Escape of Lord Edward Fitzgerald. Major Sirr. Death of Lord Edward.

CHAPTER V.

Hairbreadth Escapes of Lord Edward Fitzgerald. - Testimony of Lords Holland and Byron. - A Dark Picture of Oppression. - Moira House. - Presence of Mind. - Revolting Treachery. - Arrest of Lord Edward. - Majors Sirr and Swan. - Death of Captain Ryan. - Attempted Rescue. - Edward Rattigan. - General Lawless. - Lady Louisa Conolly. - Obduracy of Lord Camden.-Death of Lord Edward Fitzgerald.

Some critics have been good enough to say that our narrative possesses the interest of an effective drama. At this stage of its progress we propose to let the curtain drop for an interval, during which eight years are supposed to have elapsed.

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Once more it rises, disclosing the dark and stormy period of 1798. The scene is Leixlip Bridge at the dawn of morning, with a view of the Salmon Leap. Nicholas Dempsey, a yeoman sentinel, is seen, with musket shouldered, pacing to and fro. A young man dressed as a peasant with frieze coat and corduroy knee-breeches, approaches the bridge driving before him half a dozen sheep. Accosting the sentinel, he asks if there is any available night park at hand where he could put his tired sheep to rest. The yeoman scans his face narrowly, and to the surprise, and probably confusion of the drover replies:- “No, *my lord, *there is no pasturage in this neighbourhood.” No other words pass; the sentinel resumes his beat, and the drover proceeds on his way.

[We are indebted for this hitherto unpublished anecdote to Mr Ennis of Kimmage, the grand-nephew of Nicholas Dempsey, whose cartridge-box and sash are still preserved at Kimmage House as an interesting memento of the man and of the incident. For a notice of the Yeomanry, see Appendix.]

The person thus addressed by the yeoman was Lord Edward Fitzgerald, of whom a cabinet minister, Lord Holland, deliberately writes:-

“More than 20 years have now passed away. Many of my political opinions are softened-my predilections for some men weakened, my prejudices against others removed; but my approbation of Lord Edward Fitzgerald’s actions remains unaltered and unshaken. His country was bleeding under one of the hardest tyrannies that our times have witnessed.”

[Memoirs of the Whig Party. Lord Holland adds:- “The premature and ill-concerted insurrections which followed in the Catholic districts were quelled, rather in consequence of want of concert and skill in the insurgents, than of any good conduct or discipline of the king’s troops, whom Sir Ralph Abercrombie described very honestly, as *formidable to no one but their friends. *That experienced and upright commander had been removed from his command, even after those just and spirited general orders in which the remarkable judgment just quoted was conveyed. His recall was hailed as a triumph by the Orange faction. Indeed, surrounded as they were with burning cottages, tortured backs, and frequent executions, they were yet full of their sneers at what they whimsically termed ‘the clemency’ of the Government, and the weak character of their viceroy, Lord Camden . . The fact is incontrovertible, that the people of Ireland were driven to resistance, which, possibly, they mediated before, by the free quarters, and excesses of the soldiery, which were such as are not permitted in civilised warfare, even in an enemy’s country. Trials, if they must so be called, were carried on without number, under martial law. It often happened, that three officers composed the court, and that of the three, two were under age, and the third an officer of the yeomanry or militia, who had sworn, in his Orange lodge, eternal hatred to the people over whom he was thus constituted a judge. Floggings, picketings, death, were the usual sentences, and these were sometimes commuted into banishment, serving in the fleet, or transference to a foreign service. Many were sold at so much per head to the Prussians. Other less legal but not more horrible outrages were daily committed by the different corps under the command of Government. Even in the streets of Dublin, a man was shot and robbed of £30, on the loose recollection of a soldier’s having seen him in the battle of Killcullen, and no proceeding was instituted to ascertain the murder or prosecute the murderer. Lord Wycombe, who was in Dublin, and who was himself shot at by a sentinel, between Black Rock and that city, wrote to me many details of similar outrages which he had ascertained to be true. Dr Dickson (Bishop of Down) assured me that he had seen families returning peaceably from mass, assailed without provocation, by drunken troops and yeomanry, and the wives and daughters exposed to every species of indignity, brutality, and outrage, from which neither his remonstrances, nor those of other Protestant gentlemen, could rescue them. The subsequent indemnity acts deprived of redress the victims of this wide-spread cruelty.]

