not, however composed of that stern stuff, necessary to the formation of successful conspirators; they shrunk back with horror from the prospect of civil war, and determined not to move until they were in possession of a force too overwhelming to be resisted. In their situation delay was defeat; the winds and the waves baffled the first expedition sent from France; and the inexplicable blunders of the French directory prevented the sailing of another. The men of Ulster, the great strength of the conspiracy, grew cold, and finally, by the treachery of an accomplice, government obtained a perfect knowledge of their plans, and possession of the persons of their leaders. In the language of a minister of the crown, (lord Castlereagh,) "means were taken to make the rebellion explode," that is, by systematic cruelties the peasantry were driven into premature insurrection. The minister "cried havock, and let slip the dogs of war." Dreadful were the excesses of tyrannical magistrates, licentious soldiers, and bigoted yeomen; dreadful were the retaliations of the infuriate rabble. But a description of such scenes is not necessary for our subject, and we gladly turn from the painful topic.

The particulars of the agreements made between the stateprisoners and the government will be found in the narrative of Mr. Sampson, and some particulars of its unprincipled violation by the ministry. He has not, however, mentioned one party in the transaction whose strange conduct formed the pretext for the detention of the Irish prisoners in Fort St. George. This was Mr. Rufus King, the American minister, who took it upon himself to declare that the government of the United States would not admit the Irish exiles into their territories. This extraordinary announcement from the minis

The following 'extracts from the proclamations issued by colonel Derham, the commander at Belfast, may give the reader some idea of the military despotism established at this calamitous period.

".....And shall it be found hereafter that said traitor has been concealed by any person or persons, or by the knowledge or connivance of any person or persons of this town and its neighbourhood, or that they or any of them have known the place of his concealment, and shall not have given notice thereof to the commandant of this town, such person's house will be burnt, and the owner thereof hanged." "This is to give notice, that if any person is taken up by the patrols after ten o'clock, he will be fined five shillings for the benefit of the poor. If the delinquent is not able to pay five shillings, he will be brought to a drum-head court-martial, and will receive one hundred lashes. "JAMES Derham, "Colonel-Commandant."

(Signed)

ter of a republic was as fatal in its consequences as it was unjustifiable in itself. Thomas Addis Emmet was about to embark for the United States, with his noble, high-minded brother Robert, and the rest of his family; but when this unexpected obstacle was raised, that gallant youth was detained to engage in a hopeless conspiracy, and to die on a

scaffold.

It has been very unjustly reported and believed that Mr. Rufus King was urged to act this strange part by the British government; there does not appear the slightest ground for such a suspicion. Mr. King was the victim of the general delusion that prevailed respecting the motives and nature of the Irish insurrection; he probably looked upon the stateprisoners as a species of moral monsters, who would destroy any country in which they found refuge, and pollute any soil on which they placed a foot. The general opinion propagated by the interested defenders of oppression, and adopted with even more than ordinary English credulity, was, that this was a religious war for the extirpation of the Protestant religion; and this monstrous fiction was believed when it was perfectly notorious that the society of United Irishmen was a Protestant institution, that up to the very last moment the great majority not only of the directory, but of the general body, were Protestants, and finally, that the most distinguished leaders in the insurrection were Protestants. The source of this delusion and the nature of the error are explained in the following extract from the evidence taken before the Irish House of Lords; and as the account is sanctioned by lord Clare, it is impossible that even the most violent partisan can reject it.

Archbishop of Cashel. "Can you account for the massacres committed upon the Protestants by the Papists in the county of Wexford ?"

M'Nevin. "My lord, I am far from being the apologist of massacres however provoked; but if I am rightly informed as to the conduct of the magistrates of that county, the massacres you allude to were acts of retaliation upon enemies, much more than of fanaticism: moreover, my lord, it has been the misfortune of this country scarcely ever to have known the English natives or settlers otherwise than as enemies; and in his language the Irish peasant has but one name for Protestant and Englishman, and confounds them; he calls both by the name of Sassanagh; his indignation, therefore, is less against a religion than against a foe; his prejudice is the

effect of the ignorance he is kept in, and the treatment he receives. How can we be surprised at it, when so much pains are taken to brutalize him?"

Lord Chancellor Clare. "I agree with Dr. M'Nevin. The Irish peasant considers the two words as synonymous; be calls the Protestant and Englishman indifferently Sassa nagh."

