was 
 marked by murder and outrage at every step. One 
 of their first achievements was the attack of Lieutenant 
 Bookey's house at Rockspring. at one o'clock in the 
 morning of the 27th. The only persons in the house 
 when it was attacked were two Protestants, Avho de- 
 fended it with the greatest bravery for several hours : 
 at last the rebels set it on fire, and, as day was break- 
 ing they retired, leaving several of their friends dead 
 in and about the house. After they had gone the two 
 men escaped unhurt, but nearly suffocated by the 
 smoke. They next attacked the house of the Rev. 
 Robert Burrowes, of Kyle, murdered him and seven 
 of his parishioners who had taken shelter there, des- 
 perately wounded his son, and burnt his house to the 
 ground. His son languished till the sunnner of 1800, 
 Avhen he died. Another body of insurgents attacked 
 the house of Mr. Dawson, of Charlesfort, which they 
 plundered, after murdering a man of the name of 
 Willis, and wounding IMr. Dawson. They then pro- 
 ceeded to the house of the Rev. Francis Turner of 
 Balhngale, rector of Edeermine, which they burned 
 after an obstinate resistance on the part of the inmates. 
 IMr. Turner and nine of his friends were murdered 
 with savage brutality by the rebels after they had 
 
1798. LIFE OF TH03IAS REYNOLDS. 289 
 
 forced their way into the house. These are merely a 
 few examples, taken at hazard, out of many in my 
 possession, showing the character of the rebellion from 
 its first outbreaking. 
 
 As I before said, the two main bodies of the rebels 
 had taken their stations, early on the 27th, at Oulart 
 and Kilthomas Hill. On that morning a body of 
 between two and three hundred yeomen, cavalry and 
 infantry, marched from Carnew to attack those who 
 were stationed at thb* latter place. The rebels Avere 
 posted on the summit of the hill, where they might 
 have defended themselves with advantage ; but the 
 yeoman infantry, advancing intrepidly up the hill, and 
 firing as they advanced, soon put the insurgents to 
 flight. The rout was complete : the yeomen cavalry 
 pursued the fugitives for upwards of seven miles, and 
 killed about two hundred of them. At the same time 
 they laid waste the country through which they passed, 
 burning the houses and cabins of the Catholics. Two 
 Romish chapels and more than a hundred houses were 
 thus destroyed. 
 
 At Oulart, where Father John Murphy commanded 
 in person, the result was very different. Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Foote, with a detachment of a hundred and 
 ten men, of the North Cork militia, marched from 
 Wexford to attack the rebels, but they were received 
 with so vigorous a charge that every man was killed, 
 except the lieuten?nt-colonel, a sergeant, and three 
 privates. Father John Murphy, flushed with this 
 first success, marched from Oulart towards Ennis- 
 
 VOL. I. u 
 
290 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 cortliy: on his way his force was perpetually aug- 
 mented by new comers, so that in a short time he 
 found himself at the head of twenty thousand men. 
 He first took possession of Carnolin, a small toAvn 
 six miles from Gorey. He then advanced on Terns, 
 where he halted a few hours, and, finding that all the 
 loyalists had left that town, he continued his march, 
 and at ten o'clock in the morning arrived at Enniscorthy. 
 The town was garrisoned by about three hundred 
 militia and yeomen and a few volunteers. Father 
 John immediately attacked the place, and drove the 
 garrison into the market-place. The rebels were 
 much assisted by their friends in the town, who set 
 fire to several houses, in order to create confusion, and 
 even fired from the houses on the king's troops. After 
 three hours' hard firing, and a loss of eighty men 
 killed, the garrison abandoned the town and fled in 
 disorder to Wexford. 
 
 Many of the loyal inhabitants of Enniscorthy, dread- 
 ing the violence of the victorious party, fled with their 
 families to Wexford. The terror of these unfortunate 
 fugitives was indescribable : men, women, and chil- 
 dren, of all ranks and ages, were flying for their lives 
 in a confused multitude, leaving all their property in 
 the power of the laAvless insurgents. Many were 
 overtaken before they could quit the town, and were 
 inhumanly murdered, or thrown into prison, where a 
 still more horrid fate awaited them. The distance 
 from Enniscorthy to Wexford is fourteen miles, and 
 when the miserable fugitives reached that place, worn 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 291 
 
 out with fatigue and terror, they found their situation 
 anything but safe. Since the slaughter of Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Foote's detachment at Oulart, the inhabitants 
 were in hourly expectation of an attack, and the gar- 
 rison was not in a situation to make much resistance. 
 
 The principal leaders of the rebels in the county of 
 Wexford were Beauchamp Bagenal Harvey of Bargy 
 Castle ; John Colclough, of Ballyteig ; and Edward 
 Fitzgerald, of New Park. These men had long shown 
 their opposition to the existing order of things in their 
 county, insomuch that they were considered by the 
 magistracy as decided fomenters of the disturbances, 
 and on the first breaking out of the rebellion they 
 were arrested, and lodged in Wexford gaol, as a mea- 
 sure of precaution, and to deprive the rebels of their 
 countenance, though there was not any specific charge 
 against them. When the surrender of Enniscorthy 
 excited such well-grounded apprehensions for the 
 safety of Wexford, Captain Boyd, who commanded 
 the garrison, visited those three gentlemen in the gaol, 
 and prevailed upon Colclough and Fitzgerald to go to 
 Enniscorthy and endeavour to persuade the insurgents 
 to disperse, taking their words of honour to return to 
 gaol in case of failure, but giving them a promise of 
 total enlargement, protection, and oblivion of all accu- 
 sations against them, in case of their success. They 
 went accordingly, and were received with shouts of 
 welcome ; but when they declared their mission they 
 met not the smallest success. Colclough, as a man 
 of honour, directly retired, with the intention of re- 
 
 u2 
 
292 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 turning to his prison according to promise; but Fitz- 
 gerald remained with the rebels, was associated with 
 Father John in the command, and marclied that same 
 evening to a position called the Three Rocks, two 
 miles and a half from Wexford, which they resolved to 
 attack immediately. 
 
 Colclough went first to his own house, and thence, 
 accompanied by his wife, he took the road to Wexford, 
 for the purpose of fulfilling his engagement with Cap- 
 tain Boyd. On his arrival at the gaol it was not 
 considered necessary to detain him any longer, and 
 both he and Harvey were discharged. Returning with 
 his wife in their carriage towards his own residence, 
 he was met on the road by a party of panic-struck 
 yeomanry, under Captains Cornock and Snowe, who 
 were flying from Wexford to seek their safety at Dun- 
 cannon. These men stopped him, and declared they 
 would hold him as a hostage, and, in case they were 
 attacked on the road, they would instantly shoot him. 
 In this manner they marched until they arrived within 
 a mile of Duncannon, at about ten o'clock at night, 
 when he was suffered to depart. He had scarcely left 
 them on his return, Avhen a party of rebels, who lay in 
 ambush on the roadside, fell upon the t\A'o troops of 
 yeomanry, and killed about fifty of them : the others 
 fled into Duncannon. The rebels then followed Col- 
 clough, and offered him the command of their party, 
 which he accepted, considering, as he himself declared, 
 that, although innocent and ignorant of this affair, 
 nothing could ever clear him of the charge of having 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 293 
 
 planned the attack, and that no safety now remained 
 for him but in arms. He was a man of amiable cha- 
 racter, engaging manners, and good education. He 
 professed the Roman Catholic religion, but had married 
 a Protestant lady. Seduced by fallacious ideas of 
 liberty, he had embarked upon that tempestuous ocean, 
 whence it was so seldom permitted to return, and too 
 late discovered the real views of that infamous associa- 
 tion, with which he had embarked his life, his fortune, 
 and his fame. 
 
 On the morning of the 29th of May General 
 Fawcet sent Colonel Maxwell with 200 men of the 
 Donegal militia, and a six-pounder, to Wexford ; and 
 in the course of the day he sent a message to the 
 mayor, promising to go himself in the evening with the 
 13th regiment, four companies of the Meath militia, 
 and a party of artillery with two howitzers. On the 
 arrival of this encouraging news. Colonel Maxwell left 
 the yeomen and the North Cork militia to defend the 
 town, while he stationed his men on the Windmill-hill, 
 above the city, in order to be ready to march against the 
 rebels as soon as General Fawcet arrived. That 
 general had left Duncannon on the 29th in the evening, 
 and had arrived at Taghmon, whence he sent forward 
 seventy men, eighteen artillerymen, and the two howit- 
 zers, under the command of Captain Adams of the Meath 
 militia. This little band was intercepted by the rebels 
 at the Three Rocks : the howitzers were taken, and 
 almost the whole party cut to pieces. General Fawcet 
 on hearing of this disaster fell back upon Duncannon. 
 
294 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 At ten o'clock in the morning of the 30th the militia 
 under Captain Snowe, and the yeomanry under Cap- 
 tain Cornock, seized with a sudden panic, abandoned 
 their post, and fled towards Duncannon, leaving Colonel 
 Maxwell alone to defend the town. Under these 
 circumstances he determined to evacuate the place, 
 which he accordingly did, and retired to Duncannon, 
 accompanied hy such of the inhabitants as were able 
 to follow him. On their way the troops most wantonly 
 and injudiciously devastated the country, burning the 
 cottages, shooting the peasants, and committing all 
 kinds of outrage. This conduct only tended to increase 
 the number of malcontents, and to make them still more 
 desperate and determined. 
 
 The rebel force, amounting to 15,000 men, now 
 took possession of Wexford without any opposition. 
 
 The rapid success of the insurgents in the southern 
 parts of the county of Wexford created universal alarm 
 among the loyal inhabitants of the neighbouring towns. 
 At Gorey, especially, wliich was garrisoned by Lieu- 
 tenant Swayne, with only thirty men of the North Cork 
 militia, and a few yeomen, the terror and agitation 
 was so great, that an order was given to evacuate the 
 town, and retire to Arklow. As soon as this order 
 was known, a melancholy scene of confusion took place. 
 Crowds of people were running in all directions for 
 their horses, harnessing their cars, and placing their 
 families in them with terror and haste, in order to get 
 away before the imagined arrival of a resistless and 
 ferocious enemy. The road was soon hlled with vehicles 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 295 
 
 of every kind, loaded with women and children, followed 
 by a much greater multitude on foot, many of whom 
 were women carrying their children in their arms. In 
 this way they arrived at Arklow; but on the 31st, 
 finding that their fears had magnified their danger, and 
 that the town, though unguarded, was not attacked, the 
 fugitives returned, and the militia and yeomen resumed 
 their duties. 
 
 On the 1st of June the great body of the rebels Avho 
 were stationed on Vinegar Hill, at the foot of which 
 stands the town of Enniscorthy, sent Father Kern, at 
 the head of 6000 men, with a six-pounder, a howitzer, 
 and several swivels, to attack Newtownbarry. That 
 beautiful little town, situated ten miles north-west of 
 Enniscorthy, was occupied by Colonel Lestrange, with 
 about 500 men, militia, yeomen, and volunteers. The 
 rebels began the attack with confidence and courage ; 
 but they were repulsed after some hard fighting, and 
 fled in disorder, leaving 300 of their body dead in and 
 about the town. The loyalists only lost two men killed. 
 This was owing, in a great measure, to the well-directed 
 fire of two pieces of artillery. This victory was very 
 important, as Newtownbarry was, as it were, the key 
 of the county of Carlow, where a rising would, in all 
 probability, have taken place if the rebels had suc- 
 ceeded. 
 
 Another large body of the insurgents had advanced, 
 under the command of Father Philip Roach, to the hill 
 of Corrigrua, about seven miles south-west of Gorey. 
 On the evening of the 1st of June a body of three 
 
296 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 thousand men, detached from that place, took possession 
 of the village of Ballycannoo, about four miles from 
 Gorey, and were advancing to take possession of the 
 hill of Ballymanaann, when they were met by Lieute- 
 nant Elliot, Avho had marched from Gorey, with the 
 view of arresting their further progress. Lieutenant 
 Elliot had under his command twenty of the Antrim 
 militia, twenty of the North Cork, fifty yeomen, and 
 three troops of yeoman cavalry, and with this little 
 band he boldly attacked the enemy, and in a very short 
 time completely defeated them, killing a great number, 
 and dispersing the rest in all directions. He then ad- 
 vanced on Ballycannoo, where he burned several houses, 
 and so effectually damped the ardour of the rebels, that 
 they all retired to the post of Corrigrua, where they re- 
 mained till the 4th, without any further manifestation 
 of hostility. Meantime Major-General Loftus arrived 
 at Gorey with 1500 men and five pieces of cannon. 
 His arrival, as may be supposed, inspired the hitherto 
 alarmed inhabitants with the confident feeling of se- 
 curity. A plan was immediately proposed for attack- 
 ing the station at Corrigrua Hill, by marching in two 
 divisions by two different roads ; and on the 4th Ge- 
 neral Loftus, with one division and two pieces of can- 
 non, and Colonel Walpole, with the other division and 
 three pieces, set out on their march, the former by 
 Ballycannoo, the latter by Tubberneering. Meantime 
 the rebels had quitted Corrigrua on the 4th of June to 
 march on Gorey, and, having taken the road by Tub- 
 berneering, they came suddenly on Colonel Walpole, 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 297 
 
 and, after a very severe contest, during which they kept 
 up a tremendous and destructive lire from the fields on 
 both sides of the road, the royaUsts were completely 
 defeated, and fled in disorder to Gorey, leaving their 
 guns in the hands of the rebels, and a great number of 
 their men dead on the field of battle, among whom was 
 Colonel Walpole, who received a bullet through his 
 head in the beginning of the action. The fugitives 
 were pursued as far as Gorey, where they were severely 
 galled by the disaffected party firing on them from the 
 houses, as they passed through. The unfortunate 
 loyalists, who a few hours before were so full of se- 
 curity, now fled Avitli the routed army to Arklow, 
 leaving all their property at the mercy of the victors. 
 Meantime, General Loftus, who was advancing with 
 the main body by Ballycannoo, hearing the noise of 
 firing, sent the grenadier company of the Antrim regi- 
 ment of militia, consisting of seventy men, across the 
 fields, to assist Colonel Walpole ; but these were inter- 
 cepted and cut to piece?, almost to a man, by the rebels, 
 and the general, unable to bring his guns across the 
 fields, was obliged to continue his march, and make a 
 long circuit before he arrived at Tubberneering. He 
 innnediately followed the rebels, whom he found posted 
 on Gorey Hill, at the foot of which the town is built. 
 As he could neither attack them with any hope of 
 success, nor pass by them into the town, he retreated 
 first to Carnew, and then to Tullow, in the county of 
 Carlow, abandoning all that part of the country to the 
 rebels. 
 
298 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS, A.D. 
 
 While the rebels were thus gaming ground in the 
 north of Wexford, the great body who had possession 
 of the town of Wexford determined on attacking New 
 Ross, with a view of establishing a communication 
 with their friends in the counties of Waterford and 
 Kilkenny. They chose as their leader Beauchamp Ba- 
 genal Harvey, a barrister and a Protestant, who was in 
 possession of landed property worth between two and 
 three thousand pounds a-year. This gentleman, more 
 hardy and determined than Colclough, had joined the 
 rebels as soon as he had been enlarged from gaol. He 
 Avas a man of great personal courage, but was totally 
 deficient in all those other talents which are so essential 
 to a general, particularly in conducting such a war, 
 and guiding such men as those who now placed them- 
 selves under his command. On the 3rd of June he 
 marched to the Carrickburn mountain, at the head of 
 twenty thousand men, of whom four thousand were 
 armed with muskets, the remainder with pikes. His 
 artillery consisted of four pieces of cannon, mounted on 
 ship-carriages, and fourteen swivel-guns, worked by a 
 regular artilleryman. On the 4th he advanced to Cor- 
 bet Hill, within a mile of the town of New Ross, to be 
 ready to begin his attack early next morning. The 
 place was garrisoned by twelve hundred men, under the 
 command of Major General Johnson, an officer of con- 
 summate courage and determined zeal. On the morn- 
 ing of the 5th Harvey sent a summons to this officer 
 to surrender the town. It was as follows : — 
 
1798. life of thomas reynolds. 299 
 
 " Sir, 
 '* As a friend to humanity, I request you will sur- 
 render the town of Ross to the Wexford forces, now 
 innumerable and irresistible. Your resistance will but 
 provoke rapine and plunder to the ruin of the most in- 
 nocent. Flushed with victory, the Wexford forces 
 will not be controlled, if they meet with resistance. 
 To prevent, therefore, the total ruin of all property in the 
 town, I urge you to a speedy surrender, which you will 
 be forced to in a few hours with loss and bloodshed, as 
 you are surrounded on all sides. Your answer is re- 
 quested in four hours. Mr. Furlong carries this letter 
 and will bring the answer. 
 
 " I am. Sir, " B. B. Harvey, 
 
 " General Commanding. 
 " Camp at Corbet Hill, half-past 
 three o'clock, morning, 5th of June, 1798.'' 
 
 General Johnson, instead of replying to this singular 
 summons, shot the messenger, or, according to other 
 accounts, he was shot by one of the sentinels at an out- 
 post as he was advancing towards him, waving a white 
 handkerchief in the air as a flag of truce. 
 
 The attack was instantly commenced Avitli great 
 vigour, and for many hours victory seemed doubtful. 
 The rebels fought with desperate courage, and nothing 
 but the gallant bearing of General Johnson, who re- 
 peatedly rallied and brought up his dispirited men, 
 charging with them, and fighting in the thickest dan- 
 gers, could have saved the town. At length, at three 
 in the afternoon, after ten hours' hard fighting, in the 
 
300 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 course of which many houses were burnt, tlie rebels 
 retired, leaving bet^veen two and three thousand dead 
 on the field of battle, and all their artillery. The 
 garrison lost about three hundred men, among Avhom 
 was Lord Mountjoy, colonel of the county of Dublin 
 militia. This was the most sanguinary battle fought 
 during the rebellion. 
 
 Enraged at their defeat and loss, the rebels removed 
 Harvey from the command, and elected Father Philip 
 Roach, a Catholic priest, as his successor (the same 
 who had commanded at Tubberneering), and at the 
 same time, on the 6th of June, they despatched a 
 guard from Enniscorthy, which had been in the pos- 
 session of Father John Murphy since the 29th of 
 May, to Wexford, with orders to select ten Orangemen, 
 that is to say, Protestants, and to sacrifice them to the 
 manes of Richard Furlong and those who fell at Ross. 
 These orders were too fatally obeyed ; and ten respect- 
 able Protestants, Avho had quitted Enniscorthy when 
 that town was taken, were led back thither, and 
 massacred in the market-place. 
 
 Another party of runaAvays conducted by Father 
 Murphy, parish-priest of Taghmon, reached Sculla- 
 bogue, at the foot of the Carrickburn mountain, and, 
 feigning an order from Harvey, whom they supposed 
 to be still in connnand, committed the most inhuman 
 atrocities. They seized every loyal person they could 
 find in their excursions, without distinction of rank, 
 sex, or age ; all who were not instantly murdered 
 were dragged away, under pretence of being held as 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 301 
 
 hostages for the safety of such United Irishmen as 
 fell into the hands of government. They had assem- 
 bled two hundred and twenty-two such hostages, at 
 the farm-house of IMr. King, at Scullabogue. Mad 
 with anger and revenge, in consequence of their defeat 
 at Ross, they determined to sacrifice these unhappy 
 persons, and began by shooting or piking thirty-seven 
 of them, but, finding this mode of destruction too slow, 
 they shut up all the rest, to the number of a hundred 
 and eighty-four, in the barn, which was thatched with 
 straw : they then set fire to the roof, and continued 
 throwing straw and wood into the flames to feed the 
 conflagration, and thus burned them all alive. While 
 these inhuman monsters were attempting to fire the 
 place, the unfortunate prisoners, shrieking and crying- 
 out for mercy, crowded to the back door of the barn, 
 whicli they forced open ; but all their endeavours to 
 escape were vain ; they were forced back by their 
 murderers, who continued plying the fire with com- 
 bustibles, till their moans and cries gradually died 
 away in the silence of death. During this awful 
 struggle a poor child, much hurt and bruised, con- 
 trived to creep out under the door, when one of the 
 rebels, darting his pike through its body, threw it back 
 into the flames. A few Roman Catholics had been, 
 by mistake, shut up in the barn with the Protestants, 
 and shared their horrid fate. Among the victims 
 were twenty women and children. One man, whose 
 name was Lett, had the good fortune to escape. 
 
 After their defeat at Ross, the rebels retreated and 
 
302 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D, 
 
 posted themselves on Slyeevekeelter, a hill which rises 
 over the river of Ross, formed by the united streams of 
 the Nore and Barrow ; and three days afterwards they 
 advanced to the hill of Lacken, within a mile of Ross, 
 where they formed something like a regular encamp- 
 ment. On the 12th of June they sent a detachment 
 to the little town of Borris, in the county of Carlow, to 
 procure arms and ammunition; but the detachment 
 was repulsed, with the loss of ten men killed and 
 many Avounded. Before they retreated, however, they 
 contrived to burn the greater part of the town. This 
 was the only expedition undertaken by the rebels under 
 Father Philip Roach ; their time from that to the 20th 
 was spent in idleness, inactivity, feasting, and rioting : 
 many of them, tired of being away from home, aban- 
 doned their leaders and returned to their occupations. 
 
 Meantime that body of insurgents who had defeated 
 Colonel Walpole and advanced to Gorey had for- 
 tunately been as inactive as their friends at Lacken, 
 Instead of marching immediately upon Arklow, which 
 had been abandoned by the garrison on the morning of 
 the 5th, they waited till the 9th. By that time the 
 lanic had subsided, the garrison had returned to their 
 duty, and had been reinforced by the Cavan regiment 
 of militia, and at one o'clock in the morning of the 9th, 
 by a regiment of the Durham fencibles, under Colonel 
 Skerrett. At length the rebels, who had been for the 
 preceding four or live days occupied in burning the 
 town of Carnew, in trying and executing Orangemen, 
 in plundering houses, and other acts of a similar nature. 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 303 
 
 advanced on the morning of the 9th to attack Arklow. 
 Their numbers amounted to twenty-seven thousand 
 men, of whom five thousand were armed with guns, 
 the remainder with pikes, and three pieces of artillery. 
 The town was defended by the troops above mentioned, 
 amounting to about sixteen hundred men, commanded 
 by JNIaj or- General Needham. The attack began at four 
 o'clock in the evening, and was vigorously kept up for 
 four hours. The toAvn was attacked on all sides ; but 
 the principal efforts of the rebels were directed against 
 the Durham fencibles, who received the assailants with 
 so close and effective a fire, that they were repulsed on 
 every fresh attack with great slaughter. At length, 
 about eight o'clock. Father Michael Murphy, one of 
 the leaders, in whom the people had unbounded con- 
 fidence, believing him to be invulnerable — to confirm 
 them in which belief he frequently showed them 
 musket-balls which he said he caught in his hands as 
 they flew from the enemy's guns — was killed by a 
 cannon-ball. This event completed the discomfiture of 
 the rebels, who fled in the greatest disorder, leaving 
 about a thousand men dead, and a great number 
 wounded. 
 
 This victory decided the fate of the rebellion, and the 
 rebels were thenceforth obliged to adopt a defensive 
 plan. They retreated first to Gorey, and, on the fol- 
 lowing day, the main body, under the command of Gar- 
 ret Byrne, of Ballymanus, moved to Mount-pleasant, 
 near Tinnehely, in the county of Wicklow, which town 
 
304 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 they burned on the 17th of June. They then pro- 
 ceeded to burn the houses of the Protestants in the 
 neighbourhood, and to put to death, or plunder, the 
 peaceable inhabitants. On the 18th, they retired to 
 Kilcavan-hill, near Carnew, and thence, on the 20th, 
 directed their march to Vinegar-hill. 
 
 During these transactions, such of the rebels as had 
 remained in Gorey and the neighbourhood were gra- 
 dually dispersing. Part of them fell back upon Wex- 
 ford, and took with them the prisoners who had been 
 confined in the market-house of Gorey. The remainder 
 took post on the hill of Ask, about a mile from Gorey, 
 on the Arklow road, where they were gradually thinned 
 by desertions, till they all dispersed, thus once more 
 freeing Gorey and the neighbourhood. 
 
 Tiie AVexfordian insurgents had made Vinegar-hill 
 their great station. They had held possession of that 
 place since the 28th of IMay ; and now that they were 
 driven to act on the defensive, they were gradually con- 
 centrating all their forces at that spot. During the 
 three weeks that they thus occupied that place, they 
 constantly made excursions, and killed or carried off 
 every Protestant they could find : but instead of pre- 
 serving their prisoners as hostages, they shot or piked 
 them as they were brought in, and frequently treated 
 them with horrid barbarity before they were put to 
 death. Upwards of five hundred persons were thus 
 murdered, in the short space of three weeks. The facts 
 proved on the trial of one Andrew Farrell, who appears 
 
1798. LIFE 01' THOMAS REYNOLDS. 305 
 
 to have acted a conspicuous part in these murders, are 
 so very circumstantial and descriptive of those horrid 
 scenes, that I here subjoin a few of them. 
 
 William Furlong, sworn. 
 
 " I was taken prisoner by the rebels on Whitsun- 
 Tuesday, and put into the windmill on Vinegar-hill, 
 where I saw the Rev. Mr. Pentland, the Rev. Mr. 
 Troke, three men of the name of Gill, and about thirty 
 more loyalists, in custody of the rebels. The prisoner, 
 Andrew Farrell, was there — the rebels called him 
 * Captain Farrell,' to which name he answered : he 
 had a drawn sword in his hand. I heard him bid the 
 royalists fall on their knees and prepare for death, as 
 they should be killed directly ; the prisoner ordered out 
 several of the royalists, who were instantly murdered. 
 In particular I saw him take Mr. Pentland by the 
 breast, and by force put him out the mill-door, where 
 he was instantly put to death. Mr. Pentland resisted 
 as nmch as he could : there were fourteen or fifteen 
 murdered at that time ; I saw their bodies lying dead 
 when I got out. The prisoner came up to me and told 
 me I must know where there were arms in Enniscor- 
 thy, and that if I would tell him he would save me. I 
 said I would. 1 was then taken to Enniscorthy, where 
 I was saved by a man who had been maltster to my 
 uncle." 
 
 Henry Whitney, sworn. 
 " I was taken prisoner about four miles from Ennis- 
 
 VOL. I. X 
 
306 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 corthy, and brought into the mill on Vinegar-hill ; in 
 a few hours after I saw Andrew Farrell, the prisoner, 
 drag Mr. Pentland, either by the breast or by the hair, 
 out of the door, where he was directly piked to death : 
 there were twenty-five put to death in that manner 
 while I Avas there : several of these were put to death 
 after William Furlong was sent out. When Farrell 
 desired us all to go down on our knees, as we had not 
 an hour to live, Mr. Pentland and Mr. Troke got up 
 and begged they might be spared ; Mr. Pentland said 
 they were clergymen, and that he was a stranger, and 
 had been but a short time in the country, and was a 
 north-countryman. He then offered his watch, which 
 was taken by a man of the name of Foley ; the prisoner 
 then seized him and put him out of door, where he was 
 murdered, as was every person put out except Mr. 
 Hornick's son. The prisoner attempted to drag me 
 out, but I was held back by some of my fellow-prison- 
 ers ; and one Doran, a rebel of my acquaintance, told 
 Farrell I was an honest quiet man, on which Farrell 
 examined me about arms, and then let me out, and I 
 was saved." 
 
 John Gill, sworn. 
 
 '* One of the party that brought me prisoner to the 
 windmill said, on coming in, ' Captain Farrell, here is 
 an Orangeman ; ' on which Farrell said to the guard, 
 ' take care of him.' Some time after, finding the pri- 
 soner in great favour with the rebels, I entreated him 
 to save my life : he asked me my name ; I told him 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 307 
 
 ' Gill.' * That is a bad name,' said he ; ' prepare for 
 death ; you have not an hour to live.' I again begged 
 my life, and said that I and my brother would play the 
 fife and beat the drum for them ; but he desired me to 
 put such thoughts out of my head, as I should certainly 
 die. When I was brought in I saw Mr. Pentland 
 lying near the door ; he was just dying. A party of 
 rebels, armed with pikes and guns, formed a line in 
 front of the mill-door ; behind them were some on horse- 
 back. On being brought out there was one Andrew 
 Martin, with a drawn SAVord, standing inside the line as 
 executioner. I immediately addressed the rebels, and 
 asked if they would put a man to death without a trial ? 
 Martin cried out, ' Damn your soul, do you come here 
 to preach ? ' and made a stab at me, which hit me on 
 the wrist : some of rebels then bade him stop and ask 
 how I chose to die ? I replied, as a Christian. One of 
 them, on horseback said, ' May be he is a Christian,' and 
 asked me, ' Are you a Christian ? ' I told him I be- 
 lieved in the Saviour of the world, through whom I 
 hoped to be saved. Martin then said, ' Oh, damn your 
 soul, you are a Christian in your own way ; ' and 
 directly stabbed me in the side. I fell on my face, and 
 was then stabbed in the back, and beaten on the head 
 with some heavy instrument. I still kept my senses. 
 My brother was next brought out, and asked the same 
 question, how he chose to die ? He boldly answered, 
 he would die a Protestant ; on which they all shouted 
 and rushed forward and piked him to death. Mr. Hor- 
 nick was next brought out, and asked how he would 
 
 X 2 
 
308 LIFE or THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 die ? He answered he would die as he had lived, and was 
 directly murdered, I then fainted, and continued in- 
 sensible until my wife came for me in the evening. 
 She found great difficulty in saving me, as there was an 
 old man with a scythe examining the bodies, and strik- 
 ing on the head such as he found with any appearance 
 of life. She took me to the bottom of the hill, where, 
 finding I had life, she hid me ; the next morning 1 was 
 found by the rebels and brought up to the hill, from 
 whence 1 escaped by the help of a man that was to 
 marry my daughter. About half a mile from the hill 
 1 was met by two men, one of whom fired at me ; the 
 ball grazed my head and stunned me. I lay there un- 
 til my wife again found me. From that, until Vinegar- 
 hill was taken by the King's troops, I lived in fields 
 and ditches." 
 
 This man's relation of his escape is so extraordinary, 
 that I shall add a copy of the following affidavit on the 
 subject. 
 
 " County of Wexford. — James Coffey of Ennis- 
 corthy, gentleman, came this day before me, and 
 solemnly made oath on the Holy Evangelists, that he 
 was on Vinegar Hill on Tuesday in Whitsun-week, in 
 the year 1798, a prisoner to the rebels, and there saAV 
 Andrew Farrell, lately executed at Wexford, a com- 
 mander among the rebels while they were murdering 
 the Rev. Mr. Pentland, Mr. Gill of Monglass, Thomas 
 Gill the wheelwright, and others, and that he saw at 
 the same time John Gill the wheelwright stabbed and 
 
1793. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 309 
 
 left for dead : and he further swears, that the said 
 Andrew Farrell, by his influence among the rebels, 
 saved the lives of deponent and of Captain Blacker at 
 the same time and place. ** James Coffey. 
 
 " Sworn before me at Enniscorthy, 
 this 25th day of June, 1800. 
 
 "James Hancock." 
 
 A detail of the horrors committed by the rebels on 
 Vinegar Hill would fill a volume. Sometimes they 
 prolonged the sufferings of their victims by scourging 
 them with lashes of brass and wire twisted in whip- 
 cord. One George Stacey received two hundred and 
 fifty lashes in this way. Sometimes they would pike 
 them, but not mortally, in order to keep them longer 
 in misery. Mr. Henry Hatton, deputy portrieve of 
 Enniscorthy, and several other persons, w^ere laid down 
 on their backs, and stones, having one end small and 
 the other large, were placed in their mouths, Avhich 
 their barbarous murderers stamped on with the heels of 
 their shoes, until their jaws were extended to the 
 utmost, and sometimes torn asunder. The bodies of 
 their victims were sometimes left unburied for several 
 days, and swine suffered to devour them, until the 
 offensive smell caused them to be thrown into the river. 
 Mr. Taylor, in his History of the Rebellion of Wex- 
 ford, gives the following narrative of the sufferings and 
 escape of one of the prisoners. The account is given in 
 the words of the narrator. 
 
 " When I came to the prison-door I was seized by 
 
310 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 the breast, and thrown in among the rest of the pri- 
 soners, where I remained in the deepest sorrow and 
 affliction, believing death inevitable, as I was among 
 the condemned. Seeing a man who had been piked 
 the evening before, with signs of life (it seems from 
 this he was left for dead), in the prison, his coat being 
 off, his shirt and breeches covered with a cake of blood, 
 and his cheeks full of holes, which were made by their 
 abominable pikes, drawing near him, I inquired what 
 happened him. He told me he had been piked the 
 evening before, and had crept in from among the dead 
 which lay before the door, to avoid the heat of the sun. 
 Looking out of the door, I saw the rebels leading a 
 prisoner, whom they soon after shot ; looking out of 
 the other door also, I saw, as near as I can judge, be- 
 tween thirty and forty lying dead about three yards 
 distance, some of whom I knew, being in confinement 
 with me, and one of them was my brother-in-law. 
 Shortly after, a man coming in under pretence of search- 
 ing our pockets for arms, robbed us of all we had, and 
 went away. Then came that sanguinary monster, Luke 
 Byrne of Oulard, who kept a brewery in Enniscortliy, 
 and inquired how many prisoners were condemned; 
 being told twenty-seven, he answered, ' If any one can 
 vouch for any of the prisoners not being Orangemen, I 
 have no objection they should be discharged.' No one 
 returned an answer. He then said, ' Is there no one 
 to speak V — no answer. He then ordered six guns to 
 be brought to each door, intending to destroy us at 
 once^ and not spend the night in watching over us. 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 311 
 
 The guards, knowing they would be in danger of kill- 
 ing each other, obtained permission from Byrne to 
 bring us out, and shoot us one by one. We were then 
 ordered to kneel down, and each of us to be brought out 
 in our turn. Tliree rebels stood at the door with pistols 
 in their hands, and still, as the prisoners were brought 
 out and placed on their knees, they were shot and 
 thrown among the dead. Three of them, expecting 
 they should escape death by renouncing the Protestant 
 religion, and turning Papists, called for the priest. 
 John Murphy immediately arrived, and, laying his 
 hands on their heads, repeated some prayers in Latin. 
 Scarce were his hands off their heads when one of the 
 executioners, who had a grudge to one of the prisoners, 
 fired at him ; the ball entered the unfortunate man's ear 
 and killed him ; he was carried off, and let fall among the 
 dead. I, being the next, was brought to the door ; a 
 rebel, calling me by my name, caught the attention of 
 one of the captains, whose namesake I happened to be ; 
 this Avas fortunate for me, as my life was providentially 
 spared by this circumstance. A man named Thornton, 
 a resident of Wexford, was shot at this instant, but the 
 next man who was brought out broke through the 
 croAvd, and ran about seventeen perches, when he was 
 met by a rebel, who, with a scythe, severed his head 
 from his body, so that it hung down on his breast ; in 
 an instant several pikes were fastened in him, and I 
 saw him no more. The priest walked away as uncon- 
 cerned as if no murder had taken place. Out of the 
 twenty-seven prisoners, only three escaped ; viz. Hen- 
 
312 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 drick, Avho lived near Clondau, William Bennet, who 
 lived near Enniscorthy, and myself." 
 
 This famous eminence was now about to be attacked. 
 General Lake had arranged a plan that the hill should 
 be surrounded, and attacked at the same time on every 
 side. With this view it was fixed that General Needhani 
 should march from Arklow ; Generals Dundas, Loftus, 
 IMoore, Asgill, and Duff, each from different places ; 
 and General Johnson from Ross ; and that they should 
 thus arrive at Vinegar-hill at a given time, on the 20th 
 of June. General Johnson, in his march from Ross, so 
 alarmed the rebels who were stationed on Lacken-hill, 
 that they fled in the utmost confusion. A part of them 
 took the road to Wexford, the remainder joined their 
 friends at Vinegar-hill. 
 
 The different troops who were thus appointed to 
 attack the stronghold of the insurgents amounted to 
 fifteen thousand men, and a very formidable train of 
 artillery. These being all at their posts, with the ex- 
 ception of General Needham, the attack began at seven 
 o'clock in the morning of the 21st; and, after an hour 
 and a half's severe fighting, during which the rebels 
 sustained a very heavy fire of artillery, they abandoned 
 the place, and fled by the passage which General Need- 
 ham was to have occupied, directing their course towards 
 Wexford. The loss on the side of the king's troops 
 Avas fifty-one privates killed, and a hundred and thirty- 
 four wounded ; Lieutenant Sandys killed, and Lord 
 Blauey, Colonel King, and Lieutenant-Colonel Cole, 
 wounded. The slaughter of the rebels was immense : 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 313 
 
 tliey abandoned all their artillery, amounting in all to 
 thirteen pieces, of which three were six pounders, and 
 a great quantity of rich phuider. This victory of course 
 relieved Enniscorthy, which was immediately occupied 
 by the king's troops. Many excesses were committed 
 by the soldiers, particularly by the Hessian troops. 
 Among others was tlie burning the house used by the 
 rebels as an hospital, where a considerable number of 
 sick and wounded were burnt alive. These atrocities 
 reflect eternal disgrace on the perpetrators of them, and 
 are even more unpardonable when committed by regular 
 troops, than by a set of lawless banditti. 
 
