An enemy of the cause.

Reynolds the Informer, and Mr. William Cope.

The following remarks have been addressed to us by Sir William H. Cope, Bart., in vindication of the consistency of his late grandfather, Mr William Cope, of whom we have spoken in Chapter 7. After kindly observing, among other remarks, that he has read “The Sham Squire and the Informers of ‘98 “with “much interest and pleasure,” Sir William goes on to say:-

“In your addenda you designate him, on the authority of the late General Cockburn, as a ‘spy,’ [This epithet of reproach has not been applied by the present writer. See note at p. 194, *ante. *To prevent a very possible misconception in the public mind, we may add, in justice to Sir William Cope, that the title he enjoys forms no part of the recompense bestowed by the Government of Lord Cornwallis on his grandfather, William Cope, for the part taken by him in persuading Reynolds to become an informer. The late Mr William Cope was a very eminent merchant of Dublin, and Sir William Cope, his grandson, represents one of the oldest English baronetcies.] and bracket him with persons so infamous as Armstrong and Reynolds. I must’ really claim justice at your bands for his memory. A ‘spy’ is one who enters the enemy’s camp in disguise to obtain information to use against him. Armstrong was a ‘spy,’ certainly; Reynolds was both a traitor to the cause he had espoused, and a spy, by pretending still to act with his confederates after he had betrayed them. But my grandfather was not a ‘spy.’ He had always been, and he was especially in 1798, a strong opponent and an outspoken enemy of the United Irishmen, and of the principles they professed. As long before as 1792 he had, in an assembly of the Corporation of Dublin, as representative of the guild of merchants, moved and carried a series of resolutions strongly opposing and condemning the modified concessions to Roman Catholics, then in contemplation. These resolutions were communicated officially to all the other corporations of Ireland, and they, or similar ones, were adopted by most of the grand juries at the ensuing assizes. You may disapprove his action as much as I regret it; but at least it proves that he was an open and declared antagonist, and so well known was this, that he states that it made him so unpopular among the mercantile and trading classes of Ireland, as seriously to injure the interests of the eminent mercantile firm of which he was the head. And my grandfather was well known. In 1792 he had paid a fine to avoid the office of Sheriff of Dublin. So that had my grandfather even desired to act the ‘spy,’ he was most certainly one of the very last persons the United Irishmen or the patriotic party would have let into their secrets. Even the very day before Reynolds’s revelation was made to him, being the only non-Liberal member of the company assembled at Castle Jordan, Sir Duke Giffard’s, he seems to have stated and defended his opinions m a long conversation with Lord Wycombe, of which he has preserved a minute in the papers I have referred to. I hope, therefore, that in any future edition of your interesting publication, you will relieve my grandfather’s memory from the execrable name of ‘spy,’ however much you may consider him as the avowed and active enemy of the cause which was betrayed to him.

“I may mention that neither my father nor I ever received, directly or indirectly, any part of the pension granted to my grandfather. It was granted, as you rightly observe, to his wife, who predeceased him, and to his three unmarried daughters. It eventually centred in Miss Teresa Cope, who, as you truly say, resided and died at Rhos-y-gar, near Holyhead. Others may entertain a different opinion as to the enormity of a recompense for services which, as Thomas Moore observes in his ‘Life of Lord Edward Fitzgerald,’ ‘it is not too much to say, were the means of saving the country to Great Britain.’

“I am quite ready, if you wish it, to submit to you any of the papers I have referred to in this letter. I am not likely to be in Dublin, but if you should at any time be in London, I will willingly wait upon you there, and show them to you. I have a large number of papers relating to the period in question, including Reynolds’s letters to my grandfather, some of which show his *courage *not to have been greater than his fidelity.”

In a subsequent communication with which we were favoured by Sir William Cope, some papers of considerable historic interest and importance were enclosed. The following document, which sufficiently explains itself is endorsed by the late Mr Cope

• “Thomas Reynolds’s statement of the conversation coming from Castle Jordan, and also my statement of the same.”

Reynold’s Statement

From original MS. in autograph of Thomas Reynolds.

