Iii Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade THE LAST COLONEL OF THE IRISH BRIGADE 63: 3. THE LAST COLONEL THE IRISH BRIGADE COUNT O'CONNELL OLD IRISH LIFE AT HOME AND ABROAD 1745-1833 BY MRS. MOEGAN JOHN O'CONNELL IN TWO VOLUMES VOL. II. LONDON KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO., LtR PATERNOSTER HOUSE, CHARING CROSS ROAD 1892 (The rights of translation and of reproduction are ressrved.) CONTENTS OF VOL. II. BOOK V. COUNT O'CONNELL. 1783-1787. A year of pomps and vanities — Pedigree-hunting— Count O'Connell— The Marquise de Sers on the count — Official signatures — Golden dreams — Our hero in the Salm-Salm Regiment -Count O'Connell to Maurice O'Connell (March, 1783)— Duchess of Polignac— " Le brave O'Mahony " — (Paris, April,. 1783) Daniel writes to Hunting Cap — Return from Spain— Con ways— Family affairs — "When my pedigree is authenti cated " — Morgan's sons — (Paris, May, 1873) to same— Cousin Rickard goes to Ireland — Chevalier O'Gorman - Irish pedigrees — Pedigree as a passport to court— Manners — Captain Maurice Kennedy — Chevalier O'Gorman to Hunting Cap (Dublin, May, 1783)— Military reputation of Dan — The King's coaches— Pedigree — Mr. James Rice on the impor tant effects to be procured by Daniel O'Connell's pedigree — Captain Rickard to Dr. Maurice Leyne (Ennis, 1783) — Count O'Connell's military merits — Records of the family — His hopes of " a comfortable establishment " depend on pedigree — M. Che'rin, the French herald — Maurice O'Connell the Transplanted — Professor O'Looney's description of his tomb — " His Reverence of Killamey " — Captain Rickard married — Dan to Hunting Cap (Paris, August, 1783), on the famous pedigree — Rickard's marriage —"Si ster Honny's" sons — Other people's boys —Count O'Connell joins his regiment — His Swedish Majesty — Captain Rickard writes to Dr. Maurice Leyne (Limerick, 1783) — O'Connell tombs, etc. — Count O'Connell in command— (Paris, October, 1783) Count Daniel to Hunting Cap — Three months with the regiment — Mr. James Rice — Chevalier Fagan a true friend — "Our nephew" Sullivan of Couliagh — " Cousin Murty " (future Baron O'Connell) and his family— 1784 : Marriages— Marshal McMahon's ancestor — Old Count Conway, French Governor in India— Count Anthony Walsh de Serrant's marriage — The count's flirtation — (Paris, January, 1784) Count O'Connell to Hunting Cap — Chevalier O'Mahony — Mrs. Burke — Colonel Tom FitzMaurice — Rates of exrhange — Little Maurice of Tarmons — Young O'Sullivan of Couliagh — " Cousin Murty " loses his wife — "My new German family " — Mr. Stoughton — (Paris, March, 1784) to same— Mr. Houlahan, of Cadiz — Irish-French soldiers of the future — Murty O'Connell and II. a 3 vi Contents. his little daughter— Aristocratic charity— The Abbe- Griffin— (Paris, April, 1784) to same — Colonel FitzMaurice expected — Capture of Statia by France — Eugene McCarthy — He will join the German Legion in June — (Schlestatt, July, 1784) to same — Little Maurice's College ¦ — And his affairs — Doctor FitzGibbon — Tom FitzMaurice arrived at Bourdeaux — He is considered a most deserving officer — Abbe Moriarty's nephew — Proposals of marriage — Anti-matrimonial advice — (Paris, November, 1784) to Hunting Cap — Boys — Maurice (afterwards Governor of New South Wales) declines the Church — Dr. Connell's burses — Colonel Tom FitzMaurice and his sister Burke — Chevalier deFitzJames — Nephew Sullivan — " Brother Bachelor". — Education under difficulties —Priests— Dr. Moylan, Bishop of Kerry— (Paris, March, 1785)— Mr. Eager, of Killarney — Kerry men abroad — Future Sir Maurice O'Connell, of Australia — " Nephew Eugene " — Captain Rickard — Young Barry of Killarney — Dutch Service — "My old friend Maillebois" — Politics in France — (Paris, May, 1785) to Hunting Cap — Colonel James Conway — Dr. Tim Connell's burses — Going to his regiment — Tom FitzMaurice — No war — Loyalty of the French — Rickard and Eugene in Holland — ; Interesting correspondence about Irish burses in Paris — (Paris, June, 1786) to Hunting Cap — Going to join the regiment — Nothing new — " Cousin Murty O'Connell from Germany " — Irish cousins abroad — Mr. O'Leary, of TJltonia Regiment— Other people's money affairs — The count's horror of gambling—" Little Johnny Burke " — (Bergues, July, 1786) Robin Conway to Hunting Cap — Johnny Burke arrived from Cork — Six days' voyage — Conway's eldest son in "Berwick's" — A bold boy — General Conway — (Paris, November, 1786)— Mr. Eager — The count grumbles — Ague — Death of old Colonel James Conway — The Prince of Nassau — Note from Charles Lacretelle's "Histoire de France "—Burke's " Commoners " on Count O'Connell— Infantry tactics — Grant's "Cavaliers of Fortune" — Four generals and one colonel to report— The colonel (O'Connell) draws up a system of regimental economy — (Paris, October, 1787) writes to Hunting Cap — Expectation of war with England — No war— Changes in the Ministry — Death of Matthew Conway — O'Connell intends to ask permission to go to the Austrian or Russian Army — His old companion, the Prince of Nassau, invites him to join the Russian Army 1 Notes to Book V. Note A. Chevalier Fagan and the Fagan Family 57 „ B. What Frenclj Heralds called an Ancient Family 60 „ C. Irish Fortune-Hunters g2 BOOK VI. THE REVOLUTION AND THE EMIGRATION. 1788-1793. O'Connell presented at court — Les honneurs du Louvre — Ambition gratified —Count de Vuudreuil— Police spy— Gouveruuuv Morris— Madame de Fluhaut'e salon—" Love of glory "—No letter to describe our hero's Contents. vii reception at court — Marie Antoinette — Snuff-box, the gift of Marie Autoinette — Gooil nature — (Paris, February, 1788) the count to Hunting Cap — Leave refused to join the Austrian or Russian Army — Young Burke — Other people's affairs — Major Moore, of " Berwick's " — " Our little nephew John " — General Conway — Count Mahony married — "Brother Baldwin" — (Paris, May, 1788)— Colonel Tom FitzMaurice and his relatives — A good boy at last — Pestered by cousins — Going to Metz — John (of Grenagh) advised to try another mode of life, not suldiering — Changes in the Military Constitution — Pay reduced — Gloomy prospeots— " Cousin Morty " at the waters of Aix-la-Chapelle — Liege Regiment — Vanities — Presentation to his Majesty — The King's coaches — Gouverneur Morris on French society — M. de Laborde, Fermier- General — Society gossip — MadameAdele de Flahaut — Chit-chat — Young Hickie of Killelton writes from Paris — Dinner-party at the Countess Watters's (nee Rice) — " Dragging the devil by the tail " — A crowd of marquises, counts, and countesses — No healths drunk — No getting half- drunk — The Carnival — Morris's diary again — The Bishop of Autun — Due de Biron — Abbe- Bertrand — Count O'Connell thrice mentioned — (October 1, 1789) Entertainment given by the Regiment of Flanders at Versailles — Gloom — O'Connell — O'Connell at Madame de Laborde'a — Bills of exchange— (Paris, April, 1789) Count O'Connell to Maurice — Con O'Leary (son of Arthur the Outlaw) — National Assembly — (Paris, June, 1789) to same— Mother's failing health— Schools for Dan (the future Liberatjr) and Maurice of Carhen — St. Omer's — The boys' education — Very interesting letler from the Abbe Edgeworth on the state of Paris— Only two letters for 1790 — Gloom — Exiles — Infantry tactics — (Paris, January, 1790) Count O'Connell to Maurice — Troubles of the country — Letters stopped — "Honour of spilling my blood" — A spectator of events — Austrian Netherlands — Politics — ¦' The boys '' — Mr. John O'Sullivan, of Couliagh — (February, 1790) Comte de Vau- dreuil writes to the Comte d'Artois from Rome — A very sad letter — Court of Spain — Speaks of the Queen — He has heard from Count O'Connell — Count de Segur's sentiments — O'Connell fitted for great enterprises — Polignao family — On the 30th of July Vaudreuil writes to Comte d'Artois from Venice — " O'Connell : I can count on him " — Vaudreuil's August letter — Count O'Gorman — O'Connell — Countess Watters (ne'e Rice) to Mr. Hickie (August, 1790) —Critical times — Crushed by taxes — Lady Filzgerald — Vaudreuil writes on September 4, 1790— The Salm-Salm Regiment in mutiny— O'Connell inconsolable — (Paris, September 2, 1790) Count O'Connell writes to Hunting Cap — Gloomy days — Utter ruin dreaded—" Wretched situation of the finest country of Europe" — No more boys to come out — Count O'Connell's proposal to rescue royalty— Louis XVI. would not consent — Family traditions about Count O'Connell— Count O'Connell willing to risk his life for the King— Schemes— Our hero in Paris—" Le beau Fersen " — A colonel without a regiment— O'Connell from the "Biographie Ge'ne'- rale "—Military tactics again— Promotion— Jealousy— (Paris, March, 1791) Dan writes to Hunting Cap— Mrs. Burke— Con O'Leary— Un settled times— Good spirits— The regulations for the army^-Hard work- Bad pay— Due de FitzJames and the Irish Brigade— Its dissolution expected— (Paris, June, 1791) C uut O'Connell to Hunting Cap— Death viii Contents. PAGE of Maurice's wife — Affairs daily more critical — Major-general — Changes in military affairs — Insubordination of the army — " This unhappy country " — Gouverneur Morris on the position of French officers — Our hero refuses offers of command under Carnot — Joined the Royalist Army— Flight — Fate of the French Irish Brigade — Disbanded — Count O'Connell negotiating — Helping Catholic Emancipation — Due de Fitz- James's letter to the King — Claims of the Irish in France — Thirty thousand Irishmen — Brigade wants to go to Spain — Fidelity and valour — Sir Charles McCarthy-Lyragh — Irish regiment of Berwick — Loyalty — Count de Provence — Count Arthur Dillon— "Le beau Dillon" — Count Edward Dillon — Unpublished document— Captain James FitzSimon's certificate — Real crisis of our count's life — Matrimonial affairs — About to be arrested — Flight to the Royalists — Incognito — (Paris, 1792) Count to Hunting Cap — Trouble and confusion — Letters of Count O'Connell to the King seized — With tbe Royalists at Valmy — Account of the Emigre" army — Our hero a trooper— Sir Charles McCarthy again — The Duke of Brunswick — Comte d'Artois — The King of Prussia • — A letter from Count Edward Dillon to Captain James FitzSimon — An affecting picture of the Emigre' army — O'Connell in Brussels — Count O'Connell's nephews — St. Omer's — Maurice O'Connell, of Carhen, writes to his uncle Hunting Cap — Douay — Mr. Duggan — Had a. letter from " Uncle Dan " — His escape— Going up the Rhine — (London, November, 1792) Count O'Connell writes again — Duel — Arrived some days ago— Decree of the National Convention — French emigrants — Misery- London, November 23, 1792) Dan to Hunting Cap — Love-story — The lady still in France — Laws forbidding return of Emigres — Left Paris in July — A simple hussar — The express command of the King — French spies-^Mendaeious certificate requested — And sent — (London, December, 1792) affairs of his lady-love — Mr. McCarthy, of Berwick's Regiment — A son of Dr. Connell's an officer in the Brunswick Service— Baptisterium — Wants his mother's consent to his marriage — The Irish Brigade — Not going to Austria— Poverty — Chevalier Fagan— Emigres — Memorandum — (London, January, 1793) leaving for France — Borrows money from Chevalier Fagan — Johnny Burke — Colonel O'Connell seeks employment in England — From a letter of the Duke of Portland — Colonel O'Connell proposes to raise a Catholic regiment — French Catholic Royalists— (March, 1793) the future Liberator writes from London — Count O'Connell at home — Young Maurice writes from London in July, 1793— Count O'Connell's life at home — Stories of his mother— A kinsman arrested in Paris— Mistaken for the count — The Count de Castelverd— Citizen O'Connell — Set free — Official documents — Destitute— Hunting Cap's generosity — Chevalier Fagan — Lord Moira's passport— (Milford Haven, November, 1793) "Arrived an hour ago" — Going to London — Sister Seggerson — " Poor Andrew " Fitzy Burke in Cork — (London, December, 1790) Lord Moira's Expedition— Trying for an English commission — General James Conway — What to do next Undecided whether to join Lord Moiru, join the Royalists in La Vendee, or take no part in military affairs— On the list of the outlaws The vicissitudes of fortuue — Dan (the Liberator) promising everything good —Viscountess de Gouy — Dan Mahony, of Dunloe — Maurice O'Connell a deputy-governor — Lord Glandore's letter 64 Contents. ix Notes to Book VI. Note A. Colonel Thomas FitzMaurice 124 „ B. Sir Charles MoCarthy-Lyragh, killed by Ashantees, 1824 ... 129 „ C. Count Rice's Projected Rescue of Marie Antoinette 134 „ D. Countess Watters (nee Rice) 135 „ E. The Watters Document 136 BOOK VII. ¦r king George's irish brigade. 1794-1796. Extracts from the London Gazette — General O'Connell's regiment — Jealousy — Secretary Wyndham — Society — La Vendee — Comte d'Artois — Grant's " Cavaliers of Fortune " — Emigrant troops — O'Connell and William Pitt — Offers of military service under the British Government — " Clare's," "Lally's," "Dillon's," "Berwick's," etc.— A story from Burke's " Commoners " — O'Connell's commission — List of colonels — Grant again — (London, January, 1794)— The army on the Rhine — General Wurmser — Count O'Connell asked to draw up a plan of campaign — He submits it for judgment — Annihilation of the Royalists — Indignation — Affairs in the Low Countries — Every Government in Europe in danger — (London, March, 1794) to Hunting Cap— Bad spirits — Plan of opera tion — William Pitt — Dundas — A flattering opinion — Colonel Mack, the Austrian military adviser — A Catholic regiment — The Duke of York — Young Maurice — Cousin Morty in Vienna — He offers his purse — " Our nephew Dan " — Sister Seggerson — (Loudon, June, 1794) to Hunting Cap — The French Emigrant Corps — Affairs on the Continent — Peace contemplated — War news — Looking forward — Uncertainty — Counter revolution — (London, August, 1794)— Government adopts a. measure , O'Connell had proposed long ago — Conferences with the Ministers — The first to open the military career for Catholics — Laws of England — Marcus O'Sullivan — Death of Sister O'Sullivan — Nephew Maurice — " The Barrys are well " — (London, November 6, 1794) to Hunting Cap — Hoping for beating orders — Money matters — Good company — Recruiting — (London, November 29, 1794) to Hunting Cap — Two regiments more — Commands given to Generals Conway — Kissing the King's hand— And the Queen's— Lord FitzWilliam and Lord Milton —Knight of Glin— Marchioness of Donegal— Queen's Drawing-room —Old Queen Charlotte— English War Office— Irish Parliament— Death of Maur-ni-Dhuiv — Mrs. Seggerson composes a keen, or dirge — The O'Connell tomb— Hopes of Emancipation— (Dublin, February, 1795) to Hunting Cap— Nephew Dan — Recruiting difficulties — Emancipation Bill— "Our fate hangs on the Bill"— Kerry men— Mr. Day— Lord Kenmare— Lord Glandore— (Dublin, March, 1795) to same— Changes- Lord FitzWilliam recalled — Politics — Deputation to the King — Baron Hussey, of Galltrim— Byrne and Keogh— Michael Davitt on the subject —(Dublin, March, 1795)— Maur-ni-Dhuiv dying— Irish Parliament- Lord FitzWilliam again — Nephew Dan — Lord Camden— (Dublin, March 25, 1795) — Maur-ni-Dhuiv's death — Kerry friends — Parliament— Mr. Pelham, the new Secretary — The Catholic question — (Dublin, April, 1795)— Delays -"Our Bill"— Doubts— Mr. Grattan— Family affairs— Contents. Chevalier Fagan — "Jeffrey Maurice's" son — Mr. Dennis McCarthy, of Dromore— (Dublin, April 30, 1795)— A note from Secretary Pelham— Going to London— (London, June, 1795)— No news— Secretary Wyndham mysterious— Major Barry to recruit—" With respect to the Brigade ' — Ambition extinguished— The Viscountess de Gouy— Pros and cons- Explanations— The Emigre coterie — The Baron de Breteuil— Political gossip — Gouverneur Morris and our colonel — Comte de Provence — The Comte de Moustier— Polities— Comte d'Artois— Terms on which Catholic regiments are to be raised — Count O'Connell has been in Ireland— Captain Mark O'Sullivan— Old stories— (Kinsale, October, 1795) to Hunting Cap— Couliagh— Rindonegan— Going to Clohina — Brother Baldwin— Recruiting— Mr. White, of Bantry — The count married— Marquise de Sers — Madame O'Connell — Not his first love — Count O'Gorman— St. Domingo people — Hunting Cap objects to his brother's marriage — (London, March, 1796) to Hunting Cap — Cousin Morty — Chevalier Fagan — Nephew Dan — Troops to the West Indies — Sister Seggerson — The Duke of FitzJames — The six colonels — Two hundred men recruited — The elder General Conway — New Geneva — Sir Charles McCarthy — Sir Maurice O'Connell — News of the Brigade — The old colonel-proprietor — Blighted hopes — State Papers — Extract from the Pelham Papers — Secret and confidential letter from the Duke of Portland — Memorial of the Duke of FitzJames — Irish Brigade Army List, 1797 — The French Fleet off the Irish coast— Interesting letters- Christmas, 1796 138 Notes to Book VII. Note A. Maur-ni-Dhuiv's Verses 202 „ B. Maur-ni-Dhuiv's Mother 203 „ C. General Sir Maurice O'Connell (died 1848) 205 „ D. Segerson, or Sigerson 206 „ E. Secretary Pelham 210 BOOK VIII. A MAN OF OTHER DATS. 1797-1833. Estrangement — Count O'Connell retired — A colonel unattached — Disap pointment — Illness — Chevalier Fagan — (London, Ootober, 1797) Dan to Hunting Cap, on his marriage — The vanities of this life vanish — (London, March, 1798) Captain Burke ("Johnny" of long ago) — French doctrines — Brotherly affection — (London, April, 1798) death of young Maurice— St. Domingo— Mr. McMahon promoted — A deputy- governor cannot smuggle — Interesting note to Hunting Cap about the Rebellion— (London, July, 1798) the count to Hunting Cap — Economy — His step-children— Their estates in St. Domingo — Affairs in St. Domingo — Emancipation of the negroes — Death of Mrs. Gould — Andrew Connell— (London, February, 1799) to Hunting Cap — Maurice's sight failing — Affairs on the Continent — Nephew Dan — "Nancy and her governor " — (London, May, 1799) to Hunting Cap — Death of an old servant — Disturbod state of the country — The count wants Maurice Contents. xi to leave Darrynane — French politics — Existing Governments in danger — Ireland— (Ramsgate, July, 1799) to Hunting Cap— Illness— Cannot go to Darrynane — Expects monarchy to be restored in France— Politics — Lord Kenmare — " Our brother-in-law, Maurice Geoffrey " — Chevalier Fagan writes to Hunting Cap (October, 1799) concerning his brother's health — His wife's affairs — Count O'Connell begins a new correspondence — Irish Act in favour of Catholic officers — The colonel writes to youn<* Dan (the Liberator), (London, 1801)— Resignation of Ministers — And their successors — Changes in Ireland — Prayers for peace and tranquil lity — Eugene McCarthy — Recruiting accounts — Heraldry again — Con gratulations on success — (London, May, 1801) the count again to " Nephew Dan " — To whom he transfers his ambition — Captain John Burke — "The little boy James" (afterwards Sir James, of Lake View) — John— Claims of Mr. McCarthy — Death of Colonel Eugene (London, June, 1801) to Dan again — Coat-of-arms, forfeitures, etc.— On French soil again — His wife's property — Napoleon's iron hand — (London, February, 1802) to Hunting Cap — Passport from Parish- Licence from his Majesty — "Our Minister at Paris" — "All letters are still opened " — Comte d'Artois — Received from the Court of Lisbon offers to enter that service — Rank of major-general — Another code of military regulations— Sir J. Mitford — Maurice O'Connell to his nephew Dan (Darrynane, May, 1802) — Heard from the general from Paris — About his wife's property — Police reports — (Paris, June, 1803) the count to Hunting Cap — The British subjects arrested — Fon- tainebleau — Prisoners of war — The colonel a mediator for his name- same — Dan the Liberator marrying for love — (Orleans, August, 1804) the count to Hunting Cap — Still a prisoner — Thoroughly easy and unmolested — His wife and step-daughter share his captivity — Hopes for peace — Dr. O'Reardon — Captain O'Connell — Nephew Dan— Nephew John — Sister Anne — Niece Elleu — Nephew James — Dr. Sugrue— No letters for 1805-1808 — Report of a police spy on our hero — Official notes, etc. — From national archives — O'Connell — Baron d'Etchegoyen — Infirmities of age — (Paris, May, 1810) the count writes to Hunting Cap — Dr. O'Reardon — Hopes to come to Darrynane — Exchange of prisoners — The Restoration — M. de la Ponce — Count O'Connell a lieut.-general — Commander of the Order of St. Louis — Count Bar tholomew O'Mahony — The Irish Brigade— Due de FitzJames — Last scene of the old Irish Brigade — " Semper et ubique Fidelis " — Mr. Roche, the literary Cork banker — The most distinguished of the Irish Brigade — Napoleon's downfall — Count O'Connell in Ireland — Anecdote of the count and the Liberator's wife — Spends some time at Grenagh Description of the count — The brothers at Darrynane — Marriage of his step-daughter — The Liberator on his uncle — Marshal Ney — Anecdotes — Charity — Naturalization— Count's will — More stories — Recollections of Count O'Connell— The Liberator and his family abroad — Baron Moritz O'Connell (" Cousin Morty " of years gone by) — Young Morgan, the Liberator's son — Austrian Service — Baron Nugent's Regiment " Quentin Durward " — Description of our hero's French home — Death of Louis XVIII. — Count O'Connell and Charles X. — " A most superior man and a saint " — Schools — Hunting Cap writes to Catholic Association, 1824 — William Fagan, M.P., on the Liberator and Hunting Cap — A letter written by the Liberator — Mr. Henry Arthur Herbert — Hunting xii Contents. Cap's coffin— Hunting Cap to Mrs. Morgan O'Connell, of Carhen— • Death of Hunting Cap— His will— (Paris, March, 1825) the count to his nephew James — On his brother's death — Lord Headley — Charles O'Connell— Arthur O'Leary's son— Burses— (Paris, July, 1825) to same —Tomb of his parents— Judge Day — Catholic claims — "Little Morgan's" Buccess — (Paris, 1825) again to Sir James— Family troubles — Trouble some boys — The Catholic question — Mrs. FitzSimon— Emancipation — The O'Donoghue — Happy aud honoured old age — The count an anti- Repealer — -Schools and charity again — Young people in Paris — Stories of the veteran — St. Patrick's Day — (Paris, July, 1829) the count to Sir James i — Political letter — -The Clare election— The O'DoDoghue — His death — "Your nephew Maurice" (the Liberator's eldest son) — Uneasiness at the great changes — (Nice, December, 1829) to Sir James — Dan's pro fession sacrificed to politics — Family affairs — 1830 : The citizen-king — A marshal's staff for our colonel — Charles X. — " Too old to turn traitor " — Retires to Madon— Leave to bequeath his peerage — Naturalization- Letters of naturalization — "Marrying and giving in marriage" — (Chateau de Madon, April, 1831) — Letter on marriage — (Madon, August, 1831) — Dan returned for Kerry — Maurice for Clare — Duel — Knight of Kerry — Reform Bill— France — " All our pensions are cancelled " — {Madon, April, 1832) to Sir James — Liberator's election — In opposition to Government Bill for the Suppression of Insurrection — Views on Repeal — "Little Maurice of Grenagh " — Boys of the rising generation — (Madon, April, 1832) to Sir James — Morgan John O'Connell — His distinguished talents — The count on Repeal of the Union — Summary of his French will — A quiet funeral — His great-granddaughter writes of the count — Count Daniel d'Btchegoyen-O'Comiell — His death — Testamentary letter of General Count O'Connell — The young O'Donoghue — Death of the last Colonel of the Irish Brigade — Additional reminiscences by the Marquise de Sers 212 Notes to Book VIII. Note A. Letter from the Parish Priest of Coude, near Madon, about Count O'Connell's Tomb 304 „ B. The Nephews of Count O'Connell ,. 304 „ C. The O'Connells of Iveragh 308 „ D. Male Descents in Male Line of Daniel O'Connell, of Darrynaue, and Maur-ni-Dhuiv (O'Donoghue) 316 „ E. Memorial of Irish-French Officers about Irish Burses 322 „ F. The Praises of Iveragh 3^5 Appendices : Original Irish Poems. Dirge of Arthur O'Leary, by his widow, Eileen Dhuv O'Connell 327 The Poor Scholar's Blessing on Honora O'Mahony (Mrs. Falvey, of Falia) 341 Dirge of Muirti Og O'Sullivan 345 Indexes. General Index 347 Pedigree Index 355 Irish Officers, etc., mentioned in Text and Notes ... , 359 THE LAST COLONEL OF THE IEISH BKIGADE. BOOK V. COUNT O'CONNELL. 1783-1787. A year of pomps and vanities — Pedigree-hunting — Count O'Connell — The Marquise de Sers on the count — Official signatures — Golden dreams — Our hero in the Salm-Salm Regiment — Count O'Connell to Maurice O'Connell (March, 1783)— Duchess of Polignac— "Le brave O'Mahony" — (Paris, April, 1783) Daniel writes to Hunting Cap — Return from Spain — Con ways — Family affairs — "When my pedigree is authenticated " — Morgan's sons — (Paris, May, 1783) to same — Cousin Rickard goes to Ireland — Chevalier O'Gorman — Irish pedigrees — Pedigree as apassport to court — Manners — Captain Maurice Kennedy — Chevalier O'Gorman to Hunting Cap (Dublin, May( 1783) — Military reputation of Dan — The King's coaches — Pedigree — Mr* James Rice on the important effects to be procured by Daniel O'Connell's pedi gree — Captain Rickard to Dr. Maurice Leyne (Ennis, 1783) — Count O'Connell's military merits — Records of the family — His hopes of "a comfortable establishment " depend on pedigree — M. Cherin, the French herald — Maurice O'Connell, the Transplanted — Professor O'Looney's description of his tomb — " His Reverence of Killarney '' — Captain Rickard married — Dan to Hunting Cap (Paris, August, 1783), On the famous pedigree — Rickard's marriage — "Sister Norry's" sons — Other people's boys — Count O'Connell joins his regiment— 'His Swedish Majesty — Captain Rickard writes to Dr. Maurice Leyne (Limerick, 1783) — O'Connell tombs, etc. — Count O'Connell in com mand — (Paris, October, 1783) Count Daniel to Hunting Cap — Three months with the regiment — Mr. James Rice— Chevalier Fagan a true friend — "Our nephew" Sullivan of Couliagh — "Cousin Murty" (future Baron O'Connell) and his family — 1784 : Marriages — Marshal McMahon's ancestor — Old Count Conway, French Governor in India — Count Anthony Walsh de Servant's marriage — The count's flirtation VOL. II. B 2 The Last Colonel of the Irish, Brigade. —(Paris, January, 1784) Count O'Connell to Hunting Cap— Chevalier O'Mahony— Mrs. Burke— Colonel Tom FitzMaurice— Rates of ex change—Little Maurice of Tarmons — Young Sullivan of Couliagh — "Cousin Murty" loses his wife— " My new German family"— Mr. Stoughton— (Paris, March, 1784) to same— Mr. Houlahan, of Cadiz — Irish-French soldiers of the future— Murty O'Connell and his little daughter— Aristocratic charity — The Abbe" Griffin— (Paris, April, 1784) to same— Colonel FitzMaurice expected— Capture of Statia by France — Eugene McCarthy — He will join the German Legion in June — (Schlestatt, July, 1784) to same— Little Maurice's College— And his affairs— Doctor FitzGibbon— Tom FitzMaurice arrived at Bourdeaux — He is considered a most deserving officer — Abbe" Moriarty's nephew — Proposals of marriage — Anti-matrimonial advice — (Paris, November, 1784) to Hunting Cap — Boys — Maurice declines the Church (after wards Governor of New South Wales) — Dr. Connell's burses — Colonel Tom FitzMaurice and his sister Burke — Chevalier de Fitz James — Nephew Sullivan — "Brother Bachelor" — Education under difficulties — Priests — Dr. Moylan, Bishop of Kerry — (Paris, March, 1785) — Mr. Eager, of Killarney — Kerry men abroad — Future Sir Maurice O'Connell, of Australia — "Nephew Eugene" — Captain Rickard — Young Barry of Killarney— Dutch Service — " My old friend Maillebois " — Politics in France — (Paris, May, 1785) to Hunt ing Cap — Colonel James Conway — Dr. Tim Connell's burses — Going to his regiment— Tom FitzMaurice — No war — Loyalty of the French — Rickard and Eugene in Holland — Interesting correspond ence about Irish burses in Paris — (Paris, June, 1786) to Hunting Cap — Going to join the regiment— Nothing new — " Cousin Murty O'Connell from Germany" — Irish cousins abroad — Mr. O'Leary, of Ultonia Regiment — Other people's money affairs — The pount's horror of gambling— "Little Johnny Burke "— (Bergues, July, 1786) Robin Conway to Hunting Cap— Johnny Burke arrived from Cork — Six days' voyage — Conway's eldest son in "Berwick's" — A bold boy — General Conway — (Paris, November, 1786) — Mr. Eager — The count grumbles— Ague— Death of old Colonel James Conway — The Prince of Nassau — Note from Charles Lacretelle's "Histoire de France" — Burke's "Commoners" on Count O'Connell— Infantry tactics— Grant's "Cavaliers of Fortune" — Four generals and one colonel to report— The colonel (O'Connell) draws up a system of regimental economy — (Paris, October, 1787) writes to Hunting Cap — Expectation of war with England — No war — Changes in the Ministry — Death of poor Matthew Conway — O'Connell intends to ask permission to go to the Austrian or Russian Army — His old com panion, the Prince of Nassau, invites him to join the Russian Axmy. The year 1783 is a year of pomps and vanities. Pedigree- hunting takes up most of the letters. My hero's are only pre served from and after April. The April letter does not give where or how he is to be addressed, but the May letter, in Count O'Connell. 3 care of his trusted friend, Count de Vaudreuil, is to be addressed to Count O'Connell ; consequently this distinction had been conferred on him some time shortly after the famous siege of Gibraltar. Exactly when he received this title I cannot discover, as mere titles, hot being military grades, are not entered in army lists, and do not figure in " etats de service." An untitled colonel was not to be thought of, but these personal non-territorial titles were not matters of much consequence — no more, in fact, than a knighthood conferred on a modern British general. Count O'Connell, who had never had a son, was, curiously enough, permitted later on, during the Bestoration, to transmit his title to his godson, the son of a step-daughter. Daniel Charles d'Etchegoyen-O'Connell assumed the name and arms of O'Connell, though he was only left Count O'Connell's library, military trappings, and maps, and about £400 as a souvenir, as young Daniel d'Etche goyen-O'Connell was a rich man ' from his own sources. The count had to undergo a double process of naturalization — under the Bestoration and under Louis Philippe. It would appear that this was needed concerning this transfer. The Marquise de Sers, his step-great-granddaughter, says that he was a peer, " paire de France," and that these representative rights were transmitted to her uncle, long dead without issue. Probably the " pairie " was a creation of the Bestoration. I have not been able to find any of his brevets, and can only trace the successive steps of his career through letters and law papers. The address he gives at the foot of some letters is " Chevalier; " then comes " Comte ; " later on his official signature is " General ; " but to his brothers and com panions he is "Daniel," and, indeed, sometimes "Dan." He seems to have been utterly devoid of every sort of petty vanity. His title was a mere matter of course, like the knighting of an extra loyal Lord Mayor. The pedigree was a good deal more. M. Cherin's " Cabinet," where the herald sat among ancient parchments, besieged by colonels and courtiers with claims and proofs of ancient ancestry, was the real road to promotion. The herald's decision was the " Open, Sesame ! " of the innermost halls of the Court of Versailles. For four long years was my hero kept waiting during M. 4 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. Cherin's examination of his pedigree. Then he trod the glittering halls, stood by the gold-laden card-tables, chatted in royal salons with his fine friends whom he had known in private — was at last free of Versailles. The gilded doors of kings' coaches opened to let him pass up their cumbrous steps. He had qualified to ask any place, to seek any high born woman's hand ; the cup of fortune was at his lips, and then came the Bevolution. Kings and kings' coaches, fine places and fine ladies' dowries, vanished " like fairy gifts fading away." Had Hunting Cap paid down £300 im mediately on his brother's first promotion, M. Cherin would have been earlier set in motion, and my hero might have reaped at least a few sheaves of a golden harvest. For the year 1788, wherein Colonel Daniel O'Connell first rode in the king's coach, and kissed the beautiful hand of Marie Antoi nette, Boss O'Connell gives me the makings of an elaborate and exhaustive court chapter, and the fullest possible ex planation of the uses and purposes of the famous pedigree. Some of these explanations and anecdotes were too interest ing and voluminous to be squeezed into a chapter full of letters, and will be found in the Notes. We see by Chevalier O'Mahony's letter of October, 1782, that Lieut.-Colonel Daniel O'Connell had been promoted over le beau Fersen's head, to be colonel commandant of the Boyal Swedes, but no letter appears among the papers from the new- made colonel. He was only left a very short time in com mand of his original regiment, being replaced by Count Fersen. The King of Sweden had expressed a wish to have his own subject in command of his own regiment. Colonel O'Connell's full command of his old regiment lasted so short a time that his biographers seem to have ignored it, but Chevalier O'Mahony's letter is conclusive evidence. Even the Kerry contemporary paper does not seem to have known of it. After alluding to his services in the floating batteries, it " Such conduct Was not suffered to pass unrewarded. " The Prince of Salm-Salm being promoted to the rank of major-general, Mr. O'Connell was honoured with the com mand of his regiment. On his return to France he was Count O'Connell. 5 caressed at court in the most flattering manner, and raised to the dignity of comte. " Mr. O'Connell is not only the elegant gentleman, but he is looked upon to be as a soldier the best scholar in France, and the most conversant with the European languages, and, what is still more extraordinary in a person conversant in the polite circles of Paris, he has never been known to play for a guinea." Here, I am sorry to say, the article terminates. It is signed and dated thus : " F. M. C., Middle Temple, Jan. 12, 1785." My hero must have been transferred to the command of the Salm-Salm Begiment before April, 1783, as he gives it in his address. At the New Year of 1784 he says, in his letter of January 2, " I am extreamly pleased with my New German family, and I hope they are equally so with me," He had evidently announced his previous promotion. He must have been made " mestre de camp," a sort of brigadier- general, about the same time, and received the dignity of count. His only reference to either his military or civil dignity is at the foot of the letter of May, 1783. During the summer manoeuvres he used to go away with the regiment, and usually left the address of some Paris friend, whose house remained open, and whose maitre d'hdtel would forward the letters. In May, 1783, he gives the address, " A Monsieur, Monsieur le Comte O'Connell, Mestre de Camp, Commandant du Begiment de Salm-Salm, chez M. le Comte de Vaudreuil, en son Hotel, Bue de Bourbon, a Paris." To go from a lieut. -colonel to a colonel commandant and inferior general in less than six months does rather justify le beau Fersen's sneering comments about " celui qui avait servi dans le Begiment Boyal Suedois qui a ete tant protege par le Comte d'Artois et les Polignacs et qui etait reste en- suite dans la revolution s'&ant fait faire mareschal de camp hors de rang et avant tout le monde." I had written and printed this statement when, on a bright May morning of 1891, Mr. Leyne's happy discovery of two more letters enabled me to give fuller information. In the letter of March 19, 1783, my hero, in brief and manly phrase, tells of his own success at court — as yet, however, 6 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. only in the outer circle officially, though doubtless he must have met lovely Marie Antoinette among her intimate friends, the Polignac set. We find him actually staying on a visit with the courtly and fastidious Vaudreuil, who remained his friend under suoh very different circumstances. This letter accounts for the great blanks in the letter-book. He had not ventured to write direct to his brother before, and this letter goes by a private hand, Mr. Henry McMahon under taking to post it in Dublin. Count O'Connell to Maurice O'Connell, of Darrynane. Paris, March 19,h, 1783. My deaeest Brother, — Since my return here from Spain various Circumstances have hindered me from writing to you ere now. I was desirous first to see what Beception I should meet with here on being presented at Court,1 in order to judge what I may expect hereafter from the Favour and approbation expressed for my conduct at the siege of Gibralter. The marks of esteem and Goodness heaped upon me by the Boyal family in general, but more particularly by His Boyal Highness Count d'Artois, under whose eyes I had the honour to serve during some Part of that expedition, open to me a very promicing Prospect for future times, and qualify me to expect a Genteel share of Court honours, if I can prove myself entitled to enjoy them by Birth. The first Advantage I should reap wou'd most probably be the honour of being attatched to that Prince's person — an Honour much esteem'd and sought for in this Country, and which, besides a yearly consideration of £200 Steg. to my fortune, woa pro bably lead me to a very advantageous Marriage, and entitle me to look up to the first military Honours hereafter, which otherwise are hardly to be attained to. From such Powerful motives you'll easily judge, my Dr Brother, of what impor tance it is for me, and still more, perhaps, for the young Growing members of our ffamily. To procure the necessary materials for that purpose, I send Cousin Bick O'Connell, of the County Clare, by this hand a clear instruction for the Searches he is to make for that end, and the Method of making out a body of proofs Founded on acts and old deeds, marriage Settlements, grants, confiscations, etc. These instructions he will Communicate to you, and I need not reccommend to you to lend him every Assistance in your 1 He was merely presented to the King. He did not get the private entrie until 1788. Count O'Connell. 7 Power. I further request you'll advance him any sum of money he shall call for, which you may rely on't I shall Punctually and faithfully pay you or your orders on Demand. I am so well Satisfied of Bick's nicety and delicacy that I am well assured he will proceed with all possible oeconomy, but such is the importance of the affair that my Desire is some money more or less should not impede Procuring any papers which may be deemed useful on the Subject. I join here with a letter from an Abbe MacCarthy of my acquaintance to a Mr. Foulue, of Tralee, his friend, who is possess'd of the Munster Book, and well versed in the ancient Genealogy of Munster, and Kerry in perticular. This gentleman may only be able to give some eclaircissement on the Matter, and perhaps put you on the way of finding some old acts relative to the same. You'll find in the Munster Book our Genealogy as far down as King James the 2nd. In Short, my Dr Brother, you'll, I am Sure, do the needful, and by no means omit procuring the Certificate or attestation I already applied to you for. I shall say no more on the Subject, but just assure you that my Fortune entirely depends on't. I've been so happy to acquire friends of the Greatest credit at Court. I lodge at the house of one of them, who is my bosom Friend, and who persecutes me to qualify myself for fortune. You'll find herewith enclosed a letter from Mr Daniel Huolahan, of Cadiz, relatively to the affair of Giles Sullivan, which you recommended to my care. You have only to go through the formality he requires and Send me the papers. I shall take care to forward them, and the poor gentlemen in Ireland shall receive the Amount of what's left them. I saw the will, and more do assure you Mr Huolahan is a man of strict honour and Principle. I recTd from him the greatest atten tion at Cadiz. I shall part from here about the end of May next for , Schelestat, where my regimt lies. Underneath is my address. Farewell, Dearest Brother. My Love and Duty to my Dear Mother, Sister, etc., Believe me during life your fond brother, D. O'Connell. My wounds are perfectly cured, and I feel no sort of infirmity from them. My address is as follows : — A Monsieur, Monsieur Le Comte O'Connell, Colonel Commandant du Begim1 de Salm-Salm, chez Monsieur Le Comte de Vaudreuil, grand fauconnier de France, En son Hotel, rue de Bourbon, a Paris. The instructions I send will be found at the house of Mr Henry MacMahon, Notary Publick, at Limerick. He is the bearer of this packet, which he will drop at the Post Office in Dublin. 8 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. The grade ' of mareschal de camp, corresponding to brigadier -general, was conferred much later, after hard office work on the committee of military regulations, but the early promotion and favour of the Polignac people is true. It is im possible to read Count de Vaudreuil's correspondence without forming the opinion that the Duke and Duchess of Polignac were people of high character, and principle, notwithstanding his sighing auddying^for the charming lady. Once when her own mansion was not ready to receive her, he had lent her this very hotel in the Bue Bourbon for her confinement, and here she hadreepiyed the remarkable honour to a subject of long visits to her bedside from the Queen and King, to whose children she was gouvernante. To be taken up by Vaudreuil meant that my hero had achieved very considerable and valuable social distinction, even though the ponderous doors of royal coaches had not yet opened to receive him, nor could they without the attested pedigree. What puzzles me is that he and his friend Mahony were presented on the same occasion. Now, Mahony not only had a pedigree at hand long before, but "le brave O'Mahony" had been made a, grandee of Spain early in the century, which required tremendous proving of quarterings, and the Mahonys had retained their tribal existence far longer than the O'Connells, and were a much more powerful clan. Besides, in 1763 the chevalier had procured his attested sixteen quarterings, probably to enable him to become a Knight of Malta. In the series of letters relating to the narrow escape of the Kerry kinsmen in 1782, the pedigree figures too. Not, however, in the shape of O'Gorman's magnificent and somewhat mendacious docu ment, but some sort of home-made article, with a certificate as to the ancient respectability of the family. Mr. Francis Spotswood had it lying in his office, waiting for peers and members to come to town, and then we find it down in Limerick, at Mr. McMahon's house. It was several years before my hero discovered that a considerable number of the progenitors the Chevalier O'Gorman had bestowed on him were apocryphal, and he therefore used the genealogy in all good faith. Where they do not concern the famous pedigree, the letters Count O'Connell. 9 of 1783 largely concern other folks. He speaks of two letters he has written since his return from Spain, and these last epistles must contain the account of his adventures and pro motions. The pedigree, Irish burses, other folks' small boys in France, and aged "relatives abroad and impoverished ones at home fill up the pages of those we have. Mr. James Bice's flowery descriptions of the count's social successes and the Chevalier O'Gorman's "blarney," foL lowing my hero's manly and sensible vindication of his presumption in differing from his wise elder brother, break the mass of monotonous details about the small boys, old colonels, and widows. The dear old Chevalier Fagan comes to the front, and when rich Hunting Cap refuses the loan for the pedigree, he from his slender half-pay purse produces the hard cash neces sary to set the Chevalier O'Gorman and Ulster King-at-Arms at work. At every point of my hero's career this dear old bachelor is ready with sympathy and help. He must have been a proud man when he saw the lad whose career he first influenced a " mestre de camp " in command of a splendid regiment, just twenty years after he wrote home the prophetic epistle about the uncommon promise of the cadet of the last campaign in the Seven Years' War. Paris, April the 16,h, 1783. My Dearest Brother, — I wrote you two letters on my return from Spain. I hope they will or are already come to hand, and have removed your uneasiness for me. I shu'ld have deferred this until the begining of next month, but Cousin James Conway, Jun1., who means to gett over to this country, the only remaining boy of his Uncle Ned Conway, who still is in yr quarter, requests I would entreat you to advance to his Mother for said young Gentleman the fifteen pounds stlg. in order to defray him to this country, which sum he will punc tually refund me here on sight of the receipt which you'll please to send me in your next. I shall then remit you very punctually said 15 stg as well as 12 guineas from Cousin Tom FitzMaurice for the use of his Sister Bourke, said 12 g8 being now in the hands of Chevr Mahony. Let me know of any young relatives of our name in that country between 15 and 20 years of age, of a good figure, size, and beheaviour, who wish to get into some of the Irish houses of our Order abroad. 10 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. I shall endeavour to place them on a recommendation from you. Little Maurice Jeffrey 1 he is a most promising youth. He gives me the greatest satisfaction by his beheaviour. I hope he will do well. The poor little creature never called to me for a shilling, tho' he much wanted some small supply which I lately sent him. I wish his Uncle Dan culd spare him £6 or £8 a year for some little time. If he does not I must, of course ; for I won't see him in want, had I no more in the world, while he behaves so perfectly as he does. I hope to push him hereafter in my line. Farewell, Dearest Brother ; no news here. I've very pro mising appearances of Success when I shall be qualified to demand anything, i.e. when my pedigree is authentically proved. On this I've sent you an ample instruction in my last. Once more farewell. My Love and Duty to my Mother and Sister, Affections to Brother Morgan and Sisters, and compliments to all friends. Yours most fondly and sincerely, D. O'Connell. Pray, how old are Morgan's Sons ? Are they stout and promising ? Paris, May the 15lh, 1783. Dearest Brother, — Cousin Bick Connell, who just sets out for Ireland, will forward you my Letter. I very impatiently expect a Letter from you to answer to two or three I wrote y8 since my return to Paris. Mr. O'Gorman is some Days since sett out from here for Ireland. This gentleman is a perfect Master of all Matters relating to our Irish Pedigrees. He has made out all those of the Irish who within some years past have been admitted and passed as Authentick in the Heralds' Office. Here he is the only man acquainted with those matters, and, indeed, able to go thoroughly thro' what is required here. I wished and requested at his Departure hence that he would make up and give it the necessary form for qualifying me in this Country for the Court favour which my present Situation entitles me to expect. He demanded for the expence and trouble the sum of £300 stg., part of which to be advanced him immediately in order to pay the Costs and Charges attending the Search to be made in various Offices and the Copies to be taken of the same. However heavy this charge must be on me, I notwith standing am Besolved, from sense of the necessity of having my pedigree, to go through it, provided he will reduce his demand to £200 stg., in consequence of which resolution I 1 i.e. Maurice, son of Jeffrey O'Connell and Bridget Segerson. Count O'Connell. 11 write to said gentleman by the present hand to let him know my final Determination on that subject, and as my immediate circumstances put out of my power to make any advance on the above-mentioned sum of £200 stg. : I do let him know that I write to you, Dear Brother, requesting you will, if possible, advance him on his receipt the sum of £100 stg., or less, if you can't advance so much. I oblige myself on my parole of honour to reimburse you your advances by the yearly sum of £50 stg., until the entire be paid off. This I can do without fail, otherwise I flatter me you're well assured I shu'd not promise it ; therefore you run no other risk than that of my death, if it shu'd happen e'er the whole was re funded you, and as I am, thank God, in perfect health, I hope there's nothing to be apprehended that way. Now, my Dear Brother, believe me, vanity has not the smallest share in this step. My sole desire and aim is to qualify myself to push my own fortune and that of my family, whom I may hereafter bring over here, as far as it reasonably may be expected to go, in virtue of my Services, etc., if I may venture to say it, thro' some Military capacity. You are not to judge of the opinion of other Nations from that of our country. Prudence and policy require us to con form even in indifferent Matters to the manners and customs of the Nation a man lives in, and much more so when a man's interest and fortune is concerned. I assure to you that the present step is of the Highest importance to me, and perhaps still more so to my family, who may probably see some members of them form a handsome Establishment here thro' this means. Pray wu'd it not be the height of folly to forego all future expectations for the sum of £200, when it can be afforded ? Then pray let me know, as soon as possible, if you can Comply with my request, in order I may look else where shu'd your circumstances not permit it. I say yr circumstances, as being too sure of your friendship and of the rectitude of your Judgement to doubt of your answering my wishes on this point, If you can do no more on that subject. I had a few days since a letter from Captain Maurice Kennedy, letting me know he had lent Mr. Jerry Falvey, of Faha, the sum of £15 stg. when he set out for Ireland, in order to defray his Journey and likewise to pay some pressing small debts he owed in the Colledge. . . . Pray tell Cousin Hugh I request he will not make a very honest gentleman a loser by what he lent him from the most Laudable sentiments. If not, I shall think myself in honour bound to pay him, as I was the person who brought over his son and was his guarantee. Farewell, my Dear Brother. Let me hear from you as soon 12 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. as possible. My address as below. My Love and Duty to my Mother, Sister Nancy, etc. Yours during Life, D. O'Connell. A Monsieur, Monsieur le Comte O'Connell, Marechal de Camp, Commandant du Begiment de Salm-Salm, chez M. le Comte de. Vaudreuil, en son Hotel Bue de Bourbon, a Paris. Chevalier O'Gorman to Maurice O'Connell, Dublin, the 20'" of May, 1783. Sir, — You must not be a Stranger to the military reputa tion that your brother has acquired since he has taken service in France, and more particularly since the commencement of the last War. That, together with his personal accomplish^ ments, have procured him the special notice both of the Boyal family, the Ministers, and of the Lords and Ladies of the Court of Versailles, which cannot fail of conducting him to a happy Establishment as soon as he shall be able to ascertain the qualifications necessary for that Establishment by proving himself to be a gentleman by birth and descent from the year 1400 down to this day. A mere Genealogy from the Heralds' Office of Ireland is not a sufficient proof to qualify him for his presentation at Court and to his entrance into the King's coaches, a ceremony necessary for any Gentleman to figure at Court and to form an alliance with any family of distinction in that Kingdom. Two literal acts or deeds to each descent, proving filiation, profession, and a noble maintenance, are required in support of the gene alogy. It is very difficult, I own, for an old Milesian to make out such proofs, but, by a Thorough Knowledge of the records and of the nature of such proofs as may suffice, together with the dint of money, it may be done. The friendship I bear your brother has engaged me to offer him my Service during the short stay I shall make in this Kingdom. But the money part is quite beyond my reach, It will require at least £300 stg. to make out this matter, a shilling of which does not enter into my pocket. Your brother has no resource at present to raise such a sum, except through your assistance. He will engage to pay it to you with interest, if you require, in six years at least. I am confident it would be superflous in me to Endeavour to stimulate your brotherly affection for a man that reflects so much honour upon his name and Country. I shall only add that if he misses the opportunity of my resi dence in this Kingdom, he will be never able to make out his point for any money whatsoever, and he shall loose thereby the great advantages that Fortune has opened to him. Where- Count O'Connell. 13 fore I request you'l loose no time in writing to me your De termination, as I do not know the hour or moment I may be recalled to France. Your brother has sent over, sometime in March last, written by me to his Cousin, Mr. Bickard Connell, in the County of Clare, by a Mr. McMahon. Mr. McMahon is here, and tells me the Genealogy and memorial remain still at his house in Limerick, not as yet called for. I write by this post to the County of Clare to Mr. O'Connell to look up the papers and act the needful. I request of him likewise to let me know his motions, which must be quick. I shall in the mean time make a Search in all the records here, preparative to the favourable answer I expect from you. I am, Sir, with great defference, Your most obedient and humble servant, Le Chevr. O'Gorman. No. 6, Upper Ormond Quay, Dublin. This letter of Chevalier O'Gorman's is enclosed in the following one : — Mr. James Rice, franked " R. Bateman." Dublin, 20th May, 1783. Dear Sir, — I had the pleasure of writing to you some months ago, in which I sent you a letter from Chev. Mahony, and from your silence since I was inclined to think a Corre- spondance wth one deemed a foreigner, and in War-time, may not be quite so agreeable ; however, the late change in the times, and being under no suspicions of Disaffection or dis loyalty, I make bold to write you now at the request of Mr. O'Gorman, lately arrived here, who, knowing my attatchment and good wishes for your Brother, and my readiness to serve him as much as lies in my power ; and he also knows I am well acquainted wm what must result in obtaining for him the different acts and attested copies of deeds out of different offices here in support of his Genealogy, wch Mr. O'Gorman mentions in the letter wch you will find enclosed. My niece, the Countess of Waters, has, in almost every letter received from her since I am in Ireland, made mention of your Brother, the extraordinary notice taken of him at Court, his rapid and honourable promotion, wth a considerable augmentation of great and Powerful connextions w°h must unavoidably lead him to further preferment and superior rank in life, with every Prospect to be at last attended with some happy advantageous marriage, wch is the usual additional prooff great folks in that Country give of their professed friendships to a stranger of distinguished Merit when they 14 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. take him under their protection, and when they know he has not an Independent fortune sufficient to support that honour and rank to which they themselves have by their Interest and , Influence contributed to raise him. But every Man acquainted with the Pride and Prejudices of that Nation in general well knows that Merit alone is not sufficient for a young man ambitious to rise there, unless supported by incontestable prooffs of his being a Gentleman of noble and Ancient ex traction for many generations ; otherwise disdain and con tempt would soon follow, and the Medal be reversed. A well- attested Genealogy, with the prooffs mentioned by Mr. O'Gor man, cannot be obtained here but by heavy expence. It is a matter quite indifferent to us how they are got, provided they can be made out and Attested here in the manner and form required in that Country, and I can add, wtJl the greatest truth, that I know no man in this Kingdom who would under stand the Matter, and so capable to Execute it, as Mr. O'Gor man ; and if you are pleased to confide to me the management of it, with Mr. O'Gorman, I flatter myself to be able to get it done for £200, provided you write to me an ostensible letter telling me that your affairs at present will not admit of your advancing a greater Sum ; and it will be also requisite that you send me, in the same ostensible letter, a bill on this City or on Corke, or a letter of Credit on either place, for the said sum. I shall undertake and engage to Secure that Sum for you, if you require it, by Bond or Note from your Brother, pay able Annually or at any reasonable fixed time woh you shall point out for the payment thereof, and wch ye may depend. Your Brother has no right to Expect that any Letter from that side would have overtaken me here, or else he certainly would have written to me on the subject, because he knows that I am a Competent Judge of the matter, many affairs of this kind having passed thro' my hands on similar occasions, and particularly for our friends and relations the Conways, for I wrote to my family that I proposed being at that side early in the Month without fail. But behold, as I was ready to set off, I was and am still detained here by an unexpected proposal for an advantageous marriage for my Ward, Miss Hussey, wch is only delayed for a revisal of the Gentleman's title Deeds, and the Incumbrances affecting the Estate are verified, woh I hope to see closed in the course of this Month ; but, whether this Marriage takes place or not, or whether I shall go to Paris for ten days or not, I am resolved to be in Kerry, Please God, the 4th of August, in order to sell all the landed property in that County belonging to Mr. Patrick Hussey, and I believe I shall have a power to sell Dominick Bice's interest Count O'Connell. 15 in the lands at Valentia under the late Counr FitzGerald, of woh 8 Years only to run from 7ber next, wch may perhaps suit your convenience to purchase, in wch case ye may depend on a preference. You will please .... for me without much de lay at Mr. John Boche's, Dublin, and you can write to me your thoughts on the Affair in question in a particular seperate letter from the ostensible letter, and to be putt seperately in the Post Office ; and am on all occasions, With great Begard and Esteem, Your affte and most humble Serv', J. Bice. P.S. — Dominick Bice's interest in the lands at Valentia, as I am assured, leaves him a proffit rent of £100 annually. If it should happen to suit you, and on yr letting me know what you will give precisely, I may perhaps be empowered to close wth you on my arrival in Kerry without any further trouble. My hero writes home to his brother about Bickard's pedigree-hunting mission, and that candid warrior gives us his opinion of the brethren, addressed to Maurice Leyne, now in all the full-blown glories of a practising physician in high repute. He was also an eminent surgeon, and saved the life of my father-in-law, John O'Connell, of Grenagh, when he got a bullet in his throat in a duel he fought for the Catholic cause, in 1814. My learned friend, Mr. McSweeney, of the Boyal Irish Academy, applied to Professor O'Looney, who sent me some singularly interesting information about the old O'Connell tomb, which Bickard was specially despatched to inspect in Clare. I have quoted part of his researches. Mr. James Bice, Chevalier O'Gorman, Bickard O'Connell, and my hero may be all considered as engaged in pedigree- hunting through all the quoted letters of 1873. Rickard O'Connell to Dr. Maurice Leyne. Ennis, July, 1783. Start not, my Dear Maurice, at sight of this writing. It is not a bill of complaint against you before the tribunal of seemingly slighted friendship. The intention of it is to ask a favour, and a very important one. Colonel O'Connell, who you know has signalized his military merit before St. Philip and Gibraltar, now wants no other step to rise speedily to an elevated station, but a Pedigree authenticated in the form prescribed by the etiquette of the Country in which he serves. I parted him at Paris, about the 20th of last May, when he 1 6 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. gave me particular instructions how to proceed in my inquiries after any records of our family that may be traced in this County, or the County Kerry. You know, my Dear Maurice, how much I am interested in the welfare of this truly amiable and excellent Friend, upon whose promotion my own entirely depends, and, convinced though he certainly is of my warmest, sincerest attatchment to him, yet I shall not know how to excuse myself if I do not succeed, at least in part, in the inquiries he directs ; for I assure you I found it very difficult to persuade him that he might not long before now be master of the materials he wants to support his pedigree, if his friends in this Kingdom had exerted them selves on this occasion. Let me, therefore, my dear friend, earnestly entreat your hearty Assistance in this affair, wherein my hopes of Comfortable establishment are so much concerned; Here follow extracts from the instructions drawn up for Colonel O'Connell by Chevalier O'Gorman, under the direc tions of Monsieur Cherin. Now, M. Cherin was the great French herald of the time, and a very honest man. His list of proofs could not pos sibly be furnished beyond the Tudor grants in Kerry, the O'Connell clan having long ages before lost their chiefs and become amalgamated with the born following of The McCarthy Mor. The bit of unconfiscated property held by Count O'Connell's direct ancestors without any title-deeds, by the mere proscriptive tenure of immemorial possession, was their only proof of ancient lineage* but in this country it was the most conclusive of all proofs. Says M. Cherin — " II faut que son parent se munisse de tous les contrats de mariage et titres quelconques qui pourrait prouver la fila- tion, possession et etat noble de la famille O'Connell. [We must bear in mind that " noble '* to the French herald, simply meant gentry entitled to use armorial bearings. He goes on to say :] Si on ne veut pas lui rendre les originaux il en fera faire des copies collationes, sur papier timbre^ par un ou deux notaires publiques, et au defaut de tels notaires par un maitre en chancellerie, ou par le prevot ou vice prevot de la ville. S'il y a quelques inscription sepulchrales au lieu de leur se'pulture, ou quelques vieux registres de famille indi- quant les naissances, alliances et les morts des differents chefs de la famille, on fera bien d'en faire lever des copies collationnees par un maitre en chancellerie comme dessus. Count O'Connell. 17 On fera aUssi une recherche pour les probats ou enregestre- ments des testaments de la famille, et on levera des copies collationnees comme dessus. . . . " Cette famille se troUvant encore en possession de quelques lambaux de ses anciens heritages au comte de Kerry, doit avoir passee des contrats de mariage, soit par devant notaire, soit sous seing prive. Si on ne peut pas se munir des origi- naux, on en fera des copies collationnees sur papier timbre comme ci dessus — s'il se trouve une bonne copie des annales d'Innisfallen in lacu leni au comte de Kerry, on y troUvera les faits de guerres et m§me les epoques des morts des chefs de cette maison, depuis sa leparation de la branche Eugenienne dont Mac Carthy Mor est chef jusqu'en, 1480, ou environ que ces annales ont ete copiees on en fera faire l'extrait legalise comme ci dessus." My inquiries in this County in pursuance of these instruc tions have been fruitless. In fact, nothing can be done here. My father was the first who ever was married in this County. Old Maurice, who was transplanted here from Kerry, was the only one of the family ever buried in the County Clare, in an uncouth vault, and on which there is no inscription, and which rather seems the work of common labourers than of masons, being covered viridi cepite. Professor O'Looney, two hundred years after the death of the Cramwellian transplantee, discovered this inscription. He favours me with the following extract from a report on some Clare antiquities he drew up for Smith O'Brien. In August, 1859, he examined this tomb, in the parish of Inagh, barony of Inchiquin. "'Cloch Chonaill,' or O'Connell's Tomb, is," he says, " not a monument of high antiquity, nor does it seem to possess much historical interest, but the inhabitants of the place have something like a superstitious regard for the stone and the tomb to which it belongs, and at the head of which it rests, and they speak of them with great reverence. " ' Cloch Chonaill,' the O'Connell Stone, is the headstone of the family vault of a branch of the O'Connell family, whose residence was the Court of Briantree, the ruins of which are still to be seen within a short distance of the place, and right in view of the tomb, at the western end of which the stone now lies. Nothing now remains of the tomb itself to indicate the character of the original structure, but, judging vol. n. o 18 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. from the extent of the dilapidated and roofless vault, it would appear to have been a deep and spacious chamber, con structed of rough, unhewn stones, and probably arched over with the same materials. " ' Cloch Chonaill ' was not easily found. It lay under ground and covered for many years in the debris, and it took us some time and hard work to find and to exhume it. However, we found it broken into two parts. We put it together, cleaned and washed it, and then I observed several traces of an inscription in raised letters on the smooth side of the stone ; but the inscription was greatly worn, old, and almost obliterated. With great difficulty I succeeded in copying the remains of the inscription from both pieces of the stone, and having arranged them, I could trace as much as enabled me to form a fair idea of what it meant, and I read as follows : — " ' Ulladh Adnicbdh ua Connalll Tighearnaidhe Breintri.' (' The burial-tomb of the O'Connells, Lords of Braintri.') " ' Ob. do Raghnall Armach tja Cotwatll.' ("Pray for Raghnall, the Brave O'Connell.') " It would appear that there was a third inscription, but I could not decipher with certainty a single line or character that I could follow. I measured the stone, and found it to be in length 2 feet 4 inches, 1 foot 7 inches wide, and about 1 foot 3 inches thick ; of blue limestone, with one side roughly polished and having a punched headed border all round. Satisfied that I could make no more of it, we built up the end of the monument and put the stone into its original place." Boss O'Connell informs me that fifty-nine persons ac companied Maurice the Transplanted, who died on his way, and for whose grandson this rude tomb was built. He had a grandson, Brigadier Maurice, who fell at Aughrim. Could he be the brave man for whom we are invited to pray? Perhaps Baghnall was one of the fifty-nine followers. Dr. Sigerson starts a third, and not improbable theory. He says, " The conjecture about Maurice was offered be cause the name Raghnall was unknown amongst the clan O'Connell ; it is not Gaelic. But there could be no mistake Count O'Connell. 19 as to the inscription. The seeming difficulty disappears when we find that Alison Segerson, who married Daniel O'Connell, of Darrynane, had at least three near kinsmen who bore the name. It was written Randulphus, Randul, Rauff, and Raphe, at that time : in Irish Gaelic it would appear as Raghnall. Apparently, 'Baghnall, the brave O'Connell,' was a son of Daniel and Alison, who fell in the wars, and, buried at Breintri, was distinguished by a special inscription. From Alison Segerson the name Alice was introduced into the O'Connell family ; it is curious that two Alices amongst her descendants married Segersons, so that the name was restored." Bickard's "verdant overgrowth" quite hid the "stone of O'Connell " in his day. I resume his letter— I hope you will be more successful in Kerry. It is im possible but Mr. O'Connell, of Darrynane, has some family papers. Our Cousin Bick ought to have some, and so ought Charles Philip and Charles Geoffrey ; perhaps some remain in the hands of Daniel of Tarmons. It is not unreasonable to suppose that His Beverence of Killarney may be able to assist you. A man who has so much family pride ought to be able to shew some grounds for it. In the registers of the Ecclesiastical Courts of Ardfert and Aghadoe something may be found, and anything is of use. You see how much I am interested in this business, and I am sure your dilligence in these researches will be equal to your generous goodnature and the warmth of your friendship. All the expences you will be at will be reimbursed by me, or rather indeed by Colonel O'Connell. I expect you will not fail to draw on me when you have occasion. I must join the Begi ment in September, wherefore I entreat you will not loose any time, but the first thing I have to request is that you'll do me the pleasure to write me a line acknowledging the receipt of this letter. Direct to me at Sixmile Bridge. I left this country last Spring to join my Begiment, and on my arrival in Paris I unexpectedly found that a further leave of absence had been obtained for me by Colonel O'Connell, with an intent of searching for those materials to make out his genealogy. His letter desiring I should continue in Ireland did not overtake me. My stay in Paris was short, which you will not wonder at when I tell you that, indepen dent of my desire of serving Colonel O'Connell, I had the most powerful possible inducement man could have to return. 20 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. On the 2nd of March last I was married to a Girl adorned with every grace and virtue that allies woman to an angel. She is the daughter of the late James Burke, of Strasburgh, who at his death left her £1500 on his estate, which is to be sold for the payment of that and the Fortunes of his other daughters and his debts. When I left this country last spring, my Intention was to return in October and bring my wife with me to France, if our affairs in this country should be settled ; but as the Opportunity sooner happened of flying to a beautiful girl's arms, I think you will easily believe that I availed of it. My most affectionate compliments to my much loved and respected Aunt and the dear girls. I have sometimes flattered myself with the hope of getting a line from some of them, but I fear they do not think me worthy of the happiness. I wish for a settled place in their esteem. Your new Cousin presents best compliments, and desires me to assure you nothing could give her greater pleasure than a correspondence with those whom I consider my dearest relations, in which light I hope you will always see your Bickd. O'Connell. Addressed: Mau. Leyne, Esq., M.D., Tralee; free — E. FitzGerald. Colonel Daniel himself shall now resume the pen. Paris, August the 6lh, 1783. Dearest Brother, — I recd your letter of ye 15tt June, and, very far from receiving a displeasure from your having declined Mr. O'Gorman's proposal, do assure you I had not expected you cu'd do otherwise, and had agreed, thro' com plaisance in some manner, to his making an application to you. Indeed, as my present Situation in life puts it out of my power to refund any advances made me, and as I was determined you shu'd not be a penny loser, I ventured to propose myself your Advancing, if possible, a part of the sum, which I am well convinced you wu'd have done was it in yr power. I really know not at present whether or no Mr. O'Gorman will go on with that affair. If not, I shall do without it, as hitherto. Au reste, it was much more for the benefit of my family, than from any Personal motive, that I wished to make out and clear up that point, which in all the other Countries of Europe, except our own, is a good deal attended to. Nay, even in the very Bepublicks where Equality shu'd be the basis of government. Count O'Connell. 21 I sent Mr. Houlahan, of Cadiz, the letter you transmitted me for him, and have hitherto no answer whether or no he recd it, but think it cu'd not fail in getting to hands. Cousin Bick Connell is now in Ireland, where he returned to settle some affairs. He got but £1500 fortune, which in this country he will find too short. However, he seemed determined to bring his Lady over, in spite of my remon strances. I wish he may be happy. If Love can suffice, he seems very well stocked. If Sister Norry thinks proper to send over one of her Sons, she may. I've endeavoured to procure him a place in a Colledge ; but the two first vacancies are already bespoke, so he can have but the Third, and that he may rely on ; therefore he may remain at home until I give you notice that he is to appear. If the second of Geoffrey Maurice's sons be of age, and a turn for the Colledge, I shall also be able to provide for him and call him over at the Same time with our Nephew of Couliagh [the son of their sister Honora, Mrs. O'Sullivan]. Farewell, Dearest Brother. This night I sett out for Schlestadt, in Alsace, where my Begiment is quartered, and shall return to Paris in the first days of October Next. I was changed from Boyal Swedes because His Swedish Majesty wished to have a Swede Colonel of that Begiment, composed of his subjects. My pay is £600 stg. a year. Now, my Dear Brother, that I've answered all your questions, receive my apology for the importunities you've sufferd, as well from me as from Mr. O'Gorman. Be assur'd you shall hear no more of that stuff. My fond Duty and Love to my Dr Mother and Sister. Yours most affectionately during life, D. O'Connell. I believe Little Maurice intends going over this winter. Pray send me Sister Nancy's address. My best wishes to all friends. From Limerick, September 1, 1783, Bickard writes to Dr. Maurice Leyne — I am sorry your inquiries in Kerry have not been more successful. Are there no Tombstones, no monumental in scriptions ? Are there no probates of Wills in the records of the Ecclesiastical Courts ? All or any of these things would be of use. I know there was a Bishop of our family buried in Aghadoe. Is there not an inscription on his tomb ? I know there is one on my grandfather's at Caher [i.e. Cahirsiveen. Mr. J. Leyne says this " Geoffrey of the Great Herds" (Sheara-na-mo-Mor), of Kilkevera, died in 1722. 22 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. On his tomb in Cahirsiveen part of the inscription ran as follows : " Here lies Geoffrey O'Connell, who had honour, wit, and wisdom"]. It does not surprise me that you do not correspond with such a bundle of oddities as my uncle, but tho' you do not, you may find means, thro' the medium of some acquaintance, to get out of him any knowledge he may have of our family: even any traditional account is better than none. It would be necessary for us to know particularly the pedigree of Mary O'Donoghue, of Darinane, about which the very lame pedigree sent over by her son is silent. Who was her father, her grandfather ? Who was her mother ? Who were her mother's father and mother? [Boss O'Connell discovered them the other day in the Mahony papers 1 — Donal O'Donoghue Dhuv and Honora Mahony, of Dunloe.J I am sure these are matters very easily ascertained, and this would be one way of serving Colonel O'Connell, who, notwithstanding his distinguished merit, is not very likely, as far as I can see, to get much assistance in Kerry, whither I am sure he will not take the trouble of coming for the consideration of having the expences of his journey paid. Do you think he will leave the sweets of command — the command of two fine battalions quartered in the delightful country of Alsace, or the very first society in Versailles and Paris, and all for the Mighty Emolument of having the expences of his journey borne to the pleasant country of Iveragh ? Errinn ! Bidiculous ! Three days ago I received a letter from the Colonel, dated at Paris, the 6th of August, the very day on which he was to set Out to take the Command — to find himself the first man in the city of Schlestadt, where his first Battalion is quartered. He is to return to Paris on the 1st of October, b.ut does not say one word of Coming to Ireland ; but he always was so Dutiful a brother and son, perhaps he may undertake this delightful Journey to gratify Mr. O'Connell, of Darinane. Should such be the Case, if you find to a certainty that he is to come to Ireland, I request you will give me Notice of it, for such intelligence would be of the utmost consequence to me. My dear Maurice, I entreat you will pick up among the Old people any traditions — all knowledge you can of the family, and also the Pedigree of Mary O'Donoghue. In the name of Friendship, do this without delay, or it will be too late for Mr. O'Gorman, who is come over expressly on Colonel O'Connell's business, and who is, I firmly believe, the only man Capable of tracing Irish pedigrees through the mass of obscurity in which they are involved. He must infallibly 1 There is some doubt on this point. Count O'Connell. 23 return to France in a short time. Therefore I Beg and pray you will write to me immediately about Mary O'Donoghue. Let me know who were the father and mother of my great grandfather Edward Conway. I now return to the correspondence between the brothers. Our colonel's spirited and manly letter about the pedigree closes that subject for the present. Paris, the 23rd &"°, 1873. Dr. Brother, — I arrived here a few days ago, after having spent three Months with my Begiment and in a Scamper on the frontiers of Germany. I daily expected the pleasure of a Letter from you, but have recd none this age past, which shu'd have made me extremely uneasy was I not otherwise informed of your being well. Mr. James Bice, who is just arrived, assures me he left you well a few weeks ago, which removes entirely my anxiety. I hope I shall soon have the pleasure of a letter from you, and, indeed, I sincerely long for it, and can't help complaining of yr Silence. Give me leave, my Dearest Brother, to express to you anew my concern for the importunities of my friends, whose Mistaken zeal led them to teaze you beyond my wishes, and quite contrary to my inten tions. I rec too many proofs of your friendship to have any doubt of your Compliance had your circumstances permitted you to make me the advances I wanted for Mr. O'Gorman. I have found the necessary resources in the purse of my old friend, Captain Fagan, so that I shall be able, I hope, to go thro' that affair, which I consider as very important for me, and perhaps for my family — If any I should have hereafter, or if fortune shu'd Enable me to get over a Successor from among you. Farewell, my Dear Brother. Let me know without loss of time if our Nephew Sullivan, of Couliagh, always be inclined to come over here, in order I may look out for a Burse in some Colledge for him. I believe I may have an opportunity to procure him one this Winter. My Love and Duty to My Dear Mother, affections to my Sister, etc. Yours most affectionately, D. O'Connell. My address is chez le Cte de Maillebois, a son Hotel, Bue Grenelle, a Paris. I had a letter from Cousin Morty [future baron and general in the Austrian Service] some weeks ago. He re quested his brother should send him his mother's genealogy. It's of the greatest importance to him to have it, as then he shall be able to procure a pension for his Daughter. I flatter 24 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. me Dan will send it as soon as possible. It would be too cruel to make him lose so happy an opportunity of providing for a child. It is probable some berth as a canoness l was available for the little Austrian O'Connell. All these required sundry quarterings, but a great family like the O'Sullivans, whose head only fled to Spain in the early years of the seventeenth century, had no difficulty about its affiliations. The tradition is that both Morty Oge's family and the Couliagh people descend from a younger branch of O'Sullivan Beare. The great chief, Donal Cam, sent his son to Spain as a little child, and he had issue abroad, who never returned. The letters of 1784 contain a new topic, viz. marriage. As Mr, Bice graphically expresses it, the great folks in France hunted out good matches for their impecunious Irish proteges. The happy arrival of the pedigree qualified them to look out for our hero. Sometimes the good match was a needy relative of some minister or personage whose patronage was better than a dowry, sometimes a widow or well-dowered maiden. Marshal McMahon's ancestor, whom tradition avers to have been strikingly handsome, and his letters prove to have 1 " The lay convents for noble Jadies are institutions peculiar to the Austrian monarchy. These Adelige Damen Stifle, as they are called, were founded and endowed by the ancient nobility to secure for their unmarried daughters suitable homes. A lady who seeks admittance must be at least twenty-four years old, of spotless reputation, and able to prove her descent from noble parents for eight generations. Lay convents of this kind are established at Vienna, Prague, Innsbruck, Briinn, and Graz, and their inmates spend their time in deeds of charity, visiting and helping the poor, amongst whom they are very popular. The Stift of Prague takes precedence before all the others. Its abbess has always to be chosen from the Archduchesses of Austria, and holds the very ancient right qf placing the crown on the bead of any Queen of Bohemia who should be crowned at Prague. "Archduchess Margarete Sophie, the niece of the emperor, is the present abbess. The dignity was conferred upon her nearly three years ago, but she had to wait, before she could be installed, until she attained the age of eighteen, as prescribed by the statute of the institution. On the occasion of her enthronization she presented a most dignified appear ance in her official attire. The latter consists of a black velvet robe and mantle, the latter being lined with ermine. The insignia of the abbess's office are a crown and crozier, the order of the Stift being worn on a gold- edged white moire ribbon slung over the right shoulder. Amongst the predecessors of the present abbess was the Queen of Spain, before she became engaged to the late King Alfonso XII." — [Quoted from the Graphic] Count O'Connell. 25 been remarkably clever and witty, married the heiress and got the title of Marquis d'Eguilly, and I see in the notes to the Comte de Vaudreuil's correspondence with the Comte d'Artois the splendid alliances formed by my hero's friend, Count Anthony Walsh de Serrant. His first wife was a slenderly dowered relative of no less a personage than the Prime Minister, the Due de Choiseul, Mdlle. Benee de Choiseul- Baupre ; and second, a charming widow, the Marquise de Valady, nee de Bigaud, a cousin of the Vaudreuils (whose family name was de Bigaud). Madame de Bemusat says the second Madame de Serrant was a person with a great reputation for wit and beauty, lady-in-waiting to the Empress Josephine. My hero's friends made out a lady for him, but before he even saw ber he found out that her fortune was chiefly in large expectations, and judiciously concluded he was better off as he was, and would probably continue " brother bachelor." This, however, is a case of " methinks the lady doth protest too much ; " for in a few years he confesses to a long, senti mental acquaintance with a charming widow, the Vicomtesse de Gouy, one of his earliest friends. His means did not entitle him to aspire to her hand until he should have become a full-fledged general, with some pensions or sinecures thrown in. He never breathes a word about it, and proses away about Mrs. Burke's annuity, and the lively but aggravating assembly of Irish boys he and his brother Irish colonels are importing. It is only when he reaches London, an emigre after the disastrous campaign of 1792, that he confesses his very demure and decorous love-story. Was it the lady who was fickle, or the suitor ? or did grim death intervene ? for my hero married a charming French widow, but not Madame de Gouy. Paris, the 2nd January, 1784. Dear Brother,— I rec* in due time your Letter of the 10th 9bre, which I immediately communicated to Chevr Mahony. His surprise and indignation cannot be expressed at the ungenerous beheaviour of Mr. M. with regard to Mrs. Burke. We in this Country, and particularly military people, have no idea of such Proceedings, and it's with shame and concern for our Country we learn they prevail there. Chevr Mahony 26 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. has no resources in his power to oblige Mr. M. to acquit this debt. The method he wou'd make use of in cases of that nature cannot be practised, remote as they are asunder. His son he might, if he pleased, have taken up here for the Sum advanced him, but it wu'd be cruel to make the boy respon sible for the faults of his father; therefore he leaves him at1 rest, and is determined to wait until his conscience shall inspire Mr. M. to do justice to Mrs. Burke. Mrs. Burke was Colonel Tom FitzMaurice's sister, and mother of a future Captain Burke. She was a widow lady of limited means. It was a common thing to serve exchange instead of sending money to a relative in Ireland direct — to give it in French livres to some one in France, whose rela tives in Ireland would pay the British £ s. d. to a person desig nated by the lender in Ireland. This method saved double rates of exchange. Sometimes a colonel or captain in France would see a young Irish lad in some strait, caused by either sickness, debt, or some sudden summons to undertake a long and costly march. There was never time to write home, so some one always acted as banker to the boy, and trusted to his family at home for repayment. The letter continues about Mrs. Burke — I recd a few days since from her Brother [Colonel Tom FitzMaurice] a remittance of 12 Guineas for her use. I did all in my power to procure a bill in Ireland for that Sum, but can't possibly get any for such a trifle, therefore I must request you to pay her for my account, and send me her Beceipt in your next. You may draw on me at Sight in favour of any person or persons you chuse for amount of said sum of 12 guineas french, which I shall most punctually acquit on the nail. Give me leave to request you to lose not a Moment to pay this money, as it wu'd make me Extremely unhappy to have this poor gentlewoman's money in my hands, knowing she is in distress. I hope you won't suppose this to be a contrivance of mine to lay you under contribu tion for the sum of 12 guineas. Such mean acts are beneath me. Little Maurice of Tarmons is gone over to pass the Winter in his family. If Mrs. Sullivan of Couliagh be still desirous to send over her Son, he can come with Maurice, and I hope he will shortly be provided for. I must, however, request his family will supply him with the necessary Money and Linen, and support him at least for a few years, as my Count O'Connell. 27 affairs won't at all admit of my making him a pension. I shall have very heavy charges on me to pay £300 stg. for my Genealogy, and to acquit as much more that my Cam paigns cost me ; therefore, however well inclined to assist my friends, have it utterly out of my power, circumstanced as I am. I wish also that he were physicked once or twice some time before he sett out. ... As for cloaths, a suit of common cloths or Camlet, if in warm season, will be sufficient, but a good store of common Linen will be very necessary. Cousin Bick Connell has brought over the dozen Shirts deposited for my use in the hands of Jerry McCrohan. Pray return our Good and respectable Mother my sincere thanks for that present, and offer her my most Sanguine Wishes for many and happy Years to come, and also to Sister Mary. [Our colonel uses "respectable" in its French sense of "venerable," or rather " much to be respected." I heard of a foreign lady who wrote to a friend of mine about the " re spectable Pope."] Accept also the most cordial wishes for your own preservation and happiness, my dearest Brother, which my heart shall fondly cherish to the end of Life. D. O'Connell. When our Balloons are brought to perfection, I shall fly over to see you. I think matters bear a cloudy aspect among you as well as in England. Our Cousin Morty lost his wife some time agone. She was carried off by a fever in a few days. She left him an only Daughter. Pray, is there any account from Mr. Houlahan, of Cadiz, about the money he was to have remitted to the Sullivans, his relations ? I am extreamly pleased with my New German family, and I hope they are equally so with me. I don't suppose Mr. Stoughton came here as yet, for I neither met nor heard of him. I shall shew him every civility in my power. Paris, March the 25,h, 1784. Dearest Brother, — I postponed a long time answering yours of the 22d 7bre, daily expecting an answer to the Letter. I immediately thereof wrote Mr. Houlahan, of Cadiz. As I've yet recd none, I must conclude my Letter to that gentle man did not get to hands, otherwise make no doubt I shu'd ere now have heard from him. The oppertunity my stay at Cadiz afforded me of being acquainted with both his person and character, during which he impressed me with a very favourable opinion of his honour and principles, lays me under an obligation of doing him justice, however strong the appearances may be against him. I write him a second Letter by this day's post, and hope his answer will be agreable 28 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. to my prepossession in his favour. I shall be careful to communicate the contents to you. I shall also demand leave of absence for Little Maurice until the 1st of October next, tho' a favour not easily to be obtained without the Loss of his Emoluments. Surely he can be no Stranger to it after so long a stay in this Country. I was quite averse to his going over, but gave him my eon- cent on his assuring me it was the earnest desire of his friends, and most particularly of his Aunt Julia — a plea which I suppose he made use of to ensure my compliance. It's, however, very necessary that his friends send him back clear of Debt, otherwise he must be very unhappy with embarrassed circumstances, nor indeed shall I have it any way in my power to extricate him. Let him bring over young Sullivan, our Nephew, and embark, if possible, for Bochelle, as the family he lives in is now removed to the Isle of Bhe, quite in that Neighbourhood. Shu'd no oppertunity offer for either of s" Parts, he is to go to Bordeaux, as the nearest, or to Nantz, Lorient, etc., the more distant. Sullivan will find his berthe ready on his arrival. I have already settled that point, and as it was necessary to give in his Christian name, which I know not, took upon me to confirm him under the names of Eugene Morty.1 He'll take his choice when he arrives. I hope he is of a good manly turn and figure, otherwise he wu'd not do in the berthe he is to occupy. I also flatter me his family will provide him with a good Stock of Linen, and at least £25 or £30 stg. ; all expences defrayed for to equip him decently, after which a very moderate allowance of £8 or £10 a year for some time will be sufficient for his support. Our friend Tom FitzMaurice will, I hope, soon be over, and in good circumstances. There's nothing of the marriage you mention for him. I make no doubt but he'll yearly continue to remitt his sister £10 or £12. I am informed by Chevr Mahony that she has been at length payed by Mr. M. I received the Linen by the hands of Bick Connell, of the County Clare. Mr. Dominick Trant, the Late Member for Dingle, is now here, and a very genteel, well-informed gentle man. He has expressed to me a very particular friendship and esteem for you. I've neither seen nor heard anything of Mr. Stoughton. I yesterday received a Letter from our Cousin Morty, of Germany, of the 8th instant. He is to take a tour to England this Summer, and to come over here in Sepr and October. I wish his Brother Dan would patch up for him their Mother's 1 " Eugene Morty's " real name was Mark (Marcus), and he contrived to be let bear it. Count O'Connell. 29 genealogy, the want of which disqualifies his little Daughter to be vested with a Benefice of near £40 a year, at the gift and disposal of her Uncle. I dare say Morty would cheer fully discharge the Expenses attending it, in the same form with that you sent me, as in Germany 1 they are not so nice in the proofs they require as they are here, within some years.- I hope you can't doubt, my Dr Brother, of my most sanguine wishes to see you and my mother ; but, circumstanced as I am at present, it is not easily to be attained, as my con nections and affairs here require a constant attendance, at least for some time. Be assured that as soon as these obstacles are removed, I shall be most eager to procure my self a happiness dear to my heart, and which I most im patiently long for. This winter has been most cruel here, and, indeed, all over Europe. I have often reflected with Sorrow and Anguish on the misery of the poor in your country, but flatter me that the spirit of humanity and charity, almost universally diffused thro' all classes of men, has also softened the hearts of the Irish gentry and nobility in favour of the poor. In this country they have given the most edifying example and instances of this spirit of Beneficence, from the Monarch down to the lowest class of citizens. 1 German heralds have ever attached great importance to quarters ; the French were more particular about filiation. The statutes of the Knights of Malta compelled the German candidate to prove sixteen quarters ; the French postulant for admission was asked for only eight quarters. The ladies-in-waiting, etc., to her Majesty of Austria, and to the Archduchesses of the house of Hapsburg, have still to prove their "Seize Quartiers;" if this rule prevailed in England, her Majesty of Great Britain would find it difficult to supply herself with maids of honour. It is evident that Baron O'Connell had to prove either eight or sixteen quarters for his daughter. In the one case he would have to prove the gentle blood, and produce the arms of his four grandparents ; in the other, of his eight great-grandparents, his wife contributing a similar share. The baron's quarters on his father's side were O'Connell, Segrave,* Con way of Bodhryddan, and Roche of Dundine. This he seems to have known, as he confines his questions to his mother's people. Count O'Connell, who in France was in no danger of being asked for his " Seize Quartiers," did not realize that his small cousin was being sub jected to the most rigorous ordeal that heralds have ever imposed upon suffering humanity. Sir Bernard Burke ("General Armoury," preface, p. 23) says, "This [Seize Quartiers] is and was at all times considered a very rigorous ordeal, requiring often most laborious searches among archives and sources difficult of access, as well as condemning numbers to exclusion." — [R. O'C] * Recti Segerson. 30 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. Farewell, Dearest Brother. My Duty and love to My Dr Mother, Sister Mary, etc. Yours during life, D. O'Connell. I've given in our nephew Sullivan seventeen years old. I shall acquaint you of the Abbe Griffin's answer with regard to Doctor Connell's Legacy when he comes back. All friends here are well. Chevalier Mahony desires his best comp*8 to you. Pray, have you given Mrs. Burke the 12 guineas for my ace', and what way have you devised for my paying them to you ? Little Maurice and our nephew Sullivan must be careful to be at their respective Berthes the 1st of October next. Now, we must not suppose that, by " patching up a genealogy," our colonel wants to disrespect the pedigree of Mrs. O'Connell, of Tarmons, an O'Sullivan of a most honour able branch — sister to Murty Oge O'Sullivan Beare, Mr. Froude's Murty Oge. What he means is that in Austria a traditional pedigree of five or six descents, compiled from local sources and vouched by neighbouring gentry and clergy, would be accepted in lieu of one from the Heralds' Office, vouched by peers and Members of Parliament. The O'Sullivan Beares, being a "princely family," could be quite easily traced in the great clan pedigrees still in existence, but it was not likely that people on the remote Cork and Kerry borderland could have access to these documents. Paris, April the IO'", 1784. Dr. Brother, — I recd two Days since your Letter of the 12th Ult°, with the receipt of Mrs. Burke at top for the sum of 12 Louis d'or, which sum I shall at present postpone remitting you, as you're so kind to permit, being rather straightened for money thro' the expences caused me by procuring my gene alogy. I hope you may be convinced hereafter from Expe rience, that my perseverance in that measure was not so Injudicious as you thought. I then shall Exult in the only instance of a Sagacity superior to yours, which, indeed, in spite of my propensity to Self-love, I do attribute but to a more perfect acquaintance with the maxims and opinions of this Country. I am rejoiced Mr M has at length, tho' ungracefully, acquitted his Debt to Mrs. Burke. Her Brother, Colonel FitzMaurice, is daily expected to France. Statia x has 1 O'Callaghan calls it Ste. Eustache. Colonel FitzMaurice had been made governor of the island after its capture by the French, in which he took a brilliant part. Count O'Connell. 31 been some time since given up to the Minheers, altho' reserved andpreservedbythe arms of their generous ally, whose modera tion and religious fidelity to his allies and generosity to his Enemies have, I think, most conspiciously shone forth in this last war; therefore, I pray you, no ungenerous reflections on the Mounsieurs. Our Nephew Eugene [future Colonel Eugene McCarthy, whose niece's letter I quoted] and the two Barrys are lately arrived from the West Indies. His health, and that of the elder Barry, have suffered some alteration from the influence of that Climate, which the balsamick air of France will soon restore. I let you know in my Last that I shu'd take the necessary steps to procure Little Maurice a conge untill the first of 8to Next, but he must be punctually at his Colledge on that Day, otherwise the whole of his Emoluments during his absence will be irrevocably lost to him ; therefore it stands upon him to be exact. Moreover, I solemnly declare I shall never more .humour those pettish conceits of Sauntering away time in Idleness and Ease at home. That's a Mode I abhor, because it's quite inconsistent with the spirit of activity and applica tion which makes young people recommendable. I've been obliged to promice the superior of the Colledge to call over our nephew Sullivan immediately ; therefore he is not to wait for Maurice, but ship off for St. Martin's Isle de Bhe, Bo- chelle, Cognac, Bochefort, Bordeaux, or Nantes, as soon as possible, to join his fellow students at Isle de Bhe, otherwise this Burse will be Lost, if he does not join the Colledge before the end of July at latest. I have also wrote again to Mr. Daniel Houlahan, of Cadiz, and when I've an answer shall inform you of the contents. I shall write by this Day's post to Mr. M. C, but fear it will be to very little purpose, as he contrives so as never to be Master of a Shilling. I shall join the German Legion, please God, in June or July. Address to me as usual. Mr. Trant, whom I mentioned to you in my last, is parted for Ireland. I was much the admirer of his extensive knowledge and genteel manners. Mr. Stoughton I've not at all heard of. Farewell, Dearest Brother. I most fondly and respectfully embrace my Mother and Sister. Yours most unalterably During Life, D. O'Connell. Pray have I no share in the remembrance of Brother Morgan ? How does Sister Nancy, the Baldwin family, the Widow O'Leary, etc. ? Be so good as to mention me to them all,, and tell me something of 'em and all our family, nominally and circumstantially, in your next. 32 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. Sclestat, July the 12'\ 1784. Dearest Brother, — I arrived here the 25th Last Month, and shall remain with my friend there untill the Latter Days of Sepbre. I reckon I shall be back at Paris towards the 1st of October. I have taken Little Maurice from the Colledge he had been in hitherto, and have brought him into my own, in order to attend with more care and success to his conduct and his information. ' If he applies and turns out well, I have sure hopes to provide better for him in some years ; his fortune will depend entirely on his beheaviour, his applications and parts. Nothing on my side shall be wanting. I wish his friends at home cu'd supply him with the money sufficient to pay any debts he may have left, and to Equip him after de fraying the expence of his journey to come over. The heavy sum I've been forced to pay for my pedigree incumbers me, if they throw the whole charge of his Expences andEquippment on me. However, if they don't do the needful on this occasion, I shall ; for I will rather Streighten myself than see him want, or appear in a manner unbecoming him and me. I flatter myself you will, in that case, Share the burthen with me, and go half in the expence of supporting him. If his friends cannot, pray settle matters so as to have him arrive at Paris the 10th of 8bre [October] next, at Latest. Let him, on his arrival, immediately write me a billet to the following address : a Monsieur Le Comte O'Connell, chez Madame de Bellocq, rue de Conde la Maison Entre les Deux Notaires j1 and send me the Billet by a messenger. I shall immediately go to take him where he shall lodge, and the rest shall be my business. Let him Embark, if possible, for Havre ; if not, let him Embark for Dunkerque, or any other port on the Channel ; but if no oppertunity should offer for any of these ports, then Let him ship for Nantes, Bochelle, or Bordeaux, and immediately take the Coach for Paris, and shu'd he arrive in the Latter place before my return there, that is before the first of 8bre, Let him address himself immediately to Doctor FitzGibbons, a very worthy Countryman, whom I much Esteem. He lives at Paris, rue du petit Lyon pres Celle de 1 It is evident from these addresses, and is perhaps worth noting, that the numbering of houses did not obtain in Paris, a.d. 1784. Mr. C. A. Ward, in Notes and Queries (6th Ser., viii. 466), quoting Cunningham's "Handbook," says that numbering was introduced into London in 1764, and that the houses in New Burlington Street were the first, and those in Lincoln's Inn Fields the second, numbered. Another correspondent (6th Ser., ix. 99) says that Lincoln forestalled London; that certain houses there were numbered as early as 1748, and are still known as " Number Houses " in memory of the innovation. — [R. O'C] Count O'Connell. 