 The town of Wexford ^vas retaken on the same day 
 as Enniscorthy. Brigadier-General JMoore had been 
 despatched thither by General Lake, and on the 20th, 
 while on his march, he was attacked by upwards of six 
 thousand rebels at GofF's-bridge, near Horetown. The 
 action was well fought by both parties, and lasted from 
 two in the afternoon till eight, when the rebels were 
 repulsed Avith great slaughter. General Moore re- 
 mained that night on the held of battle, and just as he 
 was about to march forward next morning, Ca])tain 
 M'Namus, of the Antrim, and Lieutenant Hay, of the 
 North Cork militia, avIio had been prisoners at Wexford, 
 arrived with proposals from the insurgents to surrender 
 the town, provided their lives and properties should be 
 spared. General IMoore forwarded these proposals to 
 General Lake, but meantime he moved forward, and 
 stationed his army within a mile of Wexford. 
 
 Since Wexford had fallen into the hands of the 
 
314 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 insurgents, the condition of the Protestants and loyal 
 inhabitants had been one of horrible fear and suspense. 
 Upwards of two hundred and sixty were confined in 
 the different gaols, and many more were prisoners in 
 their own houses, exposed to daily insults, and under 
 perpetual apprehensions of being murdered. At length 
 on the 20th of June, the murder of the prisoners was 
 resolved on, and commenced under the command of a 
 monster named Thomas Dixon, who was by profession 
 a seafaring man, captain and part owner of a trading 
 vessel, and a leader among the rebels ; aided and urged 
 on by his still more inhuman wife. The prisoners were 
 led from the gaol to the bridge, in parties of ten or 
 fifteen at a time. There each victim was placed on 
 his knees with two pikemen in front, and two others 
 behind ; and after being loaded with abuse, a signal 
 was given by Dixon, or his wife, when the four 
 ruffians plunged their pikes into his body, and, 
 raising him from the ground held him suspended, 
 writhing with pain, for some time, and then flung him 
 over the battlements of the bridge into the river. 
 Ninety-seven persons perished in that manner, between 
 the hours of two and seven in the afternoon. At length 
 these monsters, fatigued and satiated with blood, were 
 with difficulty prevailed upon by Father Curran, or 
 Corrin, a priest of Wexford, to stop the slaughter. 
 This man, after having long and vainly supplicated the 
 assassins to desist, announced the evening prayer, and 
 called upon all present to join him in it, and when he 
 had thus made them all kneel down, he dictated a 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 315 
 
 prayer, " that God should show the same mercy to them 
 as they should show to the surviving prisoners." Many 
 of the byestanders joined in it, Avhich occasioned debate 
 and delay, but the respite would have been short had 
 not one Richard Monaghan arrived in great haste, 
 announcing the approach of the king's troops, on which 
 every man fled to consult his own safety, and the sur- 
 viving captives then at the bridge were reconducted to 
 prison. Next day General Moore entered the town, 
 having rejected all offers of surrender, and found that the 
 greater part of the rebels had left it in the opposite di- 
 rection. The remaining prisoners, to the number of 
 one hundred and fifty, were set at liberty. Order 
 being now in some measure restored, the military 
 authorities proceeded to pursue and punish, by courts- 
 martial, such rebel leaders as fell into their hands. Mat- 
 thew Keugh, a Protestant, who was the commander in 
 the town during the whole time it was in the possession 
 of the rebels, was executed on the 25th of June, together 
 with nine others, among whom was Father Philip 
 Roche, who led the rebels at Arklow. Cornelius Grogan, 
 Beauchamp Bagenal Harvey, and John Henry Col- 
 clough were executed on the 28th ; the two first in the 
 morning, the last by himself in the evening. Mr. 
 Grogan was a gentleman of ancient family, and very 
 large landed estate. He does not appear to have been 
 an United Irishman previous to the breaking out of the 
 rebellion ; but being a timid, weak-minded man, his 
 fears induced him to take the oath of the association, 
 and to accept the post of commissary-in-chief of the so- 
 
316 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 called patriot army, in the county of Wexford. Being 
 rather advanced in years, he never accompanied his 
 associates to the liekl, but remained in his own house in 
 Wexford, where he was arrested. 
 
 Colclough had retired witli his wife and child to one of 
 the Saltee Islands, of which he was proprietor, live miles 
 from the coast, and there took up his .abode in a cave, 
 Avhich he had furnished and provisioned, and Avhere he 
 hoped to remain concealed, till the fervour of the prose- 
 cution should abate. But Harvey, who since he had 
 been deposed from the command after the defeat at 
 RosSj had been living in the neighbourhood of Wex- 
 ford, knowing the place of his retreat, and wishing to 
 avail himself of the same means of concealment, em- 
 barked so incautiously to follow him, as to afford a 
 foundation for conjecture Avhich led to a discovery. 
 They surrendered without resistance, though they might 
 have defended their retreat a long time with effect. 
 They were led back to Wexford, and tried by a court- 
 martial. 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 317 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Mr. Anthony Perry — Bloody Friday — Perry attacks Hackets-town — de- 
 feated — made prisoner, and executed — Father John Murphy pene- 
 trates into the County of Kilkenny — Burns Coolbawn — Numerous 
 desertions from the Rebel ranks — Murphy taken and hanged — The 
 Rebels are hotly pursued, and gradually disperse — Edward Fitz- 
 gerald, of New Park, and William Aylmer surrender — Holt and 
 Hacket — Rising in the County of Down and in Cork — Misery and 
 desolation caused by the Rebellion — The French land in Killala bay 
 — take Killala, and Ballina — Shameful defeat and flight of the 
 British at Castlebar — The Marquis of Cornwallis marches in person 
 against the French, who lay down their arms — Rising in the County 
 of Longford — Battle of Killala — Napper Tandy's proclamations — 
 Bompart's expedition destroyed — Theobald Wolfe Tone taken — 
 Tried by Court-Martial, sentenced to be hanged — Kills himself. 
 
 1798. 
 
 While the military were fully occupied in re-establish- 
 ing order in the town of Wexford, Gorey, which had 
 suffered so much since the breaking out of the rebellion, 
 was again destined to become the scene of a bloody 
 tragedy. 
 
 Anthony Perry was a Protestant gentleman of inde- 
 pendent fortune, of amiable manners, ana of good 
 education. Seduced into the United Association long 
 before the Rebellion broke out, he had acted with a de- 
 gree of incaution, which created nmcli suspicion in the 
 minds of the neighbouring magistrates ; he was con- 
 sequently arrested, and confined in the gaol of Gorey a 
 
318 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 short time before the insurrection began. There alarmed, 
 or repenting, he gave useful information, in the hope of 
 enlargement ; but such was the state of things that he 
 was still held in confinement, and treated with harsh- 
 ness and indignity, unbecoming to the actors as men, 
 and highly impolitic to be suffered by the magistrates : 
 but in fact little was then thought improper or un- 
 worthy, which tended to gratify the angry feelings of 
 either party. Among other acts of cruelty practised 
 upon Mr. Perry, a serjeant of the North Cork militia, 
 who, from his habitual conduct was nicknamed Tom 
 the Devil, cut away all his hair, and burned all the 
 roots with a candle. At length when the insurgents 
 possessed themselves of Carrigrua hill, six miles from 
 Gorey, preparatory to an attack on that town, the 
 magistrates, as we before said, abandoned it on the 
 28th of May, and liberated Perry, who returned to his 
 own house, four miles from Gorey, in the hope of being 
 permitted to remain in quiet, unconnected with future 
 plots or rebellions ; but he was soon followed by a body 
 of yeomen (a class of men who were invariably the most 
 cruel and inveterate towards persons of the opposite 
 party), who destroyed his effects, and obliged him to 
 fly for his life. Finding persecution thus follow him, 
 and believing he had no alternative, he disguised 
 himself as a beggar, crossed the country in safety, 
 and threw himself into the arms of the rebels, who 
 received him with acclamation, and directly placed 
 him in command. Now openly a leader, he devoted 
 himself entirely to the party, entered into all their views, 
 and adopted all their feehngs. He fought under Har- 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 319 
 
 vey at Ross on the 5th of June, was at the attack of 
 Arklow on the 9th, and when on the 21st Wexford 
 was deUvered up, he led his followers, to the numher 
 of five hundred active, determined men, towards the 
 Wicklow mountains. The town of Gorey having been 
 evacuated by the rebels a day or two before their 
 surrender at Wexford, a party was despatched on the 
 20th of June, from Arklow to take possession, consist- 
 ing of seventeen men of tlie Gorey yeomanry cavalry, 
 under the command of Lieutenant Gordon, a youth 
 scarcely seventeen years of age ; he was told he would 
 meet a larger force in Gorey, and a superior officer, 
 under whose orders he was instructed to place himself. 
 A few of the yeoman infantry, and other royalists who 
 had fled from the town on the advance of the rebels, 
 hearing of the force which was now to occupy it, 
 hastened back to their homes at Gorey. Lieutenant 
 Gordon did not find the force in the town which he had 
 reason to expect, and instead of remaining quietly in 
 the place for its arrival, he set out with his little band 
 to scour the country in search of rebels, and killed about 
 fifty men, said to have been rebels, but then in their 
 homes, or straggling homeward from the rebel armies. 
 On the 22nd, Perry being on his march trom Wexford, 
 as I have just related, received information of this 
 slaughter ; he directly turned from his road, and with 
 his men made for Gorey, determined on revenge. 
 Lieutenant Gordon, apprized of his approach, marched 
 out to meet him as far as a spot called Charlotte Grove, 
 with his seventeen cavalry, and fourteen of the yeomanry 
 
320 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 infantry, who had returned into the town. Some volleys 
 were fired, which killed seven of Perry's men ; but find- 
 ing they must soon be surrounded, and of course de- 
 stroyed, the infantry were taken up behind the cavalry, 
 and fled through the town for Arklow. During this 
 skirmish, the other royalists who had returned once more, 
 abandoned their homes, and fled also towards Arklow, 
 but were soon overtaken by the rebels. Young Gordon 
 endeavoured to rally his men to defend these poor people, 
 but in vain ; they gallopped away at full speed, and the 
 refugees were left to the mercy of the rebels, who 
 killed, or left for dead, every soul of them. Thirty- 
 seven were killed, and about as many desperately 
 wounded ; some of whom, however, afterwards recovered. 
 No woman or child was hurt, although their number 
 exceeded that of the men, as Perry said this Avas solely 
 a measure of retaliation, and he had found that the 
 yeomen had not hurt any woman on the 20th. The 
 rebels then returned into the town, took a hasty meal, 
 and pursued their route. Such was the slaughter of 
 the 22nd of June, denominated Bloody Friday. 
 
 On the 24tli, Perry fell in with Garret Byrne, of 
 Ballymanus, in the county of Wicklow, a Roman Ca- 
 tholic gentleman, who was a noted rebel leader, and 
 one of those who commanded on Vinegar-hill. Driven 
 from that post by the army, on the 2 1st of June, he 
 was retreatino- with his followers when he met with 
 Perry near Hacketstown, a place garrisoned by only 
 30 cavalry and 120 infantry militia, under the com- 
 mand of Captain Gardiner. These leaders, uniting 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS RF.YNOLDS. 321 
 
 their forces, determined to attack the phice, and ad- 
 vanced ag-ainst it at five o'clock in the morning of the 
 25th : Captain Gardiner led out his men to oppose 
 them, but Avas obliged to retreat ; the cavalry were 
 driven totally from the field, and appeared no more ; 
 the infimtry retreated into their barracks, where they 
 were joined by all the royalists in the town, and there 
 defended themselves until seven o'clock in the evening, 
 when the rebels retreated, having first burned all the 
 remainder of the town to ashes, with the exception of 
 one house which joined the barracks, and which was 
 therefore protected. The garrison lost Captain Hardy 
 and ten men killed, and twenty-one wounded. The 
 rebels, being more exposed to the fire from the bar- 
 racks, left upwards of two hundred dead on the spot, 
 amongst whom was Michael Reynolds, of Naas, who 
 had accompanied Garret Byrne from Vinegar-hill. 
 
 On this occasion, the wife of Captain Hardy and two 
 young ladies, daughters of Lieutenant Chamney, fell 
 into the hands of the rebels. These ladies were pro- 
 tected and conveyed to a place of safety by Perry, whose 
 own wife, as well as the wife of Garret Byrne, fell into 
 the hands of the royalists, and were treated Avith similar 
 courtesy. 
 
 Failing in one or two other expeditions, and finding 
 his cause totally lost in Wexford, WickloAV, and Kil- 
 dare, Perry selected a small body of his most resolute 
 followers, and attempted to penetrate into the northern 
 parts of the kingdom, but, being intercepted and made 
 prisoner in the King's County, he was tried, con- 
 
 VOL. I. Y 
 
LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 clemned, and executed, at Edendeny, a sliort time pre- 
 vious to the final extinction of the rebellion. 
 
 The main body of the rebels who fled from Wex- 
 ford, amounting, according to the best computations, 
 to fifteen thousand men, directed its march, under the 
 command of Father John JMurphy, to Scollogh Gap, 
 an opening, as the name indicates, in the hills called 
 INI ount Leinster, which separate Wexford from Carlow. 
 Their intention was to penetrate into the county of Kil- 
 kenny, in order to raise a rebellion among the colliers 
 of Castlecomer. On their way they burnt the little 
 town of Killedmond, in the county of Carlow, and, con- 
 tinuing their march, arrived on the 23rd of June at 
 Newbridge, in the county of Kilkenny. There they 
 were opposed by a small body of the 4th dragoon 
 guards and a company of the Wexford militia, whom 
 they defeated easily ; and, by a rapid march, on the 
 same evening reached the Ridge of Leinster, five miles 
 Irom Castlecomer, where they passed the night. 
 
 During this march vast numbers of the rebels quitted 
 their comrades, and returned to their homes ; so that, 
 on the morning of the 24tli, when they descended from 
 the height to advance on Castlecomer, they were re- 
 duced to about eight thousand men. At CoolbaAvn 
 they were met by a body of two hundred and fifty men, 
 whom they defeated, with considerable loss, and then 
 entered Castlecomer without further opposition. The 
 town was filled with Protestants, who had taken refuge 
 there from the depredations of the rebels, who pillaged 
 and destroyed the country through ^diich they passed. 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 323 
 
 On entering the toAvn they massacred between fifty and 
 sixty of the loyalists, but, finding that mode of exter- 
 mination too slow, they set fire to the place, which 
 then underwent all the horrors of a town taken by 
 storm. The loyalists, however, made a desperate de- 
 fence, in which they were soon seconded by the arrival 
 of Major- General Sir Charles Asgill, with a force of 
 twelve hundred men. Their joint exertions succeeded 
 in driving the rebels out of the town at four o'clock 
 in the afternoon ; but the general, finding no shelter 
 for his troops, retired to Kilkenny, followed by all the 
 loyalists. After their departure the rebels returned, 
 plundered the now deserted town, and once more re- 
 gained the heights they had occupied on the preceding 
 night. 
 
 On the morning of the 25th Father Murphy found 
 that his numbers were reduced by desertion to between 
 four and five thousand men, and that his hopes of 
 raising an insurrection were vain ; he therefore resolved 
 to return to Wexford. Accordingly he marched that 
 day to Kilcomny, near Newbridge, where he took post 
 on a rising ground, and on the following morning he 
 was attacked on three sides by General Asgill, aided 
 by Major Mathevvs with five hundred men of the 
 Downshire militia. After an hour's brisk firing the 
 rebels gave way, and fled towards Scollogh Gap, 
 leaving ten pieces of artillery, seven hundred horses, 
 and all their plunder, to the victorious loyalists. The 
 celebrated Father John Murphy w^as taken prisoner 
 after this engagement, and brought to Tullow, the 
 
 y2 
 
324< LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 liead-qiiarters of Sir James Duff. He was sentenced 
 to death, and hanged the same day. At the time of his 
 death he was about forty-five years of age. The fugi- 
 tives were pursued several miles by the cavalry. In 
 forcing their way through the Gap they were again 
 opposed by a body of the King's troops, who killed a 
 great number of them, and those who escaped passed 
 through the woods near Ferns, and gained the 
 Wicklow mountains. There they fell in with Garret 
 Byrne, who had been repulsed from Hacketstown, and, 
 placing themselves under his command, they returned 
 towards Wexford, intending to surprise the garrison 
 of Carnew by the way. General Needham, who com- 
 manded the forces stationed at Gorey, hearing of their 
 approach, sent two hundred cavalry, under the com- 
 mand of Lieutenant-Colonel Pulestone, and a propor- 
 tionate body of infantry, to disperse them. They came 
 up with the rebels near Carnew ; and the cavalry, 
 pushing forward Avith most imprudent zeal, so as to be 
 quite unsupported by the infantry, began a vigorous 
 attack ; but the rebels, quitting the high-road, placed 
 themselves behind the wall or hedges on either side, 
 and poured such a destructive fire on their adversaries, 
 that they killed, in a very short time, fifty-five of them, 
 without losing a single man. The cavalry, unable to 
 retreat, or to do any injury to the rebels, had no resource 
 but to push forward for Carnew, where they gave the 
 alarm to the garrison, Avhich had barely time to retire 
 into a malt-house that had escaped the ])revious con- 
 flagration of the town, and which now served as their 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 325 
 
 barracks, when the rebels appeared, and after an inef- 
 fectual attack retired to Kilcavan-hilL 
 
 Next day they directed their march towards Cool- 
 kenna, but were pursued so closely by a body of about 
 a hundred and fifty yeomen and a company of the True 
 Blues of Tinnehely, that they changed their course, and 
 stationed themselves on Ballyraheen-hill, between Car- 
 new and Tinnehely. Here the yeomen began an attack, 
 but the rebels, instead of Avaiting for them to ascend 
 the hill, rushed dou'n on them with such impetuosity, 
 that they put them to flight, with the loss of ten men 
 killed and several wounded. Captain JMorton and Lieu- 
 tenant Chamney took refuge, with sixty men, in Cap- 
 tain Chamney's house, at the foot of the hill, Avhere 
 they sustained a siege of fourteen hours, till at length 
 the rebels, finding all their efforts to set fire to the 
 house fruitless, retired towards morning, leaving about 
 a hundred and fifty of their companions dead about the 
 house. They then separated into two bodies, one of 
 which assembled at White Heaps, at the foot of Crogan 
 Mountain, where they were pursued by General Need- 
 liam and Sir James Duff. They then advanced to 
 Wicklow Gap, a pass between the mountains of Crogan 
 and Conna, where they were encountered, on the morn- 
 ing of the 5th of July, by Sir James Duff', before whom 
 they retreated towards Gorey. Sir James Duff still 
 pursued them closely, and again overtook them at Bally- 
 guUin, four miles from Gorey. There they made a 
 stand, and repulsed the advanced guard of cavalry; but 
 the infantry soon coming up, they again dispersed 
 
326 LIFE OF THOBIAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 having agreed to meet at Corrigrua-liill. This they 
 did, but they had been so hunted from place to place, 
 and they were still so hotly pursued, that they dispersed 
 from Corrigrua, and returned to their homes. Thus 
 ended the rebellion in the county of Wexford. 
 
 The other body of insurgents, after the repulse at 
 Captain Chamney's house, placed themselves under the 
 connnand of Edward Fitzgerald, of New Park, the 
 same who had been sent, in conjunction Avith Colclough, 
 to negociate with the rebels, but who broke his parole, 
 and remained to command them. That leader, findinp- 
 his party ruined in Wexford, directed his course, with 
 about two thousand followers, to the county of Kildare, 
 to form a junction with a party of the rebels of that 
 county, who had remained in arms from the beginning 
 of the rebellion, and, under the conduct of William 
 Aylmer, had eluded the king's troops by their rapid 
 movements, sometimes amongst the mountains Avliich 
 separate Kildare from Wicklow, and at others in the 
 extensive morass called the Bog of Allen, which is per- 
 haps a hundred miles in length, and in some parts fifty 
 or sixty in breadth, and is studded with islands, or 
 patches of firm ground. To pass these swamps with 
 horses is quite impossible, and even to pass on foot 
 requires much active and enduring strength, as well as 
 local knowledge. The men of Kildare, however, could 
 not long agree with those of \yexford ; they were nearly 
 coming to blows when their commander resolved on a 
 bold and desperate expedition of considerable extent, 
 being nothing less than to seize on the town of Clonard, 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 327 
 
 to cross the Boyne, attack Athlone, and raise an insur- 
 rection in tlie Avestern parts of the kingdom. The ill- 
 associated confederates, each party about two thousand 
 strong, set out on this hazardous adventure ; hut their 
 intention became known, the little garrison of Clonard 
 was strengthened by troops from Kinnegad and Mul- 
 lingar, and, after an hour's very poor fighting, they 
 were obliged to relinquish the attempt. This repulse 
 took place on the 11th of July. The confederates im- 
 mediately separated ; Aylmer returned to his bogs and 
 mountains, where he held out until after the confessions 
 of Arthur O'Connor and his associates ; he then 
 availed himself of the terms of pardon offered, dis- 
 persed his followers, and surrendered, to quit the 
 kingdom. 
 
 The Wexford men, under the conduct of Fitzgerald, 
 now reduced to 1500, hunted by yarious bodies of the 
 king's troops, made marches, or rather flights, from 
 place to place in the counties of Kildare, Meath, 
 Louth, and Dublin, skirmishing with such bodies of 
 troops as overtook or met them. On the 12th they 
 plundered the village of Carbery, in the county of Kil- 
 dare. On the 14tli they made a desperate stand be- 
 tween the river Boyne and the town of Ardee, where 
 they fought with advantage a large body of cavalry 
 under General Wemys and Brigadier-General i\Iey- 
 rick until the arrival of a body of infantry and artil- 
 lery, when they broke and fled with sojue loss into a 
 bog, whence many of them dispersed. But Fitzgerald 
 still had about 800 men, with whom he repassed the 
 
328 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 Boyne, intending to regain the Wicklow mountains ; 
 but, overtaken near Swords, in the county of Dublin, 
 they made a final stand against the Dumfries cavahy 
 and a body of infantry, were defeated with much 
 slaughter, and totally dispersed. Fitzgerald surren- 
 dered on terms to General Dundas, and \vas confined 
 in Dublin Castle till the beginning of 1799, when 
 Lord Cornwallis permitted him to retire to England, 
 where he remained till the 25tli of March following, 
 when he was again arrested at Bristol, and afterwards 
 allowed to retire to Hamburgh."^ Some hundreds of 
 his men reached the Wicklow mountains, where, joined 
 by other desperate outlaws, they desolated tbe country, 
 under the conduct of two men of low degree named 
 Holt and Hacket. Descending suddenly from one or 
 other of the fastnesses in this wild and extensive range 
 of mountains, tliey committed the most horrible ex- 
 cesses, retiring again before the troops could arrive to 
 prevent them or to intercept their retreat. They almost 
 invariably exercised their atrocities on the persons and 
 properties of Protestants, frequently passing over the 
 lands and through the flocks of Roman Catholics, 
 which they left unhurt, to reach a more distant Pro- 
 testant proprietor. This preference roused certain feel- 
 ings among the neighbouring yeomen, who, unable to 
 seize and punish the aggressors, determined to revenge 
 themselves on those who were thus favoured ; and where 
 any Protestants were murdered by the banditti they re- 
 
 * Hay's History of the Insurrection in Wexford. 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 329 
 
 solved to massacre a greater number of Roman Catho- 
 lics in the same neighbourhood ; thus making innocent 
 persons suffer for their inability to protect the country 
 or to punish the marauders. Such, however, was the 
 fact, and they put their savage resolution into fatal 
 practice. Two instances out of many will suffice. 
 
 At Castletown, four miles from Gorey, four Protest- 
 ants were murdered in the night by Hacket's men ; 
 next day seven Roman Catholics were l^utchered by the 
 yeomen in revenge. At Aughrim, in the county of 
 WickloAV, fifteen Protestants were murdered by the 
 banditti ; the yeomen massacred tAventy-seven Roman 
 Catholics in the same place in revenge ! Horrible as 
 this appears, these are plain, naked truths. Many 
 similar facts are now before me, but these are sufficient 
 to evince the shocking condition of the country. Ha- 
 rassed by the pursuit of the military, particularly of a 
 Scotch reo'iment of Highlanders, who were as active 
 mountaineers as the outlaws themselves, and the dreary 
 ■wastes affording no shelter in the AAet and cold season, 
 their numbers daily decreased. At length Hacket was 
 killed ])y a Mr. Atkins, near Arklow, in defence of his 
 house, which that robber attacked ; and Holt surren- 
 dered himself to Lord Powerscourt, and was trans- 
 ported. 
 
 When Holt Avas brought to Dublin he Avas at first 
 lodged in a little chamber on the ground-floor of the 
 buildings in the castle-yard. My father could not re- 
 sist the desire to see this very remarkable outlaw ; he 
 accordingly Avent Avith Lord Castlereagh and several 
 
330 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 other persons to his prison. He was an athletic, active 
 man, about five feet nine inches high, apparently about 
 thirty years of age ; a good, steady, resolute countenance, 
 but nothing morose or savage. He was dressed in tiglit 
 grey military pantaloons, a blue military vest, and grey 
 frize surtout, such as is common among the Irish pea- 
 santry. He conversed freely, rather boasting of, than 
 concealing what he had done. He said he had been 
 an excise-officer, or one employed as such, stationed on 
 the Wicklow mountains in order to prevent or discover 
 private stills ; that, being absent from his house on this 
 duty, a party of military arrived, and, pretending to be- 
 lieve he was out as a Croppy, destroyed his house and 
 property. He directly fled to the mountains, and took 
 the oath of the United Irishmen. 
 
 I regret that it is not in my power to tell what be- 
 came of those monsters Dixon and his wife. The docu- 
 ments in my hands would enable me to furnish many 
 details of other actors in those scenes, but I should be 
 sorry to disturb the repose of those whose good fortune 
 has caused their names and the parts they acted to be 
 forgotten or less generally known. Those of whom I 
 have spoken were notoriously public. 
 
 While these horrid and bloody scenes were desolating 
 the counties of Wexford and Wicklow two or three 
 partial insurrections broke out in other parts of the 
 country, but fortunately they were quickly suppressed. 
 One of these risings was in the county of Antrim. The 
 magistrates had convened a public meeting on the 7th 
 of June, for the pur})ose of consulting on the most efli- 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 331 
 
 cient means of preserving the public peace. At two 
 o'clock in the afternoon of that day a numerous body 
 of insurgents attacked the town of Antrim, and, soon 
 overpowering the garrison, had very nearly gained pos- 
 session of it, when Major-General Nugent sent a ])ody 
 of troops to its succour. The rebels, who were already 
 in the town, defended themselves bravely, and repulsed 
 the vanguard of the royalists, who lost in killed and 
 wounded twenty-three men at the first attack. Colonel 
 Durham, who commanded the troops, then brought up 
 his artillery, and soon obliged the rebels to abandon the 
 town, together with three pieces of cannon. They were 
 pursued with great slaughter as far as Randalstown. 
 Colonel Lumley, of the 22nd dragoons, and some other 
 officers, were wounded. On this occasion Lord O'Neill 
 met his death. He had ridden into the town to attend 
 the meeting of the magistrates, not knowing that the 
 rebels had attacked it, Avhen, his horse having been 
 wounded, he was unable to keep up with the retreating- 
 troops. He was attacked by several rebels, one of whom 
 he shot, when he was dragged off his horse, and so des- 
 perately wounded with pikes that he died in a few days. 
 Next day a small body attacked the town of Larne, but 
 were repulsed by the garrison. Attempts were also 
 made at Ballymena and Ballycastle, but met with no 
 success. Disappointed and dispirited, the main body 
 retired to Donnegar Hill, where they surrendered their 
 arms and dispersed. 
 
 Another rising began on the 8th of June in the 
 county of Down. A body of rebels made their ap- 
 
332 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 pearance near Saiiitfield, led on hy Dr. Jackson of 
 Newtowuards. One of tlieir first exploits was directed 
 against ]\Ir. Mackee, a very respectable farmer, who Avas 
 obnoxious to them. They surrounded his house, set it 
 on fire, and burnt him, his wife, his children, and his 
 servants, amounting to 11 persons, driving back into 
 the flames with their pikes, such as endeavoured to quit 
 the house and escape. They then elected Henry IMunro, 
 a shopkeeper of Lisburn, as their general ; and on the 
 9tli they attacked a body of York fencibles and yeomanry 
 cavalry, under Colonel Stapleton. After a well-fought 
 battle, in which Colonel Stapleton lost 60 men, the 
 rebels were defeated, and dispersed in all directions. 
 Next day they re-assembled at Ballynahinch, on the 
 Windmill Hill, and on Lord IMoira's property. On 
 the 12th, General Nugent and Colonel Stewart, with 
 1500 hundred men, went in pursuit of them, and soon 
 gained possession of AVindmill Hill, as well as of the 
 town of Ballynahinch, Avhich the troops w^antonly set 
 on fire. On the morninsf of the 13th the action bee-an : 
 the rebels were about 5000 in number_, and fought Avith 
 great fury and determination for several hours ; but at 
 length, their courage alone was not sufficient to with- 
 stand the discipline of the regular troops, and they gave 
 way in all directions. The main body retired to the 
 mountains of Slyeeve Croob, from Avhence in a few 
 days they separated, and returned to their homes. 
 
 Another very slight insurrection took place in the 
 county of Cork, where, on the 19th of June, an attack 
 Avas made on a detachment of the "Westmeath regiment 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 333 
 
 of militia^ between Cloglmakilty and Bandoii, near the 
 village of Ballynascarty, by a few hundred insurgents, 
 who were soon repulsed. Another body made their 
 appearance on some heights which fljinked the road, 
 but a few discharges of the artillery caused them to 
 retire, and they were seen no more. They either dis- 
 persed to their homes, or joined their friends in other 
 places. 
 
 Happily the rebellion did not extend to the other 
 parts of Ireland, which would most infallibly have hap- 
 pened, had my father not acted as he did ; and the 
 whole kingdom Avould have been a scene of pillage^ 
 massacre, and desolation, similar to that which took 
 place in Wexford. The imagination sickens at the 
 . account of the atrocities committed during the few 
 weeks that this insurrection lasted: the few I have 
 related Avill convey some idea of the misery the rest of 
 Ireland escaped. 
 
 The mode of conducting this warfare on tlie part of 
 the insurgents was characteristic of the actors. Hills 
 of a commanding prospect were, always chosen for their 
 stations, which they denominated camps. Sometimes 
 one or two tents, or other such covering, was provided 
 for their chiefs ; the rest of the assembly remained in 
 the open air, men and women promiscuously, some 
 covered with rags or blankets, many without any other 
 covering than the apparel they wore during the day. 
 This mode of living was favoured by an uninterrupted 
 continuance of fine weather, very unusual in Ireland. 
 This they regarded as a particular interposition ot Pro- 
 
334 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 vidence in their favour ; and they were made to believe 
 that not a drop of rain was to fall until they should be 
 masters of all Ireland. In these camps, among such 
 crowds of riotous undisciplined men, under no regular 
 authority, the greatest disorders may be supposed to 
 have prevailed. When a man was in a sound sleep in 
 the night, he was often robbed of his gun, or some other 
 article. To guard against this, it became customary 
 to sleep flat on the belly, with the hat, shoes, &c., tied 
 under the breast. Their cooking was of the rudest 
 description ; the cattle being knocked down and slain, 
 pieces of flesh were cut at random without flaying, and 
 roasted, or rather burned on the fire, together with the 
 parts of the hide belonging to them. The head, feet, 
 and all the rest of the carcase was left to rot where it 
 was felled. They converted books into saddles, when 
 the latter could not be procured, placing the book open 
 in the middle on the horse's back, with ropes for girths 
 and stirrups. The large volumes found in plundering 
 were considered valuable for this use. Being scantily 
 stored with ammunition they used pebbles, or in some 
 instances, hard balls of clay for bullets. Their leaders 
 never willingly made an attack in the night-time on 
 any post where they expected opposition, as the men 
 were not under any real command, but acted sponta- 
 neously, each according to the impulse of his own mind. 
 They Avere watched by each other in battle, each fearing 
 to be left behind in case of a retreat, which was usually 
 very swift and sudden ; but in the night, when a man 
 could not see the position of his associates, who might 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 335 
 
 make what they called ' the rim' before he coukl per- 
 ceive it, and thus leave him in the hands of those who 
 never gave quarter, no rebel would rely with confidence 
 on the support of his fellow, where resistance was 
 expected. Generally speaking, women and children 
 were not subjected by the rebels to brutality or ill- 
 usage, although instances of the reverse can be cited ^ 
 such as the burnin«: at Scullaboo-ue, and that of Mackee 
 and his family, in the county of Down. Excepting 
 these attacks, where all were indiscriminately slaught- 
 ered, without regard to sex or age, I do not know of any 
 instance of personal ill-treatment to women by the 
 rebels. I fear we cannot say so much for the opposite 
 party. 
 
 It would be impossible to form any correct idea of 
 the desolation caused in the counties of Wexford, 
 Wicklow, and the neighbourhood, by the ravages of 
 the rebellion. Besides a multitude of cabins, farm- 
 houses, and gentlemen's seats in the open country, the 
 towns of Carnew, Tinnehely, Hacketstown, Donard, 
 Blessington, and Killedmond were entirely destroyed 
 by fire. At Ross above three hundred houses, mostly 
 those of the poor, were consumed, and a great part of 
 Enniscorthy was destroyed. Whenever a town was 
 taken possession of by the rebels, whatever houses 
 escaped the flames were gutted so effectually that no- 
 thing remained but the walls and the roof; everything 
 else was wantonly destroyed, and the furniture was uni- 
 versally either burned or carried off. This devastation 
 and plundering was not always the work of the rebels. 
 
336 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 Unfortunately a great part of the damage was done by 
 the sokliery, who commonly completed the ruin of 
 deserted houses in which they had taken up their quar- 
 ters ; and too often plundered without distinction the 
 property of loyalist or rebel. But the destruction of 
 property Avas not the only damage resulting to the above 
 named counties from tliis atrocious association. When 
 we reflect on the loss of lives — on the personal sufferings 
 — on the neglect of industry^ — on the obstruction to 
 commerce — on the interruption of credit — on the neglect 
 of the necessary agricultural labours — and on the depra- 
 vation of public morals, we have before us a picture of 
 woe and misery hardly to be equalled in the annals of 
 the world. The number of persons killed in battle, or 
 put to death afterwards in cold blood, has, I believe, 
 never been correctly ascertained ; they must be very 
 great, when we only consider the number of the insur- 
 gents. At one time they had encampments on Vinegar- 
 hill, on Lacken-hill, on the Three Rocks, and at 
 Gorey. These four stations were occupied, at the least 
 computation, by 50,000 men ; and we may conceive 
 what havoc such an army of blood-thirsty ruffians, col- 
 lected in one county alone, must have made. 
 
 I should fill a large volume were I to recount all the 
 atrocities committed by these infuriated madmen, in the 
 short period of five weeks, and in a comparatively small 
 space of coimtry ; but what I have related will be suf- 
 ficient to convey some idea of what would have been 
 the consequence, if the insurrection had taken govern- 
 ment by surprise and unprepared, Avliile it fully displays 
 
179S. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 337 
 
 the reckless views of the monsters who urged the people 
 to such sanguinary acts : at the same time, it is an 
 undeniable fact that numerous acts of equal atrocity, and 
 still less justifiable, were, during the same period, and 
 for some time previous to the breaking out of the rebel- 
 lion, committed .by the opposite party. I say, still less 
 justifiable, because they were urged, and frequently 
 countenanced, by the actual presence of persons of 
 rank and distinction, who indulged their brutality under 
 the assumed mask of loyalty. Such was the nmrder 
 of Mr. Johnstone at Narraghmore, as I have already 
 related ; the burning of the rebel hospital in Ennis- 
 corthy, with all the rebel sick and wounded it contained, 
 to the number of above thirty persons ; the massacre of 
 above fifty unresisting individuals by a party of the 
 military under the command of Lieutenant Gordon of 
 the yeoman-cavalry, which provoked the massacre of 
 Bloody Friday ; the slaughter of upwards of two hun- 
 dred men, after they had surrendered on terms of capitu- 
 lation to General Dundas, on the Curragh of Kildare ; 
 the numerous murders committed in cold blood, in 
 retaliation for those committed by the outlaws under 
 Holt and Hacket ; the flogging suspected persons, and 
 throwing salt into their wounds to extort confession ; 
 and other acts of a similar nature. It can never be 
 supposed that any of these, or similar acts, were author- 
 ized or countenanced by any part of the executive 
 government ; they were solely to be attributed to the 
 violence of party rage during a period of civil war. 
 They were not, however, the less to be deplored. Ilap- 
 VOL. I. z 
 
338 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 pily, in the present instance, they were confined to 
 about one-eighth part of the kingdom. Such were the 
 horrors of this insurrection, and all, I may say, in the 
 counties of Wicklow, Wexford, Dublin, and Kildare, 
 with a momentary rising in the counties of Armagh and 
 Down. What would it have been, if it had extended, 
 like the society which caused it, all over Ireland ? 
 