“In the month of February last, [1798,] I travell’d with Mr Cope to Castle Jordan the seat of Sir Duke Gifford in order to gett Possession of the lands of Corbettstown which I became intitled to after the Death of Sir Duke’s Father and which I had mortgaged to Mr Cope for £5,000. We dined there as did Lord Wickeome and some other gentlemen. We satt late. The conversation turned much on the affairs of Ireland. Mr Cope and I returned next Day to Dublin in a Chaise. On the Road we chatted of the conversation which took place the Day before, and of the United Irishmen. In the course of our conversation Mr Cope [A word evidently omitted; probably “pointed out,” or “placed.”] in the strongest light the distinction of all Civil and Religious liberty and Property, The violation of all the rights of Man, The murders and horrid treatment exercised by the French in every country they went into, (tho they wont at first as Friends,) sparing neither age, sex, or Condition, and from the Daring murders and Robberies committed by the United men here, tho under the curb of the Law, what were we to expect when they were unrestrained and joined by that French army enured to every crime and enormity. We conversed several hours on the subject and the result was, that struck with all he said, I determined to quit the Society, and repair my own Fault by a declaration of all I knew, and I told Mr Cope I thought I knew a man who I could induce by representing to him all our conversation to give up the United cause, and give intelligence of all he knew of them Mr Cope directly said such a man would meritt every honor, and Reward his Country could bestow on him. I told him I would call on him in a Day or two about it. I did call on him and gave him all the information I knew of, telling him to keep secrett who he heard it from. He pressed me to come forward myself but I refused to do so, he offered me a seat in Parliament and every honor the Country could give me and great wealth if I would come forward. I told him I would not on any account that I was content as I was, and wanted neither honors nor great wealth but that I should be entitled to 500 guineas in order to repay me for any Loss I might sustain, as I well knew sooner or later this affair would be known or suspected by the United men and that I should then quit the Country for a time at least, to save my life from them and that even then they would attack my house and such of my property as they could come at. Mr Cope still pressed me to come forward myself and offered great rewards, but I allways declined to do so.”

Mr Cope’s Statement.

From the original paper in his autograph.

