William Fitzpatrick - Secret Service Under Pitt

Alexander Lowry was the treasurer for Down. Tone describes Lowry and Tennant as 'a couple of fine lads, whom I like extremely.' — Life , ii. 433. Aug. 1797. Their youth and ingenuousness would make them easy prey.

Robert Simms had been appointed to the chief command of the United Irishmen of Antrim; but he is said to have wanted nerve. James Hope, in a narrative he gave Dr. Madden, said that Hughes, the Belfast informer, once proposed to him to get rid of Simms by assassination. Hope pulled a pistol from his breast and told Hughes that if ever he repeated that proposal he would shoot him.

Richard McCormick, originally secretary of the Catholic Committee, and afterwards an active 'United Irishman,' and styled by Tone, in his Diary , 'Magog.'

The wife of Lord Edward Fitzgerald. Moore's Life of Lord Edward Fitzgerald says that she was the daughter of Mde. de Genlis by Philippe Egalité, Duke of Orleans; but a letter appears in Moore's Memoirs from King Louis Philippe denying it, and Mde. de Genlis calls her a child by adoption. Pamela was a person of surpassing beauty; her portrait arrests attention in the gallery of Versailles. R. B. Sheridan proposed for her, but she rejected him in favour of Lord Edward. Died 1831; her remains were followed to Père la Chaise by Talleyrand.

The allusion may be to Captain Maitland – afterwards General Sir Thomas Maitland, Governor of Ceylon, a son of Lord Lauderdale. He was in Parliament from 1774 to 1779, and from 1790 to 1796, when he sat for the last time in the House – a circumstance which may, perhaps, explain the remark that he was sick of politics. Died 1824. In 1800 he was Colonel Maitland, and in the confidence of Lord Cornwallis.

Who Stuart was, see p. 36 infra ; also Lord Cloncurry's Memoirs , p. 63.

Madame de Genlis states in her memoirs that her niece, Henriette de Sercey, married M. Matthiessen, a rich banker of Hamburg. The General Count Valence married a daughter of Madame de Genlis, and resided near Hamburg on a farm where the latter wrote several of her works.

The expedition of Hoche to Bantry Bay in December, 1796.

'I just made a couple of betts with him, and took up a cool hundred.' — The Provoked Husband , by Vanbrugh and Cibber, ii. i. 311, ed. 1730. See also Smollett's Don Quixote , bk. iii. c. viii.

Froude, iii. 277 et seq.

Alexander Knox, in his History of Down , errs in saying (p. 26) that 'Dr. McNevin was an influential member of the Established Church.'

All these men, unless Hamill and Inishry, are to be found in books which treat of 1798. The first is noticed in the Dublin Penny Journal , March 1, 1834 (p. 274). In 1797 Mr. Hamill was indicted for defenderism and acquitted, 'and the witnesses for the Crown were so flagrantly perjured that the judge, I have heard, ordered a prosecution' (Speech of Henry Grattan in Parliament, May 13, 1805 — Hansard , ii. 925).

As regards 'Inishry,' no such cognomen is to be found in the pedigrees of MacFirbis or O'Clery, or any name to which it might be traced. The name that the spy gave was probably Hennessy – which Downshire, in writing from dictation, may have mistaken for 'Inishry.'

Long before the publication of Mr. Froude's book, Arthur O'Connor, in a letter to Dr. Madden, states that 'Lord Edward took no oath on joining the United Irishmen.' – Vide their Lives and Times , ii. 393.

In chapter vii. my contention will be found established on conclusive testimony, which had failed to present itself until years had been given to a slow process of logical deduction. Vide also Appendix to this volume.

'The Northern Marquis' was, of course, Lord Downshire.

'A Lanthorn through some Dark Passages, with a Key to Secret Chambers,' was the title originally chosen for the present book, but I finally laid it aside as being too much in the style of old Parson Fry's 'Pair of Bellows to Blow away the Dust.'

How this book got out of the Castle and was sold for waste paper by a man named Fagan is a curious story in itself. The volume is now preserved in the Royal Irish Academy.

A prisoner named Turner, Christian name not given, indicted for high treason, is announced as discharged in December 1795, owing to the flight of a Crown witness. – Vide Irish State Trials (Dublin: Exshaw, 1796); Lib. R. I. Academy.

Vide pp. 21-2. Newell's pamphlet will be found in the Halliday Collection, vol. 743, Royal Irish Academy.

Vide Mr. Matthew's narrative in The Sham Squire , sixth edition, pp. 355-363.

This place of rendezvous was, doubtless, chosen because of its proximity to Leinster House, where Lord Edward mainly lived.

Major Sirr's Papers (MS.), Trinity College, Dublin. Conlan's information makes no mention of a remarkable man, the Rev. William Steel Dickson, D.D., a Presbyterian pastor of Down, and described by the historians of his Church as ready to take the field. Dr. Dickson, in his Narrative , admits (p. 193) that he had been 'frequently in the company of Lowry, Turner, and Teeling.' Turner was a Presbyterian and possibly wished to spare a pastor of his Church.

The Pelham MSS. Examination dated September 6, 1797. Pelham, afterwards Lord Chichester, was Chief Secretary for Ireland at that time, and his papers are a useful help in throwing light upon it. A large portion of them are occupied by a correspondence with Generals Lake and Nugent regarding Dr. Macara; he offered to inform if let out on bail. Lake hoped that he would prove a valuable informer; and, as he was far from rich, could not afford to reject pecuniary reward; but, although Macara at first seemed to consent, his replies were finally found to be evasive.

Higgins to Cooke, MS. letter, Dublin Castle, June 7, 1797.

Ibid. , August 29, 1797. Five weeks later Turner makes his disclosure to Downshire.

The English in Ireland , iii. 312.

Allen, a draper's assistant in Dublin, afterwards a colonel in the service of France.

Report of the Secret Committee , p. 31. (Dublin, 1798.)

Life of the Reverend James Coigly , p. 28. (London, 1798.) Halliday Collection, R.I.A., vol. 743.

The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

The Home Secretary.

Camden to Portland, March 1, 1798. English in Ireland , iii. 310.

Portland to Camden, March 7, 1798.

In O'Connor's valise were found 900 l. , a military uniform, and some papers relating to Lord Edward Fitzgerald. – W. J. F.

Life of Thomas Reynolds , by his Son. (London, 1839.)