 While these bloody scenes were enacting in Ireland, 
 Mr. Theobald Wolfe Tone, and others of the United 
 Irish leaders, who had taken refuge in Paris, were 
 using \all their endeavours to obtain effectual succour 
 from France. The failures of the expedition under 
 Hoche in December, 1796, and of that which was to 
 have sailed from the Texel under General Daendells 
 in September, 1797, appear to have checked in a great 
 measure the zeal which the French Directory had 
 at first manifested in the cause of the United Irishmen. 
 But Mr. Tone did not despair ; he was unceasing in his 
 efforts, especially when he heard that the rebellion had 
 broken out in the county of Wexford. He called on 
 every person likely to be able to forward his views. On 
 the 20th of June he tells us he called on General Kil- 
 maine, who told him he was much afraid the govern- 
 ment would do nothing, as the great superiority of the 
 British naval force, and the difficulty of escaping from 
 any of the ports of France during the fine season, had 
 determined the Directory to adjourn the measure until 
 a more favourable occasion. Tone says — " I lost my 
 temper at this, and told him that if the affair was ad- 
 journed it was lost ; the present crisis must be seized, 
 or it would be too late ; that I could hardly hope the 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 339 
 
 Irish, unprovided as they were of all that was indis- 
 pensable for carrying on a war, could long hold out 
 against the resources of England, especially if they saw 
 France make no effort whatsoever to assist them ; that 
 thus far they had been devoted to the cause of France, 
 for which, if they had not been able to do much, at 
 least they had sufficiently suffered ; but who could say 
 or expect that this attachment would continue, if, in the 
 present great crisis, they saw themselves abandoned to 
 their own resources ? that now was the moment to assist 
 them — in three months it might be too late, and the 
 forces then sent, if the Irish were overpowered in the 
 mean time, would find themselves unsupported^ and in 
 their turn be overpowered by the English. General Kil- 
 maine answered that he saw all that as well as I did ; 
 but what could he do ? He had pressed the Directory 
 again and again on the subject, but they were afraid to 
 incur the charge of sacrificing a handful of the troops of 
 the republic, and would not try the enterprise except on 
 a grand scale."* 
 
 Mr, W. Tone further tells us that, as the news of 
 each arrest and of each action successively reached 
 France, his father urged the generals and government 
 to avail themselves of the favourable opportunity which 
 was flying so rapidly by.f 
 
 At length, in the beginning of July, Mr. Tone was 
 summoned to Paris, " to consult with the ministers of 
 the war and navy departments on the organization of a 
 new expedition. The plan of this new expedition was 
 
 * Memoirs of Theobald Wolfe Tone, vol. ii., p. 307. t Ibid. p. 518. 
 
 z 2 
 
340 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 to despatch small detachments from several ports, in 
 the hope of keeping up the insurrection, and distracting 
 the attention of the enemy, until some favourable oppor- 
 tunity should occur for landing the main body under 
 General Kilmaine. General Humbert, Avith about 
 1000 men, was quartered for that purpose at Rochelle ; 
 General Hardy with 3000, at Brest ; and General 
 Kilmaine, with 9000, remained in reserve."* 
 
 In pursuance of the plan proposed. General Humbert 
 sailed from Rochelle on the 4th of August with 1030 
 men and seventy officers, in three frigates, two of forty- 
 four guns each, and one of thirty-eight; and after a 
 tedious passage arrived in the bay of Killala, in the 
 county of Mayo, on the 22nd of the same month. The 
 garrison of Killala was composed of fifty men, yeomen 
 and fencibles of the Prince of Wales's regiment. This 
 little body attempted to oppose the entrance of the 
 French, but was soon repulsed, and put to flight, leaving 
 two men dead, and twenty-one prisoners, among whom 
 were Captain Kirkwood of the yeomen, and Lieutenant 
 Sills of the fencibles. The French then entered and 
 took possession of Killala Avithout further hinderance. 
 On the following day General Humbert sent a detach- 
 ment to Ballina, a small town seven miles south of 
 Killala. On their way they were met by Major Kerr 
 with a party of carabineers and yeomen infantry, whom 
 they repulsed, and on the evening of the 24th they took 
 possession of Ballina, The little garrison, under Colonel 
 Sir Thomas Chapman, retreated to Foxford, ten miles 
 
 * Memoirs of Theobald Wolfe Tone, vol. ii., p. 518. 
 
1798, LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 341 
 
 distant. On this occasion the Rev. George Foitescue, 
 the rector of Ballina, nephew to Lord Clermont, who 
 had joined the royal troops as a volunteer, was mortally 
 Avounded. 
 
 The Marquis of Cornwallis, having received intelli- 
 gence on the 24th of August of the landing of the 
 French, ordered Lieutenant-General Lake to proceed to 
 Galway to take the command of the troops assembling 
 in Connaught. That general proceeded with such 
 troops as he could assemble to Castlebar, which he 
 reached on the 26th, and there he found Major-General 
 Hutchinson, who had arrived the preceding day. The 
 troops thus assembled at Castlebar consisted of about 
 4000 men, yeomen, militia, and regulars, and a good 
 park of artillery. General Humbert, with 800 men, 
 and two curricle-guns, left Ballina on the 26th ; but, 
 instead of taking the usual road through Foxford, where 
 Brigadier General Taylor had been stationed with a 
 body of troops to oppose him, he took the mountainous 
 road by Barnageehy, where there was only a captain's 
 guard to encounter, and at seven o'clock in the morn- 
 ing of the 27th he arrived Avithin two miles of Castlebar, 
 where he found the royal troops drawn out in an 
 advantageous position between him and the town. 
 Everything seemed to promise an easy victory to the 
 royal troops. They were in numbers between 3000 
 and 4000, well supplied with artillery and ammunition 
 — fresh and unfatigued, and most advantageously posted 
 — while the enemy consisted of 800 men, with two 
 curricle- guns, worn out by a laborious and fatiguing 
 
342 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D, 
 
 march of nearly twenty-four hours. The royal artillery 
 was admirably directed by Captain Shortall, and at 
 fii'st did considerable execution among the French, 
 checking their progress for some time ; but the French, 
 finding that they could not long resist if they presented 
 00 much front to the well-directed lire of the British, 
 filed away in small parties to the right and left, and 
 advanced with such impetuous courage, that in a i'ew 
 minutes the royal troops gave way, and, seized with 
 panic, broke in all directions, and fled in the utmost 
 confusion through the town, taking the road to Tuam, 
 thirty miles from Castlebar^ which they reached that 
 night; and, not thinking themselves safe even there, 
 they merely stopped to refresh themselves, when they 
 again continued their disgraceful flight to Athlone, 
 thirty-three miles further, which place was reached by 
 the vanguard at one o'clock on Tuesday the 29tli. 
 Such was their terror, that they actually fled sixty-three 
 miles in twenty-seven hours ! The loss of the royal 
 army was fifty-three killed, thirty-four wounded, and 
 279 prisoners, or missing. They lost also ten pieces of 
 artillery, and four curricle-guns. The loss of the 
 French was not known. The French troops entered 
 Castlebar, where they remained unmolested till the 
 4th of September. While there the Irish peasantry 
 flocked in great numbers to join them, and 5000 mus- 
 kets were distributed among them. But their total 
 want of discipline rendered them almost useless as 
 auxiliaries. General Humbert expected not only to 
 find powerful support among the Irish, but also to 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 343 
 
 receive fresh supplies of men and stores from France ; 
 but, finding himself disappointed in both these expecta- 
 tions, he clearly saw that he must eventually be over- 
 come ; still he determined to make the best stand he 
 could, and not to surrender until he found further 
 resistance altogether useless. With that view he 
 called in his troops from Killala and Ballina, and thus 
 collected all his forces at Castlebar. 
 
 Meantime, the Marquis of Cornwallis, who, as soon 
 as he received intelligence of the landing of the French, 
 had determined on marching against them in person, 
 quitted Dublin on the 26th of August, and reached 
 Kilbeggan on the evening of the 27th. There he re- 
 ceived the account of the defeat of the royal troops at 
 Castlebar, and he immediately advanced to Athlone, 
 where some of the runaways informed him that the 
 French had continued the pursuit to Tuam, and taken 
 possession of that town. On the 30th of August his 
 Lordship continued his march, and on the 4th of Sep- 
 tember reached HoUymount, fourteen miles from Cas- 
 tlebar. There he received intelligence that the French 
 had evacuated that town the same morning, and had 
 marched towards Sligo by way of Foxford. 
 
 The French on leaving Castlebar were about nine 
 hundred in number, including officers, and they were 
 accompanied by a confused mob of undisciplined rebels. 
 Their plan appears to have been to reach the coast in 
 the county of Donegal, as being the most likely place 
 at which they might expect succours from France ; but, 
 surrounded on all sides by an army, little short of thirty 
 
344 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 tliousand men, they were unable to effect that purpose. 
 As soon as they moved from the town they found Co- 
 lonel Crawford with a large body of troops, supported 
 by General Lake with another, hanging upon their rear. 
 Major- General Moore was continually harassing them 
 with another detachment ; and the Marquis of Corn- 
 wallis, with the main army, was marching in a parallel 
 direction to them, so as to intercept their communica- 
 tion Avith the county of Longford, in which a rising 
 had taken place, with a view to favour their design. 
 
 The French reached Tubbercurry early in the morn- 
 ing of the 5th, where they Avere opposed by Captain 
 O'Hara with a few yeomen. After a short skirmish 
 Captain O'Hara Avas repulsed, and the enemy pro- 
 ceeded to Coloony, where they were attacked by Co- 
 lonel Verreker, with three hundred infantry, thirty 
 light dragoons, and tAvo curricle-guns. After an action 
 of about an hour Colonel Verreker was obliged to 
 retreat, leaving his guns in the hands of the French. 
 General Humbert, conceiving this body to be the van- 
 guard of a much larger army, instead of proceeding to 
 Sligo, noAV directed his march by Drummahair tOAvards 
 Manorhamilton, in the county of Leitrim, leaving three 
 six-pounders dismounted on the road, and having 
 thrown five pieces of cannon over the bridge at Drum- 
 mahair. At Manorhamilton he turned toAvards Drum- 
 kerin, apparently Avith the design of reaching Granard, 
 in the county of Longford. Colonel CraAvford still 
 kept hanging on his rear, and on the 7th had an en- 
 gagement, in Avhich he was repulsed Avith considerable 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 345 
 
 loss, between Drunishambo and Ballynamore. Ge- 
 neral Humbert now passed the Shannon at Balintra, 
 closely pursued by General Lake and Colonel Craw- 
 ford, and, passing by Cloone, arrived at Ballinamuck on 
 the 8th of September. Lord Cornwallis had marched 
 from Carrick-on- Shannon to Saint Johnstown to meet 
 and intercept General Humbert, if he attempted to 
 reach Granard, so that he was now closely surrounded 
 on every side by a force twenty times superior to his 
 own. In this desperate situation he drew up his men, 
 and, after a defence of about half an hour, the main 
 body of General Lake's troops came up, and the French 
 laid down their arms. Their numbers w^ere found to 
 be seven hundred and forty- eight privates, and ninety- 
 six officers ! Since their first landing at Killala, they 
 had lost two hundred and eighty-eight men in different 
 engagements. The Irish rebels were excluded from 
 quarter, and fled in all directions : about five hundred 
 were shot on that day. Matthew Tone, the brother of 
 Theobald Wolfe Tone, and Bartholomew Teeling, of 
 Lisburn, who had accompanied the expedition from 
 France, were taken, sent in irons to Dublin, tried, and 
 executed. Thus ended this extraordinary expedition. 
 
 As soon as it was known that the French had 
 landed at Killala, the disaffected party in the counties 
 of Long-ford and Westmeath bestirred themselves 
 actively to raise an insurrectionary movement, with the 
 view of making a diversion in their favour, and of 
 facilitating their progress towards the capital. In the 
 county of Longford especially many persons of fortune 
 
346 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 espoused this cause. The rising took place on the 4th 
 of September, the same day on which the French 
 evacuated Castlebar, and on the morning of the 5th 
 a body of several thousand rebels, led by one Alex- 
 ander Denniston, a lieutenant of the Mastrim yeoman 
 cavalry, marched to the attack of the town of Granard. 
 Fortunately on that same morning Captain Cottingham, 
 of the Cavan and Ballyhaise yeoman infantry, arrived 
 from Cavan with eighty-five men : these, with the few 
 troops Avho were stationed in Granard, formed a body 
 of a hundred and fifty-seven infantry and forty-nine 
 cavalry. The rebels attacked this little body witli 
 great impetuosity, but Captain Cottingham bravely 
 stood his ground. During five hours the insurgents 
 made the most desperate attempt to drive back the 
 troops, but they were received with such a well- 
 directed fire of musketry that all their efforts were 
 ineffectual, and towards three o'clock in the afternoon 
 they gave way and fled in all directions, pursued with 
 great slaughter by the cavalry. 
 
 On the evening of the same day a strong column of 
 the rebels, having rallied, marched to attack Wilson's 
 hospital, six miles from Mullingar. This hospital, 
 which had been built for the maintenance of twenty 
 old men and a hundred boys, had been seized and 
 plundered in the morning by another party, and the 
 rebels, enraged at their defeat, were just about to mur- 
 der twenty-eight Protestant prisoners, whom they had 
 collected from the neighbourhood, when Lord Longford 
 came up with a force of yeomen and Argyle fencibles, 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 347 
 
 amounting to three or four hundred men, and one field- 
 piece. The rebels, hearing of his lordship's approach, 
 marched t meet him at the village of Bunbrusna, and 
 made, as was their custom, a very impetuous attack, en- 
 deavouring to seize the field-piece ; but a few dis- 
 charges of grape-shot and musketry soon cooled their 
 ardour, and they fled in confusion. A great number 
 took refuge in an adjoining farm-house, which was set 
 on fire, and many perished in the flames. Lord Long- 
 ford's troops remained under arms all night, intending 
 to attack the hospital early the following morning ; 
 but during the night it was evacuated by the rebels, 
 and the troops took possession of it without further 
 hinderance. 
 
 When the Rebellion had thus been put down in the 
 county of Longford, the attention of the government 
 was directed to those places in the county of Mayo 
 which still remained in the power of the insurgents. 
 Castlebar had been occupied by the king's troops since 
 its evacuation by the French, and on the 12th of 
 September it was attacked by a very numerous body of 
 rebels. The garrison consisted of fifty-seven Fraser 
 fencibles, thirty-four volunteers, and a troop of yeoman 
 cavalry, under the command of Captain Urquart, who 
 defended the place with this little force so valiantly, 
 that he beat oft" the assailants and saved the town from 
 plunder. The towns of Newport and Westport were 
 soon retaken, and on the 22nd of September Ballina 
 surrendered after a few discharges of cannon. The 
 rebels, commanded by Mr. True, a French ofiicer. 
 
348 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 fled to Killala. On the following day Major-General 
 French, with twelve hundred men and five pieces of 
 cannon, arrived before Killala, the last hold of the 
 rebels. The account of the retaking of this town is 
 thus related by an eye-witness. 
 
 " The peaceable inhabitants of Killala were now to 
 be spectators of a scene Avhich they had never expected 
 to behold — a battle I a sight which no person who has 
 seen it once, and possesses the feelings of a human 
 creature, would choose to witness a second time. A 
 troop of fugitives in full race from Ballina, women and 
 children tumbling over one another to get into the 
 castle, or into any house in the town where they might 
 hope for a momentary shelter, continued for a painful 
 length of time to give notice of the approach of an 
 army. The rebels quitted their camp to occupy the 
 rising ground close by the town, on the road to Bal- 
 lina, posting themselves under the low stone walls on 
 each side in such a manner as enabled them with 
 great advantage to take aim at the king's troops. They 
 had a strong guard also on the other side of the town 
 towards Foxford, having probably received intelli- 
 gence, which was true, that General French had di- 
 vided his forces at Crosmalina, and sent one part of 
 them by a detour of three miles to intercept the fugi- 
 tives that might take that course in their flight. This 
 last detachment consisted chiefly of the Kerry militia, 
 under the orders of Lieutenant-Colonel Crosbie, and 
 Maurice Fitzgerald, the Knight of Kerry ; their colonel, 
 the Earl of Glandore, attending the general. It is a 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 349 
 
 circumstance which ought never to be forgotten by the 
 loyalists of Killala, that the Kerry militia were so 
 wrought upon by the exhortations of those two spirited 
 officers, to lose no time to come to the relief of their 
 perishing friends, that they appeared on the south side 
 of the town at the same instant with their fellows 
 on the opposite side, though they had a league more of 
 road to perform, 
 
 " The number of the rebels engaged could not be 
 ascertained. Many ran away before the engagement, 
 while a very considerable number flocked into the 
 town in the very heat of it, passing under the castle 
 windows in view of the French officers on horseback, 
 running upon death with as little appearance of reflec- 
 tion or concern as if they were hastening to a show. 
 About four hundred of these misguided men fell in the 
 battle and immediately after it. They met with death 
 on every side in attempting to escape, for, Avlien they 
 were driven from their post outside the town by a 
 flanking fire of the soldiery, they fled in all directions 
 and were furiously pursued by the Roxburgh cavalry, 
 who slaughtered many in the streets ; and they were 
 either intercepted at the other end of the town by the 
 Kerry militia, or, directing their flight to the shore, they 
 were swept away by scores, a cannon being placed on 
 the opposite side of the bay, which did great execu- 
 tion. 
 
 " The pursuit of the cavalry into the town was not 
 agreeable to military practice, according to which, it is 
 usual to commit the assault of a town to the infantry. 
 
350 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 but here the general wisely reversed the mode, in order 
 to prevent the rebels, b^^ a rapid pursuit, from taking 
 shelter in the houses of the town's-folk, a circumstance 
 vrhich was likely to provoke indiscriminate slaughter 
 and pillage. The measure was attended with the de- 
 sired success. A considerable number was cut down 
 in the streets, and of the remainder but a few were 
 able to escape into the houses. Some of the defeated 
 rebels, however, did force their way into houses, and by 
 consequence brought mischief upon the innocent inha- 
 bitants, without benefit to themselves. 
 
 " In spite of the exertions of the general and his 
 officers the town exhibited almost all the marks of a 
 place taken by storm. Some houses were perforated 
 like a riddle ; most of them had their doors and windows 
 destroyed, the trembling inhabitants scarcely escaping 
 with life by lying prostrate on the floor — nor was it 
 till the close of next day that their ears were relieved 
 from the horrid sound of muskets discharged every 
 minute at flying and powerless rebels. The plague of 
 war so often visits the world that we are apt to listen 
 to any description of it with the indifference of satiety : 
 it is the actual inspection only that shows the monster 
 in its proper and full deformity."* 
 
 The retaking of Killala put an end to the Rebellion 
 in that quarter. 
 
 On the 4th of September the Anacreon, Frencli 
 brig, left Brest with a body of United Irishmen, who 
 
 * A Narrative of what passed at Killala, by an eye-witness. Dublin, 
 180U. 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 351 
 
 had fled to France, headed by James Napper Tandy, 
 and after twelve days' sail arrived at Rutland^ in the 
 county of Donegal. They landed immediately, and 
 distributed the following proclamation. 
 
 " Liberty or Death. 
 
 " Northern Army of Avengers. Head Quarters. 
 " The First Year of Irish Liberty ! 
 "United Irishmen ! 
 
 "The soldiers of the great nation have landed on 
 your coast, well supplied with arms and ammunition of 
 all kinds, with artillery worked by those who have 
 spread terror among the ranks of the best troops in 
 Europe, headed by French officers. They come to 
 break your fetters, and restore you to the blessings of 
 liberty. 
 
 " James Napper Tandy is at their head ; he has 
 sworn to lead them on to victory or die. Brave Irish- 
 men ! the friends of liberty have left their native soil to 
 assist you in reconquering your rights ; they will brave 
 all dangers, and glory at the sublime idea of cementing 
 your happiness with their blood. 
 
 " French blood shall not flow in vain. To arms ! 
 
 freemen, to arms ! the trumpet calls, let not your 
 
 friends be butchered unassisted ; if they are doomed to 
 
 fall in this most glorious struggle, let their death be 
 
 useful to your cause, and their bodies serve as footsteps 
 
 to the temple of Irish liberty. 
 
 " General Rey." 
 
 (In the name of the French officers and soldiers now 
 
 on the coast of Ireland). 
 
352 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 But this " most glorious struggle " was not to take 
 place, for the first news Napper Tandy heard on land- 
 ing was the failure of General Humbert's expedition ; 
 he therefore took a slight repast, and hastily re-em- 
 barked, and returned to France ; but before he went he 
 left another memorial of his expedition in the following 
 proclamation. 
 
 " General J. Napper Tandy to his Countrymen. 
 
 " United Irishmen ! 
 
 " What do I hear ? tbe British government have 
 dared to speak of concessions ! Would you accept of 
 them ? Can you think of entering into a treaty with a 
 British minister ? A minister too who has left you at 
 the mercy of an English soldiery, who laid your cities 
 waste, and massacred inhumanly your best citizens ; a 
 minister, the bane of society and the scourge of man- 
 kind. Behold, Irishmen ! he holds in his hand the 
 olive of peace ; beware ! his other hand lies concealed, 
 armed with a poniard. No, Irishmen, no ! you shall 
 not be the dupes of his base intrigues : unable to subdue 
 your courage, he attempts to seduce you, — let his efforts 
 be vain ! 
 
 ^' Horrid crimes have been perpetrated in your 
 country, — your friends have fallen a sacrifice for their 
 devotion to your cause ; their shadows are around you 
 and call aloud for vengeance. It is your duty to avenge 
 their death — it is your duty to strike on their blood- 
 cemented thrones the murderers of your friends. Listen 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 353 
 
 to no proposals, Irishmen ! wage a war of extermination 
 against your oppressors, — the war of liberty against 
 tyranny, — and liberty shall triumph. 
 
 " J. Napper Tandy." 
 
 Napper Tandy was afterwards arrested at Hamburgh, 
 and sent to Ireland, where he was indicted for high 
 treason, at the spring assizes, held at Liffbrd, for the 
 county of Donegal, in 1801; and, having pleaded guilty, 
 he obtained the royal mercy, on condition of banishing 
 himself from the country. 
 
 The news of Humbert's first successes soon reached 
 France, and immediate preparations were made for 
 sending the second detachment from Brest. On the 
 20th of September the expedition set sail from the 
 Bale de Camaret. It consisted of the Hoche 74, the 
 Loire, Resolve, Bellone, Coquille, Embuscade, Immor- 
 talite, llomaine, and Semillante, frigates, and the Biche 
 schooner, under the connnand of Commodore Bom part. 
 The land-forces consisted of three thousand men, under 
 General Hardy. Bompart took a large sweep to the 
 westward, to avoid the British fleet, and, then turning to 
 the north-east, he reached the end of Loch Swilly on 
 the 10th of October, after twenty days' sailing. On the 
 following morning, before he could enter the bay, he 
 was signalled by Sir John Borlase Warren, and, after a 
 desperate fight, the Hoche and six of the frigates were 
 taken : the Romaine and the Semillante, with the Biche 
 schooner, escaped to France. 
 
 On the 27th of the same month another squadron of 
 
 VOL. L 2 A 
 
354 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 three frigates, having on board two thousand men, who 
 were intended as a reinforcement ibr General Hardy, 
 anchored in the hay of Killahi, but, on the appearance 
 of some English cruisers, they set sail with all haste, 
 and returned in safety to France. 
 
 Theobald Wolf Tone was taken among the other 
 prisoners on board the Hoche : at first he passed un- 
 noticed among the officers, and, when they landed at 
 Letterkenny, he was invited w^itli them to a breakfast 
 with the Earl of Cavan. At that breakfast he was 
 recognised, whether by being pointed out by an old 
 felloAv-student, as Mr. W. Tone states, or otherwise, is 
 noAv immaterial. He wt.s handed over to the police, 
 and sent off to Dublin to be tried for high treason. 
 As soon as Mr. Tone arrived in Dublin preparations 
 were made for trying him by a court-martial. ]\Ir. 
 W. Tone, in the account he gives of the trial of his 
 father, says that an erroneous notion prevailed that his 
 father considered his French commission as a protec- 
 tion, that this however was not correct, for his father 
 " knew perfectly w^ell that the course he had deliberately 
 taken subjected him to the utmost severity of the 
 British laws."* But in Mr. Tone's journal for March, 
 1796, he himself says, " I was wdlling to encounter 
 danger as a soldier, but had a violent objection to being 
 hanged as a traitor ; consequently, I desired a com- 
 mission in the French army : as to the rank, that was 
 indifferent to me, my only object being a certainty of 
 being treated as a soldier in case the fortune of war 
 
 * Life of Theobald Wolfe Tone, vol. ii. p. 526. 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 355 
 
 should throw me into the liands of the enemy, who I 
 knew woukl otherwise show me no mercy." * Cer- 
 tainly, if Ave may judge from his own confession, he 
 appeared at that time to think that a French commis- 
 sion woukl be a kind of safeguard, at least that it 
 would entitle him to a soldier's death ; though, in his 
 journal of December 25th, 1796, he seems not quite 
 so sure of this result, for he says, " Perhaps I may be 
 reserved for a trial, for the sake of striking terror into 
 others, in which case I shall be hanged as a traitor." f 
 
 On Saturday, the 10th of November, the court as- 
 sembled. It was composed of General Loftus, Colonels 
 Vandeleur, Daly, and Wolfe, Major Armstrong, and 
 Captain Curran. Mr. Paterson was judge-advocate. 
 Mr. Tone appeared in the uniform of a chef de bri- 
 gade. He pleaded guilty to all the charges brought 
 against him, and endeavoured to justify his political 
 conduct in a very eloquent and affecting speech. He 
 denied having any part in the system of private assas- 
 sination into which the United Irish Society had de- 
 generated ; and he ended by requesting to die the death 
 of a soldier in consideration of the uniform he wore. 
 He tlien handed in his commission from the French 
 Directory, signed by the minister of war, granting 
 him the rank of chef de brigade, and a letter of ser- 
 vice giving him the additional rank of adjutant-ge- 
 neral. The Marquis of Cornwallis did not think fit 
 to accede to his request, and he was sentenced to be 
 
 * Life of Tlieobald Wolfe Tone, vol. ii. p. 71. 
 t Ibid. p. 264. 
 
 2a2 
 
356 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 hanged on the 12th November. Meantime his friends 
 were not idle. Mr. Curran as'ued that the sentence 
 was illegal, inasmuch as he, not being a military man, 
 could not legally be tried by a court-martial, while the 
 Court of King's Bench was sitting, as martial law must 
 cease as soon as civil law was established. He, there- 
 fore, on Monday morning, the day fixed for the execu- 
 tion, moved for a habeas corpus, directed to the provost- 
 martial of Dublin barracks and Major Sandys, to bring 
 up the body of Mr. Tone. The chief justice immediately 
 sent the sheriff to the barracks to stay the execution 
 while the Avrit \\'as preparing. The sheriff speedily 
 returned, saying that the provost-martial had answered 
 that he must obey IMajor Sandys, and ]\Iajor Sandys said 
 he must obey Lord Cornwallis : at the same time Mr. 
 Tone's father, avIio had gone off with the writ of habeas 
 corpus, returned, saying that General Craig had refused 
 to obey it. On this the chief justice (Lord Kilwarden) 
 ordered the sheriff to take the body of JMr. Tone into 
 custody, to take the provost-martial and Major Sandys 
 also into custody, and to show the order of the court to 
 General Craig. 
 
 When the sheriff again returned it was to say that 
 Mr. Tone had, in the course of the preceding night, cut 
 his own throat, and could not be removed. It seems 
 that JMr. Tone, on hearing of the result of his appli- 
 cation to the court, Avrote three letters, one to the 
 French Directory and two to his wife ; and then with 
 a pen-knife inflicted the fatal wound. He lingered till 
 the 19th of the month, when he expired. 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 357 
 
 Such was the fate of the founder of the United Irish 
 Society. It is curious that he should have lived to see 
 the end of the society, and then by his death terminate, 
 as it were, the Ifist act of the fatal tragedy of which 
 that society had made Ireland the theatre. 
 
358 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The Ministers accused of exciting the people to Rebellion to increase 
 their own power — Mr. Reynolds' testimony could clear them of this 
 Charge. The Trials of the Conspirators. John M'Can tried and 
 convicted. 
 
 1798. 
 
 While the province of Leinster was a prey to all 
 the horrors of rebellion and civil war, my father con- 
 fined himself closely to Dublin Castle, to preserve 
 himself from the fury of those men who now sought 
 his destruction more ardently than ever. 
 
 IMeantime the friends of the United Irishmen, both 
 in Enii'land and Ireland, denied altoii'ether the criminal 
 nature of the intentions of the United Irishmen, ac- 
 cusing ministers, even in parliament, of having them- 
 selves got up the plot, — of having perverted the natural 
 disposition of the people, and driven them into riots, 
 and all manner of insubordination, by oppression, injus- 
 tice, free-quartering, flogging, torturing, and illegal 
 imprisonments, to strengthen their own power, to 
 colour their tyranny, to put down the spirit of con- 
 stitutional freedom then dawning in Ireland, to rivet 
 the chains of despotism in that country, and to aug- 
 ment the influence of the crown, supported, they said. 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 359 
 
 in Ireland, by the extraordinary power and authority 
 which tlie British ministry intrusted to the Beresford 
 family, who were placed at the head of the bar, the 
 church, and the revenue of the country, and who 
 sought to consolidate their own authority by crushing 
 the spirit and trampling on the liberties of the people. 
 Such were the charges made against government at 
 that time, both in and out of parliament, not only by 
 the Jacobin faction, but by the most respectable and 
 constitutional oppositionists. 
 
 My father's testimony would enable ministers to test 
 the truth of these charges, by exposing the real plans 
 of the conspirators. To prevent his giving that testi- 
 mony the conspirators at that time sought his life : to 
 revenge his having given it, they have ever since 
 sought to destroy his reputation, and even the grave 
 has not put an end to their hatred. 
 
 Honours, title, power, and riches were pressed on 
 him by one party, while threats of the most savage 
 vengeance were denounced against him and his family 
 by the other ; but, uninfluenced by the offers of the 
 one, all of which he rejected, as much as by the threats 
 of the other, which he despised, he steadily adhered to 
 that course which he considered to be his duty to liis 
 king, to his country, and to his reputation. 
 
 As I have observed in the preface, I felt that I was 
 incompetent to examine and comment upon the reports 
 of the trials of M'Can, Byrne, and Bond, in which my 
 father was the principal witness. Those reports have 
 been carefully involved in obscurity, and wilfully 
 
360 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 falsified in many particulars. The following remarks 
 upon those important trials, as they have been re- 
 ported by Mr. Thomas Jones Howell in the twenty- 
 seventh volume of the ' State Trials,' occupying the 
 remainder of this and the two following chapters, have 
 been supplied by another pen : — 
 
 The most careless reader, upon the perusal of these 
 trials, cannot fail to observe that the three prisoners at 
 the bar were not the only persons Avho stood upon their 
 deliverance. It was well observed by the attorney- 
 general, in the course of the first case that it was, " as 
 it Avere, the trial of Mr. Reynolds." The counsel for 
 the prisoners directed their attention chiefly to the case 
 of that gentleman ; advancing charges against him of a 
 highly criminal nature, and calling Avitnesses in sup- 
 port of those charges ; and the presiding judges suc- 
 cessively gave his case in charge to the seA^eral juries, 
 as fully as the case of either of the prisoners at the bar. 
 This gentleman's case Avas not that of an ordinary 
 approver, upon Avhose evidence, corroborated by circum- 
 stantial proof, a jury may convict, Avhile they hold the 
 AAatness to be the basest of mankind. In these cases 
 it Avill be found that the question of the guilt or inno- 
 cence of the several prisoners rested, chiefly, upon 
 the testimony of IMr. Reynolds. This Avas so strongly 
 felt by the counsel for the defence, that they directed 
 their attention in each case to the impeachment of the 
 character and motives of JMr. Reynolds, to the complete 
 neglect of all other grounds of defence ; and the judges 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 361 
 
 charged the several juries, that, if they believed the 
 evidence against Mr. Reynolds, they ought to hesitate 
 to convict upon his unsupported testimony. Under 
 such circumstances a verdict of guilty against the pri- 
 soners is one of not guilty in favour of the witness. 
 
 I purpose entering into a careful examination of 
 those parts of these three trials which relate to the case 
 of Mr. Reynolds, with the view of ascertaining whether 
 the verdicts of acquittal which these juries gave in 
 succession, almost without leaving the box, upon all 
 the charges brought against him, were justified by the 
 evidence ; or whether they were the result of a pre- 
 determination to convict the three prisoners at the bar, 
 notwithstanding the well-established depravity, immo- 
 rality, and falsehood of almost the only witness against 
 them. 
 
 The truth of Mr. Reynolds' account of the con- 
 spiracy has long ceased to be a matter of dispute. 
 The conspirators themselves, immediately after the 
 conviction of Mr. Bond, made the fullest confession, 
 entered into the minutest details of the conspiracy, and 
 confirmed, in the clearest manner, the truth of Mr. 
 Reynolds' evidence in that respect. If, however, any 
 persons at the present day feel dissatisfied with this 
 confirmation of Mr. Reynolds' testimony, on the 
 ground that it was obtained from prisoners under 
 duresse, they may consult with advantage the subse- 
 quent publications of the same parties, and particularly 
 the writings and memoirs of Theobald Wolf Tone, 
 M'Nevin, Sampson, O'Connor, Emmett, &c. &c., in 
 
362 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 which will be found not only a recapitulation of all 
 Mr. Reynolds said, and the conspirators confessed, but 
 many curious and interesting details which none but 
 the chief actors in the confederacy could have known 
 and divulged. The memoirs of Tone, published in 
 1826 b}'^ his son, Avill be found particularly interesting 
 and instructive. 
 
 The question, therefore, to which I am about to 
 draw the attention of my readers is, not ^vhether the 
 evidence given by Mr. Reynolds was true, — subse- 
 quent events have fully confirmed that, — but whether 
 the three juries who tried JM'Can, Byrne, and Bond, 
 ought to have believed him at the time, or whether 
 his private character was proved to be so depraved, and 
 the motives attributed to his public conduct so clearly 
 established to be venal, that those juries ought at once 
 to have rejected his testimony, and that his memory 
 ought still to be held up to public scorn. With that 
 view I am about to go through each of those three 
 trials, compressing into the form of a narrative those 
 parts of IMr. Reynolds' testimony which related to 
 public matters, and giving verbatim those parts which 
 bore upon his private character and motives, together 
 with the evidence of the witnesses against him, the 
 speeches of counsel on both sides, so far as they have 
 come down to us properly authenticated, and the 
 summing up of the several judges so far as they re- 
 lated to him ; and I shall then add such observations 
 as strike me. In asking my readers to accompany me 
 patiently through this long examination, I have to 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 363 
 
 entreat them to bear in mind the words of that emi- 
 nent and cautious judge, and able lawyer, the late 
 Earl of Eldon, who on one occasion thus expressed 
 himself: — " So 1 say in this case, for the rules of evi- 
 dence permit me so to state, it is not merely from what 
 does appear that a jury is to judge, but also from what 
 does not appear ;" and to recollect that " the statements 
 of counsel are not evidence," and, when unsupported 
 by proof, can only serve to exhibit the talent and 
 eloquence of the speaker, and his zeal for the interests 
 of his client.* 
 
 A special commission for the trial of these prisoners 
 having issued to the Right Honourable Hugh Viscount 
 Carleton, lord chief justice of the Court of Common 
 
 * In Mr. Curran's address to the jury in defence of James Weldon, 
 tried for high treason in Dublin in 1796, he made the following just 
 observations upon the statements of counsel when unsupported by evi- 
 dence : — 
 
 " Gentlemen, I cannot, however, but regret that that sort of laudable 
 and amiable anxiety for the public tranquillity, which glows warmest in 
 the breasts of the best of men, has perhaps induced Mr. Attorney- 
 General to state some facts to the court and jury of which no evidence 
 was attempted to be given ; and I make the observation only for this 
 purpose, — to remind you, gentlemen, that the statement of counsel is not 
 evidence, — to remind you that you are to give a verdict, upon this 
 solemn and momentous occasion, founded simply upon the evidence 
 lohich has been given to you, — for such is the oath you have taken. I 
 make the observation not only in order to call upon you to discharge 
 any impressions not supported by testimony, but to remind you also of 
 another incontrovertible maxim, not only of the humane law of England, 
 but of eternal justice, upon which that law is founded, that the more 
 horrid and atrocious the nature of any crime charged upon any man is, 
 the more clear and invincible should be the evidence upon which he is 
 convicted.'' See Howell's ' State Trials,' vol. xxvi. p. 264. 
 
