If you happen to see Mr. Peter Burrowes,* mention me to him in the warmest manner-I have a very high opinion of him. I got the books, and I thank you. Is it possible that Sheridan could have written the strange attack on me?— Alas!-I speak from what I hear, for I never read these attacks-that would be endless labour-I find that I know men but little. Yours ever, H. GRATTAN. MR. GRATTAN TO MR. M'CAN. Castleconnell, Oct. 3, 1797. DEAR M'CAN,—I shall see you in the course of a fortnight. You see stocks look down-rely on it they will be lower-we shall be eaten up with armies. The conduct of Government regarding Ireland, depend on it, gives confidence to France, and is an additional obstacle to peace. How is Curran ? I am much better. War-war-you see war, and this country made the theatre of it. There was a moment when all this could have been prevented. I am sorry our quondam friend Charlest has acted by you so pitifully. I should never have thought it; but I don't know men. God bless you!-Yours, H. GRATTAN. MR. GRATTAN TO MR. M'CAN. Castleconnell, October 11, 1797. MY DEAR M'CAN,-I got a letter this moment from one of our children-that the Orange boys have got up in our country near us. Probably 'tis a vague report; but *One of Mr. Grattan's warmest and most attached friends. He sat in Parliament at the Union, and gave that measure every opposition. His speech at the bar in 1812, on the trial of the Catholic Delegates, in answer to the Attorney-general (Mr. Saurin), was a masterpiece of legal ability. Sir Arthur Piggott, (the English Attorney-general of 1806,) a great authority, assured me that it was unanswered and unanswerable. He expired in London, at a very advanced age, (upwards of 90,) in 1841. + Charles Sheridan :-this regards some private transactions. The Roman Catholics were apprehensive of being attacked by the Orangemen, and they assembled in great numbers between Bray and Arklow, to defend themselves. The yeomanry were, for the most part, an exclusive corps, which widened the breach between the parties; and in addition the houses burned were chiefly those of the Catholics. The circumstance here referred to I cannot now forget. The serjeant of the Powerscourt Yeomanry was clerk of the parish, and schoolmaster. He used to teach me to write; and coming one morning rather late, he made an apology to the French tutor (Mativet), saying, he had been out most of the night with his corps, and that they had burned a man's house not CHAP. IX.] LETTER TO REV. MR. BERWICK. 323 if true, I wish the children were sent to Mrs. Bermingham's till our return. Be so good as to enquire from Mr. Mativett about this report as soon as you receive this letter. I shall leave Castleconnell on Saturday, and go to Sir John Tydd's for three days; so stop my letters and paper, and direct to me, under cover, to him.-Yours, HENRY GRATTAN. MR. GRATTAN TO THE REV. MR. BERWICK. 26th October, 1797. TO MY DEAR BERWICK, health and happiness!—I will go to see you when Mrs. G. will permit; but I will certainly go. I wish you joy-am happy at the safety of your lady, Madam Anne. I hope the boy will not be seized by an active magistrate, as a United Irishman. The magistracy have done as extraordinary things. I will go to Lord Pery,§ when I go to you. Your letter I got yesterday; it went to Tinnehinch-I was not there; it went to Clare-I was not there;-a gentleman found far from Tinnehinch. They approached it in the dead of the night. One of the party discharged his musket in the thatch, and set the house on fire. I persuaded the tutor to bring me to the place; and never shall I forget the dismal scene, or free my mind from the melancholy impression! I almost think I behold the smoking ruins, and the burned walls, the little furniture partly consumed-wholly destroyed. Terror seemed to reign around. The few who dared to look, feared to speak; it was a scene of woe and desolation-" a death-like silence, and a dread repose." The poor peasant had fled he and his family were driven amidst the flames upon the wide world-naked-penniless; his property destroyed his character blasted—an outcast—an outlaw—branded as a traitor-and for no earthly reason whatever; but some one chose to suspect him-that sufficed. At this period no insurrection had broken out; but acts such as these were the cause of it: and when men affect to be surprised that the Irish should have revolted, the only wonder is, that when such tyranny and cruelty forced them to draw their swords, they had not courage to sheath them in the heart of the Minister! Holt (a Protestant, in the county of Wicklow), was similarly treated. His house was burned by a gentleman whose family is well-known; and he assigns this as a reason for his taking up arms. He kept the county in a state of disturbance for a considerable period.