It is pleasant to turn from the painful contemplation of this the most calamitous period in Irish history to contemplate the honourable and kindly reception accorded to the exiles in the United States. Mr. Sampson, like his friend Mr. Emmet, was welcomed as a sufferer in the cause of liberty; he was allowed to practise at the American bar, and gradually rose to fame and fortune. He found none to imitate the conduct of Mr. Rufus King, and, witnessed the general reprobation poured on that gentleman's behaviour by his fellow-citizens. In 1825 Mr. Sampson removed from New York to Washington, and the following extract from the New York Gazette will show the estimation in which he is held in his adopted country.

"COUNSELLOR SAMPSON.

"On the eve of Mr. Sampson's departure to take up his abode in the district of Columbia, we were favoured with the perusal of a number of letters from the gentlemen of the bar, addressed to him as soon as his determination to change his residence was made known.-Having given us permission to use those letters at our discretion, we cannot forego the pleasure of doing an act of justice to an old and valued friend, with whom we have had the most friendly intercourse for twenty years, by laying before our readers proofs of the high and enviable estimation in which he is held by his fellow-professors. In addition to the documents which we now present to the public, we have seen others of similar import from C. D. Colden, P. A. Jay, S. Miller, esqs. and several others.

"We understand that Mr. Sampson's reason for leaving this city'is that he may enjoy the society of that part of his family residing at the seat of government. He intends, if we are not misinformed, to pursue his profession as counsellor at the city of Washington.

"William Sampson, esq.

"New York, 10th Nov. 1825.

"DEAR SIR,-Having seen in the newspapers a card announcing your intention to remove to Georgetown, in the district of Columbia, and your kind and flattering expression of regard for your brethren of the bar, we think it due to you to say that we cordially reciprocate your kind assurance of attachment, and we cannot take leave of you without expressing the high respect we entertain for your attainments, genius, and virtues, and our sense of your honourable, liberal, and gentlemanly deportment in your intercourse with us, in public and in private life and, while we express our regret at your removal from this

city, where we have long enjoyed the pleasure of your society, we tender you our best and kindest wishes for your health, prosperity,

"New York, Nov. 11, 1825.

"DEAR SIR,-I cannot permit you to leave this state without expressing to you my high sense of your acceptable and meritorious conduct as a gentleman and a citizen during your long residence in it. While I regret the loss which your absence will produce, 1 pray you to be assured that, wherever your destination may be, my best wishes for your health and happiness will accompany you.-I am, very truly, your most obedient servant,

"Wm Sampson, esq."

"D WITT CLINTON.

"New York, 60, Greenwich-street, Nov. 9, 1825. "DEAR SIR,-I perceive, by one of the papers of this evening, that you are about to remove from this city to Georgetown, in the territory of

Columbia. This intention was to me entirely new and unexpected, and I cannot refrain from expressing to you my unfeigned regret at the loss of your society, and my sense of the great obligations I am under to you for your invariable kindness and attention. I have often been delighted and instructed by your professional labours, and I have always been disposed to render a just tribute of applause to your talents and learning, liberality and taste,-to your sound principles of integrity, honour, and candour,-to your polished manners and amiable deportment;-and I beg leave to request you to be assured of my ardent wishes for your future welfare, and of my constant respect and esteem. With my best respects to Mrs. Sampson, I am, dear sir, yours very sincerely, "JAMES KENT.

"Wm. Sampson, esq."

In republishing his memoirs in this country, Mr. Sampson is anxious to refute the calumny that represented him as an enemy of the people of England; he never for a moment charged the faults of the government on the great body of the population; and the readiness with which he now submits his case to their judgment is the best proof of his firm confidence in the integrity of Englishmen. He knows that at periods of violent political excitement, prejudices may cloud the popular understanding, passion, excited by misrepresentation, prevent the exercise of reason, or insidious arts pervert generous sympathies;-but he also knows that there is in the mind of England a fund of good sense and honest feeling, which must eventually lead to the adoption of the cause of truth and justice. Ireland, the land of his forefathers, the land of his birth, the country for which his first wishes were formed, and for which his last prayers shall be offered-Ireland, whose memory still flourishes green in his heart, and whose name recalls, in all their former vigour and warmth, the thoughts and feelings of those youthful days, when coufidence was blooming and when hope was young-Ireland, too, may peruse with some profit, and perhaps with some pleasure, the memoirs of one, who, in the opinion of many, has loved her

Not wisely, but too well;

and reciprocate some part of the affection that the exile feels for the land

Where once his careless childhood stray'd,

A stranger yet to pain.

P.S. The editor, in conclusion, deems it necessary to state, that though he by no means vouches for the correctness of