364 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 Pleas ; the Honourable Alexander Crooksliank, second 
 justice of the said court ; the Honourable Tankerville 
 Chamberlaine, third justice of the Court of King's 
 Bench ; the Honourable iMichael Smith and the Ho- 
 nourable Denys George, third and fourth barons of the 
 Court of Exchequer ; and the Honourable Robert Day, 
 fourth justice of the Court of King's Bench ; — the pri- 
 soners were all arraigned on Thursday, the 5tli July, 
 1798 ; and M'Can, who was first tried, was put upon 
 his trial on Tuesday the 17th of the same month. 
 The following are the names of the jury: — 
 Patrick Bride, Arthur Stanley, 
 
 William Thompson, Archibald Hawkesley, 
 
 Francis Kirkpatrick, Thomas Black, 
 
 Thomas Hendrick, Michael Culloden, 
 
 Richard Hewson, Peter Roe, 
 
 Richard Jackson, Richard Quintin. 
 
 The judges who tried the case were Mr. Baron Smith, 
 Mr. Baron George, and IMr. Justice Day. 
 
 The solicitor-general (Mr. Stewart) stated the case. 
 In speaking of the evidence he said that " two witnesses 
 would be produced ; it was true, both in the light of 
 accomplices, but who else could give information of 
 such dark and desperate conspiracies as existed in this 
 country ? One of them would be found to be a man of 
 sense, property, and education, unhappily seduced by a 
 wretched young nobleman, who had already fallen a 
 victim of his diabolical ambition, who, though born of 
 the first family in Ireland, had, to forward those ambi- 
 tious hopes he had conceived, entered into fraternity 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 365 
 
 even with an ironmonger's clerk, tlie prisoner at the 
 bar," 
 
 TJiomas Reynolds, Esq., was then called. After 
 stating that lie had lived the greater part of his life in 
 Park-street, Dublin, that his business had been that 
 of a silk-manufacturer upon the most extensive scale 
 of any in Dublin, and that he had lately purchased 
 Kilkea Castle and estate in the county of Kildare, and 
 removed there with his family, he related the nature, 
 constitution, and objects of the Society o.f United Irish- 
 men, and the connexion of the prisoner with it. There 
 being, at the present day, no dispute about the truth of 
 those details, I shall pass them by, and proceed at once 
 to Mr. Reynolds' account of himself. 
 
 Mr. Reynolds stated that he had been sworn in an 
 United Irishman, at the house of OHver Bond, in the 
 early part of the year 1797; that he had attended 
 several meetings of the society in its two first grades, 
 in the early part of that year; that the objects of the 
 society were "to overturn the constitution and present 
 government of Ireland ; to establish a republican go- 
 vernment instead of it ; and to favour any landing of 
 the French which might forward these views."* He 
 
 * It must not be understood that Mr. Reynolds was informed that 
 these were the real objects of the United Irishmen previous to becoming 
 a member of the society; that conspirators should fully open themselves 
 to a candidate, previous to his admission, would be alike contrary to 
 common sense and common experience. Their ostensible objects were 
 Catholic emancipation and reform in parliament. In the words of the 
 learned judge who tried this case, Mr. Reynolds "learned their projects 
 by attending all the different meetings, there hearing the end and object 
 of their institution repeatedly mentioned by the body collectively." 
 
366 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS, A.D. 
 
 stated that, althoiigli he now knew these to be the real 
 views of the promoters of these societies, jet that tlieir 
 ostensible objects extended only to reform in parliament 
 and Catholic emancipation ; that the oath* taken by 
 them only purported to comprehend those objects, and 
 fidelity to each other ; that liundreds upon hundreds 
 became members of these societies, and continued in 
 them, with no other views ; and, lastly, that it was only 
 upon reaching the higher grades of the society that their 
 real ol)jects were fully developed. He said that, having 
 purchased the lease of Kilkea Castle and estate, he 
 retired into the country with his family in the beginning 
 of the summer of 1797, thereby breaking off his attend- 
 ance at the meetings of the society. He then stated 
 that, being in Dublin in the following month of Novem- 
 ber^ he met Lord Edward Fitzgerald on the steps of 
 the Four Courts in Dublin, and, at his solicitation, 
 backed by the advice of Oliver Bond, he consented to 
 be elected colonel for the barony of Kilkea and IMoone, 
 in the county of Kildare, in Avhich barony his estate 
 
 lay.t 
 
 He then stated that Lord Edward Fitzgerald told 
 liim that everything relative to his appointment as colo- 
 nel should be arranged by one Matthew Kennaa ; and 
 
 * See the oath at page 394 in the note. 
 
 -i- To make this part of the evidence understood, it is necessary to state 
 that, in the summer of 1797, in the interval hetween the time when Mr. 
 Reynolds ceased to attend meetings of the baronial committee of Dub- 
 lin, (beyond which committee he states that he never proceeded in that 
 city,) and this meeting with Lord Edward Fitzgerald, the Societies of 
 United Irishmen had been subjected, by the directory, to a species of 
 military organization. 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 367 
 
 lie says that Kennaa accordingly called upon him in 
 the month of January, at Kilkea, and asked him if he 
 would stand his election for colonel for that barony ; 
 that he told Kennaa that, having promised Lord Ed- 
 ward Fitzgerald that he would do so, he was ready to 
 fulfil his promise ; that Kennaa then told him that 
 Lord Edward had so informed him ; but Kennaa added 
 that, if he was to be their colonel, he must also hold a 
 civil office in the baronial committee, and be thereby 
 deputed to the county committee ; and Kennaa asked 
 him which of the two offices of secretary or treasurer 
 he would prefer ; he says that he chose to be treasurer, 
 as being the least responsible and the least troublesome 
 of the two, and that then Kennaa said that he (Kennaa) 
 would go forward with the witness from the baronial to 
 the county committee as secretary to the baronial. 
 He next states that Kennaa called upon him again in 
 February, and informed him that he had been unani- 
 mously chosen colonel and treasurer at the baronial 
 meeting, and that the county committee, of which he 
 was now a member, would meet on Sunday morning, 
 the 18th of that month of February, at a house on the 
 Curragh. 
 
 He says that he attended that meeting, and he men- 
 tions the names of several persons whom he met there ; 
 and he says that, after taking the United L'ishman's 
 test, the committee proceeded to elect the officers of the 
 committee for the ensuing three months, which officers 
 together with one other member, were, ex officio, dele- 
 gates to the provincial committee, Avhich, it appears. 
 
368 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 was the highest body known to the society, except the 
 directory, of whom the witness declared that he had 
 heard, hut that he did not at that time know who they 
 were. He says that a Mr. Cummins of Kildare was 
 chosen secretary, and a Mr. Daly of Kilcullen delegate, 
 and that he himself was chosen treasurer, in the place 
 of Lord Edward Fitzgerald ; and he adds, that one 
 Michael Reynolds of Naas, who had been secretary 
 during the preceding three months, then informed the 
 newly-chosen officers that the provincial committee 
 would meet on the next day, the 19th, in Dublin, at 
 Oliver Bond's house, and that important business was 
 to be then transacted. 
 
 Mr. Reynolds then states that he did not attend the 
 meeting of the provincial committee held at Bond's 
 house on the 19th of February ; and that he afterwards 
 learned that another meeting of the provincial com- 
 mittee would be held at the same place and hour on 
 the 12th of March. 
 
 He states that he gave information of the intended 
 meeting of the 12th of IMarch to government, through 
 the intervention of a INIr. Cope ; but that, not knowing 
 exactly the hour at A^-hich the meeting was to be held, 
 he applied to the prisoner M'Can, to whom he had been 
 referred by Michael Reynolds, for information. iM'Can 
 asked him if he had brought up the county of Kildare 
 returns of men, money, and arms ; that he told IM'Can 
 he had not ; and that I\I'Can then said he could give 
 him no information about the intended meeting of the 
 provincial connnittee, as he (the witness) could not be 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 369 
 
 admitted to that meeting, unless he brought up those 
 returns. 
 
 He says that, upon his return to the country, he ap- 
 plied to his co-delegate Daly for those returns, who 
 gave him copies of them; and that, upon his return to 
 Dublin, he showed these returns to M'Can, who there- 
 upon promised to breakfast with him on Sunday, March 
 the 11th, and then informed him that the intended 
 meeting wouki be held as proposed at Bond's house, on 
 the following morning at ten o'clock ; and that he, 
 witness, immediately conveyed this information to Mr. 
 Cope. 
 
 He then states that, being aware that the persons 
 who might be found at the meeting would be arrested, 
 he sent an excuse to Bond, and called in the course of 
 the day upon Lord Edward Fitzgerald, at Leinster 
 House, and endeavoured to persuade him to withdraw 
 himself, by showing him some orders which had been 
 issued to a corps of yeomanry which seemed to threaten 
 danger. (In this Mr. Reynolds appears to have suc- 
 ceeded, for Lord Edward Fitzgerald did not attend 
 that meeting, and thereby escaped arrest for some 
 weeks.) 
 
 He then says that he again saw Lord Edward on 
 the following Wednesday evening, in Aungier-street, 
 having been sent for by his lordship, and that he re- 
 ceived from Lord Edward some accounts of money, and 
 a letter to the county of Kildare committee, in which 
 Lord Edward recommended the committee not to be 
 cast down by the arrests at Bond's, but to fill up the 
 
 VOL. L 2 b 
 
370 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 vacancies occasioned by those arrests as speedily as 
 possible ; and assured them that he, Lord Edward, 
 would be found at his post at the proper time. 
 
 He then stated that he returned into the country in 
 a few days ; that he attended a meeting- of the county 
 committee, at which he read Lord Edward's letter, 
 and then resigned his own appointment of treasurer ; 
 and that, on the following market-day, he met some of 
 his captains at Athy, and, after reading Lord Edward's 
 letter to them, he put it into the lire, and then resigned 
 his offices of colonel and treasurer of the baronial com- 
 mittee, which committee he had never attended at all ; 
 and thus ended his connexion with the United Irish- 
 men. 
 
 Mr. Reynolds was then asked. Who was the first 
 person to whom he disclosed what he knew of the 
 United Irishmen's business, and what was the nature 
 of his connexion with that person ? 
 
 He replied. To ^Ir. William Cope : I had a very 
 great connexion with him, and he had much influence 
 over my mind. I had mortgaged a property to him 
 for 5000/. (this property appears elsewhere to have 
 consisted of a reversionary lease for lives, contingent 
 upon the son of Sir Duke Giffard surviving his father, 
 of about 800 acres of land at Corbettstown, in the 
 county of Meath) ; and after the death of the late Sir 
 Duke Giffard I Avent down with Mr. Cope to the pre- 
 sent Sir Duke to get possession from the tenants. We 
 there met Lord Wycombe, Mr. Fitzgerald, and others, 
 and there was much conversation upon politics. We 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 371 
 
 slept there, and Mr. Cope and I came to town together. 
 In coming up Mr. Cope renewned the conversation 
 about politics, and represented, in colours that struck 
 me very much, the horrors of revolution, the murders 
 and devastation which would take place ; he shocked 
 me extremely. I told him I believed I knew a person, 
 who Avas not of a sanguinary disposition, who did not 
 wish for murder or bloodshed, who upon representing 
 all that passed would desert the United Irishmen, and, 
 in order to make amends for any crime he might have 
 committed by joining them, would give to government 
 such information as he was possessed of, which I did 
 believe was very considerable. Mr. Cope seized upon 
 this, and immediately said that such a man would and 
 ought to be placed higher in his country than any man 
 that ever was in it. I told him that neither honours 
 nor rewards were looked for, or would be accepted of 
 by the man, if he came forward ; but that I would call 
 upon him in a day or two on the business. We tra- 
 velled together the whole day, from eight o'clock in 
 the morning until six in the evening, and the conversa- 
 tion was principally upon these topics, so that there 
 was a vast deal said. Two or three days after my ar- 
 rival in town I called upon Mr. Cope, told him I had 
 seen my friend^ and had prevailed upon him to come 
 forward on certain conditions ; and that he had, I 
 believed, considerable information to give. Mr. Cope 
 misunderstood me in what I said, and immediately said, 
 " the man shall have greater conditions than he can 
 wish for ;" he said, " he shall have a seat in parliament, 
 
 2b2 
 
372 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 be raised to honours, and have'1500/. or 2000/. a-year." 
 I told him he misunderstood me ; these were not the 
 conditions, but I would tell him, and they were these : 
 that he should not be prosecuted himself as an United 
 Irishman upon any account whatever ; that he should 
 never be obliged or forced to prosecute any other person 
 as an United Irishman ; and that the channel through 
 which the information came should be kept a secret, at 
 least for a time ; and, as the person would, immediately 
 upon its being known to the United Irishmen, be mur- 
 dered, if he remained in this country, and I was sure it 
 would come out in a very short time, he would, as soon 
 as he could arrange his affairs, go to England till 
 matters were settled, and would require, for that time, 
 that any additional expenses he should be at should be 
 defrayed. 
 
 Mr. Cope then pressed to know what these would be, 
 saying that any sum whatever, no matter how large, 
 would be given. I said that it was impossible to tell ; 
 but after some conversation I stated — that he should be 
 allowed to draw on him for any sum not exceeding five 
 hundred guineas. INIr. Cope again pressed considerable 
 rewards,* and expressed surprise that they would not 
 be taken ; but when he found I was positive he then 
 acquiesced, and received all the information that I could 
 give about what was then going on. 
 
 By the Court. — Did you tell Mr. Cope then that 
 
 * On Bond's trial Mr. Cope expressed himself very strongly on this 
 point : he said, " No consideration would induce Mr. Reynolds to come 
 forward. I tempted hira in every way." 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 373 
 
 you were the person yourself? — Not then, my Lord, 
 because I wished to keep it as secret as possible, by 
 making him think it was from a third person. 
 
 By the Counsel. — You communicated to Mr. Cope 
 the natural difficulties that would ensue to the person 
 making the discovery, and the necessity of providing for 
 his withdrawing from the country ? — I did. Sir ; I did 
 not say exactly his going from the country, but retiring 
 out of the way and being indemnified. The loss already 
 sustained since the arrests at Bond's is to the amount 
 of 600/., and I have received 500 guineas. 
 
 From the part you were apparently taking, did any 
 thing happen to you 1 — There did, two circumstances. 
 I retired to Kilkea; I had never told any human being 
 what had passed between Mr. Cope and me, not even 
 Mrs. Reynolds ; I appeared in my usual intercourse in 
 the country ; I attended, as I have already stated, one 
 meeting of the county committee and one with my 
 captains. * Shortly after I went down Kennaa came 
 and told me he heard I was the man who had be- 
 trayed the meeting at Bond's ; that he heard it as a 
 rumour, but Avould inform me more if he heard any- 
 thing ; and on the 16th April the delegate of Narragh 
 and Rheban, whose name I do not know, but whose 
 person I did, came from the county meeting to me, to 
 let me know that I must attend on the Monday foUow- 
 
 * At these meetings he resigned his appointments and withdrew from 
 the society. He was compelled to attend these meetings that his absence 
 might not betray the course he had adopted. His communications with 
 government had entirely ceased upon the arrest at Bond's. 
 
374 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 ing at the county meeting, which was to be held at 
 Bells, on the Curragh, there to stand my trial on an 
 accusation brought from Dublin by INIichael Reynolds* 
 from the provincial committee, relative to my having 
 betrayed the meeting at Bond's ; that he was sure, as 
 every other member in the county was, that I would 
 acquit myself, and it was for that reason they called 
 upon me. I had before that intended to quit the 
 country, but Mrs. Reynolds' illness prevented me (Mrs. 
 Reynolds was confined of her second son on the 15th of 
 April), and I remained arranging my affairs, and in- 
 tended to have gone to Dublin instead of going to the 
 Curragh ; but on the Saturday previous to the meeting 
 Captain Erskine and Lieutenant Neale, of the Louth 
 militia, with a number of men, came to live at free 
 quarters at my house, and put me under arrest ; they 
 stayed about eight or ten days, and destroyed an immen- 
 sity of my property, drank my wine, ate my provision, 
 and broke my furniture. t After they left me, and I had 
 put the house in Avhat order I could, I was coming to 
 
 * Upon Mr. Reynolds' resignation this person was chosen delegate to 
 the provincial committee. 
 
 t The miUtary paid Mr. Reynolds a second visit, garrisoned his house, 
 and remained for several months. After their final departure an estimate 
 of the damage they did was made by sworn appraisers, and verified 
 before the person appointed by parliament for that purpose, and their 
 valuation laid before the lord chancellor, and the secretary of state — 
 the damage done considerably exceeded 12,000/. The whole of the 
 moveable property the military left behind them, ia the shape of furniture, 
 wines, or stock, upon four hundred acres of land, was sold by auction, 
 and produced 27l. 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 375 
 
 Dublin for the purpose of going out of the kingdom 
 before any other meeting could take place, or I be 
 murdered. At Naas I met Mr. Taylor of Athy ; he 
 asked me where I was going, I said to Dublin. He 
 told me it was his intention as soon as he got home 
 either to have come or to have written to me to let me 
 know the great danger I was in, for that my having 
 betrayed the meeting at Bond's was the public talk of 
 Dublin, and that if I went there I should be murdered, 
 and the house I went to would be pulled down, if they 
 could not get at me without doing so ; and that even an 
 aunt of mine, Anne Fitzgerald, of King-street nun- 
 nery, had repeated this with great bitterness. This ter- 
 rified me so that I went back to Naas, afraid to travel 
 by night ; and the next day I went back to my own 
 house. On the morning following, while I was at the 
 post-office at Castle Dermot (a small town within a 
 mile of Kilkea), I was arrested by a party of the ninth 
 dragoons, and carried to Athy, upon informations sworn 
 against me by some of my own captains. This circum- 
 stance ultimately determined me to avow myself. I 
 was sent up to Dublin on the following day. I heard 
 that the United Irishmen had circulated a number of 
 false and malicious reports respecting my character, and 
 I determined to come forward here and relate, as I have 
 done, my whole conduct really and fairly as it was, and 
 to lay it before my country. Antecedent to this, I had 
 made conditions that I should not be compelled to pro- 
 secute ; I cannot say that my name was not known to 
 government, but I should rather think not ; Mr. Cope 
 
376 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 alone knew my name, and I am sure he would not 
 betray it. I was determined not to be a witness. I 
 rather think JNIr. Cope suspected I was myself the 
 person, but I did not tell him. I suspect so because 
 there was a letter of mine found in Mr. Bond's house, 
 apologising for my absence from the meeting of the 
 12th March, signed T. R. 
 
 [There was another Thomas Reynolds, a member of 
 the provincial committee, who was arrested at Bond's 
 house, on the 12th March. The name was not un- 
 common in Ireland. 
 
 The preceding was the whole of Mr. Reynolds' ex- 
 amination-in-chief on this occasion, divested of the 
 formalities of question and answer. It is taken from 
 " Howell's State Trials," vol. xxvii., to which I refer 
 any person who may wish to compare the above with 
 tlie original examination. 
 
 I will next give the cross-examination of this gentle- 
 man verbatim as reported by Mr. Howell.] 
 
 Thomas Reynolds, Esq., cross-examined hy 
 Mr. Curran. 
 
 You talked of yourself as a married man : who was 
 your wife? — Her name was Witherington. 
 
 Whose daughter ?— The daughter of Catherine and 
 William Witherington of Grafton-street. 
 
 She has brothers and sisters ? — One sister and two 
 brothers . 
 
 How long have you been married ? — I was married 
 upon the 25th of March, 1794. 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 377 
 
 You were young when your father died ? — I was 
 about 16 years of age. 
 
 I think your mother carried on business after your 
 father's death ? — She did. 
 
 Do you recollect at that time whether, upon any oc- 
 casion, you were charged (perhaps erroneously) with 
 having taken any of her money ? — No, Sir ; I do not 
 recollect having heard any such charge. 
 
 You have sisters ? — I have, and had sisters. 
 
 Some of them were living at the time of your father's 
 death ? — All that are now living were ; there were 
 more, but they died. 
 
 Do you recollet having had any charge made of steal- 
 ing trinkets, or anything valuable, belonging to those 
 sisters ? — Never ; I never was charged with taking any- 
 thing valuable belonging to any of my sisters. 
 
 Were you ever charged with having procured a 
 skeleton-key to open a lock belonging to your mother ? 
 — I was. 
 
 I do not ask you whether the charge were true or not; 
 but you say there was a charge of that kind ? — I say, I 
 was told my mother said so. 
 
 She did not believe it, I suppose ? — She did not say 
 anything she did not believe. 
 
 And she said it ? — I heard so, and I have no reason 
 to doubt it. 
 
 It was to open a drawer ? — No ; it was a key to open 
 an iron chest. 
 
 Where there were knives and forks kept ? — It is not 
 usual to keep such things there : I believe papers were 
 
378 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 kept there. Mr. Warren was my mother's partner, 
 kept her in ignorance, and did not supply her with 
 money. 
 
 Do you not believe that your mother made this charge ? 
 • — I believe she thought it at the time. She was a 
 woman of truth, though at times extremely passionate. 
 I wish to say this : you ask me whether I ever was 
 accused of stealing money, or other valuables, or trin- 
 kets, from my sisters : I was not ; but I was accused 
 of stealing my mother's trinkets. I was then about 16 
 years of age.* 
 
 During the partnership between Mr. Warren and 
 your mother, do you recollect anything about a piece 
 of lutestring ? — I do perfectly well. 
 
 Was any charge made of stealing that ? — The very 
 same charge : I was charged with stealing the lute- 
 string to give it to a girl, and that I took my mother's 
 jewels for the same purpose. 
 
 Then the charge consisted of two parts, the taking 
 and the manner in which they were given away ? — If 
 you will have it so. 
 
 I am not asking you whether you committed any 
 facts of this kind or not, but whether the charges were 
 made? — I tell you the charges were made, and 1 took 
 the things. 
 
 * This was a voluntary statement on the part of Mr. Reynolds ; it evi- 
 dently proceeded from a desire to court investigation. It is remarkable 
 that Mr. Curran never followed it up by inquiring into the circumstances ; 
 they will be found correctly stated in a note upon the evidence of Thomas 
 Warren, in page 414. 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 379 
 
 Then you committed the theft, and you were charged 
 with the stealing ? — Both of the facts were true. 
 
 I did not ask you as to the skeleton-key ? — That 
 charge was untrue. 
 
 It did not fit the lock ? — I had no such key ; the 
 charge was unfounded, the others were true. 
 
 How long is Mrs. Witherington, your mother-in-law, 
 dead ? — Twelve months last April. 
 
 Where did she die ? — In Ashe-street ; a part of the 
 house was my office, and connected with the house. 
 
 How long did she live there ? — About 10 months. 
 
 Do you recollect what the good old lady died of? — I 
 do not know, but heard it was a mortification in her 
 bowels ; she was complaining badly for some days. 
 
 Had there been any medicine brought to her ? — I 
 recollect perfectly well, after she was ill, medicine was 
 brought to her. 
 
 By whom ? — By me. 
 
 Are you a physician ? — No ; but I will tell you. A 
 Mr. Fitzgerald,* a relation of our family, who had been 
 an apothecary and quitted business, left me a box of 
 medicines containing castor oil, cream of tartar, rhubarb, 
 tartar emetic, and such things. I had been subject to 
 a complaint in my stomach, for which he gave me a 
 quantity of powders in small papers, which I kept for 
 use, and found great relief from. I asked Mrs. Rey- 
 
 * This gentleman attended Mrs. Witherington and prescribed the 
 medicine given by Mr. Reynolds ; he was subpcBnaed by the prisoners, 
 was in attendance during the three trials, but was not called. 
 
380 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 nolds for one of these papers to give to Mrs. Wither- 
 ington, and it was given to her. 
 
 It did not save her life ? — No sir, and I am sorry 
 for it. 
 
 You had paid her a sum of money ? — I did. 
 
 How much?— 300/. 
 
 How long before her death ? — About a fortnight or 
 three weeks : I got her receipt, and made my clerk* 
 account for it in my books. 
 
 Were you ever charged with stealing that money ? — 
 I never heard that such a charge was made ; none of 
 the family ever spoke of it to my face^. 
 
 Captain Witlierington is the son of your mother-in- 
 law? — He is. 
 
 Did he make that charge ? — Not to myself. I will 
 mention a circumstance ; she had a bond, and gave it 
 to INIr. Jones to purchase a commission ; he said the 
 money could not be got, and the 300/. was asked to 
 purchase the commission, and I always thought that 
 her son Edward ^Vitherington got the money. She 
 died suddenly, and had not made a will. | 
 
 * Peter Sullivan, who was called as a witness on this trial. 
 
 t Three weeks before her death Mrs. Witherington's eldest son, at 
 that time a captain in the 9th light dragoons, came to Dublin, and ap- 
 plied to his mother for a sum of money to pay for a cornetcy for his 
 brother Henry, at that time vacant in his regiment. Upon his arrival 
 his mother sent to Mr. Reynolds for 300/. to give to him, and Mr. Rey- 
 nolds' cashier carried her the money and took her receipt for it. Mrs. 
 "Witherington lived with her husband and her youngest son in Ashe- 
 street. Her husband and her youngest son were alone with her when 
 she died. Her husband slept in the adjoining room, and her son in the 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 381 
 
 She died suddenly ? — She died unexpectedly. 
 
 She died in forty-eight hours after taking this pow- 
 der which you gave her to cure her ? — She took the 
 paper on Friday evening, and died on Sunday morning. 
 
 Do you know anything of a woman of the name of 
 Cahill ?* — I do very well. 
 
 Did you ever execute to her any security for money ? 
 — I did ; two, a bond and a note. 
 
 Did you ever get this bond and note back again ? — 
 Several times I have had the bond in my possession, 
 and several times I have had the original note. If you 
 choose I will tell you the particulars: she had 175/.; 
 she gave 100/. to my mother, upon the joint bond of my 
 mother and myself; she gave me 50/. upon my own 
 bond, and 25/. upon my note. 
 
 She is nearly blind 1 — I have heard so ; I have not 
 seen her for some time. 
 
 same room with her. As soon as she expired her husband put his seal 
 upon all her desks, and drawers, and papers, and they remained in his 
 custody in that state until Captain Witherington, her eldest son, came 
 to town four or five days after her death. Captain Witherington, upon 
 his arrival, shut himself up alone in her apartment, opened all the seals, 
 and remained for several hours examining her papers, — he then declared 
 she had left no will, and expressed his surprise that he did not find the 
 300/. which his mother had received three weeks before. He was re- 
 minded that he had received that money himself at the time, and carried 
 it away with him, and he made no reply. A few days afterwards he 
 asked Mr. Reynolds for the loan of 100/. to make up the price of his 
 majority, saying, that, although he had 300/. at his banker's for that 
 purpose, yet he was still lOOZ. short of the purchase-money. He obtained 
 the loan on his promissory note payable in twelve months. 
 
 * This person was an old servant in Mr. Reynolds' family ; she was 
 subpoenaed by the prisoners, and was in attendance, but not called. 
 
382 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 Did you ever give her any other bond ? — 1 cannot 
 say that ; but, if you please, I will tell you what I know. 
 She is an old woman, who has passed the greater part 
 of her life in my mother's family. In June, 1793,* she 
 had saved 175/. ; she gave 100/. to my mother upon 
 our joint bond, 50/. upon mine, and 25/. upon my note, 
 saying she would call that in for her expenses. She 
 took up 51, and got a fresh note for 20/. Some time 
 after my marriage Mrs. Reynolds went to see her, 
 found her ill, and no one to take care of her; she 
 brought her to my house, allotted her a room there, 
 and she was taken care of until she recovered. She 
 then consulted some friends (Mrs. Molloy, I believe, 
 was one), al)out settling her affairs, and she intended 
 to sink the money for an annuity of 25/. for her life, 
 that she might have some support if she left us. After 
 some time the securities were made out, but she changed 
 her mind, and said she would make a will : I got the 
 bond from her to compare the dates and calculate the 
 interest due ; I gave her back, by mistake, an old double 
 bond and warrant which had been filled up for another 
 purpose, but lay in the desk in the office, as a precedent, 
 in case such things should be wanted. I paid her the 
 interest regularly ; and when she demanded the prin- 
 cipal, I gave it her. 
 
 You gave her back a bond not the real bond you got 
 from her ? — I did, Sir. 
 
 She was old and nearly blind ? — She was. I paid 
 
 * Mr. Reynolds was twenty-two in March of this yeai-. 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 383 
 
 her the contents of her own bond ; I gave her the in- 
 terest as she wanted it ; and when she Avanted the prin- 
 cipal I gave it to her. 
 
 You did not say whether you put the real bond into 
 the desk in the place of the copy ? — I did : I did not 
 discover the matter until I was searching my papers 
 when I was preparing to quit business (in the sunmier 
 of 1797). 
 
 Then there never was an application made by an 
 attorney to you upon the subject ? — Indeed there was, 
 and the most unwarrantable application that ever was. 
 I received a letter from Mr. Sullivan,* that there was a 
 mistake, which I must rectify; I answered that I would 
 rectify it, that I would be shortly in town, and rectify 
 everything. I was much hurried at that time in getting 
 my house repaired. A meeting took place of the creditors 
 of Patrick and Richard Folie ; I came up for one day, 
 called at Mr. Sullivan's, and left a letter with his wife, 
 mentioning my hurry, and requesting to know what 
 money Mrs. Cahill wanted, and that I would execute a 
 new security to her. I heard no more for some time 
 till I received a letter from an attorney to settle it. I 
 came to town, found her in a lodging in Smithfield, and 
 told her I came to settle the business. She desired me 
 to go to ]\Irs. MoUoy, in King-street, and to settle it as 
 she chose : I went to her, and settled with her for prin- 
 cipal and interest. 
 
 You were of age at this time ? — Certainly, 
 
 * This person was Mr. Reynolds' cashier, and had been in his service 
 and that of his family seventeen years. 
 
384 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 Did your second note bear date at the time it was 
 executed ? — No. 
 
 It was was antedated to the time of your being under 
 age ? — I cannot say exactly ; but I do not believe it. 
 
 When did you come of age? — In 1792: the second 
 was to bear date as of the time of the orig-inal trans- 
 action when the money was borrowed (in June, 
 1793). 
 
 How comes it that you cannot speak more exactly as 
 to the time ? — I cannot swear exactly as to the time of 
 the note being dated. 
 
 A letter was written to you upon the subject? — She 
 answered a letter of mine. 
 
 It was a very angry letter ? — I do not recollect the 
 contents : it was an answer to mine. 
 
 Do you recollect your aunt Fitzgerald's writing ? — 
 I do not. 
 
 Or your grand-aunt's ? — No. 
 
 Did either of these women charge you with giving 
 this old blind, wretched woman a forged bond instead of 
 the real one ? — What they said I cannot tell. My aunt 
 wrote an angry letter to me, but the contents I cannot 
 mention more particularly. 
 
 Does it begin in this way, " I cannot begin as I used 
 for it shocks and grieves me ? " — I do not recollect that. 
 
 " Would to God your father had no such son ! " Do 
 you recollect that ? — No. 
 
 " It is well you were not the death of the woman ?" — 
 No, I do not recollect that. 
 
 " I am sure it would have killed her, if we had not 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 385 
 
 persuaded her it was owing to some mistake?" — They 
 persuaded her very right. 
 
 "But she remains in her bed. My aunt, hearing of 
 her distress, sent her a guinea for charity." — I have 
 heard that my aunt sent her money. 
 
 Did she use expressions of this kind in her letter ? — 
 I cannot say. 
 
 " She borrowed money here and there, and nothing 
 but money woukl do, as no money could be got upon a 
 note seeming to bear date in your minority." Was that 
 the subject of the letter? — Upon my oath I cannot say. 
 I read the letter, but thought no more of it. 
 
 There was a charge made against you for changing 
 Elizabeth Cahill's bond, and giving a forged one in 
 the place of it ? — Never. 
 
 Well, in giving an old copy which was useless? — 
 That was not a forged bond. 
 
 Do you not believe that letter had another subject of 
 inquiry, namely, giving a fraudulent note, dated as of 
 the time of your minority? — I never heard such a 
 charge was made. I say, positively, that I never in- 
 tended to defraud her, nor did I defraud her. I paid 
 her the interest regularly, and when she demanded the 
 principal I settled it. 
 
 An attorney threatened a prosecution ? — An attorney 
 wrote to me to settle it. 
 
 Finding the matter had got wind, and a prosecu- 
 tion threatened, you paid part of the money ? — More 
 than part. I settled to her satisfaction and that of her 
 friends. 
 
 VOL. I. 2 c 
 
386 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 By the Court, How long ago ? — Last February, 
 my Lord. 
 
 By Mr. Curran. When did you receive that letter 
 from the attorney? — Some time in the month of Janu- 
 ary, I believe. 
 
 What kind of answer did you write to Mr. Fitz- 
 gerald ? — I mentioned how anxious I was to have the 
 matter settled. 
 
 Pray, Sir, where is that bond you gave by mistake ? 
 — That bond I gave by mistake is destroyed. 
 
 Destroyed by mistake 1 — No, Sir. 
 
 How came it? — I will tell you. Mrs. Reynolds 
 brought to me that bond and a note, and told me Mrs. 
 Cahill had given them to her, saying I was the right 
 owner. 
 
 By the Court. What note do you speak of now ? — 
 The note of 20/. that I had paid her justly and fairly. 
 That Mrs. Cahill had been applied to, and offered a 
 great deal of money, by Mrs. Oliver Bond, to give her 
 that bond, and she threatened to drag her to prison if 
 she did not prosecute me for that business ; but that 
 INIrs. Cahill would not give the bond to any other than 
 myself; that Mrs. Cahill had been extremely ill, and in 
 a kind of fit from the passion of Mrs. Bond ; that she 
 denied to Mrs. Bond her having the paper, as she 
 would give them to the right owner, myself Mrs. 
 Reynolds brought me the note and bond. I replied 
 they were of no use to any one (as they were not, 
 having paid them both), and I then threw them both 
 into the fire. 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 387 
 
 By Mr. Curran. Was there any dispute between 
 you and Mr. Cope touching a money transaction ? — 
 There was, which Mr. Cope will explain *. 
 
 What was the bond and note you burned ? — It was 
 the note I passed to Mrs. Cahill for 20/., and the bond 
 was not the original one. 
 
 But the one that had been used for a precedent ? — 
 
 Yes. 
 
 If it were an unexecuted bond, why were you so 
 
 anxious f to get it from Mrs. Cahill's possession ? — I 
 
 was not anxious at all about it ; she sent it to me and 
 
 I destroyed it, being of no use. 
 
 Did Mr. Cope threaten to prosecute you in regard to 
 swindling him out of 1000/. J ? — Never. 
 
 Did he ever threaten to prosecute you ? — Never. 
 
 * When Mr. Cope was called, Mr. Curran did not think it safe to ask 
 him to explain it. 
 
 ■I" This question does not arise out of anything that had previously ap- 
 peared. The witness does not appear to have made any effort whatever 
 to get the bond or note out of the possession of this old woman ; on the 
 contrary, he seems to have settled them in February, and to have left 
 them in the hands of Mrs. Cahill until July, and then to have obtained 
 them accidentally, and owing to no effort or desire on his part. 
 
 X This question is, like most of the preceding ones, ad captandam. 
 Mr. Curran knew well how to insinuate a charge when he could not 
 prove it ; he was well aware of the effect of first impressions : in this case 
 he hoped, by giving a strong epithet to a transaction in the first instance, 
 to make an unfavourable impression upon the minds of the jury, which 
 no subsequent explanation should be able to efface, but in this instance 
 he failed singularly ; he had Mr. Cope six different times in the witness- 
 box with the full power of cross-examining him, but he never ventured 
 to ask him a single question on this subject. 
 
 2c2 
 
388 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 There was a dispute between you for 1000/. ? — There 
 was ; and I will tell you the circumstance. 
 