-Memoirs of Holt. * His sister-in-law, then widow of his early friend Bermingham. She resided at the Blackrock, eight miles from Tinnehinch. + The French tutor, whose escape from being hanged by the ancient Britons will be mentioned hereafter. Her son Walter Berwick, now assistant barrister for the county of Waterford, and one of her majesty's counsel-at-law. § He resided at St. Edmondsbury, on the banks of the River Liffey, near Mr. Berwick's. it on the road, in its travels, wrapped it in a frank, and I received it yesterday unopened and unviolated. What do you think of the state of things? Pitt is more likely to depose the King of England, than restore the King of France. I am sorry about poor Sheridan; he was a pleasant wrangler, and has made a fool of himself by being too sad a courtier. He speaks of the people like Fitzgibbon ; but little Fitz has an excuse, he has a snap by nature, and is a vinegar-merchant by profession, who throws his aigre flasks at the people. The other seemed to laugh at all that, and aspired to something higher. I am sorry for his health; I am sorry for his reputation. * He had written a pamphlet, in which he attacked Mr.Grattan. CHAPTER X. Lord Moira's motion in the British Parliament in favour of Ireland (Nov. 1797)-His statement of the cruelties towards the Irish people Similar motion in the Irish parliament (February, 1798)-Lord Carhampton retires from the command of the troops in Ireland-His character-His conduct towards the Rev. Mr. Berwick-Humane disposition of the latter towards the peasantry-Cruelties practised on them-System of spies and informers decried by Lord Moira-Their confessions-Liberation of Neilson in consequence-The Press newspaper destroyed by the military-Curran's description of the informers -Parliament meets-Complaints of the conduct of the militarySir Lawrence Parsons' motion for conciliation-Mr. (Lord) Plunket's speech-Sir Lawrence Parsons forced to resign the command of the militia-His letter to Lord Camden Mr. Grattan's reasons for seceding from Parliament-His remarks on the Government, and their conduct towards the people-Knowledge by the Government of the proceedings of the United Irishmen-Lord Clonmell's statements thereon-His singular remark-Arrest of the Leinster delegates, the 12th of March-Proclamation of rebellion-History of the United Irishmen-Views, objects, and errors-The Emmett family--Anecdote of Dr. Emmett-Mr. Grattan's remarks-Characters of Temple, Thomas Addis, and Robert Emmett-Mr. Peter Burrowes' and Mr. Grattan's remarks on them-T. A. Emmett's letter from America to Mr. Peter Burrowes-Character of Lord Edward Fitzgerald-A. O'Connor, Jackson, the Sheares, and Nelson--Curran's visit to the latter in prison. On the 22nd of November, 1797, Lord Moira, with that feeling of humanity which, in the senate as in the field, always marked his character, and of which an instance has been mentioned already, brought forward the case of Ireland in the British Parliament, and called upon Ministers to change their system, and adopt measures of conciliation. He was replied to by Lord Grenville, who denied that the cases of inhumanity were as great as had been represented, and again pleaded the independence of the Irish Parliament as a bar to any interference on the part of England-that independence which in two years afterwards, in so flagitious a manner, he proposed to abolish ! Nothing was done on the subject, and the question of adjournment was carried without a divi sion. Lord Moira, in observing on the state of Ireland, said, the first thing that struck him was the light in which it was now customary for the military to view an Irishman. The foreign troops that were sent to Ireland, went thither under an unfortunate prejudice which care had been taken to instil into them, that every man they met there was a rebel. Every species of insult, of menace, and oppression, was exercised upon this supposition. There was one circumstance which would give some idea of the insult to which every man was liable. He recollected, when he had read the history of this country, of the curfew, he had been accustomed to consider it as a degrading badge of servitude. This custom, however, was now established in Ireland in all its rigour. At nine o'clock every man was called upon to extinguish his candle and his fire, and the military enforced the regulation with the most insulting expressions. The hardship of this regulation was frequently felt in the most cruel manner. An instance had occurred within his knowledge, in which a party of soldiers had come to the house of a man by the road side; they insisted that he should extinguish his candle; the man entreated that he might be permitted to retain his light, because he was watching by the bedside of his child, which was subject to convulsion fits, and might every moment require assistance. The party, however, rigorously insisted that the light should be extinguished. It had been in former times the custom for the people of this country, and of their Lordships, to hold in detestation the infamous proceedings of the inquisition: one of the greatest horrors with which it was attended was, that the person on whom it seized was torn from his family, immured in prison, ignorant of the crime laid to his charge, and of his accuser, in the most cruel uncertainty as to the period of his confinement, and of the fate that awaited him. Yet to this injustice, so justly abhorred in the practice of the inquisition, were the people of Ireland exposed; a man was torn from his family, and exposed to the horrors of imprisonment, without know |