all Mr. Sampson's opinions, some of which, indeed, he has controverted in the notes, he is prepared to say, that, having made the necessary inquiries, he can safely pledge himself for the general authenticity of the facts detailed in the

narrative.

London, March 1, 1832.

W. C. T.

MEMOIRS

OF

WILLIAM SAMPSON.

LETTER I.

Treason-Carlisle Gaol-Bridewell.

Ar length, my friend, I take up my pen to comply with your desire, and to give you the history of my extraordinary persecution. From it you may form a judgment of that system of government which drove the unhappy people of Ireland to revolt. But, to judge rightly, you should also be aware, that of many thou sand such cases, mine is one of the most mild.

Before any open violence was attempted against me, I had been often distantly threatened, and indirectly insulted; and particularly on the 12th of February, 1798, I was charged with high treason by the aldermen of Dublin. This charge of high treason was upon the following ground. The printer of the paper called The Press, Mr. Stockdale, was imprisoned under an arbitrary sentence for breach of privilege in not answering to interrogatories tending to convict him before a parliamentary committee. And whilst he was lying in gaol, his house was beset by a large military force; and his afflicted wife was thrown into an agony of terror. This scene was in my neighbourhood. I was

B

the counsel of the husband, and whilst at dinner received a request from Mrs. Stockdale to go and confer with the high sheriff on her behalf, and to deprecate the vengeance that was threatened. I found the house crowded with military, who threatened to demolish it, as other printers' houses had been demolished. The types and printing implements were destroyed, and the unfortunate woman thrown into an agony of terror. After interceding with the sheriff, he conducted me to the door. Mrs. Stockdale's sister having picked up a parcel of ball cartridges, deposited by the sheriff himself, or by his consent, on a former occasion, for the purposes of defence against a mob, became fearful that they might be made a pretext for a massacre, took advantage of the door being opened for me to carry them away. They broke through her apron, and scattered upon the flags. The whole sergeant's guard crying out, that they had found the crappy's pills, pursued me at full speed. I turned short to meet them, and by that means checked their fury. I was immediately surrounded by near twenty bayonets presented to my body, each soldier encouraging his comrade to run me through. I assumed an air of confidence and security beyond what I felt, and appealed to the sergeant, who, after some rough parley, led me back a prisoner to his officers within. He, the lady, the sergeant, and some others, underwent an examination, and, at two in the morning, I was told by alderman Carleton that there was a charge against me amounting to high treason, but that if I would be upon honour to present myself to him on the following day, he would enlarge me. I went the next morning, accompanied by Mr. Montgomery, Mr. Hill Wilson, and the honourable John Leeson, to demand some explanation: the alderman was denied, and there the matter finished, as it began in buffoonery.

I learned afterwards, that the investment and occupation of Mr. Stockdale's house was to prevent an intended publication in the Press, against lord Clare,

from circulating. That side of the newspaper, however, which contained it, had already been printed, and the soldiers who made prize of the impression, circulated it rapidly at a great advanced price.

But the event from which my present persecution flows, in an uninterrupted series, was an attempt to make me a prisoner on the 12th of March of the same year; a day famous for the arrest of many men distinguished, at that time, by their qualities, but more so by their sufferings since.

This was considered by my enemies a good occasion to repair the blunders of the former day; and I was, without the slightest pretext, included in the list of common proscription.

It was probably hoped, that in the seizure of my papers something might be found to justify so violent a measure; but no such ground appearing, more scandalous means were resorted to; and an officer of the Cavan militia, Mr. Colclough, was found so unworthy of his profession as to be the instrument of that scandal, and to propagate that he had found a commission naming me a French general. And a noble lord (Glentworth) did not scruple to proclaim the same falsehood to the young gentlemen of the college corps of yeomanry on their parade. Such was the foul commencement of that abomination, of which you musť have patience to listen to the detail.

Being from home when the house I inhabited was beset, my first care was to retire to a place of safety, from whence I wrote a letter to the lord lieutenant, earl Camden, which was put into his hand by general Crosbie; and another to the attorney-general, Mr. Wolfe, which was delivered by the honourable John Leeson. In each of these letters I offered to surrender instantly, on the promise of receiving a trial.

No answer being given, I remained in Dublin until the 16th of April, when the terror became so atrocious that humanity could no longer endure it. In every quarter of the metropolis, the shrieks and groans of

the tortured were to be heard, and that through all hours of the day and night. Men were taken at random without process or accusation, and tortured at the pleasure of the lowest dregs of the community. Bloody theatres were opened by these self-constituted inquisitors, and new and unheard of machines were invented for their diabolical purposes.* Unhappily in every

The tortures administered by the dominant party during the "Irish reign of terror" cannot be surpassed, perhaps not paralleled, in the annals of human suffering and crime. The torture of the lash was daily practised at J. C. Beresford's riding school, the Castle yards, the old Custom-house, and the several military depôts, on all who were 66 Isuspected of being suspicious." One instance will suffice to show on what groundless suspicions such cruelties were inflicted. A youth named Bergan was flogged to death for having in his possession a ring, with the national device of the shamrock.

The pitch-cap was invented, it is said, by a noble lord; a paper cap lined with melted pitch was placed on the head of the victim, the hot liquid frequently streamed into his eyes, and added blindness to his other pains, a circumstance which always added to the delight of those who presided over the inhuman sport. The cap was sometimes rudely torn from the head, bringing with it hair and skin; at other times fire was communicated to the paper, and the wretch's skull scorched to the bone. It was no unusual spectacle to behold miserable victims smeared with pitch and gore, blinded and maddened by pain, running like maniacs through the streets of Dublin, followed by noblemen, magistrates, and officers, who took a fiendish delight in witnessing their agonized gestures.

Half-hanging was a common means of extorting confession; and some, from long practice, had acquired such dexterity that they could tell the exact moment when the vital spark was about to flit. The most conspicuous of these execution. ers was lieutenant Heppenstal, commonly called the walking gallows; as from his great size and strength he was enabled to inflict strangulation by suspending the victims over his shoulder. During the "reign of terror" his exertions were the theme of eulogy, but when angry passions became cool, he was universally shunned, and driven to seek refuge in the lowest dissipation. He died a miserable death of loathsome