“If Lord Edward had been actuated in political life by personal ambition,” writes Dr MacNevin, “he had only to cling to his great family connexions and parliamentary influence. They unquestionably would have advanced his fortunes and gratified his desires. The voluntary sacrifices he made, and the magnanimous manner in which he directed himself to the independence of Ireland, are incontestable proofs of the purity of his soul.”

“What a noble follow,” said Lord Byron, “was Lord Edward Fitzgerald, and what a romantic and singular history his was! If it were not too near our times, it would make the finest subject in the world for an historical novel.”

The insurrection meanwhile, to which Earl Russell refers as one “wickedly provoked, rashly begun, and cruelly crushed,” [Preface to Moore’s Memoirs, vol. i., p. 18.] was hastening to maturity. Dublin and Kildare were ripe for revolt: the mountains of Wicklow - the stronghold of Holt - were like slumbering volcanoes. A great object was to procure, near Dublin, a place of concealment for the chivalrous nobleman who had espoused the cause of the people; and a widow lady, named Dillon, who resided near Portobello, undertook to give him shelter. Before he had been two days in the house, under an assumed name, an accident revealed his real one to the servant man. In cleaning Lord Edward’s boots he observed the noble stranger’s name and title written in full; and he took occasion to tell his mistress that he knew who was the guest up-stairs, but that she need not fear, as he would die in his defence. The lady, with some anxiety, communicated the circumstance to Lord Edward, who expressed a wish to see the faithful adherent. ” No,” replied the servant; “I won’t go up, or look at him; for if they should arrest me, I can then swear I never saw him or spoke to him.”

Lord Edward Fitzgerald remained for five weeks in this retreat, when his friends suggested the expediency of removing to the house of a respectable feather merchant, named Murphy, who resided in Thomas Street, Dublin. Accompanied by William Lawless, Lord Edward, wrapped in a countryman’s great-coat, arrived at Murphy’s, where he remained for several days, during which time, dressed in female attire, he visited his wife and children in Denzille Street. He became by degrees more callous to risk, and we find him, early in May, riding, attended by Neilson only, to reconnoitre the line of advance from Kildare to Dublin. While executing this perilous task, he was actually stopped by the patrol at Palmerstown, but having, as Moore alleges, plausibly passed for a doctor hurrying to the relief of a sick patient, he was suffered, with his companion, to resume his journey.

In order to foil pursuit, Lord Edward was advised to remain not more than a night or two at any one house. Moore’s and Murphy’s, in Thomas Street, and Gannon’s, in Corn Market, were the houses which afforded him shelter.

The proclamation offering a reward of £1,000 for such information as should lead to his apprehension had now appeared. On Ascension Thursday, May 17, 1790, Major Sirr, “received information,” writes Moore, “that a party of persons, supposed to be Lord Edward Fitzgerald’s bodyguard, would be on their way from Thomas Street to Usher’s Island that night.” The precise object or destination of this party, Moore adds, has not been ascertained, but that it was supposed Lord Edward was going to Moira House [Now the Mendicity Institution.], on Usher’s island, the residence of Lord and Lady Moira, with a view to see his wife Pamela, who is believed to have been then under their hospitable roof . [It is not quite certain that Lady Edward Fitzgerald was at this time at Moira House. The Personal Recollections of Lord Cloncurry (2d edition, p. 130) rather favour an opposite conclusion, by stating that “at the time of Lord Edward’s arrest, his wife Pamela had taken refuge with my sisters, and was at the time in my father’s house in Merrion Street” - namely, Morninton House] Lord Edward’s actual destination, however, - and we have been at no ordinary pains to ascertain it, - was the residence of Mr Francis Magan, who resided at 20 Usher’s Island.

From the representative of the Moore family, who gave Lord Edward ample shelter and protection when £1,000 lay on his head, we have gathered the following valuable traditional details; and, as will be found, they are interwoven with the history of the Sham Squire. A carpenter named Tuite was at work in one of the apartments of Mr Secretary Cooke’s office on May 16, 1798. While repairing the floor within the recess of a double door, he distinctly heard Mr Cooke say, that the house of James Moore, 119 Thomas Street, should be forthwith searched for pikes and traitors. Tuite, who was under some obligations to Moore, with great presence of mind, noiselessly wrenched off the hinge of the outer door, and asked permission to leave the Castle for 10 minutes, in order to purchase a new hinge in Kennedy’s Lane. Leave was given; but, instead of going to the ironmonger’s, Tuite ran with immense speed to James Moore in Thomas Street, gave the hint, and returned to his work. Moore, who was deeply implicated, and had a commissariat for 500 men on the premises, fled to the banks of the Boyne, near Drogheda, after previously telling his daughter to provide for the safety of Lord Edward, who was at that moment upstairs.

Miss Moore had a high respect and friendship for Mr Francis Magan and his sister, who resided at 20 Usher’s Island. He was a Roman Catholic barrister, and had been a member of the Society of United Irishmen, though from prudential motives he had shortly before relinquished his formal connexion with them, but it was understood that his sympathies were still with the society. Miss Moore obtained an interview with Mr Magan, and unbosomed her anxiety to hint. Mr Magan, at no time an impassionable or impulsive person, seemed moved: he offered his house as a refuge for Lord Edward.

The proposal was accepted with gratitude, and it was thereupon arranged that Lord Edward, accompanied by Mrs and Miss Moore, Gallaher, and Palmer, should proceed that evening from Moore’s in Thomas Street, to Magan’s on Usher’s Island. It was further astutely suggested by Mr Magan, that as so large a party knocking at his hall door might attract suspicion, he would leave ajar his stable door in Island Street, which lay immediately at the rear, and thus open access through the garden to his house.

Lord Edward, while under Moore’s roof, passed as the French tutor of Miss Moore, who had been educated at Tours, and they never spoke unless in French. On the pretext of being about to take a stroll through Galway’s Walk adjacent, then a popular lounge, Miss Moore, leaning on Lord Edward’s arm, walked down Thomas Street at about half-past eight o’clock on the evening of May 17. They were preceded by Mrs Moore, Palmer, and Gallaher, the latter a confidential clerk in Moore’s employ, a man of Herculean flame, and one of Lord Edward’s most devoted disciples. Of the intended expedition to Usher’s Island the Government early that day received information.

Thomas Moore, in his diary of August. 26,1830, gives the following particulars communicated on that day by Major Sirr:-” Two ways by which he (Lord Edward) might have come, either Dirty Lane or Watling Street: Sirr divided his forces, and posted himself, accompanied by Regan and Emerson, in Watling Street, his two companions being on the other side of the street. Seized the first of the party, and found a sword, which he drew out, and this was the saving of his life. Assailed by them all, and in stepping back fed; they prodding at him. His two friends made off. On his getting again on his legs, two pistols were snapped at him, but missed fire, and his assailants at last made off.”

As explanatory of the Major’s statement, we may observe that one of Lord Edward’s bodyguard was despatched usually about 40 yards in advance. Major Sirr speaks of men prodding at his prostrate body, but does not tell that he wore a coat of mail under his uniform. Gallaher used to say that he gave the major seven stabs, not one of which penetrated. During the struggle Gallaher received from Sirr an ugly cut on the leg, which subsequently furnished a mark for identification. Meanwhile the rebel party hurried back with their noble charge to Thomas Street - not to Moore’s, but to the nearer residence of Murphy, who had previously given his lordship generous shelter.

The original letter which conveyed to Major Sirr the information touching Lord Edward’s intended visit to Usher’s Island, still exists among the “Sirr MSS.” deposited in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin. The following copy has been made by Dr Madden, who, however, seems to agree with Thomas Moore in the opinion that Lord Edward’s destination was Moira House:-

“Lord Edward will be this evening in Watling Street. Place a watch in Watling Street, two houses up from Usher’s Island; [This precaution was obviously lest Lord Edward should enter by the hall door on Usher’s Island. - W.J.F.] another towards Queen’s Bridge; [Lest he should come by “Dirty Lane” instead of Watling Street. Magan’s is the second stable from Watling Street, although his house on Usher’s Island is the sixth from that street.-W. J. F.] a third in *Island Street, at the rear of the stables *near Wailing Street, and which leads up to Thomas Street and Dirty Lane. At one of these places Lord Edward will be found, and will have one or two with him. They may be armed. Send to Swan and Atkinson as soon as you can.

“EDWARD COOKE.”

Mr Cooke does not tell Sirr from whom he got this information; nor was the major, so far as we know, ever cognisant of it; but a letter written by Cooke for the eye of Lord Castlereagh, and printed in the Cornwallis correspondence, states unreservedly that all the information regarding the movements of Lord Edward Fitzgerald came through Francis Higgins, who employed a *gentleman *- for whose name Mr Cooke considerately gives a dash - “to set” the unfortunate nobleman. The “setter” we believe to have been Mr Francis Magan, barrister-at-law, of whom more anon.

Nicholas Murphy received his noble guest with a cead mile failte; [A* *hundred thousand welcomes.] but next morning both were thrown into a state of alarm by observing a detachment of military pass down the street, and halt before Moore’s door. [For curious traditional details in connexion with this incident, see Mr Macready’s statement in Appendix.] The source from whence the espionage proceeded has hitherto remained a dark and painful mystery. Murphy hurried Lord Edward to the roof of the warehouse, and with some difficulty persuaded him to lie in the valley.

To return to Mr Francis Magan. On the day following his interview with Miss Moore, he proceeded to her residence in Thomas Street, and with a somewhat careworn expression, which then seemed the result of anxiety for Lord Edward’s safety, though it was probably occasioned by bitter chagrin at being baulked in a profitable job, said: “I have been most uneasy; did anything happen? I waited up till one o’clock, and Lord Edward did not come.” Miss Moore, who, although a woman of great strength of mind, did not then suspect Magan, replied: “We were stopped by Major Sirr in Watling Street; we ran back to Thomas Street, where we most providentially succeeded in getting Lord Edward shelter at Murphy’s.” [Communicated by Edward Macready, Esq., son of Miss Moore, May 17, 1865. Miss Moore, afterwards Mrs Macready, died in 1844. One of her last remarks was: “Charity forbade me to express a suspicion which I have long entertained, that Magan was the betrayer; but when I see Moore, in his Life of Lord Edward, insinuating that Neilson was a Judas, I can no longer remain silent. Major Sirr got timely information that we were going to Usher’s’ Island. Now this intention was known only to Magan and me; even Lord Edward did not know our destination until just before starting. If Magan is innocent, then I am the informer.”] Mr Magan was consoled by the explanation, and withdrew.

The friends who best knew Magan describe him as a queer combination of pride and bashfulness, dignity and decorum, nervousness and inflexibility. He obviously did not like to go straight to the Castle and sell Lord Edward’s blood openly. There is good evidence to believe that he confided all the information to Francis Higgins, with whom it will be shown lie was peculiarly intimate, and deputed him, under a pledge of strict secrecy, to make a good bargain with Mr Under-Secretary Cooke.

After Lord Edward had spent a few hours lying in the valley of the roof of Murphy’s house, he ventured to come down. The unfortunate nobleman had been suffering from a sore throat and general debility, and his appearance was sadly altered for the worse. He was reclining, half dressed, upon a bed, about to drink some whey which Murphy had prepared for him, when Major Swan, followed by Captain Ryan, peeped in at the door. “You know me, my Lord, and I know you,” exclaimed Swan; “it will be vain to resist.” [The Express, May 26, 1798.] This logic did not convince Lord Edward. He sprang from the bed like a tiger from its lair, and with a wave-bladed dagger, which he had concealed under the pillow, made some stabs at the intruder, but without as yet inflicting mortal injury.

An authorised version of the arrest, evidently supplied by Swan himself, appears in The Express of May 26, 1798:- “His lordship then closed upon Mr Swan, shortened the dagger, and gave him a stab in the side, under the left arm and breast, having first changed it from one hand to the other over his shoulder, (as Mr Swan thinks.) Finding the blood running from him, and the impossibility to restrain him, be was compelled, in defence of his life,” adds Swan’s justtification, “to discharge a double-barrelled pistol at his lordship, which wounded him in the shoulder. He fell on the bed, but recovering himself, ran at him with the dagger, which Mr Swan caught by the blade with one hand, and endeavoured to trip him up.” Captain Ryan, with considerable animation, then proceeded to attack Lord Edward with a sword-cane, which bent on his ribs. Sirr, who had between two and three hundred men with him, was engaged in placing pickets round the house, when the report of Swan’s pistol made him hurry up-stairs. “On my arrival in view of Lord Edward, Ryan, and Swan,” writes Major Sirr, in a letter addressed to Captain Ryan’s son, on December 29, 1838,” I beheld his lordship standing, with a dagger in his hand, as if ready to plunge it into my friends, while dear Ryan, seated on the bottom step of the flight of the upper stairs, had Lord Edward grasped with both his arms by the legs or thighs, and Swan in a somewhat similar situation, both labouring under the torment of their wounds, when, without hesitation, I fired at Lord Edward’s dagger arm, [lodging several slugs in his shoulder,] and the instrument of death fell to the ground. Having secured the titled prisoner, my first concern was for your dear father’s safety. I viewed his intestines with grief and sorrow.” [Castlreagh’s Correspondance, vol. i., pp. 463-4]

Not until a strong guard of soldiery pressed Lord Edward violently to the ground by laying their heavy muskets across his person, could he be bound in such a way as prevented further effective resistance. [Moore’s Life of Lord Edward Fitzgerald] When they had brought the noble prisoner, however, as far as the hall,:[ Moore’s Diary, vol. vi., p.134.] he made a renewed effort at escape, when a dastardly drummer from behind inflicted a wound in the back of his neck, which contributed to embitter the remaining days of his existence. He was then removed in a sedan to the Castle.

The entire struggle occupied so short an interval, that Rattigan, who, the moment he received intimation of the arrest, rushed forth to muster the populace, in order to rescue Lord Edward, had not time to complete his arrangements. [Recollections of the Arrest of Lord Edward Fitzgerald. - The Comet, (newspaper,) September ii, 1831, p. 152. The original proclamation is now before us, offering a reward of £300 for the “discovery” of Rattigan, Lawless, and others. Rattigan escaped, entered the French service, and died at the battle of Marengo. Lawless, the attached friend and agent of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, after undergoing a series of romantic adventures, also succeeded in eluding the grasp of his pursuers, and rose to the rank of general under Napoleon. For the account of Lawless’s’ escape from Dublin, furnished by the only party competent to detail it, see Appendix G.] Rattigan was a respectable timber-merchant, residing with his widow mother, in Bridgefoot Street. In Higgins’ *Journal *of the day, we read:-

“A number of pikes were yesterday discovered at one Rattigan’s timber-yard in Dirty Lane; as a punishment for which his furniture was brought out into the street, and set fire to and consumed.”

It does not seem to have been the wish of the higher members of the Government that Lord Edward should fall into their hands. “Will no one urge Lord Edward to fly?” exclaimed Lord Clare. “I pledge myself that every port in the kingdom shall be left open to him.”

It is not possible to overrate the fatal severity of the blow which Lord Edward’s arrest at that critical moment imparted to the popular movement. Had he lived to guide the insurrection which he had organised, his prestige and eminent military talents would probably have carried it to a successful issue. Four days after his arrest, three out of thirty-two counties rose; and to extinguish even that partial revolt cost the Government £22m, and 20,000 men.

The late Lord Holland furnishes, in his “Memoirs,” many interesting illustrations of Lord Edward’s sweet and gentle disposition:-

“With the most unaffected simplicity and good nature he would palliate, from the force of circumstances or the accident of situation, the perpetrators of the very enormities which had raised his high spirit and compassionate nature to conspire and. resist. It was this kindness of heart that led him, on his deathbed, to acquit the officer who inflicted his wounds of all malice, and even to commend him for an honest discharge of his duty. It was this sweetness of disposition that enabled him to dismiss with good humour one of his bitterest persecutors, who had visited him in his mangled condition, if not to insult his misfortunes, with the idle hope of extorting his secret. ‘I would shake hands willingly with you,’ said he, ‘but mine are cut to pieces. However, I’ll shake a *toe, *and wish you good-bye.”’

Gentle when stroked, but fierce when provoked,” has been applied to Ireland. The phrase is also applicable in some degree to her chivalrous son, who had already bled for his king as he had afterwards bled for his country. [To his wounds received in active service, and his ability as a military officer, C. J. Fox bore testimony in the House of Commons on the 21st December 1792. Cobbett said that Lord Edward was the only officer of untarnished personal honour whom he had ever known. Even that notoriously systematic traducer of the Irish popular party, Sir Richard Musgrave, was constrained to praise Lord Edward’s “great valour, and considerable abilities,” “honour and humanity,” “frankness’, courage, and good nature.”] Murpity’s narrative, supplied to Dr Madden, says:-

“It was supposed, the evening of the day before he died, he was delirious, as we could hear him with a very strong voice crying out, ‘Come on! come on! d—n you, come on!’ He spoke so loud that the people in the street gathered to listen to it.”

Two surgeons attended daily on Lord Edward Fitzgerald. [One of the surgeons was Mr Garnett, who, in a diary devoted to his noble patient, noted several interesting facts. Lord Edward manifested great religious feeling, and asked Mr Garnett to read the Holy Scriptures to him. We are informed by Mr Colles, Librarian of the Royal Dublin Society, that this MS. is now in his possession.]

This delirium is said to have been induced by the grossly indecent neglect to which his feelings were subjected by the Irish Government. Lord Henry Fitzgerald, addressing the heartless viceroy, Lord Camden, “complains that his relations were excluded, and old attached servants withheld from attending on him.”

Epistolary entreaty was followed by personal supplication.

“Lady Louisa Conolly,” writes Mr Grattan, “in vain implored him, and stated that while they were talking her nephew might expire; at last she threw herself on her knees, and, in a flood of tears, supplicated at his feet, and prayed that he would relent; but Lord Camden remained inexorable.” [Memoirs of Henry Grattan, vol. iv., p.387.]

Lord Henry Fitzgerald’s feelings found a vent in a letter, addressed to Lord Camden, of which the strongest passages have been suppressed by that peer’s considerate friend, Thomas Moore:-

“On Saturday, my poor, forsaken brother, who had but that night and the next day to live, was disturbed; he heard the noise of the execution of Clinch at the prison door. He asked eagerly, ’ What noise is that?’ And, certainly, in some manner or other, he knew it; for - O God! what am I to write? - from that time he lost his senses: most part of the night he was raving mad; a keeper from a madhouse was necessary.” [Moore’s’ Life and Death of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, vol. ii,, p. 160]

Lord Edward Fitzgerald died in great agony, mental and bodily, on the 4th of June 1798, and was deposited in the vaults of St Werburgh’s Church. Hereby hangs a tale, which will be found in the Appendix.

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