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Irish Record Office.

[147] Judgment Registry, Four Courts, Dublin, No. 302.

[148] Tone's Life (i. 128) describes how, before leaving for America in 1795, he swore to his friends who surrounded him on Cave Hill never to desist from his efforts until Ireland was free.

[149] This is quite Turner's style.

[150] Froude, iii. 176. The original objects of the Society of United Irishmen were parliamentary reform and Roman Catholic emancipation.

[151] Ante, p. 25.

[152] The Rev. Arthur McCartney, vicar of Belfast, stated that he had never heard of a Committee of Assassination existing in Belfast with the cognizance or sanction of the leaders of the United Irishmen.

[153] Froude's English in Ireland, iii. 175.

[154] The following memorandum, though of no political import, is useful as an authentic record of facts:—

      '1791, February 13. Samuel Turner and Jacob Turner his father, both of Turner's Hill, co. Armagh, Esquires, to John McVeagh of Lurgan. Conveyance of Premises in Lurgan.

      '1794, October 8. Samuel Turner of Newry, and Jane Turner, late of Lurgan, now of Newry, to Thompson and others. Premises in Lurgan.

      The Teelings, with whom Turner claims to be intimate, came from Lurgan.' See Webb's Irish Biography.

[155] See Conlan's sworn information, Appendix.

[156] James Hope to the late Mr. Hugh McCall, of Lisburn. See Webb's Irish Biography for an appreciative notice of Hope.

[157] Froude's English in Ireland, iii. 290.

[158] There were informers from the first, but not to the extent suggested; nor can it be fairly said that they were men 'deepest in the secret.' 'This and similar information,' writes Mr. Froude, 'came in to them (the Government) from a hundred quarters' (p. 177). 'They had an army of informers' (p. 174). The historian here writes of the year '96, and rather overrates the extent of the treachery. Dr. Macnevin, writing in 1807, says that the secrets of the United Irishmen were kept with wonderful fidelity. Their society existed from 1791; it was not until 1798, when ropes were round their necks, that Reynolds and McGuckin proved false; and the same remark applies to most of the others.

[159] As regards Pelham's correspondent in 1796, and Downshire's in 1797, does Mr. Froude mistake, for two distinct betrayers, the one Informer? His striking scenes, his dramatic situations, his fine painting and accessories, remind me of a stage where the movements of a few men convey the idea of an advancing 'army.' That 'Downshire's friend' had been previously known as an informer is proved by a letter from the Viceroy Camden to Portland, dated December 9, 1797.

[160] Lives and Times of the United Irishmen, iv. 22.

[161] Ante, p. 11.

[162] Appendix No. 1 to Report of the Secret Committee of the House of Commons, 1798.

[163] See ante, p. 2; Froude, iii. 279.

[164] The French minister at Hamburg.

[165] The noble editor of the Castlereagh Papers says that this name is an alias for Samuel Turner.

[166] Mr. Froude errs in stating (iii. 260) that Macnevin himself carried the Memorial to Paris.

[167] All this is exactly what Downshire's visitor told him (see chap. i.).

[168] His challenge to the commander-in-chief, Lord Carhampton, was among the 'imprudences.'

[169] Instead of the words 'circumspect' and 'moderate,' 'prudence' and 'cowardice' are applied to Macnevin's party by Turner (vide chap. i.).

[170] Castlereagh Papers, i. 286–8.

[171] Among the letters headed 'Secret Information from Hamburg,' in the Castlereagh Papers, is one making allusion to the writer's previous communications with Downshire, whom he mentions by name, and stating that certain letters to Charles Rankin, of Belfast, were 'to be sealed with a particular seal I have for the purpose.'—Ibid. i. 234.

[172] Mr. Lecky says, what previous writers do not, that Macnevin wrote the memorial at Hamburg.

[173] Other intercepted letters addressed to the French Minister of War will appear later on. These unanswered appeals were well calculated to damp the ardour of the Irish refugees; but they tried to keep the machine of conspiracy moving—despite the subtle insertion of so many hidden obstacles tending to clog and destroy it.

[174] Castlereagh Papers, i. 271.

[175] Ibid. i. 284.

[176] How this appointment came about, see Appendix.

[177] Castlereagh Correspondence, i. 228.

[178] Ibid. i. 251.

[179] Castlereagh Correspondence, i. 246–7.

[180] Castlereagh

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