William Fitzpatrick - Secret Service Under Pitt

'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 .

See Conlan's sworn information, Appendix.

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

Froude's English in Ireland , iii. 290.

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.

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.

Lives and Times of the United Irishmen , iv. 22.

Ante , p. 11.

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

See ante , p. 2; Froude, iii. 279.

The French minister at Hamburg.

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

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

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

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

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

Castlereagh Papers , i. 286-8.

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.

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

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.

Castlereagh Papers , i. 271.

Ibid. i. 284.

How this appointment came about, see Appendix.

Castlereagh Correspondence , i. 228.

Ibid. i. 251.

Castlereagh Correspondence , i. 246-7.

Castlereagh Correspondence , i. 275-6.

Allibone erroneously assigns (p. 558) the authorship of this book to Thomas Addis Emmet.

Castlereagh Papers , i. 237.

Castlereagh Papers , i. 281-6.

Reinhard seems to have complained to the French Directory that his letters to De la Croix were not answered. The last intercepted letters are dated July 1797; and on the 15th of the same month Talleyrand was appointed to succeed De la Croix, who had been unjustly suspected. De la Croix survived until 1805, when he died at Bordeaux, mortified by the desertion of some old friends.

Lives and Times of the United Irishmen , ii. 290.

Arthur O'Connor, at all times distrustful, seems to have suspected the upright Macnevin. They were never quite cordial afterwards, and it is certain that in 1804, when both served in the Irish Legion, a duel very nearly took place between them.

See Castlereagh Papers , i. 237.

After 1798 Macnevin migrated to America, where he filled several important medical posts, and published numerous books. He survived until July 1841.

Castlereagh , i. 283.

The words of the French writer will be found at p. 78, infra .

The London Courier of September 14, 1799, displays the following translation of a letter addressed to a Paris journal: 'Citizens, — The Redacteur has said, and many other Journalists have repeated it, that Napper Tandy had been given up by the Senate of Hamburg. I declare to you, Citizens, that not a word is said of this in any letters received in any of the Banking houses in Paris, nor in those which I myself have received. I hasten to give you this information, because the Public ought never to be deceived .

Castlereagh Papers , i. 405. The letter, of which this is a bit, was written by a spy who contrived to accompany Tandy as a sort of aide-de-camp, and was on board the 'Anacreon' during the voyage. Wickham divulges merely his initial, 'O,' but the reader will find his name and career successfully traced in the Appendix.

Cox's Irish Magazine , January 1809, pp. 32-4.

It will be shown, later on, that an Irish spy named 'Durnin' resided at Hamburg.

See letter to Talleyrand, ante , p. 27. Some persons supposed that because Duckett lived at Hamburg like Turner, he used that great gangway to France for espionage. In the Castlereagh Papers (ii. 6) Duckett is described as 'Secretary to Léonard Bourdon.' Bourdon is noticed in the Nouvelle Biog. Génèrale , was 'l'agent du Directoire à Hambourg, d'où il fit partir les émigrés.'

Sir James Crawford, British minister at Hamburg from 1798 to 1803. Crawford afterwards filled a similar post at Copenhagen, where Reynolds, the Kildare informer, is also found acting as British consul. Reynolds's betrayals were long subsequent to those of Turner, and of a wholly different sort. His evidence was given in court publicly. The editor of the Cornwallis Papers states that Crawford died on July 9, 1839; but Mr. Ross confounds him with an utterly different man. The Black Book , published in 1820, records (p. 31) a pension of 1000 l. 'continued to the family of Sir James Crawford, late minister at Copenhagen, dead.' The 'most exhaustive' works of biographical reference omit Sir James Crawford, a remarkable man, and one who played an important part in European history; and a letter of mine in Notes and Queries , asking for facts about him, failed to elicit a reply.