“Some time in Feb. Mr. R--- and we had business with Sir Duke Giffords at Castle Jordan.We dined there. Lord Wycombe, [Lord Wycombe, afterwards Marquis of Lansdowne. See page. 150, ante.] a Gent. I think of the name of Fitzgerald, who, from his conversation, I did believe had belonged to the Navy, a Mr --- who, I understood, was uncle to Lady Gifford, and agent to Sir Duke --- I think there was another Gent., whose name I did not hear, or if I did, don’t remember. - Sir D., Mr R., and I were the Comp. The conversation after Lady G. quit the room, went on the affairs of Ireland; - and it was the general opinion to find fault with the measures of Govt and particularly his Lordship said, the people would not be satisfied till there was emancipation and a reform. I said I did not know how far it might be prudent to grant a general emancipation, but as to a Reform in parliamt. I did not see how it was practicable to make matters better than they were as to the representation of the people, or how it could be effected and apply’d to his lordship; that in many comps. I had been in, no mode was ever yet pointed out that would not on arguments on consideration make matters worse than they were at present, but probably his Lordship might be able to point out a place that would answer the end - He then asked me did I think it fair that a Borough which had gone to decay or had not an inhabitant should send two members to Represent it - To this I replyd that at their first institution, they had their use to counterbalance in some degree the power of the Nobles and to aid the King against the power of Aristocracy but at this day they had their use, for if it was not for such Bos the abilities of the late Lord Chathm and the services he was enabled to render his Country could not have been brot forward, or in this Kingdom were it not for the Bor: of Charlemont, the abilities of Mr Grattan would not have been brot forward for the service of his Country - That we had a happy Constitution and it would be dangerous to make the smallest alteration - That there was a property in both Counts that had a right to be represented - That it was not Land, or would it procure a Seat in the Legislature for any populous Corporation or City. I meant the monied property of both Countrys, arid were it not for the Bors that had become private property - this considerable stake in the Community would not be represented. I instanced a man by industry who had acquired a large money property without connection with Land, had a right to a Seat in the Legislature to defend that property if he thought it necessary or proper how then could he get a Seat if there were not Bors - To this his Lordship gave no reply, but turned to some other topic, but all agreed the people must be satisfied in their objects of reformation and emancipation - As I found the opinions of all the Comp: here the same and no one inclined to point out the practicability I remained silent. Lord Wycombe mentioned his having a vessell of his own, and of his having been brot into one of the French ports - but that he was soon known and every assistance given him - I did not understand that this was at a time the Nations were at War - When Mr R. and S. retired, I talked a little with him on the conversation that had pass’d and told him my opinion that these words reformation and emancipation were to which might be added the word equality were ruining the kingdom. The next day I introduced the same subject again with Mr R. and when we got into the Chaise, for, we set off walking before the family were up and met the Chaise before we got to Clonara - I talked a good deal of the disturbances of the Kingdom and the object of the French being plunder and that his property or any mans however, zealous he might be to obtain the object of emancipation, &c., would not he safer than any other - I mentioned many of the enormities that had been committed by the French on their Revolution and it was a true remark that the first promoters of a Revolution, never saw the end of it - in France not one but what fell victims to their own party or some new one that started up - that United Irishmen who were now so eager for a change would probably be the first who would lose their lives - and tho they depended so much on the French, they would be deceivd as they had deceivd every country that had let their Army into them. Mn R. agreed: and told me so far ‘that he had been chosen a Colonel but that he was determined to quit them and tho chosen, he had never acted or never would - I then said to him ‘Mr R. you have it in your power to save your Country, ‘Come forward like a man and do the good that any honest man in the Nation must bless you for’ - he said ‘it was impossible - he never would ’- I said every thing that occurred to me in the strongest manner to induce him told him the lives he would save, and the honourable light in which he would be held, that every honour would attend him, that it was a Duty he owed; his God and his Country to come forward and stop the effusion of human blood, and the dreadful calamities that would befal the Country if a civil war took place the man that would do it would deserve the highest honour and the highest reward his Country could bestow.” [Thomas Reynolds was an extensive silk-manufacturer in Dublin; born March 12, 1771; died in Paris, August 18, 1836, When the revolution broke out he was living at Kilkea Castle, Athy, which had been let to him on advantageous terms by the Duke of Leinster, at the instance of his brother; Lord Edward Fitzgerald, who entertained a friendship for Reynolds. Mr Cooke having strongly recommended him to Government, he was employed as postmaster at Lisbon in 1810, as consul in Iceland in 1817, and as consul at Copenhagen in 1819.]

The following extract from a private letter addressed by Mr Cope to a friend describes with still more minuteness of detail that conversation between him and Reynolds which was attended with results so very remarkable; The preceding statement seems to have been meant for the perusal of the Government; the letter is more familiar and unreserved. It will be observed that some remarks are repeated which might, without impairing the narrative, be omitted, but on consideration we think it better to give without mutilation documents of such historic value and interest.

“Dublin, 29th *July *1798.