 Did you ever attempt to take credit twice for 1000/. ? 
 — No : I cannot answer your question Avithout men- 
 tioning the circumstance of the 1000/. ; and after that 
 let Mr. Cope give his opinion of it. JMr. Cope had very 
 considerable dealings for many years with my father. 
 Upon my father's death a balance remained due to Mr. 
 Cope of something about 1000/. My mother continued 
 dealing until she was unable to carry on the business 
 further ; she had got from me two-thirds of my wife's 
 fortune, but still could not go on ; she made over a list 
 of debts to me, and other matters, to pay a particular 
 sum. The debts fell short, and, the other property not 
 being productive, I asked Mr. Cope to take a mortgage 
 for his whole demand, then nearly 5000/., upon Sir D. 
 GifFard's property. He said he would, and I passed my 
 bond as a collateral security. After this I continued 
 dealing with Mr. Cope a considerable time, I suppose 
 two years ; and then, thinking it hard that my person 
 should be bound for those debts which were not mine, 
 I went to Mr. Cope and offered him 1000/. to release 
 my personal security and remain upon the other se- 
 curity ; not 1000/. of the debt, but a particular sum 
 exclusive of it ; which he agreed to. JMy interest in 
 the lands mortgaged was only contingent, being a lease 
 executed by the present Sir Duke Giffard in the life- 
 time of his father. We went on dealing, and when I 
 closed I asked Mr, Cope for a list of the securities to 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 389 
 
 show my friends, whicli lie gave me. He demanded 
 payment of 1000/., a balance then due. I told him he 
 had the benefit of all my father's dealing and my mo- 
 ther's, and that he ought to place the 1000/. I gave him 
 to the balance he claimed. We had much conversation 
 about it. He said he vrould take a week to consider. 
 I went to the country ; received a letter in Athy from 
 Mr. Valentine O'Connor "*, telling me the transaction 
 was not right, and chiding me upon it. I instantly* 
 without returning to my uncle's f , from where I had set 
 out, rode off to Dublin, went to Mr. Cope's in Merion- 
 square, found him at dinner, and made him easy upon 
 the subject before I left him. He knows best the 
 nature of my conduct in this business. 
 
 Did you ever deny to any person that the bond you 
 got from Mrs. Cahill was not given back | to her? — 
 Not to my knowledge. 
 
 Then you always knew that the bond you had got 
 from her was the bond you gave her ? — How do you 
 mean ? 
 
 She gave you the bond you gave her ? — She did, 
 when I was settling the interest account, in order to 
 compare the dates. 
 
 Did you settle that account in her presence ? — No, 
 she always had that reliance upon me ; I always made 
 it clear to her to what time I paid her. 
 
 Did you ever deny that you had got the real bond ? 
 
 * Mr. Valentine O'Connor was a near relative of Mr. Reynolds 
 
 f At Geraldine in Kildare. 
 
 X Mrs. Cabin's bond, &c,, was evidently Curran's cheval de batailk. , 
 
390 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D- 
 
 — No, I think not ; I might have said that I did not 
 know of it. 
 
 By the Court. You got two bonds from her? 
 — Yes my Lords, I got the real bond from her, and a 
 short time since I got the double bond and warrant 
 which had been given to her by mistake. 
 
 By Mr. Curran. You executed a bond for 50/. 
 You got that back. Did you ever deny that fact? — 
 I have no recollection of ever having denied that bond. 
 What names did the bond which was given her by 
 mistake contain ? — I cannot tell. 
 
 Whose writing is that ? — (shoAving a letter to the 
 witness) — It is mine. 
 
 It was written to Mr. Sullivan?* — (witness' cashier) 
 — It was. 
 
 " Tell my Aunt Molloy she has mistaken ; it was 
 my mother's bond for 100/," Was that your letter? — 
 Just after my mother's death Mrs. Cahill gave me my 
 mother's bond for 100/. to get the amount from her 
 executor, f or to enter judgment upon it if necessary. 
 I afterwards gave it back. Mr. Sullivan had stated to 
 me that I made a mistake in returning that bond, and 
 I set him right in this letter. I returned the bond for 
 100/. to Mrs. Molloy by Mrs. Cahill's directions. 
 
 * Mr. Curran here produced the letter which Mr. Reynolds said he 
 wrote to Mr. Sullivan and left with Mrs. Sullivan, confirming Mr. 
 Reynolds' statement of his readiness to rectify the mistake as soon as it 
 was discovered. 
 
 t Mr. Prendergast, who married one of the witness' sisters, and, with 
 Mr. Weir, who married the other, was executor and residuary legatee 
 under Mrs. Reynolds' will. 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 391 
 
 This letter says, " Betty did not give me my mother's 
 bond" ? — She gave me my mother's bond, which I 
 returned to Mrs. Molloy. 
 
 How long is it since you burned the bond and note ? 
 — The very day Mrs. Reynolds brought them to me. 
 
 When was that? — Fourteen or fifteen days ago; 
 before any summons was issued to Mrs. Reynolds to 
 appear as a witness. 
 
 Do you not believe it was well known you were to 
 be a witness against the prisoner and others ? — I can 
 form no belief upon it, being in confinement. 
 
 Did not Michael Reynolds * tell you so ? — He did 
 not. I understood he made a charge against me for 
 giving information. 
 
 At the time you sent Mrs. Reynolds for the bond 
 and note, did you expect these matters would be in- 
 quired into ? — I never sent her for them. 
 
 Did she go for them ? — I do not believe she thought 
 of them when she went to see Mrs. Cahill. 
 
 She said Mrs. Bond had offered a sum of money for 
 the papers ; were not this bond and note part of them ? 
 — Upon my word I believe so. 
 
 Do you not believe they were to be produced to 
 impeach you ? — I cannot tell how they could impeach 
 me. I cannot tell what evidence Mrs, Bond could 
 produce ; when she endeavoured to bribe one she might 
 bribe others. 
 
 Do you not believe their object was to impeach your 
 
 * Michael Reynolds might have been produced ; he was at that time 
 in confinement in Dublin, having surrendered upon terms. 
 
392 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 evidence ?— By virtue of my oatli I do not believe, if all 
 the papers you speak of and others were produced, that 
 they could impeach the evidence I have given. 
 
 Is that an answer to my question ? — Ask me the 
 question and I will tell you. 
 
 Do you not believe they were wanted to impeach 
 your evidence ? — I believe Mrs. Bond wanted them for 
 this trial, and to injure me, but in what way I cannot 
 tell. 
 
 And after that, you burned them? — After that I 
 burned them. 
 
 You do not know how it was intended to injure you. 
 Was it not by showing you to be a false witness ? — I 
 cannot form any belief upon the business : it might be 
 the design to attempt to do so. 
 
 Can you form no belief? — No decided belief. I 
 rather believe so. 
 
 That was your opinion when you burned the papers ? 
 — My opinion when I burned the papers was, that the 
 papers Avere my property. They were of no use. I 
 liad discharged them, and IMrs. Cahill * coming forward 
 here will clear up the business. But all this time 
 nothing has been produced to impeach the evidence 1 
 have given, which would be more conducive to the 
 present matter.f 
 
 You said something of your having taken some oath 
 of an United Irishman? — I did. 
 
 * Mrs. Cahill was subpoenaed by the prisoner, and was in attendance, 
 but Mr. Curran did not venture to call her. 
 
 t Mr. Curran knew his business better : he knew that his only chance 
 of saving his client was to take away the character of this witness. 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 393 
 
 Did you conceive, at the time, that you Avere binding 
 yourself to any treasonable project against his Majesty 
 or the government of the country ? — I did. Sir. 
 
 Would you have me to understand that you were 
 conceiving you were binding yourself by the solemn 
 obligation of an oath to the destruction of your king ? — 
 Not to destroy actually the king's person, but as pledg- 
 ing myself to the schemes of the United Irishmen. 
 
 You considered them to go to the extent you have 
 already declared in your evidence ? — At the time I 
 conceived I was joining a party of men united to over- 
 throw the government.^ 
 
 Did you in the sincerity of your heart take that obli- 
 gation meaning to perform it ? — I did. 
 
 * Mr. Reynolds is here speaking of what he, and most men who joined 
 them, beheved to be the only objects of the United Irishmen, namely, 
 the overthrow of the preponderancy of England in the Irish government 
 by means of a reform in the legislature, founded upon religious and po- 
 litical freedom. The great subject of complaint in those days was, that 
 Ireland was " governed by Englishmen and the servants of Englishmen, 
 whose sole object was the interest of another country.'' This grievance 
 was prominently put forward in the declaration of the United Irishmen 
 as the fundamental object of their union. The overthrow of such a go- 
 vernment, by means of Catholic emancipation, from the most debasing 
 thraldom, and reform in Parliament, or, if not otherwise attainable, by 
 an armed demonstration of physical power, in imitation of that of 1782-3, 
 under Lord Charlemont, was the avowed object of the United Irishmen 
 — an object, and a course of proceeding which it was extremely difficult to 
 make the Irish people believe to be treasonable, with the example of Lord 
 Charlemont and the Volunteers so recently before them. The secret 
 purposes of the leaders of the United Irishmen were very different, Mr. 
 Reynolds became acquainted with them after his admission to the society ; 
 and he stated what they were in his examination-in-chief. Mr. Curran's 
 questions were put with much ingenuity to make the witness appear to 
 confound the two objects. See the declarations, resolutions, and consti- 
 
394 LIFE OP THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 Had you ever taken the oath of allegiance?* — I had. 
 Sir. 
 
 Whether before or after ? — Before. 
 
 Before you took the United Irishman's oath you had 
 taken the oath of allegiance ? — I had. 
 
 You had been a yeoman ? — Not at that time, but 
 since. 
 
 tution of the United Irislimen in the Appendix. See also the observations 
 of Mr. Baron Smith and the other judges upon the time and manner in 
 which Mr. Reynolds became acquainted with the designs of the United 
 Irishmen. 
 
 * The following was the United Irishman's oath. It does not appear 
 to have been inconsistent with the oath of allegiance : — 
 In the awful presence of God, 
 
 I, A. B., do voluntarily declare that I will persevere in endeavouring 
 to form a brotherhood of affection among Irishmen of every religious per- 
 suasion, and that I will also persevere in my endeavours to obtain an 
 equal, full, and adequate representation of all the people of Ireland. I 
 do further declare that neither hopes, fears, rewards, or punishments, 
 shall ever induce me, directly or indirectly, to inform on or give evidence 
 against any member or members of this or similar societies, for any actor 
 expression of theirs, done or made, collectively or individually, in or out 
 of this society, in pursuance of the spirit of this obligation. 
 
 The following was Mr. Curran's own opinion of this oath, expressed 
 upon two several occasions : — 
 
 "Every one knows what the United Irishman's oath is; that it is 
 simply an engagement, first, to promote a brotherhood of affection among 
 men of all religious distinctions ; secondly, to labour for parliamentary 
 reform ; and, thirdly, an obligation of secrecy, which was added to it 
 when the convention law made it criminal and punishable to meet by any 
 public delegation for that purpose." 
 
 Again he says, "that in taking that oath the party was only abjuring 
 that bigotry which had torn and disgraced his country, pledging himself to 
 restore the people to their place in the constitution, and binding himself 
 never to be the betrayer of his fellow-labourers in that enterprise." 
 
 See Curran's speech in defence of Finnerty for a libel. — State Trials, 
 vol, xzvi. 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 395 
 
 Did you take the oath of a yeoman ? — No. 
 
 Did you take the oath of allegiance with an intention 
 to keep it ? — I did at the time. 
 
 And the United oath ? — I did. 
 
 With equal solemnity ? — The United oath was rather 
 more solemn. And I took another oath afterwards : I 
 took an oath of secrecy. 
 
 How long is your mother dead ? — She died last No- 
 vember. 
 
 What did she die of? — I cannot tell. 
 
 Had you prescribed anything for her ? — No : I was 
 not in the way of prescribing anything for her. I was 
 not with her. 
 
 You have a sister married to a Mr. Prendergast ? — 
 Yes. 
 
 Had she any deed of annuity ? — Never, that I 
 know of. 
 
 Do you know anything of one? — Indeed, I have 
 known of one made out but never executed. 
 
 You have seen it ? — I have seen a copy which Mr. 
 Prendergast says he means to demand. It was not so 
 much a deed of annuity as an agreement between me 
 and my mother. 
 
 Thomas Reynolds, Esq., re-examined on the part of 
 
 the Crown. 
 
 Whose writing is this ? — (showing a letter) — I 
 believe Miss Dwyer's, who lives with Mrs. Cahill, and 
 transacts her business , It came to my wife, as I heard, 
 by her directions. 
 
396 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 By a juror. — The papers that JMrs. Cahill gave your 
 wife, do you really think she gave them of her own 
 accord ? — I think so. 
 
 With full voluntary Avill ? — Freely and voluntarily : — 
 she really forced them upon my wife. 
 
 [The preceding pages contain the whole of the evidence 
 given by Mr. Reynolds on the trial of JM'Can. His 
 cross-examination is copied verbatim from Howell's 
 " State Trials." This cross examination may be con- 
 sidered as the bill of indictment preferred against Mi\ 
 Reynolds ; let us now consider what were the several 
 charges brought against him ; we will then see how those 
 charge were supported by the evidence. The principal 
 charges, that on which Mr. Curran evidently placed his 
 main reliance, was a fraudulent attempt to impose 
 upon Elizabeth Cahill a simulated instrument, instead 
 of Mr. Reynolds' own bond for 50/., and to cheat her 
 out of 20/. by antedating a renewed promissory note for 
 that amount, (which note was given by IMr. Reynolds 
 to Elizabeth Cahill in lieu of a note for 23/. when the 
 old woman required to be paid 5/. on account of her 
 capital,) so that the renewed note appeared to be dated 
 antecedent to J\Ir. Reynolds' attaining his age of twenty- 
 one years. Mr. Reynolds gave a very minute account of 
 these transactions ; in reply to Mr. Curran's questions, 
 he admitted that he had, by mistake, given Mrs. Cahill a 
 spoiled bond which lay in his desk in the place of her 
 own bond ; he said that he did not discover the mistake 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 397 
 
 for some time, and that he rectified it at the earliest 
 opportunity after he discovered it, paying her the 
 interest regularly, and the principal when she asked for 
 it; he acknowledged that he was written to by an 
 attorney before he rectified the mistake ; but he said 
 that he had previously written to his late cashier, re- 
 questing to know in what way Mrs. Cahill desired to 
 settle it, and offering to settle the business as she 
 pleased ; and he denied the charge as to the note. The 
 cross-examination has not thrown any doubt upon the 
 truth of that account. We shall presently see how the 
 evidence called by Mr. Curran affected it. The next 
 charge in point of importance was an attempt to defraud 
 Mr. Cope of 1000/. Mr. Reynolds gave a very dis- 
 tinct account of that transaction, Avhich, if true, cleared 
 him of all suspicion of unfair dealing in that case ; and 
 he referred to Mr. Cope to corroborate his statement. 
 We shall presently see how Mr. Curran used that gen- 
 tleman's evidence, and what other evidence, if any, he 
 called in support of that charge. The next charge was 
 that Mr. Reynolds hastened the death of his wife's 
 mother by the administration of tartar emetic. Mr. 
 Reynolds has stated the circumstances under which 
 this medicine was administered, which, if true, cer- 
 tainly exonerated him from all censure in that case. 
 If false, Mr. Curran had the medical attendant of 
 Mrs. Witherington in court, who could have contra- 
 dicted Mr. Reynolds, and proved that he had not 
 ordered the medicine. He was also charged with 
 stealing 300/. from her, which charge he denied to be 
 
398 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 true, and he also denied that he had ever been charged 
 with it to his face. We shall presently see whether 
 Mr. Curran attempted to contradict him on any of these 
 points. He was then charged with having hastened 
 his own mother's death, which charge seems to have 
 had no foundation whatever. Mr. Reynolds said he 
 was not with her when she died. He was also asked 
 respecting an annuity granted to his sister, and he said 
 that no such deed was ever executed. And, lastly in 
 point of importance, he was charged with having, at the 
 age of sixteen, taken some articles of jewellery and finery 
 belonging to his mother, which charge he acknowledged 
 to be true, and says that he took those articles to give 
 them to a female. These were the charges which, if 
 established, were to induce the jury to disbelieve alto- 
 gether the evidence of Mr. Reynolds, and to save the 
 prisoner from conviction. Mr. Reynolds circumstan- 
 tially denied the truth of all these charges except the 
 last. Mr. Curran had only to call those persons upon 
 whose supposed statements they were made to contra- 
 dict Mr. Reynolds, and support the charges, if they 
 were able, and his client was saved. Mr. Curran also 
 attempted to shake Mr. Reynolds' credibility, by cross- 
 examining him as to the oath of allegiance and the 
 United Irishman's oath. The oaths do not appear to 
 be inconsistent with each other, and I have already 
 shown what was Mr. Curran's own opinion on that 
 point. It appears moreover that hundreds upon hun- 
 dreds of persons joined the United Irishmen's Society, 
 and took their test, without any intention of parti- 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 399 
 
 cipating in projects usually considered treasonable, and 
 that such projects were not fully developed until the 
 United Irishmen penetrated to the higher grades of 
 the Society — the county and provincial committees. 
 Mr. Reynolds appears not to have proceeded beyond the 
 baronial committee, previous to his retirement into the 
 country in the summer of 1797; and he does not 
 appear to have attended any meeting of United Irish- 
 men afterwards, until the 18th February, 1798, when 
 he attended the meeting of the county committee of 
 Kildare, and was delegated to the provincial, on which 
 occasion the designs of the leaders were fully laid open 
 to him.' He appears never to have attended any meet- 
 ing after that, except to resign his appointments, after 
 the arrests at Bond's. These are among the circum- 
 stances which should be borne in mind in considering 
 how far he was excusable in taking the United Irish- 
 man's test, and the oath of allegiance, and in giving 
 information against those with whom he had engaged 
 to act in promoting certain objects. With this view the 
 observations of the learned judge who summed up the 
 evidence upon these two oaths are well deserving of 
 attentive consideration. The justification of his con- 
 duct in appearing against the prisoners on their trials 
 will be found in the circumstances which ultimately 
 placed him in the hands of government, of which he has 
 himself given an explanation, but of which we shall be 
 able better to form an opinion when we have seen the 
 remainder of the evidence in this case and that produced 
 in the other two cases.] 
 
400 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 Mr. Swann, a magistrate, and John M'Dougal, a 
 Serjeant in a Scotch regiment, who took the prisoner 
 into custody on the 12th March at Bond's house, and 
 Mr. Guinness, the prisoner's employer, were then called 
 to relate what took place at the time of his arrest, and 
 to prove his handwriting to certain papers found in the 
 room with him ; and then the counsel for the cro\A'n 
 called 
 
 William Cope, Esq. 
 
 Are you acquainted with Mr. Thomas Reynolds, who 
 has been examined here to-day ? — I am. 
 
 How long? — A great number of years. 
 
 Do you recollect whether he, at any and what time, 
 communicated to you anything remarkable respecting 
 himself? — In the month of February last. 
 
 IMention what it was he communicated to you. — In 
 the month of February the late Sir Duke Giffard died. 
 ]\Ir. Reynolds had assigned to me a leasehold interest 
 to which he was entitled after the death of Sir Duke 
 Giffard, to secure a debt of 5000/. It was that brought 
 us together. 
 
 3Ir. M'Nalkj (on behalf of the prisoner) . — My 
 Lords, I object to this evidence, though such evidence 
 has been admitted of late years in this country. I have 
 made much research, and cannot find any case where 
 it has been done in England.* 
 
 * From Mr. M'Nally's objection to the evidence of Mr. Cope, and his 
 admission of having made much research to ascertain whether such 
 evidence were admissible with a view to this case, it would seem that 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 401 
 
 The Court said the evidence was admissible, to show 
 consistency in the accounts of the witness. 
 
 You had been in the county of Meath with Mr. Rey- 
 nolds ; upon your return from thence do you recollect 
 any particular conversation between you ? — I do, Sir ; 
 it had reference to the conversation of the preceding 
 evening. I spoke of the appearance of disturbance, 
 and the wretched state the country would be in if the 
 French should land ; for wherever the French went 
 they marked their progress with desolation and destruc- 
 tion. I went on a good deal, and applied it to the case 
 of Ireland. I said that it was extraordinary that in all 
 the trials the government had never been able to bring- 
 forward any person of consequence ; that we must all 
 know that machines were managed by much greater 
 persons than they had been able to procure ; and I at 
 length put a question to him, because I had formed my 
 opinion that he was a United Irishman; in consequence 
 of the conversation we had at Sir Duke Giffard's I 
 thought him one, and I put a question thus to him — 
 " You have it in your power to do great service to your 
 country, more than any man alive ; children yet unborn 
 will bless you ; why not do it ?" He said he would not 
 come forward, he could not. I, seeing him determined, 
 let the matter drop for awhile. I had the subject much 
 upon my mind. The horrors and desolation which 
 would accompany the landing of the French made a 
 
 the counsel for the prisoner had made their bold charges against Mr. 
 Reynolds in the expectation that all evidence in answer to those charges 
 would be shut out. 
 
 VOL. L 2d 
 
402 LIFE OF THOMAS REYXOLDS. A.D. 
 
 deep impression on my mind. We concluded with his 
 saying he would call on me. He did so, and said he 
 could not come forward himself, but he knew a man 
 who would. I said if he would not have the honour 
 and glory of it himself I must submit. He said this 
 man would be under expenses, obliged to retire, pro- 
 bably to quit the country. I told him the money should 
 be paid, and 1 wanted to know the amount ; he said 
 about 500 guineas, for the expenses of the journey, &c. 
 He then gave information, which I took down ; for he 
 would not write. It went to the point of a meeting to 
 be had at ]Mr. Bond's house ; that information was sug- 
 gested to government by me. 
 
 Do you recollect what species of meeting he men- 
 tioned ? — He told me that hitherto he had never got 
 higher than a baronial meeting ; but he said they had 
 their county meetings, provincial meetings, a directory, 
 and executive. He told me the meeting at Bond's was 
 to be a provincial meeting. 
 
 What did you do in consequence ? — I connnunicated 
 it directly to government, and that before the day on 
 which the meeting took place. 
 
 Do you recollect what company you had at Sir Duke 
 Giffard's? — Lord Wycombe, son of the Marquis of 
 Lansdowne, Captain Fitzgerald, an uncle of Lady Gif- 
 fard's, and others. 
 
 Do you recollect what turn the conversation took ? — 
 A good deal was said, that there must be conciliation, 
 reformation, and emancipation ; that there must be a 
 change. 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS, 403 
 
 You had conversations with Mr. Reynolds upon the 
 subject of this trial? — Yes. 
 
 Whether has he been uniform and consistent in his 
 relations to you ? — Quite consistent and correct, and 
 everything he told me actually came out. 
 
 Not cross-examined. 
 
 [Mr. Curran had here in the box the very person 
 whom he charged Mr. Reynolds with having attempted 
 to defraud of 1000/. He was armed with all the strin- 
 gent powers of cross-examination, yet he first permitted 
 his junior to object to the evidence of Mr. Cope alto- 
 gether, and he then declined to ask JMr. Cope a single 
 question. It is evident that Mr. Curran felt that there 
 was no ground for imputing fraud to Mr. Reynolds in 
 his dealings with Mr. Cope. This gentleman was again 
 called in the course of this trial ; we shall then see what 
 course Mr. Curran thought it prudent to adopt.] 
 
 Another witness, of the name of Harris, was then 
 called on the part of the crown, who spoke to facts 
 with which Mr. Reynolds had nothing to do, and the 
 case on the part of the prosecution was closed. 
 
 Mr. M'Nally stated the case on the part of the pri- 
 soner ; his speech is not reported in Howell. 
 
 He called Eleanor Dwyer. 
 
 Do you know a person of the name of Elizabeth Ca- 
 hill ?— I do, Sii-. 
 
 Is she a very old woman ? — She appears to be so ; I 
 do not know her age. 
 
 2d2 
 
404 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 Has she the appearance of old age ? — She is blind. 
 
 Is she firm in her health ? — Quite the reverse. 
 
 Do you know a person of the name of Harriet Rey- 
 nolds ? — I have seen her, but am not intimate with her. 
 
 Were you present at any conversation between her 
 and Mrs. Cahill ?— I was. 
 
 Do you recollect the purport of it? — I do the purport 
 of it, not the very words. 
 
 Will you mention what it was ? 
 
 Mr. Attorney-General. — My Lords, I must object 
 to this species of evidence, of conversations behind the 
 back of the person to be impeached. This is as it were 
 the trial of the witness. The counsel want to fasten 
 perjury upon him by conversations between other per- 
 sons when he was not present. That will not establish 
 any contradiction imputable to him. If there be any 
 contradiction, let it be proved in a legal manner. 
 
 Mr. Curran. — Your Lordships will recollect that 
 Reynolds said he had the account from his wife. We 
 will show that he himself could not believe it as he has 
 sworn in evidence.* 
 
 Mr. Baron Smith. — It might go to something re- 
 lating to the wife, but cannot affect the witness Rey- 
 nolds. 
 
 Was there anything said about handing over a bond 
 or a note ? — I had them in my possession ; they were 
 
 * "Why did not Mr. Curran at once call Elizabeth Cahill, who was 
 subpcenaed, and in attendance ? She could have explained the whole 
 transaction, and have contradicted Mr. Reynolds, had the account given 
 by him been in any respect untrue. 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 405 
 
 handed to Mrs. Reynolds, who said she had bank notes, 
 but, as they were so difficult to get changed, she would 
 bring guineas ; and the next day she brought seven 
 guineas, for which I gave a receipt, ^Mrs. Cahill being 
 blind. 
 
 Was she pressed to give up the bond and note ? 
 
 (This question was objected to.) 
 
 Mr. Baron Smith. — Put it in the strongest way pos- 
 sible ; suppose every word that Mrs. Reynolds said to 
 be false ; how could that affect the credit of Mr. Rey- 
 nolds ? 
 
 3Ir. Curran. — My Lord, I examine as to a fact ; I 
 want to prove that these papers were handed over in 
 consequence of money agreed to be paid. 
 
 Mr. Attorney-General. — When an insinuation is 
 made not founded on evidence I must stop it. There 
 was no such evidence given. This witness said there 
 were seven guineas paid, but there was no evidence of 
 any previous agreement. 
 
 What was said by you relative to the notes 1 — She 
 said she had not money, but bank notes, and that she 
 would get Mrs. Cahill money. 
 
 Was this after the papers were given up? — No, it 
 was before. 
 
 / ask you, did the proposal to hand over this hand 
 and note move from Mrs. Cahill, or was it a request 
 made by any body else ? — No, nobody applied. 
 
 What brought Mrs. Reynolds there? — She came 
 some time after she got the first notice from the 
 Court. 
 
406 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 (See her cross-examination on this point, in which 
 she says that it was a day or two before.) 
 
 Who got notice ? — Mrs. Cahill. Mrs. Reynolds 
 came and saw her in bed ; said she was sorry she was 
 ill, and kissed her, and put her arms about her neck, 
 and asked to see the false bond and note. 
 
 What happened then ? — I had the note and bond in 
 my possession ; Mrs. Cahill asked me about them ; 
 hearing the bond was a false one, I said I did not know 
 anything of it. " Oh," says she, " what do you mean ?" 
 I, seeing she was getting into a passion, said, " Do not 
 be angry, here it is." I gave it to Mrs. Cahill, and she 
 gave it to Mrs. Reynolds. 
 
 What reason did Mrs. Reynolds assign for it ? — I do 
 not recollect that she assigned any. 
 
 But it was after the summons ? — It Avas, Sir. 
 
 To attend this trial? — To attend this trial.* 
 
 Eleanor Dwyer, cross-examined. 
 
 You are a very affectionate friend to Mrs. Cahill ? — 
 I live with her. 
 
 How long have you lived with her ? — Two months. 
 
 Were you there at the time IMrs. Reynolds Avent 
 there ? — I was. 
 
 * On a subsequent occasion this woman swore that Mrs. Reynolds 
 called upon Elizabeth Cahill within fours hours after the service of the 
 subpoena, to attend upon behalf of the prisoner ; and that neither Mrs. 
 Cahill nor she had given Mrs. Reynolds notice that such a subpoena had 
 been served upon the old woman. See E. Dwyer's evidence in Byrne's 
 case. 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 407 
 
 Did she press anything about the papers ? 
 
 Mr. Curran. — My Lords, 1 object to this evidence; 
 it has no relation to this trial, although it may to an- 
 other cause. 
 
 Mr. Baron Smith. — Considering your direct exami- 
 nation of this Avitness, I feel myself obliged to overrule 
 your objection. 
 
 How long were you there before Mrs. Reynolds 
 came ? — I do not recollect. 
 
 Had not Mrs. Cahill the bond and note when Mrs. 
 Bond came ? — I do not know. 
 
 Did not Mrs. Bond ask for the papers to be given to 
 her ? — Mrs. Cahill said she would give them up if paid 
 170/., which was the debt due by JMrs. Reynolds, she 
 being a poor blind woman, as she said. 
 
 Then she must have had the papers at that time ; 
 Mr. Reynolds had an account with this lady a consi- 
 derable length of time ? — I know nothing of that. (She 
 afterwards says that she believes that there was an ac- 
 count between them.) 
 
 Have you never heard that Mrs. Cahill sent to Mr. 
 Reynolds to give her money upon the foot of the account 
 current between them ? — I did ; and I wrote a note * 
 myself for the purpose. 
 
 Was Mrs. Cahill angry with Mr. Reynolds ? — She 
 was. 
 
 For what ? — He did not pay her punctually ; and his 
 
 * The note was read at the conclusion of this woman's cross-exami- 
 nation, where see it. 
 
408 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 wronging her in the false bond and note turned her 
 against him. 
 
 You wrote a note for her ? — I Avrote it ; she desired 
 me to write as feelingly as possible to Mrs. Reynolds, 
 that she might interfere for her. 
 
 She desired you to write in terms of anger? — I be- 
 lieve so. 
 
 She was violetit against them ? — No, I believe she 
 was attached to the family ; she had been a servant in 
 the family, and, she said, had been a long time earning 
 the money for her old days. 
 
 Did she express herself violently ; or did you by her 
 desire use violent expressions in the letter ? — No, ra- 
 ther in terms of entreaty. 
 
 Then she did not desire you to write angrily ? — 
 No I 
 
 At what time was this ? — A day or two before the 
 notice. 
 
 Was it about the time that Mrs. Reynolds came as 
 you say to look for the papers ? — It was : I do not know 
 that Mrs. Reynolds came to look for the papers ; she 
 came there ; I heard it said, but did not hear her say 
 so.* 
 
 "VMiom did you hear it from ? — From Mrs. Caliill 
 herself, t 
 
 * Compare this with her reply to Mr. Curran, in which she described 
 Mrs. Reynolds as kissing the old woman, throwing her arms round her 
 neck, and asking her to see the false bond and note, and with her sub- 
 sequent statement in Byrne's case. 
 
 t Why did not Mr. Curran call this woman ? 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 409 
 
 What reason have you to disbelieve her? — I can tell 
 nothing about it. 
 
 Did you hear that Mrs. Bond wanted the papers to 
 make use of upon this trial ? — I did hear it. 
 
 Do you believe it ? — I do, but cannot swear it. 
 
 Do you not believe she offered money for them ? — 
 No, I do not ; but Mrs. Cahill said if she got 170/. 
 she would give them up, or she might be starving.* 
 
 Then she would have given them up if she had 
 been paid the amount due ? — I suppose so. 
 
 She gave them up without being paid ? — I believe so. 
 
 How came that? — She may answer that herself ;f I 
 suppose relying upon the professions of Mrs. Reynolds' 
 affection. 
 
 Did she not rely upon Mr. Reynolds himself? — I 
 believe so, until she found him out. 
 
 When was that ? — I do not know : I have been but 
 two months with her. I heard nothing of it until the 
 notice was served. 
 
 Did you hear her speak of the bond before the notice 
 was served? — / did not.l (See her answers to this 
 question twice repeated, infra.) 
 
 * At this time there was only 10/. due on Mr. Reynolds' bond for 50/. 
 and note for 20/., as will appear hereafter by the evidence of Mrs.MoUoy 
 in Byrne's case. 
 
 t Mr. Curran took care that she should not. 
 
 $ From this woman's evidence it is quite clear that the whole com- 
 plaint respecting the wrongs of Mrs. Cahill originated with other parties ; 
 and that the poor old woman, having received all her money as she re- 
 quired it, never believed that her old master, the son of her former 
 master, contemplated defrauding her of the paltry sum of 70l. 
 
410 
 
 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 In the period of two months ! Where were you 
 born ? — In Leixlip. 
 
 Did you hear her speak in terms of friendship or 
 otherwise of him ? — I heard her say that she should be 
 sorry that any of the family suffered. 
 
 Did you not hear of this bond before the notice was 
 served ? — / did* 
 
 How long ? — I do not know. I did not attend to it; 
 my own affans were of more consequence to me. 
 
 To be sure they are. — I am glad you say so, because 
 you may be of service to me. 
 
 Did you hear her say anything as to the bond 
 before? — / do not know ; I think more about myself 
 than him or his bond. She thought much of his beine- 
 brought to trial. 
 
 What trial ? — That he should be brought into court. 
 I think it hard to be brought into court. 
 
 Why should she think about that ?— She might be 
 afraid that he would not give her money. 
 
 Are you afraid I should ask you about the letter ? — I 
 am not afraid of anything, thank God. 
 
 Was your letter a letter of entreaty ? — I do not re- 
 collect ; but if I heard it I would know. If I eot the 
 universe I cannot recollect it.f 
 
 Is that your handwriting ? — It is indeed : it is not 
 much to my credit. 
 
 You wrote this by Mrs. Cahill's directions ?— I did. 
 
 * See her last answer to this very question a few Hnes back. 
 t In answer to the question. " Did you by her desire use violent ex- 
 pressions in the letter ?" she replied, " No, rather terms of entreaty."' 
 
1798. LIFE OP THOMAS REYNOLDS. 411 
 
 Mrs. Reynolds said it was not Mrs. Cahill's writing. 
 I said, how could it be, as she was blind ? and the ser- 
 vant made the same observation. 
 
 The bond was given up, and Mrs. Reynolds gave her 
 seven guineas ? — She did. 
 
 Was there not a current account between them, and 
 did he not pay her money constantly ? — I believe so. 
 (She had already said, in answer to this question, that 
 she knew nothing of the existence of such an account.) 
 
 Did she demand any debt which he denied to he duel 
 — No answer. 
 
 Do you not believe that that money was paid upon the 
 account depending between her and Reynolds ? — I do. 
 
 Did you not hear he used to pay her interest from 
 time to time upon account of the debt due ? — I do not 
 recollect I did. 1 heard her say she took up 51. of the 
 principal. 
 
 You were present at the time the papers were given 
 up. Did Mrs. Cahill say what was due upon the foot 
 of the papers or the account ?* — I do not recollect she 
 did, for at the time she appeared to have a reliance 
 upon Mrs. Reynolds' honour, she embraced her so affec- 
 tionately. 
 
 iMust she not have a reliance upon the honour of 
 Mr. Reynolds ? — I do not know ; I heard her say Mrs. 
 Reynolds never deceived her. 
 
 * As to this, see Mrs. MoUoy's evidence in Byrne's case post, from 
 which it appears that only 10/. remained due on the 1st July, which sum 
 was then unpaid, in consequence of Mrs. MoUoy having the note for that 
 amount in her possession, and refusing to see Mrs. Reynolds, who called 
 to pay it on the day it became due. 
 
412 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 But could a married woman pay money without the 
 assistance of her husband ? — I cannot say whether she 
 had money of her own or not : she ought to pay it if 
 she promised it. 
 
 (Here the letter was read as follows.) 
 
 My dear Madam, 
 
 It Avas with the utmost concern I heard of yours and 
 Mr. Reynolds' very afflicting situation. Nothing hut 
 absolute distress could in such a time induce me to be 
 so troublesome; having often experienced your good- 
 ness, I must be very ill-natured if I did not feel sorry for 
 your trouble ; I therefore tried every means before I sent 
 again to you, but all in vain : I sent to Mr. Pendergast 
 and Mr. Ware,* but got no satisfaction. On Saturday 
 last I endeavoured to go in person, and the reception I 
 met with, although they seen me almost fainting with 
 fatigue, was such as I hope never again to experience. 
 Had it been to you I'd gone, I'd be sure of very dif- 
 ferent treatment ; and I'm persuaded when Mr. Rey- 
 nolds get his liberty he'll call them to an account. 
 I'm extremely anxious to know how you and the chil- 
 dren are, and whether you saved your furniture.f You 
 may judge of my distress when I was obliged to take 
 the ring off my finger and dispose of it for a very great 
 trifle. I have been keeping my bed ever since I seen 
 Mr. Ware, so great Avas the shock I got at his telling 
 
 * Messrs. Piendersast and Weir were universal legatees and joint ex- 
 ecutors of the late Mrs. Reynolds, whose bond for 100^. this old woman 
 held. 
 
 t This alludes to the free-quartering at Kilkea Castle. 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 413 
 
 nie he would not give me sixpence; and must suffer 
 more than you can imagine unless you have the good- 
 ness to send me something to-day or to-morrow. I 
 conclude, dear Madam, with the sincerest regard for 
 you and family. 
 
 Your humble servant, 
 
 E. C. 
 Friday morning. 
 
 Dr. Mam. 
 
 Be kind enough to seal whatever you send me. 
 (Directed) Mrs. Reynolds. 
 