33 Tournon, faubourg St. Germain, la Maison a Cote du Caffe de l'Herisson. Let him but give this address to a Hackney Coachman, and he will immediately carry him thither with his trunk. I hope this indication is clear Enough, and pray take care, Dr Brother, that he sett out early enough. The last leave of absence I procured him has been obtained with very great difficulty, and with the Loss of his Emoluments from the Date thereof untill the first of 8"™ next, so by all means let him be at Paris for that time, otherwise it may be attended with much Difficulty to get him any share at all of his Emolument during the time of his absence. I hope our nephew O'Sullivan is e'er now sett out for his Colledge at St. Martin's, Island of Bhe. I yesterday received a Letter from the Superior of his house, complaining strongly of his Delay. I wish you Kerry Gentlemen would be more punctual to the fixed rules of our Colledges, that must be strictly followed to a precise Day. Tom FitzMaurice, our Cousin, is arrived safe at Bordeaux. I received letter from him two Days since. I Dare say he will his ... in the best manner in his power. He is to come up to Paris. I shall see him on my return there. HtMaas acquired great honour in the command of his Beg' in the West Indies, and is very justly considered a most deserving officer, and a man of the most honourable principles. Farewell, Dearest Brother. Pray attend carefully to what I mention with regard to Maurice and to O'Sullivan, and Let them set out, the Latter as soon as possible, and the former also, so as to be at Paris the 1st of October, or the 10th at Latest. My Duty and most tender love to my Mother, most cordial Affections to my Sister, etc. Yours during Life, D. O'Connell. Abbe Moriarty's nephew has ere now reca the Six Guineas ... [a line and a half torn] . . . some time since to Mr. Mathew Conway, urging him to assist his poor Brother Tom. He has not thought proper to make an answer, so that I fear nothing is to be expected from that side. I've recd some proposals of marriage with a Lady of quality, posses'd, I am told, of a handsome fortune. As I've never seen her, I gave no positive answer. I am, in reality, little inclined to matrimony. I think the true Soldier shu'd form no Engagement that may tend to soften him too much, and Endear life to him, as he shu'd be always ready to part with it when honour commands. VOL. II. d 34 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. Paris, 9"" the 20,h, 1784. Dear Brother,— Your Letter of the 20th August I recd on my return to this place, and Ever Since Various circum stances have prevented my answering it. I send you in closed Moriarty's Beceipt for 6 Louis d'ors, which have been remitted him many months since. According to your Commands, Maurice Jeffrey arrived here last Month, and, after spending a fortnight with me, went down to join the Begiment to Belfort, in Alsace, where it now is. I was tolerably pleased with his figure, but found, as you observe, a good deal of the torpid, heavy disposition of his mother's family about him. I hope he will shake it off as he grows in years and reason. I shall do everything in my power to give him an oppertunity of improving his Natural dis positions, and, tho' Narrow the limits of my fortune, Shall still Endeavour to support him. Maurice,1 son of Charles Phillip, who is in Paris these 2 or 3 years on one of Dr. Connell's burses, now declines the Church, therefore must relinquish said burse ; therefore, if his friends intend sending over the son of Jeffrey Maurice of Tarmons, who you tell me is fit to fill it, they must previously procure a certificate and a demand from the Bishop of Kerry, who, it seems, is Vested with a right to present to those Burses in Virtue of the Will. That which had been heretofore filled by Doctor Connell's Son has been Disposed of in favour of some other person whose name I forget, on the recommendation of yr Kerry Bishop. There's now another article to be settled between you all, Viz. what you intend doing with Maurice, son of Charles Philip, who absolutely declines the Church. He wishes to study Physick; but then, will his friends support him? Let them but give him 30n a year between them all for 2 or 3 years; I promised him to add ten pounds a year to said Sum, besides some assistance in cloaths, so as to enable him, with the addition of said yearly allowance of thirty pounds from his father and Cousins, to continue his Studies. I wish you would be so kind immediately to acquaint them of what I here mention, and Let me know their final resolution. If they promise to Support the young man, then for Heaven's sake let them be exact and punctual, otherwise he must be in great misery, and, of course, will fall on me, as I can't let him Starve. I think in honour some Attention should be paid to the free efforts I so willingly exert to assist our poor relations, nor indeed shall I be able to continue always to strain myself to the degree I have hitherto done. I shall Expect an immediate answer on this Subject. 1 Maurice Charles Phillip, future British general and Colonial governor. Count O'Connell. 35 Cousin Tom FitzMaurice, who is now here and in good health, desires his affectionate wishes to you all. He intends a very generous exertion in favour of Mrs. Burke, his Sister, and only prays you to Lett him know which you think may conduce more to her advantage and that of her family — to make her a remittance of three hundred pounds ster., with which sum she may purchase a little property, or make her a yearly and punctual remittance of thirty pounds. He is willing to do either, according to what you shall point out as most Eligible. He is apprehensive least the money, when once remitted, may be spent unaccountably ; and, if so, Dis tress must needs Ensue, nor cu'd he afford any further relief when once he had given so considerable a sum as three hundred pounds sterling In short, your Sentiment on this matter shall be the rule of his conduct, therefore pray be explicit and precise on the Subject. I am sorry to tell you Chevalier de FitzJames complain'd to me that our Nephew Sullivan was heavy and of an ordinary figure. I requested you w'd make a choice of those of our relations you send over for the Colledge. I am sorry you forgot or neglected it; such things have often consequences you don't attend to, such as hindering me from being able to procure places for others, and, besides, without an Extra ordinary Degree of merit, a bad figure makes an impression not Easily overcome, therefore very unfavourable to the success of the person unfortunately Endowed with it. I wish young O'Sullivan may turn out well, but I am in formed his Brother Dan was much better qualified to suc ceed. Perhaps he is rather too old to begin. Farewell, Dear Brother. My most tender Duty to my mother, and Love to Sister Mary, Brother Morgan, etc. Yours sincerely and most Affectionate, D. O'Connell. My address is : Chez Monsieur de La Borde, fermier general, place du Carousel, a Paris. The Marriage I mentioned to you in my last I found, on close examination, to offer very Little immediate Advantage. It's true there are prospects very many, but these very remote, and as immediate Enjoyment will be necessary, circumstanced as I am, I declined the profferred Match, therefore still remain your Brother Batchelor as usual. Addressed : Maurice O'Connell, Esq., Darinane, near Tralee, Kerry County, Ireland. The interesting letters of the year 1785 may be styled educational. The penal laws precluding all Catholic schoolB 36 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. at home, boys learned the rudiments from hedge school masters, and the classics and French from the priests, who of necessity were educated abroad, and who generally lived about in the houses of the gentry. While it was yet unsafe to appoint regular parish priests, it frequently happened that a friar ministered to a large district, having his head quarters in some gentleman's house, and visiting the sur rounding country on his pony, putting up where duty or inclination called him. There are many quaint traditions of holy, simple old men, the resident friars, who, early in the last century, made their head-quarters with my dear husband's ancestors, both at Darrynane and at Barry's Court, in County Cork, though I believe that Father Grady, mentioned in many old books about the Liberator, was not a friar. Scores of similar anecdotes abound near all the old houses of Catholic gentry. For any sort of proper syste matic education the boys had to go abroad. There were Irish family burses everywhere through Europe, and a pretty keen competition between founders and their kinsfolk, even to the extremest limits of Kerry cousinship, and the bishops, who, as Dr. Moylan justly expresses it, absolutely required these endowments to supply priests to the poor districts. Dr. Moylan was a remarkable man. He belonged to a wealthy and well-connected mercantile family in Cork, and was educated in Paris, where he was the intimate friend of the Abbe Edgeworth. He was a favourite of the Archbishop of Paris, and refused brilliant preferment abroad to go and work in the back slums of Cork ; was thence sent as bishop to Kerry, and, on the apostasy of Lord Dunboyne, was made Bishop of Cork. He had a great deal to do with the revival of female Catholic education by Nano Nagle,1 and kept his people quiet when the French Bevolutionists were hovering about the coasts of Munster. The Government entertained the highest opinion of him, and he was presented with the freedom of the city of Cork by the old Tory corporation. He was a very handsome, dignified man, looking very like a Louis the Fourteenth French prelate of the stateliest type. 1 Foundress of the Presentation Order, now widely diffused. Count O'Connell. 37 The contest of argument between him and Hunting Cap is very good reading. Years later, my hero is very indignant with the use made by the gentlemen of the name of O'Connell of their patronage. All these private endowments in France, and I believe in Spain, are now swept away, and the funds are applied to the maintenance of clerical students in general.1 Paris, March the 20th, 1785. Dear Brother, — I recd both your Letters of the 20th and 21th January, which I shu'd have answered earlier, but that Cousin Tom FitzMaurice wrote to you, Letting you know neither he nor I had it in our power to do anything for your Mr. Eager, of Killarney. He is too far advanced in years to enter into the Military Career, and no Colonel wu'd for that reason receive him in his corps ; besides that obstacle, which cannot be removed, it becomes impossible to Engross the whole of the vacant Employments for County Kerry People only, and, indeed, there's already no proportion in that line, for there are 3 Kerry people in the Irish Begts for one of any other County in Ireland. It gives me great regret not to have it in my power to answer the expectations of the Widow Eager. I beg you'le be pleased to assure her on't. However friendly my dispositions be to assist and pro mote the indigent class of our relations, I see with reluctance I shall be henceforth under a necessity to Cease my acts of friendship towards them, for want of having it in my power to support them in this Country when unassisted from home. The first years in a Military Life require in all Countries the support of Parents. All those of our relations who have been placed on my recommadation within some years past, have remained entirely dependent on my narrow revenue, and, notwithstanding my own calls and Emergencies, I've done for them far beyond my means, but sunt certideaeque finis, etc. I must, therefore, beg leave to request no more shall be expected, for it's not reasonable to require that, after the many hardships and dangers I've gone thro' these 24 years past, I should renounce every Enjoyment, nay, to what my Station decently requires, in favour of relations whose parents refuse them the Sacrifice of the extravagancies which put it out of their power to support them. 1 I hear that family endowments still exist in Belgium. Burse, i.e. bourse, "purse," was the technical term for the endowment sufficient to maintain one student. 38 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. I cannot express to you what trouble I've been at to procure a place for the son of our Cousin Charles Philip, on account of his age ; the unsteady temper of this youth, whose beheaviour in other respects is very good, is now the Cause of his not having a Company in the Dutch Service, which wu'd be worth him 150 Ster. per Annum. I've pro cured a Like advantage for our Nephew Eugene, and for Cousin Bick O'Connell, and expect to do the like for young David Barry, of Killarney, thro' the channel of my old friend Maillebois, who is gone to Holland to take the com mand of their Army. I was to have gone with him on very advantageous terms to that Country, but was refused per mission from our Court. I two years since offered Charles Philip's Son to get him a Commission, but he was then quite bent on the Church ; had he accepted it that time, he wu'd have acquired within the space of two years a tincture of the service which might Authorize me to call for a Company for him, which I shu'd be certain of obtaining. Such unde- termin'd fluctuating minds have, no doubt, caused in early periods the ruin of our Country, and I've ever constantly remarked that disposition among the Irish everywhere. Cousin Tom FitzMaurice wrote to you about the money he intends for his sister, so refer you to his Letter. Fare well, Dr Brother. Pray let Brother Morgan know I recd his obliging Letter of ye 18th Last Month, and shall with pleasure correspond with him from time to time. I am sorry to find the narrow prejudices of our Country have the power to biass so enlarged and solid a judgement as yours in your political reflections on this Country. Be assured that if the quarrell between the Emperor and the Dutch shu'd come to be Serious, that our Court shu'd take an active part therein, such a measure on their side shall proceed from no other motive than that of protecting an oppressed neighbour and ally, and supporting the balance of power in Europe. His Majesty has most conspiciously displayed his moderation and disinterested principles in the Course of the last war, and he wu'd be wanting in what he owes the honour and dignity of his Crown were he not to support the treaty of Munster, which he guarranteed as well as the other powers of Europe. Their lethargick indifference in a matter of such importance can be no rule for him ; therefore do us some justice ; we want and seek no increase of power. Farewell once more, Dr Brother. The burses occupy most of the next set of letters. I knew an old doctor educated on this O'Cqnnell endowment. Count O'Connell. 39 Paris, May the 29, 1785. Dear Brother, — I send you enclosed a Letter addressed to you by old Colonel James Conway, who, as you'll see by perusing it, wishes to procure one of Doctor Tim Connell's burses for Kitt Conway, his Nephew. The enclosed fully explains to you the steps to be taken for that purpose, so I need not enter into a more minute detail about it. I am persuaded you'll with pleasure second the kind view of the old Colonel in favour of his Nephew, and procure the young man one of those Burses, which is now filled by one Duckett from Killarney, who, it seems, has no title to it. Be so kind as to send me over your nomination signed by your Bishop, who I don't suppose will refuse it; but shu'd he, you then will only have to act as explained in the enclosed Letter I send ye. I part this night for my Begiment. You'll find my address immediately underneath, and I shall expect the pleasure of hearing from you as soon as you've settled the above affair. Tom FitzMaurice parted the 26'11 for Bochefort, whence he is to embark for Cayenne, where he is charged with a Military Commission from the Minister of the Navy, and thence to proceed to Gaudeloupe to take the Command of his Begiment. I don't suppose he will arrive at the latter place before December next, as the affair he is charged with at Cayenne will require some months' stay at that place. He parts in very good health, and leaves me the care of his affairs during his absence, with directions how to dispose of his small fortune in case of Death — a circumstance always to be feared in our Line of Life. He also empowers me to make an annual remittance to his sister, which I shall be very punctual in discharging. Said remittance to commence next year. The Nephew you insist he shall place here he has also thrown on me. Pray let me know his age in yr next, and I shall give you directions when and how to send him over, and endeavour to provide for him as soon as possible. The son of Charles Phillip is provided for. I sent him down to his Colledge and previously rigged him out, and gave him 10 guineas to defray his journey and the first Expences. I've recommended him to his superiors, who are all my friends, therefore I've put him in a way of doing as well as cu'd be expected. The two Barrys, his cousins german, will direct him how to act. He cu'd not possibly fall into better hands, and they are both exceeding good subjects, studious, prudent, clever, and well informed. 40 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. Farewell, my Dearest Brother. My tenderest wishes to your wife and Morgan, etc. Everything denotes that we shall have no war this time. How long peace may continue I can't foresee, for altho' our Monarch's equity and pacific disposition be conspicious to the last degree, still the protection he owes his allies may compel him one day to exert his power and influence in their support. The universal esteem and the Love of all his subjects ensure him every exertion on their part to sup port him when needful. The military will cheerfully spill the last drop of their blood for his service, and no one more cherfully than yr fond brother, D. O'Connell. Bick Connell and our nephew Eugene [McCarthy] are in Holland, where I have been so happy as to get them Com panies. I expect shortly to hear from them. My address is : A Monsieur, Monsieur le Comte O'Connell, Mestre de Camp, Commandant du Begt. de Salm-Salm, chez Mr. de la Borde, fermier General, Place du Carrousel, a Paris. The above-mentioned Mr. de la Borde will forward any Letters wherever I be. I most tenderly embrace you all. Strange that the writer should entertain such sanguine notions about royal popularity and devotion of the soldiers so near the Bevolution ! He must, doubtless, have greatly shared the infatuation of the nobility with whom he mixed, and who persistently ignored the volcano beneath their feet. The following is the missive mentioned as being enclosed in the preceding letter : — The Abbe O'Connor to Count [I presume Conway]. My Dear Count, — I've just returned from Ermonville, where I was obliged to go last Monday about four o'clock in the evening, which deprived me of the pleasure of sending you the instructions I had the honour to promise you about Doctor Connell's Bourses. The reason Mr. Kelleher [Abbe Kelleher, head of the Irish College, and a very able and dis tinguished man in his day] alledges for not granting Kitt [Conway] the vacant Bourse is that the subject who pre sents himself for any of those Bourses must be named by two of the O'C. families and the Bishop of Kerry, and Con sequently that he can do nothing for him, as he did nolj get their nomination. He says it is his business only to receive those that are sent to him by the Nomination in due Form. Now, my Dear Count, the surest method of succeed- Count O'Connell. 41 ing — I mean of getting one of those two Bourses, as they both may be deemed vacant, one Duckett having no right to the one he enjoys — is to get Count O'Connell to write to his Brothers Maurice and Morgan, and give Kitt a Nomination as their immediate relation. This Nomination must be pre sented to the Bishop, and if either of the two gentlemen design writing a couple of Lines to him on that subject, he won't refuse signing it ; but if he does, let the Nomination be sent with a Certificate of the Bishop's refusing to sign it, and the Chancellor of the University will put Kitt in posses sion of one of the Bourses. It must be specified in the nomination that Kitt is now a Student in Paris, and a fit and proper subject for to enjoy said Bourse. In case there should be e'er a child of the O'Connells to come on one of the Bourses, that won't hinder Kitt of getting t'other, as the Bishop said if he should find a relation fit for it, he would take it away from Duckett. Here's all that's to be done at present; it's needless to call for dimissaries for Kitt untill th' affair about the Bourses be decided, for, if he enters the Irish Community, he won't want any. I wrote to John Egan to make him speak to the Bishop about this matter, and told him it's the Gout hinders you from writing to both one and the other, and you begg him to let his Lordship know that it's no favour you want from him ; that it's a matter of strict justice, from which you are Confident he will never deviate. As I only arrived last Night, I had not time to assure Chevr Butler of my respects. I hope, Sir, you have not forgot speaking or writing to him. I have the honour to be, with profound respect, and zeal, and attach ment, and affection, My Dear Count, Your most obedient and most humble serv*, O'Connor, Prt. April the 1st, 1785, Au College de Rheims, Rue des 7 voyes. Bishop Moylan to Maurice O'Connell. Dear Sir, — I have been so much pressed by my occupa tions since I had the pleasure of receiving a letter from Mr. Egan that I had not the leisure to answer it as soon as I would have wished. Doctor Connell's will specifies in the 8th article that the Bishop should not appoint the subjects to fill the Burses without first informing himself of two gentlemen of his name if they be qualified ; but I presume the qualifications on which he was to be informed by said gentlemen regard only the regulations set down in the 9th article of the Will 42 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. immediately succeeding, which particularise the different Conditions that should always be prefered in the Disposal of the Burses, with whom the gentlemen of his name being acquainted, they must be the properest persons to inform the Bishop conserning them, and prevent his being imposed upon. But when no one of the family mentioned or of his name be found "qualified according to the act of founda tion," I really judged the Bishop to be the most competent Judge of the Dispositions necessary in the Subject to occupy the Burse in order to fulfil the Intentions of the Worthy and Charitable Founder, wch was no other than to procure pious and able Ministers to carry on the great Cause of Bellgion with Success in this poor Diocese, and that such also were the Sentiments and Intentions of the Doctor I think may be inferr'd from the act of foundation, wherein it is expressly said, "that should it happen that no Belative of the Founder, either on his Father's or Mother's side, be found qualify'd to profit of the foundation; in this Case the said M. Connel wills and understands that two Subjects of the Co. Kerry of his name, if to be had qualified, should be admitted, and in failure of them any two other subjects reccom- mended by the Bishops to the Administrators of the Foundation. However, I am sure we shall never have any difference on this head ; after the present appointment I trust there will never be wanting subjects well qualify'd, of the good Doctor's Belatives or of his name, to occupy his Burses, and should it happen during my Administration that in failure of such I should be under the disagreable necessity of nominating thereto other Subjects, it's my Intention not to appoint any one without first consulting the Bespectable Gentlemen of the name, who I am convinced wish nothing more than to see the charitable and pious intentions of the late worthy Doctor duly complied with, by the appointment of such subjects as by their Talents and Dispositions may be a Credit to the foundation, an honour to the Diocese, and by their ability and zeal promote the great Cause of true Beligion which the good Doctor had so tenderly at heart. I beg to be remembered to Mrs. Connell and to your vener able mother, and am, with much esteem and regard, Dear Sir, Yr affectionate humble Serv*, Ts. Moylan. Killarney, y° 13th May, 1785. This letter very clearly specifies that the bishop will, whenever it is possible, apply the burses to train up priests ; Count O'Connell. 43 and the colonels, the "worthy doctor's" kinsmen, are very much bent on training up batches of future colonels. Hunting Cap, after getting Abbe O'Connor's letter con cerning old Colonel James Conway's young nephew, Kitt Conway, thus addresses the president, the Abbe Kelleher. I copied it from a paper endorsed, " Copy of my letter to Abbe Keleher, Munster, Superior at Paris, relative to Dr. Tim O'Connell's Burses, and with the copy of the letter I formerly wrote Dr. Moylan on same subject, and his answer." Maurice O'Connell to Abbe Kelleher. Darrinane, 26lh August, 1785. Bevd. Sir, — Though I have not the favour of an acquaintance with you, yet as acting Executor to the Will of the late Dr O'Connell, of Saint Denis, you'll allow me, I hope, to break in upon you on the following occasion — that gentleman having expressly provided in his Will that no person should occupy any of his Burses till he was first reccommended and approved off by a Certain Number of the gentlemen of his Name in this Country, and also by the Bishop of Kerry. I was about 13 Months since much surprized att hearing that Doctor Moylan, our Bishop (a prelate I have a high respect and esteem for) had, without consulting any of the Name or paying any attention to the provisions made for them by the Testator, some time before reccommended a Mr Duckett to one of the Burses then Vacant, who in Consequence obtained and occupied it. I soon after waited on Dr Moylan, mentioned to him my opinion on the part he had taken, assured him I would Support the right of the gentlemen of the Name and prevent to the utmost of my power any Infringement of the letter and spirit of the Will, and that I would directly set on and commence a proceeding for the Expulsion of Mr Duckett, tho' I had no personal objection to him. After some further Conversation on the Subject and some Compliments and obliging declarations of the Doctor towards the Gentlemen of the Name, he said his wish was to have the affair Amicably Settled, and if, after my return Home, I would at my Leisure look over the Copy I had of the Will and point out to him by letter any parts of it which would Support and- Substantiate my Claim, he wu'd cheerfully acquiesce and give up without further Contest or litigation, and hoped at the same time, as Mr Duckett was in possession, I would permit him to enjoy his Burse unmolested. To all of this I con- 44 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. cented, and Accordingly, in some Time after my return, Wrote to Doctor Moylan, and pointed out to him the 5th and. 10th paragraphs or Sections of the Will (to wch I also Beg leave to refer you), in which the right of the Gentlemen of the Name is most clearly and unambigiously Expressed and provided for. The Doctor's answer was not Indeed so Ex plicit and decisive as I had a right to expect, but still it was Such as left me Ample reason to Conclude he had agreed to the very fair and well-founded Claim I made, and I therefore have ever since rested satisfied, not suspecting there would be any future Variation, either on this or F. side of the Water, but by a letter of last Month from Paris I am informed that when Johnny Connell on his arrival there last April produced to you the Abbrobation of some Gentlemen of the Name and of this Country his ffavour, you seemed rather surprized, and said the Gentlemen of the Name of O'Connell had Nothing to doe with the Burses, the whole right of disposing of them being in the Bishop of Kerry only. This, Sir, is the reason for my Troubling you with this letter, and entering into a detail of what passed between Dr Moylan and me on the subject. You will at the same time permitt me to ask how you can reconcile the opinion you Expressed to the parts of the Will above referred to, within. Words always pass according to their plain simple meaning, and in my Idea the words of the Will must be uncommonly wrested to afford any other meaning than what I apply to them ; but perhaps you have not attentively con sidered that part of the Will. If you have, being always open to conviction, I shall be glad to hear the Construction you give It, as I have nothing more in view than to support and establish the intention of the Testator and the Spirit and Letter of the Will. The Ample Donations made by Doctor O'Connell demand attention to his Memory from his Countrymen, and more particularly of the Church, and it wu'd be peculiarly ungenerous to attempt to deprive the gentlemen of his Name of such powers as he has vested in them towards carrying them into Execution. Noe Station, noe Situation, noe specious pretensions can justify such a Measure, and from your general Character I may, I hope, promice myself you will not be induced to Countenance It. I shall request the ffavour of an answer directed to me att Darrinane, near Tralee, and am, etc., M. O'C. A Copy— A Monsieur, Monsr l'Abbe Kelleher, Superieur du Semi- naire Irlandois a Paris. Count O'Connell. 45 I observe that Hunting Cap freely uses 0 to O'Connell, as he had done since the relaxation of penal laws in 1782. Before that he avoided it. My hero was a complete educational agent for his connection. A scholar himself, he had a natural love of promoting learning, and, besides, to be well educated was the only chance for the young Irish boys ever to rise in the profession of arms. An elderly man, detained in idleness as a sort of prisoner at large under Napoleon's detenu enact ments, he turns to study and meditation as the purest sources of enjoyment. It is consoling to know that one eminently satisfactory small boy was coming out, though as yet he had not made the acquaintance of that phenomenon. During 1785, 1786, 1787, and 1788 he was busy with the regiment in the summer, and trying to push his fortunes in the winter in Paris. He had achieved an excellent position and a good income, and was full of hope for the future. Just as success seemed within his grasp, the Bevolution came, destroying his prospects, with those of thousands of others who served the old French monarchy. During these ' ' piping years of peace " we see him ever busy about his multitudinous Kerry kindred, though, as sometimes "the worm turns," the good colonel growls. However, he never leaves a boy in the lurch. The English reader will do well to skip these pages, but to the many descendants, lineal and collateral, of the last generation of officers of the Irish Brigade they have con siderable interest. The few letters of 1786 chiefly concern other people. Kind Bobin Conway's detailed account of his family strikes me as a valuable social study. It gives us the retired Irish officer married to a foreigner, and getting his children out into the world as foreigners. My hero expatiates with his usual energy on the enormities of the wild boys he has brought over, but has the consolation of one satisfactory small — alas ! very small — boy. However, the paragon, " little " Johnny Burke, is only a cousin, and he is the nephew and importation of his dear friend and first cousin, Colonel Tom FitzMaurice. 46 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. Paris, June the 24th, 1786. Dear Brother, — I wrote to you last April, and sent you enclosed a bill of 400 Livres, French, on Dublin, for the use of Mrs. Burke, sister to Colonel FitzMaurice. [Here follow additional details and directions about it.] I part the 27th for New Brisack, in Alsace, where my Begiment is now quartered. I shan't come to Paris before the beginning of 8bre. Please to address to me, Mestre de Camp, Commandant du Begiment de Salm-Salm, Au Neuf, Brisack, en Alsace. Your Letter can't fail coming to hands. Nothing new here since my Last. I requested you wu'd send over young Burke, the Nephew of Colonel FitzMaurice, and address him to Bobin Conway, at Bergues, to whom I've given the necessary directions about that youth. I again pray you'll send him off as soon as you conveniently can. Cousin Morty O'Connell is to come down from Germany to spend some Days with me at my Begiment. His affairs won't permit him to make a long stay, but tho' short I shall feel a real pleasure at seeing him. Maurice Jeffrey is at the Waters and is well. Eugene [McCarthy] is immediately to return to Walsh's regiment, where his place has all this time past been kept for him. [M. de Maillebois, as before stated, took Eugene McCarthy and Bickard O'Connell into the Dutch Service as Captains, with a pay of £150 a year.] I had a letter of the 13'11 February last from Cousin Tom FitzMaurice, from Cayenne. He was then in perfect health. All our friends on this side of the water are well, and desire to be remembered to you and their friends. Farewell, dear Brother. My Love and Duty to My Mother. I was happy to be informed by a letter from Doctor O'Connell, Jnr., that she looks as well as within these many years. Indeed, I most eagerly and impatiently wish to be able to see you and Embrace her and you. Be assured, whenever my affairs will permit me, I shall eagerly embrace that much wished for happiness. My best affections to my Sister, Brother Morgan, his wife, etc. Mathew Conway retired lately from the service with £90 stg. a year half Pay. He is much broken. Give Jemmy Baldwin my affectionate compliments. I am sorry to let him know that Mr. O'Leary, of Ultonia Begiment, in the Spanish Service, has lost, I believe, the whole of what he had been all his life labouring to spare on his pay, amounting to between £2 and £3,000 stg. He had loged this money with an English Merchant at Alicant, who failed, and thereby ruined the fabrick poor O'Leary had with so much pains and anxiety been so long erecting. Count O'Connell. 47 [A great-granddaughter of Mr. Baldwin's, Miss Byrne, of New Grove, has seen the actual letter with a Spanish superscription to Don Diego Baldwin, in which the poor gentleman tells his story, and even offers to let his friends have the greater share of the money, if he can recover it from the defaulter.] Pray let me know whether, in the course of next winter, you could send me over, by the way of Havre de Grace, a pair of stout handsome horses, about six years old, of a size suited to mine, and of a handsome figure, but rather stout than delicate, and what they may stand me in price. If you can procure them without any great trouble to you, and if they don't come in too dear, that is much above £30 apiece, I shall be bold to request you'll buy them for me, no matter what the Colour be, but let them be sound and active. Farewell once more, my Dearest Brother. I shall be impatient to hear from you. Ever your Affectionate Brother During Life, Danl. O'Connell. Cousin Mathew Conway assures me that his intention is to assist his Brother as much as shall be in his Power all his life [out of £90 half-pay], and wishes to know if Mr. Falvy has paid him the money Mathew Conway paid in Landrecies for his son Jerry. If he has not, I request you'll use all your influence with Mr. Falvy to prevail with him to act thus. 'Tis but an act of Justice, for which God will bless him, for no good action remains long unrewarded. [The grimly proper colonel, who never played, and whose potations were of the most limited, comes out in fierce denunciation of a pair of young scapegraces. He had previously denounced his nephew Eugene, who turned out so well, in very similar terms. In my capacity of veracious chronicler I give the passage as it stands, but would take it cum grano salis. The good colonel sometimes reminds me of Colonel Newcome, occasionally of Major Pendennis, but he denounces in the style of the Baron of Bradwardine.] Mathew complains to me very severely of his Nephew, the son of Tom, and of our Nephew Sullivan, who both got into Debt and spent their money unaccountably, and in very bad Company. I've given Sullivan notice that on the first fault he commits anew, I shall have him locked up in a Castle for a year and send him packing after, if he won't mend his conduct. The Chevr Mahony, his Colonel, will look sharp after him, and if he won't lead he'll make him Drive. [This is evidently intended to be read to the de- 48 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. linquent's mamma, for he continues in a milder strain.] Bemember me affectionately to Sister Norry and her family: They may be assured I only mean to make Mark a good subject and a Sober man, which I apprehend is no easy affair. The little nephew of good Colonel Tom FitzMaurice was duly sent out, and a most bright, lively, satisfactory, good little boy he proved in every point but one — he would not grow. Now, Count O'Connell's standard of the ideal per fection of an Irish boy required that he should seem likely to attain to at least six feet, of which Captain John Burke fell far short. In every other way he more than realized all expectations. Kind Bobin Conway and his good-hearted Flemish wife are, as ever, ready to receive and cherish his young Irish kinsmen when they land, raw shy boys, in a strange land of strange speech and strange ways, and Provi dence rewards him by a good provision for his own young folk. A boy of thirteen an officer already seems strange to us, until we realize that a sort of middy on land was a feature in the French Service. Bergues, St. Vainoix, July the 12'", 1786. My Dear Cousin, — Your letter of the 10th June was handed to me yesterday by Johnny Burke, who made his passage from Cork to my house in 6 days. He landed at Ostend, 31 miles from here, and I must own to you that it gave me Great pleasure to see so sprightly a Boy come from them parts. This day I forwarded your Letter to Comte O'Connell, who is now with his Begiment att Neuf Brisack, in Alsace, where he remains till the Latter end of August next. As you are kind enough to Ask for your friends and Belations in this Country, I shall begin with giving you an account of my Little ffamily. I am Blessed with five children, two sons and three daughters. My eldest Daughter, now 19 years old, is with me, after passing two years at the Best Convents in this Countrey for her Education. I must own that she has profitted, which pays all the expences I was att, tho' she cost me 1200 livres a year att the Abbaye Boyal of Markert, where none are reced but gentlemen's Children. My eldest Son, now 13 years old, is an officer in Berwick's Bince the 3rd of May last that he quitted me to join his Begiment, now in garrison at the Island de Bhee, 200 Leagues Count O'Connell. 49 from here, and don't expect to see him these two years to come. Had he not been made an officer so soon, my Intention was to send him to Cork for 12 Months to perfect him in the English, which must be his fate one day or another. My son by name Daniel, I propose for the Church, if God gives him grace to study well, and hope Comte O'Connell, who is his godfather, will get him a Benefice or a Canonship, which are Lucrative in this Country. As for the Daughters, they must wait God's mercy; they are more Expensive in this Country than boys. My Brother quitted the Service, and is retired to Angou- leme, the capital town of Angoumois, within 25 Leagues of Bochelle. Him I never expect to see, being so far off, more than 200 Leagues from hence, and that unfortunate — — [I omit clue to youth in question] that my poor Brother has sent to this Country has vexed me more than anything that ever happened to me. An old proverb, Not being fit for anything else, to make a soldier of him. The poor man, his father, must be blind to send him to me. That Burke was made an officer on his arrival, and was taken great care of by his Uncle, [who] gave him everything necessary for a young officer. My Brother absented himself from the Begiment for six weeks ; in his absence, this Bascal found means to run himself in debt 900 Livres during that time— a Scoundrel that never touched a penny in his Lifetime. In short, my Dear Maurice, I wish the Devil had him the first day I saw him. He stayed with me near Eight Months. I gave him every day five different masters to make something of him, but such a dunce was never framed. My Brother is still att the Begiment, waiting to find an occation of sending him to the E. Indies or some outlandish country where he will never more see him. General Conway is now at Bath for his health. 'Tis time. He was in a fair way of making money at the Cape of Good Hope, but General Conway is such a man that spends a deal of money and nobody knows how ; he owed, I am told, on his return to Europe 70 thousand Livres. His Brother is much more prudent and much a better Country Man. He has done a great deal for his Cousins, the sons of Ned Conway. I cannot tell you at this moment where his son is. This is a long account I give you of your Belations. I finish that, and come to the point of thanking you for your repeated Civilities to my poor Brother and his family, as also I thank your Brother Morgan and Dan11 Connell, who, the poor man tells me, are always kind to him. God Almighty may ever Bless you and them, and continue your VOL. II. E 50 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. health and happiness, which is the greatest treasure any man can expect. I mean health — a thing I feel much these years past, tho', thanks to the Almighty, find myself better these 15 months past. It makes me happy to hear that your Mother and Lady are in perfect health. Be pleased to assure them of my love and Bespect, and am for Ever, my Dear Cousin, Your Afft. Kinsman, B. Conway. P.S. — My wife and family prays their Love to you and yours. When you see my poor Brother, tell him I have nothing to write to him, but tell him the conduct of in this country. Johnny Burke is to stay with me till I hear from Comte O'Connell, which will take up 20 days. I am almost sure he will find him in the Colledge at Dunkerque for a Couple of Years. When that is decided, I will gett the Boy to write to his father. The following letter explains itself : — Count O'Connell to Maurice O'Connell, of Darrynane. Paris, November the 5th, 1786. Dear Brother, — Nothing cu'd have been more unseason able than the arrival of Mr. Eager, Jnr., at this moment, as there's no possibility of getting him a genteel post, all being filled or promised for two or three years to come. I therefore, after having done, tho' to no purpose, everything in my power to serve him, advised he shu'd go to Spain, as he was determined to pursue his design. Altho' I had made him quite sensible that he shu'd relinquish it, return home, and take to an other course of life, my opinion had no weight — he was resolved and wu'd push on ; so I gave him an attesta tion, signed by General Thomas Conway and me, certifying that Mr. Eager is our relation, a gentleman, and requesting the friendship and kindness of our Countrymen in Spain for said young man. Both Mr. Conway and I are known, either in person or by character, amongst all the chief and field officers of our Nation in that Service, and we flatter ourselves they will pay some regard to our reccommendations. Mr. Eager is to write to me from that Country for any other acts of friendship he may want from me, wch I shall most readily comply with. It gives me much concern. I cu'd not do better, but then I had previously given notice that his age wu'd be an obstacle ; indeed, it was at this moment impossible to give him a place any way. I think it very imprudent to come over such uncertainties ; for was I not here, I know not what Mr. Eager cu'd have thought of doing, and it wu'd be Count O'Connell. 51 but fair to ask my opinion of matters before they would be put in Execution. This neglect I very well felt, and shu'd have very obstinately resented had I not received your Letters, which calmed my passion. I remitted Arthur Ferris 15 guineas or Louis d'or, which Cousin Morty of Germany gave me this summer for the use of his Brother Jeffrey. I send you enclosed Mr. Ferris's notes, but was very sensibly moved to see so great a change in them for the worse. I fear the poor man won't live long. [The young man referred to in the next paragraph is the tall, handsome, clever lad, who had first wanted to be a priest — the future Sir Maurice of Australia, if I may copy my hero's formula of " Morty of Germany." ] I believe young Maurice Charles Philip is arrived ere now at Iveragh. Pray tell my Mother I request she may gett a dozen shirts made of the same sort with the last I received, but I insist on paying them. Therefore I shall remit the money to Maurice, and let him pay it to my Mother from what his friends will give him to bring me over my shirts, which must be previously washed and smoothed. I gave Arthur Ferris 6 pair of Silk Stockings for your use, three black and 3 coloured. Farewell, my Dearest Brother. I got a touch of the Ague this Summer, but drove it off by hard Exercise and by swallowing Jesuits' Bark. My Love and respects to my Dr Mother and Sister Mary. Let me soon hear from you, and be assured I am ever and for ever yours, D. O'C. Little Burk is doing mighty well. His Uncle, the Colonel, was well the 18"1 of July last at Cayenne. Pray send me Cousin Jeffrey's rec* for the 15 guineas, in order I may remit it to Cousin Morty. Maurice is well and is with the Begiment at Brisack. I have only come across one letter for 1787. It contains the news of the death of two of the Conways — old Colonel James, one of the many Count Conways, and the patriarch of the fighting band of kinsmen on French soil, and of the retired Captain Matthew, his (I think) nephew. It contains a reference to one of my hero's many disappointments. He was kept on garrison duty at home, when he was longing for opportunities of distinction abroad. Years before, the king would not let him go to America, and now he anticipates being refused leave to go and fight a campaign or two against the Turks-^which anticipations came true. His heroic com- 52 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. panion-in-arms of 1782, the Prince of Nassau, had specially invited him to Bussia. The marvellously volatile and versa tile prince, who had Lord Peterborough's gift of serving as anything in anything, and my prim, decorous, studious colonel were an oddly assorted pair of friends. They were exactly the same age. I may recall to the reader the verbal message my hero had borne from the prince on the burning ship to the commander-in-chief at the attack on Gibraltar, The Prince de Ligne thus describes the Prince of Nassau in a letter quoted by M. Charles Lacretelle. The following extract is translated from Charles Lacre- telle's "Histoire de France pendant le 18th Siecle,"vol. iii. p. 186 : "Prince de Ligne traces a striking portrait of this ever- wandering soldier, renowned everywhere he went for match less daring. He says, ' I have just seen naval battles gained by a volunteer who, since he was fifteen years of age, has been gaining renown by his brilliant exploits. Brave and handsome, he was the dainty little aide-de-camp of a general who found plenty for him to do ; then an infantry lieutenant, then a captain of dragoons, a courteous knight-errant aveng ing the wrongs of ladies and redressing social wrongs ; then throwing up society to go all round the world, renouncing all pleasures for a while ; then winning the good graces of the Queen of Otaiti, and positively slaying monsters, like Hercules. Back again in Europe, we find him colonel of a French infantry regiment ; then of a German cavalry one, without knowing German ; then leader of an expedition, captain of a man-of-war, nearly blown up and drowned in the Spanish Service, and made a Spanish major-general. Then this general officer in the land services of three countries, most of whose languages he could not speak, became the most brilliant vice-admiral that had ever served Bussia. He had been refused a legitimate career at home, and had carved out one for himself while waiting for the law to restore his rights. " ' Nassau- Siegen, by birth, he was Nassau-Sieger by achievement, for in German sieger means ' conqueror.' At Madrid he was acknowledged as a Spanish grandee of old standing ; in Germany he is a Prince of the Empire, though Count O'Connell. 53 his states have been bestowed on another. If during some time he had simply vented his impetuosity against wild boars and perhaps poachers, even thus his love of danger would have soon taught him how fitted he was for war." Such was the brilliant and erratic leader under whom my hero, having once served, longed, but in vain, to serve again. Count O'Connell, however, got iwork to do in France, but of a very different character from campaigning in Bussia or Austria. It was tedious, monotonous office work, very excel lent and very useful, no doubt. He was the subordinate and, doubtless, consequently hardest-worked officer of the Boyal Commission of improved infantry regulations and drill. I saw the advertisement about the " Manual of Infantry Tactics " in the re-issue of the Moniteur in Trinity College Library. It refers to two editions freshly brought out in 1792, " Beglement concernant l'Exercise and les Manoeuvres de l'lnfanterie du ler Aout a Paris," in folio, 40 gravures, par M. Petit, graveur de la Marine et de Guerre — a smaller and cheaper edition, 8vo, at twelve livres, selling at the Bureau du Journal Militaire. How far the following extract from notes to Burke's "Commoners " may be over-coloured by friendship I cannot say, but I think it quite probable a good deal of the drudgery and actual editing would fall to the lot of the subordinate officer. Burke states (" Commoners," vol. ii. p. 568), in a note — " Without protection, without favour, he had risen to a colonelcy before he had attained his fortieth year.1 But a few meetings of the Board had taken place when the superior officers, struck with the depth and accuracy of information, great military genius, and correct views displayed by Colonel O'Connell, unanimously agreed to confide to him the redaction of the whole French Military Code. [This must be a slight mistake, as the advertisement only relates to infantry tactics, with which, in every department of that arm of the service, he was concerned.] He executed the arduous duty so per fectly that his tactics were followed in the early campaigns of Bevolutionized France, adhered to by Napoleon, and 1 As a matter of fact, he was only thirty-seven when made a full colonel. 54 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. adopted by Austria, Bussia, and England. For this remark able circumstance in the life of Count O'Connell, the author is indebted to his friend, James Edward Devereux, Esq., of Carrigmenan, in the County of Wexford, who had been in the closest habits of intimacy with the count for several years." A sort of confirmation of this is found in a letter of Count O'Connell's to Hunting Cap, written in 1802, concerning the invitation he had received from the Portuguese Government to go over and reorganize the drill of their army. He had Pitt's approval, also that of his royal master, the Count d'Artois ; but, having gone over to France on private business, he was detained there, like other British subjects, so the project fell through. " In 1787," says Grant, in his " Cavaliers of Fortune," quoting pretty freely from the " Biographies Generale " and " Universelle," " the Government of France, having resolved that the military economy of their army should undergo a complete revision and remodelling, appointed a Military Board, consisting of four generals and one colonel, to prepare reports and recommend alterations, where necessary. The colonel chosen was O'Connell, who drew up a system of regimental economy and a code of tactics which was afterwards used with brilliant success against himself and his loyal comrades during the first campaigns of the Bevolution. When the labours of the board ceased, he was appointed to the onerous situation of Inspector-General of Infantry, with the duty of regulating the new uniforms and equipments of the line, when many alterations and improvements were adopted in 1791." The tedious, minute, and monotonous labours of the code of tactics kept him busy for the period covered by many of the letters. Count O'Connell to Maurice O'Connell, of Darrynane. Paris, Ootober 23, 1787. Dear Brother, — Inclosed is a note of Counsellor Curran, of Dublin, for £15 14s. Irish, being the amount of 15 Louis d'ors remitted me last summer by our Cousin Morty of Germany, for the use of his Brother Jeffrey, which a want of an oppertunity prevented me from remitting Earlier. Count O'Connell. 55 This money has been paid here by my friend, Captain Fagan, to said gentleman, who gave the enclosed note, which I make no doubt he'll strictly acquit when presented to him in Dublin, where he is shortly to be. We have been some time past in Doubt — I won't say Ex pectation—of a War with you, but matters seem now to be amicably made up, and it's said orders have been issued to stop our Naval preparations, which were immense, and to dismiss the Seamen already assembled to the number of 28 thousand. I presume as much will be done on your side, so that our Arms shall have time to grow rusty and our powder mouldy. We half-Politicians in this quarter thought it much against the interest of England to provoke the dissolution of the late treaty of Commerce with France, so glaringly advantageous to the Britons ; it would be a new proof of Virgil's observation, "Quidquid delirant reges plectuntur Achivi." From the late changes which have taken place in our Ministry, it becomes uncertain whether I shall be able to effectuate my expectation of placing Brother Morgan's son in the Navy, but, on the arrival of the New Minister of that Department, I shall see what's to be done in that line, and Let you know the measures to be taken. I am very sorry to inform you of the Death of poor Mathew Conway, the Brother of Tom and Bobin, which happened last Summer. I fear his loss will deprive poor Tom of the small succours he drew from him, Bobin being not in a condition to continue them. Old James Conway also died this summer. We were all absent, so the poor old Gentleman had no relation to close his Eyes and receive his last farewell. Such is the doom of man. Our first and last moments in Life are commonly attended with pains and distress, and the intermediate space but too frequently a series of misfortunes and miseries ; but in that, as in all the rest, the Aim of Providence is to detatch our hearts from worldly happiness, and to raise our Contemplations towards the Solid bliss of a future life. I received the Linen you was so good as to send me by young Maurice Charles. It's beautiful, and I request you'll accept my thanks for the present. He also brought me a letter from Sister Sullivan of Cooliagh, concerning her son, in consequence of which I wrote to him he may go to pass the Winter in Ireland ; but, prithee, no demands for more than the usual time of absence, for I can't think of pestering the Minister with such incessant Demands. [Having adminis tered this rebuke, our disciplinarian relaxes a little and softens 56 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. " Sister Sullivan" into " Sister Norry," the homely pet-name for Honora.] Pray give my tender affeotions to Sister Norry, and tell her I thought it useless to write to her, as you'll do my Commission. If we have no war, as we probably shall not, I purpose asking the King's permission to go to the Austrian or Eussian Army, to make a Campaign or two against our old Allies the Turks. My old Companion, Prince of Nassau, with whom I served in the floating Batteries, strongly invites me to go join him in the Eussian Army, where he is in high esteem, but I fear leave will be denied me. Then I shall be con demned to slumber away life, like many others, fruges con sumer e nati. Farewell, my Dearest Brother. May all happiness attend you all, and may Heaven preserve you, my Dearest and Most Beloved Mother, etc. ! Address to me here as usual, and believe me, Ever your tender and sincere friend, D. O'Connell. Our Cousin Tom FitzMaurice is well. Tell his Sister Burke she can count on a remittance of £20 in the . . . [torn]. Pray let young Sullivan learn to read and write during his stay among you. [The colonel is a very neat caligrapher, and would have his young folk extra perfect in the three B's. We must take his lectures about them, as he would classically say, cum grano salisi] Cousin Jeffrey would do well to write a Letter of thanks to his Brother Morty, and Address, a Bothembourg sur le Tauber, en Franconie, Allemagne. ( 57 ) NOTES TO BOOK V. Note A. Chevalier Fagan and the Fagan Family. D'Alton gives the following notice of Chevalier Fagan. I find it impossible to believe he can have married, as he is so constantly and affectionately mentioned in the old letters, and never a word of wife or child. I fancy D'Alton may con found a brother or nephew with a son. He states, at p. 331, Christopher Fagan, who was a captain in Lord Kenmare's Infantry, was a cousin of Captain Eichard Fagan, of the King's Own Infantry. " This Christopher fought at Aughrim, was included in the articles of the Capitulation of Limerick, bought property in Kerry, and married Mary, only daughter of Patrick Nagle, of Ballinamona, by Catherine, daughter of Hugh de Lacy, of Bruff. He settled in Kerry, and, dying in 1740, was buried in the Abbey of Killarney. His grandson and namesake, Christopher, entered the French Army in 1755, in which he distinguished himself and bore the style of Chevalier de Fagan ; but by his attachment to royalty he too lost, on the breaking out of the Bevolution, what he had acquired there, and died in London in 1816, at the ad vanced age of eighty-three. " Christopher, his eldest son, a captain in Dillon's French Brigade, afterwards entered the English Service, and died un married in the West Indies. Charles, his brother, married a marchioness, daughter of a grandee of Spain of the first class, and by royal permission bore the title of Count de Fagan. He died in 1813. (See Burke's ' Landed Gentry.') " D'Alton states that the son of Captain Christopher Fagan, of Lord Kenmare's Begiment in King James's time, was Stephen Fagan, a merchant in Cork, and his son James married Ellen, daughter of Ignatius Trant, Esq., lineal de scendant of Sir Patrick Trant, whose attainders and con fiscations are mentioned above. William Fagan, late a Member of Parliament for the City of Cork, was the eldest son of that marriage, and he, too, lived to mourn the loss of a son, Lieut. Hornby Fagan, in the Massacre of Cawnpore. 58 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. With all due respect to Mr. D'Alton, I can scarcely believe that a man who was M.P. a few years ago could be grandson to Lord Kenmare's captain fighting in 1690. He speaks of Chevalier Fagan as his grand-uncle, so I infer he was grand son to the chevalier's brother Stephen, whose advent in Cork is mentioned in Count O'Connell's early letters. Fagan Family. Arms registered 1607, in Ulster's Office — Per chev. gu. and erm. in chief; three covered cups ar. Crest : a griffin arg. winged and tufted or, supporting in the talons an olive branch fructified gold. D'Alton, in King James's Army List, states that the Fagans were a powerful family in Meath, connected with the De Lacys, Plunketts, and Barnewalls. " In 1358 John Fagan was High Sheriff of the Liberties of Meath, and in 1373 was appointed Governor of the important Castle of the Pale at Trim ; while in 1401 Nicholas Fagan was one of the com missioners selected for assessing the barony of Moyallen therein with a corn subsidy. . . . " Christopher Fagan, the representative of the Meath line, and inheritor of their estates, was induced to lend his in fluence in maintaining Perkin Warbeck's claim to the crown. He (as it is said in an old family pedigree, verified by wills and funeral entries in the Office of Arms, and lately in the possession of Mr. William Fagan, of Cork) was slain with four of his sons at the siege of Carlow, when a great portion of their Meath estates was, as confiscated, granted to the Aylmers, Barnewalls, and other gentry of the Pale. John, the youngest son of Christopher, was also at Carlow, being then but eighteen years of age ; he, however, escaped the slaughter and fled to Cork, a city that held out strenuously for Perkin. He there married Phillis, daughter of William Skiddy, of Skiddy's Castle in that city, by whom he had two sons and a daughter Phillis, who married Thomas Gould. " Thomas Fagan acquired that estate of Feltrim in the County of Dublin from which the head of the family since derived another territorial designation. His eldest son, another Christopher, was High Sheriff of the city of Dublin in 1565 and 1573 ; and it was during his possession of Fel trim that the unfortunate Earl of Desmond, being a prisoner of state in the castle of Dublin, and his health failing so as to need the air of the country, this Christopher Fagan was selected to take charge of his person at his residence. But when it was intimated to Fagan that it would be his duty to watch the captive, he magnanimously replied that the earl Notes to Book V. 59 would be welcome to diet and lodging at his house ; yet would he never consent to be his keeper. Desmond, it may be added, in such liberal guardianship was allowed to walk abroad on his parole; but, abusing the privilege, he escaped into Munster, where, entering soon after into open rebellion, he was treacherously murdered. In 1611 John Fagan had a grant of the castle of Bullock in the County of Dublin, with the fishery and haven and castle of Bochestown, and in 1669 Patrick O'Fagan had a patent for 301 acres in Louth " (King James's Army List, vol. ii. pp. 16, 17). Another Christopher, who died February 12, 168f, had Feltrim restored to him at the Bestoration, and by his daughter Elizabeth, wife of Lord Strabane, was ancestor to the Earls of Abercorn. John Fagan, uncle to this lady, was the founder of the Munster line, says D'Alton. The attainders of 1691 give four names of the Fagans. Eichard of Drakestown, County Meath, had confiscated estates worth £100,000. Chevalier Fagan's Nephews and Grand-nephews in India. John Fagan, of Kiltallah, County Kerry, by his wife, Mary Hickson, of Tralee, had eight sons, whereof five distinguished themselves in India under " Old John Company." George Hickson Fagan lost his left arm at the siege of Seringapatam, and at thirty-four was Adjutant-General of the Bengal Army. Patrick Charles Fagan died of hardship and fatigue after the siege of Bhurtpore, where he had planted the regimental colours on the ramparts. Major-General Christopher Sullivan Fagan, C.B., served in the Mahratta campaign and reduction of various forts, and received the thanks of both Houses of Parliament. He had four sons in the Bengal Army — George Hickson, a distinguished Engineer officer, who had to retire from ill health a lieut.-colonel. John, who was wounded at the siege of Guznee, and died in Afghanistan, a captain in the Boyal Bengal Fusiliers. Robert Charles Henry Baines, Bengal Artillery, wounded eight times during the Mutiny and killed at Delhi the evening before the attack. " He was an admirable officer, and of such reckless courage that he could not be restrained from exposing himself over the breastwork of his battery, and was shot through the head by a musket-ball from the ramparts of a fortress which his Engineer brother had assisted in construct ing from 1831 to 1834." Robert Fagan, uncle to preceding, son of John Fagan, of 60 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. Kiltallah, was wounded in the British Service at the assault of Bona Fortuna, in the Island of Martinico, in 1802, and fell the following year, at the taking of St. Lucia. John, a captain in the Company's service, died at Mallow in 1809. James Patrick, the youngest brother, served with great distinction under Sir Ealph Abercromby, and received _ a special report from Lord William Bentinck, Governor of India. He and his brothers were called " the military family " in India — a title merited by the next generation (pp. 332 — 334). Had these nephews and grand-nephews of the chevalier lived a century earlier in penal times, the blood they poured out like water in the British cause would have been shed for an army probably in opposition to their monarch. Note B. What French Heralds called an Ancient Family. Madame de Crequy, in her " Etat General de la Noblesse de France avant 1789," a pre-eminently curious and interest ing treatise, defines an ancienne famille as one whose origin is unknown, and whose noblesse dates from before 1400. The 552 ancient families admitted to the honours of the Louvre under the edict of 1759 derive their noblesse from some ancient charter or deed, of date previous to 1399, in which their first traceable ancestor is described by a title implying noblesse. In one case only was the noblesse based upon letters patent from the king, that of Bouault de Gamaches, ennobled as " Argentier du Boy," in 1372 — the first letters patent of nobility issued in France. The house of Bourbon, beyond all doubt the most ancient and illustrious of royal houses, heads the list of 552 elect families, dating from 776 ; that of De Castelnau, qualified "Noble Seigneur" in act of December, 1398, closes it. The list is worth reading, if only from the extraordinary variety of titles found in it. De Brienne is " Comes miseratione divina," in 982; Polignac-Polignac is "Vice-Comes Deo favente," in 984 ; Mirambeau is " Magnus et Potens Vir," in 992 ; D'Estaing is " Haut-Baron," 1057 ; Montmorency, "Dominus," 1028; other noble races spring from a Captai, a Bannaret, a Vidame, Mestral, Eques, Princeps, Porte- Oriflamme, Page-du-Pape, Seigneur du Sang, Donzel, Sene- chal, Noble Garant, Miles, Scutifer, Noble Champion, Libre Baron, Varlet du Boy, Baillif d'Epee, Ostage de la Ste. Ampoulle, etc. Admission to les honneurs du Louvre was a jealously guarded privilege. Notes to Book V. 61 Mons. Cherin, " Genealogiste des Ordres de Sa Majeste," surnamed "l'lncorruptible," seems to have devoted consider able attention to Count O'Connell's pedigree. O'Connell had the pedigree drawn up to enable him to take an airing in the king's coach ; he received it in 1784, but he was not admitted to the honour he sought until 1788. An apposite illustration of another Cherin's scrupulous care is given by Mr. McCarthy, in the life of his illustrious kinsman, Florence McCarthy Mor. When the head of the house of McCarthy Beagh, the great- grandson of Donal-na-Pipi McCarthy Beagh, fled to France, he bore with him a wondrous pedigree, duly attested by Clarencieux and Norroy (Sir Isaac Heard, afterwards Garter), and enriched with copies of all documents contained in the Heralds' College. McCarthy submitted this volume " to the searching eyes of M. Cherin pere," and was in consequence admitted aux honneurs du Louvre. Thus far Mr. McCarthy, who does not, however, tell us that Mons. Cherin, after due inspection of this pedigree that reached back into the night of time, accepted it as proved from the year 1209 only ; he did not dispute the genuineness of previous generations, but the evidence produced, in spite of English official attestation, was not sufficient for the Cabinet de l'Ordre du St. Esprit. This Cherin was the worthy father and predecessor of the gentleman who took four years to inspect Count O'Connell's pedigree. After the edict of 1759 about a dozen foreign families naturalized in France registered their pedigrees in the Cabinet de l'Ordre du St. Esprit (Heralds' Office), and were in consequence granted the honours of the Louvre. One Scotch family appears, Drummond, who, Dues de Melfort from 1701 and Lords Drummond from 1487, are writ down rather small as "Drummond de Perth and Mel fort," and granted precedence from 1318. There are five Irish names : Nugent, Lords de Delvin, 1166; Butler, Des Comtes de Cahir, 1206; McCarthy de Beagh, Thanist, 1209 ; O'Mahony de Carbrye, Thanist, 1220 ; Talon du Limeneagh du Bouloy, 1300. Forty-eight French houses enjoyed les honneurs du Louvre without having furnished the proofs of 1399, as a reward for distinguished service rendered to the king in camp or council. Among them are the well-known names of Lys d'Arc, Bayard, De Lomenie, Colbert, De Maillebois, De Genlis, De Maurepas, and the seven ducal houses of De la Vrilliere, De Gevres, De Villeroy, De Crillon-Mahon, De Coigny, De Broglie, and De Villars.Any individual whom his Majesty delighted to honour, 62 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. and who was unable to produce the necessary qualifications, was personally presented "by command of the king," and permitted to occupy a seat, or a portion of one, in his Majesty's gilded, and often overcrowded, coach. Such pre sentations were, however, of very rare occurrence, and grew rarer as the monarchy grew older. There were only twenty- two between 1715 and 1789, and one of the last was that of Madame la Comtesse du Barri, in 1769. Such presentation conferred no rights upon the descendants or relations of the presented. A curious proof of the jealous scrutiny of French heralds, MM. Cherin and Cie. : the family De Bambures, one of the oldest in France, could, after the edict of 1759, take pre cedence only from 1397 ; all previous charters and deeds having been destroyed by fire in 1591, though it was well known that such charters had existed and had then been destroyed. The outward signs of inward grace allowed to those who enjoyed the honours of the Louvre were-^ 1. A dais erected in one of their reception-rooms. 2. A scarlet hammercloth. . 3. Their shield borne upon an ermine-lined mantle. — [E. O'C] Note C. Irish Fortune-Hunters. The following letter gives a curious view of the marriage mart. It has been published in " Historical Collections of Ireland, 1691-1700." The writer was probably Johu O'Con nell (died 1741), of Darrynane, the count's grandfather ; the addressee, but not the recipient, as it is evident that the letter never reaohed its destination, Daniel, eldest son of John O'Connell, of Ballinabloun (will proved xiugust 23, 1726). Thackeray has given us a delightful, but slightly exag gerated, sketch of the Irish fortune-hunter in "Barry Lyndon." The profession unfortunately no longer flourishes. London, the 27ti June, 1699. Dear Cozen, — The very same Day that I received your Last letter I answered it, and Directed according to your direction, which I understand never came to your Handes; and, indeed, what I writ then is what I write now. You knowe me to be no Bragger ; therefore, though I do not desire you to come, yett I am not in the leaste against your coming, Notes to Book V. 63 because you are left Exposed to your own Industrie and events of Fortune, which you maie meete with heere as well as anie where, and as soon, tho' in realitie you may never Meete with anie, which is but meer hazard. If you are well Bigged, and not Empty in your Pocket, it is certain that you maie easier make yourself here by Marriage than anywhere that I knowe. Great manie rookes and Bufifians of our Country gett fortunes here, but, generally speaking, spoyled it by their Extravagant courses ; others deserve such. In what I can serve you I believe you do not question but I'll never be Deficient as far as I can. Your Friend and quondam Fellowscholar, Mr. Thomas Sullivan, is of the same opinion as I am. Who knows if you should Faile in this butte you should get some Employment with some of the Greate persons that are going to Bome to the Jubilee next year ? My dear Cozen, you see how I am Divided. I wish that you should doe well as if you had been my Brother, a hundred times, so that to be positive with you I durst not. It may be the Best thing that ever you should doe, as on the other side it maie not thrive ; generally speaking, if they have Discretion, and being in a condicion to support them selves, some of ours doe Well, but the rest are drown in Debauchery, etc., etc. God direct you to the Best. You need not Insist too much to get a Passe, if you cannot easily get itt, though it should be Better that you should get it if you can. You may pass by the Name of Holcomb. All your Friends are well. My Lord Kenmare gott Six hundred a Year out of his estate.1 I am now at Liberty from my Con finement, which is aile from your Cousin and humble servant. Bemember my Service to Fr Donoghue, and tell him that his Cozen Jeny, that was married to Captain Ferriter, died ; so did O'Sullivane More ; the Best are well. When you come you shall find me at the Portugal Invoy's in Lincoln's Fields, which is all from your Loving cozen and Friend, J. Connell. ffor Mr. O'Brien, Gentleman to Count Dona, att Loo, in Holland, to be Delivered to Mr. Daniel Connell.— [E. O'C] 1 Rental in 1782, £10,000; valuation (rental about 30 per cent. higher) in 1883, £34,273. 64 Tlie Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. BOOK VI. THE REVOLUTION AND THE EMIGRATION. 1788-1793. 0 Connell presented at court — Les honneurs du Loum-e — Ambition gratified — Count de Vaudreuil — Police spy — Gouverneur Morris — Madame de Flahaut's salon — "Love of glory " — No letter to describe our hero's reception at court — Marie Antoinette — Snuff-box, the gift of Marie Antoinette — Good nature — (Paris, February, 1788) the count to Hunting Cap — Leave refused to join the Austrian or Russian Army — Young Burke — Other people's affairs — Major Moor, of "Berwick's" — "Our little nephew John "—General Conway— Count Mahony married — " Brother Baldwin " — (Paris, May, 1788)— Colonel Tom FitzMaurice and his relatives — A good boy at last- Pestered by cousins — -Going to Metz — John (of Grenagh) advised to try another mode of life, not soldiering — Changes in the Military Constitution — Pay reduced — Gloomy prospects — "CousinMorty " at the waters of Aix-la-Chapelle — Liege Regiment — Vanities — Pre sentation to his Majesty — The King's coaches — Gouverneur Morris on French society — M. de Laborde, Fermier-Ge'ne'ral — Society gossip — Madame Adele de Flahaut — -Chit-chat — Young Hickie of Killelton writes from Paris — Dinner-party at the Countess Watters's (nie Rice) ¦ — "Dragging the devil by the tail" — A crowd of marquises, counts, and countesses — No healths drunk — No getting half-drunk — The Carnival — Morris's diary again — The Bishop of Autun — Due de Biron — Abbe" Bertrand— Count O'Connell thrice mentioned — (October 1, 1789) entertainment given by the Regiment of Flanders at Versailles ^Gloom — O'Connell — O'Connell at Madame de Laborde's — Bills of exchange — (Paris, April, 1789) Count O'Connell to Maurice — Con O'Leary (son of Arthur the Outlaw) — National Assembly— (Paris, June, 1789) to same — Mother's failing health — Schools for Dan (the future Liberator) and Maurice of Carhen — St. Omer's — The boys' education- Very interesting letter from the Abbe- Edgeworth on the state of Paris — Only two letters forl790 — Gloom — Exiles — Infantry tactics — (Paris, January, 1790) Count O'Connell to Maurice — Troubles of the country — Letters stopped — " Honour of spilling my blood" — A spectator of events— Austrian Netherlands— Politics — " The boys " — Mr. John The Revolution and the Emigration. 65 O'Sullivan, of Couliagh — (February, 1790) Comte de Vaudreuil writes to the Comte d'Artois from Rome — A very sad letter — Court of Spain — Speaks of the Queen — He has heard from Count O'Connell — Count de Segur's sentiments — O'Connell fitted for great enterprises — Poli gnac family — On the 30th of July Vaudreuil writes to Comte d'Artois from Venice — " O'Connell : I can count on him '' — Vaudreuil's August letter — Count O'Gorman — O'Connell — Countess Watters (nie Rice) to Mr. Hickie (August, 1790) — Critical times— Crushed by taxes — Lady Fitzgerald — Vaudreuil writes on September 4, 1790 — The Salm- Salm Regiment in mutiny — O'Connell inconsolable — (Paris, September 2, 1790) Count O'Connell writes to Hunting Cap — Gloomy days — Utter ruin dreaded — " Wretched situation of the finest country of Europe " — No more boys to come out — Count O'Connell's proposal to rescue royalty — Louis XVI. would not consent — Family traditions about Count O'Connell — Count O'Connell willing to risk his life for the King — Schemes — Our hero in Paris — " Le beau Fersen " — A colonel without a regiment — O'Connell from the " Biographie Ge"nerale " — Military tactics again — Promotion — Jealousy — (Paris, March, 1791) Dan writes to Hunting Cap — Mrs. Burke — Con O'Leary — Unsettled times — Good spirits — The regulations for the army — Hard work — Bad pay — Due de FitzJames and the Irish Brigade — Its dissolution expected — (Paris, June, 1791) Count O'Connell to Hunting Cap — Death of Maurice's wife — -Affairs daily more critical— Major-general — Changes in military affairs — Insubordination of the army — " This unhappy country " — Gouverneur Morris on the position of French officers — Our hero refuses offers of command under Carnot — Joins the Royalist Army — Flight — Fate of the French Irish Brigade — Disbanded — Count O'Connell negotiating — Helping Catholic Emancipation — Due de FitzJames's letter to the King — Claims of the Irish in France — Thirty thousand Irishmen— Brigade wants to go to Spain — Fidelity and valour — Sir Charles McCarthy-Lyragh — Irish regiment of Ber wick — Loyalty — Count de Provence — Count Arthur Dillon — " Le beau Dillon" — Count Edward Dillon — Unpublished document — Captain James FitzSimon's certificate — Real crisis of our count's life — Matrimonial affairs — About to be arrested — Flight to the Royalists — Incognito — (Paris, 1792) Count to Hunting Cap — Trouble and confusion — Letters of Count O'Connell to the King seized — With the Royalists at Valmy — Account of the fimigri army — Our hero a trooper— Sir Charles McCarthy again — The Duke of Brunswick — Comte d'Artois — The King of Prussia — A letter from Count Edward Dillon to Captain James FitzSimon — An affecting picture of the Emigre army — O'Connell in Brussels— Count O'Connell's nephews — St. Omer's — Maurice O'Connell, of Carhen, writes to his uncle Hunting Cap — Douay— Mr. Duggan — Had a letter from " Uncle Dan " — His escape — Going up the Rhine— (London, November, 1792) Count O'Connell writes again — Duel — Arrived some days ago — Decree of the National Convention — French emigrants — Misery — (London, November 23, 1792) Dan to Hunting Cap — Love-story — The lady still in France — Laws forbidding return of Emigre's— Left Paris in July — A simple VOL. II. F 66 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. hussar — The express command of the King — French spies— Men dacious certificate requested — And sent — (London, December, 1792) affairs of his lady-love— Mr. McCarthy, of Berwick's Regiment— A son of Dr. Connell's an officer in the Brunswick Service— Baptis- terium — Wants his mother's consent to his marriage — The Irish Brigade — Not going to Austria — Poverty — Chevalier Fagan — Emigres — Memorandum — (London, January, 1793) leaving for France — Borrows money from Chevalier Fagan — Johnny Burke — Colonel O'Connell seeks employment in England — From a letter of the Duke of Portland — Colonel O'Connell proposes to raise a Catholic regi ment — French Catholic Royalists — (March, 1793) the future Liberator writes from London — Count O'Connell at home — Young Maurice writes from London in July, 1793 — Count O'Connell's life at home — Stories of his mother — A kinsman arrested in Paris — Mistake for the count — The Count de Castelverd — Citizen O'Connell — Set free — Official documents — Destitute — Hunting Cap's generosity — Chevalier Fagan — Lord Moira's passport — (Milford Haven, Novem ber, 1793) ' ' Arrived an hour ago " — Going to London — Sister Seggerson — " Poor Andrew " Fitzy Burke in Cork — (London, December, 1790) Lord Moira's Expedition — Trying for an English commission — General James Conway — What to do next — Undecided whether to join Lord Moira, join the Royalists in La Vendee, or take no part in military affairs — On the list of the outlaws — The vicissitudes of fortune — Dan (the Liberator) promising everything good — Viscountess de Gouy— Dan Mahony, of Dunloe — Maurice O'Connell a deputy-governor— Lord Glandore's letter. In the year 1788 my hero accomplished his ambition of being presented at court, with the fullest compliance with every rule and ordinance, and the attainment of every privilege. He was admitted, as a Brahmin of the Brahmins, to the fullest privileges of les honneurs du Louvre. My colleague, Boss O'Connell, has given a very full and exhaus tive report thereon, which is too good to be packed away in a footnote, and will be found incorporated in the text. To my hero courtly honours were but as a means to an end. The end was, indeed, deferred to his old age, but he did achieve a by no means inconsiderable share of success, and, when he died, was the only Irishman in France who was at that time lieut. -general and Grand Cross of St. Louis. Of these latter dignitaries there were but twenty-four, exclusive of princes of the blood. His ambition was, however, baulked in what he most desired, professional renown. The laurels of the Irish Lacys came between him and his rest. He The Revolution and the Emigration. 67 would fain have joined the Prince of Nassau, or shared the toils and fatigues of his dear friend and cousin Morty against the Turks, but he was wanted for the infantry tactics, and had to stay at home and grind at routine business and the great drill-book. His dear friend, the Comte de Vaudreuil, tells the Comte d'Artois that O'Connell is a man suitable for great enterprises . The police spy, his ex-valet, calls him a man of wit and courage. The keen-witted American, Gouverneur Morris, who is constantly meeting him in the lovely Madame de Flahaut's political salon, notes his ambition, and suspects him of a dis position to make use of other folks' wits, notably of a suggestion of his own, " because he has a good dose of what is called by different names, but in a soldier is the love of glory." Ambition he always admits to be his ruling passion, till age, disappointments, and perhaps domestic happiness cause him to make over all his ambitions to his famous nephew and namesake, to whom he looks to shed a lustre on their name with his genius, as he had once hoped to do with the sword. I have heard of a letter describing his reception at court, but, alas ! it cannot be found.1 A man would be more or less than mortal who could unmoved have kissed the beautiful hand of Marie Antoinette. He had long been officially acquainted with her worthy but prosaic spouse. I wonder what he said of them. I received from the present owner of Darrynane an exquisite little round snuff-box of no great intrinsic value, but always said to have been given to Count O'Connell by the Queen in the days of her adversity, when he was secretly corresponding with royalty at the risk of his own neck._ It is made of tortoiseshell, covered with red enamel, and hooped with wrought gold. A band of pale blue enamel and some gold Bcrolls enclose a very tiny miniature of Marie Antoinette, with powdered hair, and dressed simply in pink, with the King beside her in a short wig and dark-green suit, displaying a monstrous breadth of waistcoat behind as well as beside the graceful long-waisted figure of his Queen. The Queen's hair is dressed rather low, and in a style from which I should 1 Since writing the above, the letter has been found, but it merely records the dry fact of the count's presentation. 68 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. fancy the miniature was done not very long before their troubles. Only two of my hero's letters have reached me of this period. They give an account of his disappointment about foreign service, and his worries about every one's business. Certainly no man ever took more trouble to help on his friends and kinsmen. Paris, the 22na February, 1788. My Dearest Brother, — I recd in due time yr Letter of the 23rd 9bre last from Dublin, which various affairs, schemes, and plans of different kinds prevented me from answering e'er now. I've been peremptorily denied leave to make the Next Campaign either in the Austrian or Eussian Army, which I very earnestly wished to obtain with a view of extending and ripening thro' experience my Military ideas, so you see his Majesty has concurred with your care for my Safety. Inclosed is a bill for 400 French Livres for Mrs. Burke, amounting to £17 3s and 3d Irish, for which sum you'll please to send me her receipt. The Bill is on Mr. Sexton, of Limerick, but hope this will answer full as well. Young Burke is still in pension [i.e. boarding-school] at Dunkirke. I shall be careful to provide for him as soon as possible. Our friend Colonel FitzMaurice was well at Gaudaloupe last X6er. I hope soon to hear from him. Poor Mathew's [half-pay Captain Conway] effects were of no value at all, by what his Brother Bobin tells me, the greatest and best portion having been sold to acquit the expenses of his illness and burial. I am extreemly sorry to think poor Tom has nothing to expect in that line, nor do I believe that Bobin can have it in his power to assist him, considering his own charge and narrow faculties [i.e. means]. Bobin writes to me that he found in Mathew's papers a Bill or Beceipt of our Nephew Marcus O'Sullivan, for, I think, 200 Livres, which Mathew advanced him. I am ignorant whether or no this money has been paid in Ireland to Tom Conway, as by Mathew intended. If not, pray make it your business to see it paid. Young O'Sullivan can best inform you about it. The bill for his use on Messre Bernard, of Lorient, has been long since paid. I sent it to Major Moore, of Berwick's Beg4, who advanced the amount to pay off Marcus' Debts. Surely that he can't be ignorant of 't ? For my part, I am so pester'd with the affairs of all the World that I can't possibly remember them all. [The next paragraph refers to my dear husband's father.] The Revolution and the Emigration. 69 With respect to our Little Nephew John of Carhen, as ye circumstances won't permit of your sinking £300 for him, I must relinquish the idea of putting him in the Navy. The Land Service, tho' less promieing for futurity, will suit him better. Therefore you must think of sending him over at the age of 12, and till then give him the best Education the Country offers. No late account from General Conway. Chevr Mahony, now called Count Mahony, has made a marriage not easy [rich, he means] at present, but what probably will prove so hereafter. I thank you for the Linen ; it's exceeding good indeed. I've neither seen nor heard of Mr Godfrey. If I shu'd meet him, be assured I shall show him every civility in my power. I am rejoic'd to hear my Sister, your Wife, is much better, and most heartily wish she may continue so, as well as my Dr Mother. Pray give 'em both my most tender affections. Bemember me to Brother Morgan, etc., and believe me always, most cordially and unalterably, Your fondest Brbther, Dan O'Connell. I shall be more punctual hereafter. Pray send the inclos'd paper by a messenger immediately to Brother Baldwin. I find my Letters to him miscarry all, tho' I address to Clohinah, near Macroom ; therefore I send you this paper, which you'll please to inclose to him without Delay, as it's of some importance to him. Farewell. How do all our friends ? Maurice Jeffrey and Eugene McCarthy are well. The first page of the next letter (May 28, 1788) is taken up with elaborate money arrangements concerning kind cousin Tom FitzMaurice's annuity to his sister Burke, and a gift from Morgan O'Connell, of Carhen, to Jeffrey's son John, a most admirable young man, a clever student, and no trouble to our much-bothered colonel. I omit these arrangements, and go on with the rest of the letter — You desire to know whether it's likely the usual remittance shall be continued to her [i.e. Mrs. Burke]. I've no reason to think it will not, as her Brother, the Colonel, is exceed ingly well disposed, and as he told me, when he parted from here, that he did mean to allow her that sum yearly. He is not to come over this year, but will, I hope, the next. He is in perfect health at Guadeloupe. Young John Burke parted from here four days since to join Walsh's Begiment, where he is made sub-Lieutenant, and is to embark shortly with 70 The. Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. his corps for the Island of France, otherwise called the Island of Mauritius. He goes out very well furnished, and is, altho' very small, one of the smartest, the most tractable and intelligent, and most promicing boys that yet came over. I hope he will do well, for I've recommended him to the particular care of our Nephew Eugene McCarthy, who goes out with his Begiment as first Captain en Second; therefore the first company that falls vacant will be his. I assure you Colonel FitzMaurice has layed out already £200 on his nephew Burke, a sum far above his means. I've got our Nephew O'Sullivan a Conge [i.e. leave] with full pay till the 1st of Sepbre next. His Begt. is now at Boulogne, within seven leagues of Calais. If he does not join it precisely on that Day, 1st 7bre next, he will infallibly lose his pay, as I shall by no means demand a prolongation for him. This he may rely on. I am pester'd by Cousins and Nephews, and I can't answer all their Demands. Pray let James Baldwin know I am doing the utmost to get him paid the Arrears of the pension due to him, but I fear I shan't succeed. The Clergy of France made a rule long since to pay no Arrears above two years. James Baldwin either was ignorant of that rule, or he paid no attention to it, and now he is likely to be a sufferer by it. However, it may still be recovered by dint of favour and protection. I am taking every step possible, and I shall be very happy to succeed. I part for Metz after to-morrow. My Begiment is quartered there, and you can address to me to said town till the 1st of 8bre next ; then Paris as usual. Now, my Dear Brother, with respect to our Nephew John, the son of Brother Morgan, my desire is that you apply him to some other course of life than mine. Some late changes in the Military Constitution of this Country are exceedingly unfavourable to Strangers destitute of fortune, that it's destining them to certain misery to send 'em over. The pay of Colonel, hitherto good, has been reduced from 12 to 8000 Livres a year, and it's next to an impossibility to support that Bank with so short a Pay, when a person has no fortune of his own ; nor is that reduction only for a limited space of time, it's a permanent regulation. I there fore earnestly recommend to you to look out for another course of life for our Nephews ; for was I to begin the world over again, I shu'd never engage in the Military Service in the present state of things. I shall probably become Major- General in three years, then lose my Begiment, and be reduced to half the pay I now enjoy, so that the further one advances the worse it becomes. Farewell, my Dearest The Revolution and the Emigration. 71 Brother. My Love and Duty to our Dear and Bespectable Mother. Affections to Sister Mary, Brother Morgan, etc. Yours most faithfully and invariably, D. O'C. Tell Sister Betty [Mrs. McCarthy] that her son Eugene parts in very good health and spirits, tho' with some reluctance, to go to so distant a Country, but the Climate is very good, tho' hot. I am sorry to tell Cousin Jeffrey Maurice he has no remittance to expect this year from his Brother Morty, who is now at the Waters of Aix-la-Chapelle for his health. His [Jeffrey's] son Maurice is well, and I hope he'll be soon a Captain en Second in a Liege Begiment newly rais'd, so that he will be in a condition to live on his pay. It's high time, for he ruins me to support him these four years with out a penny of any pay whatsoever. Farewell. This new rais'd Liege Begiment is in our service. The colonel's prospects were rather gloomy, with the reduced pay, the prohibition to seek a career abroad, and the dreadful prospect of compulsory retirement and prpmo- tion. To court favour alone he could look for a chance of a career ; but, alas ! the gilded doors opened too late, and all that his costly pedigree availed him was to taste the pleasures of hope and see the last of a brilliant, unreal world, bright and splendid to the eye as a glimpse of Fairy land, but equally evanescent. Boss O'Connell shall now discourse of it. Count O'Connell's name appears in the official list of the "Entrees des Carrosses du Boi" early in 1788. It is necessary to distinguish between les honneurs de Versailles and les honneurs du Louvre. O'Connell, perhaps through his friend Vaudreuil, who was well seen at court, and in 1783 appointed Grand Fauconnier de France, was early admitted aux honneurs de Versailles, that is, to simple presentation to the King. To this any man of decent position or birth could aspire : it meant little — perhaps nothing more than presentation to her Britannic Majesty or her Britannic Majesty's representative does nowadays. But les honneurs du Louvre, alias I'honneur de monter dans les carrosses du Roy, were a very different matter. They included — 72 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. Presentation to his Majesty and to the members of his family— the Queen, Dauphin, Madame, Mesdames de France, etc., as the case may have been. The right of following, in one of his Majesty's coaches, the King when he went to the chase. The right of playing at the card-table of her Majesty or of the Dauphin, etc. The right of paying one's court to their Majesties, follow ing male Majesty a-hunting, and gambling of an evening with female Majesty, whenever the spirit moved one to do so. In addition to these priceless privileges, the pre-eminently happy man admitted aux honneurs du Louvre was, if he did not already possess a title, granted a handle to place before his name — comte, vicomte, or baron. These titles were not territorial, and, though nominally personal, were practically hereditary, as the honours of the Louvre were themselves hereditary, save in very rare cases hereafter to be noticed. By a decree of December 29, 1771, the King limited the number of coaches from his stables, for the use of his courtiers, to two, and laid down regulations to prevent their being too frequently occupied by certain persistent courtiers, to the exclusion of others equally entitled to the privilege. These rules were not to prevent the "seigneurs et gentils- hommes," who had the right to do so, from appearing at the rendezvous and following the King with their own horses. The decree was issued in consequence of a petition from the Comte de Croixmare, Master of the Horse. He stated that the expenses of the petite ecurie were becoming enormous, as the princes hunted every day, and Mesdames de France and Madame la Dauphine constantly, each of them accompanied by a separate suite, all of whom Monsieur de Croixmare had to supply with horses. He adds that the number of courtiers attending the rendezvous was ever increasing; that they crowded into the coaches assigned them to the number of eighteen or twenty in a single coach (gondole), to the injury of the said coaches, and in a fashion, " if I may dare to say so, by no means decent." A decree of July 80, 1759, lays down the law concerning admission aux honneurs du Louvre. " No lady (dame) shall The Revolution and the Emigration. 73 be presented to his Majesty, and no gentleman (gentil- homme) permitted to follow his Majesty hunting, without having established, by the production of deeds, etc., to the satisfaction of his Majesty's genealogist, continuous noble descent (filiation noble suivie) from 1399." The lady was to prove her husband's pedigree, not her own. By this decree the genealogist is forbidden to give the certificate of noble birth to be produced before presentation, when he is aware that the ancestor of the applicant derived his noblesse from having occupied any position connected with the administration of the law (charge de robe), or, stranger still, when the ancestor was ennobled by letters patent (lettres d'anoblessement). The King in France was the fountain of hereditary title, but not the fountain of noblesse. Thus writes Boss O'Connell. Gouverneur Morris has depicted from the outside the lives of the people who have painted themselves in a score of memoirs. His journal was only published in 1889. Gouverneur Morris, a distinguished American statesman, came to Paris in February, 1789. He has the keenest possible eye for all that goes on in the courtly circles of the old world, where his introductions gain him admittance behind the scenes. My hero's name occasionally crops up in his pages, and we find a good deal about some of the fair, frail dames whose brilliant salons he frequented. He re quests some of his letters to be addressed to the care of the prominent financier, the Fermier-General de Laborde, to whose agreeable spouse both the handsome American with the wooden leg and the courtly Irishman seem to be paying their devoirs in a sufficiently harmless fashion. Gouverneur Morris tells us much of a lovely lady, whose salon my hero frequented. "She was," says Morris's editor, Anne Carey Morris, "at this time in the glory of her youth and attractions, and with possibly a touch of sadness about her, and certainly a rare sympathy, which, added to her thoroughly trained mind, with its decidedly philosophical cast, gave her an unaccountable power over men." At fifteen she was married to Count de Flahaut, a scamp of 74 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. fifty, who neglected her. She was under the influence of Talleyrand, then in the very unsuitable condition of Bishop of Autun. Morris writes of her in his journal, " She speaks English, and is a pleasing woman: if I might judge from appearances, not a sworn enemy to intrigue." "Madame Adele de Flahaut," continues Miss Morris, "during the dark days of the Bevolution received many substantial proofs of friendship from Morris. She was destined to fly for her life, and to be made a widow by the guillotine in 1793. Those were pleasant days and evenings in the grand salons of the Palais Eoyal, and the lesser ones of Paris generally, before the Terror came. A change had undoubtedly come since the death of Louis XV. There was 'no dancing, and fewer love-making couples scattered about the room; large groups of people came together for more general conversa tion ; the gaming-table was always to be found, where one woman and an abbe tried their luck with the dice-box ; while some one reading a book by the window was not an un common sight." " The society was there," says Goncourt, "but not the pleasures of the salons of Louis XV. ; but the ladies had not lost their spirits by reason of the sorrows that came later, and their natural graces of manner and mind lent a charm to their conversation that nothing else could give." Morris surely counted himself born under a fortunate star to be the favoured guest of such as they. In the boudoir of the lovely Madame de Duras-Dufurt he was one evening charmed by the surroundings. " For the first time," he says, " I have an idea of the music which may be drawn from the harp. In the boudoir of madame, adjoining the salon, I have the pleasure to sit for an hour, alone by a light exactly resembling the twilight, the temperature of the air brought to perfect mildness, and the sweetest sounds. Later in the evening came a change of scene, and a bishop from Languedoc makes tea, and the ladies who choose it stand round and take each their dish. This would seem strange in America, and yet it is by no means more so than the Chevalier de St. Louis, who begged alms of me this morning after introducing himself by his own letter." I append a companion sketch. Young William Hickie, The Revolution and the Emigration. 75 of Killelton, abroad for his education, writes home to Kerry an account of a dinner-party at the house of a charming French-Irish cousin, the Countess Watters (nee Bice), sister to the Miss Bice who had prescribed speedwell-tea to Captain Eickard O'Connell, and which receipt, transcribed for the benefit of the curious, will be found in his correspondence. Few young men have seen more of the world than I have on the sum allowed me. Countess Watters is astonished at it, and does me the honour to say that I must have a great deal of cleverness and oeconomy. It is true both one and the other is requisite to bring both ends of the year about with my allowance. It is at best, according to my Uncle's phrase, dragging the Devil by the tail. If I spend too much one month, I must bring it up in the next. However, Countess Watters wd have me remain another year in France. She jokes with me, and says that the irregularity of my Father's payments express his desire of my return. She continues as usual very polite to me. I am to dine there to-morrow. There is to be a crowd of Marquises, Counts, and Countesses there. It is probable I shall be the only person without a title, but still I shall feel myself as much at my ease as if I was still at Kilelton, Pride and that stiffness peculiar to the Irish nobility not being known in this Country. According to our ideas of manners in Ireland, some things are very singular and quite different from those of the French. No fuss about going out of the room to dinner, no ceremony about sitting down to table, no healths drunk ; in short, those matters are accidental and not ceremonious. The Gentlemen retire with the Ladies, and do not remain together to get half-drunk as in Ireland. They take Coffee and Liqueurs together in the Drawing-room, and then play at cards, laugh, sing, or chat ; in short, they are always gay and in good humour, and one seldom or never sees a grave-looking countenance. He continues in the same epistle — All is mirth and pleasure at this moment, as the Carnival has commenced. Masquerades, Balls, public Suppers, in short, every luxury is going forward, but all will cease on Ash Wednesday. The streets are now crowded with masks on carriages and a-foot. There is a remarkable fair going on in this quarter of the city, and the Coffee-houses are crowded on account of the bands of Musick that are in them to attract strangers and the Public. 