“The conspiracy had far advanced, indeed was nearly brought to a crisis, much nearer than Government or the people not in the secret (who were to be sacrificed) had any idea of, … and from the county meetings were delegated the members, to form a provincial meeting. Such was the meeting at Bond’s house, and which, as it were by a miracle, I had the good fortune to discover, by pointing out to Mr. Reynolds the horror and devastation that would follow such proceedings, which no doubt would lead to revolution, and the horrors which attended the French helped me not a little in describing what would be the fate of ourselves. Mr Reynolds resisted every argument of mine to come forward and prosecute, which I used with every force I was capable of, after he agreed with me in opinion that the consequences would be dreadful. I suspected him to be a United man. I asked him if it was not wonderful, that after all the murders which had been committed, Government could never discover any person of consequence to be concerned? The wretches who form baronial meetings, I said, are not those who direct the great machine of destruction that is going forward; they are poor illiterate creatures, at least any of those who has yet appeared and been ordered to punishment. They come to be hanged, they can’t tell for what. They had no enmity to the man they killed; but they would do it again for the same cause, but would tell no cause, only they would go with their party. Such as these only have Government been able to find out, when you and I must know that more enlightened understandings must set this cruel machine in motion. *He smiled. *I seized the opportunity, and with a bold assertion charged him, ‘Yon can save your country.’ He said he never could come forward, which was acknowledging my charge, and I argued from that and tried him at every point to bring him forward. First his avarice: I went so far as 50/m. [This is believed by Mr Cope’s representative to be an abbreviation for £5,000] Take notice: I had no authority, but I knew well the value the information would be to the kingdom. He resisted, declaring no consideration on earth would bring him forward. His reason was, he could not leave his friends and connections. I then tried his ambition, by asking him, was he afraid to leave the society of murderers, and be noticed by the first men in the kingdom, taken by the hand by the Chancellor of Ireland, the Speaker of the House of Commons, &c? and if he chose might command a seat in that house. ‘In short,’ says I, ‘there is nothing that your ambition or wish could aspire to that you may not command. Come forward and save your country.’ No; but says he, what you have said has filled me with so much horror, that I will turn in my thoughts how I can effect the good you desire without coming myself or bringing any other forward, and he would call on me in a day or two. He did so. I renewed my application, but in vain. He said he was considering how it could be effected, and save any suspicion, for death and suspicion, he said, were synonymous. He made me solemnly promise I should never mention his name without his permission. He then said he could get or would prevail on a friend who would give the information in writing, the writing to be copied in his presence and returned. This person, he said, must quit the kingdom and his industry, and live abroad for a time, and he must have money to support him. I said he should have it, 1, 2, or 3000

• anything he thought reasonable. He said he looked for no such thing for him. I wish to effect the good and stop the effusion of blood by his means, but don’t expect more for him than will support him while he may remain abroad, where he cannot use the industry he has been accustomed to here for his support, and he thought 500 guineas would do it. Which I immediately acceded to, and he brought me the accounts, which I copied in his presence, discovering the whole of the conspiracy, and conspirators that were to meet at Bond’s house 12th of March. The rest of the business is tolerably well detailed in the trials which I send you.”

The result of Mr Cope’s communications with Reynolds was the arrest of the 15 delegates at Oliver Bond’s on the night of March 12, 1798. For this bit of secret service he received 500 guineas. From a letter we are about to quote of Mr Secretary Cooke to Mr Cope, it is evident that the papers found at Bond’s, and the evidence then possessed by the Government, would not have insured a conviction of those apprehended. Reynolds finding the importance of his information, and with an appetite, as it would seem, sharpened by the 500 guineas previously pocketed, hung back, and rather coquetted with the Government. He sold his information and friends bit by bit.

“In reference to the interview at which Reynolds brought the papers,” writes Sir William Cope, “my late mother has told me that my father (being, I believe, on leave of absence from his regiment, which was in England) lodged (I think) in Charlemont Street, or somewhere in the outlets of Dublin; and that my grandfather used to come and spend the evening with them, and that there Reynolds called on him. My mother wondered at this man, whom she did not know, calling on my grandfather there, and being closeted with him. After Reynold’s revelations came to light, my grandfather told her the real history of these mysterious interviews with the unknown visitor. I suppose Reynolds was afraid of calling on my grandfather at his house in Merrion Square.”

 

Mr. Secretary Cooke to Mr. Cope.

“Castle, *March *29,1798.

“My Dear Sir, - Your friend has acted honestly and fairly, and has done much good; but the business is yet by no means complete. I very much fear, indeed I *am certain, *that it will be impossible to convict the persons apprehended without parole evidence. I know the objections to come forward as an [Sic in orig.] witness. But I think, in order to save a kingdom, to prevent its becoming a scene of anarchy and blood, and being thrown into a state of barbarity and slavery, all those objections should be got oven The principles which have actuated your friend have been fair and honourable, they are only deficient in resolution and effect. If he can work himself up to proceed and to come forward in the business, he will attain the end he wishes - the salvation of his country. You see what [Sic in orig.] to a state the poor deluded people are driven by their desperate leaders, daily plunging into new crimes and atrocities, and daily subjecting themselves to ignominious punishments - to banishment, to imprisonment, to death. What merit can be greater than to put a stop to the tide of enormity? Is he to put temporary odium against the welfare of the kingdom? Is he to balance his personal feelings against the happiness of millions? If he feels, as he does feet that the system of the United Irishmen (if uncheck’d) must end in blood and cruelty, and anarchy and desolation,

