Page images
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

on being asked if there was any other inaccuracies in the Report, of my examination in this Appendix, I anfwered," Yes, I have exprefsly ftated, that "the Union had no connexion with the focieties of

[ocr errors]

England and Scotland, and yet my answer is fo "worded, as if I admitted that fome connexion was

་་

supported by individuals; this appears to me to "have been done to give a colour to that charge, "in a paper produced at Maidstone against me, "which states that a delegate from Ireland was then

[ocr errors]

fitting with a fecret committee of England, every "particle of which I do declare most folemnly "was most false, as I do alfo declare, that every cc part of the indictment, as far as I was concerned, "was wholly unfounded; for fo far was I from "feeking an invafion of England, that when it was "proposed to the Irish negociator (who formed the "firft alliance between Ireland and France) to in"vade England, and to retaliate for the Quiberon "expedition, he ufed every argument in his power "to diffuade them, which I know were conclufive. "I ftate this, because I find, that while I have "been imprifoned, occafion has been taken to ca«lumniate thofe, who gave evidence on my trial "at Maidstone, and therefore I wish it to be known, "that inftead of my inviting the French to invade England, I prevented it, and I did fo, because "I knew the best men there, were as averfe to the interference of the French in England, as they "had uniformly declared themfelves to be to the "interference of the English in the Government "of France."

[ocr errors]

These are faithful extracts of thofe examinations, which, it has been faid, impeaches the evidence

given at Maidstone. Is there one word which can
warrant fuch an affertion? Is it in the power of
language to convey a ftronger corroboration of their
testimony, or a more direct exculpation from
every part of the charge contained in the indict-
ment? Had I not been prevented from refuting
these infamous calumnies, the people of England
would have been informed, that the man who hadi
been charged with inviting the French to invade
them, was the man who averted that event from
them, and that he fucceeded by ftating, how repug-
nant such an attempt would be to the principles and
wishes of those very men, who have been fo grossly
maligned, and how advantageous it would prove
to those ministers (in extracting the wealth of Eng-
land) who maligned them. Indeed, had I not
mentioned these facts by which thefe calumnies
have been fo clearly refuted, the abfurdity of my
being concerned in taking a paper to the Directory
of France, by way of credentials, in 1798, who
am now known to have formed an alliance with
them two years before, in 1796, would alone be
fufficient to carry conviction that I could not have
had any part or concurrence in this infamous paper;
befides without arrogating much credit for compo-
fition, or falling into the folly or weakness of over-
weening, I may exprefs my contempt of the ftile
of the paper, and I trust
and I trust every act of my life allows
me to exprefs my utter abhorrence of its contents.
If then it must be admitted that it is fo vile a pro-
duction-that it was a credential which I could not
have wanted, and that, if fuch a paper could have
been of the leaft ufe, I could have compofed one
when I had arrived on the Continent, more to my

purpose,

[merged small][ocr errors]

purpose, none but men determined against the cleareft conviction, could believe that I had any part, concurrence, or knowledge of this tranfaction, upon which the whole of the indictment was founded.

The next part of the evidence is that I was of an open, unreferved difpofition, and my having been fo long and fo deeply engaged in the Union, is the ground upon which this has been carped at. Much of my political life is known to the world, enough to enable the public to form its judgment, enough for me to appeal to. From the moment I perceived that my countrymen were willing to facrifice their religious rancour, on the altar of national freedom, I flung away every other confideration, and exerted every faculty of my foul to dispel the dæmon of difcord, and to cherish the fpirit of Union. The emancipation and independence of Ireland from internal and external thraldom, were the objects I had in view. So early as 1795, I openly avowed my opinions, as may be seen in what fell from me on the Catholic queftion; these fentiments are to be found amongst others" But "if you shall have convinced the people of Ireland, "that you are traitors to them, and hirelings to an "avaricious, domineering nation, under the out"ward appearance of a fifter country-If you shall " have convinced the people of this country, that "the free national conftitution for which they were "committed, and for which they rifked every thing " in 1782, has been deftroyed by the bribery of a "British minifter, and the unexampled venality "of an Irish Parliament-If you fhall have con"vinced them, that inftead of rifing or falling with “England,

England, they are never to rife, but when the is "humbled by adversity, and that they must fall "when the becomes elated by profperity-If you "shall have convinced the people of this country, • that instead of reciprocal advantage, nothing is to "be reaped from their connexion with England, "but fupremacy, and aggrandizement on one side, " and a costly venality, injury, infult, degradation, "and poverty on the other, it is human nature, that you shall have driven the people of this

[ocr errors]

country to court the alliance of any nation, able " and willing to break the chains of a bondage, not

lefs galling to their feelings, than restrictive of "their profperity." When Union and Reform were made treason and death by new laws, agreeable to the sentiments I had openly avowed in 1795, I negotiated that very alliance with France in 1796, which I had declared was our only alternative; and when I had returned to Ireland, after having formed the alliance, you will find thefe words in my firft addrefs to the electors of the county of Antrim." If the monopoly of the whole "national representation by a few individuals, forms "the basis of their conftitution, and if the most "profligate fale of that reprefentation to the agents " of another country, be the fole means by which it " is moved and maintained, so far from feeking your " confidence by promifing to fupport it, I pledge my

[ocr errors]

felf to you and my country, to use every means in my "power to effect its deftruction. Catholic and Pro"teftant are alike convinced, that on the Union of "both, depends the falvation of all. Those who "fell the rights of their country, will call this by the

" name

"name of that treafon, they live by committing; but "if to promote the Union of Irishmen be treafon, "if to place the liberties of my country upon its true "republican bafis be treason, then do I glory in being a traitor. It is a treafon I will feal with my blood, and that I hope to have engraved on my "tomb. I know that an attempt on the part of the Executive, to fubvert our liberties, has fanctioned « one revolution, and I feel, that if the Legislative becoming more corrupt than the Executive, fhould "attempt a fimilar fubverfion not only by force but

ес

[ocr errors]

by the more deadly corruption-they will have "fanctioned another." If thefe extracts from fentiments fpoken and publifhed at large, are not fufficient in the circumftances, under which I was placed, to entitle me to a character for franknefs, I refer you to the whole of my fecond addrefs to the electors of the county of Antrim, in which I have openly afferted the right of forming an alliance with France, and if this be not fufficient, I refer you to the State of Ireland I published, in which I have justified refistance, and calling in foreign affistance. If those who read thefe avowals of my political principles, before my trial at Maidstone, before they knew of the part I was acting, thought me entitled to the character of an open, unreferved difpofition, let them read those avowals of my opinions and principles now, that the thousand dangers with which I was environed at the time they were written, have been made public, would they not be bound, a fortiori, to give me the fame character over again?

The last

part of the evidence," that they looked upon me as profeffing the principles, upon which

the

« PreviousContinue »