76 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. A propos of a dinner-party briefly recorded in Morris's diary in July, 1789, which he found " very agreeable," Miss Morris says of the guests, "It would not be difficult to imagine the wit and abandon of the conversation ; the spirituel and delicate repartee which fell from the lips of the fair hostess; the sarcastic and subtle wit, joined with immense tact, which characterized the Bishop of Autun [Talleyrand] ; the careless, daring indifference to consequences that seemed to belong to that Don Juan the Due de Biron, the Abbe Bertrand, whom Morris always found agreeable, and, last of the number, Morris himself, not very much behind the Frenchman in wit and appreciation " (vol. i. p. 133). In October he goes several times to dine and spend the evening with the fair politician, and thrice specially mentions Count O'Connell. On October 1, the fatal entertainment to the Begiment of Flanders, at Versailles, stirred up the Paris mob to drag King, Queen, and royal family to Paris, to get bread for the starving mob, as they believed. On the 5th, at Madame de Flahaut's, the company at supper was reduced almost to a tete-a-tete. The guests all decline, from the public confusion. On the 6th the unhappy royal family are dragged to Paris. Very soon the fine folk resume their visiting, gossiping, dining, and supping. Morris and my hero' encounter each other fre quently. " The King forbade all resistance," says Morris (vol. i. pp. 176, 177). " Madame de Flahaut hears (October 7) from Versailles, and the Queen, on retiring to her own chamber, told her attendants that as the King was determined to go to Paris, she must accompany him, but she should never leave it. Poor lady ! this is a sad presage of what is too likely. The King ate a very hearty supper last night. Who will say that he wants fortitude ? At the club there is a good deal of random conversation on public affairs. Most men begin to perceive that things are not in the best train. There are still, however, a number of enrages who are well pleased. If my calculations are not very erroneous, the Assemblee Nationale will feel the effects of their new position. There can be no question of the freedom of debate in a place so remarkable for order and decency as the city of Paris." Iu The Revolution and the Emigration. 77 the next sentence he mentions my hero, and Morris has been giving a bit of his mind to Talleyrand, to Lafayette, to Necker, and to that most illustrious talker, Madame de Stael's own self. It is no small compliment for our poor Irish colonel to be harangued by the eloquent and sagacious Yankee. " I told O'Connell that they must give discharges to all the soldiers who asked them, if they want to have an obedient army, and recruit next winter when they are hungry and cold, because misery will make them obedient. I think he will circulate this idea as his own, because he has a good dose of what is called by different names, but in a soldier is the love of glory." The next day Morris writes — "Visit Madame de Flahaut. M. Aubert is there, and before he goes Mr. O'Connell arrives. He stays till nine o'clock. I then tell her that I want to see her bishop [Talleyrand], and that he pledges himself to support Lafayette." Towards the middle of the month we find another casual mention of my colonel — " At half -past nine to the Louvre to supper [Madame de Flahaut had apartments there]. Madame de Beilly had come in before I left. She gave us some anecdotes, and also the state of Corsica, where her husband is now with his regiment. At Madame de Flahaut's we have Colonel O'Connell and Madame de Laborde, his friend,1 with her husband. After dinner the bishop comes in and the rest go away " (p. 184). 'Gouverneur Morris talks of our hero as "Madame de Laborde's friend" — a word of rather doubtful significance in old-world French society. However, I think these excellent persons were friends in » purely Platonic sense. M. des Cars married Pauline, the young daughter of the great financier, M. de Laborde. It was a purely business arrange ment between birth and hard cash ; but Pauline's beauty, talents, and merits gained her husband's esteem. He says that her father, wonderfully gifted as to business and arithmetical calculation, was ignorant of classics, but delighted in the company of men of genius. At p. 247 of vol. i. , describing his new people, Des Cars says, ' ' My wife was really handsome and attractive ; she loved the study of literature history, and the English and Italian languages. My father-in-law's house was filled with the highest society in Paris, the most prominent people, Frenchmen and foreigners, men of letters and distinguished artists, which I found most enjoyable. He also received many guests in the country. Mesdames de La Live, de Ventimille, and de Fezenzac, his daughters, were all three very witty, most agreeable, and exceedingly literary. " The mother of these four charming dames must have been of mature age. 78 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. Next day Morris sups at Madame de Laborde's, and after supper makes tea for them. The Labordes were great friends of my hero's, and my note describes the lady and the menage (p. 190) : " The most sumptuous table, perhaps, in Paris was that of M. de Laborde, over which presided his wife, a sensible woman, who, wiser than many others of the financial set, took with pleasure and graciously the advances of the grandes dames, but withal maintained her dignity." She receives the Bishop of Autun with infinite attention (p. 191). On another occasion Morris hears M. de la Harpe read some observations on La Bochefoucault, La Bruyere, and St. Evremonde at the financier's table, after which they fall into politics. " The Bishop of Autun " seems a frequent guest there. In November Morris takes Madame de Flahaut to the opera and weeps over " The Deserters." But, says Morris's editor (vol. i. p. 227), " by November society began to feel the exodus from its ranks. The most brilliant salons of a few months back were closed and silent, and their gay inmates languished in foreign lands. In the few that remained open the society forgot that persiflage and coquetry which had been its life." Charming Madame de Flahaut held on longer ; so did Madame de Laborde ; so my hero had two houses wherein to make his bow and discuss events with those who knew what went on. Such letters of my hero's for 1789 as have reached me only relate to other folks' worries, moneys, and boys. One of these boys, however, is the famous Daniel. Cousins and It was no slight compliment to our hero's social talents that a poor Irish gentleman, with nothing but his own hard earnings, talents, good looks, and good manners, was the intimate friend of the household of the great business man who played Macsenas a good deal in his day. It was espe cially creditable to our colonel as he possessed none of the reflected glories of the grand seigneurs whose relatives were always elbowing the poor Irish gentlemen out of the good places which supplied the want of private means. He had not wealth enough to be a valuable client to the court banker, so that it must have been purely as an agreeable and rising man he found himself a welcome guest in the rich salons, whose genial owner perished on the guillotine. The Revolution and the Emigration. 79 nephews combine to bother our colonel, who growls, but executes their behests. He has another nephew on his mind now — wild, wilful sister Nellie's son, Con O'Leary, eldest son of the murdered " rider of the peerless mare with the snow-white star on her forehead." He arranges remittances between Ireland and the Continent, and saves rates of exchange. He acts as almoner for kind cousin Morty, who was destined to live to be as old as our hero, and who did squeeze out the annual gift to his brother, in spite of campaigning and illness. Colonel Dan's object in the complicated transactions referred to was to save Mrs. O'Leary and Morty's brother the heavy cost of exchange from British to French coinage, and to simi larly save Mrs. Burke the exchange on French to British for the remittance kind Colonel Tom FitzMaurice always sent the parent of the one eminently satisfactory little boy, Johnny Burke, liveliest, smartest, and less troublesome of all the nephews we come across. Paris, April the 17,h, 1789. Dear Brother, — Inclosed is a Bill of £15 1. 9. on Mr. Latouche, of Dublin, being the full amount of 15 Louis d'or remitted me by Cousin Morty, of Germany, for the use of his brother Jeffrey. Be so kind as to hand the latter this Money, which I presume he may want, and to let him know I had some difficulty to prevail on his Brother to grant this Succour, because theExpence of thelast Campaign against the Turks has fallen very heavy on him, and I fear there's no expectation of any remittance from him untill the War be over. Farewell, Dr Brother. I sent you three Days agone the receipts of Con O'Leary and John O'Connell the son of Jeffrey, for 300 Livres. I payed them by orders of Brother Morgan. That sum is to be payed to Mrs. Burke, and being added to 100 Livres I already payed John O'Connell, also by order of Morgan, make the full amount of 400 Livres for Mrs. Burke, for which sum be pleased to send me her receipt. Yours most affectionately, D. O'Connell. Love, duty, and respects to my Mother and Sister. The next letter is written in June, on the very day of the night when the stormy sitting of representative France decided on the fateful title of " National Assembly." It con- 80 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. tains no word of the exciting politics of the hour. It, however, has a certain human interest, as it shows that my hero selected the school where his famous nephew was to study, and gave his rich brother some very good advice concerning the proper liberal treatment of young scholars. Paris, June the 16th, 1789. Dear Brother, — I received some Days agone yr Letter of the 21st last Month. The account it contains of the declining state of our truly respectable [i.e. venerable] Mother afflicts me beyond Expression ; Iam well convinced no Care or expence will be wanting on your Side to prolong a life so justly dear to us all ; but, alas ! no human power can resist the invincible effects of old age and Nature. A profound resignation to the will of the Almighty, and to the order of things His Divine Providence has been pleas'd to create, is the only resource of our weakness, and a due Submission to our Duty. Pray assure our Dear Mother of my most tender Duty and Bespect, as well as of my most fervent prayers to Heaven to prolong her Life, far more dear to me, indeed, than my own. I have made all possible enquiries for the properest place to send our Nephews, Dan [the future Liberator] and Maurice of Carhen, and from the informations I collected have room to conclude that the Colledge of St. Omers is the most suitable. Our Cousin Maurice of Tarmons [Jeffrey's tall, good-looking, heavy son] proposes, I believe, to spend next Summer in Ireland, and you can charge him with the care of the two Boys as far as St. Omers, where I shall previously make -it my business to ensure their admittance. I presume they may cost you about £40 or £50 a year each ; therefore the properest step to be taken about sending them over will be to send me at the same time an order from Mr. Latouche, of Dublin, on Mr. Perrigaux, Banquier, and his Correspondant in Paris for £100 a year, in order to save both you and me the useless trouble of partial remittances. You will surely do me the justice to be well persuaded that I shall make no personal use of the Money, and that if it be more than sufficient to de fray the Expences attending the education of the two Boys, the surplus of the first year shall be reserved for the second. I cu'd wish to know their age exactly, and shall only make you one observation, Viz. that Colledge Education has the sole advantage of pushing youth to the Study of belles Lettres, by giving them a knowledge of the Greek and Latin tongues, a tincture of Mathematicks, Logick, and Philosophy, and that one year and a half are far from being sufficient for that The Revolution and the Emigration. 81 purpose, and that if your object is to give our Nephews a polite literary Education, so as to qualify them to appear in the World with some advantage, that purpose can be fulfilled only by resorting to good Company, and at no small Expence in this Country, and also when reason and understanding have acquired a certain degree of maturity. After giving you this my opinion on that matter, I shall with pleasure second to the best of my power whatever resolution you take. Farewell, my Dear Brother. Believe me very sincerely, Your truly affectionate, D. O'Connell. I found a most graphic account of the state of Paris in 1789 in a letter written by Abbs' Edgeworth to Dr. Moylan, Bishop of Cork. The faithful priest, who stood by the King's side on the scaffold, writes in English, but the letters were translated for a French life of him, lent me by the Bev. L. Gilligan, CC, County Clare, and I re-translate this portion. The joyous letter of the young Irishman, already given, full of fine parties and Carnival junketings, and the sad letter of the old Irish priest, seem to me full of human interest, show ing two sides of life at a most eventful time. Abbe Edgeworth to Bishop Moylan. Paris, 28th October, 1789. My Lord and ever dear Friend, — I wrote to you two months ago by Mr. Burke, but I sent you no news, because the bearer had been an eye-witness of our troubles, and could have told you more in half an hour's conversation than I could in three pages. Since then our affairs, instead of improving, seem going from bad to worse. The Bepublican party continues to predominate. Our King, the best of men, has been obliged to quit Versailles and to come to Paris, where he has now taken up his Abode ; I leave it to yourself to infer what amount of freedom he enjoys. The National Assembly has followed him, and holds its session in the Palace of the Archeveche until a more commodious hall can be got ready for its sittings. We have not less than 30,000 men under arms, who for the most part are citizens of Paris, as genteel and as little inured to war as one can fancy. Well, the -same occurs in proportion in each town, and even in each village in France, for on all sides they seek to rival the capital, and each aspires to govern itself. I suppose that vol. n. a 82 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. your newspapers have already acquainted you with all the details of our astounding Bevolution, and I doubt not that more than once you may have been tempted to think they had exaggerated the details of that event, and they were totally false ; but the French people of to-day nowise resemble those you knew long ago. No nation in the world has undergone in so short a space of time so complete a change of principles. Modern philosophy has destroyed all religious principle and all the ties which bound society, together. Unbelief has in fected all classes of society, from master to valet. If this lasts a few years longer, nothing will be left of the Frenchmen of other days but their language and their name. In truth, what daily passes before our eyes is, according to me, the peremp tory refutation of the new system, no matter how well reasoned the arguments brought against them. God alone knows what the issue of events will be, but in all probability, if France be saved from ruin, it will be through the distant provinces, where principles have not been so generally corrupted. Have heard it said that some of them are beginning to complain of the National Assembly, and discontent might easily spread from one province to another ; but then, alas ! we should have a civil war, which would be a still greater evil than those we now endure. Mean while, our Assembly is destroying everything it pleases, and calling in the dregs of barbarism and ignorance. To-morrow the great question of the goods of the clergy will come on. The result of the debate ought to make us know whether they belong to the clergy or to the nation ; if they are national property, as is supposed they will be made out to be, the natural consequence appears to be that they will all be taken, and that Bishops, Parish Priests, Priests, and Curates will all be reduced to accept salaries. This, my dear friend, is a sketch of our position at the present moment. About 300 of our deputies have lost patience, and have returned home under different pretexts. It unfortunately happens that the worse ones remain. The Archbishop of Paris is among those who withdrew ; his life had been threatened, and it seemed more prudent to make him leave France. One of our fellow-countrymen, the son of the ill-fated General Lally, one of the most brilliantly talented men in the Assembly, has also retired ; but before leaving France he published an excellent work against all the pro ceedings of the States-General. The rest of the letter is about friends and relatives of the writer and his friend. The Revolution and the Emigration. 83 I can only find two of my hero's letters for 1790. One explains the singular lack of details about passing events in his epistles. He was fully convinced that the letters would be tampered with. Both are full of gloomy forebodings. The loss of his pension of 3500 livres (£140) a year made a considerable difference to a man without private means, but still more ominous was the manner of its withdrawal. It had been a mark of court favour, and was swept away with other marks of court favour and all future possibilities thereof. His friends, the Polignac people, were in exile with his princely patron, the Comte d'Artois. He had made up his mind to remain on in France as long as it was possible to serve France without loss of honour. The emigre party would have had him join them. He continued to correspond with his good friend, Count de Vaudreuil. Meanwhile he was working away at the infantry tactics and regulations. He writes home somewhat gloomily in the early days of the new year — Paris, January the 14a, 1790. Dear Brother, — I rec4 with great pleasure yr Letter of the 15th Last Month, and am extreamly surprised to learn you recd neither of the two Letters I wrote you since that of the 17th last June, which you acknowledge the receipt of. The miscarriage I can only attribute to the troubles of this Country. Altho' they contained no mention whatsoever of 'em, yet it's probable they might have been stopped. I am heartily sorry to find this Circumstance has been the cause of terrors and apprehension to our Dear and much respected Mother. Nothing in nature could make me so unhappy as to think I might have been the wilful occasion of giving her the smallest uneasiness. Pray assure her that her happiness is far more dear to me than my own life, and that I never passed a day since I quitted her and you without the most tender and the most lively remembrance of her Virtues and her Goodness. 1 am sure this Sentiment is indelible and can never be impaired within my breast. The events which come to pass in this Country, what may hereafter come to pass, I can't answer for, but as an Army will be always necessary, whatever be the form of Government, I think I may always aspire to the honour of spilling my blood, whenever the occasion offers, for the defence of the Country. So that I presume no alteration will happen to me with respect to my 84 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. rank, but very probably there will be a diminution in my pay — an event I philosophically resign [myself] to bear. My health is, thank God, always very good. I've been but a Spectator of Events, and my constant wishes have been and ever will remain to be, for the general prosperity of the Nation. I am not of opinion that you shu'd send our youug nephews to St. Omers until tranquillity be more solidly estab lished than it is. I shall let you know in the month of April or May my fixed sentiment in the Matter, and if things shu'd not bear a prospect of peace, I would be very much at a loss to point out a proper place to send them to. It's very pro bable the troubles of France may hereafter, and very soon, extend to the neighbouring Countries on the Continent. You know the Austrian Netherlands are in a very critical Situa tion. Germany, Italy, and Spain may have their turn, and it may be said of Holland, Latet anguis in herba. There certainly will come about, Sooner or Later, a new revolution in that Confederacy of Different Bepublicks, whose present Situation appears to be very repugnant to the Maxims and Principles of a free Country. You see, Dear Brother, that it's no easy matter to determine a proper place to send two Children without a Governor, and I durst not advise you to dispatch them for any part of the Continent till the present Clouds be dissipated. [Here follows a long paragraph about rates of exchange and arrangements for Mrs. Burke's annuity, remitted for Colonel Tom FitzMaurice.] Colonel FitzMaurice was well some time agone. Tell Sister McCarthy that Eugene was also well, so are Maurice and John Jeffrey — the Latter, one of the most shining scholars abroad, and possessed of every virtue. I am very sorry to hear of the bad situation of our nephew John O'Sullivan, of Couliagh. Pray remember me to him and his mother. Present my love and respects to my beloved Mother, affec tions to Sister Mary, etc. Yours most sincerely and most steadfastly, D. O'Connell. Let Mr. Alex. Eager, of Killarney, know I answered his Letter two days agone. After all our colonel underwent with other folks' children, it is truly refreshing to find him occasionally encountering a truly satisfactory boy. Poor John O'Sullivan, a very kind and amiable man, was dying about that time. His will is at Darrynane. He trusted all his concerns to his uncle Maurice. The next letter is full of ominous forebodings. As already The Revolution and the Emigration. 85 stated, only two appear for 1790. In the long interval between them I find many traces of my hero in the Vaudreuil corre spondence. On February 27 the Comte de Vaudreuil writes to the Comte d'Artois from Bome a very sad letter. He bewails the King's irrevocable step in swearing to the con stitution, " breaking his own sceptre with his own hands, abandoning the two first orders of the state, and yielding all power to the people." He gives a description of the com plaints of the court of Spain, of the state of men's minds in the provinces, anticipates an outbreak at Strasbourg, speaks of the Queen and Lafayette, the intrigues against the Comte d'Artois, and the umbrage taken by the Spanish ambassador, Florida Blanca. Nothing can be more melancholy than the tone of the letter. He says, apropos of my hero, "I have received an extremely friendly letter from Count O'Connell. He thinks all will come right, but that time is required for that. He is on the spot, and has good use of his eyes. I wish he would attach himself to you, for I know no better man in every sense. Permit me to try and bring this about." ("J'ai recu du Comte O'Connell une lettre extremement aimable. II pense que tout reviendra, mais qu'il faut du temps. II est sur les lieux, et a de bons yeux. Je voudrais que celui-la s'attachat a vous, ear je n'en connais pas de meilleur dans toutes les acceptations. Permettez-moi d'y travailler."1) Vaudreuil, writing on March 13, 1790, from Bome, is in agonies of apprehension that his kind but hot-headed patron will probably do some rash act and destroy both himself and the royal cause and family. He never realized the fatal quality of the royal brethren, who could forget nothing and learn nothing. He evidently thought a discreet, experienced, and yet daring officer of distinction at his prince's heels might keep him out of fatal mischief, and enable him to do some thing of some avail. He says, " The lives of the King and Queen, of your tenderly loved sister, and all your family, would be endangered if you gave any pretext for a crime." He then proceeds to suggest two possible saviours of royalty, 1 " Correspondance du Comte de Vaudreuil avec le Comte d'Artois," vol. i. p. 124. 86 Tlie Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. and honours my hero by giving him the second place. He says, " Do you know Count de Segur's sentiments ? He is ambitious, full of energy, talent, and capacity. All he wants is good direction. Try and manage that with tact, without compromising yourself. He is too far superior to M. de Lafayette not to see how mediocre he is, and I don't believe in his friendship for him. Provided a great part to play be assigned him, Count de Segur's ambition will be fully satisfied, and I think he has too high a spirit and too much capacity to believe it possible he would fail to seize a chance of saving his King and his country. He is one of the men we must have. How to get at him I know not. O'Connell is also another of those men who are fitted for great enter prises, and I think he is well disposed. These are the things you could have sounded by persons you can count on in Paris, without compromising anything, for it is the state of captivity of the King and royal family, which places obstacles in the way of everything, and the conspirators know it well." (" O'Connell est encore un de ces hommes propres aux grandes enterprises, et je le crois bien inten- tionne. Voila ce que vous pourriez faire sonder par des personnes sur lesquelles vous comptez a Paris." *) In July of the same year (1790) Vaudreuil asks the Comte d'Artois about my hero. The former had then moved to Venice with the Polignac family. "Do you know what has become of O'Connell in all this crisis ? What does he think of it ? What is he doing ? He wrote me an excellent letter, and promised to write me some more. I answered him, and since then, about three months ago, I have not heard a word about him." (" Savez-vous ce qu'est devenu O'Connell dans toute cette crise ? Ce qu'il pense ? Ce qu'il fait ? II m'avait ecrit une fort bonne lettre, m'en avait promis d'autres : je lui ai repondu, et depuis ce temps, depuis 3 mois je, n'en ai plus entendu parler.") Now, the letters show us that, so far as his old friends were concerned, he was doing nothing ; he was writing them polite notes, keeping clear of their intrigues, and working at the 1 " Correspondance du Comte de Vaudreuil avec le Comte d'Artois," vol. i. p. 139. Tlie Revolution and the, Emigration. 87 great book of tactics which came out the following year. Though he was not going to join in the plans of his hot-headed patron for saving royalty, he had a little private plan of his own, which fell through, owing to the King's want of prompti tude and pluck. Just as Vaudreuil is wondering what he is at, he resumes the pen, this time to their patron. On July 30 Vaudreuil writes to the Comte d'Artois from Venice — " I am delighted that O'Connell has written to you. I did not hear from him this long time, but I like to feel I can count on him." (" Je suis enchante que O'Connell vous ait ecrit. II y a longtemps que je n'ai recu de ses nouvelles, mais je me plais a compter sur lui.") My hero must have written to Vaudreuil himself almost immediately after, because he mentions his letter in writing, on August 7, a propos of Count O'Gorman. This Irish man had a West Indian estate quite near Vaudreuil's in St. Domingo. Count O'Connell's future wife, Madame de Bellevue, also had an estate in the same island. The O'Gormans, both the count and the chevalier, were great friends of Vaudreuil's, who seems to have had quite a fancy for the Irish — "O'Connell sends me word that my friend Count O'Gorman will come to me at once. He will assuredly pay his court to you in Turin. I beseech you, treat him well ; he deserves it for his devotedness and his principles. He made his children, who are only fifteen and sixteen years old, swear they would give their lives to avenge their sovereign and re-establish the monarchy. He makes them say it for a night and morning prayer. He is going to San Domingo on my business and his own." My hero's letters obscurely reflect the anxiety and depres sion of the foreign military caste ; Vaudreuil's vividly depict the sufferings of the Emigrants ; the following, from our kind and charming countrywoman, the Countess Watters, shows how much better persons fared who took refuge on their own estates. I make no apology for slipping in the lady's letter here. It bears the post-mark A, 13, 90. Addressed, " Mr. William Hickie, att Kilelton by Tarbert, in the County Kerry, Ireland" — 88 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. A hurry of affairs inseperable from a change of residence and a long absence from home, join'd to a very indifferent state of health, have obliged me to defer answering my Dear Cousin's two letters, each of which I receiv'd a long time after date. You sett too high a value, Sir, on the trifling op- pertunitys Count Watters, Miss Bice, or I had of obligeing you ; you overpay them by the interest you are kind enough to take in our safety and wellfare in these Critical times. We quitted Paris without having received the most slight desagre- ment, and while most of France was in a flame, we were receiv'd in this province with an unusual degree of regard. Our property, game, pigeons, etc., have been scrupulously respected and preserv'd, but we are Crush'd by the taxes. Out of a property of neer 800 pd8 I dare say we shall not have a clear 350. I fear our legislators aim att a perfection imeompetent with the errors and weakness of Humanity. I wish with all my Heart an Happy issue to their good intentions. They have been so kind in regard to foreigners, for they allow them to continue enjoying the advantages of birth and extraction. I could not prevail on Miss Bice to accompany me ; she has an insuperable aversion to the Country. My Daughter is with me ; she has been on a round of such pleasures as the province can offer since her arrival; yet I believe she wd prefer the life of Paris. To avoid you, Sir, the trouble and perhaps expence of remitting, as you propose, so trifling a sum as twelve guineas and a half, be so kind as to forward them to my brother Dominick, who will dispose of them in the manner I shall pray him when I know the Epoque most convenient to you. I can give you no account of your Uncle Nagle. I fear the present state of affairs may have influence on his fortune, as it will infallibly on that of each particular. I believe Lady Fitzgerald, her mother, and eldest daughter still in Paris. Mr. and Mrs. Pepper parted before me. I request my affectionate Compliments to your father and Mother. I should think myself Happy in executing any Commands they may have for this Kingdom. Count Watters joins my Daughter and me in best . . . and thanks for your offers of service, and I remain, my dear Cousin, Your affectionate Kinswoman and Humble Servant, Watters. Maisonfort, par Kerzon en Berri, ce 2a August. My hero's September letter is somewhat gloomy. I wonder whether he anticipated the horrible catastrophe that The Revolution and the Emigration. 89 was about to befall him almost as he wrote. While he was detained in Paris, the Bevolutionary emissaries had got at his Germans, on whose solid qualities he had fondly counted, and they had broken out into mutiny and massacre like so many other regiments. A footnote to p. 284 of vol. i. of Vaudreuil states that the Salm-Salm infantry regiment, in garrison at Metz, had for its colonel-proprietor General Prince Salm-Salm, and for its colonel-commandant Count O'Connell. On September 4 Vaudreuil writes from Venice — "It is said that the Salm-Salm regiment committed atrocities at Metz. Until then it had been uncontaminated. O'Connell will never be consoled for this." (" On dit que le regiment de Salm a fait des horreurs a Metz. II avait ete pur jusque la. O'Connell ne s'en consolera pas.") Count O'Connell gives a sad account of his position in the following letter to Hunting Cap : — Paris, Sep"0' y* 2na, 1790. Dear Brother, — I send you inclosed a Bill on Mr. Latouche, of Dublin, for the sum of £31 Irish, being the amount of what you were so oblidging to advance me, Viz. £16 to Mrs. Burke, and £15 to Sister Nancy. I hope you will Excuse my not having made you this remittance sooner. The delay proceeded only from the very unfavourable course of our Exchange with Great Brittain and Ireland within this year past, but as instead of becoming better it promices to be shortly still more unfavourable; and being unwilling to keep you any longer out of yr money, I determined to send you a Bill for the amount of what I owe you, tho' dear it costs to procure one from this Country to yours. I must inform you that the Events which have taken place in this Government within a year have been Extreamly disadvantageous to me as well as to all persons who held any favours from Court. My pension of 3500 Livres French I've lost, which circumstance makes no small breach in my very Middling fortune, but unhappily that's not the worse ; for other Misfortunes, nay, our utter ruin is much to be Apprehended from the State of inward trouble and distress we are in, and, Except Affairs turn out better, we shall be unable to have either Fleet or Army, and the total ruin of all those who have passed their lives in the Service must be unavoidable. Such, my dear Brother, is our present prospect. 90 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. I sincerely feel the weight on't, not for me — indeed, my forti tude is beyond the reach of such Events, and I learned from my infancy to spurn danger, hardship, and misery— but I can't help bewailing the wretched Situation I see the finest Country of Europe reduced to. Farewell, Dear Brother. I shall from time to time inform you of whatever befalls me. Be not uneasy if occasionally you may pass many Months without hearing from me. Present my fondest Sentiments to our much beloved Mother. Sincerest regards to Sister Mary, etc. Yre for Ever, D. O'Connell. I think you must lay aside all thoughts of sending our young Nephews over. I know no place either in France or the Low Countries where you can safely send 'em. Pray acquaint me of yr receiving the inclosed Bill. I send by this post to Cousin John FitzMaurice a bill of £98 6 Irish, which cost me 100 Louis d'or here. I recd his Letter and yours of the 15h ultmo from Tralee Assizes. Doubtless this was money from the generous Colonel Tom FitzMaurice. Like so many other Boyalists, our hero had a scheme to save the royal family. Many similar proposals appear in old memoirs. Count Bice's curious project for saving Marie Antoinette appears in the notes to this chapter. I am not quite sure what date to assign to a proposal made by Count O'Connell to rescue royalty. The late Mr. Morgan O'Connell, Begistrar of Deeds, his grand-nephew, knew him well ; he had been staying with him in Paris when the old gentleman was arranging about his entering the Austrian Service. The present Daniel O'Connell, of Darry nane, frequently heard his uncle Morgan O'Connell, who had a most retentive memory, state that at the beginning of the Eevolution Count O'Connell had a command of infantry near Paris, and wanted to be allowed to use them against the mob. Louis XVI. would not consent. The old gentleman used to maintain that, had he been suffered to turn them on the populace, the Eevolution would have been put down. Daniel O'Connell wrote me out a statement to that effect in 1889. The Liberator's youngest son throws some light on what Count O'Connell had purposed doing for the King. I think The Revolution and the Emigration. 91 there is a slight inaccuracy in saying he had the actual command of the foreign troops assembled for the new drill, because in his own letters my hero talks of a command as yet in the far future. I make no doubt that, as the prime mover and working member of the drill committee, he could have led and controlled these foreign troops. Here are John O'Connell's exact words (" Sketch of Life of Daniel O'Connell, Esq., M.P.," prefixed to his speeches): "Eighthly, he [Count O'Connell] was entrusted in 1789, by Louis XVI., during the Bevolutionary violence, with a command of ten thousand foreign troops, by which Paris was surrounded, and the writer of this sketch has often heard him declare that, if Louis XVI. had permitted the foreign troops to crush the Parisian Bevolutionary mobs, they were both able and willing to do so ; but the humanity of that benevolent but weak monarch pre vented the making of the experiment of suppression." Now, I heard all about the transaction some twenty or twenty-one years ago or more, but at that time I was a happy young wife, with no idea of writing books, but much interested in the general, because I had heard and read of him, and copied his handsome youthful miniature on my bridal visit to Darrynane. It so happened that in those years my husband and I visited at many Munster houses, and met many people, so that I am unable to state who was the person who told me, or exactly where I heard the anecdote. The person who told me was an Irish Catholic staying in some Munster Catholic house, where we were. He told me his grandfather or great-grandfather was a young Irish officer serving in France. He was not, I remember, in the Salm-Salm Begiment, but he was somehow mixed up with Count O'Connell. Perhaps he may have been lent to it, as we find young men lent from " Walsh's " to the Liege Begi ment. I forget exactly how, but I know they were in close proximity. Count O'Connell's plan was to get the King, Queen, and royal family in the middle, and surround them with German and Irish troops, fire on the mob, and cut through them. I am sure of these two nationalities ; or it may be with German and Irish officers, who may have led French troops. There 92 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. were a sufficient number at hand to execute this coup de main. The high-spirited Queen was ready to take her share of the risk, but the King would not agree to the plan, which I infer must have been known to the Queen beforehand, or some idea of its being possibly required should certain exigencies arise. The moment came when it was feasible ; it would have been too dangerous to write, and this young Irish officer conveyed the verbal message that all was ready. He used to say he conveyed it at the risk of his life. The message, I am positively certain, was a proposal to put themselves into the centre of a body-guard of faithful foreigners, who would carry them through with a rush at point of sword and bayonet. I rather think there was also some elaborate scheme of opening fire on the mob from cannon, and an infantry fire, but I am quite certain about the actual proposition. Marie Antoinette pressed the King, and would have risked herself and her children in the venture ; but the King refused, because he said he would not spill the blood of his people, and a consider able effusion of blood would have followed had his people stood to be shot down. I rather fancy my astute hero thought they would have taken to their heels. In any case he wanted to risk the thing. I hope some descendant of the gentleman who carried the message to and fro may see this and give us the true version. There was day and date and place and all in the version I heard long ago. My hero remained on in Paris during the whole of 1791, and until the middle of July, 1792. He only left it just in time to take the field for the ridiculous affair of Valmy, and the subsequent disasters of the Emigre army. By staying on in Paris, drawing his pay and doing his work, he exposed himself to considerable animadversion. "Le beau Fersen" is justified in saying he accepted the Eevolution ; however, he proves he had the hapless King's own orders for what he did. Of this, of course, Fersen was ignorant. All through 1790 and 1791 Count O'Connell was occupied with the infantry regulations. As he was a colonel without a regiment — his regiment having mutinied in the September of 1790 — it was probably rather lucky he had this work to do. In the Moni- teur of 1792 an advertisement of a second and smaller edition The Revolution and the Emigration. 93 of the Infantry Drill Book runs through all summer numbers containing the King's trial. The original edition is in folio : "Beglement concernant l'Exercise et les Manoeuvres de l'lnfanterie du ler Aout, 1791, a Paris ; " in folio, forty plates by Monsieur Petit, engraver to Naval and War Departments. The new edition, with reduced plates, can be had for eight livres or twelve livres by post, at the offices of the Journal Militaire. In fact, this product of the Eoyal Commission seems to have been a revised manual of tactics. The "Biographie Generate " states that Count O'Connell was charged with the editing of these regulations, and that he was removed from the command of the Salm-Salm Begiment to become Inspector-General of Infantry, and to edit or revise these regulations, put into force in 1791. It first mentions his command of the Salm-Salm Eegiment, then says what I have rendered above : " Qu'il commanda peu de temps, car il fut bientot nomme Tnspecteur-General et charge de rediger l'ordonnance pour l'lnfanterie, laquelle fut mise en vigeur en 1791." Among conflicting authorities, I cannot make out how large a share he had in the regulations ; but given three generals and one colonel, or any three persons of superior rank with a fourth somewhat lower thrown in, we may fairly predict who will get the lion's share of the work. My hero does not seem to make very much of it ; he just mentions incidentally in March that he will probably have to spend the whole summer in Paris, because he is employed in making the regulations for the army, with the pleasing result of much work and no extra pay. In June he mentions his promotion, which so vexed Fersen, who says bitterly about him — " This O'Connell, who had served in the Boyal Swedes, who was such a protege of the Comte d'Artois and the Polignacs, who then stayed behind in the Eevolution and got himself made a major-general [marechal-de-camp] out of his turn, and before every one else." Now, with all due respect to Fersen, four years' grind at the regulations, revisions, and inspections, without a penny extra pay, could not be con sidered as very grandly rewarded by the step of major- general (marechal-de-camp) to a distinguished colonel, who 94 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. was nine years mestre-de-camp (equivalent to brigadier) already. He makes light of the honour which stirs his rival's bile, and demonstrates that it is no manner of advantage. The curious phrase about a man being exposed to the loss of honour, and the necessity which compels him to remain, are doubtless allusions to the King's secret orders to remain. A well-known scientific soldier could have easily got soldiering to do in other countries. I also infer that his projected marriage detained him, though he does not tell of this until much later on. I have only succeeded in finding two of the letters for 1791. The first page of that written from Paris on March 13, 1791, is mostly filled with details of the annuities of Mrs. Burke and Con O'Leary, which passed through his and Hunting Cap's hands. The latter must have made peace with his wilful sister, for she is no longer " the unfortunate Widow O'Leary," but " our sister Nellie." He bids Maurice tell Mrs. Burke she can certainly rely on't her Brother Tom [Colonel FitzMaurice] will keep any promice to help her he made her, but in the present Circumstances the course of Exchange between France and England is so much to the disadvantage of France, that was her Brother to remit her £300 stg., he or she would Lose at Least £50 in the Exchange on said sum ; therefore it's impossible to think of it till the Exchange comes to be on a par, or, at least, some thing near it. To act otherwise wu'd be throwing away money. Farewell, My Dear Brother. Our affairs in this Country are far from being settled, nor is it Easy to foresee when they may. I am always hearty, in Spite of all the rubs I meet with. My small income is considerably impaired, but I never sett a great value on money for its own Sake. I probably shall be obliged to pass the Summer at Paris, because I am Employed in making the regulations for the Army, which gives me a great deal of trouble, and not a penny profit. My most tender Duty to my Mother. Affections to Sister Mary, etc. Yours most affectionately and for Life, D. O'Connell. You can tell any young gentlemen of our Country who might have intended coming to the Irish Brigade to look out hereafter for some other line of Life. This postscript relates, doubtless, to the rejection of the Due The Revolution and the Emigration. 95 de FitzJames's noble appeal for the preservation of the Irish Brigade, or, if not, for its transfer in its entirety to the service of another Bourbon king. This request had been made in vain the previous month, and all the friends and kinsmen of the brothers were in the greatest state of anxiety and distress, expecting a speedy dissolution of that famous corps. Paris, June the 28th, 1791. My Dear Brother,— I reca but a few days since the Letter by which you give me the melancholy Account of the Death of my worthy Sister.1 I need not tell you how deeply and sorrowfully that event has ' affected me. My feelings are, I hope, too well known to you to make any doubt on't ; there fore I shall only add that I will ever retain a lively memory of her virtues and of her friendship for me. I presume your papers relate exactly the various events of this Country. The Situation of affairs becomes daily more critical, and our horizon more gloomy. How all that will finish, what the result may be, God alone can foresee. I have been lately promoted to the rank of Major-General, and shall soon part for to take a command of troops, but the place of my destination is yet unknown to me. My new rank pro duces me only the same pay I had as Colonel of a German Begiment, and makes me liable to much more Expence. I confess to you that, had I any means of livelihood, I should have declined new honours and quitted the service, which is become almost intollerable thro' the changes that have taken place. Necessity alone could determine me to continue in a line of life which exposes a man daily to more than the loss of his life — I mean the loss of his honour. The insubordination of the Army is grown to a degree inex pressible, and nothing less than a Miracle can in my opinion restore order and policy; therefore, I fear, the state of Military Anarchy will finish by a total dissolution of the Army. Farewell, my Dear Brother. I shall from time to time inform you of my Situation. Notwithstanding the difficult circumstances we are involved in, I hope Providence will continue to protect this unhappy country. My best love and respects to my Mother, and Believe me for life, Your affectionate Brother, Dan. O'Connell. Be so kind as to pay Sister Nancy for me the sum of £15, which I shall most punctually remit you as soon as the Exchange will become more moderate. Her necessities make 1 Maurice O'Connell's wife, Mary Cantillon, of Ballyphillip. 96 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. this small relief a matter of importance for her, and I feel a great satisfaction in assisting her. Be assured what ever may happen, this money shall be refunded to you, otherwise I shu'd not engage you to advance it. Farewell again, my Dearest Brother. My best affections to all friends. Gouverneur Morris gives us an illustration of how very unpleasant the position of French officers was at this time. In his journal, under the heading of July 13, 1791, he says — " At Mme. de Segur's Puisegur and Berchini are here. The former has resigned, but the latter holds his regiment because he cannot afford to relinquish it. These gentlemen declare that the discipline of the army is gone, and that I believe to be very true." Berchini brought over his hussars, or at least the officers of them, to the army of the princes, and my hero rode in their ranks as a common trooper through the campaign against France, as he pre ferred the additional hardships of this course to the risk of publicity if he accepted a commission. Both these gentlemen were devoted adherents of his patron, the Comte d'Artois. Count O'Connell's promotion to be a major-general implied the possibilities, nay, the probabilities of a command, and it required very uncommon tact to elude these offers or orders to assume such a command. However, the witty Irishman did contrive to avoid the undesired honour. The " Biographie Generale " and the " Biographie Universelle," both voluminous and important works, concur in stating that he declined offers of command under Carnot and his friend Dumouriez, who would have placed him at the head of one of the armies they were hurling against the European coalition, but that he refused, and fled to join the royalist army. He was in some way or other obliged to communi cate in writing with the King, and the discovery of these letters compelled him to fly. I see by Gouverneur Morris's most valuable record of the everyday events of the time in Paris, that Madame de Laborde is constantly coming into personal contact with Marie Antoinette. As she was my hero's intimate friend, she may have been the channel through which the letters passed containing the propositions to the King, which would The Revolution and the Emigration. 97 have cost my grand-uncle his head had he not discreetly fled " o'er the border and away," like Jock o' Hazeldean. It now becomes my mournful task to quote a record of the fate of the Irish Brigade, whose inner life has been so minutely set forth in these pages. From the previous year my hero dates the steady retro gression of his fortunes. It is the second, of the six years of ill luck mentioned in the letters. The Disbanding of the Irish Brigade, 1791. The famous old Irish Brigade, for a hundred years the foster-mother of Irish valour and Irish military genius, perished in the throes of the French Eevolution. It was for a brief period galvanized into life in the English Service, when its officers had the honour of serving their " natural- born King," without foreswearing their creed, and thus opening the British military career to Catholics. Protestant jealousy caused its final and gradual extinction in the British Service, as revolutionary passion had first crushed it on French soil. From O'Callaghan's " Irish Brigade," and Grant's " Cavaliers of Fortune," I shall draw a few brief notices of its last moments. Daniel Charles O'Connell had long left its ranks in the service of France, but he played a prominent part in the negotiations which led to its entering that of England, and claimed to have helped on Catholic Emancipation by so doing. In February, 1791, popular clamour demanded the aboli tion of foreign regiments in France, and the Due de Fitz James, grandson of Marshal Berwick, addressed a noble letter to the King. Mr. Grant says (article " Count O'Connell " in " Cava liers of Fortune ") — " After briefly and modestly stating the services rendered by his father and grandfather to the line of St. Louis, he thus advanced the claims of the Irish in France in a letter to Louis XVI.— " ' Sire, my grandfather came not alone into France ! His brave companions are now mine, and the dearest friends of my heart ! He was accompanied by Thirty Thousand Irish men, who abandoned home, fortune, and honours to follow VOL. II. H 98 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. their unfortunate King. For the descendants of those brave men, whom your ancestors deemed so worthy of protection, because they had been faithful to their sovereign, I now entreat the same bounty from the great-grandson of Louis XIV. It is reported that the National Assembly propose disbanding the Irish regiments as foreign troops. The blood they have shed in the cause of France ought to have procured them the right of being denizens of that kingdom, even though their capitulation had not entitled them to that privilege. " ' Sire, permit me to lay at your Majesty's feet the ardent wish of the Irish regiments, who were as much attached to France by gratitude as formerly they were to the house of Stuart by love and duty. If the Assembly now reject their services, they implore your Majesty's recommendation to the prince of your family now reigning in Spain, in presuming to assure you that the present will be worthy of being made by a King of France, and of being favourably received by a prince of your royal race. " ' Fidelity and valour are their titles to recommendation ! Of the former they expect an authentic testimonial from the French nation, as they have never once failed in their duty during a century, and wherever they have fought their valour has been conspicuous in battle. " ' Sire, I entreat you to listen to their request. For myself I ask no compensation — for me there is none ! The honour of commanding them cannot be repaid. It secures my glory, as to lead them against a foe ensures immediate victory.' "In July," says Grant, "the National Assembly decreed that the standards of the Irish,1 German, and Liegiose infantry should be the tricolour, inscribed, ' Discipline and Obedience to the Law,' but when Monsieur of France (the Comte de Provence) and Charles Philippe, the Comte d'Artois, fled to Coblenz, the formal defection of several Irish officers ' The banner of the Irish Brigade is portrayed in the series of Plates of French eighteenth-century uniforms lent me by Lieut.-General Sir Martin Dillon, CB. The banner is half green and half red, the first and third quarters being red, the second and third green. A red cross is defined by a single wide white line, and bears in gold a harp and crown, and the motto, "In hoc signo vinces," all on the cross, which is as wide and high as the banner. Each corner bears the device of a crown. The Irish regiments were all red-coated. The Revolution and the Emigration. 99 hastened the destruction of the old Brigade of immortal memory, and with it, after August 10, disappeared the ancient Swiss, German, Italian, Scottish, and Catalonian regiments of the monarchy. . . . " The first of the French troops to proffer their loyalty were the Scottish and Irish soldiers of the old Begiment de Berwick. The depot of this corps was then quartered at the strong town of Givet, on the frontiers of France, under the command of Sir Charles McCarthy-Lyragh, who imme diately marched his men to Coblentz, and joined the bat talion. Sir Charles afterwards passed into the British Service. . . . The loyalty of the Irish Brigade met with a warm response from the fugitive princes." O'Callaghan gives their address and the reply — " ' The officers, non-commissioned officers, and soldiers of the Irish Begiment of Berwick, filled with the sentiments of honour and fidelity which are hereditary among them, entreat Monseigneur to place at the disposal of the King the devotion which they make of their lives in order to support the royal cause, and to employ their arms with confidence on the most perilous occasions.' " To which the Count de Provence replied — "'I have received, gentlemen, with genuine sensibility the letter which you have written to me. I will cause to be forwarded to the King as soon as possible the expression of your sentiments towards him. I answer you by anticipation that it will alleviate his troubles, and that he will receive with pleasure from you the testimony of fidelity which James II. received a hundred years ago from your forefathers. This double epoch should for ever form the device that shall be seen on your colours, and all who shall be faithful subjects will read their duty there and recognize thence the model they should imitate. As for myself, gentlemen, be well con vinced that your last act will remain for ever engraven on my soul, and that I shall reckon myself happy as often as I shall be able to give you proofs of the feelings with which it inspires me towards you.' " O'Callaghan mentions that some of the Brigade remained on in the French Service. I fancy few of the officers did, for the following reason : — 100 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. Count Arthur Dillon, the hero of St. Eustache and St. Christopher, accepted the Eevolution, and served against the Eoyalist invaders of France. He refused to proceed to the extremities of the Terror, and was guillotined April 14, 1794. Count Theobald Dillon, to whom he had given over the com mand of "Dillon's" in 1780, known as "le beau Dillon," when serving under the Eepublican commanders, was torn to pieces by the mob. From this it would appear as if " Dillon's " went with the Eevolution; yet Count Edward Dillon had led most of the old officers to the army of the princes, as is shown by the sig natures to the following unpublished document belonging to the FitzSimon family, of which O'Callaghan could not have known. It was among some family papers brought together by the late Mrs. FitzSimon, of Glancullen, O'Connell's daughter, and her brother, Morgan O'Connell, late Begistrar of Deeds, which papers were lent me by Mr. P. J. FitzPatrick, the Irish biographer. Captain James FitzSimon's certificate is signed by twenty- four officers of " Dillon's " in 1792 (of whose names only five appear in " Dillon's " in English Army List in 1797) : — "Begiment de Dillon, Infanterie Irlandaise. " Nous Colonel Comandant, Lieutenant-Colonel, Capi- taines, Lieutenants et Sous-Lieutenants presents du dit Begiment certifions, que le Sieur James FitzSimon est entre au service de sa Majeste le Boi de France en 1785, est passe par les grades de sous-lieutenant et capitaine, et a passe la revue du Commisaire dans le mois de Novembre, 1792, s'est ensuite absente d'apres une permission, a fait la Campagne de 1792, avec les Princes Freres du Boi de France avec honneur et distinction en faveur de quoie avons signe le present certificat. " Coblentz, le Jour le 25 Novembre, 1792. " Stack, Col. Burke. Wm. McCarty. D. O'Farrell. Corr. O'Mahony. J. Mahony. Tarleton. B. O'Connell. D. O'Mahony. Bailly. A. A. Quin. Shee. Warren. J. Mahony. Pat. Warren. O'Shiel. J. Keep." Stetz. J. Conway. The Revolution and the Emigration. 101 On the large red seal the arms are undecipherable. The document states that James FitzSimon entered " Dillon's " in 1785, and passed through all steps from sub lieutenant to captain ; was inspected in 1792 ; granted leave of absence, and served with honour and distinction in the army of the princes, brothers of the King of France. Nothing can be of less interest than Count O'Connell's one letter from Paris in 1792, yet it is written at the real crisis of his life. Everything was arranged for his marriage, in a few months, to a woman of rank, virtue, and wealth, whom he had long loved, when the sudden discovery that he was about to be arrested compelled him to fly. He might have ignobly fled to England ; he might have hired out his sword to Austria or Prussia, where there were plenty of profitable Btaff appointments ; he might have accepted a command under the princes, where officers of far less repute held high- sounding titles. He did none of these things. He fled to the Eoyalist army, and served incognito in its ranks. All his biographers insist on his having served there in his military grade of major-general, but we have his own positive words that he served as a common hussar, under his friend Berchini. At this turning-point of his career, when his life was in danger, when his matrimonial plans were thrown into direst confusion, he calmly sits down and indites the follow ing laconic epistle concerning Mrs. Burke's annuity. People, of course, dared not say a word of what was passing around them in those terrible times. I am quite sure had my general been under orders to the guillotine, he would have seen that no penny of undue rate of exchange was charged on the annuity his dear friend and cousin was remitting from his blazing hot tropical station to the poor widow lady in remote Iveragh. Paris, May the 17'", 1792. Dear Brother, — I give you notice that I addressed you the Day before Yesterday a bill for £16 Irish for the use of Mrs. Burke, sister to Colonel FitzMaurice. The bill is drawn by Sir Herries, Banker, in Paris, on Mr. Thomas Black, of Dublin. The Bill is payable in Six Days after Sight, and its Number is 177. As the state of trouble and confusion of this Country may possibly be the Cause that the bill be inter- 102 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. cepted, and may fall into the hands of some rogue who may forge your Signature in order to receive the amount on't, I pray You'll immediately give Mr. Thomas Black, of Dublin, notice not to pay it but on orders from you, and inform me when you receive it. Farewell, my Dear Brother. Dan. O'Connell. The only account our Emigre trooper gives of his adventures is that he had his full share of peril and hard ship. Probably among the great body of officers serving as common soldiers there was no one so well suited for poverty and hardship as the wiry, active, abstemious mountaineer. My hero's loyalty was a good deal aspersed because he had accepted the Eevolution, but his royal master had accepted it, for that matter. Count O'Connell remained on in Paris, as will be read in his subsequent letters, by the King's express orders, and the approximate cause of his flight was the fact that letters of his to the King were seized in the unhappy monarch's private papers after the abortive flight to Varennes. When the King was a close prisoner, and nothing could be done to rescue him in France, he joined the small army of the princes acting with the great forces of Prussia and Austria armed for monarchy. My hero was just in time for the battle of Valmy and the latter portion of the wretched and abortive campaign, where the Duke of Bruns wick so strangely belied his high military reputation. The greatest misery, sickliness, and privation decimated the Emigre army. I found the following very graphic account of the muster of the allied forces in Mrs. Trench's work. The late Archbishop Trench's "Bemains of Mrs. Eichard Trench " (his beautiful and charming mother) contains a letter from the half-brother of her first husband, which describes in no flattering terms the Emigre army. " It is from Colonel Cradock, afterwards Lord Howden," says Dr. Trench, " and written after a visit to the Duke of Brunswick's head-quarters, and on the memorable day that the Prussian Army entered France with the intention of marching on Paris, releasing the King, and putting down the Eevolution." It is written from Luxembourg, August 19, 1792. The Revolution and the Emigration. 103 The English officers "found the King of Prussia, the Duke of Brunswick, and the main army of fifty thousand men encamped at Montfort, four miles from the town. They were presented to the King and duke with a quite remarkable absence of ceremony, and were struck with the ' martial simplicity and modesty ' of their surroundings. " On that morning arrived at head-quarters Monsieur and the Comte d'Artois from Treves, with ecuyers gardes, etc., without number. The vain pride of people in their circumstances added highly to the scene ; for who could behold the contrast without admiration and wonder — poverty and exile in the gay trappings of pride and vain-glory, and real power and dominion over thousands and tens of thousands concealed, yet augmented, by the moderation of the possessors ? . . . "The Prussian Army," he says later on in the letter, " seems to be exasperated to a degree against everything that bears the name of Frenchman, and patriot or emigrant appears to make but little difference of sentiment in them. The emigrants everywhere conduct themselves with so little good sense, and so regardless of good will and conciliation, that the world regard them and their cause with much indifference, and was it not thought that their cause would ultimately affect others, no one would stir a step in their behalf." Again, towards the end this shrewd observer continues — " I am very anxious to see the three thousand officers doing the duty of soldiers and the common drudgery of the camp. Though a painful sight, yet it is interesting and worthy of observation." My hero, though a major-general, was one of these three thousand. Curiously enough, his biographers all make him serve as a major-general, while we have his own words that he served as a simple hussar. He uses "simple" prefixed to "soldier," in the French sense, meaning "private." He evidently thought but poorly of the venture, and made the luckless campaign in this uncomfortable fashion to conceal his identity, and thus be enabled to return to France. He served in Berchini's hussars, as he himself informs us. 104 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. Why an infantry major-general elected a cavalry regiment does not appear. I am acquainted with Mdlle. McCarthy de Merve, whose grandfather, Sir Charles McCarthy-Lyragh,1 was distinguished in this luckless campaign, and, passing into the English Army with the other Irish officers, was eventually killed by Ashantees in 1824, when Governor of Senegal, where he had distinguished himself in suppressing the slave-trade. She showed me most interesting letters to him from the Due de Castries, whose regiment he virtually managed. These and other letters I have seen are melancholy reading. Great privations of every kind were endured by the luckless Emigres. The Duke of Brunswick marched into France and marched out again, and the defeat of Valmy is supposed to have precipitated the fate of the royal family. On the 19th of the following November, the Comte d'Artois writes to his faithful friend, the Comte de Vaudreuil, who had left him after the campaign — he is then at Liege — " We will not, we cannot, pronounce the dissolution of our army until we know the intention of the Court of Vienna, and shall have received the money from the King of Prussia. But everything is drifting to pieces, and we are dying of hunger. I pass my mornings in continuous tortures. How ever, we are expecting an answer from the emperor. We have sent two couriers to the King of Prussia, and a glimmer of hope sustains us." The remnant of the Emigrant army clung together and hung about Germany, and the Comte d'Artois let La Vendee rise and fall without appearing on the scene of conflict and disaster. Among the FitzSimon papers procured for me by Mr. FitzPatrick is a letter from Count Edward Dillon to Captain James FitzSimon, whose nephew married the Liberator's daughter Ellen. It is in French, as the Dillons, who had followed King James, were quite French after three genera tions on French soil. Writing from Dusseldorf in November, 1792, he draws the following affecting picture of the wreck of the Emigr'e 1 See Note B, p. 129. Tlie Revolution and the Emigration. 105 army: "Your wretched comrades and the greater part of this army are in a pitiable state. Their means and the generosity of strangers are exhausted. It is impossible to foresee how this tragedy will end." Every book of memoirs of the time confirms these statements. We get glimpses of Count O'Connell in the letters of his young nephews at St. Omer and Douay. He contrives to look after the boys, and eventually gets them off to England. " Le beau Fersen " mentions having seen O'Connell in Brussels in August, and hearing from him horrid accounts of the treatment of Marie Antoinette. In spite of Count O'Connell's warnings, his brother had sent their young nephews to a foreign college. They, however, left St. Omer when the troubles reached a certain pitch, and proceeded to Douay, whence the Eevolution again drove them. Almost every schoolboy letter mentions "Uncle Dan." Maurice generally writes. He was his rich uncle's namesake and, I fancy, his destined heir. Maurice O'Connell, of Carhen, to Maurice O'Connell, of Darry nane (his uncle). [Endorsed] 4«b Sep., 1792. My Dear Uncle, — I received yours of the 17th of July on the 17th of August, and, according to your orders, we left St. Omer the Monday following, and were received into this house that evening. Mr. Stapleton, tho' he knew we should want no inconsider able sum of money on our arrival, has not as yet mentioned anything of that in your letter to him. He gave us only what was necessary for our journey. On our arrival here we got acquainted with a Mr. Duggan, who lives near Millstreet, who lent us some money, which, together with some we got from the Procurator, may serve us untill we should hear from you. It is, therefore, very necessary to send us in your next a bill of any sum between £12 or £13, to mention what you wish we should learn as Musick, etc., and that the Procurator should get us whatever we wanted. Dan joins in duty to my Father, Mother, and Grandmother, and in love to my Brothers and Sisters and to all other friends. We should write to them at Present, but that we have not time, because the course of Bhetorick had begun before our arrival, and there- 106 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. fore have no time to spare, but will in our Vacation, which begins shortly. I remain, my dear Uncle, Your grateful and dutiful Nephew, Maur. O'Connell. Douay. P.S. — I have received a letter from my Uncle Dan, written from Brussells, dated the 4th of August, besides one that I may acquaint you of his escape out of this unfortunate King dom, and' says he was then in good health, going up the Bhine, and would soon write again. Will send the Colledge rules in our next. Our Direction to Monsieur O'Connell, Au Grand College des Anglais, Bue des Morts, a Douay. Our Emigre reached London safe and sound and healthy, but in a state almost of destitution, late in the autumn of 1792. His dear old friend, Chevalier Fagan, had long been settled in the English capital, and was ever ready to act a father's part. Thirty years before he had lent the boy-cadet of the Thirty Years' War the money he wanted for the expenses of the campaign, and now he at once presses thirty guineas on his beloved Dan. Our hero's letter, on arrival, is remark able, as it expresses his marked disapproval of duelling. The only instance he seems to have ever approved of duelling was in the case of the abortive political duel projected between Sir Eobert Peel and the Liberator. From henceforth my hero's letters become as full of human interest as they have hitherto been dry and formal. He shall narrate his own adventures and tell his love-story himself. The biographer retires, vice Count O'Connell, for the rest of 1792, save for a brief commentary on the subject of his marriage, which naturally attracts a woman. In his letter of November 5, 1792, we find him safe and sound in London. In the next letter again he tells his love-story. The middle-aged general officer and the mature widow lady, long old friends, are on the point of marrying, when the march of events forces him to take the field. All through those stirring times my hero's conduct was guided by the following system, from which he never deviated : To accept and embrace all risks of his person, but to lessen the risks to his pocket The Revolution and the Emigration. 107 as much as possible. He had too long tasted poverty and a certain dependence on his family not to look on a moderate competence as the one good thing in life. Personal risk he would have scorned to avoid. The possible chances of being shot or guillotined did not depress him ; but the prospect of not securing at least £150 a year for the rest of his natural life did. London, 9b" 5tb, 1792. Dearest Brother, — My joy is inexplicable on having a certainty that you were not the Person engaged in the Duel near Castle Island, a certainty which I've just Acquired from new Circumstances mentioned in this day's paper. Nothing, indeed, can be compared to the Disturbed state I've been in for some days past on this occasion ; but now, thanks to the Almighty, all my fears and anxiety are removed, and I feel a degree of happiness which I am unable to convey or give a just idea of. Pray, Dear Maurice, let me hear from you immediately, and be assured I shall with the deepest im patience reckon every moment that will elapse untill I receive your Letter. I arrived here 8 or 10 Days ago. How long my stay may be in this City I can't yet well know, because it depends of Letters I expect from the Continent. You know the unhappy events of the Campaign, I may say the unaccount able event, and suppose your papers have informed you of the Decree by which the National Convention has for ever banished the French Emigrants, forbidding them, under pain of Death, ever to put a foot in the territory of the new rais'd republick. The state of Distress and Misery to which the Decree reduces the unfortunate Nobility and Gentry of that once flourishing Country is impossible to be expressed, and such are their numbers as well as their inability to make out a livelihood by any Mode of Labour or industry, that they must needs sink under the weight of their Misfortunes. Pro vidence alone can save from begging their bread as objects of Charity, men who a little while ago were rolling in the Super fluities of Wealth and Luxury. What shall become of myself or befall me, I can't tell. I wish not to become a burthen to you, and ere that takes place shall seek every means of Live lihood that an unbroken Courage, a long Experience of the World, and a strong Constitution qualify me for. Farewell, my Dear Brother. My Love and Duty to our Dear Mother, and best Affections to all Friends, and believe me for ever, Your truly Loving Friend and Brother, D. O'Connell. Address to me, to Daniel O'Connell, Esq1, Hungerford Coffee House, No. 470, Strand, London. 108 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. London, y° 23rd Nov"8, 1792. My Dear Brother, — This morning I received your most Acceptable Letter of ye 14t]1 Ist, containing offers which impress me with the deepest sence of gratitude, convinced as I must be, from what I so often experienced, of your kindness ; still I shall postpone being a burthen as long as my Situation shan't absolutely require it, therefore shall not make use at present of your oblidging propositions. It gives me the deepest concern, my Dear Brother, to find myself prevented from going over to see you as soon as I cu'd wish, and that from the following motive, which I trust you'll not disapprove. When I left Paris about the middle of July last to join the Emigrants' Army, I had solemnly Engaged my honour to a Lady of that Country, one of my oldest acquaintance, universally beloved and Esteemed, and in possession of a handsome fortune, to return there in October and marry her. You know the unhappy Circumstances of the Campaign and the Decrees passed by the National Convention which make that measure impracticable at present, but as there's every reason to Expect the rigour of the Laws enacted against Emigrants will be relaxed hereafter, as these laws are levelled chiefly against their properties, and that I'venone — inshort,my having joined the Emigrants not being known, I presume, at Paris — I flatter me that I may, after some time has Elapsed, Venture back to that Kingdom, then to Marry and pass the remainder of my life a convert of the vissisitudes of fortune Untill that favourable turn of affairs takes place, I promiced that interesting woman, whose unshaken and, indeed, some what romantick attatchment demands all my acknowledge ments, to remain as near as possible, in order she may hear from me twice a Week, and I am confident it wu'd be plunging her into the deepest despair were I to go to Ireland, which to her would seem as if I went to China. I wish, therefore, to bring her gradually to agree with my making a tour there in March or April, if not sooner, and if I can succeed in recon ciling her to this step, I shall be happy beyond Expression, my Dearest Brother, to spend a Month or two with you, and once again to Embrace our Dear Mother. You know I left Paris only about the middle of July last. I joined the Army only three days before it took the field, and made the whole Campaign with the Vanguard, as a simple Hussard, refusing any Command, in order my name should not be mentioned within France, which, in case of non-success, I foresaw must Exclude me for Ever from returning there. I need not tell you that I had more than my share of hardships and Dangers of every sort, but Providence has been pleased to protect me, The Revolution and the Emigration. 109 and I was never in better health, tho' my spirits are low. The Cause of my Emigrating so late was the express Com mand of the hapless Monarch, whose situation made it im possible for me to abandon his person untill I saw everything in readiness for the overture of- the Campaign. Then I re paired abroad, being always determined to act a part in the scene, the unhappy and unaccountable result of which has for ever reduced the French Nobility and Gentry to a state of utter Misery and ruin. Quorum pars magna fid. Farewell, my Ever Dear Brother. Pray mention to no body the contents of this Letter, and burn it as soon as you shall have perused it. Be Careful never to mention my having made the Campaign with the Emigrants, as the French have Spies in all quarters, and shu'd that circumstance come to be ascertained, I must never think of returning to France. My most tender Love and Duty to our Dear Mother, and believe me, to my last breath, Your most affectionate Brother, [A long dash replaces signature.] You'll render me a particular and most Essential favour if you will be so kind as to procure and send me over as soon as possible an attestation drawn up by a Notary, certified by the principal Magistrate of Tralee, Killarney, or any other Corporation, as well as by the Sheriff of the County, ascer taining that Daniel Charles O'Connell, born at Darrinane, in the County of Kerry, in August, 1747, arrived in said place in the latter Days of July last, where he remained for the purpose of settling his a fairs with his Brothers until the middle of October. The seal of the Notary, that of the Corporation and of the Sheriff are to be affixed to the above act, which I request you'll forward to me with all possible diligence, in order I may transmit the same to Paris, as that alone can prevent my effects being seized ; and it will, moreover, facilitate my return to that Country, but its immediate effect will be to save all I left behind me from being confiscated ; therefore all Dilligence is requisite, otherwise I shall be too Late. Farewell. Folded in the letter is Maurice's rough draft of the per fectly barefaced lie by which these highly respectable persons and the leading Kerry gentlemen, their neighbours, thought it a perfectly allowable ruse de guerre to spoil the Egyptian, or rather to protect an Israelite. In the matter of date and age certificates my hero's notions were decidedly lax ; in all else he was sternly and rigidly truthful. 110 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. " County of Kerry, In the Kingdom of Ireland. " We, whose names are hereunto Subscribed, doe hereby freely affirm and Certify that Daniel Charles O'Connell, born at Darrinane, in this County, in August, 1747, arrived att said place in the later Days of July last, where he remained settling some ffamily affairs with his Brothers Maurice and Morgan O'Connell, Esqrs, until the Middle of October last, when he sett out from thence for London, and that we each of us Bespectively, frequently saw and Conversed and kept Company with him during that time. In Confirmation whereoff we hereunto signed our names this Day of December, 1792." London, 25th Dec', 1792. My Dear Brother, — I recd the Certificate you were so good as to transmit to me, and return you my most sincere thanks for your friendly and effective exertions. I imme diately drew up in French a copy of the attestation, which I sent over to my friend at Paris, persuant to her desire. She is to lay it before some persons who will be able to Lett her know how far Safety may be derived therefrom, and her answer, which I expect to receive, shall determine me either to go over, or to make a longer stay in England. In the latter case I shall probably retire to some Country town within a Day's Journey of London, in order to avoid Expence as far as in my power. With respect to her coming over, far from recommending that step, I shu'd oppose it, from my being perfectly well acquainted with the Spirit of the people who now govern there. Any pretext, however glaringly unjust, wu'd, I am sure, be eagerly laid hold on to strip every person of her description of their properties, therefore no sort of colour is to be given by which that design may be effected. As for selling out, the present situation of affairs makes it impossible, except with a loss of at least two-thirds of the Capital, therefore it would be madness to think of it. Pray let Brother Morgan know I yesterday recd his Letter, inclosing a Bill for £12 Irish for Mr. McCarthy, of Berwick's Begiment. That young gentleman is still on the Continent: I don't know where, and am much at a loss how to send him the money ; however, as I presume he may be at Maestricht on the Meuse, I shall write to a son of the deceased Doctor Jeffrey Connell, of Cork, an officer in the Brunswick Service and now in garrison there, to request he may look out for Mr. McCarthy, and pay him said sum, for which he shall draw on me. This is the only method I can light upon to answer the expectations of Mr. McCarthy's friends, whom I would very gladly oblige. Be so good as to send me as soon as possible my Baptis- Tlie Revolution and the Emigration. Ill terium, signed by your Parish Priest, setting forth my being born the 24th August, 1747. Send me also my Mother's Concent to my marrying, Drawn up by you, Sealed with your arms, and signed by her. Farewell my Dear Brother. I am inexpressibly happy to hear our Dear Mother is well. Pray Embrace her most tenderly and respectfully from me. My best wishes to all friends, and believe me, Your affectionate friend and Brother, D. O'Connell. I think it needless, from what I here tell you, to answer Brother Morgan's last Letter. Pray assure him and family of my affectionate regards. I am sorry to tell you the report of the Irish Brigade being taken into the Austrian pay is devoid of truth. All the unfortunate young men of that Corps are daily coming over here destitute of everything, and have no resource left but going to live with their friends in Ireland. Farewell, my Dr Brother. Send me immediately the two papers I mentioned, and address them to the care of Christopher Fagan, Esq., no. 22, Strand, London. London, ll"1 January, 1793. Dear Brother, — I shall be leaving this City in a Day or two, and intend steering my course towards France, where I trust, with God's blessing, I shall arrive without meeting any difficulty, as the Certificate you was so good as to send me must be an all-powerful preservative. Be so good as to warn the Gentlemen who signed it that, in case any Enquiry should be hereafter made with respect to my having been in Ireland (which I do not presume), they shu'd support with Obstinacy Every thing set forth in said writing. Be so good also to address to Mr. Fagan, No. 22, Strand, London, the Baptis- terium I called to you for by my last, as well as my Mother's Concent to my marriage, both as soon as possible. Finding myself rather short of money from the almost insuperable difficulty of getting over any from France, under the present circumstances, I have been necessitated to borrow £30 from my friend Fagan, not only for the Expence of my journey to France, but also to procure some articles of clothing much wanting to me. That sum I trust you'll be so good as to refund my very worthy friend Fagan as soon as shall be convenient to you, having too much Experienced your kindness to make any doubt of meeting with a new proof on't on the present occasion. Give me leave, My Dear Brother, to recommend to your particular kindness and attention Johnny Burke, the Nephew 112 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. of Colonel FitzMaurice. He is a youth bless'd with every Virtue and quality that begets friendship and Esteem, and I doubt not but you will find him. so ; therefore do request you'll render him every service in your power, and keep him with you as long as the present circumstances shall enforce his stay at home. The other young men, our relations, are in general very much entitled to the attention of their friends. Farewell, my Dearest Brother. I very much wish you may not find my charge on you too heavy, but your friendly offer of more than double that sum makes me hope you will not. My Duty and most warm affections to our much-honoured and beloved Mother, and believe me for Ever, Your most affectionate and truly grateful Brother, D. O'Connell. I shall write to you shortly after my arrival in France. Don't be uneasy for me. I trust in the protection of the Almighty. Endorsed by Maurice O'Connell — 24"' January, 1793. I have wrote of ye date to Sir Biggs Falkiner and Co., dirtd to remit Mr. ffagan the £30 English Mentioned in this Letter, and att the same time wrote Mr. ffagan, advising him I had done so. How generously the economical Maurice responded to his brother's appeal appears from the following rough memorandum of Maurice O'Connell's, endorsed, "Brother Daniel's Account, 1793 : "— £ s. d. Cash laid out on my Brother Daniel since his arrival in Eng land the latter end of October last, 1792, viz. December, '92, remitted Captain Fagan by his desire and for his own use, £30 English, which makes Irish ... ... ... ... 32 10 0 July 1st. Given him here as we set out for Killarney Ffair, Cash 22 15 0 August 13. J. Power's bill for Cloathes for him, amounting to 5 18 9 Do. For Murphy's bill for Boots and a Pair shoes for Him ... 19 9 ^November 17. Cash to him the day before we set out for Killarney Ffair, whence he was to proceed to Cork on his way to England (Bank-notes 300 Guineas Irish) ... (gold) 341 5 0 Ditto, to him same time in change 12 0 £405 1 4 There are several very interesting letters for the years 1792, 1793, 1794, and 1795, all referring more or less to the Irish officers. I infer that very soon after his arrival Count The Revolution and the Emigration. 113 O'Connell began to seek employment in England. From a letter of the Duke of Portland's in the Pelham Correspondence, which will be found under its proper date, 1797, it appears that Count O'Connell and Count Dillon were the first to apply for permission to raise Irish regiments. Dillon seems to have proposed to bring over his officers en masse, and to raise the regiment anew, recruiting in Ireland. Count O'Connell proposed to raise either a Catholic or a mixed regiment, officered by the Irish-French officers. Notwithstanding the penal laws, they had some grounds on which to found this application. French Catholic Boyalists were employed largely by the English Government, who had subsidized several noblemen and their regiments who had been serving in the hapless army of the princes, and the Irish Parliament had passed a seemingly liberal but unworkable law allowing Catholics to serve as colonels in Ireland. I shall try and piece together my hero's personal adventures so far as I can. His immediate necessities were relieved by Captain Fagan just after he landed. He did not write home for about a week after his arrival in London, and his first letter bears the date of the 5th of November. In the month of January Hunt ing Cap remitted the £30 to repay kind Captain Fagan. On the 11th of January, 1793, Count O'Connell writes home, full of going to France. In a boyish letter of the Liberator's, dated London, March 11, 1793, he says he sends the Douay accounts by "my Uncle Dan's" orders. "My Uncle Dan" joins the usual greetings, consequently he was still in London. In the account Maurice mentions making a payment on the 1st of July, as they were setting out to the fair of Killarney, so that he must have reached home by that date. It is impossible to be certain whether he went to France or not, but I infer that he did, because the Liberator's young brother, writing from London on the 3rd of July, supposes his uncle Dan has already arrived at Darrynane. However, his uncle Dan might have set out from London. During the four or five summer and early autumn months that Count O'Connell spent at Darrynane in 1793, he saw more of his mother than he had done for years. All sorts of little anecdotes about Maur-ni-Dhuiv and her sons are remembered VOL. II. I 114 The Last Colonel of the. Irish Brigade. yet. Landing without a fraction, except what he owed to his brother's kindness, and just after witnessing the grinding poverty of the proudest and most lavish set of people on earth, my frugal hero was a little shocked at the good old dame's prodigality, especially in the matter of kishes1 of turf hurled in perpetually to a red cavern of kitchen fire in the dog days. Now, there are two styles of good housewives — she who scrapes and pinches and glories in saving cheese-rinds and potato-peels, and she who glories in always having "full and plenty " in bin and larder. To this latter variety Maur-ni- Dhuiv belonged. The huge unceasing fire was a true emblem as well as a factor of patriarchal hospitality. If friends rode over the mountain, or profited by wind and tide to sail over from a neighbouring creek, there was no delay in raking up smouldering seed 2 of red turf-embers when the piles of sods were ever glowing, and she made a verse, saying she never knew who or how many would ride down the mountain-side. Besides these possibilities of parlour guests, there were infinite probabilities of men passing with the cattle of friends from farm to farm, or fair, or market, messengers with letters and gifts, and poor scholars, wandering pedlars, and pipers, and " shulers "3 pure and simple, i.e. wandering mendicants, all of whom would have hot food set before them. The old lady took her soldier-son's rebuke very ill indeed, when he ventured to remonstrate with her on her monstrous prodigality of fuel, and Hunting Cap backed her up in asserting that, while she lived, that fire should never be lessened. A tenant, John James Gallavan, told me that when Hunting Cap was young there were absolutely no cash payments to workmen. He has heard his old grandfather and other people's old grandfathers say so. All payments were in kind. When the change of times came — I fancy the great agricultural prosperity of the old war-times — ready money, which the poor people seldom saw before, came into use, and, instead of feeding great gangs of boys and girls, people began to pay workmen. Maurice O'Connell was too enlightened a man 1 Tall baskets. 2 In turf countries the one charred sod covered up in ashes to keep in some fire when cooking is not in progress, is called the "seed." 3 Strollers, from the Irish verb SlU04jl. Hie Revolution and the Emigration. 115 not to see the advantage of the new system, and he adopted it. Whenever he went away, however, his liberal old mother would summon in all hands to dinner. On one occasion, at a very busy time in late autumn, he returned (probably from November fairs), and found that all his paid workmen were having a very good dinner, the old lady looking on ap provingly. He addressed her in Irish before them, so that the men might have no doubt as to his views— "I thought, mother, I had stopped that work." " The day was very cold," rejoined the old lady, " and they could not work if too cold." " I keep a steward to make them work." " The best steward," rejoined the irrepressible old dame, "is a full stomach." This argument proved so unanswerable, that John James Gallavan told me "he would not cross her after," and the men got their master's money and their mistress's food, and a hundred years after her pithy rejoinder is gratefully re membered to her. Meat, unless on very rare occasions, was only given to the upper servants, but Maur-ni-Dhuiv would always tell the cook to give an odd bone to the little boy who minded the calves, and one little calf-herd grew up such an athletic young giant on this liberal dietary, that, being sent to the rich Limerick country with cattle, he nearly smashed the skull of a Cantillon follower in a dispute concerning the respective merits of their countries and their ladies. I only wish the stream of local tradition flowed more in my hero's direction, and that I could find out if he had gone to Paris before his trip to his home. Whether he reached Paris or no, a kinsman and namesake certainly got arrested in mistake for him. The Count de Castelverd, who made thorough searches for me in the French National Archives, sent me attested copies of the arrest, examination, police-watching, and subsequent liberation of " a Citizen O'Connell," whom he and I both supposed to be my hero until the signature struck me, "G. O'Connell, Ch.D." Now, my hero often signed formal letters "General" or, 116 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. "Gen.," and most French official documents have the Christian name after the family name. " Ch. D." might stand for " Daniel Charles" inverted, but why on a lower line? It was suggested to me, however, that no sane man would call himself anything but Citizen, so that G. could not stand for "General." I sent an original letter of Count O'Connell's to Count de Castelverd, who assures me that signature, flourish, and handwriting all differ from those of " G. O'Connell, Ch. D." He says it must have been the colonel who was arrested ; however, as the colonel was at the fair of Killarney in the first week of July, while the citizen was under police inspect tion in a hotel in Paris, he was not our man. The count mentions Dr. Jeffrey Connell, of Cork, who had recently escaped from France, and I infer he was the person who was taken up in mistake, Geoffroy being the French for Geoffrey or Jeffrey, " G. O'Connell, Ch. D.," is simply " Geoffroy O'Connell, Ch(irurgien) D(octeur)." It was the customary cipher for " Surgeon and Physician." Another hypothesis about my hero's movements is possible, viz. that he went to France during the month of February, and was back again in March. The following copies of official documents were made for me by M. de Castelverd, who states that he ransacked in vain the Ministere de la Guerre, the Musee Carnavalet, and the Bibliotheque Nationale, and found them in the Archives Nationales. The entries are five in number : — [Translation.] National Convention. General Safety and Vigilance Committee of the National Convention, Theatre Francais Section. 24th day of April, 1793, second year of the French Bepublick, One and Indivisible. The Committee of General Safety of the National Con vention charges the Commissioners of the Committee of the section of the Theatre Francais to present themselves at the Hotel des ,Ambassadeurs, Eue St. Andre des Arcs, opposite that of l'Eperon, using armed force if necessary, and seize on the person named O'Connell, an Irishman, therein residing, bring him before the Committee, examine his papers, and bring to the Committee those which shall seem The Revolution and the Emigration. 117 to them of a suspicious nature, and to affix their seal on the remainder, and draw up a report of their oral examination. Given in committee the aforesaid day and year. (Signed) Maurice Aine. (Signed) Tugrand. [Large red seal of the French Bepublic] [Translation.] National Convention. Committee of General Safety and Vigilance of the National Convention. This [blank for day], 1793, second year of the French Eepublic, One and Indivisible. In consequence of the receipt of report of oral examina tion and documents mentioned therein from the Commis sioners of Public Safety of the Theatre Francais Section, called of Marseilles, the Committee of General Safety of the National Convention has decreed that the herein-named O'Connell be led back to the hotel where he lodges, placed under arrest in one of the rooms of the hotel until it shall be otherwise ordered, and that the Commissioners mentioned below shall be authorized to establish such a warder as they shall think proper, to whose charge he shall be com mitted. Ordered at said Committee the 29th of April, the 2nd year. (Signed) Maure, Brioal, Cavaignac, and Maulle. For similar copy — (Signed) Almer, Prd. In virtue of a stamped decree of the National Convention and a decree of its Committee of General Safety and Vigi lance, dated the 10th day of July, the year 3, which permits Citizen O'Connell, an Englishman, to return to his own country, and which invites the constituted authorities to aid and assist him in case of need, the Committee of Public Safety has restored to him, by virtue of this superior order, the papers seized in virtue thereof in the possession of the C. O'Connell, whose arrest had been ordered by the Com mittee of General Safety. [No signatures to this paper.] "Le C." doubtless stands for " Le Citoyen," as the definite article "le" (the) would not be put before a Christian name. Eeceipt entirely in the said O'Connell's handwriting — 118 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. I acknowledge receipt from Committee of Public Safety of the Theatre Franoais of a parcel of papers belonging to me, and which were sealed up in consequence of an order of the Committee of General Safety of the Convention the 24th of April, 1793. Executed at Paris, the 24th of July, 1793. (Signed) G. O'Connell, Ch. D. It is evident my hero remained unemployed at Darrynane for at least four months, and the fact that he was presented with boots and shoes and a suit of clothes, and had some repairs to his shoes even, executed at Hunting Cap's expense, would show that, whether he went to France or not, he had failed to redeem any of his savings, and was wholly and utterly destitute. Hunting Cap, who could behave with great generosity on great occasions, gave him at parting three hundred English guineas in notes and gold — a sum which a century ago represented a good deal more than its present value. This sum, in this portable form, was, of course, intended to provide for his wants in any sudden emergency. His good friend, Chevalier Fagan, had remained in London, and was looking after his interests, receiving and forwarding his letters, and exercising a paternal vigilance over the boys Dan and Maurice, who give repeated accounts of what he has said and done respecting them, and hope he is pleased with them. It is with him that Lord Moira's passport is left for my hero's admission to the ill-starred expedition to Brittany, which he providentially missed by a few hours. How lucky he was to have been delayed by the adverse winds he soon learned. Hubberstone in Milford Haven Harbour, Tuesday, 26 9"", 3 o'clock, afternoon. My Dear Brother, — I arrived here an hour agone, after a tedous passage of 64 hours from Chickpoint, 5 miles below Waterford, where I had been detained from 2 o'clock on Thursday until 10 on Saturday, with a strong gale at South- East (Straight in our teeth) which lasted during the whole passage. Notwithstanding these little disappointments and some foul weather, I got here, thank God, in perfect health and good spirits, and shall set out to-morrow morning about 7 o'clock by the Mail Coach for London, where I hope The Revolution and the Emigration. 