• if he is sensible that it cannot be checked, if the leaders remain triumphant in impunity, is he not bound, by every tie of humanity and justice, to come forward and defeat the system by the only means by which it can be defeated? These considerations I hope you will impress upon your friend, with others which will more forcibly suggest themselves to your mind. We have the same object-the salvation of the country. And it will be surely but a little consolation to your friend, amid the calamities of his country, to reflect that he had done some good, but suffered his country to be finally ruin’d because he declined to do more. - Yours, most truly and faithfully, E. Cooke.”

“To Wm. Cope, Esq.”

(Copied from the original in Mr Cooke’s handwriting, W. H. C.)

“I find a separate copy of the above letter, writes Sir William Cope, “made by my grandfather, and on this is a most important endorsement which I have copied for you. It mentions the exact sum Reynolds got for his information - very different from his son’s statements in the ‘Life of Reynolds:’”-

Endorsement by the late Mr. Cope.

“This letter mentions that my friend R. before the Privy Council, had acted honestly and fairly, and done much good; but I must impress on his mind the necessity of his doing more. This was after he had given fair information before the Council, but insisted on his terms with me of not coming forward to give parole evidence. I exerted my influence, and though Mr Cooke said to me, ‘You *must *get him to come forward; stop at nothing - £100,000 - anything, &c., ’ I conditioned with Govt for him for only £5,000, and £1,000 per yea; and he is satisfied. He came forward, at my repeated intercessions, and gave public evidence of such truths as satisfied the nation.”

But this note of Mr Cope’s anticipates matters. Mr Secretary Cooke’s moral arguments failed to convince Reynolds to the extent desired by that able diplomatist.

Pressure of a more telling character was now brought to bear upon Reynolds. The military were sent to his residence, Kilkea Castle, “at free quarters,” which Lord Cornwallis said was but another name for “robbery;” and some days later the arch-informer himself was placed under arrest.

The following letter from Mr Cope to Reynolds, in reply to his complaint that military possession should have been taken of Kilkea Castle, is without date; but an entry in the “Life of Reynolds,” (vol. ii., p.206,) enables us to fix this incident as having occurred on April 21, 1798

Memorandum in the late William Cope’s Handwriting

“Copy of a Letter from William Cope to Thomas R. in answer to one from him, complaining of the soldiers being at free quarters at Kilkea Castle. This Letter was calculated by the writer to show R.’s friends, while collecting information for W. C., which he was to communicate from time to time to W. C.

“My Dear Sir, - I lost no time in communicating the depredations which had been committed on you by the military. Mr Cooke said that gentlemen who had not endeavoured to repress the spirit of rebellion in the country, must expect to feel the bad effects in the first instance of a civil war. I told him it would irritate, so far as might possibly make bad subjects of those who were good. He could not answer for enormities that might be committed in suppressing that inclination to rebel, which had manifested itself in many parts of the country, but he would be much mistaken if the good and loyal suffered-if those who were not so disposed, felt inconvenience, it was only giving them a specimen of what they might expect if the French made good a landing; - for then the French army would ransack and plunder, as well as our own, ruin and destruction would come home to every man’s door, and the gentlemen who encouraged the means, which created the necessity of quartering the army, would find that they would not be spared by their new friends, more than the good old Government under which we were all secure and happy. Their object was plunder, and in the pursuit, they would take it where they could find it. Therefore, those who have encouraged the spirit of disaffection to our king and happy constitution, will feel in the first instance all the calamities of a civil war, in the preparations of Government to defend the good and loyal from the distresses that must be the natural result of an enemy landing in the country. You complain now, (feeling the distress) at the military being quartered on you - but what has created the necessity of this - the gentlemen in the country not being active in suppressing nightly meetings of the lower orders, and preventing them as far as was in their power, in their respective neighbourhoods, from getting arms. Let me tell you, sir, Govt has information that in the district in which you inhabit, there are 8,000 men, all of whom have arms, each man the possessor - and concealer of his own, ready to come forward on a landing; is it reasonable, or would it be just that Govt with this knowledge, should tamely lye by, without using efforts to get at these arms, and prevent them being used against the good and loyal subjects of this country? Is it to be supposed, that the gents. who have distinguished themselves for their loyalty, should in the first instance, feel the evil effects of a civil war, by having soldiers quartered on them? No, it is those who by their supineness or worse conduct, have rendered themselves suspected not to be true and loyal, that must first feel the calamity they have created. It is now no time to hesitate, every man must take his part. One expression in your letter inclines me to believe you must have given some cause for the depredations that have been committed on you; ‘that if you had committed any fault, you have surely been severely punished.’ I said everything I could to clear you of being among the number of the guilty encouragers to rebellion - if this was made manifest on convincing proofs given of loyalty and affection. I was told I would find Government would be grateful, - for while they punished their enemies, they would be grateful to their friends.

