ENGLAND'S BACK DOOR

ciplined multitude, without arms, artillery, or camp equipage, though it might be formidable, would eventually be trampled out by the soldiers. A French contingent was the hinge upon which the chances of success hung, and having once made up his mind to resort to force, he instantly turned his attention to a French alliance.

In May, 1796, he and Arthur O'Connor with Lady Edward passed over to Hamburg, and the two former moved on to Basel, where they entered into communication with the Directory. The latter refused to negotiate with Fitzgerald, "lest the idea should get. abroad, from his having married Paméla, that his mission had some reference to the Orleans family," so leaving O'Connor to interview General Hoche, Lord Edward rejoined his wife at Hamburg. The indefatigable Tone had come from America to Paris in February. He had managed to introduce himself to Carnot, the ablest of the Directory, and had been for six months working hard to induce the French Government to send a strong force to Ireland. Tone's representations confirmed by O'Connor's authority satisfied Carnot of the importance of the scheme. Hoche supported it enthusiastically, and undertook to organize and command the expedition. England was threatened with the greatest peril in Ireland since the battle of Kinsale.

On the 16th of December, a French fleet of fortythree sail, consisting of seventeen ships of the line, eleven frigates and corvettes, and fifteen transports, eluded the English squadron, which was cruising off

Ushant, and with a fair wind bore down upon the coast of Munster. This formidable fleet carried an army of fifteen thousand picked French troops, with twenty guns, a heavy siege-train, and forty-five thousand stand of arms, to be put into the hands of the expected insurgents. Hoche was in command, and Tone accompanied the expedition with a commission in the French army. The weather was foggy and the fleet parted company, so that but thirty-six sail were in sight on the morning of December 22nd, off Cape Clear, and of the missing vessels, one was the Fraternité, with General Hoche on board.

In Ireland all was commotion. The island was utterly defenceless. Not a single ship of war guarded the coast. Cork was the only place in the south which had any fortifications towards the sea. Every town was open on the land side. General Dalrymple, who commanded in the southern province, had but four thousand men under him. With these he was doing his best to cover Cork, and was determined to fight before being compelled to fall back. Troops were being pushed on from Dublin and the other garrisons to join him, and large bodies of militia were gathering to his support. There was no sign of a rising, no sign of disaffection. The peasantry worked with a will to clear the roads or the baggage waggons, and showed the troops the utmost hospitality. The militia and the yeomanry were enthusiastic; Limerick and Galway "vied with each other in demonstrations of loyalty." Whatever progress the United Irishmen had made in Ulster, they had not influenced the south and west.

The chances of resistance depended on time. If the French should land at once, nothing could stop them, and Cork must fall, where were stores for the British navy worth a million and a half. The French were waiting for Hoche to rejoin them. On the evening of the 22nd the wind swung round to the east. A furious gale sprung up, accompanied by a heavy fall of snow, which made it impossible to land. The French ships beat up against it to Bear Island and cast anchor, but the gale increased in fury, and vessel after vessel dragged its anchor, and was swept out to sea. Day after day they waited, hoping for Hoche to come and for the gale to abate; but Hoche had been driven back to Rochelle, and the storm rose higher and higher. At length, after six days in Bantry Bay, the remnants of the squadron cut their cables, and giving up all hope stood back for the harbour of Brest. Ireland was safe, but she was saved by the favour of the elements, which fought for her. Had Hoche accomplished a successful debarkation, nothing could have prevented his marching on the capital.

CHAPTER XVII.

MARTIAL LAW. A.D. 1797.

THE Government was greatly blamed for permitting Ireland to remain in such a helpless and unguarded condition. The panic, however, caused by the French expedition having abated, a still more active system of coercion was determined on for the suppression of the United Irishmen. The Government knew perfectly well from their spies that the conspiracy was an existing fact; and they were also aware that all plans for a rising were dependent on a simultaneous French invasion. In the previous October a hurried autumn session had been held, in which they had passed a bill for the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act. And now in early spring, General Lake was sent to take the command in Ulster. He at once proclaimed martial law in Down, Antrim, Donegal, Derry and Tyrone. His first act was to seize two committees of the United Irishmen in Belfast, with all their papers; and to suppress their journal, the Northern Star. This was effectually done by the com*36, 37 Geo. III., c. 10.

*

plete destruction of the office, printing presses, and types. The two Simses were apprehended for publishing a furious address of Arthur O'Connor's; and O'Connor himself was arrested and lodged in Dublin Castle. All the safeguards of the constitution having been suspended, numbers of persons were taken up on suspicion, flung into gaol, and refused bail. Spies and informers were the only witnesses, and of these the Government had a whole army in its pay. The prisons overflowed, guard-houses and barracks were filled with political suspects; and worst of all, no discipline was maintained amongst the soldiery, who were allowed to commit all kinds of excesses, and to abuse and maltreat the people. The yeomanry, which had been called out, was composed almost entirely of Orangemen, and these, with militia regiments sent over from England, were encouraged to play havoc with the miserable inhabitants of the proclaimed counties. A Welsh mounted yeomanry corps called the Ancient Britons, under the command of Sir Watkin Williams Wynne, were especially notorious for their brutal violence. Houses were plundered and burnt, women outraged, and children brutally illtreated and murdered. Men were seized and sent on board

tenders, untried. They were flogged, "picketed," and half hung, to extort confessions as to the existence of concealed arms. They were hunted down and sabred. Villages and whole districts were devastated, and the inhabitants turned out of their homes into the ditch.

Meanwhile Parliament had met, and Grattan and the Opposition made one last effort to induce the