119 to arrive on Friday next. I shall be careful to let you hear from me from that City, but not before 8 or 10 Days after I get there, being desirous to give you some idea of my future Expectations, as well as of any particulars relating to Dan and Maurice. Now, my Dear Brother, I shall take leave of you in order to eat a bit of Dinner and go to sleep, which I have not been able to do with any comfort since I left Waterford, owing to a continual heavy gale and very rough Sea. My most warm wishes and every sentiment that is dearest to the heart shall attend the remembrance of so good and kind a Brother, and whatever scenes of life I may go through, the thoughts of you shall always be uppermost in my breast. Be so good as to present my most dutiful love to our Dear Mother, and sincerest affections to Sister Seggerson and Kitty. Pray remember me also to the friends of Carhen, of Castle Lodge, and all other friends, not forgetting Mr. Barry. I should not forget poor Andrew [Andrew Connell, the old butler, whose will is at Darrynane], whose care of me nothing could surpass, and whose genuine concern at parting with me at Corke did not a little affect me. I hope he got safe home, and that your horses met with no accident. We were told in Cork the Ballybegg road had been repaired, which gave me great pleasure. Farewell again, my Dearest Brother. Accept my most warm Embraces, and rest assured of my most cordial love and gratitude. D. O'Connell. I saw Fitzy Burke in Corke, just as I was getting into the Mail Coach for Waterford. When you see Captain O'Connell, remember me to him. This letter .goes off by to-morrow's packet, so I hope it will get to hand soon. Pray embrace my Dear Mother and Sister Seggerson for me. London, ll* Decemb', 1793. Dear Brother, — I hope you have long ere now recd the Letter I wrote you on my Landing at Milford Haven, by which any uneasiness you might have entertained respecting me, on account of the tempustious weather, has been removed. I presume you might have seen in the Papers that I was gone out with Lord Moira on his Expedition to the Coast of France. Finding this report current on my Arrival here on the 30th November in the morning, and Captain Fagan having delivered me a passport left for me by Lord Moira, I set out on the following Day, 1st Xber, at 5 in the morning, for Ports mouth, in hopes of overtaking his Lordship there, but he had sailed at 10 o'clock the very morning, and it was 6 in the 120 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. afternoon when I got there, by which my Expectations of meeting the General were disappointed. I therefore returned to London the next Day but one, having in vain pursued the Fleet in a boat so far as the Needles, about Six Leagues from Portsmouth. I proposed to myself to urge the General on the Expediency of obtaining for me an English Commission, without which I should make it a point not to serve on the Expedition. This point I have, since my return here, made the condition, sine qua non, of my going out, but though much it seems to be the Earnest Wishes of people of all descriptions to have me there, yet my demand appears so novel, so unacceptable to Ministers, or at least to their Agents, with whom I have hitherto negociated the matter, that I apprehend it will not be granted, in which case I shall find myself obliged either to join Lord Moira as an Aide-de- Camp, in which capacity General James Conway, and some others whose necessities made the pay attatched to that temporary place an object worth their acceptance, went with him ; or to postpone serving for the present moment. Now, my Dear Brother, the situation of things is such that I must shortly come to a final determination on the plan I am to adopt. Three things offer, between which I must make a choice, and being determined never to come to a momentous resolution without having previously consulted you, and being assured of your perfect approbation, I must Entreat you will, without any loss of time, deliver me your opinion and wishes on the subject. The first of these three determinations is to join Lord Moira as one of his Aide-de-Camps without a British Com mission. The second, to join the Boyalists in La Vendee, or where- ever they may be, with the Count d'Artois, whenever he throws himself into that quarter, which I know from the surest intelligence (this to remain between you and me) he intends doing if any prospect of being able to make a stand offers on the part of the Boyalists. The third, to take no part in the Military Operations, and in that case to return home without delay, in order to be out of the way and Escape the Sollicitations and call both of the Prince and the French Nobility, which on the spot I could not easily elude. With respect to the first, It can in my opinion be productive of no solid advantage to me ; the pay of Aide-de-Camp I shall be obliged to expend, and can expect rank nor pension in the British Army, whatever the Merit of my Services may be. Nay, not even a provision in case I had the Misfortune of losing a leg or an arm ; so that, in The Revolution and the Emigration. 121 a word, my only certain prospect would be the Guillotine, if unhappily taken prisoner, even tho' I had a British Com mission, as I am on the list of the Outlawed persons, Some Letters of mine to the Late King of France having been found amidst many others in his papers, and having been printed in the collection of said papers by order of the Convention, as I am confidently informed by Doctor Jeffrey Connell, of Corke, lately Escaped from that Country, who read them. As to the second, it may be reduced to this brief position, Namely, to Engage in a Civil War, the Extent and Success and Duration of which cannot be foreseen, the most bloody and cruel that has been ever waged, but productive of glory and honours to such as may live to see the end of it. The third resolution, undoubtedly the most agreable to the dictates of Cool Beason and the Philosophick Mind, implies the renunciation of all military honours, and of casting myself a Burthen for Ever on you, if, on a counter Eevolution, the fortune of the Lady I was to marry should be impaired to such a Degree as to make it unadvisable to form the Connextion. Having thus laid before you, my Dear Brother, in the most candid light the circumstances for and against, the high Idea I entertain of your judgement, the deep sense I have of your lively affection for me, as well as the numberless obligations I owe you, induce me to refer Solely to your determination what I am to do — whether to go and join Lord Moira, whether to accompany Count d'Artois to La Vendee whenever the occasion shall offer, or whether to return to Ireland. Whatever you determine on the matter shall be strictly and unreluctantly attended to. I am prepared and perfectly reconciled to anything, and I shall be happy in any situation with the consciousness of your friendship and approbation. Speak your Mind freely, and fear not, whatever _ be the consequence, a reproach from a Brother whose affection and gratitude towards you are immortal. I can make up my mind with equal indifference to living in a Camp or in retirement. The Vissisitudes of Fortune have made me almost deaf to the Voice of Ambition and Vain Glory, so that I can be happy under the Boyal Standard and in dying for so good a cause, or in living with you, remote from the bustle and noise of the World. I shall add no more on this subject, but await your answer. Our two Nephews are well and improved in their carriage and Demeanour. Dan is, indeed, promicing everything that 122 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. is good and estimable, and I hope Maurice will conform to your Commands and merit your goodness. In my next I shall give you a fuller account of them, being now stinted for room. I recd two Days since a most affectionate Letter, from the Viscountess de Gouy. It was addressed to my friend Fagan, and came by Switzerland, dated 3 November. She was then well, and her only thoughts, she says, are our future union. Poor Dear Woman, May the Almighty protect her ! Dan Mahony, of Dunloe, is here, and lodges in the same house with me. He is come for the purpose of settling his accounts for his Company. Farewell, my Dearest Brother. Direct to the care of Mr. Fagan, No. 22, Strand. Present my love and Duty to our Dear Mother, affections to Sister Seggerson, and be assured no words can express the sentiments with which my heart is filled for you. D. O'Connell. The year 1793, which saw one brother reduced from commanding as a general to serving as a trooper, saw the other, once a recalcitrant Papist who had been in danger of his life in 1782, entrusted with the Commission of the Peace, and with the highest compliment the local authorities could pay a commoner, viz. the commission of a deputy-governor. Deputy-governors were much the1 same as deputy-lieutenants nowadays. Lord Kenmare's religion precluded his being lord-lieu tenant of the county. Old ladies now living knew other old ladies who used to visit the defunct Lady Glandore, but the title is now extinct. Boss O'Connell informs me that a commission as Deputy- Governor for Kerry is made over to Maurice O'Connell, Esq., of Darrynane, dated the 27th of April, 1793, and signed " Glandore, Gov. and Cus. Bot. [Governor and Custos Botulorum], Co. Kerry." Lord Glandore writes as follows : — Dublin, Thursday, April 11*, 1793. Dear Sir, — Having received his Excellency the Lord- Lieutenant's commands to appoint 20 Deputy-Governors of the C° of Kerry, to carry the Militia Act into execution, I request to know whether you will allow me to name you one of them, in which case you will please to call upon the Clerk The Revolution and the Emigration. 123 of the Peace immediately to perform what the law requires in this instance. I have sent him a copy of the Aot of Parlia ment which points out what is necessary to be done with respect to the Qualification. I have the honour to be, with great esteem, y* most obedient and faithful serv4, Glandore.1 Maurice Connel, Esqre. 1 Catholio Relief Bill (Ireland), 1793, Lecky, vol. vi. chap. xxv. p. 587. The qualification required to authorize a Catholic to bear arms was raised in committee on the motion of the Chancellor, and, in addition to the oath of allegiance of 1774, a new oath was incorporated in the Bill, copied from one of the declarations of the Catholics, and abjuring certain tenets which had been ascribed to them ; among others, the assertion that the Infallibility of the Pope was an article of their faith. For the rest, the Bill became law almost exactly in the form in which it was originally designed. It swept away the few remaining disabilities relating to pro perty which grew out of the penal code. It enabled Catholics to vote like Protestants for members of Parliament and magistrates in cities and boroughs ; to become elected members of all corporations except Trinity College ; to keep arms, subject to some specified conditions ; to hold all civil and military offices in the kingdom from which they were not specifically excluded ; to hold the medical professorships on the founda tion of Sir Patrick Dun ;* to take degrees and hold offices in any mixed college connected with the University of Dublin that might hereafter be founded. It also threw open to them the degrees of the University, enabling the King to alter its statutes to that effect. A long clause enumerated the prizes which were still withheld. Catholics might not sit in either House of Parliament ; they were excluded from almost all Government and judicial positions ; they could not be Privy Councillors,, King's Counsel, Fellows of Trinity College, sheriffs or sub-sheriffs, or' generals of the staff (33 Geo. III. cap. 21). Nearly every post of ambi tion waa reserved for Protestants, and the restrictions weighed most heavily on the Catholics who were most educated and most able. * To which there has never since been a Catholic appointed. — [G. S.] 124 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. NOTES TO BOOK VI. Note A. Colonel Thomas FitzMaurice. [FitzMaurice (Duagh, County Kerry, descended from the fifth Lord of Kerry) : ar. a saltire gu. and a chief erm. Crest : a centaur drawing a bow and arrow ppr., the part from the waist ar. Motto: "Virtute, non verbis." From Monsieur de la Ponce's manuscript about Irish Brigade, B.I.A. : Born, 1738 ; was a cadet in " Eothe's," 1751 ; second- lieutenant " Bothe's," 1752; lieutenant, 1757; sous-aide- major (assistant-adjutant), 1763 ; aide-major (adjutant) in Boscommon's Begiment, 1767 ; captain, 1769 ; attached to "Walsh's," 1773; Chevalier de St. Louis, 1776; Governor of St. Eustache (or Statia, in the West Indies), 1783; granted a pension of 2000 francs, 1789.] Colonel Tom FitzMaurice, my hero's lifelong friend and comrade, was his first cousin. He was also nearly related to the Trants of Dingle, a branch of the family of Dovea, County Tipperary. Through the Trants he was connected with Count Bartholomew Mahony. His family do not seem to have been well off, and were probably some of those numerous Catholics who traced back, through younger sons and sons of younger sons, to important families. FitzMaurice was the name of the Earls of Kerry, who were Lords of Lixnaw. Colonel Tom seems to have been a bachelor. He was highly distinguished in the West India Expedition, led by Count Dillon, of the picked men of " Dillon's " and " Walsh's," which he rather wanted Captain Bick O'Connell to join in 1782, and for his distinguished services, as may be seen in p. 629 of O'Callaghan's "Irish Brigade," was made Governor of St. Eustache. His most interesting letter about his escape from the revolted negroes, and the equally interesting letter of his nephew about Irish life in the West Indies, may fit in here. Notes to Book VI. 125 Colonel Thomas FitzMaurice, to his cousin Trant. (Copy for warded to Maurice O'Connell, of Darrynane, and preserved there.) Antigua, August 21", 1793. My Dear Trant, — Young Bouvolet, who was for some short time a Volunteer in my Eegiment, arrived here a few days ago, and told me he had lately seen you and yr family near Cork. If anything could give me in my distressed posi tion comfort and satisfaction, the assurance of your being well, and all yr family's, would in a high measure contribute to it. I have answered your letter of the 2nd November last, which I only recd at Monserrat in the latter end of February. I charged Captain Goodhall, who sailed the l8t or 2nd of March for England, with my Letters to you, my Brother, and my Cousin German, Maurice Connell, of Darrinane. Tho' in formed some time ago of his having been captured off Scilly by a French Privateer, I was in hopes that thes Letters were among the papers he secured from the hands of the Captor, but Mr. Bouvolet having assured me that you mentioned nothing of it to him, convinces me they did not come to hands. It would be too tedious to relate here to you the various scenes I have gone thro' since the 218t Xbr [December], when I escaped by a miraculous concourse of circumstances being massacred by the Populace at Pointe a Pietre, where I arrived the 5th of January. I arrived in disguise, without any other cloathes but what I had on my Back, and a Negro Servant, who remained faithful to me, at Montserrat, where I was received with distinction, where I remained at Mr. Meads', in the Country, and another gentleman's House in Town, without the least Expence, till the end of the last Month. Then I betook myself hither for safety from the democatic villians of Guadaloupe, who threatened to come during the hurricane month to Montserrat, which is a defence less Island, to take me away with the other French Emigrants that were there, who equally retired here along with me, where we are treated in the most distinguished manner. By the various reports from England, and by what the English Newspapers of Feb?, March, and April last mentioned, we were all certain that the British forces would possess them selves of those French Islands in the course of the Summer ; the persuasion I was in of this occasioned my remaining in these Islands till I would have seen the issue of it, which unfortunately has turned out unfavourably to all the Boyalists of all our french Islands, and most particularly to those of my C°, the greatest part of which had only just time, when the Island was evacuated on a sudden by the British troops, 126 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. to run away with their lives without their having a moment's leisure to provide themselves with the money that lay in their Trunks. Thousands ran away in this manner, and the Desolation at Carnavire, where the fleet lay during the Evacuation, to which I was an attentive Witness, is beyond Description. I went to the Expedition as a Volunteer, where I suffered a good deal of fatigue, and, which was worse, trouble of mind. I joined 21st Begm* under the Canon of fort Bourbon, and have been recd by Coll. Graham and all the officers, and treated by them with distinguished marks of civilities and kindness. I am still in great hopes that the British Court will send out here, in October or November next, a force sufficient to reduce the infernal and barbarous murderers of the French Islands, and if they don't accelerate the Expedition, it is possible that the Spaniards may be beforehand with them, as I am assured from Trinidade that Spanish Forces are already arrived at Porto Caballo with an intention to attack these french Islands, but others pretend it will be St. Domingo. My only hopes are that either one or the other of these two powers will possess themselves of them, and, as probably Success will attend this turn the undertaking, I will be able to return to Guadeloupe, where I have a claim of four or five hundred Johannes to make, and which it will be impossible to refuse me, having lost the little property I had in France. This, if I can recover it, will help me to subsist till the King is restored, if I live to see it. I have wrote to my Brother, and to my Cousin, Maurice Connell, about 3 weeks ago ; in case that my Letters have not reached them, pray transmit them an Extract of this if you think proper. Pray my respects to yr firside, etc. I suppose she finds Cork and its neighbourhood more agreable than Curracao or Statia ; the latter, I am told, is a dismal place. Governor Bunnells, the only person there with whom I fell out in yr time, sent me offers of Service since my Emigration. Make my respects acceptable to yr worthy Moth', and be assured, my Df Trant, of my eternal attatchment and friendship. FitzMaurice. John Bourke of Content Poline, Montego Bay, Jamaica, to Maurice O'Connell, of Darrynane. Feb. 26, 1793. Sir, — I hope the Goodness of the cause will Plead my excuse in giving you this Trouble, exclusive of the knowledge I have had of the goodness of your Heart in rendering Notes to Book VI. 127 Services to mankind — much more so to those who have a claim of Kindred. Enclosed therein you will receive a bill of Exchange of £100 Stg., drawn on John Duffill and Co., by the Drawer, Leonard Parkinson, Esqr., MontegoBay, Jamaica. It will command Cash at a small Discount, either at Cork or Liverpool, and, indeed, I think to await the Payment. The appropriation of this Bill I wish to be as follows : £60 to my Father for his sole and exclusive use, to be laid out in land, stock, or interest, as you best like, and, in case of his Death, to be equally divided between such of my Sisters as their Uncle, Colonel Thomas FitzMaurice, has made no provision for. In this last case an interest or annuity is preferable. £25 Stg. to my Brother, FitzMaurice Bourke, to be laid out in clothing and other necessities, to accomplish him to come to me to Jamaica. Any Liverpool or London Captain trading to this Port will besides take him as a cabin passenger, for which I will pay them here. I would much wish him to pass what time may intervene between the receipt of this Letter and his time of sailing — say about Xmas next — either in a genteel private family or boarding school at Corke, where he should learn to put off that distinguishing characteristic of Irishmen, the Brogue. I left him a very fine boy, and shall be happy to meet him a young man of Prudence, and sense, and taste. As I never intend to alter my condition, so I may be said to work for him and the rest of my Brothers and Sisters. I have received all my father's Letters, and the answering not was more owing to the want of means of sending something than to any slight or forgetfulness. In one of my father's Letters I was sorry to learn that your brother-in-law, Maurice O'Connell, was obliged to sell his estate of Lative, to clear himself from that extravagant bargain of Brookhill. If you would be so good as to remember me kindly to him and wife, and beg him to write me a Statement of that business true, if in my power, I will extricate him were I obliged to sell my own property here which is at the least valued at £400. I had a Letter last year from a Mr. Eichard Barry, from Grenada, informing of their Uncle's goodness to my two eldest sisters. It will be my study to help them all, and thank God, if God spares my life and Health, I have now prospect. I have followed the planting line — say the cultivation and manufacture of sugar and rum— in only two employs these 13 years. What with sickness, etc., did not save much till within these few years, for it is an established fact in this Island making the first 100, then the next 500, and so on. I last year sold negroes to the amount of ±1500, besides other property, and had then a Notion to go and fetch my brother, and take a 128 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. peep at the rest and all my worthy friends ; but this same Mr. Parkinson, who is a great Man, worth at least £100,000, has been my employer, protector, father, and best friend, advised me, saying £5 to one, £10 to another, and so on would soon reduce the capital, and I acquiess'd. Since then I have bought 32 negroes, which bring in £4 every day, at the rate of 2/6 each. I have a Provision plantation house and home containing 50 acres of land, and from there I date this. The remaining £15 I beg may be laid out on my brother Thomas as you will think most Fitting. Now let me recapitulate the interest of the £60 Stg. What think you of fining it down for the life of my father, or as you like ? My brother FitzMaurice, £25; ditto my brother Thomas, £15 (£100). I shall be glad to hear at all times from you, and how you may command my services of any kind. Irish herrings are selling here now at 42/6 ye barrell, and I think Irish friezes would sell well. Please remember me to all your large and worthy ffamily individually. A letter from your nephew, Mr. John McCarthy, I should take kind. I remain, sir, with great respect and regard, Your most obedient humble servant, John Bourke. With respect to the FitzMaurice connection, Mr. Leyne notes that "the Liberator's wife was the eldest daughter of Thomas O'Connell, of Tralee, by Ellen, daughter of David Tuohy, of same, by Ellen, daughter of — FitzMaurice, of Cosfiely, County Kerry. Her brother, Captain Tuohy, in my young days known as 'Uncle Jack,' used to hold that his mother was descended from the ' Blind Lord ' (FitzMaurice), deprived of the succession to the family (now Lansdowne) estates and titles, because of his infirmity, such being a custom of the time." The cousinship mentionedin above letters, however, may come about in a different way, according to Burke's " Landed Gentry." John MacBobert FitzMaurice (a descend ant of the Earls of Kerry) married Alice O'Connell, daughter of Daniel of Darrynane and of Alison Segerson. Their daughter Joanna married Bedmond Burke, who died in 1798, at Der- rine. They had issue two sons— John FitzMaurice Burke, of the French Service, who died in 1826 ; Thomas FitzMaurice Burke, major-general in the British Service, born 1776, married Elizabeth Conner; and two daughters — Margaret, the younger, who married Eichard Murphy, Kerry; and Alice, who married Francis Segerson, of Dungegan, one of whose granddaughters is now Miss Hoare, in religion Sister Dympna, Convent of Mercy, Tralee. Major-General FitzMaurice Burke, of Prospect Villa, County Cork, had Notes to Book VI 129 three sons — John, born 1815, officer in the 56th Begiment ; Edmund; and Thomas, who, in 1854, married Catherine Segerson, of Dungegan." — [G. S.] Note B. Sir Charles McCarthY-Lyragh, killed by Ashantees, 1824. MacCarthy (MacCarthy-Lyragh, allowed by Betham, Ulster, to Lieut.-Colonel Charles McCarthy, Lieut.-Governor of the Island of Senegal, 1812; descended from Donel MacCarthy-Lyrach, Esq., of Manshie, temp. James I.) : erm. a stag attired and unguled or. Crest : out of a ducal coronet or., an arm, embowed vested az., cuffed ar., the hand holding a lizard ppr. Motto : " Lamh Laidir a buagh." Among the few Irish-French officers who rose to eminence in the British Service were Sir Maurice Charles O'Connell and Sir Charles McCarthy-Lyragh. This latter brave man's career and family history were so curiously typical of the vicissitudes of the old Irish Jacobites that I cannot resist giving a short account of them. I have the pleasure of knowing his granddaughter, Mdlle. McCarthy de Merve, who allowed me to ransack her papers. The McCarthy-Lyragh family owned the castle of Manche, near Dunmanway, in the County Cork, with much adjacent territory. The head of the family in the end of the seven teenth century was Charles McCarthy, who was married to Celia O'Cronin. He shared in the hapless Jacobite rising, lost his property, and followed his royal master to France. His eldest son, Charles, became a priest, and the second, Michael, married a French lady and settled in Caen. Father Charles had been chaplain to King James in his exile and old age, and when his reverence's nephew, a dash ing young officer, fascinated a long-descended Norman heiress, he procured the testimony of the Old Pretender, in a signed certificate, as to the faithful services and long descent of his family. He also swore before a notary in Cork that the young captain was his nephew and the lawful descendant of these well-born and meritorious persons. By Marie le Grand d'Emmerville this nephew had many children. The 'second son entered the British Service, and is thus described in the pedigree: "Charles Thadeus Francis McCarthy, colonel in the Life Guards of Louis XVL, Knight of St. Louis. Later, an officer in the 9th Begiment of Infantry, in the service of the King of England, a widower without issue, living in October, 1811, and then a prisoner at Chartres, in France." vol. n. K 130 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. The elder, John, was a captain in the Irish Brigade, a Knight of St. Louis, died unmarried before the Eevolution, and was buried in his mother's country at Nogent le Botrou, in le Perche. They had a sister, Charlotte Michelle, who married Jean Gabriel Gueroult, Commissaire du Boi, a high legal official. Colonel Charles Thadeus, her brother, adopted her son, afterwards Sir Charles. The following extract from a docu ment he executed in London gives his nephew's early history. The family had been a hundred years and more in France ; young Charles was the son of a Frenchman, the grandson and great-grandson of Frenchwomen. The castle of Manche was a ruin, the adjacent lands long forfeited. The Emigre" colonel has only his name, his sword, and his English half- pay, but he is as anxious that his nephew should inherit the two former as if all the long-forfeited possessions of their race were his to bestow on his heir. The young man never seems to have borne his father's name. I translate the important portions, skipping the preceding1 pedigree paragraphs of his uncle's document. "I declare that it was with my consent and our [his and his late brother's] expressed wish that Charles Gueroult first an officer in 'Berwick's,' subsequently a captain in same, Knight of the Boyal and Military Order of St. Louis, captain in his Britannic Majesty's Service, since October, 1794, attached to the British Infantry Begiment of the Earl of Oxford, son of John Gabriel Gueroult, late Procureur du Boi, and of Charlotte Michelle McCarthy, our eldest sister, has assumed and borne the name of McCarthy. " That, but for the troubles caused in France by the Eevo lution, my brother and I had determined to request of the King the necessary authorization to legalize our intention. " That from early childhood he has always been known in his father's house by our name, and so designated by the officers of the corps in which he served. "And as it is natural to wish to perpetuate the name he has hitherto borne with honour, and shown himself worthy to bear, and that my brother having died without issue, and I being childless, we have the right to ensure the succession of the issue of our eldest sister to any goods or titles belong ing to our family ; that my nephew is the only person entitled to recover these ; and that we not only desire, but stringently enjoin him, for the above reasons, to continue to bear our name, and never to assume any other, my intention having been to impose it as a legal obligation on him when bestow ing on him all the means in my power to dispose of, to help Notes to Book VI. 131 him to honourably keep up a name which our ancestors have borne without a stain, which I have also borne untarnished, and to which the virtues, the probity, and the valour of my nephew cannot fail to add a fresh lustre. " Therefore, I give him this certificate, which I hope, God willing, to get sanctioned by the lawful authorities, until which official signing and sealing I beg all those to whom I can address myself not to hinder his using the perishable possession of a name he has borne in accordance with the wishes of my late brother and myself. I hereby enjoin him to ever continue to use the name and arms of McCarthy, which have become his own. " In testimony to which I have affixed my customary seal. " Executed in London, the 28th of May, 1800. " Charles T. F. MacCarthy, " Lt.-Col. de Cavalerie." Count Bartholomew O'Mahony's Certificate. "I, the undersigned, Brigadier- General [Marechal de Camp], formerly Colonel in command of the Irish Begiment of Berwick, in the Service of the King of France, certify that Mr. Charles MacCarthy has served without intermission, and with the highest distinction, in that Begiment until the unfortunate period of its dissolution in 1792. That his conduct has won him the esteem of his superiors and the friendship of his comrades, that no officer gave higher proofs of devotion to the King's service and the cause of Monarchy, and I know no one whose actions and talents more deserve recognition by his Majesty. " Having borne testimony to the virtues and merits of this excellent officer, I join my entreaties to his, to those of Mr. Charles Thadeus MacCarthy, his Uncle, Lt.-Col. of Cavalry, to beseech his Majesty to grant them the favour they solicit. " If the greatest zeal and the most perfect fidelity in the service be grounds on which to obtain it, I think no one better deserves this favour. " The antiquity and distinguished position of the McCarthys in Ireland are too well known to your Majesty for it to be necessary to place them before your Majesty's notice. " In verification of which certificate I have affixed here unto my signature and armorial seal. "Le Comte O'Mahony. "London, May 1, 1800." In 1812 Sir William Betham drew up a document, signed by the Lord-Lieutenant, and granting British permission to 132 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. Charles McCarthy, then a British lieut.-colonel, to use the name and arms of his mother's race. It is accompanied by a copy of various old documents and a pedigree richly emblazoned. The monarch whose permission is sought for in the two certificates of McCarthy and O'Mahony is the throneless Louis XVIII., a wanderer and an exile, like the throneless James III., who had vouched for Father Charles's loyal services to James II. Truly these men were, as some one has called the Irish -French Emigre officers, " courtisans du malheur." The following list, headed "Etats de Service de mon Grand pere," I abridge, translate, and annotate : — Charles McCarthy entered " Berwick's " ... 1778 He volunteered into the Corps de Damas in the Dutch Service ... 1793 Was lieutenant in the Due de Castries' Eegiment, in the Emigre" Army 1794 (Wonderfully interesting letters passed between him and the duke, which I have perused.) Ensign in Count Conway's Regiment of the English Irish Brigade 1794 Captain-lieutenant same year, in same regiment. Lieutenant-Governor of Sierra Leone and Governor-in-Chief of Senega] July 13, 1812 Brigadier-general on the West Coast of Africa 1821 Killed in an action with the Ashantees January 21, 1824 These extracts are made from copies of papers given me by Mdlle. McCarthy de Merve, for purposes of historical research; but the other papers she allowed me to examine are full of interest. The chief occupation of British troops on the West Coast of Africa was putting down the slave-trade. Sir Charles captured several slavers. I had the curiosity to read' all the documents concerning one, La Golondrina (the Swallow). Large sums of prize-money were distributed to the captors. He received several addresses from England and the colonies where he served, about these distinguished services to the cause of humanity. On one were the autograph signa tures of Zachary Macaulay and William Wilberforce. His wife died early, and he sent his boy to friends in France, to be reared far from the pestilential climates which did not seem to affect his own health. His childless sister, the Comtesse de Merv6, adopted his son, whence my friend's double name. After his father's death, le Comte McCarthy de Merve recovered some of the prize-money. More of it is yet un claimed. Mdlle. McCarthy de Merve found some papers Notes to Book VI. 133 about these moneys after her father's death, and petitioned the Queen, who kindly received the petition and ordered a search, when nothing was discovered. Some years afterwards, Mdlle. McCarthy de Merve found an old bill of costs, which I examined, showing exact sums and dates, and all details, so that they could be at once identified and paid out, but she has no friend who would present a petition a second time. I feel assured the first lady in the land would not mind being somewhat bored a second time if she knew the facts of the case concerning the granddaughter of a man who perished heroically in the British Service. The " Annual Begister " for 1824 (p. 127) gives the details of his fate. Sir Charles McCarthy-Lyragh was sent out by his Majesty's Ministers to assume the command when the administration of Cape Coast Castle was taken away from the African Company. Sir Charles immediately proclaimed defiance to the power of Ashantee, and promised protection to the Fantees, who now rose in revolt against their conquerors. Sir Charles, lulled into security, set out to visit Sierra Leone. Hostilities began by the seizure and murder of a sergeant. The king sent word to Sir Charles that his skull should soon adorn the great drum of Ashantee. About Christmas, 1823, he heard that the whole Ashantee force was in movement towards Cape Coast Castle. Prepara tions were immediately made for concentrating the regulars, the Cape Coast Militia, and the unorganized part of the in habitants of the town, together with some few of the adjoining Fantee chiefs, at Djuquah, distant from Cape Coast about eighteen miles, to which place Sir Charles proceeded in person. Two thousand men were collected, but the formation of the country necessitated their being broken into small bands. On January 8, 1824, accounts were received of the entrance of the enemy into Western Wassaw, and of the precipitate retreat of the allied forces before them. Sir Charles at once set out with about 318 white men, with allies and irregulars, making 758 between regulars, militia, and blacks. The perils and adventures of the march are full of interest, but too long to quote. Ten thousand Ashantees on January 21 attacked Sir Charles McCarthy, who was in advance of his corps with one hundred of Appia's people and forty natives of Cape Coast. They sustained a fight against desperate odds for two hours. The enemy and the troops were mingled in one scene of confusion. Sir Charles was shot full in the breast by a musket- 134 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. ball. Three officers, named Buckle, Wetherell, and Williams, carried him under a tree, and sat down beside him to await certain death. The Ashantees rushed at them with their knives. In the struggle, Mr. Williams was saved by the orders of a chief after he had received a deep gash in the neck. " When he could look round he saw his three com panions lying headless corpses at his feet " (p. 131). Thus perished Sir Charles McCarthy-Lyragh, whose sole representative is now the maiden lady, Mathilde McCarthy de Merve, separated by yards of red tape from her grandfather's hard-won prize-money. Surely, if the Queen could but know of the facts, his granddaughter would reap the reward of his gallantry. Note C. Count Bice's Projected Eescue op Marie Antoinette. (Communicated to Mr. Boss O'Connell by Mr. Stephen Spring-Bice, in an extract from a letter received by him from Mr. Aubrey de Vere.) " I can quite confirm Cecil's x romantic story. It is per fectly true, and I have often heard old Lord Monteagle narrate it, and lament the failure of what was so nobly planned. Count Eice had not only risked his life in the chivalrous attempt to save that of Marie Antoinette, but he had perfected all his arrangements to the minutest details. The Queen had con sented ; relays of post-horses were procured all the way to the coast ; he had provided a vessel, which awaited her there, and was to have taken her to his own house at Dingle. At quite the last moment, and when he felt assured of success (a disguise, etc., having been procured for her), the Queen changed her mind, and I think the cause was that she would not leave her husband. What a pity ! "Count Bice was a cousin (I think first cousin) of my grandfather, Stephen Edward Bice. He was much better known on the Continent than at home, and belonged, pro bably, to one of the Irish Brigades in foreign service. He was a special favourite with the Emperor of Austria, and served probably in his service. His popularity had made enemies for him, and Lord Monteagle told me that on one occasion some Austrian nobleman went to the palace to make a complaint of him, and was much discomfited, when shown up to the emperor's apartment late at night, to find no one with him except the count, with whom he was playing 1 Cecil, second son of the Hon. Charles Spring-Rice. Notes to Book VI. 135 cards. Late in life he returned to Ireland, and built a house on the top of the hill south of Mount Trenchard, one beam of which was transferred to Mount Trenchard by my grand father when building the new house there." Note D. Countess Watters (nee Bice). Burke's "General Armoury" gives two coats for Watters : Watters (Beg. Ulster's Office) : Az. a chev. engr. erm. between three bezants, each charged with a trefoil, slipped vert. Crest : a demi-tiger, ramp, per pale, indented ar. and az., holding in the dexter paw a branch of three roses, gu. slipped ppr. (No motto given.) Watters, Edinburgh, Bellville, 1876 : Per fess, wavy az. and ar., a saltire engr. counterchanged. Crest : a talbot's head erased az. Motto : " Toujours fidele." Bice (Ballymaedoyle, County Kerry, allowed by Hawkins, Ulster, 1766, to Thomas Bice, Esq., of Ballymaedoyle, and his brother, James Bice, of Nantes, in France, seventh in descent from Edward Bice, Esq., of Dingle, County Kerry, whose ancestor, Sir James Bice, Knight, of Buttevant, was possessed of lands in County Cork, temp. Edward III., 1357) : Quarterly, 1st and 4th per pale, indented, ar. and gu. ; 2nd and 3rd, az., a lion ramp. or. Crest : a leopard's face gu., ducally crowned or. Motto : " Fides, non timet." Charming Countess Watters, nee Bice, figures a good deal in the papers of the Hickies of Killelton, County Kerry. The grandson and namesake of her correspondent lent me a most interesting bundle of eighteenth-century letters, on which I shall largely draw. Curiously enough, the great- granddaughter of young William Hickie, studying in Paris, married the great-grandnephew of my hero (Mary Pauline, daughter of Colonel Hickie, of Slievore, married Morgan Boss, second son of Sir Maurice O'Connell, Bart., Lake View). Young Hickie's letter, quoted in the text, was written on Shrove Tuesday, 1789. The iady had a true spirit of Irish hospitality, for in another letter he says he generally dined with her three times a week. The Bices of Dingle were connected with the Trants of that town, and both with the O'Connells. Mrs. Daniel Sugrue, nee Watters, lent me a very interesting copy of a document sent to France to qualify the family of Watters for a French title (see next note). It sets forth how the founder of the family settled in the County Cork in the reign of Henry VII. The 136 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. family possessed considerable estates for nearly two hundred years, but lost them on the Catholic and Eoyalist side in the troubles of Cromwell's time and in James the Second's wars. One branch fled to France ; the other stayed at home. The refugees became great bankers. In the first year of the eighteenth century La Eochelle was crowded with Eoyalist Irish Catholics. In that Huguenot city my dear husband's thrice outlawed and attainted ancestor, William Coppinger, of Ballyvolane, and all his brothers, several Nagles and Gooldes, and other Cork people, had also taken refuge. The three daughters of exiled Alderman Stephen Goolde married Mr. Nagle, of Aghnakissy, and William Coppinger's two sons. Their mother's will, bearing date 1725, leaves one of them some money in the hands of " Mr. Waters, Banquier, Paris." George Watters, jun., and Eichard Quain, bankers, Paris, in 1743 sent over a power of attorney to Dublin acting for two nuns, daughters of the exiled and attainted Lord Power, whose only son had died mad in Dublin. The bankers seek to get the little means left to him for the use of his surviving sisters. Watterses and Cantillons appear in many old Jacobite papers as great bankers and general business helpers to their countrymen. The Watterses abroad were easily able to prove a sufficiently long and honourable descent, and received their title. I hear that the posterity of the hospitable lady of the letters still exist and flourish as French counts possessed of considerable estates. Note E. The Waters Document. The following document was furnished by priests of Macroom to an ancestor of Count Waters, and a copy has been lent to me by Mrs. Daniel Sugrue, nee Waters : — " ' I, the undernam'd Clergyman of the Parish of Macroomp, in Ireland, do declare to all those whom it may concern that Geo. Waters, legitimate son to Geo. and Mary Waters, both of the same family, and married with the dispensation of our Holy Catholick Apostolick and Boman Church, was born the fourth day of November, of the year one thousand seven hundred and five, and baptized the 7th day of the said Month by Donal Sum, Clergyman, and formerly Curate of the afores4 Parish, having for Godfather Bartholomew Creagh, and God Mother Elenor Meade, both also of the same profession (members of our holy Mother Church), as well his father Geo. Waters, his grandfather John Waters, his great-grand- Notes to Book VI. 137 father Christ1 Waters, his great-great-grandfather Dominick Waters, and all the other Ancestors of the said Geo. Waters, now residing in ye Kingdom of France, not only for the sake of his Temporal but also Eternal Wellfare, being there allowed to make a free Exercise of the Beligion of his Illustrious An cestors, whom we do hereby declare to be, according to the testimony of the most able Genealogists of this country, both Ancient and Noble — Ancient, having shin'd in England for many ages, as well also as in this country ; and Noble, as the first of the name was John Waters, Knight of the Garter, and son to my Lord Fitz Waters, who has been in this Kingdom support at all times the most unblemished character ever since the Eeign of Henry the 7th. In witness of all which I hereunto sign my name, having Becd the testimony therefore of the principal inhabitants of the city. Dated in Macroomp (who sign it jointly this 27th day of Oct., 1729 [signed], Denis Pevy, with me), Clergyman, Curate of the Parish of Macroomp, seal'd. On the strength of this extraet are also signed, " ' Andrew Kent.' " Underneath is added — "'I, the undersigned, do hereby attest the truth of the above. " ' T. McCarthy, of Cork.' " It ends here, and is sealed. " ' The enclosed must be a copy of a certificate given to Geo. Waters after he settled in France, which he did early in the eighteenth century. His only surviving male descendant is a French military man, and Prefect of Tours or some other department. He was a younger brother of my great-grand father, Patrick Waters, who was a merchant in Cork, and suffered severely in the South Sea Bubble. Mr. George Waters's son became a banker in Paris, and lost immensely at the time of the French Eevolution. His daughter, Miss Waters, married Count de Tiley. His son is Count Waters, now Prefect at Tours or some other department. "'(Signed) D. Waters. "'Sept., 1834.' " This is a copy of a very old tattered document in my father's handwriting. " He, Dominick Creagh Waters, was born in Cork, March 6, 1791. His parents were Dominick Waters and Clarissa Creagh, daughter of John Creagh. "Clara Mary Sugrue." 138 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. BOOK YII. KING GEORGE'S IRISH BRIGADE. 1794-1796. Extracts from the London Gazette — General O'Connell's regiment — ¦ Jealousy — Secretary Wyndham — Society — La Vendee — Comte d'Artois — Grant's "Cavaliers of Fortune" — Emigrant troops — O'Connell and William Pitt — Offers of military service under the British Government— "Clare's," "Lally's," "Dillon's," "Berwick's," etc. — A story from Burke's "Commoners" — O'Connell's commission — List of colonels — Grant again — (London, January, 1794) — The army on the Rhine — General Wiirmser — Count O'Connell asked to draw up a plan of campaign — He submits it for judgment — Annihila tion of the Royalists — Indignation — Affairs in the Low Countries — Every Government in Europe in danger — (London, March, 1794) to Hunting Cap— Bad spirits — Plan of operation — William Pitt — Dundas — A flattering opinion — Colonel Mack, the Austrian military adviser — A Catholic regiment — The Duke of York — Young Maurice — Cousin Morty in Vienna — He offers his purse— "Our nephew Dan " — Sister Seggerson — (London, June, 1794) to Hunting Cap — The French Emigrant Corps — Affairs on the Continent — Peace contem plated — War news — Looking forward — Uncertainty — Counter-revolu tion — (London,August,1794) — GovernmentadoptsameasureO'Connell had proposed long ago — Conferences with the ministers — The first to open the military career for Catholics — Laws of England — Marcus O'Sullivan— Death of Sister O'Sullivan — Nephew Maurice— "The Barrys are well " — (London, November 6, 1794) to Hunting Cap — Hoping for beating orders— Money matters — Good company — Recruiting— (London, November 29, 1794) to Hunting Cap — Two regiments more — Commands given to Generals Conway — Kissing the King's hand — And the Queen's —Lord FitzWilliam and Lord Milton — Knight of Glin — Marchioness of Donegal — Queen's Drawing-room — Old Queen Charlotte— English War Office — Irish Parliament — Death of Maur-ni-Dhuiv — Mrs. Seggerson composes a keen, or dirge — The O'Connell tomb — Hopes of Emancipation— (Dublin, February, 1795) to Hunting Cap — Nephew Dan — Recruiting difficulties — Emanci pation Bill — " Our fate hangs on the Bill " — Kerry men — Mr. Day— King George's Irish Brigade. 139 Lord Kenmare — Lord Glandore — (Dublin, March, 1795) to same — Changes — Lord FitzWilliam recalled — Politics — Deputation to the King — Baron Hussey, of Galltrim — Byrne and Keogh— Michael Davitt on the subject — (Dublin, March, 1795) — Maur-ni-Dhuiv dying —Irish Parliament — Lord FitzWilliam again — Nephew Dan — Lord Camden — (Dublin, March 25, 1795) — Maur-ni-Dhuiv's death — Kerry friends — Parliament — Mr. Pelham, the new Secretary — The Catholic question— (Dublin, April, 1795)— Delays— " Our Bill "—Doubts— Mr. Grattan — Family affairs — Chevalier Fagan — "Jeffrey Maurice's " son —Mr. Dennis McCarthy, of Dromore— (Dublin, April 30, 1795)— A note from Secretary Pelham — Going to London — (London, June, 1795) — No news — Secretary Wyndham mysterious — Major Barry to recruit — "With respect to the Brigade" — Ambition extinguished — The Viscountess de Gouy — Pros and cons — Explanations — The Emigri coterie — The Baron de Breteuil — Political gossip — Gouverneur Morris and our colonel — Comte de Provence — The Comte de Moustier — Politics — Comte d'Artois — Terms on which Catholic regiments are to be raised — Count O'Connell has been in Ireland — Captain Mark O'Sullivan — Old stories — (Kinsale, October, 1795) to Hunting Cap — Couliagh — Rindonegan — Going to Clohina — Brother Baldwin — Recruiting — Mr. White, of Bantry — The count married — Marquise de Sers — Madame O'Connell — Not his first love — Count O'Gorman — St. Domingo people — Hunting Cap objects to his brother's marriage — ¦ (London, March, 1796) to Hunting Cap —Cousin Morty — Chevalier Fagan — Nephew Dan — Troops to the West Indies — Sister Seggerson — The Duke of FitzJames — The six colonels — Two hundred men recruited — The elder General Conway — New Geneva — Sir Charles McCarthy — Sir Maurice O'Connell — News of the Brigade — The old colonel-proprietor — Blighted hopes — State Papers — Extract from the Pelham Papers — Secret and confidential letter from the Duke of Portland — Memorial of the Duke of FitzJames — Irish Brigade Army List, 1797 — The French Fleet off the Irish coast — Interesting letters — Christmas, 1796. Extracted from the London Gazette of July 14 to July 18, 1795— "Commissions signed by his Majesty for the Army in Ireland, dated October 1, 1794. " General O'Connell's Eegiment : Daniel O'Connell, Esq., to be colonel of a regiment forming part of the corps known by the name of the ' Irish Brigade.' " A series of really interesting letters describe Count O'Connell's protracted negotiations with the British Govern ment, leading up to the signing of his commission. Though the commissions of the six colonels were signed on October 1, 1794, they did not take effect until the following July. 140 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. The original idea had evidently been an Emigre corps, chiefly of Irishmen, which gradually developed into the Catholic West India Eegiments, raised at home. The jealousy of the party of the Protestant Ascendency, who looked on the military service as their birthright, compelled the Catholic officers to accept work on these terms, as the French Eevolution had reduced them almost to beggary. But for his rich and generous brother, my hero would have gone off at once as an aide-de-camp to some general, but Hunting Cap's gift enabled him to live on "in the best company," to make "a genteel though modest appearance," and to carry on the long and complicated negotiations at his ease. Secretary Wyndham, who was a genial, pleasant man and a distinguished classical scholar, acted in a very friendly manner towards him all along. The project grew by degrees, and the Government, who had been a year negotiating with Dillon and O'Connell, as private individuals who were to be commissioned to raise regiments themselves, as other loyal noblemen and gentlemen occasionally did, then invited over the Irish Brigade en masse. My hero naturally consorted a good deal with what the writer of the interesting " Papiers d'un Emigre' " calls " La Bepublique de Manchester," i.e. the Count d'Artois's set, which lived about Manchester Square, where, indeed, Count O'Connell resided later as a benedict. Gouverneur Morris, who frequented that society a good deal, tells us that Wyndham had charge of the affairs of La Vendee. There seem to have been perpetual half-notions of sending over the Comte d'Artois, but they never came to anything. My hero was evidently held in reserve, to be sent over as a species of brains-carrier to his royal highness. An Irish Papist more or less would not have mattered had he got killed, and he was a prudent, steady person among a giddy and not very wise coterie. I shall quote Grant's excellent synopsis of the raising of the Irish Brigade, in " Cavaliers of Fortune " (article "O'Connell"). It will render my hero's letters perfectly clear and intelligible : — " In reduced circumstances O'Connell reached London, where he resided for a time in comparative obscurity, and King George's Irish Brigade. 141 where, for many reasons, his residence was far from being a pleasant one. Still, undiscouraged by the aspect of affairs in France, and the numerous bloody defeats and massacres sustained by the emigrant troops and other supporters of the Bourbons, he took a warm interest in the attempts meditated in 1794 ; but fresh conflicts seemed only to fire the zeal of the Bepublicans anew, till the French armies, follow ing their victories, drove their enemies across the Meuse, and then beyond the Ehine ; after which they penetrated into Holland, revolutionized it, and succeeded in detaching Prussia from its alliance with Britain. " At this epoch O'Connell laid before William Pitt the plan of a new campaign, which so pleased that minister that he made the count, then in his fifty-second [error — forty-ninth year really] year, an offer of military service under the British Government. This he at once accepted, and proposed to form a new Brigade, to be named ' The Irish,' and to be raised principally from the officers of the regiments of Clare, Lally, Dillon, Berwick, etc., emigrant officers and men who represented the old Brigade of King James. But O'Connell's religion, which was strictly Catholic, prevented him, in those days of intolerance prior to the Emancipation Act, attaining in the British Service a higher rank than that of colonel, and this rank he held till the day of his death." A propos of this rank, I must quote a story told in Burke's " Commoners " of a Major-General Stack, who was in the Irish Brigade. On some occasion, after distinguishing himself, he applied to be made a major-general, and was asked his religion. He not very piously replied that he was of the religion of major-generals. But Count O'Connell was, I am proud to say, too staunch a Catholic for it to be supposed possible he could waver. The cheerful piety and ceaseless flow of beneficence which characterized his old age made him to be looked on almost as a saint, but he had not yet attained to these lofty spiritual heights when he was struggling with every effort of his keen wit and powerful will to resume a military career. I return to Mr. Grant's summary : " The Brigade consisted of six battalions, each of the strength usual on a war establish- 142 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. ment, but O'Connell had the mortification to find himself gazetted by the Horse Guards colonel of the fourth regiment, instead of the first, to which he was justly entitled by his previous position and general military character. " His commission was dated October 1, 1794. " The list of colonels was as follows : 1st Begiment, the Duke of FitzJames ; 2nd Begiment, Anthony, Count Walsh de Serrant; 3rd Begiment, Hon. Henry Dillon; 4th Eegiment, Count Daniel O'Connell ; 5th Eegiment, Charles, Viscount Walsh de Serrant ; 6th Begiment, James Henry, Count Conway. " Several of his old friends were appointed to the corps ; amongst these were Bartholomew, Count O'Mahony [le Chevalier Mahony of the letters], colonel, January 1, 1801 ; John 0' Toole, colonel, 1805; Colonel James O'Moore, who was appointed major-general in 1801. " This Brigade, which was embodied under circumstances so singular, instead of being sent to fight upon the Continent of Europe, as O'Connell and his brother emigrants had fondly anticipated, after many changes in its constitution and organi zation, was ordered to Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, and the then pestilential West India Isles. The snows of America and the burning sun of the tropics soon had a fatal effect upon these unfortunate wanderers, and they were nearly all swept away by disease and death. Of the six regiments only thirty-four officers of all ranks were alive in 1818, on the Irish half-pay." Of these, quite a little knot of veterans were settled in Paris, like my colonel. I do not agree with Mr. Grant, that Count O'Connell had any just cause of complaint at being only given the 4th Begiment, nor do I see the least trace of complaint in his letters. Had the regiment been a new corps altogether, as first intended, doubtless he would have suffered a slight ; but when the Duke of FitzJames, colonel-proprietor of " Berwick's," was specially invited to bring over the Irish Brigade, no one could grumble, still less my hero, who had long served in the honoured ranks and worn the red coat with black and yellow facings of Marshal Berwick's own old original regiment. The duke declares he should have felt aggrieved in the matter of the new Irish King George's Irish Brigade. 143 regiments to be added to the original King James's Brigade, but for the especial distinction of his old adjutant (capitaine-aide major), and is mightily aggrieved indeed about Count Walsh's appointments. This memorial will be given in full in its proper place ; I now quote the few sentences referring to this period. Having mentioned that the invitation to enter the English Service with the Irish Brigade was forwarded to him on September 30, 1794, and that he arrived with the Duchess and family on October 15, he says — " His Grace the Duke of Portland observed in his letter that a fourth regiment, commanded by Mr. O'Connell, would be added to the three ancient regiments of the Brigade — Dillon, Berwick, and Walsh. The Duke of FitzJames, know ing Mr. O'Connell to be one of the most distinguished officers in the French Army, applauded this measure." But the Duke growled very much indeed over other distinguished officers and other brand-new regiments. We see by his memorial that the regiments had ranked in France by seniority of arrival, viz. "Dillon's," "Berwick's," and "Walsh's." In England the Duke, who had been specially invited over, got precedence. Count O'Connell, as in com mand of the first of the new regiments, seems to me in exactly his proper place, and so he seems to have considered himself, as colonel of the 4th Begiment. London, 26'" January, 1794. My Dear Brother, — Your Letter of 2nd Inst, come to hands in due course, and has impressed me with the deepest sence of your unequalled goodness and affection, which I should have expressed earlier, however words may fall short of my feelings, were I not induced from the uncertain state of affairs to postpone writing to you until matters were somewhat cleared up. I am sorry to tell you the predictions I ventured to throw out amongst some Gentlemen of weight in this country respecting the fate of the army on the Bhine, from the knowledge I had of General Wiirmser's position, and also respecting the Royalists of La Vendee, have proved but too true, An event which I must Lament, notwithstanding that it has been productive of some credit to me. In consequence, I presume, of my supposed Sagacity, I have been called, two or three days since, by a gentleman closely connected with 144 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. the Administration,1 to draw up a plan for next Campaign, which I have done to the best of my abilities, and Submitted it to the judgement of one or two French General Officers, both men of talents, whose Entire approbation it has met with ; therefore I shall Venture to give it in this week, altho' well convinc'd it will not be carried into Execution, as requiring a force which I believe the Allies unable to bring into the field ; notwithstanding which I thought it proper to point out the only possible Method I concieve of obtaining any solid Success and attaining the desired End, namely, the overthrow of the present ruling power in France. Whether or not these trifling specimens of some share of Military Know ledge may be productive of any benefit to myself, I do not know, but from the principles which guide the Ministry of this Country, I indulge little or no hope that way. With respect to Lord Moira's Expedition, it's all now over, as the total dispersion and Annihilation of the Boyalists is unfortunately no longer doubtful ; so I can but congratulate myself on my not having Engaged in that business precipitately, as the consequences would be now the Expenditure of the money for which I am beholden to your kindness for the purchase of horses and many necessary articles, which under the present circumstances I should have no further use of. I had taken every possible step to be employed under Lord Moira with an Appointment and some possible prospect of its leading me into some future advantage. That it was only intended to throw me into La Vendee, supposing me better qualified than others to establish Discipline and Confidence in the Boyalists' Army, and that with so absolute a disregard to my Seniority or pecuniary resources, that neither a temporary commission nor any supply of money would be given me, — I must confess that indignation contributed not less than my previous Con viction of what must be the fate of that Army to the tem porizing plan I adopted, and for which I thank Providence that inspired me. The Situation of things in the Low Countries appears to me at present very Critical, and I must confess I very much apprehend Matters will shortly take an unfavourable turn in that quarter. I have no doubt but the French will assemble such a force there as to enable them to invade and overrun the Netherlands, the Success of which attempt can only be prevented by giving them a great defeat ; but should fortune turn her back on the Allies, God knows what may ensue. Upon the whole, I think Every Country, or at least every Government of Europe, in great danger, and so deeply im« 1 Secretary Wyndham. King George's Irish Brigade. 145 pressed am I with that Idea that the state of Confusion and Civil Commotions likely to be brought on by the progress of the new opinions and Various other causes, that I declare, if I were possessed of any moneyed property, I should transfer it without loss of time to America, and place it in the funds there, in order to make some provision against impending Dangers and Misfortunes. Dan Mahony and our Nephew Eugene [McCarthy], who are now in my room, desire to be warmly remembered to you. Eugene is to return next week to his Corps, quartered near Liege. His wife is with child, which may prove useful to his fortune hereafter. Our Nephews both well. Maurice will return home with Dan Mahony alone. Should Dan be de tained much longer he will be the bearer of a Letter from Eugene to his Mother. Dan shall be entered next week at the Temple, and remove from the pension [boarding house], where he now is, to a genteel house more convenient for attending the Courts. Mr. Duggan is already a boarder there, and the price is not unreasonable. I have every expectation that our Nephew Dan will show himself worthy of your un equalled favours, which he entertains the deepest sence of, and I likewise cherish hopes that, under your own eye, Maurice will acquire that Steadiness and Solidity of Judgement suited to the situation you intend him for. With respect to my plans under the present circumstances, it is this — To exert myself by all possible means to be Employed in the Service of this Country. If that fails, to go over to the Continent in a month or six weeks, and endeavour to be em ployed with the Austrian Army, even as Aide-de-Camp to some principal General Officer ; and finally, should my Efforts fail there, to return home to sitt down with you at Darrinane, as you properly said, procul a Jove, procul a fulmine, untill the Conclusion of this Unhappy and destructive War. Farewell, my Dearest Brother. Be assured of my gratitude and affections for you are as sincere as they are unbounded. Present my Love and Duty to our Dear Mother, affections to Sister Seggerson, Kitty, and all friends, both at Carhen, Castle Lodge, and elsewhere. I beg to be remembered to Mrs. Barry and to poor Jenkin, for whom I implore your unceasing good ness. Farewell again,myDear, Dear Brother. Bememberwhat I owe vou, and vou will ever conclude how tenderly I love you. J ' J D. O'Connell. I am happy to hear our poor Mother is well. Pray let us know how Sister Sullivan does. Eemember me to Captain O'Connell. Direct to me at Chris. Fagan's, Esqr., No. 4, Duke Street, Strand, London. vol. n. L 146 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. Count O'Connell to his brother, Maurice O'Connell. London, March 12'\ 1794. My Dear Brother, — I duly received your very affectionate Letter of the 15th ult., which corresponds so perfectly with the many proofs you have given me on all occasions of your unbounded friendship and kindness towards me. Nothing but the consciousness I feel that my Love and gratitude for you are adequate to the obligation conferred on me, could make me think myself any way justifiable in subjecting you to the heavy expences attending my journey to this country ; and when I consider that, notwithstanding all my efforts, it is likely to be productive of no sort of benefit to me, I must confess the idea of it depresses my spirits exceedingly. Maurice carries you a translation made by Dan of the memoir I drew up of the Plan of Operations for the Campaign of 1794. This writing was handed to Messrs. Pitt and Dundas by Mr. Wyndham, who assured me the former, after reading it, was pleased to express a very flattering opinion of the Author. I strenuously requested to have it laid before Colonel Mack, the Austrian Officer sent over here for the purpose of concerting with ministers the Plan of Operations, and to be admitted to Justify my ideas on Military motions and arguments in presence of the Council assembled to determine on Mr. Mack's Plan, observing to Mr. Wyndham that a Fair discussion on so important a point appeared to me to be the only proper way to enable the council to form a true judgment on the matter, etc. But whether Mr. Wyndham urged the object of my wishes to the Ministers, or whether, on being urged, it was Bejected by them, I could not learn, but certain it is I have not been able to obtain a hearing, and that Colonel Mack's plan has been adopted bona fide. What this plan is remains yet a profound secret, which the course of the operations of the Campaign will unravel. From this statement you will judge, my Dear Brother, of the little Encouragement towards those in my situation, however favourably they may think of themselves. Mr. Wyndham, who has shown himself indeed particularly zealous in my behalf, assures me that Mr. Pitt entertains a very flattering idea of what he is pleased to call my talents, and will regret exceedingly if no situation can be provided in which they may be usefully employed, but the difficulties held out to every sort of means suggested both by myself and my friends give me but too much room to suspect the Veracity of such professions. It has been proposed to raise a Catholick or a mixed Eegiment in Ireland at the cost of the King George's Irish Brigade. 147 Government, afterwards to form a Corps of the French deserters on the continent, to serve under the Duke of York. These proposals were at first successively listened to with some appearance of favour, and have been from time to time repeatedly and strongly urged, yet no Determination has been taken on the subject, which makes it probable, considering the advanced period of the season, that it has been condemned to oblivion. Lord Moira's Expedition is now considered as given up, except some unexpected happy event should restore power and means to the remnants of the Boyal and Catholick Army of La Vendee. The forces under His Lordship's command are very inconsiderable, not amounting, by what I am cre dibly informed, to 6000 men, including the Hessians, who it is thought will soon return to the Duke of Yorke's army. Some English Eegiments, intended to reinforce Lord Moira's corps, are also, it is said, to be sent to the Continent, so that every thing concurs to make it highly probable that all thoughts of an Expedition to the Coast of France are given up for the present. I had the honor of being introduced to His Lordship by Mr. Wyndham, his friend. Nothing could be more polite or flattering than his reception of me. Our conversation, which was not very long, as it was in Carlton House Gardens, ended by his telling me he hoped we should serve together, of which I expressed an earnest desire. But at that time [here half a line is torn and illegible] ... to him, which I have great reason to think he has no longer. In short, almost all the French Officers who went to join his Army at first have now left it, and altho' he does not say that all hopes are vanished, he has told some that this Expedition was put off to some more favourable oppertunity. Such, my Dear Brother, is at present the State of things. The Campaign will be opened ere long, and as it would be high time, if anything were intended which might afford me a prospect of being employed, of putting the springs in motion, I must conclude that I have nothing to expect. I am, however, determined to wait a month or 6 weeks more, in hopes some event may happen of which I could avail myself. With respect to the idea I mentioned in my last of going over to the Netherlands to see if I could not serve as Aide-de-Camp to some Austrian General Officer, besides that it would be rather late in six weeks' time hence to be looking out for such a situation, I cannot but be sensible that it would lead me into a very heavy expence, without any probable benefit ; therefore, shall probably give up that scheme. I must confess the series of disappointments I have been encountering these six years past begins to weigh heavy 148 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. on my mind, notwithstanding all my efforts to meet them with fortitude and resignation. The bill for £6 you sent me has been paid in to Captain Fagan for the use of our Nephews. Maurice is to sett out this afternoon, with Dan Mahony, for Dublin, and immediately from thence for Cork. He should have been sent off earlier, but that I thought it more prudent to commit him to the care of a Friend than to send him unaccompanied, with the money that he must have been entrusted with to defray the expences of his journey. I most sincerely wish he may be so happy as to please you, and merit the continuance of your goodness to him. This I have strongly recommended to him, and I am sure he is most desirous to do so. I had lately a letter" from Cousin Morty O'Connell, from Vienna, expressing the greatest joy at hearing thro' Lieut.- Colonel William Mahony that I was yet amongst the living, the German prints having made mention that I had been put to death. He, moreover, offers me his purse, desires If should draw on him for any sum I may want, and concludes with assuring me that he will share his last shilling with me. As I trust you think I am as capable as any man of feeling a generous proceeding, I need not say that my answer to him carried with it the affections I had received. I no doubt, how ever, declined his kind offer, but thinking it a favourable opper tunity, I stated to him the distressed situation of his brother Jeffry and family, and the generous behaviour of his brother Dan towards him. It would afford me infinite satisfaction if my intercession had the desired effect. Our Nephew Dan has been entered at the Temple with the requisite Formalities, and is now in private lodgings. I really think, from what I have learned and from what I can compute, that he would be unable to support himself in the most modest gentility under £120 English per annum. Farewell, My Dearest Brother. Present my most tender Love and Duty to our much-respected Mother, and affections to Sister Seggerson, friends at Carhen, etc., and be assured I shall ever remain, Your most tender and grateful brother, D. O'Connell. I hope you will approve of my protracting my stay here for a month or 6 weeks more, to await events. I trust you will be convinced it is not through love of Dissipation. Let me hear from you speedily, and whether you think I should continue here longer, or go to the Continent, or return to Ireland, if nothing offers here. My friend Fagan desires his best compliments to you. King George's Irish Brigade. 149 I send you herewith a Map of the French Frontiers from the Sea to the Bhine. As Dan Mahony is not sufficiently provided with money to bear Maurice's Expences, he begs that money may be given for that purpose, so Captain Fagan has given 15 guineas, out of which something will remain after carrying him to Cork, but then it will be necessary he should have some little money in his pocket till he gets home — I mean Maurice. London, 19th June, 1794. My dear Brother, — I shall begin my letter by imploring your forgiveness for having let such a space of time Elapse without writing to you, but I hope you know me too well to impute it to any neglect towards you. Surely, my Dearest Brother, you must be convinced that my heart is impressed with every sentiment of affection and gratitude for you that the human heart can feel. It is the pride and comfort of my life to reflect on the kindness and favours you have conferred on me, with that Generosity and Sympathy for my situation which so highly enhanced the Value of them, and let me beseech you to believe it is as impossible for me to cease loving you more than my own Existence, as it is to alter my Nature. Now to account for my being so long without writing to you. I shall only say that I was from one day to another in Expectation of being able to tell you possitively what I could expect here with respect to the French Emigrant Corps. This business, tho' in Agitation these three months, is not yet determined, and from the Extraordinary Slowness with which it is carried on, I begin to think that the present unfavourable state of affairs on the Continent induces Govern ment to postpone this Measure. The season is now so far advanced that it would be impossible to expect these new Corps could be able to serve this Campaign, and for this reason it may be thought that it will answer full as well to raise them in the course of next Winter, in order to take the field next Campaign, unless Peace be concluded before that period, which in my humble opinion is held strongly in Con templation by the Combined Powers, if means can be devised to effect it on such terms as might promice some degree of Security on the Part of the French. The Allied Army in the Low Countries is so very inferior to that of the [French] Carmagnols, that its operations are now only defensive, and I fear even that mode will prove ineffective, particularly towards the close of the Campaign. Under these Circumstances what remains to be done ? It's pretty clear that no augmentation of forces can be brought into the field which the Enemy will 150 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. not be able to outnumber, whereas, from the Strength of its barrier and the manifold advantages it possesses from the nature of their present Government, it would require a Superiority on the Side of the Allies to overcome such immense difficulties. This being now felt by the combined powers, I am strongly of opinion that Peace is universally thought of and anxiously wished for, and I shall be much mistaken if the present Campaign be not the last of this War, notwithstanding that it appears no easy matter to bring about a peace. I should not be at all surprised if this Country first attempted to throw in on the Coasts of France as many of the Emigrants as could be collected, and then let them shift for themselves. This Entre Nous. Now, My Dearest Brother, as to what regards myself. It is yet an uncertainty whether or no I shall have the command of one of the Emigrant Corps, in case they be raised. If it be offered me, I shall accept it, although it is my thorough Con viction that all hopes of a Counter Bevolution in France, to be effected by foreign Powers, or by Emigrants raising the Boyal Standard in that Unhappy Country, are henceforth Vain. [A rent in the paper affects part of page ; I supply con jectural words in brackets.] The Nature of things and the Native dispositions of the [French] incline me to think that a republickan form of government can never be solidly Estab lished [among] them, but their present Enthousiasm must be suffered to subside, or take another form, ere any change can be brought about. Farewell, my Dear, Dear Brother. Present my most tender Duty to our most beloved Mother, and best affections to Sister Seggerson, the family of Carhen, and all friends, and believe me, with unbounded affection and every sentiment due to the Dearest and best of Brothers, Yours during fife, D. O'C. I hope Maurice studies to merit your goodness. Be- member me to him. Address to me at Mr. Fagan's, No. 14, Duke Street, Strand. Dan is very well. Pray let Sister MacCarthy know Eugene is well at Brusselles. London, August 21", 1794. My Dear Brother, — I reca in due course your Kind Answers to my two last letters, and feel myself more and more indebted to you for your unremitting goodness and affection. I begin at length to entertain some expectations that my journey to this Country prove not entirely fruitless, Govern- King George's Irish Brigade. 151 ment seeming determined to adopt a measure I long since proposed, namely, to raise one or more Catholick Eegiments in Ireland for the service of this Country, in consequence of which I had within a few days several Conferences with Ministers on the Subject, and given in my proposals, which they seemed to approve of. However, untill matters are concluded, I shall not consider myself victorious. Should such an event take place, it would afford me no small satisfac tion to be the first to open the Military Career for the Catholics of Ireland, and I should flatter myself with being countenanced and assisted by them in raising men and completing my Corps. So far matters seem to have a favourable aspect ; but here is the reverse of the medal, Viz. the existing laws of England, and perhaps a degree of distrust lurking within the breast of the leading party in Ireland, determine Government to stipulate that these Corps shall be permanently employed in his Majesty's foreign Dominions, i.e. out of Europe, a dis tinction by which we shall be doomed never to enjoy the comfort of living amongst our friends, and I must confess this clause does away with no small degree of the happi ness I should otherwise feel from the prospect of being restored to an honourable Situation in life. However, under our present Circumstances, it must be complied with. The West India Islands will probably be our permanent Station ; it is not the most eligible one, yet better than none at all. Farewell, my Dearest Brother. As my hopes may still be disappointed, I believe you will think it proper to make no mention of it. If I succeed, you may rely on the most early information from me. Is Captain O'Connell still at home ? Where is our Nephew, Marcus O'Sullivan ? The Death of his poor Mother has afflicted me most sincerely. May God be merciful to her soul ! How is our poor Mother ? Give her my Duty and Affections, and remember me to Sister Seggerson, the family of Carhen, and all other friends. Poor Dan, our Nephew [the future Liberator], has had a severe fit of sick ness, but is now recovered and returned to town. I am sorry to add that his Malady has been attended with a good deal of expence, which you will easily conclude from the enormous rate of Doctor's fees and apothecary's Drugs in this country. It is, however, a great Comfort that he is perfectly recovered, having been severely attacked. Accept my most warm Acknowledgements for your kind offers of money. I want none, and hope I shall [have] no occasion for any hereafter, as, whether my hopes succed or not, I have still a good deal remaining of the sum you gave me when we parted. Be as- 152 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. sured, my Dearest, Dearest Brother, of my most heartfelt gratitude and affection. D. O'Connell. Pray do not give up our nephew Maurice ; he will be un done if you shake him off. His defects, tho' many, may be corrected, and as you have been a kind parent_ to him from his cradle, don't abandon him at the most critical period of his life. Forgive me, my Dear Brother, the liberty I thus take. I am sure it is with reluctance you withdraw your favours and attention from this giddy Boy, but tho' he may not answer your expectations to their full extent, he is yet not incapable of improvement, and I believe his heart is good, which I hope will induce you to endeavour to make some thing of him. Eugene and the Barrys are well. London, 9b" 6th, 1794. My Dear Brother, — Hoping to leave London towards the latter End of this Month, unless some unforeseen delay takes place on the part of the Ministers for the Dispatch of our beating orders, I should be happy to receive your Commands ere I part, respecting the Disposal of some money I have in my possession which most unquestionably belongs to you. I have still 150 guineas or thereabout remaining of the 300 which you had the goodness to give me on my leaving Ireland, and as I shall have no occasion for this Money when once my pay shall Commence, I beg to know whether you chuse I should leave it in the hands of my friend Captn Fagan, for our Nephew Dan's use, or should take a Bill on Corke or Dublin to be remitted you. Were that my own property, I could not dispose of it in any way more congenial to my feelings, nor so agreable to my own interest, as remitting it to you and requesting you to apply it as you may think proper ; therefore I hope, my D1' Brother, you will make no difficulty in permetting me to act on the same principle where the property is derived solely from your munificence and generosity. I shall not attempt justifying my having spent so large a sum as 150 guineas in the course of one year, but merely by stating that the accomplishing the object I had in view required I should live in the best company and make a decent, tho' modest, appearance. On that line I have walked those twelve months, and trust you will approve of it. I assure you, my Dearest Brother, with the greatest candour and Sincerity, that the greatest comfort of my life will always be to merit your approbation. The part you have ever acted towards me being that of a kind King George's Irish Brigade. 153 Parent, I consider myself as much bound from Duty as I am led from inclination to lay my heart and actions before you on every occasion. Farewell, my Dr Brother. Present my tender and Dutiful respects to our beloved Mother. Affections to Sister Seggerson, the family of Carhen, etc., and believe, with true and unceasing love and gratitude, Your fond Brother, D. O'Connell. I have not yet recea your Answer to my last. I trust you have taken some steps towards Ensuring the success of my recruiting. I also flatter myself Captains O'Connell and Marcus O'Sullivan are not idle in that line. I shall expect a speedy answer to this letter. Dan is very well. Hardly one of the Prisoners taken up for high treason was yesterday acquitted. London, 29"1 9*", 1794. My Dear Brother, — Since my last, two regiments more have been added to the four Originally Granted, one of which, the 5th, was given to Gen1 Tom Conway, and the 6th fortunately fell to Gen1 James Conway, as the Senior Officer of all those who remained unprovided for. The Six Ap pointed Colonels had the honor of Kissing the King's hand on Wednesday last, and the Queen's on Thursday. Nothing has been hitherto determined on with respect to the Con ditions for raising the regiments. We had yesterday the honor to Wait on Lord FitzWilliam and Lord Milton to re quest they would forward the business, as we have reason to believe the final arrangement will be left to them, as Lord- Lieut, and Secretary of Ireland. I Confess to you, my Dr Brother, that I am under no small apprehensions of our not being able to raise our men. With respect to me, I fear that the Competition of the General Conways in the County Kerry will prove an additional Obstacle to my succeeding, for which reason I could wish to bespeeak before them as many men as possible. I wrote to the Knight of Glinn to request his favour and influence in his part of the Country. [The Knight of Glin's village and estates are in the County Limerick, but just on the borders of North Kerry.] I had the pleasure of meeting him here; he had determined to raise a regiment himself, but since that time has, I under stand, given up that Idea. Farewell, my Dear Brother. I hope you have e'er now received my last, in which I begged to have yr Commands with respect to the Disposal of some Cash remaining in my hands. Dan is in my room, and begs his love and respects to you. He has moved near Lincolns 154 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. Inns, and is settled in a family much to his Satisfaction. My most affectionate Duty to our Beloved Mother, and best regards to Sister Seggerson, and the family of Carhen, etc. Yours most unalterably, D. O'Connell. I met the Marchioness of Donegal [the beautiful Kerry woman, nee Godfrey, who was Tom Moore's patroness] at the Queen's Drawing-room, and overhearing her tell the Duke of Clarence she knew my brother, I went up to her and had some Conversation. She was by far the most magni ficently dressed of any Lady at Court that Day. My colonel is not a descriptive writer. He might have said a word of comparison on the contrast of homely Queen Charlotte and stately Marie Antoinette. Sir Jonah Barring ton, who possesses all the interviewer qualifications in which my hero is so deficient, thus describes his adventures and impressions at her venerable Majesty's Drawing-room a little later : — " Old Queen Charlotte. "Wedged far too tight to permit even a heaving sigh at my own imprisonment, I could only be consoled by a perspective view of the gracious Charlotte, who stood stoutly before the throne like the stump of a baronial castle to which age gives greater dignity. I had, however, in due rotation, the honour of being presented and of kissing the back of her Majesty's hand. . . . " The bearing of Queen Charlotte certainly was not that of a heroine in romance ; but she was the best bred and most graceful lady of her age and figure I ever saw, so kind and conciliating that one could scarcely believe her capable of anything but benevolence. She appeared plain, old, and of dark complexion ; but she was unaffected, and commanded that respect which private virtues ever will obtain for public character." The year 1795 was chiefly spent by my colonel in weary dealings with the English War Office and the Irish Parlia ment. In that year his venerable mother died. She was certainly not very far from ninety years of age — probably about eighty- seven, as her eldest son was born in 1725, and King George's Irish Brigade. 155 she probably had married early, as the old custom was. Her daughter, Mrs. Seggerson, composed a beautiful keen over her, portions of which I have heard the venerable Miss Julianna O'Connell recite in Irish and explain in English.1 Mrs. Seggerson was herself an old woman, as she had been married more than fifty years before. She had early lost her husband, but had never married again, devoting herself to her children. She came to live with Maurice when his wife died. Lamenting the death of her mother, Alice Seggerson exclaimed — "Mother of my heart ! If you meet the good man of my house, Tell him since the day he left me I have found no pleasure in anything ; No music raised my heart. Forgive me for bringing down any grief but yours ; But tell him I find no pleasure in anything But his child. Since the voice of my wailing Will not reach the good man of my house, Who left me long years ago, Tell him, mother of my heart, That 1 have been ever true to him ; And when reunited with the firstborn of your youth Tell him also his Mary has never changed his name, Nor the sable colour of her garments." 2 And this is spoken over a dead body, within five years of the dawning of our prosaic century ! 1 Miss Julianna had once recited to me about three verses in Irish, but was too feeble to try and recall them when asked later by Father Martin, at my request. — [M. A. O'C] 2 Only a fragment of the first verse in the original Irish has been re covered — "pedji x\\ ce6l" tip cnojre. With deep poetic feeling she combined executive ability. On the marriage of her grandson, John Spotswood, in 1810, to Catherine Leyne, daughter of Maurice Leyne, Esq., M.D., "Alice Segerson, of Glenvile widow of John Segerson, Esq.," is named as possessing the towns and lands of Aghatubrid, Cloghancanuge, Rathkeann, Corobeg, and both Kilbuoneys Catherine, who had a dowry of £1500, was given a jointure of £227 a vear, whilst £7000 was allocated to her younger children In case of her death, the lands might be charged with £80 a year for another taken wife." Catherine was niece of McGillicuddy.— |G. b.J 156 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. The tradition about Maur-ni-Dhuiv is marvellously vivid still ; her keen wit, her caustic tongue, her despotic rule, and her open hand are as vividly remembered to-day as if a century had not elapsed since she ruled all who came within reach of her influence. The tidings of her death evoked a natural sadness in the youngest son, whose life had been passed so far away from her ; but it did not really affect the even tenor of his way. Though so near home as Dublin, no pause in his negotia tions, no days taken from work, were permissible to the representative of the Irish colonels, many of Whom were really Frenchmen, unacquainted with British and Irish ways. Our colonel does not seem to have gone home to his mother's funeral, or joined the mourners who carried the aged widow across the silvery strand to the ruined abbey where her kindly husband lay. A quaint tomb, approached by steps and bearing a very long inscription, occupies an angle of the ruin, and covers Donal Mor and Maur-ni-Dhuiv, their son Maurice, and the Liberator's wife, the fondly loved "Mary" of his letters. Maur-ni-Dhuiv's epitaph mentions her twenty-two children, and styles her a model for all wives and mothers to admire and imitate. From a paragraph in a letter of Count O'Connell's I infer the tomb was erected at his expense. At least, he so desired. Count O'Connell's letters describe the principal events of the year pretty fully. The last epistle of 1794 (given above) reports the six colonels as solemnly kissing the hands of royalty on their appointment in the October of that year. In the following February we find Count O'Connell in Dublin about the Irish regiments. He naturally considers this acceptance of Irish Papists' swords as a step towards Emancipation, and the letter has considerable interest, as it is full of anxiety about the first step in the career of the future Catholic champion. All through the letters of 1795 we see hopes of Emancipation running high among the Catholics of Ireland. They could not, of course, know how the personal bigotry of the old King prevented Pitt's enlightened views in their favour being carried out. King George's Irish Brigade. 157 Dublin, 26th February, 1795. My Dear Brother, — The Day after I had written to you, I called on Mr. Franks, and have taken care that every requisite information be given him in writing for the purpose of enabling him to have Nephew Dan entered in Dublin next term, which he pledges himself to do. He Showed me a Memorial which he presented to that End, in which were Several Blanks which I filled in, Namely, the Name of his Mother before her Marriage, whether he be the Eldest Son of Mr. Morgan O'Connell, where he had been Educated, etc. I fortunately was able to answer all these questions, by which all further difficulties are removed. Dan's Letter to Mr. Franks came to Dublin at a time when he was absent, therefore the Disappointment, or rather the Delay, cannot be imputed to our Dan, because he could not foresee the circumstance. I hope you have before now received his letter, which I forwarded you from here, and I beseech you to relieve him from the anxiety he feels least he might have incurred your displeasure. We are flattered with the hopes of speedily receiving our recruiting orders. I shudder at the idea of the difficulties we shall Encounter to get men, and from the present appearance of things, and the insufficiency of the Bounty Money, I very much fear we shall not be able to accomplish the thing. If such should be the Case, our Situation would be no ways bettered, for probably we could Expect no half-pay. It is very much apprehended by the Catholics here, that the bill for the Emancipation of their Body will meet with a very strong opposition, and perhaps be thrown out. Should so untoward and so unexpected an Event happen, it is to be feared that it may be attended with very disagreable Con sequences, which Heaven forbid ! but I Confess I believe their apprehensions IU founded, unless the Portland Party in England goes out. In that Case, I consider it very possible, the old System of Government in this Country may be Continued, however repugnant to every Maxim of Sound Policy, as well as to Justice and Liberality ; but Ambition and Avarice and deep-rooted prejudices make men Deaf to reason as well as to all honest and honourable feelings. The Existence of our Eegiments I Consider to be Closely Connected with the Question of the Catholick Emancipation, and, indeed, but a branch of that System. Therefore I am of opinion our fate hangs on that of the bill. Farewell, my Dearest Brother. As soon as I shall be at liberty to leave this town, I will let you know it, and any other thing worth imparting, Untill then, accept my most tender affections, 158 Tlie Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. and have the goodness to present my fond Duty to our Dear Mother, and best regards to all friends. D. O'Connell. I yesterday met, at the Arch-Bishop of Cashel's, a gentle man, who on hearing my name, asked me if I knew you. I believe he is Agent to the Arch-Bishop, and that his name is Cooper. I have received Every attention and mark of friendship from all the Kerry Gentlemen I have met with here. This being merely in compliment to you, I think I should let you know of it. Mr. Day has been particularly obliging. As for Lord Kenmare and his son, there I am at home. Lord Glandore has been also very friendly. Letter addressed : Maurice O'Connell, Esq1, Darrinane, near Tralee, in the County Kerry. Dublin, 1" March, 1795. My dear Brother, — Ere this letter comes to hand you will have learned by the publick papers that the very un expected and, indeed, Extraordinary change that has taken place in the administration of this Kingdom, an Event which Every honest heart and every true friend to Ireland must lament. Lord FitzWilliam would have not only procured the Catholic Emancipation, but also promoted by all other means in his power [the] general good of the Country ; Now that he is recalled [in] the very zenith of his popularity, should it unfortunately come to pass that the minds of the people were still more irritated by seeing themselves frus trated of the Enjoyment of what they so sanguinely wish for, and were at the very Eve of obtaining from His Majesty's Bounty and gracious interposition on their behalf, what the consequence may be, God alone can foretell. This Extraordinary occurrance has also suspended for the present moment the Issueing of our beating orders,1 but I hope, however, the measure will be soon taken up again and carried into Execution. Be that as it will, the removal of Lord FitzWilliam and those who acted under him must needs prove a great injury to us, because they really wished well to the King. How their Successors may be disposed in that respect is a problem to be resolved. Various are the conjectures about what has given rise to this political change, but the most general opinion seems to be that it has been brought about by persons who were stripped of the places they held under the late administration, and have 1 " Beating orders,'1 i.e. orders to recruit. King George's Irish Brigade. 159 found friends and patrons in London who worked on the minds of the men in Power there. Time will unravel this Mistery. It has been agreed on at a meeting of the Catholicks, which was held the day after the account came of Lord FitzWilliam's removal, to send a Deputation with an address to the King. The Deputation appointed are, I am told, Baron Hussey of Galltrim, Byrne, and Keogh, and they are to set out for London very shortly. Farewell, my Dear Brother. I remain, with fond Duty and Love to our most beloved and respected Mother, and affections to all the family, Your most devoted Brother, Danl. O'Connell. I am informed this very moment that the Mail which is just come in has brought Lord FitzWilliam a letter from the King, requesting him to remain in Dublin, and to send over a confidential person, and that in consequence Mr. Grattan was to set out this afternoon at 7 o'clock for London. Though I cannot vouch for the truth of this information, I am inclined to think it may be soe. The veteran royalist, Count O'Connell, and the revolu tionary Mr. Michael Davitt are as wide as the poles asunder in their ideas of what constituted true love of their native land; yet a paragraph in the latter's great speech at the resumed inquiry of the Parnellite trials sums up the episode of Lord FitzWilliam so ably that I cannot resist quoting it. My father saw the venerable ex-Viceroy entertained at a triumphant banquet after that Emancipation had been achieved which he would fain have granted a generation earlier. " It is now a matter of historic certainty that the recall of Earl Fitz william in 1795, when he was actively and honestly devising a policy of conciliation, led to the insurrec tion of five years afterwards. It is equally certain that Lord Castlereagh actively fomented disaffection through his agents in order to justify the contemplated extinction of the Irish Parliament, and that this nefarious policy, working upon the disappointed hopes which Lord Fitzwilliam's dismissal had occasioned, rendered the events of 1798 so memorable a chapter in Anglo-Irish history. Many testimonies might be adduced from the most eminent English authorities to 160 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. substantiate these statements. I will quote but one, and I will select this one because of the names which are called by the writer in proof of his assertions. Lord John Bussell, in his 'Life of Fox,' vol. iii. p. 396, says, ' The language of Fox on the subject of Ireland was always peculiarly strong and vehement. He, like Mr. Burke, detested the rule of a miserable monopolizing intolerance of that Magnum Latro- cinium, which, having kept the Irish in bondage, goaded them into rebellion in order to stifle their rightful requests in blood. Not only Burke, not only Fox, not only Lord Fitzwilliam, not only Mr. Grattan, but that gallant and upright soldier, Sir Balph Abercromby, who went to Ireland as commander-in-chief of the army quite unconnected with any political party, saw, like Burke and Fox, the injustice of the existing tyranny. As a man of sense and feeling his mind revolted against the Magnum Latrocinium.' "Here is the impartial judgment which such a man formed of the state of Ireland in January, 1799 : ' Long observation has convinced me that all your misfortunes, that all the evils with which you are threatened, proceed from the illiberal, the unjust, and the unwise conduct of England. Your legislature and your executive government partake of course of the vices flowing from the wretched system of English domination. The vices of the Government affect the manners of the people. If I find a peasantry cunning, deceitful, lazy, and vindictive, I cannot attribute it without impiety to the hand of God ; it must come from the iron hand of man. Although the French Eevolution and Jacobin principles may be the immediate cause of the events which have lately taken place in Ireland, yet the remote and ultimate cause must be derived from its true origin — the oppression of centuries. Do not imagine that I am weak enough to imagine that a few effusions of lenity and benevo lence are to soften and subdue the minds of a people burdened by oppression. It will require the wisest system you can devise and length of time to effect it.' " To the same purport was the reply of Fox in 1801 to those who alleged that the people of Ireland were disaffected : ' Much has been done since 1801 to remove the oppression King George's Irish Brigade. 161 of centuries, but the wisest system that can be devised has still to be discovered.' "It is but natural that the bugbear of the French Jacobins should have been present to the mind of Sir Ealph Abercromby as one of the factors in the revolution of '98, as most of the evils which threatened England at that time were traced to the same source. But before Wolfe Tone had invoked the aid of French interventions he had declared him self willing to accept of the Fitzwilliam policy as a satisfac tion of the then grievances of the people, and it is as certain as anything historic can well be, that if the humane and enlightened views of Lord Fitzwilliam had prevailed, there would have been no Irish rebellion in 1798." Dublin, 14"1 March, 1795. My Dear Brother, — Yours of the 5th ist. I reca in due course. Since had a letter from our Brother-in-Law Maurice, of Killarney, intimating as probably not far remote, the loss of our poor Mother. Altho' from her advanced age the event may be daily expected, and tho' in the present deranged state of her body and mind life can not be consider'd a blessing, yet our natural fondness for a most deserving and respectable [French idiom for " venerable "] parent makes the heart shrink at the idea of her dissolution, and I confess all my feelings are as much alive on this occasion as I think they possibly could be were she in the bloom of five and twenty ; and I am sure you feel as I do. I will drop this melancholy Subject, and pray the Almighty to receive her Soul in Mercy, whenever it shall please him to cut the thread of her life. I expected to have long ere now finished our Business in Dublin, but it proves to be quite the reverse. It never occurred to the gentlemen in administration on the other side of the water that an Act of the Irish Parliament was necessary for levying our Eegiments, and so little was it thought of by those in power at this side, that on our arrival here we were told our Beating orders should be issued within a Week, and all Matters settled to our satisfaction. It now appears they can not before an Act of Parliament to that purpose passed, and as Parliament will sit only on the 24411 Ins', I am inclined to think, when I consider the forms to be gone thro' respecting this Act, and the slow manner in which business is in general carried on in both Countries, that it will be the middle or perhaps the end of April before VOL. II. M 162 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. the thing is set agoing. I will not anticipate obstructions that may possibly be thrown in our way by the New Administration. I flatter myself there might be none, yet the removal of Lord FitzWilliam and his friends was most certainly considered a misfortune, because they were un doubtedly well disposed towards us, and inclined to hold out to us every assistance in their power. What the ultimate event may be God alone can foretell. Peace must, I think, take place in the course of the present year, and as our Eegiments can not possibly be ready for that time, it appears to me not improbable the Measure may be dropped ; however, this is an Idea which I wish not to go abroad. Be that as it will, provided we get half-pay, all will be well. Your thoughts on the subject of recruiting are perfectly right. I have yet determined on no place, but shall certainly have on recollection what you have suggested when I do. Farewell, my Dearest Brother. I really spoke from conviction when I told you our Nephew [the future Liberator] could not possibly live in London under 130 or 140£ per annum. Every article has risen in price very considerably, and in the line he lives in a certain appearance must be kept up. You know as well as I do that professional Abilities, however transcendant, require to be supported by genteel Manners and gentlemanly Education. Mixing in good company is the only way of acquiring them, and if a young man is obliged, for want of means, to live as a recluse, it can not be expected that he will appear in the World with all the advantages which the habit of living in good company can alone confer — a consciousness of which is, in my opinion, likely to beget a Diffidence and timidity which the World is apt to construe in an Uncharitable light. I submit to your better judgement, and believe me Ever, with the greatest respect and love, Your Most affectionate, D. O'Connell. Direct to Post Office, Dublin. I am much obliged to you for the horse. I long Sadly to see and Embrace you. Lord Cambden is said to be appointed to the Government of Ireland. I believe it admits of no doubt. Count O'Connell to his Brother Maurice, on their Mother's Death. Dublin, 25th March, 1795. My Dear Brother, — I received your Letter of the 19th, giving me the melancholy account of the death of our Dear King George's Irish Brigade. 