“Endorsed by Mr Cope-

“Letter from W. C. to Thomas Reynolds on the soldiers being quartered at his house.”

Mr Thomas Reynolds, junior, in the “Life” of his father, gives the following account of the free-quarters at Kilkea Castle in April 1798:-

“These exertions drew upon my father the suspicions of Government; he was thought to possess too much influence for an innocent man, and it began to be rumoured abroad that Lord Edward Fitzgerald was concealed at Kilkea Castle, and that he was collecting arms there to make it a depot. The usual method of punishing suspected persons was therefore put in force against my father. A troop of the 9th Light Dragoons and a company of Militia were sent to live at free quarters at Kilkea Castle. They remained there nine or ten days, and on their departure my father’s steward produced vouchers for cattle, corn, hay, and straw, furnished to them to the amount of £630. In addition to this, the officers lived at my father’s table, keeping him a close prisoner to his room; they and their friends drank his wine, and each soldier had one pint of wine served out to him daily from the well-stocked cellars. The spirits had been all destroyed, on the first day, on pretence of keeping the soldiers sober. The troops destroyed the whole of the furniture; they plundered a valuable library, and converted a small but very valuable collection of pictures into targets for ball and sabre practice; and, under pretence of searching for Lord Edward Fitzgerald, they tore up the flooring and panelling, and broke down the ceilings, converting the castle into a mere wreck. They also flogged and tortured my father’s servants. Cornet Love, who was a remarkably tall and powerful man, suspended the steward over his shoulder, with his sash, until life was nearly extinct, to compel him to confess where Lord Edward was concealed. The troops remained while there was anything to consume or to destroy; they then withdrew. Such was the reward my father received from the Irish Government for the information he gave them through Mr Cope - information which enabled them ‘to preserve the country from total ruin, massacre, and destruction.’ Can it be credited that any Government would so treat their own hired agent, or their avowed, but independent, friend and preserver? Is not the conclusion irresistible that at this time my father was unknown to Government? Mr Moore has the following observation at p. 12, vol. ii., of the Life of Lord Edward Fitzgerald:-

‘How little sparing those in authority would have been of rewards, their prodigality to their present informer proved.’ The above visitation was the first instalment of their prodigality to my father.”

No! The depredations at Kilkea Castle was not “the first instalment of the prodigality” of Government to Mr Reynolds. “I enclose you,” writes Sir William Cope, “an extract of a letter acknowledging the receipt of some instalment of Reynolds’s reward. I thought you might like to have it. The mention of ‘his friend’ is evidently only intended to mislead any one into whose hands the letter might fall. Alexander Jaffray, named in it, was a wealthy merchant in Dublin. The annuity was probably to be paid in the first instance through him and my grandfather.”

The free-quarters, it will be remembered, took place on the 21st of April. The date of the annexed letter is March 28:-

Extract of a letter from Thomas Reynolds to Mr. Cope.

Dear Sin, - I did not receive your letter, enclosing £127, 8s []112 guineas Irish currenccy] till this day, because I have been these two days attending my corps, searching all Athy and this end of the country for arms. We gott *(sic) *a good number, but none to which we could attach any criminality. I have handed what you enclosed to my friend, and I hare passed him my note for the £100 that is behind, which I will be able to pay him with the assistance of Mr Jaffray’s and your proportions of the half-year annuity.

