Название: Secret Service Under Pitt
Автор: Fitzpatrick William John
Издательство: Public Domain
Жанр: Зарубежная классика
isbn:
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142
The letter, of which this is an extract, appears in the
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Irish Record Office.
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Judgment Registry, Four Courts, Dublin, No. 302.
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Tone's
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This is quite Turner's style.
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Froude, iii. 176. The original objects of the Society of United Irishmen were parliamentary reform and Roman Catholic emancipation.
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The Rev. Arthur McCartney, vicar of Belfast, stated that he had never heard of a Committee of Assassination existing in Belfast with the cognizance or sanction of the leaders of the United Irishmen.
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Froude's
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The following memorandum, though of no political import, is useful as an authentic record of facts: —
'1791, February 13. Samuel Turner and Jacob Turner his father, both of Turner's Hill, co. Armagh, Esquires, to John McVeagh of Lurgan. Conveyance of Premises in Lurgan.
'1794, October 8. Samuel Turner of Newry, and Jane Turner, late of Lurgan, now of Newry, to Thompson and others. Premises in Lurgan.
The Teelings, with whom Turner claims to be intimate, came from Lurgan.' See Webb's
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See Conlan's sworn information, Appendix.
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James Hope to the late Mr. Hugh McCall, of Lisburn. See Webb's
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Froude's
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There were informers from the first, but not to the extent suggested; nor can it be fairly said that they were men 'deepest in the secret.' 'This and similar information,' writes Mr. Froude, 'came in to them (the Government) from a hundred quarters' (p. 177). 'They had an army of informers' (p. 174). The historian here writes of the year '96, and rather overrates the extent of the treachery. Dr. Macnevin, writing in 1807, says that the secrets of the United Irishmen were kept with wonderful fidelity. Their society existed from 1791; it was not until 1798, when ropes were round their necks, that Reynolds and McGuckin proved false; and the same remark applies to most of the others.
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As regards Pelham's correspondent in 1796, and Downshire's in 1797, does Mr. Froude mistake, for two distinct betrayers, the one Informer? His striking scenes, his dramatic situations, his fine painting and accessories, remind me of a stage where the movements of a few men convey the idea of an advancing 'army.' That 'Downshire's friend' had been previously known as an informer is proved by a letter from the Viceroy Camden to Portland, dated December 9, 1797.
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Appendix No. 1 to Report of the Secret Committee of the House of Commons, 1798.
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See
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The French minister at Hamburg.
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The noble editor of the
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Mr. Froude errs in stating (iii. 260) that Macnevin himself carried the Memorial to Paris.
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All this is exactly what Downshire's visitor told him (see chap. i.).
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His challenge to the commander-in-chief, Lord Carhampton, was among the 'imprudences.'
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Instead of the words 'circumspect' and 'moderate,' 'prudence' and 'cowardice' are applied to Macnevin's party by Turner (
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Among the letters headed 'Secret Information from Hamburg,' in the
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Mr. Lecky says, what previous writers do not, that Macnevin wrote the memorial
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Other intercepted letters addressed to the French Minister of War will appear later on. These unanswered appeals were well calculated to damp the ardour of the Irish refugees; but they tried to keep the machine of conspiracy moving – despite the subtle insertion of so many hidden obstacles tending to clog and destroy it.
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How this appointment came about, see Appendix.
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Allibone erroneously assigns (p. 558) the authorship of this book to Thomas Addis Emmet.
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Reinhard seems to have complained to the French Directory that his letters to De la Croix were not answered. The last intercepted letters are dated July 1797; and on the 15th of the same month Talleyrand was appointed to succeed De la Croix, who had been unjustly suspected. De la Croix survived until 1805, when he died at Bordeaux, mortified by the desertion of some old friends.
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Arthur O'Connor, at all times distrustful, seems to have suspected the upright Macnevin. They were never quite cordial afterwards, and it is certain that in 1804, when both served in the Irish Legion, a duel very nearly took place between them.
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See