163 and truly Eespectable Mother. It is unnecessary to tell you how much I have been affected at it, altho' it was a thing I long had expected. Yet I shrink and my heart recoils at the idea of seeing our dear Parent never more. However, the will of God be done, and may his Blessings reward the many Virtues she exhibited in this world. I easily conceive how lonely you must feel at Darinane, my Dear Brother, since you have lost the tender companion of your life from the cradle to the day of her death, and, indeed, I could wish to see you removed from that once happy, but now dull and solitary spot. The time of life you are now at would, methinks, exclusive of other motives, require more comfort and care and Society than you can possibly have there, and surely, altho' living elsewhere may be attended with more Expence, you should not forego your own Comforts for the sake of benifiting your friends, and the obligations they owe you already are innumerable, and the Favours you may have in contemplation to bestow on them at a future period they would be Unworthy of, if they did not most sincerely Prefer your happiness to any consideration whatsoever, and I am Confident they really do. Lord Kenmare has expressed to me his most earnest wishes that you would settle in his neighbourhood. He mentioned a place called Wood Park, where a Mr. McCarthy now lives, but from which he intends to remove, and he desired me tell you that you should have a key of his park, and that he would have a gate opened on purpose in the part most con- tigious to your house if you wished it ; and indeed, the worthy Lord and his whole family speak of- you in terms of the highest regard. Your old friend Luke Godfrey, who still entertains a great Friendship for you, wishes you to take his place betwen Miltown and Castlemaine, now occupied by a Mr. Twiss, who he thinks could easily be induced to give it up. Mr. Godfrey would give yau his own term of the place, namely, two Lives and three more in reversion. I state these matters, my Dear Brother, in compliance with their wishes ; how far they may be worth your attention you know best, but I will once more say I should be sorry to see you remain in solitude and loneliness at Darinane, where, were you to fall sick, you could not have even a Doctor before three days at soonest. Parliament met the 24th, and adjourned the same day to Wednesday, the 8th April, so that our Business — I mean the Beating Orders — still remains undetermined. I really begin to apprehend it may be laid aside for good and all ; however, Mr. Pelham, the new Secretary, whom I knew in London, 164 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. and met yesterday at Lord FitzWilliam's levee, told me it was not. Our situation is very unpleasant, it must be con fessed, if Lord Camden does not bring over positive Instruc tions on the subject. I probably must return to London to remonstrate to Ministers there on the necessity of bringing the matter to a conclusion as speedily as possible. Lord Cambden is expected here after to-morrow, Saturday. Lord FitzWilliam set out for England yesterday, much regretted. The people took out his horses and dragged him down as far as the Pigeon House. A better nor a more Benevolent man I believe never existed. He expressed the most lively sensibility at the marks of Affection shown him, and his Face was bedewed with tears. With respect to the Catholick Question, no one can tell how it may go ; but most people seem to think it will be earried. The Deputies met with a gracious reception at Court, but were referred, for an answer to their Petition, to the new Viceroy. It seems they have not thought proper to see him on the subject. I understand two of the Gentle men are coming back, and that the third [Mr. Byrne] remains in London, the better to urge the point, in case of any Difficulties or Objections. Farewell, my Dearest Brother. Believe me, with the most Warm and Unalterable Affection, Yours during life, D. O'Connell. I shall expect an immediate Answer. I have received many civilities here from your friends ; it would be tedious to mention them all. Mr. Gun, who is married to General Cuningham's niece ; the Prime Sergeant, Mr. FitzGerald ; Counsillor Frankland. ; Sir William and Luke Godfrey ; a Mr. Boche, of Limerick, now residing in Dublin, etc., have been particularly Civil, for which I am beholden to you. "Mr. Boche, of Limerick," was the ancestor of Sir David Boche; he had, as agent for the Carberry (now Hartopp) property, business connections with Hunting Cap. — [D. O'C] Dublin, 24,h April, 1795. My Dear Brother, — My Last informed you that I was to set out for London ; in fact, was a point then settled, that two of the Colonels should instantly go over in order to use their utmost exertions to have our business expedited from that quarter, as it is now beyond all doubt that if the British Parliament does not take the lead, the Legislature of King George's Irish Brigade. 165 this country will never [surmount] the difficulties which impeed the conclusion of it. I am impressed with a full conviction of the truth of this opinion. I urged the other Colonels to come to the above resolution ; they at first adopted the Idea, but since have given it up, therefore here I am and shall remain, untill Parliament breaks up, which the Speaker assured me would be in the space of three weeks from Tuesday, 21st is*. This is not all. I have had from the Speaker's Mouth, and from the Commander-in-Chief, that, if within a fortnight from said Day a Bill be not sent over, our business can not possibly pass in Ireland this Session, because it will be too late, as Parliament will, after a three weeks' sitting, adjurn for a fortnight or Three weeks, then meet for one Day only, to pass the bills that will be returned from England, and be immediately prorogued until next Winter. Under these Circumstances, our fate appears to me very doubtful ; but one thing I would venture to say, which is, that if the Measure be not carried into effect this Session, it may be considered as relinquished, and from that moment our attention must be directed to an Indemnification, which it must be allowed the honor and Dignity of the King and the Nation at large are pledged to give. What this Indemnifica tion will be, remains to be determined, but certainly nothing short of half-pay could be considered as Such, and I am strongly inclined to think that it is better to mention nothing of the matter, for fear of damping the spirits of the people, as it is still possible the regiments may be raised. For my own part, I have already told you I shall feel perfectly con tent and happy with half-pay. It will produce me about £200 per annum — full as much as I wish or want. This Day Mr. Grattan brings forward the Catholick Bill. It is thought the Motion will not be debated before this Day Se'night, when it will be read a second time. The general opinion is that it will be thrown out, but the Minority, i.e. the supporters of the Measure, will be very respectable, both in Number and Consequence, and, I am assured, will be such as to Command the Attention of Government ; yet I would venture to predict they will not carry their point. I had yesterday the pleasure of a visit from Counsellor Dom. Bice, who told me he thought he should soon conclude with you about the purchase of a place called Nunstown, part of the concern of Aghadoe. This would indeed afford me singular satisfaction, as I feel most earnestly anxious to see my Dearest Brother removed from a once happy but now solitary Spot, where every object must call forth dull recol lections and thoughts painful to him. I am happy to find 166 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. you agree in the propriety of so doing. I communicated that pleasing intelligence to the respectable Lord of Killarney, and he expressed the greatest satisfaction. Farewell, my most sincerely beloved Brother. Direct to me here, Post Office. You shall be informed of what ever concerns Your Affectionate friend and fond Brother, D. O'Connell. Captain Fagan desires his best Compts. I have appointed Jeffrey Maurice's son Maurice to the adjutancy and an Ensigncy in my Begiment, which will ensure 7s. 8d. a Day to him. From what motive I have done this you will easily concieve. It is not from any personal liking to him. I had yesterday a Letter from a Mr. Dennis McCarthy, of Dromon, near Milltown, who says he is son to Florence, of Slahinny ; he wishes I should get him appointed inspector of the Bevenue on the Bay and Harbour of Castlemaine. Pray, what sort of man is this Mr. McCarthy ? I answered his Letter, and told him I had no means of getting him the place he wanted. Dublin, 30th April, 1795. My Dear Brother, — I had this morning a Note from Mr. Secretary Pelham, desiring to see me, which I instantly obeyed, when he communicated to me a Letter from Mr. Wyndham, desiring I should repair to London as speedily as possible, but Enjoining it should be supposed I went on my own private business, and not as called on by Government. Therefore you will please to mention it to no person whatsoever, you being the only person, except my Friend Fagan, whose discretion I am sure of, to whom I have or shall mention the matter. What may be intended with respect to me on the other side of the Water I know not, but when I shall be informed of it, be assured I shall impart it to my most Beloved Brother, to whom my heart shall ever be open. Farewell. Believe me, to my last breath, Your most attatched friend and affectionate and Grateful Brother, D. O'Connell. London, 8,h June, 1795. My Dear Brother, — I postponed writing to you since I arrived here, hoping to have it in my power to let you know what had induced Mr. W . . . m [evidently Secretary Wynd ham], but I do assure you that altho' I have been now above a Month in this City, and have waited on sd Gentleman Several King George's Irish Brigade. 167 times, I am as much a stranger to the motive that induced him to bring me over, as when I left Dublin. I had an in terview with him three Days agone, and told him that our Commissions having been forwarded, to Ireland, and being informed our Beating Orders were to be issued shortly after they should be received, I thought it my Duty to repair to that Country, but that, having been sent here by his orders, I judged it both proper and necessary to be informed of his intentions in that respect before I came to a resolution. His answer was that I should give the necessary orders to the Officer next in Command for carrying on the business, and Executing the Lord Lieutenant's orders on that subject, but should myself remain here untill further Orders, in Conse quence of which answer I have Written to Major Barry (L4- Colonel McCarthy being in England on some business of his own) to do the needful and act the best he can to forward the Becruiting. I am at a loss to form any solid conjecture as to what I may be Employed in, but if I were to risk any it would be this — that if an Expedition against France should take place, it's intended I should be of the party, in what situation I can not tell. With respect to the Brigade, when raised, it is, I think, very probable it will be sent to St. Domingo, and, on the peace, will always be left in the West Indies. When I consider the very great likelihood that it will turn out so, at my time of life the horrid climate of that Country, so de structive to the human Constitution, the probability of a peace in the course of next winter, the prospects I have of a com fortable Situation in France [he does not mean a situation in the English sense of an employment, but refers to his possible marriage with Madame de Gouy] whenever a regular Govern ment is Established there, and the happy change that is daily gaining ground in that Country towards a better state of things, I confess I feel very reluctant to go out to the West Indies. My Ambition is Extinguished. Tranquillity, retirement, peace of mind, with a Bevenue merely sufficient to keep me above want, is the sole wish of my heart, and I think my going out to St. Domingo would retard these Blessings. I have rec some Days ago a letter from my female friend, the Vis countess de Gouy, from Paris. She is perfectly well, and lives in her own house quiet and unmolested, and ardently looks forward to the hour when it may be safe for me to go join her there. This hour will be when peace is made. It can't be far distant, and it is at the very Eve of it that I should go carry my bones to meet the Yellow Fever at St. Domingo. On the other hand, were I to miss this occasion 168 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. of ensuring an Independant, tho' dearly bought livelyhood in His Majesty's Service, on the principle of the above-men tioned prospect, and the Viscountess to Die before we could meet and be married, what then would be my fate, and how much must I lament what I had done ? In Vain do I weigh things for and against. My mind re mains perplexed and my resolutions wavering. I should have preferred by far to be put on half-pay, because £200 a year would in all cases suffice for me, and I should be at Liberty to Act as Circumstances might direct and point out to me ; however, as the Begiment will not be compleat so soon, I shall have time to consider more fully on the Subject. Dan has set out last night for Ireland by the way of Milford Haven and Waterford. Farewell, my Dearest Brother. Let me hear from you im mediately, and direct No. 13, Manchester Street, Manchester Square. Whenever I know anything more of my fate you shall be informed on't. Till then, believe me, with the most cordial and lively affection, Your most obliged and fond Brother, D. O'Connell. Best wishes to all friends. The following extracts from Gouverneur Morris's invalu able journals show what Mr. Wyndham wanted with Count O'Connell, and how very nearly he had been packed off to La Vendee. Had the Comte d'Artois insisted on joining the Boyalists, doubtless the way would have been opened for him, but by Vaudreuil's letters he seems to have been strangely irresolute when the moment came, not from any want of courage, but, it would really seem, from a want of brains. Gouverneur Morris gives us an interesting glimpse of the Emigre coterie, and how my colonel button-holed him cruelly, but not inexcusably, considering that all his interests were at stake. The Baron de Breteuil is the sheet-anchor of one party and the bete noire of the other. The Comte d'Artois's people abhor him, the Comte de Provence's people swear by him. The keen-eyed American has jotted down his various inter views. Early in June, 1785, he left Hamburg for London. I abridge from his journal for July 5 to July 15. M. de Bonnal calls on him in London in the morning, and King George's Irish Brigade. 169 sits a long time. He wants him to prepare a manifesto for the new King of France, to which he reluctantly consents. At dinner at M. de Spinola's he meets the Baron de Breteuil, who " takes possession of me in the afternoon," says Morris (vol. ii. ch. xxxi. p. 100). " Spinola tells me the British Ministry will probably acknowledge the French King ; also that a good proclamation will be made as soon as they get footing in La Vendee." While endeavouring to indite the rough draft of this pro clamation, Mr. Morris is seized on by my colonel and a worse bore, an ex-Minister. " I sit down [July 7] to write, but O'Conel comes in and is desirous of information respecting France, and so solicitous to obtain my sentiments as to future conduct and my opinion of the success, that I am obliged to give him some time, which I very much regret." He is followed by an ex-Cabinet Minister, " one of the Ministres ephemeres of the unfortunate Louis XVI., the Chevalier de Graave, who has wild ideas respecting the succession to the throne ! He is truly a bore ! " On the 8th Morris goes to Lord Grenville's, who takes him to the levee, where they are late, and he gives him a sketch of his proclamation for the Comte de Provence, as Louis XVIII. He pays various diplomatic visits, and thinks, from what dropped from Lord Grenville, that Britain means to acknow ledge the King of France. " The Comte de Moustier calls on me," he continues ; " says he was long in connection with Wyndham, the Minister at War, and had urged him lately to see and consult me. He says Mr. Pitt has consigned over the affairs of La Vendee to Mr. Wyndham. He (Moustier) has sundry plans respecting France, but French liberty does not enter into them." Here follow many old political details. On the 11th he calls on Count Woronzow, and shows him a draft of the French King's mani festo, already shown to Lord Grenville. Count Woronzow is well pleased with it, and thinks the Due d'Harcourt should give money to the person who will carry it to the King. " He gives me an account of the strange levity and wild negotia- 170 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. tions of the Comte d'Artois ; the pitiful folly of M. Serenne, to whom he gives his confidence. He fears that, when arrived in La Vendee, he will surround himself by such petits maitres and disgust the chiefs who have acquired the confidence of the people in that quarter, namely, Puisaye Labourdonnaye, Charette, Stoflet, etc., and wishes me to caution some of his entourage. I tell him that it would have no other effect than to lead the persons to whom I may give such caution into a communication of it to all who are about the Prince, and by that means more effectually produce the mischief we mean to avoid." On the 15th Morris visits Mr. Pitt. He says, " I tell him that, as I presume Lord Grenville has given him the purport of our conversation, it will be best that he should ask me questions. He does so, and I reply to them. Our interview is long, and he is much satisfied with it. I recommend earnestly sending some man to the Comte d'Artois to keep him from doing foolish things. Ask the parole of Piquet's sons, which he promises and to pay them £50 apiece. He asks me my ideas respecting a future Constitution for France, which I avoid giving as much as possible. Some points, however, we examined." The Comte d'Artois was so far kept from " doing foolish things " that he did nothing at all, and the heroic men of La Vendee were left to their fate. My colonel came over to Ireland to see about the recruit ing for the Irish Brigade. There was no great ardour on the part of the peasantry ; however, somehow or another, men were got together. The following memorandum of the recruit^ ing was found at Darrynane. Unfortunately, it is not complete. It is written on the four sides of a large sheet of thick letter- paper with gilt edges : — " Terms on which the six Catholic Eegiments are proposed to be raised in Ireland — " lBt. The pay of the officers who have borne commissions in the Irish Brigade are to be allowed from 1st October, 1794. " That of the rest of the commissioned officers to commence from the dates of the letters of service to the Colonels. " The pay of the first-mentioned class of officers accruing between the 3rd October and the date of the letters of service King George's Irish Brigade. 171 to be issued without retaining the arrears, but after that period it must be subject to the same regulations as the pay of the Army in Ireland. " 2nd. The pay of the non-commissioned officers and privates then to commence from the date of attestation. " 3rd. The recruits in general to be 5 feet 5 inches in height, not under 18 years of age, nor above 5 feet 8 inches ; the whole to be engaged without limitation as to the period or place of their service,Jbut not to be liable to be drafted, except from one to another of the six Eegiments. " 4th. Each corps to consist of the establishment subjoined, to be completed in four months from the issueing of the beating orders ; and then, after a careful examination by a surgeon, to be inspected by a general officer, who will reject such men as are unfit for service, or as have not been enlisted in con formity to the conditions of the Colonels' engagement with the publick. " 5th. Government to allow levey money at the rate of £20 per man, but the actual bounty, including his necessaries, not to exceed £15 for each approved recruit, and to admit no further charge for loss by desertion or death before approval or by rejection. "6th. On the letter of service being made and a certain sum to be issued to each Colonel or his agent on account of levey money and subsistence, namely, £4000, paid, the remainder of the levey money and further subsistence to be issued from time to time during the levey, according to its progress, upon the application of the agent supported by a statement of the men actually recruited, agreably to the practise in the new corps, British or Irish. " 7th. La regard to arms, accoutrements, pay, allowances, quarter, and to the issue of monies under those several heads, or for any other services not herein specified, these corps to be on the same footing and subject in all respects to the like . regulations as His Majesty's other Eegiments of Infantry on the Irish establishment. " 8th. No commission to be permitted to be sold in these regiments on any consideration whatsoever, but the officers to be admissable to promotion by purchase in the other parts of the Irish Army. " 9th. No stipulations to be made in regard to the mode of filling up the future vacancies in these regiments, which can only be regulated by His Majesty's orders to the Lord- Lieutenant of Ireland. " 10th. All officers actually commissioned with these corps at the period of their reduction to be entitled to half-pay, 172 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. subject to the established rules and restrictions respecting that bounty. " 11th. The officers and men, in the event of their being wounded or worn out in the . . . [rest missing)." The October letter, next in order in the letter-book to that of April 30, is evidently written after Count O'Connell had finally departed from Darrynane, where he had been visiting his brother Maurice. It was natural they should meet as soon as possible after their mother's death, and my hero had also the business reason of wanting to superintend the recruiting which he was carrying on at various places. There are sundry stories of his fiery nephew, Captain Mark O'Sullivan, a noted duellist, and how he tamed the pride of the most notorious Protestant fire-eater in some County Cork town, where the scion of ascendency refused to give the wall side of the path to the Papist, who severely chastised his insolence and spent a good deal of his time in working up points of honour and rights of the wall among his neighbours ; efforts, however, which his uncle sternly repressed whenever he heard of them in time. Like many brave and sensible men, he had a horror of duelling. The following story was told me by the tenant, John James Gallavan, before referred to. Long before Hunting Cap could have been possibly made a magistrate, he administered a rough-and-ready patriarchal justice among his people. Without some such ruler, no village community could exist. As before mentioned, his token was the crooked knife. When he duly received King George's commission of the peace, and was entitled to employ a process-server and petty sessions clerk, the people would not mind any one who did not show the old familiar token ; so the crooked knife travelled as before — I suppose in com pany with a lawful summons. Two men from Loher, near Waterville, were brought before him for an aggravated assault, committed by one of them on the other, and arising out of a free fight. There was no court-house then in Cahirdaniel, and a sheltered rock by the strand served as the bench. Hunting Cap carefully adjudi cated, and imposed a penalty of half a guinea for the broken head. King George's Irish Brigade. 173 On their way back, when they had only got as far on their way as across the mountain of Coomakista, the man who had been fined was twitted by his foe with having been mulcted, and swore a big oath he had another half-guinea about him, and would ' have the worth of a whole guinea before he went home. Whereupon he proceeded to assault his taunting enemy again. They were separated, and again brought before Hunting Cap — I rather think next day. The assailant did not much like going, but he was afraid, John James Gallavan assured me, not to follow the crooked knife, though he was a fellow who was afraid of little else. Hunting Cap thought he had made light of the law and despised its penalty, and was furious, and as they came in sight with a large following, he swore that if he caught the fellow he would impose ten guineas fine on him for despising the law. Happily this was before the case was opened. As the little proeession was drawing near, Count O'Connell, who had been strolling on the shore with his brother, where the two tall men loved to pace up and down together by the " far- resounding sea," suddenly interposed, "Well, brother, I will never darken your doors again if you fine him a penny. I wish I had a thousand men like him in my regiment." Hunting Cap heard the case, took the provocation into account, ordered the men to shake hands and make friends, and acceded to his brother's request. The belligerents went home fast friends, and the recruiting of the Irish Brigade did not suffer. The following is evidently the first letter written to Maurice after our colonel's departure from Darrynane : — Kinsale, Wednesday, 28 8b", 1795. My Dear Brother, — I arrived here last night from Dun- manway, where I slept on Monday. My stay at Couliagh [O'Sullivan's place. " Sister Norry," mother of Captain Mark, had lived there, and some of her sons were there still] was much longer than I proposed, but the badness of the weather prevented me leaving it before Sunday last. That Day I came up to Bantry, and had a very pleasant passage of about three hours from Castlehaven. Dan O'Sullivan came along with me to Bindonegan [more O'Sullivan kinsfolk dwelt there], where we slept that night. He returned home early next morning, and after Breakfast, Maurice and I sett out for 174 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. Dunmanway. In the Course of the Journey we have had the good fortune to escape rain, and we and horses got here in good spirits. The man who is to carry them back will be here this Morning, I hope time enough to go to Clohinah this night ; if not, he shall set out early to-morrow. [I don't know if it was on this occasion that the general carefully inspected Mary Baldwin's children, and declared all the prettiest to be O'Connells, so that his good brother Baldwin had to inquire — Were only the plainer ones Baldwins ? My hero, riding forth from the lonely old house to seek his fortune a second time, evidently felt deeply on leaving his brother, advancing in age, without wife or child, or the mother whose life had been so marvellously prolonged. The eldest and the youngest sons of the large family were closely united in a curious bond, half filial, half fraternal in sentiment. Brother Morgan, with his charming, sensible wife and fine family had ties and cares and joys enough. These two childless men clove together in heart, and yet lavished a wonderful amount of natural human affection on Morgan's children.] Your letter [resumes my hero], which he [the groom sent to fetch back the Darrynane horses] delivered me on my arrival at Bindone- gan, renewed the painful sensations I felt at parting you, and I most sincerely assure you, my Dearest Brother, they are still, and will long remain, alive in my fond breast. Your tenderness and unbounded Kindness I shall never forget, and it will ever be the comfort of my life to cherish the remem brance of [them]. Unfortunately, I shall never have it in my power to indulge the desire I have long entertained of never parting you, but wherever I am, and whatever may be my fate, Believe me, my Dearest Brother, when I assure you my fond affection for you shall always be the ruling sentiment of my heart. I can not yet determine what my stay here may be ; I believe I must remain a week at least. My Departure from Dublin will be as speedy as I possibly can, and when I get there you shall hear from me. I have determined on sending Maurice to recruit in and about Macroom [their sister Baldwin lived near this town]. This will save him a great deal of expence, as he can take up his quarters at Clohinah for the most part. He desires his moBt dutiful respects to you; Major Barry, his brother, Eugene, etc., desire their best regards. My best affections to Sister Seggerson, and Believe me during life, Your most tenderly devoted and grateful Brother, D. O'Connell. I have met with the warmest reception from my friends at King George's Irish Brigade. 175 Couliagh, and hope Mark's affair will be amicably terminated; his antagonist is, I am assured, satisfied to beg his pardon, and Mark promised me he would then forgive and forget. Honny and her husband seemed extreemly happy to see me at Eindonegan, and it was with great difficulty I could gett away from them on Monday. In the morning of that Day I received the honor of a visit from Mr. White, of Bantry [Lord Bantry's ancestor], and a very obliging invitation to his house. I was so confused by my feelings at leaving Darinane, that I forgot to take my leave of Poor Andrew [Andrew Connell, Hunting Cap's Caleb Balderston]. I beg you will tell him it was not from indifference or want of regard for him. Please, Dear Brother, to forward the enclosed. Your man's Money was out, and I therefore gave him two shillings on parting. The year 1796 was in one respect an eventful one for Count O'Connell. He married a charming and amiable woman, whose children became to him as his own. From the Marquise de Sers, a friend of my friend Judge Kelly, of Newtown, County Galway, I heard (through him) many par ticulars of Madame O'Connell. Her great-grandmother, Madame O'Connell, was, as I have said before, a charming widow ; but she was not the charming widow so long the object of Count O'Connell's elderly affections. The Vicomtesse de Gouy disappears from the letters, and my colonel is married to Marthe Gourand, Comtesse de Bellevue (nee Drouillard de Lamarre). We have in his French will her full married name, and her descendants have given me her maiden name. Both family and territorial designations are furnished in full. Now, what became of the old love-story with Madame de Gouy ? It is impossible to believe that people of mature years, long acquainted with each other, in the habit of writing twice a week, should indulge in a lovers' quarrel. The stability of his friendships and the calm and even tenor of his mind were two of my hero's distinguishing qualities. No man was ever less disposed to squabble. He had a calm, unruffled self- esteem, a perfect consciousness that he was a distinguished officer, a polished gentleman, and a handsome, healthy, 176 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. vigorous being ; so he had none of that uneasy, fretful self- assertion which makes people assert small pretensions and expose a prickly front to mankind. Nothing could be less likely than a squabble between these mature and dignified persons. That a man with the most delicate sense of honour should jilt his lady-love is not to be thought of for a moment. That a man of so much worldly prudence should jilt a rich woman who was living comfortably in her own house and enjoying her own means, is equally incredible. The death of the Vicomtesse de Gouy is the only possible solution of the problem. Of the precise date of my hero's marriage I cannot be sure. The Marquise de Sers and the Baron d'Etchegoyen, the present representatives of his wife, can only tell me he married Madame de Bellevue in London during the Emigra tion. He wrote from Kinsale in the end of October, 1795, and there is nothing in the letter leading one to suppose he was then married ; yet in March he talks of his marriage as an accomplished fact. Now, Catholics seldom marry without necessity in Advent or Lent, so I should be inclined to assign the Shrove of 1796 as the natural time for the marriage. The Emigre cliques had pleasant little social gatherings among their sets, the adherents of each prince detesting those of his rival. The Orleanists abused "La Bepublique de Manchester;" the d'Artois partisans gathered round Man chester Square, and they in turn hated several of the Orleans and Provence followers. The Baron de Breteuil appears in the blackest and whitest of colours, and so does the Comte de Vaudreuil, for which sentimental elder dandy I have a sneaking kindness. He had great estates in St. Domingo, where Madame O'Connell's family, the Drouillards de La- marre, were old-established planters, and where I infer her first husband's estates were also situated. Count O'Gorman, one of whose sons served in my hero's regiment, had estates there too. It is exceedingly likely that, associating with these St. Domingo people, he met Madame de Bellevue with them, as many of the nobles had fled from the revolted negroes to British protection. Vaudreuil's charming young wife was his cousin and namesake, and her family were also connected King George 's Irish Brigade. 177 with the island. The sight of his domestic happiness with the charming young creature, against whose fair fame envious tongues prattled in vain, perhaps spurred on my cautious colonel to the rash step of marrying on his half-pay, a small pittance an uncle safe in Hamburg could remit the De Bellevue children, and the chances that British occupation would restore their estates. In Count O'Connell's French will he orders Masses to be said for himself, his wife, her son, her daughter Louise, and his sister Anne. I infer from this that she had a son, who must have died early, for no one ever mentioned any family except the two daughters who were so good to him, Celinie and Aimee, who married Baron d'Etchegoyen and his brother, M. Benjamin d'Etchegoyen. Hunting Cap and Maur-ni-Dhuiv had solemnly blessed and agreed to his union with one fair widow, and now the survivor very much objected to transferring his approval to this other one, especially as her large estates were in the hands of the revolted negroes of St. Domingo. He had acted a truly fatherly part to his youngest brother, and now he wanted to have his wishes attended to. Dan took up a manly and spirited tone. He wrote in a much later letter that Hunting Cap was justified in showing his displeasure by withholding his gifts, but not by withdrawing his friendship, as he was of that age, condition, and experience that justified him in choosing a wife for himself, and that the present con dition of her property was the only objection to his wife. Surely the youngest son of an obscure country gentleman, in a remote part of a poor country, could be considered as doing fairly well when he married a lady of rank and standing and, as eventually turned out, of large fortune. The formal tone of the letter of March, 1796, shows a great coolness between the brothers. Instead of the familiar signature, it is the formal " Count O'Connell," which French usage prescribed for ceremonious epistles. Count O'Connell to Maurice O'Connell, of Darrynane. London, the 7th March, 1796. My Dear Brother, — The enclosed is a letter I received three days back from our Cousin Morty, for his brother vol. ii. N 178 Tlie Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. Jeffery's perusal. I have received £20 Stg. British, which I shall deposit here in Captain Fagan's hands, for the use of our Nephew Dan, in case you should wish it to be so em ployed, or to be remitted to you by bill on Dublin, if you pre fer the latter method. I have, therefore, only to request you will please pay the sum of the £20 English to Cousin Jeffery O'Connell, and draw on Captain Fagan for a like sum ; or give him your directions on the manner in which you wish him to dispose of it for your account. His address is No. 10, Great Suffolk Street, Charing Cross, London. Accept the wishes of my Wife. Some indiscreet persons have tola her that you had condemned me for marrying her, which hurts her very much. Yet, as the uncertainty of the present state of her fortune is the only objection, I hope the arrival of our troops sent to the West Indies will remove it. Believe me, with unceasing love and gratitude, Your Faithfull Friend and Brother, Count O'Connell. Dan is well. My best affections to Sister Seggerson and all friends. During part of the year 1796 all the colonels were in Ireland. The Duke de FitzJames's spirited memorial gives a synopsis of what occurred during that year. I shall quote it in full at the end of this chapter, and extract here the principal events noted. The six colonels got full pay on and from July 1, 1795, when they received final recruiting orders. The Duke de FitzJames was over in Ireland with the other colonels. A very curious rule seems to have been made — that much should have more, and that the regiment which had already most nearly filled up its ranks should be recruited from the recruits of other regiments. In this very month of March, when my hero is writing the one letter of 1796 we can find, two hundred very fine men collected for " Berwick's " were, much to the duke's annoyance, drafted to "Dillon's" and " Walsh, junior's." The elder General Conway had died in June, 1795, and his regiment had fallen to the Vicomte Walsh de Serrant, brother of Count de Serrant, colonel-proprietor of "Walsh's," under whose friendly wing my colonel had placed so many of his young kinsmen. By a very curious change of plans a specially "anti- King Georges Irish Brigade. 179 Popish" place was selected for the mustering of the first Catholic levies. They were located in great buildings at New Geneva, opposite Duncannon Fort, near Waterford. These had originally been erected for banished Calvinists flying from Catholic intolerance abroad, who were invited to set up manufactures in New Geneva, as their Huguenot brethren had done in Ulster ; but the attempted colonization was a failure, and the empty barrack-like dwellings were made into a real barrack for the first Catholics who were permitted to serve the British King. This attempt was to prove as abortive as the other, as they were sent to perish in pestilential regions, and never were much use to his Majesty. A few of them, such as Sir Charles McCarthy-Lyragh, Sir Nicholas Trant, and Sir Maurice Charles O'Connell, did get opportunities of distinguishing themselves under British colours. September 17, 1796, was the day fixed for the review of the six Irish regiments. Doubtless my colonel must have been on the spot. The very keenest competition for recruits prevailed among all the colonels. On the 16th "Berwick's " boasted the largest number of men, notwithstanding the two hundred whom the Duke de FitzJames had been obliged to give up to "Dillon's" and " Walsh, junior's " in the month of March previous. On the very eve of the review Count Walsh de Serrant received an unexpected supply of a hundred and eighty men, whereby, like "Dillon's" and "Walsh, junior's," the ranks of his regiment became much fuller than those of his neighbours, and the men of " Berwick's," " O'Connell's," and " Conway's " were immediately incor porated with his. The state of mind of the three colonels and their officers can be conceived. The Duke de FitzJames, who had served for forty years, was a general and the recognized representative of the Irish Brigade. He was the person whom the Government had specially invited over, and with whom they had treated. He was the old colonel-proprietor of "Berwick's," which had followed his grandfather, the Marshal Duke of Berwick, to France. What FitzJames was to the old Brigade, O'Connell was 180 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. to the new. He had proposed the raising of the new Catholic regiments, which proposition, as may be seen by the follow ing extracts from State Papers, had put it into the Duke of Portland's mind to suggest bringing over the Brigade. He was the person who had besieged Wyndham and Pelham, persecuted the Speaker of the Irish Parliament, gone back wards and forwards between the English and Irish Secre taries, drawn up plans, and written out memoranda. The Duke de FitzJames only came over when most of the pre liminaries were done. What can have been my hero's feel ings when he saw himself left a colonel without a regiment, the very first day a Catholic could have ridden at the head of his own regiment since the passing of the Test Act of Queen Anne ? General Count Conway was a distinguished officer, grown grey in the foreign wars of France, so that he, too, had a fair cause of grievance, but not equal to the two representa tive colonels of the old and new Brigades, who were actually anticipating being placed on half-pay with all their officers. The story will now be told in State Papers. To the two extracts from the "Pelham Papers" and the Duke de Fitz James's memorial, I append the lists of officers from the Gazette of 1797, and the list of " Berwick's " in 1780. I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Lecky, the historian, for the following extract from the " Pelham Papers," one of the three concerning my hero and his friends which he found in studying the period for his great' "History." I need hardly say how valuable these State Papers are, especially when read in connection with the letters. Extract of a secret and confidential letter from the Duke of Portland to Pelham. (In Pelham MSS., in the British Museum.) August 9, 1797. About some claim of Lord Dillon's brother, to whom the command of a regiment of Irish Eoman Catholics was designed and determined to be given, before it occurred to me to suggest the idea of restoring all the Irish officers that had been in the French Service to that of their own country, and, by obliging them to serve anywhere except in Great Britain and Ireland, to make a provision for the families of King Georges Irish Brigade. 181 the Eoman Catholic persuasion, which would not have been liable to any exception on the part of the old Protestant interest. . . . When I found that O'Connell and Dillon were each of them to have raised a regiment of Irish Eoman Catholicks, and that it was an object to raise two more of the same description to serve in the West Indies, I proposed that an offer should be made to the officers of the French Irish Brigade to enter into the King's service, and that Dillon, whose name one of the three regiments in the Brigade already bore, having already got a regiment, the two which were to be raised should be offered to the Duke of FitzJames and Walsh [a word follows here which Mr. Lecky could not read, but which, in all probability, was Count Walsh's territorial title, " de Serrant "], who had commanded the two other regiments which, with that of Dillon, composed in the latter times of the monarchy the Irish Brigade. Mr. Lecky writes me concerning the Pelham collection in the British Museum : " There is also in this collection a letter of Pelham's to Colonel Brownrigg, who had some official position with the Commander-in-Chief, the Duke of York, May 11, 1797, relating to the Duke of FitzJames's memorial. He says that it is quite true that the Duke of FitzJames's regiment was one of the original Brigade in France ; that it was an admirable regiment, and that Colonel Moore in it had acted with great merit in the Bantry Bay affair ; but Lord Camden had had no discretion — he had positive orders to draft the weakest regiment, and the Duke of FitzJames's was inferior in numbers to Count Conway's. The Duke of York can put the matter right." "A Memorial of the Duke of Fitz- James. (Add. MSS. 33,102, fol. 216, Brit. Mus.) " The Duke of Fitz-James is not ignorant of the extreme modesty which is always expected from the unfortunate ; but he feels also that misfortunes like his are truly respectable ; and he has too high an esteem for his Majesty's Ministers to fear telling them how much he is hurt at the unexpected Treatment he meets with at present. "Being on the Continent, in the Month of October, 1794, he received His Majesty's gracious Invitation, through the 182 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. medium of His Grace the Duke of Portland, to enter into the English Service with the Begiment of the Marshal de Berwick, and with the Irish Brigade on the same footing as it had been in the Service of his Christian Majesty. The delicate manner in which this Invitation was expressed made the Duke of Fitz-James consider it as a very signal favour on the part of his Britannic Majesty, and left him no room to hesitate one moment in accepting it. "His Majesty's Invitation was forwarded from England on the 30th of September, 1794 ; and the Duke of Fitz-James, who renounced every other project, arrived in London with all his Family before the 15th of October following. His Grace the Duke of Portland observed in his Letter that a fourth Begiment, commanded by Mr. O'Connell, would be added to the three ancient Eegiments of the Brigade — Dillon, Berwick, and Walsh. The Duke of Fitz-James, knowing Mr. O'Connell to be one of the most distinguished Officers in the French Army, applauded this measure. " But there was no mention made in his Grace the Duke of Portland's Letter of the Plan for adding a fifth, and after wards a sixth Begiment to be commanded by two Brothers, whose Services, however meritorious they might be in other respects, separated them entirely from the Irish Brigade. It was incompatible both with the name and the Character of the Duke of Fitz-James to pretend depriving any one of his Majesty's favours. However, he was constrained, both by duty and by his ardent desire for promoting the good of the Service, to observe to the Minister, that, the Irish Brigade being, in its present state, composed of Officers only without Soldiers, it was much to be feared the raising of three new Eegiments would prevent the three ancient ones from being completed. " The levy of the three new Eegiments (of which one was to be named O'Connell, and the other two Conioay) was defini tively decreed, as was also the Be-establishment of the three ancient ones. " The Elder of the Mr. Conways died in the Month of June, and was succeeded by Mr. Walsh, brother to the Count Walsh- Serrant, and Lieutenant-Colonel in his Brother's King George's Irish Brigade. 183 Eegiment. So that there were two Eegiments of the name of Walsh, instead of two in the name of Conway. " In the French Army the Presidence among the ancient Irish Corps was regulated according to the date of their Arrival in France in the year 1688, and was as follows : Dillon, Berwick, and Walsh. Since their Entry into the English Service they have been ranked according to the Seniority of the Service of their present Colonels, and have been classed thus : Berwick, Walsh, and Dillon for the ancient Eegiments, and O'Connell, Walsh, and Conway for the new Eegiments. " To the real difficulty of raising men to fill up six Eegiments, has been added the delay (no doubt unavoidable) of the Arrival of Orders from the Minister, without which the Colonels could take no measures of recruiting. These Colonels were all in England in the Autumn of 1794, but they did not receive their Orders for levying Men before the Month of July, 1795. " The Duke of Fitz-James went to Ireland, where he as well as the other five Colonels experienced the difficulty which he had foreseen and announced to the Minister. He spared neither pains nor expence to surmount this difficulty, and to make the Begiment of Berwick appear with the same advantages in England as it had always done in France. He had already collected a considerable number of excellent men, when, in the Month of March last, two hundred of his Soldiers were draughted off, and incorporated in the Eegi ments of Dillon, and Walsh Junior, under pretence that these two Eegiments, having the greatest number of Men, were to be completed from those which had the fewest. This Plan, it was said, was to be put in execution, at the first Eeview, with regard to the other four corps. "Although these Arrangements were contrary to the tenour of his Grace the Duke of Portland's Letter, written in the name of His Majesty in 1794, which Letter alone deter mined the Duke of Fitz-James to come to England, yet he could have willingly yielded thereto with regard to the Begi ment of Dillon, which was the first that passed into France in 1688 ; but as to the Eegiment of Walsh Junior, the Duke 184 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. of Fitz-James cannot help observing that to complete it from the others is to establish too great an equality between the ancient and the new Brigade — between the three Eegiments which have reapt Laurels in the Field of Battle during a hundred Years, and the three new ones which are just forming. " The announced Eeview took place at New Geneva the 17'11 Instant. The Beturns prove that, till the Eve of the Eeview, the Eegiment of Berwick, or Fitz-James, had constantly had the greatest number of Men ; the Count Walsh received an unexpected Supply of 180 Men the day before the Review, in consequence of which, those of Berwick, O'Connell, and Con way were immediately incorporated into his Eegiment ; and it is now said that the Eegiments of Berwick, O'Connell, and Conway are to be dissolved and the Officers reduced to Half- pay. " The Letter of his Grace the Duke of Portland, which brought the Duke of Fitz-James and all his Family to England, contains the following words : 'His Majesty autho rizes me to offer you the same Rank of Colonel in this new Corps as you had in the ancient. As to your Grace's quality qf pro prietor, I must desire you to remember that our Constitution admits of no such privilege. However, although your place is only entrusted to you for one Year by the Legislature, yet the possession of it may be considered as certain, during your good behaviour, and that, I am sure, cannot be shorter than the dura tion of your life.' " Can any thing be alledged against the Duke of Fitz James's Conduct? "He must at least be allowed to say that neither he nor any of his Officers of the French Army, where that Brigade was as much honoured as it was beloved, will see without astonishment that, after its having been taken into the English Service, after having increased it to Six Eegiments and then reduced it to three, the last result is to exclude from it the Eegiment of the Marshal de Berwick, commanded at present by his Grand-son, a French peer, and a General Officer who has passed 40 Years of his life in the Military Service, and before him, by two Marshals of France, the first King Georges Irish Brigade. 185 of whom was the Duke of Berwick, peer of England and of France, Grandee of Spain, but whose name alone was his most honourable title. "After these observations, which are made with extreme reluctance, the Duke of Fitz-James has reason to hope that his Majesty's Ministers will favourably attend to the new proposal which he has the honour of laying before them at present. " The Duke of Fitz-James would be less concerned on this occasion were not the fate of others inevitably involved with his own. He cannot possibly persuade himself that, after the generous Invitation of his Britannic Majesty, which made him abandon every other pursuit, and place all his hopes in England, he will be reduced to the Half-pay of £150 for him self, the Duchess of Fitz-James, and a numerous Family. "London, 29'" Sept1, 1796." Endorsement : " A Memorial of the Duke of Fitz-James." Irish Brigade Army List, 1797. A Regiment of Foot — Part of the Irish Brigade [" Berwick's "]. [Note, the names marked * figure in "Berwick's " in 1780.] Date of commission. * Colonel, Duke of FitzJames. Oct. 1, 1794. Lieut.-Colonel, James O'Moore. * Major, Anthony Egan. Captains — John Geoghegan. * Walter Grace. * John Mulhall. Garrett FitzSiraons. David Jennings. Edward Pierce. Thomas Cavendish. * Captain and Lieut. -Captain, Gregory O'Byrne, Lieutenants — John Farrell. Richard O'Farrell. Alexander Cameron. John Sutton. Patrick Sutton. George Langford. Augustus Rothe. — Long. Edward FitzJames. Peter Jennings. Oct 31, 1795. Peter Saunders» Dec. 31, 1795. 186 Tlie Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. Date of commission . Ensigns — — Devereux. Oct. 1 1794. Maurice Pierce. » Richard Hilliard. J Stephen D'Arcy Kelly. J Robert Plunkett. i William Fuller. ) Thomas Hare. ) Gerald O'Farrell. Aug. 31 , 1796. Chaplain, John Fallon. Oct. 1 1796. Adjutant, Patrick Sutton. , Quarter-Master, Patrick Duggan. , Surgeon, Hugh McNevin. j Agents, Messrs. Atkinson and Woodward, Dublin. In " The Irish Brigade in our own Time," by J. P. L.,1 in the Nation, June 23, 1860, the author gives a list of "Ber wick's " in 1780. Irish Brigade, 1780 ["Berwick's"]. Uniform : Coat, dark red ; white breeches ; black facings ; collar, yellow ; buttons, white. Stationed at [place not mentioned]. Officers — Colonel-Proprietor, Marshal Duke of FitzJames. Colonel-Commander, Marquis of FitzJames. Colonel-in-Second, Le Chevalier de FitzJames. Lieut.-Colonel (rank of Colonel), M. Ryan. Major, M. Plunkett. Treasurer, M. Peter. First Captains — Richard O'Dwyer. Walter Hussey. — Comorcan. — Elliot. — Conway. * Gregory Byrne. — Moore. Maurice Kennedy. — Cruise. — Paston. Second Captains — — Joyce. — Hussey. James McSwiney. T. Toole. — Reed. * — Egan (Grenadiers). Jerry O'Dwyer. 1 The late Mr. J. P. Leonard, for nigh forty years a resident in Paris, Professor under the University of France. He was named Officer de l'Acad^mie, because of his academic labours. During the Franco-German War he was appointed Inspector of Ambulances and decorated as Officer of the Legion of Honour for services " sur le champ de bataille." — [S.] King Georges Irish Brigade. 187 Second Captains — — Mervyne. Eug. MacSwiney. — Launders. First Lieutenants — Darby O'Brien. — Macraith. Terence Kennedy. Thadee O'Meara. — Barret. — MacCarty. — Lynch. Denis Lynch. — Mullens. — Prendergast. Second Lieutenants — — Legge. — Geoghegan. — Burke. — Falvey. — Hearty. — Tuite. — Swanton. * — Grace. Patrick Lynch. * John Mulhall. Sub-Lieutenants — William Kennedy. Daniel MacCarthy. Peter Hussey. — Turner. — Burguer. Patrick Mulhall. — Luther [FitzSimons]. — Cormogan. — Power. Anthony O'Meara. James Macraith. — Wall. — Blake. — FitzGerald. John Byne. — Brennan. Patrick Toole. — O'Connell. Wm. Hussey. — Jennings. I have abridged the following notes from Mr. Leonard's article : — " Captain Elliot rose to be lieut.-colonel, lived at Nancy, was chef d'escadre of the 6th Eegiment of La Charente, in 1817. Joyce, I find by a letter of General O'Meara's, died in 1787, was of florid complexion and a gay, cheerful fellow. O'Toole had a 188 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. son in Paris, who now resides in Bourbon, and has an influen tial position there ; I believe he was only major when he died. " Of the lieutenants, Macraith became a colonel, says General O'Meara. Thadee O'Meara : there were three brothers O'Meara — Thadee emigrated with the princes and entered British Service; William, of 'Dillon's,' stayed in France and became a general ; Maccarty, mentioned in General O'Meara's correspondence, became a count — his grandson was distinguished at Magenta. Several Lynches— one old general, formerly colonel of 'Walsh de Serrant's,' used to live at Tours. Prendergast's name does not appear after 1787. Geoghegan became colonel, was a very brave officer ; General O'Meara and he used to meet in Paris in 1822 and 1830. Burke, a brother to this lieutenant, in the Brigade in 1792, entered British Service ; a general, living near Cork, 1860. Tuite became a colonel ; son residing in Paris." To resume the list of the regiments — [2-] A Regiment of Foot — Part of the Irish Brigade ["' Walsh's "]. Date of commission. Colonel, Anthony Count Walsh de Serrant. Oct. 1, 1794. Lieut.-Colonel, O'Toole. March 1, 1796. Major, Count Philip Walsh. Oct. 1, 1794. Captains — James Tobin. Edward O'Shiell. Terence McMahon. William Cruice. John Walsh. ,, Nicholas Trant.1 Mathew Meade. „ Captain and Lieut. -Captain, Ernest Misselt. , , Lieutenants — Andrew Creagh. () Anthony Walsh. )> Patrick Sutton. Gaston O'Gorman. Mathew Sutton. Patrick Cruise. Jeoffrey O'Connell. ,, James Francis Wyse. a John Cruice. Hon. Charles Southwell. July 3, 1795. John Hamill. Dec. 3, 1795. Ensigns — Edward O'Rourke. Oct. 1, 1794. James Flood. 1 1 1 Sir Nicholas Trant, general Portugi lese Service. Distinguished in Peninsular War (see vol. i. p. 329). King George's Irish Brigade. 189 Date of commission. Ensigns- Samuel Leonard Mills. Oct. 1, 1794. Thomas Hare. J. Costighan Meagher. Tieg McMahon. " Richard Ryan. Robert Quickly. Dec. 25" 1794. Wm. Purcell Creagh. Dec. 31, 1794. Chaplain, Edward Cruice. Oct. 1, 1794. Adjutant, Ernest Misselt. Quarter-Master, Thomas Plunkett. Surgeon, Richard Murray. Agent, Mr. Carr and Co., Dublin. [3.] A Regiment of Foot — Part of the Irish Brigade [" Dillon's "]. Colonel, Hon. Henry Dillon. Oct. 1, 1794. Lieut.-Colonel, Thomas McDermot. ,, Major, Walter Hussey. ;J Captains — George Greenlaw.1 1794 Denis O'Farrell (2).2 , Henry Redmond. Patrick Warren (2). Ignatius Hussey. Christopher Fagan. James Henry FitzSimon (2). Lieutenants — James Cullen. Thomas Farrell. James Mullone. Henry Hearne. Gerald Keon. William McCarthy (2). Robert Barnewall. Oct. 10, 1795. Jenico Preston. ,, Edward Browne Mostyn. Feb. 27, 1796. Lawrence Taffe. Oct. 3, 1796. Ensigns — — FitzPatrick. Oct. 10, 1795. John McDermott. Dec. 31, 1795. Henry McDermott. ,, William O'Falvey. April 30, 1796. James O'Riley. July 2, 1795. Hyacinth Fallon. July 3, 1795. William O'Connor. July 4, 1795. Pierce Aylward. July 5, 1795. Chaplain, — O'Fallon. Oct. 1, 1794. Adjutant, James Cullen. ,, Quarter-Master, Thomas Farrell. ,, Surgeon, John Tieghe. Feb. 29, 1796. Agent, Mr. Cane and Son, Dublin. Lieut.-colonel in the list of officers of the Army of the Princes, 1793. Those marked' (2) held the same grade in 1793. 190 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. [4-J A Regiment of Foot— Part of the Irish Brigade [" O'Connell's "].' Date of commission. Colonel, Count Daniel O'Connell. Oct. 1, 1794. Lieut.-Colonel, Eugene McCarthy. ,, Major, David Barry. ,, Captains — ¦ R. Sutton de Clonard. 1794. Richard Barry. Maurice O'Sullivan.1 Maurice Charles O'Connell.2 Jeremie O'Connor. Daniel Mahony. Charles McCarthy.3 Captain and Lieut. -Captain, John McMahon. Dec. 31, 1795. Lieutenants — James Burke. 1794. John Dehouse. Arnold O'Gorman. Maurice Jeoffrey O'Connell. Daniel O'Donoghue. John Brenan. Thomas M'Namara. Charles O'Keefe. — Stanton. Nov. 30, 1795. Maurice O'Connell. Nov. 31, 1795. Mau. Morgan O'Connell. May 9, 1796. Ensigns — Jeffery O'Donoghue. Oct. 1, 1794. Thomas Whyte. ,, Charles Kearney. ,, William McNeagh. ,, Richard Murphy. Dec. 31, 1794. Francis Whyte. April 30, 1796. John McCarthy. May 29, 1796. Richard McCartie. ,, Chaplain, Daniel McCarthy! ,, Adjutant, Samuel Hamilton. ,, Quarter-Master, Daniel O'Donoghue. ,, Surgeon, Hugh Duggan. ,, Agent, Mr. Cane and Son, Dublin. [5.] A Regiment of Foot— Part of the Irish Brigade [" Second Walsh's "]. Colonel, Charles, Viscount Walsh de Serrant. Oct. 1, 1794. Lieut.-Colonel, Edward Stack. ,, Major, William O'Shee. ,, 1 A mistake for Marcus. 2 Afterwards General Sir Maurice, Military Governor of New South Wales. '¦> Sir Charles McCarthy-Lyragh, Governor of Gold Coast. Killed and eaten by Ashantees, 1824 (see Bk. VI. Note B, p. 129). King George 's Irish Brigade. 191 Date of commission. Captains — John Mahony. 1794. Walter Devereux. Charles Fagan. Charles Power. William Hussey. Francis Geraghty. WiUiam Hely. Captain-Lieut, and Captain, John Tempest. Lieutenants — Gerald Pierce. Darby Mahony. Thomas Sutton. William Brenan. Darby Falvey. Cornelius MacGillicuddy. John Blair. John Ferris. May 25, l796. Gerard Stack. ,, Ensigns — Thomas Bourke. ,, Connell O'Connell. ,, Arthur O'Leary. ,, John Harold. ,, John Evans. Aug. 31, 1795. Lewis Gordon O'Niel. May 25, 1796. Andrew Kelly. ,, Chaplain, John O'Brien. Oct. 1, 1794. Adjutant, Gerald Pierce. ,, Quarter-Master, Darby Falvey. Surgeon, Peter Nugent Rorke. ,, Agent, Mr. Armstrong. [6.] A Regiment of Foot — Part of the Irish Brigade [" Coixway's "]. Colonel, James Henry, Count Conway. Oct. 1, 1794. Lieut.-Colonel, Count Sutton Clonard. 1796. Major, James Conway. 1794. Captains — Thadee O'Meara. 1794. William O'Kennedy. Charles Cormocan. William O'Meara. Charles Blake. WUliam O'Toole. Charles O'Connor. Captain-Lieut, and Captain, Bryan O'Toole. Dec. 31, l795. Lieutenants — Patrick Jennings. 1794. Luke Allen. ,, Francis O'Flagherty. ,, Eugene Develin. , , Henry O'Grady. 1796. Ambrose Sutton. James Nash. Oct. 31, 1795. 192 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. Date of commission. Lieutenants — Charles McCarthy. Oct. 31, 1795. Thomas Conway. ,, James Connor. June 30, 1796. Ensigns — Edward Ferris. 1796. Edward Byrne. Charles Mackermyne. Pierce Mahony. Jenkin Conway. John Mahony. Chaplain, — Mackermyne. Oct. 1, 1794. Adjutant, Bryan O'Toole. ,, Quarter-Master, Edward James Taslon. Dec. 31, 1795. Surgeon, Denis McArthur. Oct. 1, 1794. Agents, Messrs. Atkinson and Woodward, Dublin. " Dillon's." This famous corps took precedence of the other regiments of the French Irish Brigade, owing to its priority in entering France (see Duke de FitzJames's memorial). I am indebted to Lieut.-General Sir Martin Dillon for the following precis. I have omitted, in the list of engagements, the names of generals and countries, but have preserved the names of the series of memorable fields in which it served. He lent me some old coloured French prints of uniforms during the times of Louis XV. and Louis XVI., from which I shall endeavour to describe the apparel of these brave men. The uniform was always red, with black facings. In 1724 they wore the large long frock-coat which was commonly worn at the period, and which, a generation later, was made much smarter by being turned back at the breast and tails. In 1724 the officer of "Dillon's" is portrayed with the usual three-cornered hat, with gold binding and a black cockade. He wears a gilt gorget, lace ruffles, and yellow gloves ; some of the cravat shows above the gorget. The large coat has wide, turned-back black cuffs, and is cut a little open, showing a black waistcoat with gilt buttons. He wears scarlet stockings with yellow garters, and high shoes with gilt buckles. He wears a sword and carries a pike. Private of " Dillon's," 1726. He wears a similarly cut coat, but neither gorget, cravat, nor ruffles. He has a turned-down black collar, a coat turned King George's Irish Brigade. 193 back with black, black waistcoat, red stockings, and high- flapped shoes. His pouch bears a silver shield with a harp ; the shield is surmounted by a crown. He wears a long heavy sword and carries a musket. "Dillon's," 1785. The whole costume is much smarter than in 1724, though the colours are identical. Three-cornered hat, peaked in front, turned up behind, bound with gold lace. Black stock shown by open waistcoat, which is very long, with flaps and pockets. Waistcoat is red, turned back with black. Coat has turned- back black cuffs, showing ruffles ; buff waist-belt and cross- belt ; buttons and sword-hilt gilt. White breeches and gaiters, Sword and musket without bayonet. Stuart Irish Eegiments in France. Two regiments of horse, fifteen of foot, and several smaller corps, numbering between 20,000 and 30,000 men of James II.'s Irish troops, were taken into the service of France in 1691. In 1698, after the Peace of Eyswick, these regiments were reduced to one of cavalry and eight of infantry, and took part in all the great wars of France as Irish troops to 1791. During the Eevolution they were numbered and lost their distinctive nationality, but they preserved their tradi tions as "Berwick's," "Dillon's," "FitzJames's," etc., and " Irlandais." The Begiment op Dillon. Eaised March 26, 1653. Disbanded February 29, 1664. Ee-formed in two battalions of 1500 men each in 1688 ; in 1690 the second battalion passed over to France ; the first followed in 1691, after the fall of Limerick. From 1690 to 1791 the regiment appears in the French Army Lists as " Eegiment de Dillon." It was a proprietary corps, held by a member of the family. At the Eevolution it became the 87th of the French line. The Hon. John Dillon, a major-general in the armies of VOL. II. o 194 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. France and of Spain, holding that rank also in Ireland, as a Eoyalist, fought against Cromwell. On March 26, 1653, he raised "Dillon's Eegiment," which in 1654, under Turenne, was distinguished in forcing the lines of Arras ; it served under him at Dunkirk in 1660, and was disbanded in 1664. In 1688 Theobald, seventh Viscount Dillon, re-formed the regiment in two battalions, of fifteen companies each, each company consisting of one hundred men. The first battalion, commanded by his eldest son, the Hon. Henry Dillon, served with James II. against William III. at the battle of the Boyne, at Aughrim, and at Limerick. The second battalion, under Lord Dillon's second son, the Hon. Arthur Dillon, proceeded to France in 1690, and with Lord Mountcashel's and Lord Clare's Eegiments, formed the original " Irish Brigade " in the service of France. The first battalion followed the second battalion to France in 1691. The services of Dillon's Begiment, showing the actions in which it shared, the commanders of the armies under whom it fought, and their opponents, have been taken from French records and from those in the British Museum. General Count Lally, the defender of Pondicherry, nephew of the seventh Viscount Dillon, served in the regiment ; Mar shal MacMahon's father was one of its captains, and Marshal MacDonald, Duke of Tarento, was a lieutenant in the corps ; Wentworth Dillon, Earl of Eoscommon, and Viscount Gor- manston served in the regiment. " Dillon's Regiment " in the British Army. In 1793 the first battalion of Dillon's Begiment was quar tered at Lille, the second battalion at San Domingo. This battalion capitulated September 22, 1793, to Commodore Ford, Boyal Navy, and on October 1, 1794, was taken on the strength of tbe British Army. It is described in the Army Lists of that period as "A Begiment of Foot — Part of the Irish Brigade," commanded by Colonel the Hon. Henry Dillon. It was disbanded in 1798. In June, 1795, Colonel Edward Dillon raised in Ireland, King George's Irish Brigade. 195 for the British Crown, " Dillon's Eegiment," and commanded it. While the men were all Irish, many of the officers were French (Emigres). The regiment served in the expedition to Egypt in 1801, under Sir Balph Abercrombie. It was dis banded in 1812. In 1806 Henry Augustus, thirteenth Viscount Dillon, raised on his estates a regiment which he commanded. It was called " The Duke of York's Irish Eegiment of Foot," and numbered 101st. It was disbanded after Waterloo in 1817. Succession of Colonels of Dillon's Regiment. Hon. John Dillon Hon. Henry Dillon \ Hon. Arthur Dillon / '" Charles, afterwards tenth Viscount Dillon ... Henry, eleventh Viscount Dillon The Chevalier James Dillon, brother of above, killed at Fontenoy Edward Dillon, brother of above, killed at Laufeld Count (Hon.) Arthur Dillon, guillotined 1794 Count Theobald Dillon, killed at Lille Hon. Henry Dillon, commanded the second battalion in the British Service Edward Dillon commanded the new " Dillon's Regiment in the British Service ... ... 1653 to 1664 1688 to 1728 ... to 1734 ... to 1743 ... 1745 ... 1747 ... to 1780 ... to 1792 1794 to 1798 1795 to 1810 The following is the list of the engagements in which the Irish Brigade took part : — In the French Service. Year. Engagement. Year. Engagement. 1654 Arras 1695 Catalonia 1660 Dunkirk 1696 Colfilla 1690 Guillestre ,, Palamos tt Embrun 1697 Barcelona n Marsaglia 1701 Chiari j) Cintram 1702 Cremona ' 1691 Urgel 1703 Caneto 1693 Pratz de Mollo ,, Luzzara 1 , Rosas jj Guastella 1694 River Ter Barvisalla ,, Palamos ,; Borgoforte j ? Girona ,, Riva ,, Ostalric 1704 San Sebastian ,, Castlefolliot Vercelli >> Raised siege of Ostalric >> Ivrea Casualties, 13 officers and one-third of the rank and file. 196 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. Tear. Engagement. Year. Engagement. 1705 Cassano ' 1745 Ostende 1706 Castiglione 11 Nieuport Defence of Toulon 1746 Ath 1707 Siege of Lerida >» Roucoux J) Montanara j. Brussels 11 Almansa ?. Antwerp 17,08 Alcoi 1747 Namur j j Tortona 1748 Laufeld 4 Alicante y> Maestrecht 1709 Noguera 1757 Hastenbeck ) 1 Briancon JJ Kloster-seven 1710 La Vachette 11 Rossbach 1712 Denain i 1758 Bay of St. Cass 11 Marchienins 1760 Cosbach 1713 Friburg 11 Warbourg 1733 Khel 11 Clostercamp 1734 Ettingen 11 Fritzlar 11 Phillipsburg 1761 Marbourg 1735 Covered retreat of French JJ Schiedingen Army from Germany 71 Soest 1743 Dettingen 11 Unna 1744 Menin 1779 Grenada ) J Ypres H Naval action, July 6 35 Fort Knuck JJ Savannah 1745 Fontenoy 3 1780 Three naval actions j' Tournay 11 Naval action, April 29 , j Melle 1781 Tobago ,, Ghent 1 1 St. Eustache ,, Oudenasde 1782 St. Christopher ,, Dendumonde In the British Service. Year. Engagement. Country. British Commander. French Commander. 1800 Alexandria ... Egypt Sir Ralph Aber- crombie General Menou I cannot better conclude this chapter than in the noble words of Lecky. They occur just after his description of the 1 Encountered the Prussian Guards. 2 Duke of Berwick killed. a Colonel Dillon killed, 14 officers killed or wounded, and one-third of the rank and file. * Colonel Dillon and 12 other officers killed, and 350 men killed or wounded. King George's Irish Brigade. 1 97 French Fleet hovering off the Irish coast. First I will give the actual letters I found relating to this event. The French Fleet off the South-West Coast of Ireland. Two curious and interesting letters are at Darrynane for the year 1796 — one from Hunting Cap's nephew, who lived on the shores of the Kenmare river, quite near Bantry Bay ; the other from Lord Kenmare's agent, acknowledging its transmis sion. The respectable people seem to have been very nervous indeed as to what would befall them if an outbreak occurred, as people who have stacks to burn, kine to slaughter, and gold to lose usually are. The letters describe this alarming Christmastide of 1796. The first is addressed, " Maurice O'Connell, Esq1., Dari nane," and is written by Daniel O'Sullivan. Mv Dear Uncle, — We are all in the greatest Uneasyness here on account of the French fleet, which are turning up Bantry Bay. There are 16 sail of them Anchored in the Bay to the Southerd of the Island of Beerhavan since the night last ; the rest of the Fleet were drove down to leward off the Dorseys in the gale the night before last. They are beating up fast this Day, and also those that were to Anchor are also Beating up Bantry Bay. I think they won't be able to land before to-morrow. I recd a Letter yesterday from Mr White, mentioning the Cork Army arrived at Drimoleague. I am told that is the place they mean to make a stand. We are all in the greatest hopes, Expecting the English Fleet, which I hope in God will soone be the case, as I mentioned to you in my former Letter. I think the Number of Ships in the Fleet 36 or 38 Sail, and 28 of them appear to be men of War of the Line. I went near Bantry yesterday and returned again on Eeceiving some letters. I am happy to say that the People in this Country are quiet, and I hope will Continue so. I shall use every exertion to keep them so. In haste, my dear Uncle, Your Ever Affec' Nephew, Danl. O'Sullivan. Cooliagh, Saturday, Decb' 24, 1796. Killarney, Dec. 24, 1796. De. Sir, — A weakness in Lord Kenmare's eyes, in conse quence of cold, prevents him from writing, and he has directed me to return you many thanks for your kind attention to him in communicating' to him the information you received from 198 ThS Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. Mr. Sullivan. On receiving it, his Lordship sent an express to Bantry, and detained your messenger until he returned, that he may be able to give you some further information. You will see by the inclosed what he has learn'd. I shall keep my letter open for the arrival of the post — he is just come in, and I now transcribe to you the most essential paragraph of a letter I received from Stephen Coppinger. Now 8 o'clock Saturday morning ; no express arriv'd from Bantry during the night, but Admiral Kingsmil just arrived from Cove, and mentions that the Cangaroo Frigate, com manded by Captain Bayle, had arrived at night at Cove from a Cruize, had positively sail'd by a Fleet of 20 odd Sail of the Line off the Western Coast, and believed them to be French; they appeared to be making for Bantry Bay, as the largest and safest on the Coast. It is said he was chaced by them, but out-sail'd them. We will certainly never go back, as Admiral Coalpoize is off the Coast with 17 Sail of the Line, besides Frigates and Sir Edward Pellew's Squadron. This is the entire of the intelligence I can give you; I hope my next information will be more to all our satisfaction. Believe me, Dr Sir, Yr most obed* and most humble Servant, Thoms. Gallwey. Addressed : Mau. O'Connel, Esq., Darrynane. In writing of the French Fleet off the Irish shores, and the apathy of the peasants concerning it, Mr. Lecky is led on to speak of the Irish Brigade. His noble testimony to these brave men seems to me worthy to rank as a monument with the great stone lion Thorwaldsen hewed from the rock near Lucerne, in memory of Louis XVI.'s Swiss Guards. Mr. Lecky is not of our race or of our faith, and therefore what he says of the Irish Brigade is free from any such suspicion of partisan ship as might attach to my utterances, or to the long, minute, and exhaustive treatise of John O'Callaghan, whose " History of the Irish Brigade in the Service of France " ends with a notice of Count O'Connell. He was kind enough to hand me over for this work some of the papers referred to in the notes of this extract, and they tell their own story; but I am desirous that an historian, alien to us in race and creed, should bear his testimony in these homely pages, which I hope will penetrate into many a lowly homewhere his great eight-volumed history would not be found. King George's Irish Brigade. 199 In his twenty-seventh chapter and seventh volume he says, " One of the most remarkable facts in the history of this expedition [Hoche's] is the almost entire absence of those naturalized Irishmen who had so long and so bravely fought under the French standard. Great numbers of the very flower of the Irish race had, during the past century, taken refuge in France, and the three regiments of Dillon, Berwick, and Walsh, which had been formed, in 1689, out of the Jacobite refugees, and replenished by the many Irish Catholics who fled from Ireland during the period of the penal laws, continued to the end of the Eevolution. No regiments in the French Army had for a hundred years a higher record of honourable services, but since the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle their character had gradually changed. The severe law passed by the Irish Parliament against those who enlisted under the French flag, coupled with the abolition of the penal laws against the Catholics, and with the great increase of industrial prosperity in Ireland, had checked the tide of emigration to France, and the Irish element among the soldiers had been reduced to small proportions. The officers, however, were still Irish or of Irish origin, and, to a large extent, representatives of distinguished Catholic families. There was a time when such men would have borne a fore most part in a French expedition for emancipating Ireland from English rule. But the same desperate fidelity with which their fathers had sacrificed home and country and fortune for their faith and for their King, still continued, and the children of the exiles of 1689 were now themselves enduring, for the same cause, proscription, confiscation, and exile. With few exceptions they ranged themselves against the Eevolution. Many had gathered round the Prince de Conde in the first stage of the struggle, and now, by a strange and most pathetic turn, the exiled descendants of the Irish Jacobites found a refuge under the British flag. In Septem ber, 1794, the Duke of Portland invited the Duke of Fitz James into the English Service, ' with the regiment of the Marshal de Berwick, and with the Irish Brigade, on the same footing that it had been in the service of his Christian Majesty,' and he stated that it was the intention of the King 200 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. to add a fourth regiment to the Irish Brigade, and to place it under the command of O'Connell, one of the most distin guished officers in the old French Army. The offer was gladly accepted, and soon after some of the officers came to Ireland to recruit." Mr. Lecky adds in a footnote that our hero was the uncle of Daniel O'Connell, meaning, of course, the Liberator. " They found it seething with disaffection and revolutionary ideas. Grattan, it is true, spoke with entire approbation of the enlistment, although he expressed his wonder that the Government should think the presence of twenty or thirty Irish Catholic gentlemen in the Irish Parliament endangered the throne, while they prepared to arm a Brigade of six thousand Catholics under Catholic and French officers. But Grattan's influence was now for a time eclipsed. The united Irishmen did all in their power to discredit them, and the Catholic Committee, who were pervaded by the same spirit, utterly repudiated them. The representatives of the old Catholic gentry of Ireland found themselves strangers and aliens among their people, and were exposed to gross insults, as Wolfe Tone afterwards related, to the keen delight of his French friends. Nor were they well treated by the English Government. It was determined to raise the Irish regiments to six, and it was soon found that recruits did not come in sufficient numbers to fill them ; and an order was given that the regiments which were numerically weakest should be drafted into those that were strongest, and the superfluous officers reduced to half-pay. The regiment of Berwick was one of those that it was proposed to abolish in favour of a new regiment, and FitzJames complained bitterly that the compact was violated under which he and his brother officers had enlisted in the English Service. Many of the officers were reduced to the most abject poverty; some afterwards distinguished themselves in the English Service ; and the Irish Brigade was not reconstructed when the Bourbons re gained their throne." In a footnote to p. 255, after referring to the Pelham Papers, which will be found quoted here, Mr. Lecky gives a letter of Secretary Pelham to Wyndham. " I have never King George's Irish Brigade. 201 troubled you," he writes, " about the Irish Brigade, but it is a most shocking and disgraceful thing. I have been obliged to advance £1500 upon my own responsibility for the bare sub sistence of the officers, who otherwise must have starved, and I very much fear that the opportunity of recruiting is lost, unless some of the rioters in Boscommon should be induced to enlist " (Pelham to Wyndham, May 17, 1795). Mr. Lecky also tells us that " something was said in the House of Lords, by Lord Blaney, about French Emigrant officers, which the Duke of FitzJames considered an insult, and a duel took place in the Phoenix Park, in which the duke was slightly wounded ('Annual Begister,' 1797, pp. 9, 10)." It seems a curious example of the irony of fate that the Duke of FitzJames's own regiment, and the first of the new regiments specially mentioned in the agreement with the Duke of FitzJames, should have been abolished at the moment of their embodiment, and that the duke and the one officer outside the Brigade who was mentioned by name in the negotiations, and employed as acting negotiator all through the transactions, should have found themselves half-pay colonels without a command. My hero used sometimes to boast of his powers of endurance, and they were certainly put to the fullest test on this occasion. 202 Tlie Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. NOTES TO BOOK VII. Note A. Maur-ni-Dhuiv's Verses. Since writing down such fragments of Maur-ni-Dhuiv's verse as were attainable before this memoir of her son went to press, I have recovered another fragment. Sergeant Michael O'Connor, late B.I.C., has happily remembered it. He says she made the lines on being suddenly summoned to the beach to watch a vessel, which was supposed to be bringing back some of her posterity. Could it have been le Bon Homme Richard, where Paul Jones had on board her grandson, Eugene McCarthy, and many another gallant Irishman, going out to serve America ? or was it an allegorical verse which Father O'Connor-Kerry altered considerably in the rhymed translation ? Dr. Sigerson does not agree with my theory that the following is a verse of a lament, but admits that the idea may have been used in a longer poem. Sergeant Michael O'Connor remembered the following verses. Dr. Sigerson translates them, and says, " The two Irish stanzas which follow were composed in the form of riddles by Maur-ni-Dhuiv and her friend, Maur-ni-Segerson ('Mary of the Segersons'). In these the two Marys enigmatically indicated that which they most desired to see. The ladies show considerable skill in verse-making : — 2t)ajue t)j 4.£ . " ' I see approach from the west Four steeds, four reins, Four Apples with the colour of gold, And four chords of hide of deer.' " Maur-ni-Dhuiv, in the first riddle, plays on the Irish word crann, which means ' tree ' and ' mast '. — by extension ' a ship.' She beholds a ship come to her, triumphant, bring ing her twice nine kinsmen from over the sea. Mary of the Segersons plays on the Irish word ubhall, which means ' an apple,' or ' apple tree.' ' Flower of the fragrant apple ' is a favourite metaphor of Irish bards as applied to maidens. Here the term indicates Mary's four nearest and dearest. She beholds her four golden-haired ones come riding home to join in hunting the wild deer amongst the mountains of Iveragh." Note B. Maur-ni-Dhuiv's Mother. Since informing me that Maur-ni-Dhuiv's mother was the daughter of Donal Mahony, the " great and terrible Papist " of Mr. Froude,1 Boss O'Connell has changed his mind, and says he thinks the weight of evidence brought to bear on Mahony manuscript pedigree is against that supposition, and that the Donal O'Donoghue Dhuv who married Mahony's daughter was the younger son of the chieftain of the Glens. If Donal of Dunloe was born in 1676, as stated in Burke's " Commoners," he could hardly have been the grandfather of Maur-ni-Dhuiv, who had married children by 1750; but I am inclined to think either that his sister may have been her grandmother, and married to a younger son of the dark chief of the Glens, or that he was born much earlier, and that the Donal born in 1676 was his son. In the Dunloe pedigree only three generations of Mahonys are given for a period where there were six generations of O'Connells ; so some Mahony names must have been omitted from Cromwell's time down to 1750, when the cousins, John of Dunloe and John of Darrynane, were corresponding. There is no doubt re specting a redoubtable Dark Geoffrey O'Donoghue, who 1 See vol. i. pp. 7, 51. 204 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. married in 1655, and the doings of whose wild sons and Donal Mahony's own deeds are duly recorded in the second volume of Miss Hickson's "Kerry Eecords," circa 1712. He had a very wild son Geoffrey. His eldest son Donal married Mary McCarthy, of Drishane. His three sons were Donal the chief, Geoffrey, and Florence. Donal had a son Geoffrey, who married McCarthy Mor's sister, and died in, 1758. There was certainly a near relationship between the young Mahonys of Dunloe and Maur-ni-Dhuiv's children, and only by the supposition of Maur-ni-Dhuiv's Mahony motherhood can it be accounted for. Their only other Mahony-O'Connell relationship was by the marriage of Honora O'Connell, of Cahirbarnagh, to Donal Mahony's father, and she was the sister of the great-great grandfather of the Darrynane young people. Nothing is more common in Irish pedigrees than great slips about marriages of daughters as to the generation in which such marriages occurred, and the Christian names of parties. I am inclined to think that Black Geoffrey, younger son of the black chief tain, founded the O'Donoghue Dhuvs, and was the father of Donal O'Donoghue Dhuv, of Anees. Maur-ni-Dhuiv was not a chief's daughter, nor yet do I think was she a chief's grand daughter ; but indubitably she was of the " chiefly race," and these descents would exactly tally with probable chronologies, and the epithet Dhuv (genitive Dhuiv, " of the dark ") O'Do- noghues would refer them to Dark Geoffrey. Geoffrey, m. 1655. I Geoffrey. I Donal. I I Maure Geoffrey O'Donoghue Dhuv. Kerry people called each other " cousin "up to second or rarely third cousins, and then "kinsman." The Mahony- O'Connell letters are full of " dear cousin." The only possible way of accounting for it is the Mahony- O'Donoghue marriage, and which I take to be that of Donal Mahony's daughter, which would bring the young people as near as second or third cousins. Maur-ni-Dhuiv's sister-in- law, Alice O'Connell, who married a Mahony, married Miles of Castlequinn, in Iveragh. That lady's daughter married an O'Moriarty of Castle-Drum, through whom the O'Connells are connected with Major-General Dennehy, who represents the O'Moriartys of Castle-Drum. Of that race was the blessed martyr-Prior, Thadeus O'Moriarty, hanged by Ireton after the fall of Boss Castle. Notes to Book VII. 205 Note C. General Sir Maurice O'Connell (died 1848). Maurice Charles Philip O'Connell, notwithstanding his curious fluctuations in the choice of a career, turned out a brilliant and successful soldier. I heard he was a handsome, elegant, and very charming old gentleman, and much liked in Australia. He was as kind in trying to settle young relatives and get them rich husbands and wives and commissions as Count O'Connell or Colonel Tom FitzMaurice. Boss O'Con nell supplies me with the following sketch : — Maurice Charles was the son of Charles (son of Philip O'Connell by his wife, daughter of John O'Connell, of Darry nane). Charles Philip was a younger son of John O'Connell, of Ballinabloun. Maurice Charles served as captain under the Duke of Brunswick in 1792, and served afterwards for several years in the West Indies. He received the thanks of the House of Assembly of Dominica in 1805, and at the same time a sword worth £50 ; a piece of plate worth £100 was given him from the Patriotic Fund at Lloyd's for his behaviour at the siege of Boseau, when that town was attacked by the French, February, 1805. He died May, 1848, Lieut. -General Sir Maurice O'Connell, Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in New South Wales, and Colonel of the 80th Begiment, leaving by his wife Mary, daughter of Admiral William Bligh (Bounty Bligh), two sons and a daughter. The elder son, Sir Maurice Charles O'Connell, died with out issue in 1878, President of the Legislative Council of Queensland, of which colony he had three times been acting governor. He had previously served as captain in the 28th Begiment, and succeeded Sir E. de Lacy Evans in command of the British Legion in Spain, for which he raised a regi ment in Ireland. He received the Orders of Isabella the Catholic, San Fer dinando, and Charles III., conferred for services in the field. William, his second son, married Mary, daughter of General the Hon. Sir P. Stuart. The daughter, Elizabeth, married Henry, son of Lord William Somerset, son of the fifth Duke of Beaufort, and has issue. — [B. O'C] The early but honourable poverty of Sir Maurice is easily understood when we scan, the above pedigree, which shows him to have been the son of the son of a younger son. 206 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. Note D. Segerson, or Sigerson. Arms : arg., a chevron sable between three ravens' heads, erased sable, two in chief and one in base.1 The name is a modification of the Norse. Sigurd, Jarl of Orkneys, fell at Clontarf, raven banner in hand. Of his five sons, Hundi, Somerled, Bruse, Einar, and Thorfin Sigurdson, four ruled as earls ; Thorfin, the youngest and greatest, extending his sway over North Scotland, the Western Isles, and lands on both sides of the Irish Sea to Dublin. His grandson, Hacon (Karl) Sigurdson, and his great-grand sons, Hacon and Brynholf Sigurdson, of Westness, are de scribed as noblemen and great chiefs in the Orkney Saga, at the date of the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland. They appear in Irish historical romance as the " Seven sons of Sigir " (Seacht mic Sigir), whose adventures are mentioned in " The Battle of Moyleana." The name of Bicardus filius Segeri de Swoinesea occurs on the most ancient muniment-roll of Dublin in the reign of Henry II. ; in that of Eichard Coeur de Lion the name of Henricus filius Segeri de Gloucestria is inscribed. Sea farers, they held property in the principal ports of the Anglo- Irish Channel. They had estates in the "Vale Boyal" at Wych Malbank and Walgherton. At the close of the reign of Henry VII. was born Bolf or Eauff Segerson, who became bailiff of Liverpool under Henry VIII., mayor under Edward VI., alderman in Mary's reign, mayor and five times Member of Parliament under Elizabeth. He was one of the makers of Liverpool, defending its rights, extending its privileges, devising sanitary improvements, and founding its first educa tional institute. He was a distinguished speaker in Parlia ment, where most were mute. His daughters married two mayors of Liverpool, Baynforth and Bavand. A touching cryptic entry in the town-records, on the occasion of their death in 1572, shows he remained a Catholic. He had a son in Nantwich, Chester County, whose family was connected with 1 The arms are recorded in Sir Bernard Burke's office, Birmingham, in a manuscript book dating from Elizabeth or James. Rauff of Liver pool was styled " gentleman" and "generosus." These terms had then a distinct and specific meaning, for Selden says, " the name of gentleman should signify one only that were ennobled by his blood, as nobilis did in the more ancient times of Rome ; or as generosus out of its own notation doth, generosus, i.e. qui bono sanguine ortus et non degenerat" ("Titles of Honour : " 1631). Notes to Book VII. 207 Mayors Babington and Sneyd of Chester, and a son in Dublin, Edmund Segerson, " generosus," who received a pardon in the first year of Queen Elizabeth. Eauff appears to have died in Dublin, having doubtless gone there in the endeavour to obtain repayment of the sum of £550, borrowed by the Lord Deputy in critical times, when he was unable to raise money in Ireland or to obtain any from London. This sum, a vast one at the time, has not yet been repaid. At the close of the sixteenth century, the Segerson family had estates in Cheshire, Liverpool, Dublin City and County, in Kildare and Wexford (by knight's service in capite). They were connected, by marriage, with Bavand and Baynforth, mayors of Liverpool; Babington and Sneyd, mayors of Bristol; Morphe, i.e. McMurrough Kavanagh, alderman, sheriff, and mayor-designate of Dublin (with estates in the " Morowes' country ") and with Eichard, the first and " great " Earl of Boyle. John Morphe (died 1603), an eminent and wealthy surgeon, whose benefactions honoured Dublin, had surgeons Eichard and John Segerson as pupils, and bequeathed his property to his wife, Margaret Segerson, and his nephew, John Segerson. In 1600 Sir William Sarsfield and Sir Gerald Aylmer granted, by deed of feoffment, the rectories of Athnowen, Kilbride, Eennybrough, Kilbrogane, Kilmainane, and Agneholtie, parcels of the Abbey of Grany, or Grange (near Kilcrea, Cork), to Boger Segerson and his wife, with rever sion to Edmund Spenser's heirs. Eichard Segerson, son of Boger, and of Elizabeth Spenser (nee Boyle), widow of Edmund Spenser, the poet, was quarter-master at the battle of Knocknanos, in 1647, on the Eoyalist side. The Kerry branch obtained their possessions in a romantic manner. Eichard Harding, of a great Bristol family, had obtained large grants of land in several counties of Munster and Leinster, after tbe confiscation of the Earl of Desmond's estates. He made over the reversion of his manor at Ballinskelligs to Christopher Segerson,1 in 1615. The tradition is that, having made acquaintance with the young knight in Ireland, the latter became a favourite, and was taken over to Bristol that he might marry Harding's daughter. As they were about to enter his home they met her funeral coming out of the door. Eichard Harding still treated him as his son-in-law, and gave him the manor. Christopher Segerson was one of the sons of John of 1 In recent times the name was sometimes written Sigerson, as well as Segerson, in the registered deeds, south as north. Curiously enough, the same difference is seen in Domesday Book, where Segarus and Sigwrus are given as holding estates in the reign of Edward the Confessor. 208 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. Wexford and Dublin City. He became lord of the manor, with rights of warren and chase, enjoyment of waifs and strays, powers to hold courts baron and leet, markets and fairs, and a " court of pie-powder," in about the year 1636, and the estate was confirmed to him by royal grant in 1637 (Charles I.). The property comprised "the late priory and house of Fryers of Ballyneskilleg," with "the townes and lands of Ballyneskilleg, Kinard, Ballintemple, Argyll, Kinnagh, Cloghanemore, Dungegan, Killurley, Coolagh, Imlaghmore, Cashell, Tuoroglassoge, and Kildonan." At this time Christopher Segerson held a half-moiety of Cloghran-Swords, in Dublin County. He ran risk of losing his life, having been lawlessly seized " as hostage " by some of Sir W. Denny's marauders, who burned the village, but they were compelled to give him up owing to the success of O'Sullivan Mor's forces. Less fortunate, a few years later, all his Kerry property was confiscated under the Cromwellian Government. In 1653 transplantation certificates were made out for Chris topher Segerson, of Valentius, and Eichard Segerson, of Ballinskellix. In the " Book of Survey and Distribution " the details of the estate are set forth ; it covered about 7500 acres of present measurement. Two castles are mentioned. The original grantee was Eobert Marshall, but the property quickly passed to Sir W. Petty, surveyor-general, who thus built up the fortunes of his family. By the Commission of Grace, Christopher got back some of his Dublin possessions.1 In 1696 Henry Petty (Earl of Shelborne) made a lease in trust to his agent, for John Mahony, of Dunloe, who immedi ately re-leased the estate in 1697 to Christopher's heir, Thomas Segerson. Though the lands were regained under cover, the penal laws reached this old Catholic family in many ways. Thus, in 1711, one Alexander Eager, of the Barony of "Ivrahay," deposed that he was twice robbed " by Privateers and Bobbers of the Popish religion," and Thomas Segerson, of Kinard, gent., and Darby Crohan, "two of the Popish inhabitants of the said Barony," had to pay a fine of £12 17s. In spite of all, the family increased and flourished.2 The 1 Notably a mansion " in vico pellipariorum,'' or Skinner's Row, which occupied the site of Nos. 13 and 14, Christchurch Place, Dublin. This mansion, which had been part of Joan Segerson's (otherwise Morphe's) dowry nearly three centuries before, was sold in 1774 by Thomas of Bal- linskelligs, for £900, to David Latouche, the eminent banker, the niece of whose partner, Redmond Kane, married an uncle of the present writer.— [G. S.] 2 In the O'Connell pedigree, the name of Segrave has been hitherto entered in mistake for Segerson. Miss Julianna O'Connell had rectified this Notes to Book VII. 209 Catholic list of 1776 makes mention of Christopher of Kinard, James of Cahirbarnagh, Edward of Cove, Christopher of Canuge, and John of Cahirbarnagh. In 1779 James of Ballinabloun, being aged, made a transfer for a rent-charge to his son, John of Dromore, which shows him possessed of the lands of East and West Murregh, Coolroe, Coolnaharagull, Killerelig, Conbornin, Canuge, Gnews, and Cahirbarnagh, with "30 horses and 342 cattle, of which 216 were milch and dairy cows." They intermarried with the principal old families of the county, e.g. Mahony, Conway, O'Connell, McCarthy, O'Sullivan, Sugrue, Spotswood, Leyne, Lalor, Blenner- hassett, Hoare, FitzMaurice Burke. There are several alliances with the O'Connells. Alison, or Alice, daughter of the first lord of the manor (Christopher of Dublin), married Daniel O'Connell, of Aghort and Darrynane.1 She was con sequently greats-grandmother to General Count O'Connell, and great-great-grandmother to the Liberator, who thus had Norse blood blended with Celtic in his veins. Thomas Segerson, 1697, married Miss O'Connell, of Ballinabloun. The count's sister Alice (of the keen) married John Segerson. Charles O'Connell, of Ballinabloun, married Joanna Segerson. Geoffrey of Ballybrack married Bridget Segerson, mother of " Maurice Jeffrey and John Jeffrey," of France, and grandmother of Miss Julianna O'Connell, "the oldest of the O'Connell gens." A kinswoman of the O'Connells and of the FitzMaurices, Lords of Kerry, Alice FitzMaurice Burke, sister of Major'General F. Burke, of Prospect Villa, Cork, married Francis of Dungegan, and Thomas FitzMaurice Burke married Catherine of West Cove, in 1854. Francis of Cove married Miss Haly, sister of J. Haly-Coppinger ; their daughter, Maria, married Charles Sugrue, Esq., of Fermoyle (represented by Mr. J. H. Sugrue, error, which was repeated in the case of her own grandmother, where Bridget Segrave is given instead of Bridget Segersom Mrs. Morgan John O'Connell states that her late husband held Segrave to be impossible ; that it should have been Segerson or Sugrue. Prof; W. M. Hennessy, M.R.I.A., himself a Kerry man and Irish scholar, also mentioned the relation ship. I may add that in a transcript book in the Registry of Deeds, the name of James Segerson, 1812, is given in one place as James Segrave. Alison Segerson is mentioned in the will of John Morphe (recti Mc- Murrough Kavanagh) in 1603, as one of his nieces, to whom he bequeathed over £1000 (present value), to be paid on their marriage.— [G. S.J 1 An Irish saying, communicated by a school teacher, himself a native of Kerry, indicates the relative positions of three local families — " Segerson bi, O'Mathghamnaigh td,, O'Connaill do beidh." In English — " Segerson was, O'Mahony is, O'Connell will be."— [G.S.] VOL. II. P 210 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. Cork). John Segerson, of Drumfadder and West Cove, be queathed (1825) the Ballinskelligs property to his daughter, Lucinda Catherine, mother of the present Eichard Mahony, Esq., D.L., Dromore Castle, Kenmare, whose children are Harold Segerson Mahony and Nora Eveleen Segerson Mahony. A granddaughter of Francis of Dungegan, Bridget Segerson Hoare, is now Mother Dympna of the convent of Mercy, Tralee. One of the most remarkable men of the family was John, a man of fiery temper and quixotic cha racter, who fought fourteen duels, and was known as "Fire ball." He was killed at Killorglin. John Segerson, of Benburb, Tyrone, whose father, by marriage a connection of Sarsfield, had gone north with the Jacobite army, married Hannah Kelly. Their descendants were connected by marriage with the families of Buchanan, late President U.S., Nelson, Alderman of Belfast, Bedmond Kane (Bank of Latouche and Kane), Captain Loder, Mrs. Chisholm (whose two sons married the two Misses Loder, Sydney), and of Estudillo, the great Spanish family of San Leandro, Cali fornia, whose estates are worth millions of dollars.1 Francis B. Ward, officer in the U.S. Navy, married Sefiora Concep tion Estudillo, in 1852. His children, Mr. J. F. Ward, of Alameda, and Mrs. Sullivan, as descendants of Bedmond Kane's niece, who married James Segerson (uncle of the present writer), are entitled to claim the reversion of the Kane-Bunbury estates, devolving through Kane's daughter, in case of extinction of issue. These estates are now in possession of the Earl of Bathdonnell. — [G. S.] Note E. Secretary Pelham. Sir Jonah Barrington thus describes this very honourable man ("Personal Sketches," p. 173) — " Mr. Pelham, now Earl of Chichester, was secretary to Lord Camden, then Lord-Lieutenant. I had the good fortune and pleasure to be on good terms with this amiable, engaging, and friendly gentleman, and have seldom met any public personage I liked so well ; moderate, honourable, sufficiently firm, and sufficiently spirited. I had a real gratification in attaching myself not only to his measures, but to his society. In all our personal intercourse, which ceased with his depar-, ture, I found him candid and just, and experienced at his hands several public acts of kindness. 