 [This letter sufficiently explains why Mr. Curran 
 would not call Mrs. Cahill. The object of calling 
 Eleanor Dwyer was to prove that conscious guilt in- 
 duced Mr, Reynolds to send his wife to endeavour to 
 obtain possession of these documents, upon hearing that 
 they were likely to be produced against him at the then 
 approaching trials. The reader may be left to form his 
 own conclusion, Avhether Mrs. Reynolds went to this old 
 servant, who had been more than half a century in the 
 service of Mr. Reynolds' family, in consequence of the 
 above affecting letter, or in consequence of the service 
 of a subpoena upon the old woman on behalf of the pri- 
 soner, of which subpoena Mr. Reynolds could know 
 nothing. Miss Dwyer, upon this occasion, stated that 
 the letter was written a day or two before the service of 
 the notice, and that Mrs. Reynolds came to Mrs. Cahill 
 about the same time. She could not in that case have 
 come in consequence of the subpoena.] 
 
414 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 The next witness called Avas 
 
 Mr. Thomas Warren*. 
 
 You live now in the country ? — I do. 
 
 You formerly lived in Dublin ? — I did. 
 
 What business did you follow ? — I was a silk-manu- 
 facturer, 
 
 Were you ever in partnership ^Y\{h any person ? — I 
 was. 
 
 With whom ? — With Rose Reynolds in that business. 
 
 Was any partner admitted into the firm after\vards ? 
 — There was, Thomas Reynolds. 
 
 You know him jwetty intimately ? — / do know him. 
 
 Do you recollect at any time any articles or goods 
 being missing out of the warehouse of the partnership!? 
 (This question was objected to.) 
 
 * For an account of this Warren, see p. 80, et seq. 
 
 t From this question it would seem that Mr. Reynolds was charged 
 with stealing the partnership goods. Mr. Reynolds had acknowledged 
 that he took a piece of lutestring. The circumstances were these : 
 Warren, who was a married man, was in the habit of taking from the 
 warehouse damaged pieces of silks for dresses for his wife. Mrs. Rey- 
 nolds did the same for her own use ; and Mr. Reynolds, fancying that 
 he had as good a right to do so as his partners, on one occasion directed 
 the warehouseman to cut a dress from a piece of damaged lutestring, and 
 send it to a young woman with whom he was connected. Neither Mr. 
 Wan-en nor the warehouseman made any objection at the time, and the 
 order was given and executed openly. Neither Warren nor any of the 
 people thought it necessary to mention such a circumstance to Mr. Rey- 
 nolds' mother. Mr. Reynolds was a minor at the time, and not formally 
 admitted into partnership. Mr. Reynolds has also admitted that he, 
 on one occasion, took some of his mother's jewellery. The facts were 
 these : Mr. Reynolds' relative, the Honorable John Meade, had left him 
 an estate in Jamaica (Fort Stewart) ; he had also left him a quantity of 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 415 
 
 Do you know Thomas Reynolds ? — I do. 
 
 Is he to be credited upon his oath in a court of jus- 
 tice ? — From what I know of him, I would not credit 
 him upon his oath. 
 
 By the Court. From his general character is he a 
 person to be credited upon his oath in a court of justice ? 
 — I do not think he ought. 
 
 Mr. Thomas Warren, cross-ea;ami7ied. 
 
 Do you know the prisoner ? — No, Sir, I never saw 
 him but in the dock. 
 
 You never heard of him 1 — I never heard of him un- 
 til I saw by the papers he was taken up. 
 
 Who applied to you to give evidence 1 — I received a 
 subpoena where I reside in the country. 
 
 When ? — On the Saturday before the commission 
 sat. The subpcEna is dated the 27th of June. 
 
 You got no application, by word of mouth or by let- 
 ler, before that, to come to town ? — No, I did not. 
 
 When you did come to town, you had no communica- 
 tion with anybody till you came to give your evidence ? 
 
 plate and jewellery, which, during his minority, was in the care of his 
 mother. Among the jewels was a diamond pin. This diamond pin his 
 mother placed in a fancy hat which Mr. Reynolds wore at a masquerade, 
 where he met the woman with whom he was connected, and she per- 
 suaded him to give her the pin. These two circumstances were, at the 
 time of these trials, magnified into charges of felony. It speaks well for 
 the general conduct of a young man, that these two trumpery charges 
 were all that could be raked up, after a searching scrutiny among the 
 relatives, partner, clerks, and domestic servants of this gentleman, ex- 
 tending over his whole life, from his boyhood until his twenty-seventh 
 year. How few are there who could stand so searching an inquiry and 
 remain unscathed t 
 
416 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 — I Avas subpoenaed at the suit of Oliver Bond ; I went 
 to his house and asked what I was wanted for, as I was 
 much surprised they could want me. Mrs. Bond de- 
 sired me to go to Mr. Johnson the agent, AA'ho would 
 tell me ; he said it was to the character of Reynolds. 
 
 What answer did you make him ? — I said it was dis- 
 agreeable to be called from home to the character a man 
 I have known so long, and with whose connexions I had 
 an intimacy. 
 
 Then you retired ? — He had anecdotes of Mr. Rey- 
 nolds' conduct while I was within that house, that fell 
 within my knowledge, and he asked me whether I re- 
 collected them. 
 
 Was that all that passed ?— I did tell him the things 
 so far as I knew them. 
 
 TVas that all that passed ? — / said nothing more. 
 
 Was that all that passed, hy virtue of your oath? — 
 Nothing more that I recollect, hut I am sure nothing 
 respecting this business. 
 
 Did he ask you ivhether you would swear that Mr. 
 Reynolds was not to be believed upon his oath ? — / do 
 not know ; but he made notes ; I rather believe he did 
 ask me whether j upon the whole I knew of him, I ivould 
 say so. 
 
 And why did you hesitate in giving an immediate 
 answer to the question I asked ? — I would choose to be 
 particularly correct in answering the question *. 
 
 * Thus far this cross-examination exposes the nature and extent of 
 the domestic inquisition to which Mr. Reynolds' character was sub- 
 jected, and which produced so little to his discredit. 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 417 
 
 You have been pretty well acquainted with Dublin ? 
 — I have till within these four years. 
 
 There are societies of United Irishmen in Dublin ? — 
 There are, I believe 
 
 You know it ? — I appeal to the Court whether I am 
 bound to answer any question which may criminate my- 
 self*. 
 
 The Counsel for the Crown said they would not press 
 the question. 
 
 Mr. Mc Nally. — I wish to ask the witness whether 
 he has not heard that there have been two societies of 
 United Irishmen ? 
 
 Mr. Attorneij-General. — I object to the question. 
 Mr. Mc Nally. — I will ask whether he belongs to 
 a society of United Irishmen ? 
 
 Mr. Attorney-General . — -I object to that, since he lias 
 refused to answer the question put to him on our part. 
 
 Court. — The Counsel for the prisoner cannot now 
 put any question but such as arises from the cross-exa- 
 mination. 
 
 Mr. Mc Nally. — Does the witness know of any other 
 society of United Irishmen than that which he says ex- 
 isted a few years ago ? t 
 
 * Thus it appears that Warren himself was an United Irishman, and 
 came to impeach the character oC the person who laid open the schemes 
 of that society — that person being his own first cousin, the son of his be- 
 nefactor, his more than father, and his own partner in business ; against 
 whom the only charge which he could allege was, openly taking a piece 
 of damaged lutestring from the partnership warehouse, in imitation of 
 Mr. Warren himself. 
 
 •I- The witness had not said so. 
 
 VOL. I. 2 E 
 
418 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D 
 
 Mr. Baron Smith. — When a man refuses to answer 
 as to one society, why ask him if he knows of two ? 
 
 (The remainder of this man's cross-examination ap- 
 pears to have been conducted by the Court.) 
 
 Was there any difference of accounts between you and 
 Mr. Reynolds or Mrs. Reynolds ? — No, my Lord. 
 
 No claim upon you for any balance or default sup- 
 posed to be made by you ? — I believe not. 
 
 Were the accounts of the house ever adjusted? — 
 Mrs. Reynolds said tliey were not, but the son did not 
 say so. I carried the papers with me into the country. 
 
 After taking the papers with you into the country, 
 did you return to town to adjust the accounts ? — I lost 
 the papers upon the road. 
 
 You lost the evidence for adjusting the accounts, and 
 never returned to settle them ? — I did not. 
 
 I suppose you went into the country four years ago ? 
 —I did. 
 
 Has the partnership subsisted any time since that ? — 
 No. 
 
 How long before you went into the country was JMr. 
 Reynolds admitted to the partnership ? — In January.* 
 
 " Mr. Reynolds came of age in March, 1 792. His name was formally 
 introduced into the house in the month of January, 1794; but he had 
 been virtually a partner from the death of his father in 1787, when his 
 mother reserved one-third of the profits for him. The house, warehouses, 
 manufactory, &c., were his private property, for which the partnership 
 paid him rent. Upon his formal admission he discovered Warren's 
 misconduct, and insisted upon his retirement, which took place in the 
 course of that spring. The deficiency in Warren's cash-accounts ex- 
 ceeded 60,000^. Upon the dissolution of the partnership the balance due 
 
1798, LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 419 
 
 When did you leave town after that ? — In June. 
 
 Did you know those things for which you say he 
 ought not to be believed, before he was admitted ? — I 
 did. His mother reserved a right of putting him in, 
 and it was against my approbation that he was named.* 
 
 How long has she been dead ? — Since November or 
 December. 
 
 It is now four years since you left town with the 
 accounts unsettled ? — It is. I lost the papers, and had 
 no means of settling them. But, subsequent to that, 
 Mrs. Reynolds sent me a message about a bond as- 
 signed to me in confidence for her, and she said that if 
 I would execute a deed of trust for her she would release 
 me from all claims. I did fulfil the trust, saying to 
 the person that attended that I was much obliged to her 
 for saying so much, and that, if I had sixpence of the 
 property, I would let my family want rather than keep 
 her from it. 
 
 If you never reju^ed to execute the trust, why should 
 she offer to release her claims upon a settlement to have 
 it done ? — I do not know. 
 
 Did you ever remonstrate with her about taking her 
 
 from Warren was assigned to Mrs. Reynolds ; but she never recovered 
 any part of it, Warren pretending that he had lost the necessary vouchers 
 in the manner stated in his evidence. Warren was a trustee for some 
 property belonging to Mrs. Reynolds ; he had never executed a declaration 
 of the trust, and he refused to do so unless Mrs. Reynolds would give hira 
 a general release, which she was ultimately compelled to do. 
 
 * He might well be opposed to Mr. Reynolds' admission, since the 
 consequence was his own retirement, within a few months, with an un- 
 settled balance against him exceeding 60,000^. 
 
 2e2 
 
420 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D . 
 
 son into partnership ? — She knew I was against it, Init 
 she received him peremptorily under the clause. 
 
 Did she know the character you gave him ? — She 
 was disposed to trust him. 
 
 Did he ever give evidence in a court of justice be- 
 fore ? — Never that I heard. 
 
 How came you to take a partnership account into the 
 country ? — They were discount papers referring to a 
 cash-account. All the rest were in the books ; but 
 those were discounts not in the books, but upon 
 abstract papers, that I collected together and took 
 with me where I might have more leisure and no dis- 
 turbance, with intent to carry them back, being only 
 the cash-account, which was the only account unad- 
 justed. 
 
 Where did you carry them to? — To my brother's in 
 Killeen, in the Queen's County. I took a seat in the 
 mail-coach, and lost them in the mail-coach ; I made 
 the most diligent search for them. 
 
 Did Mrs. Reynolds make any inquiry since ? — I do 
 not know. The parties knew my conduct ; I have lost 
 severely by the dealing. My Lord, I was asked re- 
 specting a society ; I never belonged to any political 
 society these four years. 
 
 [Thomas Warren was called to speak to the character 
 of Mr. Reynolds. His cross-examination has exhibited 
 himself in the character of a fraudulent partner and an 
 unfaithful trustee, appearing to speak to the character 
 of the man Avho had detected his malversations and 
 forced him to retire from the partnership. 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 421 
 
 This man stated that he was subpoenaed, to give evi- 
 dence in Oliver Bond's case ; but his evidence in this 
 case exposed his character and motives so completely, 
 that Mr. Curran did not venture to put liim into the 
 Avitness-box a second time.] 
 
 IMrs. Mary Molloy sic or n. 
 
 You know Mr. Reynolds ? — / knoiv a man of that 
 name. 
 
 He is your nephew ? — He is my niece's son. 
 
 You know Mrs. Cahill ? — I do. 
 
 She gave you a bond and a note to keep ? — She did. 
 
 You had the care of them ? — I had. 
 
 When did you return them ? — The day I was served 
 with the summons, or what you call it, from this court. 
 
 Was it after you were served 1 — It was ; I sent them 
 to her, and she received them. 
 
 Was there any notice at the foot of the summons to 
 produce these papers at the trial ? — No, not upon the 
 foot ; but after I returned them I got the notice. 
 
 How did it happen that you returned tliem imme- 
 diately after you got the summons ? — I never received 
 a summons before, and, for fear I should be put to fur- 
 ther trouble, I gave them up. 
 
 You thought you were to produce them ? — I supposed 
 I should if I kept them ; and when I gave them up I 
 thought it no harm. 
 
 That was your motive for giving them up to Mrs. 
 Cahill ? — It was. 
 
 How came you to get these papers into your custody ? 
 
422 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 — The poor woman had lived with my family for many 
 years ; she had a confidence in me ; she was going to the 
 country, and left the papers with me lest any accident 
 should happen. 
 
 Did you ever read the note ? — I did. 
 
 When did it appear to bear date ? — I do not know ; 
 I did not know that it was antedated till a gentleman T 
 showed it to, told me. 
 
 By the Court. — Do you or can you form a belief 
 whether it was antedated, or not ? — I cannot ; but, 
 when I showed it to the young man, he said it appeared 
 to be dated in the minority. 
 
 By the Counsel. — Did anybody come to you to get 
 these papers after you gave them up ? — No. 
 
 Or to inquire about them 1 — No. 
 
 Cross-exatnined. 
 
 Are you acquainted with Mr. Thomas Warren ? — 
 I am. 
 
 Did you know him to be concerned in trade with 
 old Mrs. Reynolds ? — I did. 
 
 Did you ever hear of complaints made against him by 
 Mrs. Reynolds ? — I must recollect myself- — yes I have 
 heard her complain that he did not make up his cash- 
 account with her. 
 
 He went to the country ? — He did. 
 
 And did not make up his accounts? — I do not know. 
 
 [This lady was a widow, who had taken up her abode 
 for some years in a nunnery in Dublin, mixing however 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 423 
 
 a good deal Avitli her own family connexions, which 
 were numerous. Her evidence on this occasion proved 
 nothing but the extreme animosity against her nephew 
 excited in her mind by religious and party zeal. She 
 was called to prove that the note Avas antedated ; her 
 evidence is that she showed the note to some young man, 
 who said that it appeared to be antedated. Mr. Rey- 
 nolds' statement was that it bore the same date as the 
 original note for 25/., which he says was in June, 1793. 
 Mr. Reynolds came of age in 1792. A note dated five 
 years back, and drawn by a young man, might appear to 
 a stranger to be dated in his minority, but that his 
 mother's aunt, who had known him from his infancy, 
 and Avhose attention had been pointedly drawn to the 
 circumstance, could not speak to the fact, seems extra- 
 ordinary.] 
 
 Peter Sullivan sworn. 
 
 You have got a protection ? — I have. 
 
 You were a United Irishman, and have surrendered? 
 — I have. 
 
 Do you know Thomas Reynolds ? — I do. 
 
 Do you know anything of a transaction between him 
 andMrs. Cahill?— Ido. 
 
 Did you see a note passed by him to her ? — ^I did, 
 for 20/. 
 
 What date did it bear? — ^7 saiv two notes ; the first 
 ivas dated three or four years back ; I am not sure. 
 
 TVhat sum teas that for ? — 20/. ; the other was four 
 or five years back ; that was antedated. 
 
424 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 For what Himi was it ? — 20/. 
 
 How did you come to know it was antedated ? — I 
 knew his liandwritinij. 
 
 By the Court. — Can you say one of them was for 
 20/. ? — / am confident each of them was for 20/.* 
 
 By the Court. — What was the date of the first 1 — I 
 am not clear as to date ; 7 believe it was four years 
 ago. 
 
 By the Counsel. — Do you recollect the year the 
 second note ivas dated in ? — I do not ; for I never ex- 
 pected to be asked about it. 
 
 How do you know it was antedated ? — The date of 
 it was seven years back from the time I saw it.'\ 
 
 That is antecedent to the time you saw it ? — Yes. 
 
 When did you see it ? — About Decend)er hist. 
 
 From the general character which JMr. Reynohls 
 bears in life, on your oath, do you consider him to be a 
 man deserving credit upon his oath in a court of justice ? 
 — From my own knowledge of him, I would not believe 
 him ; but I cannot speak from his general character. 
 From his character in his own family, I Avould not 
 credit him. 
 
 * The reader will recollect that the evidence is that the" first note was 
 for 25/., and that, upon the old woman requiring 5/. of the principal, the 
 note was renewed for 20/., and Mr. Reynolds is charged with having 
 dated the renewed note so as to appear to have been given during his 
 minority. 
 
 •\ He first said that this note was dated four or five years back, but, 
 finding on recollection that four or five years back would not bring the 
 date within Mr. Reynolds' minority, he now corrects himself and swears 
 to seven years previous to December, 1797. 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 425 
 
 Cross-exam ined. 
 
 Where do you reside? — In Francis-street. 
 
 HoAV lonfij have you resided there ? — A year. 
 
 Where did you reside before that ? — In the house of 
 Mr. Reynohls for seventeen years. '" 
 
 Where ?— In Dublin. 
 
 Then you have been an inhabitant of Dublin for many 
 years past ? — Except when I went to the country upon 
 their business. 
 
 What business are you ? — A silk-manufacturer. 
 
 What kind of United Irishman are you ? — Am I 
 bound to anwer that question ? 
 
 When did you get the protection? — ^The tenth of 
 this month. 
 
 When did you become a United Irishman ? — About 
 fifteen months ago. 
 
 There are t^vo sorts of United Irishmen, one that do 
 
 * This Peter Sullivan was a person, who, with his widowed mother and 
 a sister, was taken under the protection of Mr. Reynolds' father and 
 mother at an early age. Sullivan received a good education at Mr. Rey- 
 nolds' expense, and at a proper age was taken into the counting-house. 
 He remained in the employ of his benefactors and their son for the space 
 of seventeen years, and latterly was Mr. Reynolds' (the witness) con- 
 fidential clerk and cashier, in which service he remained until Mr. 
 Reynolds retired from business ahout twelve months previous to these 
 trials, when he was himself established in business on his own 
 account by Mr. Reynolds. He now appeared to do all the injury in his 
 power to his benefactor, whose playmate he had been in childhood, and 
 whose bread he had eaten all his life. Mr. Reynolds was not born 
 imtilmany years after Sullivan was taken under the protection of his 
 father. 
 
426 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 not choose to be hanged, the other who take their 
 chance ? Did anybody advise Reynolds to become a 
 United Irisliman, and tell him whether it was safe or 
 not ? — He spoke to me, and asked me whether it was 
 'prudent to take tlie oath. I considered it so myself, 
 and told him so. 
 
 So that you were not only a United Irishman your- 
 self, but an humble maker of United Irishmen, or pro- 
 moter of the cause ? — Am I bound to answer that ? ■_ I 
 certainly recommended it to him. 
 
 Were you not a promoter of the cause ? — I might be 
 one in that way. 
 
 Do you know the society that Reynolds first entered 
 into ? — I do not. 
 
 Perhaps you think Reynolds is on his trial. Do you 
 know M'Can ? — I have no intimacy with him. 
 
 I do not ask you whether you were his playfellow ; 
 but had you such an acquaintance with him as to ask 
 him " Good morning, INIr, JM'Can" ? — I never asked him 
 that question. 
 
 Or " Good evening" ? — Never. 
 
 Did you ever see him 1 — Once I went of a message 
 from Mr. Reynolds to I\Ir. M'Can, and I never saw him 
 but that time. 
 
 Was it to deliver a letter or a verbal message ? — A 
 verbal message. 
 
 A verbal message to drink tea or to dine with him ? 
 Do you recollect the purport of it ? — I recollect the 
 purport of it to be It does not criminate the pri- 
 soner, it only criminates myself. 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 427 
 
 Come, what was it ? — He sent me to M'Caii to know 
 if he could get a pike sharpened; and M' Can did not 
 acknowledge to have anything to do with it. 
 
 By virtue of your oath, did not M'Can then ask you 
 for it ?— No. 
 
 Did he turn you out ? — He did not act in any re- 
 markable manner. 
 
 So, then, he had never seen you before. What did 
 you say to him ? — ^I cannot recollect exactly ; but I 
 understood he would not do them ; he was above work 
 of that sort. 
 
 What did you say to him ? — I said that Mr. Rey- 
 nolds sent me to him to have pikes sharpened. 
 
 You asked him what he was ? — I asked " Where 
 was M'Can ?" in Mr. Jackson's. 
 
 And when you saw him you asked him about the 
 pikes ? — Yes. 
 
 What did you say? — I asked him to have pikes 
 sharpened, and he said he could not, or would not. 
 
 When the foreman would not do the business, did 
 you ask the master of the shop ? — I did not know him. 
 
 You knew him as well as the foreman ? — I Avas di- 
 rected to the office of M'Can.* 
 
 * This tale about the pikes, as far as it relates to Mr. Reynolds, is 
 evidently a fabrication. If Sullivan ever had any communication with 
 M'Can relative to the sharpening of pikes, which is very problematical, 
 Mr. Reynolds had certainly nothing to do with it. It was not likely that 
 Mr. Reynolds would send so dangerous a communication by a messenger 
 who was utterly unacquainted with, and unknown to, M'Can, as well as 
 to M'Can's employers. The questions of counsel, which brought out the 
 story, arose out of the reply to his first question, " Do youknowM'Can ?" 
 
428 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D, 
 
 If Thomas Reynolds would swear that JM'Can was a 
 United Irishman, would j^ou believe it ? — Unless I had 
 other reasons to believe it ; I know so many objections 
 to his veracity and honesty. 
 
 He took the oath of a United Irishman ? — He did, I 
 believe. 
 
 And betrayed the cause ? — He did. 
 
 Would not that give you a bad opinion of him ? — It 
 would, if I did not entertain a bad opinion of him 
 before. 
 
 If Reynolds swore M'Can was a United Irishman, 
 would you l)elieve it ? — Not from that alone. 
 
 I do not ask you ; you have said that ah'eady. I do 
 not wish to Ijring you and M'Can together. Would 
 you believe the evidence ?— I cannot say : that might 
 depend upon other circumstances. 
 
 Then do you believe he was a United Irishman ? — I 
 believed it when I heard he was taken up, and 1 be- 
 lieved it before, because I was sent to him about the 
 pikes. 
 
 Then, if you believe he was a United Irishman, you 
 would not disbelieve it because Reynolds swore it ? — 
 I would not if I believed it before. 
 
 By the Court. — Had you the same opinion of Reynolds 
 before you brought the message as you have now ? — JVo, 
 I had not. 
 
 TVhendidyoii bring the message? — About a year 
 
 ago. 
 
 That question took the witness by surprise, and his unguarded answer 
 induced the counsel to follow it up. 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 429 
 
 [So that the bad oi)inion of Mr. Reynolds formed by 
 Mr. Sullivan did not arise from any circumstance that 
 came to his knowledge during the seventeen years he 
 lived under Mr. Reynolds' roof, but from something 
 which operated upon his mind during the last twelve- 
 month. Whether that something was, that Mr. Reynolds 
 " had betrayed the cause," to Avhich Mr. Sullivan 
 appears to liave introduced him, was left to the sagacity 
 of the jury. 
 
 Sullivan was called to prove that the note for 201. 
 was antedated : he swore that it was dated four or five 
 years back. Upon reflection he found that five years 
 would not bring it within the minority, so he amended 
 his evidence, and swore to seven years and a half. He 
 also swore positively that both the original note and 
 the renewed note were for 20/. ; the evidence being, 
 that the first note was given for 25/., and that, upon 5/. 
 being taken up, tlie note was renewed for the balance. 
 
 Mr. Sullivan's evidence so fully established his own 
 character, that Mr. Curran did not venture to call him 
 again on either of the sul3sequent trials : and here the 
 evidence closed on the part of the prisoner — the whole 
 of it consisting of the four witnesses, Eleanor Dwyer, 
 Thomas Warren, Mrs. Molloy, and Peter Sullivan. 
 
 Had Mr. Reynolds been guilty of any dishonourable 
 or disreputable conduct whatever during the ^vhole 
 course of his life, no men in existence were so capable 
 of exposing him as these two, Warren and Sullivan, 
 both brought up by his father, from charitable motives, 
 both intimately acquainted with Mr. Reynolds from the 
 
430 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 hour of his birth; the first a near relation, and his 
 partner in trade ; the second his confidential clerk, his 
 cashier, and humble bosom friend. Yet one of these 
 men could impute nothing to him but the taking a piece 
 of damaged lutestring from the partnership warehouse ; 
 and the other, who, from his situation in the house, 
 must have been well acquainted with that particular 
 transaction, positively declared that he had not formed 
 his bad opinion of Mv. Reynolds from anything that 
 came to his knowledge during the seventeen years he 
 was in his and his father's employ, and living under the 
 same roof with him, but from circumstances coming to 
 his knowledge within the last twelvemonth.] 
 
 (Mr. Cope was again called on the part of the Crown.) 
 
 You know Thomas Reynolds ? — I do. 
 
 IMany years ? — Yes. 
 
 From what you know of his general character, do 
 you think him a man to be believed on his oath ? — 
 Upon my oath I believe he is. 
 
 Cross-examined. 
 
 Do you think a man engaging in a society of this 
 nature has injured his credit? — There are many erro- 
 neous things a man will do ; but still, after a man has 
 been reinstated with his God and his country, I think 
 he is to be believed. 
 
 Do you think this witness to be reinstated with his 
 God 1 — I cannot say for that ; but, from the condition I 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 431 
 
 see him in, I should hope he will receive mercy from 
 God, as all repenting sinners will. 
 
 Do you found your opinion upon his conduct as a 
 traitor ? — Upon my word I formed my opinion upon 
 the transactions respecting myself. 
 
 Why did you not mention that upon your direct 
 examination ? — Because I was not asked.* 
 
 You have heard a charge to-day about a bond. Do 
 you believe that charge to be false ? — I do believe every 
 word respecting Reynolds being guilty of forgery is 
 false. 
 
 If he swore that he paid off that bond, would he swear 
 true ? — He would, because he paid it in a certain specie. 
 
 Are the notes paid ? '\ — I understand he paid them as 
 they became due. 
 
 As a mercantile man, do you not knoAV that a bond is 
 a better security than a note ? — As a mercantile man, I 
 do not ; because a note is a negotiable security, and 
 money may be had upon it. A bond is not so trans- 
 ferable. 
 
 * Here Mr, Curran had another opportunity of examining Mr. Cope 
 respecting the dealings between Mr. Reynolds and him — but he did not 
 venture to do so. Had Mr. Reynolds' account of these dealings been in 
 any respect incorrect, Mr. Cope could have contradicted him. Not having 
 been questioned on that point, the only inference is that Mr. Reynolds' 
 account was true in every respect. 
 
 f Connecting these questions with what appears hereafter in the 
 evidence of Mrs. Molloy upon Byrne's trial, it is evident that the counsel 
 knew that one of the notes was not paid when it became due : but he did 
 not venture to put tbe question to Mrs. Molloy, lest the conspiracy 
 against Mr. Reynolds, which was afterwards exposed, should have been 
 at once detected. 
 
432 MFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 But it may come back with a protest ? — These did 
 not, because they were paid. 
 
 Is not a man guilty of perjury who breaks his oath 
 of allegiance ? — I think so. 
 
 And do you think a man guilty of perjury deserving 
 of credit ? — Certainly not. 
 
 (* William Furlong, Esq., sworn.) 
 
 Do you know Thomas Reynolds i — I do. 
 
 How long ? — Seven years and upwards. 
 
 Have you had dealings with him ? — I have, many. 
 
 What is your opinion with respect to his general 
 character, as to his deserving credit upon his oatli ? — I 
 have always had a good opinion of his general character. 
 
 Would you give credit to his oath in a court of 
 justice ? — I would give credit to his oath, notwithstand- 
 ing what I liave heard alleged to his prejudice. 
 
 Croas-eojam in eel. 
 
 Were you in court during the examination to-day ? — 
 No. 
 
 Then what you alluded to was what you have heard 
 in common conversation ? — Yes. 
 
 If you had heard that he had taken the oath of alle- 
 giance, and had afterwards taken a traitorous engage- 
 
 * This gentleman was one of the most eminent solicitors in Ireland : 
 lie continued the warm, and, as far as living in separate countries per- 
 mitted it, the intimate, friend of Mr. Reynolds until his death — a friend- 
 ship which has heen perpetuated in the persons of their children, although 
 the separation of country has hitherto prevented the establishment of any 
 intimacy between them. 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 433 
 
 ment in violation of that oath, would you think him 
 deserving of credit upon his oath here ? — I think it is 
 very possible that a man who has taken the oath of 
 allegiance, and at a subsequent period has taken the 
 oath of a United Irishman, may, seeing the misery and 
 calamity in which his country has been involved by it, 
 repent of it, and adhere to his oath of allegiance as more 
 obligatory upon him, and may deserve credit, by bear- 
 ing allegiance to his king and becoming faithful to his 
 country. 
 
 Here the case closed on both sides. 
 
 Mr. Howell, in his edition of the " State Trials," vol. 
 xxvii. p. 499, then says — " Mr. Curran spoke at con- 
 siderable length to the evidence for the prisoner," but 
 he does not give the speech ; and Mr. Curran's son, who 
 published his father's life, tells us, that the defence in 
 this case was suppressed. 
 
 Mr. Saurin replied on behalf of the crown, and 
 Mr. Baron Smith summed up as follows. 
 
 (I omit those parts of the summing up which have 
 no relation to the evidence or character of Mr. Rey- 
 nolds, referring the curious reader to " Howell's State 
 Trials," vol. xxvii., for this and any other information 
 he may want, warning him, however, that implicit re- 
 liance cannot be placed upon the correctness or good 
 faith of that publication.) 
 
 " Gentlemen, the prisoner stands indicted for high 
 treason, the greatest offence known to our law — an 
 offence tending to the subversion of the government of 
 the country, and indeed of all social order : hut, gen- 
 
 VOL. I. 2f 
 
434 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 tiemen, if the offence he of a higher degree than ordi- 
 nary, certainly the proof ought not to be less than in 
 other cases ; and if there be any ground of distinction, 
 the magnitude of the offence ought rather to call for 
 stronger evidence.'^ (Here the learned baron entered 
 into a detail of the nature of the crime of treason, and 
 of the overt acts laid in the indictment ; he reminded 
 the jury that "it was their sole province to determine 
 upon the evidence." He then read the evidence from 
 the notes, and afterwards proceeded thus.) " You will 
 observe, gentlemen, that the prisoner's counsel argued 
 that Mr. Reynolds did not specify any person from 
 whom he received information of the object of the 
 United Irishmen ; but you will see from the evidence 
 that he stated the object of all the meetings to be ' to 
 overthrow the government and constitution of the 
 country, to establish a republican form of government 
 in its place, and to favour a landing of the French to 
 forward these views.' Now it seems to me, so far as 
 the witness deserves credit, that his evidence is as 
 pointed and precise as it could be to ascertain his source 
 of information. With regard to the object of all these 
 meetings, he saw and he knew their object to be that 
 which he stated, having heard it discussed at each and 
 every meeting ; so that saying he heard it at one parti- 
 cular meeting or at another, or from some particular 
 person, would have weakened his evidence, because he 
 learned it by attending all the different meetings, there 
 hearing the end and object of their institution, repeat- 
 edly mentioned by the body collectively" 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 435 
 
 (After some observations upon the meeting at Bond's, 
 on the 12th of March, the learned baron proceeded). 
 
 " As to the frauds and other acts of profligacy with 
 which the witness Reynolds has been charged, some of 
 them he admitted, others he denied ; and I must say 
 that, if he even had committed those which he denied, 
 it would not follow of necessity that he was undeserv- 
 ing of credit on his oath ; though, certainly, if those 
 charges which he denied had been proved against him, 
 such circumstance ought to have weight with you in 
 estimating the degree of credit which you would give 
 to his evidence. Gentlemen, great stress has been laid 
 upon the witness having first taken the oath of allegi- 
 ance and then that of the United Irishmen, and having 
 finally come forward here and given that testimony 
 which you have heard. It was stated to be gross per- 
 jury ; it Avas assimilated to the case of a man who had 
 been sworn to give evidence in a court of justice, and 
 been afterwards convicted of perjury ; and it was said, 
 and said truly, that such a man could never afterwards 
 be received to give evidence ; so the law undoubtedly is. 
 But the present case is obviously distinguishable from 
 the case put : Reynolds had taken the oath of allegiance 
 it is true, nor can his violation of it by taking the United 
 oath be justified in any respect ; but, as to the second, 
 that of a United Irishman, it is very different indeed 
 from an oath taken in a court of justice. A man takes 
 an oath there, calm and uninfluenced, apprized of its 
 consequences, nor can he break it without a violation of 
 the laws of God and man. In giving evidence, he does 
 
 2f2 
 
436 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 nothing but what a good, honest, and conscientious man 
 ought to do. But a man taking the oath of a United 
 Irishman may act under seduction, or the influence of 
 persons who have acquired an unwarrantable power 
 over his mind ; and he takes an oath ' whicli is more 
 lionoured in the breach than in the observance.' Sup- 
 pose a man slioukl take an oath that he would imbrue 
 his hands in the blood of his sovereign, or that he would 
 assist in the destruction of thousands of his fellow- 
 subjects ; could it be said he was bound by such an 
 oath ? or that, if he violated it, such violation would 
 be at all similar to the violation of an oath taken by a 
 witness in a court of justice?* There is no divine who 
 "tvould not tell any man who had taken such an oath as 
 I have supposed, that it would be meritorious to violate 
 it, and that such violation w^ould be pleasing in the eye 
 of God and man. Neither ou^ht the taking of an oath 
 under the influence of seduction, or the terror of death, 
 or other violent mischief, to be considered as a deliberate 
 violation of the oath of allegiance, or at all analogous 
 
 * Suppose a man, acting under the inliuence of an old friend of his 
 father, and of his own long-tried and apparently-faithful friend and con- 
 fidential servant, to join a society, and take an oath, not merely innocent 
 but laudable in its declared object, and in no way opposed to the oath of 
 allegiance, and afterwards to discover, by attending many different meet- 
 ings and hearing discussions upon many subjects, that the real objects 
 of the society were different from their declared purposes, and contrary 
 to the apparent meaning of the oath he had taken ; could it be said that 
 he was bound by such an oath any longer than until he had ascertained 
 beyond all doubt that he was not mistaken, and that what he heard dis- 
 cussed at the meetings was not mere idle bravado, but the serious and 
 well-concerted design of the association ? 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS, 437 
 
 to wilful or corrupt perjury, so as to render a witness 
 altogether incredible ; although it may be a circum- 
 stance very proper to be considered by a jury when 
 they come to consider the desjree of credit to be jriven 
 the witness. It certainly does not render him incom- 
 petent, and the prisoner's counsel only argued it as 
 going to his credit, though the effect of the argument 
 would be just the same as if the witness had been held 
 incompetent. The mischiefs of such a doctrine would 
 be endless ; because, if a man who had taken the oath 
 of allegiance, and afterwards that of a United Irish- 
 man, were to be totally discredited for ever after, all 
 lenity on the part of government would be utterly abor- 
 tive ; because, if such a man could only purchase re- 
 demption by everlasting infamy, it can scarcely be sup- 
 posed that he would ever seek to avail himself of the 
 royal mercy." 
 
 (After the learned judge had stated the whole of 
 the evidence, and observed upon different passages of it 
 incidentally, he said) — 
 
 "Here the case was rested on all hands, and I will now 
 trouble you with only one or two observations more. 
 
 " Two species of evidence have been adduced on the 
 part of the crown ; one parole, the other written. Whe- 
 ther the former deserves credit, is for your judgment 
 solely. If the testimony of the witness Reynolds shall 
 in your opinion be worthy of belief, it goes the length 
 of maintaining all, or nearly all, of the twelve overt 
 acts laid in the indictment. There is scarcely any, if 
 indeed one, of the twelve which it does not establish. 
 
438 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 But it is sufficient if it establish any one ; that, if proved 
 to your satisfaction, will call for a verdict of conviction. 
 The witness mentioned that the object of the meeting 
 was to overturn the government and constitution ; to 
 establish a republic ; and to aid the French when they 
 came to forward these purposes. 
 
 " Thus, gentlemen, it is for you to consider whether 
 that evidence of Reynolds deserves your credit or not. 
 In estimating his credit, you Avill recollect the manner 
 in which he gave his testimony ; you will compare the 
 parts of his testimony with each other, and you will 
 compare the whole of it with the evidence of Mr. 
 Cope." 
 