[The portion of the letter omitted is without interest, and relates only to some matters connected *with *Lady Gifford’s marriage settlement.]

I hope to be in Dublin next Sunday for some days, on account of several gentlemen leaving their houses. This part of the country has been much disturbed; therefore we have all agreed that for 12 months we will not absent ourselves for any length of time from home. - With best respects to Mrs Cope and family, I am, dear Sir, your ever grateful servant Thos. Reynolds.

Kilkea, Tuesday night.

An exact copy.

Addressed - Wm. Cove, Esq., Dame Street,

Dublin.

Post-marked

Endorsed by W. Cope.

“March 28,1798,

Thos. Reynolds.”

The life of Reynolds by his son frequently describes the informer’s arrest at Athy; the following letters and their companions form an important supplement to it.

“The subjoined letter,” writes Sir Wm. Cope, in a communication addressed to the present writer, “shows the falsity of the statement in Reynolds’s Life, by his son, (vol. i., p. 248,) that my grandfather, on receiving Reynolds’s first letter, stating that he was in custody, ‘instantly’ went to the castle, and stated that he was the secret informer, and procured his release. That letter proves that Mr Secretary Cooke then knew his name; and it also proves that my grandfather had not acted on his first letter ‘instantly’, in fact, it would rather seem from another letter that my grandfather thought Reynolds was not keeping his promise, to reveal all he knew; and probably the whole arrest was a plan of the Government to terrify him into further revelations. If so, they succeeded; and more whining productions I never read than his two letters while in custody. The date, ‘Saturday, 4 o’clock,’ on the first letter, is ‘5th May,’ the day his son says he was arrested, and which I see was in 1798, a Saturday.”

Thomas Reynolds to Mr. Cope

Athy, *Saturday, *4 o’clock.

My Dear Mr Cope, - I have this day been arrested and thrown into the common jail here. I don’t know on what information, but I *request, I entreat you, *to *send down here *an *immediate order for my acquittal and release, and future protection. I can *only add that, conscious of my own Loyalty and steady attachment to Government, and of the thorough knowledge you have of both and Mr --- has also made me write thus to you, but I wish you to be with Mr --- and to gett it from him.

(Signed) T. Reynolds.

“Remember, Mr Cope, I rely on you to gett this order in an hour. I send it off here, on you I rely, to you I look for protection now. My hope, my dependence, my existence is on you. Gett me instant relief.”

 *

Note by Sir W. H. Cope.*

(An exact transcript. The spelling and erasures is in the original. The name twice blotted out as if with the finger while the ink was wet - it is quite illegible. The name was probably “Cooke;” the space of the blot would about take that name. The underscoring is in the original.)

Thomas Reynolds to Mr Cope.

“Give me to my wife and little Baby again, and do with the rest of my substance as you please. Mr Cope, I’m a Father and a Husband.

“My Dear Mr Cope, - Urged by the danger I am in, I have revealed to Colonel Campbell the situation I stand in with regard to our Business - and I have solicited him to send me to Dublin. *You *know, Mr Cope, that I am Loyal, and that my Loyalty has brought me to this miserable situation. I don’t know where I am to go, or what is to be done with me, or what evidence is against me; but as you know I am suffering for having acted according to the orders and wishes Government communicated to me thro you; under their Promise of Protection I hope and expect will now directly wait on Mr Cooke, or the Lord Lieutenant, avow me to be your Friend, who acting under your and their advice for the good of my Country, am oppressed and thrown into a common Dungeon, and Demand from them that Protection you and they know I meritt, instant enlargement and future safety for my Person is all the recompence I ask for having done the great and essential services to Government which I have done, besides by my confinement I am totally prevented from obtaining and giving further knowledge. You told me the Lord Lieutenant never wished to know me but to do me a service, now is the time. For God’s sake don’t keep me longer in suspense. gett me released.” (No signature.)

“William Cope, Esq., Dame Street, Dublin.”

(An exact transcript. It is on a shabby half-sheet of paper, and in parts very illegible. The word omitted - “you,” probably - torn by the wafer in opening.)