1 San Leandro Reporter, July 13, 1889, Notes to Book VII. 211 "Mr.Pelham's Parliamentary talents were not of asplendid order. The people of Ireland never required stars for ministers ; "but a fair and candid secretary was a great treat to them, and Mr. Pelham was making full way in public estimation. The last day I ever saw him in Ireland he and his brother-in- law, Lord Sheffield, did me the favour of dining with me in Merrion Square. I perceived he was uncommonly dull, and regretted the circumstance much ; he obviously grew worse, at length laid his head on the- table,; and when he departed he was extremely ill. Next day he was in a violent fever, his life was long despaired of ; he recovered with difficulty, and on his recovery returned to England. Mr. Steward [afterwards the famous Lord Castlereagh], by marriage the Lord-Lieutenant's nephew, was named as hcum tenens during Mr. Pelham' s absence, or, should he not return, until the ap pointment of another secretary. But he was soon discovered by his employers to be fit for any business; and as it had been long in the secret contemplation of the British Ministry to extinguish the Irish Parliament, either by fraud or force, and Lord Campden being considered too inactive, perhaps too conscientious and honourable to resort to either of those weapons, it was determined to send over an old servant-of-all- work, who had fought till he was beaten and negotiated till he was outwitted. This person, Lord Cornwallis, with the assistance of his young secretary, would stop at nothing necessary to effect the purpose, and they could between them carry a measure which few other persons, at that period, durst have attempted." 212 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. BOOK VIII. A MAN OF OTHER DAYS. 1797-1833. Estrangement — Count O'Connell retired — A colonel unattached — Dis appointment — Illness — Chevalier Fagan — (London, October, 1797) Dan to Hunting Cap on his marriage — The vanities of this life vanish — (London, March, 1798) Captain Burke ("Johnny" of long ago) — French doctrines — Brotherly affection — (London, April, 1798) death of young Maurice— St. Domingo — Mr. McMahon promoted — A deputy-governor cannot smuggle — Interesting note to Hunting Cap about the Rebellion — (London, July, 1798) the count to Hunting Cap — Economy — His step-children —Their estates in St. Domingo — Affairs in St. Domingo — Emancipation of the negroes — Death of Mrs. Gould — Andrew Connell — (London, February, 1799) to Hunting Cap — Maurice's sight failing — Affairs on the continent — Nephew Dan — "Nancy and her governor" — (London, May, 1799) to Hunting Cap — Death of an old servant — Dis turbed state of the country — The count wants Maurice to leave Darrynane — French politics — Existing Governments in danger — Ireland — (Ramsgate, July, 1799) to Hunting Cap — Illness — Cannot go to Darrynane — Expects monarchy to be restored in France — Politics — Lord Kenmare — -"Our brother-in-law, Maurice Geoffrey" ¦ — Chevalier Fagan writes to Hunting Cap (October, 1799) concern ing his brother's health — His wife's affairs — Count O'Connell begins a new correspondence — Irish Act in favour of Catholic officers — The colonel writes to young Dan (the Liberator), (London, 1801) — Resig nation of Ministers — And their successors — Changes in Ireland — Prayers for peace and tranquillity — Eugene McCarthy — Recruiting accounts — Heraldry again — Congratulations on success — (London, May, 1801) the count again to "Nephew Dan" — To whom he trans fers his ambition — Captain John Burke — " The little boy James " (afterwards Sir James, of Lake View) — John — Claims of Mr. McCarthy <— Death of Colonel Eugene — (London, June, 1801) to Dan again — Ooat-of-arms, forfeitures, etc.— On French soil again — His wife's property — Napoleon's iron hand — (London, February, 1802) to Hunt ing Cap — Passport from Paris — Licence from his Majesty — "Our Minister at Paris " — " All letters are still opened " — Comte d'Artois — A Man of Other Days. 213 Received from the Court of Lisbon offers to enter that service — Rank of major-general — Another code of military regulations — Sir J. Mitford — Maurice O'Connell to his nephew Dan (Darrynane, May, 1802) — Heard from the- General from Paris — About his wife's property — Police reports — (Paris, June, 1803) the count to Hunt ing Cap — The British subjects arrested — Fontainebleau — Prisoners of war — The colonel a mediator for his namesake — Dan the Liberator marrying for love — (Orleans, August, 1804) the count to Hunting Cap — Still a prisoner — Thoroughly easy and unmolested — His wife and step-daughter share his captivity — Hopes for peace — -Dr. O'Reardon — Captain O'Connell — Nephew Dan — Nephew John — Sister Anne— Niece Ellen— Nephew James — Dr. Sugrue — No letters for 1805-1808 — Report of a police spy on our hero — Official notes, etc. — From national archives — O'Connell — -Baron d'Etchegoyen — Infirmities of age — (Paris, May, 1810) the count writes to Hunting Cap — Dr, O'Reardon — Hopes to come to Darrynane — Exchange of prisoners — The Restoration — M. de la Ponce — Count O'Connell a lieut.-general — Commander of the Order of St. Louis — ¦ Count Bartholomew O'Mahony — The Irish Brigade — Due de FitzJames — Last scene of the old Irish Brigade— "Semper et ubique Fidelis " — Mr. Roche, the literary Cork banker — The most distinguished of the Irish Brigade — Napoleon's downfall — Count O'Connell in Ireland — Anecdote of the count and the Liberator's wife — Spends some time at Grenagh— Description of the count — The brothers at Darry nane — Marriage of his step-daughter — The Liberator on his uncle — Marshal Ney — Anecdotes — Charity — Naturalization — Count's will —More stories — Recollections of Count O'Connell — The Liberator and his family abroad — Baron Moritz O'Connell ("Cousin Morty" of years gone by) — Young Morgan, the Liberator's son — Austrian Ser vice — Baron Nugent's Regiment — " Quentin Durward " — Description of our hero's French home — Death of Louis XVIII. — Count O'Con nell and Charles X, — "A most superior man and a saint" — Schools — -Hunting Cap writes to Catholic Association, 1824 — William Fagan, M.P,, on the Liberator and Hunting Cap — A letter written by the Liberator — Mr. Henry Arthur Herbert — Hunting Cap's coffin — Hunting Cap to Mrs. Morgan O'Connell, of Carhen — Death of Hunt ing Cap — His will — (Paris, March, 1825) the count to his nephew James — On his brother's death — Lord Headley — Charles O'Connell — Arthur O'Leary's son — Burses — (Paris, July, 1825) to same — Tomb of his parents — Judge Day — Catholic claims — •" Little Morgan's" success— (Paris, 1825) again to Sir James — Family troubles — Trouble some boys— The Catholic question — Mrs. FitzSimon — Emancipation — The O'Donoghue — Happy and honoured old age — The count an anti-Repealer — Schools and charity again — Young people in Paris — Stories of the veteran — St. Patrick's Day — (Paris, July, 1829) the count to Sir James — Political letter — The Clare election — -The O'Do noghue — His death — "Your nephew Maurice " (the Liberator's eldest son) — Uneasiness at the great changes — (Nice, December, 1829) to Sir James — Dan's profession sacrificed to politics — Family affairs — 214 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. 1830 : The citizen-king — A marshal's staff for our colonel — Charles X. — "Too old to turn traitor'' — Retires to Madon — Leave to be queath his peerage — Naturalization — Letters of naturalization — "Marrying and giving in marriage " — (Chateau de Madon, April, 1831) — Letter on marriage— (Madon, August, 1831)— Dan returned for Kerry —Maurice for Clare— Duel — Knight of Kerry — Reform Bill — France — "All our pensions are cancelled "—(Madon, April, 1832) to Sir James — Liberator's election — In opposition to Government — Bill for the Suppression of Insurrection — Views on Repeal — "Little Maurice of Grenagh " — Boys of the rising generation — (Madon, April, 1832) to Sir James — Morgan John O'Connell — His distinguished talents — — The count on Repeal of the Union — Summary of his French will — A quiet funeral — His great-granddaughter writes of the count — Count Daniel d'Etchegoyen-O'Connell — His death — Testamentary letter of General Count O'Connell — The young O'Donoghue — Death of the last Colonel of the Irish Brigade — Reminiscences by the Marquise de Sers. The last years of the eighteenth century wore away drearily enough for my hero. All the hopes of a brilliant career, of " the bubble reputation " to be won at the cannon's mouth, had melted away. His loyalty to a fallen race had shut out the scientific soldier of fortune from all share in the most marvellous campaigns the genius of one man had ever conceived and carried out. The long-cherished hopes of the Irish Emigre officers to be let share, on the Eoyalist side, in those great wars had been baffled by the jealousy of the Irish ascendency party. Our colonel had to possess his soul in patience, and bear with obscurity and inaction for many a weary year. In a word, every hope and plan he had con ceived was turned to disappointment, except one very prosaic hope of an assured competency. This the moderate pay of a colonel, which soon became half-pay, secured to him. His domestic hopes were equally blighted. He was very fond of children, and would naturally have desired to see children of his own playing round his knee. Twice such expectations were entertained, and each time doomed to premature extinction. Considering all the fears, flights, and hardships the Countess O'Connell had undergone, this was not to be wondered at. The disappointment must indeed have been bitter, but it was borne with his usual cheerful patience. The estrangement from Hunting Cap cut him to the quick, A Man of Other Days. 215 more especially as his brother's generous behaviour exposed him to a charge of ingratitude in thus opposing the wishes of so beneficent a head of the family. To his elder's some what unreasonable pique he opposed a manly and dignified attitude. He asserted his undoubted right to choose a wife for himself, in the mildest and civilest but most decided manner. There are many letters written from London during the years between 1797 and 1802. Husband and wife were both stricken with severe illness, and both happily recovered. The affection of dear old Chevalier Fagan was actually paternal. " My poor fellow," he calls the mature colonel, whom he regards with the same warm affection as " the good boy Dan " of the days of the Seven Tears' War. I group these years of enforced idleness and inaction into one record. To my mind, the letters to his estranged brother are very affecting. Strange that Hunting Cap should have so care fully preserved Count O'Connell's epistles, unless it was that his warm-hearted nature and the endearing ties of blood remained the same in spite of the temporary coolness. No letter has been found for the year 1796, and only the following one for 1797 : — London, 26,h Oct"", 1797. My Dear Brother, — I have been some months back in daily expectation of a letter from you in answer to my last. Other wise should long ere now have broke in on your unusual, and to me very painful, silence. I wish to flatter myself my Letter has not reached you, yet, even supposing that to be the case, I cannot but be hurt at the Idea that your friend ship for me did not compel you in that length of time to make any enquiry about me. When I reflect on this apparent indifference, which I can't help often doing, I con fess I am deeply affected at the contrast between it and the tender anxiety you were wont to show me. I trust, however, I have given no cause for it. I certainly am conscious of none, for I cannot suppose that your condemnation of my marriage as an imprudent step under the then existing circumstances could possibly induce a dereliction of your wonted sentiments for me. A difference of opinion in such a case is, at worse, very pardonable, and at my time of life [52], with the degree of Experience I may be supposed to have acquired thro' numberless Vissitudes and a long inter- 216 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. course with the world, cannot be justly deemed even pre sumption. I shall always sincerely lament that the Measure did not meet with your approbation, but surely that can never be a sufficient reason to justify a breach between us. It might justify you in bestowing no favours, but I hope you know me too well to think any such consideration could ever have any effect on me. I value in you the Man, the friend, the fond Brother, pretereaque nihil. Forgive, my Dear Brother, this candid development of my sentiments. My heart is too sincere to conceal them, and, I assure you, far too tender to disregard any coolness from you. The frowns of fortune I have fortitude enough to resist, but when the Vanities of this Life Vanish from our View, friendship alone can strew the Path with flowers and brighten the gloomy horizon. Farewell, my Dear, Dear Brother. Believe me, with un bounded gratitude, respect, and love, your devoted Brother, D. O'Connell. My wife desires her best affections to you. She has had, a Month agone, a Second miscarriage of near six months, but is perfectly recovered. I beg to be remembered to all friends. No, 12, Hans" Place, Sloane Street, London. There are three letters from Count O'Connell to Hunting Cap in this eventful year, two of them, however, written before the actual outbreak of the rebellion. The second is, indeed, melancholy reading, describing as it does the pre mature ending of a bright young life. The boy Maurice would follow the drum, and would not stay at home and mind his rich uncle's farming, and step eventually into his shoes. The letter about St. Domingo is very interesting, and subsequent events showed the correctness of my colonel's prognostics of poverty to the Pearl of the Antilles. London, 14'" March, 1798. My Dear Brother,— I avail myself of the oppertunity of Captain Burke [the admirable and sprightly little Johnny of long ago] to present you my respects, and inquire how you are. I shall be happy to learn you continue to enjoy good health, and that your district is exempt from the troubles which appear to have made their way into the neighbouring Counties. With respect to myself, my situation is the same as when I last wrote to you. Nothing but a return of the A Man of Other Days. 217 blessings of Peace is likely to meliorate it ; yet I only wish for such a one as will be consistent with the honor, safety, and happiness of these kingdoms and effectually preclude the importation of French Doctrines, the greatest, in my idea, of all Calamities. I shall be at all times anxious lest any event may trouble your tranquillity and happiness, which I may truly assure you I am more interested about than for any thing that regards me personally. I have been now nine years back accustomed to the frowns of fortune, and, in dependently of that, my disposition is to feel for my friends much more than for myself, and surely no Man on Earth has so great a claim to my Love and warmest affection as you have. Be assured, My Dear Brother, the Coolness you have assumed towards me for some time back, although it has made the deepest impression on my heart, has not in the smallest degree impaired nor altered my Sentiments for you. I shall ever lament that any act of mine has met with your disapprobation, because the first of my wishes always and always shall be to preserve and cherish the Brotherly Union that subsisted between us from my earliest years. Farewell, My Dear Brother. Accept the affectionate Comp" of my Wife, and believe me, with unceasing tenderness, your fond and truly attatched, D. O'Connell. I hope you will speedily favour me with an answer that you will give me credit when I assure you that my only reason for not writing to you oftener is my apprehension that a more frequent correspondence may not be acceptable. I beg to be remembered to all friends. London, 16lh April, 1798. My Dear Brother, — I am Extreemly sorry it falls to my lot to convey to you the Melancholy tidings of the Death of our poor Nephew Maurice, at St. Domingo, in the month of DecbcT Last. The first Notice I had of it was thro' the London Ganette of the 11th Inst., in which are inserted the promotions, etc., in the Army. I there found a Mr. McMahon promoted to a Lieutenancy in Serrant's Regm', Vice Maurice Morgan O'Connell. Alarmed at this, but still hoping it might be a Mistake, I went to the War Office to ascertain it, but to my great concern I there found a Confirmation of what I apprehended, and I have thought it may be proper to give you early notice of the Melancholy Event, in order that you may have an oppertunity of preparing the Minds of his Parents to it, before the information should reach them thro' some other Channell. I am well assured, my Dear Brother, the untimely 218 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. Death of this unfortunate Boy will give you great pain, as it has to me ; for, notwithstanding the levity of his temper, he was possessed of a great stock of honor, honesty, and good nature, and had he lived to the age of maturity would, I am confident, have turned out a man of real worth and of very Endearing qualifications. It is impossible to reflect on his fate, without lamenting that inordinate passion for the Army, which led him to pass into another Corps without consulting any of his friends. It would seem as if there was a fatality that hurried him on to his own destruction. Farewell, my Dear Brother. I have written to you some time agone by Lieutenant John Bourke, and flatter myself with the pleasure of hearing from you ere long, as it's now 4 months since you have favour'd me with a -Letter. I cannot think but you know my feelings too well not to be fully con vinced that nothing could afford me greater pleasure than to Correspond regularly with you, Were I certain it was also your wish. What happiness in life can equal that of pure, genuine, and disinterested brotherly affection ? and who better than me knows how to estimate such a blessing ? I remain, with unshaken attatchment, My Dear Brother, yours, D. O'Connell. My Wife desires best regards. The following letter from the merchant to whom Hunt ing Cap was obliged to consign the butter a loyal deputy- governor could no longer smuggle by water, shows the feel ings of the business community in Cork during the Bebellion. It is endorsed, "Butter notes of 8th June, 1798 : "— Charles Casey to Mau. O'Connell, Esqr., Darrynane. Cork, June 18th, 1798. Dr. Sr., — Tr Butter turn'd out a better quality than expected for yr first Turn. I enclose you what was published this Day. Troops from England arriving every Day. I have no Doubt but that ye Bebellion will be put Down in another week. A grand attack is to be made on Wexford to-morrow. Our Forces are numerous and well appointed. Gen. Lake is come from Dublin to command. May we live once more to see peace and quiet established ! We did not sufficiently thank God for the happiness we heretofore enjoy'd. Tr sincerely affot oble serv4, Cha. Casey. A Man of Other Days. 219 Count O'Connell to Maurice O'Connell, of Darrynane. London, 26'" July, 1798. My Dear Brother, — I am just now favor 'd with your Letter of the 13th Inst., which I hasten to acknowledge, as well as to express my warm obligations for the fresh mark of Kindness you bestow on me. Tour expressing a regret that your circumstances will not allow you to be as Liberal as you would wish is to me a further proof of your Affection, which I value far beyond any pecuniary favors ; nor should I enjoy them with any Happiness to myself were they to trench on the ease and comforts of your life. I hope the addition of 60 ' pounds, and the £180 of my half-pay, will enable me, with the help of the strictest economy, to bring the two ends of the Tear together. And oeconomy in the strictest sense of the word shall be attended to. With respect to my Wife's children, I assure you they have never occasioned me a Shilling's expence hitherto ; some small Bemittances made from time to time from their Estates of St. Domingo have been more than sufficient for their support. Since that Island has been evacuated, one of their Uncles has undertaken to make them a monthly allowance adequate to their wants, which he remits from Hamburgh, and will continue to remit very punctually untill Government shall have come to a determination on the subject of the Provision intended to be made for the children of the Planters whose estates had been occupied by the British Forces in that Island, by virtue of the Capitulations with Government. Under these circumstances, to send the children to France would be to deprive them of the allowance they have to expect here from Government, without any benefit to myself, wheras, instead of being a burthen on me, it is certain the small sum they will throw into the common stock will make our situation more comfortable. I assure you that, notwithstanding my Wife's tenderness for her Children, there is no measure I could propose that she would at all object to. Her confidence in me, her good sense, and her virtues will always weigh down any other considerations, and induce her to comply, without the smallest hesitation, with my wishes, whatever they may be. Nor should I be deterred, thro' a mistaken delicacy, from Eecommending any thing I thought likely to be of advantage to the Children and to ourselves, tho' much it would grieve me to hurt her feelings. As I may assure you without the smallest partiality, there are few, if any, more amiable or more deserving women living than she is, and I am thoroughly convinced that, if she were 220 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. known to you, the Picture I draw of her would not appear to you flattered nor exaggerated. I shall not follow you, my Dear Brother, in your arguments respecting St. Domingo, least you may think I intended to Bescue myself from the charge of having taken an imprudent step in marrying. To form a true opinion on the Subject, we should take into consideration the Political and Belative state of things at that moment. I could also Demonstrate beyond tlie shadow of a doubt that England employed more men and money than would have been sufficient for the Total Conquest of that Island ; and that the bad success that attended the operations is ascribable merely to the want of judgemeut and good management, and not to the Besistance of the enemy, nor to the mortality proceeding from the climate, in proof of which I refer you to the several memorials on that subject delivered by myself and some others to His Majesty's Ministers, better than two years back. I will boldly assert that, had I been entrusted with the command in that country, Great Britain would ere now be in full Possession and full enjoyment of the Extensive Commerce of that fine Colony. Whatever you may think of the pretended Emancipation of the Negroes, you may be assured they are, even at this hour, for the most part far from thinking their Present Situation as happy as when under the mild and Paternal authority of their old masters, and that the Colonial System laid down by the Governors of France will, if acted upon, prove in the event the Total Annihilation of Industry, Peace, and Happi ness in St. Domingo.1 1 Alison, in his " History of Europe," describes this splendid colony- its Spanish portion, "mountain, forest, and cliff," in the centre of the island ; its French colony, the fertile plains and valleys at their feet. The French portion alone, he states (chap, xxxvi.), was more valuable than the whole of the British West Indian Islands. On the 8th of March, 1790, the negroes were emancipated. They revolted in August, 1791. Their outbreak, " unparalleled in the long catalogue of European atrocities," led to a complete massacre or banishment of the planters. Civil war, led by Toussaint l'Ouverture, the negro general, lasted for years, and led to the storming and massacres at Capetown, and loss of 30,000 inhabitants. In 1794 the abortive British attempt at annexation began. In 1800 Napoleon confirmed Toussaint as governor. In 1801, when peace cleared the ocean, Napoleon attacked the island to subdue the lieutenant-governor. In July, 1802, Toussaint capitulated and was treacherously taken prisoner. The island was pacified ; but in October the perfidy of the French caused a fresh outbreak, and in 1803 the negroes eventually prevailed. The accuracy of my hero's prognostications about the negroes is verified in the following extract from Alison (chap. xxxv. vol. viii.) : — " Since the expulsion of the French from the island, San Domingo has been nominally independent ; but slavery has been far indeed from being abolished, and the condition of the people anything but A Man of Other Days. 221 I am exceedingly concerned at the death of our poor Niece Goold, notwithstanding that in her Situation death may be considered a Blessing. Farewell, my Dear Brother; accept the best wishes of my Wife, and believe me, with the most lasting affection, grati tude, and respect, Tour most obliged Brother, D. O'Connell. I beg my best regards to Nancy and her husband. Mr. W. J. FitzPatrick, with a chivalrous absence of pique at my intrusion on his domain of Irish biography, has, unso licited, placed at my disposal some notes he jotted down from the dictation of his venerable father-in-law, Dr. O'Beardon, who lived to even a greater age than the doctor's distinguished relative, Count O'Connell. He makes a slight mistake about that kind stepfather having entirely provided for the sisters de Bellevue, but of course the doctor did not know that an uncle of theirs, who had some funds in Europe, made them a small allowance when they got absolutely nothing from their St. Domingo property. It is extremely probable the General had to supplement this later. I am sure, from the sums he disposed of during his life, that either the property or a considerable indemnity for it passed into the hands of the family ; otherwise, he could never have helped so many relatives, given so much in charity, besides giving about £20,000 to his own family. How could he save such sums out of the gains of a half-pay officer, even though he had both British and French half-pay and an annuity from his brother in the latter part of his life? Madame O'Connell's singular placidity and resignation did once break down, as we see by a letter of Chevalier Fagan's that she contracted a ameliorated by the change. Nominally free; the blacks have remained really enslaved. Compelled to labour, by terrors of military discipline, for a small part of the produce of the soil, they have retained the severity without the advantages of servitude. The industrious habits, the flourish ing aspect of the island, have disappeared ; the surplus wealth, the agricultural opulence of the fields, have ceased ; from being the greatest exporting island in the West Indies, it has ceased to raise any sugar, and the inhabitants, reduced to half their former amount, and bitterly galled by their Republican taskmasters, have relapsed into the indolence and inactivity of savage life " (quoted from Mackenzie's " St. Domingo," vol. i. p> 260, by Alison). 222 Tlie Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. serious illness from anxiety and fretting at seeing herself and her children a burden on the slender half-pay of a British colonel— only £200 a year. Mr. FitzPatrick has jotted down as follows :— " His [General O'Connell's] wife had large estates in St. Domingo. The agents became [word illegible], and the Count O'Connell lost a noble estate which he held in right of his wife. Toussaint confiscated them. His wife was a member of a French family long settled in St. Domingo. She was a quiet, mild, amiable gentlewoman. Dr. O'Beardon asked the General if the loss of her estates disquieted her. " ' I assure you, John,' said the General, ' she never thinks of it.' " She was a widow lady, and had two daughters by a former husband. He adopted them, and at his own expense gave them the benefit of a first-class education, both in Paris and in London. He got the first masters for them, and regarded them through life with the affection of a father. The girls married brothers, bankers. The St. Domingo property, according to settlement, was finally to revert to them, but on the establishment of Toussaint's republic this arrangement, of course, fell to the ground. They had therefore no one to look to but the General, and he did his part nobly. "Count O'Connell observed to Dr. O'Beardon that through out his life he had always found it considerably easier to train a Frenchman to the use of arms than a German ; that, in fact, on this point no comparison could be made between them." By the first letter of 1799 we see that the estrangement between the brothers had nearly passed away. Maurice O'Connell had forgiven the fascinating widow, and thawed so far as to send her his remembrances. Darrynane was too remote to be affected by the Bebellion, and as there is a total lack of all tradition about it in that home of eighteenth- century tradition, I fancy Hunting Cap pursued the even tenor of his way unmolested. He had now lost both wife and mother ; the lad he had intended to adopt had perished in his prime, and so had his poor niece Abigail, whom he had so petted long ago, and who, I fear, died of a broken A Man of Other Days. 223 heart. His sight, too, was failing him, though he was many years yet from total blindness. He sustained another loss in his faithful henchman, Andrew Connell, who had been almost a lifetime in his service. Miss Julianna tells me he had taken the old man with him to Tralee, where Andrew fell sick and died. No hearse could have crossed the moun tains, even where roads were made, and these gave place to a bridle-track for the last seven miles close to Darrynane. Andrew's coffin had therefore to be conveyed on a cart as far as wheels could travel; his old master rode behind the homely vehicle every inch of the way, and in like manner followed the remains when the bearers met the funeral and carried the coffin from Waterville. Andrew had requested to be buried in the abbey, at the foot of the grave Maurice O'Connell had selected for himself, with his wife and parents, and there he now lies at his old master's feet. His will, drawn up by Hunting Cap, is at Darrynane still. London, 28th February, 1799. My Dear Brother, — I am just favoured with your Letter of the 8th Inst., which 1 find has come by post from Killarney. I rejoice that Lieut. Burke did forward it that way, because otherwise I might have received it much later, and that I can never be too early in hearing from you. Be assured it was entirely owing to a fear on my part of making myself too troublesome that I have been so long without writing, but now that you encourage me to do so without waiting for regular answers, I shall feel the greatest pleasure and happi ness in corresponding with you more frequently, leaving it to your friendship to answer when you find it not inconvenient. It is extreemly painful to me to reflect on the reason you assign for being less punctual, yet I feel no small emotion at your telling me that your health and powers of body Here several words have quite faded out. From what can be deciphered I infer the General condoles with his brother on his impaired sight, and rejoices that his bodily health and vigour continue unimpaired; prays "the Almighty God" may " long " send him favours and " blessings and " sustain him under " all the infirmities of age." There seems to be some reference to himself previous to the words, " stage of life that " — probably that he had reached that stage of life when 224 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. old ties were doubly dear — and, after another blank, the words, " from my heart I hope," evidently refer to his hopes that actual blindness may be long deferred, which it was. After a blank line, we find — Hamburgh Mails are now due, therefore we remain in ignorance of what is going on on the Continent, except from What we learn from some French Papers that occasionally make their way to this Country, and little credit is due on the whole to whatever comes thro' that Channel. I think it extreemly probable the Emperor will submit to the most humiliating terms rather than renew the War, and such is the apparent Torpor or terror of the Continental Powers, that I no longer percieve the smallest hope of arresting the French Eevolution in its destructive career. Europe may well be compared to an Artichoke which the French devour leaf by leaf. When the stock is exhausted some new order of things must necessarily take place ; what it will be is hard to devine, but it is scarsely to be doubted that the destruction of all the Existing Governments, both in Church and State, as well as the Annihilation of all the higher orders and indiscriminate plunder of property, will be the immediate effect. I sincerely lament to hear that several parts of Ireland continue to be a scene of outrage and Mas sacre, and that Martial Law is considered as the only remedy to the Evil. Such a state of things must render a residence in that Country extreemly Unpleasant and insecure, and I cannot help wishing you out of it, untill good order and tranquillity are restored. If wishes were likely to pro duce that happy effect, I should most sincerely wish it may take place ; at all events, I wish that you could make up yr mind to come and pass some time with me until things wear a more promicing aspect. I need not say, Dear Brother, how happy it would make myself and Wife if you would profit of the fair Season to come over and take up your quarters at No. 16, Georges Street, where you would be received with open arms and accomodated to the best of our power. Nothing short of the distracted state of Ireland can encourage me to indulge in a hope so flattering, but it is what is, I really think, warrantable to press it on you, as you must be sensible how delicate the Situation of a Boman Catholic of some fortune and consequence must be under such circumstances as I think likely to occur before its long, whatever may be his Loyalty and attatchment to Government. I have not heard from our nephew Dan this age past ; I am glad to hear he is well, and hope he will spare no pains to distinguish himself in A Man of Other Days. 225 his profession. Please to remember me very affectionately to Nancy and her Governor, as well as to the family of Carhen, etc. I remain, with the warmest affection, my Dearest Brother, Tour ever attatched and faithful, D. O'Connell. My Wife returns her best thanks for your obliging remem brance of her, and begs leave to offer her sincerest good wishes. I assure you she wishes as fervently as I do that you should be prevailed on to come and spend some months here. London, 2nd May, 1799. My Dear Brother, — I have just received a Letter from our Brother-in-Law Maurice Jeffrey, of the 25th April, by which I learn the Death of poor Andrew [Connell], your most faithful Domestic, whose loss I most sincerely lament, by reason of his honesty and his attatchment to you. I am sensible how painful his death must have been to you, and that it will be extreemly difficult to meet with another as deserving of your confidence, because in the best times men of that stamp were not common, much less, no doubt, in the present Malady of the publick mind, when all [remains] of gratitude and morality have been rotted by the subtle poison of the French principles. The picture our Brother-in-Law draws of the Morals of the Town as well as the Country, and the daily accounts of Murders and Bobberies in the papers, compel me, my Dearest Brother, to express my anxiety about your present lonely and perilous Situation, left as you are at Darrinane. Here three lines are so faded that we can only conjec ture from still visible words that the count " takes the liberty of hoping " his brother will leave " the gloomy " abode, where he has no young person with him, and where the position of the lonely rich man, with failing sight, in a lonely spot, much oppresses him. The venerable Miss Julianna O'Connell told me a gang of robbers, taken on some other occasion, confessed they had intended to " moonlight " Darrynane, where it was known money and silver plate were plentiful. Some provi dential circumstance prevented the attack ; so my hero's fears were not unfounded. When we come to tolerably fresh ink, he seems to have returned to the subject of the faithful Andrew Connell, whose memory lingers yet in the house where he so long and so faithfully ministered until ninety years ago. VOL. II. o 226 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. When I reflect [he resumes] upon poor Andrew's loss, for the Vigilance and Care he shewed for your preservation, that now that he is noe more, I am uneasy while you continue to reside where you are. Tou are too well acquainted with the weakness and bad passions of the Common people to suppose that gratitude or religion would be any bar to restrain them where they could hope for impunity. Their ignorance and misery leave them open to the worst passions. There is no temptation that operates so powerfully with them as money. Tou pass for being rich, and that is sufficient to expose you to dangers. Amongst the numerous tribe of our fosterers and followers about you, I fear there are very few, if any at all, that would stand by you in the hour of Danger, or perhaps resist the temptation of sharing in your spoils. Why, then, not consult your safety and tranquillity by absenting yourself for some time from Darrinane ? The present state of things cannot hold. Order must be re-established or Ireland be ruined, and I confidently hope things will get daily better. For Heaven's sake, my Dearest Brother, retire to some Asylum untill the Storm is over, and persist not at your time of life . . . unnecessarily bidding defiance to an unprincipled Mob, who scruple nothing and consider the Bich as their prey. Surely no consideration of money or expence should have the least weight to prevent your doing so. Attention [illegible word] you to your own Ease, tranquillity, and pre servation, which should be the leading object with all your friends, and not the feelings they may entertain for the loss of a neighbour or benefactor. So yield, then, my Dear Brother, I ask you ... no less earnestly change your dwell ing to Cork, Tralee . . . [Here several words have faded out. I think the count begs him to try Cork, Tralee, or even Dublin, and to set aside all pecuniary considerations, as the words "sufficiency," "the doing so may," "income," lead us to infer.] Would to Heaven [he resumes] London or any part of England could be more agreable to you ! With what glad ness should I fly to fetch you over ! but that's a felicity I dare not hope for ; yet I am at liberty to say it is the first wish of my heart. Farewell, my Dearest Brother. Favour me with an immediate answer, and give me the comfort to read under your own hand that you will condescend to comply with my wishes, and be assured my happiness is involved in the Event. All the fond sentiments of my heart centre in you. My Wife desires her affectionate regards. Tour truly loving Brother and friend, D. O'Connell. Address : 16, George's Street, Manchester Square. A Man of Other Days. 227 My colonel's next letter is an unusual one. It relates to a severe and dangerous attack of illness. He had evidently been in great danger, and nothing but his iron constitution saved him from the violence both of the disease and of the remedies then in vogue. Perhaps his wife's tender devotion helped to save him too. It is very sad to see her stricken in her turn, but pleasant to know she recovered, and that hus band and wife enjoyed years of health and happiness. Their affection was as warm and sincere as though they had married in their youth. Ramsgate, Kent, 21"' July, 1799. My Dear Brother, — I have been yesterday favoured with your Letter of the 2nd Ist. The very kind and affectionate manner in which you are pleased to express your uneasiness about me, and the very friendly invitation by which you accompany it, demand my most warm and cordial acknow ledgements, which I pray you will accept with your usual goodness. Satisfaction of mind has the power of affecting the health of the body ; the pleasure I felt at the perusal of your letter cannot fail of contributing to the re-establishment of my health. I am sorry to say the state of debility I am in at present will not allow me to avail myself of your kind offer. I feel much better, thank God, and have reason to hope that the Blisters, a great many of which have been applied in constant succession during the last two months on my back and over my shoulders, have effectually removed the cause of my com plaint. The Cough has almost totally ceased, and the pain in my breast is much diminished, but the continual action of the Spanish flies during so long a time has produced a prodigious irritation in the Nerveous System which nothing but time, tranquillity, and moderate exercise can soften. Such is my present State. I am, of course, much emaciated, but I think there is no further room to be uneasy. I hope in a few months to find myself in a condition to pay you a visit at Darrynane. I came down here about ten days agone, by the advice of the Physicians, to change air and to bathe in the Salt Water as soon as the pain in my breast shall cease, but, as I still feel a little tenderness in that part, I have posponed bathing whilst it continues. Be assured, my Dear Brother, I shall omit nothing that reason points out to re-establish my health . . . [Here follows a perfectly harmless but rather plain-spoken sentence — the third only I have had occasion to omit.] Nothing can exceed the affection and tender care of 228 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. my Wife. She is, indeed, most fairly and most justly entitled to my esteem, love, and gratitude, on this as well as on every other occasion, and this I am in justice bound to declare with out the smallest partiality. I shall from time to time inform you, my Dear Brother, of the progress of my Convalescence, and ever shall feel a grateful remembrance of the anxiety you have felt for me, and shall after that hardly regret my Illness. I exult with you on the success of our armies, and have no doubt that Monarchy will be restored in France, if the Powers engaged in the War act on that principle and avail themselves of the favourable dispositions of the very great majority of the people of that Country, by adopting such measures as will best beget confidence in their Views and plans and effectually remove Suspicion and Jealousy. I have still some uneasiness in my mind with respect to the Cabinet of Vienna. The accession of His Prussian Majesty to the Coalition would be likely to fix any irresolutions in the Councils of the Emperor and throw an immense weight into the scale against France, and I am inclined to think that an explicit declaration on the part of the Combined Powers that they are determined to re establish His M. C. M. [Most Christian Majesty] on his throne and induce Prussia to act a part in the great work of the salvation of Europe. I left Lord Kenmare and family in London very well, and shall not fail to present them your best respects on my return, if they are still there. I believe he will be shortly made an Irish Earl. This entre nous, as I have it confidentially from himself and Lady Kenmare. It is time to conclude this long epistle, which I shall do by assuring you of the unspeakable pleasure I will have in spending some weeks with you at Darrinane, and of that unbounded affection and gratitude with which I shall ever be, My Dear Brother, Tours, D. O'Connell. Direct to ... as usual. Accept the best regards of my Wife. Our Brother-in-Law, Maurice Geoffrey, has been lately gazetted as Lieutenant in the 51st Foot. I hope he does not mean to take his wife with him. I had yesterday the honour of seeing the Marchioness Dowager of Donegal, daughter of your friend the late Luke Godfrey. She desired to be re membered to you. Chevalier Fagan to Maurice O'Connell. Dear Sir, — Tour Brother's health is certainly better. Here the letter is torn and the ink very pale. So far as I can make out, it refers to a severe nervous illness which just A Man of Other Days. 229 then affected Madame O'Connell's health very seriously. However, she recovered, in spite of the medical prognostics, and was able to be with her husband in England in 1801, when the letters to Maurice O'Connell recommence. I can find none for 1800. The chevalier reports the (happily erroneous) prognostics of the physicians concerning thiB " amiable creature." I am sorry [he continues] no hopes of recovery are enter tained by the first Physicians who have been consulted. Her state, they thought (as she speaks of nothing else), originated in her love and the apparent disappointment in her fortune. She felt that she and her children must be a burthen on one who has scarsely a sufficiency for his rank. It is unnecessary I should expatiate on your brother's heartfelt reflections and feelings. They are more easily imagined than expressed. Those of this unfortunate Lady's relations and friends who have been consulted are of opinion that she and her chil dren should be sent to two sisters and a brother she has in Paris. Steps have been taken for that purpose, and this they are convinced that your brother's means are not equal to the heavy expences attendant on such a malady. The rest of the old chevalier's letter is so touching in its heartfelt sympathy that I copy it — I understand [he continues] that there has been an inter ruption in your correspondence for some time back, which I attribute to mauvaise honte on my poor fellow's part, and not to want of affection or neglect. I have hesitated a long time whether I should communicate these disagreable circum stances. I have at last yielded to my attatchment and friend ship for your Brother. This I do without his knowledge, on my honour. The dear Man grieves and dwindles to nothing, his wonted courage [illegible] by his position, and I am clear that you alone can administer the requisite consolation by the expression of that brotherly affection he has ever looked unto. I hope you will excuse my interference, and believe me to be truly, Dear Sir, Tour Humble and obedient Servant, Chev. Fagan. Suffolk Street, Charing Cross, 18 Oct', 1799. 230 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. No letters for the year 1800 can be found, but they begin again in 1801. Perhaps that year Madame O'Connell and her children went to France, and our colonel visited Darrynane. With the new century the old-world soldier, Count O'Connell, begins a new correspondence. Its recipient is his famous namesake, so essentially a man of our own time. Each Daniel O'Connell may be said to represent an Irish type of a different age. The elder Daniel is truly a typical eighteenth-century Irish cavalier of fortune, driven to work out his career in foreign parts with his sword. The brilliant nineteenth-century orator, whose tongue is a more efficient weapon, is essentially a man of our own age. The elder Daniel opened the career of arms to his co-religionists on British soil, though the remnants of the penal enactments prevented his attaining higher rank or employment than the position of a colonel.1 A very remarkable sentence occurs in one of these letters. The soldier of fifty-five writes to the barrister of twenty-five : " Doomed ... to a career of obscurity and idleness for the rest of my life, I have transferred my Ambition on you, and do declare you from this hour Debtor to your name and family for the Lustre it was long my wish and hope to attatch on them." The future Liberator had come prominently to the front in the last year of the old century. The old Catholic party, led by Archbishop Troy of Dublin, Bishop Moylan of Cork, 1 Irish Act in Favour of Catholic Officers. — In 1793 the Irish Parliament passed an Act in favour of Catholic officers. It gave them the same privileges they obtained in the new Irish Brigade. It was a perfectly futile piece of legislation, inasmuch as it only operated within the kingdom of Ireland, where a Papist might hold a colonel's commis sion. However, as he could not hold it in any other part of the British dominions, and as there were no regiments always kept in Ireland, the Act was practically a dead letter. Consequently, Count O'Connell could truthfully claim that he had reopened the career of arms in the British Service to Irish Catholics. I hope the reader perceives the point on which I found this claim, viz. the special raising of new regiments serving out of Ireland and officered by Catholics. The negotiations with the Duke of FitzJames and the Hon. Henry Dillon were for the remnant of their old original regiments. The negotiations with General O'Connell were for new Irish Catholic regiments. The scheme finally adopted comprised both old and new regiments of Irish Papists. Some of these officers, indeed, though bearing old Irish names, were really Frenchmen, whose fathers had followed King James to France. A Man of Other Days. 231 Lords Fingall and Kenmare, had been perfectly fooled by the Government. The King's bigotry and Pitt's fears of bring ing on a fresh attack of madness if he excited George the Third's religious scruples, proved an irresistible obstacle to Catholic Emancipation, after a compromise had been actually negotiated vastly more favourable to the Government than Emancipation as granted a generation later. The Liberator's maiden speech was delivered at the great meeting of Dublin Catholics in 1799. Says Lecky (vol. vii. p. 425), "It was on this occasion that Daniel O'Connell made his first appear ance on a public platform. In a remarkable passage, which was probably elicited by Canning's threat that it might be necessary to re-enact the penal code if the Union were defeated, he declared that the Catholics of Ireland would rather accept that code and throw themselves on the mercy of their Protestant brethren than assent to the extinction of the Legislature of their country, and seek advantages as a sect which would destroy them as a nation." While the young barrister plunged stoutly into the struggle in Ireland, the old soldier was vegetating in Eng land. Study and domestic happiness were the solace of that long period of enforced idleness and inaction. Countess O'Connell must have recovered rapidly, in spite of medical prognostics, as she is mentioned as at home and sending greetings to Dan early in 1801. Our colonel, always of " a frugal mind," wishes his nephew to recover for him a balance of certain recruiting funds which a careless gentleman had not remitted when closing the accounts. Fresh publications on Irish history and genealogy had staggered his faith in the wonderful pedigree with which Chevalier O'Gorman and Sir William Betham had supplied him long ago, and he begs his nephew to examine into the matter. I confess I have much pleasure in copying these remarks, because they prove he had firmly believed in the document, and used it in all good faith in the old days when it opened to him the gilded doors of the King's coaches, of which the reader has heard so much. 232 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. Count O'Connell to the Liberator. No. 10, Upper Berkley Street, Portman Square, London, 12 February, 1801. My Dear Dan, — I intended to write to you long since, but posponed it under the Idea that our friend Capta O'Connell would be the bearer of my letter. I am sorry to say all his endeavours to be permitted to exchange or to sell out have proved unsuccesful. He ultimately found himself compelled to go out to the W. Indies, and from his letter to me from Portsmouth which I received yesterday, it is probable he will sail this Day or to-morrow. He is au reste in good health and spirits. Tour papers have already made you acquainted with the resignations which have taken place in most of the high offices of the administration, as well as with the cause to which they are generally ascribed. The new administra tion, as far as it is hitherto ascertained, is composed wholly of the friends of the late Ministers. The late Speaker succeeds Mr. Pitt as First Lord of the Treasury and Chan cellor of the Exchequer, Sir J. Mitford has been chosen Speaker, Lord Eldon Chancellor in the room of Lord Lough borough, etc. This Day it is supposed all the new Adminis tration will be officially made known at the Levee. I am sorry to think the Event is likely to deprive Ireland of the virtues and abilities of the present Chief Governor, to whose moderation, firmness, and humanity that Unhappy Country owes the peace and tranquillity it now enjoys, and for the duration of which I most devoutly pray God. I trust the good sense of my Countrymen will divert them from lending an Ear to the suggestions of any ill-minded persons who may attempt to work on their feelings and passions at this Awful Crisis, and that the Eoman Catholicks of Ireland will, on the present occasion, acquire an additional claim to the favour and protection of their Sovereign, as well as to the confidence of their Protestant Brethern, by their loyal and peaceable demeanour. Have you lately heard from Iveragh ? [Carhen was in that barony.] I hope all friends were well. Poor Eugene [McCarthy] is still very low. Nothing short of the strong constitution and stamina Nature had blessed him with could have resisted so serious and so severe a Malady, but I trust he will get over it. I am extremely sorry to hear Mrs. Murray is in a very bad way. I have to trouble you, my Dear Dan, to do me a piece of service in your line. A Mr. Crotty, of the County of Cork, owes me on a recruiting account a sum of £32 9s. Qd., which I wish you to recover for me. The young gentleman in question had received money from Captain Barry, the pay- A Man of Other Days. 233 master, to raise men for the Begiment. He was recom mended to me by a Mr. Nash, his Brother-in-Law or near Belation, who then lived in Corke, on the Parade, but now lives somewhere in the County of Waterford. Mr. Nash is a gentleman of a competent fortune, and when he recommended Mr. Crotty to me, he said he would be answerable for any Money that may be advanced him for recruiting. The Voucher for the Debt is the Paymaster's Book, the authenti city of which in such cases is, I believe, admitted. I am inclined to think an application from you on my part to Mr. Nash might induce him to acquit the Debt. If not, Mr. Crotty is to be call'd on to pay, and if he does not is to be comppelled by the legal process to do so. I believe Mr. T. Power of Corke, or Mr. Casey, will be able to inform where Messrs. Nash and Crotty are to be found. I could likewise wish that when you are at liesure you would give a call at the Herald's Office in Dublin, to ascertain .whether the Coat of Arms we make use of is con formable to the one in that office. I have reason to believe it is not, because the Coat of Arms of the O'Connells, as set down in Dr Keating's "History of Ireland," is not the same. A Drawing of that in the Herald's Office, if different from ours, would be highly acceptable to me. It is now time to congratulate you on your increasing success in your profession. Be assured, my Dear Dan, no man living can take a more warm interest in you than I do, or shall exult more in any that can tend to raise you in the publick Estimation. Tour Aunt desires you will accept her most affectionate regards. I may assure you she is much attatched to you. I shall write to my Brother next Week. Farewell, my Dear Dan. Let me soon hear from you, and rest assured nothing can exceed my tenderness and warm attach ment for you. D. O'Connell. When I came thro' Dublin the last time I forgot to pay 18 pence to the hair Dresser at the Mail Coach Hotel where I lodged. His name is Daniel ; he will remember me, and I request you will acquit my debt. Upper Berkeley Street, Portman Square, No. 10, London, 9'" May, 1801. My Dear Dan, — I presume you have been de retour in Dublin long ere now, and hope your time was actively and usefully employed during the Circuit. I sanguinely wish it, not for the lucre, but for the credit it must reflect on you, and as it must prove a Stimulus to increasing Exertions on 234 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. your part. Nothing can be more commendable than an honest and generous Ambition to shine in the line of life one has Embraced. At the Bar in particular Merit is more likely to make its way without interest or fortune than in any other profession I know of. In most others many years are spent, often wasted, in inferior situations before the Man of Abilities has an oppertunity of bringing them to light; but at the Bar, the Lists are open every Day, nay, every hour, the Publick at large are the Judges, and the Crown awaits the most distinguished Champion. In such a situa tion I should wish to be placed were I to recommence my long and laborious career, but, doomed as I am now to obscurity and idleness for the rest of my life, I have trans ferred my Ambition on you, and do declare you from this hour Debtor to your name and family for the Lustre it was long my wish and hope to attatch on them. I had not long since the pleasure of a Letter from our dear and most respected friend of Darinane. I am happy to hear his leg is now perfectly restored to its former tone and firmness. Tou, no doubt, have met at the Assizes of Tralee, and I am sure the Rencontre was highly gratifying to both. When do you mean to Visit that Country ? I suppose next month, and I sincerely congratulate you on the pleasure you will have in passing some weeks with your friends. Captn John Burke has been here for a few days. I was happy to hear from him your Father's health was much improved, and the family of Carhen all in good health. I feel much interested in the Little Boy James [the future baronet and leader of the Liberal party in Kerry]. Pray where is he, and has any line been as yet struck out for him? With respect to our friend John [my father-in-law] I am not uneasy, altho' he has my most sincere regards and good wishes, because I remember what you told me concern ing him, and I trust and hope your Brotherly affection will ever remain unimpaired. [This evidently referred to some intention expressed by Maurice, who provided handsomely for his nephews, leaving the family property and leaseholds to the Liberator, with some other securities, and dividing his own large savings, mostly invested in land, between his two younger nephews.] Farewell, My Dear Dan. Let me soon hear from you, and let it be your care, as it is my wish, to indulge me from time to time with a letter from you in return for my warm and unfeigned affection for you. Pray have you been at leisure to take any steps about my claims on Mr. Crotty ? If you have put the affair in any train I should be glad to know it; and also request you will A Man of Other Days. 235 take some early and safe opportunity of sending me our coat of arms from the Heralds' Office. As I mentioned to you before, I think it would be well worth your curiosity to ascertain the forfietures of Brigadier O'Connell at the Eevolution of 1688 or 1690. I suppose there is a register somewhere extant in which the different forfietures encurred at that period are duly entered, and it would be satisfactory to know how our family then stood with respect to Property. However, this is only a matter of curiosity, and itself of no import. I only suggest the idea, without attatching any great value to it ; therefore Valeat quod valet. Tou have long since been informed, I doubt not, of the death of poor Eugene McCarthy [Colonel Eugene, the once wild handsome boy Sister Betty got so many lectures about], and I was sorry to hear you had to lament but shortly before the loss of your friend, Mrs. Murray. Tho' my acquaintance with her was very slender, yet I could not be indifferent to an event which would be very painful to you. Pray where is poor Evis ? If in Dublin, remember me to her. I fear the Death of so good a friend has proved as great a loss as it has been a shock to her. Accept, my Dear Dan, the kindest and most affec4 regards of your Aunt and her Daughters, and believe me always, Tour loving and sincere friend and Uncle, D. O'Connell. I have not a word from Captn O'Connell since he left England. London, 3ra June, 1801. My Dear Dan, — I have written to you about six weeks back, and directed my Letter to No. 19, Lower Ormond Quay ; but as I have received no answer, I conclude it did not come to hands, which induces me to address this letter for you to Mr. Murray's. My last contained nothing of any great importance ; indeed, my chief object was to open an occasional correspondence with you, from no other motive than a wish to hear from you from time to time, feeling, as I do, most sincerely and warmly interested in what regards you. I believe I mentioned a debt due to me of a Mr. Crotty, which I had before made you acquainted with and requested you would procure to be paid. This affair I beg leave again to recommend to your attention, knowing of no reason why I should lose so much money to a person I am utterly un acquainted with, and who had no other claim on me than the recommendation of Mr. Nash, his Brother-in-Law, who ap peared to me a very honourable Gentleman, and who promised 236 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. to make good any money that might be advanced to Mr. Crotty by the Eegiment. I also expressed anew my wish to receive the description of our family's Coat of arms out of the Heralds' Office, and I think I moreover touched upon the subject of the forfeitures we ... at the period of 1680 or 1690, as a Matter of curiosity, by which the Situation and consequence of the family at that period may be ascertained. Tou will probably think researches of this nature to be ill worth bestowing either time or trouble on. I, indeed, must allow it to be of very little importance this Day to ascertain what our Ancestors have been more than a Century back, but for one who having lost all the bright prospects of my past Days, ne vis plus que de mes souvenirs, I am fond of indulging in dreams, particularly historical. Farewell, my Dear Dan. Accept the warm affections of your Aunt and her Daughter. Eemember me to poor Evis. I presume you are at the eve of setting out for Kerry. I regret I can't meet you at Darrynane ; it would be the greatest happiness of my life to pass some weeks every year with my Dear Brother, and my satisfaction would be very great to enjoy the pleasure of your company there during that time, but the journey is too long and too expensive to be frequently undertaken, particularly at my time of life. I remain, with the sincerest affection, My Dear Dan, Tour truly attatched friend and Uncle, Count O'Connell. Direct to me to the care of Messrs. T. Coutts and Co., Bankers, Strand. The second year of the century was an important one for my hero. He set foot on French soil after a long absence. He landed a real Bip Van Winkle, in the midst of the new order of things. The first letter of 1802 is the most important, in one sense, of the whole collection. It affords the proof of my hero's unspotted loyalty. His prince had already given a proof of his friendship by writing to the Duke of Tork in his behalf, as Count O'Connell mentions in a letter to Vaudreuil from Holyrood. The proposal from the Portuguese Government shows in what esteem he was held as a tactician. The number of times he had tried to serve in strange lands sums up a very pretty total. At different times he had sought to try America, Holland, Eussia, Austria, and Portugal ; he had served France, Spain, and England ; so, could he have carried out A Man of Other Days. 237 his wishes, he would certainly have enlarged his experience and perfected his knowledge of the art of war by eight different styles of soldiering. Some campaigns in the service of a foreign power were considered essential to perfecting the education of a scientific professional soldier. Count O'Connell's motives for going to France were doubt less to see about his wife's property. They seem to have got back and then sold the Bellevue estates in St. Domingo, or received compensation for them if confiscated, and, later on, to have invested part of the money in the purchase of the chateau and estate of Madon, near Blois, now the seat of Countess O'Connell's great-granddaughter, the Marquise de Sers ; I fancy it was not, however, purchased till some time later. It is certain that the little group — the colonel, his wife, and the two girls, who were almost like his own children — were about this time translated from genteel poverty to affluence ; later, to wealth and luxury. Comparative poverty they had borne without a murmur, cheered by their mutual tenderness. Prosperity was only to draw them together in bonds of closer affection. However, Napoleon's iron hand was to be felt by the Eoyalist family group, ere all went merry as a marriage-bell with them, and all the good things of life were theirs once more. The next letter is to Hunting Cap. Count O'Connell to Maurice O'Connell, of Darrynane. My Dear Brother, — Having been detained three weeks longer than I expected in order to receive a Passport from Paris, I. have thought it right to anticipate the period at which I intended writing to you, least you might be uneasy about me, if I delayed to write. I mean to sett out after to-Morrow, the 8th Ist. [February, 1802], for Dover, and to sail for Calais, at the earliest con venience. There is not a shadow of Danger of any kind to be apprehended, as I am provided with a Liscence from his Majesty and a French passport, besides a Letter of recommen dation to Mr. Jackson, our Minister at Paris. I shall write to you from thence in the course of next Month, and give you an Idea of the country as well as I shall be able, consistently with prudence, as I know that all Letters are still opened. Tou will therefore excuse me, My Dear Brother, if I am not as explicit 238 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. as I should otherwise be, on a subject which must interest every Enlightened Mind, and you in particular, who are well acquainted with the manners and customs of that Country prior to the Eevolution. I am prepared to find it very much altered, yet many of my old acquaintance I shall find here, but in Situations very different from what they were in 12 years back. Monsieur [the Comte d'Artois] has returned to Edinburgh. Before he left London I had the honour of submitting to H.B.H. the imperious motives [to try and save his wife's West India property] that called me to go to Paris, and altho' he is in general very averse to his friends returning to that Country, he was pleased to receive my communication with all that good nature, kindness, and flattering confidence with which I have been honored by him these many years back ; said he regarded me as a steady and approved friend, wherever I might be ; with many other Expressions too flatter ing for to repeat. Since my last to you, I have received from the Court of Lisbon an offer to enter that Service as Major-General on the Staff, which I have shewn to Lord Kenmare. My answer to the proposal has been that the rank of Lieutenant-General, with a suitable Stipend, could alone induce me to undertake the ardious, laborious, and unpleasant task of new Modelling, instructing, and disciplining their Army, and devoting some years, out of the few I am likely to live, in drawing out a Code of Military Begulations, etc. A Definitive Answer is to be addressed to me at the Portuguese Ambassador's, at Paris, the result of which I shall impart to you. What think you of Bonaparte's newly acquired Dignity of first Consul of the Italian Bepublick ? It is an event that opens a vast field to Speculation and Conjecture. Farewell, my Dearest Brother. May the great and good God Bless you, preserve you, and grant you all the favor my fond heart so devoutly wishes you ! Be assured you are dearer to me than Life, and that, wherever I go or live, the grateful remembrance of your kindness and innumerable favors shall ever be present to my mind and incessant thoughts. Accept the best regards of my Wife. Eemember me most affectionately to our Nephew Dan and all friends, and believe me most unalterably, Tour fond Brother, D. O'Connell. Be cautious what you write me to Paris, because your Letters will be opened on both sides the Water. Govern ment here wishes much I should go to Portugal. A Man of Other Days. 239 Lord Kenmare and family are well. Sir J. Mitford, the present Speaker, is spoken of as likely to Succeed to Lord Clare as your Chancellor. London, 6,h February, 1802. Maurice O'Connell to his nephew, the Liberator. Darinane, 27'" May, 1802. A few posts agoe I had a letter of the 23rd of Aprill from the General from Paris. He was well, enquired very kindly for you, and desired to be affectionately remembered to you. He does not expect to return to London till August. He had Hope of succeeding in the claim of his Wife to her property in St. Domingo, but it is probable the Devastation of the Negroes will reach it, and much reduce the value of it for some years. This and an official document are all I can find concern ing my colonel for the year 1802. The English Government having seized some French subjects before war was actually declared, Napoleon very properly proceeded to reprisals, whereby my hero became a detenu. Charming Mrs. Trench and her husband met with a similar annoyance, and she gives us in her letters and journals a most graphic descrip tion of the exceedingly wearisome and worrying process it was. No injury seems to have been done to their persons or property, but they were practically on ticket-of-leave. The Comte de Castelverd has made out the actual police reports of spies on Count O'Connell during portions of this period. Madame O'Connell ever remained with her husband, prepared to share any troubles or annoyances that might arise. Mr. W. J. FitzPatrick tells me he has seen in old letters mention of our colonel as being some time at Verdun, with other British subjects. He seems to have moved to different places — whether of his own accord or not I cannot find out. The year 1803 was spent by British subjects in a suffi ciently uncomfortable manner, but my colonel had plenty of old friends in Paris, and bore his exile cheerily in that delight ful city. He does grumble, however, when he has to vegetate in remote provincial towns, with nothing to do but listen to the growls of brother Britons with whom he had so little in com mon. Nothing can be more laconic than the spies' report 240 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. of our hero. Evidently his wanderings, whether of business or pleasure, were suspected as being of a political nature. From National Archives — " No. 1649. " O'Connell, an Englishman, makes frequent journeys through France." In the following letter to Hunting Cap he gives such an account of his adventures as prudence permitted, and prudence was one of our hero's strong points : — Paris, 26 June, 1803. My Dear Brother, — It was my hope, as it was my most earnest desire, to spend part of the Summer with you at Darinane, and I was at the very eve of my Departure when, unexpectedly and to my great concern, an order of Govern ment was issued, by virtue of which the British Subjects within the Territories of the Bepublick were arrested till further Orders, by way of a Beprisal for the Freneh Subjects taken by the English before war was declared. How long this order may be continued we know not ; in the mean time, we are per fectly well used, and those who have friends to claim them and answer for them are at full liberty to live in Paris and its vicinity in the same manner as before the War. The rest live at Fontainebleau and some other towns that have been marked out for that purpose, where I understand they have no cause to complain of the treatment they experience. Be not uneasy about us, my Dearest Brother. I trust our Captivity will not be long, and that we shall be at Liberty to return home in some time hence, as it's probable our Government will not detain nor consider as prisoners of War any of the Natives or Subjects of France that might have been taken up prior to the declaration of War. Nay, some there are, and not few too, who flatter themselves to see matters amicably adjusted betwixt the two Countries before the Summer is over. That such may be the Event is my hearty and devout prayer. I have been deprived of the pleasure of hearing from you, My Dearest Brother, for a length of time back ; indeed, I am to blame myself for it, as I requested you in my last to direct to me to the care of Messrs Tho. Coutts and Co., Bankers, in London ; it is very probable that they may have a letter of yours for me, and be at a loss to convey it. I may assure you that to find myself deprived of the comfort of hearing from you is to me a most sensible displeasure, and what I A Man of Other Days. 241 Endure with the greatest reluctancy. Farewell, Most beloved and respected friend and Brother. I pray God this letter may reach you, to dispel any gloom or uneasiness you may feel about me. Tour answer I beg to have directed to the care of Messrs Coutts of London, who will either keep it or send it me, according as things may stand. As neither you nor I ever meddle with Politicks, nor reflect on Governments, and as our correspondence is merely an intercourse of love and friendship, never involving any concerns but those of our family and relatives, I flatter myself it will be allowed to pass. Accept the affec' regards of my wife and the Effusions of the heart of your most devoted Brother, D. O'C. I beg to be remembered to all friends. The letter of 1804 has considerable interest, as my colonel appears as the mediator for his favourite and namesake (the Liberator of the future), who has committed the unpardon able sin of marrying the girl he loved without taking thought for £ s. d. Among all the connections of the sage of Darry nane, very few ventured on this audacious step without his sanction. Three who pleased themselves — Dark Eileen, my colonel, and the Liberator — were all eminently happy in their disobedience. Orleans, 1" August, 1804. My Ever Dear Brother, — I hope and trust you have received in due course my answer to your Letter of 15lb February, the only [one] with which you favor'd me ; at least, the only one that reached me for a considerable time back ; nor have I been more fortunate of late, whereas I had no direct account of you since the above-mentioned period. I say direct, because I have heard thro' the Channel of Dr. Biordan, who corresponds with the Bishop [Dr. Sugrue] from time to time, that you are well. Otherwise I should have been much earlier in addressing you on that, to me, the most inte resting concern. Notwithstanding I am extremely anxious and impatient to have it under your own hand that your health and constitution continue unimpaired, I have nothing to say in addition to the account I gave you of my Situation here. I remain thoroughly easy and unmolested ; I cannot say that I am quite as happy as if I had my full Liberty, but Study and Meditation fill up my vacant hours, and often incline me to believe that the pleasures of the mind are the first, as they are certainly the most noble, in the scale of human Bliss. The far greater number of our fellow-subjects vol. ii. B 242 Tlie Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. that were here in a predicament Similar to my own, have been permitted to return to Paris, others to different parts where they wished to go. We are not at present above half a dozen remaining. How long it may be before we shall experience the same indulgence, I can't foresee. My wife and Step-Daughter are, of course, the companions of my captivity, and my other Daughter, who resides at Paris, comes to visit me frequently with her husband, in so much that I am never alone. The greatest mortification I feel is to be precluded from visiting my Dear Brother. My thoughts and wishes are absorbed in that pleasurable idea ; all turn that way, and would hurry me to his fond embraces, but necessity, dire necessity, has otherwise decreed for the present. Sic fata voluerunt ¦ I hope it will be also Post Nebula Phoebus, and that smiling peace will ere long wipe away the tears of love and friendship in despair. I have learned with particular Satisfaction, but a few days since, from Dr. Biordan, that our friend poor Maurice Jeffry had given his wife a very pleasing account of his situation. This very welcome piece of intelligence relieved my mind from the apprehension I was under of his having been amongst the Victims of the revolt of the Chingulars some months agone. I sincerely wish he may reap the fruits of his enterprize, and he surely deserves it. Does Captain O'Connell of the West Indies write from time to time to his friends ? I trust he is now thoroughly seasoned to that in salubrious Climate, so they may have no cause to be uneasy about him in future. Temperance is the surest preservative against Malady in every country, more especially in that, nor can anything supercede the necessity of it there. Now here my venerable General turns to the subject of "our nephew Dan," who had furiously provoked the old gentleman at Darrynane by marrying for love his slenderly dowered distant cousin, Mary O'Connell, of Tralee, when Maurice wanted to arrange a very grand match for the rising young barrister, who would probably have been his heir. The lovers concealed their marriage for a time, which only pro voked the old man more, though he could not resist the fine baby-boy, called Maurice after himself, and eventually acted like the good uncle in a stage-play. However, instead of leaving all his great wealth to Dan, the eldest of his nephews, he divided it in three nearly equal parts among the three brothers who survived himself — Maurice having died young A Man of Other Days. 243 — Dan's share, however, contained the old family property and the leaseholds of old date. If my reader remembers the excellent sentiments of the elder Daniel concerning " Sister Nelly's " terrible misfortunes when Arthur O'Leary was murdered, and his entreaties that she may be forgiven her disobedience in marrying him, he can reconstruct this passage too private to print in full. Dan's misfortune is not, of course, a murdered spouse, but a living family, increasing too rapidly for a man solely depend ing on his profession. The manner in which the General deplores the foolish and undutiful behaviour of his nephew to Hunting Cap prepares the way for a neat little appeal to his magnanimity. Dan's undutifulness being an admitted fact, the veteran declares that the delinquent no doubt bitterly repents of it. His fate [he continues] must be truly deplorable if you have irrevocably cast him off. The bare perquisites of his profession are probably very inadequate to the support of a wife and family, besides his personal expences. Much will depend of his Professional Abilities, but, great as they might be, I conceive it will require time and labour to bring them under notice. I shall dwell no longer on a subject so painful to your feelings and my own, only pray God to open his eyes and heart. How is our nephew John [my father-in-law] ? I hope his prudence, conduct, and principles approve him worthy of your kindness and of his future prospects. I sin cerely wish the unfavourable change in the Expectations of his Brother, to which no sense of his Demerits, whatever they may be, is likely to reconsile his mind, may not create a dis like, or at least &froideur, between them. The Almighty preserve you long in health, spirits, and peace of mind, and may I soon be blessed with the inestim able happiness of seeing you, the first and dearest of my wishes ! Accept the best affections of my Partner, and believe me to my last breath, Tour devoted Brother and truest friend, D. O'Connell. Direct me to Paris as usual. I should not omit mention ing that Mess18 Tho8 Coutts, of London, did advise that they had placed to my credit the sum of £50 stg. remitted them from Corke by your orders. I know not whether that Money is a gift of your own, or has been paid into your hands by Mrs. Daniel O'Connell, of Portmagee, in discharge of the Bond 244 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. I left you. Be that as it may, you have my most sincere thanks for it. If Sister Anne be still at Darrinane, let me congratulate her on the pleasing account from her husband. Pray let me know if our niece Ellen is married, and if our nephew James [Sir James, first baronet, of Lake View] has been turned to any profession or business. How is our nephew Dan [O'Sullivan] of Couliagh? Has he taken a wife ? Any particulars concerning our friends will always be acceptable to me. As you and I never deal in Politicks, you of course expect nothing of that sort from me, nor I from you. Family concerns have always been the theme of our correspondence, and shall continue to be. When you have an oppertunity I request you to acquaint Colonel David Barry that I paid Dr O'Beardon 263 French Livres for the Account in consequence of a letter from the Bishop [Dr. Sugrue] to Dr O'Beardon, saying that Mr O'Beardon, the father, had paid in that sum to the colonel, and that the latter had written to me to desire I should remit the above amount to the Doctor. The colonel's letter to me I have not received, but on a voucher such as the Bishop's Letter, I could have no hesitation to pay the money to his nephew, who is a very well-conducted, gentlemanlike, and studious young man, already possessed of considerable Literary and Scientific acquirements, and likely, to the best of my judgment, to make a figure in his profession. The obituary notice of Dr. O'Beardon, which I shall quote, proves the accuracy of this forecast. The young Doctor O'Beardon of these letters was the father-in-law of Mr. FitzPatrick, the well-known Irish bio grapher, who first told me of Count O'Connell's letter-book. He was nearly related to our hero, his mother being the daughter of Joan O'Connell, of Darrynane (Mrs. Sugrue, of Fermoyle). His uncle, Dr. Sugrue, a very elegant, polished old man, was Count O'Connell's nephew — his sister's son. Mr. FitzPatrick has given me the following notices of the bishop and the doctor of medicine. " The Eight Eev. Dr. Sugrue was born March 11, 1761, according to the certificate forwarded to the Propaganda. He had officiated as Curate at Killarney until, the infirmities of Dr. Gerard Teaghan, Bishop of Kerry, demanding the aid of a coadjutor, he received from Bome, on December 10, 1797, his faculties for the episcopal office. Dr. Sugrue died at Bath, A Man of Other Days. 245 September 29, 1824. A fine monument, with the following laudatory epitaph, has been erected in Killarney : — "D.O.M. Sacred to the Memory of the Right Rev. Charles Stjghrub, D.D., Bishop of the Antient Union of Ardfert and Aghadoe, A See which he filled for 27 Years. He was a Prelate of unaffected Piety, of dignified Manners, and universal Benevolence. To the Poor he was a Father, to the Wretched a Benefactor. He was the Patron of Liberal Education. He promoted the Sacred Cause of Charity by his Precepts much, by his Example still more. The Public Institutions which Console and Dignify the Town of Killarney are principally indebted for their Existence to his liberal Contributions and unwearied Exertions. A kind Relative, an accomplished Gentleman, a pious Prelate, He was an Ornament to that Antient Church of which he was a Revered Dignitary." He was buried in the old chapel of Killarney, since made into a school- house, but his memorial tablet has been removed to the beautiful new cathedral just outside the town. The following is from the Freeman's Journal, March 17, 1866 :— " Dr. O'Beardon, whose death took place on Wednesday last, at Killarney, had reached the patriarchal age of ninety, and was the oldest member of the College of Physicians. Under the patronage of his uncle, the late Most Bev. Dr. Sugrue, Bishop of Kerry, Mr. O'Beardon entered, in 1797, the College of Maynooth, where he received instructions from Dr. de la Hogue and Eev. John Chetwode Eustace, author of the ' Clas sical Tour in Italy.' A pause in his speech having unfitted him for the pulpit,1 he relinquished theological for physio logical studies, and in 1802 he became a physician. During this year he published in Latin some medical dissertations, dedicated to Drs. Clarke and Purcell. Sound sense, free from the theorizing flights to which some young physicians are prone, characterize these productions, while their Latinity is 1 This phrase is not very clear. Dr. O'Reardon had an impediment in his utterance, which he had not the energy of Demosthenes to over- 246 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. pure and vigorous. In 1803 Dr. O'Beardon proceeded to Paris for the purpose of gathering experience at the hospitals of that city, and of enjoying the advantages of a course of botanical instruction under the celebrated Baron Cuvier. Prolonged hostilities between France and England sprang up shortly after, and Dr. O'Beardon, together with his grand- uncle, the General Count O'Connell, of the British Service, with whom he resided, were detained in France until the restoration of the Bourbons, nine years later. The longevity of the family is remarkable, General O'Connell having at tained the age of ninety-one at his death in 1834. In 1814 Dr. O'Beardon returned to Ireland, and became physician to some public institutions, from which he received formal addresses of thanks ; but it is in connection with the fever hospital in Cork Street that he will be chiefly remem bered. For thirty years he was, with the late Dr. Harkin, its zealous and efficient medical attendant ; but on the reduction of the hospital grants in 1848 his services were relinquished. The medical reports of the hospital, of which many exist, from his pen, attest the unremitting zeal with which Dr. O'Beardon watched over the patients committed to his care. He was also the writer of a small memoir of Kirwan, the eminent chemist, whose friendship he possessed. He was the associate in consultation with Colles, Cheyne, Crampton, and Carmichael ; and, although he did not hold quite as high a rank as those eminent men, he largely shared their friendship and high opinion. Dr. O'Beardon was first cousin to the illustrious Daniel O'Connell, whose family physician he had been. The infirmities of age led to his retirement from the profession, and a few years ago he removed to Mount Prospect, overlooking the Lakes of Killarney, where he tranquilly breathed his last, almost on the spot where he was born. He had always been remarkable for practical piety ; and it may with truth be said that the whole tenor of his long life was one uninterrupted preparation for the next." I have been unable to procure a particle of information or a scrap of writing for the years 1805 to 1808. In the year 1809 we again take up Count O'Connell's history, this time in the National Archives at Paris, We have the report A Man of Other Days. 247 of a police spy, and the official comments and queries thereon. There would be no particular use in quoting the original French. I thus translate the reports : — " Police Eeport. " National Archives, 6. " No. 1649.— 2, F. P. 6537." There is written across the top of the page a note on the informer's report, and another note in the margin. These I shall append to the translation of this unsigned report. "Monseigneur," the style of address to a duke or archbishop, must refer to Fouche, the ducal head of the police under Napoleon. " Monseigneur, — I consider myself bound to communicate what I have learned from a man named Eobert, who was in my service for about six months, who says he is a native of Metz, and who tells me he was in the service of Mr. O'Connell, a former colonel of the Salle-Salle [mistake for Salm-Salm] Eegiment, a courageous and clever man, who went over to England, where he says he has a regiment. " This Mr. O'Connell travels through France by unknown routes ; he sees what is taking place at the seaports, remains only a short time in each place, and has no attendants. " I have heard it would be very interesting to follow up this man. "Eobert said he had a room, Eue des Capucines, in a mansion opposite the public Treasury, where he stays in doors but little when in Paris. I cannot guarantee the truth of all this, but I thought it my duty to communicate it. Since about four months this Eobert is no longer in my service, and when he was, this Mr. O'Connell had not been in Paris for the previous six months that he could discover." There is no signature — it is probably a police report. Note written across the top of left-hand margin — "The l8t April, 1809. "Beceived at the 2nd Division, 2 May. " To ascertain if this Englishman be known here. "There is an O'Connell, Daniel, an Irishman, a former general officer in the French Service, who is well known. He 248 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. was left in Paris when measures were taken against the English." Marginal note — "It is not known where the O'Connell mentioned here resides now." Now, the mansion mentioned in the police reports as in the Bue Neuve des Capucines was a spacious " Hotel entre cour et Jardin," long since demolished, the town house of my colonel's son-in-law, Baron d'Etchegoyen. He had a per manent apartment there. The marriage of his step-daughter had taken place full five years before.1 Baron d'Etchegoyen was a native of the Basque country, probably of the French portion of Catalonia, a very rich man and a widower, with one daughter, for whom the fatherly old colonel entertained a warm affection. Curiously enough, it was the younger daughter of Madame O'Connell that he married. In his French will the count leaves certain charities to be dispensed as she thinks best, and calls her "Marie Caroline Celinie." She was the tender and devoted prop of his old age, but, sad to say, he had the sorrow of losing her a short time before he died, in her husband's chateau. From the police spy's report I infer that Count O'Connell must have been at perfect liberty to travel about. I also fancy that his wife must have died before this. It is his eldest daughter — step-daughter I cannot call one so loving and devoted — who looked after him. The infirmities of age are now beginning to steal on him, but, on the whole, he seems fairly well and cheerful, and able to do all he wants. Like most unusually healthy people, he finds it hard to recognize any diminution of bodily vigour when the first inroads of time begin to tell. The letter of 1810 is full of hopes of revisiting Ireland. Paris, 13 May, 1810. My Very Dear Brother, — I take the oppertunity of Dr. O'Eeardon's departure for Ireland to let you hear from me. I hope you duly received my letter of February last, express ing my gratitude for the remittance of £80 stg you made to the house of Mess" Th8 Coutts and Co., of London, for my use, which they punctually advised me of, and my ardent prayers to Heaven for the recovery of your Sight and for the con- 1 See letter of 1804. A Man of Other Days. 249 tinuance of the blessings which the bountiful hand of Provi dence has so liberally bestowed on you to this hour. I am now to express the joy I feel at the prospect of being able, much sooner than I expected, to pay you a visit. I know nothing so capable to afford comfort and consolation to my dull heart as the idea of seeing and embracing you once again. It is not in my power as yet to fix the time, for if an exchange of Prisoners takes place, it is so generally believed. I delude myself with the hopes of seeing you in the course of next year. The state of my health . . . will not allow me to travel as heedless of all seasons, par ticularly as I shall have no servant ; therefore I must avail myself of the fair Days next spring, and proceed on my journey with slower marches than I was in the habit of in my better stages of life. My complaint [a dyspeptic disorder plainly expressed] and a Dizziness of the head which require of me carefully to avoid anything that might overheat me, will cause my journey to be the more tedious. But enough about what concerns me ; let me only add that nothing, with the assistance of God, shall Prove an obstacle to my favourite plan of visiting my most beloved Brother and invaluable friend. I shall also be very happy to embrace our Nephews and their young families, for whom we are making room, declining as they rise, and my few surviving old friends and acquaintances. My only remaining wish is to find you in your usual good State of health and the cate- racts on your Eyes, if not recovered, at least not increased. Farewell, my dearest Brother. Eemember me very affectionately to all who are so kind as to remember me and ask about me. I hope I shall retain in your thoughts and affections the place due to my unequalled and [abiding] gratitude and respect for you. Danl. O'Connell. If you should have an oppertunity of meeting Dr. O'Beardon, I beg to recommend him strongly to your attention and friendship. He is a worthy man, of the best morals and principles, and is considered by the professional gentlemen in this City as possessed of Eminent medical Knowledge in its various manifold Branches. The letter of 1810 is the last to Hunting Cap which I have been able to find. Doubtless many others passed between the brothers, but they have not been found. It is a great pity we cannot find any about the Besto ration. Doubtless the good man's loyalty was poured forth 250 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. in appropriate phrases. In a short time it reaped its reward. M. de la Ponce, who generally gives day and date for every brevet, merely states that in 1817 Count O'Connell was a lieut.-general and a Commander of the Order of St. Louis. Grant states that his old rank of colonel was also restored to him. At all events, his old masters, the Bourbons, did not forget him. His dear old friend, Count Bartholomew O'Mahony, who had likewise entered the English Service, obtained similar honours. I like to see these Irish veterans wearing the broad red grand cordon of the Grand Cross of St. Louis, the order of military merit. It was an honour not easy of attainment, as the " Commanders " were limited to twenty-four, exclusive of the royal family. When Count O'Connell died he was the only Irishman in France who had recently borne these honours. He was not only the last Colonel of the Irish Brigade, but the last survivor of the long series of Irish lieut.-generals and Commanders of St. Louis. He was a favourite at court when the Comte d'Artois succeeded to the throne, and to the end he was honoured with his friendship. O'Callaghan tells us of one touching episode — the last gathering together of the relics of the old Irish Brigade, and their final dismissal. Thrice the Duke de FitzJames had stood forth as their representative and spokesman, and each time their hopes had been frustrated. Sad, indeed, is the scene of broken faith and disappointed hopes ; yet the King, who owed his restoration to English help, was powerless to treat with the subjects of his patron, and the survivors of the Brigade belonged to an order of things destined to extinction by the operation of social and political causes. Last Scene of the Old Irish Brigade. The Duke de FitzJames and the remnant of the old original Irish Brigade were among the devoted Boyalists who looked forward to great things when the scion of the house they and their fathers had served so brilliantly for a hundred years was restored to the throne of St. Louis. I take the following from O'Callaghan's last chapter. He A Man of Other Days. 251 has translated the account from a French manuscript given him by the Liberator's son, John O'Connell, when he aban doned the idea of writing a history of the Irish Brigade, for which he had begun to collect materials : — "In 1814 the officers of the old Irish Brigade in France requested the Duke de FitzJames to present them to the King, which request the duke, after thanking them for the honour thereby done him, complied with, in these words, 'which are a summary of the Irish character in all its chivalrous sublimity,' says my French authority. " ' Sire, I have the honour of presenting to your Majesty the survivors of the old Irish Brigade. These gentlemen only ask for a sword and the privilege of dying at the foot of the throne.' "Louis," says O'Callaghan, " was too deeply indebted to England for the recovery of his throne to do anything directly opposed to the wishes of her Government, and it was par ticularly pressed on him, through Lord Castlereagh, that there should be no restoration of an Irish Brigade in France. ' This is certain,' alleges a contemporary in 1814, ' and that very uncommon exertions must have been used to procure this concession from Louis, because, independent of the general claims of this body on the gratitude of the French monarchy, one of these regiments had received a promise from the King that, in the event of his restoration, the regiment, for its fidelity, should be promoted to the rank of the Guards of the King.' " O'Callaghan also tells us, on the authority of the French manuscript, that in 1792 the King, then Comte de Provence, had conveyed the thanks of his family to the representatives of the Brigade, then reduced to the three regiments of Dillon, Berwick, and Walsh. He presented them with a drapeau d 'adieu. This farewell memorial banner bore an Irish harp, and was studded with shamrocks and fleurs-de-lys.1 " It was accompanied with these words : ' Gentlemen, 1 I have already described the veritable original banner of the Brigade — a red cross outlined in white, on a parti-coloured banner, whereof two corners were green and two red. Never was banner so. decked with crowns — a crown in each corner, and one surmounting a harp in the middle of the cross. On the cross- were the words, "In hoc signo vinces." 252 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. we acknowledge the inappreciable services that France has received from the Irish Brigade in the course of the last hundred years, services that we shall never forgot, though under an impossibility of requiting them. Beceive this standard as a pledge of our remembrance and a monument of our admiration and of our respect ; and in future, gene rous Irishmen, this shall be the motto of your spotless flag — " ' 1692—1792. " ' Semper et ubique Fidelis.' " The words, " Ever and everywhere faithful," form, indeed, at once the motto and the epitaph of the noble old Irish Brigade in the service of France. My hero would not come under the category of the veterans of the Brigade, as he had been transferred from "Berwick's" to the German Legion. He and his friend O'Mahony attained precisely similar honours. Several of their old companions settled in Paris, where they met Mr. Boche, the literary Cork banker. He speaks of them in his " Critical Essays of an Octogenarian." At p. 60 he says he knew " some of the most distinguished of the Irish Brigade — O'Meara, Sir Nicholas Trant, Count Walsh, General Conway, and, above all, the Liberator's uncle, General O'Connell, whose high order of mind, of principle, and of conduct commanded the esteem, as the amiableness of his character won the love, of all who approached him." During the uneventful years of the veteran's retirement I find but few papers. My fellow-worker, Boss O'Connell, transcribed a few bits of letters, and old people have told me a few detached anecdotes. After the peace which followed Napoleon's downfall, Count O'Connell visited Ireland with hiB charming elder step-daughter, Mdlle. Aimee de Bellevue. I possess a little water-colour sketch she did of my dear husband, then a very pretty little boy, in a short-waisted, low- necked dress with a falling frill of cambric. He remembered the kind young lady, and the impression her huge gigot sleeves made upon him, that fashion not having yet penetrated to Kerry. She also painted his little sister, and made a bodice for a young cousin, so that she must have spent a considerable time at Grenagh, my father-in-law's home, near A Man of Other Days. 253 Killarney. They had previously visited the Liberator's family in Merrion Square, and probably spent several months in Ireland. I have only one clue to the exact date of their visit. My venerable informant, Miss Julianna, coming home as a child from Jamaica in the great trading fleet escorted by war-ships, remembers their meeting a ship bearing the news of Waterloo. She was detained six weeks in Bristol by adverse winds, and took a week to reach Cork. There two tall gentlemen — one stout and genial ; the other tall, thin, white-haired, but very handsome and courteous — came to see their little cousin, and made a great impression on her, especially the elder. These were the two Daniels. The elder was on his way back from Darrynane, preparing to return to France. Since writing the above, I have obtained a nearer clue to the date of their visit. The Liberator's daughter, Mrs. O'Connell, of Ballinabloun, tells me she often heard her mother speak of the long visit the General and Mdlle. de Bellevue paid them in Merrion Square, and that he was there in 1816, during the time Sir Bobert Peel and her father were near fighting a duel. Nothing is more remarkable in the veteran's letters than his horror of duelling ; in fact, on that point his ideas were far in advance of his age. Still, with all his general objection to the practice, he was in favour of the popular champion's taking up the challenge. Mrs. O'Connell's suspicions were excited by the long private con ferences between her husband and his uncle, generally carried on in French, and changed to Irish if any one who knew French came into the room. She adopted the extreme measure of sending word to the police-court that she feared a duel, and one fine morning, as the Liberator stepped out of his bedroom, he was arrested on the landing by two constables. The old gentleman occupied the opposite room, and on hear ing the loud voices, he stepped out just in time to see his nephew in custody. He was exceedingly annoyed at the whole business, and at breakfast gravely but courteously rebuked his hostess — " Mary, this is the only time in my life I ever was angry with you, and you have made me very angry." 