 (Here the learned judge made some observations 
 upon the written evidence, with which it is not necessary 
 to trouble the reader. He concluded his observations 
 upon it by remarking that " These papers, appearing in 
 the manner tliey do, were written in prosecution of the 
 plans stated by Reynolds, if you give credit to his testi- 
 mony ; " thus making the effect of even the written 
 evidence to depend upon that gentleman's veracity.) 
 
 "But, gentlemen, it is your sole province to judge of 
 his credit ; you are to take into consideration those cir- 
 cumstances which go to diminish his credit, and those 
 which go to confirm and corroborate his testimony ; 
 and, upon considering the evidence upon one side and 
 upon the other, if you think Reynolds entitled to credit, 
 you will he hound to find a verdict of conviction : hut 
 if you entertain a fair and conscientious douht as to his 
 credit, and as to the sufficiency of the evidence in sup- 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 439 
 
 port of the indictment, you ought certainly, in favour 
 of life, to acquit the jmsmier : and here, gentlemen, I 
 repeat that you have a very momentous duty to dis- 
 charge ; and I am happy that this duty rests upon men 
 so very competent to its discharge." 
 
 [Let me here ask the reader to pause before he takes 
 upon himself the office of the jury. Let him recollect 
 that Mr. Reynolds is, as the attorney-general very pro- 
 perly observed, upon his trial ; that he is charged with 
 murder, forgery, fraud, perjury, and theft ; that in sup- 
 port of these charges his conduct has been carefully 
 sifted from his earliest years ; that his private friends, 
 his partner in trade, his nearest relatives, his domestic 
 servants, and his confidential and bosom dependants, 
 have been carefully and cautiously examined ; and all 
 that private pique, personal animosity, religious or 
 party spirit, could recollect or invent to his prejudice, 
 has been produced. To vrhat, after all this, does the 
 proof amount ? To nothing but to that which he him- 
 self acknowledged to be true, the disposal of some tri- 
 fling articles of his own property, at the early age of 
 sixteen, under a mistaken idea that he had a right 
 then so to dispose of them ; every other charge fell to 
 the ground ; the most horrible of all was not even at- 
 tempted to be sustained, although the prisoner's friends 
 subpoenaed, and had in court, the medical attendant of 
 Mrs. Witherington, probably to prevent him from being 
 called on the part of the crown. The charge of forgery 
 and that of fraud, like all the other charges, were dis- 
 tinctly negatived by Mr. Reynolds ; and such of the 
 
440 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 witnesses as were called in support of them contra- 
 dicted themselves in so glaring a manner as to convince 
 every one present that they must have been themselves 
 guilty of perjury. And the charge of perjury, upon 
 which we can collect, from the language of the learned 
 judge, that the counsel for the prisoner ultimately relied 
 — every other topic of crimination having failed him — 
 rested solely upon the supposed contradictory spirit of 
 the obligations of the oath of allegiance and the United 
 oath. The learned judge having said so nmch upon 
 that point, and the United oath being given in a note, 
 I will add nothing here on that subject. Taking all 
 these points into consideration, I ask my reader to lay 
 his hand upon his heart, and, before he reads the verdict 
 of the jury, to find such a verdict upon the guilt or 
 innocence of Mr. Reynolds, as his own conscience may 
 dictate to him.] 
 
 Mr. Howell tells us that the jury retired /or y?t7e 
 minutes, and brought in a verdict of guilty. And the 
 prisoner, being called upon in the usual form, said, 
 
 " My lords, I have nothing to say but that some parts 
 of the evidence held out against me this day are not 
 true ; particularly the evidence of Harris, whom I 
 never saw in a committee, as I meet that great Judge 
 who is to judge me." 
 
 It is worthy of remark that no charge of interested 
 motives appears to have been made against Mr. Rey- 
 nolds on his trial. He stated, in his examination-in- 
 chief, that he had received five hundred guineas through 
 Mr. Cope. He was not cross-examined upon it, and, as 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 441 
 
 the learned judge took no notice of it in his summing 
 up, we may safely conclude that Mr. Curran did not, 
 on this occasion, think it of sufficient consequence to 
 comment on it. Indeed Mr. Reynolds's private fortune 
 and position in society, both of which were well known 
 to the judges, the jury, and the counsel, rendered the 
 supposition that he could be influenced by a bribe of 
 five hundred guineas utterly preposterous. INIr. Cur- 
 ran, however, when driven to his last shifts in defence 
 of Bond, endeavoured to make some use of it, with 
 what effect we shall see when I come to consider the 
 evidence given in that case. 
 
442 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Remarks upon the trial of William Michael Byrne. 
 
 1798. 
 
 On Friday, July 20th, 1798, William Michael Byrne 
 was brought to the bar ; and the following jury were 
 sworn : — 
 
 Joseph Ashley, William Long, 
 
 William Pike, George Walker, 
 
 Charles Bingham, Joshua Manders, 
 
 George Darley,junr, Benjamin Simpson, 
 
 Mountford Hay, William Wainright, 
 
 John Crossthwaite, Frederick Barker. 
 
 The judges who tried the case were JMr. Justice 
 Crookshank, ]Mr. Baron George, and Mr. Justice Day. 
 IMr. Howell, in his edition of the State Trials, says, 
 that Mr. Ridgeway's report of this trial, which in other 
 respects he professes to follow, omits the speeches of 
 the counsel altogether, and that the accounts of those 
 speeches given by him are taken from another report 
 of the trial, printed and pulilished at the time. Ac- 
 cording to Mr. Ridgeway (who was of counsel for the 
 the crown in all the cases) the case on behalf of the 
 prosecution was, on the present occasion, stated by the 
 pryme serjeant ; but Mr. Howell says, on the authority 
 of the anonymous report, that IMr. Attorney-general 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 443 
 
 addressed the court and jury. Mr. Howell then gives 
 an outline of the attorney-general's speech, in which no 
 allusion whatever is made to Mr. Reynolds. That gen- 
 tleman was entirely unacquainted with Byrne. He 
 was called on this occasion to prove the general designs 
 of the leaders of the society of United Irishmen, and 
 the facts which he had already proved against M'Can. 
 The prisoner Avas connected with those designs, and 
 with M'Can and the other leaders by other testimony ; 
 still, as there existed no evidence of the treasonable de- 
 signs of the leaders, but what Mr. Reynolds could give, 
 it became necessary to get rid of his evidence by con- 
 tradicting him, or to induce the jury to disbelieve him, 
 by attempting to take away his character. The latter 
 was the course adopted. In this case as in the last, the 
 only witnesses called for the defence were persons to 
 the character and conduct of Mr. Reynolds, and one 
 or two persons called to the character of the prisoner. 
 Mr. Reynolds was thus again put upon his trial ; the 
 acquittal of a former jury was not, in his case, suffi- 
 cient to release him from the charges brought against 
 him. Those charges were again urged with increased 
 vehemence, and attempted to be supported by two of 
 the witnesses who appeared on M'Can's trial and one 
 new witness. Had Mr. Reynolds been nominally, as 
 well as really, upon his trial, his acquittal in the first 
 case would have been an answer to all subsequent pro- 
 ceedings. As it was, that gentleman's character and 
 conduct were submitted to three successive juries of his 
 countrymen :-— the first of these juries, as we have seen, 
 
444 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 acquitted him without hesitation ; a verdict in which I 
 am sure every impartial reader of the foregoing pages 
 must have sincerely joined. I will now proceed, as in 
 the former case, to show by what unworthy means the 
 charges against him were attempted to be supported on 
 his second trial. 
 
 The first witnesses called were William Bellinsham 
 Swann, Esq., justice of the peace, who proved the arrest 
 of the prisoner, in company with M'Can and others, 
 at the house of Oliver Bond on the 12th March, and 
 the finding of certain papers : Christopher Stone 
 Williams, Esq., who proved the hand-writing of the 
 prisoner to some of those papers ; and Arthur Guin- 
 ness, Esq., who proved the hand-writing of M'Can to 
 others of those papers. 
 
 The papers were then read, and the Crown called 
 Thomas Reynolds, Esq. 
 
 He detailed shortly the nature, formation, and plans 
 of the Society as in M'Can's case, and he gave the 
 following account of his own reasons for giving that 
 information to Mr. Cope which enabled the govern- 
 ment to arrest the persons who attended the meeting 
 at Bond's house on the 12th March. 
 
 " Mr. Cope and I went down to Sir Duke Giffard's 
 to get possession of some land which I had mortgaged 
 to Mr. Coi)e for 5000/. There was some company 
 there and great talk of politics. As we were in the 
 carriage upon our return, Mr. Cope introduced the 
 subject of politics ; represented the horrors of civil war 
 and revolution; the murders and robberies which 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 445 
 
 would ensue ; the destruction of religion and of property ; 
 and the ruin which would be brought upon the whole 
 country, if this business were left to go on. We travelled 
 the whole day together, and there was a vast deal of 
 conversation ; the result of which was, that I thought 
 if I let the business go on, I should be guilty of the 
 p-reatest crime before God and man ; and I determined 
 to give up the United Irishmen to save the country 
 from ruin. But I took time, and told Mr. Cope I 
 knew a person who would give information, and that I 
 would call upon him in a few days. Mr. Cope imme- 
 diately stated that such a man deserved everything — 
 that great rewards would be paid to him. I said if he 
 came forward no rewards would be sought, but he 
 would come forward to satisfy his own mind. A good 
 deal of conversation ensued. I went in a dav or two 
 and told him, I had seen my friend, who was ready to 
 give information upon certain terms. He, thinking it 
 was reward, said he should have 1500/. or 2000/. a- 
 year, and a seat in parliament, and be raised to the 
 highest honours in the state. I told him he mis- 
 took me ; I told him the terms : that the channel 
 should not be disclosed — that he should not be pro- 
 secuted for any act as a United Irishman* — or be 
 obliged to prosecute any individual for being a United 
 Irishman : and, lastly, lest he should be murdered 
 for giving the information, if he were suspected, 
 
 * Mr. Reynolds was compelled to make himself known to Government, 
 and claim the benefit of this condition, by informations lodged against 
 him as a United Irishman by five of his own captains, in obedience to 
 the orders of the provincial committee. 
 
446 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 he and his family would be obliged to withdraw, and 
 that therefore his extraordinary expenses upon that 
 occasion should be defrayed. He asked what sum, say- 
 ing that any sum would be paid. I said 500 guineas, 
 observing that he must be out of the way for a year, and 
 that his house would be damaged.* He again pressed 
 great rewards, and seemed surprised that none would 
 
 * Mr. Reynolds retired into the country, after the arrests at Bond's 
 house, intending to leave Ireland with his family until the restoration of 
 tranquillity, but his departure was delayed by Mrs. Reynolds' confine- 
 ment, which took place on the 1 5th of April. In the mean time the 
 suspicions of Government were directed towards him. A troop of dra- 
 goons, and a company of infantry were sent to live at free quarters upon 
 his estate : the troops remained at Kilkea ten days, and the sum of 630^., 
 mentioned by Mr. Reynolds, was his land-steward's account for corn,hay^ 
 straw, cattle, and sheep furnished to the troops duiing that visit. When 
 the troops left him, he was again about to depart, when he was arrested 
 by order of Colonel Campbell, on informations sworn against him by five 
 of his captains, and directed to be tried by court-martial, and, if convicted, 
 executed. It was then that he made himself known to Government, and 
 claimed the benefit of the second condition. But for this circumstance he 
 would in all probability have ever remained unknown to government ; and 
 the prisoners who were now tried, and their confederates then in custody 
 must all have been discharged, after a short confinement, for want of evi- 
 dence to convict them, or, if brought to trial, must have been acquitted, as 
 was the case with Arthur O'Connor at Maidstone. The following letter 
 from Lord Castlereagh to Mr. Reynolds, written many years after these 
 events, corroborates the latter part of the above statement. 
 ♦ Sir, " Downing Street, 1st August, 1808. 
 
 " I have been favoured with your letter, and regret to find that any 
 report which can be painful to your feelings should have been circulated 
 in that part of the country where you have established yourself with your 
 family. The strong sense I shall always entertain of your veiy honour- 
 able, important, and I must add, disinterested services, cannot fail to 
 make me solicitous in every circumstance in which the credit and comfort 
 of your family are concerned. The situation I held in Ireland during 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 447 
 
 be accepted of. He agreed to tlie terms, and I then 
 gave him such information as I could. I gave it as from 
 a third person. I must now mention that I have 
 actually sustained losses to the amount of 630/. by 
 quartering of troops, and disturbances in the country." 
 
 He was then cross-examined as follows by Mr. 
 Bushe : — 
 
 You have taken the oath of allegiance in the course 
 of your life ? — I have. 
 
 And the oath of a United Irishman ? — I have. 
 
 Is it not part of the oath that you are never to give 
 information against a brother ? — It is : not to give in- 
 formation of any thing done in the society, or out of it. 
 
 Do you recollect having taken any other oath since 
 you gave information to government ? — I took an oath 
 to my captains, and received an oath from them. I 
 swore to them, and they swore to me. 
 
 the rebellion best enabled me to judge of the motives which influenced 
 your conduct, and I shall always feel it an act of mere justice to you to 
 state, that your protecting assistance was afforded to the state long 
 before you were known to any member of the government ; that it was 
 afforded in the most useful manner, when the prevention of calamity 
 could be your only motive for making the important communications re- 
 ceived from you ; that they were made without a suggestion of personal 
 advantage to yourself; and that my belief is, had it not been for acci- 
 dental circumstances not necessary now to refer to, that his majesty's go- 
 vernment in that country might have remained to this day in ignorance 
 of every thing relating to you, but of the truly important services you 
 were enabled to render to your country. 
 
 " I am, Sir, 
 
 " with much truth, 
 
 " your obedient and faithful servant 
 " Castlereagh. " 
 
448 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 Did you ever take any other oath since you gave in- 
 formation to government ? — No ; no other oath, except 
 the oath upon my examination when I was giving in- 
 formation ; and the oath I swore here the other day. 
 
 Do you recollect taking an oath in the town of Naas 
 since you gave information ? — No. 
 
 Did you ever take up a prayer-hook and take a volun- 
 tary oath, that you had not given up the United Irish- 
 men ? — I do not recollect any such thing. 
 
 Possibly, we may find people to refresh your recol- 
 lection ! — Very likely. 
 
 Try and recollect. — No, sir ; I was at Naas a day or 
 two before I was arrested, and Mr. Taylor told me I 
 was to be assassinated. I was in the midst of United 
 Irishmen — there was a county delegate in the house 
 with me — there was a JNIr. Flood there, and I assured 
 him that I had not — but I did not take an oath. If I 
 did not do as I did, I would have been murdered before 
 I got home. 
 
 If I intended to produce Mr. Flood would you take 
 off the edge of his testimony by saying he was a dele- 
 gate? * — I do not desire to take off the edge of any man's 
 testimony. I state the fact. 
 
 Do you know Mr. McDonnell ; I do ; he is the inn- 
 keeper there ; I would have given every assurance, and 
 15 more oaths if they required, rather than be mur- 
 dered. 
 
 Then you took an oath before them ? — I do not re- 
 
 *This was an attempt to obtain the benefit of Mr. Flood's testimony 
 without calling him. 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 449 
 
 collect that I did. I do not deny but I might have 
 done so ; hut I have no recollection of it. I hope the 
 oath I took here the other day, and the one I have taken 
 this day, will absolve me from all the illegal oaths I may 
 have taken. 
 
 You have been delegated by the county of Kildare ? 
 —Yes. 
 
 Then your actual knowledge is confined to that 
 county ? — By no means. 
 
 You have expressed the intentions of these societies. 
 The members take an obligation ? — They do. 
 
 That does not express such an intention as subverting 
 the constitution ? — No. 
 
 What is it ? — I have it not by heart.* 
 
 Mention the substance. — They swear to be true to 
 each other and not to discover ; they swear to procure 
 a reconciliation of all religious persuasions, the emanci- 
 pation of the Catholics, and reform of the representation 
 of the people of Ireland in Parliament. 
 
 Do you conceive these to be criminal ? — No, by no 
 means ; I do not : but I must mention one thing ; if the 
 full intentions of the United Irishmen were put into 
 their oath, it ivoiild have deterred many from joining 
 them, who were led on, having entered into them, to 
 join in their other views.'\ 
 
 * See the oath in a note to page 394 in M'Can's trial, supra, and the 
 declaration, resolutions, and constitution of the Societies of United Irish- 
 men, in the Appendix, No. H. 
 
 f Mr. Reynolds and his father had been successively members of all 
 the Roman Catholic committees, which, from the beginning of the reign 
 of George III. down to 1794, had been engaged in seeking and procur- 
 VOL. I. 2 G 
 
450 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 Then their full schemes were not expressed in their 
 oath ? — Decidedly not. 
 
 And you have assigned the reason for their then fal- 
 sifying their real motives, and putting forward, osten- 
 sibly, proper motives ? — I say, that is my own opinion. 
 
 A scheme so well concerted must have had some 
 success ? — Too great success. 
 
 Do you not believe that many were deceived, by 
 thinking that their views did not extend farther than 
 the ostensible motives expressed upon that paper ? — I 
 do ; hundreds upon hundreds. 
 
 You said you could not well recollect the words of the 
 obligation : that was, because you repeated them but 
 once ? — I do not recollect to have taken it more than 
 once. 
 
 But you administered it ? — I did. 
 
 ing relief from the penal statutes affecting Roman Catholics in Ireland. 
 All his family connexions were Roman Catholics. It is not therefore 
 surprising that, acting under the advice of an old and apparently at- 
 tached and trust-worthy dependent, (Peter Sullivan,) he should have 
 joined a society professing no other objects than those which he, and 
 many of the first and most loyal men in Ireland, had been seeking to 
 obtain for a quarter of a centuiy. A man can hardly be held answerable, 
 in foro conscientice, for the secret designs of men who openly profess 
 none but honest, just, and constitutional objects. The fact that Mr. 
 Reynolds did not sanction the unconstitutional and traitorous designs, 
 into which, in common with hundreds upon hundreds, he had been en- 
 trapped, is clear, from the circumstance that he took the earliest oppor- 
 tunity of withdrawing from them, as soon as accidental circumstances 
 placed him in such a position in the societies as to assure him that the 
 designs of the leaders were really traitorous and revolutionary ; which 
 could not be until he was made a member of the provincial. 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 451 
 
 Then you repeated it? — No; the person taking it 
 read it. 
 
 In what manner ? — We had a little book called the 
 Constitution ; we opened the part where the oath was, 
 the man read it, and we sAVore him.* 
 
 You have done that often ? — I have. 
 
 When did you last ? — I cannot say. 
 
 Have you administered that oath, or made a United 
 Irishman, since your communication with Mr. Cope ? 
 — Never. 
 
 Try your recollection. — It is tried. Sir, I have done 
 no such thing. 
 
 You have got 500 guineas ?f — I have got 500 guineas 
 from government. 
 
 And you most liberally refused to take anything else? 
 — I have. 
 
 Do you expect anything else ? — I do not.:j: 
 
 * A copy of this Constitution was found upon O'Quigley, who was 
 tried at Maidstone with Arthur O'Connor and others ; it was read on his 
 trial, and is published in the twenty-sixth volume of Howell's State Trials. 
 A copy of it will also be found in the Appendix, no. 11. 
 
 t This circumstance, which was not thought of sufficient consequence 
 to merit even a passing observation from counsel on M'Can's trial, is to 
 be slightly urged on this occasion to try its effect preparatory to the trial 
 of Oliver Bond. 
 
 X At this period the ascertained damage sustained by this gentleman 
 by the free quartering only amounted to 630/. His house at Kilkea, 
 which was the ancient baronial castle of the Duke of Leinster, and which 
 is now (1838) said to be refitting as the future residence of the duke's 
 eldest son, the Marquis of Kildare, had been recently repaired and fur- 
 nished in the first style. It was subsequently occupied by the military 
 for many months as a stronghold. On their departure the remains of 
 the furniture, fixtures, &c., were sold by auction, and produced no more 
 
 2g2 
 
452 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 And you would refuse it if offered ? — I do not know 
 what I may do hereafter ; I only speak as to what I 
 have done. 
 
 You cannot say what you would do ? — I cannot say 
 what I would do to-morrow. 
 
 If they were at this moment to offer you a reward ? 
 — I would not take it. 
 
 If they offered you a reward to-morrow would you 
 take it ? — If you ask me that question to-morrow I will 
 answer you. 
 
 What is your opinion this day as to some of the 
 charges made against you in the early part of your life, 
 of pilfering from ladies in your family ? — Ask me the 
 particular question, and I will answer you. 
 
 Were tliey malicious charges ? — I\ly opinion is that 
 they were brought here to injure my evidence, not having 
 anything worse to say against me ; and I hope they have 
 not injured my evidence. 
 
 Were these charges true or false ? — You mean re- 
 specting the trinkets and piece of silk ? 
 
 Yes. — They were both true. 
 
 Bt/ the Court. — INIention them to the jury. — I was 
 asked, on the last day, whether I did not steal trinkets 
 from my mother, and a piece of silk, my mother being 
 
 than 2.11. So complete was the tlestmction of this gentleman's property 
 that his total loss at Kilkea exceeded 12,600A This sura was ascertained 
 by sworn appraisers and certified by the magistrates of the county in the 
 manner directed by the Act of Parliament granting indemnity to persons 
 having suffered from free quartering during the Rebellion, but it has 
 not been repaid to his family to this day. 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 453 
 
 in the silk-business, and I said that I did, and gave 
 them to my girl.* 
 
 By the Counsel. — What age were you then ? — Six- 
 teen. 
 
 Do you recollect having administered a dose of medi- 
 cine to a lady not very successfully ? — IMy examination 
 on the last day calls to my recollection the person you 
 mean — my wife's mother. 
 
 What did you prescribe for her? — Tartar emetic, 
 which I took very often myself with good effect. 
 
 Did it agree with her ? — As well as medicine could, 
 I suppose ; she died on the Sunday following.'!' 
 
 You are sure that you gave the medicine on Friday, 
 and that she died on Sunday ? — I am perfectly clear. 
 
 Though any person should sAvear that she died in 
 ten hours after ? — I could not believe \t.X 
 
 You never did such an act of kindness to your own 
 mother ? — No. 
 
 What did she die of? — I do not know; I was not 
 at home. 
 
 * Mr. Reynolds never made such an answer. He gave an account of 
 the transaction as related at page 414, and \\\?> faithful reporter puts this 
 coarse reply into his mouth. (Note of the Editor.) 
 
 t See Mr. Cope's evidence as to the cause of this lady's death, infra, 
 in Oliver Bond's case. Mr. G. Fitzgerald, who attended ]\Irs. Wither- 
 ington in her last illness, and directed this medicine to be administered to 
 her, was in attendance, but the counsel for the prisoner would not call him. 
 
 % These questions were put in reference to a person then in attendance 
 to give evidence, but whose evidence the counsel for the prisoner ulti- 
 mately determined to reserve for the defence of Oliver Bond. Why 
 were this prisoner and M'Can deprived of the advantage of any evi- 
 dence that was thought valuable for Oliver Bond's defence ? 
 
454 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 Do you recollect going into your mother's room, and, 
 seeing a jjerson taking away a bottle of wine^ you ran 
 with eagerness and said " you Avould take it yourself, 
 as you had sent it" ? — No, never. 
 
 Will you recollect it to-morrow? — Never, because 
 it never happened.* 
 
 Were you not accused with having given poison to 
 your mother-in-law ? — ^I never heard it said to me, but 
 I was told that JMajor Witherington said I poisoned 
 his mother by a dose of tartar emetic — a most violent 
 poison ! 
 
 You know IMrs. Cahill ? — I do. 
 
 You have been indebted to her ? — Yes. 
 
 You executed securities to her? — Yes, a bond for 
 50/. and a note for 25/. 
 
 You got up the bond before it was paid ? — I did. 
 
 How did that happen? — IMrs. Cahill gave me the 
 bond to compare the dates of the interest account. 
 There lay in my desk, which was always open,t '^^ 
 
 * The celebrated Dr. M'Nevin, who was then in Newgate, attended 
 Mrs. Reynolds during her last illness, was with her when she died, and 
 witnessed her will, which was prepared by her sons-in-law Messrs. Weir 
 and Prendergast, one of which gentlemen held the dying lady's hand 
 while she signed it. This done, the three gentlemen sent for Mr. Rey- 
 nolds, who on his arrival foimd his mother dead. Why was not Dr. 
 M'Nevin called to state the cause of this lady's death ? To what a de- 
 plorable extremity these learned gentlemen must have felt themselves 
 reduced in defence of their clients, when they were driven to have re- 
 course to such unjustifiable, because unfounded and unsupported, impu- 
 tations as these ! 
 
 t A copy-bond. The country shopkeepers who procured their stock 
 at this gentleman's manufactory were in the habit of receiving very 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 455 
 
 double bond and warrant, which had been erroneously 
 filled up in part, and was afterwards corrected and left 
 in the office for the clerks to follow. In eiving; Mrs. 
 Cahill her bond I gave her this bond by mistake ; and 
 I always paid her the interest as it became due, and 
 when she demanded the principal I paid her. 
 
 Was not the bond what was called a Kerry bond ? — 
 It was not. 
 
 You are positive of that? — I am. 
 
 Judgment was entered upon it ? — No. 
 
 This lady happened to be blind ? — No, not at that 
 time. 
 
 She had a confidence in you ? — Implicit. 
 
 When did she apply to you to rectify that mistake ? 
 — She did not apply to me. 
 
 Application was made to you ? — Application was 
 made, and it was rectified. 
 
 Did you do that before you were threatened by an 
 attorney to be prosecuted ? — I received a letter from 
 an attorney, and it was the most unprovoked letter I 
 ever received. I had been in town upon business of the 
 Folies, and called at Mrs. Cahill's. I could not see 
 her, and I left directions with Mr. Sullivan* about it. 
 
 long credits and executing bonds with warrants to confess judgment as 
 security for their debts. The " double bond" of which the witness speaks 
 was a security of this sort, which, having been spoiled, was afterwards 
 corrected, and left in the counting-house to serve as a precedent. 
 
 * His late cashier. If the reader will compare this part of Mr. Rey- 
 nolds' cross-examination with what he said on the same subject in 
 M'Can's case, he will find that Mr. Bushe in vain endeavoured to 
 entrap him into a contradiction. 
 
456 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 I went to the country, where I received a letter from an 
 attorney. I answered it, and the matter was settled. 
 
 How long a time elapsed between the mistake and 
 the rectifying it ? — A long time. 
 
 Then you knew of it, and did not rectify it ? — I did 
 not know of it until I was regulating my papers at 
 Kilkea. 
 
 But still you did not rectify it until you were written 
 to ? — It was of no consequence, as I paid her the 
 interest. « 
 
 Did you not see her afterwards, and before you were 
 written to?* — No: she applied to Mrs. Reynolds to 
 come down to Kilkea to settle for life. I would not 
 consent to it until she had settled her affairs with her 
 friends in town ; but I did not see her. A\''hen I did 
 call upon her in town about the principal, I called upon 
 her in Smithfield, and she desired me to settle it with 
 Mrs. Molloy. I did so : I gave her new securities for 
 part of the money, and paid her the other part as she 
 wanted it. 
 
 Then, if the old bond was given up, which had been 
 kept as a copy, why not put the real bond into the desk ? 
 — It Avas so. 
 
 Then you discovered the mistake at Kilkea? — I did. 
 
 Though the bond remained in the desk in Dublin ?f 
 — Yes : for I brought the papers to the country. There 
 
 * This question and the first part of the answer are new. 
 
 t With what a triumphant tone Mr. Bushe seems to put this question, 
 when he thinks he has at last caught the witness in so trifling a self- 
 contradiction as this would have been ! 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 457 
 
 was a great quantity of them, a large chest of the 
 papers of the house of Warren and Reynolds, and I had 
 more leisure in the country, where I sorted them. 
 
 Did you keep the bond still for a pattern ? — No, 
 because I quitted business.* 
 
 You have passed notes to JMrs. Cahill ? — I have. 
 
 Did you date one of them so as to go into your mi- 
 nority ? — No : I passed her a note for 25/. ; she got 
 5/. afterwards, and took a fresh note for 20/., which 
 bore date the same day as the first. 
 
 Were you a minor at the time you got the money ? — 
 No. 
 
 Did you not date the second note further back ? — No. 
 
 What has become of that note ? — -I know that note 
 and the bond are both destroyed. 
 
 When ? — Fifteen or sixteen days ago, when IMrs. 
 Cahill forced them upon Mrs. Reynolds, saying they 
 were my property, and that I had paid her fairly and 
 honourably, and I put them into the fire the moment I 
 j>ot them. 
 
 You were in confinement at that time ? — I was. 
 
 HoAV long is it since you paid her, and made tliis 
 settlement through your wife ?f — I made no settlement 
 through my Avife. 
 
 When was it you paid her ? — I said that Mrs. Rey- 
 nolds was with her sixteen or seventeen days ago. She 
 
 * Had Mr. Reynolds continued in business the mistake would have 
 been sooner discovered, 
 
 t A catching question cleverly put. Had the witness been speaking 
 falsely he could hardly have parried it. 
 
458 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 found her ill, from ]Mrs. Bond's having been with her, 
 and threatening* to put her into gaol if she did not pro- 
 secute Mr. Reynolds, who had always behaved fairly 
 and honourably to her ; and that J\Irs. Bond offered her 
 money for them, but she would not give them up to any 
 other but myself. 
 
 But when did you make the payment that entitled 
 you to get these papers, and yet you did not take them 
 up ? — Because I made the settlement with Mrs. Molloy, 
 and Mrs. Cahill w^as not present. I gave her two notes 
 for 10/. each, payable at an interval of two months, and 
 I gave the difference in cash. The first note became 
 due in May.* 
 
 You said your wife had an interview with Mrs. 
 Cahill ?— She had. 
 
 Do you believe that meeting was accidental? — By 
 virtue of my oath, I declare, upon my belief, that my 
 wife did not go for that purpose, nor had she an idea of 
 getting the papers at the time ; but Mrs. Cahill gave 
 them to her, as I mentioned, and she gave them to me, 
 and I threw them into the fire, when I heard that Mrs. 
 Bond had been looking for them. 
 
 Had you at that time heard that these papers were 
 to be made use of to discredit your testimony ? — All I 
 heard was, that JNIrs. Bond had been looking for these 
 papers, and had offered a sum of money for them : 
 Mrs. Cahill said that they belonged to me, who had 
 acted fairly and honourably by her. The papers were 
 
 * The witness here answers the latter part of Mr. Bushe's question first. 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 459 
 
 handed to me : I said they were of no use to anyl)ody, 
 and I flung them into the fire. 
 
 Do you think these papers could have done you any 
 injury if they had not been burned ? — No ; nor all the 
 papers I have or ever had in the world. 
 
 Then why did you burn them ? — Because they were 
 useless and were discharged. 
 
 If your character were attacked by cross-examination, 
 would not these papers have been of use to you ?* — By 
 virtue of my oath^ if I thought the matter would have 
 been inquired into here, I would not have destroyed 
 them; I would not wish for 100/. that they had been 
 destroyed. 
 
 Then you burned them by mistake ? — No : I did it 
 on purpose. 
 
 Merely because they were useless ? — No : partly 
 because Mrs. Bond was endeavouring to get them. 
 
 Why keep them from Mrs. Bond ? — Because she was 
 endeavourino- to circulate calumnies against me. 
 
 Then you were afraid they might injure you ? — No, 
 they could not injure me if produced, though nmch 
 slander has been grounded upon them. I burned them 
 more through want of thought than anything else. 
 
 * The bond if proJuced could have proved nothing but what Mr. Rey- 
 nolds had admitted, namely, that it was not Mrs. Cahill's bond, but a 
 spoiled and useless copy of a bond and warrant of attorney. The note 
 might have proved that it was not dated during this gentleman's mi- 
 nority — a fact which Mr. Reynolds had twice denied, and which Mr. 
 Curran attempted to prove by the evidence of Sullivan in the last case 
 and failed, but which no attempt to prove is made in this case. 
 
460 LIFE OP THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 Where did the lady die who died of tartar emetic ? — 
 I knew no such lady. 
 
 But where did Mrs. Witherington die ? — In Ashe- 
 street, in a house she rented from me. 
 
 She had received ahout 300/. about three weeks l^efore 
 her death ? — She had. 
 
 She was very extravagant, and spent 300/. every 
 fortnight ? — No, by no means. 
 
 The money was not found ? — I believe not ; she had 
 her husband and her nonliving with her ; I did not live 
 ivith them. 
 
 Were you ever a locksmith ? — I never practised that 
 trade. 
 
 Did you ever take the impression of a key in w^ax to 
 have one made by it ? — No. 
 
 Do you know what a skeleton key is ? — I do. 
 
 Have you ever had one made ? — Two or three. 
 
 Did you ever get one that would open your mother's 
 desk ?— No. 
 
 IMake a round guess, and say how many oaths you 
 have taken within the last six months ? — I believe seven 
 or eight. 
 
 Were they exactly consistent with each other ? — In- 
 deed, Sir, they were not. But I hope that this oath 
 Avhicli I have taken to-day, and the one which I took the 
 other day, will completely absolve me in the sight of God 
 and man from my offence in taking the United oaths. 
 
 [The above was the whole of JMr. Reynolds' evidence 
 and cross-examination. It will be seen that all the 
 charges made against him in M'Can's case, except the 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 461 
 
 charge of attempting' to defraud Mr. Cope* were re- 
 newed on tlie present occasion. Elizabeth Cahill and 
 Dr. Fitzgerald were botli subpoenaed and in attend- 
 ance. It will be observed that Mr. Bushe has laid the 
 grounds for contradicting ]Mr. Reynolds in every par- 
 ticular of the several charges, if he is able to do so. He 
 may call Mr. Flood, and J\Ir. M'Donnel to prove that 
 Mr. Reynolds took an oath at Naas, — Dr. Fitzgerald to 
 prove that Mrs. Witherington died of a dose of tartar 
 emetic administered by Mr. Reynolds — and her husband, 
 her son, and her own servants, to prove that she died 
 within ten hours after taking it, — Dr. M'Nevin to prove 
 the cause of the death of the late Mrs. Reynolds, his 
 mother, and the story of the bottle of Avine, — Elizabeth 
 Cahill to prove that Mr. Reynolds had endeavoured to 
 defraud her by a forged bond, and a note antedated 
 into his minority. I admit that after hearing the 
 evidence those persons gave on M'Can's trial, he could 
 not have ventured to call Thomas Warren and Peter 
 Sullivan again. The prudence of again calling Eleanor 
 Dvvyer is also more than doubtful, but counsel, in 
 
 * It was again brought forward in Oliver Bond's case. The loose and 
 careless manner in which the counsel for the prisoners in these trials 
 urged the several grounds of crimination against Mr. Reynolds is very 
 remarkable. Mr. Bushe's cross-examination, just concluded, is more Uke 
 the Ye^ietition pro forma of something that was already before the court, 
 than the cross-examination of a witness appearing before the jury for the 
 first time. The manner in which the different charges are made or 
 omitted, without any apparent reason, and the forgetfulness of the par- 
 ticular charges made in each case, exhibited by the counsel for the 
 prisoners in their speeches to the juries, show the little reliance those 
 learned gentlemen themselves placed in those charges. 
 
462 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 common decency, must call somebody. Mrs. Bond 
 might also be called with the additional advantage of 
 thereby obtaining her evidence indirectly for her 
 husband. Elizabeth Cahill and the two last witnesses 
 seem particularly necessary, as it is evident from the 
 cross-examination that the counsel for the prisoner in- 
 tend to rest their case upon the transactions between 
 Mr. Reynolds and Elizabeth Cahill.] 
 
 Two witnesses were called to prove ]\Ir. Byrne's con- 
 nexion with the Society of United Irishmen, whose 
 treasonable purposes had been proved by JMr. Reynolds ; 
 and then 
 
 William Cope, Esq., was sworn and eocamined. 
 
 You know Thomas Reynolds ? — Very well. 
 
 You went to Castle Jordan ? — I did. 
 
 About business ? — Yes. 
 
 You passed the day there ? — Part of the day. 
 
 The conversation turned upon politics ? — We talked 
 upon politics and the troubles that were likely to arise. 
 They said there must be conciliation, and there must be 
 a reform in parliament and emancipation. 
 
 This led you to talk freely upon politics ? — It did. 
 
 Who were of the company? — Sir Duke Giffard, 
 Lord Wycombe, Captain Fitzgerald, another Fitzgerald, 
 and two others whose names I do not recollect. 
 
 The subject rested upon your mind ? — Very much. 
 
 It was a serious conversation ? — It was. They talked 
 very freely of the troubles, and their increase ; that the 
 people were not satisfied, and could not be satisfied. 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 463 
 
 You returned with Mr. Reynolds ? — I did. 
 