The biographer of Reynolds, after describing his liberation from Athy gaol, writes, (vol. ii, p. 174 :)- “Upon his arrival in Dublin, my father was carried before the Privy Council, when he was told by the Lord Chancellor that the Government were not previously aware that they were indebted to him for the timely information they had received from Mr Cope, or he should not have been molested by them.”

And at p. 207, the biographer returns to the period of his father’s arrest and imprisonment at Athy; and he adds, that when Colonel Campbell sent to Dublin for further orders in reference to Reynolds, “then it was that Government *first knew him *as the man whose timely horror at the conspiracy had arrested the miseries it was preparing for his country”

We are further told, (p. 206:)- “Mr Cope *was the only person *known to Government as the channel of information until my father was brought to Dublin in custody from Athy.”

But when these passages were penned, it was probably not supposed that the facts recorded in Mr Cope’s indorsement on Secretary Cooke’s letter would see the light. In that statement Mr Cope distinctly refers to important information personally given by Reynolds before the Privy Council six weeks anterior to the arrest at Athy.

I now send you,” writes Sir W. Cope, “a letter from Mrs Reynolds, which is valuable, as it shows the erroneousness of the statements in Reynolds’s ‘Life’ by his son, that he made no terms with Government for his information. She was evidently acting for him; and a letter of his, which I also send you, shows that she was empowered to act for him in these money matters

Mrs Reynolds to Mr Cope.

“My Dear Mr Cope, - The terms which would satisfy my mind are:-

“Immediately after the tryal is over, Mr Reynolds to be enlarged, and letters of introduction to be given to him to any part of England he may think it most advisable to retire to, of his being a gentleman, loyal in his principles, and a friend to the King and Constitution, and recommending him and family to the particular attention of the Gentry of the place, and in the meantime to be allowed every indulgence for his health and ease of mind, in order to alleviate as much as possible the unpleasantness of his confinement.

“The annuity to commence 25th June 1798, so that he may be entitled to receive 1 a year 24th December next, the £5,000 to be paid to him immediately after the tryal.

“I have to mention to you a circumstance which, if it could with convenience be done, it would, as you well know, be of the utmost advantage to us, to advance untill the tryal is over a loan of £1,000 pound. We want it to go on with Sir D. Giffard’s law-suit, and to discharge our Debts in this Country, which we wish to pay off before we go to England; as we intend to go off immediately after the tryal, we shall not then have time to settle these matters. I think this might be done thro you without much Difficulty.-Your obliged

“Harriett Reynolds.” [Mr Reynolds had married, March 25, 1794, Harriett daughter of William Witherington, Esq. of Dublin; another of whose daughters became the wife of Theobald Wolfe Tone.]

Thomas Reynolds to Mr Cope.

My Dear Mr Cope, - I have scarse an instant to write to tell I am ordered to go off this night; the Packett sails *at *seven o’clock. *I must go alone. *But we [Reynolds and his wife. Sir William Cope informs us that he is almost certain his grandfather never met Reynolds in London, or ever saw him afterwards] will, I hope, meet in London. I have several other places to go to. I have been almost all day receiving orders. Pray give my sincerest respects to Mrs Cope and the Young Ladies. *I have desired Harriett to Receive the *300 *Bills, and I will write to her about them from England. I *have not time to speak to her of anything - Your ever Devoted

Thos. Reynolds.

Monday evening, half-past six.

Thomas Moore, without sufficient evidence to warrant his suspicion, suggests that Reynolds was a very likely person to have betrayed Lord Edward Fitzgerald. [Life and Death of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, vol. ii., p.43.] Thomas Reynolds, junior [Life of Thomas Reynolds, vol. ii., pp. 216, et seq.] conclusively vindicates his father from at least that act of turpitude, adding: “had he even been inclined to commit so *base *an action, as that of betraying him, it could not possibly have been in his power to have done it.” [Ibid., vol. ii., p. 228.]

Most people will be of opinion that it was equally base of Reynolds to betray his colleagues as they sat in council at Oliver Bond’s. The foregoing passage is a full admission of Reynold’s baseness by the son, who, in two volumes filled with most scurrilous censure of Moore, Curran, Howell, and every other writer who stigmatised the baseness of Reynolds, undertakes to justify his name.

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