Prison. Peerage. Complaints. Freedom.

Chapter VI.

1800-1801.

**Continued Imprisonment - Accession to the peerage - Communication of the fact of my Detention to the Irish House of Lords - Their Apathy - Precautions of the Government to prevent the Exertions of my Friends - Letters; from my Sister to Lord Cornwallis - Colonel Littlehales’ Replies - Disgust at the Treachery of the Government - Letters; from my Sister to Lord Moira - Rigours of my Prison Life - Comparison of the Treatment of Convicted and Untried Prisoners - Intrusions of my enemies

• Ingenious Attempt to Rob me - Letter from my Sister - Complaints - Letters; from the Duke of Portland, from Mr. Reeves - Death of my Affianced Bride - Correspondence between my Sister, Mr. Burne, and the Duke of Porrtland - Renewed Impatience of Confinement - Letters to Mr. Foulkes and Mr. Burne - Petition to the House of Commons - Letters; from Colonel Smith, from Mr. Foulkes - Confirmed Madness of George the Third - Impossibility of Renewing the Suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act - Liberation - Letter from Lord Castlereagh - Proceed against the Ministers for False Imprisonment - Met by an Act of Indemnity - My Fellow-sufferer, Mr. Bonham - Letter from him - Return to Ireland - The Miserable Triumph by which it was celebrated - Letter from Lord Holland.**

With the opening of the fatal year 1800, the character of my persecution became marked with a new feature. Hitherto the violence of the government had been directed against a private individual; henceforward an insult and oppression was offered to a branch of the legislature of Ireland, by the arbitrary imprisonment of one of its members, without cause being shown, or trial or inquiry permitted. The change of circumstances was pointed out by the constitutional necessity which existed for the communication of the fact of my detention to the House of Peers, at the commencement of its dying session.

Had a spark of spirit remained in that assembly, so flagrant a breach of its privileges would not have been passed over without investigation, and, as a necessary consequence of investigation, punishment; but a market had been held, during the preceding twelvemonth, for the purchase and sale of Irish honour, spirit, and decency, and the majority of my noble compeers had been dealers in that traffic. Every particle of the commodities referred to, that could be dealt in, had been bought by Lord Castlereagh and his accomplices, in the course of those infamous barterings, which have been recently exhibited to the public gaze, and, I trust, to the public contempt, by the imperfect but unquestionably authentic publication of the private memoranda of the deceased corruptionist.

Men who had sold their country and their own honour, some for hard cash, some for bishoprics for their sons, some for the peppercorn price of advancement in that shadowy peerage from which they were themselves cutting away all reality and substance-such men, I say, were not likely to trouble themselves or the minister, by the exhibition of any indiscreet attention to their short-lived privileges, and still less by any tenderness for the sufferings of an absent member.

Honest and high-minded men had retired from the market-place of corruption and dishonour in disgust; and so there was little chance that any notice of the communication of the fact of my confinement would have been taken by the House. It would appear, nevertheless, from the following letters, that this result was not left to chance care seems to have been taken that any exertions which my friends might have been disposed to make upon the occasion, should be effectually frustrated:- *

The Hon. Charlotte Lawless to Lord Cornwallis.*

Blackrock, December 22nd.

“My Lord - My father, the late Lord Cloncurry, who felt the most sincere respect for your Excellency, upon the arrest of his son in London, conceived that by waiting upon you to explain, as far as he knew, the causes of so painful an event, he could not fail to convince you, that the imprudent conversation of a very young man who keenly felt for the horrible situation of this country at the period your Excellency arrived here, was his only fault, and that such an explanation would interest you in his favour.

Unhappily he was dissuaded from his intention; friends, whom he believed acquainted with the business, lulled his anxiety with hopes that his son’s confinement would be of short duration, and assured him that nothing criminal or dishonourable was or could be alleged. Delay proved the fallacy of these hopes; a sudden decline of health prevented any exertion, and soon deprived his son of his best friend.

My sisters and I then found ourselves alone interested and authorised to interfere for a brother, whose good sense and excellent disposition, left not a doubt on our minds but that some misrepresentation had made his Majesty’s ministers detain him in confinement; those who we thought could inform us here, say it did not come from this country; to every inquiry we have made in London, we have been answered-that it depends entirely on persons here to procure his freedom; we have good reason to believe this is the truth.

There are, indeed, many circumstances which it would be impossible to enumerate on paper, but which would prove that the violent party-prejudice so prevalent, and, no doubt, clearly perceived by your Excellency, on your first coming to Ireland, allowing no distinction between the infatuated persons who encouraged rebellion, and those who openly censured some measures pursued here, has not only injured my brother’s fame in private, by ascribing to him opinions he never entertained, and designs he holds in abhorrence, but has also so misconstrued his sentiments written and spoken, as to make it appear wise and necessary to prevent his liberation. From the moment of his arrest he has requested an investigation of whatever he is accused of; of which he is still ignorant, and now that nine months’ deprivation of air and exercise has much injured his health, he offers the security of his whole property to be at liberty in any part of England, or elsewhere.

He conveyed a message to me by a friend permitted to see him, desiring me to acquaint your Excellency with every circumstance concerning him, and to entreat your interference. Not having the honour of being known to your Excellency prevented my wishing to solicit an interview, and obliged me to adopt this method of submitting to your consideration the very melancholy situation of a brother deservedly dear to me. I understand that his detention must be communicated to the House of Peers, and think it probable he will expect some friends to notice that communication; but it would be mine and my sisters’ wish that no public discussion should be necessary, and we are, therefore, the more anxious to press the subject on your Excellency’s attention, feeling confident that your justice and humanity would, upon examination, befriend us.

With great respect, your Excellency’s very humble servant,

Charlotte Lawless.” *

Lieutenant- Colonel Littlehales to the Hon. Charlotte Lawless.*

Dublin Castle, December 23rd, 1799, Monday Night.

“Lieutenant-Colonel Littlehales presents his compliments to Miss Charlotte Lawless, and, in answer to the honour of her note of this day’s date, Lieutenant-Colonel Littlehales begs to assure Miss Charlotte Lawless, that he will seize the first leisure moment which may offer, to deliver to Lord Cornwallis the letter to his Excellency that Miss Charlotte Lawless has entrusted to Lieutenant-Colonel Littlehales’ care.” *

Lieutenant- Colonel Littlehales to the Hon. Charlotte Lawless.*

Dublin Castle, January 16th, 1800.

“Lieutenant-Colonel Littlehales presents his compliments to Miss Charlotte Lawless, and begs leave to assure her, that until this morning he was totally unacquainted with the message which has appeared in the newspapers, relative to Lord Cloncurry

It seems that Mr. Basilico, a messenger, arrived at Dublin Castle on the 14th instant, or very early yesterday morning; and brought over the message in question from the Duke of Portland to his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant.

Lieutenant-Colonel Littlehales is convinced that Miss C. Lawless will be satisfied with this explanation as far as relates to himself; without which Miss C. Lawless must have thought the verbal assurance that Lieutenant-Colonel Littlehales gave to her on this occasion, must have appeared in a very extraordinary point of view.” *

The Hon. Charlotte Lawless to Lord Cornwallis.*

Blackrock, Monday, Jan. 20th, 1800.