 Mention shortly the import of the conversation you 
 had with him. — I will. I said, that was an extraordi- 
 nary sort of conversation we had last night ; it is very 
 alarming, and will tend to revolution : talking in that 
 way will breed a revolution, and the consequences 
 would be dreadful ; for if the French should come, their 
 object is plunder ; no person, property, or life would be 
 safe ; the people, even the very gentlemen who were 
 talking last night would all suffer, and your property 
 and mine be equally plundered. 
 
 What was the consequence ? Did Mr. Reynolds 
 open himself ? — He did. 
 
 Did he give you information ? — He did : 1 pressed 
 him to give it, for I found he could. He said, he never 
 could, and would not. But before he left me, he told me 
 that what 1 mentioned pressed upon his mind. He 
 called in a couple of days, and said there was a person 
 who could give information. He then declared the 
 meeting at Bond's. 
 
 Did he tell you the kind of meeting it was ? — A 
 provincial meeting. 
 
 Did he tell you upon what day? — He did. 
 
 And the place ? — At Oliver Bond's. 
 
 Has he been uniform, consistent, and correct in every 
 account of the transaction ? — Extremely correct, and 
 everything he ever told me came out as he represented. 
 
 Not cross-examined. 
 [To every person conversant with the proceedings of 
 
464 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 courts of justice it must be evident from the preceding 
 very short and general examination of Mr. Cope, that 
 some intimation must have been given to the attorney- 
 general that Mr. Curran and his learned friends did 
 not intend seriously to question the truth of ]Mr. Rey- 
 nolds' statement of the nature and immediate cause of 
 his communications with Mr. Cope, nor the truth of his 
 account of the terms he made with that gentleman. It 
 cannot be supposed that the attorney-general would 
 have suffered Mr. Cope's testimony to be given in so 
 loose and general a way but in consequence of some 
 such understanding. The circumstance that Mr. Cope 
 was not cross-examined on this occasion corroborates 
 this surmise. If Mr. Curran gave full credence to 
 Mr. Reynolds' evidence in these particulars, and also 
 believed that the charge of an attempt to defraud 
 Mr. Cope of 1000/. was unfounded, the course which 
 he now adopted was a fair and proper one, and we 
 shall in future hear no more of these charges. But if 
 Mr. Curran thought otherwise, if Mr. Curran believed 
 Mr. Reynolds to have given a false account of his ne- 
 gotiations with Mr. Cope, if he thought that some 
 secret article for Mr. Reynolds' personal advantage was 
 kept back, or that Mr. Reynolds had been guilty of 
 some inconsistency in his account, or had been in any 
 way employed as a spy through the medium of Mr. 
 Cope : still more, if he believed that Mr. Reynolds had 
 endeavoured to defraud ]\Ir. Cope in the course of their 
 private dealings, what right had he to compromise the 
 safety of his client by forbearing to cross-examine 
 
1798. L!FE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 465 
 
 Mr. Cope as to important facts like these, which no 
 man was competent to prove but Mr. Cope ? The 
 necessary conclusion from Mr. Curran's conduct is, 
 that he felt he had no " locus standi" on these points.] 
 
 Some more papers found at Oliver Bond's were now 
 read, after some unavailing objections by IMr. Bushe. 
 Among these papers was a list of toasts to be drunk at 
 the dinners which folloAved the meetings of the leaders 
 of the United Irishmen: among them were the fol- 
 lowing : — 
 
 Erin-go-bragh. 
 
 The French Republic. 
 
 May the guillotine clip the wings of tyranny. 
 
 The United Irishmen — success to their efforts. 
 
 Mother Erin dressed in green ribbons by a French 
 milliner, if she can't be dressed without her. 
 
 Ireland a republic and the world free. 
 
 The reading of these papers closed the case on behalf 
 of the Crown, and Mr. Curran rose for the defence. 
 He began : — 
 
 " My Lords and Gentlemen of the Jury — In this case 
 I am counsel for the unfortunate prisoner at the bar ; 
 and it is now my duty to argue upon some points that 
 appear to me to be material for the jury to consider 
 previous to their finding their verdict." (He then at 
 some length explained and commented upon the law of 
 treason as contained in the 25th of Edward III.; he 
 particularly pointed out the distinction between the law 
 in England and in Ireland in cases of treason. He 
 told the jury that in England the law required two 
 
 VOL. I. 2 II 
 
466 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 witnesses to prove an overt act, while in Ireland the 
 law was satisfied with the oath of one witness, and he 
 reminded the jury that they ought on that account to 
 be doubly cautious and suspicious. In the course of 
 these observations he took occasion to observe that he 
 himself had been charged with vindicating the society 
 of United Irishmen on a former trial ; and he declared 
 that the intentions of that body were abominable. He 
 also reminded the jury that he knew every man of 
 them, and therefore trusted that they would do their 
 duty between the crown and the subject.) " Gen- 
 tlemen," said he, " the question for you to decide is, 
 whether the evidence given this day by the witness is 
 deserving of credit, and you are to judge whether his 
 testimony supports the charge which he was brought 
 forward to support. The evidence that has been given 
 consists of the parole testimony of Mr. Reynolds ; and 
 you will consider the written evidence, as it has been 
 called, and see how far it supports the charge : you 
 will consider how far they corroborate and support one 
 another. You will consider what degree of credit you 
 will give to the person who has come forward and given 
 his testimony to support the charges in the indictment, 
 — a person who bad been one of the United Irishmen, 
 — who had formed the abominable intent of compassing 
 and imagining the death of the king : — I say the in- 
 tentions of that body are abominable." (Mr. Curran 
 here denied that he had vindicated the Society of United 
 Irishmen on a former trial, as had been alleged in some 
 newspaper.) He then proceeded as follows : — 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 467 
 
 " Gentlemen of the jury, you have had before you in 
 the present case the parole testimony of Mr. Reynolds, 
 and the papers that have been given in evidence. Give 
 me leave now to ask if you are satisfied in your con- 
 sciences, upon the evidence adduced before you, that 
 there has been a conspiracy to destroy the person of the 
 king? or are you satisfied that there has been a con- 
 spiracy to levy vi^ar, or to do any other unlawful act ? 
 You will determine whether the evidence of Mr. Rey- 
 nolds does prove that the prisoner at the bar is guilty 
 of compassing or imagining the death of the king. 
 See what the testhnony of Mr. Reynolds is." (Here, 
 Mr. Howell says, the learned counsel with great ac- 
 curacy commented on the whole of Reynolds' evidence. 
 Mr. Howell does not give that comment at length, Ijut 
 he favours his readers with the following sample of it.) 
 
 " He said to Mr. Cope that his, Reynolds' friend, 
 would come forward and give information; he noAV 
 comes as a public informer ;* he was first a traitor to 
 his king, and he afterwards became a traitor to the ac- 
 complices in his guilt. He says he was an accomplice 
 in the crime charged against the prisoner at the bar : 
 if the jury believe that Mr. Reynolds did break his 
 oath of allegiance, they will weigh his evidence Avith 
 great circumspection. And may they not say they he- 
 lieve in the innocence of the prisoner, notwithstanding 
 
 * The circumstances which threw Mr. Reynolds into the hands of 
 government, and compelled him to appear against the United Irishmen, 
 contrary to his stipulation with Mr. Cope, have been fully explained in a 
 note at page 446, on Mr. Reynolds' examination-in-chief. 
 
 2 H 2 
 
468 LIFE OP THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 I\Ir. Reynolds has testified to his guilt ?* In a case of 
 this kind, when a secret conspiracy is charged against 
 the prisoner, an informer is by law admitted to give his 
 testimony ; but, suppose he should give evidence of 
 matters Avhich were not true, no human being could 
 contradict him ; there would be no possibility of pro- 
 tecting the accused against the accuser. A paper was 
 given in evidence, of a letter from M'Can to the pri- 
 soner, mentioning Lord Edward Fitzgerald ; we cannot 
 call Lord Edward Fitzgerald to answer the charge ; he 
 has been called to appear before a court, where we 
 must all of us appear. He is no longer amenable to an 
 earthly tribunal. He is gone to that place where no 
 false testimony can affect him. As to Mr. Reynolds, 
 you, gentlemen of the jurj^ will judge of the credit due 
 to his testimony. It is evident he is not a foolish man ; 
 he had not the plea of ignorance for the shameful 
 breach of his oath of allegiancet ; yet he no"\v comes for- 
 ward to give his evidence against his accomplices. You 
 will judge of his evidence, and you will hold the balance 
 with the greater care and steadiness, as the crime 
 charged is of the greatest magnitude ; and determine 
 
 * It is remarkable that Mr. Reynolds has not said one word impli- 
 cating the prisoner, of whose name he had never heard ; and whose per- 
 son was unknown to him. Mr. Reynolds was called to prove the trea- 
 sonable designs of the society of United Irishmen generally, and the 
 meeting of the provincial committee held at Oliver Bond's house on the 
 12th of March. 
 
 •!• This passage is apeiitio principii throughout. Mr. Reynolds is to 
 prove the treasonable intentions of the United Irishmen, and that alone, 
 for against the prisoner, individually, he proves nothing. Mr. Curran, in 
 order to invalidate the testimony, assumes the very fact which the witness 
 is to prove. 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 469 
 
 whether the innocence or the guilt of the prisoner at 
 the bar preponderates. You will observe one expres- 
 sion of this Avitness : lie said, ' he had received 500 
 guineas as a compensation for his losses :' he said, ' I 
 think I will take no more : but ask me that question 
 to-morrow, perhaps I may change my mind.'* He 
 tokl you he had a conversation with ]\Ir. Cope about 
 the United Irishmen. Mr. Cope expostulated, in a 
 kind of sermon, on the abominable and mischievous 
 conduct of the Society of United Irishmen, of the horrid 
 murders and depredations they had committed, and 
 affirmed that the whole property of the kingdom was 
 endangered. Thus, through the calibre of Mr. Cope's 
 eloquence, was struck the mighty Colossus, Mr. Rey- 
 nolds, with the crimes of these deluded people !'|' and 
 says JMr. Reynolds, I know a friend, who is a United 
 Irishman, and I will endeavour to prevail on him to 
 come forward, and give information against them. 
 Says Mr. Cope, for such a man no reward would l)e 
 too great, for he would be the salvation of his country. 
 
 " We shall produce evidence to show some traits of 
 the moral conduct of Mr. Reynolds, relative to a bond 
 given to a Mrs. Cahill ; and, if we prove that he is such 
 a man as you may judge not deserving of credit, and if 
 
 * As quotations of the evidence these are inaccurate. Mr. Reynolds 
 did not say, " I think" I will take no more, nor "perhaps I may change 
 my mind." Mr. Curran, as counsel for the prisoner, might fairly attempt 
 to draw such a conclusion from what Mr. Reynolds did say, but he ought 
 not to have misquoted the evidence. 
 
 •i- This figure has been greatly admired by the friends of Mr. Curran, 
 and he himself was so attached to it, that he again compares Mr. Reynolds 
 to a Colossus, and Mr. Cope to a dwarf, in his defence of Oliver Bond 
 
470 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 you have a rational doubt in your mind that the pri- 
 soner at the bar is not guilty, then you will bring in 
 your verdict of acquittal." 
 
 [Such AvasMr. Curran's speech in defence of Byrne, 
 as reported in Howell's State Trials. I have only com- 
 pressed those parts of it which contained the law argu- 
 ment on the Statute of Treasons. Two things are evi- 
 dent from this speech ; first, that Mr. Curran felt that 
 on Mr. Reynolds' evidence alone turned the question 
 of his client's acquittal or conviction; and, secondly, 
 that his evidence must be got rid of, by impeaching his 
 moral character. For that purpose the foundation has 
 been amply laid in ]Mr. Reynolds' cross-examination, in 
 which crimes of the deepest dye have been unsparingly 
 imputed to him. Yet here Mr. Curran deliberately 
 abandons every charge against Mr. Reynolds' cha- 
 racter, save that arising from his violation of the oath 
 of allegiance, and his conduct to IMrs. Cahill. If JMr. 
 Curran did not feel himself authorised to support by 
 evidence the other offences with which he charged 
 that gentleman in cross-examination, he had no right, 
 in the fair exercise of his duty as an advocate, to im- 
 pute those crimes to the witness in cross-examination ; 
 in such a case imputations become unfounded calumnies 
 in the mouth of counsel. If, on the other hand, he had 
 such evidence as justified him in putting those ques- 
 tions, with a view to subsequent contradiction and 
 proof, he had no right to peril his client's safety by 
 Avithholding that evidence. 
 
 Mr. Curran's son, speaking of the defence in this 
 case, states that tenderness for Mr. Reynolds' reputa- 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 471 
 
 tion had probably occasioned its suppression. It cer- 
 tainly does not appear in the collection of Curran's 
 speeches, published during his lifetime. Mr. Howell's 
 research has, however, preserved it to be a lasting 
 memorial of Mr. Curran's profound reasoning and pow- 
 erful eloquence. The public will now judge how far 
 ]Mr. Reynolds' reputation was likely to be injured by 
 such an effusion.] 
 
 The first witness called for the defence was 
 
 Miss Ann Fitzgerald. 
 
 Are you acquainted with Mr. Byrne, the prisoner at 
 the bar ? — No, Sir. 
 
 Do you know Mr. Thomas Reynolds ? — I do. 
 
 From his general character, would you believe him 
 on his oath ? — I would not. 
 
 Cross-eocamined. 
 
 Where do you live ? — In a nunnery. 
 
 How long have you lived there ? — Thirteen years. 
 
 You have not mixed in the world during that time ? 
 — No, Sir. 
 
 Do you know a Cajdain Fitzgerald ? — / do. He is 
 my brother. 
 
 la he in custody upon a charge of treason ? — / 
 hear so. 
 
 How do you know Mr. Reynolds ? — He is my ne- 
 phew, and has visited me often till of late. 
 
 Of what age is he ? — He is about 27 years of age ?* 
 
 * So that this lady had not mixed in the world since Mr. Reynolds 
 was fourteen years old. Her brother, who was Mr. Reynolds' uncle, and 
 
472 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 Mrs. Mary Molloy sivorn. 
 
 Where do you live ? — In King-street. 
 
 Do you know Thomas Reynolds 1 — I do. 
 
 Have you any reason for knowing him ? — I am his 
 mother's aunt. 
 
 Have you known that man for many years past 1 — 
 I have known him from his childhood. 
 
 By virtue of the oath you have taken, from your 
 knowledge of him, do you in conscience believe he 
 deserves to he credited upon his oath in a court of 
 justice ? — I do not.f 
 
 Cross-examined. 
 
 Are you a nun ? — I am. 
 
 If Mr. Reynolds swore there was a Society of United 
 Irishmen, ivould you believe him ? — TVhy, if he swore 
 there was a God, I would believe him. 
 
 If he swore that there was a Society of United Irish- 
 men in the country, would you believe him ? — / do not 
 know what is understood by them.'f 
 
 Where have you lived, IMadam ? — In Dublin. 
 
 And not know what a Society of United Irishmen 
 
 her father, who was the witness's grandfather, were both taken into 
 custody at the same time as Mr. Reynolds, and their liberation and 
 protection for himself were the only personal stipulations that Mr. Rey- 
 nolds made with government. 
 
 * Why was this witness not asked as to the character of Mr. Reynolds, 
 her nephew, when she was called in the former case ? 
 
 •)• How could this woman venture to give such an answer as this, after 
 comparing the notoriety of their existence to that of the existence of a 
 God? .- 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 473 
 
 means ? — I have heard the name, but do not know their 
 schemes. 
 
 Have you ever given any reason for not heheving 
 him ? — I believe I have. 
 
 What is your reason ? — I do not think him an honest 
 man. I know of a transaction of a bond and note given 
 to a woman ; she came and brought me that bond and 
 note to keep for her, saying it was Reynolds' bond and 
 note ; I found it was a false bond ; neither his name nor 
 her name were mentioned in it. 
 
 And therefore you would not believe him upon his 
 oath ? — For that very rea.svn. 
 
 Pray, my good lady, did you ever say he was a double 
 traitor, and therefore you Avould not believe him ? — I 
 did not say that. 
 
 Did you ever say to any person that he was a traitor? 
 — As I conceive the words, I never said them. 
 
 Did you ever conceive any other reason for disbeliev- 
 ing him ? — No. 
 
 Did not you say that to another jury ? — I did. * 
 
 And the jury believed him notwithstanding ? — I do 
 not know. 
 
 Was not the money paid ? — I do not know : I do 
 not think the money due njpon the last note is paid. 
 
 To Avhom is it due ?— To Mrs. Cahill. 
 
 Can she not be examined ? — She was here last night,f 
 but is blind and sickly. 
 
 * See her examination in M'Can's case. She was not asked a question 
 upon the subject of her nephew's character, nor did she say a syllable 
 upon it. 
 
 t By the words "last night" the witness probably meant the night of 
 
474 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 What relation are you to Captain Fitzgerald ? — He 
 is my nephew. 
 
 Is he charged with treason ? — I suppose so, because 
 he is taken up. It is very hard when a person takes a 
 book oatli, that an improper construction should be put 
 on one's word. 
 
 You are anxious to save INIr. Fitzgerald ? — I would, 
 or any honest man like him. 
 
 By a Juror. — You say the money is not paid upon 
 the bond? — There is a 10/. note not paid yet. 
 
 By the Counsel. — fFas that 10/. tendered or offered 
 to any person, since the first of this month ? — Not to 
 my knowledge : I heard that ]Mrs. Reynolds gave one 
 guinea and eight guineas after * 
 
 That is near 10/. — That was for the first note ; hut 
 there is 10/. due on the \st of July. 
 
 Payment was not demanded? — No; not to my 
 knowledge. 
 
 You have the note ? I have it about me. 
 
 Then why not demand it ? — Because I have no right. 
 
 By a Juror. — The bond was paid by notes passed 
 for the amount ? — Yes. 
 
 By the same. — Were the notes refused to be paid, 
 when they became due ? — I do not know. 
 
 By the same. — But if you had the note in your pos- 
 session Avhy not present it ? — I do not know. 
 
 Tuesday, on which day M'Can was tried. The proceedings in these 
 cases were prolonged far into the night, Mrs. Cahill was in court on all 
 the trials, being subpoenaed for the defence. 
 ■^Nine guineas make 10/, 5s. 'M. Irish money. 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 475 
 
 Bt/ the Counsel. — Do you not live in the nunnery ? 
 — / do. 
 
 Did 7iot Mrs. Reynolds go there since the 1st oj 
 July to pay the money ? * — / do not knoiv ; she came 
 there ; I do not know for what purpose . 
 
 TVas there not a note given to the priest for you at 
 the nunnery ? — / do not know. 
 
 Have you not heard, and do you not believe that 
 Mrs. Reynolds went to the nunnery and offered to pay 
 the amount of the note to you ? — / do not know, not 
 having seen her. 
 
 Did Miss Fitzgerald tell you ? — No. 
 
 Did you hear it from the priest ? — / did not. 
 
 Did you not hear that Mrs. Reynolds came there? 
 — / did. 
 
 And you refused to see her ? — / did. 
 
 And had the note in your pocket ? — I had ; hut what 
 had that to say to the business. 
 
 By the Court. — Why refuse to see her? — I was 
 afraid to converse with her ; I am apt to speak my mind, 
 and she might take advantage of it. 
 
 By the Counsel. — You shut the door against her ? — 
 Yes. 
 
 Did you ever shut the door against her before ? — By 
 virtue of my oath^ I took this opinion of him six months 
 ago. 
 
 Had the priest any conversation with you on this 
 business? — He told me Mrs. Reynolds asked him 
 
 » The note would not be due until the 3rd July. 
 
476 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 whether he would deliver a note to me from her, I 
 having refused to see her. 
 
 What did you say to the priest ? — I do not kmw ; 
 but ivhen I went up I saw it upon the tahle. 
 
 Where is it ? — I do not know ; but I saw it upon 
 the table. 
 
 Something to this effect, read this ? — " I came from 
 Mrs. Cahill, having paid the first note which was due ; 
 I would pay the second, but understand you have it." 
 I do not think that was verbatim the note, but the sub- 
 stance of it. 
 
 Has the priest any particular friendship for J\Ir. Rey- 
 nolds or not ? — I cannot judge of the man. 
 
 Did you hear the priest say anything of Mr. Rey- 
 nolds ? — I do not think that a fair question. 
 
 If the matter did not pass at confession it is a fair 
 question ? — But I will not answer it. 
 
 Bij a Juror. — After passing of these notes was the 
 bond cancelled ? — It was. 
 
 By the same. — To settle the account? — Certainlyitwas. 
 
 Bij the same. — And the notes were given for the full 
 amount and interest ? — Yes. 
 
 This person gave her evidence late at niirht. She 
 left her home early on the following morning, and re- 
 mained in concealment for some time. 
 
 Eleanor Dwyer, sivorn. 
 
 You know Mrs. Cahill ?— I do. 
 You know Mrs. Reynolds ?— I am not acquainted 
 with her ; I have seen her. 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 477 
 
 And spoke to her? — Yes. 
 
 You have been some time in the same house with 
 Mrs. Cahill ?— I have. 
 
 She is an old woman, and blind ? — She is. 
 
 Did Mrs. Reynolds come at any time within these three 
 weeks past to the lodging of Mrs. Cahill ? — She did. 
 
 Tell what happened upon that visit with regard to a 
 bond and note. 
 
 Mr. Attorney General. — My Lords, I object to this 
 evidence. How can the conversation between two or 
 three women impeach the credit of a man Avho was not 
 present ? But, my Lords, having mentioned this, I am 
 indifferent what is done with the evidence. 
 
 Mr. Curran. — I shall examine as to a matter of fact. 
 
 Mention the transaction. — Mr.^\ Reynold.^ came to 
 Mrs. Cahill for a bond and notef^' and Mrs. Cahill 
 delivered them into her hands. 
 
 Go on. Madam. — I know no more about it ; if you 
 ask questions I will answer them. 
 
 Did she get the bond and note? — She did. I had 
 them in my possession, and gave them up to Mrs. Rey- 
 nolds at jMrs. Cahill's desire. 
 
 Was this bond and note given up by Mrs. Cahill, or 
 did Mrs. Reynolds request it ? — At Mrs, Reynolds's 
 request.'\' 
 
 * See this woman's examination and cross-examination in the last 
 case. She then said, " I do not know that Mrs. Reynolds came for the 
 papers." 
 
 t On her former examination, Mr. Curran asked her, "Did the proposal 
 to hand over this bond and note move from Mrs. Cahill, or was it a reijuest 
 made by uny one else?" Ans. " No ; nobody applied. 
 
478 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 JVlien was this ? — A few hours after the first notice 
 to appear in Court. 
 
 Cross-examined. 
 
 Who lives with Mrs. Cahill ? — I live with her, and 
 a servant-maid. 
 
 Nobody else ? — No, Sir. 
 
 As soon as the notice was served upon Mrs. Cahill, 
 did she despatch you to tell Mrs. Reynolds? — She did 
 not. 
 
 Did she send the maid ? — I believe not. 
 
 Did she go herself? — She could not. 
 
 Then in three hours after the notice was served ? — 
 I cannot say as to three hours, it might be four. 
 
 But it was between one and four ? — I believe so. 
 
 Then Mrs. Reynolds never heard from you, or from 
 Mrs. Cahill, or the servant, that notice had been served ? 
 — She did not hear it from me, I believe not from Mrs. 
 Cahill, or the servant. 
 
 Then if she did not hear of the notice, her coming 
 could not be in consequence of the notice ? — I do not 
 know. 
 
 What do you believe ? — I cannot say. 
 
 Were you in the room when Mrs. Reynolds came 
 first ? — I Avas. 
 
 Did you remain all the time ? — I do not recollect tliat 
 accurately ; I think I may say I was. 
 
 Were you thinking about this bond at the time she 
 came ? — I was not. I heard there was a false bond, 
 and Betty Cahill called to me for the bond ; I said I 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 479 
 
 knew nothing of it. She spoke loud, and asked me 
 what I meant. I said, " Do not be angry, here it is," 
 and gave it up. 
 
 By a Juror. — Was there any application for the bond 
 and note ? — I do not know. 
 
 By the 6«me.-^Did Mrs. Bond call for it 1 — I do not 
 know ; I heard she did, and that Mrs. Cahill said, if she 
 was paid 170/., the debt due, she would give up the 
 papers. 
 
 By the Court. — Did not Mrs. Reynolds pay the 
 money ? — I heard so. 
 
 [This was the whole of the evidence offered by Mr. 
 Curran in support of the grave charges he had insinu- 
 ated against Mr. Reynokls on this occasion. 
 
 In his address to the jury he gave up every charge 
 but that arising out of the inconsistency of the oath of 
 allegiance and the United Irishmen's test, and this 
 " trait of the moral conduct of Mr. Reynolds relative to 
 a bond given to a Mrs. Cahill." Upon these two points 
 he relied entirely for the defence of his client. In sup- 
 port of this charge he called but one witness, a woman 
 who swore that Mrs. Reynolds applied to Mrs. Cahill 
 to obtain possession of this bond and note within four 
 hours after that person was subpoenaed to give evidence 
 for the prisoner ; neither Mrs. Cahill, nor this woman 
 Dwyer, nor the servant- girl of Mrs. Cahill, having had 
 any communication with Mrs. Reynolds in the interval. 
 
 To affect Mr. Reynolds' general character, two 
 ladies were called, both of them his near relations : the 
 first, Miss Fitzgerald, Mr. Reynolds' aunt, swore she 
 
480 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 would not believe him upon his oath. Her account of 
 herself was, that she had lived in a nunnery thirteen 
 years, and had not mixed in the world during that pe- 
 riod ; her nephew was consequently fourteen years old 
 when she retired from the world ; her means of judging 
 of his character arose from his visits to her during that 
 interval. She did not state her reasons for forming so 
 bad an opinion of him, but it appeared that her brother 
 was in custody on a charge of high-treason. Some 
 cause for her ill-will may however be collected from 
 the evidence of the next witness, Mrs. MoUoy, grand- 
 aunt to the witness Mr. Reynolds, and aunt to Miss 
 Fitzgerald, a professed nun in the same convent, who 
 said that she would not believe her grand-nephcAV upon 
 his oath because he had given a false bond to Elizabeth 
 Cahill ; " for that very reason : " and that she never 
 conceived any other reason for disbelieving him. She 
 also swore that, although Mr. Reynolds had paid the 
 amount due upon the bond partly in two notes for 10/. 
 each, yet that he did not pay the last of the two notes 
 when it became due. She, however, reluctantly ad- 
 mitted that she had the note in her possession, and did 
 not demand payment of it ; and she at last confessed 
 that Mrs. Reynolds called upon her to take up the note 
 when it became due ; that she had the note in her pocket 
 at that time, and had it there still ; that she refused 
 to see IMrs. Reynolds, who wrote her a note stating the 
 object of her call, which note the priest of the convent 
 refused to convey to her ; yet she admitted that she saw 
 the note on the table in the convent-parlour and read it ; 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 481 
 
 and, finally, she refused to tell what the priest said of 
 IMr. Reynolds. 
 
 Such is the whole of the evidence upon which Mr. 
 Curran asked a jury, (every man of whom he reminded 
 them that he knew,) to believe that Mr. Reynolds was so 
 worthless a private character that he could not be cre- 
 dited upon his oath.] 
 
 Two witnesses were next called to the character of 
 the prisoner, and the case for the defence was closed. 
 
 WiLLL\M Furlong, Esq., was then called for the 
 
 Crown. 
 
 Do you know Thomas Reynolds ? — I do. 
 
 How long ? — Upwards of seven years. 
 
 Have you known his general character during that 
 time ? — I was concerned as attorney for his father many 
 years, and was acquainted with his general character, 
 which was always a good one, as appeared to me. 
 
 Do you consider that he is a credible witness upon 
 his oath in a court of justice? — I do. 
 
 Ci'osS'eccamined. 
 
 You have known him a good while? — Seven years 
 particularly ; I have known him somewhat more, and 
 have trusted him with a good deal of money. 
 
 Did you think him likely to take a treasonal)le en- 
 gagement against the constitution ? — For several years 
 after I knew him, I did not think so ; but latterly I did 
 think so. 
 
 vol. I. 2 I 
 
482 LIFE OF TH03IAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 Re-examined. 
 
 Latterly you tlioiiglit lie had taken an engagement 
 of that kind ? — Latterly I thought him a United Irish- 
 man, and embarked with them. 
 
 Independent of that, you thought him credible upon 
 his oath ? — I do think him so. 
 
 Under every impression you have received, and opi- 
 nion you have formed of his veracity and the state of 
 his character, do you believe he is a man this day to 
 be believed upon his oath in a court of justice? — I do 
 believe he is a man at this day to be believed upon his 
 oath in a court of justice. 
 
 Case closed on hotJi sides. 
 
 Mr. Buslie then addressed the Court and jury for 
 the prisoner : — 
 
 " My Lords and Gentlemen of the Jury, I rise to 
 address you at this late hour, and to offer to you a few 
 observations. After the display of those great and emi- 
 nent abilities of the learned counsel who preceded me 
 in his elegant and correct statement of the prisoner's 
 case, I offer my observations with great deference.* 
 
 " Gentlemen of the Jury, you are called together here 
 to determine upon the life of a fellow-subject. You will 
 weigh in the scales of equal justice the evidence of a 
 witness who came forward as a public informer, and 
 consider the character which the prisoner bore before 
 this unnatural rebellion broke out. I shall not pre- 
 
 * The reader has the greater part of that display before him, to form 
 his own judgment of its elegance and ability. 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 483 
 
 Slime to address your passions, to stimulate you to find a 
 verdict, on the ground of humanity, in favour of the 
 unhappy prisoner at the bar ; but let me appeal to your 
 justice and your wisdom, to consider the evidence which 
 liave been brought forward against my client on this 
 occasion. (Mr. Bushe then reminded the jury, that 
 Mr. Curran had already addressed many observations 
 upon the crime of high-treason to them, and told them 
 that he therefore wouki not trouble tliem upon that 
 head. Then alluding to the meeting at Bond's, on the 
 12th of March, he contended that there was nothing in 
 that meeting to criminate the prisoner: and he ob- 
 served) — You cannot, from the evidence of Reynolds, 
 collect any particular stress laid on the prisoner at the 
 bar more than any other member of the body of United 
 Irishmen who met at Bond's house." (Mr. Bushe con- 
 tinued to urge various arguments in favour of the pri- 
 soner, at considerable length, with great judgment, 
 eloquence, and professional skill ; but never again 
 alluded to Mr. Reynolds in the most remote degree.) 
 
 Mr. O'Grady replied on behalf of the Crown : — he 
 spoke at some length, but the only observation he made 
 respecting Mr. Reynolds was the following: — ''The 
 prisoner's counsel attempted to impeach the character 
 of Mr. Reynolds ; but they have failed in that attempt." 
 
 Mr. Justice Crookshank summed up. He began : — 
 " Gentlemen of the Jury, I acknowledge, after a sitting 
 of so many hours, I feel myself very unable to lay this 
 case before you with that precision I could wish ; and 
 I must therefore request that my brothers will deliver 
 
 2 I 2 
 
484 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 to you their sentiments in addition to what I shall say. 
 I AviJl state to you the leading fiicts upon which your 
 verdict must rest." The learned Judge then proceeded 
 to explain to the jury the law of high-treason. He 
 afterwards commented upon the evidence, and when he 
 came to the evidence of JMr. Reynolds, after pointing 
 out the manner in which circumstances turned out as 
 that gentleman had told IMr. Cope that they would do, 
 he proceeded thus : — 
 
 ''In order to lessen the weight of Reynolds' s evidence, 
 insinuations were thrown out in the course of his cross 
 eocamination , that in my apprehension had not much 
 weight; one was of a very unpleasant nature, his 
 having administered poison to his ivife's mother, and 
 ayiother of his pilfering some trifles in his younger 
 days ; but I own that they did tiot make any impres- 
 sion on my mind to Mr. Reynolds's disadvantage. Two 
 ladies were also brought forward to impeach his credit, 
 one of whom, though immured for these last thirteen 
 years in a nunnery, took upon her to swear that Mr. 
 Reynolds was not now to be believed on his oath. 
 On the other hand, Mr. Furlong, a gentleman of much 
 respectability, swears in favour of his credit. The 
 weight of this is matter for your consideration, you are 
 tlie proper judges of it." The learned Judge then com- 
 mented upon the remaining evidence, and concluded 
 thus : — 
 
 " Having stated to you, as I trust I have, the law as it 
 is, and left with you the evidence as it came from the 
 witnesses themselves, you, gentlemen, are to determine 
 
1793. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 485 
 
 on the cfise of the prisoner ; you are the constitutional 
 judges of it, and far be it from nie to interfere with 
 that which is within your province only. You will 
 weigh the evidence well, and pronounce your judgment 
 upon it l)y the verdict you give, winch I have no doubt 
 will be such as will do honour to yourselves and justice 
 to your country." 
 
 Mr. Baron George then addressed the jury at some 
 length. With respect to Mr. Reynolds he observed :— 
 " In this case, gentlemen, your attention will be directed 
 to the evidence given by Mr. Reynolds. You will con- 
 sider the nature of the evidence he has given, and whe- 
 ther, under all the circumstances, you do believe it, or 
 have any reason to doubt it. With regard to the pri- 
 soner at the bar, Mr. Reynolds is not acquainted with 
 him. The witness is not called as his particular accuser 
 further than by proving the treasonable views of the 
 conspiracy in which the prisoner is charged to be en- 
 gaged." 
 
 The learned Baron then recapitulated the substance 
 of ]\fr. Reynolds's evidence, and commented upon the 
 evidence of the other witnesses at considerable length. 
 
 The learned Baron was followed by Mr. Justice Day, 
 who, after commenting upon some instances in which 
 he had been compelled to stop the counsel for the pri- 
 soner in advancing bad law, which, he observed, " with- 
 out serving the client, always reflects upon the advo- 
 cate," informed the jury that the case resolved itself 
 into two questions exclusively for their consideration. 
 First, whether the evidence produced by the Crown, 
 
486 LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. A.D. 
 
 supposing it implicitly credited, substantiated all or any 
 of the facts charged by the indictment against the pri- 
 soner; and, secondly, what degree of credit ought, in 
 their Judgment and conscience, to be attached upon 
 that evidence. After going through the evidence very 
 fully as to the first point, he observed upon the second 
 as follows : — 
 
 " Gentlemen, the next question for your consideration, 
 supposing the quantum of evidence in this case suffi- 
 cient to support the indictment, is, what degree of credit 
 you will feel yourselves bound to give to that evidence ? 
 And it is with great zeal and emphasis objected against 
 the witnesses, that they are all accomplices, deeply im- 
 plicated in the treason which they would fasten on the 
 prisoner ; that they are covered also (particularly JMr. 
 Reynolds) with foul stains and gross immoralities ; and 
 that they have as little claim to your belief and credit as 
 to character, and undoubtedly this is an objection of a 
 serious and weighty nature, well deserving, at all times, 
 the grave consideration, and, let me add, the favour of a 
 jury, and which, in every case, must be left, with all 
 its circumstances, to their good sense and conscience." 
 
 (His Lordship then stated the reasons why accom- 
 plices ought, and in most cases must be admitted as 
 witnesses, and he then proceeded thus : — ) 
 
 " In the present case you will recollect that Mr. 
 Reynolds, who has been the object, in my mind, of more 
 invective and obloquy than the evidence warranted, has 
 deposed to little else than to the eanstence of a compre- 
 hensive conspiracy and of its objects 
 
1798. LIFE OF THOMAS REYNOLDS. 487 
 
 After some further observations, his Lordship con- 
 ckided by telling the jury to weigh calmly and dispas- 
 sionately the manner of the witnesses, as well as the 
 matter to which they have deposed ; and, upon the 
 whole, if they were not satisfied with the weight of the 
 evidence, or entertained such doubt upon the case as 
 rational and conscientious minds might well indulge in, 
 to acquitthe prisoner ; on the other hand, if they believed 
 the evidence, to find him guilty. 
 
 The jury retired /or ten minutes, and brought in their 
 verdict — Guilty. 
 
 Upon the prisoner praying for a day or two to regu- 
 late some worldly affairs, the attorney-general stated 
 that it was not intended to pray immediate execution. 
 
 END OF VOLUME I. 
 
ERRATA IN VOL. I. 
 
 103, hne 13, for " by Wv^r obscure, &c?-' W « by an author however 
 ffi^ 1'°^ ,]' ?■■ "'^'^""ty," Vearf" province." 
 
 IVa r"^ oi' !"'■ " '^'"P^^-" '-^'"^ " l"wer." 
 fj,' "'« 26, for « other," read •' higher." 
 ^^^ line 17, dele " hundred." 
 
 ^q|' \T^u ''"^^ ^ ^'■°°' ^^^ ^""°™ of page, for " 100/. '' read "20n/- 
 391, dele the note. Mr.^ Richard Reyn'okl 'was dead at the time' ;f the 
 
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