25 4 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. "I am sorry to have annoyed you, uncle," replied the triumphant wife ; " but I would much sooner vex you than let my husband be killed." There are many anecdotes told of the meeting of the two old brothers. The General, so long absent from his brother and his home, was enchanted to meet his dear Maurice once more. Old people describe the two tall old men pacing up and down the beach, arm-in-arm, for hours. Dan was a passionate lover of the beauties of his own lovely birthplace, and, indeed, seems to have been fond of all natural beauty. There, too, they could converse unmolested. The country-people some times came up to greet the General, who very properly returned the poorest man's salutation, and took off his hat. Now, this vexed Hunting Cap, partly as a reckless thumbing of good Carolina beaver, and partly as disturbing his arm passed through his brother's. He suggested that a nod was greet ing enough, and my hero, quoting or perhaps plagiarizing Washington's remark about the negro, said, " Brother, would you have me outdone in civility by a peasant ? " All through the long years of absence, Hunting Cap had solemnly toasted him every day. The ladies even were not suffered to leave the table until they had supped a little wine to "Our absent friends, coupled with the name of my honoured brother, General O'Connell." When there were many guests, "The King," "The Pope," and "A secure and speedy emancipation to the Catholics of Ireland " were solemnly drunk, after the ladies had departed. Hunting Cap's own snuff-box was a deep and narrow silver one, which he some times found difficult to open, being nearly blind, and his brother brought him a Scotch mull, very easily opened. It is made of thick black leather, with heavy silver mountings. It was probably the gift of some fellow-countryman, as it bears the O'Brien crest and motto. The General made many presents ; among others, he gave my mother-in-law a set of classical cameos, handsomely set, and my father-in-law a little pair of fine gold knee-buckles (now in my possession), which the General used to wear at court. Every one who met them then retained the pleasantest recollections of the veteran and of Mdlle. de Bellevue. A Man of Other Days. 255 It was only in 1815 that Maurice O'Connell gave up attending the grand jury, though he had to ride a part of the way. Doubtless the General used his influence, by letter, on the blind but energetic and vigorous old man of eighty- five to relinquish the expedition, which was such a pleasant break to the monotony of his existence. I don't know if it was on his return from this trip, or on a later visit to England, that our General made some valuable additions to his library. Count O'Connell frequently mentions study as the chief enjoyment of the long years of compulsory inaction to which his fidelity to the royal cause had doomed him. It continued the unfailing source of pleasure through his pro longed and happy old age. When affluence and prosperity succeeded to honourable poverty, we find him indulging in moderation in the true scholar's taste for rare old editions. Mr. V. J. Coppinger, B.L., most kindly lent me a book of Count O'Connell's he picked up second-hand. It is Dibdin's two-volume record of rare Bibles and editions of classical authors. It bears his book-plate — the arms, same as now used, with the coronet and supporters he may fairly claim to have earned. The motto differs. It is in Irish, meaning " Of the stock of Milesius." The margins are annotated in his neat, precise Italian handwriting, with the prices fetched at Hill's great sale in 1817 by certain editions mentioned in the text. It is evident from this commentary that he attended the sale in person. He gives his own purchases and bids ; for so frugal a person as our General, some of these are pretty high. " ' Silvius Italicus ' [Drackenborch, 1717] £3, at D. Hill's sale, 1817. I bought a copy at the same sale for 1£ guinea. " Tacitus, 4 vols. [Brotiers, 1771], £4 15s. " Terence, 2 vols, plates [Westerhoven, 1720], £4 lis. "Theocritus, 2 vols. [Wharton, 1771], £4 Is. " Cicero, 9 vols. [Olivet, 1740]. A copy with an Amsterdam title sold at Hill's sale for 18 guineas ; I bid £10 10s. Celandi calls it Paris. " ' Calimachus,' 1 vol. [Etienne's Greek and Latin, 1577], 18s. at Hill's, 1817. 256 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. "Euripides, fol., Greek and Latin [Barnes, 1694]. I gave £3 15s. for a copy at Hill's, much cut down." Some time after the Bestoration, Aimee de Bellevue suffered herself to be persuaded to change her name and estate, and married the younger brother of her sister's hus band, M. Benjamin d'Etchegoyen. There was a considerable difference in age between Celinie and her husband, as the count's death-certificate states that Baron d'Etchegoyen, who notifies his death in 1833, was then seventy years of age. The present Baron d'Etchegoyen states that Mdlle. Aimee was near forty when she married, and that she had only two children, his father and the Marquise de Senarport, his aunt. The great mansion in the Bue Neuve des Capucines had room for everyone. The different families of kinsfolk lived in different suites of apartments, meeting at meals and in the evening. The count's apartment was downstairs. He had his own valet, his own library and collection of military maps, for he was a student to the end, and loved, bought, and read classics as well as professional volumes. The Liberator, in his account of his uncle in the New Monthly Magazine, quoted by O'Callaghan, thus describes his return to France and subsequent events : " General O'Connell, during the peace of 1802, returned to France to look after a large property to which his lady was entitled ; he became a victim of the seizure of British subjects by the then First Consul, and remained a prisoner in France until the downfall of Napoleon and the restoration of the Bourbons. That event restored to him his military rank in France, and he enjoyed in the decline of life, amidst the affectionate respect of his relations and friends, the advantage of full pay as a general in the service of France and colonel in the service of Great Britain [mistake — half-pay British], an advantage which cir cumstances can perhaps never again procure for any man, but which he enjoyed with the full knowledge and approbation of both powers. "During the peace of 1814 General O'Connell met Marshal Ney at dinner at the house of one of the then Ministry. A good deal of conversation passed between them, and at length Ney stated that he had known General O'Connell before the A Man of Other Days. 257 Eevolution, and mentioned, in particular, having frequently seen him in the year 1787. ' My memory,' replied the General, 'is particularly good. I have seen few officers whom I do not recollect, and I do not think I could have seen a person so likely to be remarkable as Marshal Ney, without recollecting him.' 'General,' returned Ney, 'you could not have remarked me ; you then commanded the regiment of Salm-Salm. I was a corporal of hussars ; our colonel and you were fast friends, and frequently exchanged guards, and I have often, as corporal, posted and relieved the hussar sentinel on your tent, while one of your corporals was going through the same duty on my colonel's.' " I gather a few trifling anecdotes from scraps of letters. Boss O'Connell tells me that those at Lake View mostly refer to long-past money matters. The General seems to have written about once in every three months. In every letter he sends sums varying from £10 to £200, either in charity or to poor friends and relatives. The General's precise nationality seems rather a complex matter. He seems to have been detained under Napoleon as a British subject, then restored to his original rank and pro moted a step beyond it in France, on or before 1817. In the following year he was naturalized as a French subject, by a short and summary process of royal decree, without royal letters. My father, Charles Bianconi, was naturalized by some similar short process, much less costly than the usual form. In the case of my father, he could not have entered Parlia ment, though he could buy land and vote. Count O'Connell's first naturalization must have, in some similar manner, fallen short in some matter of detail, as he obtained royal letters signed by Louis Philippe, who was no friend of his or of the other steadfast adherents of the elder branch. By a curious oversight, our General is naturalized the second time as Denis Charles, instead of Daniel Charles, which led to sundry affidavits after his death. Happily, his parents had never had any son named Denis, and he was the only Irish man alive in the beginning of 1833 who was both a lieut. - general and a Commander of the Order of St. Louis. As already mentioned, the Marquise de Sers, great- VOL. II. s 258 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. granddaughter to Madame O'Connell, writes that her great grandfather was made a general, a count, and a peer of France at the Bestoration. But he received' his title of count in 1783. Probably he was made a peer when he was ad vanced to be a lieut.-general. Marechal-de-camp, which he translates "major-general," was his rank Under Louis XVI., and the bearer of that rank does not seem to have been addressed as " general." However, we see by the letters he was made a count shortly after the siege of Gibraltar. These purely military personal titles did not confer the privileges of a peer, so I fancy the "Pairie" was conferred at the Bestoration and led to the naturalization, and she naturally assigned the one date to both title and peerage. The French naturalization did not in any way interfere with the English half-pay. Exhibit D., Prerogative, D. O'C. [These odd translations are copied verbatim from law papers at Lake View.] Naturalization. The Mayor's office for the First District of Paris. Before us, Mayor of the First District of Paris, officer of the Legion of Honour, came Count Daniel Charles O'Connell, lieutenant-general in the King's armies, and Commander of the Order of St. Louis, residing in the New Street of the Capucines, No. 12, within our district, who declared to us that, being born at Darrynane, in Ireland, on the 21st May, 1745, he in one thousand seven hundred and sixty-two (1762) entered the military service of France, under which he successively ascended the various [grades omitted] up to and including that of lieutenant-general, and obtained the cross of a Commander of the Order of St. Louis ; that since 1802 he has resided in Paris, where he continued incessantly to reside in said Street of the Capucines, said number, in our district. That, in respect of his services, of the rewards bestowed on him, and his residence there being settled in France, as with his native place, he intends finally to fix his domicile there, with the purpose of enjoying civil rights, which declaration he makes in order to obtain letters of naturalization from the good pleasure of the King, all of which this act to serve and be valid inasmuch as right, and we the said appearer signed it, having previously read it. Paris, this 22nd April, 1818. (Signed) Count O'Connell, and Lecordier, Mayor. A Man of Other Days. 259 As a copy faithfully taken, the Begistry, Paris, 6th August, 1838; the Mayor Marcelotte, and examined by a peer of France, Prefect of the Seine, for attestation of the signature of Mr. Marcelotte, Mayor of the First District above written, August 7, 1838. Count de Bambuteau, Whose signature is attested by Minister of Foreign Affairs, August 9, through head of his Chancery, De Lamarre, whose signature is attested by the British Consul, Thos. Pickford. As before stated, the General left his title and peerage, by special royal permission, to his godson, the Baron d'Etche- goyen's second son, who took the name of O'Connell. He left him his sword, uniforms, maps, and military library, but only £400 in money. He left and gave during his lifetime large sums of money to his nephews. I heard my husband say that his father got about £5000. He thought the Liberator got about as much ; Sir James got more. This he was entitled to, however, as he managed the General's British business for years, and had much trouble about his charities and gifts. The Liberator purchased the remnant of the O'Mullane pro perty, worth about £300 a year, with his uncle's gift. The General also left £1500 each to his godsons and grand-nephews, John, the Liberator's youngest son, and Daniel James, second son to James. I am told by persons capable of forming an opinion that, between gifts and bequests and charities during his lifetime to his relatives and the poor of his native parish and adjoining district, he expended at least £20,000. He delighted in seeing his relatives, and had various youngsters brought over to see him. I recently received the following copy of a letter to one of his elder sisters from his great-great-grand-nephew, John Maurice O'Connell. " Sister Seggerson," though left very well off by her husband, had impoverished herself by providing marriage portions for her granddaughters. The great peace was ruinous to the large class of middle men, who had thriven on the war prices, and were responsible to the great landlords for the rents of their under-tenants as well as their own rents. The grandsons-in-law of Mrs. Seggerson appear to have suffered severely, and the poor old lady seems to have had 260 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. some young people, seemingly great-granddaughters, abso lutely depending on her, long after she had parted with most of her means. Her kind brother thus comes to her rescue — Count O'Connell to his sister, "Mrs. Alice Siggerson, Glenville, near Cahirsiveen, County of Kerry." Paris, 15th March, 1819. My very Dear Sister, — I avail myself with the greatest satisfaction of an oppertunity for Kerry to assure you of my unceasing affection, and to acquaint you that the trifling remittance, which it is my good fortune, as also my greatest comfort, to afford you, shall be punctually paid in to you by our nephew James next August at the latest, and in the same regular course in future whilst it pleases God to spare your life. I shall make the necessary arrangements for that purpose, and trust you shall never experience delay or dis appointment in that respect, which I am confident will never happen. I request you will immediately let me know it. I hope, my dear and revered sister, that your health is good, tho', of course, enfeebled by the accumulation of years, and by many severe trials. Pray take every possible care of yourself for Mary's sake, and for that of Tour most affectionate Brother, Genl. O'Connell. I embrace you and Mary most warmly. I have got many pleasing glimpses of the dear old man in his foreign home from my husband, his sister, and cousins. The young girls were older than the boy when they knew their grand-uncle, and noticed details more keenly. All concur in saying that he was most kindly and pleasant, to all intents and purposes a foreigner, living as foreigners of rank lived, but speaking English perfectly, though with a very strong Kerry brogue. All the years he had lived in Eng land, though they had restored him to the use of idiomatic English, instead of the semi-foreign idiom he had used before, failed to shorten the broad, soft, drawling vowel- sounds of his Kerry speech. To my mind, there is some thing very musical and pleasant in that southern tongue, and most Kerry men have very soft, pleasant voices. When my husband was a little boy he was taken to Paris to see his grand-uncle. He always remembered the pilgrimage with delight. He was emancipated from the A Man of Other Days. 261 feminine authorities of the schoolroom, and brought over by his father, one of the kindest and most genial of fathers. They had a long, delightful journey in the banquette of the diligence, which he thought very like the hood of his mother's barouche perched on the top of a coach ; but the delight of delights was a fellow-passenger, of no less consequence than an alligator, on his way to the Jardin des Plantes. This delightful reptile's travelling case was too short for him, and his tail flapped down behind, where a small boy could touch it when he got down behind the vehicle. The kind old uncle sent him specially to the gardens afterwards to see his travelling companion. He used to tell me the General was still handsome, very kind and gracious, like a foreigner, and speaking French habitually, but English to them, with a strong brogue. He had never lost the intonation of his native province. Odd as it seems to us to see boys sent to Cork to lose their brogue, the quicker speech of the town was sup posed to correct the long-drawn intonation of the Irish- speaking mountain-land. The old General kept up his Irish to the last, and Miss Evelina McCarthy, his grand-niece, who spent a good deal of her youth in Paris, often heard him recite long Irish poems. My husband remembered evening card-parties, and seeing the old gentleman collect in church. Ladies usually make the quite, so I suppose it was as a squire of dames he was solemnly shaking the long velvet bag and gravely bowing to contributors, to the vast amazement of his small grand- nephew, who did not understand this begging business. Many a time the old man alludes to my dear husband's scholastic distinctions with affectionate pride. I have had the pleasure of editing, for publication, the " Becollections " of the youngest daughter of the Liberator, in which were fragments of letters and journals of her brother Morgan, late Begistrar of Deeds. He was the Liberator's second son, and was given the little property purchased with his grand-uncle's gift. Their sister Kate, Mrs. O'Connell, of Ballinabloun, has written down some charming little re miniscences, too, and for my especial benefit. The Liberator's much-loved Mary suffered from her chest, 262 The Last Colonel of the Irish' Brigade. and was ordered to spend a couple of years out of Ireland. She and her children spent part of the time in France. While they were in Tours, in 1823, the General arranged that Morgan should enter the Austrian Service, where his dear friend, "Cousin Morty of Tarmons," was a general by this time— the kinsmen having, as it were, kept step during their march to fortune. He was now Baron Moritz O'Connell— Morty l having proved unmanageable to German lips, so he changed it to Maurice, which sounded something like that name. The young soldier writes home long, amusing, gossipy letters, in which he declares his uncle is the kindest of men. He tells how he has bought a lovely little watch for Ellen, the eldest daughter — my dear and special old friend, whose daughter married my brother. The young girl is not to be told, as it is to be a surprise. Toung Morgan describes how the General trots about to the Austrian Embassy; writes to Baron Brady,2 who founded burses for Irish boys for the Austrian Service ; and finally gets him into the regiment of Baron Nugent, whom he knows, and who was, I believe, a relative of his old friend, Count Nugent. It was the 4th Begiment of Light Horse (Chevaux Legers). The young man had to enter as a cadet in those days. He mentions in one letter how he saw Marshal Davoust's magnificent funeral, how Madame d'Etchegoyen lent him an amusing English book, and how Sir Nicholas Trant told him he had read a notice of the approaching publication of " Quentin Dur^ard." Sir Nicholas and our General, and many more of the old soldiers, who were eagerly looking forward to Walter Scott's next book, had been themselves Quentin Dur- wards of a later date, as servants of another King Louis. Morgan leaves Paris in July, 1823. Availing myself of permission to plagiarize and pilfer, I shall quote Mrs. Ffrench's description of the home in the Bue Neuve des Capucines, which she first saw in September, 1823. Her mother and most of the children had then come to Paris. 1 BecU Muirceartach, pronounced Mnirarttih. 2 A great-great-grand-ncphew of our General, Mrs. FitzSimon's grand son, Charles Hayes, is now training for the Austrian Service on one of Baron Brady's burses. A Man of Other Days. 263 She describes the house much as I have done, mentioning that the street it stood in was off the Bue de la Paix. She says there was a porte cochere in the lodge. " The wife of the concierge never went out. She was an old grey-haired woman, and the day that the good Princess de Lamballe had been decapitated, at the first outbreak of the French Eevolution, she had met the mob carrying the murdered lady's head on a pike. This gave her nerves such a shock that she never recovered it." Mrs. Ffrench mentions that by this time Madame Benjamin d'Etchegoyen, who for so many years had been the General's devoted friend, was dead. " Poor Madame Benjamin," she says, " had left two children — one a girl [the Marquise de Senarport], named Celinie, and a baby-boy about three years old, named Henri [the father of the present Baron d'Etchegoyen]. He thought he was married to me, and used to call me ' Ma femme.' I was very fond of the dear little child, whose aunt doted on him." Baron d'Etchegoyen had been married before, and had a daughter by his first marriage living with him. She was a widow, Madame Boutillon. I think her husband had been a Spaniard. She afterwards married a cousin of hers, a very nice fellow, M. Isidore d'Etchegoyen, but she died at the end of her bridal year. She was very elegant, but not handsome. The various families, besides meeting at meals, spent the evenings together. Mrs. Ffrench says Baron d'Etchegoyen had three children by his second wife — Charles, Daniel, and one daughter, whose quaint name was Bonite. She married Baron de Paraza later on. The old General got his young relatives permission to see various sights about the court. They heard Mass in the royal chapel ; saw the Duchess of Angouleme, grave, sad, and reverent ; the Duchess of Berri, lively and flippant. They visited the private rooms, where the old fat King's bath-chair stood at the door, and heard all sorts of pretty stories about the Duchess of Berri's children, and wonderful accounts of Louis XVIII. 's greediness. The fat old sovereign died the next year. 264 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. Mrs. O'Connell, of Ballinabloun, the Liberator's second daughter, has given me the following little narrative, besides various things she told me. It would be a pity to cut up anything so pleasing in its perfectly simple and graceful form of an old lady's recollection of a dear old relative, who very frequently mentions his dear niece Kate. " Clontarf, December 12, 1890. " My first remembrance of my dear old grand-uncle, Count O'Connell, is rather cloudy, as I was very young at the time. He came to visit his family, chiefly his brother, Maurice O'Connell, of Darrynane, who was the eldest of, I think, twenty-four children. [He was the eldest surviving, but not the firstborn, of twenty-two children, and the count was the youngest, or at least one of the younger ones.] His step-daughter, Mdlle. de Bellevue, came over with him. I admired and liked him very much, charmed with his truly loving manner to children. They stayed some months [in Dublin], and then they, with my father and mother, set off for Kerry. My mother took me. I was delicate, and was brought for change of air. We travelled by coach, which I did not like, being used to travelling in my mother's own carriage, with post-horses, which was soit dit en passant, the most agreeable way of travelling. We separated in Killarney, my uncle and Mdlle. de Bellevue stopping at my uncle John's place, Grenagh, when my mother and I went on to her mother's home in Tralee. I was left on in Tralee with my aunt and uncle Connor when my mother went home, and during that absence the count and Mdlle. de Belleuve re turned to France ; but his sweetness of manner and kindness left a most lasting impression on me. " It was long, indeed, ere I met him again. A loving intercourse was kept up by letter, and sometimes an occasional nice gift to us young folk, and, on one occasion, a black-lace dress to my mother — at that time a costly rarity. My sister Ellen used to write to him, and he always replied most kindly to her letters. " It was on our return journey to Ireland, about the year 1823 or 1824, when in Paris, coming from Tours, where we A Man of Other Days. 265 had spent the winter, and where my father joined us after some time, that I saw much of the General, as my father and the rest usually called him. [Here I may observe that my reason for sometimes calling him the count, instead of the General, is to prevent confusion with other generals of the name; but as " General" he was always addressed. He had obtained the rank of major-general before the death of Louis XVI., and was made lieut.-general at the Bestoration. — M. A. O'C.J " The General was then recovering from a severe fit of illness under a regime and most special care from his step daughter, Madame d'Etchegoyen. He did not leave his room till a late hour, and received visitors in the French fashion, while still in bed. He told Ellen and myself to come and visit him on two or three days of the week. We used to be asked up by his valet and remain with him, and he chatted away with us. We would all be pleased, the dear dignified old soldier and his youthful grand-nieces who felt the charm he possessed of making himself agreeable. He used to have other visitors, and we left as we liked. He used to dine early, but the days we dined — and he generally insisted on three or four times a week — he came into the salle-a-manger, walked about, chatting to every one he chose, the conversa tion being in English (which all the family spoke perfectly). This was because my mother did not know French. " He used to be dressed warmly, and wore a small cap on his head for fear of cold. He was still very handsome, with a sweet expression, tall and straight. My brother Dan, then a very little fellow, said to my mother, ' The General would look very handsome only for that nasty little cap.' She told him, and he never wore it again. [The old gentleman had plenty of snow-white hair.] " Some years before, when my husband and The O'Do noghue left school, they travelled on the Continent, with a ser vant to look after them while on the grand tour. Of course, both young men were welcome guests at the Hotel d'Etchegoyen. The General took a liking to my dear husband. He was a tall, handsome-looking lad, and the General set store on good- looking folk. He desired to protect Charles from extra- 266 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. vagance, and said to him, ' Be sure to leave your money with me. Tou can ask for it when you want it.' " This was arranged, and the money taken in charge ; but Charles was not troubled by mauvaise honte, and came so frequently that the General said, ' My dear, you had better take it all. It seems no check on your expenditure to give you the trouble of coming here.' To which Charles willingly assented. Though the count was no longer his banker, he used to send for him up to his bedroom, and always made him welcome. He came in one morning and found the General in the act of saying his prayers, and he would never get off his knees for any one. He was about going to court later in the day, and his full uniform, with all its grandeur, was laid out. The lad quietly slipped off his clothes, and decked himself in the full regimentals. When the General rose from his knees and saw the martial figure, he bowed profoundly, and inquired whom he had the honour of receiving. The wild boy burst out laughing, when the old man recognized him and joined in his merriment, quite enjoying the joke, in which I hope you won't think it ill of me to join, who am, " Ever your affectionate cousin, " Kate O'Connell, nee O'Connell." I have totally failed to find anything definite about my hero at the Bestoration, and I was still more provoked to find nothing about him also during the period immediately follow ing the accession of his old companion-in-arms and faithful friend, Charles X. I had actually opened my record of the year 1824 with a jeremiad to that effect, when his grand- niece, the " dear Kate " of so many letters, came to the rescue, and told me the following anecdote : — As in duty bound, he attended the King's first levee, and appropriately expressed his loyal devotion. " Sire, an old servant comes to lay his homage at your Majesty's feet." The kindly monarch caught him by both hands, and exclaimed, " Do not say, ' an old servant,' O'Connell ; say, ' an old friend.' " A Man of Other Days. 267 The royal compliment was strictly true, for in the dark and evil days of poverty and exile, Count O'Connell, like many another Irishman, had earned the title of courtesan du malheur. Miss Evelina MacCarthy assures me that her venerable great-uncle was supposed to be almost as perfect a specimen of the gentleman of the old school as his Majesty, whose charming manners were as remarkable as his lack of worldly prudence. All old people tell me he was high in the favour of the kindly monarch. Count O'Connell had always been very steadfast in his religious principles— a-Held-marshal's baton would not have tempted him to embrace "the religion of major-generals; " but it does not appear that he was particularly religious. How ever, when he got old he became excessively devout, but with a most cheerful and happy sort of devotion, which made him welcome the sufferings and troubles he encountered. Eeligious resignation even added to his natural cheerful serenity. The Marquise de Sers, who can remember his death, and of course often heard old people speak of him, writes, "My great-grandfather was a most superior man and a saint." Boss O'Connell tells me much of the General's desire for schools in his beloved Iveragh. In the year 1824 Maurice O'Connell wrote a very re markable letter to the Catholic Association. I quote the Liberator's letter about it, and the remarks of Mr. Fagan, his biographer. He was once a well-known M.P., and the grand- nephew of the kind-hearted old Chevalier Fagan. It is from the " Life of Daniel O'Connell," by William Fagan, Esq., M.P., pp. 314-317 (1847). " The reader has doubtless often heard of Mr. O'Connell's uncle, Maurice O'Connell. From him he inherited, in 1825, Darrynane Abbey, and an income of at least £4000 a year ; the tenure of a part of which, Hartopp's property, has termi nated with his life. This gentleman was known in Kerry by the name of ' Hunting Cap,' on account of his always appear ing with that part of the sportsman's costume. He was an exceedingly clever man, and from the period of his coming of age [this must be an error, as he came of age in the penal times] to within a few years of his death was always on the 268 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. grand jury of his county. But age and total blindness obliged him to give up public occupations. He was never married [an error], and, as a matter of course, became peculiar in some habits. He was most kind and hospitable to the humbler classes. No matter from what quarter the wayfarer, be he farmer, dealer, or labourer, approached the mansion at Darry nane, he met a hearty Irish welcome, and was permitted to prolong his sojourn to a period only limited by his own sense of propriety. No question was permitted to be put to him by any of the domestics as to the time of his arrival or the probable day of his departure. The epithet of ' Hunting Cap ' had its origin in the reluctance evinced by the wearer to pay a tax imposed at one period of our history on beaver hats, to avoid which he betook himself to the velvet cap, which is thus indissolubly connected with his memory. We intro duce his name now to our readers, because of a very re markable letter which, at the close of 1824, he wrote, or rather dictated, to the Catholic Association. He was then in his ninety-sixth year, and quite blind ; but the strong intellect and wisdom exhibited in that letter were very striking. He sent in his subscription as a member, and called on the body to persevere steadily and fearlessly, but with moderation. He pledged his word — it was a prophecy — that they must succeed. " We shall introduce here a letter written by the Liberator, in which he makes reference to the one emanating from his uncle. It embodies some personal characteristies, that, described by him, must be considered truthful and interesting. " ' To the Editor of the " Southern Reporter." " 'Darrynane Abbey, November 19, 1839. " ' Sir, — Tou have taken from a Kerry newspaper and published a letter of Mr. Henry Arthur Herbert, respecting a statement made by me at the late meeting in Killarney. That letter does on the face of it contain, I do think, about as much presumptuous absurdity as could well be stuffed together in so small a space. " ' To make this plain, I will just state the facts. " 'At the meeting in question, I was tracing the atrocities A Man of Other Days. 269 of the Irish Orange faction in former days. I specified the laws which had been passed, in violation of the Treaty of Limerick, and by which, if a Catholic purchased an estate, paying the price, any Protestant could by law take away the estate from the Catholic, and leave him at the total loss of both the estate and of his purchase-money. " ' Mr. Henry Arthur Herbert does not venture to deny that this was the state of the law when I was born and for some years after ; although he had a deep interest in denying it, if he could, as he belongs to the political party who would re-enact that law, if they had the power, although he, individually, might oppose its re-enactment. " ' To illustrate the mischief of that law, I stated what I had repeatedly heard from my uncle, the late Mr. Maurice O'Connell, of Darrynane. It was precisely this — that when the estate of " Tomies on the Lake " was offered for sale, he agreed to purchase it, and had the purchase-money ready ; and that thereupon the ancestor of the present Mr. Herbert sent him a communication to this effect, that if he (my uncle) became the purchaser, he (Mr. Herbert) would imme diately file a bill of discovery (that was the technical name of the mode of legal plunder) against my uncle, and deprive him of the estate. So that my uncle would have in that case lost his money and his land. On this communication, my uncle, of course, withdrew from the purchase. Mr. Herbert after wards became the buyer of the estate at a sum considerably less than my uncle was to have given for it. " ' Such was the statement which my uncle frequently made. It was with him a common illustration of the work ing of the penal laws. Such was the statement I made at Killarney, upon his authority. If born at the time of the transaction, I was quite too young to have known anything of the facts from my own knowledge. I therefore took them on his authority. That authority no man who knew my revered uncle could or would doubt. "'He died in his ninety-sixth year, in 1825. He carried with him to the age of close upon a century all the clear ness of a powerful intellect, and, what is still more rare, all the tenderness of a most affectionate heart. In the year 270 Tlie Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. before he died he wrote a splendid letter to the Catholic Association, in which he distinctly alluded to this very transaction. " ' He was a man of the most singular accuracy of intellect, and of the highest order of integrity. In Kerry everybody knows that he was a magistrate and deputy-governor of the county as soon as Catholics could hold the commission; that he was a grand juror from the same period, until in his eightyr sixth year he used to attend the assizes ; that he was a man esteemed by every one who knew him. Why should such a man invent what in that case would have been a gross calumny ? He had no object to gain by it ; he entertained no resentment to the individual; he only blamed the law. On the contrary, he said that Mr. Herbert had behaved fairly to him, in cautioning him beforehand. Others would have allowed him to purchase, and then have taken the property, without any price, as the law would have then enabled them to do. He entertained no hostility whatsoever to Mr. Herbert or his family. On the contrary, this young gentleman's grandfather stood several contests for the representation of Kerry ; my uncle supported him in every one of these contests, and was always upon the most friendly terms with the Herbert family.' "Mr. O'Connell then proceeds to comment on the matter in dispute between him and Mr. Herbert, and concludes — " ' I have the honour to be, " ' Tour faithful servant, '"Daniel O'Connell.'" At p. 533 Mr. Fagan says, "We now close this long chapter by correcting a mistake made in reference to Mr. O'Connell (Maurice O'Connell). We stated he was never married. Our information was incorrect. He was many years a widower without family; and the majority of the two last generations who knew him were not aware he was ever married." I append another anecdote from the same work. At p. 452 Mr. Fagan quotes William Howitt's charming description of Darrynane, and relates the following anecdotes'. A Man of Other Days. 271 After describing the beautiful views from a mountain grove above the garden, Mr. Howitt says — "Descending again by another path, you discover, at the foot of the rocks, a simple rural seat or bank, overhung by trees, and with the flower-garden lying displayed at your feet. " This seat used to be the favourite resort of the uncle of Mr. O'Connell from whom he inherited Darrynane. This old gentleman, who seems to have been a man of both power ful physical frame and lofty moral character, lived to within one year of a hundred. He was for some years blind before his decease, and delighted to sit here, where, beneath the fresh canopy of trees and rocks, he could distinctly hear the distant sound of the sea. That sound, so full of majesty, seemed not only to soothe him, but to bring, as it were, a visible perception of the scenes around, in which it made so grand a figure, and to call up the vivid acts and images of his past life. " ' There was no fear of death in his strong and pre pared mind,' said Mr. O'Connell one day as we passed this place. In front of this seat, at some distance, grew a splendid ash tree. Once, having sat for some time as in deep thought, he said — " ' Daniel, I have a favour to request of you.' " ' Of me, uncle ? What can that be ? ' " 'Measure me the girth of that tree.' " He told him what it was. '"I thought,' he said, ' it was as large as that. The favour I would ask you, Daniel, is that that tree may now be felled.' " ' May be felled ! What ! that tree, in which you have always seemed to take such pleasure ? ' " ' Tes ; I would have it cut down.' " ' Then certainly let it be cut down. There is no occasion to ask permission of me.' "'Tes; as this place will be yours, I would not do any-, thing without consulting you. I thank you for giving me leave to fell it. It is to make my coffin of its wood. I have for some time thought it would be large enough, and now find that it is. Send for the carpenter.' 272 Tlie Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. " The carpenter came, and Hunting Cap asked him how many feet of the tree would make his coffin. " The carpenter, running his eye over the fine old man, and considering in himself for some time, replied — " ' I should say seven feet, your honour.' " ' Why, I never stood more than six feet three. Age has somewhat decreased my height, but death, I know, will stretch me out again. But seven feet ! Why, that is the proportion for a giant. Let it be six feet five ! ' " With this, the old gentleman dismissed the carpenter and the subject. The tree was felled, the boards sawn and seasoned, and the coffin made according to his directions." I cannot resist the temptation of inserting here a most characteristic letter of Hunting Cap's to his sister-in-law. Miss Julianna could not supply the date, though she remem bered all the rest. Maurice O'Connell, of Darrynane, to Mrs. Morgan O'Connell, of Carhen, when the future Liberator had borrowed his favourite horse, and gone off on a pleasure tour on the animal. " Tour son left .this ten days ago, and took with him my favourite horse. Had it not been for that, I might have dispensed with his company. He is, I am told, employed in visiting the seats of hares at Keelrelig, the earths of foxes at Tarmons, the caves of otters at Bolus, and the celebration of Miss Burke's wedding at Direen — useful avocations, laudable pursuits, for a nominal student of the law ! The many indica tions he has given of a liberal mind in the expenditure of money has left a vacuum in my purse as well as an impression on my mind not easily eradicated." MiBS Julianna in her youth had gone to keep house for her aged kinsman, Maurice, and she told me about his death. He was almost blind, but able to distinguish light from dark, and able also to make out the sheen of a red silk shawl she used to throw over her head when he would call on her to lead him out to pace up and down in the sun. He used to ride to Mass, there being no carriage-way, and A Man of Other Days. 273 would be led to a flight of steps in the courtyard, where his big, strong grey horse used to stand while he mounted. The horse was, of course, led to Mass. Though in his ninety-sixth year, he took a keen interest in men and in things, and, of course, especially in the Catholic cause. He was not spared to see the final triumph of his creed brought about by his brother's son. His actual death-illness only lasted two or three days, and when it seized him he was engaged in listening to Miss Julianna reading — by no means for the first time — Plowden's "History of Ireland," where his nephew's name figured on many a page. He had settled an annuity of £200 Irish — about £175 Eng lish currency — on the General, and left him an additional gift of one hundred guineas. He divided his considerable wealth nearly equally among his three surviving nephews of his own name. He left his old family property and inherited lease hold interest and some money to the Liberator, his brother's eldest surviving son. To my father-in-law, whose marriage with Miss Coppinger, of Barry's Court, he had negotiated, he left the fine provision of £2600 a year ; to his third nephew, afterwards Sir James, about as much, but by James's prudent speculations in land in the bad times, it amounted to more than three times the original bequest. Sir James got much more money than land from his uncle. Sir James told the present Daniel O'Connell, of Darry nane, that Hunting Cap left £54,000 between money and securities, which was divided between his three nephews, share and share alike. My husband always said his uncle James acted with remarkable fairness and impartiality in the matter. Maurice O'Connell died on the 10th of February, 1825, and was buried in the tomb of his parents, in the abbey on the island near Darrynane. There is a very picturesque tradition connected with the O'Connells, that when death was imminent in their family, a single wild swan would appear, uttering its piercing cry like a human wail. No swans resort to the country near Darrynane under ordinary circumstances. Hard, stern, and caustic as Maurice O'Connell could be, vol. ii. t 274 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. he had a kind heart and a very strong feeling for his own kith and kin. The tie between him and his brother Daniel was singularly close and tender, a love " passing the love of women." Here is what Daniel writes of him — Paris, 21 March, 1825. My Dear James, — I received both your letters in due course, but was so overwhelmed with grief that I have been literally incapable of writing you a line earlier. The loss of an only Brother, so dear to my heart, so justly venerated, has left an impression which shall never be effaced from my fond recollection, and to my last hour I shall not cease to offer up my prayers to God for his soul. I was long aware of the testamentary arrangements, yet I should be glad to learn from you what the actual situation of each of you is, in landed and monied income. Tou know my inquiry arises solely from my regard and warm interest for you. Maur. Connor tells me his sister has paid you in full ten pounds for him. I have recommended to his Cousin Dan1 O'Connell to write to his father to do the same, and I shall repay them the amount at Paris. Of this sum of £10, I wish you to give £8 to Mrs. Lucy S , and £2 to the poor woman at C as you did last year. The remaining £10 I wish to be given to a Mrs. S , sister to Lucy S , and residing at a place called A , near Kenmare, who has written to me to solicit some relief. If I am to believe the picture she draws of her misery, she is much in need of it. I trust the arrangements John and you made with the credi tors of Lucy S 's unworthy husband will enable her to dispense in future with my assistance. Now, with respect to what my Dear Brother bequeathed me, I pray you will remit to my Bankers in London, for my use, the 100 guineas immediately, and the £300 every year in two half-yearly instalments. Tour friend Lord Headley is here. He did me the favour to dine with us last week. We spoke a great deal of Kerry ; he seems much attached to that Country, and has expressed a particular regard for you — a sure way to win my heart. Pray embrace your two boys for their old Uncle. My warm affections to their Mother [James O'Connell had married Jane, daughter of old Madam O'Donoghue, and his brother-in-law, The O'Donoghue of the Glens, married his niece, Jane O'Connell, of Grenagh, a few years later. Their son, the late charming and popular chieftain, so well known in London, died in November, 1889], and respects for old Mrs. O'Donoghue. Where is her son ? His friend Charles O'Con- A Man of Other Days. 275 neli is here, very well conducted in point of morals and prudence, but very idle. [The old gentleman was so over- poweringly industrious, that his declaration of another man's idleness requires the traditional grain of salt. The next person mentioned is Arthur O'Leary's son, the little Connor of the poem, who ran through the house of mourning looking for his murdered father ; he served in the Gardes Franchises, and embraced the professions of physic and law, and married three, wives.] Con O'Leary desires to be remembered, also the McCarthy family. O'Leary [the son of Eileen O'Connell] is very desirous to obtain for his eldest Boy the first Bourse that falls vacant on the O'Connell foundation at Paris, and surely he has a fair claim to it ; yet Maurice Connor tells me that you and your Brothers have ¦ nominated a younger Brother of his to the first vacancy. I must observe to you that you ought never, nay, that you have no right to do so, and that it would be exceedingly unfair to dispose of two Bourses in the same family, to the prejudice of a nearer relation. Adieu, my very Dear James. Believe me unalter ably Tour truly fond Uncle, General O'Connell. Paris, 19'" July, 1825. My Dear James, — I trust my letter has reached you in due course. I forgot to mention that it is my earnest wish to have a decent marble tomb built for my honored and beloved Parents. I request you will comply with my intention as soon as your other affairs will leave you a little leisure ; the cost, of course, to be at my charge. I have had the pleasure of seeing our old and esteemed friend, Judge Day, at Paris. We spoke more than once of my dear deceased Brother, with the kindest Expressions on his part, and with feelings of the deepest sorrow on mine. He appears a warm Advocate of Catholic Claims, and entertains strong hopes of their ultimate success, as the Cause is likely to become a National one by the accession (he thinks) of a very great majority of the Protestant Nobility and gentry of Ireland. [The next paragraph refers to my husband of after-years, who was then a very clever, handsome and charming boy. He was afterwards very distinguished at Trinity College.] Eemember me most affectionately to John and his family. I was proud to read in a Dublin Paper that our dear little Morgan had conquer'd the gold medal at the last Publick Examination. Does John contemplate bringing him to a 276 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. Seminary in England ? If he does, I shall expect a Visit from him, as he promised. In such a case, I would rather you would postpone your's untill next year, as I don't chuse to eat all my white bread in one meal. Adieu, my Dearly beloved James. Believe me, with the warmest affection, Tour most steadfast friend and Uncle, Genl. O'Connell. This letter will be handed by our very worthy friend, Mr. Bernard. I am sincerely sorry to hear of the death of poor Alexander Lawlor. Charles O'Connell is well, and desires his compts to all, but in particular to his friend O'Donoghue. My Dear James, — I owe you an Apology for my long and unusual interruption of our Correspondance, but ever since my letter to our valued friend your brother John, all my thoughts were absorbed in grief and sorrow for the loss of Mr. d'Etchegoyen's only Daughter by his first marriage, a most amiable and valuable young woman, who died of a con sumption at the age of 32, leaving an only child, now only 8 months old. This melancholy event has been a severe blow to M. and Madame d'Etchegoyen in particular, and indeed to every individual of the family to whom she was so justly dear. I believe you will remember having seen her. Be that as it may, I am certain you will partake in the deep concern of a family so sincerely attached to all my friends, I have to acquaint you that my Bankers in London have acknowledged your Bill for £105. Mrs. S of A has likewise acknowledged the £10 you paid her ; the remaining £10 I am certain you disposed of Agreably to my wishes. I assume you have drawn the £500 I directed my Bankers in London to hold at your disposal, and that you have laid them out for the benefit of your Brother Daniel's son John. If a more safe opportunity has offered I hope to do as much next year for his Brother Morgan, if it pleases God to prolong my life till then. Master D , of , and two or three others have been dismissed by the Superiors of the Irish College here, for what reason I have not been able to learn ; however unpleasant ic is to be discarded, it is not otherwise to be regretted for my namesake that the event took place. He was doing nothing in his studies; he is, unhappily for him, uncommonly destitute of natural talents, and, I fear, incapable of receiving any improvements by Study, for which he has no taste ; his memory is extremely shallow, his conception slow and im perfect. I believe his friends had better turn him to some thing that may suit his inability. A Man of Other Days. 277 John and you have given me hopes of a visit this summer. I need not assure you both of the heartfelt pleasure you will afford me. Tou will find me somewhat lonely. All our family are gone to their country seat [Madon], near Blois. I have remained for the benefit of taking Sulphur Baths, which have been recommended to me by the Physicians, and particularly to have the pleasure of receiving your visit at Paris, and spare you the trouble of going to join me at Madon. How is my esteemed friend, your Brother Daniel ? His journey to London has been a heavy loss to his Purse, but has afforded him an opportunity of displaying his great and splendid talents, and manly and honourable character. The Catholic Question is making its way. It is patronized by the ablest men in England, by every enlightened mind, and must succeed if it be pursued with temper, moderation, and kindness towards all Classes and Sects. Adieu, my very Dear and highly esteemed friend and nephew. My fond love to all your family and to John. Ever your devoted, Genl. O'Connell. I am inform'd Daniel's family are to pass the Summer at Darinane. I expect my friend Morgan John early in August. Dr. O'Leary and family are well and send their love, so do the McCarthies. I assume it unnecessary to recommend to you and John to invest your Money in Lands whenever you can with safety do so (even if you were to high price) ; in the course of a few years there will be, in all probability, a vast influx of the precious metals, and the value of money must sink in proportion as the quantity increases, but landed property will rise in the same ratio. Pray, is Ellen married to Mr. FitzSimon [the Liberator's eldest daughter, a charming and accomplished woman, whose second daughter, Eilie, married my only brother, Charles Bianconi, Junior] ? Tour friend Charles O'Connell is well. [Here the paper is somewhat torn. The portion seems to refer to an arrangement he was getting made for a widow lady with her husband's creditors, and his refusal of help to another applicant.] Pray, what arrangement has Daniel entered into respecting the Demesne of Dear Darinane and the Islands ? [The Liberator had succeeded to his uncle's family property.] All my family desire their affectionate regards, and will be most happy to see you next September, as you mention, but have but little hopes of your visit. If Catholic Emanci pation takes place, I think it would be likely to enhance the price of Lands and tend to depress the interest of money. 278 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. I have not been able to see a letter for 1826 or 1827. The veteran's delight and pride at the part his nephew had taken in the great struggle and final victory of Catholic Emancipa tion can be easily imagined. I could reconstruct the letter he must have written to his dear Dan. He doubtless recalled the words written twenty-five years before — that he had looked to this younger Daniel to shed a lustre on the family with his talents, as he had once hoped to do with his own sword ; that he had long hoped to see that day ; and that his joy as an Irishman and a Catholic was only incomplete because his best-beloved brother had not been spared on earth to see this day of deliverance. Though Maurice, like Moses, had not entered into the promised land, he had wisely led all who came into the wide circle of his influence, and was doubtless enjoying the reward of a long and useful life and remarkable filial piety, and his spirit rejoicing in the emanci pation of his race and creed, led by the man who now sat in his chair. Boss O'Connell tells me the aged General spent part of several winters in Nice with some of the ladies of the family. As Madame Isidore d'Etchegoyen died of consumption, it is likely he escorted her thither, and was glad to benefit by the "balsamic airs," which he expected would cure The O'Do noghue when a deadly illness had stricken his young grand- niece's husband. Besides his cosy quarters in the Paris mansion, he had his apartment in the chateau of Madon, and there delighted in inspecting and directing improvements. The venerable cure of the parish, Canon Noury, appointed only six years after the veteran's death, says that his memory is still revered among the people, and they say he died like a saint. The Liberator says that his " son-in-law's country seat near Blois was a beauteous spot on the Loire, which he himself had ornamented in the most exquisite style of English planting." There he elected to lay his bones, and purchased a vault where he sleeps, surrounded by those who had lovingly watched and tended his old age. Foreign travel, a lovely country abode, a town house in Paris, plenty of cheerful society, and a love of study and mental improvement carried on to the very end of A Man of Other Days. 279 life, complete an ideal picture of a happy and an honoured old age. To the very last he took an immense interest in politics, but I fear "nephew Dan's" democratic tendencies rather frightened the old gentleman, who had witnessed the horrors of that Eevolution which was heralded by the utterance of the noblest sentiments and largely promoted in its earlier developments by men of lofty patriotic heroism. He must have seen analogies enough between the Girondins and the Bepealers to make him shake a handsome head, which might have fallen under the deadly knife but for its owner's un common sagacity in times of peril. There is something comical in the conflict between pride and family affection on the one hand, and the natural con servatism of an old soldier of a despotic monarchy on the other. I append the few typical bits from letters which Boss O'Connell has sent concerning charities and young kinsfolk. The General sent money to build four schools in different parts of Kerry where his nephews had property. Curiously enough, the actual wording of a letter led to a violation of its spirit. His brother Maurice had a very valuable middle interest in the village of Cahirdaniel and surrounding lands under the Hartopp family, which it never occurred to the veteran would pass away from the family. All these old leases to Catholics contained renewal clauses with fines. In this case these were suffered to lapse, and the property was lost. The terms of the gift were to schools on the property of his nephews, and when Cahirdaniel reverted to the owner, the endowment was removed to a school on the property of his nephew James, in strict accordance with the wording of the gift. Boss O'Connell sends me the following extract. It refers to some poor young ladies in Kerry. I do not give their names. " About the shop you mention, he writes from the Chateau de Madon, August 30, 1828 : ' Some time previous to my leaving Paris I received a letter from a Miss Maria , who, with another little girl, a sister of hers, lives with her grandmother at G . From what she writes, the two sisters appear to be in the deepest misery, their grandmother 280 Tlie Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. being unable to afford them anything besides their bare subsistence. This is, of course, an appeal to my charity, and I feel quite disposed to relieve them, not, however, until I have consulted you as to the best manner of doing so. It seems to me that by giving them a credit for 50£, the elder sister might set up a little shop at Cahirsiveen, and make out a livelihood for herself and her little sister. I ww willingly add 20£ more for to buy them cloathes and a little furniture.' " He hardly ever writes a letter without sending money for some one or something — £100 to the chapel at Cahirdaniel ; and then the schools are always coming in; he seems to have built four, one at Darrynane-beg, one at Cahirdaniel, and two in other parts of Iveragh." — [B. O'C] For the subsequent year Boss O'Connell sends me the following scrap : — " Paris, 1829 : Jane and Miss Galway come to dine from their Convent to meet O'Donoghue and his travelling com panion, C. O'Connell." Both these gentlemen married his grand-nieces — the young chieftain married Jane O'Connell, of Grenagh; Charles O'Connell, of Ballinabloun, married Kate O'Connell, of Darrynane. My sister-in-law was at school with Miss Gal way, of Killarney, at the old famous Convent of the Dames Anglaises, so beautifully and sympathetically described by George Sand. She had just left it, and the clever girl's wonderfully beautiful themes — full of piety and fervour then — used to be given as models of style to the Irish girls. My sister-in-law's recollections of the kindly and charming old man were just similar to those of her cousins. She remem bered being fetched to see some bride preparing for her presentation at court, and learning from a great dancing- master the prodigiously sweeping old-world curtsy required, and which the General thought would be an improving spectacle to young girls. She and Miss Galway used often to spend Sunday with the family circle in the Eue des Capucines, and were amused watching the guests, as there was often a small informal reception in the evening. They A Man of Other Days. 281 were expected to conform to French customs for young ladies in the schoolroom, and looked on, but did not take part in the conversation unless specially addressed. Miss Julianna told me sundry stories she heard of the veteran and other young people, and one story of a full-grown man, one of the many O'Connells who had passed from the Irish Brigade to the British Service in Count O'Connell's regiment, and then into other British regiments. On some occasion the Duke of Tork reviewed some troops, among whom this gentleman's regiment figured, on March 18. The Irishmen who did not share our General's horror of drink had been drowning the shamrock to some purpose, especially this very tall stout Kerry man. His friends went to hunt him up in the morning, and found his orderly vainly endeavouring to get him into the very tight and complicated regimentals then worn. Before he was half ready he was obliged to turn out. The Duke perceived an officer whose costume was very untidy, and sent an aide-de-camp to know what British officer presumed to appear in such a trim. With tipsy dignity, the officer in question responded, "Does not his Eoyal Highness know that last night was Patrick's Day ? " The matter-of-fact Englishman had to laugh, and so had the royal Duke, when this Irish bull was repeated to him. The hero consequently got off with a few hours' arrest and the following reprimand : " Tell the officer in question to retire to his quarters, and make Patrick's Night of to-day." A very fine-looking young relative, who had not cultivated his mind to the pitch Count O'Connell thought essential, came to see him in Paris. He was taken out for a stroll, and, I fear, cross-examined as to his attainments. Passing along a fine new street of tall houses, the old gentleman said, "My dear So-and-so, do you see that house? It reminds me of you." The young man looked up at a lofty new mansion, felt rather flattered, and inquired in what the resemblance lay. " That is a very fine house to look at outside, but it is very badly furnished in the upper story." 282 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. In July, 1829, the General writes a long political letter. He had given £200 to the fund for the Liberator, so he had some right to comment on some of the emancipated ones, on whom it seems a pity not to have left some portion of their chains, so strangely did they requite their deliverer. Paris, 3 July, 1829. My Dear James, — Permit me to address you as my agent, and request of you to call in the twelve Months of my annuity due since the 1st of May, and to remit that Sum to Messrs. Coutts and Co., of London, for my account. I am extremely anxious to be informed how the sub scription for your Brother Daniel goes on. That of the Catholic Peerage of England has been shamefully shabby, if the account in the Papers be true. I own I expected nothing handsome from them, but I could have never supposed it would be so paltry. Pray, what has Lord Kenmare sub scribed? I hope he has not followed the example of his Grace of Norfolk. The Clare Election is soon to come on. The Papers say Daniel's return is certain. His address to the Freeholders seems to me calculated to Embody all the Aristocracy of the Country against him, but at the same time, to rally for his support the independent freeholders, and I trust these latter are by far the most numerous. Pray, who is the other candidate ? I had some time back a letter from your Brother John, concerning a pretended Deposit of a large Sum of Money in Mr. Lafittes' Bank for the benefit of the heirs of a Mr. McCarthy, of Ardcannaght, who died at Mexico. I trust John has long since got my answer to his letter. Pray assure him and Bess [Elizabeth, daughter of William Coppinger, of Barry's Court, County Cork] of my sincere Affection. I hear that Jane [their daughter] is quite well. It is but justice to her to say that she is an uncommonly amiable, well-informed, and sensible girl. She expects her father and mother in September. We shall be then at Madon, but we hope that they will come to pass some weeks with us. I suppose my young friend O'Donoghue arrived long since at Lake View. I beg you will assure him of my esteem and good wishes, presenting my respects to Mrs. O'Donoghue. The uncommonly well-informed young lady and the highly estimable young gentleman, whose names occur in A Man of Other Days. 283 such close proximity, got married very soon after, and I suspect the veteran had some hopes that way when he coupled their names. A union which was so suitable and auspicious in every way was soon terminated by the death of the young husband, and the veteran's grand-niece, married just after she left school, found herself a widow with a child before she was of age. All through the series, even when the General's sight had failed him and he employed some kind hand to write for him, his letters are full of his dear Jane and her husband and child. Even in his testa mentary letter, he prays Heaven to guard the sole offshoot of an ancient line, the handsome and popular O'Donoghue who has just passed away, leaving many sons to perpetuate the name. James O'Connell had married The O'Donoghue's sister Jane. Adieu, my Dear James. My love to your aimiable Partner and to your Boys. Accept the sincere regards of all your friends in the rue des Capucines, and believe me unalterably your affect, friend and Uncle, Genl. O'Connell. In the next paragraph, the postscript of above, all the old gentleman's prudence crops up. In the affluence of his old age, with his comfortable apartments in the mansion in Paris and the chateau in the country, and French and English half-pay, and fraternal legacy, he never forgot the days when he was an emigre in London, when the possi bility of earning £200 a year and owing nothing to any man was the dream of his existence. Substance, not shadow, had always attracted him. He seems to have had a curious regret that the circumstances of his country in his youth had prevented his embracing the legal career. As he more than once states, he had transferred his ambition from his own career, hopelessly checked by the Eevolution, to that of his nephew and namesake, Daniel. Daniel's handsome and clever eldest son naturally interested him deeply; but the veteran had got a surfeit of politics in France, and mourned to see father and son turned from the profitable paths of law to the flowery, but no wise fruitful, paths of popular patriotism. 284 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. Pray, how does your nephew Maurice go on? He seems to have given up his professional pursuits, and to devote his time altogether to his Father. God grant that they may not both be the worse for it ! I can't help feeling uneasy at the ultimate result of the great change likely to take place in Daniel's situation and affairs. [The Liberator's fee-book, preserved at Darrynane, shows a clear gain of £6000 the year before he abandoned the law for politics.] Pray give me candidly your and John's opinion on a subject so near to my heart. Daniel's character stands high ; no doubt his abilities are universally acknowledged, but I see no provision made for his large family in the event of any misfortune. I assure you, my Dear James, this melan choly thought often deprives me of rest. Boss O'Connell mentions the General's annual visits to Nice for years in the latter part of his life, and quotes this caustic judgment on the Liberator, written to his brother James — Nice, Dec. 20th, 1829. I regret to see the sure emoluments of his [Daniel O'Connell's] profession sacrificed to Parliamentary Pursuits, which may perhaps prove creditable to himself, but are likely to prove injurious to his children ; but Vanity is his pre dominant Passion. Little Bonite d'Etchegoyen has grown up, and marries a Spanish gentleman, Baron de Paraza. In 1830 a story is added to the Paris mansion, so that she can have her apartment under the family roof-tree, and we soon begin to hear of a little Marie de Paraza, who is now Madame de Sers, still living, and I hope likely to live long. This very year, in July, 1830, Charles X. had to fly from his kingdom, and the citizen-king ruled in his stead. I am not aware if Mr. Boche ("Essays of an Octogenarian") had any real authority for the following statement, or if it merely repre sented current gossip. In any case, it shows the opinion entertained of our General. At p. 41 he says, " It is well known that a marshal's staff was destined for Count O'Connell by Charles X., whose life he had saved at the siege of Gibraltar in 1782, and only stopped execution by that sove reign's dethronement. No one could be worthier of that or any other honour." A Man of Other Days. 285 Of course, a new oath of allegiance was administered to the army of King Louis Philippe, and those who refused it were disbanded and struck off the paymaster's list. I hope there is no need to say it was equally a matter of course that my General refused it. My husband always said he heard his uncle had said he was too old to turn traitor at over eighty years. The Liberator simply says, " He refused to take the oath of fidelity to Louis Philippe, and was of course desti tuted." He then mentions that the old man retired to Madon, where he awaited with resignation the " Nunc dimittis." Grant poetically describes his old age and retirement thus : " O'Connell lived in tranquillity and honour, a remnant of other days and of old romantic sympathies, until 1830, when he was again deprived of his French emoluments for his unwavering fidelity to Charles X. and the elder branch of the Bourbons. After this he retired to Madon, near Blois, where he died on July 9, 1833, in the ninety-first [really eighty-ninth] year of his age, the oldest colonel of the British Army and the senior general of the French." But before he died the veteran had work to do, and joys and sorrows to experience. He was much attached to the step-daughter of his step-daughter, and he saw her borne to the grave from her loving husband and baby-child. There was something peculiarly sad in this to the aged childless man, who was ready and willing himself to obey the last summons hence ; indeed, his old age was one long prepara tion for death. Notwithstanding my hero's staunch loyalty, he was obliged to seek one favour at the hands of the usurper. Perhaps the question of the validity of his summary naturalization after the Bestoration had been raised to spite the old Eoyalist, or that a doubt was cast on the transaction. He had ob tained from one of the Bourbon kings leave to bequeath his peerage and his title to his step-grandson, Daniel d'Etche goyen, who, during his lifetime even, bore the name of O'Connell. It was probably necessary to get this full and perfect form of letters of naturalization signed by the reign ing King to legalize the reversion of the peerage. In his 286 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. French will he speaks of the young man as "Monsieur Louis Charles Daniel d'Etchegoyen-O'Connell, my godson ; " and there is no mention of the title and its accompanying privileges of representation, so that the adoption must have been arranged by a previous legal instrument. The young man was always called Daniel, according to a common custom with foreigners of not using the first or even the second Christian name, and calling the person by the name of some sponsor, which might be low down on the list. My own father's names were Gioachimo Carlo Guiseppe, yet it was as Charles Bianconi that he was always known. Prerogative Court. Exhibit F. Letter of Naturalization. Louis Philippe, King of the French, to all whom these may concern, now and hereafter, greeting. Denis x Charles Count O'Connell, Lieutenant-General retired from the service, Commander of the Boyal and Military Order of St. Louis, born at Darrynane, in Ireland, on May 21, 1745, states to us that by a decree of December 12, 1818, he has become naturalized ; that his sincerest wish is to devote the remainder of his days to our service and to that of a country the only one which he this day acknowledges ; and he supplicates us in consequence that we may be pleased to grant him letters of naturalization in pursuance to the decree above said, dated December 12, 1818. Accordingly, wishing to act favourably towards the petitioner, upon the report of our Keeper of the Seals, the Minister for Justice ; considering the declaration made by the claimant before the Mayor of the First District, April 22, 1818; considering that he still adheres to his intention of settling altogether in France ; considering the decree as above dated, December 12, 1818 : By this our special grace it is our will and pleasure that he should be admitted, as we do admit him, by these presents, signed under our own hand, and which will be published and inserted in the Bulletin of Laws, to the enjoyment of the franchises, privileges, civil and political rights, enjoyed by all true and French-born subjects. We do forbid that under any pretence he may be molested in the enjoyment thereof so long as he shall continue to reside in our kingdom. We direct and command our courts and tribunals, prefects, 1 An affidavit explains the mistake of putting Denis Charles for Daniel Charles. A Man of Other Days. 287 administrators, and all bodies to uphold and forward these presents, to cause the same to be observed, upheld, and for warded. And in order to render them more notorious to all persons, to cause the same to be published and registered wherever it may be required of them, and in order that it may be of a firm and everlasting standing, we have caused our seal to be affixed hereunto. Given at Paris, at the Boyal Palace, the 7th day of December, 1830. Louis Philippe. Exhibited at the Seal Office, by the King, the Keeper of the Seals, Minister of Justice — DUPONT DE L'EURE, Keeper of the Seals, Minister of Justice. Whole fee, 100 francs ; referendary's fees, 50 francs ; regis tering fees, 22 francs ; material fees allowed the refendary, 8. Total, 180 francs. The Secretary of the Seal, the head of Division at the Ministry of Justice. Cuvillier. These are to certify the signatures of his Majesty, Louis Philippe, King of the French, and of M. Dupont de l'Eure, Keeper of the Seals of France and Minister of Justice. Paris, this 10th day of August, 1838. His Britannic Majesty's Consul at Paris, Thomas Pickford. ( Sea]- \ These are further to certify that the seal attached to the present "Lettres de declaration de Naturalite" is a true im pression of the Great Seal of France. Paris, this 10th day of August, 1838. His Britannic Majesty's Consul at Paris, Thomas Pickford. 288 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. Exhibit H. Bulletin of Laws. Second part Decrees, No. 87. No. 2437. Decree of the King granting letters of declara tion of naturalization to Denis Charles Count O'Connell, Lieutenant-General retired from the service, Commander of the Boyal and Military Order of St. Louis, born at Darry nane, in Ireland, the 21st of May, 1745 (Paris, 12th of December, 1818), certified to be a true copy by us, Keeper of the Seals of France, Minister, Secretary of State at the Department of Justice at Paris, the 14th of July, 1831. Barxhe. This date is that of the Chancery receiving the bulletin. Subscriptions to the Bulletins of Laws taken at the rate of nine francs a year at the cahiers of the Boyal Printing Office, or at the directors of provincial post-offices at Paris, from the Eoyal Printing Office, July 14, 1831. Marryings and givings in marriage fill much of my General's mind. He writes a very pretty letter to his grand- niece Kate on her sister's marriage. The bride-elect, who is still living, though her dear sister has recently passed away, had been little more than a child when he used to see her in Paris, but he noticed and remembered her early love of beautiful scenery — a trait he shared with her. I have peculiar pleasure in quoting this letter, because it shows how completely devoid of snobbery my hero was, not withstanding the atmosphere of courts and camps he had long breathed. Very few Munster folk could be content to take his advice of seeking personal, even when devoid of hereditary, qualifications. There is one excuse for them. During the greater part of the last century it was impossible for Catholics to rise to any position of consequence, and even if they made money by retail trade they were very likely illiterate, as all the educational endowments belonged to the few old respectable families who had contrived to struggle on in their original position. These conditions led to a great prejudice among old-fashioned gentlewomen against any man who did not come of a respectable family. The letter is bound up with others Mrs. FitzSimon had collected with a view of using them in the opening chapters of a life of the A Man of Other Days. 289 Liberator, her father. I have never seen her manuscript, but have heard it contained a good deal about her great-uncle, whose picturesque career would naturally attract a woman of her poetic temperament. Au Chateau de Madon, par Blois, Loire et Cher, April 18, 1831. My Dear Kate, — Tour letter has been a very agreable sur prise to me. I was apprehensive my friends in Merrion Square had forgot me, but your letter has Convinced me of my error, and I very gladly retract it. The information it conveys of Betsy's marriage with Mr. Ffrench gives me great Pleasure. His family, his connexions and independant Fortune, and, what in my Estimation is far more valuable, his personal qualifications, are sure pledges of Betsy's future happiness. It seems they intend to visit the Highlands. If I remember right, she always discovered a partiality to that Country (she had probably read "Ossian"). I suppose they will visit Glascow, the Caledonian Canal, and the Clyde, which is the Brenta of Scotland ; but whilst the latter, formerly the Summer Abode of the proud Venetian Nobles, is now decaying fast, the former is as quickly improving. Sic fata voluerunt. I regret to find that the derangement of Morgan's health has prevented him from joyning his Colours at the expiration of his Conge. He is now with you in London, I suppose, on his way to Germany, where I trust he will consider it his Duty as well as his interest to remain a long time ere he may think of revisiting Ireland. I have been informed by the Papers of Maurice's having been returned for the County of Clare, which is but an addi tional proof of your father's permanent popularity in Ireland. I wish it may tend to induce some opulent Heiress to share her fortune with Maurice. Tou know a Seat in Parliament is far from being a Sinecure. Give my love to your Mother. I am greatly flattered to think that in giving away Betsy she remembered me and our old conversation on the subject of Matrimony. If I may be allowed to deliver my thoughts on that delicate Question under existing circumstances, I must confess that I would not reject a person well principled, well Educated, and possessing a good Fortune, acquired by honest and honourable industry and Exertion, even if he were what you call a man of yesterday. I am expecting your Uncle James on a visit to me at Madon towards the close of this Month or the first Days in VOL. II. v 290 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. May. He comes by Bristol, Southampton, and Havre. I hope to retain him here for at least a fortnight. Adieu, my very Dear Kate. Give my sincere love to your Father and Mother and to every member of your family, and I deeply regret to think that my advanced Age, with some Infirmities, altho' not so many or so severe as several others of my Contemporaries, still preclude the possibility of my visiting once more my native shores. Poor Darinane, so dear to my remembrance ! I am happy to hear the air of it agrees so well with your Mother. All your friends at Madon desire to be affectionately remembered. Mde de Paraza has a sweet little girl, Mary? nearly two years old, and she bids me give you her love. She speaks English, Adieu again, Dear Kate. When shall I be informed that you are married, well married ? It is, indeed, one of the warmest wishes of your old but profoundly attached Uncle, Genl. O'Connell. His niece, Jane O'Connell, of Grenagh, had greatly pleased him by her marriage with The O'Donoghue, whose handsome sister had long before married the young Madam's uncle James, and it was a proportionate blow to him that her husband became dangerously ill. The old gentleman's touching anxiety about the homes and families of his Irish kindred mingles with scraps of politics and news. His marked and decided horror of his nephew Dan's politics is natural enough, but one of his notions is peculiarly odd, viz. the possibility of a transfer of Lords and Commons once in three years to Dublin. I believe it has the merit of being the only strange panacea not brought forward in our age of nostrums social, political, and economic. It is sad to Bee the old man pining for a line from his dear Dan of other days, or at least from his family; but I must excuse the younger Daniel. From all my husband told me, and no one knew his illustrious uncle more intimately, the Liberator was incapable of inflicting deliberate pain on any living being. He had a great deal of the old Irish family feeling, and he was fond and proud of the old man, who affirms stoutly he did him no discredit ; but he was busy with the weightiest cares, he was in a whirl of triumphant excitement, and he 1 Now the Marquise de Sers, of Madon. A Man of Other Days. 291 could hardly be expected to sit down and indite dutiful epistles to a prim and conservative old gentleman, who was always throwing cold water on his enthusiastic visions. The ladies of the Liberator's family would naturally somewhat resent this criticism of the kindest and fondest head a family ever possessed. With these few preparatory and qualifying remarks, I shall quote such letters as have reached me. The ruin which overtook my father-in-law in the early days of the famine have caused a total dispersion of his papers, so that I have none of the General's letters to him. Sir Maurice, of Lake View, sent me those which follow, and allowed me to make what extracts I pleased from a huge document of the Prerogative Court, wherein I gathered many particulars. Madon, 17 August, 1831. My Dear James, — I was much pleased to hear yr brother Dan had been returned for Kerry, una voce or nearly so, and that his son Maurice had been likewise returned for Clare, but not without a warm contest and a Duel (say the papers). Please to mention who was his Antagonist and anything important relative to that mighty unpleasant Event. I can't but regret that our approved and esteem'd friend, the Knight of Kerry, the unvarying and warm advocate of Catholic Emancipation, has been thrown out, yet I am Sensible his opposition to the Beform Bill render'd it unavoidable. I trust that bill will be productive of important benefits to all, as it goes to a total extirpation of many gross abuses that had taken deep root and corrupted and vitiated the genuine Spirit of the Constitution, and lead to a Bepeal of several obnoxious Laws still in force in Ireland, and thereby com pletely remove every idea of a Eepeal of the Union. . . . Paris has been some time back in a state of agitation, but now things wear a better aspect, and promise both Domestic and foreign peace. France has an immense and well-trained army, and, if united within herself, may bid defiance to all Europe. Great plans of economy are in contemplation, and some Already carried out. All pensions on the Military Order of St. Louis are already cancelled, by which I lose 3000 frs. a year as Grand Cross. Ever, etc.,General O'Connell. This letter is written by one of the ladies of the family, as are several others. They are signed in a very shaky and 292 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. irregular way. Evidently the old soldier, who had been such a neat and clear caligrapher, could hardly see to guide the pen. MMon, April 8th, 1832. My Dear James, — I received your letters of the 14th Novbr and 4 January, and was happy to hear that our friends had arrived safe at Pisa. Here comes a long paragraph, full of fallacious hopes of the recovery of The O'Donoghue, who died of consumption a few months after in Florence. His young wife, little son, and the old Ma-dam, James O'Connell's mother-in-law, accompanied him. So little did the old man, slowly, peace fully drawing to his end, realize the true state of his grand- niece's husband, that he is full of hope a sojourn of a year or two will set him up. He hopes the old lady and the child, a very fine handsome little fellow, will profit by it, especially if they let little Daniel take plenty of exercise. It is very interesting to see the views this keen old observer of men and things takea of the dawning of our modern Irish democracy. Having had a very narrow escape from the guillotine, his name being on the list of the pro scribed, he had a certain reason for distrusting King Demos. The information you give me respecting your brother's Election would surprize me had I not been prepared for it, but the Beform Bill, by strengthening the Middle Classes, left no doubt in my mind as to the result. I see in the papers that your Brother Daniel has mustered all his Irish forces, with their auxiliaries, English and Scotch, in opposi tion to Government, but hitherto very unsuccessfully. The Bill now pending for the suppression of Insurrection and restoration of good order will unquestionably pass by a large majority in both Houses, and tend to restore peace and tranquillity to that distracted country — an effect greatly to be wished for. I likewise trust his attempts and exertions to enforce a Bepeal of the Union will prove equally un successful. We must bear in mind all the difficulties the Irish-French officers had encountered in their dealings with the Irish Parliament, and the delays thrown in the way of their recruiting for the six Catholic regiments of the new Irish A Man of Other Days. 293 Brigade. The veteran, who had carried on the secret negotia tions for his comrades, many of whom were far more French than Irish, had no very tender recollections of the Irish Parliament, though for Grattan in person he entertained grateful esteem. The next paragraph specially refers ta my husband and his young brother Maurice. The latter was a very clever lad — won the chief prize at Oscott, but died- there before he had begun a university career. He was a very active, plucky boy ; his school name was " The Deer." At the examinations before his death he recited, amid great applause, verses of his own composition, in which the following lines occur, singularly applicable to a Christian's death such as his own was, and within the. walls of the school. From an " Ode to Man," by young Maurice O'Connell, of Grenagh, written in 1834 — "I saw him on his death-bed. No frantic fear was there, But seraph hope was throned in his breast As he muttered forth a prayer. A crucifix was in his hand, Redeeming pledge of a brighter land ; To clasp his dying Saviour he tried, And in that fond embrace he died. Oh, man was made for this ! " It is touching to see the old man, whose wife had never borne him a living child, though twice his hopes were frustrated by a premature birth, taking such a fatherly interest in the children of the children of his brother. He goes on — Eemember me affectionately to your brother John and family. The account you give of Morgan is, as usual, highly satisfactory, and what you also say of little Maurice, his brother, allows his Friends to hope that he will not be less distinguished than his Brother. I am very glad to hear your dear Boys are making rapid progress with their studies, and I think you will act wisely in taking them over next July to Prior Park, and leaving them there until they finish their studies. I have now to request, my Dear James, you will call in the sum due to me in May next on my annuity, and remit 294 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. the same to Messrs. Coutts, Bankers in London, as usual, recommending them at the same time to advise me of the reception of your bill when paid. Accept, my dear James, the Affectionate wishes of all your Friends about me. They are always highly charmed to hear of you and your family, and extremely sensible to your remembrance and good wishes for them. The state of my health is always the same, neither better nor worse. I am prepared to Experience the same infirmity during the rest of my life, happy, thrice happy, if God be pleased to accept of my sufferings in expiation of my sins. Believe me, my dear James, with the warmest affection to you and your family, Tour unalterably and warmly Attatched friend and Uncle, Genl. O'Connell. Madon, April 20, 1832. My dear James, — Nothing could gratify me more than your letter of the 16th of February last. I longed sadly to hear from my friends about Killarney [Lake View and Grenagh, where his nephews lived, were near it], and am now quite happy they are quite well. I congratulate you and Jane on Dr. Baines'1 satisfactory report respecting your boys. I also most sincerely congratulate your brother John and his partner on the uncommonly happy dispositions of their two sons. Providence has blessed Morgan with distinguished talents, and with, I trust, sound and solid moral Principles ; and I hope his brother Maurice and your two boys will in a day forthcoming emulate him [my dear husband, Morgan John, for seventeen years M.P. for Kerry, the friend of Thackeray and of most of the people worth knowing of his day. He grew wild and extravagant enough in his young manhood, but always retained high honour and the Faith. He bore ruin with perfect cheerfulness, took to the English Bar in middle life, inherited a fine property, and at fifty-three married a young wife in the person of myself. His genial and delightful age, during our ten years' married life, was marked by all the good qualities the veteran prognosticated, and by a genial and cheerful piety like the old man's own. He died July 2, 1875]. From your brother Daniel I never receive a line, nor from any of his family. His neglect of an old Uncle so devoted to his friends, and who has been no discredit to his name, I can easily forgive, but I regret to learn he still invariably pursues his old plan. His idea of a Bepeal of the Union can never succeed, and I think so fortunately, as two Legislatures, quite in- 1 Superior of Prior Park. A Man of Other Days. 295 dependent of each other, although under the same Monarch, could not fail to produce Civil strife or a base corruption as heretofore. Had he managed well, and exerted his talents with prudence and wisdom, he might have perhaps gained a great point, viz. Parliament to sit once in three years in Dublin. Ever yours, my Dear James, General O'Connell. The last letter, a copy of which I possess, is practically Count O'Connell's Irish will — a testamentary letter, in fact. Before quoting it, I shall give a summary of his French will ; not on account of the moneys, which are under £2000, but on account of the insight into character it gives. When he drew it up, in his own handwriting, on October 8, 1831, his dear daughter, the Baronne d'Etchegoyen, was living, and to her he looked for various charitable arrangements. He had given away the bulk of his means before, and these two wills are mere lists of trifling bequests, except the sums already invested in Ireland, and which are assigned in the Irish testamentary letter to his two godsons. The French documents are most queerly translated, so I give the sub stance rather than the translator's words. The veteran had purchased a vault at Coude, close to Madon, which is the family burial-place of his step-descendants. He says, "My wish is to be buried without pomp or honours of any description, and will have no sepulchral monument but a simple marble slab. My intention is that my funeral ex penses do not exceed a sum of 2000 francs." If there be any surplus from this moderate sum (about £80), it is to be handed to his step-daughter, Marie Caroline Celinie, wife of Jean Louis Bernard d'Etchegoyen. All the connection were rich people, so that the legacies which follow are mere souvenirs. He states he bequeaths 1200 francs to Madame d'Etchegoyen to be for her mourning. He leaves 1000 francs each, probably for a similar purpose, to her second son Charles, and to poor Aimee's children, Henri and Marie Celinie d'Etchegoyen (the latter now Marquise de Senarport). He leaves his little pet, Marie de Paraza, now the Marquise de Sers and owner of Madon, 500 francs. " I give," he says, " to M. Louis Daniel Charles 296 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. d'Etchegoyen a sum of 10,000 francs (about £400), to gether with my furniture, my books and maps, and my military uniforms, including my sword, hilt-tassels, epaulettes, and hat. I also bequeath to him the sum of which M. Jacques Drouillard, my brother-in-law, shall happen to be in my debt at my decease." This was doubtless a reference to an annuity settled on him by his late wife. Count O'Connell orders six hundred Masses to be said for the repose of his soul, of his sister Anne's, and of the souls of his wife Martha and her children, Charles and Louise. The Masses are to be celebrated by the priests of the Madeleine, in Paris, and of the country parishes of Chaumont en Loire, Coude, Montils, and Chailles, near Madon. Small sums, varying from 800 to 200 francs, in some cases 300, in others 100, and down to 50 francs, are given to charities — to the poor of each of the twelve arrondissements of Paris ; to the sick poor of the parish of the Madeleine ; to the poor of the three parishes about Madon ; with 100 francs more for Madame d'Etchegoyen to give in charity as she thinks best. To the poor debtors in Paris, and to the Petits Seminaires of the dioceses of Paris and Blois, 300 francs each. The other charities are — Providence Asylum, Paris ; Befuge for Boys, Paris ; Female Penitents, Paris ; Orphan Girls, Paris ; Savoyard Boys, Paris ; Aged Priests, Paris ; Aged Nuns, Paris ; and the Foreign Missions, Paris. He leaves his servant six months' wages and his wardrobe, except the regimentals, and leaves his table-linen and sheet ing to the house — probably it had belonged to his wife. He directs his executors, the two D'Etchegoyen brothers, to get in all arrears of pay, and if anything remained over, to apply it to the redemption of poor people's pledges from the Paris Mont de Piete. He concludes by requesting them to send a duly attested certificate of his death to his nephew, James O'Connell. The will is officially described as a holograph document, without blot or erasure or interlineation, all in testator's handwriting, on two sides of one sheet of paper, bearing a stamp of 1 franc 75 centimes. He lived nearly two years after drawing up the document, but, as hand and eye were failing, he wisely used both while he A Man of Other Days. 297 could still write himself. He had naturally looked forward to his dear daughter to cloBe his eyes, but she was taken from him a short time before he was called to his reward. He still had with him her daughter and niece, and her daughter's little Marie, on whom he seems to have doted, and who remembers him, especially his death, though she was only about four years old. She mentioned about her uncle Daniel O'Connell in her interesting letter to Judge Kelly. She says, " After my grandmother married M. d'Etchegoyen my great-grand father never lived away from his children. He had adopted my uncle — my mother's brother — his godson, bestowing on him his title, his peerage, and his name. Though he adopted my uncle Daniel, as far as his name and title went, the General did not in any way wrong his own family so far as his own money was concerned. All his fortune reverted to one of his O'Connell nephews ; certainly none of it came to us. "My uncle was known as Count Daniel d'Etchegoyen- O'Connell. After the death of my great-grandfather, the General, my uncle married Mdlle. de Louvancourt. He lost his life eighteen months after his marriage by a fall from a carriage, similar to that which caused the death of the Duke of Orleans." It is sad to think that the young man on whom the veteran of France had fixed to bear his name and the hard-won honours of a long life should have thus perished in his prime, without a son to carry on the traditions of the last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. Just a month before his death, Count O'Connell dictated a beautiful letter to his nephew James. He gives in it minute orders about helping a poor lady whom he had often helped before. From the directions about money matters I should infer that the old man did not expect his end so soon as it came, but that he was setting his house in order. To the very last he could take thought for others in his own distant but ever beloved land. 298 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. Testamentary Letter of General Count Daniel O'Connell to his nephew James O'Connell, of Lake View, Killarney (from Record Office copy). June 10, 1833. My Dear James, — I received your letter of the 1st, and most deeply lament with you the death of your beloved friend and brother-in-law, O'Donoghue. Pray assure his disconsolate mother and his young widow that I most sincerely partake in their affliction. Far from antici pating the sad event, I entertained sanguine hopes of his recovery after a residence of a few years in a soft and mellow transalpine climate. It has pleased Providence to ordain it otherwise ; His holy will be done. Let us pray for the pre servation of the child, and may the Almighty Maker bless and Protect the sole remaining representative of a most ancient and venerable stock ! I hope Jane will also live with you at Lake View, to assist her worthy mother-in-law in the care she will have to bestow on the child. I observed that you are to remit early in September to Messrs. Coutts and Co. the sum of £150 10s for my use. I am sorry my letter of last April did not reach you, owing, I suppose, to its not having been properly directed. I am ever oblidged to borrow the hand and assistance of one or other of the family, as a tremor in the hand prevents me from writing myself. It is now time, my dear James, to transmit you my last intentions with regard to the remittances I from time to time made to you. I had then in contempla tion to bestow £3000 on your brother Daniel's younger sons, Morgan, John, and Daniel, but circumstances now induce me to abandon that plan. I therefore request you may appropriate one-half of that sum for your nephew John only when he attains the age of 25. The remainder I bestow on my little namesake and godson, your second son, Daniel ; you will manage that sum and any others that may now or hereafter revert to me or to him for his benefit. I have received a letter from Mrs. S , of K , announcing her having been ejected from her farm. She is now living with her poor family, and intends setting up a shop, if she can only procure some little means for that purpose. I therefore request you will give her a credit of £10 on my next account; you'll refund yourself that sum when you remit me the November gale of my annuity. Farewell, my dear James. Eemember me affectionately to your brother John's and your own family. Accept the best wishes of all your friends at Madon, and believe me, ever most affection ately and unalterably, your sincere and loving Uncle. A Man of Other Days. 299 I shall direct Messrs. Coutts and Co. to draw any pay that may be due to me of Government on the day of my death, and to hold it at your disposal, as well as any balance that may be due to me on their books, which sum you will be pleased to dispose of as you may think best for charitable purposes. I shall make no testament. I commit to your care to fulfil my intentions agreably to the contents of this letter. With respect to my health, my sight, my hearing, and my memory are considerably impaired, and the infirmity I am afflicted with requires the constant and incessant use of the catheter. I beg to hear from you at least once every three months. General O'Connell. The child, sole surviving male of an ancient stock, so pathetically referred to, is the late O'Donoghue of the Glens, the well-known handsome, popular, and charming M.P. for Tralee. By his wife, Mary, daughter and eventual heiress of Sir John Ennis, of Ballinahown Court, he has left five sons. The Liberator thus touchingly describes the last years of the life of his honoured kinsman in the exquisite home by the wide waters of the Loire, in the chateau of Madon — ¦ " There, in his declining health, he awaited with resigna tion the call of his God, which occurred on July 9, 1833, he having then nearly completed his ninetieth [eighty-ninth] year, and being the oldest colonel in the English Service. He had never in the season of his prosperity forgotten his country or his God. Loving that country with the strongest affection, he retained to the last the full use of her native language ; and, although master of the Spanish, Italian, German, Greek, and Latin, as well as the French and English languages, it was to him a source of the greatest delight to find any person capable of conversing with him in the pure Gaelic of his native mountains. There never lived a more sincere friend, a more generous man. His charities were multiplied and continuous, and it was to the surprise of all who knew him how he could afford to do all the good he did to his kind. He was all his life a practical Catholic, and had the comfort of dying without a pang, amidst all the sacred and sweet consolations of that religion which he had not forgotten in his youth, and which did not abandon him in the days of darkness and death. "Bequiescat in pace." 300 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. The touching testamentary letter shows how alive he was to all that concerned those dear to him. From it we can fancy what he must have felt at the death of Madame d'Etchegoyen, as devoted a child as ever Buth had been. His illness was tedious and protracted, requiring almost daily surgical attendance to assist the failing natural functions, but he probably did not suffer much pain, and was apparently not long in a sick-room. The slight tremor in his hand, the dulled hearing, and the dimmed sight must have stolen on too gradually to be acutely distressing, and the letter written within a month of his death would not lead us to infer that he was actually then an invalid. Everything that love and wealth could procure was his. Probably the little great-grandchild, prattling baby English at his knee, was the sweetest thing in life left to the old man. Death stole on gently, and the stout soldier, who had calmly faced it among the blazing floating batteries of Gibraltar Bay, now met it with equal composure. He lay dying through the short summer night. He lived to see the radiant dawn of the bright July day. At six o'clock on the morning of the 9th of July, 1833, he peacefully passed away in the presence of his dear ones. Death Register. " Baron d'Etchegoyen, widower, 70 years of age, domiciled at Coude, Canton de Coulres, Department Loire et Cher, and Dr. Egret, aged 65, declare the death of Count O'Connell, widower, aged 88, who used to reside in Baron d'Etchegoyen's house. He died at six o'clock in the morning on the 9th of July, 1833. " Before the Mayor, Jacques Augustin Deschamps." The veteran was buried, as he had desired, in the chapel of the village cemetery, where he had bought a vault, at Coude, which is the parish where Madon is situated. The inscription on his monumental tablet could not be simpler. It is in French, which I translate literally. The venerable cure", who transcribed it, promised me some anecdotes, and mentioned how the memory of the holy life and singularly A Man of Other Days. 301 happy death of the old soldier still linger about his home. I regret to state that while these sheets were actually pass ing through the press the Abbe Noury dropped dead. "Here lies Daniel Charles, Count O'Connell, Lieutenant-General, Grand Cross of the Royal and Military Order of St. Louis. Born in Ireland, on the 21st of May, 1745. Died at the Chateau of Madon, the 9th of July, 1833. Requiescat in pace." The following additional particulars are extracted from a letter written in English to the present Count O'Connell, by the Marquise de Sers. They unfortunately reached me too late for insertion in their proper places, according to dates. As stated above, the venerable pastor of the parish, ap pointed only six years after the death of Count O'Connell, had promised the count's namesake to send me some anec dotes and details, when he was stricken down himself, and the kind chatelaine of Madon sends what she can remember, to Count O'Connell. As she was only three years and a half old when the General died, her only distinct recollection is of his death. She writes, " General O'Connell lived and died like a saint. I can see him on his death-bed, when he blessed me." She saw the marriage register of her great-grandmother with Colonel O'Connell in the French Chapel, King Street, London. Her great - grandmother was a Creole, Mdlle. Drouillard de Lamarre. Her first husband, M. Guorond de Bellevue, was also a Creole, but his family came originally from Brittany and settled in St. Domingo. Both families were immensely rich, but were plundered of all in the Eevo lution. Madame de Bellevue, when a widow, was living in London during the Emigration, with two young daughters. When France once more became habitable, M. and Madame O'Connell returned to Paris with Aimee and Celinie de Bellevue. General O'Connell never had any children of his own, and Celinie de Bellevue, the youngest daughter, married Baron d'Etchegoyen, a widower. She was fifteen, he was forty-five, and, notwithstanding the disparity of age, it was a most happy union. M. and Madame O'Connell lived with 302 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. their daughter and son-in-law, and, after three years, Madame O'Connell died. The General stayed on with his adopted children. Madame de Sers mentions, as she had previously mentioned to Judge Kelly, about the General's adopted son, Daniel d'Etchegoyen-O'Connell, the eldest of Celinie's three children, to whom he did not leave his fortune, but his honoured name. The object of a complicated process of naturalization for the old man, and adoption for the young one, was to qualify him to inherit the General's French peerage ; but the Eevolution of 1830 abolished these hereditary peerages, and Madame de Sers' uncle only succeeded to the name and title of the veteran. By his marriage with Mdlle. Adolphine de Louvancourt he left no issue. Bonite d'Etchegoyen, who married Baron de Paraza, had only the one child, now Madame de Sers; Charles, the third son of Celinie, married Mdlle. Valentine de Talleyrand Perigord. The Marquise de Sers mentions one very interesting anecdote of the old General, though she says she naturally heard more about his sanctity, charity, and capacity than of his daily life. The Liberator mentions, in the New Monthly Magazine, how beautifully he had laid out the grounds of his step-daughter's home, in the English style, but omits to mention how the labour was procured which so beautified the park of Madon. The General was there in 1815, when Napoleon's disbanded soldiers of the Army of the Loire swept through the country in great disorder. In the words of Madame de Sers, " When the soldiers de l'Armee de la Loire passed in great disorder, he found means, by his firm attitude, to inspire a great respect in these riotous men, and got them to work quietly here. They made the park, which I hope some day to show you." Nothing could be more characteristic of the veteran's cool determination and clear-headedness than this expedient. I only wonder it escaped his biographers. The portrait of General O'Connell at Darrynane was evidently done while his blushing honours were fresh upon him, in the early days of the Bestoration. It represents him as a very elegant, tall, erect old man, with a still fresh A Man of Other Days. 303 complexion, white hair, and dark eyebrows. The outline of head and face forms an almost perfect oval, the forehead being high, full, and well developed. There are some wrinkles and crows' feet on the handsome keen old face, but the blue eyes are still clear and lively, the slightly shrunken lips are firm and clean cut, and there is a strongly marked dimple in the chin. The veteran wears a dark-blue uniform with a prodigiously high collar, opening in front to show a high black stock and a narrow rim of white shirt-collar. It is heavily embroidered in gold, with wreaths of oak leaves, and he wears massive fringed gold epaulettes. The eight-pointed great cross on his breast is crossed by a wide scarlet watered ribbon, the grand cordon of the Military Order of St. Louis. The identical ribbon, now faded to a pale cherry colour, with an eight-pointed cross enamelled in white hanging to the ends, is preserved at Lake View, with the swords and medals of dead soldiers of later generations of his race. An exceedingly pleasant-looking, keen, composed, and lively personage our General seems in this picture. There is not an ounce of superfluous flesh about him, neither is there any indication of wasting or attenuation. There is no indication of a spirit wearing out its tenement of clay. Mens sana in corpore sano describes him. He looks just what he was — a man whose one boast was that he had never wasted a moment of his time or a farthing of his money. It was painted by M. Paulin Guerin. He sent the picture now at Darrynane to the Liberator, some time after the visit of the Liberator's family to Paris. The picture at Lake View is a replica. It is pleasant to have the veteran thus handed down to posterity in the first blush of his restored and augmented honours, basking in the sunshine of prosperity in the early days of his cheery old age, when love and wealth brightened his fireside, while the faith he had ever clung to was triumphant in Ireland, and the cause he had served so loyally prevailed in France. What the painter has done for the person of Daniel Charles O'Connell, I have essayed to do for the actions, the aspirations and the feelings of the Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. 