“My Lord - When I first addressed your Excellency, I had two objects in view - to interest your humanity in behalf of my brother, Lord Cloncurry, and to ascertain whether (as I had been informed) any notification of his situation was to be made from authority to the House of Lords. Your Excellency was pleased to send me an answer to that letter by Lieutenant-Colonel Littlehales, in very kind and gracious terms, for which I beg leave to return my sincere thanks. Lieutenant-Colonel Littlehales fully explained the reasons which must prevent your Excellency’s interference for my brother, unless some official mention of him gave you an opportunity.

As to any message to the House of Peers, he told me that part of my letter had not been understood by your Excellency, but that he could assure me it was not in the speech from the throne, nor did he think there was to be any such from his Majesty, as in that case your Excellency must know of it. Fully satisfied with this assurance, I went to Dublin to entreat the friends of my brother not to mention his name at all in the house. Judge, my Lord, of my surprise and mortification when I read in the public papers of the next day, the message delivered by your Excellency’s command. It was, certainly, so worded as to leave the fairest and best open for a moderate and respectful recommendation from the house when they thanked his Majesty for the communication; and I cannot wonder at the reproaches I now suffer for having prevented the kind friends of my brother from availing themselves of this only opportunity of serving him, at least, by doing justice to his character.

Lieutenant-Colonel Littlehales has informed me that the directions relative to the message did not arrive from England until the night of the fourteenth inst. Would that I had known it but one hour before the meeting of the House! But it is now too late: the opportunity I have lost can never be regained. I must relinquish all hopes of alleviating the sufferings of my persecuted and unfortunate brother. All my solicitations in his behalf are unavailing, and all my exertions baffled, unless your Lordship’s good sense, and the innate rectitude of your heart, lead you to perceive the injustice that has been done him, and suggest to your humanity some way in which you could be useful to him, and relieve the painful sensations I must ever feel from having erroneously restrained the good intentions of his friends.

With the utmost respect, &c. &c.” *

Lieutenant-Colonel Littlehales to the Hon. Charlotte Lawless.*

Dublin Castle, January 22nd, 1800.

“Madam - My Lord Lieutenant has received the honour of your letter of the 20th instant, relative to your brother, Lord Cloncurry, and directs me to signify to you that his Excellency was not aware of the message respecting his situation until a short period before he delivered his speech from the throne.

Had the message in regard to Lord Cloncurry arrived sooner, his Majesty’s commands would have been equally imperative upon his Excellency; nor can he persuade himself; that bringing the subject into discussion, on the part of his Lordship’s friends, could have been attended with any good consequences whatsoever.

His Excellency enjoins me to repeat to you his concern that it is not in his power to interfere in any degree respecting the situation of Lord Cloncurry.

In consequence of the interview which I had the honour of holding with you on this occasion, I beg leave to assure you, that had I received the slightest intimation that the message in question had reached my Lord Lieutenant, I should immediately have considered myself fully authorized in communicating it to you; but I was totally unacquainted with it until, to my great astonishment, I read it in the newspapers. I have the honour to be, Madam,

Your most obedient and most humble servant,

E. B. Littlehales.”

It would be a work of supererogation to attempt to guide the judgment of an impartial reader in reference to this transaction. The only regret I feel in bringing it to light is, that a portion of the dirt exposed in the operation seems to lie upon a worthy man. Lord Cornwallis, however, like most others in his position before and since, was but the humble tool of an English faction. He had a viceroy over him in the person of the arch-enemy of Ireland - the too notorious Viscount Castlereagh. I will therefore willingly believe the statement of Lieutenant-Colonel Littlehales, and think that the falsehood, treachery, and deceit, manifested in the affair referred to in the foregoing letters, was certainly not chargeable to the lieutenant-colonel, who repudiated it with becoming and manifestly sincere indignation, and possibly might not have been known to Lord Cornwallis, in such a sense as to have made his Excellency a partner in the meanness. To use a Dublin-Castle phrase, I will set it down that “the whole matter was arranged on the other side.”

An act of extraordinary meanness and treachery it, nevertheless, was, whoever performed it; and as such it naturally excited much irritation and disgust, not only in my own mind, but in the minds of the most prudent and patient of my friends The vehemence of these feelings was increased by the renewal of the act for suspending the writ of *Habeas Corpus, *by means of which alone the imprisonment of a man against whom it was confessed that no crime could be proved, was continued. It had all along been my anxious wish to provoke a trial, and to do so, if needful, by exasperating my persecutors. The urgent entreaties of my friends had hitherto turned me from this course; but now, it would appear from the following documents, even the kindest and most patient, as well as the most generous and earnest, among them, thought that forbearance had been pushed to its utmost limits. Copies of the following letters I find in the handwriting of my sister; the person to whom they were addressed was, I believe, the Earl of Moira:- *

The Hon. Charlotte Lawless to Lord ---*

“My Lord - Amongst the painful consequences of my brother’s confinement, that of not having the means of communicating anything to him which should be private, is one of the most injurious to him.

I have not been able to make him understand the kind intentions of your Lordship in respect to the petition. In the impatience natural in his situation, he imagines that his sisters and friends, in mistaken tenderness, refuse consent to the various modes he suggests, at every opportunity, either to vindicate his fame, or publish his wrongs. In a packet he contrived to send me lately, he desired that the enclosed letter to Me. Pitt, and another to the public, should be sent and published; and a memorial, nearly as hostile, be presented to the Commons, on the event of the renewing the Act of Suspension; declaring, that if we prevented this being done, he would authorise a person in London to have his wishes ful filled.

Alarmed, lest he should do anything rash, we consulted those here whom we thought best capable of advising, what might with safety, be done. A very moderate petition to the House of Commons being approved of by everyone, Mr. G. Ponsonby, who is so good as to be the bearer of this letter, has undertaken the conduct of it. In the present seemingly distracted state of politics, I fear the complaint of an individual is not likely to he attended to. The same cause has probably prevented your lordship from putting in practice your most kind and friendly intention.

As I wish your Lordship to be informed of whatever steps we take in this business, I have taken the liberty to inform you of what is now proposed, and also of enclosing the letter to Mr. Pitt, which will show your Lordship, better than anything I can say, the situation of my beloved brother’s mind, under his cruel persecution. I have the honour to remain,

Your Lordship’s obliged and very humble servant,

C. Lawless.

I must again entreat to be excused for this repeated intrusion on your Lordship’s attention.” *

The Hon. Charlotte Lawless to Lord ---,*

Blackrock, Saturday, January 17th.

“My Lord - I had the honour to receive your Lordship’s letter on Thursday last, and cannot sufficiently express my obligation for the contents. The construction your Lordship has had the goodness to point out as liable to be given to the part of the petition relative to residing in another country during the war, is now very obvious to me; though I had not, when I adopted that idea, considered it in any other light, than that, in the present state of this country, it could not be very desirable to reside here; and that my brother’s health is so far injured by his confinement, as to make some change absolutely necessary; whilst his having uniformly demanded trial or liberation, and having spurned, with indignation, at anything like concession, I too hastily conceived as sufficient to prevent any attempt to class him with “men who acknowledged criminality, and compounded for the penalty of expatriation.” I see that I was wrong; and now enclose the petition without that objectionable proposal.

The best hope I have yet indulged of having my brother restored to me, arises from the interest your Lordship has so kindly evinced; for, however anxious his just pride and conscious innocence may render him to force, if possible, a public investigation, I must own that, in conjunction with some of his best friends, it is my wish to prevent his taking any step that may make it the interest of those who have already trampled on justice in their conduct towards him, to go a little further, in order to justify what they have done. An appeal, by petition, to both houses of parliament, is a measure my brother has been particularly urgent with us to adopt; but this is more hostile than anything we have yet done; and should it leave no alternative but to liberate him or grant him a trial, I have seen too much of what misrepresentation and perjury can do, to risk pushing them so far, without much deliberation.

A petition to the privy council has been advised; but though that could have no bad consequence, I rather hope it has been deferred until the result of that your Lordship has so kindly consented to present, is known. Should it not be successful, I must again intrude, to have your Lordship’s opinion as to the propriety of a petition to parliament.

With the most sincere, &c.”

With the foregoing I found the original, in my own handwriting, of the letter to Mr. Pitt, referred to in the first. My address to the minister was not very complimentary; hut he had earned scant courtesy from me, and as he had the key of my prison door in his pocket, his was the best of the battle. It is unnecessary now to publish this letter; but there is one matter referred to in it which is of present interest - I allude to the scandalous system of corruption, by means of which Ireland has been, and to this hour is, governed. The traffic in peerages, whether as matter of sale or of purchase, is not indeed now carried on to the same extent as formerly; that article, in fact, is scarcely in the market, Irishmen being too poor either to buy, or be bought by it; and so the circulating medium, by the use of which the country is bought and sold, is no longer earldoms, viscounties, or baronies; but stipendiary magistracies, vice-guardianships, and retired sinecures in the Four Courts.

Meanwhile, during the course of all these ineffectual efforts of my friends to stir the hearts of the authorities with sensations either of justice or mercy, I was still suffering under the unrelaxed rigors of my imprisonment. Two warders (not the cleanliest of human creatures) slept nightly in my small cell, which served me for refectory and dormitory, as well as for dressing and reception rooms. At the door, night and day, stood an armed sentry, and at each relief the whole guard entered my apartment, and made themselves acquainted with my personal appearance. Companions or associates I had none. Whatever air or exercise I took was upon the leads over my prison, as the shouts of ” Bloody Irishman,” which greeted me from the mob allowed to assemble upon the parade when I was brought there for exercise in custody of my guards, obliged me to decline that indulgence. Newspapers and books were capriciously granted, or at times withheld altogether. Even a physician was not allowed to visit me, without a special warrant from his Grace of Portland.

All these extremities of prison discipline, he it recollected, were applied to an untried and innocent man; while at the same time, and within the ramparts of the same fortress in which I was thus tortured, the Earl of Thanet, who had been convicted of an attempt to rescue Arthur O’Connor, and sentenced to a year’s imprisonment, was suffered to enjoy all the conveniences, and luxuries, and society, which his fortune and rank enabled him to procure. I entertained no jealousy, even at the time, of the noble earl, who was a worthy, excellent man, on the score of his better treatment; but I mention the circumstance on account of the contrast it bore to my own sufferings.

In the midst of all this rigour of seclusion, however, and while the access of my friends was either prohibited or jealously watched, my cell was still open to my enemies. The visits of Mr. Cooke, having for their object (as I believe) to betray me into unguarded admissions, have been already mentioned. I was also subjected to another very curious intrusion. This was a visit from Mrs. J--- and Mrs. P---, both at the time pretty notorious in Ireland, and the former nearly related to a learned and still more notorious lord. To my great surprise, these ladies broke the solitude of my cell one morning, and after many expressions of commiseration and condolence, they confidentially informed me that they had been enabled to visit me through the kind permission of a friend of theirs who filled the place of *chere amie *to the Duke of Portland, and who, they had no doubt, could he induced to interfere still more effectually in my behalf.

All that was wanting to begin a proceeding for my liberation through that channel was, in short, a deposit of £500 in the hands of Mesdames J--- and P---. I declined the offer, being persuaded at the moment that all the three ladies were engaged in a plot to rob me. My two visitors, however, were not so easily turned from the scent of prey; and no sooner had they left me than they waited upon one of my sisters, who was at the time in London, and repeated the offer to her, producing a pencil writing purporting to be from myself, and authorizing my sister to advance the money. She detected the forgery, and so the matter fell to the ground. The light in which the ladies looked upon the affair is referred to in the following letter from another of my sisters:- *

The Hon. Charlotte Lawless to Lord Cloncurry.*

Maretimo, January 6th.

“If anything could afford me a moment’s pleasure, whilst your persecution continues, it was the sight of a letter written by you. O, my Val., do not let your admirable fortitude forsake you. Something must - something shall be done, ere long, depend on it. Whilst we had good reason to think that open and hostile means of seeking redress would only prolong your sufferings, we have forborne to use them; but think not, from thence, that we could possibly be passive or unoccupied about you. If our efforts have been unavailing, they have been constant as various, and have, I trust, at last made that impression in your favour, which must be useful, now that the cruel length of your confinement, and the renewed power to prolong it, determine us to more public exertions.

Since Mr. Burne’s return from England, Lord Moira, whom I had requested to present a memorial to the king, sent to desire every particular in regard to your arrest, &c. &c. which we could give; he has now in his hands a full statement of all the proceedings of government towards you, and also our well-founded suspicions of the foulest private treachery. I expect daily an account of the result of his presenting the memorial, which was shorter than your own, but much to the same purport, and signed by me in your name. Lady Clare, before she went to England, promised me that she would make the Chancellor see Mr. Pitt on the subject; and Mary had a conversation with Lord Clare, in which he promised not to be against our wishes, so that, at any rate, we may, I think, depend on his not opposing what we are now about to do. I think, with you, the memorial should go to the privy council first, and if not immediately attended to, then to parliament; and previous to being presented there, we shall, without delay, enclose it to all whose support we can expect.

Mrs. P--- must have mistaken your character strangely, or have been in great want of a little cash, which is much the most likely. Far from acquainting me, as she told you, with her manoeuvres, she cautiously concealed them; and the first I heard of her was by a report she circulated, that you might have been liberated if your sisters had been generous!

God protect and enable you to get through your unexampled persecution. How can I express my feelings for you, and my gratitude for being once more allowed to address you. Mary is here with us, and tolerably well; she and Valentina demand, with me, that you take care of yourself.

Adieu, most truly adored brother,

Charlotte.

The petition to parliament shall be sent very soon. Mr. Burne wished to have Grattan’s opinion, that there may be nothing *unparliamentary *objected, and goes to him, in the country, for that purpose, this week.”

As time wore on, the petty annoyances of my jailer became intolerable, and I complained - to what sort of tribunal, and with what chance of success, will appear in the following letters from the Prime Minister:- *

The Duke of Portland to Lord Cloncurry.*

Whitehall, 18th February, 1800.

“My Lord - I have received your Lordship’s letter of yesterday’s date, and am sorry to be under the necessity of informing you that your application to be released from confinement cannot possibly be complied with.

Your Lordship may be assured that what you have stated with regard to the treatment you receive shall meet with due attention; but, in justice to the character of Colonel Smith, I cannot refrain from expressing the confidence I feel that he would not suffer any unnecessary rigour to be exercised towards your Lordship, nor withhold from you any accommodation that the nature of your situation will admit oft

The letter which your Lordship requested me to forward to your sister was despatched last night. I am, my Lord,

Your Lordship’s most obedient, humble servant,

PORTLAND.” *

The Duke of Portland to Lord Cloncurry.*

Whitehall, 16th June, 1800.

“My Lord - I have had the honour to receive your Lordship’s letter of the 13th instant, in which you express your wish that the joy you feel upon his Majesty’s providential deliverance from demoniac wickedness may be made known to his Majesty; and requiring to know why an inquiry has not been made into the insults which you state to have received since your imprisonment.

With respect to the wish your Lordship has communicated to me, you may depend upon my taking the earlies opportunity of fulfilling it; and as to the inquiry which you state me to have promised you to have made, it was made without any delay; and on the result of the investigation, it did not appear that the conduct of the officers in the Tower, under whose immediate care your Lordship is placed, had been wanting in that respect which is due to your Lordship, or that they had exceeded the duty imposed upon them by the warrant under which your Lordship is committed. I have the honour to be, my Lord,

Your Lordship’s most obedient, humble servant,

PORTLAND.” *

John Reeves, Es q., to the Hon. Charlotte Lawless.*

Tuesday, 10th Jane, 1800.

“My dear Madam - Since I received your obliging letter, I made a visit to your brother, and I found him in the same good health and spirits that he has enjoyed of late. He is not, however, without expressing the soreness he feels from his long confinement, which, indeed, is not to be wondered at. I heard, some weeks ago, that there was some movement at Whitehall towards a reconsideration of the cases of confinement, among which your brother’s would have been one; but I do not hear that anything has been resolved upon. I should have been glad to communicate this to him, but there are always persons in the room when I am there, who convey to persons they like to gratify everything I should say that looks a little interesting. Upon that point of repeating what is said and done, your brother, the last time I was with him, expressed some resentment, and mentioned the name of a person who will hear of it, and, of course, not let it pass unnoticed.

He told me he had a wish to send up to his Majesty an address of congratulation, but he had no pen and ink. Pen and ink he certainly might have for such a purpose; but, I suppose, as it is not allowed him generally in the way he likes, and as he seems to persist in his first design of not asking for, or, indeed, accepting any accommodation, this design is postponed till his attorney comes to town to do this for him, which, however, seems an odd method.

But with all these signs of ill-humour and resentment-for which, I confess, I see an excuse-I repeat that he seems in good health and better spirits than he used to be in.

You do me, my dear Madam, great kindness in thus laying your commands upon me; and if I am to be reminded by such obliging notice under your own hand, I shall have an interest in being, perhaps, negligent in acquainting you regularly of our friend’s health. Pray make my remembrance to your sister-the only one, I suppose, who is now with you-and to Lady Clonmell, whom I beg you to acquaint that I have been at Richmond, and seen his lordship well; and that he and Dr. Daltrey made me a visit. Pray tell her that, in addition to the mortification I felt at going out of town without seeing her, I learnt at Richmond that his lordship stayed three or four days after my return. If you ever see the Lees, pray acquaint them I am in the land of the living. Believe me, my dear Madam,

Yours, ever most sincerely,

John Reeves.”

A circumstance now occurred which filled the cup of my sufferings to overflowing, the tale of which I will tell in words not my own:- *

The Hon. Charlotte Lawless to the Duke of Portland. *[Draft in my sister’s handwriting.]

August 16th.

“My Lord - Mr. Burne, the gentleman who, by your Grace’s permission, was admitted to my brother, Lord Cloncurry, last September, is now going to London for the purpose of transacting some matters relative to his private business. I shall be much obliged to your Grace to grant Mr. Burne the order for seeing my brother, which he will solicit on his arrival in London.

Seventeen months’ severe confinement must surely plead my brother’s cause as strongly as any representation the feelings of his friends could dictate. One circumstance, however, has such immediate and pressing claim on the humanity of those who could intercede for his release, that I cannot resist mentioning it to your Grace. The amiable, interesting girl to whom my brother was to have been married on the eve of his arrest, and who, from that day, has declined in health, is now pronounced almost past recovery. Her friends still hope some benefit from change of air. It is scarce necessary to suggest that seeing my brother at liberty would be much more likely to save her life. We have not ventured to hint her alarming situation to my brother as yet; but there is now a fatal necessity to prepare him for the worst. Strongly attached as he is, we tremble to think what he will suffer if prevented following her wherever she may be advised to go. Nothing but the very urgent occasion could force me to mention such a subject. May I supplicate your Grace’s consideration of it, and your pardon for this unavoidable intrusion.

With the utmost respect, &c. &c.” *

John Burne, Esq., to the Hon. Charlotte Lawless.*

London, September 1st, 1800.

“My dear Miss Charlotte - Immediately upon my arrival in London, I wrote to the Duke of Portland to request permission to see your brother; but having waited for an answer two days without receiving it, I wrote again to his Grace, in terms of great politeness, but some little asperity, which I thought the occasion required. Very soon after, I received an answer, intimating that an order had been issued to admit me to the Tower. I went there the next morning, which was last Saturday, and had the pleasure of seeing your brother as well as I remember to have ever seen him before. His whole appearance indicates perfect health, and his spirits retain all their former cheerfulness and vivacity. I remained with him near three hours, and read to him all the papers you gave me; but he declined keeping any of them, for if he had, they must have been inspected by the governor, with whom he is much displeased. He told me, among a variety of other things, that he has now perfectly made up his mind to his confinement, and that he would rather remain in prison for life, than be indebted for his liberty to the interference of certain persons whom I shall mention when we meet. He was much pleased with the account of what is doing at Lyons; and, in every other respect, seemed satisfied with the conduct of those who act for him. I mentioned the indisposition as delicately as I could, and also read the part of your letter relative to her. When you write, inform me particularly how she is, and what I should communicate to him relative to her. As the Duke of Portland’s order was merely for one interview, I have been obliged to make another application, and hope to obtain a general order as last year. I must give your brother £30 out of your money, as he has immediate occasion for it. We purpose going out of town on Wednesday morning to Tunbridge, where we shall stay about two or three weeks, and then return to London. Direct your letters to No. 39, St. James’s-street, and they will be forwarded. The post is just going out, so must conclude sooner than I intended. Mrs. B. joins me in affectionate regards to you, Mrs. W., Miss V., &c., and believe me, Most sincerely yours, &c.

J. Burne.” *

John Burne, Esq., to the Hon. Charlotte Lawless.*

London, September 26th, 1800.

“My dear Miss Charlotte - Upon receiving your letter containing the sad intelligence of Miss R.’s death, I was so circumstanced as to be unable to leave Tunbridge for some days, and, therefore, thought the most advisable thing I could do was to write to Mr. Foulkes (who has constant access to the Tower), and desire him to communicate to your brother, in the most delicate manner possible, that Miss R. was most alarmingly ill of a disorder with whish she had been long troubled. Foulkes answered my letter the next post, acquainting me that he had done as I directed, and that he had written to you by your brother’s directions.

I then wrote another letter to Foulkes, informing him of Miss R.’s death, and desiring him to communicate it with all the caution and delicacy he was master of; and I even suggested the terms in which he should mention it. I have reason to believe my directions were accurately followed; and upon my arrival in town, I went yesterday to the Tower (having obtained a permanent order for admission), and had the pleasure of seeing our poor friend infinitely better than I could have expected, though still much depressed by his recent misfortune. I sat with him near two hours, and we had a great deal of conversation; but as he declined touching upon the melancholy subject, I studiously avoided it. He repeatedly expressed his most implicit confidence in you, and his wish that you should, in every instance relative to his affairs, act according to your own discretion, without consulting him.

As to Lyons, he approves highly of what has been done, and wishes you to go on exactly in the same manner. As to the house in Merrion-row, he thinks it should be sold, if the value can be obtained, but not otherwise, as he is not very anxious about selling it at present. He wishes you would be particular in inquiring whether Colonel Ryal, when here, applied for liberty to see him, and was refused? He seems highly incensed against the governor; and I found it in vain to endeavour to soften his resentment. He gave me orders to send him some books, and seems now perfectly reconciled to his confinement, insomuch that he desired me not to make any application for his enlargement, and declared that if he were sure of obtaining his liberty by applying for it, he would not apply.

Reading is his grand resource, and he seems to take great pleasure in it. I am the only visitor he permits to see him, and he has given positive orders that all others should be excluded; he has even desired me to write to Mr. Reeves to acquaint him that he could not be admitted. I shall make it my business to see him as often as possible while in London. Jane desires to be remembered to you, Miss V., &c. She has seen Lady C., who goes to Ramsgate to-morrow. Most truly yours, &c.

J. B.” *

John Burne, Esq., to the Duke of Portland. *[Draft in Mr. Burne’s handwriting.]

“My Lord - It is now upwards of a year since I first troubled your Grace on the subject of Lord Cloncurry’s imprisonment; and though my application was unsuccessful, I was persuaded his sufferings would long since have atoned for his offences, whatever they were; but I find he was doomed to experience a calamity which has recently befallen him, and which infinitely surpasses everything he had previously endured.

His affections had been long engaged to a young lady possessed of every amiable qualification and accomplishment, who had consented to become his wife; and the day for their marriage was nearly fixed when he was arrested under your Grace’s warrant. This unfortunate event preyed upon the spirits of the young lady, gradually undermined her health, and at length she died of a broken heart about 10 days ago.

It is not easy to conceive a situation so truly pitiable as that of the wretched young man who has sustained this irreparable loss, embittered as it is by the reflection that he was the involuntary cause of all.

Had I consulted his wishes, I should net have communicated this to your Grace, because he is not now anxious to be released from a confinement which corresponds with the melancholy state of his mind; but foreseeing consequences that may arise from his present situation, even worse than death, I thought it my duty to mention these circumstances, and it will be for your Grace to decide whether anything can be done for the relief of this unfortunate nobleman, who has now sustained a degree of punishment for any offence he may have committed, infinitely greater than any human laws ever inflicted on the most atrocious offender. So far as a regard for the public safety might interfere with his liberation, I think that if your Grace would allow me the honour of an interview with you for a very few minutes, I could suggest a mode by which every ground of apprehension on that account might be effectually removed.” *

The Duke of Portland to John Burne, Esq.*

London, Friday evening, 3rd October, 1800.

“Sir - I should have returned an immediate answer to the letter you wrote me on the 29th of last month, had I not been desirous, in consideration of the melancholy circumstances with which you acquainted me respecting Lord Cloncurry, of finding my own opinion erroneous, and that I might be advised that I could be enabled to accede to your wishes. I therefore communicated your letter to his Majesty’s law servants (whose absence from town prevented my receiving an answer from them till to-day), and I am very sorry to acquaint you that it contains an unqualified confirmation of the opinion I had formed, that a Secretary of State has not the power of bailing on commitment for that species of offence which is the cause of Lord Cloncurry’s confinement in the Tower. [His Grace does not specify what that offence was. His silence was prudent; as the offence of being obnoxious to the servants of the crown would not readily have been found in the statute-hook, even in those days.] I therefore will not give you the trouble of calling upon me.

I am, sir, your most obedient, humble servant,

PORTLAND.” *

John Burne, Esq., to the Duke of Portland. *[Draft in Mr. B.’s handwriting.]

“My Lord - I have been honoured by your Grace’s obliging answer, acquainting me with the opinion of his Majesty’s law servants- “that a Secretary of State has not the power of bailing on commitment for that species of offence which is the cause of Lord Cloncurry’s confinement in the Tower.” I return your Grace my sincere thanks for this polite communication, but though it is not so favourable as I expected, I think I can perceive the natural humanity of your heart appearing through your letter; and, therefore, I venture, with the most profound respect, to ask your Grace, whether there be any other channel through which a similar application might be made with any probability of success, or whether there be any mode in which this unfortunate young man can be relieved? His sufferings are now so acute that some intercourse with his friends seems essential to his preservation; and yet I, who am almost his only friend in England, must leave this country in the course of two or three days; my distracting anxiety for his fate, when I can no longer afford him any consolation, will, I am sure, induce your Grace to pardon me for troubling you so often.” *

John Burne, Esq., to the Duke of Portland. *[Draft in Mr. B.’s handwriting.]

8th October, 1800.

“My Lord - I cannot recollect that any letter which I have had the honour of addressing to your Grace, deviated in the least from that degree of respect to which your rank and situation entitles you; and yet I must presume that some unintentional impropriety has escaped me, and prevented your Grace from noticing my last application on behalf of Lord Cloncurry. Contrary to the wishes expressed by his Lordship, I ventured to acquaint your Grace with a misfortune of the most afflicting kind, which he had sustained in consequence of his confinement, and which I conceived amply sufficient to fill up the measure of his sufferings. I also took the liberty of mentioning, that I could suggest an effectual mode by which the rigour of his confinement might be mitigated, without any possible risk as to the security of his person or the public safety; and as the only objects of his confinement must be-to punish for past and to guard against future offences, and as the former of these objects had been already so fatally fulfilled, and I was ready to point out a mode of fulfilling the other, I confess I entertained the most sanguine hope of receiving a favourable answer; but I have the double mortification of being unable to obtain any relief for my unfortunate friend, and of experiencing a degree of neglect to myself; which I assure your Grace, I am utterly unused to, and never intentionally merited.” *

The Duke of Portland to John Burne, Esq.*

Bustrode, Thursday, 9th October, 1800.

“Sir - I am extremely sorry to find by the letter I have received from you this morning, that my answer to yours of the 29th September has never reached you, and that it has been owing to some inadvertence of which, though I was not aware, I must acknowledge that I am wholly to blame. However, after long search having recovered my letter, I send it to you exactly in the same state in which I put it out of my hands, by which you will be convinced that every attention was paid to your representation, with which it depended upon me to treat it.

I am, sir, your very humble servant,

PORTLAND.” *

The Duke of Portland to John Burne, Esq.*

Bustrode, Sunday, 12th October, 1800.

“Sir - As I should not be justified in giving you any encouragement to expect that there is any channel through which an application for the liberation of Lord Cloncurry can be made with any probability of success, I think it most becoming to avow the opinion, and to dissuade you from the attempt. I am not aware that Lord Cloncurry has ever been denied the relief which the intercourse of his friends could afford him, and you may depend upon my being disposed to allow him every indulgence which the cause of his confinement will admit of being shown to him.

I am, sir, your most obedient and humble servant,

PORTLAND.” *

John Hume, Esq., to the Hon. Charlotte Lawless.*

“My dear Miss Charlotte - I have seen your poor brother two or three times since my last letter, and he still continues to preserve that firmness under his accumulated sufferings which was scarcely to be expected. I have spoken very little to him on the late event; but as Colonel Cockburn enclosed to me an extract from Miss R.’s will, I thought it advisable to communicate it to him, but in such a manner as not to shock his feelings. He listened with all the composure which great sensibility, governed by an excellent understanding, would permit.

I urged him, as strongly as I could, to take care of his health, and used every topic of consolation that occurred to me; but I was happy to find my advice unnecessary; for he assured me, that the more he suffered the more anxious he would be to take care of his health, in order that he might be able, at a future day, to assert his innocence, and show his resentment. I encouraged this sentiment, and think it will be the means of preserving him. He never looked better than at present, and I think you may not be uneasy about his health; but he sees nobody except me, and has given orders that all other visitors, of whatever description, should be refused admission.

Soon after my return to town, I wrote to the Duke of Portland, mentioning, among other matters, the death of Miss R., the cause of it, and the dreadful addition such a misfortune must make to the sufferings of our poor friend. I waited a week without receiving any answer, and then determined to write again to his Grace, complaining, in pointed terms, of the contemptuous silence with which he had treated me. In answer to this letter I received two letters from his Grace, written in his own hand, and enclosed under one cover. In the first he apologises for not noticing my letter sooner, but assures me it was owing to some inadvertence in not sending the answer, which he had written several days before. The other enclosure was that answer, in which he mentions that he had laid my letter before his Majesty’s law servants, and that they were of opinion *“a Secretary of State could not bail for the offence for which Lord Cloncurry was committed;” *and, therefore, he says, it is useless to give me the trouble of the interview which I had solicited.

All this appears manifest fabrication and evasion; but still I wrote him a polite answer, thanking him for his communication, and requesting he would tell me was there any other mode by which I could obtain relief for my injured friend? To this I expect an answer to-morrow; but, at all events, as he has alluded to the law affairs, I intend waiting on the attorney-general next Monday, with little hope, however, of doing any good. I ordered the *Courier *and to be sent, and hope you have received them before this. Jane has just received your letter, and all your commissions shall be attended to. I am to see your brother on Tuesday, and shall mention everything you desire. I also intend to make some arrangements for hearing of him regularly. We are to leave this on Wednesday night, if nothing important prevent us. Remember us to Miss V., and believe me, dear Miss Charlotte,

Ever truly yours,

J. Burne.”

Four weary months of suffering succeeded the event to which the foregoing letters refer; but not until the date of the following do I find among my papers any evidence of renewed exertions for the attainment of my liberty:- *

Lord Cloncurry to John Foulkes, Esq.*

Tower, January 1st, 1801.

“My dear Mr. Foulkes - The papers I now send you, and those I before troubled you with, contain a rough sketch of pretty nearly all I can think of relative to my unfortunate situation, my sufferings, and their causes. I am now convinced that no other means of relief is in my power than the chance of provoking an examination, or a trial, by declaring all those truths which ministers hoped to bury in my prison and my grave. You know well how to proceed; but 1 fear my good friend, Mr. Burne, may be fearful of taking those decided steps I am now determined upon.

I must, therefore, request that you will have my petition to parliament printed and presented as soon after the meeting as possible; if it is unsuccessful, you will then have it published in the papers and magazines; and as soon as they introduce the bill to renew the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, you must publish my letters to Mr. W. Dundas, Mr. Pitt, and The Public: you may then follow it up as you can, for I shall not have an opportunity of writing to you again; but if nothing else can be done, I may be removed, at least, to country air. I have prepared a short memorial for the privy council, which, whenever you can call, I shall have written out, and presented, as a last effort in that way.

The following advertisement, if it can legally be published in the papers, would serve me much.

“Whereas, I have received several letters from unknown writers, stating that one ---, of the public office in Bow-street, had endeavoured to prevail on the writers, and on others, to commit perjury, by offering them large rewards if they would charge me with certain political crimes, and falsely swear to the same. Now, being actuated by a desire of public justice and of self-preservation, I hereby offer a reward of £200 to any person who will prosecute the said ---, or the writers of the abovemeationed letters to conviction.

“CLONCURRY.""

“London, January 1st, 1801.”

“You will be so good as to send copies of all the papers to Mr. Burne; for, as I scrawl them in my bed, they may be made much more perfect; and after they are printed in the newspapers, they may he put all together in a pamphlet; and they must be followed by several spirited paragraphs, which I will pay for. I could send you a long account of the ill-treatment all the prisoners receive here, but I think it better to say no more at present.

I was very sorry to hear you were ill, but hope soon to see you well and strong; for you are my right hand now. Pray have everything ready for the meeting of parliament. Do not be fearful of publishing. Keep duplicates of everything you send me, or bring for signature. Tell Mr. Burne what I have said, as I cannot write again; if you have nothing from him, tell the bearer when you expect it, for yours truly,

C.” *

Lord Cloncurry to John Burne, Esq.*

“My dear Burne - I declare to you, in the most solemn manner (what I hoped you never had doubted), that I am as totally innocent of all political crime or treason as the child in the womb. No charge ever was made against me; and I, myself, read the warrant which committed me to the Tower on suspicion. In ‘98, I was arrested merely by advice from Ireland; and the only questions put to me by the Lord Chancellor Loughborough were- “If I was a United Irishman?” and “Why I subscribed to defend Coigly at Maidstone?” No papers on politics were found on me, for I never had such. In ‘99, when I was again arrested, I was questioned by Mr. Pitt, who said he had positive information that I had been at a meeting where a plan was laid for making United Irish Societies in London. I answered, it was not so; but that I would answer no questions whilst in custody. You know, my dear B., that if I was at such a meeting, it was not a crime. But ministers know well I had no secret politics. I pray you, therefore, do not let my friends alone deem me guilty, and stoop to ask favours, where the plan I have proposed is so much nobler. But if they prefer the begging system, I must desire Foulkes to act without further consultation.

Send me the £50 I wrote for.

C.” *

Petition of Lord Cloncurry to the House of Commons.*

To the Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in Parliament assembled, the humble petition of Valentine Lord Cloncurry sheweth-

That your petitioner was arrested on the 30th day of April, 1798, by virtue of a warrant signed by the Duke of Portland, one of his Majesty’s principal secretaries of state, on a charge of suspicion of high treason. That some days after, he was brought before several of his Majesty’s ministers, where many questions were put to him by the Lord Chancellor, which he refused to answer.

Some days after, whilst petitioner was yet in confinement, John Reeves, Esq., a friend of petitioner’s, came to inform him that his Majesty’s ministers would liberate him on bail; which, however, petitioner refused, saying, that besides the injustice of demanding bail from a person who could not be accused of crime, he had a large fortune depending on his father’s good opinion, and could not submit to anything which could leave a doubt of his innocence ‘and loyalty.

This your petitioner repeated to his Majesty’s ministers, when he was brought before them the latter end of June, in the same year. But Mr. Reeves, who was then in an adjoining room, being called in, he, at the suggestion of the Lord Chancellor, volunteered himself as bail for petitioner; who, immediately on his being liberated, offered, of his own accord, to answer all questions his Majesty’s ministers could put to him, relative to his conduct; and, accordingly, he had an explanation with the Lord Chancellor, which he hoped would have removed all the unjust suspicions of his Majesty’s ministers.

And so confident was your petitioner of the innocence and rectitude of his own conduct, that when he afterwards went to Harrowgate for the recovery of his health, he did not hesitate to enter into matrimonial engagements, which, with his father’s consent, were to have taken place the following year. But how cruelly was he disappointed, when, on the 14th day of April, 1799, he was dragged from his bed, on a warrant from the Duke of Portland, for *suspicion *of treason, because, as Mr. Pitt told him, some days after, when brought before the privy council, there was *information *that petitioner was in company with United Irishmen, in February, 1797.

This your petitioner declared his total ignorance of; but he prayed to be confronted with his accusers, or liberated, as his prospects in life would be ruined if he did not fulfil the engagements he was then under. Petitioner then expressed his respect for government, but declined answering questions which might be so twisted as to injure him. He was then remanded, and afterwards brought before Messrs. --- and ---, of Bow-street; but refused to speak with such gentry, especially as petitioner had reason to suspect of robbery and subornation of perjury.

Petitioner was then (May 8th, ‘99) committed to the Tower, and thrown into the room belonging to the lamplighter of that fortress, whence he was afterwards removed, by the humanity of the governor, into a somewhat better apartment, but still very unfit for a prison, being a low garret, admitting the heat of summer, and the winter’s rain. In this room he has been confined, with two other persons, for near two years, and treated with greater severity than any prisoner in the Tower ever has been. The walk which other prisoners used is debarred him, and he cannot have the use of his limbs, unless he submit to be exhibited and insulted on the public parade. His rest is hourly disturbed at night by a sentry placed within *two yards of his bed; *and though he has repeatedly complained to his Majesty’s ministers of his *unprecedented *ill-treatment, he could obtain no redress.

Petitioner, however, feels confident that the humanity of this House will put an end to his cruel (and, he hopes to prove, unjustifiable) sufferings - sufferings so great, that if his mind did not revolt at the *name, *he would prefer the *death *of a traitor a thousand times before them. A very large part of his landed property is out of lease, and uncultivated; his confinement has cost him above *£100,000 sterling, *the life of a *kind and beloved father, *and of a *betrothed wife. *In short, life would be no longer supportable to him, if he did not hope for an opportunity to vindicate his character, and to prove his wrongs, which he firmly hopes from the justice and humanity of this honourable House. And he will ever pray, &c.” *

Colonel Smith to Lord Cloncurry.*

Tower, 17th January, 1801.

“Colonel Smith has the honour to acquaint Lord Cloncurry, that he this day put into Mr. Falkener’s hand his Lordship’s letter, having first obtained authority from Mr. King (in the absence of the Duke of Portland) so to do.

Colonel Smith is desired by Mr. Falkener, to present Mr. Falkener’s compliments to Lord Cloncurry, and to say, as every prisoner now confined in the tower was committed under the warrant of his Majesty’s Secretary of State, and not by any order of the Privy Council, Mr. Falkener cannot take any other cognizance of it, than by putting his Lordship’s letter, as delivered to him, into the hands of the Duke of Portland; and that as soon as Mr. Falkener receives his Grace’s sentiments upon it, Mr. Falkener will have the honour to transmit to Lord Cloncurry his answer.” *

John Foulkes, Esq., to the Hon. Miss Lawless.*

London, 14th February, 1801.

“Madam - I flatter myself you will pardon my having so long delayed answering the letter I had the honour of receiving from you at the close of last month, when I say it has not been from forgetfulness or inattention that I have done so, but from the daily hope of being able to send a more satisfactory answer than I yet can do.

A day or two before the receipt of your letter, Lord Cloncurry had received one from Mr. Falkener, the Clerk of the Privy Council, the contents of which led me to expect that early attention would be paid to his Lordship’s memorial. This expectation induced me to put off my answer to your letter from day to day; but no further notice having yet been taken of the memorial, and the distracted state of his Majesty’s councils at this time rendering it improbable that it should immediately be attended to, I will not longer delay my answer to your letter. Indeed I would not so long have suffered you to remain in the anxious suspense you must have felt, had I not sent a private packet to Mr. Burne, which was calculated to relieve that anxiety, and, in some measure, to answer the queries contained in your letter.

With regard to the change of ministry, I will just observe, that, although it may delay the answer to the memorial, it cannot, I think, be ultimately unfavourable to it. Undoubtedly we are not to expect a chancre of *system; *but I cannot persuade myself that a case of individual oppression will be *more *likely to find supporters in the new administration than the old, or that the new will take upon themselves the odium of following up an oppressive measure merely to vindicate their predecessors in that measure. If; therefore, the memorial we have presented to the Privy Council is not answered speedily after the new ministry is formed, and Lord Moira’s is unsuccessful with his Majesty, I think it may be useful to present others to the new Secretary of State, Privy Council, and Parliament: still keeping aloof from all asperity and accusation; the new ministry being little else than an emanation from the old.

My answer to the queries contained in your letter, be assured, *shall *be given candidly, and without disguise.

I do not think your brother’s health or spirits have suffered so far from his confinement, as to make his liberation desirable on any terms that shall either derogate from his honour, or injure his fortune; but certainly his spirits, and the impatience of his sufferings, appear to be such (as he has himself described them), that if the terms upon which you seem to think his liberty might be obtained are of a description that will neither affect his honour nor his fortune (with regard to the former of which, in particular, I know the feelings of his friends are in perfect unison with his own) -if the terms are of that description, I think they should be accepted.

From all I have learnt from his Lordship, and know from other quarters, I will add, I have but little apprehension from the result of a trial *in England; *but his discharge upon any *tolerable terms *without a trial would, nevertheless, be preferable. In my opinion, therefore, the pushing a trial is a thing not to be resorted to, until all other means to vindicate his character, and obtain his freedom, have been tried in vain. I am, with great respect, madam,

Your obliged and very obedient servant,

John Foulkes.”

About this period the madness of George III. had assumed a character which rendered it impossible longer to delay the adoption of special arrangements for the carrying on of the government. To this subject the attention of ministers and the legislature was of course exclusively turned, and in the meantime it was found impossible to procure another renewal of the act for suspending the writ of *habeas corpus. *The result was my enlargement on the 3d of March, 1801. I was set at liberty, after nearly two years’ confinement, without the slightest alteration of circumstances, in reference to the charges or suspicions against me, having taken place between the time of my arrest and that of my discharge. Uncondemned, untried, my case uninvestigated, I had been imprisoned during that period with cruel rigour. At the end, I was dismissed from my cell without form or ceremony, beyond the entering into my own recognisances to be forthcoming when called upon. The following note was the closing of the ministerial account with the subject of their persecution:- *

Lord Castlereagh to Lord Cloncurry.*

Cleveland-square, 9th March, 1801.

“Lord Castlereagh presents his compliments to Lord Cloncurry, and takes the earliest opportunity of informing his Lordship, that there is no impediment whatever to his return to Ireland, whenever it may suit his Lordship to go thither.”

No sooner did I find myself free, than I directed my solicitor to commence proceedings against the authors of my misfortunes, less with a view to attaining compensation for wrongs which could not be balanced by money damages, than for the purpose of bringing the whole affair before the public, and relieving my character from the stain which a punishment so severe as that inflicted would naturally attach to it in the minds of persons unacquainted with all the circumstances. Here again, however, I was struggling with a too powerful enemy.

My actions for false imprisonment, against the Duke of Portland and Mr. Pitt, were stopped by a bill indemnifying those persons from all the consequences of their arbitrary acts ; and this bill was passed through both Houses of Parliament (I think) in a single night.

Mr. Bonham, whose name was so often mentioned in the attempt made to fix a shadow of a crime upon me, was set at liberty along with myself. He was, I believe, throughout, equally innocent as myself of any crime beyond those to which I have confessed. He was in the habit as far as his means permitted, of relieving our destitute fellow-countrymen, who applied to him in London during the year 1797-8; he also had listened to a ribald song or two at the “Free and Easy” club in Furnival’s Inn. This, I sincerely believe, was the head and front of his offending; but for this he was, at the time of my second arrest in 1799, dragged from his temporary home in the Isle of Man, and imprisoned in the Tower with equal rigour as myself.

The lesson had an effect upon him that it did not produce upon me - he left prison, I suppose, a wiser man, for he shortly afterwards embraced Tory tenets with great ardour, and in after years paid me many visits at Lyons, with the express purpose of converting me to that faith, which he firmly held to the hour of his death. He was a kind-hearted, simple-minded man, upon whose temperament Tower discipline was calculated to make a lasting impression. How he felt seven or eight months after his escape into the free air, may be judged of from the following letter:- *

John Bonham, Esq., to Lord Cloncurry.*

Bath, 6, Sion Hill, 18th October, 1801.

“My dear Lord - Many thanks for your truly kind and generous letter; but thanks so long deferred, that you must have but a slight opinion of my gratitude. I can only say that my feelings were then, as they ever will be, of the warmest kind towards you, and the few I know like you. But, alas! I am compelled to own I was afraid to correspond with you. Is it possible, then, that fear should have had such an effect on a mind once not the weakest?

Not fear of death; for death I have suffered a thousand times: but fear of what must ever be unintelligible but to those who have suffered the tortures of “that many chambered tomb.”

In such a state of miserable despondency and broken spirit, resolving to live only for my family, I took a pleasant little box and garden in the environs of Bath, and engaged it for a year. Here I have gradually recovered my health; and a sea excursion to Tenby, where we have passed six weeks, with constant bathing, had almost completed my renovation, when the glad tidings of peace sounded in my ears, that would alone have healed in a moment, the wounds of an age of woe.

Man is now man again; he has for nine years been worse than demon, or whatever else can be imagined of evil.

The change it will make in your Lordship’s situation, must be incalculable. Insult upon insult must have been your lot in these countries. And for what cause? The suspicion of being a friend to freedom. All is now otherwise. Happiness, the most exalted, is now within your reach; and in that of the poorest wretch who lately crawled upon the earth.

After sighing so long for a blessing now within my grasp, I cannot bear to lose a moment of enjoyment. My whole thoughts are, therefore, now turned to the means of being amongst the foremost to set foot on the land of freedom.

The recognizances, I believe, must be discharged before I can move. I wish for your opinion on that subject; and shall write to Foulkes for his advice. I cannot conceive that any difficulty will be made about that, or about passports, or any other impediment, after the definitive treaty shall be signed.

Adieu for the present; answer me when you think proper, with the same frankness I have used, and believe me, under all circumstances, most unchangeably,

Your devoted friend and humble servant,

John Bonham.”

My futile attempt to obtain redress having been made and frustrated, I returned to Ireland after a few months, and arrived in Dublin upon the day of Lord Chancellor Clare’s funeral, when a curious circumstance occurred. The mob, irritable from their recollection of the atrocities of the rebellion, and the treacheries of the Union, had shown indications of a disposition to wreak their vengeance upon the corpse of one whom they esteemed among the chief of their enemies; and from hooting and throwing dead cats at the hearse of the deceased Chancellor, it was feared they would proceed to a more mischievous assault upon his house in Ely-place, within a few yards of my own residence. Under these circumstances the Countess of Clare no sooner heard of my arrival than she appealed to me for assistance, and entreated that I would protect her house by my presence.

It was by a triumph so miserable as this that my return to my country, after an imprisonment of two years in a strange land, was celebrated.

In closing my account of this transaction, I cannot deny myself the pleasure of citing opinions respecting it and other minor persecutions to which I was afterwards subjected, uttered long after the events by one whose knowledge of the British constitution will be no more doubted than the manly candour and simplicity of his personal character:- *

Lord Holland to Lord Cloncurry.*

Brussels, July 8,1817.

“My dear Lord - Your letter which had followed me to Dover, did not reach me till yesterday.

Your kind expressions are very gratifying to me, and, certainly, are much beyond the very slight services, if such they were in any sense, which it was ever in my power to render you.

I recollect very distinctly your imprisonment and persecution in 1798 and 1799, and I think that a temperate and guarded account of the whole of that transaction, if you do not feel any personal objections to reviving the subject, might make some impression on the public, because, if I am not much mistaken, your case, especially in the latter part of your imprisonment, approached more nearly to those of the *lettres de cachet, *in old France, than any that occurred under Pitt’s suspension of the Habeas Corpus. Am I not right in thinking that whatever were the motives or the pretexts of your original arrest, your long detention was owing to private suggestions of convenience; and that during the latter period of your confinement, there was not even the affectation of suspecting you of treason, much less the profession of any intention of ever bringing you to trial?

In short, I should feel very much obliged to you, if; on my return to England next October or November, you would furnish me with a detailed account of the whole transaction, stating to me if there is any part of it which you would not like to be mentioned in public.

With respect to the refusal of your son-in-law’s application in favour of his sister, it seems a very ungracious one in substance, and by your account of it, a still more unjustifiable one in form, as it amounts nearly to a breach of promise; but the grant of a title of courtesy is certainly a mere matter of favour and grace, and, therefore, neither in parliament nor in public, can the reasons of withholding it be with any propriety or any effect canvassed or censured. The exercise of a prerogative may, indeed, be canvassed, but even then one must have a very strong case to make any impression; to censure the crown for not conferring a favour would, with some reason, be argued to be taking the prerogative of conferring those favours from the crown, and giving it to parliament. With respect, too, to the removal of magistrates, it is so completely in the Chancellor’s discretion, that though he may, and I dare say has exercised it injudiciously, and even harshly, nothing, I conceive, but the proof of corrupt motives would justify the interference of parliament.

Yours, ever truly,

Vassall Holland.”

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