General Lawless makes his escape.

General Lawless

(See Chapter 5*)*

Having some reason to doubt the accuracy of the account given on hearsay by the late Lord Cloncurry, and quoted by Dr Madden, which represented Lawless effecting his escape in the guise of a butcher, carrying a side of beef on his shoulder, we instituted inquiries as to the real facts, and the parties exclusively competent to state them; and with this object we had an interview, in 1854, with the late Mrs Ryan of Upper Gardiner Street, then in her eighty-second year.

After the break-up of the Executive Directory by the arrests at Oliver Bond’s, a new one, composed of John and Henry Shears, William Lawless, and others, started into existence, determined to carry out the plans of the original founders. Proclamations appeared, and several arrests were made; but Lawless, owing to his own tact, and the presence of mind of his friends, escaped. Lawless was proceeding to his mother’s house in French Street at a rapid pace, through Digges Street, when his sister, perceiving his approach, appeared at the drawing-room window, and motioned him to retire.

The house was at that moment undergoing a search by Major Sirr and his myrmidons, and had Lawless come up, his life would, doubtless, have paid the forfeit. It is a significant fact that, on the following day, Henry Sheares was arrested in the act of knocking at Lawless’s door. The family of Mr Byrne, of Byrne’s Hill, in the Liberty, was then staying at their country residence, near Kimmage, where Mr Byrne and his daughters, of whom our informant, Mrs Ryan, was one, provided Lawless with an asylum. He was concealed in a garret-bedroom, communicating with a small clothes closet, into which he retired at every approach, even of the servants, who were quite unconscious of his presence.

Days rolled over, and the search, but without avail, continued. Military and yeomanry scoured the country round. Major Sirr was so active, that some swore he possessed the alleged ornithological property of being in two places at once.

The Lawyers’ corps having been on duty near Kimmage, it was suggested that Mr Byrne’s house should be searched; but a gallant nephew of Lord Avonmore, who commanded, refused to sanction this proceeding, in consequence of Mr Byrne’s absence, and the presence of several ladies in the house. Lawless thanked his, stars; but the fears of the family were greatly excited by the proximity of his pursuers, and they resolved at all hazards to remove him to Dublin previous to making one desperate effort to reach France. Word was sent to Philip Lawless, an eminent brewer, residing at Warrenmount, the elder brother of William, to send his carriage to Mr Byrne’s to convey him to town. Mrs Ryan, then, Miss Byrne, dressed Lawless in a loose white wrapper of her own, and a close beaver bonnet.

As Lawless possessed a pale, sallow countenance, Miss Byrne applied some effective touches, not of ordinary rouge, hilt of lake paint, to his cheeks. The outlaw, accompanied by Mrs Ryan and her two sisters, entered the carriage and proceeded openly at noon-day to Dublin. The rebellion bad not yet burst forth. No opposition was offered to the ordinary transit of vehicles. When halfway to Dublin, a party of yeomanry scowled into the carriage, but not detecting anything suspicious, suffered it to proceed.

Having arrived at the residence of Mrs Lawless, the outlaw sent for a suit of sailor’s clothes and donned them but his long pale face was far from disguised. To effect this desideratum, Lawless placed upon his head an immense coil of cable, which he so arranged that a large portion descended upon his forehead, and went far to baffle recognition. As he proceeded with this burthen in the direction of Rogerson’s Quay, the redoubtable Major Sirr passed him closely, but the disguise was so perfect, that no suspicion seems to have been excited. Lawless gained greater confidence from this moment, reached the wharf, embarked on board a merchant vessel, and a favourable wind soon wafted him to the shores of France. He entered the military service of that country, gained distinction, lost a leg, and died a general in 1824.

One of the Irish refugees, Colonel Byrne, addressing the present writer in a letter dated “Paris, Rue Montaigne, February 18, 1854,” says:-

“Lord Cloncurry committed a mistake in his ‘Personal Recollections’ respecting General Lawless having lost his leg at Flushing, in August 1809 He lost it at the battle of Lowenberg, in August 1813. It appeared ridiculous that a colonel with but one leg should be put at the head of a regiment of infantry in a campaign by Napoleon.”

[Colonel Byrne adds: “l have made notes of the principal events and transactions that came within my knowledge during the insurrection of 1798, as well as that of 1803. If I thought their publication could in any way tend to benefit my native country, I would cheerfully get them printed; but I am well aware that the present time is not a propitious moment. I trust a time may come when the publication of such documents will be encouraged. They will show the efforts and sacrifices that were made to procure the independence of Ireland.” Colonel Byrne has since paid the debt of nature, and the work in question has been published under the auspices of his widow, a sister to the late Francis Homer.]

In Ireland Lawless had been a physician of great promise, and filled the chair of Physiology and Anatomy at the College of Surgeons. Another eminent medical man, Dr Dease, Professor of the Practice of Surgery, was also deeply implicated ; but he lacked the moral energy of Lawless, and, on timely information reaching him that a warrant was in progress for his apprehension, he retired to his study, and died, like Cato, by his own hand. A fine white marble bust of this physician, inscribed “Willam Dease, obit 1798,” is preserved in the Hall of the College of Surgeons. The old man’s brow, furrowed by years of earnest honest labour, and the intelligent expression of his eye, prematurely quenched, awaken painful emotions. [A story is told to the effect that Dr Dease, having made a fatal mistake in professional treatment of a patient, committed suicide; but the true circumstances of his death we believe to be as above given, and this account we find corroborated by Dr. Madden.]

William Lawless possessed a cultivated literary taste; and in the *Irish Masonic Magazine *for 1794, many poems from his pen may be found. He had been a member of the Royal Irish Academy; but *Faulkner’s Dublin Journal *for 1802 announces his expulsion on political grounds.

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