examined on oath; but it was afterwards ascertained that they had hardly anything to tell that had not been already made known to the government by spies. After all they were not allowed to go away freely, for twenty of the principal men were sent to Fort George in Scotland, where they were kept confined till 1802.

918. After the rebellion had been crushed, a small French force of 1,060 men under general Humbert landed at Killala in Mayo on the 22nd of August 1798, and took possession of the town. Two Irishmen accompanied Humbert Bartholomew Teeling and Matthew Tone, brother of Theobald Wolfe Tone. General Lake proceeded against them with a large force of militia; but the militia fled in a panic on the approach of the French.

919. Humbert now marched north. Lord Cornwallis proceeded from Dublin, and came up with him at Ballinamuck in the county of Longford with an army twenty times more numerous than the French; and after some skirmishing Humbert surrendered; after which he and his men were sent back to France. Tone and Teeling were sent to Dublin, tried, and hanged: and courtmartials were held and there were numerous other executions.

920. This partial expedition was followed by another under admiral Bompart :-One 74 gun ship named the "Hoche" with eight frigates and 3,000 men under general Hardi, sailed from Brest on the 20th of September: Theobald Wolfe Tone was on board the "Hoche." The "Hoche" and three others arrived off lough Swilly, where they were encountered by a British squadron under Sir John Borlase Warren. There was a terrible fight of six hours, during which the "Hoche" sustained the chief force of the attack till she became a helpless wreck and had to surrender. Tone fought with desperation courting but escaping death. After the surrender he was recognised, and sent, ironed, to Dublin. He was tried by courtmartial and condemned to be hanged. He vainly begged to be shot, not hanged, on the score that he was a French officer.

On the morning fixed for the execution he cut his throat with a penknife. Meantime Curran, in a masterly speech, succeeded on legal grounds in staying the execution for further argument. But Tone died from his self-inflicted wound on the 19th of November 1798. In the numerous trials during and after the rebellion, Curran was always engaged on the side of the prisoners; and though he did not often succeed, his fearless and brilliant speeches were wonderful efforts of genius.

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE UNION.

(1799-1800.)

921. William Pitt the great English prime minister had long resolved upon a legislative union between England and Ireland: he believed the proper time had now come; and made very careful preparations for his purpose. At the opening of 1799 the marquis of Cornwallis was lord lieutenant and lord Castlereagh was chief secretary. The Union was indirectly referred to in the Irish parliament in the speech from the throne on the 22nd January 1799. The opposition at once took the matter up, and they were joined by many who had hitherto been supporters of the government, among others John Foster the speaker, Sir John Parnell the chancellor of the exchequer, prime sergeant Fitzgerald, and Sir Jonah Barrington: all fearing the loss of their parliament. They moved "that the undoubted birthright of the people of Ireland, a resident and independent legislature, should be maintained." After an excited debate of twenty-two hours, the votes were equally divided, 106 each side. Parnell and Fitzgerald were soon afterwards dismissed from their offices.

922. In February 1799 the scheme was brought forward in the English parliament by Pitt, and approved. In Ireland elaborate preparations were made to carry it in next session. All persons holding offices who showed themselves adverse were dismissed. The Irish government had been all along corrupt-but now, still under outside orders -it went far beyond anything ever experienced before.

Those who had the disposal of seats-a money making possession in times of election-were in great alarm; for if the union were carried the 300 members would have to be reduced to a third, so that about 200 constituencies would be disfranchised. The opposition of these proprietors was bought off by large sums: about £15,000 was paid for each seat. One proprietor got £52,000: two others £45,000 each: a third £23,000; and so on. The entire sum paid for the whole of the "rotten" or "pocket" boroughs as they were called, was £1,260,000, which Ireland itself had to pay, for it was added to the Irish national debt.

923. To purchase the votes of individual members, and the favour of certain influential outsiders, 28 new peers were created, and 22 of those already peers were promoted; and there were besides, great numbers of bribes in the shape of pensions, judgeships, baronetcies, preferments, various situations, and direct cash. All this was done with scarcely an attempt at concealment. Lord Cornwallis, a highminded man, expressed the utmost abhorrence at being obliged to take a part in these transactions.

924. The session opened on the 15th of January 1800: the last meeting of the Irish parliament. Grattan, knowing what was coming, had himself elected member for Wicklow, and though very ill, he rose from his bed and took his seat dressed in the uniform of the volunteers. Dublin was in a state of fearful excitement. The streets were filled with dismayed and sorrow-stricken crowds who had to be kept within bounds by cavalry.

925. Lord Castlereagh brought forward the motion in the commons. The anti-unionists opposed the project

most determinedly; Grattan, worn with sickness, pleaded with all his old fiery eloquence; and Sir John Parnell proposed that there should be a dissolution and that a new parliament should be called to determine this great question; but the unionists carried everything. There were many motions on the first the government had 158 against 115: and in the others there were corresponding majorities.

In the lords the bill was introduced by lord Clare (John Fitzgibbon), who had 50 votes against 25. On the 1st of August the royal assent was given; and the act of union came into force on the 1st January 1801.

926. The following are the chief provisions of the act of union:

I. The two kingdoms to be henceforward one :-" The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland": the succession to the throne to remain the same as before.

II. The Irish representation in the united parliament to be:-In the lords: 4 spiritual peers taken in rotation, from session to session, from the Irish Protestant hierarchy; and 28 temporal peers to be elected for life by the whole Irish peerage; in the commons: 100 members.

III. All subjects of the United Kingdom to be under the same regulations as to trade and commerce.

IV. The Irish Established Church to be continued for ever, and to be united with that of England.

V. All members of parliament to take an oath, framed to exclude Roman Catholics (for no Catholic could conscientiously take it).

VI. Ireland to contribute two-seventeenths to the expenditure of the United Kingdom for twenty years, when new arrangements would be made.

VII. Each of the two countries to retain its own national debt as then existing; but all future debts contracted to be joint debts.

VIII. The courts of justice to remain as they were: final appeals to the house of lords.

927. Pitt had at first intended to include in the articles ɔf union the emancipation of the Catholics; but to this

the leading Irish Protestants gave such fierce opposition that he had to abandon it.

But in order to lessen the hostility of the Catholics to the union, a promise was conveyed to them that emancipation would immediately follow. The promise however was not carried out; and the measure was delayed for twenty-nine years, chiefly through the invincible obstinacy of the king, who had a fixed idea that to agree to such a measure would be a breach of his coronation oath.

CHAPTER XIX.

ROBERT EMMET'S INSURRECTION.

(1800-1803.)

928. In 1802, Robert Emmet, a gifted, earnest, nobleminded young man of twenty-four, younger brother of Thomas Addis Emmet, attempted to reorganise the United [rishmen. He had just returned from France and had hopes of aid from Napoleon. He employed all his private fortune in the secret manufacture of pikes and other arms. His plan was to attack Dublin Castle and Pigeon House fort; and he had intended to rise in August 1803, by which time he expected invasion from France; but an accidental explosion in one of his depots precipitated his plans. The 23rd of July was now fixed; on which day he expected a contingent from the celebrated Wicklow rebel, Michael Dwyer; and another from Kildare.

929. By some misunderstanding the Wicklow men did not arrive; and though the Kildare men came, there was no one to direct them. Towards evening a report was brought that the military were approaching; whereupon, in desperation, he sallied from his depot in MarshalseaLane, into Thomas-street and towards the castle, with about 100 men.