304 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. NOTES TO BOOK VIII. Note A. Letter from the Parish Priest of Coud£, near Madon, about Count O'Connell's Tomb. "Canon Noury to Mrs. Morgan John O'Connell. "Caude, 6 Avril, 1891. " Madame O'Connell, — Votre bonne lettre m'est arrivee au plus fort de mes travaux du temps Pascal. Je I'avais mise de cote pour y repondre des que je serais libre, mais j'ai le regret d'avoir tant tarde a le faire. Vous serez assez bonne pour agreer mes excuses. " Dans le tombeau de la chapelle du cimitiere, mais pas de Madon, qui est la residence de l'honorable famille d'Etchegoyen, mais de Coude, qui est la paroisse on lit l'inscription suivante : — ' ' ' Ici repose Daniel Chakles C'° O'Connell, Lieutenant-General, Grande Croix de l'Orde R*1 et M" de Saint Louis. Ne en Irlande, le 21 Mai, 1745. Decede au Chateau de Madon, le 9 Juillet, 1833. Requiescat in pace.' " Je suis cure de la paroisse depuis, 1839. II y avait six ans que M. le Cte O'Connell etait mort. " Son nom est reste vivant dans le souvenir de mes parois- siens. Sa mort a ete celle d'un Saint. Veuillez tres honorable Madame O'Connell agreer l'expression des mieulleurs senti ments qui j'ai I'honneur de vous offrir. "Noury, " Cure" de Coude, Chan. hon. de Blois." Note B. The Nephews of Count O'Connell. There is such constant mention of the sons of their brother in the letters of the childless men, Daniel and Maurice, that I append a brief notice of the sons of Morgan O'Connell, of Carhen. Daniel, the eldest, the Liberator, is too well known to. Notes to Book VIII. 305 need any further notice. Maurice died young, but the survivors, John and James, were men of great force of character and local influence. I append a few notes about them. Carhen O'Connell Brothers. (From a Kerry paper.) Sir James O'Connell was the youngest of four brothers. Maurice died early, an officer in the British Army. The other brothers, Daniel the Liberator, and John O'Connell, of Grenagh, lived amongst us, were scrutinized by us and judged by us ; and we venture to say that in no country in the world have three brothers, born of the same parents, been distinguished by the same amount of eminent qualities as marked Daniel, John, and James O'Connell. No doubt the palm will be given to Daniel, though many say that, if John had had an equally cultivated intellect, he would have equalled his elder brother ; and there are not a few who think that the late Sir James, while not wanting, or rather whilst abounding in, the qualities which made his gifted eldest brother the great Tribune of the Irish people, possessed in an eminent degree other qualities which combined to make him one of the most useful public men that ever lived in the sphere within which he moved. — (From the Tralee Chronicle, July 30, 1872.) Sir James O'Connell. (Beminiscences by Samuel Murray Hussey.) The late Sir James O'Connell, Bart., was the fourth son of Morgan O'Connell, of Carhen, Cahirsiveen, who married a Miss O'Mullane, of Whitechurch, in the County Cork. His brothers were John of Grenagh, Daniel (known as the Liberator), and Maurice, an officer who died in the British Army comparatively young. Although Daniel and John inherited the greater portion of the estate left by their father Morgan and their uncle Maurice of Darrynane, yet James, by prudence and judicious investments of large sums given and left him by his uncles and saved by himself, accumu lated an estate which in his lifetime was worth £8000 a year. Still he maintained a most hospitable house, and was kind and indulgent to his tenants. He was also a most improving landlord in the way of buildings, and few indeed of his tenants were without an ample slated house and offices. His wisdom was such that he was generally called " The Nestor of Kerry." He was equally remarkable for his caustic wit, wonderful memory, apt quotations, and graphic anecdotes. Many can remember (although he was a sincere vol. ii. x 306' The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. Catholic) his saying that the first blow at Irish property was made by the attack on the revenues of the Irish Church, and that more -would follow soon. As he remarked, if property which had existed for three hundred years is not safe, what is ? He did not live to see the annihilation of Irish landlords by the Act of 1881. At a Tralee Boad Sessions a road was projected which Sir James opposed as likely to lead to increased taxation, of which he had a just apprehension. It was alleged that if not absolutely wanted now, it would be in a few years, to which he replied that it was a very absurd argument with the present prospect of a change in the land laws. He said it reminded him of the story of Colonel Maurice O'Connell and Private John Barry, on the morning of the battle of Aughrim. Barry was reprimanded by O'Connell for having come on parade with his face unshaved and his hair uncombed, to which he replied, "It is very uncertain whom the head will belong to in the evening; let whoever has it then curl and shave it." Barry was killed. "And," Sir James added, "it is very uncertain whom Mr. Gladstone will give our properties to; let whoever has them make roads for them." At a dinner given to Mr. M. J. Power, on his being appointed Secretary to the National Bank, Sir James pre sided. On the toast of the Army and Navy being given, Mr. A. Morphy,1 solicitor, who had been in a West Indian Begi ment, rose to respond, and said, " It must be a peaceful country where no one more nearly connected with the army than myself can be found in the room, and it is a very long time," he added, " since I laid aside the sash and sword." "Tes," shouted Sir James, "but you never forgot the charge! " Dining in company with a lady who was remarkable for the cleverness with which she managed her affairs, and being pressed by her to subscribe to the fund for building the new cathedral at Killarney, Sir James inquired if she had herself sent a subscription. " No," she replied; "I can't at present, but I intend to leave all my money for the good of my soul." " Were you not one of the original shareholders of the Pro vincial Bank, who bought in at £25 and whose shares are now up to £80, Miss H ? What a fine speculation that was ! " " Oh, I don't understand those calculations. I am not quick and clever, like you, Mr. O'Connell." " Now, don't say that again, my good friend. Any little savings I had I laid out in land burdened with a set of idle fellows, and I am very thankful to get five per cent, for my money out of them, but you have 1 Late Crown Solicitor for Kerry. Notes to Book VIII. 307 twenty per cent, in this world and eternal salvation in the next. Good Heavens ! It's the most damnable interest I ever heard of!" John O'Connell, of Grenagh. Mr. Fagan, in his " Life of the Liberator " (p. 5), speaking of the children of Morgan O'Connell, of Carhen, mentions Daniel (the Liberator), Maurice (who died in the West India Service), and John. " The next was John, known to fame as ' The Poor Man's Magistrate,' an excellent country gentleman and a very able man. He was distinguished in the time of Catholic agitation for the manly and fearless manner in which he acted in his own county. Every one has heard how dangerously wounded he was in a duel [with Eichard Blenner- hassett] in the year 1813. His life was saved by the unre mitting attention of a near relative, a lady [Miss Mary Hussey, my husband's godmother], whose name, for her devotion to him, deserves to be recorded ; but, not knowing how it would be appreciated by her relatives, we refrain ; indeed, we merely glance at the transaction, though it suggests many interest ing topics connected with the history of that period, lest it may revive unpleasant memories which should remain in oblivion." This duel was fought entirely on public grounds, John O'Connell being practically the Catholic champion in the matter. He was a man of indomitable courage. Once he stopped a faction fight in the streets of Killarney by riding through the conflicting rioters, whom he dispersed by the sheer weight of man and horse, charging them on his huge bay mare Peg, and flourishing the redoubtable hunting crop with which he used to clear the course at Killarney Baces. On another occasion there was a riot in the workhouse in the early famine times, and he walked right out into the yard, where the paupers had armed themselves with stones and pelted out the workhouse attendants, and restored order and discipline. He was a famous sportsman, and kept a renowned pack of Irish beagles of gigantic size, with which he hunted hares. The hunt followed on horseback in the usual manner in winter, but he gave occasional stag-hunts in summer on the mountains. The stag, being driven from his lair by beaters, was pursued on foot, and finally driven to take the water, where the principal people turned out in large barges and the shores were lined with country people. No man ever did more for the popular cause. He never touched a penny of the O'Connell Fund, and spent £9000 of his own money on one of my husband's contested elections. 308 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. Hounds, open house, my dear husband's London life and contested elections, ruined him. His property was sold for £20,000 below its value, being one of the first estates in Kerry sold under the old Encumbered Estates Act. He bore ruin without a murmur, and retired to Dinan, in Brittany, where his cheerful resignation and exemplary piety won him universal esteem. He died suddenly, but not unpreparedly, on Septem ber 5, 1853, at Dinan. He had been always an abstemious man, like his brothers, and early in Father Mathew's move ment had taken the total abstinence pledge for example. Through his marriage with Elizabeth Coppinger, of Barrys- court, my husband eventually inherited the estate of that family, part of which (Ballyvolane) had been in their posses sion since the thirteenth century. Through her mother, Jane McMahon, of Clenagh, a Clare heiress, Elizabeth inherited and transmitted to him a portion of the McMahon estates in that county. Boss O'Connell has drawn up fourteen of the sixteen quartiers of Elizabeth Coppinger. Note C. The O'Connells of Iveragh. [By Boss O'Connell.] I have no intention, gentle reader, of scourging you with an elaborate pedigree of Count O'Connell ; if, though I fear this is most unlikely, you care for such, you can find in John Burke's " Commoners," or in the " Speeches of Daniel O'Connell," edited by his son, pedigrees of sufficient accuracy. Mr. Burke says that he derived his information from " family papers confirmed by historical research," and from a work, ' ' Memoires de diverses families qui pretendent aux honneurs de la Cour," which, in 1825, was to be found at Paris, in the Palais des Archives du Eoyaume, section historique, lettre M., No. 1144. This was doubtless the O'Connell pedigree compiled for Count O'Connell by Chevalier O'Gorman, and corrected by the count's subsequent researches in Ireland. It is probably not innocent of inaccuracies, but as, after four years' scrutiny and supervision, M. Cherin, surnamed " the Incorruptible," genealogiste des Ordres de sa Majeste, was satisfied that it was genuine, and on the strength of it admitted the count to the jealously guarded honneurs du Louvre, I think we may be satisfied also.1 1 A pseudonymous writer, under the signature of " Verax, ''picks Burke's pedigree to pieces in an article in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1839, vol. ii. pp. 359, et seq. He begins by being exceedingly severe on the expression, Notes to Book VIII. 309 The energetic and enthusiastic lady who has gathered from many dusty drawers and unexpected presses the letters written by Count O'Connell during some seventy years, has asked me to put together a brief note upon the count's forbears and kinsmen. Her will is my law. It is difficult to write becomingly of one's own people ; my note shall be therefore rather a stringing together of the notes of other men than a note of my own. The family tree of the O'Connells of Iveragh does not spring from the midriff of a prostrate king, nor did the count descend from a long line of mailed warrior-princes, frequent in the fight ; neither, however, were the O'Connells the respectable farmers that Mrs. Morgan John O'Connell appears to imagine.1 The count came of what is called in the south of Ireland " a good old stock." If to have dwelt for at least five centuries in the same district confers distinction, then were the O'Connells in 1745 a distinguished house ; in no other sense can they be described as an illustrious race. To be born, to be married, to produce a numerous family, was their whole duty of man: "Fruges consumere nati." They dwelt at Ballycarberry in the fifteenth century much the same placid, lotos-eating life of smiling self-realization that they dwelt at Darrynane in the eighteenth. The waves of the world's wildest storm had time to lose their power to wreck before they reached Iveragh. At a "qui pretendent aux honneurs de la Cour,'' and exceedingly facetious at the expense of " the pretending O'Connells ; " a slight knowledge of French would have taught him that pretendre means "to claim," and a very slight knowledge of the court jargon of Versailles under the Bourbons would have taught him that pretendre, thus used, means "to claim as one having the right." "Pretendre aux honneurs," "pretendre le tabouret, le pour, le fauteuil," or "au tabouret," etc., occur hundreds of times in the memoirs of the period. " Le Due d'Orleans ne pretendait qu'un tabouret" (St. Simon, vol. x. p. 66, edit. Paris, 1842); i.e. had a right to a tabouret and claimed it, had no right to a fauteuil, and did not claim it. I have selected this criticism, the first that offered, as a specimen ; the remainder of " Verax's " observations are equally remarkable for wisdom and wit. "Pretendre aux honneurs de la Cour" was in itself a patent of nobility. Verax usually means "true," but Tibullus, if I remember rightly, uses it in the sense of " an old woman," and the author of the criticism in the Gentleman's Magazine may well have been some worthy ancient dame, of either sex, opposed in politics to the Liberator, looking upon him as Antichrist, and absolutely unable to allow him even the doubtful merit of decent birth. 1 Keating, in his "History of Ireland " (1st edit., London : 1723), traces "the antient and noble family of the O'Connells " through a long line of mythical monarchs, to Magog, son of Noah ; there are, however, but few Irish families that he does not deify with equally phenomenal ancestry. 310 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. time when every man was at war with his neighbours, the O'Connells enjoyed the distinction of not having any neigh bours. Darrynane, as late as 1756, is described by Smith, in the chanson de geste of Elizabethan and Cromwellian settlers that he styles "History of Kerry," as "the only plantation in these parts " (p. 94), and very much "the only plantation" it remains to this day. Over and above the advantages of a position "remote, unfriended, melancholy, slow," the O'Connells seem to have possessed from father to son, in a superlative degree, a useful faculty, if not for minding their own business, at least for abstaining from minding the business of otheT folk — a faculty unfortunately denied the greatest, the one great, son of their house. The three torpid and mud-loving fishes of the Chillinglys would suit the O'Connell shield better than the buoyant stag it bears. The epitaph " Teufelsdrockh," wrote for Count Zaehdarm, could be easily adapted to fit 99 per cent, of the O'Connells of Iveragh. Sir Bernard Burke (" General Armoury ") sums up the opinions of divers compilers of Irish pedigree who escape the difficulty of assigning a date for the arrival of the O'Connells in Kerry by looking on them as autochthonous. He states that they were driven from Magonihy (Kerry) to Iveragh (Kerry) some time before the Norman Conquest. One must only suppose that they "growed" in Magonihy (see vol. i. p. 5). O'Heerin, who died in 1420, says in his bardic topo graphy— " O'Connell of the sharp swords Rules over the shaded fortresses of Magonihy ; Like a stately tree in the hazel woods Is the Munster leader of the cavalry forces." Lynch ("Feudal Dignities of Ireland," p. 231) states that shortly after the English invasion the O'Connells ceded their jpatrimony of Connelloe (100,000 acres) in Limerick to the Fitzgeralds, doubtless under the pressure of very forcible argument, and moved into Kerry. This was the first territory obtained by the future Desmonds in Ireland, and the head of the house was for centuries described as Lord of O'Konnyl. John Fitz-Thomas, the father of the first Knights of Kerry and Glin, in granting his sons those titles, styles himself " Custos Pacis in partibus O'Connell." In the middle of the fifteenth century James, seventh Earl of Desmond, writes himself down " Earl of Desmond and Lord of O'Conniloe." The Desmond rental, compiled in 1453, is known as the "Bental de O'Connyll" (Chief Bememb. Boll, Dublin, 31, H. 6). Notes to Book VIII. 311 D'Alton (King James's Army List, p. 876) and Arch deacon Bowan (" The Olde Countess of Desmond," p. 40) — the latter a very high authority upon all matters of Kerry history — are of the same opinion as Lynch anent the O'Connells and Conniloe.1 In early Irish records the name Connell appears now with the prefix "0," now with the prefix "de." David de Conal was free of the city of Dublin in 1225 (" Historical Documents of Ireland," Longmans : 1870) ; Joannes de Connell is rated 26s. 8d. in the taxation roll of Kildare, 1294 (Cotton's "Fasti"). Cornelius Conyll, or O'Connyll, Archdeacon of Kildare, died May 2, 1510, leaving to the Convent of the Holy Trinity, Dublin, 15 lbs. of silver to buy a cope of red velvet. It would be easy to multiply examples. The royal house of Stuart was granted a Keltic pedigree of phenomenal antiquity, until the researches of an antiquarian of our own day proved, "with a logic agonizing to unseemly demonstration," that its founder came over with the Norman in 1066. However, whenever, whence-ever, or why-ever the O'Connells came to Kerry, it is certain that they were there in 1245. Bobert Huish, F.B.S., in his " Memoir of O'Connell," quoting from an ancient Irish manuscript pre served in the British Museum, informs us that in that year Daniel O'Connell proceeded from Kerry to the north at the head of a large troop, to repel the invasion of a force from the land of Morven. He conquered, and victors and van quished sat down to a banquet, whereat O'Connell was him- 1 To help the perplexed student to reconcile these conflicting state ments, irreconcilable at least as far as dates are concerned, the erudite compiler of "Old Kerry Records" suggests that the O'Connells came over with William the Conqueror. The name of the Sieur de Connell certainly appears in the Roll of Battle Abbey, and is given in what I believe to be the first printed list of William's companions, " Historise Normanorum Scriptores Antiqui" (Paris : 1619). The list is taken "ex tabula Monasterij de Bello in Anglia, 1199." The Duchess of 'Cleveland mentions the name in her "Roll of Battle Abbey," but her Grace does not throw much light upon the matter. D'Alton (King James's Army List, p. 876) states that the chief of the O'Connells was one of the leaders in the battle of Clontarf, 1014, but I know not upon what authority, nor have I found the name O'Connell in Ware or the Four Masters, or any Irish record before the year 1117, when the death of Catafach O'Connell, Archbishop of Tuam, is recorded. A friend, whose sole mistress is heraldry, told me that some years ago he saw, "somewhere in Galway, I think," a stone carved with a coat of arms, or (?) a fess gu. in chief three torteaux, impaling the ancient arms of the archdiocese, a bishop in the act of giving benediction. Or a fess gu. in chief three torteaux was the coat borne by William's companion, the Sieur de Connell. 312 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. self conquered by the charms of the " snowy-bosomed Agandecca," daughter of the hostile leader. O'Connell immediately proposed, but the damsel was previously en gaged. The enamoured Kerry man formed a plan to carry her off by force, but the lady discovered his intention, and suddenly returned to her mysterious native land. For many generations the O'Connells dwelt at Bally- carberry as hereditary constables to the McCarthy Mor. The ruins of the old castle, one of the largest in the south of Ireland, still cast their giant shadow, now "upon the sonorous fruitless furrows of the pure clean-coloured sea,'' now, as the daily sun rises and sets, upon the insignificant and dirt-coloured village of Cahirsiveen.1 Aodh (Hugh) O'Connell was knighted by the tenth Lord Delvin, afterwards lord-deputy, before 1444. The eighth in descent from Sir Hugh was Maurice O'Connell, head of the family in 1641, and then " annorum plenus." He appears to have lived at Ballycarberry until that year, in spite of its previous forfeiture by McCarthy Mor. This Maurice forfeited, after 1641, eighteen estates or denominations of land in Kerry (Book of Forfeitures and Distributions, Becord Office, Dublin), and retained possession of one estate only — Barkenagh, or Drumlahort, then estimated to contain 2415 acres. This estate has never been forfeited, and is now in the possession of Mr. O'Connell, of Darrynane. " It is free from all chiefry, imposts, and Crown charges — a very unusual circumstance, and demonstrative of antiquity of possession " (John Burke). Maurice's very-much-younger brother, John Connell, of Ashtown, County Dublin, seneschal to the Duke of Ormonde, and described by Lord Orrery as a " notorious rogue and Tory " (" Letters," vol. i. p. 141), forfeited lands in Kerry and Dublin, including what is now the Phoenix Park. His estate of Ashtown gives the title of baron to the Trench family. " Morrish Connell, of Caherbearnagh, gent.," was transplanted, or rather ordered to transplant — 1 McCarthy Glas, in his "Life of Florence McCarthy Mor" (p. 224), quotes from one of Sir George Carew's despatches: "If Florence be gone, it were necessary to place the Earl of Desmond presently in his country, and that he be master of the castles there, especially the Pallice, Castle Logh, Ross-o-Donogho, and Killorglan, but above all of Bally carbry, for although these four . . . may stop all the passages of Desmond, yet Ballycarbry is of far more importance, for it is upon the ocean sea adjoining the Island of Valentia, which is a very good harbour for shipping . . . besides that tlie castle will command all the country on that side, which is between r fastness and the sea. The fastness of that country is incredible," Notes to. Book VIII. 313 it was not always the same thing — to Brentree, in Clare, December 14, 1653. His worldly transplantable goods con sisted of " 59 persons, 14 acres of sommer corn, 40 cowes, 20 garrons, 30 sheep." Maurice's younger son, Charles Connell, of Begnis, whose grandson, John O'Connell, of Ballinabloun (will dated March 18, proved August 23, 1726), was ancestor of the present Daniel O'Connell, of Ballina bloun, and of the late General Sir Maurice Charles O'Connell, also forfeited and was ordered to transplant. Morrogh Connell, of Valentia, Daniel Connell, of Bally- hirney, Bickard Connell and Connell O'Connell, both of Killarney, were also "transplanted" (certificates preserved in Castle and Becord Office, given in "Old Kerry Eecords," i. p. 33, et seq.). Four great-grandsons and one great-great-grandson (John O'Connell, of Darrynane, ob. 1741) of Maurice of Caherbarnagh appear in James II. 's Irish Army List (1689). One of the great-grandsons, Brigadier Maurice Connell, of Brentree, was killed at Aughrim in 1691, leaving by his wife Katherine, daughter of Sir Edward Langton, " of the west of England," an only child, Bickard, a minor, who died s.p. in or before 1739, when the Brentree branch became extinct. Charles, a brother of the brigadier, was colonel of dragoons ; John, another brother, lieutenant in the King's Begiment of Infantry, was killed at the siege of Derry, in 1689. Their first cousin, Maurice Connell, of Dunmaniheen (ob. 1715), lieut.-colonel in Lord Slane's Infantry Begiment, was taken prisoner at Aughrim (O'Calla ghan, "The Green Book," p. 229, edit. 1845). His nephew, John Connell, of Darrynane, the count's grandfather, was captain in Lord Slane's Begiment, for which he raised a company; he "signalized himself" at Derry, the Boyne, and Aughrim, and was included in the capitulation of Limerick. Several other Connells, less nearly related to the Darry nane family, are also given in King James's Army List, edited by John d'Alton— a James, a Jeffray, a Teigue, and a Morgan, whose positions in the family tree I have failed to discover. D'Alton's list is accurate as far as it goes, but he took for his foundation-stone a tract, " The Muster-Eoll of the Army of King James in Ireland," which is incomplete, as it was compiled when many of the regiments possessed little more than a colonel and a name. Lord Iveagh's Eegiment (p. 908), for example, consists of the colonel, two lieut.- colonels, one captain, and one ensign. 314 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. A Bickard Connell, who does not appear in D'Alton, writes an interesting letter to his father, "Mr. Eicard Connell, neare Killarney," from "Lymk, ye 10th—, 1691." It is published in "The McGillycuddy Papers." He says, "I have all ye charge of ye garrison to supply with all things belonging to prevision." He meditates a journey from Limerick to Killarney to "get men for ffrance," and for it "I shall want but horses, three of ye best." Bickard, younger brother of Maurice of Caherbarnagh (John of Ashtown, generally called the second brother, must have been far younger than either Maurice or Bickard), born at Ballyearberry, about 1575, was Bishop of Ardfert, and sat as a spiritual peer in the Supreme Council of Confederated Catholics in 1647. O'Brennan, who edited the "Dirge of Ireland " (Dublin, Mullany, 1855), a poem by John Connell, the bishop's great-nephew, says that the bishop was taken while riding by the Cromwellian soldiers, and hanged by them with his horse's bridle at Fair Hill, near Killarney ; he appears, however, to have died, far less dramatically, indeed, in his bed, at Killarney, in 1653. On the death of Bickard O'Connell, of Brentree (circa 1739), Maurice O'Connell, of Iveragh, became head of the O'Connell family ; he was the eldest son of Sheara-na-mo-Mor, or "Jeffray of the Vast Herds," on whose tombstone, in the old churchyard at Cahirsiveen, the following words were, in 1846, still decipher able : " Here lieth Jeffray O'Connell, who had honour, wit, and virtue. He died , 1722, aged 38 years." He was eldest son of Maurice of Dunmainheen. Sheara-na-mo-Mor's wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Edmund Conway, of Glen- Leigh, by whom he was great-grandfather of Mary O'Connell, the Liberator's wife. Sheara's third son, Charles (died 1784, circa seventy), was father of Captain Bickard O'Connell, of the Legion of Maillebois, who in March, 1785, being then a lieutenant in Walsh's Begiment, married Mary, daughter of James Burke, of Clonkelane, in Clare. Mr. Leyne, of the Becord Office, has a curious document drawn up on the occasion of this marriage, giving the eight quarters both of bride and bridegroom. The groom's are a study in inter marriages ; three of his eight great-grandparents were born O'Connells of Iveragh, and two O'Callaghans of Clonmeen. Count O'Connell, a typical Irishman of the best type, had plenty of English and Norman blood in his veins, like most Irishmen who achieve anything ; indeed, like most Irish men who achieve or do not achieve. The blood of O'Sulli- vans, O'Briens, O'Donoghues, Mahonys, O'Niels, McCarthys, O'Callaghans, O'Connors, ran in his veins, as did that of Notes to Book VIII. 315 Conways, Segersons, Salusburys, Wares, Boches, Boes. Stanleys, Fitzgeralds, Butlers, and, through a distant Des mond ancestress, even a diluted drop of Plantagenet ichor.1 John Burke states that Morgan O'Connell, of Ballycar- berry, was appointed High Sheriff of Kerry by Edward VI., December 20, 1550. His grandson, Maurice of Ballycar- berry, was sheriff in 1586, and his son, Jeffray of Bally- carberry, father of Maurice of Cahirbarnagh, was sheriff temp. James I. For nearly two hundred years Kerry dis pensed with Catholic sheriffs; in 1839 John O'Connell, of Grenagh, the count's nephew, filled the office. This John of Grenagh married Elizabeth, elder daughter and co-heir of William Coppinger, of Barryscourt and Ballyvolane, County Cork, by his wife, Jane, daughter and sole heiress of Stanislaus McMahon, of Clenagh, County Clare, by his wife, Lucinda (called Elizabeth by Sir Bernard Burke), daughter and sole heiress of Sir Walter Esmonde, last baronet of the elder line. His son, the late Morgan John O'Connell, M.P.,2 thus represented, in right of his mother, three very ancient families — the Danish Coppingers, the Keltic McMahons, and the Norman Esmondes. The O'Connells of Iveragh, now of Darrynane, of Ballyvolane and Ballylean, of Lake View and Ballybeggan, of Grenagh, of Ballinabloun, and of Millmead House, Surrey, bear for coat armour per fess arg. and vert a stag trippant between three trefoils slipped. This coat was confirmed in 1666 to " John Connell, Esq., seneschal to the Duke of Ormonde " (Burke, " General Armoury "). It was borne in 1623 by Bickard Connell, High Sheriff, County Cork, in that year, whose daughter and co-heiress, Mary, married Henry Vereker, of Grange, County 1 Miss Hickson, in "Old Kerry Records," vol. i. p. 335 (London: Watson and Hazell, 1872), gives the descent of Count O'Connell's father from Muiris- a'- Teotan Fitzgerald. Muiris- a'- Teotan ("Maurice the Firebrand ") was son of John, fourteenth Earl of Desmond, who was great- grandson of Gerald, fourth earl, by his wife Eleanor Butler, daughter of James, second Earl of Ormonde, whose mother, wife of James, first earl, was daughter of Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, by his wife Princess Elizabeth Plantagenet, daughter of Edward I. Mr. Joseph Foster, in " Our Noble and Gentle Families of Royal Descent " (London : 1887), p. 590, gives the descent of children of Sheara- na-mo-Mor O'Connell, of Iveragh, from Edward III., through the families of Conway, Blennerhassett, Lynne, Throckmorton, Nevill, Beauchamp, and Le Despencer. Jane O'Donoghue, wife of Sir James O'Connell, descended from Edward I., her ancestor Florence McCarthy Reagh (great-grandfather of Florence McCa,rthy Mor) having married Catherine, daughter of Thomas eighth Earl of Desmond, who was sixth in descent from that king. 2 Whose widow has compiled this memoir of Count O'Connell. 316 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. Limerick, and had a son, Connell, ancestor of the Verekers, Viscounts Gort. The same arms were in 1755 "allowed" by Hawkins, Ulster, to James O'Connell, of Castle Connell, County Limerick, son of Michael O'Connell, of London, and Lady Philippa, his wife, daughter of the sixth Earl of Abercorn, and grandson of Hugh O'Connell, captain of horse to James II. The use of supporters by the O'Connells is sanctioned by Jehn Burke ("Commoners," vol. ii. p. 569), and by John and Bernard Burke in the earlier editions of the " General Armoury;" the present Mr. O'Connell, of Darrynane, does not use them. — [B. O'C] Notes to Pediqeeb " Male Descendants in Male Line of Daniee O'Connell, op Darrynane, and Maur-ni-Dhuiv (O'Donoghue)." 1. Catherine O'Mullane. I have never seen any pedigree of the O'Mullanes of Whitechurch. The family is now, I believe, extinct. John Burke (" Commoners of Great Britain," vol. ii. p. 567, footnote), writing in 1835, say a, ' ' This ancient Milesian family is now represented by Captain Edward O'Mullane, of Cork." Dermot O'Mullane, of Deonsbine, in Magonihy, and Ellinor and Thomas O'Mullane, in Iraghticonnor, appear as Papist proprietors in Kerry, 1656, in a list given in " Old Kerry Records " (second series, p. 36), taken from Council books, preserved in the Record Tower, Dublin Castle. Catherine O'Mullane's mother was an O'Donnell. The O'Mullanes bore arg. a dexter hand couped at wrist, holding a dagger in pale ppr. between three crescents of the 2nd. 2. Shyne Lawlor, of Castlelough, now Huddleston of Sawston. Denis Shyne, of Killarney, son of Denis Shyne, of Mount Infant, County Cork, married, 1807, Ellen, daughter of Martin Lawlor, of Kil larney, and had, with other issue, Denis Shyne Lawlor, of Castlelough, born 1808, High Sheriff of Kerry, 1840, who married, 1840, Isabella, eldest daughter and (in her issue) heiress of Edward Huddleston, of Sawston Hall, County Cambridge, by whom he had Denis Alexander, born 1843, late Lieutenant 13th Regiment, who, in 1890, inherited Sawston under the will of his uncle, Ferdinand Huddleston, and in compliance therewith assumed the name and arms of Huddleston. Isabella, married, 1861, Daniel O'Connell, of Darrynane Abbey. Mary, married, 1876, Cecil Fendall, and has issue. Frances, married, 1863, Daniel O'Connell, of Grenagh. The Lalors, an ancient and illustrious house, settled at an early period at Disert, in Queen's County. Winifred Lalor married John Crosbie, Prebendary of Disert, who was named Bishop of Ardf ert in 1601 ; he was accompanied to Kerry by one of his Lalor kinsmen, who founded the branch of the family that still flourishes there. The bishop's eldest son, Walter, was created a baronet 1630 ; from his (the bishop's) second son, David, came the Crosbies, Lords Brandon and Earls of Glandore (extinct), and the Crosbies of Ballyhigue ; Bartholomew, Count O'Mahony, descended from Sir Walter Crosbie. The unknown compiler of the manu script Mahony pedigree of 1763, quoted elsewhere, evidently considered the Lalors ancestors to be proud of, as he wrote "The Great O'Lalor," in capital letters — a distinction shared with McCarthy Mor, O'Donoghue Mor, and Lord Kerry. Note D. Male Descendants in Male Line op Daniel O'Connell, of Darkynane, called Donal Moe, and Maure, Daughter and Heiress of Daniel O'Donoshue, who built a "fair new house " at Darrynane, 1745, and died therein, 1770. j of Anwyss, " O'Donoghue Dhuv." She died at Darrynane, 1794. I John, b. 1725 ; m. 1748, Mary, dau. of John Falvey, of Faha ; d. at Darrynane, s.p. m. 1751. Maurice, j Morgan, Connell, of Darrynane, called Hunting Cap, Deputy-Governor settled at Carhen ; b. 1739 ; b. 174- ; of Kerry, 1793 ; b. 1726 ; m. 1758, Mary, 4au. and m. 1771, Catherine, dau. of drowned at sea, co-heiress of Eobert Cantillon, of BallypMlip, John O'Mullane, of Whitechurch, unm, 1765. co. Limerick; d. at Darrynane, s.p., 1£25. co. Cork; d. at Carhen, 1809. (See note 1.) I Daniel, of Darrynane, called " Tho Liberator," Q.C., M.P. co. Clare, etc., Lord Mayor of Dublin, 1842 ; b. 1775 ; m. 1802, Mary, dau. of Thomas O'Connell, M.D., " of Tralee ; " d. at Genoa, 1847. I Maurice, b. 177-, Lieut. Eng. Irish Brigade ; d. unm. at San Domingo, 1797. settled at Grenagh, High Sheriff of co. Kerry, 1839 ; b. 1778 ; m. 1806, Elizabeth, dau. and heiress of William Coppinger, of Barry's Court and Ballyvolane, co. Cork, and Bally- Ijean, co. Clare ; d. at Dinan, 1853. (See note 6.) I Maurice, of Darrynane, barrister-at-law, M.P. co. Clare, ete. ; b. 1803 ; m. 1832, Frances, dau. of Bindon Scott, of Cahir- con, Clare; d. London, 1853. I Morgan, served as A.D.C. to Bolivar during War of Independence in S. America, and after wards in Austrian Hussars, M.P. for Meath; b. 1804; m. 1840, Catherine, dau. of Michael Balfe, of South Park, co. Eos- common ; d. s.p. in Dublin, 1885. (See note 3.) John, Daniel, barrister-at-law, M.P. Dund ilk, M.P. Youghal, etc, Commr of etc. ; b. 1810 ; Income Tax : b. m. 1838, Eliza- 1816; m. 1866, beth, dau. of Ellen, only James Eyan, M.D.; dau. of d. Dublin, 1858. Ebenezer! (See note 4.) Foster, of i|he (See note ; ohn, I Daniel, General Count O'Connell, last Colonel of the Irish Brigade, Grand Cross of St. Louis ; b. 1745 ; m. 1795 or -6, Marthe, Comtesse de Bellevue, nee Drouillaid de Lamarre ; d. s.p. at Chateau de Madon, near Blois, 1833. Jo! hn, James (Sir), settled at Lake View in 1821, created a baronet TJ. K., " of Lake View and Ballybeggan," 1869 ; purchased Ballycarberry, the residence of his ancestors until 1641, in 1857 ; lord of the manor of Ballycarberry ; b. 1786 ; m. 1818, Jane, dau. of Charles, The O'Donoghue of the Glens ; d. at Lake View, 1872. I Morgan John,* of Ballylean, co. Clare, bar.-at- law, M.P. Kerry, etc. ; b. 1811 ; m. 1865, Mary (now ofLongfield), dau. of Charles Bianconi, of Longfield.co Maurice, John, Maurice (Sir), Daniel, Charles, James, Morgan, b. 1819; Dominican 2nd bart., High of Grenagh, bar.- b. 1828. b. 1832; Major Boyal d. unm. at priest; Sheriff of Kerry, at-law, High Oscott b. 1828; 1850, lord of the Sheriff of Kerry, School, d. . . . 1872. manor of Bally- 1868 ; b. 1825 ; 1836. carberry; b. 1821; m. 1863, m. 1855, Emily, Frances, dau. of dau. and co-heiress Denis Shyne of Admiral Sir Lawlor, of Elms, Cambridge. Tipperary; d. at -) Longfield, 1875. (See notes 6, 7.) Eichard O'Conor. (See note 8.) Morgan, 1. Daniel, b Capt. 37th 2. Maurice, Castlelough, now Huddleston of Saw ston, co. Cambridge; d. at Grenagh, 1888. (See note 2.) I d. unm. at Scots ; Crimea Lake View, medal with 1855. clasp, Sebas- topol; Turkish medal and Medjidie 5th class, China, 1860, medal with two clasps, A.D.C. to Lord-Lieutenant of Irelaud, 1865 ; b.1833; d. unm. at jhansie, India, 1870. 1873. John b.1874. Coppinger Daniel, John, Daniel, Jol now (1891) of b. 1839; bar.-at-law; C.E.;b. Darrynane; m. 1873, b. 1839 ; 1843; m. Eegiment, 3. Jeffray, 1. 1876. O'Connell, served in Mary drowned at 1873, Mary, A.D.C. to 4. Morgan, b. 1879. of Barry's Eoyal Navy, McCartie, sea, unm,, dau. of Comm.-in- 5. Edmondib.1885. Court and 1850-53, ofArdna- 1872. Judge Chief at 6. James, b). 1888. High Sheriff gheeha. Baldwin, of Kerry, 1860; b.1836; m.1861, Isabella, dau. of Denis Shyne Lawlor, of Castlelough, now Huddleston of Sawston, co. Cambridge. Q.C. Chief at Cape, 1880 ; b. 1845 ; d. unm. at Kingstown, 1881. Bally volane, co. Cork, and Maurice, Lieut. 60th Eifles ; medal S. Africa, 1879; b. 1858 ; Eoss,t Morgan, James, High b. 1862 ; Lieut. 85th Sheriff of m. 1884, Eegt.; now co. Kerry, Mary, dau, in the 1891; 1861. Ballylean, killed in co. Clare b. 1871. action, S. Africa, 1881. (See note 9.) of Colonel Hickie (7th Fus.), of Slevoir, co. Tip perary. service of HH. the Khedive ; b. 1863. James, Lieut. 18th Eegt. ; b. 1864. Donal, now of Grenagh; b. 1867. I Maurice, b. 1875. Morgan, b. 1879. Connell, b. 1881. Maurice, Daniel, Maurice, b. 1864; b. 1878. b. 1888. d. 1865. * Arms : (See note 2.) VOL. II. John, b. 1875. Daniel, b. 1879. Henry, b. 1881. Maurice, b. 1890. O'Connell, quartering Coppinger, McMahon. t O'Connell, quartering O'Donoghue, O'Conor, Boss. Note : When a place-name is given without a county, the place is m Kerry. [Tb face p. 316 Notes to Book VIII. 317 The Lalors of Gregg and Long Orchard, County Tipperary, who descend from Lalor of Disert, bear respectively, vert a lion ramp, or, armed and langued gu., and or a lion ramp, guard, gu. The Lawlors of Castlelough bear vert a lion ramp, or, between three trefoils slipped of the 2nd. The Huddlestons were settled at Hudleston, County York, before the Norman Conquest. Sir John de Hudleston, temp. Henry III., married Joan, daughter and heiress of Adam de Boivill, Lord of Milium, Cumber land. Sir William Huddleston, youngest son of Sir John Huddleston, Lord of Milium, temp. Henry VI., by his wife Joan, daughter and co-heiress of Sir John Stapleton, acquired Sawston in right of his wife, Lady Isabel Nevill, sister and co-heiress of George, Duke of Bedford. Sir John Huddleston, grandson of Sir William and Lady Isabel, was Privy Councillor to Queen Mary, and Vice-chamberlain to King Philip, and from his house of Saws ton, where she had been staying, Queen Mary set out to claim the throne on the death of her half-brother, Edward VI. Sir John died 1 557. From him the late Ferdinand Huddleston, of Sawston, directly descended. There were eighteen knights of this family from Sir Gilbert, temp. Henry II. , to Sir Robert, gamekeeper to Charles I. Huddleston of Sawston bears gu. fretty arg. " quartering among others, Milium Lord of Milium, Stapleton of Ingham, Fitzalan, Ingham of Nor folk, Nevill Marquess of Montacute, Nevill admiral to William I., Bulmer Baron Bulmer, FitzRandolphf FitzRoger, Inglethorpe, Montague Earl of Salisbury, Holland Earl of Kent, Plantagenet, etc." (John Burke, " Commoners "). 3. The Balfes have long been settled in County Roscommon. A suf ficient pedigree of the family is given in Sir Bernard Burke's " County Families." The present Mrs. Balfe, of South Park, is Kathleen, daughter of the late John O'Connell, M.P. 4. Mrs. John O'Connell descended from Thomas Ryan, of Holy- cross, County Tipperary, born 1673, died 1731. His grandfather owned a large property near Holycross, confiscated under Cromwell. When the Cromwellian planter came to take possession, he "was so struck by the bearing of the forfeiting proprietor that he allowed him £25 a year for life. Thomas's grandson, Charles Ryan, born 1747, died 1810, was father of James Ryan, of Jubilee Hall, near Bray, who married Ellen, daughter of Mark McMahon, merchant, of Dublin. Their daughter Elizabeth married John O'Connell. 5. Mrs. Daniel O'Connell is Ellen, only daughter of the late Ebenezer Foster, the Elms, Cambridge, and granddaughter of Ebenezer Foster, Anstey Hall, Cambs., and founder of the bank of Foster and Foster, Cambridge. 6. The family of Copiner, or Coppinger, originally of Danish origin, has been long established in the neighbourhood of Cork. Stephen Coppinger was Mayor of Cork in 1319, and between that year and 1645 the Coppinger family gave eleven mayors to the city. Stephen Coppinger, of Ballyvolane, mayor in 1572, died 1600, was grandfather of Stephen Coppinger, of Ballyvolane, whose four sons, Thomas, William, Henry, and Mathew, were attainted of high treason for loyalty to James II. The second son, William, High Sheriff of Cork in 1687, settled in France, where his descendants still flourish. John Coppinger, of Bally volane, grandson of Thomas, married, first, Mary, daughter and co-heiress of Nicolas Blundell, of Crosby, County Lancashire, and secondly, Mary, daughter and co-heiress of Michal Moore, of Drogheda, and left at his death, iu 1747, an only daughter and heiress, Marian, who married, 1767, Charles Howard, afterwards twelfth Duke of Norfolk, K.G., and died s.p. 1769, when Ballyvolane passed to her uncle, William Coppinger, of Barry's Court, who married, 1737, his cousin Elizabeth, daughter of John Galway, of 318 Tlie Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. Luota, County Cork, and granddaughter of Colonel John Butler, of Westcourt, County Kilkenny, second son of the Hon. Richard Butler, of Kilcash,1 County Tipperary, and Lady Frances Touchet, sister of the Confederate leader, the Earl of Castlehaven ; which Richard was brother of James, twelfth Earl and first Duke of Ormonde, K.G., and great- great-grandfather of John, seventeenth Earl of Ormonde, to whom the ancient honours of his family were restored by the House of Lords, 1783. William Coppinger (will dated August 15, 1775) and Elizabeth Gal way had, with other issue, a son William of Ballyvolane and Barry's Court, who married Jane, daughter and heiress'of Stanislaus McMahon, of Clenagh Castle and Ballylean, County Clare, by his wife Lucinda, daughter and heiress of Sir Walter Esmonde, fifth and last baronet of the elder line,2 by his wife Joan, daughter of Theobald, seventh Lord Cahir. William Coppinger (died 1816) and Jane McMahon had issue — (1) William of Ballyvolane and Barry's Court (born 1778, died 1863), succeeded to Ballylean on the death of his mother. (2) John, 13th Dragoons, assumed name and arms of McMahon, died unmarried, 1830. Elizabeth, married John O'Connell, of Grenagh. Mary, married James Blackney. She died s.p. On the death of William Coppinger, unmarried, in 1863, Ballylean passed to his sister, Elizabeth O'Connell, and Barry's Court and Ballyvo lane to her son, Morgan John O'Connell, formerly M.P. for Kerry, who married Mary Anne, daughter of Charles Bianconi, of Longfield, County Tipperary, and had an only son, John Coppinger O'Connell. Descent of Elizabeth Coppinger, Wife of John O'Connell, of Grenagh. (0 W (3) W(5) (6) (i) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) pq o O §¦3 = C5 O ^ . a r2 9 ft' M 5 W-? . CD O S S-g „-:* i* Is a o ;= pq £> . 'd - B ^Mr^g -I *§ a = o3 co C g : .9 H-l 8 H O -P c to 5H r5 S.2 rA "¦- ¦ s.H02 r,_g=r, • So S"S * « g 'C - S n cn r-i o 3 g> s g . a a n-s r. o O C . r=G^" pq g£> l^g . ."i-ss "g S«m Stephen = El ice William = Mary. Gould, or Joane. William = Elizabeth. I William Coppinger £"2 n-J » ° -3. B ^ 5 » H^= d cc CD fi OCObob£ S ™ £ .oH ^ CSrrjrrJ ^ ~. r, ^. ri° MM b a -CO ffl°s PS r^OQ r---y&)\ioe &\. y-&x 41) bS\^\i fjM, 'Se -dtj b^ntv btieds )X Mw "oo. tt-^c^ 4t) 3tiJ4ij; CeawF^nvc £y.-o<3. 'x& nj-bhub t)J Choqtjdjl, j. d oedij. SSWdbid ud beultid-o r}o\id nj Shjirojle, cdojtvceojti 34er>ejl3e, dix^^ix; U4. Ujtr)i-5t.jbjtjn 6ttj4.jij x>e &\\&\\ ud 't) vt\-Bd)\\e^d\\d. <£)ox\cdio Ud Sujljobdji), Cojtcd 1860. 2t)o cd|t4 30 x>4jt)3)ot) rniJ lit -od. X>xdcd)r> in, 2I3 cedij -crse'i) ^d^dj-c, '4 tn-bnedcd-D -o4.tr), BdcuV t>'4 -6e4T>346 -6dn\, Bnjc -o'd" ce4pdr> T>drn, R6fcd 4n bedjidjb -edit), 2t)dJ|VT. -D'a" 16434-6 -D4tT), Co-Dl4r) 4 5-ClUti] 14C4T) T>4tt) 3o xs-ri3e4c2 4tj ¦c-e4x>-pnr4 Mo •c4tiej'|- n^i ¦D-r4(trjj'3e4c 3 Ijorrj II. 2t)o C4fi4 30 -D4tr)5)ot) •cu 7l* brie43 cj3e4c4 1)47:4 -dujc 21'f bdrjrj-od x>'6n ¦c4]tttujt)3,ce Cloj-6edtr) cif)-4.jti3J-D 2.f ru 3-cojn cutt) -p4l4ti4c-o 2ln edc cdol ce4t)4t] -puz: 'urhluj3Dj"r -r4t4n4j56 Sio-f 30 T4ldtr) -dujt; %'X V\) 4n if)4)T;e ledc 2lcc le V)-4or)-cop:p e43l4 C(4 3un leo cdjlleds6 tm 21 tfjujnnjr) tt)'4t)dtt)4 • * * * • III. 21 if)dncdi3 ' T)d tri-b^ij-sUc ! )X bne43 -do cj^edc8 b)ond"r) t>uit., t)4jt)3)or) -p4oj cd"ut)bn)c, 2l'-r h4T4 -p4oj Idfd. 1 TUHt)4t)d is a Gaelicised * ¦c)3e4'6. English -word ; -|*eott)tidj-6e Pre" 6 VdCfdndjjje servos the metre and is Irish. 6 cdilledr>. 2 30 -D-Tjsed-D. ' tr|d|tc4)3. 8 -6. 8 Ti3e4r>. Appendix. 329 T4n ejp TjedCT; cdn r-d'jle, 3ldT)r40j 4t) c-ffia'j-D -dujt;; 2Tp t)j le 3p^-6 r>urb 2167. le f)-4rj-cuj-D 3p4"jt) one 2t)o cdnd tni 30 -D4jt)3Jor)! 2Tp 'tjudjn rjoc-pdjn cu34tt) dbdjle, Cotjcubdn beds dt) cedt)d 'S "pjdc1 O l4034jne 4t) lednB pjd-ptiSj-D 2 -Djott) 50 7;dpdj-6 CdTi 1>d3bdr -pejt) d t)-47;4jn, Jr)t)e6)-4-D T>6jb f4oj tt)4jn3 3un t^b^r ^ 3-Cjii n^ nwncjn 3l40"D-p4j-D fj4"D 4t) 4 T)-dC4jn *S t). bejr>3 pg 4C4 le pne43djnT: IV. Qtyo cdti4 d'x tt]o 34tf)Ujr) tul 3dol jdn-l4ijT:dndT> 4 2lp bdpnd)3 6't) 2lrrjcojl 5 Jp bned3 tisedc Utjtj -dujt: 1)47.4 "P40J b4t)T)-D4 BT163 C4ol 34llT>4, %L'X cul4j-6 -oe'n 4bndf 21 '(-rjJOTh'CdOJ XT4ll "DUJT, 2t)o cdnd tni 30 T>4jrj3Joii 2tp rjjon cnej-o nj4tr) do-d tt)4nb", 3un t;4T)T)J3 cujjdttj do C4pull, 'S 4 pnj4TjT;4 lej 30 rdUtt); 2Tp 1^)1 xjo Cfiojr>e 4n 4 le4cdtr), Sjof 30x1' -Djdlldj-D 3tvedr)t;d, 2t)dn 4 tr)-bjz;e4 4r> -rujr>e'pdx) pedfdTrj £u3dr lejtf) 30 rdpdj-D, 2lt) TDdrid Igjtt) 30 3ed7;4 '3wr -at) 7;nju3d lejtt) 4n trjo cdpull. 1 Otherwise pedn. 2 ^Jd-pnScdjT). 3 The Munster pronunciation is bej3- 4 i.e. Western lands. 6 Immokely (eastern). S30 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. djt)3Jot)! 2l'p ijpj32 pudp 4d pedpdtt), 2l3Up 7.4p Ijott) pejt) 4b4jle, 3o 3-cujppe4tt) tt)dp7. -o'd" le43d-o, 3o rj3ldo-D'rt)doj-D dp c6jpjp pdjppjt)3, 3o tt)-bej53 434jt)T) ce6l d'4" pppedSdD 3o 3-c6jpe6c4x> DUjr-.pe Ie4b4 ¦pdoj bpdcdjb Ijrje 3edld 'S pdoj cujlce4r)4 bpe.134 bpe4cd J rj-jorjrjdD> 4t) pudec' -do sldcdjp VII. 2t)o cdpd 30 budt) tu! S T)4 cpejD pit) uded, Md" dT) co3dp do pudpdjp M4"'t) T3§dl pe4p-pudtd, 3up d CODld DO CU]-4D4p-p4 ; 1 lejspedo, 2 ejpj3. s tt)-bejr>. Appendix. 331 ¦» Mjop rpott) pudt) -Ddtt), 2tcr -do Bj -do lejtib po Budj-6e4pcd; 'S do redpcuj3e4p-p4 udcd, [ie] h-j4D> -do cup cutt) pudjtnipp. VIII. 21 -Ddojtje 1^4 li-ejpcjs1 Beul2 401) Be4t) di) 6jpji)t) 6 lujx>e t)4 3p£ji)e Oo fjt)pe4c3 4c4oB iejp Oo Bpeu3P4c* rpj id03 x>o Md n45dcB le cpdocdjB 21 t)x>jdJ3 2ljpc Uj id03djpe T,S 4i)t) po rpdocc4 O 1t)dJD>J1J 4t)x>e 434111. 21 2t)oppjpjr) le4n ope fujl TjO cpojDe D'eus Xed-c Oo pujle cdoccd Oo 3liijt)e peuBcd Oo ttjdpB ttjo ld03-pd 2l'p 3dt) doi) pedp j t)-&jpjt) Oo 5ped-Dpdc6 t)4 pejlejp ledc. IX. 2t)o cdpd cii d'p ttjo fedpc! 21'r gjpj3 r"^r 4 ^m^> iejit)-pe pudp dp c-edc, &W5n 3° 2t)dcpott)4 drcedc, 2l'p 30 h-Jnpe3Joldc cdp djp; BujDedl pjond 4x> 3U1C 2t)dp 4 Bj-6e4c8 4 putn4 do -d4jd. 2t)o pdr>d-cpedc, ledfl-3Ujpc! 1 lpejpcj-6. B p434D. 2 50 B-pujl (?) 6 3pe4-Dp4T>. 3 pjt)pe4-6. 7 6jpJ3- bpeu3p4-6. 8 BJ-D64-6. 332 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. Md pdBdp-pd cdoB ledc, 'Mudjp Idttids1 t)d pejlejp ledc, 21 ii)dpcdj32 t)d pej-6-3ldc. 2t)o cpe4c 3eup cujpe4d! Md" p4Bdp 4 co cuUjB, 'Mudjp ldii)d33 di) puD4p, 3o t)3e6Bdjtj e dtt) cutt) -oedp, Mo 4 tt)bjtj 11)0 3U1)d ; 3° tej3pjt)t) cedD pjuBdjl ledc, 21 tt)dpcdJ3 t)d pul t)3ldp! 2t)dp jp cii b'pedpp lejsjotj cued. XI. 2l)o cdpd rni d'p tt)o pedpc — thdojt)! 'S jp 3n^n1^ 4t) c6jp[j], 2I3 (le) cup dp 3djp3jcedc, Cothpd d'x cdjpji), 2lp tt)dpcdc di) De43-cpoj-6e, BjD>e4c 43 jdp3djpedcc dp 3UJPJ3JB, 'Sd3 61 d\t. hdlldjDjB pdppdr> it)t)4" t)d i)3edl-cjoc; Sttio ii)jle ttiedpdjD 2t)dp do cdjlle4p x>o c4cuj3e. XII. 3p&4T>4 CU34C 4'p djc, 21 2t)oppjp 3pd"ij4 4t) pejll, Bdjtj Djott) peji) n)o cjsedp, 2lcdfit tt)o le4t)B 341) dojp, Ojp 4cd pjubdl di) cjse, 'Sdt) cpjucd DUjtje dcd' pcj3 dtt) clj 'S Dd Docdc t)4 cujpped-o Djort). Wit)d-6. 2 ti)dpcdj3. 3 ldthd-6. Appendix. 333 XIIL 2t)o cdpd cii ptt)o cdjci)edtt) ! 'X i)Udjp d3dBdjp 4tti4c 4t) sedcd? O'pjlljp cdp djp 30 cdpdjs,1 Od p63djp do r>jp ledt)b, Oo po34jp tt)jpe 4p B4ppdjB bdpd ; OuBpdjp "ejBljn ejpjs2 dx> pedpdti), *S cutt) no 31)6 cuti) cdjpse, 3o ludjtt)pedcjp3o 3dpdJ3;3 T.4jtt)pe d3 p43B4"jl 4p Bdjle, Mj njojDe 30 De4" 30 3-c4pp4jij;" Mj pj1)1)e4p D>4C4Jt)C 4CC tt)434 2t)dp BjDedc 7>dp4D Ijott) 50 njjijjc, cedtjd. XIV. 2t)o cdpd cu'ptt)o CUJD, 21 ttjdpcdjs* di) clojDjtt)3jl, 6jpj3 pudp dt)ojp, 2l'p CUjp Opc DO CUldJD 6dD4J3 udjpdjl 3I4JI); Cujp o^-r- -do Be4b4p duB; ¦C4ppnt)3 d>o l4it)4jt)i)j uttjdc; Sudj di)djp-oe c'ujp; SjiJJ -oo I4jp dttjujc; Budjlpe 4i) bocdp cdol pjt) pojp 2t)dp dttldol6j55 potrjde 4t) cujp; 2t)4p 4 3-cdol6j56 poit)dD di) rtwc; 2t)4p d t)-iitt)l6j37 pott)dc tt)t)4flipjp, 2t)4" c4" tt)-beup4 pgji) 4C4, 'Sjp b405ldc ljoti)pd 1)4 pujl dtjojp. 1 CdpdJD. 6 tt)dOl6C4jD. 2 ejpj^. 6 3-C4010C4JD. 8 CdpdJD. ' Utt)lOC4JD>. 4 tt)dpcdJ3. 334 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. XV. 2t)o cdpd cii jptt)o cutt)dt)i) ! S tjj h-e db-pudjp bdp "°ot> cjt)i)e, M4" bdp ni° £p1uT- cloji)i)e M4 Ooit)i)4ll tt)6p 6 Cot)4jll M4 Cot)4ll x>o b4e4J3 4t) cujle Md bedi) tjd pe tt)-blj4-Ddt) d'p pjce Oo cudjs1 dt)oi)t) cdp cujle Oedi)dii) cdjpD>edp pjc' le pj5ce Mj h-jdD 30 lejp dcd d3dti) d>4 i)34jptt) 2lcc 2lpc DoBu4jpc dpejp d>'4 bot)i)4jB Ji) Ji)pe Cdppdjs di) Jtt)e 2t)dpcdc i)d Idpdc T>v?i)i)e 2lc4 434111 peji) 4t)i)po 3° ni3lt Si)4p tt)djpjD pj d h-4jt)it) t)4 plojntje. XVI 2l)o 3p4"D cii ptt)o cojl! 2lit)t)4 i)d pul-pljuc n)-bo3, Scd-DdJ3JD2 Di'bup 1)301, 3o ip6lpdJ33 2lpc O ido^djpe "De6c, Fojtii % do dy*1 dp pcojl; Mj d3 "Po3lujtt) l§J3Jtj, t)6popc, 2lcc 43 jotticdp cpe '3Up cloc. XVII. 2t)o 3p4"D cii piflo nnljpiijti! 04 xi-cejDed-D ttjo 3I40D cutti cjtit), 30 Oojpe ^jotj^ji) tt)6p le4c' p-cjdp 2l3up Cedplji)3 t)d i)-ubdll buj-oe, )X jott)-6d «idpcdc edDcpotii 3poj-6e, 2Tp bedii hdjt)cjdppdpd b4t) 3di) cejnjedl, 1 CU4J-D. S pCd-DdJD. 3 OlpdJD. Appendix. 335 BejD>edD> dt)i)po 3dt) npjll, 21' 30I Ot) CJOtj DO CJ1)1), 2ljpc >7ld03djpe dt) 3pji)tJ. XVIII. 2t)o 3pdr> cu d3up tt)o piit) Td do pcdcdj-6e 4p 4 tt)-bojt)i) Oo Bd bujr>e (or bed34) x>d 3-cpuDd-o 'Sdp ti)o cpoj-oe cd" DIO CU1t)4 M4 Iej3e4pp4c1 coj3e4-6 2t)utt)di) M4 3^lht)e Ojle^jt) t)4 B-pjotin 3o D)-cjoc4j32 2lpc O L4034jpe cusdtti 2t)dp dbejDedD> 3ldp dBjd-6 dp cpui)c 3o pd3dc3 41) eocdjp dttiusd, Mo 30 -D-jocp4c4 ttjejps 4p 4 pcpju. XIX. 2t)o 3p4D'p ti)o I405 cu, 2ljpc Uj ido34jpje! 2t)dc Coi)cuBdjp, 2t)dc CdODdJ3,s 2t)dc idojpJ56 Uj idosdjpe, "Mjdp 6't) t)34opc4, 'S4 t)-ojp 6'i) 3-Cdol-ct)oc, 2t)dp 4 Bp4p4iji) cdopd, 2l'p ci)od bujDe dp seusdjB; UBld t]d pldOD4jB, 'M d t)-dtt) pejt)J3-7 Cdp B'joi)3t)d-D Ijott) peji)J3,8 Od Idppdc9 v;\b idosdjpe, 2l3Up beul dc'di) 5docpdJ3, 1 lej3edppdr>. 6 L4ojpj3. 2 -D-cjocpdjr>. ' peji). 3 pd3dr>. 8 pejt). 4 -D-cjdcpd-6. * LdppdD. 5 CdODdJ3. 336 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. 'S4tj 3r43dt) i)dott)ed 'M-DjdJ3 nidpcdjs1 i)d pejD-ii3ldc 'MDjdJ3 di) pjd5Uj-6e 3di) epdocd-6 6't) i)3pedi)dJ3 d\i pdoedp 'Mudjp pedDdDdojp cdol-cojt) 21 it)dpcdJ32 t)d 3-cldot)-pop3 Mo cdDi D>'jti)ej33 o pjlojledp pejt)J34 Md tt)dpBeo-Ddc di) pdosdl cii 'Mudjp cedt)t)uj3edp -oujcejDe. XX. 2t)o cdpd cii'pttio 5p4d, 34ol tt)4jc-plu43 411 Pt;4jc! 3» trj-BJDedc5 occ x>er3 bdndlepdj^e dp don cld~p, 3o B-puj5Djp lojl^edc d'p I4jp, Cp4jt) 'p4 V^1- 2t)ujledt)t) dpde, Op bujDe d3up 4jp3jox3 b4n, SJ0D4J36 43UP BelBee bpe43, Pjop4 C4ldjtt) dx pc4je; 3o t]JDjp cjoc4 e4l, 2lp U03 t)d tt)-bdp-5ldc tt)-bdi). XXI. 2t)o 3pdD d'x tt)o piiti cu, 2l'p 11)0 3p4r> tr)o coliip sedl! Ce t)4 Cdi)d3-pd cu3dc-pd, 2l'p i)4p eu3dp n)o cpjup Ijott), Mjon cujp n^Jpe 1"""° Ljott), 2t)4p BjoD4p J3-CUII134C; 1 iiidpcdJ3. 4 pejt), 2 tiidpcdjs. * ttj-bj-Ded-d. 3 -D'jt1)CJ3. Appendix. 337 J peotnpdj-DiB T>iii)ed, 'Sd 3coriipdjr>jB cutt)di)3d 'Sd 3-codU-d 3dt) it)up3djlc. 2l)dp 4 ti)-Bej-6e4c di) bolsdc, 2l'p di) Bdp Doped, 'Sdi) pjdbpup ppojejocdc, Bejxjedc 1 di) uidpc-plud3 bopb >?i) 'Sdppjdncd -d'4 3-cpoed dcd, 21' T>edtjdtt) pocpujtt) 21' cjsedcc dod pocpdjD) 21 2ljpe di) Bpolldjs2 sjL xxn. 2t)o 3p4r> cii dp tt)o edjet)edit)! 34ol di) tt)dpc-pludJ5 3djpB, BjDedc3 43 iop3 41) 5le4ij4 2t)dp d n)-budtt)ce4 dped cdpd-6 Od Tt)-bpejc 4pce4c t>41) hdlld 2t)dp d ni-bjDedc4 pdoBdp x>d cup 4 p3edt)t)jB 2t)ujc-peojl dp b6p-D nd 3edppd-6 Cdojp-peojl n4 cott)djpe6p4 d h-edpt)d Cojpce cpdocdc Brdji)pe4c6 pje 4p e4Cd'jB C4pujll 5pu43d6 dpbudcdjlljse dcd M4 budjijpjDe -Djol'i)4 ledb4J56 M4 4p p4p4C 4 3-c4pull 04 B-pdt)pdD>dojp pedcetfldji) 21 -oedpbpdjcpedcd I4p tjd 3-cdpd-o. XXIII. 2t)o cdpd d'r tT)o id05c.it 2l'p djpljiis epe tjeuldjB, Kjt1i)ed-o dpejp D>dtt), 1 B'ejDedD. 4 ttj-bj-Ded-o. 2 Bpolldj3. 6 budjnped-6. 3 BJT«dr>. * ledbd. VOL. 11. 338 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. 2l3-Copcdj31 30 -Dej5edi)dc, 2tp ledbd dtt) doi)4p, 3wp cpjoi) 411 sdoepd, 3»p Tnijc S\\ 3-Cii)pe dol-cd; 2l'p t)dp pdt) ppjoedl dx> cdol-cojn, M4 bji)i)e dp 43 eundjB, Mudjp pudpds2 eu cpdoced 2lp I4p di) e-plejb' dtt)ujc 3dt) pd3dpc 3dii clejpedc 2lcc pe4t)-Be4i) 4opc4 Oo le4c Bji)t) -c'd bpejD o\\t Mu4jp puj3e4D> roi) cpe 7ni 2ljpe Uj ido;jjdjpe 'S-oo cuj-d pold 1)4 pldOD4jB 21 nj-bpolldc Dolejt)e. XXIV. 2t)o 3p4r» 4'p tt)o put) eul )X bpe43 CJ364C puD> dujc, Scocd CUJ3 3-cul x>ujc; Bu4e4jp 30 3lujt) ope; Caroline cuji)t)edc, 2Tp whip 50 liieit)dp, 2lp 31-ljl) pU3dc; )X jott)x>4 4ji)3jp itjo-6'ujl ii)ujt)ce Bjod4c 43 peuc4ji)e 'pd 3-Ciil 0]\x:. XXV. 2t)o 3p4n 30 Ddji)5edt) cii! 2l'p tjudjp cejr>ee4 'p?)4 cdepdcd. Odopd, Ddjt)3J0i)d, Bjoc3 tt)tid t)d 3-cedi)i)UJ3ee, 2I3 utt)lU3d-6 30'cdUiii dujc Ojp -do cujsj-djp 't)d t)-dJ3t)e 1 3-CopcdJ3- 2 pudjpedr>. 3 Bjod. Appendix. XXVI. "Cd pjop d3 Jopd Cpjope, Md bej3x C4jr>p 4p bdcdp ttjocjij, Md lejije cijejp lett)' edojb, Md bp63 dp ep4cc tt\o boji)n, M4 cpjop3'4ii dp pudjD) n)o cJ5e, M4 ppjdii lejp dii I4jp t)Dojij, Mdc 3-cdjcpedx> le D>lj3e; 2l'p 30 pdcpdT) dijotj edp cojij, 21 cothpd-6 lejp di) PJ3; S tt)dp d 5"CUjppj53 jot)t)diti dot) ¦c-f1*!"). 3o -D-cjocpd-D edp djp dpjp, 3o BoD>dc lid pold DUjbe, Oo Budjt) D>jott) pejii n)o Thdojt). XXVII. Cjon dti cpojDe x° 43dtt)-pd, 2lp itjndjb sedld dtj ttiujljiii), 21 D-edob p4ob4p 4 i)-ej3pj pjle4D, 'M--DJ4J3 tt)4pc4)33 114 i4p4c Dojt]t)e 2led dsdtt) peji) dt)t)po 30 pji)3)l 2ljp' Jnpe cd)ipdj3 di) Jtne. XXVIII. 3pe4D4 cpojDe cpu4j34 ope, 21 Se434jt) 2t)4c U4jct)e, 2t)4'p bpe4b 4 Bj U4jepe, M4p edjtU3 dtfl eudjpjtt); 2lp do c4ti4ppdjt)t) dujc tt)U4p5 cujd; C4pull 5pu454C, 21 -De4t)y4i6 cii -d'pu4d4c 1 bej-6. 5 tt)U4p is the pronuncia 2 3-cujppjD. tion of tt)6p, great in the 3 tt)4pC4J5. Munster dialect. 4 CpU4jt>. 6 D64l)pdD. 340 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. T\iex t]4 pldd3cdjb i4 DO CpUdDCdJ1)1) Mo T^dcd bpedsd budjB d>ujc, Mo cdojpj5 d'x udjt) djujc Mo cdldtt) cutt) cudjp x>njc XXIX. 21 liidpcdjs1 1)4 n)-b4i)-3l4c, O le43432 do I4ii) ie4e, 6jpJ5 30 -D-cj Balding, 2ln pppelepjt) 3p4Tjr)4, 2lti yed\\ cdol pp43dc; 2lp Budji) De p4pdtt), )t)-J01]dD do i4pdc, 2l3up up4jD -do 5p4-6-3edl. 3dt) 4i) pejpe4p njdp Bl4c4jp, 34i) Docdp do 2t)4*pe, 2-31*1* n5 le 3P4"d r>j. tt)dpcdj3. » led3dT5. ( 341 ) APPENDIX B. THE BLESSING OP THE SCHOLAR.1 Bedi)t)dcc di) Scoldjpe. )X pdrd tne d cujpi)e4ii),2 3di) dot) nedc beo dtt) cujnled.cc,8 2lt)jop o Bdnednloc dp dot)4 cojpe cdojle, 21' epjdll 4p i)d h-§J3pe, luce lejsce i)4 3-c4ojt)-pcdjp 3o Cjll-4jpt)e Igjij-loc cutt) l§J5Ji)i) djo cup pjop d>ojB.6 II. Cuit)6 30 ip-oedcdj-D 30 Oedp-tt)iitt)dji) nd i)3edl-cujpe 3dij cejihedl, Oo B'pjdl 'p-oo b'pedpdtnujl 'xbwb Ded3-tfjoled 3njotn, 2lp pdjece 1)4 i)j4tti34tt)4ii jp I43 4tt)-4ndtt)dc -do Bjop Cutn sup 7ni3dDdp cpudjse Ddtn' p4n 6pu4c4tj -do Bj optn 2Tp. tt)4p 4 tt)-bej-6e4c 4n pJ5-be4i) Bpe45 r4fdl 'p4i) udj3 -do Bejnt) pjnce. 1 See p. 57, vol. I. 2 cujpnedtT), humbling, lowering. 8 cujrjledcc, Munster pronunciation of COjupoedd-D, accompanying. 4 don, in another copy ditjdi). B lej5J1)t) d>o cup x )°X 'cSjb, to put down learning for them. 8 cutt) should be no : no 30 until. 342 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. III. 6't) i)3djlljii) -oo cdnd3 bpejc dpc dsup lejsjtj Ijon), 3« Cjdpdjse pon-pdjpcedc cdojn-spdDtndp le cejle; Cutt) 3up C4jlle4p njo pl4jtjce, 4'p t)4p B4Dtt)4p le 1)-4ot)-t)e tne Oo pe6l43 le p4t) tne Y34n T^S^l1 ^t1 "1° 54olc4jB. IV. Cutt) sup pe6l 2t)dc Oe tne dp dt) -D-edojB x° "°ox\ ^V- 3° ^73 p^jlbe 50 h-edp3>7D, dp pedD epejtt)pe 3d!) n)dojDedin. 3up Budn, bldctndp, udpdl bej3 Bup 3-conDldcc le cejle Bup pljoce dp Bup ttjopDdjl d 3-cudt)-bpo5djb doled. 21 x^-VV- *]<* "sdondcc" sup lejp -dujc njo jjnjotndpcd, TU3 pedldo' pdt) &3jpc le x^°X^) oV ndjiipe Oo 3pedDd3,x -do cedpds1 do Ddopd3x -Djd h-dojne. Oo cpocds1 i)4 D>ej3 pji) le h-ej3jn pojnn D>jlpe. VI. 'S4 I4c4-Bedn tu4nld 30 B-pujl 3p4D'3e 2t)dc Oe dujc, Oo r>edp3djB do r>ed3-ojbpedc4 'p3dn p4n 4P "co -Ddondcc, 3o B-pujl bednndcc dn p3ol4jpe c4 dp p4ij 4p pudjD 6jpe4t)n, 2ln c-p43djpc, 'xdt) Bpdedp 'pnd n)t)4 Bjotj 3d!) cgjle. VII. Bud 3dol cedpe Ud Bpjdjn dv?c d pjdpuj^edc2 dt) pj3 21 3-cujppjB \io Ddjnsedii d p3idc d'p d 3-clojDedii), Oo Djbjp lid iocldnndjs o c6jpejB nd V&Jpedtjn, 2ln pujl udxdl 6jp-6edpc do pjolpuj5 6 6jbjp. 1 These letters (3) are for r> in the Munster dialect 'nd -oej3 is poetically for 't)d DjdJ3. 2 (The c is for -6) pj3, a king is put for pjosdce a kingdom. Appendix. 343 VIII. Md p4p-pjp 6'*) i)3edl-cotn nj DedpttidD1 pdttpdD 'Se jerry 341) tnedpusdD dt) pedp pldjee -co pjdp Oo epjdll edp ledp cu3djfj '3up pdDCU2 nd Djdj3 Oo pjolpdj33 o ^djlbe eus 2t)dc C4pcdJ3 pdop lejp 0 B6pDdjB dn dpcdJ34 Bj dp I4jtt) d3 Turgesius. IX. 6'i) JoB-p4e -do edjt)J3 -do c4jpr>e 30 dcj sedtidc 2t)dp dtn-bjr>edc pjop-pljoce nd Sp4jnedc 4'p 4pD-pljocc 2t)jlepjup, 34c pl4ijT>4 x>on 4p-D-pujl -Dob xeS\i\i Bj 4p 34olc4jb5 Bud cluTJdiiiujl bu6 c4jledc 43-Clap-lujpc i)d h-fejpedtjt). 34c pold -doB 4jpD>e x>4 -D-epe4i"3pdD dt) BdD>b 0 Rjx>jpe dt) 3ledt)i)d 30 Tj^ednnd ijopn4 0 OonncdDd dt) slednnd CU3 cdc dp d ndtt)djD Ud SiijljoB4ji) Bedpd i)d 3dolcd dp t)d -DTotndc Md 3edn4lcdj5 5lej3edl Sx t)d 3dolcd bj le6 dcd. XI. UdD Opotn-tn6p -co c4jnj3 -do 64jpDe 30 -Dgjsedqdc 2t)dp 4 tn-bJD>edc cj3e4p4c6 4p cl4p 43 61 pjoticd d'y xidop punch, Set dcd 4p e4jpljp dp cl4pdjb pdoj edDdc 2ln njdje-pluds bpe43 4lujn jp pe4pp Bj 4p 340UJB.7 1 -Dedpnid-D in Munster, -DedptndD in dictionaries. 2 pdDCU recte pdD>-CUn)d great sorrow. 3 3 for 3- 4 3 for -6. 6 Eecte 3doj-6e4ldjB, which would not rhyme. 6 Plural cj3edpdJ5e. ' 34ojD>e4.4jB. 344 The Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. XII. Bud 3dol -dujc "pedpdejp Buncpdj3e d'p Ounbuj-De, 21 t)Ounl6 Dob' pdrd do cdpdjx> d D-cjjjedp Md bj-Dj-D dyi. tpedpBdl pedpcd cjd tj-j Sj Mopd nj 2^dc3dtt)t]d, dn 3edl-cpudj3, -do pdop tng 2l5up^ coitjnujsednn pj'pdn Oedr-tt)uittdi) dp pdjece t]d pgjnne. ( 345 ) APPENDIX C. DIRGE OF MUIRTI OG 0 SULLIVAN. This pathetic lament for Muirti (or Morty) og O'Sullivan was composed in Cork Gaol, 1754, by his foster-brother, Daniel Connell, one of the three prisoners doomed to the gibbet, the night before his death. It is still recited by the peasantry, and was noted down by Mr. J. J. Gallavan in 1890. Se4i) Puxley -D'pd3 "Dubdc pjnn pdoj IjonipouB nd Ddojppe, 2l3-Copcdj3x pdoj liibdjb 'p34t) piijl le S\i p34ojle4D; 2t)4p 4 tn-bej3 2 Syi -D-cpj 3-cjnn 4p cpj ppjce nj4p show dcd pdoj pnedced nd Ij-oj-Dce d'p 34c pjon ejle -Dd t)3eoBdj-6 cu5dji)n. II. 21 -Dedpbn4c4jp t)d n-4pdn nd p43 pjnn 30 Ij-dojne; T4 dn cpoc dndjp-De 3dii p4tj dp dt) tn-bolcd; TT4 nd pe4l4jt) x>4 B-p4p34x> 'pt)4 c4jnce 4cd D4p ttj- boD>p4D> : 'S svrojtt) ledc 4 ti)4j3jpcjp ce 3Up f43bdjp 'nd b-power pjij. III. 21 Sfyujpej t)4 t)-4p4t), ti)o c4p cjnn 30 x>eo cii! Oo ce4i)t) 3e4l 4t)4jpDe, pdo copp 4lujt) n)4p show 4c4f 1 3- a *¦ 346 Tlie Last Colonel of the Irish Brigade. Oo conndjpc-pd pejn 14 cii 'pdo cloj-Dedn) dlujn '3dc cutt) c6ttipdjc, S do -Dedt)pd-pd Be4pnd cue 34prdJ3e FJ3 S&o)^- IV. Ipdjp d>0 cdpldJ3 'p Sp4jt) do pUdjp jointure ••> 30 h-fejt1'*) nJ°tv B-pul4jp ledc cedce pp4p cutn 4p 3-cdjllee . . . INDEX AiguiXUm, Due d', vol. i. 178, 179 Altham, Lord, vol. i. 40 Annaly, Lord, vol. i. 308-311 "Annual Register" for year 1782, quoted in Book IV., vol. i. 263-299 Arfon, Chevalier d', vol. i. 282, 283, 287, 291-293, 300 Army Lists (see vol. ii. 185-192) of six regiments of Irish Brigade Artois, Comte d' (afterwards Charles X.), vol. i. 279, 281, 283, 287, 291- 295, 300 ; vol. ii. 5-8, 83, 85-87, 89, 93, 103, 120, 121, 140, 142, 143, 168, 266, 284, 285 B Baldwin of Clohina, vol. i. 171 ; see Pedigree note, vol. i. 246 Baldwin, James, of Clohina, vol. i. 163, 164, 173 Baldwin, Mrs. (Mary O'Connell), vol. i. 162, 163, 167, 190, 209, 245 ; vol. ii. 46, 47, 69, 70 Barry, Colonel David, vol. ii. 244 Blake, Mrs., ne'e Cantillon, vol. i. 107- 110 Bland, Bev. James, of Derryquin, vol. i. 39, 111, 117, 118, 171, 173 Belle Vue, Comtesse de (afterwards Comtesse O'Connell), ne'e Drouillard de Lamarre, vol. ii. 175, 176 Belle Vue, Aimee Gouiond de (after wards Madame Benjamin d'Etche goyen), vol. ii. 219, 220, 252, 256 Belle Vue, Celinie de (afterwards Baronne d'Etchegoyen), vol. ii. 248, 256, 262, 263, 265, 295, 297, 300, 301 Berwick's Begiment of the Irish Bri gade, vol. i. 183, 184, 187, 200 Blennerhassett, Judge, vol. i. 307 Blennerhassett, Mr,, M.P., election of, vol. i. 326, 327 Bouille, Marquis de, vol. i. 257, 258 Burke's "Commoners," freely quoted in Pedigree notes Burke (Bourke) Burke, MeWalter, vol. i. 43, 107, 108 Bourke, John, of Jamaica, letter of, vol. ii. 126-128 Burke, Major-General Thomas Fitz Maurice, vol. ii. 128 Burke, Captain John, vol. ii. 50, 57, 69 Burke, Mrs., nee FitzMaurice, vol. i. 254; vol. ii. 9. 26, 30, 69, 79, 80, 89, 101 O'Brien, Father Guardian Bona- venture, O.S.F., Prague, vol. i. 76- 79, 106-109 Browne of Awneys, vol. i. 81 Browns, Miss, Marquise de Syvrac, vol. i. 80, 178 Browne, Ulysses Count, Austrian geueral, vol. i. 80, 178 Butler, Cinolda, vol. i. 41 Butler, Captain Whitwell, vol. i. 305- 309 O'Callaghans of Shanbally, vol. i. 275 O'Callaghan's "History of Irish Bri gade," freely quoted in text Camden, Lord, vol. ii. 162 Cantillon of Ballyheigue, see Pedigree note, vol. i. 61-65 Cantillon, Chevalier de, vol. i. 61 Cantillon, Baron de, vol. i. 64 Cantillon, James, Captain, vol. i. 64 Cantillon, Bobert, of Ballyphillip, vol. i. 63 Cantillon, Mary, see Mrs. O'Connell, of Darrynane (3), vol. i 43 Cars, Due des, vol. i. 278, 291-293 ; vol. ii. 77 Casey, Mr. Charles, letter of, vol. ii. 218 348 Index. " Cavaliers of Fortune," Grant's, freely quoted in text Charles X. See Comte d'Artois Charlotte, Queen, vol. i. 143; vol. ii. 153, 154 Cherin, Monsieur, French Herald, vol. ii. 16, 17, 61, 62 Clare's Eegiment of the Irish Brigade, vol. i. 149-151, 153-155, 179-181, 183, 184, 187 ; vol. ii. 141 Clare, Lord, Marshal Thomond (O'Brien), vol. i. 176 Clare, Lord, young (O'Brien), also called Lord Thomond, vol. i. 149, 176, 180, 181, 183, 187 Clare, Lord (FitzGibbon), vol. i. 115, 307, 309, 311, 313 Clifford, Lady Anne (afterwards Countess O'Mahony), vol. i. 51 Coppingers of Barry's Court, vol. i. 112, 163, 164, 182 ; vol. ii. 136, 282, 317- 320 Connell, Abbe', vol. i. 182, 183, 186 Connell, Andrew, vol. i. 109, 110, 266; vol. ii. 119, 223 Connell, Doctor Geoffrey, vol. i. 117 ; vol. ii. 110, 116-118, 121 Connell, Bickard, letter of, vol. i. 116 Connell, Doctor Timothy, vol. i. 204 ; vol. ii. 30, 34, 39-41, 43, 44, 275 O'Connell of Iveragh, see Pedigree note, vol. ii. 308 O'Connells of Darrynane — O'Connell, Count (Daniel Charles), vol. i. 7, 13, 14, 35, 36, 67, 73, 74, 83, 96, 97, 103, 104, 119-121, 124, 128, 129, 148-150, 153-157, 165, 166, 174, 175, 178-182, 184, 185, 188-191, 195-199, 201-203, 205-207, 2 1 1, 214, 215, 217- 221, 224, 250, 252-255, 258-262, 267- 271, 277-279, 283-287, 290, 291, 293, 295, 300-304; vol. ii. 3-10, 12, 13, 15, 19, 20, 23, 25, 27, 30, 32, 34, 37, 39, 46, 49, 50, 54, 67-69, 71, 77, 79, 80, 83, 85, 89-97, 101, 102, 105-108, 110, 111, 113, 118-120, 141, 145, 146, 148-150, 152, 153, 157, 169, 170, 174, 181, 200, 214-217, 221, 222, 227- 230, 233-235, 239, 240, 247, 252-254, 255, 256-259, 260, 263-266, 274- 280, 281-303 O'Connell, Donal Mor, vol. i. 7, 9, 14, 19 35 94 154 O'Connell, Connell, vol. i. 14, 35-37, 41,42,67,85,86,88-90 O'Connell, John, vol. i. 13-19, 22-26, 39,41 O'Connell, Maurice (Hunting Cap), vol. i. 9, 14, 15, 17-27, 31-35, 38, 44, 45, 67, 78, 86, 88-90, 97-100, 103- 105, 107, 109, 112, 114, 116, 119-121, 125-129, 140, 142-144, 152-155, 157 166, 167, 169, 172-174, 177-186, 190- 192, 194-197, 199, 201, 202, 204, 207, 208, 215, 252, 253, 258, 264-266, 295, 302, 304-313 ; vol. ii. 6, 9, 10, 12, 13, 20, 23, 25-27, 30, 32, 34, 37, 39, 41, 43, 46, 48, 50, 54, 68, 69, 79, 80, 83, 89, 94, 95, 101, 105, 107, 109-111, 113, 115, 118, 119, 122, 143, 146, 148, 156-158, 161, 162, 166, 167, 172, 173, 177, 197, 214-220, 222,224-226, 227-229, 234, 237, 239-241, 243, 248, 249, 254, 267-274, 275, 278 O'Connell, Daniel (the Liberator), vol. ii. 80, 84, 105, 113, 121, 242, 243, 253, 259, 268-272, 277-279, 282, 284, 289-292, 294, 298 O'Connells of Carhen — Morgan, vol. i. 155, 158-161, 191, 311 ; vol. ii. 10, 38, 55, 69, 110 O'Connell, Daniel (the Liberator). See Darrynane O'Connells O'Connell, Lieutenant Maurice, vol. i. 198, 252; vol. ii. 51, 80, 90, 105, 242 O'Connell, James. See Sir James of Lake View O'Connell, John. See John of Grenagh O'Connells of Ballinabloun — Daniel, vol. i. 304, 311 O'Connell, Charles, vol. ii. 19, 265, 280 O'Connell, Mrs., narrative of, vol. ii. 264-266 O'Connells of Kilkevereragh — Geoffrey of the Great Herds, vol. ii. 21,22 O'Connells of Tarmons — /O'Connell, Baron (Murty), vol. i. 77, 78, 84, 92, 101, 124, 148, 250-252, 270, 275-277; vol. ii. 23, 24, 29, 30, 46, 79, 145, 262 O'Connell, Maurice Geoffrey (Little Maurice), vol. ii. 10, 26, 28, 31, 32, ^ 253, 257, 261 O'Connell, Maurice Geoffrey, of Lative, Captain Irish Brigade, vol. ii. 127, 242 O'Connell, Sir Maurice Charles, vol. ii. 34, 39, 51 ; see Book VII. Note C, vol. ii. 205 O'Connell, Captain Bickard, Dutch Service, vol. i. 202, 206, 209-213, 216, 217 O'Connell, Sir James, first baronet, of Lake View, vol. ii. 244, 273-275, 282, 289, 291, 292, 294, 296, 298 O'Connell, John, of Grenagh, vol. ii. 15, 69, 243, 273, 275, 282, 293 O'Connell, Comtesse, ne'e Drouillard de Index. 349 Lamarre (see also Madame de Belle Vue), vol. ii. 87, 108, 110, 121, 175, 176 O'Connells, Mrs., of Darrynane, and their daughters — (1) O'Connell, Mrs. (Maur-ni-Dhuiv), vol. i. 7, 9, 10, 18, 19, 23, 32, 33, 44, 58,59,78,88-90, 92, 93,113-115, 155, 156, 168, 169, 171, 178, 258, 260, 312 ; vol. il 69, 71, 79, 83, 84, 90, 94, 95, 105, 107-109, 111, 112, 114, 115, 123, 145, 150, 156, 157, 161, 177, 204-205 O'Connell, Alice. See Mrs. Seggerson O'Connell, Anne (Mrs. O'Connell of Lative), vol. i. 9, 162, 164, 168, 173, 174, 176 ; vol. ii. 12, 31, 95, 244, 245 O'Connell, Elizabeth. See Mrs. Mc Carthy O'Connell, Ellen. See " Dark Eileen," Mrs. O'Leary O'Connell, Gobbinette. See Mrs. O'Sul livan in Austria O'Connell, Honora. See Mrs. O'Sul livan of Couliagh O'Connell, Joan. See Mrs. Sugrue O'Connell, Mary. See Mrs. Baldwin (2) O'Connell, Mrs. (Mary Falvey), vol. i. 13, 16, 19-29, 31-36 O'Connell, Abigail (Mrs. Goulde) (3) O'Connell, Mrs. (Mary Cantillon), vol. i. 43, 64, 78, 79, 98, 110, 125, 158, 167; vol. ii. 95 (4) O'Connell, Mary (Mrs. O'Connell, wife of the Liberator), vol. ii. 1 28, 242, 243, 253, 254, 261-265, 277, 279, 280 O'Connell, Mrs., of Carhen (Kate O'Mullane), vol. i. 158, 159, 164; vol. ii. 272 O'Connor, Messrs. C. and J., letter of, vol. i 89 O'Connor, Captain, vol. i. 22, 222 O'Connor, Abbe, vol. ii. 40, 44; letter of, 40 C Connor-Kerry, Bev. Charles, vol. i. 69 CComnor-Failhe, see Pedigree notes, vol. ii. 319 Conway, see Pedigree note, vol. i. 135 .Conway, Counts, abroad, vol. i. 135 Conway, " Old Colonel James," vol. i. 182, 186, 209, 217; vol. ii. 40, 41, 51 Conway, General James, vol. ii. 49, 55, 120 Conway, General Thomas, of Clo- ghane family, vol. ii. 49, 50 I Conway, Colonel James, of Cloghane family Conway, Colonel ThomaB, of Clo ghane family Conway, Viscount James, of Clo ghane family Conway, Captain Mathew, vol. ii 47, 55,68 Conway, Captain Bobin, vol. i. 95, 105, 125-127, 149, 152, 173,190,223,224. 262, 275 ; vol. ii. 45, 49, 68 ; letters of, vol. i. 126, 252, 253 Crillon-Mahon, Due de, vol. i. 269, 273, 276,279, 280, 282, 283, 291-294, 299 Crosbie of Ardfert, vol. i. 182 Curtis, Commander, vol. i. 297, 299 D'Alton, General Count, vol. i. 209 Daun, Marshal, vol. i. 41, 43 Day, Judge, vol. ii. 275 Dease, Count, vol. i. 36 Deasys of Clonakilty, vol. i. 166 Dennys of Tralee, vol. i. 115, 117, 317 Dillon's Begiment of the Irish Brigade, vol. i. 183, 258 ; vol. ii 100, 101, 113, 140-143 Dillon, Count Arthur, vol. i. 220; vol. ii. 100 Dillon, Count Edward, vol. ii. 104 "Dillon's," Colonel - Proprietors of (seventeenth and eighteenth cen turies) — Dillon, Hon. John Dillon, Hon. Henry Dillon, Hon. Arthur Dillon, Charles, tenth Viscount Dillon, Henry, eleventh Viscount Dillon, James, Chevalier Dillon, Edward Dillon, Hon. Arthur, Count Dillon, Theobold, Count Dillons, British Colonels— \ Dillon, Colonel the Hon. Henry 7 Dillon, Colonel Edward Donegal, Marchioness of, vol. ii. 154, 228,238 Drinkwater's " Siege of Gibraltar,'' vol. i. 268, 269, 279 Drouillard de Lamarre, Marthe. See Countess O'Connell Duckett, Mr., clerical student, vol. ii. 41,43 Duggan, Mr., vol. ii. 105 Dundas, vol. ii. 147 O' Dempsey, Pere Felix, vol. ii. 41, 43 O'Donnell, General Count, vol. ii. 81 O'Donoghue — The O'Donoghue Mor, vol. i. 7, 317 The O'Donoghue of the Glens, vol. i. 7, 170, 225, 232, 234, 317 The McCarthy Mor and The O'Donoghue 350 Index. of the Glens, see Book III. Note A, vol. i. 225 Madam O'Donoghue, letter to (a.d. 1770), vol. i. 229 0' Donoghue Anecdotes, vol. i. 234-237 (O'Donoghue Dhuv, vol. i. 8, 232 I Shevaun-ni- Dhuiv' s Vengeance, Book II. Note D, vol. i. 136 | Maur-ni-Dhuiv's Mother, Book VII. Note B, vol. ii. 22 [ Maur-ni-Dhuiv. See Mrs. O'Connell, of Darrynane (1) I O'Donoghue Dhuv, Female Descents of, ' vol. i. 233 E Eagers, vol. ii. 50, 84 Edgeworth, the Abbe, vol. ii. 36 ; letter of, vol. ii. 81 Eliott, Governor, vol. i. 285, 299, 300 Esmonde, see Pedigree notes, vol. ii. 318 Esmonde, Sir Walter, vol. i. 107 Esmonde, Lucinda (Mrs. McMahon), vol. i. 107 F Fagan, see Pedigree notes, vol. ii. 57, 60 Fagans, British Service, vol. ii. 57-60 Fagan's "Life of O'Connell," freely quoted in text Fagan, Chevalier, vol. i. 71-74, 91, 93, 98, 130, 150-154, 156, 206-208 ; vol. ii. 23, 55, 57, 60, 111, 112, 148, 149, 162, 166, 215, 228, 229; letters of, vol. i. 73, 153; vol. ii. 106, 111, 112, 113-118, 119-122, 228, 229 O'Fatvey of Falia, see Pedigree note, vol. i. 53-57 Falvey, Hugh, vol. i. 53-57 Falvey, Mrs. (Honora O'Mahony), the Poor Scholar's Blessing on her, vol. i. 53, 55-57, 60 ; vol. ii. 341-314 Falvey, John, vol. i. 54 O' Falvey, Dermot, vol. i. 54 O' Falvey, Alive, vol. i. 54 O'Falmy, Darby, vol. i. 54, 55 O' Falvey, Mrs. (Gobbinette Galway), vol. i. 52 O'Falvey, John, vol. i. 56, 57 Falvey. Mary, see Mrs. O'Connell (2), vol. i. 18, 173' Falveys of Falia, vol. i. 22, 26, 30, 34, 139, 197, 198, 204, 205 Fersen, Count, vol. i. 285, 286, 300; vol. ii. 105 Finucane, Doctor, vol. i. 276 FitzGerald, Councillor, vol. i. 60, 66, 200 FitzJames, Due de (Colonel-Proprietor of Berwick's Begiment of the Irish Brigade), vol. i. 193, 194, 200, 253, 255; vol. ii. 97-99, 113, 142, 143, 178-185, 200, 201, 230, 250, 251; memorial of, vol. ii. 181 FitzJames, Marquis de, vol. ii. 183, 184 FitzJames, Chevalier de, vol. ii. 35 FitzMaurice, vol. ii. 124; see note Colonel Thomas FitzMaurice, Pedi gree note, vol. i. 318 FitzMaurice, Colonel Thomas, vol. i. 105, 106, 202, 220, 255, 258 ; vol. ii. 9, 26, 28, 33, 35, 37-39, 45. 46, 51, 56, 69, 84, 90, 94, 101, 112, 127; letter of, vol. ii 125, 126 FitzWilliam, Lord, voL ii. 153, 158, 159, 160-162, 166 Flahaut, Madame de, vol. ii. 67, 73, 74, 76,77 Fuller, Mrs., vol. ii. 19 Fouhy, Mrs., vol. ii. 7 G Galway, Mr., of Killarney, letter of, vol. ii. 197 George UL, vol. i 143 CGhier, Major, vol. i 270, 281 Giustiniani, Prince, vol i 52 ; vol. ii. 321 Glandore, Lady, vol. ii. 122 Glandore, Lord, vol. i. 260 ; vol. ii. 122-124; letter of, vol. ii. 122 Glin, Knight of, vol. i. 211, 213; vol. ii. 153 Godfreys, vol. ii. 154, 161, 228 O'Gorman, Count, vol. ii. 87 O' Gorman, Chevalier, vol. i. 261 ; vol. ii. 8-10, 12-15, 20-23 Goulde, James, of Clonakilty, vol. i. 164, 166 Goulde, Mrs. See Abigail O'Connell Goury, Marquis de, vol. i. 316 Goury, Marie Louise de (afterwards Countess O'Mahony), vol. i 316 Gouy, Vioomtesse de, vol. ii. 25, 110, 111, 122, 167, 176 Grady, Father, vol. i. 19, 23 Grattan, Henry, vol. ii. 159, 165 Griffin, Abbe', Canon of Cambray, vol. i. 267, 270 H Hamilton, Baron, vol. i 270 Bassett, Judge, vol. i. 16 Bassett, Arthur, vol. i. 40, 128 Beadley, Lord, vol. ii. 274 Bennessy, Mr., vol. i. 73, 256 Hem, Judge, vol. i 309, 310 Index. 351 Herberts, vol. ii. 268-270. See Pedi gree note, McCarthy Mor Herbert, Arthur, letter of, vol. i 40 Herbert, Mr., vol. i. 162 Hewson, Mr., vol. i. 81 Hickie, William, of Killelton, vol. ii. 75, 87, 88 ; letter of, vol. ii. 75 Houlahan, Mr., of Cadiz, vol. i. 279 ; vol. ii. 17, 27, 31 CHouny, Admiral, vol. i. 77, 262 O'Houny, Father John, vol. i 77, 262 Inehiquin, Earl of, vol. i 211, 212 Irish Brigade, disbanding of, vol. ii. 97-99 ; uniforms of (see Clare's, Dil lon's, Berwick's, Walsh's); banner of, vol. ii. 98; King George's, see Book VII., vol. ii. 138 ; memorial of Due de FitzJames, vol. ii. 181 ; last scene of, vol. ii. 250-252 K Kelleher, Abbe, letters to, from Maurice O'Connell, vol. ii. 40 Kenmare, Lord, vol. i 15, 16, 80, 81, 152, 181, 188, 209; vol. ii. 122, 158, 162, 197, 228, 231, 238, 239 Kennedy, Captain Maurice, vol. ii. 11 Kerry, Knight of, vol. i 115, 163, 317 ; letters of and to, vol. i. 264, 265 Laborde, Monsieur de, vol. ii. 77, 79 Laborde, Madame de, vol. ii. 77, 78, 90 Lacy, General Count, Spanish Service, vol. i. 280, 283, 303 Lacy, General Count, Austrian Service, vol. ii. 320 Lawlors, vol. i. 16, see Pedigree notes, vol. ii. 316 Lecky, " History of England," vol. i. 312, 313; extract on Irish Brigade, vol. ii 199-201 Leyne, or O'Leyne, vol. i. 245-248 ; see note, Century of Dr. Leynes Leyne, Dr. Maurice, letters of Captain Bickard O'Connell to, vol. i. 213-224; vol. ii. 15, 16, 21, 22 Lvsmore, Lord, ancestors of, vol. i, 275, 251, 252 Loders, or Ladirs (highwaymen), vol. i. 112-114, 116 OfLoughlin, Dr., vol. i. 276 < Louis XIV., vol. i. 63, 64, 323 ; vol. ii. 88 Louis XV., vol. i. 105, 128, 145 ; vol. ii. 76 Louis XVI., vol. i. 257, 285; vol. ii. 28, 76, 84, 85, 90-92, 97, 109 Louis XVIII., vol. ii. 250, 251, 263 Louis Philippe, vol. i. 163 ; vol. ii. 285, 286 O'Leary, Arthur, the Outlaw, vol. i. 170, 171, 173 ; dirge of, vol. i. 237- 246, vol. ii. 327-340 O'Leary, Mrs. (" Dark Eileen " O'Con nell), vol. i. 9, 122, 170-174 ; vol. ii. 31,79 O'Leary, Con, son of Eileen, vol. i. 79, 94, 274 O'Leary arms, vol. i. 237, 238 O'Leary of Ultonia Begiment, vol. ii. 46 M O'Mahony (Mahony). See Pedigree notes Mahony of Dromore, vol. i. 50, 54, 56, 57, 185, 190, 316, 321, 322 Mahony of Dunloe, vol. i. 50, 51, 53, 160, 322 ; vol. ii. 122 Mahony, John, letters of, vol. i. 15 Mahony, James, letters of, vol. i 20 Mahony of Cullina, vol. i. 50, 321 Mahony of Castlequin, vol. i 50, 52, 114, 321 Mahony, Denis, letter of, vol. i. 128 /Counts Mahony abroad — / O'Mahony, Count Daniel (" le Brave O'Mahony"), vol. i. 50, 52, 63, 177, 202, 204, 320-322 Mahony, Count Demetrius Mahony, Count Bartholomew (some time Knight of Malta), vol. i 50, 82, 142, 177, 185, 198, 201, 204, 217, 256, 262, 268, 270, 271, 277, 278, 293, 295, 301, 302, 316, 317, 319 ; vol. ii. 4, 8, 9, 28, 47, 69, 131 Mahony, Dr. Bartholomew (Court Physician), vol. i. 177, 182, 184, 186, 191 Mahony. See O'Mahony Maillebois, Comte de, vol. i 197, 201, 203,207; vol. ii. 23 Maillebois, Legion de, vol. ii. 23 Marie Antoinette, vol. i. 286 ; vol. ii. 6, 67, 85, 92, 105 Maria Theresa, vol. i. 101-103 Meade, Colonel, vol. i 149-151, 179, 180, 182 Moira, Lord, vol. ii. 119-121, 144, 147 O'Moore, Colonel, vol. i: 181 Muriarty, Abbe', vol. i. 200 352 Index. Morris, Gouverneur, vol. ii. 73, 74, 76- 78, 83, 85, 96, 103, 104, 141 Morrogh, vol. i. 54 Moylan, Dr., letters of, to, and about, vol. ii. 41-44, 81, 82 Mouy, Comte de, vol. i. 179 O'Mullanes, vol. i. 258 Murphy, Colonel, vol. i. 98, 101 Murphys, vol. i 89, 170 Murray, David, letter of, vol. i. 266 Murray, Governor, vol. i. 272-276 The McCarthy Mor (Charles, ob. 1770), vol. i. 169, 170, 172, 225-229, 237 The McCarthy Mor (Captain Cliarles of " Clare's "), vol. i. 170, 172, 175, 187, 227, 232 McCarthy, Colonel Eugene, of Oughter- money, vol. i. 175, 178, 194, 196 ; vol. ii. 71 McCarthy, Mrs. (Elizabeth O'Connell), of Oughtermoney, vol. i 9, 14, 122, 123, 178, 252, 257, 258 ; vol. ii. 71, 84 McCarthy, Timothy, of Oughtermoney, vol. i. 195 McCarthy-Lyragh, vol. ii. 129, 130, {131 McCarthy-Lyragh, Sir Charles, vol. i 72; vol. ii. 99, 104,131,133 McCarthy, Colonel Charles Thadeus, vol. ii 129-131 McCarthy, Abbe' Charles, vol. ii. 7, 129 McCartie, vol. i. 228. 233, 234 MeCrohans, vol. i. 37, 45, 46, 167, 190 McDonnell, Charles, of Kilkee, vol. i. 212 MacGillicuddys, vol. i. 87, 100 McMahons of Clenagh and Clonina, vol. i. 212, 213 ; see Note, vol. ii. 319 McMahon, Captain Bernard, vol. i. 172 McMahon, Margaret (Mrs. McCarthy), vol. i. 172 McMahon, Doctor, vol. i. 222 McMahon, Mrs., of Clohina (Fair Mary McDonnell), vol. i. 212, 213 McMahon, Henry, vol. i 6, 8 N Nagle, see Pedigree notes, vol. ii. 320 Napier's " Peninsular War," see Note Sir Nicholas Trant, vol. i. Book IV. Nassau, Prince of, vol. i. 284, 287, 290-294 Nephews of Count O'Connell, Book VIII. Note B, vol. ii. 304 Newburgh, Earls of, vol. i. 52 Ney, Marshal, Vol. ii. 256, 267 Noury, Abbe", vol. ii. 278; letter of, Note A, vol. ii. 304 Nowlan, Mr., vol. i. 208 Nugent, Baron, vol. ii. 262 Onslow vol. i. 40 Orpen, Thomas, vol. i. 114, 127, 128 Paoli, General, vol. i. 125 Pelham, Secretary, vol. ii. 163, 166, 174,180. 200,201 Pierce, Colonel, vol. i 78, 83, 95, 101 Pitt, William, vol. ii. 141, 146, 156, 170, 231, 232 Ponce, Monsieur de la, vol. i. 218 ; vol. ii. 124, 250 Portland, Duke of, vol. ii. 113, 143, 182-184, 210, 211 Powis, Earl of, vol. i. 162 B O'Reardon, Doctor, vol. ii. 221, 244, 245, 249 O' Rielly, Count, vol. 1 302, 303 O'Rielly, Dease, see Pedigree notes, vol. ii. 319 Bice, Count, Book VI. Note C, vol. ii 34 (his projected rescue of Marie Antoinette) Rice, Miss, vol. i. 267 ; vol. ii. 88 Rice, James, of Nantes, vol. ii. 23 ; letter of, vol. ii. 13 Rice of Ballymaedoyle, see Book VI. Note D, vol. i, Countess Watters, ne'e Bice, vol. ii. 135 Roche, John, vol. ii. 15 .Ross, Alexander, vol. i. 291 ; Journal at Siege of Gibraltar, Book IV. Note A, vol. i 314 Ryan of Holy Cross, Pedigree notes, vol. ii. 317 S Saint Germaine, Comte de, vol. i 201 Segerson, or Sigerson, see Pedigree note, vol. ii. 206 Seggerson, Mrs. (Alice O'Connell), vol. i. 9 ; letter to, vol. ii. 260 Seggersons in text and footnotes, vol. ii. 10, 19 Sers, Marquise de, Beminiscences by, vol. ii. 258, 297, 301, 302 Shevhy, Mrs., vol. i. 191 Index. 353 Sheehy, Doctor, vol. i. 224 Shelbourne, Lord, vol. i 16, 85, 160, 182 Smith, Doctor, vol. i. 110, 263 Southwell, Hon. Mrs., vol. i. 191 Spotswood, Francis, vol. i. 309, 310 ; vol. ii. 8 Stack, General, vol. i 257 ; vol. ii. 141 Stoughton, Mr., vol. ii. 28, 31 Sugrue, Dr., Bishop of Kerry, vol. ii. 244, 245 Sugrue, Pedigree note, vol. i. 52 Sugrue, Mrs. (Joan O'Connell), vol. i. 9 14 O'Sullivan Mor, The, vol. i. 52, 132; vol. ii. 61 O'Sullivan Beare, The, vol. i. 115, 133; vol.ii. 30 O'Sullivan Beare, Murty Oge, vol. i. 115 ; vol. ii. 24, 30 O'Sullivan, Donal Cam, Defender of Dunboy, see Pedigree index, vol. i. 132 O'Sullivans of Couliagh, vol. i. 133, 305, 321, 328; vol. ii. 24, 84, 244 O'Sullivan, Sir John (of the '45), vol. i. 189 O'Sullivan, Mrs. (Honora O'Connell), vol. i. 9, 28, 252 ; vol. ii. 21, 26, 55, 56, 144 O'Sullivan, Captain Mark, vol. ii. 23, 26, 28-31, 33, 49, 55, 56, 68 O'Sullivan, Major, of Konigcratz's, vol. i 103, 181 O'Sullivan, Mrs. (Gobbinette O'Con nell), vol. i. 9, 102, 103, 106 O'Sullivan. See Sugrue O'Sullivan. See Tlie MacGillicuddy of the Beeks O'Sullivan, McFinneen Dhuv, see Pedigree index, vol. i 132 O'Sullivans seafaring in Spain, vol i. 37,85 O'Sullivan, Gyles, vol. i. 37, 85, 131 ; vol. ii. 7 . O'Sullivan, Owen, vol. i. 85, 131 O'Sullivan, see Mrs. O'Connell of Tar- mons, vol. ii 27, 30 Teaghan, Doctor, Bishop of Kerry, vol. ii. 244 Trants of Dingle, vol. i. 325 Trants of Dovea, vol. i 325 Trants of Fenitt, vol. i 319 Trant, Counsellor Dominic, vol. i. 306- 311 ; Note on, vol. i 325 ; letters of, vol. i. 308, 311 Trants, Jacobite Baronets, vol. i. 325- 329 Trant, Sir Nicholas, see Book IV. Note E, vol. i. 329-335 ; vol. ii. 262 Trench, Mrs., vol. ii. 102 Vaudreuil, Comte de, vol. i. 278 ; vol. ii. 5, 7, 12, 25 Vaux, Count de, vol. i. 75 W Walsh de Serrant, Comte de, vol. i. 219, 221 ; vol. ii. 173, 184 Walsh de Serrant, Vicomte de, vol. ii. 182 Walsh's Begiment of the Irish Brigade , vol. i 194, 219, 221, 253, 258; vol. ii. 173-184 Washington, vol. i. 204 Watters (or Waters) family, vol. ii. 135-137 Walters, Countess, ne'e Bice, vol. ii. 13, 75, 87, 88, 135, 136; letter of, vol. ii. 88 Wise, Mr., of Cork, vol. i. 204 Wyndham, Secretary, vol. ii. 140, 143, 147, 166, 168, 169, 180, 200, 201 VOL. II. 2 A PEDIGREE INDEX. The genealogical notes to this work are chiefly taken from certified pedigrees brought out to France by Irish officers over a hundred years ago. Full modern pedigrees can be easily seen in Burke's " Landed Gentry," so there was no occasion to carry them on beyond the date when the persons mentioned in the text were living. Cantillon of Ballyheigue. (Vol. i. pp. 61-65.) Eepresentative : Baron de Cantillon, France. Alliances and descents : Earls of Farnham, Stafford, and Gloucester; Viscount Bulkeley, Burke of Cornabulliagh (Mc- Walter), Blakes, O'Briens, O'Connell of Darrynane. O'Connells of Iveragh. (Vol. ii. pp. 308-316.) Eepresentative : Mr. O'Connell, of Darrynane. Counts of France, Barons of the Holy Eoman Empire, Baronets of the United Kingdom. The O'Connell alliances with O'Sullivans, Mahonys, McCarthys, O'Connells, and Blennerhassetts include nearly every branch of these families during the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries, so I here omit names of their places for brevity. Male descendants of Donal Mor O'Connell and Maur-ni-Dhuiv are inter married with or descended from the following families : — Baldwin of Clohina, Balfe of South Park, Bianconi of Longfield, Barrys, O'Brien of Kilcor, Blennerhassetts, Butler of Kilcash, Cantillon of Ballyphillip, Conways of Killorglin and Glenbeigh, Coppinger of Barry's Court, Lord Cahir, O'Connor-Failhe, O'Connor- Kerry, The O'Donoghue of the Glens, O'Donoghue Dhuv, O'Donell, Esmonde, O'Falvey of Faha, FitzMaurice of Cosfeal, Foster, FitzSimon of Glancullen, Ffrench of Ffrench Lawn, Galway of Lota Goolde, Huddleston of Sawston, Hickie of Slievoir, O'Leary, Mc- Carthy-O'Loary of Coomlagane, Leyne, Shyne-Lawlor of Castle lough, Mahonys, O'Mullane of Whitechurch, Morrogh, McCarthy Mor, McCarthys, McCarties, McMahons of Clenagh and Clohina, Nagle of Ballinamona, O'Eielly-Dease, Eoss of Carshalton, Eyan of Holycross, Therry of Castle Therry, O'Sullivans, Seggtrson of Ballinskelligs, Sugrue of Fermoyle. 356 Pedigree Index. Conway of Killorglin and of Bodrhyddan. (Vol. i. p. 135.) Counts in France. Alliances and descents : Stanley of Hooton, Blennerhassett of Ballyseedy, Eoches, Blennerhassett of Killorglin, Mahony of Dro more, O'Connell of Darrynane. Baldwin of Clohina. (Vol. i. p. 246.) Alliances and descents : Herbert of Powis, Hungerford of the Island, Langton of Barry, The O'Sullivan Beare, O'Connell of Darrynane. The O'Donoghue of the Glens. (Vol. i. p. 232.) Present representative : The O'Donoghue of the Glens. Alliances and descents: The McCarthy Mor, McMahon of Clohina, McMahon of Clenagh, Morrogh, Coppinger of Barry's Court, Markham of Brewsterfield, O'Connells of Grenagh and Lake View, Ennis of Ballinahown Court. O'Falvey of Faha. (Vol. i. pp. 53-57.) Present representative : Mr. Morrogh Bernard, of Faha Court. Alliances and descents : FitzMaurice, Lord Lixnaw, Viscount Netterville, Bernard of Ballinagard, Ferriter of Boncashla, Fitz- Geralds, Morrogh, Mahony of Dromore, Mahony of Dunloe, Pierse of Ballinagard, O'Connell of Darrynane, The O'Sullivan Mor, and The O'Sullivan Beare. Fagan of Dronmolton and Carrigcrohane (originally of Feltrim, forfeited temp. James IL). (Vol. ii. p. 57.) Count de Fagan, Spain ; Chevalier de Fagan, France. Alliances and descents : Earl of Strabane, Trant of Fenitt, De Lacy of Bruff, Skiddys and Goulds of Cork, Barnwalls and Plunketts of Meath. FitzMaurice of Cosfeal and Detach. (Vol. i. pp. 318, 319.) Younger branch of the FitzMaurices, Earls of Kerry. Alliances and descents : Mahony of Kilbonane, Holies of Knocka- nagulsey, Fitzgerald of Nurney, Browne of Eosse, The O'Sullivan Beare, Trant of Fenitt. O'Leyne. (Vol. i. p. 246.) Alliances and descents : Fitzgerald of Adare, Conway of Glan- beigh, The MaoGillicuddy of the Eeeks, O'Connells of Kilkeveragh and Mahera. The McCarthy Mor. (Vol. i. pp. 225-232.) Present representative : Mr. MacCartie, of Carrignavar. [MacCartie of Carrignavar is representative of the gens Pedigree Index. 357 McCarthy, and de jure Baron Muskerry (created 1495), and Baron Blarney (created 1578). But O'Donoghue is representative of McCarthy Mor in female line.] English titles bestowed on different branches of the family now extinct or attainted : McCarthy Mor, Earl of Glancar, and Viscount Valentia ; McCarthy, Baron of Blarney ; McCarthy, Earl of Clancarthy and Viscount Muskerry; McCarthy, Viscount Mountcashel, and Baron Ca^tletuohy. Alliances and descents : Earl of Antrim. Earl of Kerry, Lord Brittas. McCarthy Eeagh, The O'Donoghue of the Glens, Herbert of Muckross, Conways, McMahons, The O'Donovan, Finch, Hussey. McCarthy-Lyragh of Manche. (Vol. ii. pp. 129-134.) Eepresentative : Mdlle. Mathilde McCarthy de Merve. Alliances and descents referred to in this work : O'Cronin, Gueroult, Le Grand d'Ennerville, Count de Merve. Mdlle. McCarthy de Merve possesses a great pedigree, registered by her grandfather, with most honourable Irish and French alliances too numerous to quote here. McCartie. (Vol. i. p. 232.) (See note, " Female Descendants of O'Donoghue Dhuv.") Alliances and descents : McCarthy, Lord Muskerry ; McCarthy of Drishane, Barrett of Barrett's Country, O'Donoghue Dhuv, The O'Donoghue of the Glens, O'Leary of Iveleary, O'Connell of Darrynane. O'Mahony. (Vol. i. pp. 50-52, 316-320.) Eepresentatives : Mr. Mahony, of Dromore ; Mr. Mahony, of Dunloe ; O'Mahonys, grandees of Spain, Counts of Spain and France. Alliances and descents : Prince Giustiniani, Marquis Bandini, Marquis de Goury, Earl of Newburgh, Count Conway, The O'Sullivan Mor, The O'Sullivan Beare, The O'Donoghue Mor, The. O'Donoghue of the Glens, Weld of Lulworth, FitzMaurice of Cosfeal, McCarthy of Coshmaigne, O'Falvey ot Faha, Holies of Knockanagulsey, Sugrue of Fermoyle, De Coursey, Trant of Fenitt, O'Connells of Darrynane, Cahirbarnagh, and Ballinabloun. Segerson of Ballinskelligs. (Vol. ii. p. 208.) Eepresentative : Mr. Mahony, of Dromore. Alliances and descents : Babington, Bavand, Blennerhassett, Boyle, Burke, Conway, O'Connells of Ballinabloun, Bally brack, and Darrynane; Haly-Coppinger, Hoare, Kelly, Leyne, Lalor, McCarthy, MacGinuis, Mahony, Nelson, O'Sullivan, Spotswoode, Spencer, Sarsfield, and Sugrue, in England and Ireland ; Buchanan, Chisholm, Loder, Estudillo, Ward, and Sullivan, in Australia and America. 35 8 Pedigree Index. Sjgrue of Fermoyle. (Vol. i. p. 52.) Alliances and descents : FitzMaurice of B^llyhealy, Mahony of Dunloe, Conway of Killorglin, Segerson of Ballinskelligs, O'Connells of Darrynane and Ballybrack. O'Sullivan (viz. the four chiefly families of O'Sullivan Mor, O'Sullivan Reare, MaoGillicuddy of the Eeeks, and McFineen Dhuv, of which MaoGillicuddy is still flourishing). (Vol. i. pp. 132-135.) Alliances and descents : These families have frequently inter married with each other and with the following: McCarthy, Lord Muskerry; McCarthy Reagh, The O'Donovan, The Knight of Kerry, The Knight of the Valley, O'Leyne. This list does not profess to be an exhaustive summary. It merely mentions the alliances and descents referred to in historical notices. Trant of Fenitt (Baronets temp. James II.). (Vol. i. p. 319.) Eepresentative : Colonel Trant, of Dovea. Alliances and descents : Prince d'Auvergne, Earl of Cavan, Lord Slane, Count O'Mahony, The O'Sullivan Beare, The O'Connor- Kerry, Eice of Balliugolin, FitzMaurice of Cosfeal, Trant of Dovea. Waters, or Watters. (Vol. ii. pp. 135-137.) Counts in France. Eepresentative : Count Watters. Alliances and descents: Eice of Ballymaedoyle, Count Eice in France, Creaghe, Lord FitzWaters, Hickie of Killelton, Sugrue of Fermoyle, Count de Tiley. IRISH OFFICERS, Etc., Mentioned in Text and Notes. Another list of officers of the Irish Brigade transferred to English service will be found on pp. 185-192, vol. ii. The initial letters of Austria, England, France, Holland, Portugal, and Spain denote countries served by these Irish officers. Generals. Baron Brady. A. Count Browne. A. John FitzMaurice Burke. F. E Count (James) Conway. F. E. Count (Thomas) Conway. F. E. Count (Daniel) O'Connell. Sir Maurice O'Connell. F Baron O'Connell. A. Count D'Alton. A. O'Donnell. A. Baron McElligott. A. Christopher Sullivan Fagan. O'Kelly. A. Count Lally de Tolendal. F. Count Lacy. A. S. F. F. E. E. E. Count Lacy. Lynch. F. Marshal MacDonald. McGuire. A. Count (Daniel) O'Mahony ("le Brave O'Mahony," grandee of Spain). F. S. Count (Demetrio) O'Mahony. S. Count (Bartholomew) O'Mahony. F. E. Baron Nugent. A. Plunkett. A. Count (Alexander) O'Reilly. S. Sir Nicholas Traut. F. E. P. Stack. F. E. Colonels. Colonel Barry. F. E. / Succession of Colonel-Proprietors of "Dillon's"— Hon. John Dillon. Hon. Henry Dillon. Hon. Arthur Dillon. Charles, tenth Viscount Dillon. I' Henry, eleventh Viscount Dillon. Chevalier James Dillon. Edward Dillon. Count (Hon.) Arthur Dillon. Count Theobald Dillon. Colonel Hon. Henry Dillon. F. E. Colonel Edward Dillon. F. E Colonel Count James Conway. F. Colonel James Conway. F. E. Colonel Thomas Conway. F. E. Colonel Elliott. F. Colonel Thomas FitzMaurice. F. Colonel George Hickson Fagan. E. Colonel Geoghegan. F. Colonel Macraith. F. Colonel Meade. F. Colonel Murphy. F. Colonel O'Moore. F. E. Lieut.-Colonel William Mahony. F. Colonel Count Daniel Mahony. F. Lieut.-Colonel Cornelius O'Mahony. S. Colonel Eugene McCarthy. F. E. Colonel WUliam McCarthy. F. E. Colonel Sir Charles McCarthy- Lyragh. F. E. Colonel Charles Thadeus McCarthy- Lyragh. F. Colonel Pierce. F. Colonel Count Walsh de Serrant. F. E. Colonel Viscount Walsh de Serrant. F. E. Lord Thomond (last Colonel-Pro prietor of "Clare's"). F. 560 Irish Officers, etc. Majors and Captains. Major Barry. F. E. Captain John Burke. F. E. Major Robin Conway. F. Captain Mathew Conway. F. Captain Maurice O'Connell (of Lative). F. E. Captain Maurice Jeffrey O'Connell. F. E. Captain Rickard O'Connell. F. H. Captain O'Connor. F. Captain Chev. Christopher Fagan. F. Captain James FitzSimon. F. E. Major O'Ghier. F. Captain Maurice Kennedy. F. Captain Bernard McMahon. F. Captain The McCarthy Mor. F. Captain John McCarthy-Lyragh. F. Major O'Sullivan. A. Other Officers, of whose precise rank I am uncertain, also lieutenants and sub lieutenants, several O'Mahonys and O'Connells mentioned in letters, exclusive of those given above — Lieutenant Maurice O'Connell (of Carhen). E. Lieutenant Falvey ("Berwick's"). F. E. Lieutenant Darby Falvey ("Dil lon's "). E. Ensign William Falvey ("Dillon's "). E. D. Swiney (I fancy it should be McSwiney). F. John FitzMaurice. F. Robin FitzMaurice. F. Michael Falvey. F. Con O'Leary. F. Fagan. F. Irish Physicians (eighteenth century). Dr. Bartholomew Mahony, Phy sician to Louis XVI. ( ' ' Medecin du Roi "). Paris. Dr. FitzGibbons. Paris. Dr. Timothy Connell. Fontaine- bleau. Dr. Jeremy Leyne (end of seven teenth century). Tralee. Dr. Jeremy Leyne (beginning of eighteenth century). Tralee. Dr. Maurice Leyne(endof eighteenth century). Tralee. Dr. Maurice Leyne (beginning of nineteenth century). Tralee. Dr. Ankettle. Limerick. Dr. Finucane. Ennis. Dr. O'Loughlin. Ennis. Dr. Comyn. Ennis. Dr. McMahon. Dr. Spellicy. Ennis. Dr. Sheehy. Cork. Dr. O'Reardon (beginning of nine teenth century). Dublin Dr. Geoffrey O'Connell. Cork. Count Dease, Physician to Empress Catherine. Russia. Dr. Cronin. Killarney. Dr. O'Leary. Paris. Irish Bishops. Dr. Moylan (afterwards translated from Kerry to Cork), Bishop of Ardfert and Aghadoe. Kerry. Dr. Troy, Archbishop of Dublin. Dr. Gerard Teahan. Ardfert and Aghadoe. Dr. Charles Sugrue. Ardfert and Aghadoe. Irish Officers, etc. 361 Irish Priests. Abbe Connell. Kerry. Father Morgan O'Connell, P.P. of Killarney. Father Grady. Kerry. Father Owen Sullivan. France. Abbe1 FitzMaurice. France. Abbe" Griffin, Canon of Cambray. France. Abbe" Moriarty. France. Abbe" McCarthy. France. Abbe" Charles McCarthy-Lyragh. France. Abbe Leyne. France. Abbe" Kelleher, Superior Irish College, Paris. Abbe O'Connor, Irish College, Rheims. Abbe" Edgeworth, Vicar of exiled Archbishop of Paris. Pere Felix O'Dempsey. France. Father Guardian O'Brien, Irish Franciscan, Prague. Bohemia. Father John O'Houny. Spain. Fr. Liddy, O.S.F. Ireland. Fr. Tully, O.S.F. Ireland. END OF VOL. n. PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES.