Secret Service Money. Shrouded Secrets Opened.

CHAPTER VI.**

**A Secret well Kept. - The “Setter” of Lord Edward Traced at Last. - Striking in the Dark. - Roman Catholic Barristers Pensioned. - A Lesson of Caution. - Letter to the Author from Rev. John Fetherston-Haugh. - Just Debts Paid with Wages of Dishonour. - Secret Service Money. - An Ally of “the Sham’s”’ Analysed.

What were the Secret Services of Francis Magan, Barrister-at-law - Shrouded Secrets Opened.**

“One circumstance,” says a writer, “is worthy of especial notice. Like Junius, an unfathomed mystery prevails as to who it was that betrayed Lord Edward Fitzgerald, and received the reward of £1,000.” [Castlereagh Correspondence, vol. i., p.468, First Series]

When one remembers the undying interest and sympathy which has so long been interwoven with the name of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, it is indeed surprising that for 61 years the name of the person who received £1,000 for discovering him should not have transpired. [Francis Higgins received the £1,000 for having pointed out Lord Edward’s retreat, but recent inquiries on the part of the author have ascertained that Counsellor Magan betrayed Lord Edward to Higgins] The secret must have been known to many persons in the Castle and the Executive; yet even when the circumstance had grown so old as to become the legitimate property of history, they could not be induced to relax their -reserve. Whenever any inquisitive student of the stormy period of ‘98 would ask Major Sirr to tell the name of Lord Edward’s betrayer, the major invariably drew forth his ponderous snuff-box, inhaled a prodigious pinch, and solemnly turned the conversation.

Thomas Moore, when engaged upon the “Life and Death of Lord Edward Fitzgerald,” made two special visits to Ireland for the purpose of procuring on the spot all the sadly interesting particulars of his lordship’s short but striking career. The Castle was then occupied by an Irish Whig Administration, but, notwithstanding Moore’s influence with them, and their sympathy, more or less, with the hero whose memory he was about to embalm, he failed to elicit the peculiar information in which the Castle archives and library were rich.

In 1841, Dr Madden was somewhat more fortunate. He obtained access to a number of receipts for secret service money, as well as to a book, found under strange circumstances, in which the various sums and the names of the parties to whom paid are entered. But perhaps the most interesting entry was written in a way to defeat the ends of historic curiosity.

In the book of “Secret Service Money Expenditure,” now in the possession of Charles Halliday, Esq. [Dr --- has given us the following account of the discovery of this document:- “When Lord Musgrave, since Marquis of Normanby, was Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, some official in Dublin Castle cleared out and sold a quantity of books and papers, which were purchased in one lot by John Feagan, a dealer in second-hand books, who had, as his place of business, a cellar at the corner of Henry Street. I had the opportunity of examining the entire collection; but, not being much of a politician, I only selected two volumes - Wade’s Catalogue of the Plants of the County Dublin, and the Catalogue of the Pineilli Library, sold in London A.D. 1789, which I bought for 1s. 6d. They, and the others of the collection, had each a red leather label, on which, in large gilt capitals, was impressed, ‘Library, Dublin Castle.’ Among them was the MS. account of the expenditure of the Secret Service money, and of which I was the first to point out the possible value when it was about to be thrown, with various useless and imperfect books into waste paper.”] the entry, *“June *20th [1798], F. H. Discovery of L.E.F., £1,000,” appears on record. The researches of one of the most indefatigable of men proved, in this instance, vain. “The reader,” says Dr Madden, “has been furnished with sufficient data to enable him to determine whether the initials were used to designate Hughes or some other individual ; whether the similarity of the capital letters, J and F, in the handwriting. may admit or not one letter being mistaken for another, the F for a J; or whether a correspondent of Sirr’s, who sometimes signed himself J. H., and whose name was Joel Hulbert, an informer, residing, in 1798, in Monasterevan, may have been indicated by them.” [Madden’s Lives and Times of the United Irishmen, vol. ii, p. 443.]

Watty Cox declared that Laurence Tighe, to whose house the bleeding body of Ryan was borne after Lord Edward’s arrest, had played the spy; while, on the other hand, Dr Brennan, in his *Milesian Magazine, *broadly charged Cox with the perfidy. Murphy, an honest, simple-minded man, in whose house Lord Edward was taken, has not been exempted from suspicion. The late eminent anecdotist, Mr P. Brophy, of Dublin, used to tell that Lord Edward’s concealment became known “through an artilleryman who was courting Murphy’s servant-girl;” but Thomas Moore unintentionally disturbs this story, which never reached his ears, by saying, “An *old *maid-servant was the only person in Murphy’s house besides themselves.”

The memory of Samuel Neilson, one of the truest disciples who followed the patriot peer, suffered from a dark innuendo advanced in Moore’s “Life of Lord Edward Fitzgerald,” and echoed by Maxwell (p.47) in his “History of the Irish Rebellion.” To one of the most honourable of Lord Edward’s followers, Charles Phillips, under an erroneous impression, refers in a startling note attached (p.288) to the last edition of “Curran and his Contemporaries.” He professes to know the secret, and adds: ” He was to the last, apparently, the attached friend of his victim.”

In a memoir of O’Connell, by Mr Mark O’Callaghan, it is stated in positive terms (p.32) that John Hughes received the £1,000 for the betrayal of Lord Edward. The son and biographer of the notorious Reynolds writes, (vol. ii., p. 194:) “The United Irishmen and their partisans, especially Mr Moore, emboldened by the distance of time and place, have insinuated that my father was the person who caused the arrest of Lord Edward.” Further on, at p. 234, Mr Reynolds flings the onus of suspicion on Murphy; while Murphy, in his own account of the transaction, says: “I heard in prison that one of Lord Edward’s bodyguard had given some information.” Again, Felix Rourke was suspected of the infidelity, and narrowly escaped death at the hands of his comrades. Suspicion also followed William Ogilvie, Esq., who, as a near connexion, visited Lord Edward at Moore’s, in Thomas Street, a few days before the arrest, and transacted some business with him. [When Miss Moore heard this dark suspicion mooted, she said, “If so, I know not whom to trust. I saw Lord Edward take a ring from his finger, and press it on Mr Ogilvie as a keepsake. Tears fell from Ogilvie’s eyes as he grabbed Lord Edward’s’ hand,” - Traditions of the Moore Family.] Interesting as it is, after half a century’s speculation, to discover the name of the real informer, it is still more satisfactory that those unjustly suspected of the act should be finally acquitted from it. It is further useful as teaching a lesson of caution to those who, blindfold, strike right and left at friend and foe.

One of the most valuable letters printed by Mr toss, in his “Memoirs and Correspondence of Marquis Cornwallis,” (vol. iii., p. 320,) is that addressed by Secretary Cooke to his excellency, in which Mr Francis Higgins and others are recommended as fit recipients for a share in the £1,500 per annum which, in 1799, had been placed for secret service in the hands of Lord Cornwallis. “My occupation,” writes this nobleman on 8th June 1799, ” is now of the most unpleasant nature, negotiating and jobbing with the most corrupt people under heaven. I despise myself every hour for engaging in such dirty work.”

And again: “How I long to kick those whom my public duty obliges me to court!” It may be premised that “Mac” is Leonard MacNally, the legal adviser and advocate of the United Irishmen. His opportunities for stagging were great; as, besides being a United Irishman himself, his name may be found for the defence in almost every state trial from Rowan’s to that of the Catholic Delegates in 1811. [See Appendix] M’Gucken, the third name mentioned, was the solicitor to the United Irishmen.

“Pensions to Loyalists. - I submit to your lordship on this head the following:- First, that Mac ---should have a pension of £300. He was not much trusted in the Rebellion, and I believe has been faithful. Francis Higgins, proprietor of the freeman’s Journal, was the person who procured for me all the intelligence respecting Lord Edward Fitzgerald, and got --- to set him, and has given me much information, £300.” [It is strange that Mr Ross, who has generally exhibited such vigilance and research as editor of the Cornwallis Papers, should print such a note as the following, (vol. ii., p. 339) - “The man who gave the information which led to his arrest received £1,000, but his name has never transpired.”]

Mr Under-Secretary Cooke and Francis Higgins were old acquaintances. The former came to Ireland in 1778 with Sir Richard Heron, chief secretary under Lord Buckinghamshire, and, having efficiently acted as his clerk, was appointed military secretary in 1789, and obtained a seat in the Irish Parliament. [Castlereagh Correspondence, vol. i., p. 113.] During the Rutland Administration, Mr Cooke contributed papers to the Freeman’s Journal, “under the auspices of the Sham Squire;” one entitled “The Sentinel” acquired some historic notoriety. [Irish Political Characters, Lond. 1799, p. 130] Mr Cooke’s services were further rewarded by the office of Clerk of Commons, with £800 a year, as well as by the lucrative sinecure of Customer of Kinsale.

At a later period he became Secretary to the Treasury and Under-Secretary of State in the War and Colonial Department. For some account of Mr Cooke’s extraordinarily active and wily services in promoting the legislative union, see notice of Mr Trench in the Appendix.

Before we had thoroughly succeeded in unshrouding Mr Magan’s share in the betrayal of Lord Edward, the following and many more remarks, tracing it on circumstantial evidence, were in type:-The considerate and cautious way in which Mr Cooke leaves a blank for the name of the individual who performed the office of “setter,” at the instance of Higgins, suggests that he must have been a person of some station in society, and one whose prospects and peace of mind might suffer were he publicly known to have tracked Lord Edward Fitzgerald to destruction. [An old friend of Mr Magan’s’ informs us that he mixed in good society, and held his head high. The same informant adds that he was stiff, reserved, and consequential; he often served with Magart on Catholic Boards, where, owing to these causes, he was not a favourite.] Mr Cooke also leaves a blank for the name of Leonard MacNally, the base betrayer of his unfortunate clients.

In the first volume of the second edition of Dr Madden’s “United Irishmen,” he furnishes, from p. 364, an interesting account of “the secret service money expended in detecting treasonable conspiracies, extracted from original official documents.” At p. 393, we learn that Mr Francis Magan, a Roman Catholic barrister, not only received large sums down, but enjoyed to his death an annual pension of £200. On the back of all Mr Magan’s receipts the chief secretary has appended a memorandum, implying that Mr Magan belonged to a class who did not wish to criminate openly, but stagged *sub rosa. *Dr Madden remarks:- ” Counsellor Magan’s services to Government, whatever they were, were well rewarded. Besides his secret pension of £200 a year, he enjoyed a lucrative official situation in the Four Courts up to the time of his decease. He was one of the commissioners for enclosing commons.

In reply to an application addressed by 115 to an old friend of Mr Magan’s, it has been urged that the fact of his having received a pension from the Crown is no presumptive evidence of secret service at the period of ‘98, inasmuch as nearly all “the Catholic barristers were similarly purchased, including Counsellors Donnellan, MacKenna, Lynch, and Bellew.” Unluckily, however, for this argument, we find the following data in that valuable collection of state papers, the “Cornwallis Correspondence,” vd. iii., p. 106:-” In 1798,” writes Mr Ross, “a bill passed to enable the Lord-Lieutenant to grant pensions, to the amount of £3000, as a recompense to persons *who had rendered essential service to the state during the rebellion. *This sum was to be paid to the undersecretary, through whose Lands it was confidentially to pass. By a warrant, dated June 23, 1799, it was divided as follows:-

Thomas Reynolds, his wife and two sons, * £1,000

Mrs Elizabeth Cope, and her three daughters, ** £1,000

John Warneford Armstrong, *** £500

Mrs. Ryan, widow of D. F. Ryan, **** and his daughters £200

Mr Francis Magan £200

£2,900

Balance to pay, fees, &c., £100

£3,000

* The wholesale betrayer of his associates.

** Wife of Mr Cope, “who managed Reynolds.”

*** Betrayer of John and Henry Sheares.

**** Mr Ryan, who aided in the arrest of Lord Edward.

No doubt, Mr Magan was the mysterious gentleman whom Francis Higgins urged to ” set” Lord Edward Fitzgerald. Between the Magan family and Mr Higgins a close intimacy subsisted for many years. [Mysteriously close ties continued to bind Magan and Higgins to the last. Mr James Curran, in a letter dated Rathmines, Dec. 6, 1865, referring to the will of Higgins and some litigation which grew out of it, writes:- “A small freehold property, held by Counsellor Magan, was legally adjudged to F. Higgins, of Philadelphia. This decision was appealed from to the Court of Chancery, and Higgins left for America, after placing his affairs in the hands of a Mr Norman, his attorney. On the appeal, Mr Norman submitted a letter of Lord Carhampton’s, which stated that “the Squire” was only trustee for Magan.]

The barrister’s father was the late Thomas Magan, of High Street, woollen-draper, traditionally known by the sobriquet of “Whistling Tom.” In the Dublin Directory for 1770, his name and occupation appear for the first time. So far back as June 30, 1789, we find it recorded in the *Dublin Evening Post, *that “yesterday Mr Magan, of High Street, entertained Mr Francis Higgins” and others. “The glass circulated freely, and the evening was spent with the utmost festivity and sociality.” The *Post, *in conclusion, ironically calls him ” Honest Tom Magan.” By degrees we find Mr Tom Magan dabbling in Government politics. The *Evening Post *of Nov. 5, 1789, records:-

“Mr Magan, the woollen-draper in High Street, in conjunction with his friend, Mr Higgins, is preparing ropes and human brutes to drag the new viceroy to the palace. It was Mr Magan and the Sham Squire who provided the materials for the triumphal entry of Lord Buckingham into the capital. *Quere *- Should not the inhabitants of Dublin who had their windows broken on that *glorious illumination *order their glaziers to entreat Mr Magan and Mr Higgins to cast an eye on the tots? Mr Magan is really clever, and never has flinched in his partiality and attention to the cause of Mr Francis Higgins. Mr Magan has the honour, and that frequently, to dine Messrs Higgins, Daly, Brennan, and Houlton.”

The last two named, it will be remembered, were the Sham Squire’s colleagues in journalism.

The *Post *further instances an act of great friendship which Mr Magan performed with a view to serve Mr Higgins. And there is good reason to believe that the Sham Squire was not unmindful of those services. In the Directory for 1794 we find Mr Tom Magan styled “woollen-draper and mercer to his Majesty” - a very remarkable instance of state favour towards any Roman Catholic trader at that period of sectarian prejudice and ascendency. George III., however, gave Mr Magan no custom, and he died poor in 1797. With his son, who was called to the bar in Michaelmas Term 1796, Mr Higgins continued to maintain a friendly intercourse. From the year 1796 Francis Magan resided with his sister until his death in 1843, at 20 Usher’s Island. From the “Castlereagh Papers” (i. 459) we learn that Mr Secretary Cooke received positive information of these movements of Lord Edward in the vicinity of Usher’s Island which preceded the final intelligence that led to his arrest some days afterwards in Thomas Street. Mr Cooke’s letter assures the viceroy that *all *the information respecting Lord Edward had come from Francis Higgins, who got some gentleman, for whose name the under-secretary considerately gives a dash, “to set” the unfortunate young nobleman.

Mr Higgins at once claimed his blood-money, and on the 20th June 1798, we find that £1,000 were paid to him. How much of this sum was given by the Sham Squire to his friend “the setter,” or what previous agreement there may have teen between them, will probably never be known. We are rather disposed to suspect that Higgins tricked his tongue-tied colleague by pocketing the lion’s share himself.

Magan, by right; ought to have received the advertised reward of £1,000; but it appears from the Government records; that this round sum went into Higgins’s hand conjointly with a pension of £300 a year *“for the discovery of *L. E. F.” Magan obtained but £200 a year for the information of which Higgins was merely the channel; though later in life he received office, and sums for other discoveries. In the long array of items extracted by Dr Madden from the Secret-Service Book, per affidavit of Mr Cooke, we find under date “September 11, 1800,”

“Magan, per Mr Higgins, £300.”

The sums of £500 and £100 were afterwards privately presented to Mr Magan, pursuant to the provisions of the Civil List Act, which placed money in the hands of the viceroy “for the detection of treasonable conspiracies.” These douceurs were, of course, in addition to the payments made quarterly to Mr Magan for the term of his natural life, and for which his receipts still exist.

Mr Magan possessed peculiar facilities, local and otherwise, for “setting” the movements of Lord Edward Fitzgerald and the United Irishmen who habitually met in Con MacLaughlin’s house, at 13 Usher’s Island. Lady Edward, as we learn from Moore’s Memoirs, was at Moira House, close to Mr Magan’s residence, while his lordship lay concealed in Thomas Street adjacent.

Francis Magan, who became a member of the Irish Bar in 1796, found himself briefless, and with-out “connexion” or patrimony. A drowning man, ‘tis said, will catch at a straw; and we have seen how he turned to mercenary account the peculiar knowledge which he acquired. Yet he would seem to have made a false conscience, for with the wages of dishonour, he paid his just debts. The following letter, addressed to us by the Rev. John Fetherston Haugh, is not without interest. It has been argued by one of the friends of Mr Magan, that he who would do the one would scorn to do the other; but it must be remembered that Mr Magan, subsequent to ‘98, was on the high-road to riches, and while the bond to which he was a party existed, he was, of course, legally liable.

“Griffinstown House, Kinnegad.

“MyDear Sir, - In reply to your letter respecting Mr Francis Magan, I beg to say that my grandfather, Thomas Fetherston of Bracket Castle, was in the habit, for years, of lodging in High Street, Dublin, at the house of Thomas Magan, a draper, and departed this life in his house. My father, on inspecting my grandfather’s papers, found a joint bond from the draper and his son for £1,000, and on speaking to the draper respecting its payment, he told him he was insolvent, [The statement was doubtless correct. No will of Thomas Magan was proved in the Irish Probate Court] so my father put it into his desk, counting it waste paper. Some years elapsed, and. the son came to Bracket Castle, my, father’s residence, and asked for the bond, ‘for what?’ said my father. To his astonishment, he said it was to pay it. I was then but a boy, but I can now almost see the strange scene, it made so great an impression on me. Often my father told me Magan paid the £1,000, and he could not conceive where he got it, as he never held a brief in court. He was puzzled why the Crown gave him place and pension.

Believe me, &c., I. Fetherston H.”

As we have already said, in the official account of Civil Service money expended in detecting treasonable conspiracies, the item,

“September 11,1800, Magan, per Mr Higgins, £300,”

arrests attention. In the hope that Higgins’s journal of the day would announce some special discovery of treason, tending to explain the circumstances under which the above douceur of £300 was given, we consulted the files, but found nothing tending to throw a light on the matter, unless the following paragraphs published in the issues of August 12, and of September 9, 1800:-

“Yesterday Major Swan took into custody a person named M’Cormick, [P. M’Cormick, a “noted” rebel, is mentioned in Madden’s “United Irishmen,” i. 519, as residing in High Street. Did Mr Magan’s long residence in High Street furnish him with any facilities for tracing this man] who is well-known in the seditious circle, and lodged him in the guard-house of the Castle. He wore a green riband in his breast which had a device wrought upon it or two hands *fraternally united *by a grip, which, he said, was *the badge of a new *(it is supposed Erin-go-Bragh) order.”

The second paragraph refers to “recent discoveries” in general terms only, but the style is amusing:-

“Some of these offenders who were concerned in the late conspiracies with United Irishmen, to whom the lenity of Government had extended amnesty on assurances of their becoming *useful *and proper subjects, having been *recently discovered *from their malignant tongues to be miscreants unworthy of the mercy and support extended to them, from their continual *applauses *of the common foe and his friends, and their maligning the first characters in the Government and their measures, it is intended to dispose of these vipers, not as was at first intended, but in a manner that their perfidy and ingratitude merit.”

Besides his pension of £200 a year and a place under the Crown, given in recognition of secret services, Mr Francis Magan further received, on December 15, 1802, as appears from the account of secret service money expenditure, £500 in hand. This round sum, it is added, was given “by direction of Mr Orpen.” The secret service for which £500 was paid must have been one of no ordinary importance. Conjecture is narrowed as to the particular nature of the service by the heading of the document, *i.e., *“Account of Secret Service Money *applied in detecting treasonable conspiracies, *pursuant to the provisions of the Civil-List Act of 1773.” A study of the historical events of the time, with a comparison of the dates, finds one or two discoveries in which Magan may have been concerned. About the year 1802 a formidable attempt was made to rekindle the insurrection in the county of Cork. Sergeant Beatty, its leader, after skirmishing with the King’s troops and killing. several, escaped to Dublin, where, while in the act of reorganising his plot, he was arrested and hanged. [Revelations of Ireland, by D. O. Madden, p.130, et seq See Appendix for further details.] In 1802, Richard F. Orpen, Esq., was high sheriff for the county of Cork. [See files of the public journals for February 1802.] “He raised corps of volunteers for the suppression of the rebellion, was of an active mind, and well acquainted with persons of rank and influence.” [Letter from Richard I,. John Orpen, Eeq., August 16,1865.] There is but one family of the name in Ireland. It was, doubtless, this gentleman who urged the reward of £500 to Magan in 1802; and, probably, the secret service was the discovery of the Cork conspirator.

In 1802 also transpired the plans of William Dowdall, a confidential agent alike of Colonel Despard in England, and of Robert Emmet in Ireland. Towards the end of that year we find him in Dublin, with the object of extending their projects. Suddenly the news came that on November 13, 1802, Despard and 29 associates were arrested in London. [Plowden’s History of Ireland from the Union, vol. i., p.176. The Higgins journal of November 23, 1802, states, but without sufficient accuracy, that “the major part are Irish.” Lord Ellenborough tried the prisoners, seven were hanged and decapitated. Trial *of Edward Marcus Despard. *London: Gurney, 1803. P.269.] Dowdall fled, and after some hairbreadth escapes reached France. No imputation on his fidelity has ever been made. That Despard’s plans extended to Ireland is not generally understood; but the “Castlereagh Papers” (ii. 3) show that he was one of the most determined of the Society of United Irishmen. The Higgins journal of November 25, 1802, records:- “The lounging *Erin-go-Braghites in *this town seem somewhat frightened since they heard of the apprehension of Colonel Despard and his myrmidons. It marks a sympathy which, with the close whisperings and confabs that of late have been observable among them, incline some to think that they have not left off the old trade of dealing in baronial and other constitutions.”

“Robert Emmet,” says Mr Fitzgerald, in a narrative supplied to* *Dr Madden, “came over from France in October 1802. He (Emmet) was soon in communication with several of the leaders who had taken an active part in the previous rebellion.” [Life and Times of the United Irishmen, vol. iii,, p.330] Emmet is probably included among the “Erin-go-Braghites” thus indicated by the Higgins journal of November 2, 1802:-

“Several Erin-go-Braghites have arrived in this city within a few days’ past, after viewing (as they would a monster) the First Consul. They do not, however, use the idolising expressions of that character they were wont, which shows that he has not been courteous to the encouragers of *pike-mongering *in this country.”

In the latter part of 1802, owing to private information, Emmet’s residence near Milltown was searched by Major Swan. [Statement of Mr Patten to Dr Madden, *Ibid., *p.339.] The abortive insurrection of which he was the leader did not take place until July 23 in the following year. A memorandum of Major Sirr’s, preservd with his papers in Trinity College, Dublin, mentions, in contradiction to a generally-received opinion, that early intimation of Robert Emmet’s scheme *did *reach the Government.

The purchase of Mr Magan by the Government was at this time unknown to the public. As a Roman Catholic, and a member of the former society of United Irishmen, no disposition to suspect him seems to have taken possession of his friends. [Dr Brennan, in the second number of his *Milesian Magazine, *p. 49, enumerates the Roman Catholic barristers who had received pensions. Mr Magan’s name is not included. Dr Brennan mentions the names of Donnellan, Bellow, Lynch, and MacKenna. Mr Sheil in his paper on the “Catholic Bar,” contributed to the *New Monthly Magazine *for February 1827, thus specially refers to the above four barristers:-

“Every one of those gentlemen were provided for by Government. Mr Donnellan obtained a place in the revenue; Mr MacKenna wrote some very clever political tracts, and was silenced with a pension; Mr Lynch married a widow with a pension, which was doubled after his marriage; and Mr Bellew is in the receipt of £600 a year, paid to him quarterly.

“Lord Castlereagh was well aware of the importance of securing the support of the leading Roman Catholic gentry at the union, and the place of assistant-barrister was promised to Mr Bellew. It became vacant: Lord Castlereagh was reminded of his engagement, when, behold! a petition, signed by the magistrates of the county to which Mr Bellow was about to be nominated, is presented to the Lord-Lieutenant, praying that a Roman Catholic should not be appointed to any judicial office, and intimating their determination not to act with him. A pension equivalent to the salary of a chairman was given to Mr Bellow, and he was put in the enjoyment of the fruits of the office, without the labour of cultivation.”] The fact that he had been a member of the Lawyers’ Corps awakened no misgiving. All the Catholic barristers, as a matter of course, joined it; and some of the most determined United Irishmen, including Macready and others, were known to wear the yeoman uniform, merely with the object of cloaking themselves. [All the Catholic barristers, with the object of averting suspicion or persecution, became members of the Lawyers’ Corps. Among others, Daniel O’Connell and Nicholas Purcell O’Gorman, both United Irishmen, belonged to the corps.

O’Connell served as a private in the corps. The uniform was blue, with scarlet facings and rich gold lace. - See Memoir of O’Connell, by his son, vol i., p. 13. In Mr Daunt’s Recollections ef O’Connell, vol. ii., p.99, O’Connell is found pointing out a house in James’s Street, which, when a member of the Lawyers’ Corps, he searched for “Croppies.” For an account of O’Connell’s connexion with the United Irishmen see Appendix.]

A brother barrister and old friend of Mr Magan’s informs us that he enjoyed some chamber practice but, though he sometimes appeared in the hall, equipped for forensic action, he never spoke in court. Mr Magan, as one of the first and few Roman Catholic barristers called on the relaxation of the Penal Code, is very likely to have been consulted during the troubled times, by his co-religionists who Were implicated in the conspiracy.

The influential leaders of the United Irishmen were mostly Protestants, and Leonard. MacNally, who generally acted as counsel to the body, having deserted the Catholic for the Protestant faith, failed to command from Catholics that unlimited confidence which a counsel of their own creed would inspire. “Mac---,” writes Mr Secretary Cooke, addressing Lord Castlereagh, “Mac--- was not much trusted in the rebellion.” [Cornwallis Correspondence, vol. iii., p.320] Counsellor Magan; on the contrary, was not, for nearly half a century, suspected. [The Irish Bar was sadly dishonoured in those days. - See Appendix for the secret services of Leonard MacNally, and of that prince of duplicity, Samuel Turner, barrister-at-law, whose property was insincerely threatened with attainder by the crown.] MacNally lived in Dominic Street, and later in Harcourt Street - a considerable distance from the more disturbed part of Dublin; but Mr Magan’s chamber for consultation lay invitingly open at No. 20 Usher’s Island, in the very hotbed of the conspiracy.

The discoveries to which we have referred were made towards the latter end of the year 1802. On December 15, 1802, one secret payment of £500 alone is slipped into the hand of “Counsellor Magan.”

“In the month of March, [1803”], writes Lord Hardwicke, the then viceroy, ” Government received information of O’Quigley’s return, and others of the exiled rebels, and that they were endeavouring to sound the disposition ‘of the people of the county of Dublin. A confidential agent was om consequence sent into that county, whose accounts were very satisfactory as to the state of the people, and of the unwillingness of any of the middle class, who had property to lose, to engage in any scheme of rebellion.” [This original MS. statement of Lord Hardwicke’s, of which Dr Madden afterwards had the use, we fully transcribed in 1855.]

Whether Francis Magan was the confidential agent thus sent into the country we know not; but it is at least certain that in the month of April 1803, he is found within 47 miles of Dublin, and receiving money for political espionage.

“The Account of Secret Service Money applied in Detecting Treasonable Conspiracies,” contains the following entry:

“April 2, 1803, Magan, by post to Philipstown, £100.” [An entry in the same form introduces the name of M’Gucken, the treacherous attorney for the United Irishmen, whose exploits will be found in our Appendix:- “January 13 1801, M’Gucken, per post to Belfast, £1000”]

The Philipstown assizes were held at this time. But so far from any important political trials being in progress there, from which Magan, in his legal capacity, might gather a secret, no business whatever was done, and as the newspaper report of the day records, the chairman received, in consequence, a pair of white gloves trimmed with gold lace. We must look elsewhere for Mr Magan’s secret services at Philipstown in 1803.

Thomas Wilde and John Mahon were two of Emmet’s most active emissaries, and in a statement of Duggan’s supplied to Dr Madden, it is stated that they proceeded to “Kildare, Naas, Maynooth, Kilcullen, and several other towns,” in order to stimulate the people. The formidable character of Wilde and Mahon was known to Major Sirr, who in a memorandum preserved with his other papers, states that their retreat is sometimes *” *at the gaoler’s in *Philipstown, *who is married to Wilde’s sister.”

Francis Magan, it is not unlikely, when one hundred pounds reached him by post at Philipstown in 1803, was quietly ascertaining the *locale *of Wildo and Mahon.

A letter from Captain Caulfield, written on Dec. 17, 1803, but to which the date “1798” has been by some oversight affixed in Dr Madden’s valuable work on the United Irishmen, [Lives and Times of the United Irishmen, vol. i., p. 522.] is also preserved among the Sirr papers, and details the progress of a search for Wilde and Mahon, first at Philipstown, and finally at Ballycommon, within two miles of it. Yeomanry and dragoons surrounded the house; a hot conflict ensued, “and,” confesses Captain Caulfield, “we were immediately obliged to retire… . The villains made their escape. The gaoler of Philipstown and wife are in confinement.”

John Brett, the maternal grandfather of the present writer, resided with his family, in 1798, at 21 Usher’s Island. No evidence of sedition existed against him, unless that furnished by the old aphorism, “Show me your company, and I can tell who you are.” John Brett was peculiarly intimate with Con MacLaughlin, and much intercourse existed between their families. James Tandy, son of the arch rebel, Napper Tandy, was also a frequent visitor, and Mr Brett possessed the friendship of Oliver Bond. One morning Mr Brett’s family were startled at the news that Major Sirr, with a chosen guard, was demanding admittance at the street dour. Miss Maria Brett, the aunt of the writer, cognisant of only one act of political guilt, ran to her music-book, tore out a strongly national song, and flung the leaf, crushed up, on the top of a chest of drawers. Major Sirr entered precisely as this silly achievement had been completed, and found the young lady palpitating beneath the weight of her guilty secret. A search for pikes was immediately commenced; drawers were rifled, wardrobes upset, beds diligently searched, and, in the midst of the confusion, what should turn up but the national song? which, had it been suffered to remain in the music-book, would never have excited attention. Major Sirr solemnly put on his spectacles, and read the democratic sentiments with a visage much longer than the lines in which they were enshrined. The search was resumed with renovated vigour, and from the beds in the sleeping rooms the soldiers now proceeded to uproot some recently dug beds in the garden. Major Sirr, baffled in his hopes and bitterly chagrined, withdrew; but he had a dexterous stroke of vengeance in store for John Brett. Next day an enormous detachment of soldiers’ wives arrived, bag and baggage, at Usher’s Island, loudly demanding hospitality, and producing an official order for that purpose. Mr Brett was obliged to submit to the troublesome incubus, which remained for several weeks billeted upon his family. He could never guess the source which had suggested to the Government the expediency of searching the house; but *we *are inclined to harbour the suspicion that the hint must have come from his vigilant neighbour next door, Mr Francis Magan.

The files of the popular journals during the earlier part of the present century would, if diligently consulted, exhibit Francis Magan [It is not unlikely to Magan that the Duke of Wellington refers in his letter to Sir Charles Saxton, dated London, 17th November 1808:- “I think that as there are some interesting Catholic questions afloat now, you might feed --- with another £l00. ”- Irish Correspondence of the Duke of Wellington, pp.485-6.] as a zealous Catholic patriot. Thus, Mr Magan’s name may be found, in conjunction with those of Lords Fingal, Netterville, and Ffrench, Sir E. Bellew, Sir H. O’Reilly, Daniel O’Connell, Dr Dromgoole, “Barney Coyle,” Con MacLaughlin, Silvester Costigan*, Fitzgerald of Geraldine*, [* Those persons had been United Irishmen] and others, convennig an aggregate meeting of the Catholics of Ireland on the 26th of December 1811, to address the Prince Regent “on the present situation of Catholic affairs.” A few days previously, Lords Fingal and Netterville had been successively forced from the chair at a Catholic meeting by Mr Hare, a police magistrate. Among the denouncers of the Government at the aggregate meeting was Leonard MacNally; and M’Gucken, the false attorney to the United Irishmen, took an equally patriotic part at Belfast. [See Appendix.]

Mr Magan also passed for an incorruptible patriot at the period of the Union. His name may be found, with MacNally’s, among “the virtuous minority” who, at the Bar Meeting, opposed the Union.

The few surviving friends of Mr Magan describe him as a prim and somewhat unsociable being, though moving in good society. He looked wise, but he never showed much proof of wisdom, and it was more than once whispered in reference to him, “Still waters run deep.” For the last 20 years of his life he rarely went out, unless in his official capacity as commissioner. He never married, and lived a recluse at 20 Usher’s Island. He became shrinking and timid, and, with one or two exceptions, including Master C—, did not like to meet old friends. Since the year ‘98, it seemed as if his house had not been painted or the windows cleaned. The neighbours wondered, speculated, and pried; but Magan’s windows or doings could not be seen through. [“The neighbours used to say that there was a mystery about the Magans which no one could fathom.” - Letter from Silvester R—d, Esq.]

From this dingy retreat, festooned with cobwebs, Mr Magan, almost choked in a stiff white cravat, would, as we have said, occasionally emerge, and pick his steps stealthily to the courts in which he held office.

This demeanour may have been owing to a secret consciousness of dishonour, and was doubtless aggravated by a shrewd suspicion expressed by the late Mr Joseph Hamilton.

To explain this, a slight digression is necessary. In 1830 appeared Moore’s life of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, and it may be conceived with what trepidation Mr Magan turned over the leaves, fearful of finding the long-sealed secret told. “Treachery,” writes Moore, “and it is still unknown from what source, was at work.” Here the Counsellor, no doubt, breathed freely, especially when he read - “From my mention of these particulars respecting Neilson, it cannot fail to have struck the reader that some share of the suspicion of having betrayed Lord Edward attaches to this man.” Hamilton Rowan and the friends of Neilson indignantly spurned the imputation, which Moore, further on, sought to qualify. Mr Joseph Hamilton made some inquiries, and the result was a suspicion that Mr Magan was the informer. He failed to find that evidence which we have since adduced; but his suspicion was deeply rooted, and he avowed it in general society.

In 1843 Mr Magan died. He was generally regarded as an honourable man; and an eminent Queen’s counsel stood beside his death-bed. The accompanying letter reached us from the gentleman to whom we allude:- “I never, directly or indirectly, heard anything of the alleged charge against Frank Magan during his life. I was on habits of intimacy with him to the day of his death, and was with him on his death-bed. He always bore a high character, as far as I could over learn, either at the bar or in society. Mr Hamilton, to my surprise, wrote to me after his death, cautioning me against taking any of the money to which, he supposed, I was entitled as a legatee. I was not one, and never got a penny by the poor fellow. I can say no more.”

Mr Hamilton thought that it was beneath his correspondent to accept a bequest derived from so base a source.

Mr Magan’s will, drawn up hurriedly on his deathbed, in January 1843, and witnessed by his confessor, Rev. P Monks, occupies but a few lines, and bequeaths the entire of his property to Elizabeth, his sister. Unlike his friend, the Sham Squire, who desired that his remains should be interred with public pomp, Francis Magan directs that his body may be buried with as much economy and privacy as decency permits. [Records of the Prerogative Court, Dublin.]

Miss Magan, an eccentric spinster, continued to reside alone at Usher’s Island after her brother’s death. She found herself, on his demise, possessed of an enormous sum of money; and she became so penurious, anxious, and nervous that the poor lady was in constant fear of being attacked or robbed. From almost every person who approached her she shrunk with terror. Miss Magan felt persuaded that designs on her purse, to be accomplished by either force or fraud, were perpetually in process of concoction by her narrow circle of friends. Death at last released Miss Magan from this mental misery. She left considerable sums in charity, and, amongst others, £12,000, as the late Rev. Dr Yore assured us, for founding a lunatic asylum at Clontarf. With the death of this lady the family of which she was a member became extinct, and we therefore feel the less hesitation in mentioning their names.

It may, perhaps, be said that any new suggestions or remarks regarding the informers of ‘98 should be left to Dr Madden, who has devoted much time and space to the subject. But Dr Madden himself does not seem to hold these narrow sentiments.

In the” United Irishmen,” (vol. ii., 446,) he throws out suggestions “to those who may be disposed to follow up his efforts to bring the betrayer’s memory to justice.”

It may also be objected that we have devoted undue space to tracing the betrayers of Lord Edward Fitzgerald; but the following remarks, expressed by the veteran historian of ‘98, show that the subject is one highly deserving of elucidation.

And now,” writes Dr Madden, “at the conclusion of my researches on this subject of the betrayal of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, I have to confess they have not been successful. The betrayer still preserves his incognito ; his infamy, up to the present time, (Jan. 1858,) remains to be connected with his name, and, once discovered, to make it odious for evermore.

Nine-and-fifty years the secret of the sly, skulking villain has been kept by his employers, with no common care for his character or his memory. But, dead or alive, his infamy will be reached in the long run, and the gibbeting of that name of his will be accomplished in due time.”

It must be remembered that Dr Madden was the first to set inquiry on a sound track, by citing from the Secret Service Money Book the initials of the Sham Squire, i.e., “F. H. for the discovery of L. E. F., £1,000.” In 1858 the “Cornwallis Papers” appeared, disclosing the name Francis Higgins. A pamphlet from our pen appeared soon after, entitled, “A Note to the Cornwallis Papers,” in which were published many of the remarks contained in our sixth chapter, and pointing, on purely circumstantial evidence, to Mr Magan as the ” setter” employed by Higgins. The fourth volume of the “United Irishmen,” published in 1860, noticed the ” Cornwallis Papers”, and, indirectly, the pamphlet which followed its publication:-

These revelations,” writes Dr Madden, (p. 579,) leave us wholly uninformed as to the traitor, who actually betrayed Lord Edward - who sold his blood to the agent of Government, Mr Francis Higgins. All that we have learned, I repeat, from the recent publication of the ‘Cornwallis Correspondence,’ is, that Francis Higgins obtained the secret for Government of Lord Edward’s place of concealment, but of the setter employed by Higgins we know nothing, and all that we have reason to conclude is, that the setter was one in the confidence of Lord Edward and his associates.”

Now, we respectfully submit that the more recent researches which will be found in our fifth and sixth chapters prove to demonstration that the ” setter” was Counsellor Francis Magan.

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